Hello Chapel Hill Families!

On Sunday we heard the story of “The Five Friends”.  We discussed our new faith word “WONDER” and how amazed the people in that house must have felt to see the roof cut open, a man lowered down, Jesus healing him, and seeing the previously paralyzed man walk out the door!  All our stories this month are about different people Jesus heals. One of our wonder questions was “Why did Jesus Heal their Friend?” We talked about how the friends’ faith in Jesus healed him. Kids got to reenact this story by using blocks, and played a relay game with towels and stuffed animals in their classrooms. I hope you will join us this Sunday for “Healing the Man with the Withered Hand” (Luke 6:6-11) at 9:30AM in the children’s wing.

COVID UPDATE: Masking is required for children in Sunday school and unvaccinated adults. However, we are highly encouraging all people to wear masks at church right now as an added precaution due to the rising COVID numbers in our area. Thank you for helping us keep our church family healthy and in-person!

We sponsor cousins, Neema & Kikwete, who live in the Angel House Orphanage in Tanzania, Africa. We have pledged to give $90/month in order to provide food, clothing and schooling to these children at Angel House. Each Sunday, kids have the opportunity to bring money to put into our offering for Neema and Kikwete. Would you help us meet our goal by sending your child with $1.00 each week? Our former Director of Children’s Ministries, Raegan Brane, has visited Angel House in the past. You can find out more information about the Grassroots Organization and Angel House by clicking HERE.

REMINDER:

If you have a 3rd, 4th or 5th grader that has a Deep Blue Bible, please help them remember to bring it with them to Sunday school each week! We don’t have many extras of that particular version at the church and they will be looking up and reading scripture every time they come to church from now on.

On Palm Sunday, CH Kids will wave palms & sing during both services. CH Youth will be cooking lunch to raise funds for their Summer Mission Trips. Please join us for a kid-friendly lunch followed by our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Lunch will be served from 11:00AM-1:00PM. We will begin our Easter Egg Hunt for Toddlers and Preschoolers on the playground at Noon immediately followed by the Elementary School Egg Hunt at the 3 crosses. Join us for a fun morning of fellowship at Chapel Hill!

If you are interested in donating candy for this event, we will have collection bins at the entrances starting March 6th. Thank you!

We will be doing “Knights of North Castle” LIVE for VBS 2022 at Chapel Hill. We did this VBS virtually during 2020, but are excited to deck out the church with snow, Christmas trees, and castle décor this Summer. Child attendance will be capped at 250 kids. We will open child registration on Palm Sunday, April 10th and registration will close by Sunday, June 5th (unless we hit our 250 mark sooner). If you would like to help plan and prep for VBS this year, please contact me. If you would like to volunteer during the week, click here!

Don’t forget to check our Chapel Hill Kids Facebook Group regularly for the most up to date information. If you haven’t checked your child’s information on the birthday post, please make sure you do so as soon as possible. I have marked it as an announcement so you can easily find it. If you have moved in the last year, please contact the office so that we have your correct address on file so they can receive some birthday mail. The office number is (316) 684-1117.

Blessings to you and your children,

Allison

Celebrate Wonder is a Sunday school curriculum that engages children’s natural sense of curiosity to help them understand God’s love. It creates a safe environment for kids to ask big questions — helping them explore the Bible in ways that feed their imagination and encourages creativity. Through carefully-selected Bible stories, songs, videos, and hands-on activities, Celebrate Wonder gives children the tools to explore their faith while incorporating it into their daily lives.

Each month, our weekly stories will align with a Faith Word. The Faith Word for the month of February is, “WONDER”.

In this week’s Bible story, Jesus heals a man with a “withered” hand. Many healing stories from Jesus’ life and ministry are challenging from a modern, medical point of view. What does it mean that the man had a withered hand? Some believe that the man had some form of paralysis or arthritis in his hand. It may have been a lifelong ailment. We know that Jesus healed those who were suffering for many years.

Jesus’ ministry was all about seeing, truly seeing, who was left out of the community and making ways for those people to be brought back into the community. The man in today’s story probably needed accommodations to be a part of the community. Maybe he couldn’t do the kind of work he wanted to do. Or maybe people looked at him strangely or felt sorry for him. Jesus wanted him to be a full member of the community. Jesus’ ministry was filled with acts that gave people a sense of awe and wonder!

We want to show sensitivity as we teach kids about miraculous healings in the Bible. God still heals today, and we can experience healing in lots of ways. Use this opportunity to teach your kids to pray for those in need of healing. Look for ways your kids can help those in need. Also, be careful in the language you use about different illnesses or physical disabilities. Those with illnesses or disabilities were marginalized by the society in which Jesus lived and worked, and many disability advocates still feel that this is true today.

This month we will explore wonder through faith. Most of the time, we have engaged our faith through moments of wonder. I wonder what it will be like to see wonder through the lens of faith. How might you focus your prayers and service on faith this month? Spend some time with God and journal about what it means to you to be a person of wonder-filled faith.