Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Rally Day is next weekend. It is the start of another year of your child’s Christian education. I hope you find that important. It is also a good day to invite other children to come and check it out. Please make it a priority to bring your child to Sunday School every Sunday.
Because of Sunday School, church now will be starting at 10:15 a.m. I would love to see families come and worship with all of us.
Okay, I am just going to write this once. It is probably the biggest issue I have with St. Johns. What I have noticed from some families is they make Sunday School a priority for their children, but not for themselves. What kind of message are you sending your children by dropping them off and then picking them up and going on with your Sunday? I know we ask a lot of your children, asking them to go to Sunday School and then to worship. This is two hours of being at church. I recognize that we do not ask any other people to do the same. However, some people do. For instance, their Sunday School teachers do this. A number of parents come and sit in on Paul Baker’s Bible study. I love what these parents are modeling to their children. You are never too old to learn about God. It is okay to have doubts. It is okay to have questions. I hope you will find that church is the best place to bring your doubts and questions. Everyone is welcome. I hope you feel that way. If you have issues of any kind, come talk to me. You might find that your pastor might be wrestling with some issues also.
I know Paul Baker’s name came out there but I want to remind all adults that they are welcome to attend his Bible study starting at 9:00 on rally day. It is in the lounge within (Pastor Sue’s room) the Sunday School wing. Many adults who attend will tell you it is a safe place to learn more about their faith. He also has one at 3:00 on the same day.
Speaking of learning more about your faith, I challenged everyone to journey with me to read the whole Bible in one year(ish). Your “assignment” is on the back of this letter. I have also written a few comments about your readings for this week. My hope is we will increase our Bible literacy. For those who read their Bibles every day, please keep doing this. You’re welcome to join but this is geared for those who don’t.
You know why most New Year’s resolutions don’t make it past January? It is hard to persevere and make new things a habit. You might have heard that it takes two weeks to make something a habit. What research has shown for some it can take over 200 days. The point is you need to work hard on making Bible reading a habit. It won’t be easy. Most things that are good for you are not easy. Don’t beat yourself up. You can always catch up in your readings, but try to make it a daily habit. Hang in there. I will be praying for you.
One more thing. I would suggest buying a notebook so if the Spirit leads, you can write down things that grab your attention or you have questions on. You can always send me a text and I will do my best to answer them.
I am so thankful for my worship assistants. I feel like they are doing such a good job. What you may not see is I will throw an occasional curve ball at them. They are so flexible and they just adapt. We started this about four months ago. I am not sure if I did the asking or if they did the volunteering? I apologize if I haven’t asked you to join. If I have missed you, come and volunteer. If you volunteer for Saturdays, you will work roughly once a month. If you volunteer for Sundays, it is about once every two months. Please consider joining this great ministry. A large shout out of thanks who are already part of helping with worship.
Things to remember:
“God’s grace is sufficient…” (2 Cor. 12:9). Always is and always will be.
Scatter seed!
Be like Andrew and bring people to Jesus,
Don’t ever forget who you are and whose you are. You are, yes, you are a child of God. Alleluia !
Pastor Tom
815-223-1144
Readings for 16th Week after Pentecost – September 7th & 8th
Isaiah 35:4-7a Psalm 146 James 2:1-17 Mark 7:24-37
Reading the Bible in a Year- Tuesday September 3rd to Sunday, September 7th
- Genesis Chapters 1-13
- Psalms 1-5:12
- Matthew Chapters 1-5:42
- Proverbs 1:7
Genesis – The beginning of creation. Most faiths of all kinds have a creation story. We have two. As you read both, what do you think? The first creation story, I notice God speaking things into creation. This is called
“ex nihillo.” This means God is creating out of nothing. There is no Home Depot, Menards or universe junk yard. Just God’s voice. Notice how all creation is good but we are very good? A lot of genealogy. I noticed that people in early times lived a long time (some over 900 years). God will fix this later.
Any thoughts on Genesis 1:27 versus Genesis 2:20b -22?
Not sure why God had to give Cain a mark to protect him from others? Any guesses who the others were?
You may have heard the Noah story before. As we walk through the Bible, we will notice God making covenants with his people. He makes his first one with Noah. What is a covenant and what was this covenant about?
Last one: Abram. God told Abram to go to a new land. There was nothing said about Abram knowing this God. God also makes another covenant with Abram. What was this covenant?
Psalms – This is what I would suggest with the psalms – come up with a word you see in your reading 1-5. Then make a note how many times it is written in the other psalms. You may just want to underline it in your Bible. If you ask, I will tell you mine. I personally love the psalms. I love how honest they are. They also teach you how to pray. Most of these early psalms are written by David. If you look at Psalm 4:1, I appreciate the nerve of David. Maybe we are allowed to pray this way also.
Matthew – Advent and Christmas time. The visit of the Magi which is only reported by Matthew. God usually speaks to people back then by visions or dreams. They are different. How did God speak to Joseph? The other thing I found interesting is the first words of John the Baptist and Jesus. How do they compare?
Proverb – Sometimes the word “fear” in the Bible can also be translated as “awe.” Sometimes fear means fear, but other times you can replace it with awe. When you see the word fear, see how awe fits?