8-4-2024

Good Morning All,

        Matthew 21:21; “And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.”

    There are times in my confirmation classes or in my Bible Study classes that I will ask questions that may or may not have obvious answers to them.  Sometimes I ask obtuse ones and sometimes I ask ones that we don’t always think about.  You can decide which category this question falls into.  “Why do you go to church?”

    Ask this of a confirmation class and the answer is “Because my parents make me.”  Ask this of adults and the answers vary.  Many give the answer, “because that is what you do.”  Other answers include, “be with other Christians;” “learn about God.” “Sing hymns;” “take communion.”  All of these are good answers but are somewhat incomplete.  The real reason we go to church is really somewhat selfish; it is to grow in faith.  In fact, everything you do should help you grow in faith.

    As we go through life, we face what might be called “pivotal moments.”  These can be good or bad but either way they have a profound effect on our life.  They can be positive like a marriage or a promotion and pay raise, the birth of a child.  They can also be painful like losing your job or a spouse leaving or dying or a child that never comes home or calls home.  These, and a myriad of other events, are pivotal in our life.  They change us from who we were to who we are and shape who we will be.  In all these events, we need to approach them with faith. 

    Faith leads us to deal with these events.  Faith gives us the reserve to trust God fully.  It takes some knowledge; we need to know and remember that God has always been faithful to his promises in the past.  God has made those same kinds of promises about our future, but it takes faith to hold onto those promises, sometimes it takes mountains of faith.  So we go to church, we read and study Scriptures, we pray, we partake in the sacraments in order that our faith may grow and get stronger and bigger; big enough to move mountains.

    But it is not mountains we want to move but rather we want to move ourselves closer to God.  God calls us and we cling by faith; the stronger we cling the safer we feel.  The stronger we cling, the better we are able to deal with those pivotal moments when they hit.  We need to keep growing in our faith; going to church should help provide one way to accomplish this.  Add it to the others and our faith can grow and be ready to face all those pivotal moments.

Father of all mercy, we believe but help our unbelief.  Help us to grow closer to you.  Draw us by your grace into a stronger love with you.  Keep us strong as those pivotal times occur.  Be with those who are being buffeted by the waves of those moments.  Keep them strong in faith toward you.  Remind them that nothing can separate us from your love for us in Christ Jesus.  In His precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret