#617. Flannelgraph
Sep 14th by adminHi,
It’s me, flannelgraph. Yes, that flannelgraph, the Sunday School board that you used to put flannel shaped characters like Noah and Moses on to tell Bible stories.
What have you been up to? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other. You look good. Have you been working out? I hear good things about that P90X program but you know me, I’ll always be soft around the edges.
I haven’t been doing much lately, but I was going through some of my old VBS pictures the other day and it made me think of you. We had some wild times back then didn’t we? I was on top of the church world back in the late eighties. Seriously, I don’t know if they keep a chart of top-selling church supplies but if they did, I owned first place like INXS’s album “Kick.” Remember that one? That thing was packed with awesomeness, kind of like me. “New Sensation,” “Devil Inside,” “Need You Tonight,” every song on that album was a winner.
They even had the perfect slow jam, “Never Tear Us Apart.” That one hurts to listen to a little right now because something has torn us apart. Something came between you and I. Come on, stop walking away, I just want to talk. Let’s stop playing games. We both know what it is. There’s no use pretending. We both know what wrecked our relationship.
Whiteboards.
I get it. I do, I do, I just didn’t see it coming. I understand they’re easy to draw on, you can project a computer image on them and kids can draw all over them in Sunday School, but are they soft to the touch? Are they fuzzy fun? Can you tell me they really make you happy? Are you cool with having your hands get all smudgy with ink? Don’t make me quote Justin Timberlake Jr., Jesse McCartney, and ask you, “how do you sleep?”
You’re not even listening. I don’t even know why I came here today. Do you know where I spend most of my time? Inside a box at the bottom of the supply closet next to the secret bathroom at church. It’s dark in here. No one ever really visits the supply closet. A few weeks ago a teenager looking for a Frisbee found me and with complete and utter confusion said, “What is this old thing?”
That “cut like a knife,” if I could borrow a line from Canada’s John Cougar Mellencamp, Bryan Adams. I’m not relevant any more. Look at me, babbling with 80s references. I’m not postmodern, whatever that means. Kids these days are growing up without flannel. Doesn’t that make you sad? It doesn’t? OK.
Well I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll leave you alone with your shiny new friend Mr. Whiteboard. Just promise me you won’t forget what we once had. When you’re ready to come home to Flannel Country, please know that like Richard Marx sang, I’ll be “right here waiting for you.”
Forever offering the softer side of Sunday School,
Flannelgraph
Comments
Dear Flannelgraph,
I am in possession of your most recent correspondence. Unfortunately, the flannel side of the letter was stuck to the glue side of the envelope. When I removed the letter, the flannel was violently ripped from the sheet of paper in places. I am truly sorry for that. I hope it was not a relative of yours.
I for one am glad you brought up this important subject. I have missed you also.
When I think about you.
Which, to be completely honest, just isn't very often.
About a year ago I was cleaning the craft closet and spied you playing by yourself in the far corner. At that moment I had a brief recollection of the good times we had when I was a child. I even thought about using you for my next lesson. But when I looked closer, I noticed your flannel was a bit disheveled and a slight rip had appeared at one corner.
I thought about giving you a face lift, but then my I-Phone rang. Next thing I know, I was checking out my Bible App and decided to incorporate it into my next Sunday School lesson.
I really haven't forgotten you. Please don't go away completely. I can feel your love and, like a prodigal shepherd, I'll return someday to claim my forever furry friend.
Until then,
I am almost yours,
The Sunday School Teacher.
Check out my blog at
http://lifewithrachael.blogspot.com/2009/08/faith-of-child.html
You never cease to amaze me. I don't see how you come up with this stuff. You keep me laughing bro!
Don't worry, Mr. Flannelgraph. When I become a CEO I promise to use you in my board meetings.
Hey, totally unrelated to Flannelgraph, but I just saw that you're rated in the top five of Kent Shaffer's Church of Relevance's top 100 Christian Blogs. Way cool!
