Children get to journey with Joseph in Egypt!
For three summer-sweltering-sweaty evenings, volunteers from Maples Methodist church came out to share the stories of Joseph in Egypt with the children in our neighborhood. In addition to providing supper each night, they brought music, crafts, and games to reinforce and illustrate the stories. Heat and sweat aside, we had an amazing community-building, faith-finding, love-inspiring time! A total of thirty-seven young people were touched over the course of three nights, and the ripple effect went far beyond that to parents and friends. How grateful we are to those who volunteered their time, energy, and finances to make this VBS happen!
During VBS, young people too old to participate helped by serving as assistants to those who taught. Five of those young people also opened each night of VBS with a HEARTBEAT call to worship, bucket drumming to Chris Tomlin’s song, “The Table.” Come all you weary/ Come and find/ His yoke is easy/ His burden light/ He is able/ He will restore/ At the table of the Lord/ He says come / Come just as you are/ To the table/ Of the Lord.
Maples volunteers returned on July 31st to deliver backpacks and school supplies to the children. No words are adequate to describe the joy (and financial relief) these gifts of love were to our friends. It was like Christmas in July: the love of God made manifest through school supplies and backpacks! Backpacks heavy with supplies actually lightened the burden for so many of our friends.
Christmas in July!
Some friends of ours, adults as well as children, are carrying heavy burdens– heavier by far than backpacks full of school supplies. But as the song says, at the table of the Lord we are invited to lay our burdens down. His burden is light! Something this beautiful, this powerful, has to be shared. We extend our hand to others and bring them to the table, too. Christmas in July, and the table is set! Come to the table.
Matthew 11:28, 30, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest…. My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”