Kids say the darndest things

As a first grade Sunday School teacher, I get to 90 minutes a week with some of God's most precious gifts. The cherry on top of this whole opportunity (in addition to sharing the good news of Jesus with them) is that not only are they precious, but they are HILARIOUS! One week I spent 10 minutes asking "Who's there?" as these seven year-olds threw knock-knock joke after knock-knock joke at me.

Me: "Where did you learn all of these knock-knock jokes?"

seven year-old jokster: "My joke machine. I'm a joke master."

Me: "You certainly are a joke master."

I also have had the opportunity to listen to some very cute prayers, but I do not think anything will trump what I heard last Sunday from a little boy in my class who had volunteered to bless our snack of gold fish crackers and water.

seven year-old boy: "Dear Lord, thank you for Sunday School today.

Help us not to become Jewish. Thank you for our snack.

Amen."

Thankfully, I was able to thank him for a prayer well done and excuse the rest of the class to snack without bursting into laughter...but I was close. I have absolutely no idea where he got "help us not to become Jewish." Now, in this boy's defense, I am positive he did not mean this comment in an anti-Semitic way whatsoever. I merely think he used deductive reasoning with what he knows about the Jewish people, which probably is limited to these facts: 1) The Jewish leaders did not believe in Jesus and 2) The Jews are the people who wanted Jesus crucified. And I guess those were reasons enough for him to express his desire for all 22 of us in the room to resist any desire we might have to suddenly switch religious affiliations.

The more time I spend with first graders, the more fun I have.