August 22, 2021 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON M 51 S We welcome you to our worship services this morning. We hope that you will be encouraged and uplifted by our time together. We have no creed or set of rules to force on you. We simply rely on the Bible to tell us what to do and try to copy what we read the church in the first century did. We meet here every Sunday, but we also have Zoom available for those who are interested. Just ask and we will include you in our Zoom services. Call Karl Marcussen at 574-514-1400 for information.

FAMILY NEWS

LADIES: We have announced a “Ladies Day” program at the Church of Christ in Goshen on September 18 with Alma Jones, a well known speaker. If you would like to go, let Patty Gibson or John Clayton know and we will arrange transportation. Lunch is provided and the program is always good. We need to register the number that are going by Sept. 7, so let us know.

ZOOM IS STILL AVAILABLE. With the new surge in COVID we know that there are some new risks. We are maintaining Zoom, and while the system does not always work perfectly, you can participate in worship if you are unable or unwilling to be at the building due to COVID. If you are on Zoom and lose signal, just reboot and you will be able to get back on (at least most of the time). If you choose to come to the building, especially if you are not vaccinated, please wear a mask.

SUNDAY NIGHT SERVICE: We have had several people ask about when we are going to resume a Sunday evening class. We have held off on this because of COVID. We are starting a class on how we know what the Bible says is from God and is true, and we have a DVD series, “Beyond Reasonable Doubt,” available from the Does God Exist? ministry on this subject. We will start this series on Sunday evening, Sept. 12, at 6:00 P.M.

TODAY'S LESSON

DEATH
John Clayton

THE BACK PAGE

DEATH

It is interesting to see how different people react to the subject of death. My first experience with death was not until I was a teenager and was dating the girl who would eventually become my wife. Her mother took us to a visitation of the father of one of my classmates in high school. I did not know the man and I was not prepared to see a dead person or how to deal with my classmate's loss. My parents were atheists, and their approach to death was to avoid it. We did not talk about it, did not attend funerals, and my mother was furious that I had been taken to a visitation for someone who had died. For the atheist, death was something you did not talk about or even acknowledge. When my father's mother died, I was not told about it and in fact, to this day I do not know when she died or where she was buried.

My girl friend who later became my wife had a totally different approach to death. Her father died when she was five. She went to every funeral of every relative as well as neighbors and classmates. When we married I was introduced to a whole different concept of life and death. In southern Indiana the death of a family member was a time of reunion. There was very little remorse, but lots of stories and laughter about the history of the person that had just passed on. The only negative was the feeling of sorrow for the persons left behind.

Our society has changed. Part of that change has been because we have not been taught, and death has become the ultimate tragedy as people who have no faith in God struggle with their personal loss. Children today see death trivialized in video games and movies, and losing a family member is mediated by a secular or institutional substitute for family.

I hope today's lesson is one of education, growth, encouragement, and motivation. Spend some time with the scriptures in this lesson and read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, then rejoice in being informed of the beauty of death.

— John Clayton

Our sign by the street!

Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website.

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10/25/2021