Devin Strong
Spirit of Peace Lutheran
Our world loves big heroes: the person who wins the Boston Marathon, the woman who gets the Best Actress Award, or the team that wins the NBA Championship.
You and I are hard-wired to celebrate those who are the fastest, the richest, the best.
We almost never think about those who come in second, let alone those who are heroic in small ways every day.
But our God looks at things from a different perspective.
The Bible is stuffed full of little heroes who make a huge difference for God’s mission in the world. Consider “the runt” shepherd boy David who not only kills the giant Philistine goliath but becomes God’s most successful and faithful king. Think about the lowly, working-class shepherds who are the first to announce Jesus’ birth or the ordinary fishermen who become the Lord’s closest disciples and help launch the church on a path to become a world-wide religion with more than one billion adherents. Not only does God see gifts and talents in people that the world constantly overlooks, the simple truth is that the Lord of Love cherishes underdogs.
All this makes Little Heroes of the Bible a perfect theme for this year’s Vacation Bible School. For the fifth year in a row, St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church and Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church are teaming up to host a fabulous and FREE VBS for rising-kindergarteners through rising-fourth graders. This year VBS will happen Tuesday-Friday, June 24th-28th from 9 AM to noon on the grounds of St. Elizabeth’s church at 16491 GA Hwy 144 in Richmond Hill.
Our Vacation Bible School will include crafts and games, singing and snacks, as well as our popular, supervised gymnastics station! But at the heart of it all, children will hear powerful stories of how seemingly unremarkable people of faith did incredible things with God’s help, like the boy who shares his lunch and helps feed more than 5,000 people, the slave girl who convinces her master to seek help and leads him to healing, and the woman who sews and blesses a whole community of poor widows with beautiful clothing.
At VBS, participants will not just uncover some of these lesser-known stories of the Bible, they will be reminded that God is still using so-called “little people” to make life-changing differences in the world, like the friendly janitor at their school who gives them a hug or befriends the new student, the secretary in the school office without whose skills the entire place would cease to run, or the food service workers at the hospital who make sure that every patient gets fed.
Finally, VBS students will come to understand that God works through THEM every single day. There is no age or height requirement to be a talented servant of God. Some of the stories we will study are about young heroes. Moreover, every child possesses multiple talents that they can use to change the world!
VBS registration is limited to 30 students. To register a child, please speak to me at Spirit of Peace or email Office@SaintElizabethsRH.com.
