Well, the word is out! Neffsville Mennonite Church is full of sages that belong to some mysterious club. What is a Sage Club, some of you have asked? A sage is, according to the dictionary, somebody who is regarded as knowledgeable, wise, and experienced, especially a person of advanced years revered for his wisdom and good judgment. We are blessed as a church to have many sages in our midst. In fact, we have almost 140 of them! So, we at Neffsville Mennonite Church have an invaluable resource because according to Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.” Pretty soon, all of us will be brimming with wisdom. In many cultures such as Africa and even Italy, the sages are still honored and revered today. I think that it is very different from the culture we have in America and that is why I feel we need to reeducate our congregation as well as the sages. We need to remind ourselves of the wisdom that is gained through many years of walking with God. Sages, or wise persons, are referred to frequently in the Bible. Often you read about the kings calling on the sages when a very important decision was to be made. In fact, sages were a very important part of spiritual leadership in Biblical

times; they were responsible for writing the majority of the wisdom literature in the Bible, such as Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes. Did you ever wonder why Elizabeth and Zachariah needed to be so old before they finally had their first child? I think it is because God knew that John the Baptist needed to be raised by sages so that he would be prepared for the important ministry God had prepared for him. Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.” I think that is how John became so wise so early in his life! The Sage club does a lot of fun things together. We have had game nights with the youth groups, heard many interesting persons tell about how God is using them in their second season of life, and took an Amish wedding tour together. We even had a mini health retreat where we had free chair massages and did some fun exercises with the people from the Silver Sneakers Exercise Program. We hope that you will join us! 

-Pastor Beth Jarrett