For several years, I haven't really enjoyed Sunday School as much as I thought I should. It was definitely the most boring of the 3 hours of church and at first I never really thought much of it. But recently, I've wanted to get a better overall experience at church so I decided that I would start reading the lesson before hand (what a concept, right?). In college, when I was prepared, classes seemed to be so much better, I was able to participate and I got more out of each class. I figured it would be the same way. But I think I've figured out what bugs me about Sunday School. Sorry if this offends anyone.
When I think of Sunday School, I think of studying the scriptures. That's what we are there to do right? Every year it's a new book and we go through that book chapter by chapter every week. The way that our manuals are written, we usually don't talk about the scriptures all that much; instead we focus on the principles and doctrines that are being taught. I have often heard Derek say that this is the reason he has a hard time with Sunday School, but mine goes a bit further.
I feel like when I have spent time reading and studying before Sunday School to be prepared for a lesson, and then we talk about things that aren't even (in my opinion) in the assigned reading, I have nothing to prepare for. How am I supposed to know that we are going to be talking about some principle just because one word in the scripture reading that week was mentioned? I kind of feel cheated when I get to Sunday School and all we talk about are the principles that the instructor (or maybe it's the manual) thinks are important for us to learn. It feels like the instructor gets all of this time to study and learn things and this is what I got from it, so enjoy. Instead, I want us to read the scriptures together, study together, and discuss together. Instead of having an instructor tell me what I should get out of it. Does this make sense? I don't mind if we end up talking about the principles and doctrines contained in the verses, but I want to do it together. Again, I don't want someone to tell me what to get out of it. We are all different, and we may all get something different out of certain scripture passages so we should be able to share those things. Instead, we just sit there and don't even read any scriptures, so no one has a chance to share what they have gotten out of it. I think yesterday, we read a total of 3 scripture passages (usually just one verse) and 2 of them weren't even in our assigned reading. I don't know, I just get a little frustrated sometimes.
Does anyone else feel this way, or (as Matt would say) am I a total nut bag?
