Vacation Bible School

Catholics didn't used to have Vacation Bible School.  We had day camp, or youth group, or nothing at all.  It was great fun, we went swimming, went to the beach, roller skating, did arts and crafts, and had a big campout on the last night. 

Now alot of our churches are having Vacation Bible schools, but my local one doesn't.  So I take my son to the Baptist church's VBS.  It is a great ecumenical and community building experience and I just love the Baptist preacher and his wife, who also just happens to be one of my favorite authors.  Oh, and the kids have a lot of fun too. 

The ladies in charge of arts and crafts really outdo themselves with clever activities.  The games are very clever and exciting, the snacks are fun and imaginative.  The children learn a new Bible verse each night, and work on songs and dances all week, in order to put on a delightful production for their parents on the last night.

Every year we look forward to VBS at the Baptist Church and we hope they continue having it for years to come.

Book Club

A book club is an interesting place.  I joined because I love to read and am writing a book.  I thought it would help to discuss books with fellow readers and learn their likes and dislikes.  It is certainly an ear opener!  For instance, the general consensus seems to mandate the "obligatory sex scene" in a book, whereas I feel my imagination needs no assistance in that particular area.  However, obviously it sells mainstream books, because it tends to be in most of them.  Thus, it should come as no surprise that I frequently find I have greatly enjoyed a book that the others disapproved of and vice versa. 

Case in point:  a couple of months ago, our book was "Mutant Message Down Under" by Marlo Morgan.  It is
a story about an American doctor who goes on walkabout in the Australian Outback with a group of Aborigines.  The sufferings she endures help the tribe to teach her their spiritual principals of interrelatedness, divine creation, unconditional love, and being non-judgmental. I felt that it presented a powerful reminder of spritual principals we should all be living.  Most of the others discounted the whole thing because "obviously she didn't learn anything from the experience because she still wears makeup and colors her hair".  Huh?  Not everyone is called to be a St. Francis of Assisi or Mother Theresa.  We are all called to proclaim the Good News in our particular circumstances in life. 

Then there are the ever-popular vampire books currently circulating as the "Twilight" series.  Many of my book club confreres rave about them, but vampires simply do not appeal to me.  Now give me a good historical suspense novel.  I have the new Amelia Peabody mystery on hold:  "A River in the Sky".  After seeing the new "Sherlock Holmes" movie, I reread the books in a whole new light, with new enjoyment.  And my friend from the Baptist church turned me on to Terri Blackstock's novels - who knew such wonderful work was being produced by Christian publishing houses?  I am thrilled.