Pastor Erik--August 2008

We’ve shortened our service and moved downstairs for the hot days of July and August—and we’re encouraging our community to feel free to dress comfortably (yes, shorts in church!). Since our regular worship service is shorter this summer, we are offering several other worshipful activity options that people can do before the service, after the service, and during the week. We are calling this “Open Space”—a time to open some space in your life and your heart to experience God and to remember that we don’t just worship God an hour on Sunday mornings, but in many ways and with our whole lives. You are free to choose any of the options, try several, or spend the time in whatever way is most meaningful and helpful for you. The weeks options are available on our website, follow the “Open Space” link at www.BethlehemSpokane.org.

I know that many of you are asking, where on earth does Pastor Erik come up with these crazy ideas that he keeps trying out on us? Most of them (particularly the ones that seem to flop) come out of my own warped imagination. This idea, however, has some interesting roots that I thought I’d share.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been reading and keeping up on a movement in Christianity that has various names, most typically it is referred to as some variation on the “emerging church” or “emergent church” (I happen to like “emerging missional church”). While its hard to pin down exactly what this movement looks like or what it is all about (it’s very postmodern that way) these experimental worshiping communities are finding that the things that they are up to are really resonating with people in their 20s and 30s—the group that is largely absent from churches world wide. And the appeal is not what you might think—gone are rock bands, big screens, and stadium style worship entertainment events. The emerging missional movement is all about authenticity—in worship, in community, in discipleship and it goes about renewing the life of the church by going deeper into our roots. Small groups of Christians throughout the world are reclaiming some of the traditions and rituals of the Christian faith and re-appropriating them to speak in new ways in our context. They are finding small groups with which to gather and pray, to experience God in worship and service, to grow disciples of Jesus and make a difference in the world—and they are doing this more often in places like coffee shops and bars than in sanctuaries. The Community of Taizé is one such example of this, and there are communities cropping up around the world that are seeking to “be church” in new (and yet ancient) ways. The idea for “open space” worship I stole from one of these communities, The Church of the Apostles in Seattle, of which my brother is a member.

The reason I’m encouraging this experiment with us is not to be “hip and trendy” and figure out if we can “attract” more people (in their 20s and 30s or otherwise). In fact, one of the main tenets of the “emerging missional church” is getting away from the “attractional” model of outreach—authentic community is the model instead. As I’ve been reading about and experiencing the worship of these “emergent missional communities,” I’ve seen some real parallels to the sorts of things we have been talking about in Transformation, as well as some deep connections to our Lutheran roots and theology—and things we already do as Lutheran Christians.

Every worship at Bethlehem is meant to help those who are a part of it to encounter God and their neighbor. The entire service is shaped around the Bible lessons of the day and the sacraments of Baptism and Communion—the sermon, hymns, prayers, and the entire liturgy itself is planned and shaped to help all of us experience God through these “means of grace,” that is to say these ways that God communicates to us. Worship in “emerging missional communities” is reclaiming this element of worship that has often been neglected in many Christian communities—both in its “traditional” and “contemporary” forms. The “emerging missional communities” are rediscovering something that we have known all along—that worship is more than just going through the motions of liturgy and it’s more than just a few praise songs and a long sermon. Instead it’s about encountering and being transformed by God revealed to us in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

I hope in the next few weeks that you will try out some of these “unusual” worship elements that are part of this “Open Space” experiment. They are designed to stretch us into thinking about and experiencing worship in new ways and to help bridge the artificial gap between church and “real life.” I’m also really hoping for some feedback—both positive and negative. One of the challenges of many “emerging missional communities” is that they struggle with being intergenerational, the sorts of things that really connect with the younger folks don’t always with the older folks. But my theory is that these experiments are tapping into something deeper than just what’s “hot” at the moment—and I think there’s that multi-generation churches like ours could add something important to this movement. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on new elements to try. And thanks for being such gracious guinea pigs!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--July 2008

Loving our Neighbors

One day, Jesus was being questioned by some religious folks who wanted to know what the most important commandment of God was. Perhaps they thought they were so religious, so holy, so good at keeping laws that they would surely be found to be keeping whatever this most important commandment was. Jesus’ response was: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) That particular answer didn’t go over so well.

The problem for us when we are confronted by God’s commandments, is that we pretty much never measure up. I love the Lord my God, but do I really do it with ALL my heart, and ALL my soul, and ALL my mind? ALL the time? No way. And is it even possible for me to care as much for my neighbors as I do for myself? Would I really sacrifice my own money, or food, or shelter for the guy living next door to me? Or would I expect him to face life on his own? If these are really the greatest commandments of God, I for one am in big trouble.

