Feeling the Flames

So last Sunday was again hot as hades in our classroom. Two fans and an opened window but I was ready for flames to erupt at any moment. I honestly lost a pound and a half according to my scale at home. My hair was dripping. My blouse was wet. I mopped my face with every tissue left in the classroom. I wanted to say it was the devil trying to get us to not teach because of the heat but then I asked, “How many of you believe there is a devil?” and only some of their hands went up. So I knew I had to handle the topic more seriously. (The weather is supposed to cool this week. If not, I’m going to skip ahead and talk about wanderings in the desert for 40 years, Jesus in the desert for 40 days, and the wonderful, refreshing feeling of baptismal waters. But I digress ….)

Despite this equatorial experience, we picked up 4 more students. Yippee! I tried to cover the information they missed from last week as well as present new information. But we got behind and I figured it’s not fair to the kids who did come on the first day and on time at that. Then I remembered the covenant I signed with each of them and my part includes having materials ready for anyone who is absent. Strange how my part of the promise came back to bite me so quickly.

We did get to talk about pre-history, divine revelation, and our first people story: the couple who lived in a beautiful place but got kicked out (Adam and Eve.) The class seemed familiar with that so we moved on to start on creation. But Father Huffman came in–and how neat was that! He’s this really nice, just-ordained priest who looks like he was the homecoming king at his high school last year. He wears a cassock, which seems to bother some people but I love it. So did some of the kids. He wanted to quiz the kids but I told him they haven’t been in class (unless you want to count last year’s Zoom classes which I think is very, very questionable) so he held off. But he did bless us and it was just so grace-filled to have him stop by so the kids could get to know him.

So what have we learned that I promised to share with you? Let me just list some things:

Intimacy–God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That’s where we were supposed to be. But then….

Evil/Satan/The devil–convinced Eve, who convinced Adam, that they didn’t have to obey the *one*–just one–rule God gave them. So they got kicked out of Paradise. And when they did, there was distance between them and God. They couldn’t talk to Him as though they were face-to-face anymore.

Then we played the telephone game. It was tough considering the noise of the two fans and the Covid face masks we had to wear, and only one kid got the message. The message got lost as it traveled down the line.

That’s how it was with Adam and Eve and all their descendants. The longer they were away from experiencing God intimately like Adam and Eve did in the Garden, the harder it was to understand what He was saying to them.

And some of the people (in the bible, not in my class) who “couldn’t hear the message” refused to believe there really was a message. So God had to send prophets to say, “Hey, people. This is what God is saying.” But the prophets weren’t believed either.

Then God sent His only Son, Jesus. And some people didn’t believe Him either. And if they wouldn’t believe God Himself, in the Person of Jesus, then they wouldn’t believe anyone. So no more prophets for us.

But, going back to the couple who lost their beautiful living quarters: God promised to help them (and their descendants) get back to Paradise (heaven.) He made covenants (promises; agreements) with them. But before long two brothers got into a fight and one murdered the other (Cain and Abel) and other people started sinning.

Then God found a human, a Jewish man and his wife, who still believed in Him (Abraham and Sarah) and said, “Hey, Abram and Sari. You like me and I like you. Thanks. I’m going to give you a million descendants if you will help me spread my word to everyone in the world.” And they said, “Let’s do it.”

So the Bible–which is a bunch of books in one (77 for Catholics; 63 for Protestants)–tells the story of God’s relationship with the Jewish people (and later, with everyone) beginning from the start of time (creation) to the end of time when we’ll go to heaven or hell forever. And our class will have to start with a discussion on the reality–not the opinion, not the ‘fake news’, not the fairy tale–but the real-as-we-are-breathing truth that purposeful evil exists and we are in a spiritual battle.

How do we know all this is true? God revealed it through Divine Inspiration (divine guidance) to the people who wrote the different books of the bible, and He reveals Himself through creation and sacred tradition (the oral stories passed down about how He was and is present in our lives.)

We also mentioned “Ordinary Time.” There is so much to learn and celebrate about God that the Church divides the year up and assigns different parts of the bible to be read at Mass at different times of the year. Of course, we can do bible studies on any part of the bible any time of the year. Each part of the “liturgical year” has its own color and the priests vestments are the same color. So I have beads in a jar near the sign-in sheet that matches the liturgical calendar. Right now we’re in Ordinary Time (which means it’s not Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter) which is green.

And for kids that want more vocabulary I threw in ‘magisterium‘ which is the teaching office of the Church.

We also talked about Sunday’s Gospel, when the Apostles were arguing about who is greater than the other one. Of course when Jesus said, “What are you arguing about?” they all got silent. But He knew and He told them that to be first, you have to serve others. If you’re thinking, “yeah, yeah, I know that,” think about it this way: to be first, you have to be last. Then try to think of real life examples when you didn’t want to be last: like in the buffet line, or in the ticket line, or in the grocery checkout line. Or when you didn’t want to walk as slow as the old people walking in front of you. Or serving others by helping them pick up things they were carrying but not in a basket and then dropped when you really, really, really want to get on the road before the traffic backs up and you get stopped by a train. You get my drift.

Well, we didn’t get to all of that but we will next week.

Also next week: two stories of creation; Genesis; human dignity; stewardship; free will and conscience. And the Gospel. Geez, so much to cover!