faith in the elementary school

as some of you that regularly read this blog i just started a job at a before and after school program at the ymca. it is more a of pay the bills position while in grad school rather than an i love this job and going going to make it my vocation. but it can still be a ministry. in fact i have to see it as a ministry or it wont last that long. i have also started helping out at fall creek wesleyan church in launching there brand new 5-6th grade ministry on wednesday night.

when i came to indianapolis i wasnt necessarily looking to work with elementary school ages but it kind of fell in my lap. there was a need so i filled it. but the kids have been interesting in both places. in small group the other night a kid named conner kept on bring up wrestling, i guess you could say it is his golden calf. while others are just the pastor kid/ grown up in church my whole life and Jesus is the answer to every question type of kids even though we were studying elijah and the prophets of asherah and baal. do each of them have faith, sure. just a little wild at heart.

on the school side of things this morning somehow the topic of veggietales came up and i asked them what they thought of it. these are k-4th graders. but not one mentioned liking it. the biggest reason was that they were talking vegetables and that could never happen. they said that they dont walk but bounce. i was saddened, not because they didnt like veggietales. but more because they didnt have the sense of imagination to think that vegetables could actually talk.

mike yaconelli mentioned in his book dangerous wonder that "when a person loses there imagination it loses a huge piece of his soul." he needs to be able to believe in the unreached and the impossible. because isnt faith in a way imagination, believing in things that seem impossible and unreal. miracles and faith are a part of christianity and we need to have a believe that God can and will do things.

i am not saying that the second graders faith is in trouble but it does still seem depressing that he can not be and do what should come easy to him. a world that was captured in both narnia and a bridge to terabithia. a world full of wonder.