School...something I was glad to finish!

Graduation season takes me back to my own school days.  I started my school career at King Elementary school in Des Moines with a LONG road ahead of me.  King only had kids through third grade before sending us across town to Perkins elementary, and  I remember the excitement that I felt as I wrapped up third grade.  I wouldn’t be with those ‘little kids’ anymore. From a year at Perkins…to a move Washington Elementary School in Atlantic, Iowa, I counted down the days until I was old enough to get to junior high.  I enjoyed my time of kick ball, school plays, and recess, but I didn’t want it forever.  I wanted to move on.

Junior high was…well, junior high. I got to try some new things (including short lived football and track careers…I was skinny, weak, and slow, not a good combination).  I didn’t exactly enjoy junior high and couldn’t wait to move up to the pinnacle of my youth: high school! 

I thoroughly enjoyed high school.  I handled the academics with ease (a proud valedictorian!) and excelled in band (three years in the All-State Band), but I had the most pride in my improving basketball game!  I became a significant contributor my senior year…after my coordination started catching up with!  In high school I had good friends, a good church, and good times.  Even with all that, as my senior year wound down, senioritis hit with a vengeance.  I was done with high school.  I had bigger fish to fry!  I wasn’t a kid anymore.

Off I went to the ‘big time,’ Northwestern University in Chicago (not the one in Cities!).  Northwestern proved to be a challenge that I faced head on.  I went to class with some of the top students in the country.  Competition was fierce.  I joined NU’s marching band my freshman year, providing the opportunity to march at halftime of a Bears game…and on the outfield at Wrigley!   Northwestern brought out the best in me…but by my senior year, I was done!  As a smart student, I’d done a perfect job of setting classes for my senior spring.  I had little to do but play softball and lay in the sun by Lake Michigan.  I loved college…but I was done!  Time to move on…to seminary!

I kicked off seminary with the end already in sight.  Twenty years in school (twenty one if you count kindergarten) was more than enough for me!  By my senior year of seminary I just wanted out.  I wanted to be a pastor.  Graduation came as a relief.  At long last…school was done!

A couple years ago someone approached me about going back to school to get a doctorate.  I pondered it for a bit, but realized that I have little desire to go back to school again.  I’ve put in my time.  I’m done.

I don’t think I’m alone.  School is the kind of thing that most people endure…and are glad to finish.    Once graduation comes, you don’t go back (except for a reunion here or there).  School is a thing for kids…not ‘old timers’. 

With that in mind…why have we in the church insisted on using school language when we talk of the ways that we raise kids in the faith?  We’ve had Sunday School…Vacation Bible School…  Does the word school give the impression that this is something to endure…and get over with?  Is the goal to learn what you need to learn when you’re young…never to return?  I don’t think so!

Faith in Jesus Christ is more than simply knowing some facts that we may or may not have learned when we were kids.  Faith in Jesus is a daily relationship of walking with our Lord.  In that sense we’re never done learning…we’re never done growing…we’re never done being with God!  The image of ‘school’ (at least my experience of school) misses this completely.  Every year I learn more about the ways that God works in my life.  The relationship never ends.

This fall at Peace Lutheran Church we will still meet after worship on Sundays.  We will still take time to help people grow in faith.  But if we don’t call it Sunday School, what do we call it?  We need a name! 

Our Sunday ‘after worship’ faith building activity will now include entire families.  We will model the idea that learning about Jesus isn’t just for kids.  We will have family Sunday activities along with Wednesday events (some age specific…some family centered).  Do we call them ‘Sunday Faith’ and ‘Wednesday Faith’?  Do we call them ‘People at Peace Gathering Together to Grow in Faith (PPGTGF)’…probably not!

We’re on a quest for a catchy name that clarifies what we’re about: gathering generations together to share faith stories, ponder how God works in the world, and grow deep in a relationship with Jesus.  This isn’t school anymore!  Ideas??