Several months back we had a lesson in our Sunday School class that actually spoke to ME probably more than it did the kids. That does actually happen to adults every once in a while. In fact, ideally it would happen much more often. My co-teacher, Greg, was actually teaching this lesson (we trade of and on each week) and there wasn't anything extremely spectacular about the lesson but it was the passage itself that spoke to me.
It was a normal Sunday morning in our 4th-6th Grade classroom. Student A was crawling under the tables again, student B rearranging tacks on the bulletin board, Student C was yelling at Student A to get up from under the table. Student B, for some reason, in the two seconds I turned my back is grabbing student A's arm and they've gotten into some sort of tussle over who knows what. Student D yells, "Come on, guys, cut it out!", and the noise level is escalating as Greg and I look at each other as if to say, "I guess we should start."
We get the kids settled in their seats with much coaxing and arguing and threatening and (finally) start our Sunday School lesson. Five minutes in.....some small, insignificant part of what one of us has said leads to a comment, a retort, a heated discussion, snide remarks....and we are completely off topic and have lost their attention. Yup, it was a completely normal Sunday morning. Sigh.
So we get the kids focus back for a bit. The lessons that month had been about Paul's first missionary journey and this week we were in Acts 18. Greg starts by describing situations on the mission field that seem hopeless and asking students what they think they would do. We get some silly answers, some serious. I start to wonder, myself, if this is really where God wants me. "Oh, Lord, get us through this lesson," I pray to myself, already weary. As we read through the passage, dodging distractions and getting fidgety students back in their seats and bibles back open here and there, we find Paul is arriving in Macedonia to preach the message of Christ and nobody is listening to him. Hmmmmmm......Greg and I look around at our distracted crew.....then we continue on. Paul gets upset. He gives up. "Your blood is on your heads!" he says. I'm feeling it. I feel Paul's frustration. This is hopeless. Week after week we come into this class and battle for their attention and their cooperation. Week after week it seems as though we get 15 minutes of actual teaching done with all the interruptions and distractions. Week after week we are exhausted, spent, frustrated, and ready to quit as we watch kids bolt from our classroom after the bell.
Greg is getting tired and frustrated too. I can see it.... but we read on. Acts 18 verse 9, "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you...'" Hello! What was that? I don't know what happened much in class after that. I just remember reading and re-reading that verse as I felt the words sink into my own being. "Go on...go on."
By the end of the lesson we've exhausted their entire attention span. I think they got some of it but I'm doubtful they will remember it very long. I, on the other hand, got it. I got the message loud and clear. I look at Greg, as we realize we have completely lost their attention for good and just say, "Go on. We just gotta keep going."
I don't remember many lessons from Sunday School when I was a kid. I couldn't tell you how things impacted me at that age. I have to think pretty hard sometimes to even remember who my Sunday School teachers were. And, yet, somehow I got here. Somehow I've heard the gospel message even to a point where I'm willing to teach it to a bunch of fidgety 4th-6th graders. Somewhere in that forgotten mess that was my childhood discipleship, the messages got through. I don't remember it specifically, but it got through.
There was this saying I remember hearing at some point growing up and it still lingers some today, I think. It went, "Let Go and Let God". I've actually grown to cringe at that phrase. Sure, it has it's place. Sometimes we put too much emphasis on our own control and don't allow God to work. But I feel it takes too much responsibility off of us. We are still called to serve. God still asks of us our hands and feet. He didn't tell Paul, "Hey, man. You really need to just let go of this and let me handle it." Maybe it isn't as catchy but I would rephrase the saying to, "Go on and Let God." My students may not remember the lessons Greg and I teach them week after week. But I faithfully believe that, through all the mess and distraction of Sunday morning, they are walking away (running out the door, rather) having heard the message and that message has the power to transform their lives. So I go on week after week, through distraction and mayhem, and let God do His thing. I go on. I just keep going....and let God's message keep working.
