September newsletter is here
Back to School?
I have no idea where this summer went. Well, actually I know exactly where it went. It didn’t go to the beach, or the trails at the State Park, or even to Unity Fest this year. I was in summer school . When I signed up for this intensive Bachelors Degree program at Indiana Wesleyan University online, somehow I thought that ….well…that I’d still have some free time. Although, yes, Harry and I did get to golf most Fridays. We have to have some fun!
I literally just finished my class on the Acts of the Apostles Monday morning and started my new class today – Tuesday on the Gospel of Mark. It may sound somewhat backwards, but that’s just how my schedule worked out.
Acts of the Apostles is such a rich and diverse book of the Bible, and I just love it even more now than I did before. I had heard that pastor and author Eugene Peterson preached in Acts for a whole year. At the time, he really didn’t even have a church yet because they were meeting in his basement on Sunday mornings until they couldn’t squeeze any more people in there. As I’ve been re-watching the series The Chosen, and think of how Jesus empowered all of his disciples by way of the Holy Spirit – even Saul – it really makes me appreciate all that we have. Can’t you just imagine how conflicted the apostles Peter, James & John and all the rest were when Barnabas brought Saul to them and said, “He’s changed! He’s good! Jesus changed him!”
Wow, now that could bring up some trust issues for even the most devoted Christian. I think that my favorite verse in the gospel was when Peter, after seeing his vision that nothing God calls clean should we call unclean; “So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God? When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” (New International Version, 1997, Acts 11:17-18). If even Saul could repent of his sins against Jesus and against the church, doesn’t that just make us sit back and think a moment? The unlikeliest person that we know can be made clean through Jesus, made brand new.
Can we all learn something from that this month, as we start a new school year? Can we let situations, personality conflicts, something carried over from last year just go – given to Jesus so that we can learn a little bit more of what doing this life together looks like? I think we can.
Have a Happy and Safe Labor Day!
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