Finally, there is no substitute for the good hard work demanded in a classroom setting. The Church deserves the best to be her pastors-men who listen to the questions that are being asked, who are sensitive to the challenges and needs of their people, and then continue to learn theology in order to proclaim the truth of God's Word afresh to each new context in which they serve. Here is to be enjoyed a sweet and blessed fellowship with all that ennobles character and life. The best of thoughts of the wisest and best men are the environment of the study, in the books that line the walls . . . Men who are to move their fellow men must often be alone.
Meditation precedes effective activity . . .
Even Jesus of Nazareth, who had no where to lay his head, converted the hillsides into a study after sleep had fallen upon the world. Whatever else you neglect, do not neglect the opportunities of communion in the study. If they are improved, you will come from them with a radiance upon your countenance, which will convince men that you have been with God. M. Booth Rev. Peter Lange is the associate pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Concordia, Missouri. He is a 1988 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and is the Project Andrew mentor for Missouri and Kansas.