This Kids Korner is from GCI pastor Lance McKinnon.
As we celebrate the special days in the Christian worship calendar, we are swept up in the grand narrative of Holy Scripture and our thinking is transformed. That being so, I want to give you a “heads-up” concerning May 13, which this year is Ascension Sunday. That day gives us opportunity to share with our kids an important gospel story. I encourage you to rise to the occasion!
Pun aside, it is unfortunate that many churches overlook Ascension Sunday, failing to give it the focus given to other celebrations on the Christian calendar, like Christmas, Palm Sunday and Easter. If you are leading a children’s program, you can avoid this deficiency by using Ascension Sunday to teach your children the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven. In doing so, you will help them become more familiar with the full scope of Jesus’ life and thus avoid some of the misunderstandings that come when the Ascension is neglected.
There is a good chance that as you grew up you weren’t exposed to a lot of teaching concerning the Ascension. I certainly wasn’t. If you don’t feel knowledgeable enough to teach the implications of the Ascension, don’t let that keep you from teaching the basic story. Stories have a way of working on us over time, helping us travel down thought-roads the Spirit likes to help us travel. If your children know the story, and know it’s part of the overall story of Jesus, they will be well-served. If you can go deeper with them, depending on their age, then please do so. In the story of our Lord’s ascension, there is wonderful, encouraging and exciting good news for us all. My prayer is that we will give our kids a lift in coming to know well the stories of Jesus, who in the Spirit lifts them up in his birth, life, death, resurrection…. oh, and his ascension.
Looking for some help in teaching kids about the Ascension? Click here for a sample Sunday school lesson. For some adult-level background, click here for a related sermon, and here for an article.
