This fall has seen a flurry of activity at Messiah: new audio-visual assets installed in the sanctuary; a very successful and well attended effort during God’s Work – Our Hands Day; a growing craft fair and pet blessing; wonderful and numerous contacts made at the county’s community fellowship festival; and of course an attention getting but very helpful effort by Kevin Hendrickson and our Virginia Synod team at Over the Edge for Special Olympics. I could make a longer list if I cared to do so. In short though, it has been a busy but productive time, and it couldn’t have happened without your support. I give thanks to you and our God for all the mighty things that God has accomplished through our small church family and its shared ministry.
As we continue into November, things will seem only to get busier. I would encourage all of us (me included) to not get lost in the hustle and bustle. Turn toward God and his church instead. Remember we were created to be human beings, not human doers. God reminds us, “Be still and no that I am God” (Palm 46:10). Let’s take time to reconnect with friends and family, as well as our family of faith. Let’s take time to be together and to rejoice in the love that we share. If you have been away, we invite you to come back and join our celebrations. Let’s give thanks together.
The truth remains, we need one another, and the world needs our witness. As Jesus reminds us, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there” (Matthew 18:19-20). Yet also we are told that we proclaim the risen Christ through our gatherings, service and celebrations. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Jesus needs to be invited into our lives and thus made manifest in the world. Do you already sense his presence, or is he perhaps inviting you to seek him out? Either way, we’ll find our place at his table when we live as church together.
I pray that the holiday season ahead serves to bless you to be a blessing to your family, your congregation, and the world. Come, taste and see that the Lord is good; his love endures forever. His love is at work in you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pastor Lou
This post was originally published in Messiah Lutheran Church and School’s newsletter, The Messenger (November 2014).
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Matthew 9:37)
It is harvest time again! After a milder summer with a good amount of rain, I see many gardens overflowing. Nearly a ton of fresh vegetables have been harvested in All Souls’ community garden alone to feed our hungry neighbors. More is likely to be harvested throughout September. We are blessed to share in that effort as well as that of our community food pantry, MCEF.
Yet, we have neighbors who hunger for much more than food. In the upcoming months, we’ll need to feed the souls of those participating in worship, as well as others longing for the word of God through our Christian formation programs and witness. We’ll be asked to help Hanover Habitat in its mission to provide affordable, quality homes to our neighbors. We’ll seek to help the local Gideon’s comfort and enrich travelers, military members and others by providing Bibles. We’ll be feeding the intellect, heads, hearts and stomachs of our preschool and after school students. We’ll be actively preparing our house of faith to better welcome those with physical and intellectual disabilities. At times, we’ll be visiting the sick, suffering and dying. At other times, we’ll celebrate God’s creation through arts and crafts as well as our pets. At all times, we’ll continue to walk with our homeless brothers and sisters – especially those in our congregation – toward greater stability and renewal. This is just a short list of the harvest our shared ministry yields all year long. As busy as it may get, we are asked by Jesus to love one another, so we’ll plan to have some fun together too.
I once saw a sign that said, “Church is a verb.” As a past English major, I can’t strictly agree with that, but I do agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment. We are the church. We were created to be living, growing beings who share a living, growing faith in active community. We are God’s hands and feet, and our faces shine upon others with the love of God.
If you have been away, distracted, or just plain unavailable, think about returning once again to the mission field with us. We invite you to worship, bible study, prayer and service, but I think you’ll find it filled with fellowship and fun. Your life will be enriched along with the lives of others. It is as scripture tells us, “Faith without works is dead.” Instead, Jesus’ desires to offer us an abundant life; one so full of love that it overflows to bless the lives of others. Even our most humble attempts to share faith, hope and love will even be used to usher in the kingdom of God.
Trust that our labor together will not be in vain, for it is God who sends us. Why not come, taste and see? Why not have your vision and sense of family and purpose renewed? Welcome back to another year at Messiah Lutheran! Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Learn about upcoming events and more at mlcas.org or our news pages. (Be sure to check out the “more news” tab for hot off the press information.)
Originally submitted for Messiah Lutheran’s newsletter, The Messenger (September 2014).
