It was the ‘children’s’ message at First Presbyterian Birmingham on Labor Day weekend.
This is where the children are given a kid-friendly explanation of the upcoming sermon.
It was a holiday weekend so not many children were in attendance, but one of the kids made up for it with a barrage of questions and stories.
The little girl had something to say about almost every sentence uttered by Director of Christian Education Patti Winter, a veteran children’s educator, who has mad skills at handling children eruptions diplomatically.
Patti waited patiently through each anecdote coming from the child before she gently steered the conversation back to her message.
The message on this day was the ‘salt of the earth’ passage, Matthew 5-13:
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.’
Patti talked about how salt is helpful to make food taste better. She said salt is also used in dyes to make colors brighter and, if that wasn’t enough, she said salt goes into plastics to make the plastics better. She did a little more talking about the virtues of salt and the meaning behind the passage before getting ready to go. The children’s program had by now taken on a little extra length.
But wait, the girl’s hand was in the air again
OK, last question, Patti said.
In a sincere voice, the girl asked:
“What about pepper?”