The theme of this year’s synod
assembly in May was “Faith at Home; At Home in Faith” which reflected the
bishop’s emphasis in his second six year term of office. With the adoption of the “Vibrant Faith”
initiative the synod is putting a new emphasis on faith formation at home as
parents and grandparents pass on the Christian faith and traditions to the next
generation. It is pretty clear that this
is a much needed emphasis as we see the dramatic decline in church
participation by the younger generation and the move away from traditional
Christian values by American society as a whole. Many of us wonder “will our children and
grandchildren have faith?”
There is no doubt that the home
was the incubator of Christian faith for the majority of people who today are
living a life of discipleship and for many others who are searching for a way
to deal with a stressful situation. What
they saw, did, and learned from Mom and Dad or Grandmother and Grandfather has
a great influence on them. Journalist
John Foley wrote that when he was a prisoner of Islamic extremists for the
first time in Libya
that he prayed the rosary over and over because “that’s what my mother and
grandmother would have prayed.” He used
his knuckles to count the decades because beads were unavailable to him. We can be quite confident that he did this
also when he was held hostage again, this time by ISIS
in Iraq , and in
the hours before he was so brutally beheaded this summer.
But many people do not have a
mother and grandmother like Foley’s, or like the mother and grandmother of
young Timothy who are mentioned in 2nd Timothy 1:5 and that is where
other people’s mothers and fathers step in to provide a positive Christian role
model and positive Christian teaching in Sunday School. While Sunday School is a good experience for
children who come from faithful families, it may be the only Christian
experience that some children have because they come from unfaithful or
undisciplined or dysfunctional families.
The Sunday School movement began
in London during the Industrial
Revolution when thousands of children were left to fend for themselves on the
streets while their parents struggled to make a living working long hours in
dismal conditions, and many of them used what little free time they had to
drink and carouse. These people had left
the relative serenity – and poverty – of the countryside to try to make more
money in the city. Society was in upheaval
and, as usual, it was the children who suffered the most. Caring Christian men and women began to
provide instruction and food for many of these children so they did not end up
lost and abused like young Oliver Twist and led into an adult life of crime by
some Fagin, or end up left behind like young David Copperfield by some hapless
Mr. Micawber.
When our ancestors left the state
churches of Europe , where Christian instruction was
provided in the schools, to come to America
where the schools were secular, they used the Sunday School as the primary means
of instructing the young in the Bible and the catechism until they were old
enough to start confirmation classes with the pastor. Some came from homes where they had heard
Bible stories even before they were old enough to read (“David and Goliath”
being a favorite), had always prayed together before eating any meal (“Come
Lord Jesus be our guest….”), and were taught to say bedtime prayers every night
(“Now I lay me down to sleep……”). But
other children cannot tell one Bible story, do not know any prayer for the
table or for bedtime, and some do not even know the Lord’s Prayer. We have a special responsibility for them.
Sunday School has fallen on hard
times in the 21st century as American society has developed into a
weekday/weekend culture where the weekend is for travel get-a-ways or crowded
with sporting events. But the twin foci
that Sunday School had from the beginning is still there: to reinforce and
supplement what is being taught and modeled in the home and to provide good
Christian teaching for those who get nothing at home. There is still important work to do even as
Sunday School teachers struggle with sporadic attendance, unruly children, and indifferent
parents. God is still touching the lives
of our children in Sunday School.
Let us support and pray for our
Sunday School as a new year begins this month.
Your words of encouragement will surely be helpful.
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