Pastor Steve Writes . . .

We are the Church

Properly speaking, the church is the assembly of saints and true believers. (Augsburg Confession VIII:I)
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
We are the Church, the body of our Lord. We are all God's children; we have been restored. The Church, it is the people, living out their lives, called, enlightened, sanctified for the work of Jesus Christ. —Jay Beech

Lutheran singer-songwriter Jay Beech has given us a singable way to remember scripture and our Lutheran theology about what the Church is. I think we forget that more often lately. And when a congregation is located far from the national or synod office, it's hard not to imagine that the Church is "them," some people we don't see or know or visit. But that's not the way it is, especially in our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Since the ELCA was organized in 1988, we have been a grassroots-driven church. This is so uncommon that it's hard to remember we're not a top-down denomination like so many others. By design, there are always more lay people than clergy at synod and ELCA assemblies and more lay people on most synodical and national committees. By design, church members can submit resolutions to their synod assembly that can be voted through for consideration by national assembly and leaders. In other words, WE are the Church.

Here are some ways to participate in our Church: • Attend our Panhandle Cluster Assembly, February 20 in Scottsbluff
(help Panhandle Churches collaborate, elect our dean, etc.),BR. • Go on a Nebraska Synod mission trip to repair Hurricane Katrina damage on the Golf Coast, or to Tanzania or Argentina
• Be a Nebraska Synod Assembly Delegate, June 4-5 in Grand Island
(Great workshop, policy making, expenses paid b y the ELCA)
• Be the Panhandle's lay male delegate to the ELCA Assembly August 14-20 in Orlando
(Great worship, policy making, expenses paid by the ELCA)
• Be an at-large Nebraska delegate to the 2011 ELCA Assembly as a youth, lay female, or lay male
• Serve on a synod committee: Budget & Finance, Candidacy, Ecumenism, Global Mission, Justice, Leadership Support, Ministry in Daily Life, Outreach, World Hunger, Nominating, Consultation, or Discipline. Or run for Synod Council Vice-President

Nominations for the Panhandle's ELCA assembly delegate will be made at the Cluster Assembly next month. The nomination form for all other positions, and a 2010 Nebraska Synod Assembly resolution form is in the church office and at www.nebraskasynod.org

If you want to see what WE in the ELCA are up to, pick up a free copy of The Lutheran magazine in our church library. You'll get to know people who care about things you care about, who think (and sometimes don't) like you, people putting their faith to work in daily life like you do. Stories of Faith in Action is a free annual magazine of our ELCA (also in the church library) that shows how 4.6 million of us together make a huge impact on the world. St. John's member Rebekah Davis is even featured on page 20. Or look at the copy of Your Nebraska Lutheran magazine in the church library. If you prefer electronic media, see all this and more at www.elca.org and www.nebraskasynod.org.

And, our Nebraska Synod staff members are always eager to receive invitations to visit congregations. Pastor Martin Russell, Assistant to the Bishop, accepted our invitation and spent Sunday, November 8, 2009, with us. Bishop Dave deFreese accepted our invitation and joins us on November 7, 2010 as we begin celebrating our 60th anniversary. Pastor Judy Gifford, Assistant to the Bishop, was here in November 2008, for my installation, and here again—with Bishop deFreese—for the Panhandle's fall leadership conference on November 2, 2009. And, by the way, you are always welcome to visit a synod office or the ELCA offices in Chicago.

In Congregations, in offices and meetings, at camps, on campuses, in hospitals and nursing homes, and wherever God's redeemed people are doing work in Jesus' name, we are the Church.

Pastor Steve

 

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