Hero Hospital VBS
“Home to God's Outrageous Love”
From Matthew 21:14-16
Story
Let's explore the amazing stories of Jesus and the people he inspired.
Building a Place for Discovery
Important Definitions
Nun: Someone who has taken a vow, or made a serious promise to God, to live a certain way and to always help others the best that they can. This is a lifelong promise. An Abbess is a leader of nuns.
Historical Guide: Hildegard of Bingen
Background on the Guide for Leaders:
Hildegard Von Bingen is considered by many to be the world’s oldest composer with surviving work. In other words, Hildegard’s musical compositions from the 12th century CE are the oldest pieces of music still played today with a known author. But that’s not all, she was the abass of a monastery and wrote extensively about faith in God and her own prophetic visions. But that’s still not all. She conducted research about healing and health by reading the many texts in her library and practicing healing herself leading to two important books on medicine written by Hildegard. Her book Physica was even used for many years as a medical school textbook. Hildegard was an early scientist whose research sets her apart as an essential leader in healthcare. She is considered a Catholic Saint and was even declared in 2012 to be a Doctor of the Church by the pope. She’s even become a bit of a pop culture icon with references to her person or work popping up in all kinds of books, movies, and TV shows. Yet, lots of this attention misses the point. Hildegard Von Bingen wasn’t some attention-seeking magical worker. She was a hard-working leader of deep faith who never stopped striving for more ways to help others even while managing her own experience with debilitating migraines.
If you are virtual or in person:
Have the kids and participating adults get out their Builder Book for Hero Hospital. They will use the book to follow along as you talk about the Historical Guide's Story, Jesus' Story, and as they think about their own story. As you'll see, they'll as use the book to award Builder Brick stickers​ (printed on ordinary 1x2.67 inch address labels which are then cut in half).
If you are virtual:
Sharescreen this interactive graphic and let the participants take turns in choosing an animation of Hildegard for you to click on to learn more about her story (Hildegard's story is also included in the Builder Book):
If you are in person:
Show this interactive graphic on a large screen and let the participants take turns clicking on an animation of Hildegard to learn more about her story (Hildegard's story is also included in the Builder Book):
Hildegard of Bingen and building a place for...
European
Hildegard was born in 1098 CE in Bermersheim vor der Höhe of the Holy Roman Empire (now Germany).
Girl
Hildegard had nine siblings and she was the youngest.
A Nun
Hildegard became a nun and dedicated her life to serving God.
Leader of an Abbey
Hildegard even became an Abbess that meant she led a whole community of nuns.
Famous Musician
Hildegard is one of the first composers in the entire world which means she wrote lots of popular music.
Reader
Hildegard spent a lot of time reading books in her library and uncovered all kinds of discoveries about medicine.
Researcher
Hildegard carefully practiced using the medicines she learned about, which led to new discoveries.
Migraines
Hildegard’s visions also came with terrible migraines that she lived with her whole life.
Visionary
Hildegard received visions from God and shared them with people.
Writer
Hildegard wrote many books that lots of people still read today and that are used in many schools.
Hildegard voiced by Rev. Suzanne Dillahunt, Bishop, Southern Ohio Synod, ELCA.
Award Hildegard Builder Bricks!
Ella Loved to see new places -
She travelled all over the United States and even the world but called Ohio home.
Make sure all the kids have their Builder Books opened to the Hildegard's Awesome page and that they have a sheet of Builder Brick stickers ready. Tell the kids that their goal is to give Hildegard the most possible Builder Bricks. For every brick awarded, a matching sticker should be added to the Hildegard's Awesome page. Bricks should be awarded for all the things she did to build up Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God. That includes things like this: ​
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One brick for every example from the story about music (pink sticker)
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One brick for every example of making something or being creative (purple sticker)
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One brick for every example of learning and exploring ideas (blue sticker)
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One brick for being a good example and leading the way (yellow sticker)
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One brick for accomplishing something new in life (green sticker)
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Two bricks for being curious and exploring (orange sticker)
Jesus' Story
Watch the Lego Video about Matthew 8:1-13
Let's check in on Brick World to see what's going on with Jesus--the ultimate builder of God's Kingdom. Keep an eye out for ways Hildegard is a builder like Jesus, and how we can be too. (You can enlarge the video within the video player.)
Award Hildegard Bonus Builder Bricks
Make sure the kids still have their Hildegard's Awesome page and Builder Brick stickers. The kids can now give Fabiola bonus bricks:
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Two bricks for every connection made to Jesus’ Story (red sticker)
Award Builder Bricks to the Kids
Make sure all the kids have their I'm Awesome page and Builder Brick stickers. Tell the kids that their goal is to award the most possible Builder Bricks to everyone. For every brick awarded, a matching sticker should be added to their I'm Awesome page. Kids can give bricks to themselves, to each other, or you can give them bricks. Every Builder Brick given should be explained.
Builder Bricks can be awarded for any of these reasons (or reasons you can come up with):
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Two bricks for following Jesus and helping people like he did (red sticker)
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One bricks for something about music (pink sticker)
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One brick for being creative or making things (purple sticker)
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One brick for learning and exploring ideas (blue sticker)
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One brick for being a good example and leading the way (yellow sticker)
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One brick for being a good team player (green sticker)
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Two bricks for exploring curiosity like Hildegard (orange sticker)
Question to Explore
Why do some people recover from an illness or disability when others don’t?
Answer: We're not always sure but we are learning more everyday.
Why?...
Bring it all Together, Brick by Brick
It's up to leaders how they want to share this reflection with the participating kids and adults. You can read it, share it conversationally, or simply use it to help answer questions that might come up:
Hildegard as always trying to learn more. When she was having trouble finding an answer to a tough question she would turn to God, or to her the books of her library, or to an investigation in the real world. She answered so so many questions in her life that others hadn't even thought to ask yet. Even after all that, there were still more questions left to answer than Hildegard could count. When it comes to people experiencing an illness or disability and some people coming out of that experience while others don't, we still have a lot to learn. The good news is that every time someone does make a recovery, we learn a little bit more about how to help other people in the future.
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Never once did Jesus make someone sick so that he could heal that person. Sickness and disability does not happen because God wants certain people to have that experience or so that only chosen people can get better. Human beings get sick because our bodies aren't perfect. Since our bodies aren't perfect, we don't always recover. It's that simple. What Jesus did do all the time was to show that the impossible could become possible if people chose to trust in each other, work together, and keep searching for answers.
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Today you are challenged to make your church into "a place for discovery."
Go out and do it!!!
Building A Place for Discovery:
“Jesus said, 'the people are to know all about God—streaming in from the East, pouring in from the West, sitting down at God’s kingdom banquet.'”
From Matthew 8:1-13
About the Authors
Hero Hospital is a collaborative effort of people and churches in the Southern Ohio Synod and beyond. Dan Jacob (Ministry Associate at Wittenberg University and Youth Leader at Peace Lutheran in Beavercreek) and Gary Pecuch (SOS Youth and Family Ministry Coach) have organized these efforts. Special thanks goes to Rev. Suzanne Dillahunt, Bishop, Southern Ohio Synod, for providing the voice for Hildegard of Bingen. If you're curious about how all these original materials were made then check out Inkscape (graphic design), DaVinci Resolve (videos), Animatron (animations), EZgif (gifs), Artfire (lego minifigures), Audacity (audio clips), and Wix (website).
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The bannerblue.org site also showcases much of the other work of Dan and the artists he works with. If you'd like to support projects like Hero Hospital, please consider heading over to the Make Mobile page to check out another major project that could use your help.