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation. This post was first published in The Messenger, the newsletter of Messiah Lutheran Church (June 2014).
Thanks to all those who helped Messiah Lutheran Church and School celebrate our 45th anniversary. I created the above video to present during our worship service to help us reflect on our past, present and future together. It includes many (but not all) of our partners in ministry. For a small church, you’ll see once again that we have a long and loving reach! It is not by accident a Thrivent loan representative remarked that we do more than many congregations ten times our size.
At Messiah Lutheran, we live out many signs of discipleship: feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and those at risk, meeting the marginalized and loving them as they are. Our financial stewardship has increased each year (faster than our growing membership), and our volunteering and lay leadership at our congregation and in the community has increased even more so. We have many new partners and now friends in ministry that help us reach beyond Hanover County to the world. Firmly Lutheran, we open our hearts to work with other Christians as part of one universal church, the family of God.
Yet we aren’t just busy bodies. Our activities, programs, wealth, size or location don’t make us who we are. In fact, we sometimes “lack” in those areas by standards of the world. No, we seek to act in response to our greatest gifts from God – hope, faith and love – and that makes all the difference. It defines us, shapes us and is the source of our ultimate significance. It is what makes so many notice our small little church in Mechanicsville as something “different.”
Over six years ago, the love I saw you have for one another attracted me to say yes to the offer of a call as your pastor. It is your love, a reflection of Christ’s own, that inspires me still. It is what amazes so many I meet, and I see it changing the world a relationship at a time. God’s doing something here. Christ is being made known.
Sure we aren’t perfect, and we can always do better. A small church that seriously struggles at times, we have Jesus and we have each other. That’s more than enough, and so we keep on discipling…together…no matter what.
As my friend from the Congo wrote, “Glory be to God for his faithfulness, happy celebration to everyone at the Messiah Lutheran Church and School.” Indeed, it is God’s faithfulness that invited us to be church together and made our celebration possible. Thanks for letting me walk with you. It is my honor, privilege and joy.
Pastor Lou Christ the King Sunday November 24, 2013
(I hope you enjoy the video. Please feel free to share this video with your family and friends.)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
How can we properly give thanks to God? According to Paul’s letter to the community of faith in Thessalonica (Thessaloníki), it isn’t just by our words alone. As his letter comes to a close, Paul reminds the local congregation that Jesus is coming. We don’t know when, but we are asked to be prepared to welcome him. We are to remain sober, “putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet,” and all the while trusting that he will remain true to all his promises.
In other words, yes, we will share in Christ’s ultimate victory through faith, but we aren’t to be lazy while we wait for it. Our salvation isn’t just about our needs and our feelings. We are part of a much bigger, cosmic battle and purpose where we are to live – and yes, in some ways die – for one another: “encourage one another and build each other up”; “acknowledge those who work hard among you,” loving them and respecting their call to leadership; “warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” It might require putting our needs behind the needs of others. We might need to forgive someone who hurt us or be gentle in our reproach. Ultimately, we are to humbly love and serve one another and all those entrusted to our care. That can be hard!
Yet actively discerning our call from Christ, we are empowered to go forward in confidence. Victory is assured. We respond in thanksgiving by seeking to follow his Holy Spirit wherever it leads, no matter the risk or cost. Our Christian lives prove to be a great and noble effort based solely upon the love of our God and never our own legacy. We give thanks by being more than “country club” church members. We are to live actively as Christ’s disciples and saints, for by grace through faith that is exactly who we are.
So, yes I give thanks in prayer for all that we have shared and accomplished these past five years together at Messiah. I give thanks for our wonderful shared legacy of forty-five years serving Mechanicsville, Hanover County, and beyond. I remain thankful for all the saints in my own time and before who continue to inspire me. Yet most of all, I rejoice with you in our call to shared life and ministry; one that might prove hard at times but always consists of a future full of hope. It is together as church where we find the abundant life that Jesus promised us, and I am grateful for living as church with you.
