Something New
I teach Sunday school, 2 and 3 year olds. If you're scared, I'm even moreso. Thankfully its only for 45 minutes, so I can only do so much damage.
In a break from my normal blogging style, each Monday morning I'm going to give my reflections on the class the Sunday before, including the Scripture passage & story I based my lesson on. I need to be more comfortable talking publically about the stuff that takes up the majority portion of my processing time, you know, spiritual stuff.
I only have two "students", though occasionally a third will slip in, and on one hectic Sunday I had 4. One was a hardcore crier, even though his mother stayed with him the entire time. I never know how to handle criers; my first instict is "spank them!" and my second is "leave and never come back!", I'm certain neither are quite right. But my two main students are Josiah & Isabelle.
Josiah is already an introvert of sorts, but I've made it into his little world enough that I'm guaranteed a hug every time I see him. Isabelle is, at 3, a genius but also the most wilful, stubborn, and deviously depraved child I've ever met. She's a kid after my own heart. But given that both children have the attention span that can't be measured in conceivably small enough time units, and that Josiah will inevitably drop back into Josiah land (usually involving dinosaurs, space men, and this red pair of goggles he always wears) and Isabelle will as a de facto matter of principal try to distract me, putting together a coherent and consistent "Bible Lesson" is something thus far only achieved in its most minimilistic of forms.
Let me translate: I've got 45 minutes to teach them one nugget of truth about their Savior and the Gospel. 45 minutes to give them one thing that they'll hopefully keep with them for the rest of their lives. I do other things, don't get me wrong. Prayer, Church, being kind and polite to one another, all those things I enforce as a matter of setting a tone, one that will hopefully become familiar and will seem appropriate for the rest of their lives.
This week it was Noah post-flood, the sacrifice, the rainbow, and God's promise that He will never again destroy the earth with a catastrophic flood. April made the point later that what's stunning about the story is that God made the rainbow not only to remind us of His promise, but to remind Himself, which is a fascinating thing to me. How many other things has God done and will God do to remind Himself of His promises and His providence to us? My hope in the class though was to teach the kids to see what I see everytime I see a rainbow (which I earnestly look for everytime there's a thunderstorm and some sunshine, as I'm certain you all do to); that nearly the first thing I think when I see a rainbow is "God made that, and sometime thousands of years ago He made a promise never to flood the earth again." To me it seems like an intense truth to get across to a couple fo 3 year olds. But I suppose if I can pick it up, they can too.
The whole point being, I suppose, is that starting out as dang young as possible, we raise our kids to see every little part of our lives, even something as seemingly tertiary as a rainbow, as something spiritually dynamic and a gracious gift from a loving God.
I had a great discussion with April last night concerning Ham, and how only a generation after the Flood, the only family God saw fit to survive the flood had already experienced rebellion (Ham) and sinful embarassment (drunk, naked Noah). We sorta concluded a few things: God's chosen are never perfect, the most amazing & terrifying works of God don't guarantee that a person wont see it as the work of a cruel and un-worship-able God, or that hte most amazing & terrifying works of God wont be seen as, well, not so amazing & terrifying. I wish I could understand Ham's thought processes when looking at his father, something like "I can't believe that's God's 'chosen one', obviously that's a load of crap." Since the beginning we've be merciless with our brothers & sisters.
That's all for now. I've got work to do.
Josiah Q. Roe | By Josiah Roe | 10:25 AM
Comments
cool. I miss my sundayschool kids a lot. wait til you get 8 or 9 of em in a room! I love how they cant help but be themselves.
Posted by: bobw at October 11, 2004 11:29 AM
That is great! I taught the 3's & 4's at my parents church for 3 years before I moved to Mempis. Like you, I only had 3 kids and the same three kids the whole time. Now, they are 7 years old. Sometimes, I think that the kids taught me more then I taught them. You will love it!
Posted by: beth at October 11, 2004 01:20 PM
I actually tracked this post back, but my trackbacks haven't seemed to be registering as of late.
Anyway, the thought counts, right?
Posted by: Phil at October 11, 2004 01:42 PM
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