Sitting in church it was announced that next Sunday would be Promotion Sunday.
Our church has a very large campus. The kindergarteners would be moving into a different building. The junior high students would be moving upstairs, and the high school students would be moving downstairs.
To some, these announcements may have gone unnoticed, but I remembered this as a child as if it were yesterday. This is perhaps because my mother was often the head of the Sunday school department. Nevertheless, Promotion Sunday was a great step in our spiritual walk. Not necessarily that we had become smarter Christians, but we were going to be with a new teacher and older children. It was a "Big Deal."
So, when I heard the announcement with all the excitement I remembered as a child, I knew there was no way I would be writing about anything other than these childhood memories. For one who passed into another level it required no exam or evaluation. There was nothing more than the proof of age and time spent that meant we would - not be moving a flight of stairs - but one more door down as we inched toward the choir room.
My little group of classmates would be going with me next door with the older group of classmates. And this happened at that exciting time when school was starting back up and we were also changing grades in school. I remember feeling a bit smarter each couple of years when the move was made. We got little certificates of recognition. We may have even sang a song or recited a Bible verse in church service. We were growing up, getting bigger, brighter, and more embedded in our walk as a young Christian.
This was not at all what was at the forefront of our minds. When I think back on those years a plethora of sensory details come to mind. The smell of crayons and finger paint. The screech of tiny wooden chairs around the oblong wooden table. Our little paper back booklets with our name proudly written on them in marker. A little pencil box for our coins to give for our offering. The poster on the wall where we got to put a gold star by our name if we were present. The warming up of the choir as our little class made it halfway through. And the giggles, kicks under the table, and whispers as the class carried on.
We talked about a verse in the Bible, listened to a story from the Bible, or as time passed took turns reading the story. I remember learning new words like Covenant and Forgiveness, learning about men and women like Moses and Miriam. I can still pull up from memory songs we chanted as we marched or waved our arms, Styrofoam balls we poked on and wound ribbon around to decorate our Chrismon Tree, and sweet holiday Sunday School parties with games, Kool-Aid, and vanilla wafers.
Throughout life we have multiple moments when we step into our next rite of passage. The next step to build from the past and build on the future. But in all these there are none which provide such sweet memories as when the day rolled around for Promotion Sunday. As children we had no idea from where that magic stirred, but as an adult missing that old timey thrill, I know it was the rejoicing of angels as God's children grew another year in his counsel.
