Sunday School and Saints

We need to bridge yesterday’s saints with our present-day disciples.  Many of our present-day disciples will never relate to Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome, or even Saint Ambrose.  They cannot place a face with those names.  However, we do remember those with some saintly characteristics who have passed on in our lifetime.  The lessons from their lives can be guides and pathways to inspire our present churches and Sunday Schools.  Like saints of distant history, those passing on in recent years were not perfect but they, too, received grace and exemplified God’s glory.  God has not left our Sunday Schools without saints to emulate.     

Years ago, arriving at another church as Pastor, I met a layperson by the name of George.  He, in many minds, was considered Mr. Sunday School and over time I came to agree with them. 

On numerous occasions, George would meet me for breakfast to go over his Sunday School enrollment sheet.  George would literally go over every name on his enrollment and give me a detailed update on their spiritual walk. He would then ask that we pray for each of them individually.   Eating breakfast with George would always take two to three hours because of his detail and concern for every person on his list.  

As you might have guessed, he was a great shepherd of his Sunday School flock. At his passing, believers and unbelievers, both young and old, spoke of the weekly contacts he made with them over the years.  

Today, it is my honor to remind our present-day teachers and students of the saintly love that George had for his class.  What a special moment it is when one of our teachers hear the words of affirmation, “you remind me of George.”  Such a complement does not deify George, but reminds us all of how deity can infill any mortal with passionate love for a Sunday School class.     

Eusebius of Caesarea, a bishop of the church in the fourth century, is considered to be the first true church historian.  He emphasized the importance of studying the apostles, martyrs, and church fathers who had preceded him.  While retracing their steps, Eusebius said, “we hear them, as it were, ‘raising their voices as a man holds up a torch from afar, calling to us from on high as from a distant watch-tower, and telling us how we must walk, and how to guide the course of our work without error or danger’” (Ecclesiastical History 1:1 by Eusebius of Caesarea).  

All of our churches have a history of individuals in which God developed saintly characteristics.  We need to remember their lives as benchmarks for what God can do through us.  

May Christians in our day not only aspire to be like Paul and Matthew but also like George.  After all, we have personally known George and, from one generation to another, “God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11 NIV).  God is still making saints through our Sunday Schools.