January 2012 Message
January 2012 Message
2 Corinthians 5:17-20: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
As I was thinking about this New Year coming up and all the changes that have taken place in this past year, the whole year at times seems like a blur – entering into the whole first call process, graduating from seminary, being ordained at the Synod Assembly, moving back from Gettysburg to the house we left to go to seminary four years ago and then being installed as your new pastor. Who would have ever believed that it would be possible for me to be called as your Pastor directly out of Seminary? I had hopes but because I knew how the whole process worked, I knew it would be very unlikely that it would ever have happened the way it did. No one person could have ever orchestrated what happened. I can only know and believe that it had to have been directed by the hand of God. I know in my heart it was God’s way of telling me to settle down and plant some roots. Since 1985 I have not lived in one place — barracks, apartment, house, or seminary housing — for more than 2 years. This rolling stone (me) never grew any moss. Now I think it is the time to sink some deep roots and let a little moss grow on this old rolling stone.
So as I pondered this new role I have as your Pastor, the verses from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians popped into my head. I am a new creation and the old has passed away. Together we, all of us are new creations. God has called us, you and me, to be ambassadors for Christ, to be his hands and feet in this lost and hurting world. We all are called to bring a message of reconciliation, a message of hope that the church is a place where all people are truly welcomed and received. The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer on Sycamore Street in Petersburg, Virginia is a place where the past is the past and the future is filled with hope of new life and new growth. It is a place where the Gospel is rightly preached and proclaimed and the sacraments are properly administered. This church is where all people are welcomed and made to feel like they are part of the faith family in this place. I enlist all of you to help make this possible in this place.
I thank God and all of you for the opportunity to serve Him and you in this new role as your Pastor and look forward as we minister to each other, to our communities and to the world.
Blessings as we celebrate the New Year and New Opportunities,
Pastor Paul
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