Dear members of Emmaus,

By now, most of you will know that I have been extended a call to serve at Emmaus. I believe that the Lord himself has opened this possibility for us to work together. I am truly honored to be called to serve as your pastor. On November 11 I will promise to be faithful to the Lord and His Gospel mission at Emmaus.

I am not the only one who will be asked to make a promise that day. Every one of you will be asked to make a promise. This promise is rooted in the one that I hold most dear. It is the Lord's promise to give us eternal life, as gifted to us by grace in Holy Baptism. Before we make any promises, God makes a promise to deliver us from our sinful nature and eternal death. He does this by taking our place and dying and rising to give us life forever.

Our promise is a response to His. Our promise to love and serve Him with our heart, soul, and mind was made at our baptism and affirmed publicly when we were confirmed. We confess Christ Jesus is the Lord of our life and we ask His guidance in all things. The promise we make on November 11 is within that framework.

God made us to love people and use things. Our fallen nature seeks to love things and use people. But we are redeemed. When we make a promise to contribute to the Gospel work at Emmaus, based on how the Lord has blessed us financially during this past year, we ask Him to guide us to respond. When we fill out time and talent sheets we are asking him to use the abilities he gave us. Our giving and serving depends on our gifts from Him, not the congregation's need.

We ask you to make a promise for what you will give weekly, monthly, or yearly. We ask you to reevaluate each year as your circumstances change and as you reevaluate how you are to use part of what the Lord gave you to make sure His eternal work is carried out. Let the love of Christ move you to pray for Him to guide you to make a decision and then to faithfully carry it out.

You will receive your offering envelopes for 2008 at worship that day and you will be asked to update your time and talent sheet, so that the leaders will know whom they can approach for help. None of us are "volunteers." We are the family the Spirit has gathered together. We ask the Lord to help us see our place in His mission at this time of our lives.

Please join in worship that day. It is very important to me that you will affirm my call by coming to the worship service of installation at 3 p.m.

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp