Another week

Another week past filling two roles. My time seems to be as fleeting as ever. I had a second here to pop up an update. It's been a good week so far.

Monday the teens enjoyed a day out on Alum Creek Lake. It is such a blessing to have this big lake so close by. It's only two miles from the church. One of our elders generously takes us out a couple times a summer to let us enjoy some tubing, and Mary Beth and I both attempted skiing this week. Scary - that's the only word I can come up with to describe it.

Wednesday we took the teens for what we called a "Spiritual encounter." The idea is to give them alternative and differing approaches to communictaing and interacting with God. Our faith traditions often are limited in scope and personality and make it difficult to connect with those who have different personalities and outlooks. We walked through a prayer labryinth at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Bexley. The labyrinth is very beautiful as is the church. It was very different for the teens, but I think they appreciated the exposure to something different.

Next week we hope to visit a Byzantine Catholic Church. It is a beautiful church and will really be an interesting visit for our teens. I am looking forward to that time.

I've been all over the place this week in Scripture. A sermon from Matthew 20 on the vineyard workers, a class regarding how our cultural background dictates our understanding of Scripture, VBS classes on David and Goliath, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Creation, and the walls of Jericho - still not really sure how they all go together, but they are VBS story standbys. I have especially been blessed by reflecting on Matthew 20. I think that parable has much to say to our American culture. The key is in the realization that vineyard workers weren't upset until they begun coparing their pay with that of others. It is our comparison to the lives of others that leads us down an unhealthy path. We do it with our finances, our jobs, our life experiences, our children, our sports teams, our schools, our cities, our states, and just about everything else. Moving away from that might be the first step towards godliness in American culture.