VBS Wrapup

I've kind of been away in blogging "limbo." I've had all sorts of ideas for blog posts, but have seldom had the ambition to actually sit down and write them. I just now even posted the sermons for the past three weeks. Man, am I getting lazy!

This past week, Shepherd of the Lake had its Vacation Bible School. Each year I insist that we use the Concordia Publishing House VBS curriculum. I simply can't understand the fad over Group Publishing. CPH is solidly Lutheran and, in my opinion, does a better job reinforcing the theme for the week. The one year (prior to my first call) that I had exposure to Group VBS, there were so many different themes to the daily messages that the kids had a hard time finding a coherence. This year, "Friendship Trek" focused on "Jesus, Our Forever Friend." I was afraid it would be kind of lame...Jesus is our "BFF?" Come on...

But "Friendship Trek" was really good. The kids latched on to the daily themes...all centering on how Jesus is the best friend we have, specifically through his death and resurrection. That came through loud and clear.

Again, I can't understand the trend of using non-denominational curriculum for VBS and Sunday school. Why would you want something that's expressly "not Lutheran." Why is something that is distinctly Lutheran so often considered a "bad thing?"