Peace and Blessings to you, Beloved Church.

One of the parts of our Lutheran branch of the Church that I appreciate most is the focus on scholarship and social growth. Through study and sharing with one another, we better understand God, our faith, and how Christ’s reconciling work is unfolding in our lives and world. This summer, I will be leading a book study that will cover three contemporary works that I hope are helpful for our understanding of God’s work amidst humanity. I invite you to reserve them at the library, or order copies for yourself as you are able, and begin reading with me. I’ll host three online Zoom reflection sessions through the Summer (one for each book, dates TBA in June, July, and August), and I hope you can join for all three. 

READING LIST: 

• Take This Bread by Sara Miles (Ballantine Books) 
• The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby (Zondervan) 
• Dear Church by Lenny Duncan (Fortress Press) 

Summer Book Series: Pastor Paul will lead discussion for "Dear Church" by Lenny Duncan on Wednesday August 25 at 7pm. Further details for participation will be available via the Messiah Missive in mid-August. 

- Pastor Paul

 Messiah’s Mission Prayer 

“Gracious God, through belief in Christ and through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, empower us to share the word; care and support each other and God's community; worship as a family in Christ; and be Christ-like examples to those whose lives we touch. Amen.” 

Every week in worship, we together offer Messiah’s Mission Prayer as we prepare to be sent from our Sunday gathering into the week ahead. Over the next few months, I’d like to take a closer look at it together here in my Grace Note column, as we continue to live in response to God’s grace and love. Might we then begin at the beginning? 

“Gracious God, through belief in Christ and through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, empower us to share the word.” The prayer opens with a name for God: God the gracious one. I tend to connect that term “gracious” with other actions like “mercy,” “forgiveness,” and “care.” These are foundational actions of God and are at the root of the Gospel we hear so often! And to that grace we respond, both with belief and trust in Christ’s love for the world, and with the promise of the Holy Spirit that has been stirred up in our lives through baptism. These roots allow the branches of Christ, the Word, to grow in and through us, that we might be empowered to share Christ’s love and presence in the world. 

What might it mean for you to be empowered to share the Word in this high summer month of August? Is there a way to pass along grace and mercy and love to someone who needs it? May this be our action and contemplation in the weeks to come. 

Pastor Paul