Photo of the Day

Howdy, pardner... please keep this cowpoke (Scott Canfield) in your prayers as he continues to undergo a difficult cancer treatment this month.

...to become joyful servants like Jesus...

As we approach our 30^th anniversary as a congregation, we take time to focus on our vocation, our calling from God, to be a people formed, nurtured, and sent by God’s word and sacraments, by a great and gracious love that comes to transform our lives...into the fullness of the character of Christ.

Prayer of the Day

God of all peoples, your invitation to life seeks to transform us, through the guidance, coaching, and power of your Spirit, into the living image of your love and life in Jesus.  Open our hearts and minds to say “Yes!” to all you desire for each one of us, through Christ our Lord.

The First Reading:  Leviticus 19:1-18 (New Living Translation)

From the beginning we were made to re-present the image and character of our Creator.  The God who made us will not give up until we reach that goal...by God’s guidance and power.

The LORD also said to Moses, ² “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

³ “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the LORD your God.

⁴ “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God. ... 

⁹ “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. ¹⁰ It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God.

¹¹ “Do not steal.

“Do not deceive or cheat one another.

¹² “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the LORD.

¹³ “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.

¹⁴ “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the LORD.

¹⁵ “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.

¹⁶ “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.

“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the LORD.

¹⁷ “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

¹⁸ “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

The Second Reading:  Ephesians 4:11-16 (New Living Translation)

Paul sees the church becoming Jesus’ eyes & ears, feet & voice, his hands & heart.  We all have important work to do, equipping and building each other up, encouraging one another to grow into the “full and complete standard of Christ.”  It’s a place of strength, truth, character, and love.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

The Gospel:  John 14:12-13, 25-26; 15:12-17; 17:18-23  (New Revised Standard Version)

John’s “Farewell Discourse” is a collection of thoughts that Jesus leaves with his disciples before going to the cross.  They express the desire of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit about what they are working to help us become.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ...

²⁵ "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ...

¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. ...

And finally in his prayer to the Father:

¹⁸ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰ "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

Photo of the Day

Matching dollies!  JSLC kids are cute.  And then they get big.  But they're still cute.

further thoughts on "inviting all"

I have no idea who these people are.

I am sure there are some among you who do, since this photo comes from Scott Canfield's vast collection of JSLC memories.  (Nothing says archival abundance like over 3000+ old photos now lodged on my hard drive.)  I am posting this not just to figure out who these people might be, however, but to make a point.  A point about inviting.

A congregation is an ever-adapting organism.  People come and go as they grow up and find work, move through new phases in life, meet soon-to-be-loved ones and experience conflict (we are human, after all).  We are all one body in Christ, but the changing circumstances of life mean that any one congregational component of this body will look different over time.

This observation should not diminish the importance of creating a congregational environment where all can grow and prosper.  I would love to see all of you stick around for the next 30 years.  I'd love to stick around for the next 30 years.  I hope to see some of my beloved youth group kids raise their children here.  We need to put in the hard graft to ensure that we attend to our relationships.

Also, however, we need to invite.  We need a constant infusion of new vitality if we want to see this congregation prosper.  That means being not only a welcoming place, as P/T pointed out on Sunday, but actively going out and inviting others into fellowship -- truly living out the Great Commission that Jesus so expressly commands us to follow.

How did you get here?  In our case, we were looking for an ELCA congregation and we found JSLC on the Web.  We attended a couple Sundays and we met a number of people, including the Luedtkes and Marlys Morland.  I recall Marlys being astounded when Geoff remembered her name the second week she came over to share the peace -- my great-aunt is also a Marlys, so it had stuck in his mind.  P/T came over to our house to visit.  Ron and Kathy Taylor took us out for pizza at Abby's.  That first Christmas season Beth Randolph invited me to be a reader for some choir visits to area retirement homes.  In short, we experienced great welcome and we experienced invitations to fellowship and greater involvement in the congregation.

And here I am, eight years later, pontificating.  (Now you know who to blame.)

What is your story?  How might you contribute to someone else's?  How can we live out our mission of "inviting all" to share in God's grace? -- LG

Photo of the Day

Pancakes, anyone?

Inviting all...

Take a moment to read once again through today's lessons (below).  “Inviting all...” involves being a welcoming place, but it’s more than that.  Welcoming is a vital, but passive response.  Inviting is more active.  Inviting says we have something to share, something important that you would benefit from, that we are happy and excited to share with you.

Jesus calls us to invite others -- and to invite everyone, from "people like us" to people who may pose a challenge for us.  This can be a challenge.  As Charlie Brown put it well, "I love humanity... it's people I can't stand."  It's clear, however, that Jesus wants us to reach out.  And it's safe to say Jesus' plan for us will bring hope and joy to all of us.  We all are loved... no matter what.

How might we become better "inviters"?  Thoughts?  Please share!

As we approach our 30^th anniversary as a congregation, we take time to focus on our vocation, our calling from God, to be a people formed, nurtured, and sent by God’s word and sacraments, by a great and gracious love that cannot be kept to ourselves.

Prayer of the Day

God of all peoples, your invitation to life reaches out through the people you have called to be your own. May your Spirit empower our words and our witness as we share the stories of your love and life in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

The First Reading:  Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NLT)

God’s people stood on the bank of the Jordan river, ready enter the Promised Land and open a new chapter in their life together.  They had choices to make about how this chapter would unfold.  As a congregation of people who gather around Jesus, in this time of transition, we also have choices to make.  How will we choose to answer the invitation?

“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach. ¹² It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ ¹³ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ ¹⁴ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

¹⁵ “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. ¹⁶ For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

¹⁷ “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, ¹⁸ then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

¹⁹ “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! ²⁰ You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The Second Reading:  Colossians 4:2-6 (NIV2011)

Paul was passionate about proclaiming “the mystery of Christ.”  Not everyone was anxious to hear it, and that’s still the case today.  But he calls us to pray and prepare to continue clearly and graciously offering the good news about Jesus with every opportunity.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³ And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴ Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

The Gospel:  Matthew 28:16-20 (NRSV)

Jesus commissions his disciples, inviting them into the next chapter of their lives.  It’s an invitation, a call, and a command that stands before us still today.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." 

Photo of the Day

We're counting down to our 30th anniversary!  We'll focus this month upon the Biblical foundations that underpin our congregational mission statement, but no anniversary celebration would be complete without photos.  In honor of our 2013 graduates, how 'bout a little something from 2001?  We love you, Hannah Tokstad... and you're always in our hearts, Casey Binkerd.