Faith in a Disenchanted World
By Rob Pifer
The calendar made the flip this week from July to August. Did you feel it? I sure did.
I spent the last couple of days of July at Salt & Light Camp, a partnership with Wildwood Presbyterian Church where we take a group of 5th & 6th Graders over to Live Oak for a really special camp. Often the first camp experience for these young children, it’s everything you might think a summer camp to be: smelly bunk houses full of wet towels and way too much junk food, afternoons spent swimming and canoeing, kids playing games and working on crafts, a shaving cream fight and sharing by the campfire. We gather these kids around the Word in the morning and at bedtime and several times throughout the day, sharing the Gospel and challenging them to embrace a faith all their own. It can be a memorable, life altering week for these young kids, and it often is for me as well.
Once the calendar made that flip to August and this last camp of summer was over, I immediately kicked into back-to-school mode, both at home and here at Four Oaks. My wife and I have been taking our kids to pick up school schedules and shop for sneakers and get their back-to-school physicals. Here at church I’ve also been working on schedules, along with planning trips and choosing teaching materials and talking to staff and volunteers. This busy season seems to come on more quickly and furiously each year. I know it’s coming, and I should be better prepared for it, yet I find myself here on the cusp of a new school year feeling a bit like I’m getting swept into the vortex of a tornado. I’m hoping to stick my head out of it for a breath of air around Christmastime before letting it carry me through the school year, spitting me out at the end of May hopefully still in one piece!
Do you know the feeling? Can you relate? I think most of us can, and this is why I’m so excited about our Fall Reboot 2.0 coming up in a couple of weeks.
We’ll be gathering together on three Wednesday nights starting August 15th at 5:30. I know that’s the first weeks of school, but we’re providing dinner and childcare! Think of it as a little mid-week break from cooking where you can gather with your church family for a meal and time of fellowship before breaking out into programming for you and your kids.
The book Pastor Paul will be teaching from during our times together is a new favorite of mine, and it couldn’t be more timely. Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World by Mike Cosper explores some of the reasons why many of us, myself included, have lost some of the wonder that should be a part of life with Christ. We go through the motions of church and home and work. We may read the Bible and pray because we should. But are we in awe of God, of who He is and what He has done? Is our life marked by joy and peace, or are we in a constant state of stress and exhaustion? Do we celebrate the goodness of God in our lives, or can we even recognize it?
This winsome, practical book has challenged and encouraged me in the best possible ways, and I think it will for you as well. I’m looking forward to hearing what Pastor Paul has to encourage us from it, and I can’t wait to gather with you in the lobby on those Reboot nights and talk about it over our pizza, hot dogs, and tacos. Mark your calendars for August 15th, 22nd, and 29th at 5:30, and I’ll see you there! Click here for more information and childcare requirements.