- Tom Garfield, Logos School Superintendent. For more on Classical Education see Tom’s book, Dear Parents: Communicating the Christian & Classical Vision to Families.

He knew this place. Yes, of course, it was the church sanctuary and he was in his regular seat. Everything was as it always was each Sunday morning. The pianist was finishing the pre-sermon hymn with a flourish, and he knew it was time to approach the pulpit, Bible in hand. But he seemed strangely disturbed. His eyes felt very tired, and he seemed generally disheveled. Rather than the typical light joke or two to get things rolling, he plunged right in. His tone was low and somber…

“Good morning, my friends. I am sorry to appear before you in this state, but I had a rather sleepless night, pondering just how I was going to say to you what I must.”

This caused the entire congregation to virtually jerk up to a much higher degree of attentiveness. Looks of confusion and concern flickered among the members like so much heat lightening. He paused, he had anticipated just this reaction. Then, taking a shaky breath, he continued…

“Today, I won’t be continuing our series on “Helping Hurting Hearts Heal With Heavenly Humor.” In fact, I’m not sure I will be able to get back to that theme soon at all…” Another pause. Low murmurs were audible among the hard-of-hearing members. Great consternation was certainly setting in.

“Well, to come to the point, not long ago I was asked by a good friend of mine, who is also a pastor, to speak on Christian education at his church’s annual Father-Daughter Banquet. I don’t know why my friend asked me to do this; you all know I try to avoid applying Scripture to areas in which Christians may hold different opinions or may find upsetting. But he did, and I owed him a favor, so I did some research. For a change, I thought I would just try sticking to the Bible, rather than referring to our church’s national newsletter.”

A quiet gasp of amazement escaped from the pianist. The pastor turned his head. “I understand. And it only gets worse…” He shuddered and took a deep breath for the final plunge.

“My dear friends, for years I thought God had little to say about how we practically educate our children. I sincerely thought our Sunday School and other wonderful youth programs were enough. I was sincerely wrong. Not that our programs were all that bad; I was wrong about what God said. Last night I read and read, all night, and I discovered, among other things, that the Bible clearly says… oh my… that parents are responsible for the education of children. Not only that, but that parents are commanded by God Himself to make sure their children are exposed to the Word of God, His creation, and His thoughts almost 24 hours a day. Do you realize what this means?!” His voice thundered up to the ceiling beams. Every eye and ear were open to their fullest…

“It means that we, you and I, have been so wrong for so many years! We have much to undo. Oh, my dear friends…we haven’t a day to lose. Our very children’s education is at stake and God Himself holds us responsible!” He was gripping his Bible so hard, he was sure it would tear in two at any moment. Yet he had never felt so wonderful! He had privately prayed for this day for years. Unrestrained talk broke out among the congregation. Here a group began a discussion on starting a Christian school; over there others were talking of the ramifications of pulling their kids out of the local schools; others were just grinning from ear to ear. It was incredible, lively, chaos…

“Perhaps this is a beginning,” he thought. “Perhaps this is happening in churches across the nation! Perhaps…”

Thunder and a slap of rain against the window glass awoke him with a start. It was still dark…so very dark out. He lay back and sadly sighed. It was Sunday morning and his sermon was still unfinished. Perhaps he really should consider saying…oh no, not yet. Besides, dreams don’t come true today, do they?