Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Vacation Bible School for heathen kids

My kids are currently attending their second VBS of the summer, with at least one, possibly 3 more to go.  I get some grief from other pagans and some Christians for sending the boys to VBS.  Obviously, in their eyes, I have no business doing such a thing. The pagans think I should be running my own little homeschool summer mythology camp, not letting others fill my kids minds with the narrow precepts of the Christian religion. The Christians don't know what to think but they know I shouldn't be doing it. VBS is for lapsed Christians' kids, not for people firmly non-Christian.  I must say these are a small minority of Christians, generally of the 'lapsed' variety themselves.  The actual regular church going ones who are volunteering their time don't much care. If anything they are happy about it. VBS is outreach. "Converting the heathen" is one of those things they preach in church but most people rarely get the chance to do because it usually involves leaving the country for periods of time. But here I am, in their own community, with a couple of genuine heathens. The church wants to teach them about Jesus. I want some time to myself. The boys enjoy singing, making crafts and listening to stories. Everyone is happy. I'm not sure why people who are not actually involved in the process feel the need to weigh in with their negative opinions. Jesus is all love in preschool classes. The thundering vengeful god of the old testament doesn't get much play at VBS so I'm not really concerned.  Plus VBS gives me openings to talk about what I believe & what others believe.

The boys are with the Baptists this week, at the church that sponsored the MOPS group I belonged to for 3 years. Last week they were with the Methodists. We've been going to their VBS for 3 years. It is very well run. The Catholics will be doing sign ups for their VBS next week.  The VBS is at the end of the month. I used to be Catholic & went to a lot Catholic VBS when I was a kid, helped out at them when I was a teen. I have the boys signed up for the Pentacostals but I think I may pass on that. I've heard its a bit more fire & brimstone than the others.  I'm waiting to see if the Baptists up the road from us are doing VBS, they don't do it every year. If they do, and they take Pre-K (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't) I'll send the boys to that one as well, unless it is an identical theme to the ones they have already attended.

What am I doing with all this free time? I went to the gym 3 times last week. I cleaned the heck out of my house & I read a great deal. This week I've been to the gym once and spent another morning with coffee and a book driving around to shady spots to read. Today I am at home.  My endo is so painful I can't really work out, but hopefully it will go away in a few more days. With the new treatment it usually only lasts 8 days and I'm 6 days into it. I meant to go to the library today but honestly, it hurts to walk or to bend, or to....move.. actually.  I've been fairly useless as a mom the past week or so & VBS has been a blessing. Someone is interacting with my kids. All I can do is sit & read to them & usually someone sticks a knee or elbow on my stomach & my reaction is to yell in pain. So it hasn't been much fun lately.

4 comments:

Jenny Grace said...

My atheist parents sent us to Jesus Camp, and we all turned out no worse for wear.
We didn't find Jesus though, but I'm assuming that's not your goal.

Melissa said...

If you get lucky, maybe you'll stumble upon the Powerlab one a lot of churches seem to be doing this year. It's actually a lot of science. Or so I've heard.

Enjoy your time!

Lynnie said...

I'm not religious either but I'd totally get a kick of knowing my girls got to build a fake fish to swallow Jonah, or paint a fake burning bush, and all that other hilarious Bible stuff. You just can't beat those Bible stories. Most of them are pretty interesting and I'd love for my kids to know them one day along with a myriad of other tales.

Swistle said...

I have a very warm, affectionate feeling for you right now. This was a GREAT post.

I can just see my extremely argumentative 9-year-old attending VBS.