Toner

Having problems with the photocopier - toner not sticking to the paper reliably.

So I google it.

A few answers down, I come across this:

"Is it essential to use a toner? Toner isn’t an absolute.,"

Huh? How can you print without toner?

It then continued:

"but toner will benefit your skin in many different ways, therefore it’s a plus to have toner in your beauty routine."

Ah! the other sort of toner. 

 

This is where more intelligent AI would be useful.

Paradise?

 I've been rewatching Death in Paradise. It's a fun detective series set on a fictional Caribbean island.

Officer Dwayne Myers, Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey, and Sergeant Fidel Best

I've also been reading the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano - a former slave who was involved in the British abolition movement.

Olaudah Equiano

 

He spent a number of years in the Caribbean, and mentions several of the islands referred to in Death in Paradise. I was interested to read his opinion of it:

"every part of the world I had hitherto been in seemed to me a paradise in comparison of the West Indies."

I guess you don't look at the Caribbean as paradise when the sun, sea, and sand is combined with slavery, brutality, and injustice.

Fiction and non-fiction

I was standing by the church library while two wee girls were looking at the kids' books.

('Bible Fiction' means historical fiction and time-travel stories about Bible events.)

Child 1: In my school we can choose whether we want to read a fiction book or a non-fiction book.

Me: Which do you prefer?

Child 1: Fiction 

Child 2: Non-fiction, because it tells you about things that are real.

It made me think of that Neil Gaiman quote (where he was misquoting GK Chesterton):

Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.

I did not confuse them by telling them this!

Unusual things I find when cleaning the church

A little picture book about head lice.

In German.

 

🤔

Leading a team

Read this in an article in an art magazine. But if you substitute 'artist' with 'team member' it could apply to pretty much any team, doing pretty much anything.

Who decides?

I liked this quote about A.I. from Madam Secretary:

Technology is not the enemy, unless we allow it to substitute its judgement for our own.

(Season 6 episode 3: Killer Robots)

Applies in many more situations than killer robots.

Advice for Sunday School teachers

As a new school year begins, I thought I’d post some stuff I wrote for the leaders of my old Sunday School class, on the off-chance it was relevant for someone reading the blog.

There are infinite amounts of advice that could be given, but I think these are the most important, and hold true whatever format or style your teaching takes.

 

✝️ Preach the gospel

Children easily learn to parrot 'Jesus died to save us from our sins'. But they often really believe it's about being good, going to church, or having a Christian family.

Tell them it's not - tell them often.

Don't assume they are believers (Saying ‘IF you love/follow/believe in Jesus…’ is a good way to do that simply.)

Use different words or ways of explaining the gospel, that fit with the story e.g. Yes, Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins - but also, Jesus died to make us God's friends, so we can be in his family, to set us free, to beat the devil, to give us new life etc. etc. etc…

 

 

 📖 Teach the truth

They're young - you need to simplify things. But make sure everything you say is true. (Not watered down, but distilled, as I heard someone say once).

Make sure you're teaching what the Bible actually says, not what tradition has added!

Trite 'Sunday School answers' are often unhelpful. Be honest about the bits you find hard to understand.

If it comes up, be honest about things that Christians genuinely disagree about. This could be 'in some churches they believe X but we believe Y.'
Or, for things that we ourselves have differing opinions on (e.g. creation, predestination, eschatology, Hallowe’en), simply 'Some Christians believe X and some believe Y - but we all believe Z, which is the most important (maybe add ‘ask your parents what they think’.)

Be honest about the sins and failures of Bible heroes. Be honest about your own sins and failures (both at a PG level of course 😁)

 

 

🥰 Look out for outsiders

Every child needs to feel they belong.

Pay particular attention to those who don't fit in in some way - those who attend irregularly, are particularly shy, are always in trouble, struggle academically, hate doing crafts, are from a different race or culture, are less well off, have a disability, are neurodivergent, come from a non-christian family, have a difficult family situation… or just that child you really don't like for whatever reason 😬

If they don't know that we welcome them, they won't understand that Jesus welcomes them. 

 

🙏 Pray

The one I'm least good at!

The best planned lesson in the world is no good without prayer. Pray for yourself as you prepare, pray for yourself as you teach, pray that the children will understand, pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to them.

Pray for their families, pray for their schools, pray that they will not believe the lies the world tells them, pray that they will believe, pray that they will keep on going.