Surprised by Grace in a Fifth Grade Classrom

Last Thursday, I entered the 5A classroom to find out that they hadn't had a teacher all day. Their profesora was absent, in Cusco with her sick father. She had left worksheet, but there was no sub. A sixth grade teacher had been checking in on them, but they had been pretty much on their own all day. Coming from a world where there was always a sub, I was shocked. Unfortunately, the reality is that this school doesn't have the resources for on-call substitute teachers.

We're doing a unit on prayer in the 5^th and 6^th grade classes. The students copied down notes from the whiteboard about why we pray. We discussed how talking to God is different from talking to people. People generally talk back, God is more of the omnipotent and silent type. We discussed how there are different types of prayers. I was trying to transition the class into analyzing the Our Father line by line when one boy raised his hand.

“Yes?” I asked, weary of interruptions after spending a day with children more interested in their own thoughts than my lesson.

“Can we pray for the profesora's father and her family?”

I was stunned for a moment. Suddenly I, too, was more interested in his thoughts than my lesson. “Yes, of course. I think that's a wonderful idea, let's all stand up and say a prayer for them.”

The kids stood up and we prayed an Our Father and a Hail Mary. Then the boy who had suggested the prayer gave a petition for the profesora's father. I asked if there were any more petitions. A number of hands went up. One by one they each made their petitions, mostly for their teacher and for her family. In their prayers I heard their fears - one boy prayed that the teacher wouldn't get into an accident on the car ride back from Cusco. But more than that, I heard their love for the teacher and their generosity extended towards this man that none of them knew. I heard God's agape love in their voices.

After we finished praying, a different boy asked if they could write their petitions down and leave them on the desk for the teacher to find on Friday morning. “Of course,” I said. So we spent the rest of the class time writing out get well/prayer cards and decorating them. When I locked the room up at 2:10, there was a stack of messages on the desk.

The next morning when I saw the teacher I told “You have the kindest class. The students were so thoughtful yesterday and wanted to make sure we prayed for you father.” She smiled and said she was happy to see their notes on her desk.

When Sr. Helen Hunt spoke at Brandeis last year, she used a phrase that stuck out to me: “Surprised by Grace.” Last Thursday's class was a surprised by Grace moment. We didn't get anywhere near completing the lesson plan for the day, but that doesn't matter. The students showed an intuitive understanding of a key element of prayer and community that goes deeper than anything I could have explained to them with words. We didn't get though my lesson plan. But we sure got through God's. I (lesson) planned, God laughed. Surprised by Grace indeed!