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Greetings, Geneva families.  The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) conducts many studies of how American students are doing in school.  Results from the 2019 Math and Reading Assessments have been published.  There are three skill levels: Advanced, Proficient, and Basic.  “Proficient” for the NAEP means a student has “demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.”  “Basic” means a student only has partial mastery.

If you need to refresh your soul, I suggest you open your Bible and turn to one of the gospels, and listen to Christ, and watch him heal.  If you ask the Spirit to bless your reading and to quiet your anxieties, a different world will open up, the real world.

Happy New Year! The Lord’s Day (November 29th), the First Sunday of Advent, began a new liturgical year. Customarily, Advent is when we begin looking forward to our coming celebration of the remembrance of Christ’s “Advent” – or coming – into the world.  We begin looking forward to an already accomplished historical fact. It can get very complicated if you think about it too much. But I digress. 

Last week, In the second article of our series on Marxism and Black Lives Matter, Dr. Kester traced the influence of the Frankfurt School and Antonio Gramsci on 20th Century Marxism.

By Dr. David Kester, Academic Dean Last week we began a three week series about Critical Race Theory. It has rooted itself in colleges, public education, mass media, Hollywood, and politicians of both parties. It is making inroads in the church, and it is affecting your life right now, even if you are not aware

There was a worldview evening several weeks ago at Covenant Grace Church* in Roseburg. Pastor Jeff Scott showed two videos explaining what Critical Race Theory is, where it came from, and the danger it poses to our nation and within the church at large. A discussion followed. Among the teachers attending were Dr. Kester, Mr. Ritchey, and myself. We all found the information very helpful, and very alarming! We thought that our Geneva parents should also be familiar with the outlines of Critical Race Theory.

I am reaching into the eternal for this good news, but after all, it is true and lasting. The Heidelberg Catechism Question 56 asks, “What do you believe concerning ‘the forgiveness of sins?’” Consider this answer, and how it sums up some wonderful truths:

And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

“Implicit in its [the Constitution’s] structure, in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or theology or “ism,” any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single, unalterable course, or drive both majorities and minorities into the cruelties of the Inquisition, the pogrom, the gulag, or the jihad.” — Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (2006)

The parable of the sower teaches a key principle for understanding the role of “school” in a Christian community. From this parable, we see the hand-in-glove work of the cultivator, the sower, and the seed in Christ’s Kingdom. When the Spirit sows the “Word of God” into soil that is cultivated to receive it, it returns a hundred fold (Luke 8:5-15).