Zeal
Raise your hand if you go to Sunday School.I taught my first Sunday class as a 19-year-old in the College Age Group. I enjoyed it a lot and was happy to get asked to do it again. I've known I wanted to be a teacher ever since elementary school (no kidding) so it was very natural to teach from the Word at my church.
When I was 22, I taught my first class for adults. My dad sat in the 2nd row. A college professor and theologian of whom I was in some awe sat in the 1st row. It was far and away the most intimidating group I've ever taught. I learned a lot teaching that class.
The years have gone by and I'm now part of an ever-decreasing group of regular teachers at the College Church. I am always honored by the opportunity and humbled that God would ask it of me. There are times when the discussion is lively and enlightening. There are moments when I hear something come out of my mouth that none of my study put there; it is moments like that that continually confirm to me the presence and good health of the Holy Spirit. There are times when it's good just to be together, to share joys and sorrows, even to have a group that I know I can confess something too.
There are also frustrations.
Compare this picture of a recent Bible study in China to your last Sunday School class.
See any differences?
One of the rituals in most classes I teach these days is the "passing out of the Bibles." It reminds me of telling my math students that they should reallllllllly get out there and buy a calculator all their very own. Why, oh why, would you show up to a Bible study...without a BIBLE? Nothing confirms to me more the true reason someone goes to Sunday School than showing up without a textbook. Well, maybe the complaining when somebody forgets to bring donuts. But you get my point.
The picture may be too small for you to see how many people have pencils out. Yes, they are actually (deep breath) taking notes! You can tell how much they want to learn, how hungry they are. I'm not naive enough to think that this attitude persists throughout a Christian walk, but it saddens me to note how much of our enthusiasm for study we have lost, to recognize how much we take for granted.
Oh, to have students with the same zeal as those who are just discovering their Lord.
posted by Thurman8er @ 9:41 AM
2 Comments:
I can't live without my own Bible and my notebook when I'm sitting in on a study. I need to anticipate that God is really going to tell me something.
I think I was 20, 21 when I was asked to teach the teen class at our church. When I “hemed” and “hawed” at the prospect, the current teacher of the teens at that time, a doctor in the church, offered the following words of encouragement:
“Any schmuck can do this.” It was with these words that I entered the wonderful world of teaching the Bible.
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