Fun in Sunday School

This Sunday learned about the miracle of Jesus healing the lepers and the one who came back to say thank you.

In teaching this lesson I explained to the children that leprosy is a highly contagious disease so when a person got it, they would be forced to leave their community and live outside of town. They were cut off from their families. They couldn't play with their friends any more.

Daphene: Were they allowed to call their families?
Emerson: They didn't have phones back then. They didn't even have e-mail!
(not their real names)

As a side note, in my research for teaching this one I found a lesson that included instructions for a bizarre twist on the classic tag game, "Stuck in the Mud." In this version one kid is leprosy. He has a sheet of dot stickers. When the game starts he chases the other children and puts a sticker on them, giving them leprosy. Once a child has leprosy they can't move. Another child plays the roll of Jesus. Jesus is to run around and "cleanse" the leprosy kids by taking off their sticker allowing them to re-join the game.

Now, is it just me or does this game just seem WRONG. Not only are you leading a group of children in collectively mocking people with a very serious disease that continues to destroy people's lives, but as my oldest nephew pointed out, leprosy tag sounds like something out of an episode of South Park where they point out the irrationality of Christian fundamentalist wackos.