Congratulations to Sarah McCraney! Who is Sarah? I read of Sarah in a newsletter I recently received. She was honored for 65 years of perfect Sunday School attendance. She is 71 years old. Her attendance record had only been broken by the births of her three children – she took the Sundays after their births off. Except for those three Sundays,Sarah had  been in attendance at Sunday School since she was six years old.

Reading about this milestone, I was reminded of my Saturday nights as a child. After Saturday supper, both my parents would take out their Sunday School books to prepare for the following day. This practice made up the fabric of my childhood……playing hard on Saturday, grocery shopping, supper, studying the Sunday School lesson, baths….lights out. Sunday morning had its own special rhythm. It included going to church and then Sunday School for all of us. The Men’s class met in the back pew- still does. The Women’s Class met in a side alcove, they talked more, were "louder", so they needed privacy-they still meet in the same place.When I visit,  I  recognize some of the faces but there is also a great cloud of witnesses that linger in pew and alcove…my Dad among them.

It is a different time. People’s lives are busy. Saturday night is no longer a prep time for Sunday morning. Sunday morning is not always a time when the whole family heads to church. I won’t lament that. People find ways to nurture their spirits, learn the Bible stories, connect with church friends.

But there is something to be said for the weekly time set aside for Sunday School…for children and youth…but most especially for adults. Over the years the stories from scripture change as we change, they  take on greater meaning given our life circumstances, the state of the world. Over 65 years, I am sure that Sarah has seen the scriptures take on different meaning as her understanding and experience of God has deepened. There have been times when the lesson was only an exercise and other times a life saver. On those three Sunday’s she was absent from her spot, I am sure food arrived at her home probably accompanied by gifts for the newborn, prepared by her classmates. She was -and is- held in the Circle of Love that is her Sunday School class, those who share their faith, study the scriptures and become Living Words.

"Keep my words and store up my commandments with you; keep my teachings as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 7:1-3