Today at VBS we'll be telling the kids about Noah and the ark.
Preparing for the story, I've noticed that pictures that accompany retellings of Noah's story for children are typically infused with some kind of warm light and colored in vibrant rainbow colors. The world glows, and so do Noah and his family.
It seems almost like a lie to show the kids that stuff. This is a story about death and destruction -- the most death and destruction the world has ever known. Stuff that makes post-tsunami or post-Katrina pictures look like a picnic in the park. This is more about corpses and mass chaos and less about Precious Moments-esque holy-looking people who look like they have clean clothes and smell nice.
3 comments:
Not much point in teaching about the consequences of sin to those who haven't yet reached the age of accountability, perhaps?
You have a good point though, that story really does emphasize God's wrath a lot more than His mercy and it seems dishonest to instead portray it in an Evan Almighty fashion.
"Ok class, now we're going to pretend that we're the countless millions of sinners being drowned by God with all the water in, under, and above the earth. [Make roaring sounds of water] Now hold your breath.....keep holding...keep holding, start panicking, lungs burning, beginning to see stars....aaaaaaaaaand we're dead. Oh look, now all the fishies are eating our bloated corpses."
On second thought, how about those cute little doves and rainbows? :)
It's funny for you to mention that. I decorated the children's nursery in Noah's Ark. I had cute little boats floating across wallpaper. And cute bright colored animals with happy looking faces. My husband always said our children's nursery is decorated with one of the world's biggest catastrophies.
If Jesus told the story of Noah during His ministry, I'm almost positive that He would have told it a little differently to the children He picked up in His arms and blessed then He would have to the adults.
In the midst of all the sin, death, and just punishment, God's grace and mercy triumphed.
To focus on grace and mercy, is not unbiblical. Of course, I am not saying to only focus on grace and mercy to the exclusion of the reasons why we need grace and mercy in the first place.
I'm saying we need to know our audience. Fishies eating dead corpses (regardless of the justness) is going to keep me up at night, I'm wondering how it would effect the sweet sleep of my 5 & 6 year old nieces.
Rainbows are not so much cute as they are precious. They remind us of the faithfulness of our awesome and just God.
Uncle Don
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