1-26-2023

  Good Morning All,

     Mark 16:15; “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” 

    This is the Mark’s version of the “Great Commission.”  It is part of the direction and encouragement that Jesus gave to his disciples.  But did you ever think about what this means?  What does it mean to proclaim the Gospel?

     To many of us it is when the preacher stands up in front of the church and delivers the sermon.  This is, hopefully, an accurate event.  We certainly hope that the gospel is preached in the sermon.  But this is just a small portion of the Gospel.  We also include the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as ways that the Gospel is preached.  We also see the Gospel preached when we receive the forgiveness of sins in the absolution. 

     These are accurate examples of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, the good news about the promise of God to forgive our sins.  We receive the comfort and everything that provides comfort- everything that offers the favor and grace of God to those who have transgressed the law- is the Gospel.  Yet there is one thing about this that is missing.  For most of us, we see this “mission of the church” as the other guy’s job.  We usually hire a pastor to do this work.  We give money to missions so that someone else can go “do missions”.  We like to think that we are being supportive and doing our part by being the people behind the people preaching the Gospel.  We like to think that we do everything we can to support those on the front lines as it were.  The problem with this is; there are only front lines!!

     We are all on the front lines of preaching the Gospel.  There is still another way which we preach the Gospel and that is through the mutual conversations and consolations that we share with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and with those others we come into contact with.  Jesus tells us that wherever two or three of you are gathered together there he is in the midst of them; not on the edges or the periphery but in the middle.  We all preach the Gospel every time we offer comfort to our friends and neighbors, near and far, and share with them the hope- the hope that the promise of God gives to us.  When we offer the comfort of God’s grace and mercy to others; we are preaching the Gospel.  This is part of the “as you are going about your day, make disciples” approach to witnessing your faith. 

    We don’t need to set aside time to share the Gospel with those w meet; we do it every time we talk to them, listen to them, offer them a shoulder, offer them a cold glass of water or something to eat when they are hungry.  We proclaim the Gospel in ways that we often don’t even realize showing love and kindness to all around.  So go and live your life proclaiming God’s love and mercy to all you meet.

Dear Father in heaven, your mercies are new to us every day and continue to overwhelm us with the depth of your love.  Give us the courage to preach the Gospel to the whole world that it too may know your love and mercy.  Be with those who have experienced the storms on the east coast. Protect them from all further harm and danger and move us, who are able, to provide aid and comfort in your name.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret