Building Blocks

We're getting there.

We're not quite ready to start driving nails into walls to hang stuff, but we're closing in on how to decide what we can hang on those walls. I'm amazed at how hard it is to make decisions like that: about simple things, like where to put a clock in the commons; or more complicated things, like where to seat 130 people for the Consecration Sunday Celebration dinner; or really complicated things, like who can use the facility.

In a family family, it can be tough to decide where to put the silverware in a new home - but if that drawer doesn't work, you just move it to another drawer. In a church family it's even tougher - because once stuff gets put in a drawer or hung on a wall, there's a tendency to keep it there forever, or at least till Jesus comes back. Decisions build on decisions, just like the walls of a house are built on a foundation; and if that foundation isn't level or that first decision isn't sound, everything you build on it is a little out of plumb, too.

Whether you're building a house or building a family or building a church, you need to take your time, think things through, be sure you're building on sure footings, on a solid foundation. At Good Shepherd, that foundation is the grace of God in Christ Jesus. So we work at setting boundaries that convey Christ, boundaries that assert God's unconditional love, boundaries that pull people in, not cut people off. When we make a decision, the question we need to ask ourselves is this: is it good for me, or is it good for us?

Which all goes to say we're not done with moving, that some things never get nailed down. We pull out dividers in the commons at 8:45 Sunday morning for Sunday School, and take them down at 9:45 to make room for fellowship after worship. We set up chairs in the sanctuary for worship, and stack them up after the service to make room for extra tables and chairs. The one decision we have nailed down is the decision to share our lives with God. We make room in this house for each other, to practice making room in our lives for God. It's a tough way to make decisions; it's the only way to do church.

Pastor Jim

For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24

From the Shepherd's Song Newsletter -- November 2009
Copyright 2009 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 good.shep-holland@sbcglobalnet.