Hello –
A great Christian teacher once asked me whether churches are just ‘hospitals for sinners’ or if they’re also ‘schools for saints.’ I’ve always been haunted by that question and have wanted to be sure that the churches I serve are both hospital and school.
Here are seven ways to learn to learn to be a saint at St. Paul’s. Each encourages our core rhythm of PrayWorshipServe.
1. Two of our seven Outreach efforts are in particular need right now. Teen Success Breakfast has had a few of their most reliable volunteers move out of Marin. The basket at the back of the church with groceries for Ritter Center hasn’t ben as full as it could be. Can you help with either?
2. Next week we return to our weekday rhythm of prayer and study. Tuesday Morning Prayer at 7:30am, Tuesday study of Hebrews at 12:30pm and Wednesday study of Genesis at 10am all begin again.
3. On Saturday, September 12th from 9am to noon we host, as a community, a workshop on Discipleship Groups, which are small groups structured for Christian maturity and are the spiritual center of St. Paul’s.
4. Today I send a letter to my local clergy colleagues inviting them and their churches to our Discipleship Group workshop. In it, I describe three different kinds of churches based on what’s at their center. These are Christian Old School, Christian Spiritually Inclusive and Christian Core. I’m posting the letter on our bulletin board.
5. My two most recent sermons are connected meditations on the relationship between Jesus’ statement ‘I am the living bread’ and our practice of communion. They’re both on the front page of our website.
6. If you’ve been reading 1st and 2nd Samuel as part of the Daily Office, I recommend you look at the short introductions to those two books in the HarperCollins bible commentary, which is our standard Bible reference book here at St. Paul’s. They are excellent little essays and help enrich our understanding of this towering piece of spiritual literature.
7. We say the Nicene Creed every Sunday. What does it mean? On Labor Day Sunday, September 6th, I’ll teach a class and lead discussion in Duncan Hall at 11:15am or so, just after the 10am service.
There’s so much for all of us who are want-to-be Saints to learn!
Blessings,
Christopher
p: (415) 456-4842