Well we’ve finally made it to the end of the Minor Prophets, the last book of the Old Testament- Malachi! Yay!
It was a bit disappointing that “our” Malachi, a regular Children@ St. Stephen’s attendee, was not present for this Prophet of the Week, but it was not very surprising, since many families are grabbing a last bit of Summer on the final holiday weekend.
As I assembled my “props” and activity supplies it was with the assumption that they might sit there unused during the Service and just need to be tidied up afterwards, but instead there were 6 of us-2 helpers, 3 children and myself. Woot woot!
In preparing for our time together this morning, it seemed best to zero in on Chapter3 v.2. So we began by having a discussion about the positive and negative aspects of “Fire”. We looked at a steel knife and a glass jug and then talked about how soap is also made from ashes. We read the Prophet’s words about “refining fire” and “launderer’s soap”and over a snack of cheese and crackers everyone continued a discussion around the theme. Next we made a montage of glued and painted flames, had a “ceremonial” hand washing, (the latter serving both a practical and spiritual purpose!), and finally joined in the sharing of the Grace.
Thus it was a surprisingly interesting time of learning together. Cycling home between some fearsome thunder clouds I reflected on the ways I have been stretched and challenged over the busy summer weeks to seek out core portions from these books and, hopefully, by God’s Grace, to spark in both my own and the children’s minds some new understanding of a lesser known portion of the Scriptures. Still not convinced it was the most “family- friendly” choice of subject matter, but thankful to have ended the journey on such a positive note!