Ending with a Prayer, a Song, and a Gift

It happened the Sunday after Easter this spring. About 10:00 am, I walked by the classroom where the “Wesley Weds” Sunday School class ordinarily meets. At that of the morning, they could usually be found gathered around a table, giving thoughtful attention to their teacher. This Sunday, they were nowhere to be seen, which surprised me.

I could hear more than the usual conversation coming from the church parlor, which is near the Wesley Weds classroom. When I came in, there were the class members–with their teacher–gathered around one of the tables. They were visiting together and enjoying the available refreshments. It seemed a bit out of the ordinary, but I didn’t yet realize what was going on.

The Wesley Weds teacher came around the table and shared with me that this was the last Sunday that the class would meet. That was a surprise to me, as it had been to him that morning. Neither of us had really seen it coming, though it was not completely unexpected.

The Wesley Weds Sunday School class had been one of the great stalwarts in the educational ministry of First United Methodist Church. According to our church’s history, the class had been organized in 1936 by a nucleus of four young couples. Over the years, the class was noted to have “a fine record of service to its members, to youth groups in our church, and to the community.”

In its heyday, the class had as many as 225 persons on their roll. Now, the number had dwindled to 24, with scarcely half of them ever able to attend Sunday School or worship any more. They had met in their particular classroom ever since the church’s Educational Building was opened in the early 1950s.

Rather than fade away into oblivion, the class members had talked among themselves and come to the decision that the time had come for the class to end. It was not an easy decision, but it was a good one. And it was a decision they reached themselves rather than it being forced upon them.

The class members, their teacher, one guest (!), and I were able to sit and talk for most of the rest of the Sunday School hour–sharing stories and memories. Then we headed back to their Sunday School classroom “one last time.”

The life of the Wesley Weds Sunday School class then ended with a prayer, a song, and a gift.

The prayer was one that I offered as pastor of the church. It was an expression of thanksgiving to God for the life of the class for more than seventy years, including its members, leaders, and teachers. It was a blessing on all that had gone before and all that would yet continue to be possible because of this class’s faithfulness.

Then came the song. Not surprisingly, it was “Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” which was #18 in Christian Service Songs, their class song book.It was especially difficult to sing the last verse:
When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

The last thing that the class did, as I learned later, was to disburse the remaining funds in their class treasury. They chose to give the entire $242.74 to the youth of the church to help with their mission trip this summer. It could not have been a more fitting gift.

A prayer, a song, and a gift–that’s the way that the Wesley Weds Sunday School class came to the end of its officially organized life. It was a time of sorrow, but one of deep joy and thanksgiving. My hope for the class members who remain is that they may always be “joined in heart” one with another.

A prayer, a song, and a gift–what a way for the rest of us to live our lives, however long we may be given! I am grateful for the witness of the Wesley Weds Class, not only in how they drew their life together to a close but in how they lived it their whole life long!