Lessons.

This morning I will 'teach' my first Sunday School class ever.  I'm not so sure that I should really use the word teach as I've not attended Sunday School as an adult.  But the regular teacher is on vacation and I offered to do this for him.  Despite having pretty specific guidelines for teaching this class and despite knowing that there will be folks there that will help, I have been quite nervous about this. That is until I sat down and saw the lesson for the week: Restorative Justice.  A few lines sum it up: "It seems that there are a lot of good excuses for not taking action to correct wrongs. Doing so can be costly in time, energy, and money, it can lead to misunderstanding and conflict.  The trouble is that ignoring the problem will not make it go away. Instead, over time, it gets worse." Adult Teacher's Guide, Studies in the Old Testament by David C. Cook.v. 113, 4.

Given what has been going on the past several months at my alma mater, this is very appropriate. I'm heartsick about all that has happened, mostly heartsick for the victims and I pray every day that they will be able to start healing.  I also pray that as a community we can start moving forward and making the world a better place instead of this incessant looking back which does no good.  We can't change the past, we can only affect the future.

It makes me remember something that my parents taught me a long, long time ago:
  Do the right thing.  Every time. No exceptions.