I love this innovative idea that came in from a teacher in a Christian Science Sunday school.
She wrote,
“Since the Church Manual specifies only “Hymn,” in the order of the services without reference to what hymns we have to use, we decided to write our own music.
We had been learning about safety, which helped us pick a theme for the words.
My pupil and I wrote the first three verses together, and she wrote the last two.
We chose the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down,” which our superintendent had the piano music for to play from. And on Sunday, the entire Sunday school sang the piece as our closing hymn.
It went so well! Because of the repetitive nature of the score the little kids who couldn’t read were able to sing along, and we had a grand time.
Here are the words:
“God is always protecting us, protecting us, protecting us. God is always protecting us, morning & night.
God is our shepherd, shepherd, shepherd. God is our shepherd, we love God.
We are happy & grateful, happy & grateful, happy & grateful. We are happy & grateful, all the time.
Nothing can hurt us, hurt us, hurt us. Nothing can hurt us, especially not error.
God is our strong rock, our strong rock, our strong rock. God is our strong rock – you’re always safe.”
Nice work! I can hear the music in my ear…
Wonderful!! From an educator’s perspective this is an excellent idea because it accomplishes several key things, besides the all- important spiritual lesson: it gives the kids ownership in the task; it makes the task meaningful which, in this case, reinforces key truths about God and His perfect child, and finally, it gives the students a sense of accomplishment.
Here are some extensions of the idea that was shared:
1. Older kids like rap and hip hop music. Students can write a hymn in the form of a rap and then act it out using hand and foot movements- very fun!
2. Kids can be engaged in creating treatments for a particular challenge they may be having such as an issue with a sibling or struggles learning spelling words, etc. The treatment can be verbalized or the kids can write it out. You are never too young too be a healer.
3. Word Poetry- Kids can take a synonym and create a word poem from it. Here is an example:
SPIRIT
S- Soothing, safe
P- Punctual, peaceful
I- Irresistible good
R- Rejoicing
I- Indestructible
T- Trustworthy
Mary