I was sitting in a Sunday service in my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, when one of the Readers read an announcement about Sunday School. He said, “We welcome young people to our Sunday School.”
I thought, “Do we? Do I?” We hadn’t had any regular students in our Sunday School for a few years. In that moment, I decided to consciously welcome any of God’s children into our Sunday School. I reached out with a mental hug and felt God’s love embracing me and all potential students. I knew from my own experience attending as a student and as a teacher, that it was a valuable experience.
I realized my mistake in thinking about Sunday School as static—having no possibilities for growth.
Less than a minute later, an usher tapped me on the shoulder and said that there was a boy present who wanted to attend Sunday School. Wow! During the class we talked about the Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly for that week, which related a story about how Jesus loved children. I asked the student why he thought that Jesus loved them. He said that he’d watched a documentary about the construction of one of the monuments in Washington, DC. When they were inscribing a word in the marble, someone made a spelling mistake. They had chiseled it in and it was very difficult to correct. He said that he thought children were like the smooth marble before it had been chiseled.
It reminded me of what Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right” (p. 236).
I realized my mistake in thinking about Sunday School as static—having no possibilities for growth. I had allowed that to be chiseled into my thought and I hadn’t even considered welcoming children in my prayers before that day. The good news is that it’s easier to correct our thoughts than chiseled stone!
Since then, our Sunday School has slowly expanded, and now we are welcoming several students each week.
Since then, our Sunday School has slowly expanded, and now we are welcoming several students each week.
When we let God etch His forever perfect love into our hearts, we’ll be ready to welcome in every pure idea He sends our way.
