Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Bethany Lutheran Church! May it be a year of peace and joy for all!
2014 is Bethany Lutheran's "Year of Service", following up after our "Year of Renewal" in 2013. Both of these themes are taken from our Mission Statement: "Gathering People Together for Renewal and Service".
Our theme verse for the year will be Galatians 5:13-14:
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
For a little more inspiration for the new year, check out this wonderful article from our new Presiding Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton:
http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article.cfm?article_id=11792 (text also copied below)
Peace,
Pr. Carrie Smith
Getting to what really matters
All our work flows from being a church first, foremost
by Bishop Elizabeth Eaton
When I served a parish in Ashtabula, Ohio, I had the opportunity to be part of a bond issue campaign for the school system. Those of you who have served in a similar capacity know the bruising intensity of local school politics. The French Revolution pales in comparison.
On our first try the bond issue failed by a narrow margin. On our second try we had our heads handed to us. We decided to hire a consultant.
At a strategy meeting the consultant asked us what we thought was the one thing we needed to do in order to pass the bond issue. We had all kinds of ideas: better campaign literature, more radio ads, more coverage in the local paper, compelling photos of adorable but underserved children, puppies. The consultant listened until we ran out of ideas. “No,” he said. “The one thing you need to do to pass the bond issue is to have one more vote than the opposition.”
 |
The main thing is the main thing.
All of the ideas we had come up with (well, maybe not the puppies) were means to pass the bond issue. If advertising or publicity became our primary focus we would be distracted from our goal. Stating the simple fact that all we needed to do was to get one more vote than the opposition brought clarity to the campaign.
We do many wonderful and important things together as the ELCA. We alleviate hunger, we’re stopping malaria, we give voice to the most vulnerable in our society, we shelter the homeless, we heal the sick, we rebuild communities after disaster strikes, we work for justice. I am not suggesting that we stop doing any of this. But we must be clear that we are church first. We aren’t a non-governmental organization. We aren’t the government. We aren’t the American Cancer Society.
Baptism makes a difference and makes us different. We are in Christ. Baptism means the death of our old self. This implies sacrifice. It should also mean that we as church do not fit in with the surrounding culture. There are many socially conscious, kindhearted, generous, morally upright, compassionate atheists in the world. How are we distinguishable from them? If our life together consists primarily of being affirmed by God’s unconditional love and doing works of justice and charity without understanding that God has brought about the transformation of justified sinners through the costly grace of the crucified Christ, then we are not church.
How are we to live as church first? This is how I see it. At the center of our life together is worship and at the center of our worship is the crucified and risen Christ. When we gather for worship we turn our gaze away from ourselves to the source of our life and hope and salvation. When we gather for worship we are encountered by the living God in Scripture, proclamation of the gospel and the sacraments. God meets us and transforms us. We taste, touch and see the love of God in Christ. Sinners are forgiven. Freed from the incessant human striving for self-justification we can be “lost in wonder, love and praise” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 631).
We are a community of spiritual discernment. Employing secular business strategies can be very helpful to the church so long as they are used in service to God. But as church it is important that we understand the difference between decision-making and discernment. Decision-making is something we do. Discernment is something we receive from the Spirit. Paul takes an entire chapter (1 Corinthians 2) explaining this. We need to move beyond reliance on human thinking and strategizing to a place of deep listening — intentional, intense, disciplined attending to God.
We are a community of faith. Our members, congregations, synods and churchwide organization need to be intentional about incorporating prayer, worship, Scripture study, silence and giving into daily life. We are in the faith formation business; not to get more members, not to get more market share, but to know Christ and Christ crucified.
We are church first. All of our work flows from this. Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
