Church newsletter pastoral column for St. Peter Lutheran Church, Greene, Iowa, for June, 2018.
Being Church
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
– John 13:34-35
I recently finished reading a book called Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small Town Church by Winn Collier, a pastor at All Souls Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The concept of the book is a Presbyterian pastor writing letters to the congregation he serves. His letters are both encouraging and challenging as year after year, he challenges those in the church to see themselves as the Body of Christ active in the world. Listen to the way he describes who the church is in one of his letters:
As the church, we are the people (whenever we live true to ourselves) who will welcome you into this world, who will join you in marriage and in friendship, who will bless your coming and your going. We will pray for you to prosper and know love’s depths even if you think our prayers are foolish or offered in vain, and we will mourn you when you leave us.
We will bless the land and the nations we share, and we will grieve together through tragedy and heartache. We will celebrate, with you, everything beautiful and good, everything that comes from the hand of mercy. And then, when your days conclude, we will bury you. We will return you to the earth and pray God’s kindness over you. (Love Big, Be Well, page 121)
Isn’t that a beautiful description of our calling as God’s people gathered together? This passage struck me, because it’s easy to get caught up in the immediate challenges of life and ministry together. Certainly the day-to-day details of running a vibrant congregation are important, and I’m incredibly grateful to the leaders on our council and in all our different ministries, as well as my fellow staff members. For our ministry to happen, we need to pay attention to all the details of budgets and attendance and publicity and building maintenance and everything else we do.
But at the core, our congregation of St. Peter Lutheran Church exists to love one another and to love our neighbors. We’re here to share God’s love with the people around us, whether that’s here in Greene, in Iowa, or around the world. We’re here to proclaim the good news of the God who loves each person from before they’re born through death and beyond. Our world needs to hear this message. God has trusted it to us to share with our neighbors.
This summer, I invite you to participate in this community of God’s people, the church. Show up to worship. Help out with a service project. Stay for fellowship. Mourn at funerals. We won’t always live up to God’s calling. I promise, people here (including me) will let you down. We’re all broken people. In this community of broken people, God is present. You belong here. Love big. Be well.
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Daniel Flucke