Series: New New
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
When I was a child and I would get dressed for Sunday School I thought everybody else in my neighborhood in Raytown, Missouri was also getting ready for Sunday School.
I thought everyone knew about God and went to church.
Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
I thought everyone had received the gift of God.
It was the 1950’s in mid-America.
Pretty much everyone in my neighborhood DID go to church.
History tells us, “It was a fine time to go to church … and to build”. It was a decade when the American family was embraced as an institution by men and women seeking normalcy after World War II. The economy was booming and people bought nice cars and homes in the suburbs (the new feature of ’50s homes was the “family room”) and everything that went into them – from refrigerators to television sets.” (https://today.usc.edu/the-1950s-powerful-years-for-religion/)
My family was no different…we fit the model.
My dad served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war he met my Mom, he landed a good job, they got married, bought a new home, and they moved to a new booming suburb. Houses and churches were going up like crazy all around us.
They found a church and we went to Sunday School and church every Sunday morning.
We had a gathering room, and a new television set in the gathering room. We had a new refrigerator in the kitchen. My brother was born in 1951 and I was born in 1953. During the weeknights after dad came home from work we would sit down and have dinner at the kitchen table then while Mother cleaned the kitchen we would go to the living room to watch Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rin-Tin-Tin, The Lone Ranger, Wagon Train of whatever cowboy show was on that night. We only had one television set and dad chose the channel. There were no arguments about that…we all knew dad was in charge of which western we would watch.
My folks bought a brand new 1953 Plymouth the year I was born and my dad kept a car for exactly seven years.
As far as I could tell everyone in our neighborhood went to church.
I was two years younger than my brother and we both had our own Sunday School class at church. I had to memorize a scripture verse every week.
The church we attended met in a new building. When I was a little older I was allowed to find my way to church by myself (which was a big deal). My Mom and Dad always sat in a specific section toward the front to the left. While we didn’t have assigned seats everyone pretty much sat in the same area every Sunday.
You get the idea.
I loved going to church. I especially loved Sunday School and my Sunday School teachers.
All of my friends at school lived in a new neighborhood nearby, sat down at the table to eat dinner, and went to a church. I didn’t know the difference between Protestant, Catholic, synagogue, Baptist or Presbyterian. I did not care about the difference.
To this day I do not care about the difference.
As a child the only thing that mattered was God’s love. I knew God loved everyone.
By the time I was nine years old I knew God was gracious and when I turn to God I will always have God. I was baptized the year I turned nine.
I knew God would hold onto me no matter what and His love was a great gift through Jesus. I knew without any doubt that Jesus loved me.
I knew God loved my friends and I also knew it did not matter that we went to different churches.
Today I am amazed that none of the differences mattered. As I grew older I had friends who were Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Church of Christ, Christian Church, Catholic, and Jewish. All I remember is that we went to church.
In many ways it was a wonderful life because the differences didn’t matter.
God and faith were all that mattered.
We were not identified by our differences but instead we held onto our similarities and God’s grace for all of us.
As I grew older I had children of my own I came to rely ever so much on God’s grace for everyone.
Even today, post seminary there are questions about some of the differences that I cannot answer. I don’t focus on what I don’t know. Instead I choose to focus on what I knew in 1956 when I was three. God loves everyone in the world.
Please God, remind us today of your grace for this world.
Spiritual Practice: Your Grace
Remind us minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day of your grace.
In God, Deborah
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