Grace Notes 2024-04-24

Dreams and visions for a hoped-for future offer a lot of excitement. When we start to try to enact the same it can be a little overwhelming. And recently there has been conversation and exploration in our congregation of being a part of a new Lutheran School start. We are also discussing whether it is time for our congregation to purchase property and situate ourselves in a better location for congregational growth.

All this is good. At the same time, we do well to realize that our dreams and aspirations, however noble, are not necessarily one and the same with how God would direct us, or what He inevitably has in mind for our congregation and its participation in His mission to rescue and redeem a lost world.

It is a good time for us to be in prayer as a congregation concerning our future. And may I suggest a few priorities for our petitions. Leading the list has to do with the mission of our congregation. The parameters of that mission have already been established by God’s Word. It involves witnessing to Christ, proclaiming and teaching His Gospel, administering the sacraments, and loving and caring for people. But where we identify our placement in the mission field matters! God’s mission is to the world, our participation is in a specific location. Given our gifts, what are the particular ways we can love and care for the people in our mission field.

Next on the list would involve discernment. Does our current location serve the mission well, or does it hinder the effort.

Last on the list concerns our commitment and resolve. We need courage, dedication, stamina, generosity, and good judgment. Change brings stress! Although it is God’s mission, God works in and through willing and faithful servants. The right priorities need to be in order in our lives.

Moving forward requires prayer, both corporately and individually. That comes first! Then comes the conversation and discernment of our community of faith. Please be in prayer!

Since You Asked…

Why is the Triune Name of God repeated so frequently in our worship services? 

The mystery of the Trinity is one of the most distinctive elements of our Christian Tradition. Christianity is not alone in claiming to be monotheistic (belief in one Supreme Being, one god). But Christianity holds that this One, True God has revealed himself to us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches that God the Father has revealed himself through God the Son and in God the Spirit. Only the Son can be seen, and only through the Spirit are we enabled to believe in the Father and the Son. And so we often invoke the name of the Triune God in the mystery of our faith.