Forward Today: Back to School, for Everyone

In this week’s edition of our weekly newsletter, Scott Gunn considers what would happen if we all treated autumn as a back to school season—for our faith.


Dear friends in Christ,

This week, my Facebook feed is full of families with kids headed back to school. Just about every store I’ve been in for a couple of weeks has specials for “back to school season.” Even in churches, lots of places that ended classes over the summer are starting back up again. But back to school isn’t just for kids and their parents.

The Rite I service often starts out with the Summary of the Law. “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Did you catch that? “All thy mind.” Too many people check out of learning about their faith. We don’t take courses, we don’t read books, and we don’t wrestle with ideas that might push us to change or grow. And, yet, how can we love God with our minds if we don’t use our minds?

FMbooks
 
If your church offers adult education courses, take a look! Sign up! If not, maybe a nearby church (even another denomination) offers something that can feed your mind. If courses aren’t your thing, how about reading a book about faith? There are loads of them. Your local bookstore has plenty of books on faith, and so does your public library. Ask a friend or your priest for suggestions.
 
Of course, Forward Movement has plenty of books for sale on our website, though we’re not the only ones. I am pretty excited about Inwardly Digest, a new book that draws us into a richer encounter with the Book of Common Prayer. Or Slaying Your Goliaths, about facing your own challenges–while going really deep into the David and Goliath story from the Bible. Or Bible Women, offering you a chance to read and connect with every word spoken by women in the Bible. Choose one of these or something completely different.
 
Whatever you do, I urge you to find a way to recommit to learning and to growth in this back to school season.
 

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director


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