SEPTEMBER, 2021

A retired minister from our church community offers an event once each year for senior church members. Fondly called the Adult Vacation Bible School (aka Adult VBS), the event centers around a specific biblical topic. For 2021, the topic was the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). In this writing by Paul, the full armor of God is characterized as the Shield of Faith, the Sword of the Spirit, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Sandals of Peace, the Helmet of Salvation and the Belt of Truth.

Craft ideas for this topic involved a good bit of development. Several approaches were evaluated before a conceptual design was at last finalized, allowing work to begin in preparing craft kits for the VBS participants. We settled on making a wall sconce kit. The Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit were selected to become the main elements of the sconce. The sconce was designed to include a coin holder. A removable commemorative coin offering a visual and textual reference to the full armor of God was included in each kit.

In all, we acquired and made parts for 25 kits. Parts for the sconce included: a wooden shield surround; a copper coated metal Shield of Faith; the commemorative coin, a candle; (2) AA batteries; an O ring; a candle holder; a Spirit Sword; a Word of God badge; and command strips for hanging the sconce. VBS participants painted and assembled the various parts in the kit to produce the finished sconce.