Christian Learning
I was finishing my seminary education when I read “Learning in War Time,” by C.S. Lewis, originally delivered as a sermon. In this sermon, Lewis emphasizes the importance of Christian education, even amid war. Lewis points out that Scripture calls for all Christians, “whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” His emphasis is not the increase of religious life in seminary students—although this is certainly part of it—but on why Christian education should continue in the face of grave circumstances. His response is that nothing is more grave than eternal life or death, and it is the job of the student to fulfill his God-given task. The Christian student’s task is the training that he might provide a defense against the attacks of heresy and atheism: “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” The Christian, no matter the situation, is to do all things for the glory of God as an act of worship, whether on the front line or in the classroom.
This is coming from the same man who wrote the Narnia series. Yet, we easily forget that he also fought on the Western Front in WWI. He knows the darkness of war and the importance of story. The reality is, stories form us. We hear fairy tales as children. We hear family stories told around the dinner table. Stories of heroism, warnings against evil, and life lessons told around campfires. If we think of it, the Bible is primarily stories. In the Old Testament, we hear the oral tradition passed down generation by generation. In the New Testament, we receive the story of Christ and the early Church accompanied by parables. These stories contain wisdom, morals, theology, and philosophy. They intentionally confound us and challenge us in the way only a story can. We are confronted not with mere syllogisms; rather, we encounter complexity held in the face of people. We wrestle with holding together their brokenness and their joys. However, as we engage with story, our souls are read, digested, corrected, and formed.
Children need to know the old stories and the Gospel because others, both in the world and under the guise of the church, desire to fill their minds with distorted stories and counterfeit gospels. Without a solid foundation rooted in a biblical framework, we rob them of the tools of good philosophy to combat heresies and the bad philosophies offered to them on a silver plate. Unfortunately, we live in a world where there is no neutral. Both us and our children are formed one way or another.
What ways are we forming ourselves? What stories do we fill our minds with? Is Scripture mastering us? Or are we avoiding being challenged and choosing that which is more easily digestible? Of course, right knowledge does not guarantee a certain life or that good choices will be made; however, not having a foundation will ensure the house is blown every which way by the wind.
This is why we have Sunday School and adult education offered at the parish. That we might continue to grow in knowledge of who God is and allow ourselves to be conquered, formed, and rooted in Scripture. I can attest that knowing more Scripture does not automatically make your life “better” or you and your child more sinless. Temptations, hardships, and failure await us all. But where do we turn in the midst of the storm and in rising from the wreckage? Let the stories of repentance and grace form us. Stories that take sin and evil so seriously and personally that God took on flesh to conquer sin and death, that we might receive forgiveness and salvation.
This isn’t meant to be a guilt trip to make you come to Sunday School. I know we all have circumstances that make it difficult to fit everything into our schedules. At times, I sacrifice learning for the errand that has to be run or an unexpected important task that comes up. I know my children, at this stage of life, won't always be able to make it to Sunday School because a baby needs a nap, a child is sick, or other things arise. There is grace for you and for me — thanks be to God. But may we never neglect growing in the knowledge and love of God or seeing it as something “less than,” for God has called us to worship him with the fullness of who we are: “with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” For all of us, young and old, have been called to the front lines in the battle for our souls; may we do all things to the glory of God.
God’s Peace,
Fr. Aaron