This life of discipleship is Christ’s way, leading us and all the saints to the eternal feast of thanksgiving yet to come. To help celebrate, I invite all of us to reflect upon how we can live out Messiah’s mission more fully, “To share the good news of Jesus Christ and to invite all to join us in faith, worship, and service,” for there always remains room at Christ’s table.
Christ’s peace be with you always. I send you my prayers for a blessed Thanksgiving. Please pray for Kristine and me as well.
Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Lou
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
Messiah Lutheran Church Members & Friends, 8 September 2013
We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (2 Cor. 8:1-2)
Reading the above passage, I began to reflect upon our life together at Messiah Lutheran. Seeking assistance for a mission, Paul was encouraging the larger, more affluent congregation in Corinth to look toward the example of the struggling Christian community in Macedonia. I began to see a parallel. How has our little church faced with so many historic and current problems been used to encourage others?
Once a person mentioned to me in passing that it seemed our community is made of a “disproportionate number of people in need” and perhaps we would always remain small. This indeed might be true (only God knows the plans in store for us), yet I embrace that description. After all, Jesus came for the “least of these”: the hungry, the naked, the homeless and marginalized, even prisoners. Therefore at Messiah, we have intentionally forged strong relationships with those having intellectual, physical and mental disabilities. We have actively sought to support members of our community with food, clothing, and housing. Hospitality and authentic welcome are recognized marks of our ministry regardless of social, economic, political or other differences. Some of our members and neighbors have been helped to lift themselves out of domestic abuse, addiction, and even jail. We are truly trying to live as Christ’s disciples in mission, no longer Gentile or Jew, male or female, but all one in Christ. If two or three gather in his name, Christ is there, so our size doesn’t really matter either. Our congregation is exactly the kind of beloved community spoken about in scripture!
Despite our needs (or perhaps because of them), we have come together to rebuild and strengthen this congregation’s ministry, not perfectly but as best we can, and this has made a difference worth celebrating. Although we are still small and at times people might leave, worship attendance has increased over 35% since 2006. Giving has gone up about 10% per year no matter the ebb and flow of our national economy. We still struggle financially (sometimes wondering how we will pay our bills), but we have closed a $35,000 deficit while supporting others – fully funding our tithe to the greater church, ranking several years in the top 20 for donations to the Virginia Synod’s United Lutheran Appeal, starting new ministries in support of Lutheran Family Services, serving as a covenant congregation with Hanover Habitat, reinvigorating the shared, ecumenical food, clothing and benevolence ministry which is MCEF, and much, much more. Our outreach has dramatically increased and a number of long-time members have suggested our community is more spiritually oriented than ever before.
Thanks to the grace of God working through our lives together, we have all contributed to our “success.” A Thrivent loan officer remarked, “We have seen congregations ten times your size not do as much.” It is often why when I am at area events that people remark, “I hear things are going great at Messiah,” or “Your that church that is so active in the community.” In our welcoming of All Souls Episcopal to share our worship space, I have had three different Evangelical pastors comment at the great and unusual witness to Christian love being made manifest here. When we attended the Virginia Synod Assembly, other congregations have asked for appointments to discuss why and how things are “going so well” at Messiah for two years running. We are further affirmed as a community by the reality that 46% of our membership comes from outside of Mechanicsville. These people are willing to make drives of 30 minutes to an hour because they recognize that this community is indeed “different.”
Are we challenged as an institution in property and programs? Do we dine with people who are marginalized, hurting, sinful and alone? Do we struggle as individuals? You bet! We are real people with real problems, but we are a saved people all the more. Thanks be to Christ, we are the church! We seek to live as disciples more than as “members”; striving to concretely love God and neighbor. We are invited to walk on in a living hope of what is promised us in Christ’s victory, not based upon what we get or experience here and now.
In the end, we are ultimately a family of faith not defined by geography, finances, numbers or programs, and especially not our aging building. Instead, love, abundant joy and generosity – a response to what God has already offered us – describes us well. We are being recognized locally and beyond because as Jesus has promised, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
As we continue to celebrate our 45 years in ministry, I want to say that I am always proud and grateful to serve you as well as alongside you in mission. If you are a visitor or have been away, I invite you to come join our celebration; not an event but our shared life in Christ Jesus.
