How often do we fully appreciate and utilize the “Imago Dei” of our fellow classmates in what used to be universally called Sunday School but now operates under a number of new attritions. So often that hour passes and places the entire learning burden on the teacher. Individual members assume little responsibility and the class misses insights from each person’s unique story.
Happily a new class in which we are involved attempts to change this paradigm. Each class member is given some time to read and respond to portions of the passage being studied, answer several questions and share in discussion their discoveries.
Such a discussion recently highlighted a new aspect of a familiar story in Acts 16. A class member is a key person in our state’s department of criminal justice. His perspective on the courage of the Philippian jailer resonated in new ways with all of us. He suggested that Paul’s refusal to leave town with no recognition from the authorities of his privileges as Roman citizen placed the newly converted jailer in the position of returning to his Roman boss with a most difficult message to convey, “They won’t go quietly.”
Not only did the jailer demonstrate his new found faith, but Paul didn’t resist challenging him do so. How often I am tempted to protect new believers like an overly concerned mother hen. This man’s insight challenges me to wonder how I might be robbing them of their first opportunity to trust God and experience His power. When we study and share together each of us brings to the discussion the benefit of God’s work in our individual lives and we are built up as God intended. A humorous aside, another class member illustrated grace with his story of receiving only a warning ticket when stopped by a merciful highway patrolman.That IS grace!
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Boy do I agree with you on this on in spades!~ Part of the problem is that we have conditioned our SS teachers and students alike to only come to "get their ticket punched". Do you realize that the American Christian SS is the only "school" in the realm of religion where no tests are given, no memorization is required, no attendance is required, no homework~! And we think that we are deserving a grade of "A" when we just show up and have not prepared!!!!! Would you do that for a secular class??? I hardly think so. We do not realize that one day, even today perhaps, we will be tested! How can we pass if we have not prepared! That is why I so desire to get this course of mine done and published....to challenge the SS teachers to assign reading and study prior to attendance and to challenge each student to prepare ahead of time so that classes are not "poi" a "pooling of ignorance" or drawing from the gray matter but instead answers are thoughtfully and carefully researched. May we be challenged to become Bereans who were commended by Paul for they searched the scriptures daily to see if what he said was true. That is where we need to be this day.
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