For most of us, across a vast spectrum of ages and circumstances, these are unprecedented times. Our normal routines have been decimated, our schedules are gutted, and we’re scrambling to adjust to new methods of educating of our children, providing for our families, and keeping in touch with those we love but can’t touch. We’re finding that we’re living in a weird paradox of not having enough to do on one hand, and having too much to do on the other.
Our Sunday morning routines have been uprooted, haven’t they? And I feel as though they’ve been stretched out. Certain things used to happen in overlapping ways: fellowship, worship, sermons, and Sunday school classes. This kept our mornings tidy and predictable. But praise God for the technology we have at our disposal! We can still sing together and listen to Pastor Sam’s sermons, we can pray together, and be encouraged. Praise God too for our faithful Sunday school teachers, who have valiantly stepped up to the challenge of video-recording their lessons for their classes to watch! This is no small thing – few of us want to watch ourselves on video 🙂
One possible downside to this could appear for those of you with multiple children, across multiple grade levels. If you sit down together to sing and watch the sermon, and then start the Sunday school videos after that, you could find that church stretches out across the entire morning! And while in theory that could be good, in practice . . . ? Perhaps not for all of us.
Be creative in how your family utilizes the Sunday school lessons. Spread them out over several days, add them in to your children’s school work, use them as family devotionals, and break up the routine of your weekdays. Under the right circumstances, they could be used as incentives: “If you finish your math homework, then you can watch Mr. Dave’s Easter rap again.” Or “If you don’t finish your math homework, you’ll have to watch Mr. Dave’s Easter rap again.” You know, whatever works for your situation 🙂
Having the lessons on video also allows you to peek inside the classrooms in a way you normally wouldn’t on a Sunday morning. You’ll have an opportunity to “see” the curriculum and hear it taught, you’ll expose yourself and your children to a variety of teaching styles and personalities, and you’ll have precious opportunities to follow up with your children at the end of the lesson and throughout the week, building upon what was taught. Stretch your youngest children by watching a lesson from an older class, and allow your older children to watch the lessons of their younger siblings – they can jump in and teach too! Perhaps best of all, we can all share these links, sermons, and lessons with our family members and friends – those who might never step into our church on a Sunday morning, but who need to hear the Truth of the Gospel.
There really are so many blessings for us in our current situation. Rather than focusing on what we’re missing, we can teach ourselves and our children to focus on what we’re gaining instead. One particular example is our Sunday morning routines, and when we think creatively we might find an abundance of opportunities to turn “too much” into “just right!”