Peace,
Pastor Lou
Everyone makes a difference at Messiah Lutheran!
To see pictures from our God’s Work – Our Hands Day, click here.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
According to one commentating participant of Lent Madness 2013, “For the people who comprise the parish of St. Monica and St. James Episcopal, Frances Perkins is not just a New Deal bureaucrat, but is a living, breathing saint who worshipped with their predecessors and put the incarnational theology of their Anglo-Catholic liturgy into concrete social action.”[i]
Yes, it was often in their rooms and sanctuary that she stayed, prayed and made plans to champion a social safety net for the elderly, eliminate child labor, fix a minimum wage, create the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), provide disability for those hurt on the job, create unemployment insurance, a shorter work week, and worker safety regulations. She was an important person of her time, and her actions still help shape our nation. For some, these programs remain a lifeline.
Frances believed faith “served as a bedrock and a way to seek meaning in life when so much seemed inexplicable.”[ii] In her young adult life, she attended Mount Holyoke College, whose founder, Mary Lyon said, “Mount Holyoke women should live for God and do something.” A Baptist turned Congregationalist, she also is known to have advised, “When you choose your fields of labor go where nobody else is willing to go.” She knew the needs of the world.
Within that legacy, one of Frances’ teachers took her to look at the hard realities found in the nearby textile mills and factories.[iii] From affluence herself, Frances discovered a vocation to do something for the poor, the immigrant, and all others in need. Like today, many young women had come to the United States for promised jobs, but instead, they were forced into prostitution. Working with police and other institutions, Frances fought against this plight, the frequent drug and alcohol addiction, and the abusers of others.
Having been a cop in such communities, I know this to be no small task. Indeed, it is frightening in our seeming powerlessness over such issues as well as to stand in the face of real and potential violence. Thanks to her faith, Frances wasn’t afraid to enter relationship with the poor or anyone in need. She went where too few are willing to go.
Nominated as the first woman cabinet member as Secretary of Labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt, she continued to care about “the least of these”[iv] among us. She actively sought to protect Jewish and other refugees facing persecution in Europe under the Nazis. Until 1940, the Labor Department controlled the Immigration Service. She never got the quotas she desired, but a number of our Jewish neighbors owe their lives partly to her efforts, as do the famous Von Trapp family of Sound of Music fame.[v]
Writing this during this Passover holiday, I am reminded how Frances sought to echo God’s own love as reported in Deuteronomy 10, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”[vi] Reflecting previous teachings of the prophets, Jesus, the Son of God, called us to concretely live out Deuteronomy 6, to love God with all that we our and our neighbor as ourselves.[vii] Frances heard and understood rightly that our neighbor includes all those around us. We are created and called to be God’s ambassadors to the world.[viii]
Most certainly, Frances Perkins lived within the concrete reality of amazing grace. Once when asked “Don’t you think it’s wrong for people to get things they don’t pay for?” “Why no,” Frances Perkins responded. “I find I get so much more than I pay for. Don’t you?”[ix] She understood that assisting the poor wasn’t just the work of government, and so she enlisted the help of church communities from across the United States to help respond to the upheavals of the Great Depression. She served the poor and needy directly as well, despite her station, throughout her life.
In a fallen world with fallen people, some today take advantage of such “grace,” do not appreciate it, or even intentionally abuse it. As humans, that’s the way it has always been. Even though the poor and undeserving will always be with us, we are to feed, clothe, train, and love them anyway. People will die, but we are to seek their healing and comfort. We are a people of hope and grace, and not ultimately one of reason. In fact, as Philp Yancey professes in his book What’s so amazing about grace (2002), life isn’t fair but neither is grace. God utilizes a totally different scale of justice than we do where love overflows.
