How long is it?
28/11/22 02:06
I have a measuring wheel. The one I have isn’t the most accurate measuring tool, but it is good for determining approximate distances. The device is fairly simple. there is a wheel that you roll along the ground that turns a digital meter displaying feet traveled by the device. It is useful for ordering fencing materials, planning landscaping, and other measuring tasks. Children are interested in the device. It is fun to measure distances to get the size of objects in your mind. Yesterday, I was talking with some of the children in our church about how long different things are. I used a tape measure to measure the length of my finger and the length of my arm. I pointed out to the children that my 25’ measuring tape would be difficult to use to determine the length of a train car. I have a 100’ measuring tape, which is long enough to measure a 50’ or even a 60’ train car, but the measuring wheel makes the job a bit simpler than laying out the long tape and then having to wind it in.
Surveyors, builders, and others who make accurate measurements of large distances have modern measuring tools such as lasers that help them determine how long various things are.
However, I pointed out to the children, a good measuring tape, a measuring wheel, or even a laser is useless in determining how long certain things are. For example, if I ask, “How long will the sermon be?” no measuring tape will help us determine the answer. For that we need a clock. I had a simple wall clock to illustrate my point. Of course some of the children in the group do not know how to tell time with an analog clock that displays time with hands that rotate around a dial marked with 12 numbers. There is a bit of skill involved in using the device. It isn’t automatic to know that when the minute hand is on the four it indicates 20 minutes - the amount of time often allotted for a sermon in a mainline protestant church. Of course that assumes that the sermon started at the top of the hour, and unlikely scenario.
Even if you have a clock and know how to read it, you don’t have a way of knowing about things that take a very long time. For example the question, “How long until Christmas?” is hard to answer with a clock. I suppose I could make a way to record how often I wind the clock in my study, which has to be wound once a day. It will need to be wound 27 more times before Christmas. But the more conventional way of determining how long in the case of the question about Christmas is with the use of a calendar.
Had I put out the measuring tape, measuring wheel, clock, and calendar and asked an adult, “What do these things have in common?” I wonder how many would come up with the answer, “Each measures ‘how long?’”
I use a lot of object lessons when sharing time with children in worship these days. I suppose object lessons have often been a staple in children’s sermons, but the growth of hybrid worship during the pandemic has heightened my awareness of the need for items with strong visual images when addressing children in the room while at the same time addressing children online. I often remember the pioneering television work of Fred Rogers when planning the time with children for our worship services. For 31 seasons, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was a staple of children’s television programming and the use of puppets combined with live actors created stories that were engaging for children of a wide age range. Mr. Rogers, however, did not work with a live studio audience. He was able to plan his programs exclusively for a television audience. That meant that video could be edited and a finished product produced from multiple takes of a particular scene or story. The time with children in our church is a bit more complex. We only get one shot and it needs to appeal to children who are in person in the room as well as those who are participating online through livestream. It also will be watched as a recording at a later time by some of the children.
And every experienced children’s pastor knows that the time with children is a critical time for communicating with adults as well. It is the one time in the worship service when everyone is paying attention to the presenter. The time with children often has the function of being an introduction to the scripture for adults as well as an engagement of the scripture with children. I am not sure that I appreciated the complexity of the experience when I was serving as a senior pastor and many weeks’ children’s times were led by others. My wife, Susan, is extremely gifted with the art of presenting children’s times to congregations. I have learned a lot by watching her over the years.
Being allowed to lead the time with children several Sundays in a row is a special treat of this phase of my career. There are weeks when it is my only worship responsibility, so I have time to think of that part of the service with careful attention.
When we stop to think of it, we know that not all time passes with equal impact. Ten minutes to get to the gate at the airport doesn’t feel the same as ten minutes of drilling at the dentist’s office. A year is a very long time for a three-year-old. It seems much shorter to his 60-year-old grandpa. The same person that will camp out overnight to wait in line to purchase tickets for a concert will complain about how long it takes a microwave oven to heat up a cup of soup. And we all know that you can’t measure the length of a pastor’s sermon with a tape measure.
Surveyors, builders, and others who make accurate measurements of large distances have modern measuring tools such as lasers that help them determine how long various things are.
However, I pointed out to the children, a good measuring tape, a measuring wheel, or even a laser is useless in determining how long certain things are. For example, if I ask, “How long will the sermon be?” no measuring tape will help us determine the answer. For that we need a clock. I had a simple wall clock to illustrate my point. Of course some of the children in the group do not know how to tell time with an analog clock that displays time with hands that rotate around a dial marked with 12 numbers. There is a bit of skill involved in using the device. It isn’t automatic to know that when the minute hand is on the four it indicates 20 minutes - the amount of time often allotted for a sermon in a mainline protestant church. Of course that assumes that the sermon started at the top of the hour, and unlikely scenario.
Even if you have a clock and know how to read it, you don’t have a way of knowing about things that take a very long time. For example the question, “How long until Christmas?” is hard to answer with a clock. I suppose I could make a way to record how often I wind the clock in my study, which has to be wound once a day. It will need to be wound 27 more times before Christmas. But the more conventional way of determining how long in the case of the question about Christmas is with the use of a calendar.
Had I put out the measuring tape, measuring wheel, clock, and calendar and asked an adult, “What do these things have in common?” I wonder how many would come up with the answer, “Each measures ‘how long?’”
I use a lot of object lessons when sharing time with children in worship these days. I suppose object lessons have often been a staple in children’s sermons, but the growth of hybrid worship during the pandemic has heightened my awareness of the need for items with strong visual images when addressing children in the room while at the same time addressing children online. I often remember the pioneering television work of Fred Rogers when planning the time with children for our worship services. For 31 seasons, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was a staple of children’s television programming and the use of puppets combined with live actors created stories that were engaging for children of a wide age range. Mr. Rogers, however, did not work with a live studio audience. He was able to plan his programs exclusively for a television audience. That meant that video could be edited and a finished product produced from multiple takes of a particular scene or story. The time with children in our church is a bit more complex. We only get one shot and it needs to appeal to children who are in person in the room as well as those who are participating online through livestream. It also will be watched as a recording at a later time by some of the children.
And every experienced children’s pastor knows that the time with children is a critical time for communicating with adults as well. It is the one time in the worship service when everyone is paying attention to the presenter. The time with children often has the function of being an introduction to the scripture for adults as well as an engagement of the scripture with children. I am not sure that I appreciated the complexity of the experience when I was serving as a senior pastor and many weeks’ children’s times were led by others. My wife, Susan, is extremely gifted with the art of presenting children’s times to congregations. I have learned a lot by watching her over the years.
Being allowed to lead the time with children several Sundays in a row is a special treat of this phase of my career. There are weeks when it is my only worship responsibility, so I have time to think of that part of the service with careful attention.
When we stop to think of it, we know that not all time passes with equal impact. Ten minutes to get to the gate at the airport doesn’t feel the same as ten minutes of drilling at the dentist’s office. A year is a very long time for a three-year-old. It seems much shorter to his 60-year-old grandpa. The same person that will camp out overnight to wait in line to purchase tickets for a concert will complain about how long it takes a microwave oven to heat up a cup of soup. And we all know that you can’t measure the length of a pastor’s sermon with a tape measure.
