Last week, our lesson was taken from Amos 8:1-14. As we neared the end of the passage and the lesson, we came to Amos’s warning that if the people did not repent of the way they were treating the poor, the land would suffer and their souls would suffer a drought.
I asked, “What is it that breaks the drought in your soul?” I half-expected someone to say “reading the Bible,” or “praying,” or “worship.” But there was no answer. I think this was because those are the “Sunday School answers” – the easy answers that we expect the teachers wants to hear, even if they are not consistent with the class members’ experience. But, we do not do “Sunday School answers” in my classroom, normally. So, there was silence. We waited for an authentic word.
It came from a first-time guest to our class, Jessica. Jessica has recently returned from living in the Middle East, where her husband was in the Army. “Christians in the Middle East – they have it pretty hard. They are often persecuted.” Earlier, in our prayer time, Jessica asked us to pray for the Coptic church in Egypt that had been bombed by terrorists. This was news most of us had not heard yet.
“I talked with Middle Eastern Christians. ‘You follow Christ, yet you could be killed!’ And they simply said, ‘Yes.'” She paused, then added, “We have so much freedom here – and I love and appreciate that. But there are Christians in the world who do not have it so easy, yet they remain faithful. That inspires me.”
Wait for the authentic word.
Waiting for an authentic answer rather than a “Sunday School answer” is the answer to a lot of the monotony and boredom in Bible studies.
Pray for our brothers and sisters in Egypt.
Photo by sophia valkova on Unsplash
