Sunday School — keeping watch over ourselves

I was recently part of a conversation that truly warmed my heart.

I was attending a board meeting at church when we began discussing the next time the board would meet. Since there were complications with our normal meeting time, we looked at other options for when to meet. One of the options was for the board to meet on a Sunday between worship services.

But, as we discussed this option, one of the board members realized what that meant and exclaimed, “But that means I would need to miss the ‘Genesis’ [adult Sunday School] class.”

I responded, “Actually, Sunday School and Bible classes are what God’s church is really about, and are really more important than a meeting.”

In turn, the person responded, “No, I would have to miss that board meeting. I’m not going to miss the Genesis class.”

As pastor of St. John, I like that response! It warms my heart to see someone putting first things first.

When a new pastor is ordained into the ministry or installed as new pastor in a congregation, the other pastors gather around the new pastor at the end of the worship service and lay hands on them and bless them. Usually the pastors each share a Bible verse as they bless the new pastor.

The verse I normally share is from Acts 20:28, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”

The point I make when blessing new pastors is that they need to take care of themselves so that they are able to give God’s care to others. This includes physical care. But even more, this care includes nurturing of our own relationship with our Lord. How can a pastor help someone else in their walk of faith with our Lord if the pastor is not alive in their own walk?

Whether you know it or not, pastors struggle with faith just like everyone else.

A good pastor does not serve others out of their own righteousness or their own strength. A faithful pastor serves others because they know personally the love and mercy of God in Jesus. They know that Jesus died and rose for them. That knowledge and faith is a gift from God as he works in our hearts by his spirit.

But, God has given ways or means for his children to keep their faith alive and strong. I personally depend on my daily devotional time. This past week I have been reading from the book of Daniel, the epistles of John, and the Gospel of Luke, with prayers and devotional thoughts included.

And, part of God’s plan to nurture and care for our faith is regularly spending time with God’s people in worship and Sunday School. There we hear the word of our Lord himself and get to apply it to our life. There we can apply the forgiveness of God and the mercy of God and the guidance of God to our needs and our struggles.

In our current world, we all have more opportunities than we have time. So, we have to make choices. Making good choices means having our priorities in order.

The advice in Scripture to the pastors of Ephesus is good advice for each of us. “Keep watch over yourselves . . .” A really good way to keep watch over ourselves is to spend time with other Christians considering the wisdom and love and guidance in the Word of God.