BRILLIANT OBSERVATION #363: BLESSED ARE THE PREACHERS AND TEACHERS WHO KEEP A CHILDS PERSPECTIVE IN MIND.
A local congregation gathered for an evening service tonight. After a couple of hymns, the children were called forward for a children’s lesson. The brother that was teaching them instructed them to all sit on the floor instead of along the first pew. He then sat on a step, just high enough that we adults could see his head. He had bent the microphone down and over so we could all hear him. He prepared an interactive lesson about nature and God’s amazing creation and wisdom. The children were passing objects back and forth, feeling items, dunking some in water, shaking others. We adults got the gist of the lesson, but not some of the details. But we watched and tried to pay attention. Well.., my mind did wonder a bit. But it was a fruitful path I went off on.
How often during church services is it like this for the children? They hear the preacher but can’t see much from where they sit. They try to be good and pay attention, but they are missing some details that are keeping the adults engaged. All they see is the back of the pew in front of them. I have always appreciated ministers who relate to the children in their sermons and try to put the message into an example they can relate to. The really wise ones even time it at the right point before the heavy fidgeting starts.
So, it ended up as a double object lesson. It was a good reminder for me to remember their perspective more often, it’s an amazing view after all. When the lesson was finished, the children returned to their parents with huge grins on their faces; they clearly enjoyed it and learned. I felt like clapping when it was done, must have been the child in me.