~ by the Pastor and guest writers ~
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The Ministry of Education (September 18, 2002) In the faith community, education is our call and attempt to help one another understand the experience of God’s Mystery in its breadth and depth and explore its implications for ourselves and the world. We build on a foundation of Bible study, explore our history, examine our theology, and plan our mission work. Here at First Presbyterian Church, we strive to provide excellent leadership in teaching, wonderful classes for all age groups on Sunday mornings, and the opportunity for extended study during the week. We are committed to learning and growing in Christian faith and to infusing our daily lives with knowledge of God’s love for all of us. As you know, over the last several months Mimi Rhea has served as our part-time Director of Christian Education. I am hesitant to use the word “part-time” because I know how many hours Mimi has put in here at our church. Her enthusiasm, energy, commitment, and passion for Christian Education have been exemplified in everything she has done for the life of our church. We are deeply appreciative for her ministry of providing excellent leadership and education for each and every one of us. I want you to take time to thank Mimi personally for what she has done and continues to do. With the hiring of a full-time Director of Christian Education, Mimi will officially no longer serve in that capacity. I can assure you she will maintain her interest and passion for our education programs through her service as an elder on our session and the Christian Education committee. Thank you Mimi! And now we transition to welcome Rebecca Villarreal as our new Director of Christian Education. John Miller, Chair of our Personnel Committee introduced Rebecca to the congregation last Sunday. I want to add my welcome. I am excited that she has been selected by the Personnel Committee to serve our church. She comes with extensive experience in public education and, like Mimi, a passion for education in our church. Take time to welcome her and make her feel at home in First Presbyterian Church. In this newsletter she will frequently share her thoughts and ideas. If education in the faith community is our attempt to help one another understand the experience of God’s Mystery, then the way we do that is to be present at 9:00 am on Sundays. Our session has committed the church’s resources by hiring a full-time Director. What will you commit to our education program? The best way to explore your faith is to be present each Sunday.
 A Matter of the Heart Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Mark 12:28-34 (September 4, 2002) This Sunday, September 8, 2002 we begin our Christian Education program for 2002-2003. Right from the start I want to say how important it is that you pledge your time and talent to be present each Sunday for education and worship. Education and worship in the church are not “leftovers” in the life of the Christian community—“if I have time this week after I have done everything else then I will think about coming to Sunday School and worship.” Thank God that God’s grace and salvation are not “leftovers” but acts of a God who serves up the very best. Last year at this time I preached a sermon that attempted to encourage members of our congregation to consider education and worship as “matters of the heart.” I try not to repeat myself but when I went back and read what I preached on September 9, 2001 I thought some of the sermon was worth repeating. Take time to reflect on what I said then and what God is saying to you now. I pray that education and worship at First Presbyterian Church will be “matters of the heart.” Here is a portion of that sermon I preached a year ago: “A popular approach to faith in America today is to homogenize it. The suggestion is that it doesn’t so much matter what people believe, but only that they believe in something. That approach may reduce tensions between peoples of diverse faith, but it does so at too high a cost for people of any faith. For the particulars of our faith in God do matter. When asked about his faith by the scribe in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus referred to the shema: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is Lord alone." When the scribe heard Jesus recite these treasured words of faith from his childhood, the scribe responded: "Teacher, you have truly said that God is one, and there is no other but God; and to love God with all your heart, and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." To this public statement of faith by the scribe, Jesus said: "You are not far from God’s kingdom." My question today of this Gospel story is: from where did the faith of the scribe come? Who taught this scribe the words of faith? Who gave him the language to speak in public about God? Who insisted that the words of the shema described basic values better than any other words on the market? Will Our Children Have Faith is the title of a book by John Westerhoff. It is also the challenge of today’s text. How will our children and grandchildren and friend’s children have faith unless you and I hand it down to them? How will they have faith if we do not prioritize our lives so that worship and education and fellowship are held in higher esteem than games and tournaments and even homework? How will they have faith if they never pray or sing hymns or clearly bring our faith to bear on complex ethical matters? How will our children learn to appreciate the beauty and nuances of the Bible until we do? Over this Labor Day weekend past, you and I celebrated the myriad of ways that God gives us gifts to do meaningful work. We thank God for blessing the work of our hands and heads and hearts. But, if you listen with care to Moses and Jesus, you will hear them say repeatedly that our most meaningful work is sharing and passing down the faith. So, as we begin our fall schedule of worship and education this Sunday, let me invite you, first: to model your faith and grow in it by making the increasingly unlikely choice in our society to worship God regularly; second: to move beyond the false dichotomy of worship or education, as if we are so busy that we can only give God an hour of our time on Sundays. Instead, at the very least, give God and your faith an hour to worship and praise as well as an hour to deepen your faith through learning. Third: come to morning classes on Sunday or Wednesday or begin a nine month Bible study on Monday nights, and finally: talk to your children and your grandchildren and your friends’ children about your faith; open a Bible with them and learn to pray together. As I hear myself reel off this list, I can’t help thinking: "Jesse, you sound like an old timey preacher today." Well, so be it. At least they had the integrity to call people back to matters of the heart. Like the rabbi, they cried out in public to announce a faith worth honing and defending and passing on. In our secular society, you can count on this: our children and grandchildren, our neighbors and colleagues, will have faith, and it will be a faith that has children, only when you and I make our faith a matter of the heart.”
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