Today, religious values are taught to children in Christian Sunday schools in an academic fashion through the study of stories and parables.
They have missed the greatest part of the story... that of a young man being raised in a carpenter's shop. What would he make? What tools would he use? What levels of quality of material and finish would be good enough? And what level of attention would be required in the work. Those are the kinds of questions that can challenge a child for a lifetime of growth and responsibility.
What if Sunday Schools became woodshops in which the values of craftsmanship were shared with children? It would just take a few workbenches, hammers and saws and lumber, and a teacher who understood the rewards of craftsmanship.
That would have been the Sunday School that kept me in church.
The greek word "tekton" is usually translated as "carpenter" -- however, the English that would more closely fit the societal and economic situation that Jesus lived in would be "construction worker" or "hardhat" (if they had hardhats 2000 years ago).
ReplyDeleteAnd we're not talking a well-paid union construction job but rather something closer to migrant construction labor jobs taken by those living at the economic margins.
"Today, religious values are taught to children in Christian Sunday schools in an academic fashion through the study of stories and parables."
ReplyDeleteForgive me for saying so, but surely U*U religious values are taught to U*U children in U*U "Sunday schools" in an even more academic fashion through the study of Tapestries and OWLs. ;-)
UU's tend to be highly educated so one would expect their Sunday School education to be pretty cerebral and language based rather than hands-on learning. I certainly wouldn't make any claim about UU Sunday Schools being superior, but I do feel that I would have been much more inclined to participate if it had offered something real.
ReplyDeleteSomehow saying Jesus was a hardhat wouldn't have quite the glamor for some that being a carpenter suggests. Unless you are a hardhat in need of a role model.