Beautiful Things

Chapel is new to our schedule this year.  We have taken out English Club since they get that 1/2 the week anyway and have inserted an hour on Friday afternoon where the whole school gets together and we work on our memory verses and learn praise songs and dive more into the story of this man Jesus that they hear so much about.


One of the biggest challenges here (and in general) is explaining grace.  We are so used to the mentality as "there's no such thing as a free lunch."  The kids are used to the idea of karma and what goes around comes around and whatever you do to screw up now is gonna bite you in the butt later (and I am talking about more than basic consequences like you don't do your homework and you get a bad grade).


Grace. What does that look like to a 13 year old, much less a 6 year old?  And how does one have a relationship with the One who offers this grace?

In a land of idols and spirit houses everywhere, how do you show these kids the meaning, salvation and relationship that is found in the cross?

Marvel (one of the founders of the school) came up with a great idea. 

Show the students a tile.  A simple tile.  Explain how it's whole.  But because of sin, it becomes broken.  Enter hammer.  Enter gasps of students.  Talk about how life is full of brokenness. 

Explain that it doesn't end there.  There is hope. There is hope because someone came down to pay for that brokenness.  For that sin.

Give each student a piece of broken tile along with a marker and asked them to write on the back of the tile.  Write something that they know they've done wrong.  No one else will see.

Each child glues their tile onto the wooden cross.  Sporadically.  28 broken tiles glued on a wooden cross.  Kind of ugly.  Seems random. 

A couple weeks later (after some awesome work by our awesome friend, Rob), the cross is revealed to the students.  Other pieces put on to make it look whole.  It no longer looks ugly and random.  The brokenness is still there, but it's all combined like that's what it was supposed to look like in the first place.

Kids join together and say "beautiful" when their little elementary school eyes look upon this cross.  And that's exactly what they should see.  Something beautiful.  Not something that makes them feel guilty, but something that takes their brokenness and puts it together for good.   We talked about Jesus.  The symbol of the cross.  How His blood was spilled for our salvation.  For us.  Out of pure love.  The "no-strings-attached" kind of love.  The kind that gives grace freely.

The cross hangs in the hallway of our school.  The kids see it every time they line up throughout the day.  It's there to remind them of a God who makes everything beautiful in the end. To remind them that there is something personal with this God, THE God.  My prayer is that they would notice the difference between their connection to the cross and to the idols that are in homes, businesses, yards,  and temples everywhere. 

I leave you with my new favorite song (thanks Cait ;).  I think it sums it up pretty well.

Beautiful Things - Gungor

All this pain..

I wonder if I'll ever find my way.

I wonder if my life could really change, at all.

All this earth..

Could all that is lost ever be found?

Could a garden come up from this ground, at all?

You make beautiful things,

You make beautiful things out of dust.

You make beautiful things,

You make beautiful things out of us.

All around,

Hope is springin up from this old ground.

Out of chaos, life is being found in You.

You make me new,

You are making me new.

You make me new,

You are making me new. (making me new.)