We're building a church this year.
I'm not talking about the house for the church we plan to build on the corner
of 112th and Quincy. I'm talking about the community of believers and life-bringers
we've been building for nearly thirteen years on the north side of Holland.
Communities don't just fall out of the sky. It takes work and tenacity to build
them. to build a house, you need to keep plugging away when you hit your thumb
with a hammer or the temperature drops when you're pouring cement or it rains
while you're roofing. You need people with certain skills to build a house,
too: engineers and architects, carpenters and plumbers and electricians, maybe
an inspector or two. You can build a house without all that, but it might not
stand up to stormy weather. The same is true for building a community of faith,
for building a family, for building a life - you need to work and you need to
build up certain skills, or your life or your faith, family or church won't
stand up to life's storms. You need to build a life in Christ.
How does that happen? It is work, but it's pretty simple:
These are not issues of salvation. Your salvation was guaranteed by the atoning
death of Jesus Christ and affirmed by your Baptism. We need to work at this
stuff to remind ourselves who's really in charge of our lives, to raise kids
who know Jesus as a person and not a history lesson, to learn how to talk about
God like he's someone we really know, to become fully human. Builders are not
born, they are made - and so are Christians. Come learn how to build with us.
What are you waiting for?
Pastor Jim
Many who heard Jesus were astonished, saying, "What mighty works are wrought by his hands! Is this not the carpenter?" Mark 6:2-3
From the Shepherd's Song Newsletter -- January 2008
Copyright 2007 by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.