My Car Won't Run! It Must Need New Paint!

Or I could address the real problem. My car may deserve to have its paint job touched up, but a new coat of paint is not going to help it run. Since my car has a specific purpose, which is providing transportation not decoration, I would be better off spending my time and money identifying and fixing the issues that keeps it from running.

"Our Sunday School is losing ground. We must need a new curriculum." Or you could address the real problem. Too many churches would rather focus on stuff that is visible, tangible, and seems easily remedied, than to do the hard work---train the volunteers, educate the parents, fund the mission. Contacting families who are finding other things to do on Sunday morning, building relationships with parents so that your spiritual encouragement does not fall on deaf ears, convincing church council members that Sunday School is worth allocating budgeted funds for. These are not easy tasks. They will require patient effort over a period of weeks, months, and years to accomplish.

But the mission of your Sunday School, to share the Gospel with the children and adults of your church and community, is truly worth the effort. And how much more beneficial it will be in the long run if you focus on finding and fixing the real issues behind low Sunday School attendance.

Unless, of course, your curriculum truly is the problem---the real reason (not the excuse) that families are not attending. If your curriculum fails to teach God's Word of both Law and Gospel, if it ignores the Sacraments God has provided for our spiritual nurture, if it seeks to entertain rather than instruct, perhaps it is time for a new coat of paint.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

To Us a Child Is Born!

Merry Christmas! Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!

 

(Hear a sample of this wonderful Christmas song by Jacob and Rachael Weber here.)

What's the Hurry for Christmas?

The world will be done with Christmas on December 26th, delaying only long enough to put Christmas on sale for half-price. But what's the rush? In early times, Christmas was celebrated not just on December 25th, but for twelve more days after ("On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . ."). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on January 6th, the date when the Church marks the visit of the Magi.

So don't get impatient with the Growing in Christ and Cross Explorations Sunday School materials from CPH, when you don't get to the Nativity lesson until the middle of January, and that Epiphany lesson is delayed almost into February! There is a lot to bless children with in the accounts that lead up to and follow Jesus' birthday. Tell your students to enjoy the Church's celebrations of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany as they come, and promise them that that Christmas lesson in Sunday School is coming!

For wonderful explanations about the importance of the several lessons before the Christmas one, I hope you listen to Pastor Tom Baker's exposition each week in the Seeds of Faith podcasts, produced by Issues, Etc. They provide 30 minutes of background on the biblical text, and they can be downloaded for listening on the go.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Responding to Violence

Too many times in the past few weeks, we and the children we teach have witnessed sudden, violent attacks on ordinary people, people going about their daily lives with every expectation of peace and safety. It may cause us and the children we teach to be afraid for ourselves and for those we love.

It may be that conversations and questions about such events will be raised by the students you teach. You may wonder, how should I respond?

Your response, of course, will be your own, but I would encourage you to include these three things.

• Lead your students in prayer for the victims of violence, their families, and their attackers. Yes, I believe that prayer is a valid response to fear. It acknowledges that, though we may feel powerless and vulnerable, we have a God who is powerful, who loves us so much that He gave His own Son into the hands of violent men to save us. Pray that God will calm our fears, comfort those who are injured or grieving, that He will protect us from all evil, and that He will turn the hearts of those who would seek to hurt us to love---for us and for Him.
• Remind your students of God's love and power. The God who protected Abraham as he traveled, David as he defended Israel from enemies, and Daniel when he was threatened for his faith, is able also to protect us and will do so according to His will.
• Encourage your students to be strong in faith and bold in witness. Teach God's Word, the good news of salvation, each week to nourish and sustain your students.

God would not have us cower in fear. Instead He calls us to trust in Him.

 God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!