Reflections Upon a Blessed and Exciting Life – No.7: Primary School: The Fourth “R”: Religion

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 7^th 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.”