| |
|
|
Oh No! Harry Potter!
Hero?
Villain? Witchcraft? Good versus evil? There has been a lot of fear
and concern about the Harry Potter series with both churches and
schools jumping to ban them from their students. But the Harry Potter
series has probably already captivated your kids, and that's OK. There's
a lot of good in there that sends positive messages to kids, and that
we can build on.
"Children tend to read books for the story," says Elizabeth
Schafer in her book Beacham's Sourcebook for Teaching Young Adult
Fiction: Exploring Harry Potter. And more kids have read Harry Potter,
despite its 800+ pages per book, than any other children's book in
history. In this video age, that's saying a lot.
"Good
literature... emphasizes character development... it's not so much
what the characters do as what they learn about themselves and others
..." (Schafer, p.18). And Harry Potter is a character who grows
and learns, who struggles with adversity and hope, who makes friends
and sticks by them. Kids are especially drawn to a person who's a
loner, who is in a "blended family," living with his aunt
and uncle after his parents' demise (who he later finds died trying to
protect him), who is abused and lives under the stairs, but who's a
rascal who struggles to gain justice in an unjust world where he is a
stranger. He's called to do something more. Not unlike Jacob, the
wrestler of angels, or Joseph Smith who sought out counsel in a
forest, or even Alma who led a group of young peers to do good for
others.
Greater
harm can come by condemning children and their choices than by
affirming them and uplifting what is of value about these stories.
Children in this spiritual development stage connect with
powerlessness, with wanting to attach to a greater strength, with
being affiliated with those who show a path for their own struggles.
Don't
be worried about your kids and Harry Potter. In fact, bring him into
your scripture lessons and compare him to other unsuspecting heroes of
scripture. It is just a stone's throw to connect kids with the stories
of the scriptures where fantastic things happen to unsuspecting
heroes, where ordinary people in distress call on greater powers than
theirs to overcome injustice, and where friendship and loving others
enough to give your life is the ultimate creed.
|
|
|
|
The Prayer of Jabez ...
is a very popular series right now, written by Bruce Wilkinson. Melody
Carlson, a best-selling children’s author, has adapted his popular
book into a kids’ version, The Prayer of Jabez for kids,
Jabez
was the youngest of a large family mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:10 who
was named “Jabez” meaning “pain” by his mother. As an adult,
he asked for a blessing for himself. In this one sentence prayer to
“bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, stay with me, and keep me
from trouble,” Jabez changes his life. The next verse states, “And
God did it.”
The
Prayer of Jabez for kids (ages
8-12) is a good book to study, to give as a gift, to read as a family.
It would be a good focus for a weekend kids, youth, or
congregational retreat as there is also adult and youth versions.
Despite the God-He and the language about the “evil” in the world,
we recommend this as a good message for kids: when they ask God for
blessings, big things can happen.
The
Prayer of Jabez for kids, by
Bruce Wilkinson, adapted by Melody Carlson. (Nashville:
Tommy Nelson Inc., 2001). www.tommynelson.com
|
|
|
|
New Kids
Resources: Scolding the Snakes,
Saving the Ants, Barefoot in the Snow, and Sitting on the Rainbow.
The Forefront Ministries team finds this newest series of books by Augsburg Fortress to be some of the most
useful. This series is a collection of children's sermons which tie to lectionary date, to holidays and scriptures. Each sermon is an object lesson. The books include a CD-ROM of the sermons for ease in copying, adapting, and personalizing (which the author encourages you to do), and the sermons are also available at the website
www.kidsermons.com . To increase your ministry to children and from children to others in your congregation, include some of these great ideas in the classroom lesson or the worship service. Invite kids and youth to use the sermons to share in worship as well
(you are letting young people give sermons I
hope!)
Scolding the Snakes and 58 other Kids Sermons from the
Gospel of Luke by Ruth Gilmore. (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, Inc., 2000). ISBN 0-8066-4082-0.
Available at Herald House, Christian bookstores, and www.augsburgfortress.org
http://www.kidsermons.com/scoldingsnakes.html
Saving the Ants and 58 other Kids Sermons from the Gospel
of Matthew by Ruth Gilmore (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, Inc., 2001). ISBN 0-8066-4080-4.
Available at Herald House, Christian bookstores, and www.augsburgfortress.org
http://www.kidsermons.com/savingtheants.html
Barefoot in the Snow and 58 other Kids Sermons for Special Times and Topics by Ruth Gilmore (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, Inc., 2001). ISBN 0-8066-4083-9.
Available at Herald House, Christian bookstores, and www.augsburgfortress.org
http://www.kidsermons.com/barefoot.html
Sitting on the Rainbow and 58 Other Kids Sermons from the
Gospel of Mark by Ruth Gilmore (Augsburg Books, 2002).
ISBN 0-8066-4081-2.
Available at Herald House, Christian bookstores, and www.augsburgfortress.org
http://www.kidsermons.com/sittingonrainbow.html |
|
Forefront
Seminars