We expect this as Lutheran Christians, I think. We know that we are saved by God’s grace through trusting faith—and know that when we fail to live up to God’s expectations, that God will love us anyway. But we also know, as Lutheran Christians, that because we are loved by God and don’t HAVE to do anything, that we become free to fulfill those dreams that God has for us. Imagine, for a moment, if all of us could actually love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves—wouldn’t life on earth be pretty amazing? No more poverty, war, violence, self-centeredness. Even though we know that the world is more complicated than that and that we’ll never make that happen, doesn’t that sound a lot like what God wants for us and for all humanity?

But hold on for a second if you think I’m suggesting we set up some sort of religious-hippy commune where we are all happy and high on God—because I’m not. But what is our life together if not living together in a community shaped by Christ, in which we worship, pray, eat, serve and seek to live more fully into God dream (even if it never quite appears in it’s fullest form)? And, according to Jesus, this dream that God has is never just about us and God, but always includes our neighbors near and far—in fact, the whole of creation.

So, how are we doing on this “love your neighbor” stuff? Our Guiding Principles might help us here. I’ve been impressed, again and again, at how well we live into our principle “Everyone is welcome.” The way in which the people of Bethlehem reach out to and interact with visitors and new folks is inspiring—and I keep hearing talk of how we can make this place more welcoming to visitors and make clear that the hospitality we offer comes from God’s hospitality. This hospitality and welcoming presence is an amazing gift that God has given to us, and we use it to share the love of God and bring people into the community we share with one another in Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful witness of God to all who worship with us.

We’ve got another Guiding Principle, however, that we don’t live out as fully as we might: “We are called to work in God’s world.” We do, however, recognize this call, even when we aren’t fully living out what that call is. And it’s not as if we don’t try—but so often it’s hard to know just what our calling in the world is meant to be. As a community, we’ve recognized this as one of our growing edges—the place in which God is calling us to grow into that dream God has for us. And it’s strongly connected to this whole idea of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

But how, exactly, do we get there? As I’ve been thinking about this particular Guiding Principle, and this command to love our neighbors, I was struck with a question: “How am I supposed to LOVE my neighbor, if I don’t even KNOW my neighbor?” How many of us know the people who live in the houses immediately around ours? How many of us have shared a meal with those folks? And how about our church neighbors? Do you know the names of the folks we can see from our windows on Sunday morning? I don’t. And we certainly haven’t eaten with them.

But God has given us some great opportunities to get to know our neighbors. This summer, there are several events in which there is a good chance that our neighbors will be around and we will get the chance to get to know them: the neighborhood BBQ we are hosting on July 12^th and the Outdoor Movie Nights in July and August (see the schedule elsewhere in this newsletter). While these events are fun, what if we were to see them as more than a fun way to spend the evening (or stay away because it’s not what we think is a good time)? What if instead we saw these events (and the people who come) as gifts that God is giving us so that we can get to know our neighbors and neighborhood better? We’ve got lots of practice on Sunday morning during coffee hour getting to know and sharing stories with the new people who come our way. What if we were to do the same with the folks who might wander into our BBQ and movie nights? Surely through our neighbors we will get a fuller picture of what God is up to in our neighborhood, and might just get clued into the ways in which we might be “called to work in God’s world.” I hope you will come this summer to get to know our neighbors.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--June 2008

At the Synod Assembly last month I attended a workshop on evangelism by Pastor Michael Nel. This was quite possibly one of the most interesting, informative, and useful hours I have ever spent. Pastor Nel’s main point was that when churches do evangelism, it’s all about anxiety—and this is not a good thing.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Of course evangelism is about anxiety! What could cause more anxiety than telling me I have to go up to complete strangers and try to convince them to believe in Jesus?” And, while its true that talk of evangelism is enough to raise most Christians’ blood pressure—this isn’t the sort of anxiety that Pastor Nel was talking about (and this also isn’t the sort of evangelism he was talking about either).

Pastor Nel talked about anxiety not in individuals, but in a church as a whole. When things are going well, he said, most churches go through life quite happy to avoid evangelism. But when things start to look grim—worship attendance slips, offerings are down, it’s hard to find people for leadership positions—the church gets anxious. When this happens, someone is sure to pipe up with “You know what we need? An evangelism campaign!” And everyone agrees, more people, more money, and some new blood in leadership could do us wonders. And so a church sets out to spread the Good News and attract some new folks. This, says Nel, is exactly the WORST way to do evangelism, because we do it out of anxiety—and on top of that, it just plain doesn’t work.

