Object: The children's shoes.

Lesson: Discipleship; tolerance; service.

This morning I greet the children with a question and a request: "Does everyone have shoes on?" They look surprised, as if wondering silently, "Who would come to church without shoes?"

"Let me see your shoes!" I command. Twenty-four little feet emerge from where they have been curled under dresses and slacks, showing off everything from stiff, dressed-up, uncomfortable-looking shoes to a pair of sandals and even a pair of red-and-white striped rubber-soled loafers. I admire the variety they present, then immediately switch to what must surely seem like a non sequitur when I ask, "Did you know the church has a library?"

Looking puzzled, as if trying to figure out what my question has to do with shoes, a number of ch…