March 1, 2018
“Peace – Harmony – Vitality”
Take a moment to reflect upon these three words…Peace–Harmony–Vitality. Would you like to be part of a congregation that is best described as living in/with: Peace: a family of God that lives in the true meaning of Shalom. Shalom is more than the absence of conflict (conflict will always be present), it means living a healthy, prosperous and joy-filled life. Harmony: we would be hard-pressed to find a group where everyone sings the same tune, but a group that sings in different voicings, in the same key, brings a richness to music and life. Vitality: a real, living, driving, powerful force that brings positive energy into people’s lives. Could this be a vision for life at Faith Lutheran? Is this God’s vision for us? Last Sunday I talked about Jesus telling us to “get behind” him. Peter’s idea of ministry was the easy and glorious way. Jesus’ vision for ministry was a cross. Peter rebuked Jesus when he talked about the cross. Jesus rebuked Peter when he wanted to take the easy way. Who do you think knows best about a vision for our future? Do you still want to take the easy way out?
I hereby challenge every member of Faith Lutheran to do the work that needs to be done in order for God’s purpose to be fulfilled here. The first thing we need to do is to learn about ourselves…and that won’t be easy or pain-less work. Jesus loves us the way we are, Jesus even loves us as we carry our history with us like painful baggage. Jesus wants us to unload our baggage so we can move forward in peace, harmony and vitality. To quote Rob Bell: “Jesus loves us just the way we are, yet loves us way too much to let us stay this way.”
We will soon be offering some Jesus Happy Hour Parties so that we can review the results of the survey, look at how congregations get stuck in anxious ruts, and make plans to move forward. Get a group of your friends together and I will show up to help walk you through the process.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Mike
“Peace – Harmony – Vitality”
Take a moment to reflect upon these three words…Peace–Harmony–Vitality. Would you like to be part of a congregation that is best described as living in/with: Peace: a family of God that lives in the true meaning of Shalom. Shalom is more than the absence of conflict (conflict will always be present), it means living a healthy, prosperous and joy-filled life. Harmony: we would be hard-pressed to find a group where everyone sings the same tune, but a group that sings in different voicings, in the same key, brings a richness to music and life. Vitality: a real, living, driving, powerful force that brings positive energy into people’s lives. Could this be a vision for life at Faith Lutheran? Is this God’s vision for us? Last Sunday I talked about Jesus telling us to “get behind” him. Peter’s idea of ministry was the easy and glorious way. Jesus’ vision for ministry was a cross. Peter rebuked Jesus when he talked about the cross. Jesus rebuked Peter when he wanted to take the easy way. Who do you think knows best about a vision for our future? Do you still want to take the easy way out?
I hereby challenge every member of Faith Lutheran to do the work that needs to be done in order for God’s purpose to be fulfilled here. The first thing we need to do is to learn about ourselves…and that won’t be easy or pain-less work. Jesus loves us the way we are, Jesus even loves us as we carry our history with us like painful baggage. Jesus wants us to unload our baggage so we can move forward in peace, harmony and vitality. To quote Rob Bell: “Jesus loves us just the way we are, yet loves us way too much to let us stay this way.”
We will soon be offering some Jesus Happy Hour Parties so that we can review the results of the survey, look at how congregations get stuck in anxious ruts, and make plans to move forward. Get a group of your friends together and I will show up to help walk you through the process.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Mike