Dear People of St. John’s,

      You may have seen the article that has made the rounds entitled “The Bible…According to Children.”  If not, this is what a group of children said about the Bible:

     "In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas.  The Bible says, ‘The Lord thy God is one,’ but I think He must be a lot older than that.  Anyway, God said, ‘Give me a light!’ and someone did.  Then God made the world.

     God split the Adam and made Eve.  Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.  Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn’t have cars.  Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.  Pretty soon all the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

     One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham.  Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it.  He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.  After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast.  Jacob had a son name Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat. 

     Another important Bible guy was Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston.  Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people.  These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.  God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.  Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments.  These include don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor’s stuff.  Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

     One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua, who was the first Bible guy to use spies.  Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.  After Joshua came David.  He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot.  He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines.  My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound very wise to me.  After Solomon, there were a bunch of major league prophets.  One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.  There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

     After the Old Testament came the New Testament.  Jesus was the star of the New Testament.  He was born in Bethlehem in a barn.  (I wish I had been born in a barn, too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close the door!  Were you born in a barn?’  It would be nice to say, ‘As a matter of fact, I was!’)  During his life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans.  Jesus also had twelve opossums.  The worst was Judas Asparagus.  Judas was so evil they named a terrible vegetable after him.  Jesus was a great man.  He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount. 

      But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot.  Pilot didn’t stick up for Jesus.  He just washed his hands instead.  Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, and then came back to life again.  He went up to heaven, but will be back at the end of the Aluminum.  His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.”

      I would want to say that I’m grateful we have Godly Play, Children’s Chapel, J2A, and other opportunities to tell the biblical story in a little more orthodox fashion than the one described above.  We have another great opportunity coming soon.  It’s called Advent.  We can, if we choose, help our children (and remind ourselves) that we prepare for the birth of Jesus and not the arrival of Santa Claus.  What is born in our hearts and in the hearts of our children requires advanced preparation, a willingness to be vulnerable, and an ongoing commitment.  I pray that Advent/Christmas 2007 will be the best ever for each one of you and for the St. John’s family of faith.  Pray for the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit and 2008 will, indeed, be a “year of the Lord’s favor.”

                                                    Peace on earth and goodwill to all,

                                                                                                                                                                               Tom