Picture This

My son has pictures of his Little League baseball teams. Every year he played we have a picture of him and the team. We looked at those pictures when he graduated from high school and tried to identify every player and the coaches. Looking at the pictures brought back memories for him and for me. While he remembers playing catcher and being with friends, I remember snack schedules, keeping track of his sisters and sitting in the stands with the other parents.

I was reminded of that when I talked to a friend who’s church is celebrating their 150th anniversary. They have gotten out all the old pictures of their church including the ones from their Sunday School classes. Maybe you know the type they have - ones where the kids are all in a nice row, wearing their Sunday School pins for attendance. These pictures were taken every year until about 1960. They don’t have them after that.

Perhaps this is something we should resurrect. Technology makes this very easy. Cameras are reasonably priced and some of us can even use our cell phones. We can post the pictures on the church’s Facebook page or in an online dropbox. Last week a Children’s Ministry Director told me that her boy’s baseball team posts pictures and schedules on Shutterfly. She can download the schedule and any pictures with her kids in them. I haven’t used it yet but it looks interesting. I’ll probably give it a try soon. I have used Picasa to share pictures with friends from church and that works quite well too. There are lots of ways to do this on line.

So this Sunday I am taking my camera to church. I will take pictures of the kids singing or working with their teachers. This is a great way to remember the relationships we are building, preserve church memories and build an awareness of the practices of people of faith.