By TEDDY ALLEN, Designated Writer

SUNDAY CHURCH, U.S.A. — Every now and then my fellow Sunday school teacher will tell me he feels like he can go the full 9 innings, and I’ll slip off to another class to see what they’re up to. Sunday, I landed in a class I hadn’t been to before. I put myself in charge of silent prayer — that is where I am most helpful, especially the silent part — and listened and learned.

So glad I went. Even though they didn’t have coffee. Which I coveted.

Obviously, I needed to be in Sunday school.

But about 10 minutes before class was to be over, a couple got up and left. No one batted an eye; this must be a regular occurance, I’m thinking. They obviously never sin and…

A minute later, another defector. Two minutes after that, four whole people sharing my row got up and hightailed it. Did somebody pass gas? The teacher never even paused. That tells me this is a regular thing, people just…leaving.

Does this class have a rule that if you sin less than normal in a given week, you can have a grace period of whatever time you’ve earned and leave accordingly? Who keeps score of that?

No one in My Regular Class ever leaves before the final whistle. But we are better at sinning — sort of a kindergarten class — and know we need to stay for every play.

I’ve thought about it all week and think I can take something of worth back to my class Sunday:

If you have children you have to grab now for some reason, you can leave early;

If you are singing in the choir, SEEYA!;

If you are the pastor, here’s your hall pass. Go stretch and get ready;

And you can always leave early if you’ll bring me back some coffee.

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