As we prepare to meet together for a congregational forum, I would like to lay out some key observations as they pertain to the direction and ethos of our life together as the Lutheran Church of Our Savior.
All of us have unique upbringings, personalities, likes and dislikes, and experiences. All of this variety can quickly lead to a huge array of opinions and feeling concerning even the most minor subject. But as we prepare to meet, I encourage you to take a long look at this warning from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
At the end of the day everything we do, and say, and are, relies on this one central truth: the Love of God is our sole reliance. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul clearly lays out all the things that are meaningless unless the underlying motivation is love. Not the love the world speaks of, but the love that caused Jesus to carry the cross. The love that prayed for the forgiveness of the soldiers as they literally nailed him to the wood. This kind of love can only be found from God. This kind of love is found only in Christian community. As Paul puts it:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
My prayer is that we would be call into this love by Our Savior whose name we bear individually as Christians and collectively as a congregation.
To this end we must continually come back to the mission statement of LCOS:
“Responding to God’s love, Lutheran Church of Our Savior desires to reach more people for Christ by proclaiming Him, by growing in faith, and by caring for all people.”
It is often easier to place this kind of statement on a wall or coffee mug than to try and live it out. Yet everything we do should be oriented around this loving commitment to share the Gospel.
To help you prepare for our meeting I want to break our mission statement into a few smaller chucks. Each piece of the statement will be accompanied with some questions for your contemplation. Use these question as a way to prepare your heart and mind for our meeting. To the end that the Love of Christ may predominate in all we do and say.
“Responding to God’s love”
- How does your involvement at LCOS flow from a response to God’s love for you?
- In what ways do you or have you expressed God’s love to someone else at LCOS?
- In what ways have you received God’s love at LCOS?
“Lutheran Church of Our Savior desires to reach more people for Christ”
- Who are the “more people” in your life? Where do you come in contact with them?
- How are you involved with helping LCOS reach out to those who do not know Christ?
“by proclaiming Him,”
- Corporate worship is a key place Christ is proclaimed. How are you involved during worship?
- Where else does Christ need proclaiming in your life and the lives of those around you?
“by growing in faith,”
- How are you growing in your faith?
- How does this growth overflow into reaching more people for Christ?
“and by caring for all people.”
- How have you helped LCOS care for all people?
- How have you been cared for by LCOS brothers and sisters?
Finally I leave you with the wise advise of John Chrysostom: “When you take refuge in a Church, do not seek shelter merely in the place but in the spirit of the place. For the Church is not wall and roof but faith and life.” - John Chrysostom (Referencing 1 Corinthians 3:16–17)
May your time of preparation be fruitful, and our time of meeting an embodiment of Christ’s love.