Just as happens every year at this time, several of our church families are taking their kids to college, some for the first time. I remember doing the same thing two years ago with our youngest child. For the third, time, we drove onto a new campus through throngs of college students lining the roadside, waving signs, and shouting “Welcome to ______! Welcome to the next four years of your life!”

After checking in and unloading the car, we toured the campus and listened to presentations designed to allay parental anxieties and assure us that our precious hatchling would be in good hands. Maybe because it was the third time for us launching a young adult, I was less anxious and more able to enjoy, reflect, and dream about what might lie ahead for our son. All around campus were banners festooned with the school’s motto, “Know Thyself.”

“Know Thyself” is an ancient Greek proverb that is inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Legend has it that seven sages of ancient Greece – philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers who laid the foundation for Western culture – gathered together in Delphi and encapsulated their wisdom into this one command. It was later popularized by many other thinkers and leaders, especially Socrates and Plato, and has become the foundation of most Western thought and culture.

At its most fundamental, life is a constant process of learning about the world and our place in it and then living accordingly. Far more than just self-indulgent navel-gazing, self-knowledge is the key to all other knowledge and understanding. It informs every choice we make, as well as our thoughts, words, and actions, not only as individuals, but as communities and nations.

As people of faith, we begin our journey of self-discovery in the very beginning of our faith story, in chapter one of the book of Gene-sis, where we learn that we were created imago dei, in the image of God. But what does that really mean? What is God’s image and how does it affect how we understand ourselves and our purpose in the world?

This fall, we are inviting everyone on a journey of self-discovery – not only as individuals, but as a church. Through our worship and faith formation, mission and service, how do we continue to grow in our knowledge and understanding of who we have been created and called to be as God’s beloved children, disciples of Jesus Christ, and a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit?

Some of the ways you are invited to join us:

Worship with us as we lift up our prayers and praise to our Source and Strength, and we are nurtured and inspired to reflect God’s love and faithfulness in the world around us.
Participate in the CAT Survey. This Congregational Assessment Tool will give us a more accurate snapshot of who we are as a faith community so that we can live into God’s vision for FPCY with intention and courage. (see next page for more details)
Join a Faith Formation class or discussion group. Our Wednesday Bible studies will be delving into the Book of Genesis using Dr. Amy-Jill Levine’s new book Genesis: A Beginner’s Guide to the Beginning. On Sunday evenings, we will be traveling The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey of Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile.

Let’s ground ourselves in the good news of who God has created and calls us to be, so that we can live faithful lives and share this same good news with our community and world.