From Pastor Ryan
Do you feel the crisp fall air yet? The energy of transition is all around us – from lush summer to exuberant fall colors; lazy hazy days spending time at the park to 6:15 AM alarms so we can rush out to the bus corner on time.
Things are transitioning at St. Matthew too! Our Sunday School, Confirmation, Youth Group and Adult Forum is coming out of its summer-time dormancy. The excitement for engaging our faith and traditions feels great!
The big question I’ve been grappling with as we catapult toward the educational year is: What does God want us to know this year?
To think about this question, I’ve been reading a new book called Woven by Meredith Miller, a long-time Children, Youth and Families minister. Miller shares that a 2005 survey of young Christians graduating from high school highlights that most Christian teens would describe their religion as “moralistic therapeutic deism” or in regular terms, “religion is about being good [moralism], it’s supposed to make me feel better [therapeutic] for a God who is far away to accept me and sometimes make an appearance when I need help [deism]” (pg. 6). Then, she asks: is this really what God wants us to know?
Consider Matthew 19:14 when Jesus (God in the flesh) says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them...” Jesus doesn’t only allow the good, well-behaved kids to come to him. Jesus actually stops the grown-ups from hindering all the children from coming to him! Jesus wants all the children to come to him and to know him.
Perhaps what God wants us, Children of God, to know is: God wants us to get to know him and what he is like through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This has the possibility of transforming our educational programming at every level here at St. Matthew! If we come to Bible Study thinking, “What am I going to learn about who God is today?” we will hear scripture anew. If our children come to Sunday School and explore a character trait of God, for example, ‘God is love,’ ‘God is powerful,’ or ‘God is justice,’ then our children leave church with the potential to see ‘God who is love’ all around them because they have a better idea of what to look for!
Miller says that this approach helps us, people of faith, to build a strong web of connections about our beautifully complex God (eg. God who is all powerful, and yet goes to the cross). These strong connections to God allow us to see how God is at work in our lives and when we see, it will be impossible not to follow!
That is what I am praying we can do together as a community of learners and faithful doers here at St. Matthew this year. Together, we can explore who God is and what God is like and from there we will follow God in devotion and service to God’s will for creation.
See you in the classroom!
Rev. Ryan
Children & Youth at St. Matthew
Sunday School
Sunday School registration is available, and our first class will be Sunday, September 15 at 10:20 AM following worship!
This year St. Matthew is proud to offer a Pre K- K classroom, a 1st-3rd grade classroom, and a 4th-6th grade classroom. Each Sunday the kids will start Sunday School in our music room for a music lesson from our Music Director Sarah before breaking out into their age groups for an engaging lesson exploring who God is in their lives and in the world!
Here is a link to the always-up-to-date Sunday School calendar: Sunday School Calendar 2024-25.docx
If you are interested in registering your Pre K through 6th grader, reach out to Pastor Ryan Heckman at revryan@stmatthewavon.org
Confirmation
Confirmation at St. Matthew is all about learning why we have all these traditions in the Lutheran Church and how God might just be pretty darn active within them!
At St. Matthew our program is designed for teenagers somewhere in the 7th-10th grade zone. I know, adults, you may have a lot of questions about Lutheran traditions and how God is active in them – turn to the Adult Forum section, this space is for the young people!
Confirmation will be meeting after worship each Sunday morning at 10:30 AM with either Pastor Brian or Pastor Ryan. We’ll likely meet in the Hall of the Evangelists. We’ll do some Bible reading, play some games, talk about life, and maybe goof around a little – but we’ll always catch a glimpse of how God is joining us in the fun.
Here is a link to the always-up-to-date Confirmation Calendar: Confirmation Calendar 2024-2025.docx
High School Youth Group
It’s been a long time coming! Youth Group is BACK!!
Pastor Ryan will be leading a weekly High School Youth Group this year in the Youth Loft above the big kitchen. We’ll begin our weekly meetings the week of September 16. Pastor Ryan is reaching out to youth to determine what day, and time will work best for the most youth most of the time. We’ll likely meet in the evening for about an hour.
Our focus at Youth Group will be on getting to know God in scripture and how the God we meet in scripture connects to our lives at school, sports, work and family life. We’ll explore this within a positive, supportive group of young people who are curious about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit!
Not sure what in the world I just said in that last paragraph?? That’s ok! Youth Group is for you!! Come and explore with us and we’ll see what we can figure out together.
If you have not heard from Pastor Ryan, but you want to be a part of Youth Group, send him an email and introduce yourself! He's pretty new here, so he may not know your email address yet. Email Pastor Ryan at revryan@stmatthewavon.org
St. Matthew Youth Attended the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering
St. Matthew sent 5 young people and three adults to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans, LA this past July. They had a blast visiting New Orleans and seeing over 16,000 Lutheran young people learning about God, singing and dancing in praise of God’s promises!
Our young people presented on their time at the Youth Gathering on Sunday August 18, and you can read the transcript and see lots of pictures at this link.
Adult Forum
It’s like confirmation, but for people who have more experience with life.
We’re starting up Adult Forum! We’re particularly excited for the Fall as we’ll have eight (8) weeks of Adult Forum highlighting a lot of the ministry we do together here at St. Matthew.
Adult Forum meets on Sundays at about 10:20 after worship and once everyone’s got some coffee and a treat or two from the coffee hour spread. We typically meet in the Hall of the Evangelists. If you’ve never been to Adult Forum – you’re invited! Come join this group of curious adults as they engage a wide range of topics and how they intersect with our faith. It’s a pretty cool group and there are no grades (don’t tell the confirmation kids).
The schedule for Adult Forum through October is:
September 8 – Pastor Ryan will introduce Christian Education at St. Matthew (outside at our Rally Sunday celebration).
September 15- Learn about Worship and Music at St. Matthew
September 22 – Learn about Outreach Ministries and St. Matthew’s Endowment Ministries
September 29 – Hear about Healing Ministries at St. Matthew
October 6 – Learn about Fellowship Ministries
October 13 – Learn how St. Matthew’s Property is a Ministry
October 20 – Hear about St. Matthew’s Tech, Marketing and Evangelism Ministries
October 27 – Engage with St. Matthew’s Stewardship and Finance Ministries on Stewardship Sunday
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