The ministry and work of the professional church educator is challenging and demanding. The fact is that the more you stay in the field and in the ministry (especially if you stay in the same ministry context) the job only gets more complex, not less. Educational leadership is the kind of job that involves evolutionary development. Just when you think you’ve got the job down it expands, grows, evolves, morphs, changes, and shifts into different venues, levels, areas, and forms. At the very least we can say it’ll always be interesting. But it’s also a job that never ends.

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The central thesis of Marjorie J Thompson’s Family: The Forming Center. A vision of the role of family in spiritual formation (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1996), is that, for good or evil, the home is the primary context in which spiritual formation takes place. Spiritual formation can take place through intentional teaching and practices, or it can take place through modeling and unconscious attitudes, but it will take place. Spiritual formation is likely the most foundational formation that takes place in a child’s early life, overlapping with mental, physical and ethical formation. The question for parents is what kind of formation is taking place? The answer for Christian families is that they should be formed to the image of Christ and not the world.

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Peace - it sounds like such a nice word, but what does it really mean? What does peace really look like? How do we preach peace - especially every year at Advent?

These are just a few questions that went through my head as I was preparing to preach last week.

Below is the sermon I preached last week, Dec 9th, on the second Sunday of Advent.

Title - Yeah Right!
Texts - Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12
Focus - Peace takes work
Function - To challenge

Other information:
Size/style of congregation - average 150 in attendance on a Sunday, Pastoral Style
Spirituality - Head
Advent themes - Hope, peace, joy, and love (some churches focus on peace first and then hope).
My position - Associate Pastor - preaching as a “second chair”
Technique - I like to “weave” the text with present and real life issues and situations, even if it is a line or two here and there.
Other - Some of the organizations listed are particuar to my congregation and surrounding city

Enjoy:

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The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?

MYTH: In Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692, several women were accused of witchcraft, tried, and burned at the stake.

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I’ve taught a couple of classes of the kind that fall under the category of “drawing for idiots and the genetically uncoordinated.” They were for those who had convinced themselves, “I can’t draw myself out of a wet paper bag to save my life,” or who misguidedly lamented, “I can’t draw a straight line.” Anyone can draw a straight line, the question is, why would you want to? And the fact is that just about anyone can draw, and they can do it better with a little training.

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Our tour bus pulled into the “modern day” city of Bethlehem, just six miles southwest of Jerusalem. After years of mental images associating this small town with Christmas, Magi, and angels, the reality is a disappointment. Bethlehem today is a small Arab town at the outskirts of the major centers and tourist attractions in the area. If it had a twin sister city in my state we’d call it a “hole in a wall” kind of place. Aside from the tourist-trap shops and the unlikely ubiquitous presence of obnoxious street vendors, there is no hint that anything interesting exists in this dusty little town.

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Against the prevailing but uninformed notion that “I am spiritual, but not religious,” Barry L. Callen (professor of Christian studies at Anderson University, editor of the Wesleyan Theological Journal and founding editor of Anderson University Press) counters that religion and spirituality must coexist. In this book, Authentic Spirituality: Moving Beyond Mere Religion (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001. 271 pages. $18.99. ISBN 0-8010-2288-6) he demonstrates how religious practice and tradition are necessary for authentic Christian spirituality.

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Preparation for Christmas means anticipation, which is, of course, the spirit of Advent. Right around this time I start to get all sorts of kitsch e-mails about Christmas. You know them, you probably see them every year: animated “Christmas cards” with music, Santa jokes, lists of fractured Christmas hymns titles, etc. Sometimes there’s so much of it that at one point my response is ho-hum and bah-humbug. But it’s early in the season and they’re just starting to come in. My sister sent me this version of “fractured hymn titles,” and it gave me a chuckle. We haven’t got enough blog entries under the “humor” category, and that’s a shame. So, here, in jolly anticipation, are “Christmas Carols for the Psychologically Challenged”:

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