Friday Focus

Vol 6 No 14
February 8, 2008

Dear Families and Friends,

Plan now to bring a friend with you.

Bring a Friend!

Our Winter Open House is planned for Thursday evening, February 21, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Although our Open House is designed for new families to our school, some of our students and their families will be involved in our Open House that evening. Some families will be part of our panel discussion that evening. Our junior high students will serve as tour guides and hospitality coordinators for that evening.

We will begin in the Performing Arts room with a presentation and panel discussion, followed by a time for families to visit in classrooms and talk with teachers.

This week 6000 invitations to our Open House have been delivered to the houses closest to our school. Families from all the Adventist churches in our area are being invited. In addition, another 4000 invitations have been sent to preschools and child care centers in San Francisco.

Let me share one way you can help: Bring a friend! Bring a new family with you to the Open House on February 21. You may know of a family in your church that may be thinking about enrolling their child(ren) in our school. You may have a coworker that isn’t too happy with the school their child(ren) are currently attending. You may have a good friend who’s child(ren) may benefit from all the great things we have to offer at San Francisco Adventist School. Or you may have a neighbor who’s extremely disappointed they didn’t get into the public school of their choice.

Use the information on the attached flyer to share with them all that SFAS has to offer. Share with them your positive experiences with our school. Tell them the outstanding opportunities your child(ren) have to excel at SFAS. Then invite them to come with you to our Open House.

Here’s the great news—if the family you bring chooses to enroll their child at SFAS, that will give your child more friends to work with in class next year. In addition, if the family you bring with you to the Open House enrolls their child in school next fall, we will credit your account with a $100 “thank you” gift.

So, this weekend, go out and tell a friend and then bring a friend to our Open House on February 21!

Directions to SFAS....

Sincerely,
Rob Robinson

Robert J. Robinson, Principal
Teacher, Kindergarten/1st Grade
San Francisco Adventist School

God’s Good Creation

We tend to forget that Christianity was formed in the womb of Judaism. Born into first-century Hebrew culture. Received and interpreted to us by apostles and evangelists who knew Jesus in the context of his Jewishness. Yet most of us know the Christian faith as it has been passed through the vocabulary, culture, and mindset of Greco-Roman culture. So what?

One of the major "so-whats" is the difference the two mindsets take toward material things. The human body in particular. And pleasure.

Greek religion and philosophy separate material and spiritual, body and soul in a way foreign to Judaism. Hebrew thought sees persons as "living souls" in their totality. The invisible, spiritual part of a person is not trapped in a body (i.e., the Greek idea) but is made real and functional by means of it. Thus the goal is not to escape or to chastise the body but to direct its energy God-ward.

Pleasure is not wicked. Laughter is God's gift! But that is hardly the notion most non-Christians reflect back to believers. They see us as a pretty joyless crowd. Rather prune-faced. And more inclined to scowl than to laugh.

We seem to have worked hard to create that unhealthy – and, I might add, uninviting – image. Our "saints" tend to be dour rather than smiling. They look austere rather than lovable. They often appear rigid and forbidding rather than humane and merciful. What a pity!

Jesus went to parties. He enjoyed life so much that his critics tried to make him out to be a drunk and a glutton. He had friends. Enjoyed being with people. And made people feel comfortable around him. I have no problem whatever in seeing him raise a glass to say, "L'chaim." To life!

A long list of negatives is a poor way to define the gospel. The very idea of "redemption" is less about going to heaven when we die as it is making life here something positive and holy. Paul says Jesus "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). Peter reminds Christians "that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you" (1 Peter 1:18).

Steak, golf, sunsets, music, sex, money – not one is unholy. All are given by God to meet human needs. Directed toward him, each is both a celebration of his goodness and a participation in his fullness. Divorced from him, both pleasure and pain become vulgar. Not the act but its God-ward direction makes it holy.

In a world of wrinkled brows and wringing hands, one has to wonder if the rediscovery of godly joy might be our best advertisement for the faith we profess.