Ensign: Be Relatable

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3


AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 August 2013

One month from yesterday, Sunday school starts again at my church. Having grown up in Florida where our times for church and Sunday school are the same year-round, it was jarring for me at first to come to North Dakota where we'd have Sunday school (and confirmation for older kids) during the regular school year and be off for summer. But I've gotten used to it … one of the big hassles – again, for me – is assembling the curriculum and writing the plays to teach Parable Playhouse, one of our Rotation Sunday School classes that involves first reading the Bible story and then acting it out with puppets. I grew up acting quite a lot, and it's never quite left me, this need to be “larger than life”. If you've ever performed in front of others you know there has to be a lot of exaggeration in your movement and speech so the people all the way in back can see what you're doing and saying.

This year's lessons – they're taught in five or six week cycles that incorporate different learning styles with different media in each class – will be covering David and Goliath, Friendly Beasts (still gotta figure what we'll fill that in with; six years ago it was a Heifer Project International promotion coinciding with I'm not sure what lesson), [Jesus] Calming the Storm, Jesus' Trial and Crucifixion, and Daniel in the Lions' Den. SURE I could use one of the plethora of materials already available online and just give proper credit, and most of our teachers do, especially since they handle packages of pre-packaged crafts and baking goods and readily have the instructions right in front of them. Sometimes I feel that puts me at a disadvantage; I have to deal with staging and … not so much “dumbing down” the story to make it easier to read and portray, but making it accessible and relatable.

May I be honest? Sometimes the Word of God is not that relatable. Not only is that why you have so many translations of the Bible (even in the same language, from the King James Version to the New International Version to the Revised Standard Version to the New Jerusalem Bible to the New King James Version and we can go on all day) but also it's often why you feel . . . so . . . lost. And having to present these lessons to a group of first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth graders each week without straying from the text is inevitable. Particularly if they don't grow up in a home or live and thrive in an environment where the Bible is taught or read or studied on a regular basis.



“And [God] gave some, [the ability to be for Him] apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Let's look at Ephesians 4:11-13 for a moment, please; I'm reading a note beneath that saying pastors and teachers really ought to be rendered pastors-teachers in keeping with original Greek, but stuff that! What languages you know or understand won't get you into heaven anyway, and is that not our prime goal? (You can tell I have problems with English!) When Kim and Lesa and others whose names escape me now and I begin teaching class this eighth of September it's not because we necessarily KNOW any more than other people in church about God and His Word to us,

it's because we are called. I was going to end this week on that, but I can see how that would be confusing. It's not enough – for me, anyway – to just go to church and go through the motions, hear (or not; I admit sometimes I remember how I react to what our pastor says more than I remember what they say) something that tickles your ears at worst and inspires you at best. I have to do something, and I admit I'm a little exuberant about it. Preaching and teaching the Word of God is serious business; so's the rest of it, but I'm dwelling on the teaching part because it's so important not only to be excited about something revealed – what I would argue apostles, prophets, and evangelists do – but also to know what it is you're excited about! You know that faith without works is dead (see James 2:17) and it's not much of a stretch that enthusiasm without knowledge is dead too.

Our job as teachers is to make it come alive (and relatable),

David


P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!


We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.


Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.


Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.