One Generation to the Next

Lutheran Schools Week is a great time at a Lutheran School. It is an opportunity to celebrate the blessings that a Lutheran School truly is for the lives of the children that are being taught the wonder of God's creation. Yes, we can say that it is God's creation. We don't have to teach the lies of evolution or any of the other false teachings about the origins of the universe. We can say, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." We can teach the truth that all humanity began with one man and one women, Adam and Eve. 

We can teach that the reason there are such problems in this world stem from the time when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. All mankind fell into sin when they sinned. Every human born of a man and a woman is sinful from conception (and yes, life begins at conception and all life is valuable to God and should be valuable to us). Death came into the world through the sin of those first people. All have sinned, you and me, the children we teach and the parents of the children, have sinned. No one can save themselves from eternal damnation. All are lost! Yes, we can say that. All are going to hell.

But God (we can talk about God day after day) loved the world so much that He sent His only-begotten Son into the world, born of a woman, born under the Law to redeem those under the Law - to redeem the children, to redeem you, to redeem me. He came to do what we cannot do for ourselves. He suffered and died in our stead. Jesus Christ died on the cross for us and for our salvation. Not only did He die, He also rose again on the 3rd day. He came back to life. He physically rose from the dead. That which was dead, was alive. Jesus lives! He lives even today! And we can celebrate the wonder that life gives to us. We are saved by grace through faith - faith in Jesus Christ alone. 

All of that is what we can talk about day after day. That is something to celebrate. That is the wonder of a Lutheran School. I love being a pastor of a congregation that not only supports Lutheran education but makes it a priority. 

Yesterday was Grands Day. It was a day when grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, special people, all came into the school, gathered with their special student and then went to chapel to celebrate the gift of life in Christ.  We sang, heard the Word, recalled the gift of prayer that we have been given, celebrated the love of Christ with one another. 

We also saw how important it is to pass the message of love on from one generation to the next. We look upon the stories of life that we share and realized that it is just as important, perhaps even more so, that we pass on the stories of our faith. We need to support the ministry that continues to teach our children about Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If we don't, who will? The world around us won't teach them of the love of Christ. You and me, knowing Christ as our Savior, are to pass that on to the next generation - no matter what it takes.

Celebrate Lutheran Schools Week with us. It is a wonder to be a part of this special ministry. Thank God for the opportunity we have to pass on the gospel to the next generation.