Here’s why. When we do evangelism in this way, the message we are spreading is really not the Good News of Jesus Christ. It’s something more along the lines of “We are really anxious that our church is having trouble. Wouldn’t you like to come join us, do some work, pay some money, and help us feel better about ourselves? Then our lives will be so much easier and we won’t have to worry about our church going under.” But who wants to come and be a part of a church that is so anxious that it’s out recruiting other people to solve its problems? No wonder “evangelism” as we usually conceive it is so terrifying—if we don’t recruit some more people to save us, our very survival is at stake. And in reality, this so-called evangelism has nearly nothing to do with God and everything to do with us, our needs and wants.

So what’s the alternative? Pastor Nel redefines evangelism away from “convince people to believe in Jesus” and even “convince (or attract) people to come join our church.” Instead, he says evangelism is “The process of defining oneself as a Christian to the world around one.” In other words, letting the world know you are a Christian—and telling the story of what God is up to in your life in public. What people do with this information is their own business. Of course, we hope and pray that God will stir up a desire for faith, perhaps even that they will want to come and see what’s going on at our church—but in reality the call to evangelize is not to “recruit” but simply to bear witness to what God is up to in our lives. It’s about planting seeds and trusting that God will nurture them into plants that bear fruit.

So then, what does this mean for us? This is an exciting time in the life of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Ministry is flourishing, the Holy Spirit is loose among us, Transformation is growing deep and spreading throughout our congregation, hope is alive and well, and people are daring to dream about the future of Bethlehem Lutheran in God’s mission in the world. On Pentecost Sunday we celebrated all the things that the Holy Spirit has been doing in our midst, ending with a list of miracles shouted out by the congregation (you can listen to the podcast on our website if you missed it). There is much to tell about what God has been up to among us!


And it would be easy to just sit back and soak it all in—to coast for a while thinking everything is OK. But now is exactly the time that we should be thinking about evangelism and about connecting what God has been doing among us to what God is up to in our neighborhood and beyond. So in the next several months don’t be surprised to be hearing more about how we can live into our guiding principle “We are called to work in God’s world” through Global Mission, through service locally, through reconnecting to our neighborhood and getting to know our neighbors—not so we can recruit them to bail us out, but so that we can share the hope, the joy, and the love of God we have experienced and also receive new gifts, new passions, and new challenges. God has done way too much at Bethlehem Lutheran for us to keep it for ourselves. We are called to share, to bear witness, to be messengers of God’s love for the sake of the world. And so, here we go…

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--May 2008

A few weeks ago I was part of something called the “First Call Theological Education Summit” at the ELCA Churchwide offices in Chicago. When I get invited to things such as this where I get to work with the other expressions of this church (the three expressions being: congregation, synod, churchwide) I usually try to take them up on their offer. I always come away having learned something more about what God is up to in the ELCA, hear exciting stories of mission and ministry from around the country, and come away inspired with something to bring back to our work here together. This trip was no exception.

The purpose of this “summit” (a fancy word for conference I think) was to talk about best practices for “First Call Theological Education” as well as what makes a healthy and supportive “First Call Congregation.” First Call Theological Education is a mandatory three year process that all pastors coming out of seminary participate in (including me). Just what is looks like varies from synod to synod and region to region. First Call Congregations are congregations (such as ours) who have called a pastor in their first call out of seminary. This event brought together those who plan First Call Theological Education, some of us who are participating in it (that’s why I was invited), as well as lay leaders and pastors from some First Call Congregations. Central to the conference was the presentation (in various forms) of the results of a research project the ELCA has undertaken (funded by the Lilly Foundation). First Call Congregations from around the country who were identified as “exemplary” were studied to find out just what are the things that make for successful First Calls—for the pastor and for the congregation.

As they were sharing the results and stories that came out of these exemplary First Call congregations, I kept thinking to myself “Man, Bethlehem should have been part of this!” When it came time to report the themes that the researchers found in these congregations, I realized why. Here are the themes that this research found make for a healthy and supportive First Call Congregation:

• Nurturing: welcoming and supportive of their new pastor (including forgiving the pastor’s mistakes!, and creating a community of care for one another

• Connected: to each other, to their past, across generations, to the local community, to synod and churchwide

• Flexible: having deep, connected roots allowing for building on the strengths of the past while holding an attitude of openness and flexibility

• Strong Lay Leadership: committed, faithful lay leaders who are called to ministries in the congregation and the world (including those that have traditionally been “the pastor’s job”)

• Spiritually Practiced: centered on prayer, reading the Bible together, care for one another and those in need, mentoring and supportive of youth, practicing hospitality

I realized that these are the very traits that lie at the heart of what this community is all about, and they are all things that God has been bringing even more to the surface through our Transformation process. Having been built up in all of these areas over the past few years, we are now in a period of vibrant ministry in which God is using us in new and different ways. It’s exciting to imagine what God has in mind for us, and how these strengths of our community will be called forth for work in the world. Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--April 2008

Last month I wrote about our Guiding Principles, and how I wasn’t going to tell you just how we are supposed to use them. I know this was less than satisfying for many of you, who are still trying to wrap your heads around these six statements and what they mean. I’m with you. It’s not clear how God is going to continue to transform us through these statements. But…I’ve got another example to share—one that took place even before these guiding principles were put to paper (or bulletin, or business card, or giant full color poster, or T-shirt). And once again, it has to do with our doors.

