Church school for 7th and 8th graders

Tony Hawkins

By way of introduction, my name is Tony Hawkins. I have the pleasure of teaching the 7th and 8th grade Church School class on Sunday mornings following the 9 a.m. service. This age group is so evolutionary that their parents/guardians and even the students don't know at times what to do with themselves - too big to eat at the little children's table during Thanksgiving dinner and yet a bit too adolescent to dine at the Ritz. This is a developing time of life. However, it's exciting to watch them mature over the year while their hearts and minds are engaged in a deeper understanding of scripture and human endeavor.

The class syllabus is based on the Episcopal Youth Curriculum: Called by Faith. This learning is interspersed with the Journey to Adulthood prospectus. As the class moves into Eastertide, we are questioning our Lenten observances and discerning how we continue to bring our fasting, penitence, prayers, and those things given up or added to our lives into a daily devotion as opposed to just the 40 days of Lent.

On different Sundays in Lent, students Emily Jessup, Molly Superfine, and Rebecca Smith led the class in diverse Lenten topics. Our guest lecturers accepted the challenge, while their classmates learned and appreciated their peers' reflective endeavors. John and Tina Gray, our other class teachers, led the class in a Saturday morning Lenten project of making soup for a parish ministry.

The class talks, discusses, shares, and engages in conversation about things that are relevant to the program of study, but more importantly applicable to our growing Spiritual lives - topics like where certain stories are found in Scripture, what are the tenets of our faith, the liturgical seasons and their colors, and who are saints and why we care. We talk about Bible stories and why some of those saints did what they did and why we do some things in our lives that cause others joy, pain, heartache, fun etc. The human contract is explored through the eyes of the principals. The insight that comes from the 'mouths of babes' is extraordinary.

In a wonderfully structured 'free-style' form of embracing the saints from an Episcopal expression, we meet on Sunday mornings in Room 6 from 10:10 a.m. until 11 a.m. We all, as students, have an opportunity to engage the curriculum, each other, and our Lord as we learn of God's love for humanity. Please join us to discover what it all may mean to you.

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