How to Go to Sunday School

I have had more than my fair share of kindnesses since I’ve been at St. Dunstan’s these past few years. But one of the best things anybody did for me was to repeatedly invite me to Sunday School. Why should anymore need more than one invitation, right?

Well, the thing is, if you’re a regular service person, then going to Sunday School means you have to get up an hour earlier, brush your teeth an hour earlier, and pull out of your driveway an hour earlier. If you’re an early service person, that means staying a little longer. After all, why go sit around and make your brain work overtime to dissect psalms when you’re already spiritually nourished from one of Patricia’s sermons, and ready to go out into the world and do better anyway?

Tim Black, our seminarian, was the kind person who instinctively knew that I was unaware of what I was missing in Sunday School. So he asked me and invited and reminded me, here a Sunday, there a Sunday, and finally one morning wooed me back to the founders room to the sofa in the back. Before I knew it, I was completely engaged in the topic at hand. The class was interesting and funny and thought provoking, laughter and intensity. Everyone in the class had their hand up, and comments and questions bounced around the room like atoms under an atomic microscope.

What makes this class so special? Patricia, of course, and also Joe Monti, whose intellect and analysis and humor (and patience) make the class like an upper level college course with a visiting lecturer from Sweden or some other far-away place where special people tend to come from. Anyway since I’ve been going to Sunday School, it’s made me read and study and think, and my mind is appreciative for the experience. Nobody watches the clock in Sunday School and half the time it runs over its allotted hour as a result.

Last Sunday in the kitchen, I heard a person (who shall remain nameless) say that they couldn’t wait for Sunday School to start again. This person, in fact, seldom attends the services. Sunday School, for this nameless person, is the prime rib. Personally, I love both and find they complement each other perfectly. But be forewarned--if you make three Sunday School classes in a row, you are very likely to form a habit. And that’s how I go to Sunday School.