Journal Week 35: Sunday School Teacher

I grew up going to Sunday School. In the Churches of Christ there is a strong tradition of having an hour-long Bible class along with the worship service on Sunday mornings. For all age groups, from the children to the adults.

I know a lot of faith traditions don't have Sunday School, and that Sunday School is fading in many churches that once had it. But Sunday School remains a vital part of the Church of Christ experience on a Sunday morning.

I'm a Sunday School teacher at my church, leading an adult class called Sojourners. Currently, my co-teacher is Vic McCracken, who is a faculty member in our College of Biblical Studies at ACU.

The thing I love about being a Sunday School teacher is how it forces you to study the Bible. Without the demand to prepare for classes on Sunday, I don't know if I'd have the discipline to study the Bible, at least not like I do now. Fundamentally, I'm a lazy person. I need external structure to be productive. It's one of the reasons I've yet, and likely will never, take a sabbatical at work. If I had huge swaths of unstructured time in front of me I'd fritter away the weeks taking naps, reading books, and watching Netflix.

So I love having Sunday School in my life. And more than the Bible study, sharing life together in that room, year in and year out, is what I think it means to be church. Our class is well named. Through grief and loss, good times and celebration, burials and diagnoses, we sojourn together.