Adult Sunday School, October 2015, UALC

Our Sunday school class is studying Romans, and for two weeks had an outstanding, articulate retired Lutheran pastor, Douglas McBride formerly of San Antonio, as our teacher. Class members are taking us through Romans after his excellent overview and first three chapters. I hope he can come back.

Paul wrote a letter to the Roman church, a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles, from Corinth, while he was on his third missionary journey between 56 and 58 A.D. He was on his way to Spain.** At the time he was gathering an offering from the Gentile Christians for the church in Jerusalem (15:25; Acts 24:17). Over half of the people he specifically mentions in the letter have Greek or Roman names, and he calls the Jews, “my brothers.” The church may have been started by his converts, but no one knows for certain. Since he first mentions Phoebe it appears that she brought the letter to Rome, so she must have been a trusted convert and helper. He greets a number of households indicating the church was made up of numerous groups, and he addresses in the letter a number of situations, many of which sound similar to our churches today. Struggles among themselves; how to deal with the government, etc.

He encourages unity and accepting one another, just as Christ accepted them. Yet it seems the church has never been more divided and scattered than today.

In the free box at church I found the New International Version of the Bible (Zondervan) on cassette. I may be one of the few people who still have a hand held cassette player, so I’ve been listening to Romans while using my exercycle. Usually, I don’t enjoy audio of the Bible--speakers/voice actors go too fast or it’s too monotonous, but this one is really excellent. There are music and sound effects, and when the writers reflect on OT passages of Jesus’ messages, there is a slight echo or reverberation.

* * “We know little about the early years of Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula. According to legend the apostle James --at Christ’s urging--carried the gospel to the country in 40 AD, but the early church writers have nothing to say about it. We know that St Paul intended to visit in Spain (Epistle to the Romans, XV, 24 and 28), which would suggest that there were organised groups for him to preach to. But there is no evidence that he made the trip, nor does any church in Spain popularly claim to have been founded by Paul.

By the second century, however, some Christian communities were probably established in the peninsula. We know that St Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (France), writing around 180 AD, alludes to Christian churches amongst the Celts and Iberians. We also know from a letter by St Cyprian of Carthage (?-258?) that by 254 AD there were Christian communities in Astorga, Mérida, León and Zaragoza.” Source.

Can we trust the Bible?

I think I've spotted what might be ELCA's problem. Have you looked through (Akaloo) Questions for life: Matthew's View? It's Augsburg Fortress published in cooperation with Presbyterian Church USA (2006) and the cover says it's for grades 9-12. Akaloo means "follow." I don't know if UALC is using the series; checking the internet, I see many churches use this series for Sunday school. I found a "loose" copy of Matthew at church, and assume our young people are using it. In glancing through it I thought the "point counter-point" quotables were beyond strange--using Norman Mailer and Dr. Seuss to make a point about safe sex . . .and quotes from American Pie. (The adults who wrote it might "get it" but do 9th graders?) However, this statement on p. 6 of the introduction really stopped me in my tracks and explains a lot about why ELCA has lost its way not only on sex, but other topics, since the Akaloo series includes many age groups:

"We can't determine for sure what Jesus actually said, may have said, or wanted to say. The gospels are written three, four, even six decades after the events happened. And the four gospels themselves often differ in the details. So we read the story to discover what is says for me, us, and all people of all time.. ."

That's not much to hang a sexuality statement on, let alone a faith.

When sin is left out of the message

Scott has noticed something missing in the lectionary:

"At the church where you worshiped April 20, was the second lesson I Peter 2:2-10? Did you wonder why the text started with verse 2, rather than at the beginning of the chapter? Was the text read from a Bible or off a Scripture insert in the bulletin?

I ask those questions, because, over the years, I have begun to analyze the lectionary more carefully, noting especially what is *not* included. I have learned to pay particular attention whenever the appointed readings skip an odd verse or two, because very often the verses that are left out are those that declare judgment against sin--the voice of the Law. The bad news of our sinful nature and condemnation before God is too often carefully removed, so that only the good news of salvation remains. When those lessons are read from Scripture inserts, it is easy not even to notice the actual citation and so not realize that the readings have been abridged in that way."

It's not just missing from the lectionary. It's also missing from the Sunday School take-homes at my church. Last Sunday's Hands-On Bible Curriculum (see April 21 entry) Bible verse was James 4:8a, "Come close to God, and God will come close to you." No, this isn't the Thomas Jefferson Bible. The writers just left out some very telling details that put this into perspective. Verse 7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The other half of verse 8 says, "Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Religious instruction and curriculum

I don't recall what I was looking for yesterday but I came across a 41 page Roman Catholic outline for religious instruction of children produced by the Religious Education Office of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. There's no information on the document about who uses it--the schools, the parents, or the churches. Also no information if this is a document in general use or if that archdiocese created it. It's simply an outline, but it is amazing in its depth. If anyone, child or adult, systematically used this guide, she would have a seminary education (although I don't actually know what's offered in seminary) without all the psychology and sociology extras.

The general outline for 5th grade is, I. Creed--students will demonstrate understanding of the core of Catholic beliefs; II. Sacraments--students will learn the importance of sacraments in their life (Lutherans only have 2, so we're unfamiliar with some of these like penance and holy orders); III. Christian living (discipleship, human dignity, human interaction/sexuality). See pages 18-19.

I couldn't help but compare that to a curriculum our church uses from Group Publishing, called Hands On Bible. I don't teach Sunday School so I don't know what additional material the teachers receive from the education department to use with the material given to the children. Yesterday's handout sheet "Dealing with Family Crises, Week 8" for take home for Grades 5 & 6 included "Discussion Starters" and "Family Building projects" for kids only, for parents only, and for the family to use together. There is one snippet of a Bible verse on the page, a very short 3 paragraph story, and some genderless cartoon people who have huge saucer shaped heads, bodies and hair, but the rest is obscure. The story, as told by a 15 year old, was about an alcoholic father, a marriage that was a mess, and the dad becoming a Christian after the mother dragged him to church.

"But after my dad became a Christian, he stopped drinking. He stopped yelling and started smiling! He has a bunch of friends in our church now. He hasn't had a drink in over 5 years! My parents still have their problems, but they are really working together to make our family better. My dad is a different person, and I know it is because God is real and has healed him. As a result, I have become a Christian, too, and I am so thankful that God has brought the same happiness in me that he has given my parents."

I have no idea what the teachers had to work with or if the class discussion dealt with family crises. But I can see a few holes in the story, things that might raise more problems than it solves. I hope they didn't have to deal with 20 eleven year olds sharing about their family problems. I don't know if the students received any Bible stories in class for content. I'll ask. You can't judge a whole program on one handout--even one that is as disappointing as this one.