Let God Lead in Our Celebration.

This past Sunday we celebrated our life together as a congregation. This was in response to the scripture text read that morning, Deuteronomy 26:11

 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

The Israelites celebrated when they brought the first fruits of the harvest to the temple.  Resurrection celebrated as we brought our financial intentions for 2015, our Estimate of Giving cards, to the altar. We celebrated by giving thanks for the many blessings God has given us as individuals, families and as a congregation. We celebrated with music, special snacks and a great video. 

I cannot share the special snacks but I can give you a glimpse at the great video we watched.  

Thanks to all who joined the celebration by returning their Estimate of Giving card to the church office. 

You can join the celebration by making sure your Estimate of Giving card is completed and sent back to the church office. If you did not receive an Estimate of Giving card in the mail, please call the office or pick one up at church. Our goal is to make sure this celebration includes every member of Resurrection.  Thanks be to God. 

Pastor John Keller

Let God Lead Us With Courage

Courage seems to be a forgotten value in our society. Only soldier, sailors and first responders are publically credited with bravery. Courageous movie heroes are restricted to superheroes such as Ironman or Captain America. Many seem to think that displays of courage are really only acts of foolishness; “Fools rush in to where angels fear to tread.”

Yet God often encouraged his people to take courage, to stand strong.

David said further to his son Solomon, "Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. I Chronicles 28:20

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. Psalm 31:24

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. I Corinthians 16:13

In Joshua chapter one, Joshua is told that Moses, (Israel's great leader and Joshua' mentor) is dead. Joshua must take on the mantel of leadership. He is to lead God’s people into the promise land and fight against the Canaanites who occupy the land. Three times God commands Joshua, “Be strong and courageous.” This would not be an easy task. The battles would be tough.  His people would be fickle and frightened  But God also gave Joshua a great promise as well.

“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:19

The promise to Joshua of God’s guidance and strength is the foundation for our fall emphasis: Let God Lead. God gives Resurrection that same promise today. We are to be strong and courageous as we seek to do God’s will in our community and world. Our courage is not based on any human strength but on God’s strength and power. We need to remember God’s promise and meditate on God’s strength as we look into the future. God faithfully led the Israelites into the promise land; God promises to lead us into our future as we trust in him.

This Sunday at Resurrection we will look at how courage can be a critical part of our Christian faith.

Pastor John Keller

Let God Lead with Generosity; Part Two

Yesterday in his sermon, Pastor John invited people to share experiences of generosity.   He shared  two examples.

I remember the generosity of my father in regards to the Lutheran Bible camp near our home.  The camp was called Lutherhaven and it was on Wildcat Lake, about 15 miles from my home in Bremerton, Washington.  He served on the camp board and worked many week-ends helping to maintain the cabins and lodge.  He appealed to our congregation to make our financial donations and he also gave monetarily to the camp.  And the one summer I worked as a camp counselor there, he proudly showed the new staff what the camp had to offer.   My dad was a model of generosity for me.

And our congregation has a model of generosity in our own recent history.  We are so blessed by the generosity of Glenn and Inez Oehlke, whose farmland we now occupy.  Early on many commercial developers approached them: Walgreens and others, because they knew what valuable property this was, being on the key intersection of Bailey Road and Woodbury Drive.   But they said no to the commercial realtors, because they wanted churches to be here.  So they sold at reasonable prices to both St. Ambrose Catholic Church and to Resurrection Lutheran Church.

Then after Glen died, Inez moved out of her farmhouse and donated the land and buildings to the south to us where we now enjoy our Harvest Festival and outdoor worship.  God truly has taken the lead in our congregation's experience of generosity.

     

You can share your own experience of generosity  by taking the following survey where your comments will be used later this month in worship.  You can take the survey anonymously or leave your name if you choose. The link is here Generosity Survey