Carol Kerr, pastor of the Blue Point Congregational Church in Scarborough, is not afraid to try something new with her Sunday family services. In the past services based on the lessons found in “Star Wars” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” have been held at the church.
The family services are intended to give Sunday school teachers a break from their jobs and allow them and the church’s children an opportunity to worship with the entire congregation.
“With kids you have to make it a lot more creative to get everyone involved,” Kerr said.
Kerr has not had a problem finding creative subjects, and on Oct. 16 she had an ark of the covenant service, using the Biblical story about the ark.
While most people think the ark was a movie prop for an Indiana Jones film, it is a subject addressed in specific detail in the Old Testament and one Kerr shared with the congregation during the service.
The service also served as a chance to provide the congregation with a better understanding of history, which will help them better understand modern Christian beliefs.
“Unless we understand what happened there, we won’t understand what is happening here,” Kerr said.
Church members built an ark based on the specifications discussed in the Bible. The books of Exodus and Leviticus give very specific plans on the ark, including its size and appearance. For example the text specifies the ark was gold with two seraphs on top. There also are poles on the side to carry it from place to place since the Israelites were nomadic people.
“It’s as if God is talking to people who are going to be doing it,” Kerr said. “I’ve really learned a lot about it.”
The ark is believed to have contained the Ten Commandments, manna and the rod of Aaron, a powerful priest in Exodus. The ark was held in the tabernacle, a portable worship structure. The tabernacle was in two parts, an outside world and an inner one, which was a little bit of heaven. The tabernacle contained a washbowl, sacrificing table, incense, bread, a candelabra and the ark.
The Bible also is specific about the service that was conducted by the Israelites and how the church’s children participated in the service by acting as the priests of the tabernacle.
The children, dressed in robes, walked down the church’s aisle, washed their hands, performed a simulated sacrifice and left some bread as an offering for God. Then the priests entered the tabernacle where the ark was stored and into the presence of God.
Kerr brought the entire process back to modern Christian beliefs by telling the congregation that Jesus’s sacrifice was the once-and-for-all sacrifice and because of his actions everyone can enter into God’s presence.
Also included in the sermon, but not part of the Biblical story, are the “God boxes” that each child received during the service. These little gold-colored boxes would be used to store items special to the children, Kerr said.
Children at Blue Point Congregational Church carry the ark following last Sunday
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