Thank You For The Church God

We have tried to teach our children how to pray through the years. In doing that we have let them lead most of the dinner table prayers and some of the prayers at bedtime. They both have different things that they like to pray about. I have always been inspired that they mention their friends and grandparents in their prayers. Like in most children's prayers there are a lot of thank yous. They are just starting to learn to pray for things instead of just about things. Just as life is a journey, so is the developing of a prayer life a journey. Your prayers change through the years depending on what has happened to you and what you are facing. They also change as your relationship with God deepens and you realize how much you really do depend upon him. Adults therefore tend to pray a little different than children. But there is one thank you that my son Charlie prays that I hope all of us remember to pray. It is not something that I taught him, in fact when he prays it I am reminded how lax I am in praying it, and how sometimes I just take it for granted. In addition to all the thank yous for his family Charlie always prays, "Thank you for the church God."
It sounds like such a simple prayer but it has so much depth, and I realized for Charlie so much meaning. The church has always been at the center of Charlie's life. When we adopted him and his sister we brought them back to our congregation in Fort Wayne and we had them baptized. It was a joyous event as they were introduced to the grace of God in the waters of baptism and made members of God's family along with ours. The unique thing about that baptism is that we didn't have a couple of sponsors for them, no we had close to 500 sponsors. The entire congregation of Praise Lutheran church stood up as God parents for them. I know some people are critical of such a thing, they say you should just have one or two not a mob. But that sponsorship with just the beginning of their life in the congregation. The people of Praise lived up to their promise. As I would preach on a Sunday morning I would watch my kids get passed back and forth among the people. I never had to look for someone to baby sit there was always a competition to see who would get them.
When we moved to Phoenix the kids were accepted here too, and they have been loved and cared for by the people of Family of Christ. Charlie and Jasmine have always loved church. They love Sunday mornings when they get to see their friends and also interact with the adults in the congregation. Charlie over the years has learned many of the songs and it is a place that he feels loved and accepted.
Charlie has some learning disabilities and has scored low on your typical standardized tests that they use to evaluate kids his age. There is one area though that not only didn't he score low, he actually scored pretty high, and that was socialization. Charlie loves people, he loves playing with them, interacting with them, and he is very outgoing. My wife and I credit the church for that. The church from the very beginning whether it was in Fort Wayne or here in Phoenix has always opened its arms to him and taught him that he is loved, that he is valuable. Through baptism and the witness of his friends around him Charlie has a deep faith in Jesus Christ. He knows that the church loves him and he knows most importantly that Jesus loves him. It is why he sings Jesus songs on the way to school in the morning and why he witnesses about Jesus dying on the cross to his doctors and therapists. He makes me wish I had the trust and understanding that he does.
So yes Charlie, thank you for the church God. Thank you for the Word and the sacraments that bring us to faith and sustain us in that same faith. Thank you for the body of believers who love and care for one another like Christ cares for all of us. Charlie understands that, hopefully someday I will understand it as deep as he does.


Pastor Fred

School Is Starting

School will be starting here at Family of Christ this coming Monday the 9th of August. As I write this teachers outside of my office are decorating their classrooms and making plans with their aides. Tonight is the first, "Meet the Teacher Night", of the year. You can sense the excitement. I am also excited because it has been a long summer and it has been very quiet here. We have kids during the summer but just a small amount that are here all day. Monday pre-school starts and all the kids come flooding back. Some of the children will be returning children and some will be new. There will be a big time of adjustment for students, teachers and yes even for parents. We are excited about this though because we know why we are here and what we have been called to do.
Family of Christ Learning Center is not just any learning center. Yes we teach all the stuff that pre-schools are supposed to teach. We work very hard at getting our students ready for kindergarten, but we do much more than that. As I said Family Christ Learning Center is not just any learning center, it is a ministry of Family of Christ Lutheran Church. As Lutherans in the Awhatukee village of Phoenix we believe that we have been put here by God to share Christ's Word and his love with the children and the parents that live here. We are intentional about that. We believe that there is no greater gift than the forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and we want everyone to know about that and be brought to faith. Along with that Lutherans in general have always highly valued education and so we strive to provide the best quality that we can.
As a pastor I love being able to work in a pre-school and share the faith with children from all races, nations and languages. I also know I am blessed to be able to see and experience the faith of the children. Children at times can exhibit such great faith that it blows you away. So we are preparing for next week and looking forward to another year in God's grace.

Pastor Fred