Pastor's Note

July 2004

By the time you read this a significant portion of summer break will be passed and soon thoughts will turn to the beginning of the school year. Of course, even if you no longer have children in school you life still is impacted a great deal by that old familiar school calendar. What is going on in the local school district determines much about the life of small town America. Our town is no exception.

Education is a very important part of the human experience. Some people seem to think that education ends with the completion of a high schol diploma or college degree. However, education is an ongoing, lifelong process. Each day presents us with new challengers, new ideas, new situations in our lives or the life of the community and world and we learn from these times. it is very important that we never neglect the opportunity to learn some new thing.

Christian Education is an important part of our lives as people of faith. We never achieve a point in our lives as Christians were we have completely arrived and there is no need for anything more. New insights come through regular study and worship attendance. However, we must be willing to avail ourselves of the opportunjities to gain these insights. It is the same for pastors. Within a few days of writing this a lay perso in our church gave me a list of scriptures to use for a particular pupose. As I read them to see how they "worked" together I was struck by the manner in which these worked. The passages were all familiar but I had never linked a couple of them with each other in this manner. But it all fit and opened up an insight to me that I had previously missed. I enjoy those sort of things a great deal.

What does this have to do with our church and the school calendar? I'm glad you asked

We have dedicated, hard working Sunday School teachers who put forth a good lesson each week. (During the summer we have a "scaled down" Sunday School--but a good one noetheless. Our education does not take a summer break completely. But we recognize the realities of time off for vacation and the such during the summer.) As the school year beings anew and life returns to its routine, let us think seriously about our Christian Education (as we should all year). I think we should ask ourselves bluntly if we know all there is is to know about God, faith, living, being servants and worship. Of course not, none of us do. That means we need to learn more. We do that though the Christian Education opportunites made available through this church.

There are classes for every age group on Sunday morning. There is a Wednesday morning Bible study. If we need to do so we will start an evening Bible study. There are a whole ost of issues that confront us on a daily basis that require us to approach with great faith. Contemporary events, books, movies, politics, and the local community all present us with challenges. We may want to start a group to study some of thses types of things form a Christian perspective. A very popular book right now is The Da Vinci Code. IT has a lot of questions it raises and points that it tires to make. Are these assertions historically accurate? The answers may suprise you. Often because an author syas it is a book or a producer puts in on the screen we think it must be fact. Most times it could not be further from fact.

Our lives require an informed, vibrant fiath if we are to living as God desire for us to do so. We can only do that if we are willing to take the time to educate ourselves as Christian people. Make a commitment now to avail yourself of the opportunites and resources available to you in our church.