Conjunctions

I’m going to show my age now but I love “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons. If you were a kid back then, you probably liked them too. If you are an elementary teacher now and are not familiar with these little ditties then you are missing a great tool.  One of my favorite Schoolhouse Rocks is “Conjunction Junction.”

Here’s a little sample:

Music & Lyrics: Bob Dorough,  Sung by: Jack Sheldon, Animation: Phil Kimmelman and Associates (1973)

                                                  

                                                 Conjunction Junction, what's your function?

Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I got three favorite cars
That get most of my job done.
 Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.

The word "and" puts two phrases of equal weight together. The word "or" gives choices. It’s the conjunction “but” that carries so much weight. It is used to join two contrasting or opposite phrases.  I found this little word in Ephesians 2:4.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…

What comes before this is that we were dead in sin. We were blatantly living contrary to God’s way. We didn't care that we were disobedient. The more sin the better was our mantra.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…

What comes after this is that He made us alive by forgiving our sin through Jesus Christ. He has placed us in honored places we don't deserve because of His grace. We didn't do anything to merit this promotion. God just did it out of love.

My Sunday School Teacher Eddie always says, “Take everything after the “but” and double it.” He is usually talking about us making excuses to God. I think it also can be attributed to God when He forgives us for the excuses we try to make.

Double the “rich in mercy.” Double the “love with which He loved us.” Double the “surpassing riches of His grace and kindness.”  All of this adds up to more than enough to cover our sin.

Here are some conjunctions for us in Ephesians 2:1-10

Death in sin or life in Christ

Children of wrath or His workmanship

His love and grace and mercy

Formerly walking according to our sin nature but now walking according to God’s nature

It’s not anything we can do for ourselves but everything Christ has done for us

These little conjunctions as the tiny cartoon engineer says,

‘I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.’