The Lord’s Day
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| In 1897, a pioneer woman brings her family to church in a misty mountain cove. Travel in a mule-drawn buckboard over a rutted, muddy road has left her weary from the journey. But now, as strains of a familiar hymn reach he
The pioneer woman’s children will eventually return and build a home in that green cove. The place that will be known as Montreat is where her grandchildren will spend summers playing in icy streams. In time, her great-grandchildren will not only vacation there, they will participate regularly in summer programs and youth conferences. Their experiences in a place that is both community and religious retreat will nurture them. This woman’s story, like so many stories of Montreat, becomes a familiar tapestry of generations in which Christian education is woven into lives on cottage front porches as surely as it is learned in conference workshops or from the pulpit. At Montreat, Christian education is both Scripture learned and Scripture lived out. “These are the faces of Montreat’s future,” begins a recent conference center brochure featuring a rough sketch of children at play. The text continues, “These are the children who will one day become the church visionaries, the educators, the pastors and preachers, the artists and authors, the caregivers and peacemakers first nurtured here in this place of retreat, renewal, and spiritual wonder.” Today, we at Montreat are reminded that God working in us makes teachers of us all, generation upon generation, age to age. —Kim Hayes, director of marketing, Montreat Conference Center |
 Prov. 22:1–2, 8–9, 22–23 The Church of Christ in Every Age PH 421 The Light of God Is Falling HB 482 Ps. 125 PPCS 129 James 2:1–10 (11–13), 14–17 Help Us Accept Each Other PH 358 In Christ There Is No East or West PH 439, PH 440, HB 479 Mark 7:24–37 How Great Thou Art PH 467 Father, Whose Will Is Life and Good HB 309 |
 Thank you, gracious Lord, for the gift of your story, as it unfolds through your people from age to age. As you nurture us, show us, we pray, how you would have us nurture others. As you teach us, dear God, we ask you to guide us in being teachers ourselves. We pray this in the name of our most beloved teacher, your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. |
