Month: July 2021

June 2021

7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.  9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:7-11)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Oftentimes we disregard our own role in God’s activity in the world. We either underestimate the calls we have received or overestimate our own authority in fulfilling those calls. Whether we neglect that call or strip the glory away from God, we do a disservice to God, neighbor, and ourselves.

We are both builders and the building. We are God’s servants called to labor upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. We are called to labor together under God’s tutelage. God is the one with ultimate sovereignty. We pray regularly to God, ‘Thy will be done’. That prayer asserts that God is in control.

The challenge to follow Christ and use our God-given gifts is not a new one. Neither is the challenge to integrate those individual gifts into the church for the blessing of the world around us. God calls and challenges us to be blessings in the world. The Apostles struggled. As testified by Paul’s letters, not only did the Corinthians struggled with those challenges, so did the churches in Ephesus, Galatia, and Rome. The Church Fathers struggled. The Reformers struggled. The church has struggled with those challenges unceasingly.

The Holy Spirit has guided and strengthened the church with those challenges unceasingly as well. We meet those challenges because the Spirit is with and in us. Christ does not call us to any impossible endeavors. We face all the challenges that come with being the Body of Christ in a broken world because the One who calls us is faithful. As the angel reminded Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” God caused a virgin to conceive. God caused the dead to rise. God will lead the church.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

May 2021

9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:9-10)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Spring comes with renewed hope, but also a lot of work. As snow cover melts away, the less desirable underside of winter is often revealed. If leaves did not coordinate their falling well enough with the first snowfall (or the wind ruined the best laid piles of humans), there are well tamped mounds of decay, vaguely resembling vegetation that once adorned trees. Weaker limbs and twigs, previously disguised by summer’s foliage or winter’s icy blanket, have since collapsed to their own demise and lay scattered among other debris. As the ground thaws from the top down, that fertile dirt congeals into mud and infiltrates the freshness of Spring rains. The resulting labor is the sweeping (or tilling or shoveling) away of everything steeped in decay, freeing new life to emerge.

Our lives in Christ are similar to the onset of Spring. The Holy Spirit sweeps away all that opposes the will of God from our lives. God’s Word acts upon our hearts, clearing out the decay of sin and evil. We are forged into new beings – forged into children of God. Just as Spring takes work to clear the way for newness of life, so do we. The Spirit executes that work by dwelling within us.

The result of the Spirit is a new perspective. It entails viewing others as children of God and seeing the world through a lens of forgiveness and grace. The work of the Spirit is transforming. The work of the Spirit is ceaseless. Day by day – you repent and receive forgiveness. Day by day – you hear the Word of God.  Day by day you pray and discern His Will. Day by day – the Spirit makes you righteous. Day by day – “there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” 

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)

April 2021

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

A mystery has been revealed. The Lord is risen from the dead. The world hurled its worst at God – and God thrived. Sin did not prevail. Evil shone with ineptitude. Death lost its victory. All opposition to God rendered powerless in the face of God’s power, mercy, and love.

The same power, mercy, and love is given to you. They continue to face the challenges of sin, evil, and death. God continues to thrive. And because he thrives, you do as well. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5) You are united to the One who overcomes all things.

The promise of participating in the mystery is given to you in faith. Eternal life is yours. Imperishability is yours. Christ clothes you in immortality. The victory is yours. In Christ Jesus you have new life.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)