Saving The Children from Boring Sunday School Classes

I am continuing my re-reading of Saving Jesus from the Church this week.  We are assigned Chapters 6 and 7 for class on Sunday.  This is an interesting book and on my second reading I find I can read a little more critically than the first time through when I would say I was just "blown away" by the entire package.  This time I find I don't agree with everything he writes but I do think his main premise is important.  That people who want to be truly Christian should follow the examples of Jesus's life.  "Be compassionate as God is compassionate."  And so on.  For more information see the book by Meyers and/or the New Testament.

At the suggestion of a couple of my classmates from the Saving Jesus... class, I went online to watch a sermon by Robin Meyers,  the author of the book and the first guest speaker in the Jim and Gwen Pruyne Lectureship.  You can see one, too, at http://www.mayflowerucc.org/.    I enjoyed the sermon and I am looking forward to hearing this man in person and to attending his workshop in October. But something about the pews facing forward and the lack of opportunity for response...well, I've said before I know we've got something special at NCC.


This coming Sunday I am also teaching the little kids Sunday School class a lesson on "The Stories of our Tradition:  The Bible and How We Use It"  from The Center for Progressive Christianity Sunday Schhol lesson book.  This lesson is designed to give the kids the idea that the Bible is made of stories that helped ancient people explain the world they lived in and the mysteries they encountered.  Stories to help answer those "Why?" questions we all have. Not facts, not history, not stories to be taken literally.  Saving Kids from Literalism, so to speak.

As far as the kids classes go I think they like the art projects we do most of all.  We have a very creative bunch in the younger kids class.  They also still like to be read to, sometimes, but when you get the markers, scissors, and glue sticks out those little people come ALIVE.

Last time I taught the class, Willemina and I took the kids on a walk around the ISU campus.  They were wild with joy and nearly wore us out just keeping them safe.  When we returned to NCC Susan happened to stop in the classroom.  I thought she was going to ask us to quiet the little hooligans down.  But she had just stopped in the classroom for something else.  And when I mentioned that the kids were particularly wild that day, she looked at them and said "But they're so Happy."  And they were, indeed.