Grace Notes 2023-03-22

Wednesday, March 22nd 2023

When it comes to sharing the Christian Faith with others, I shared last week the importance of having a friendship with Christ. Baptism brings us into relationship with our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus, the Son of God. When we share Jesus with others it needs to be more than sharing information. We are introducing someone to our Lord. We are sharing that friendship to a Person with others. We are introducing others to a Person we dearly love.

It cannot be overemphasized that any friendship we have with God is something that He initiates, that He establishes, and that He provides all that is necessary for the relationship to be cultivated. The relationship does require cultivation! God provides what is necessary, but we need to take advantage of and participate in what He provides.

The nurturing of this intimate relationship takes place through the Church. Remember, we don’t ‘go to Church’ but joined to Christ we are the Church, members of the Body of Christ. So, the Church isn’t only who we are when we gather regularly for the Divine Service, but it is also who we are when we leave our gatherings and go about our vocations in the world.

When we assemble as the Church for the Divine Ser- vice we are provided richly with Word and Sacrament, specifically with the words of forgiveness (absolution), the preaching of the Gospel, the Sacrament of the Altar (Communion), and the Prayers of the Church. We also receive encouragement from other members of Christ’s Body.

As we exit from the Assembly, as the Church we walk into the world of our daily ministry (service) in our many vocations, in the home, in the neighborhood, in our places of work and leisure, in civic responsibilities, and basically wherever we go and whatever we do. We walk with God as we meditate on His Word and speak with Him in prayer.

Friends, in order to talk to the talk, we need to walk the walk

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