Dear Cornerstone Family,
Today, two new six-week adult Sunday School class offerings get off the dime. Please take a moment now to read the descriptions below and make plans to explore one of these important topics.
Aging in Grace: Guidance for Engaging with our Aging (Fellowship Hall)
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green. – Psalm 92:12-14
With those words, David urges us to consider how we can be increasingly useful in old age. What would it look like to be Psalm 92 men and women? What does it take to flourish and bear fruit in old age?
But along with aging comes all sorts of new questions and challenges. How do we think about retirement? How do we navigate the years when physical and mental strength begin to fade? Who will help us then? What can we do now in preparation for those days?
In this brief six-week series we will address both the flourishing of Psalm 92 and the difficulties that often accompany this stage of life—whether they are yours or those of loved ones you will need to care for in the years to come. You will hear from a variety of presenters from our church family and a member of the faculty of the Belmont University College of Medicine. We will discuss such matters as biblical principles for finishing well, financial planning, estates and wills, palliative care, hospice care, comfort care, and a biblical theology of death and dying. This series is designed not only for senior adults but for those who are (or will be) caring for aging parents.
Holy Spirit — Forgotten God? (Chapel)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. – John 14:16-17
Every week at Cornerstone we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit, but what is it we believe about him? Scripture speaks of him as one who listens and speaks, one who teaches and who prays, one who is not merely a force but a person, one who is God equal in power and glory, one who unites the church. Yet the Holy Spirit is often either overlooked or misunderstood, leading to division and disagreement about his work in the past or in the present.
In this class, we will explore the Spirit’s work in history: in creation, in the Old Testament, and in the ministry of Jesus. We’ll examine his work in the life of Christians—the new birth, sanctification, and the gifts that he gives. Finally, we will consider what it means to live a Spirit-filled life—seeing his role in prayer, community, the sacraments, and the in-breaking of the New Creation.
Your servant,
