Quarterlies

This past week I received an e-mail from one of our adult Sunday School Classes. The facilitator had e-mailed the class about the possibility of using new literature – one that had quarterlies.

Reading that word, “quarterlies” did something to me. I haven’t heard it for years. Yes, there is literature that still has such a thing, but we tend to call them something else now – like study guides, study booklets, etc.

Hearing that word, “quarterly”, took me back to my childhood Sunday school classes. If we read our lesson from the “quarterly” then we would receive a sticker. Earn enough stickers and we would get a prize! What did I learn from this – that I could skim a booklet and be rewarded for it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any qualitative learning that took place. (I say qualitative, because I did learn something; it just wasn’t good.)

Hearing that word also took me back to another time – this one not as far back. It was in my high school Sunday class; a time when we separated into boy and girl classes. I remember walking into class and seeing my teacher sitting on the floor. Well, this part wasn’t unusual. She often sat on the floor – a small gesture that revealed her unique, spunky personality!

On this particular day she said, “Girls, today we are going to do something different. We are going to memorize Psalm 1. So, put down your quarterlies and let’s get started.” She then recited the most beautiful rendition of Psalm 1 that I have heard to this day. I can still get chills just thinking about it. Then, we proceeded to talk about each verse. And, of course, we worked at memorizing the psalm ourselves. In that moment, the scriptures came alive. What did it teach me – the beauty, the wonder, the mystery, the presence of what scriptures can really hold.

Now, I’m not saying that “quarterlies” or study guides, or booklets, or whatever you want to call them are bad; but as educators, we need to be aware of what we are really teaching when we use any teaching tools. Something that can be meant to enhance one’s learning can sometimes trump it.

Of course, I haven’t really addressed what is to be learned in Sunday school…this a blog for another time!