Welcome to our blog! This is a place to share ideas, thoughts, concerns and joys of our faith journey. I'll be posting sporadically, but hope you will feel free to comment and join in the discussions.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Missed Chances, or Not

I've been somewhat remiss in posting lately. I started to feel guilty about that, but then stopped myself. I write this blog for those who wish to visit our site and see for themselves what we do and who we are. And who we are includes all of God's people, the industrious and the not so much.

I teach an adult Sunday School class throughout the year (yes, even during the summer) and one thing I encounter are people who have attended the class either once or more than a few times, who feel they have to explain why they haven't been there. I try to stop them before they get too far along in their explanations about busy lives and hard to get up on Sunday mornings and whatevers. I don't take attendance in class. I want to see people when they come to class because they have the time THAT day at THAT hour. My class does not build one upon another. We try to have discussions on whatever the Gospel lesson is that week. Sometimes we deal with a topic or even a short book, but the class is never one to be so structured that if you miss one, you're lost for the next however many weeks. I'm not boasting about the class, I'm explaining the way it works. And really isn't that the way it works in our faith life as well? Most time we have the "faith time" built into our schedules. Maybe it's the ritual of Sunday morning worship. Maybe it's the beginning of the day, pausing to pray for the day. Maybe it's at the end of the day. Even if only to say, "Thank God today is over!" Our faith life fluctuates as our life does. What worked for you in elementary school, usually changes by the time you reach high school. What you had time for in high school is pushed to the back burners in young adulthood. Each stage of our lives brings about different understandings and rhythms of our faith. I don't think God keeps an attendance book either. If he did, my attendance would have been practically non-existent in my young adult years. But I don't believe he holds that against me. The God I know and love understands life changes and faith growth. And he waits for us with open arms whenever we have the time and chance to come and talk to him and listen for his wisdom.

So no, I don't feel guilty about not posting recently. And I hope if you are visiting here or on the website in general you will come to see us at St. Marks Lutheran Church. We're always looking for those who are looking for answers or asking questions. Even if we don't write about them every week.