Who decides?

I liked this quote about A.I. from Madam Secretary:

Technology is not the enemy, unless we allow it to substitute its judgement for our own.

(Season 6 episode 3: Killer Robots)

Applies in many more situations than killer robots.

Advice for Sunday School teachers

As a new school year begins, I thought I’d post some stuff I wrote for the leaders of my old Sunday School class, on the off-chance it was relevant for someone reading the blog.

There are infinite amounts of advice that could be given, but I think these are the most important, and hold true whatever format or style your teaching takes.

 

✝️ Preach the gospel

Children easily learn to parrot 'Jesus died to save us from our sins'. But they often really believe it's about being good, going to church, or having a Christian family.

Tell them it's not - tell them often.

Don't assume they are believers (Saying ‘IF you love/follow/believe in Jesus…’ is a good way to do that simply.)

Use different words or ways of explaining the gospel, that fit with the story e.g. Yes, Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins - but also, Jesus died to make us God's friends, so we can be in his family, to set us free, to beat the devil, to give us new life etc. etc. etc…

 

 

 📖 Teach the truth

They're young - you need to simplify things. But make sure everything you say is true. (Not watered down, but distilled, as I heard someone say once).

Make sure you're teaching what the Bible actually says, not what tradition has added!

Trite 'Sunday School answers' are often unhelpful. Be honest about the bits you find hard to understand.

If it comes up, be honest about things that Christians genuinely disagree about. This could be 'in some churches they believe X but we believe Y.'
Or, for things that we ourselves have differing opinions on (e.g. creation, predestination, eschatology, Hallowe’en), simply 'Some Christians believe X and some believe Y - but we all believe Z, which is the most important (maybe add ‘ask your parents what they think’.)

Be honest about the sins and failures of Bible heroes. Be honest about your own sins and failures (both at a PG level of course 😁)

 

 

🥰 Look out for outsiders

Every child needs to feel they belong.

Pay particular attention to those who don't fit in in some way - those who attend irregularly, are particularly shy, are always in trouble, struggle academically, hate doing crafts, are from a different race or culture, are less well off, have a disability, are neurodivergent, come from a non-christian family, have a difficult family situation… or just that child you really don't like for whatever reason 😬

If they don't know that we welcome them, they won't understand that Jesus welcomes them. 

 

🙏 Pray

The one I'm least good at!

The best planned lesson in the world is no good without prayer. Pray for yourself as you prepare, pray for yourself as you teach, pray that the children will understand, pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to them.

Pray for their families, pray for their schools, pray that they will not believe the lies the world tells them, pray that they will believe, pray that they will keep on going.

Strange snail

I've never seen a snail crawl up the window before 🤔

Stargate?

I pass this house frequently, and I can't help feeling that if you walked up the path you might end up on another planet.

(Skeptics may say it's a frame for climbing plants, but it's been there for a long time, and never had any plants on it.)

A long lasting paper trail

I'm a great believer in putting things in writing. It means that, if there's any disagreement in the future, you can look back.

Obviously this ancient Babylonian thought so too:

“I am not getting water for my sesame field. The sesame will die. Don’t tell me later, ‘You did not write to me.’ The sesame is visibly dying. Ibbi-Ilabrat saw it. That sesame will die, and I have warned you.”
~from a letter by a guy called Sin-gamil 

Since the Babylonians wrote on clay tablets, his letter has survived for over 3000 years.

I wonder if he got the water for his field.

The eye of the beholder

I was in the train, and a bunch of kids came on, on a school trip.

Obviously the four wee girls in front of me had never been into town on the train before. I caught snatches of their conversation as they exclaimed about everything:

"It's beautiful - look at it. Look at the design. It's like someone's drawn on the bricks."

This was what she was seeing.

"Ohhhhhh.... Guys, look!"

 No idea what she was referring to - all I could see was a plain stone wall.

"Ohhhh... Woaahhh...."

This was some more run down urban scenery.

"Look! It's like such nice sights!"

That was as we crossed the Clyde - not sure if she was referring to the river or the buildings.

 

And finally, as we entered Glasgow Central:

"Ohhhh... Look at this place!"

I know I notice things other people don't see, but they were really taking it to the next level, and getting so much joy out of it.

Made me think of this song by Yvonne Lyon.

Solitary sheep

I'm reading Genesis at the minute, and I got to the bit where Jacob sent a gift to appease his brother Esau: 

🐐 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 

🐑 200 female sheep, 20 male sheep, 

🐪 30 female camels with their babies, 

🐄 40 cows, 10 bulls, 

🫏 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.

It made me think of the time we did that story at Sunday School and one small boy started giggling.

Because, he said, "180 female sheep wouldn't be able to get married".