Los Peterson

Richy and Miguel – Seminary Superstars:




I must admit, when I was a kid growing up, I wasn't the best seminary student. Waking up at 6:15 am, getting showered and dressed, jumping in my car and driving about .5 miles (2 minutes) so I could be at the church by 6:30. It seemed an extremely difficult task – and I wasn't very consistent.

Renae had it a bit more easy. Seminary was at her house. She woke up, rolled out of bed, and went to seminary in her pajamas. Still, she found reason to complain from time to time (maybe because her mom was the teacher and even when Renae was the only student in the class she still was required to call her mom "Sister Grimmer" and raise her hand before answering a question).

Fastforward 20 years. Now we encourage the youth in our church to go to early morning seminary. And a lot of them go. But it isn't a 2 minute car ride or a walk down the stairs. Some of these kids get up early enough to take the bus or subway or to walk, in the cold, for what might be a 20-30 minute commute to Malcolm X Blvd. in Harlem (not the safest street at 6 am – many residents are just finishing up early-morning trysts or all-night binges).

Well, I was asked to substitute teach seminary this morning. I got up at 5:30, finished preparing the lesson, jumped in a cab, stopped by Starbucks to grab a dozen donuts and orange juice, then walked the remaining 3 blocks to the chapel on 128th and Malcolm X Blvd.

Then I waited. And waited. Finally, Miguel showed up at 6:40 to tell me that yesterday the substitute teacher didn't show up so everyone waited outside the chapel for 30 minutes in the cold. That would explain why some of them weren't showing up today – their regular teacher is on vacation so they figured they would just be outside again with no sub.

But then Richy showed up. Richy and Miguel – I salute you. You are better than I was at your age. It's an honor to work with kids like you.

The three of us discussed 1 Kings chapter 18 when Elijah has a competition with Ahab's priests who have been worshiping Baal. Elijah gives them an entire morning to call upon their god and have him send fire down to light the sacrificial calf on the alter. When they finally give up, he sets up his alter, dowses it in water, and then calls upon God. Fire shoots down from heaven, the entire alter is consumed, and the people believe in the true God. Then Elijah takes the 450 priests and kills them all - Richy and Miguel thought that was "O.D" ("over dose").


My sample alter and sacrificial teddy bear:



Richy and Miguel immediately saw the parallel to living in New York City, surrounded by "false gods and idols" and shared ideas how they could stay away from bad influence and worship the true God. It was pretty cool. I probably won't tell the seminary teacher this, but I would substitute any day. What a great way to get started.