Noah’s Virtual Ark
On Saturday 2 May, at 6.30 pm, 37 junior church children from 13 different households gathered together for a special children’s service on Zoom. The theme was Noah- a fantastic way to weave into the service the images of rainbows that are currently festooning so many windows, as well as God’s promise that he will always help us through adversity.
In advance of the service, the children were asked to collect together a “few animals”. Judging by the evidence on zoom, most people had taken this task very seriously indeed:
The service started in an atmosphere of great excitement. Many of the children hadn’t seen each other since the start of the lockdown, or since the Junior Church Passion Play on zoom on Palm Sunday. Lots of children were in costume or animal masks, or were surrounded by toys.
Once the hubbub calmed down a bit, Jeremy guided us through the story of Noah and some prayers, and led the singing of some of junior church’s favourite songs. The service had been devised by Maureen (our children’s worker), who was wearing an animal headdress. The story of Noah was read out by children from several families, and children also wrote and led the prayer.
Although all the families were physically apart, there was a real sense of togetherness and community. The experience was exhilarating and uplifting. Miranda (age 8) said it was “awesome”. Benedict (age 7) described it as “amazing”. The only trouble was persuading the children down from their high, and into bed, after the service ended.
Junior church plan to meet again in this way in a few weeks’ time, and the children continue to light candles and display them in their windows as a sign of hope at 8pm every Sunday.