I am never too old to learn… and neither are you. I just returned from a few weeks of Sabbath
and then vacation, but am not headed back to work yet. Instead, I leave on Monday for nearly a week
of pastor’s school with over a hundred of my colleagues on the beautiful campus
of Michigan State University. There will
be a workshop on how to use Facebook to minister to the unchurched and our own
congregations. There will be others on
how to take better care of our bodies, how to manage conflict in our faith
communities, and how to use drama as a spiritual discipline. Bishop Woodie White will be sharing his
insights on many of the intersections between race and religion, a conversation
that is well needed in a polarized society of blacks and whites, rich and poor,
“conservative Republicans” and “liberal Democrats”. We live in a seemingly us and them society
that isn’t much willing to even have a conversation anymore, not if it means we
have to listen to someone else. And Tom
and Dee Yaccino will be teaching us all a thing or two about forming community.
They have spent years in South America embedded in the lives of the people they
have come to know. They don’t wait for,
or expect, these people to “show up” at the church. Instead, they expect the church to show up in
the lives of those who live in the communities around the church. What a novel idea.
I look forward to this school every year because I know I
will be stretched, strained, and even worn to the bone by the time the school
is over. I will be expected to listen
more than I speak, and talk with others about my reflections. I will take pages and pages of notes and I
will begin to make connections between what I will learn and how I will apply
it back in my community, my church, and even my life at home. And this is only one of three to four
continuing education events I attend each
and every year as a Christ follower… in addition to ongoing reading and
study. This year one of the professors
at Spring Arbor University, Dr. Richard Cornell, will be teaching a Sunday
morning class at Concord United Methodist Church on the Book of
Revelation. I can’t wait! I know I will learn a ton that I did not know
before the class began. We have another
adult class that runs throughout the school year, as well. It walks through a book of the bible, verse
by verse, chapter by chapter, page by page.
It’s a great class for beginners who have rarely or never read
scripture, or a great discipline for the person who has been reading the bible
for years.
On Sunday evenings, our youth have an opportunity to learn
as well. Free Methodists, Presbyterians,
United Methodists, and even teens who don’t attend a church, all come together
on Sunday evening to SECYM (Seek Him or Sunday Evening Community Youth
Ministry). They learn how to live with
others who are different than themselves, how to serve others who are in
greater need even than they are, and how to live like Jesus did when he was
walking this earth. It’s a daunting
task.
In just a few weeks, we’ll be kicking off our classes for
kids as well. Sunday mornings we have a
couple of classes that teach kids how Jesus lived, and on Wednesday evenings we
go a step further and claim how Jesus lived for ourselves. Living like/for Jesus is a choice, you
know. It’s a choice when you are five
and it’s a choice when you are fifteen.
And honestly, it’s a choice when you are fifty five or even seventy
five. As Christ followers, our learning
never stops. We can never really know
all who God is, even with the example of Jesus… so we keep learning… we keep
reading… we keep listening… and we keep growing. Or we don’t.
What choice will you make as another summer comes to a close and a whole
new plethora of opportunities fall into your lap?
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