Delightfully enough, it was only about 2 years ago (maybe 3, now) that my college minister pulled out the felt/flannel board Bible timeline and turned it into a contest to see who could figure out what each felt piece was (he made them himself, that afternoon) and when it belonged. Mine was the bronze snake, only when he asked me what it was, and I said "bronze snake" he only heard snake, so he asked me what it was made of. I thought bronze was the wrong answer, so I said hesitantly "…felt?" We couldn't stop laughing, That night is easily one of my favorite memories from college ministry, ever! Thanks, felt board!
Ah, but you are not dead! There are a group of ladies out there, flogging your wares, and I am one of them. Check out http://csmith.storytimefelts.com
…and then, when the lesson was over, and the teacher had closed in prayer, we would walk up to the flannelboard, pick up the characters, and make them all stand on their heads.
It was a compulsion. We had to do it each time.
When I was a kid, the Christian bookstore in town had a flannelgraph board in the section with all their Sunday School curriculum, and I would go play with that for ages while my mom went shopping.
It was almost as good as the ball pit at the fabric store, but I think I made more instant best friends at the fabric store than at the bookstore.
When I was in college, I worked in the kids' ministries department at my church, and one of my jobs was pulling the flannelgraph pieces for the stories in various classrooms each week.
The pieces were stored in a tall cabinet, with shelves about 1" apart. The pieces were each numbered and placed on a numbered tray, which went into the corresponding shelf. To pull pieces for a story, I'd find the story in a thick book, which listed all the pieces (people, scenery, props, etc) needed for that story, and then I had to find them according to piece and shelf number.
And if they weren't put away properly at the end of the lesson? Madness and mayhem ensued! Or, at the very least, an unhappy me, the next time I had to find those particular pieces.
are flannelgraphs strictly a christian luxury?
because i do remember the flannelgraph from church, but am now just realizing i've only ever seen one in church.
wv – unfinso : the way your 12 year old daughter says "i don't think so"
We just finished a 5-part Sunday morning sermon series, "Stories from Sunday School". All the visuals were authentic 20th century Betty Lukens' flannelgraph characters and backgrounds, scanned 21st century-style for video projection.
(Betty Lukens is the Queen of Flannel, if you didn't know.)
We had David, Goliath, the sling, Goliath's sword, the Ark, animals, the parted Red Sea, the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, the golden statue…all on green flannelgraph. It was awesome.
Although, I discovered that Moses and Noah are the same flannel character.
Thanks, Jon!
I was in college when Kick came out. Lucky me!
I didn't grow up in church so I wasn't very familiar with you Mr. Flannelboard. In our small church, you are all the rage! I actually got to see my pastor's wife use you to teach the kids…they love you and I think I do too! You have to come visit us at youth group one day. =)
Ok, so I just saw this and felt compelled to comment…I have been giving my mom grief for at least 15 years about still using her flannelboard to teach kids in Sunday School, 3rd world countries, etc. ALL children LOVE it….I don't know what it is, but…they love it! Wish she appreciated your blog…it's all about her.
Thanks for the reminder about the "flannel people"
oh flannelgraph!
I'm pretty sure the pastor of my church claimed that he invented flannelgraphs at one point, which I don't know if that's true or not, but we did have a huge closet full of flannelgraph sets that none of the sunday school teachers ever used…I think they were there in case someone wanted to buy them????
hahaha, Justin Timberlake, Jr. So true. Sad, but true.
I love flannelgraph. I learned by it as a child and I have taught with it and now that I am teaching small children again I would like to find some of the figures. I made my own board and can make backgrounds but I need the figures. Trying to find them without robbing the bank has been difficult. I am not a fan of that terrific? white board. Take me back to those good old days…..
I have been looking and looking for the old flannelgraphs for 3-5 year olds. I taught Bible School with them many years ago and now, even at my age, I have been recruited to teach that class again. Thank you for the great story. God bless you. I used to use white receiving blankets to make scenes and a big old blackboard. What memories!