Still, some might have very sound political and economic reasons to disagree with how Florence concretely tried to share God’s love, the system that has came about in more recent time, or even aspects of her theology. Yet speaking from a Lutheran perspective, we don’t expect perfection in God’s saints or require mystical miracles. Among the greatest mystery is that love can be found at all in a world that rejected the love of Christ and often still does. Even more so, we imperfect people are the means God has chosen to make love known since Jesus ascended.[x]
With Frances’ win of the Golden Halo, some will likely gnash their teeth at the “political correctness” of it all. If her last competitor, the evangelist Luke, had won, some others would have likely bristled at the patriarchal or mythical aspects of his victory. (I was happy either way for this matchup is at its corps just a silly way to promote Christian formation, and all saints share in the most import thing – Christ’s victory.) The truth remains that both saints remind us of our own call to be saints in our own context. We are to use the gifts that God gave us to the best of our ability – for God’s glory and not our own.
Some may never know our doubts and darkness, seeing only our public “mythic” face. Some may disagree with our attempts to love or even aspects of our faith and theology. Most of us will never be recognized or lauded for loving others. Still, I firmly believe that we are saints nonetheless; part of a great cloud of witnesses[xi], and God will make our love matter.
If we are indeed Christ’s saints (and we are through faith), we can’t just sit here as if faith without works is ok. A living faith infers we need to love – always imperfect even at our best, but love nonetheless; prudently certainly, but not with so much prudence that we are frozen to inaction from fear of error or consequences.
As Jesus said approaching his own suffering and death, the poor will be with us always, but in saying this, he alluded to Deuteronomy 15, “Give generously to [those in need] and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
Br. Roger of Taizé used to remind those of us in discernment for vocations there or in other parts of the church that Jesus is awaiting us in that dark chasm of our future. We must go forward to him with trust. We must seek to love, for Christ will meet us then and there. You see, God will use all things (even our failures and sin) for the good of those who love him.[xii]
As a theological descendent of Martin Luther’s Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, I do indeed trust, understand, and demand that government has to be part of the solution to address poverty and other social ills. Yet, I acknowledge that we have to be smarter and demand more accountability and care. Government is a bureaucracy after all. People are imperfect. I also sometimes wonder if some of us rely on government as a solution to social ills way too much or (worse?) would rather pay taxes to support such programs than be in relationship with the poor. (As I often teach, a personal relationship with Jesus infers a relationship with others, including those in his church and without; those who have plenty and those who lack.) Too often, we attack one another rather than wrestle with the problem at hand. We get angry at the possibility of change or what we percieve as an attack on our precious viewpoints.
Now is the acceptable time…a time to be truly charitable – seeking to serve all those suffering, listening with respect and patience to one another, forging new relationships to seek God’s will and do it, forgiving error when it occurs. (And it certainly will come!) In humility, we must also remain aware that the worst error might prove to be our own, known or unknown.
True, Frances Perkins isn’t yet on our Lutheran (ELCA) Liturgical Calendar, but perhaps she should be – and not just because the ELCA has a full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church. We believe we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (by trusting in what he has done for our sake) – not our own works. In Frances’ historic context, she was remarkable and helped shaped our modern nation. More importantly, her witness was a faithful one. She has inspired many others to loving service at Mount Holyoke and elsewhere, yet she was never perfect nor are we. She could yet serve to inspire others to serve and hold discussions to evaluate how we could love our neighbor most effectively through government, church, and as individuals.
Maybe that’s a great miracle we should always trust in and act upon. We are truly Christ’s saints – all of us who believe even if with doubts – and we need to seek to live as his saints, his body in the world. Perhaps it is a happy coincidence that Frances Perkins won the Golden Halo on this Maundy Thursday (from the Latin mandatum, meaning command). Her imperfect but faithful life reminds us of the command Jesus left us as our inheritance during his Last Supper. The Gospel of John (13:34) reports that Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that we love one another; as I have loved you.”
Without fear, without hesitation, without our preconceived political notions or human expectations, may we heed Christ’s great command to love God and one another. Whether we view ourselves more left or right or anywhere in the middle, we shaare the family name of Christian. May Christ help us live as his saints each day in our own context – using our time, treasure and talent to the best of our ability.
Heaven knows, this real world needs all the saints it can get. We will never love perfectly. Our work will seem to never end, but do not be afraid. As Frances believed and scripture promises, Christ “will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more…”[xiii] Thanks to Jesus, inspite of and because of our sin, we will share in a victory beyond our hopes and dreams.
Jesus will do what we cannot. All things will be made perfect and new. His justice and love will reign fully at last.
To read of Lent Madness and the awarding of the 2013 Lent Madness Golden Halo visit: http://www.lentmadness.org
This year, Mount Holyoke, a women’s college in Massachusetts and alma Marta of Frances Perkins, celebrates its 175th anniversary. (There alumni, staff and students caused a large spike in turnout for Frances each round, thanks to use of social media.) Congrats to them! (If only VMI had done the same for Jonathan Daniels!) You might like to visit their special anniversary website celebrating women of influence: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/175/celebrating-175-years-women-influence
The United States Labor Department is also celebrating their 100th anniversary. Learn more here: http://www.dol.gov/100/
You can learn more of Francies Perkins by visiting the Frances Perkins Center on the internet or in person: http://francesperkinscenter.org/
Watch this short excerpt of “You may call me her Madam Secretary”
From the Washington Post, March 28, 2013 edition, you can read about Frances’ win and the reaction in the Labor Department. I hope and pray all government employees view their service as a sacred vocation, loving their neighbor, as she did: http://wapo.st/165chTZ
On October 18, 2012, I experienced one of the highlights of my life – literally and figuratively. I went Over the Edge of a 25 story skyscraper in downtown Richmond for Special Olympics Virginia. Thanks to the wonderful staff and volunteers of the Over the Edge event. We had clear skies, lots of great fellowship, and super fun. Best of all, we broke some overall giving records for the event. Many more Special Olympians will benefit as a result.
Also, thanks to all those who helped me achieve the rank of top individual fundraiser and establish a new record for any individual participating in the event. I had signed up late due to concerns with my schedule. So when I started, I wasn’t sure that I could raise the $1000 minimum required to rappel. You certainly taught me a thing or two about faith. To think we raised $6000 in only four weeks is humbling to me. Yet both I and the event staff well exceeded our goals. Over $120,000 was contributed overall which well exceeded the $100,000 goal and established a new event record.
I would like to encourage you to do this next year (or as soon as you can make it happen). You won’t regret it personally, and it is a great gift to our community. Perhaps you can even nominate your own community faith leader to take this leap of faith. It has been highly rewarding experience for us at Messiah Lutheran Church and School to “Push the Pastor over the Edge”, and we made many new connections and friends in our community. In addition, we have helped Special Olympics Virginia serve more than 11,000 athletes through seven regional offices and 30 area programs. If heights scare you, consider joining their network of over 20,000 volunteers. I think you will find your volunteering blesses you and others.
To add to the fun, I promised a party for our preschoolers and elementary age after school students to thank them for their support and prayers. In addition, I promised I would share some pictures and videos of the event. It took me awhile to get the time to edit and upload them all, but you can find them below. Through the photo, you can access a complete photo gallery of the event. I also am posting a series of three YouTube videos: a birds eye view of the entire rappel from my head cam, a view from the ground as I started my descent, and my arrival back on the ground. I am afraid the video isn’t as exciting as actually doing it, but you’ll get an idea of my experience.
Due to the great fun and success of my efforts, I have told Special Olympics Virginia that I would try to recruit other pastors to participate next year. Already, I have a few that have expressed interest, so stay tuned. If you would like to nominate your faith leader to be “pushed Over the Edge”, feel free to contact me about how I went about things, and be sure to check out the Over the Edge website.
In the 1930’s, my Aunt Theresa was born with an intellectual disabilty. My grandmother told me that many of her relatives and friends encouraged her to institutionalize my aunt. Although this was more common than not during that time period, my grandmother refused. Despite any disability, my Aunt Thesea grew into a beloved and active family member who worked and contributed to the greater community in many ways. My grandmother’s love and wisdom remains a testimony to me, as does the love and friendship of the many people I have been in relationship with over the years who had intellectual disabilities. They were and remain much more than any disability that challenged them, and I dedicated this effort to all of them. They have done more for me than I have ever done for them. Thanks again to the Special Olympics, Lutheran Family Services, Linking Lives, and L’Arche for loving so many people well. I am truly your fan. I remain also the biggest fan of my wife, Kristine, who puts up with all my crazy ideas and long hours with both patience and love.
