The Co-Moderators of the 226th General Assembly (2024) clearly want Triennium-goers to meet and relate to the Jesus that the Revs. Tony Larson and CeCe Armstrong didn’t quite get to meet years ago.
On the second day of the Presbyterian Youth Triennium gathering in Louisville, the Co-Moderators packed the young in for a 90-minute class called, provocatively, “The Jesus I Didn’t Meet in Sunday School.”
First, Armstrong and Larson explored some Bible passages, including Matthew 14:22–33, the account of Jesus walking on the water. Larson asked: “What’s the point here?” One youth responded, “Keep your eyes on Jesus.”
Larson remembered learning the Sunday school lesson of “if I trust Jesus enough, I can do impossible things. … You have to have faith and no doubt.”
“I’m not trying to say my Sunday school teacher did a bad job. Anybody who agrees to teach a brat like me deserves a gold star,” Larson told the youth, “but maybe your Sunday school teachers are doing a better job than mine did.”
He said he’s heard pastors preach about Peter as “the little disciple who almost could.”
“The church adds a layer of guilt and shame when they say, ‘It’s your faith that’s the problem,’” Larson said. “Beyond the dose of guilt, it leads to disbelief. If we think we can save ourselves from the storms of life, we don’t need Jesus anymore. We can become our own saviors.”
In this account, Jesus never suggests that Peter needs to walk on the water to be a faithful disciple, Larson noted. “At least Peter had the good sense to call for help,” Larson said. “Rather than being tempted to feel guilty because I can’t do what Jesus does, it’s to understand that it’s OK because Jesus asks me just to follow him, listen to his instruction and trust him as our savior. That’s a bit much for a 7-year-old to take on, but we aren’t 7 anymore. We have a savior who isn’t asking us to do the impossible, but to trust in his presence and the community will rally around us.”
Armstrong led the youth through Mark 5:21–43, the story of a girl restored to life and a woman healed. “As we get older and unpack the stories, Jairus is a top guy in the synagogue who needs Jesus. The woman with the outcast of blood — nobody wanted her around, and she needs Jesus. We get this child who’s dead. Guess what? She needs Jesus. … You might be the Jesus people need in the moment you encounter them,” she told the youth. You need to be Christlike for them.”
“When you’re older and you hear about Jesus, you might have thoughts about, how does this work now for me?” she said. “I think Jesus had facial expressions we don’t read about. Just imagine those encounters. He had a lot to say in his body language when things happened.”
Larson completed the Co-Moderators’ look at the gospels with Matthew 18:15–17, a passage about early church discipline. Larson recalled that he learned a three-step discipline process in Sunday school: work it out with the person and if that doesn’t work, bring a few people along with you. Then tell the whole church. Then kick them out. Today, he says, “I don’t think that’s our job, to make people do what we say, or we’re done with them.”
“Maybe the Jesus you met in Sunday school is like this Jesus, and that makes my heart happy,” Larson said. “Or maybe you’ve grown in your understanding of Jesus, and that makes my heart happy, too.”
Armstrong closed by showing how she prays with her hands together. Her thumbs remind her to pray for herself. The pointer fingers are for school teachers and Sunday school teachers. The tall fingers are for those in high elected positions. The ring fingers are for loved ones, and the pinkies are for “the least of these.”
A youth named Julian from North Carolina called the class “very insightful to get to know the kind of Jesus we were taught when we were younger and to get to know him on a deeper level.”
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Carrie Mitchell, Church Consultant – Princeton, NJ, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions
Lee Mitchum, Trust Services Manager, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation
Let us pray:
God of grace and mercy, we give thanks for the opportunities you give us to join in your care of all who are in need. May your Spirit inspire us as we serve in the name of Christ. Amen.
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