Sunday School Challenges

The church I am serving for the summer is considered a small congregation: approximately 200 active members. During the school year, Sunday School classes are available for those aged 3-4 years, Kindergarten to 2nd grade, and 3rd to 6th grade. Each class generally has one to two kids in it on a "good Sunday." During the summer, Children's Sunday School condenses to one room. I am in charge of planning and teaching this one room Sunday School for nine weeks - a daunting task when you consider the range in age, interest, and skill. However, I was feeling okay about it since my first Sunday in the church there were only two children in the Sunday School class.

Then came this past Sunday. My first Sunday to teach. Six children show up - four rowdy, rambunctious boys and two very quiet girls. None of them show up on time, so I thought I might be off the hook and have a free Sunday. Then I find one child and another one joins and another is dropped off and soon I am up to six children. I hold my own for about 30 minutes. I read the Joseph story. We made a Joseph craft. We played trivia with the Joseph story. We did a worksheet.

And then chaos reigned. One boy found gummy, plastic snakes on a shelf and began to throw them at the ceiling. Another boy demonstrated for those present how to make farting noises with your arm pit and how to make these noises sound like a machine gun. I carroled them as best as I could and thankfully class was soon over. I was off and running to get collared and robed for worship so I could lead all the opening liturgy. Needless to say, I felt pretty scattered throughout the worship service.

I returned to the scene of the crime today to clean up the supplies from Sunday and gather materials for this upcoming Sunday. Six brightly-colored snakes are still stuck to the ceiling and I can't reach them standing on a chair. I'll have to find a broom to knock them down.

I shared my story and frustration with my supervising pastor later on. He asked me what theology I could see present in the story ... and I said "the story of humanity: created good, yet" ... and the pastor cut me off before I could say "yet sinful" and told me to just say it and claim it: the sinfulness of the children. I had a hard time doing it. I have a strong, positive theology of children and their participation in the life of the church. Yet, at the same time, I experienced their sinful nature.

I'm still trying to figure out how to reconcile the two ...