Programs at 2 churches try
to explain Lent to children

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
Explaining Lent to children can be difficult. But two Southwest Texas congregations have tried to do that.
Coker UMC, San Antonio, and First UMC, Seguin, scheduled Ash Wednesday services March 1 specifically for children.
Youngsters from Coker’s day school and mother’s day out program heard the Rev. Bob Allen, senior pastor, and the Rev. Stephen Sanders, associate pastor, describe the significance of Lent.
“We prepare our hearts and think about how much God loves us,” Allen told children at the special service.
Sanders said, “The ashes remind us that God loves us, and whenever we sin, God will forgive us.”
While preschoolers filled the Coker pews, adults were there, too. Many were parents or grandparents of the young worshipers.
Cindy Danmier sat in the congregation with her daughter, Courtney, 4. Her 5-year-old son, Trevor, came in with his day school class.
Danmier, who has a Baptist background, said she had never attended an Ash Wednesday service before.
“I came because my kids are going to be here,” she said. “I was curious about what it’s all about.”
Danmier said she expected the family’s evening conversation to be about the children’s experience that day.
“Hope and renewal are hard concepts,” said John Wick, a Coker member who attended the service with his 5-year-old daughter, Sloane.
“Telling the children in language they understand makes it easier for children to grasp and helps parents talk about Lent and Easter,” Wick said. “She’ll catch on to the season.”
The service allowed pastors to explain what children saw around them in the sanctuary.
“This is God’s house and our special place to worship him,” Allen said. “Everything in God’s house tells us something about God:
“The altar tells us God is here. The cross tells us God loves us. The flowers tell us we love God, and the candles tell us Jesus is the light of the world.”
Even if the children didn’t understand the story and the prayers, Sanders said, they took part in an important ritual.
“Maybe you don’t understand the meaning of Lent at 3, 4 or 5,” he said, “but over time, with repeated exposure, it will sink in.”
In Seguin, a bumblebee, a lamb, an elephant and Noah told the story of Lent to children at First UMC.
The puppets were four characters in a play written by children’s education director Candace Wilson.
“The play explained why 40 days is significant,” she said. “It explained fasting—find something to give up and why—and explained the significance of ashes.”
Characters, manipulated by some of the congregation’s fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students, introduced themselves as the “great-great-great-great” descendants of the animals Noah collected for the ark.
In the play, Noah assembled them to talk about Lent as a “special time that God has given us to remember and be thankful for all that we have.”
When the lamb (Kate Lindeman) said she was afraid people were talking about the season of “lint”—from wool—the elephant (Kelsey Dwyer) put her fears to rest. The elephant said Lent was part of the church year, a period of repentance and renewal.
The bee (Nicole Nelon) explained:
“Repentance is when we remember things we have done that were not nice and ask God to forgive us. And then we try really hard not to do them again. Renewal is when we try to live by the rules God gave us and be kind and generous to others.”
“Noah” (Chelsea Barton) said Lent was a time to “give up things that we enjoy as a love gift to God.”
“Giving up something, even something small, helps us to remember what Jesus gave up for us on the cross—his life,” Noah said.
Wilson said one reason the program touched the children was because the characters were familiar.
“They know who Noah is, because they see Noah’s ark all around,” she said. “(And) it wasn’t adults up there talking to them.
“As much as we love it in Bible study, there’s a lot of heavy stuff. This is a program that makes you smile. And then you remember what it said.”
The Seguin newspaper printed a photograph March 2 of a little girl receiving the ashes at First UMC.
Upon seeing the newspaper, Wilson reported, 4-year-old Hayden Haas said, “I remember that! I was there!”
“It wasn’t a picture of the puppets,” Wilson said. “It was a picture of the ashes. He remembered being there with his mom and dad. I think he got it.”