Someone once remarked that it is easy to consider Jesus as our Savior but not so easy to think of Him as our Lord. We celebrate His resurrection every Sunday. That is not just to thank Him for saving us and promising us eternal life, but to put ourselves into His presence each week and ask Him to move our hearts to serve. Our Christian life is our thank you. It certainly does not befit the Lordship of Jesus that we hear about salvation from time to time. Many people joke about being Christmas and Easter Christians or poinsettia and lily Christians. But it is really no joke. We are brought together by the Holy Spirit into a community of believers asking Him to use us to carry out His Great Commission in our lives.

The Christian diet works the opposite way of any other diet. The more you eat the lighter you get and the less you eat the heavier you get. The Good News that we proclaim every week is to lighten our hearts and lives. But it is not just a personal knowledge issue. We are called to serve our God. Christ Jesus sent His Spirit to move our hearts to look upward and outward, not just inward. We need to be together with other Christians or we will fall into habits that remember THAT we are saved but which will not have us exercising that new Christian life. We are empowered to go against sin, death, and the devil with the resurrection power. We are at war against false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins (Luther’s explanation to the Lord’s Prayer).

Now more than ever! I am not quite sure what the advertisers mean by that but I do understand what our Lord means. Now, more than ever, come be with fellow Christians. If someone has hurt you, ask the Lord for His help. We only hurt ourselves by staying away because of some hurt, even if real and profound. If you think the Lord has abandoned you, now more than ever. Come and hear about the Good News. He never leaves us or forsakes us. We can turn inward. Only He can turn us outward. Outward is in mission. Inward is in pity or selfishness.

Our Lord looked outward. He looked out for us, laying aside His glory. The essence of God (and of us as His children) is to love with His forgiveness-even those who hurt us or seem to act as if we do not count. Everyone does. Come, rejoice. We may have a vacancy in the pastoral office, but our chief pastor and shepherd, Jesus, works through fellow members. We need each other. Be proud to worship each week and proclaim your love for your Savior and your desire to have Him work His blessings through you.

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp