Sunday School at St M ’ s
The following written is mostly true , but also with a degree of poetic licence supported by the saying , “ Don ’ t let the truth get in the way of a good story !”
With retirement now upon me , it gives opportunity to reflect on church experiences of the past … way past … over 50 years ago ! 1964 . Amazing what the little grey cells can still do .
13 years old I was , and our group of Sunday Schoolers gathered in the garden area of the then Watson Primary School , the first gathering place for the congregation of St . Margaret ’ s , perhaps even before it was named .
The fledgling congregation was growing rapidly I recall , and members and families seemed to be joining every week . Ask the then minister Rev . Don and Margaret for verification . From the eyes of a pubescent teenager , church was a place I had to attend because Mum and Dad said so , and I went along with their command with a strangely willing demeanour .
The Sunday School class was made up of similarly aged kids and Mr Pedrick ( sp ?), as we called him , was our teacher . We had weekly homework to do that I confess to not doing very often , as was the case with most others , but this particular occasion was memorable . We were asked to research the story from Acts 8 as I am sure many would remember as the story of Philip ’ s conversation with the Ethiopian Eunuch .
On the Saturday night that I decided to do the homework , I got stuck on a particular word . It was not Ethiopian as I had already been to Ethiopia while living in Africa , and so therefore knew a little of the countries of the once known Dark Continent .
Of course , the unknown and unheard of word was “ eunuch ”, and in my attempt to short-cut the process of research , I asked my father the meaning . Like any good parent , he told me to look it up in the dictionary . Probably also for reasons that if he had told me , I would not have believed him . I found the word and was promptly horrified by the definition . Like any right-minded pubescent teenage boy , the question had to be asked , “ why would a man have that done to him !?” Dad gave some coddled explanation that it was to ensure the eunuch remained always faithful and focused on his vocation of being in the service of the queen of Ethiopia . I was not convinced . The price seemed too much and unreasonable .
Needless to say , the focus of my homework was not on the conversion experience of the EE , but rather , his voluntary physical diminishment . Dad in vain did
St Margaret ’ s News 4 December 2017