HELPING
WITH HAND MOTIONS

Topics: Children; Church; Community; Compassion; Empathy; Family; Teens

References: Romans 12:3–8; 1 Corinthians 12:12–31; Ephesians 4:1–16

After an accident in which she lost her arm, Jamie refused to go to school or church. Finally, the young teen thought she could face her peers. In preparation her mother called her Sunday school teacher and asked that he not call attention to Jamie. The teacher promised, but then he got sick on Sunday and had to call a substitute.

At the conclusion of the lesson that day, which was about inviting friends to church, the substitute teacher led the class in doing the hand motions to the familiar children’s poem:

Here is the church,

Here is the steeple.

Open the door

And see all the people.

Jamie’s eyes filled with tears. A thirteen-year-old boy sensed Jamie’s pain and knelt beside her. With one hand apiece, they supported each other, making the church, steeple, and people.

Together they illustrated what real church is.

—Billy Waters, Teacher Touch (Cook, 1999)

PART 4: CREATION