Not Just Morality

We went to Sunday School when I was a kid. Most weeks. But we never went to church. Not even at Christmas or Easter.

At the time, I didn’t think it was odd. A lot of Australian families I knew did the same.

I think my parents thought Sunday School gave us something. A kind of moral foundation. A way to grow up decent. But they didn’t want to go further than that. They were cautious. Skeptical. Quietly resistant.

As I got older, I moved on. Sport took over. Study took over. Life sped up. God slipped away without much fanfare.

But somewhere in all that, I started noticing a few people. Friends who lived differently. Not louder or more intense—just… other-centred. Less wrapped up in themselves.

I started thinking about God. Not in a dramatic way. Just a quiet question: what if it’s true? What if Jesus actually is who he says he is?

I read Matthew’s gospel. Had a few conversations. It wasn’t like a flash of light. Just a steady realisation. A growing awareness that Jesus made sense of things. That he was real. Compelling. And eventually, worth following.

My parents didn’t quite know what to do with that. I remember my mum telling an aunt that I’d “got religious.” She replied, “Well, at least he’s not doing drugs.” My brother overheard the conversation. He told her, “Don’t worry. I’ll never be like that.”

Except—he was. Years later, he started asking the same questions. Found the same compelling figure. And eventually became a minister himself.

I understood the tone. They weren’t angry. They just didn’t get it. They liked the morality. They struggled with the commitment.

I couldn’t understand that at first. If something is true, isn’t it worth living for?

Later, I came to know more of their story. Some bad experiences in their youth. The kind of religion that tightens its grip and calls it holiness. The kind that shames instead of frees.

I get that now. I’ve seen it too.

That’s why I’ve tried to stay close to the source. Not to the noise or the culture wars. Just Jesus. Just his words, his way.

And decades later, he’s still the most compelling person I’ve ever met.

The tradition I didn’t keep was Sunday School without church.
The tradition I’ve kept is Jesus.

And that has shaped everything else.