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Overview
St. Paul’s Sunday School program for children age 3 through 5th grade
is called The Vineyard. Classes meet Sunday mornings from 9:45
until 10:45 from September through May. Visitors are always
welcome.
The Vineyard is dedicated to
help each child build, strengthen, and live his or her relationship
with God. Hands-on, interactive activities are the tools we use
to guide the children along their own personal faith journeys. By
exploring Bible stories from both the Old and New Testaments each year,
children are encouraged to discover God and God’s character, to
understand the message of the gospel and God’s plan of salvation, and
to internalize what it means to be a Christian and to live each day in
relationship with God.
We recognize that our children
need to experience God’s Word, not just hear it. Through the
Workshop Rotation Model approach, we provide opportunities for our
children to experience the feeling and meaning of God’s Word through
active participation that is not merely “fun and games,” but rather a
fully engaged learning process. School age children will explore
the Bible and their faith each week in one of five different workshops
which utilize hands-on active learning, such as drama, video
production, puppetry, first person storytelling, computer, games, art,
science, cooking, and more! Preschool children are introduced to
learning about God’s love through stories, songs, activities, and
crafts.
For more information, or to
register your child for Sunday School, please contact Cherie Schumm at
cschumm.stpaul@sbcglobal.net.
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What's Happening?
In February,
we will be exploring the story of the Prodigal Son, which can be found
in Luke 15:11-32. This Bible story is written as a parable, a story
that uses elements that were commonly understood by the audience
hearing it to teach a specific lesson.
The “prodigal” (meaning
wasteful and extravagant) son is a proud young adult, who feels he is
entitled to his share of his family estate while his father
is still
living. Given his share of the inheritance, he squanders it recklessly.
Eventually he finds himself broke and caring for animals that no good
Jew
would even touch. This is definitely the lowest point in his
life. Determining that life as his father’s servant would be better
than what he has, he returns in humility to his father’s home. Instead
of being treated as a slave, his father restores him to the full status
of son, while the older brother looks on jealously, demanding justice.
The
story of the Prodigal Son has multiple themes. The first is that of
repentance. The prodigal created a life for himself that was filled
with poor choices. He has distanced himself from God and from his
family. Finally he reaches a point where he is willing to repent, and
to find the willingness to literally turn his life around. In
repentance and humility he returns to his father.
Another theme
in this story is grace. Before the son can see his father, the father
notices him, as he has been looking constantly for his son to come over
the horizon. When the father sees him, he calls for a wonderful
celebration. All is forgiven!
There are times in our lives when we
are in the pit, having exhausted all options, having abandoned God
along the way. But God has been watching and waiting for the moment of
our return. With God, there is never a point of no return. There
is
nothing that can separate us from the love of God. To quote Corrie ten
Boom, “There is no pit that God is not deeper still!” There are no
exemptions to God’s grace. God accepts
us as we are. Knowing that when we accept God’s
grace we will be freed of the shackles of our sin, we are able to journey through life in relationship with God.
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