Reflections on 1 Peter end this month. Being Christian means being in a new relationship with God, self, and those around us.

It weighs heavily upon my heart that I make sure all of you hear Good News about your eternal salvation. I sometimes wonder (in my paranoid moments) whether people sort of stand around and laugh when I call for greater participation at worship, in Bible Class, and in activities to bring the members together. Does it look like some little kid who keeps trying to hit the ball and everyone snickers because the youngster keeps missing?

1 Peter 5 is a word to elders, which really means pastors (called by you) as well as leaders at this point. Leaders are to be patient and the "young" under their charge to be obedient. As I begin my second year as your called pastor (but here for five years), I admit to the frustration of trying to turn the hearts of those of you who are not regular in worship, maybe not coming at all, to take our Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit seriously. God intends for us to be part of a community. Our relationship is communal, not just personal. I as pastor am charged with calling everyone to come (back) to hear the Good News. The Holy Spirit defines the church, not each of us picking our own definition.

It is hard to apply the Good News. We have all been hurt or become bored or decided it is not for us. Some have said to me that they have just moved on. To what? We are to center in cross and resurrection, not just what pleases or excites our whims for self-satisfaction. Peter says that Satan roams like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. We are to resist him, firm in the faith. I feel impatient and without power to express to each of you the utter and eternal seriousness of gathering for the means of grace, word and sacrament, and to evaluate our lives in light of our sin and God's grace. I cannot get to everyone at home, certainly not every week. But our Christian family does gather. God set that up. We resist gathering to our own peril. Please evaluate what keeps you from coming if you do not come. Please forgive me for what I may not be doing to care, or that I do not know you well enough. Know that my heart yearns to share the Good News with each of you, so that you will not wander into false confidence and be lost. Not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" but those who do the will of my Father! We can wander into unbelief and think that our religious feelings equal worshiping God Almighty and Our Crucified and Risen Savior. The Father's will is that we thank, praise, serve and obey. Let us not let our children go without the Gospel. Worship is where praise and healing happens.

So, let's start over. If we worship regularly, let us reach out to everyone we miss. If we do not worship regularly, let's start again to take the Lord's invitation to come. Let us reshape our lives so that He touches us as a community each Sunday and that we learn from His word, to praise him still more. I will seek to reach out to everyone who is not coming, and will bring that invitation. We are called to be a functioning community that brings the Gospel forth.

The Holy Spirit moved us to join this community at some point. How sad if we are not even missed. May we all grow in missing those not here, loving and carrying them, and sharing Good News! Let none of us give up or grow weary in well-doing. Eternity is at stake.

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp