From the Pastor…

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4: 4-6, 11-13, 15-16)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.
It is difficult to work together. It is not easy being the Body of Christ here on earth with other believers. Yet, we are called to be exactly that. We are called to work together doing God’s Will here on earth. It has never been easy.
The earliest portions of the New Testament are letters to congregations who were struggling. They struggled with figuring out how to be a community. They struggled how to live together as followers of Jesus. They struggled with how to evangelize and relate to the world around them. They were experiencing angst, conflict, and uncertainty.
Two thousand years later, the core of our struggles as the Christian Church on earth is still pretty much the same. Even though our context looks drastically different from a 1st century Christian community, the basic struggles remain the same. Congregations (& denominations, synods, districts, regions, etc.) still struggle with the basic task of working together to follow God’s Will. There is still angst, conflict, & uncertainty. The Church has not yet hit perfection.
And it won’t hit perfection until the apocalypse. The Body of Christ is made up of forgiven sinners – humans beings who continue to be forgiven because they continue to sin. The church on earth will never reach perfection while still on earth. When it is no longer on earth, it also ceases to be the church on earth. This means we have to rely on the One who is perfect to help us do our best here on earth.
We are one and we are many. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:12) Logically, this reality seems diametrically opposed, yet the paradox does best describe our reality as the church. We are many voices working together to do one Will – God’s.
As many, we are blessed with a myriad of differing gifts. Together we can accomplish so much more than any of us would accomplish alone. This blessing of many gifts also has a side-effect: we do not do things the same way as one another.
The old adage, “if you want it done well, do it yourself” can be detrimental to our life together. Albeit God did do exactly that when it came to salvation. In order to save us – He did do it Himself. However, God has the distinct advantage of omnipotence. He alone rules on the definitive verdict of what ‘well’ or ‘right’ entails. He, and He alone, determines His Will. He alone is perfect.
Those of us who are not God lack that attribute. None of us are perfect. Humans usually equate ‘doing it well’ as doing it our way. We forget that we are all trying to live God’s way. And God is not required to do it our way. This attitude has been wreaking havoc in the lives of congregations for centuries.
It takes commitment, prayer, and a lot of divine intervention to counteract human pride and unconscious sabotage. The New Testament contains letter upon letter revealing the difficulties early congregations experienced. Most of those difficulties were self- inflicted. Being community has never been easy.
Yet, despite their challenges, they continued to proclaim the Gospel. They continued to seek out God’s Will and God continued to work through them, even using their foibles to further the Gospel. They did not give up. They did not let their differences deter them from the mission of the Church. If they had, the church would have ceased to exist during that first century of its existence. It obviously didn’t.
We too push forward. We will continue to face challenges, but we will face them head-on and trust that God continues to be active amongst us. We will continue to seek out God’s purpose for our community and reach to fulfil that purpose. We will continue to proclaim Christ in Word and Deed in our corner of His creation.
We have many blessings. We have many voices. We remain One Body in Christ. We are “called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified” by the Holy Spirit. We will find ways to live together in faith and mission – doing God’s Will. We will use our varying gifts together to be God’s field and building. Together we will act as One body to serve the one God.
The grace and peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Carla

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:7-9)