August 9th
Hello Super Sunday School Parents,
Grace and peace to you!
Our children’s Sunday School lesson this week explores the sixth chapter of 2 Samuel, a time in King David’s life when he became so excited that he danced before God.
The chapter centers around the movement of the sacred chest of God. Sometimes referred to as the Ark of the Covenant, the chest contained the stone tablets given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and the Israelites viewed it as a symbol of God’s presence. David’s goal was to relocate the chest, which was being kept at the house of a man named Abinadab, to Jerusalem. So, after arriving at Abinadab’s, David and his men put the Lord’s chest on a cart and happily began their return.
There is more to the story, however, and to put it lightly – it’s not pretty. In 2 Samuel 6:6, Uzzah reached out to stabilize the chest when the oxen stumbled. As a result, God became angry and killed Uzzah. To be honest, I find this part troubling, and, for me, these verses are very difficult to understand, much less to explain to Henri.
If you do end up printing out the Sunday school activities (or even watching this short 3-minute video), you’ll notice that the curriculum writers focus on the way that David rejoiced once the chest finally reached Jerusalem. Yes, even though he had just experienced a deeply agonizing encounter, David praised God. In fact, David danced with all his might.
As parents, we’ve experienced (and are still experiencing now) so much that is hard to explain to ourselves – much less to explain to our children. There are only a few more weeks left of summer before the start of the strangest year of school we’ve ever encountered. And this might sound strange to some, but to me, it feels like this is a pretty good time to take a page out of David’s playbook and dance.
I find that even in these times – perhaps especially in these times – I am buoyed up when I praise God for the little things in life.
But dancing, you say? Sure, I’m not particularly good at dancing. I’ll definitely admit that! For me, the dancing I refer to is spending time with Henri doing fun things and talking about all of the wonderful blessings God has given us. For example, we love walking the creek in Jericho, watching sunsets at Oakledge Park, and enjoying our neighborhood pool on a sunny day. Last week, we made a day trip to Quechee and had a blast at VINS. On our walk through the canopy of the VT forest (masks and all), we were both in awe of God’s abundance. The woods were teeming with life and I found there was so much to praise God for in those moments as we walked together.
This is the kind of dancing I’m talking about. It’s the kind of dancing that helps you float above the dizzying, topsy-turvy world we’re living in. The kind that sweeps you away and brings you closer to God.
And so, my prayer for us all this week is that we might find ways to dance, for God is worthy of celebration! May we all feel God’s presence in the day-to-day and rejoice in what is.
I hope you enjoy sharing the attached family devotional and activities with your kiddos! Take care during the week ahead. With God’s love, we’ve got this!
With Deep Blessings,
Jenny Rousseau
P.S.: Just in case my hyperlink doesn’t work, here’s the link to that video I mentioned – https://my.amplifymedia.com/