Feeling a certain pull, today.
One of the people I follow on Instagram starts a daily installment with the words “Hey, everybody, it’s (day of the week). I hope you’re getting outside and getting some of that fresh air.” He posts other reels, but this is an almost daily routine and it started something, today.
I opened my study window at the church to get some of that “fresh air.” What also floats through the window this morning are the sounds of one of the grades of Concordia Lutheran School. They are making use of Redeemer’s pavilion, fire pit, and woodland walking trails for a day of outdoor education. Those are some great and joyous sounds wafting in on that fresh air!
What was started by Instagram and bolstered by the school kids is a gradual acknowledgment of how much I enjoy the out of doors. One of my favorite parts of the day, running from mid-May well into September, is getting outside and watering Jami’s beautifully chosen flowers. This year, we added some lemon basil, parsley, squash, bell pepper, and tomato plants in our three raised plant beds.
Every Labor Day I look forward to getting back into the Rocky Mountains on horseback. This year, lamentably, the Roof Top Riders are not able to have a ride. Guess I’ll make do with a few more treks on the above-mentioned woodland walking trails!
“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isiah 55:12)
Get out there and get yourself some of that God-given fresh air and enjoy His glorious creation, today!
Sharing the Word
As one of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastors affiliated with a parochial school it’s been my honor to begin the year by teaching the 8th grade religion class at the start of the day at Concordia Lutheran School. Today, I was also relieved to find that our drill this week was for tornadoes and other foul weather and not a fire drill – we didn’t have to go outside (high today of 101 degrees with heat index of 115) but got to stay in the building! But I digress…
It’s also been nice to start the year with new curricula. All of the grade levels are on the same Biblical lesson each week. This orients our weeks and helps anchor the chapel homilies on Wednesdays.
The first week we started, of course, with Genesis. By the time for chapel in week two we were in Genesis chapter three. This is a chapter rich in theology! We have Satan lying and tempting Adam and Eve to sin. We have Martin Luther’s assertion that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the first altar in the world – where Adam and Eve would sacrifice their desires to determine good and evil and simply rely on God to teach them.
Alas, they fell into sin with their disobedience. But then, along with the listing of the consequences we have the promise of a Savior Who, though His heal would be crushed, would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15). This Jesus does in delivering the mortal blow through His crucifixion and resurrection to forgive the sins of the world!
One last blessing of the start of the school year is the theme chosen for the year. It’s a good theme for all of us, regardless of the time of year. Joshua 1: 9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Guidance to Guide
Francis X Maier wrote recently in The Catholic Thing (“The Revenge of Unintended Consequences”) about certain “family rules” which should be applied to life in the Church as the family of God. His assertion that they would greatly increase the chances of a healthy common life is something with which I whole-heartedly agree.
“One of them is preaching Christian truth clearly and confidently, with the goal of converting the world to Jesus Christ. Another is acknowledging the difference between good and evil. Another is naming sin for what it is. Another is welcoming and forgiving the repentant. Another is encouraging, rather than confusing and disparaging, people sincerely trying to be faithful to what the Church teaches, including those teachings that seem hard. Another is showing some patience and prudence in dealing with disagreement in the ranks.”
All of these fall under the encouragement of St. Paul when he wrote the Ephesians: 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (4:15-16). As we LCMS pastors in Peoria begin teaching the 8th grade religion class at Concordia Lutheran School these are great guidelines. God bless all the faculty and staff to help these young minds and young faiths grow and flourish in the lives that are theirs through the suffering, death, and triumphant resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord.