This is a special week at St.Paul's, Troy. We are celebrating Lutheran Schools Week. (The LC-MS had moved the date for National Lutheran Schools Week to January but left it open to the school to decide when to celebrate it for themselves. In the past it has always been the 1st week in March. Here at St. Paul's, we decided that we liked it at this time for a variety of reasons. So we left it as it was, the 1st week in March.) This is an opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of Lutheran education.
What makes it so unique? The education portion of the school is strong, with a good teaching staff, a solid curriculum and a mindset that says, "We want the best education for our students." But then again, the public school has that same thing. So that doesn't make us unique.
Lutheran education is just that. It is education that is distinctively Lutheran. It focuses the attention of the student and the families upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ, working very diligently to stay focused in the Word of God and its application to the life of the student. Don't all Christian churches focus upon that? No they don't. What makes us Lutheran is the focus upon the Word and its application in Law and Gospel. All life is guided by the Word of God as applied through the Law and Gospel, knowing that salvation is a gift from God and not something we claim for ourselves or that we work out on our own, and the daily life is a reflection of that gift from God. The focus is upon God and what He does in our lives and not upon ourselves and what we can do for or with God. He is the One who empowers our lives.
We teach the children the importance of relying upon the power of God and not upon their own power or strength, which will always fail them. God's power never fails. God's will is always good. God's love lasts forever.
Our teachers continue to teach as Lutherans. Baptism is a Sacrament that saves the person. It is a work of the Holy Spirit and not of the individual. The Word is the means through which the Holy Spirit works faith and continues to keep faith alive. The Lord's Supper is a gift from God which brings the body and blood of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of faith and the assurance of forgiveness of sins. The life of the Christian is guided not by their desire but by the working of the Holy Spirit through these Means of Grace.
In all our classrooms, from preschool through grade 8, we focus the children upon the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives to guide them to live as children of God. We do not use the Law to beat the children into submission, but allow the Word of God to show them the way they are called to live each day. Over and over again they hear of the love of Christ for them, the need of forgiveness in their lives and the power of God to work in many and various ways.
So this is Lutheran Schools Week. We celebrate Lutheran education in many and various ways. Today is Dress Your Best Day. The children will dress in their best clothes. The GRANDS - grandparents, relatives, aunts/uncles, neighbors and dependable caregivers - will be coming at 9:00 a.m. for goodies and a program put on by the all the children. It will be an exciting morning. Then Tuesday evening the Science Center will be here for two 1/2 hour presentations on the wonders of science. All the while the Scholastic Book Fair will be taking place. Should be a fun day!
Come and join us for the wonder of Lutheran Schools Week. We are going to have a great week!
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