okay...so i'm teaching 7th grade bible today. it's like bouncing marshmallows off a brick wall. i'm saying words, we're reading scripture, and i get the definite feeling that no one has a clue to the meaning of what's being said and what's being read. here's the conversation:

me: "John came as a witness to the light....who is this, John who?"
Students: "uh...John the apostle" "john the disciple" "john the baptist" .....

Now, it's not that 7th grade students should know which john we're talking about necessarily...or even know that john the apostle and john the disciple are the same guy. But I live in tulsa...the Jerusalem of God's New Promised Land. I ask:

"okay...hey...can i ask a question? how many of you have gone to church all your lives?"
all 15 students raise their hands
"okay...how many of you are currently regularly going to church or youth group?"
13 of 15 raise their hand

"can I ask you another question? What have you learned in church?"

student1: "I've learned that Jesus rose from the dead."
me: "that's good...that's a great thing to learn. what else?"
student2: "we sing songs and hear a talk and then eat."
student3: "yeah..same here. our church has really good coffee. i go to [EveryChurch]."
student2: "[EveryChurch]? You do? So do I."
student3: "yeah....we've got good coffee and hot chocolate."
me: "okay...so what have you learned at [EveryChurch]?"
student3: "well, we did a thing last week where we raised our hands like this....then we brought them down.....[to student2] what was that about?"
student2: "i don't know...that was weird. something about creation."
me: "okay...what did you learn about creation?"
student2: "i don't really remember. it was weird."
me: "okay...so back to the question, what have you learned?"
student2: "lots of stuff. we hear talks every week."
me: "okay...cool, so like what?"
Silence.....
student3: "we have good talks every week. our youth pastor is funny. and the hot chocolate is really, really good."

should i be depressed?
posted by Jimmy at 8:54 PM | |