The scene: a gathering of Sunday School children. The place: a church chapel. The time: yesterday morning. The joy:
LEADER: “Okay everyone, as you might remember, this month we’re talking about the greatest commandment…”
CHILD 1: “DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT!” (runs off)
LEADER: “Now, can anyone tell me what the greatest commandment is?” (sees child raising hand) “Yes?”
CHILD 2: (very sadly and adorably) “Can I have a new plant like we made from last week, because my cat knocked mine over and now I don’t have a plant.”
LEADER: “Ummm, okay, sure, we’ll see if we can figure that out. We can get you a new plant. But what about the greatest commandment?”
CHILD 3: (reading from the white board) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
LEADER: “Very good. And what can you tell us about it?”
CHILD 3: “That there are too many ‘and’s in that sentence, and whoever wrote it did not have very good grammar.”
LEADER: “Okay, maybe. Can anyone tell me who said it?”
CHILD 4: “You said it, last week.”
CHILD 2: “It was a lettuce plant…”
CHILD 3: (to child 4) “You weren’t even here last week…”
LEADER: “Yes, but who said it first?”
CHILD 3: “Jesus.”
CHILD 4: “But Jesus IS God.”
LEADER: “Yes, Jesus is God…”
CHILD 4: “That doesn’t make any sense…”
LEADER: “Well, Jesus was telling us this to help us to remember to put God first, and one way we can do this is by praying. And you can pray about anything. You could pray: ‘Dear God, please help
my cat to be more careful and to not accidentally knock over my plants, and help me to forgive my cat and love my cat anyway. Amen.'”
CHILD 2: “My cat did it on purpose.”
I wish I could make this stuff up. If you want to wrestle with deep theological questions while laughing and having fun at the same time, teach Sunday School. You won’t regret it.