Our church isn’t this building (Messiah Lutheran’s “new” sanctuary, October 1991)
I thank my God every time I remember you. (Philippians 1:3)
Over the last several years, we have spent much time working on and worrying about our aging building (much of which dates to 1968). It sometimes seemed that once one problem was addressed, another would turn up. It is remarkable to see how much has been done to improve our grounds and facility, especially during such difficult economic times. Messiah has physically become a more safe, beautiful and welcoming place, and so I am thankful for the council, property team, and all those that help with painting, fixing, mowing and more. People have been very generous with their time, treasure, and talent; blessing both us and the greater community we serve.
Yet as vitally important as such work remains, I don’t lose sleep over the challenges we face. Our strong foundation and cornerstone has and will remain Christ. It is a joy to be among so many Christians who are willing to take time to participate in Christian formation classes so that they and others can grow. Dr. Paul Hinlicky recently shared at a Virginia SynodACTS class, “The more educated the laity is, the more powerful the ministry is.” This has proven true as more and more members have discerned that they should participate in existing ministries at church and within our community, or have felt called to initiate new ones. It is also seen in the thoughtful and prayerful way our council approached the refinancing question or the welcome of All Souls Episcopal to share our building on Sundays and beyond. The conversations were thoughtful, biblical, challenging, and sometimes quite passionate, yet always, those involved went away secure in their love for one another and more committed to sharing in the mission placed before us by God. It is quite a testimony to the reality of the priesthood of all believers that James Anderson, Jake Addair, and Tripp Dillard conducted our congregational meetings about our financial challenges with such honesty, compassion, and vision. Few congregations exhibit such strong leadership across the board as I witness time and time again here at Messiah. It inspires me, and it builds up Christ’s church.
All this reminds me that it isn’t our building or the hierarchy of the ELCA that is ultimately the church. We are the church together in the way we love God, each other and our neighbors – not perfectly yet certainly well. “Your cooperation with the Richmond staff of Lutheran Family Services is a model for the entire state,” commented the CEO of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia on a visit a few weeks ago. As Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reviewed our church life, assets and vitality, the loan officer noted one of the greatest assets we have is one another. He said, “Amazing. I’ve looked at congregations ten times your size that don’t seem to have as much going on.” One recent visitor commented without any solicitation, “I felt the presence of God in your worship today.” A member of Messiah who travels many miles to worship with us told his surprised friends why he travels so far instead of finding an assembly closer by his home. He said, “I just can’t accept not seeing the people here at this church.”
We are a smaller congregation than many. We face many challenges – financial and otherwise. Yet Jesus is most certainly among us as our Lord and our friend. We are sincerely seeking to be faithful witnesses to him by living as loving friends to one another and our community, and your participation at any level has blessed many others whether you realize it or not. The ancient wisdom of Sirach proves true here:
“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; and those who fear the Lord will find them.”
In you, I have found friends, and even more so, brothers and sisters in Christ, a true treasure. In this season of thanksgiving, I offer mine to you and my God. Kristine and I will continue to celebrate your love and faithfulness in our lives. We pray that you and your families be blessed not just this Thanksgiving but always.
Peace,
Pastor Lou
Messiah began on November 3, 1968 (All Saints Sunday). To see pictures of our history together, visit the heritage page of our website’s gallery. (Complete photo gallery available through http://www.mlcas.org)
The above pastoral letter was originally published in Messiah Lutheran Church and School’s newsletter, The Messenger (November 2012 edition). To view the entire issue of The Messenger or to see the full calendar of events, visit: http://www.mlcas.org
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. (Acts 5:42)
As September ended, Messiah Lutheran began a new adventure. We became a “teaching parish” for a Lutheran student currently attending Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond. Nathan Huffman is a member of Epiphany Lutheran Church (Richmond), but he comes to Messiah to be further nurtured in his faith and developed in his pastoral knowledge and skills. This is an unpaid internship where he will serve seven to ten hours per week during the fall and spring semesters of his first year at seminary. Primarily he will observe and try to learn about our life together, but he will also be asked to conduct a few classes, teach, and assist with some pastoral duties. Later in his seminary career, Vicar Nathan will be required to serve in a full-time internship with many more responsibilities prior to his being approved for ordination. His time with us is intended only to get his feet wet.
