I love camp, and I especially love Vacation Bible School as a means for connecting to the people beyond our church’s walls, as well as a way to share the stories of God with the children of God in fun and relatable ways.
Not Your Typical VBS
When life feels so off-kilter, and when there is anxiety and uncertainty, it can be helpful to pay attention to the beauty of this world, which was made by God and is fundamentally good.
For this at-home VBS, Noticing God in Creation, I compiled five days of Bible stories, activities, and reflections. Five days of family worship and singing. Five days of paying attention to the small reminders that God is always creating, always helping us flourish. Five days of cultivating our faith. Five days of wonder that a tiny seed can grow into an enormous tree, and that a kernel of faith can sustain us through the hardest of times.
How We Are Using Noticing God in Creation
At St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, CT, we have invited families to participate in this new kind of VBS experience by exploring one story each week for five weeks. We plan to use our children, youth, and families Facebook group to share ideas, questions, and progress. You could also use this lesson plan for a different time of year or with different members of your congregation.
Enormous Flexibility
There is enormous flexibility built into Noticing God in Creation. Churches, or individual families, might complete the weekly activities in one day (about two hours), or stretch the activities and stories over the course of a
week. You might do all the activities in one week, more like a traditional VBS. You might use this as a fall formation series instead of VBS. This VBS was designed to be “screen free,” but you can supplement the material with corresponding videos of your own creation or videos curated from other sources.
Materials for Noticing God in Creation
The materials for Noticing God in Creation are available to use, adapt, and share. Click the links below and save documents to your own Google Drive to edit. Please give credit to: The Rev. Margie Baker, St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford, CT.
The VBS Book includes short morning and evening prayer services for families, five scripture stories and five corresponding activities.
The VBS Journal includes 2-3 open-ended questions for each scripture story AND each activity.
The VBS Psalm Coloring Book includes verses of Psalm 148 with blank spaces for illustrations or journaling.