what's the value?

i know i've said it before, but i really love my Sunday School kids. they continue to blow me away. and to be honest, last night as I was planning my lesson for today, I wasn't incredibly excited by the Bible story the curriculum provided, and I wasn't sure if my activities would hit their mark. But then this morning, as I was getting ready for church, I was just overwhelmed by a call to pray for my day and the ways in which I would be serving God and the Gospel. It was sweet because God really showed up today--I could sense it, and I think the kids could, too.

Our character trait of the month, which I always get to introduce, is "fairness." I came up with a little activity to introduce the concept. Last night I gathered several items from around the house: some play Monopoly money, a roll of quarters, a small diamond ring, a beaded ring, an old cassette player, and a digital camera. I laid all the items out on the floor and asked the kids to arrange them according to value. They all pretty much agreed in a ranking that you would expect, but then, without my prompting, they began to slowly mix things around, understanding that items that may not have as much monetary value as others could still be valuable for other reasons. One suggested that the walkman could be a collector's item. I then mentioned to them that the beaded ring came from Belize when I was there on a mission trip, so that added a lot of sentimental value for me.

Then I made a change that would drive at the heart of the lesson. I proposed to them that each of the items represented a person--the diamond ring could be a rich person, the money could be a banker, the beaded ring a craftswoman from Belize, the cassette player a homeless person. Now how would we arrange them according to value? Last night when I came up with this object lesson, I truly expected them to "get it" right away and protest that we couldn't "rank" people because we're all the same. But God wanted to use this activity in more powerful ways. To my surprise, the kids did try to rank the "people" in terms of value. Originally, they again took it literally, and ranked the wealthiest people first. I asked, how would God answer this question? I definitely was expecting them to throw out their system this time and declare that all were equal in God's eyes. But again I was surprised as they virtually reversed their order and began to see how people of less "earthly" value might be of more value to God. They were really, really thinking.

As we wrapped up, I gave them the "solution"--without claiming to have God's answers, of course (though being their Sunday school teacher gives me some credit, right? ;). I pushed all the objects/people into one big pile and we talked about how everyone was equal in God's eyes because He created all and Christ died for all. That doesn't mean we're all the same, but we are all equal.

This eventually led into some really interesting discussion, self-prompted by the kids. They brought up slavery and women's rights and Martin Luther King, and we even talked presidential politics! These are fourth graders--they are amazing! And our Bible lesson, James 2:1-5, 8-9 really hit home. It talks about not showing favoritism, with an example about a rich man and a poor man coming to a church meeting. I think the earlier activity opened their eyes to exactly what God was saying in this passage. God truly spoke to them, and that gets me excited! What makes me even more excited is that He was able to use my lukewarm enthusiasm and quickly transform it into something significant. It's astounding to imagine the many ways in which God can use us everyday if we're only willing to first ask Him and then to keep our eyes & ears open.