A message from our Pastor
OCTOBER
Welcome to OCTOBER! It’s the month for us at Nativity of settling into a new routine. In the light of Hurricanes Irma and Jose and Maria and the horrific earthquake disaster in Mexico City it can’t be “getting back to normal” – many are saying the old normal is never going to return ... the normal that’s new is going to be new every time we look. Well, 500 years ago when Martin Luther simply suggested a bunch of issues that needed debating [whether he really did nail the list to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg or not], he sure didn’t realize that things would never be the same. Not only for the church, but for all of the institutions of society. He’d never have imagined. At least I don’t think so. Because what he was championing is a simple, clear message that we, whose sin can only find us in trouble with a righteous God who holds us accountable, find ourselves judged righteous in that very God’s eyes, by grace, through faith, for the sake of Jesus Christ. How simple can it get? Well, these last Sundays we’ve spent hearing the implications of what we pray all the time in the Lord’s Prayer. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We’ve been reminded that we’re forgiven so that we may be forgiving ... that we get to practice what we preach ... walk the talk.
So we thank God for that simple reminder for the church and all the baptized so that we can try to keep it simple. Thank God for God the Father’s grace. Thank God for giving us the faith through the Holy Spirit. our Lord Jesus. It’s God’s “new normal” for us ... putting aside that which is past and taking on that which is new, freeing us from the consequences of our past for a future of possibility and promise. And having received the gift with thanks, let’s spend our lives sharing it with all we encounter!
Pastor Lutze
P.S. Please note that we have discontinued our Thursday Morning Table Talks. I don’t think it was a wrong idea; I think it was the time we chose.
[Minutes of the September 20 Congregation Council meeting are not available as of the time of publication of the newsletter. They will be made available in another fashion as soon as they are ready.]