Leva Livet ledare eller kung??

A couple of weeks ago, it was my (Barb’s) turn to help with our kids at church. Years ago, in fact when we first arrived in Sweden in June 2017, we changed the name of our kids’ program from Söndagskolan (Sunday school) to Leva Livet (which means live life!). Leva Livet is, in fact, the name of the curriculum that we have been using these past years. At the beginning of the change, we used to tease each other on our team and “penalize” each other if one made the slip-up and said Sunday School instead of Leva Livet. The penalty was to pay 10kronor, which no one ever paid. It was just a way to hold ourselves accountable and move forward with the new name. 

Fast forward to Sunday two weeks ago, and it’s Barb’s turn to work with our delightful 5-10 year olds. At the moment, we’re a group of 4 consistent participants. And we’re all internationals! Love it! Anyway, it was time for a bit of drama in our worship service before the kids were dismissed to go upstairs and have their fun. Or, at least Barb thought it was time for a bit of drama!! So I dressed up as a king.

The worship service just moments before a king came to visit...

Full disclosure just now: I took our best dining room tablecloth, which not only is long and totally served my purpose, but it’s also a deep rich burgundy color with beautiful designs that made it quite the elegant robe for a king. Then I found the Santa Lucia crown upstairs (which, of course, was easy ~ every church and/or home in Sweden has a Santa Lucia crown tucked away somewhere in the building!). We added another beautiful piece of cloth from the costume closet in church, and the royal effect was just perfect. (oh, and by the way, I opted not to put in any Lucia candles on my crown…felt it was a bit over the top).

I also took with me the Leva Livet Ledare hat (Leva Livet leader), which is always worn by the person working with the children that day. Then I began my parade down the center aisle of our church. 

The royal garments and crown....oh, and the Leva Livet ledare hat!

Now, you need to know that many in our congregation are on the elderly and mature end of life, so there were a few expressions of surprise around the room. But the giggles began as I switched off between my Leva Livet ledare hat and my Santa Lucia crown. When I got up front, I asked if people had noticed that I was the Leva Livet ledare today….but in fact, that wasn’t quite so because I was a king who had come to Malmö, specifically to Wesleykyrkan, from a long time back in the Old Testament. It had been a long and difficult journey to get here but I had eventually found my way. I was coming specifically to talk with Leva Livet (and then asked whatever that means??!) about a friend of mine who believed in God, who believed so strongly in God that he was willing to die for his belief.  And when the law changed and said that people could only bow down and pray to me, the king, even then my friend wouldn't pray to anyone except God. Then I asked people if they would pray for me and the children, as we needed to throw my friend into a big hole with lots of hungry lions in it and there might be some shouting going on up on the second floor. 

You all know which story we were working on that morning, right? 

The king with his crown, Daniel in the lion's den, and the angel that God sent to protect Daniel from the mouths of hungry lions ~

And, to top it off, as I walked down the 3 steps from the microphone to the door to take the kids out with me, my friend who was leading the worship took the back of my long robe and held it out behind me, just like you would expect someone to do if a king had really come to church that day. 

Thankful that I didn’t fall down the 3 steps as my formal dining room table cloth was quite ample enough to get in the way!

All was restored to order as the king and the kids went upstairs to learn more about Daniel and tame the hungry lions!!