It is indeed an honor for Messiah Lutheran to be asked to serve in such a capacity. Certainly, the bishop’s staff and the seminary hope I will prove a worthy mentor appropriate for Vicar Nathan’s background and needs, but you also have been chosen. Our community is deemed a welcoming and healthy place with vital ministry, and you are being trusted to help shape Vicar Nathans theological and pastoral understandings, sense of call, and future ministry.
In many ways, we are simply being asked to share our lives and faith in a way that will help encourage Vicar Nathan and build him up. If problems or concerns are noted, we are asked to help him start to work through them. We all are to serve as his mentors, teachers, and guides – sharing our insights and understandings of God and church along with any of our own lingering questions – as best as we are able. We are to invite him to share in our tasks and help him discern his unique call from God.
In the early church, our scriptures make clear that people sensed an urgent but attainable call for them to actively share in the building up of Christ’s church, for faith in Christ is best shared through honest and loving relationships in the context of our ordinary lives. Each helped in the ministry as they were able in such a way that faith in Christ would be made known in temple, home and marketplace. All had something to offer.
Just as Vicar Nathan will share his faith, pastoral gifts and learning with us, we are asked only to share our lives and faith with him; such as they are. And when it comes time for Vicar Nathan to move on, we will remain in communion with one another – we part of his future ministry and he part of ours – teaching and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah no matter what may come. Finding ourselves thoroughly wet and reminded once again of our shared baptismal mission, we will all walk on into the future better able to make Christ known.
Peace,
Pastor Lou
If you think you are perhaps being called to ordained ministry or another leadership roll within Christ’s church, I encourage you to speak to your pastor and explore the vocations links of the ELCA website: http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Vocation.aspx
The above pastoral letter was originally published in Messiah Lutheran Church and School’s newsletter, The Messenger (October 2012 edition). To view the entire issue of The Messenger or to see the full calendar of events, visit: http://www.mlcas.org
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this article are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
As many of you know, my aunt was born with an intellectual disability, and I have been assisting people with intellectual disabilities and causes that serve them since high school. As a former police officer, the Special Olympics is near and dear to my heart. So now, I’m hoping to rappel off a 25-story building in downtown Richmond in October 2012! In order to take on this challenge and join other fearless Special Olympics fans on the roof, I must first reach my fundraising goal.
With your help I’ll be dangling from 400 feet up in no time!
Donating through the secure site is the easiest and most efficient way to contribute to my fundraising efforts. (If you don’t like to donate over the internet, contact me to work something out.) Your support is greatly appreciated—and don’t forget to forward this to anyone who you think might be interested in making a donation as well!
Your donation will assist Special Olympics Virginia in reaching our total fundraising goal of $75,000. And with your help, I hope to surpass my own fundraising goal and rappel down one of the tallest buildings in Richmond. It’ll be an extreme adventure that we hope will generate extreme impact for Special Olympics Virginia.
Husband, Pastor, Law Enforcement Chaplain, and member of the Clerical Errors (aka "The Three Priests"), I'm sharing my two cents with anyone who cares...
You can also find me on social media as Loudluthrn (Lou-d-Luthrn or Lou the Lutheran). It is a moniker given me while attending a Presbyterian Seminary, but I'm a loud and proud Lutheran too (just not too loud and proud, mind you).
you know, my aunt was born with an intellectual disability, and I have been assisting people with intellectual disabilities and causes that serve them since high school. As a former police officer, the Special Olympics is near and dear to my heart. So now, I’m hoping to rappel off a 25-story building in downtown Richmond in October 2012! In order to take on this challenge and join other fearless Special Olympics fans on the roof, I must first reach my fundraising goal.
2pennyblog 