Dear St. Lukers,
I write this after two more shooting sprees have happened – one in Reno and one in New York. As I watched the evening news out of New York City, I wondered if this was just a new reality, one we would have to become numb to, along with other things we now categorize as “that’s life.” Ironically, our Disciple 1 Old Testament class had just studied a chapter titled “People Hope for a Savior” with a human condition statement that said: “Only special people seem to catch the vision of God’s final Kingdom of peace. We need and desire something more. So we wait.”
That chapter referenced the 400 years of waiting between the Old and New Testament when people were waiting for a Savior who would come and save them from their suffering. But today we have the rest of the story. We are people of the New Testament Gospel where a Savior came and showed us how to not only pray for God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” but how to live as disciples of such a kingdom. We know our hope is placed in the Savior who came, AND we claim to be his students, surrendered to become like him. So, living into sanctifying grace, we will learn to love like him.
If all that is true, then I must reject the premise of the first paragraph I wrote! We don’t become numb to senseless violence, and there aren’t only “special” people who catch the vision of God’s kingdom. No, we all have that vision – and we all can not only pray for it to come “on earth as it is in heaven,” but to DO something about making that happen!
Welcome to our August sermon series: Change Makers. This August, we explore what it means to live a faith that does. Through small acts, brave love, holy questions, and bold justice, we’re discovering that God calls everyday people to do extraordinary things.
We kick off this week with our ALL IN focus in both venues on what it means to “Be The Hero,” hearing Jesus’ words from Matthew 5 reminding us that we are salt and light to the world. We are not waiting on heroes – we are becoming them. Let’s be ordinary people who see ourselves as everyday superheroes empowered by faith to bring light into dark places, preserve goodness, and take bold action. From back-to-school teachers to brave neighbors to those who speak up for justice, each of us is made to make a difference.
You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t have to wear a cape.
But you are made to be salt and light.
A force for good. A Change Maker.
See you Sunday, because it’s not St. Luke’s without U!
Jenn.
