“Now what would someone from Hovland know about chalk on a sidewalk?” you might be asking. After all, Hovland doesn’t have much for sidewalk— perhaps only the small stretch in front of the post office. Other than that, it would seem there is hardly any sidewalk for chalk art by children!
But—creativity being a gift from God, the children of Hovland still had a chance to chalk-it-up during our recent Vacation Bible School at Trinity Lutheran. We found a broad expanse of concrete at the Hovland Dock just waiting for chalk drawings of mystery ships and mystery monsters. And then we found broad flat rocks (including some in the church yard) that now hold more drawings to accompany stories. The most important element, it turns out, isn’t the sidewalk, or even the chalk, it’s the creative minds of children.
A few years ago I was on a trip to Honduras, visiting small Lutheran church congregations in small rural villages. Like Hovland, there were no sidewalks. We had brought white chalk to give to the schools in the villages, but found we had enough to also give the children a chance to draw and tell stories. At that time as well, broad flat rocks became the place for the story-telling and art-drawing.
Whether they are in Honduras or Hovland, kids—like Daniel Bockovich, above—love to express themselves with chalk. And sidewalks or not, they find a way.
Rain comes to Hovland, and comes to Honduras. The drawings will fade, and then disappear. But in the minds of the children, they will remember being invited to imagine, to draw, to tell. One of the many things we know about Jesus was that he encouraged children to be free to come into his presence. In the ancient world, children weren’t welcome in adult circles, so when children would want to come into the presence of Jesus, others would try to shoo them away. But Jesus wanted to encourage them, invite them, hear them. I can imagine Jesus sitting in the dust of a village path, and inviting a child, in Aramaic or Hebrew, saying “Here, little one, draw me a picture, tell me a story.”
And Jesus says the same to each of us, “Here, draw me a picture, tell me your story.” Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Pastor Kris Garey of Trinity Lutheran, Hovland.
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