Finding the Way Back to Mayberry

Episode # 82, "Class Reunion"

Introduction:
Andy and Barney are excited about seeing old friends and their high school sweethearts at the Mayberry “Class of 1945” Reunion.  Barney is disappointed when his old flame hardly recognizes him, but Andy and Sharon seem to be starting right where they left off.  However, they soon realize their lifestyles are very different, and so they part again – saddened, yet more satisfied with their life choices.

Lesson Points:
Memories of the Past – 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13, Ezra 9:5-15, 2 Peter 1:12-21
            Are they special? – Deuteronomy 32:7, 1 Peter 3:10-12
            Are they painful? – Proverbs 10:7, John 14:27
            Do we chase them or let them go? – Isaiah 43:18-19, Psalm 34:4

 Dreams of the Future – Job 33:14-18, Psalm 37:37-38, Deuteronomy 13:1-3, Numbers 12:6
            What should we learn from the past and present? – Psalm 34:11-22
            What should our future hold for us? – Philippians 4:4-7, Ecclesiastes 8:2-8
            What we want really isn’t important - Philippians 4:12-13, Isaiah 26:3-4

 Contentment in the Present – Philippians 4:8-11, 1 Timothy 6:6-10
            What is contentment and happiness for you? – Ecclesiastes 3:9-14, Proverbs 16:8, 17:1 and 30:8
            If not happy, what are you doing about it? – Psalm 90:12, Psalm 85:8
            What we need will be provided – Psalm 119:165, Hebrews 13:5

Discussion:
1) Explain why Barney kept his father’s rock.  Why were all those other memories so important to Barney?  What are your favorite memories?  Do you keep items of sentimental value that might seem silly to others?  How important are “belongings” and “things” to you?  What is one thing that truly lasts forever?  

 2) How did Andy and Barney remember and reflect upon their high school days?  How did Barney remember his relationship with Ramona Wiley?  Why didn’t she remember Barney?  Do you think Ramona really wrote that note Barney remembered?  Or was it a prank played by a mischievous classmate or simply Barney’s imagination?  Why did the story about “Philomathian” Jack Egbert bring back old wounds?

 3) Everyone seemed to think Sharon Despain and Andy had rekindled their high school romance.  How did they feel about each other?  Why couldn’t they make it work back at graduation?  Did they regret choices they made in high school?  Since high school?  At the class reunion?  What would Andy have been like if he had gone to Philadelphia or Chicago with Sharon?  What would Sharon have been like if she had stayed in Mayberry?  Were you sad to find that Sharon and Andy could only be friends?  Why? 

 4) Why did Andy and Sharon have difficulty, at first, in remembering much about their argument on graduation night?  How did they feel when they realized the truth all over again?  What made Sharon happy in Chicago?  What made Andy happy in Mayberry?  If both of them had not been successful and happy in their life choices, how might they have felt at the night of the reunion?  How is it possible that things that once made us laugh can now make us cry, and things that made us cry can now make us laugh? 

 5) Is it painful for you to realize that everyone, including you, is getting older?  How is the past part of the present?  Of the future?  What does it take for you to be happy and content?  What are your dreams and goals?  Have you settled for something short of that?  What is God’s plan for your life?  Do we ever build facades to conceal the real truths of our lives?  In each of us, do we hold a “secret pain” and a “secret  peace”?  What are the deepest longings of your heart?  Can anything, in this life, fully satisfy them?

Final Thoughts
Andy: Do the tears on your pillow bespeak the pain that’s in your heart?     Barney: Yeah.     Andy: Me, too. 
(Now read Rev. 21:1-7, esp. v.4, and think of how God is moving history toward a glorious consummation.)