Ruby Hinkle—the name I remember when I t h i n k of Sund ay school. Being a preacher’s kid, I know that I attended Sunday school all of my life, but it was not until I was around twelve that the memories became thick enough to stick.
Ruby Hinkle was an elder of the church, who accepted the ministry of teaching our Sunday school class. The 14th chapter of Mark’s Gospel tells of a woman who anointed Jesus for his death. Of her, Jesus remarked: “Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” That is why I share her name—Ruby Hinkle—that what she did and what she taught will be told in remembrance of her.
Robert Fulgum wrote a book with the endearing title: All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It included basic truths such as: “play fair,” “say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody,” “watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”
My intent through today’s column is to bring a reflection upon, and foster a renewed thanksgiving for, the simple, yet transcendent wisdom and good news from God. I name it Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Sunday School. It’s a “chicken feed message” of many, small points; I’m just going to broadcast it out there. You can eat it if you’re hungry.
I can remember the first song I ever learned in Sunday school: This Is My Father’s World. Rev. Dr. Jesse Truvillion, once of Riverside Church in New York, a renowned civil rights activist and Minister to Minorities at T.C.U., once exclaimed of his Black experience: “You can sing that hymn every Sunday in our church!” God created the world: I learned this in Sunday school.
I also sang in Sunday school “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” It is impossible for me to fall out of God’s hands.
Everything is a gif t, meant to be shared. Think of all the grace and power of Jesus: his imaginative storytelling, his willingness to include everybody within his grace, his boundless compassion, his wise judgment, his miraculous ability to heal, calm, restore. What world would we live in today, what hope would we have, if Jesus had chosen not to share his gifts.
The Lord commanded a day of rest so we would remember that life is more than work. But, by the way, life is also more than rest. Another verse we learned in Sunday school: “I was glad when they said to me, let us go unto the house of the Lord.”
So many wonder ful things we learned in Sunday School: *Giants are no problem for God. *Running from God usually means you wind up in the belly of a whale. *God will always meet you in the fiery furnace or the lion’s den. *God listens to prayer, and answers prayer. *When our friends are sick, we should take them to Jesus, even if it’s down through a roof. *Jesus died on a cross. Goldfish, hamsters and white mice die. We die. *Jesus can do a lot with very little, such as my sack lunch. *”Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” *”Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me.”
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.”
RUBY HINKLE!
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