A Sunday School Memory

1
A Sunday School Memory

I was a preteen I think, or a "tween" as retailers say. This was at Bethel Baptist Church, back when it was at 737 E 26th Street in Erie, PA.

(I'm not sure what happened to that address, but the church now at the same location is 757 E 26th Street in Erie, PA. If memory serves, 737 was Bethel's parsonage; judging by Google Maps, the parsonage has been torn down, which is too bad, it was a nice old house. By the time I was going to Bethel Christian School at that location, no one was living in the parsonage; it served as the church office.)

Back to the memory: We were on the 2nd floor, the large room that held the "older kids"; we were meeting together prior to splitting up by grade for Sunday school lessons. It was during this time that the Sunday school superintendent made announcements, took offering, and presented a little lesson.

The Sunday school superintendent asked in which book we would find a particular event in the bible. I raised my hand very quickly, was called on, and proudly and loudly said "Paul."

The other children ridiculed me immediately and I felt very foolish.
There is of course no "Book of Paul."

Someone else quickly answered with a bible book written by Paul.

That's the end of that Sunday school memory.

[2012-08-03]

 

2
Why do we dis our elders?

One of the reasons we defer to older folks is they've been around the block a few times. Unfortunately, those trips, while they accumulate wisdom, also collect emotional baggage. Younger folks must respect that too, for it accounts for a lot of the behavior we see in older folks, and everyone that lives long enough with enough responsibility will one day carry the same burdens.

It's also part of the reason we almost universally abhor mistreatment of the elderly.

My son asked me not long ago, Why is it whenever popular media portrays a wise old man, he’s often Asian?

Good question. I think because Asians venerate their ancestors and respect elders in ways the West does not (though communion of the saints approximates it, but not well and not widely).

Search for images of "wise old man" on Google and what do you get? With the exception of Albert Einstein, none are clearly wise old Anglos or Europeans.

[2012-08-03]

 

3
"You're doing it wrong."

Most problems between humans distill down to "You're doing it wrong."

I don't like the way you dress, cut your hair, mow your lawn, sing, pray, eat, talk, think, vote. I don't like your expensive car, your Jap junk, your rust bucket; I don't like your mansion, your hovel, your apartment, your penthouse; I don't like slanty eyes, brown skin, white skin, too much skin, high hemlines, low cleavage, pink hair, purple hair, too much hair, too little hair; and "dis" isn't a word.

Families are destroyed that way, and schools and lodges and churches. Whole new denominations and countries grow out of our inability to give a little and take a little.

We tolerate for the sake of expediency or profit, but that's not the same thing as tolerating out of mutual respect, for when the reason is gone, so is the tolerance.

How can we teach our children to cooperate if we can't learn to put up with each other.

(There's no question mark at the end of that sentence.)

[2012-08-12]