Tag Archive: vacation


Playing in the VBS Band

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Family, Music, Theology, writing — Leave a comment
June 27, 2016

VBS BandI played in the Vacation Bible School (VBS) band week before last, and we wrapped it up at the 11 a.m. service on Sunday. Christ UMC in Farmers Branch is like most churches. We get packaged VBS kits, with scripts, ideas for decorations, crafts, and games, cds and corresponding music charts. Then we decorate the church ourselves and add our own unique touches. I don’t know about other churches, but we usually decorate most of the church – immersing the congregation in the concept.

This year it was Cave Quest VBS. The church became one big cave. My son, Cameron, built a cave in the sanctuary, replacing the pulpit, made of pvc pipe and other materials. VBS began on Sunday and ended on Thursday – with the wrap up on Sunday. It is a grueling VBS Caveweek for the volunteers, who have to show up early. It’s the same with the band, except that they might have a little more down time. Although practicing for half an hour before VBS (an hour and a half on the first Sunday), starting off at full tilt for an hour, then down time for an hour and a half before cranking it up again for half an hour can take it’s own toll.

I picked up the cd and charts a week early to run through the songs ahead of time. Just to avoid surprises when practice starts. There were not many surprises. VBS songs usually follow a pattern, which includes no slow songs. Oddly enough, there were two slower songs this year.

But my point is that the band plays these songs day after day for five days – six if you include the Sunday VBS Service. The theme song is played at least six times each night. Other key songs or catchier songs get played at least three times each night. The band shows up the Wednesday evening before to run through the songs we’ll play first – and the most in some cases. Then we arrive early on Sunday and each consecutive night to learn new songs.

Some of the songs are fun to play, so the repetition is not all that tough. But some of them get on your nerves night after night. Jokes and camaraderie help to keep it fun. Then some songs you just don’t like playing.

Regardless, I find that I develop an attachment to the songs. Less so the ones that got on my nerves, but an attachment nonetheless. After all, I spent two weeks with them. And when you play in a band, and the sound is  right, you hate for it to end. It’s like when you spent two weeks in camp when you were a teenager and you met friends that were very special during the camp, but then you never really saw them again (the songs, not the band members).

It needs to be mentioned that despite the grueling schedule, the repetition of the songs, and any problems that arose, there were fun times along the way. All the volunteers simply adjusted to sudden changes and did what needed to be done to carry on with VBS. Sunday school classes and Bible study groups brought light food for the volunteers each night. But above all, seeing the children happy and pumped, having fun and learning valuable life lessons, made the problems seem rather trivial.

Peace be with you.

 

 

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Sweet and Salty, Fellowship and Faith

Filed under: Current events, Family, Theology, writing — Leave a comment
April 9, 2012

Since attending my uncle Jack’s funeral this past week, I’ve been thinking of times I remember being with him on family occasions. My daughter, Jennifer, took her first steps at Jack and Juanita’s house. Eventually my thoughts traveled to other experiences of my younger days. Such as our family trip to Pennsylvania.  Cyndy, the three boys, and myself replicated part of that trip in August of 2010. The trips were also on my mind because I am flying to Philadelphia this week for the Religion Communicators Council’s national convention.

Be that as it may, the story from the Pennsylvania trip when I was a teenager that came to mind was when we were driving through the farms in Amish country. The view was gorgeous and breath-taking. I think I even put down the book I was reading – I always read when we drove long distances. We drove through miles and miles of farms and fields.

We passed several produce stands – which were larger, as a general rule, than the stands I was used to seeing in Texas. The stands in Texas were mostly single farm stands whereas the Pennsylvania stands were co-op. After the third stand, my mother said “we need something sweet.” We pulled into the next stand, mom went looking and came back with several pounds of cherries.

We left the produce stand and continued our journey. The four of us ate cherries until we were nearly sick. Then mom spotted a nut stand.

“Now I need something salty,” mom said, after which dad pulled into the stand. This time she came back with a pound or two of a nut mixture.

We continued down the road, stuffing ourselves with nuts. Fortunately, we had some cherries leftover. With the sandwiches and lemonade mom had made, we were able to stretch the sweet and salty cycle for most of the day. However, during the unfolding of the sweet and salty saga, another story unfolded.

As we ate lunch and switched between salty and sweet, we put our reading material down, turned down the radio, looked out at the scenery, and shared observations and stories.

After a while we quit eating and were just talking and sharing. The salty and sweet episode was, at the outset, giving in to selfish urges. But, rather than simply giving in to the urges, we used it  as a time to have a conversation and draw closer to each other.

Which is a lesson I have kept with me since our family vacations all those years ago. For one thing, a family vacation is not about having a perfect time, leaving all the problems behind. A vacation is about having an experience together out of the ordinary (facing different problems) as a family. When the vacation is over, you remember the good times the most, not the difficulties.

The other part of the lesson pertains to the sweet and salty episode in particular. In different forms it occurs in every vacation, and life itself. Satisfying urges is not, in itself, a bad thing. But if we let the urges control the circumstances, the urges become more important than the fellowship and our faith. God made food to feed us, but Jesus also said “is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Peace be with you.

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