Welcome!
Announcements:
Vacation Bible School:
Mark your calendars now for:
Vacation Bible School 2012
June 25 – 29, 2012
5:30 (Dinner) until 8:00pm.
For children 3 years through 5th grade
Please click here for more information. Registration forms are now available!
For more information about these events, please call the church office: 410-364-5147.
Pastor's Perspective: On Encouragement Through the Gospel
Dear Friends in Christ,
The past few weeks have been difficult ones for our community, as we have mourned together the deaths of two prominent and well-respected men, Alvin Sanger and Taylor Spies, Jr. While neither of these men were members of our St. Paul's congregation, both were members of the larger Cordova community, known and loved by many, and because of this their lives have overlapped with ours in many ways, and we grieve those whom we have lost. One was an older man; one was a young man. One's death was preceded by a prolonged period of illness; the other's death was sudden and unexpected. Both will be missed terribly by friends and family; both will be remembered eternally by God the Father.
It is understandable that our hearts would be heavy in the shadow of these and other losses that we have experienced recently and throughout our lives. And, struggle as we might to find a sense of meaning and purpose in these and other losses, sometimes the clarity of understanding that we seek may elude us and we may be left feeling empty and alone, perhaps even angry. What would it mean to hear an encouraging word from a brother or sister in Christ when we find ourselves in dark days? What words do we speak when no words seem to be sufficient? What would it mean to hear an encouraging word from God, when we may feel that God is anywhere but where we are? We find the following verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Scripture does not give us just one picture of what resurrection life looks like, but many. This passage from 1 Thessalonians gives us one of the more beautiful Biblical images of the resurrection wherein those who have died in Christ and those who are alive in Christ are raised together with Christ into new, resurrection life. What an image, and what a promise! But what do we do until then? Might it be possible to live in the resurrection unity 1 Thessalonians tells about right here and now?
St. Luke writes in the sixth chapter about human relationships, and how we are to tend them. Isn't that what encouragement is? Tending the human relationships God has entrusted to our care? He writes not so much about the relationships we have with those whom we love, but especially about the relationships we have with those whom it is difficult to love.
"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:27-31)
When our hearts are heavy, we are grieving, or when we are struggling to find meaning in our lives, it is possible for us to experience resurrection life here on earth when we allow the light of Christ to shine out from within us by putting the needs of others before our own, doing to them as we would have them do to us. It is amazing what can happen when we move beyond ourselves, and live for others. We can become kinder, more compassionate, more humble, more loving, more forgiving. We can begin to see one another the way God sees us, and we can begin to see the face of God in others. Through Christ, we can be light and life in a world that all too often seems dark and dead, and in so doing, we can receive the light and life of Christ for ourselves to encourage us, to uphold us, to give our lives purpose and meaning.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Emily Hollars Leitzke
