All I Wanted to Know

The church had a social hour prior to the Sunday school classes. Jonathan, who’d come for the first time, walked timidly into the gathered members, around thirty or so of them. No one seemed to take notice of Jonathan’s arrival at first. He quietly made his way to the table loaded with the coffee and doughnuts. He had placed a doughnut on the small paper plate and filled a Styrofoam cup with coffee before anyone acknowledged his presence.

Roger, one of the older people in the room, finally approached him, “Hello, I’m Roger.”

“Jonathan,” was the reply as he turned to pace the cup on the table and extend his arm for a handshake.



“You new in the area?” asked Roger.



“No, sir, I’ve lived here a while. But I’ve never attended church before. I thought I would drop in and see what it’s all about.”

“Well, it’s good to have you join us, Jonathan. Come over here and let me introduce you Frank. He’s the teacher of my Sunday school class.”



They crossed the room and Jonathan was introduced to Frank, sitting at a table with several other folks. “Sit down and join us Jonathan,” Frank invited.



Jonathan took a chair and Roger sat himself next to him. Frank introduced Jonathan to the other people sitting there.



“Jonathan says he’s never been to church, Frank. I suggested he come to our Sunday school class.”

“That would be nice,” said Frank. “You’d sure be welcome.”



“What’s the class like?” asked Jonathan.



“Well, to tell you the truth,” said Frank, looking over his shoulder to see who was sitting near. “If you haven’t been attending church you might want to start in ours. We’re pretty big on studying the epistles that Paul wrote. It’s important we understand what’s required of us as Christians. I just don’t think people can get along in this world without adhering to the principles laid down by Saint Paul.”

“That’s sounds interesting,” said Jonathan.



About that time another of the folks in the room approached the table. “Hello,” he said, “I don’t think we’ve met.”



Jonathan stood and gave his name. “Welcome, Jonathan,” he said. “My name’s Edward. We’re glad to have you. Listen I’d love to have you come study in our Sunday school class.”

“Well, Frank has asked me to come to his ….”



“Of course, Frank has, but we’re really having a wonderful time studying in our class. I’m sure you’d love it.”



“What are you studying?” asked Jonathan.



“We’re studying the Biblical prohibitions that keep our societies Godly,” said Frank.

“Are all your classes about the Bible?” asked Jonathan.



“Well, I think every class in this church is centered on the Bible, Jonathan. What else would we study?”



Jonathan tactfully moved away from Edward. He threw his paper plate and cup into the trash. When he could do so without being noticed, Jonathan slipped out the side door.



That afternoon Jonathan was raking leaves when a friend stopped by his house. “Hey, Jon, how’d it go at church this morning? Did you decide to go?”

“I did,” said Jonathan.



“Are you going back?”



“I don’t think so,” said Jonathan.



“Why not?”

“I doubt I would fit there.”



“What gave you that idea?”



“Well,” Jonathan said, “all they seem to talk about there is the Bible. I don’t know much about the Bible. I just wanted to know about Jesus.”

Comments

[SingingOwl]

OUCH!!!