The Many Thoughts of Wanda Kidd

Back in the day, when I was responsible for children’s sermons. (I know there are many opinions about the value and role of children’s sermons. This is not the point of this piece.)

Anyway, the theme for several weeks was the explanation of the Ten Commandments. There were nine weeks in total. We excluded the one on adultery. I always thought about ways for children to relate to these concepts when ironically, some adults still seemed to struggle to grasp them.

Over the years, I have learned something important about children. They have an innate ability to translate complex ideas into their lives if given the chance. Thirty-five years ago, I had 1st to 4th graders act out some of the parables. When they reached the part in the parables of the Lost Son, it states, “He squandered his money.” He spent it on extravagant things. At this point, the group chose a tiny second-grade girl to be the son. When she performed her part, she said, “He wasted his money on big boomboxes and roller skates.” I was amazed at her ability at eight years old to understand so much about human nature.

I do not remember what I did for the other eight. However, I was concerned about conveying the concept of coveting to children. Our culture is too often built on wanting things that others have. I was also not one of those children’s sermon people who used them as props. If I had something to tell the adults in the congregation, I just said it. Sometimes, they got the message anyway.

Finding an age-appropriate vehicle to make my point became a quest. One day, I noticed a pair of my daughter’s children’s sunglasses lying around and had an idea. I found a gold marker because every children’s minister has every color of marker, especially shiny ones. On those child-sized sunglasses, I wrote MINE on each lens. That Sunday morning, I showed them the glasses, had each child put them on, and tell me what they saw.

“That is what coveting is,” I said.  When everywhere you look, you think of it as yours. God’s rule is that if it belongs to someone else, you must honor that it is theirs, not yours.  You can have something similar, but not theirs, that is true, even if you don’t take it from them. Just seeing someone else’s things as MINE is wrong. God hopes for us to be the best we are created to be. When you work with children and youth, you never know what is getting through.

The other day, my daughter and I were talking, and she reminded me of that children’s sermon. She mentioned, “I only remember a few of your children’s sermons (the truth hurts), but I do recall that one.  She continued, “It would have been wonderful if many people in power now had learned that at a young age. This lesson might have shaped their lives. We would certainly be living in a different world if they understood that not everything they see is potentially theirs.” 

So, placing the Ten Commandments in every town square, classroom, or courthouse is absurd if we ignore their significance. The Tenth Commandment does not state, “Whenever I look around, everything should be mine.” If that is your stated or unstated truth, you have entirely missed at least ONE of the TEN.