Madison Ave. Church of The Brethren

The Lamplighter

August 2007

Editor:  Lillian Geltz

From the Pastor’s Desk
In January of this year (2007), a school bus crash in Kentucky sent 12 year-old Cody Shively to the hospital with serious injuries. He was on a breathing tube for four weeks and in an induced coma for several weeks because of swelling in his brain. Finally, in late April, he was released from the hospital. A crowd of TV cameras and television reporters was waiting for him to come out of the hospital. They wanted him to say something. The very first thing he said was, “I can’t wait to get back to my Church!”
            Wow! How would things be if we all felt like Cody? In our entertainment and pleasure-oriented culture of excess and materialism, Church – that is to say Worship, faith, and study – is slipping further and further down the list of things to do. The disciplines of a life of faith and worship seem too much of a bother for those whose only desire is for more self-gratification. We simply don’t have time for “Church” or worship or reading the Bible or spending time alone with God continue reading…