CHAPTER 21

Spiritual awakening

Ever since my best friend George Blome introduced me to the Presbyterian church at Pymble, I attended services there. Alison would, whenever she could, go in the mornings while I minded the boys, and I would go occasionally to the evening services. Bob MacArthur's sermons gave me always much to think about, but I was not a regular church goer. Apparently I needed an outside stimulus to make me more aware of the need of attending church services more regularly.

One day two young Mormon men came knocking at our door. As Alison knew that I was interested in religion, she told them to come again in the evening when I would be home. They tried very hard to persuade us to join their church, but something in their teaching didn't seem right to us. I couldn't put my finger on it, so I went to see Bob MacArthur. He was horrified and advised us not to get involved with them. He called their religion a 'sect', and explained that according to them, all other religions were false, and their's was the only true one.

I told him then that they had taken us to one of their services in their 'temple'. During the service the congregation was split up into small groups, and our group was taught something about a 'Baptism for the Dead'. We had found it most odd and had felt so uncomfortable, that we quit there and then.

Bob thought we had done the right thing and he gave me a book by William Barklay to read. It was his commentary on Mark's gospel, which was easy to understand, and it gave me the teaching of our church.

I read it with great interest and soon came back for more. From then on I went more regularly to our Pymble church. One day I asked Bob: "What can I do in the church. I would like to get more involved." "You can teach Sunday School," he replied promptly. "What, I teach Sunday School? But I couldn't!" "Why not?"

"To begin with, I wouldn't know where to start." "Let me show you the material we use. On this sheet is the plan for one lesson. It is all set out clearly. All you need to do is to follow the directions. With some preparations, you will be fine, I'm sure. You could also attend a course for Sunday School Teachers run by our church. That'll give you more confidence."

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