Godly play...

Somehow Trevor and I are scheduled to help teach Sunday School this spring. Our first class is tomorrow. We thought we were going to be substitutes, but then an email was circulated around the congregation with a list of "prayer concerns". Trevor and I were on it following the announcement that we were the new teaching assistants for the 1st-3rd grade class. This prompted me to call Trevor in a panic and scream into the phone, "OMG! Trev! They think we are helping to teach Sunday School. And they have already started PRAYING for us! That means we are committed! You can't get out of something when prayer is involved!"

I just wish the lady in charge of Sunday School would stop referring to it as "SS". Whenever I see "SS" I immediately think of Nazis, not small children. Especially when it is used in a sentence like, "There is a variety of ways that you can serve in the SS." This isn't good.

The kids are pretty funny, though. We sat and observed a class or two over the fall, and Trevor and I spent most of the Sunday School hour trying not to laugh at the things that came flying out of their mouths. One boy who announced - somewhat randomly - that he didn't know what Hell was, but he was pretty sure it was like a "really big time out".

But my favorite was when another little boy turned to his friend who was having a hard time not speaking out of turn and said, "You know what I have to do when I'm having a hard time staying quiet? I have to lock my mouth like this [pantomimes turning a key in his mouth], and just throw the key away. You gotta throw it out the window, Elton. Just throw the key out the window."

And he wasn't kidding. The look on his face was 100% serious.

It was pretty awesome. Trevor and I had tears in our eyes, and tried to pretend our stifled laughter was really some sort of random coughing attack.

So, yeah. It's gunna be an interesting spring...especially since my immediate reaction to the term "Godly Play" was "What in the Hell is that?"

On second thought, maybe it is a good thing that they are praying for us.