Grace and peace to you!
Back to school!
Yes, with August comes the reality that school doors will soon be opening, bells will be ringing, classes will be in session, and the inevitable scramble to catch the morning bus will be happening.
For those who have school-age children in their lives, the start of a school year carries its share of emotions. Kids also have plenty of feelings during this time.
Learning and education, however, transcend ages. Whether we formally attend a school and sit in a classroom or are now in a different stage in our lives, we can always learn new things. This is especially true in our faith lives and journeys with Jesus.
When we worship a God that is so big and acts in incomprehensible ways, we are never going to know everything about God — a God whose love surpasses knowledge. That means we can always discover something new about God and new ways God is acting in the world and in our lives. We grow in our faith about God’s love from our time in prayer and in scripture, and we can learn when we hear other people tell their stories and their interpretations of scripture.
If you are on St. Mark’s email list, you received a link in July to a questionnaire about some educational opportunities that either will be starting up or we are looking to begin at St. Mark, including our traditional Sunday morning Faith Explorers classes for all ages. If you aren’t on the email list and would like to receive the online form, let me know. I encourage you to fill out the form and think about participating in some educational/discussion opportunities. For some of these opportunities, I would like to offer them in a time and manner that meets as many people’s schedules as possible. That is why some of the questions ask if you prefer to meet through Zoom or in person, and what time of day works best for your schedule.
While we do indeed grow in our learning about God and grow closer in our lives with God in our individual prayer lives and scripture reading, a third part happens when we come together with other people. In group settings, we grow in our learning about God and grow closer in our lives with God (maybe even more so when we hear from other people) and we grow in our lives with each other. We are, after all, created to be in community with one another.
Also, while the questionnaire mentions specific items we will or may be studying/discussing, if there is something you’d like to have a small group study about, or would even like to lead a small group study about, please let me know!
Whether for kids or adults, I pray for a great year of learning and growing for each of us.
Go in peace. Jesus loves you!
Pastor David