Do you know God?

"My name is growing all the time, and I've lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story." goes a quote from JRR Tolkien that our pastor referenced in last Sunday's sermon. He was talking about God and his name YHWH and how he revealed himself to be YHWH to Moses. It got me thinking about all the other names for God used in the Bible and how he reveals them progressively to his people. He doesn't give us a list from the first pages of Genesis of all his names. Instead, he reveals who he is through his names and what they mean and in varied circumstances.

So, the first name for God in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim, the Creator. This already reveals so much about who he is. He was in the beginning. He  created. Before he created, there was nothing. But the beautiful thing is that throughout the pages of Scripture, he continues to reveal who he is. And as he does so, he also gets progressively closer to man. It is no accident that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the awesome all-powerful creator, but he is also with us. Us.

But, even though he chose to reveal who he is slowly, he has always been all of his qualities. He doesn't change. It's our understanding of him that changes. And that brings me to my second point. This whole process of revelation over thousands of years of history, is a beautiful picture of how our understanding of God grows and deepens as we get to know him better. All of his names have already been revealed and he is not (and has never) changed. But, we come to deeper and deeper understanding of who he is by studying his word and through our lived experience of who he is.

So, who is God to you? Do you believe in a creator, but that's all that you know God to be? Did you know that he is El Roi, the God who sees? Did you know he was first called that by a woman? If you don't know God as seeing and hearing and deeply caring about who you are, then you are missing out. Did you know he is healer, and almighty and a shepherd and a saviour and all kinds of other wonderful things? If you don't, I suggest you pick up a Bible and start studying it for yourself. God has revealed himself in its pages because he wants you to know him. He wants a relationship with you. How incredible.

classroom Valentine's

Special days at school are always fun, but kind of a nightmare. They're exhausting. The kids are excited, often filled to the brim with sugar and not too interested in learning. So, I tricked them. We did lots of learning, but they thought we were just having fun.

We continued with our picture book madness contest, which they love. The Couch Potato lost out to Dragons Love Tacos. We continued talking about forces in science, but we learned a new one: the air. So, of course we had to make paper airplanes to test out how the air can work for or against you and how to design a plane that can fly the farthest.

Writing spelling sentences can be a little boring, so lately I have made it into a contest where I read out my favourite sentences. They love that and it's making their sentences so much more interesting. I had to read out quite a few today because there were so many good ones.

There have been some issues with boys playing too rough and tackling each other. So, I showed a video about football players and why they wear helmets. It was a science video that explained what happens to your brain when your head is bumped and how they discovered the need for helmets in football. Then I asked them: any of you wear a helmet to school? students: no. Me: ok, then NO TACKLING. I sure hope the message got through.

During centre time, two students got "married" with the gawdy rings that had been in their Valentine bags. Five minutes later, the (7 yr old) bride told me they were divorced because he cheated on her. Oh my gosh, never a dull moment!!

The picture is of the best Valentine I got today. Happy Valentine's Day!

rest

My word of the year for 2024 is rest, but not as in laziness and sleep. Rest as in Psalm 116:7, "return to your rest my soul, for the Lord has been good to you". God has been faithful and oh so good to me. I can rest that He is in control and that He will continue to be good and faithful.

The word used for rest in that Bible verse is also connected to quietness. I love that. Pastor Jon suggested trying a new spiritual discipline this year, so in light of rest, I am also going to try more quiet. This means less social media, less listening to those who just add noise, but nothing of value to my life. Less speaking and more listening.