Marketplace 29 A.D. arrives for VBS

The goal of this special program is to allow children to experience life in the time of Jesus. And they loved it!

From the opening sound of the shofar at 6:30 p.m. to the closing of the Market place at 8:30 p.m., 290 costumed children and adults experienced life in a small Jewish settlement known as Marketplace 29 A.D. located in Alliance, Ohio. As the abbas (fathers) went off to their shops, each emma (mother) took her little family of eight children from their tribal tent to the synagogue for a lesson by the rabbi, or to the well for some cool water and a story of the old days from the story teller.

Later, each family had time to visit the shops in the marketplace where they could make panpipes, an oil lamp, or herb vinegar and drink a glass of mint tea. Carpenters, weavers, stonecutters, jewelers, weights and measurers all shared their skills under the 40 X 100 foot tent that housed all the shops. Some evenings under the watchful eyes of the abba shopkeeper, the children made sandals. As they wore them around the grounds, the need for washing of feet became real. Every evening musicians and the folk dancer led the families in praise singing and dancing. One evening the sounds of a visiting psalter player joined in the praise.

Children working in the Music Shop with abba-Dan Shell.

The bakers rewarded a trip to the bakery with the most wonderful treats of honey candy, sweet cookies and warm loaves of bread. A horse, some goats and a lamb added to the noisy excitement of the town, along with the races and competition of the games.

Children quickly learned to be on the lookout for the tax collector and his guard, the Roman soldier, who did not hesitate to take the golden coins each child carried in their money bag.

Even the town magician learned that the emmas were teaching their children to be on the lookout for him and his evil magic.

Special thanks to farmers who loaned goats, sheep, and horses to add reality!

Every evening the young man called Jesus of Nazareth came to the marketplace with some of his followers. As he visited the synagogue, healed the sick and raised the dead, some of the children asked him to pray for their relatives and to "heal their sins." The last evening the children cheered as the tax collector and Roman soldier knelt at the feet of Jesus and asked forgiveness for their sins.

About 200 adults helped make costumes of handmade tunics and moneybags for every child, erect 14 tribal tents, put up two huge tents for both preschoolers and elementary children, bake hundreds of cookies and candies, and make more than 100 loaves of bread. On the closing night Pastor Rick Sams shared the gospel with parents and children by passing out pieces of matzah and explaining the stripes and the piercing of the bread.

Submitted by Lisbeth Stanford, C.E. Director
Alliance Friends