Everything I Know About Life I Learned in Sunday School
By Rev. Eradio Valverde, Jr.
1. The stresses and problems of life, even or especially, in elementary school can best be faced with friends who also know and love God.
2. Nothing makes life seem sunnier than sharing a glass of Kool Aid and cookies with a Christian brother or sister.
3. Nothing says you are cared for than seeing your Sunday school teacher in a room waiting and asking how you are.
4. Nothing opens up the world of faith better than learning awesome stories of super heroes from The Bible.
5. Though those days are long gone, though the great stories of The Bible were shared on felt boards*, it was the same as today’s IMAX big screen theatres.
6. Nothing would refresh one’s spirit more than to learn and sing a song about Jesus.
7. There seemed to be something about this thing called prayer that our adult teachers seem to believe as they led us in prayers. It was neat when something was troubling us, to share it with the teacher and she or he would pray for us!
8. You learned about how good it could be to drop a quarter, nickel or dime, into a bamboo bowl. The teacher said it was to help the work of Jesus and you believed her.
9. You knew that you belonged to this place on Sunday morning. The week did not seem the same if you missed one Sunday because you were sick or out-of-town.
10. Where else would you get some neat thing you had helped make, to take home and show off?
It’s early morning Tuesday, and I’m remembering with great fondness, my days in Kingsville in what seemed to be the happiest place on earth, my Sunday school room. Walt Disney may have said that about his Disneyland, but that’s only a one day vacation experience, Sunday school was a life-long experience.
I shared above in ten short statements the things I remembered most about my Sunday school days as a child. My most remembered teacher was Mrs. Belen Flores. She was, in every sense of the word, an imposing, but kind figure. A believer and one who wanted us to believe as well. I wondered if she knew the kind of impact she was having on my life or on the lives of those in my class. Of those in her class, most of us would move to Houston as life changed for our dads. Of those in her class, my best friend from there would die in his high school years in a drowning accident. I know he was ready, thanks to Mrs. Flores and her desire to share Jesus in her way with him, me, and all the others in my class. Of those in her class, one would go on to mother three children, one now a lawyer, the other in college, and her oldest son died in a tragic traffic accident. I know he was ready because his mom knew Jesus, and again, because of Mrs. Flores.
I am now a pastor, and in some ways, thanks to Mrs. Flores. She laid the foundation of a faith that at an early age became very real to me, and it still is, because of her faith. She cared enough to study and prepare for our class, to get up earlier than us, and to arrive at church early enough to be the first in the class. That made it easier for us to hear her voice as she said welcome and as she asked how our week had been.
Now that I am a pastor I am saddened by the number of children who don’t know the same experiences that I had because their moms and dads don’t take them to Sunday school. I have to confess I had to be taken to Sunday school and at first, I wanted more to stay in bed and at home, where I could play with my friends who didn’t go to Sunday school. Now I think my life is richly blessed because of that one hour I spent, once a week, in the class of Mrs. Flores.
Sunday school in my honest opinion is the best deal in town. In many churches every Sunday school class is, for the kids in there laughing and enjoying being together, the happiest place on earth. And that one hour per week spent in the happiest place on earth, will come back to make those lives among the happiest ones on earth, working together to make earth a more livable place, as we look forward to the “new earth.”
Make time to take your children and yourself, to Sunday school. I know there is a class just for you. If you don’t find one, ask about starting one. The blessings and benefits you will receive are out of this world!
__________________
*felt boards were folding board with felt cloth on the front. The teacher would tell a story and add felt cloth characters to the board. Both being of felt material, the character would stick to the board. Quite a tool, some would say better than PowerPoint lessons any day!
By Rev. Eradio Valverde, Jr.
1. The stresses and problems of life, even or especially, in elementary school can best be faced with friends who also know and love God.
2. Nothing makes life seem sunnier than sharing a glass of Kool Aid and cookies with a Christian brother or sister.
3. Nothing says you are cared for than seeing your Sunday school teacher in a room waiting and asking how you are.
4. Nothing opens up the world of faith better than learning awesome stories of super heroes from The Bible.
5. Though those days are long gone, though the great stories of The Bible were shared on felt boards*, it was the same as today’s IMAX big screen theatres.
6. Nothing would refresh one’s spirit more than to learn and sing a song about Jesus.
7. There seemed to be something about this thing called prayer that our adult teachers seem to believe as they led us in prayers. It was neat when something was troubling us, to share it with the teacher and she or he would pray for us!
8. You learned about how good it could be to drop a quarter, nickel or dime, into a bamboo bowl. The teacher said it was to help the work of Jesus and you believed her.
9. You knew that you belonged to this place on Sunday morning. The week did not seem the same if you missed one Sunday because you were sick or out-of-town.
10. Where else would you get some neat thing you had helped make, to take home and show off?
It’s early morning Tuesday, and I’m remembering with great fondness, my days in Kingsville in what seemed to be the happiest place on earth, my Sunday school room. Walt Disney may have said that about his Disneyland, but that’s only a one day vacation experience, Sunday school was a life-long experience.
I shared above in ten short statements the things I remembered most about my Sunday school days as a child. My most remembered teacher was Mrs. Belen Flores. She was, in every sense of the word, an imposing, but kind figure. A believer and one who wanted us to believe as well. I wondered if she knew the kind of impact she was having on my life or on the lives of those in my class. Of those in her class, most of us would move to Houston as life changed for our dads. Of those in her class, my best friend from there would die in his high school years in a drowning accident. I know he was ready, thanks to Mrs. Flores and her desire to share Jesus in her way with him, me, and all the others in my class. Of those in her class, one would go on to mother three children, one now a lawyer, the other in college, and her oldest son died in a tragic traffic accident. I know he was ready because his mom knew Jesus, and again, because of Mrs. Flores.
I am now a pastor, and in some ways, thanks to Mrs. Flores. She laid the foundation of a faith that at an early age became very real to me, and it still is, because of her faith. She cared enough to study and prepare for our class, to get up earlier than us, and to arrive at church early enough to be the first in the class. That made it easier for us to hear her voice as she said welcome and as she asked how our week had been.
Now that I am a pastor I am saddened by the number of children who don’t know the same experiences that I had because their moms and dads don’t take them to Sunday school. I have to confess I had to be taken to Sunday school and at first, I wanted more to stay in bed and at home, where I could play with my friends who didn’t go to Sunday school. Now I think my life is richly blessed because of that one hour I spent, once a week, in the class of Mrs. Flores.
Sunday school in my honest opinion is the best deal in town. In many churches every Sunday school class is, for the kids in there laughing and enjoying being together, the happiest place on earth. And that one hour per week spent in the happiest place on earth, will come back to make those lives among the happiest ones on earth, working together to make earth a more livable place, as we look forward to the “new earth.”
Make time to take your children and yourself, to Sunday school. I know there is a class just for you. If you don’t find one, ask about starting one. The blessings and benefits you will receive are out of this world!
__________________
*felt boards were folding board with felt cloth on the front. The teacher would tell a story and add felt cloth characters to the board. Both being of felt material, the character would stick to the board. Quite a tool, some would say better than PowerPoint lessons any day!
