The End of the Beginning

For the last five weeks I have been teaching one of the adult Sunday School classes and I can't say just how much fun I have had. True - this responsibility is daunting - but this is a burden each of us should have at all times. This is perhaps the biggest blessing. Each day we live our lives should be with the sober realization that we are Christ to those around us.

And just what does that mean? I have lived until this year thinking I was supposed to live Christian values. People who see me living this way each day would then ask me about my source of grace and strength. Certainly God can work this way - but what must our lives look like before someone asks for our secret? We can't look just like the people we are surrounded by - that is for sure! I encourage anyone reading this post to read through the Sermon on the Mount (as it is called) and see just how radical our Christian ethic is.

Not only must we look different to the world, but it is imperative that we sound differently. I had lunch today with a father and son pair - the latter of whom is attending my Alma Mater begining in January. The father told today of one particular coworker who attends a well-respected evangelical church in town but can't keep his mouth quiet at work describing all the lascivious things he would do to this and that beautiful woman. "He should just stay home and watch cartoons or something on Sunday morning as go to church and act that way during the week" says the dad. Amen!

Among all this appropriate talk should be our Christian confession. How can someone believe unless they hear, and how can they hear unless they are told? I might spend some time talking about how or when to share this confession, but we would do well just to share at all!

This is the end of my tenure as a Sunday School teacher, but it is just the beginning. The toe has tested the water so-to-speak and I am just thrilled to continue on this journey.