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What I Learned in Sunday School
More than six years ago, I walked into an adult Sunday School class at Old Bridge United Methodist Church in Woodbridge, Va., not knowing what to expect.
I came with some strong ideas about the kind of Christian I did not want to be, but no real sense of what it meant to accept Jesus. I knew what I wanted to avoid, but was unsure of what I was embracing.
It didn’t seem a terribly good fit at first. In the weeks after Sept. 11, one of the class members recounted seeing antiwar demonstrators near the Capitol and expressed the belief that they should be locked up. That was my cue to leave, but when another member of the class calmly observed, “I’m glad we live in a country where people are free to express their opinions,” I decided to stick around.
There were still plenty of bumps, many of which I made worse by my own behavior. When the discussion turned toward prayer in public schools, “intelligent design,” or the religious propensities of politicians, my exasperation often boiled over.
I expected to be kicked out, or encouraged to attend another class, but something surprising happened. I was welcomed back, every single week.
And as I spent more time with the class, I began to learn some important things: how my classmates have been strengthened by their faith; how the Holy Spirit empowers believers and renews the weary; and how exemplifying patience, tolerance, and charity in a world decidedly lacking in those qualities is the best way to fulfill Jesus’ great commission to “go out and make disciples of all nations.”
Thanks to the class, I have a much greater appreciation for the beauty, insights and subtleties of Scripture. The word of God, I know now, is not simply a collection of arcane ancient texts. In fact, as we read in Hebrews 4:12-13, it is “alive and active,” sifting “the purposes and thoughts of the heart.”
My classmates have taught me to turn to the Lord in prayer – and how the knowledge that others are praying for you can be a source of comfort and strength.
Perhaps most importantly, I have learned to listen. Late last year, my class finished a study of "The Last Week" by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, who make a convincing case for a number of unorthodox ideas about Jesus. A lesser group might have tossed the book out the door, but we enjoyed weeks of spirited and enlightening discussion. While no one accepted everything Borg and Crossan say, the class gave the book a thorough reading and fair consideration – and in so doing offered a powerful demonstration of open-mindedness and Christian humility.
Today, more than six years after first walking into that Sunday School class, I am still quite certain about the kind of Christian I don’t want to be. But thanks to the example of my classmates, I have a much better idea about the kind of Christian I want to become.
Bob Mitchell is an assistant editor with the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. His Skirmisher: "The Life, Times, and Political Career of James B. Weaver" will be published later this year by Edinborough Press.
By Robert B. Mitchell |
February 23, 2008; 11:56 AM ET
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Posted by: Layne Alfrey | March 24, 2008 3:59 PM
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Hello, Robert... It seems awfully forlorn you've only had a couple of passes of JJ spam after going to all that trouble to write an article.
Welcome to our little forum.... If it seems like it's more than half spam from JJ, that's what we get, ...back when the Internet required a modicum of spelling and DOS, even the obsessive-compulsive had to type everything they said. :)
(Note to JJ. Did ou notice you posted twice at two different intervals, and *no one was listening?*
As for the original article, I'm not sure what that means, anyway... "Despite adult Sunday School making no sense, I thought I'd say how faithful I feel, anyway?"
Dunno, nothing particular to say about that, myself.
As JJ goes, I'm sure he's doing us the service of illustrating how religion can go bad in Western society, just with extremely-off-putting inefficiency.
Which may be a point all to itself, but, frankly, no one's listening to that, either.
Welcome, anyway. :)
Posted by: Paganplace | February 25, 2008 2:35 AM
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Malcom X's Daughter is on the Rise for Islama BAMA:
Some-What-B*R*E*A*K*i*N*G ----- N*E*W*S!
Please see Linko On:
"In an interview on SIRIUS radio's "Make It Plain" with host Mark Thompson, one of Malcolm X's daughters, Malaak Shabazz, declared her support for Barack Obama -- calling him and his wife Michelle the "present-day" version of her father and her mother Betty Shabazz.
The interview was held at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center located in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, where Malcolm X was fatally shot in 1965 after his falling out with Nation of Islam leader Elijah Mohammed.
Posted by: Obama's "Islamic-COUP-d'etat in the White-House | February 24, 2008 10:13 AM
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I am the church newsletter editor for San Ramon Valley UMC in Alamo, CA. Our Pastor has forwarded the commentary you wrote on 2/23 entitled "Open-Minded Class a great example." I'd like your permission to reprint it in our church newsletter. Having just concluded a Lenten Study "Living the Questions, Not Just a Study but a Way of Life", our Pastor, Rev. Ron Dunn, made referance to your article as it "speaks eloquently to the importance of this ongoing venture of wrestling with the questions and controversies that are a natural part of the Christian journey."
Respectfully, Layne Alfrey