In this series of blogs on my elementary school I have called the fourth
“R” to be religion. I am sure that the founders of my elementary school, namely
Zion Lutheran School, Walburg, Texas would insist that R for Religion should be
the first R. The primary purpose of the school included teaching the Christian
faith to the children of congregation members (and only to them). Usually a
separately listed goal was “to prepare children for the ritual of
confirmation.” This was such an important aspect of congregational life that I
recall a discussion as to whether parents who chose to not send their children
to Zion should actually be excommunicated from the church as they were deemed
to be neglecting the best resource for learning to grow as Christians.
So, obviously, religion was the critical component of our curriculum. We
had a formal class on religion every school day, each class lasting from 30
minutes to an hour. At the heart of our lesson was learning Bible stories (also
called Bible History.) We learned the narratives well. The teacher told the
story. We were questioned about the story. We students told the stories to the
class or we asked the class questions on the story – or we volunteered to stand
in front and have our fellow students ask us questions about the story. We had
large colored pictures of the Biblical events posted on the wall. They all came
from Concordia Publishing House and I think were the only pictures in our
classrooms. We had the stories in printed form also (in both English and German).
I learned those stories and loved them and to this day am grateful for the experience.
The second aspect of our religious instruction was learning Dr. Martin
Luther’s Catechism and an extended version of this with appropriate questions,
answers and Biblical references. I memorized the catechism first in German,
then in English (and much later in Cantonese). My recollection is that the primary
teaching method was “question and answer” and my grades 4-8 teacher was an
absolute master at that.
The third aspect of our formal religion classes was music. We learned to
sing hymns. By the time I was in the sixth grade we were singing them in three-part
harmony. One strong memory: When I was in about the fifth grade a schoolmate
burned to death. She had gotten up before her parents arose, decided she would
surprise them by preparing fried bacon and eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately
the kerosene stove exploded costing her her life. We sang at her funeral, “I am
Jesus Little Lamb”. We sang it in German and my entire being recalls the
moment.
When we reached the 7th grade we were excused for the first
hour of the day to go to ‘confirmation class” taught by the pastor. My
reflection: “Total disaster!”
It is now some 73 years since I was taught that fourth R and for much of
it I am forever grateful. I learned, among many other things at least an important
life lessons 1) God is for me, not against me, God forgives me, accepts me,
loves me. 2) The Christian life is a life of grateful responses, daring
fullness, filled with service to neighbors around the world. 3) The power of
prayer: God hears and responds. 4) Eternity is a mystery, but wonderful. 5) My
teacher continues to be a model of what it means to be a Christian.
There were also some significant weaknesses and failures in my elementary
school religious training. Probably the most serious is what I call “religious
arrogance”. We were taught the official teaching of the Lutheran Church-
Missouri Synod that it was the only body of Christians who believed and taught
“the Word of God in all its truth and purity”. We had it like a clear glass of
water. Others had part of it, but their glasses of water were filled with lots
of dirt. We were never to worship or pray with or even play softball against
other Christians, like Roman Catholics, Baptists, Episcopalians or even
Lutherans who were not Missouri Synod. If a graduate of our school married a
spouse of another Lutheran denomination and that spouse joined our congregation
we called him/her an “adult convert”.
A second failing in my religious upbringing related to the above was the
importance of the “proof-text” manner of teaching. We were taught a certain
piece of doctrine which was stated as truth and then there was a small verse
from Scripture to prove this teaching. I now know that it is probably true that
one can find a particular “proof text” in Scripture for anything. Sometimes
this proof-texting was taken out of context and the true teaching was
distorted.
The third failure was in the area of skills and practices for personal
reflection. I went to Lutheran schools and college for 16 years and not once
was I asked to “just observe a few moments of silence”. Not once was I taught
how to meditate. Not once was I given any real guidance on what it means to “be
still and know that I am God.”
But I must end this blog on a positive note. Certainly the grounding of
my faith in Zion Lutheran School has given me the faith, strength, courage and
hope to live a wonderful life following the One who said, “I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life.”