September 9th, 2007 – Rally Day: Beginning two Worship services again and the Education Hour.

I once heard an interview with the novelist Jeanette Winterson where she described how her evangelically religious mother taught her to embroider a sampler with the sentence, The summer is nearly over and we are not yet saved. Not that it reflects what I believe, but that sentence comes back to me each September.

Pastor Dayle wrote about how, whether or not we are still in school, September marks a beginning month in our lives and a time to reflect on the eventfulness of our summer and assess the achievements of the year.

Yes, Rally Day is certainly not a festival of the church year but it comes around predictably each year.

Sunday worship and between worships was an opportunity for us to celebrate the importance of learning for faith formation and spiritual enrichment for adults and children. There was a Sunday School Staff Installation at each service and a formal kickoff between services. Kelly exuberantly led the entire group a couple of songs and then adults stayed in the sanctuary while everyone else went to other rooms for the hour.

Helping to plan Adult Education has given me a perspective on the amount of behind-the-scenes work there is above and beyond the actual teaching commitment that is made each year. The care and concern overwhelmed me at the Adult Education meeting I attended last week. There is fundamental community building and volunteer coordination that was impressive. Creator attracts many who are deeply involved in education as a career, vocation or as volunteers so this is not unexpected.

Teresa led the adults in talking with one another and announced what was planned for Adult Education through December. There is so often something that comes up for me in that hour.

This last time it was in a conversation with Gladys who, I found out during Adult Education, remembered my first time attending Creator worship and detailed that memory. It was something that surprised me and it made an impression that she should remember that as clearly she did.

Back to Teresa, she has a vision of constantly remaking Adult Education to be as meaningful to the participants as possible and has done a great job pulling the resources and people together to do just that.

There is a palpable energy around the new way Sunday school is organized as well. We are looking forward to seeing how this manifests itself this year