|
July is my favorite month of the year. The middle of the summer brings picnics and popsicles, seashells and swimming and visits of family and friends. (My youngest son would add fishing and fireworks! I am sure your children could also add to the list.) My prayer is that you and your family enjoy this wonderful month with all it has to offer. How wonderful it is that we can also enjoy worship and faith growth together throughout the year, including summertime!
Over the next couple of months I will be sharing excerpts from a book titled “Parenting in the Pew” by Robbie Castleman. I hope they will be an inspiration to you and a special encouragement:
There is a way to turn the hearts of our children to worship and take the worry and worn-out from the Sunday morning agenda. The key lies in another, better “w” word: work.
The sanctuary is often described as a place to “just relax and unwind,” providing a once-aweek hour of reprieve from the demands of the world. It’s no wonder that this hour can also become a reprieve from God’s command to worship Him.
Worship is work, hard work. It is also rewarding work. To worship the Lord “in spirit and truth” does not come easily, and it certainly does not come naturally to us. It is difficult to worship on the leftover energy of a long week and a late Saturday. The Sunday-morning encounter with God is worthy of our best energy, not our least.
The Lord of life promises to accompany us in worship. We will come upon unexpected stores of energy when we remember that worship is a joyous privilege. His mighty energy will be at work in us to revitalize our weary spirits. We will find rest for our souls.
Sundays are special. Children know that there is a difference between a birthday cake and an any-day cake. Birthday cakes are planned, designed in a special way and focused on the person being celebrated. A birthday cake is the person’s favorite; the frosting is sweeter, and the anticipation is so thick you could cut it with a knife! An any-day cake can be eaten without much introduction, but a birthday cake is eaten after candles, songs and ceremony. Technically, cake is cake. It’s the day, the parents and the preparation that set birthday cakes apart. Birthday cakes are cakes with an attitude!
Worship is loving the Lord with an attitude. We love the Lord every day, but Sunday is God’s favorite flavor and the frosting is sweeter.
Saint John’s has been blessed with a beautiful new “Artist’s Proof Lithograph” of the painting “Feed My Sheep” by the well-known inspirational painter, Kathryn Andrews Fincher. It was purchased using a monetary gift given by the Salzman families in celebration of Sara and Caiden’s baptism. We thank the Salzmans for their gift of love for the Children’s Ministry here at Saint John’s! The painting, which is now hanging by the entryway to the Sunday School, shows a little girl holding her toy lamb and a Bible: the things dearest to her. She is looking at a stained glass window of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. May all of us keep our childlike faith, looking to Christ knowing we are His sheep. He cares for us and we will trust in Him all our days. Jesus loves me, this I know! This gift is dedicated to the Glory of God.
|