Back in September, I wrote about how I saw in the process of replacing our front doors what I thought would be one of our Guiding Principles—the principle that came out “Everyone is Welcome”. Well, now it’s clear to me that God had us using all of our Guiding Principles in that process—even though we didn’t consciously know what they were yet. And here’s how:

1)Jesus is Lord and Savior. Conversations about our broken doors and whether we thought they ought to be repaired (again) or replaced have been going on around here for years. Some people wanted new doors, some people didn’t think we needed them. Hours and hours were spent in council meetings on whose opinion should win, but nobody wanted to hurt anybodies feelings, and so nothing ever seemed to happen. That is until the conversation started to move away from “what do we want/need/think is best” and towards “What is God calling us to do?” Jesus—not me, the council, or even the congregation—is Lord, and when we started to think in this way it lead to…

2) Everyone is Welcome. When we started to think about what God is calling us to do and be, and how we proclaim (or don’t proclaim) Jesus to the world it quickly became clear that we believe “Everyone is Welcome” but our old, clunky, broken doors were communicating “Everyone Stay Out!” In a clear use of our emerging Guiding Principle, the old doors were quickly gone, funds raised, and new ones installed—not because somebody wanted it and they one, but because we together saw how we weren’t living up to something very central to us, and were communicating to the world exactly the opposite of what God was calling us to.

3) Love Changes People. Though the process to replace the doors happened quickly, there continued to be different opinions on whether this was the right move or the right time. Rather than pushing for their way, those who felt called to lead us into getting new doors helped us gently see the possibility of change, loving us into a new future. It was actually the kids who got most excited about this, each week they pasted a picture of one sort of door we might want to get onto the old doors. Little by little the dream began to spread, lovingly rather than by force, and pretty soon the congregation was alive with talk of the vision of new doors. Rather than conflict, I heard those with objections being heard, their opinions valued and listened to, and instead of being the “loosers” were part of the process, whether they every thought replacing the doors was a good idea or not.

4) We are Called to Work in God’s World One of the best reasons against the doors that was raised was “wouldn’t this money be better spent in helping the needy?” If we believe “we are called to work in God’s world” we should always ask this question—and carefully weigh our decision. As the people of God we should not simply think of ourselves, our own needs and wants, but should always be mindful of our role in the world and the plight of those who struggle to survive. But rather than a selfish “we want our church to look pretty” decision, in the end the motivation for the new doors was welcoming those outside our community, done not for us, but for others—following God’s call to hospitality.

5) God Uses Ordinary People Like Us. Though the council had gone back and forth about the old doors, this transformation happened not because of a council decision, but because ordinary people felt called to lead, and to hold us to our Guiding Principle “Everyone is Welcome”. The official vote came long after the vision had been stirred, a good portion of money raised, and real excitement built over this transformation. And though there were a few people who contributed a large amount of money, each of us who put even a few dollars into the plate for the doors helped to make this happen. In small and large ways God used us to make this transformation happen, a visible sign to us and to all who enter that God is at work at Bethlehem—that we are being transformed from the inside out. And through something as simple as some new doors.

6) God Shows the Way. In the end, the success of our new doors had little to do with our efforts, our casting of the vision, or anything else that we did. Instead, because we took the time to listen to God, to pray and dream about what God might want us to do and the sort of church God wants us to be, God lead us into transformation. And through this process we got a taste of what it looks like to engage in transformational ministry, to use our Guiding Principles (even if we didn’t know it at the time), and to follow God’s lead.

Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--March 2008

At our annual meeting at the end of January, our congregation adopted these Guiding Principles:

• Jesus is Lord and Savior
• Everyone is welcome
• Love changes people
• We are called to work in God's world
• God uses ordinary people like us
• God shows the way

These six statements represent those things that are most central to our life together as followers of Jesus in this place. They came from months of Bible study, prayer, and conversation by many people in our congregation. As God continues the work of transformation among us, these principles will help us make decisions, help engage us in mission, and help draw us more fully into God's dream for us.

In the past month, many people have asked “Just how are these Guiding Principles supposed to work?” It's a great question to ask, because if we just agree that these statements sound good, adopt them, but never put them to use they really won't impact us. If they are really going to serve as guides, we will need to seek to use them at every opportunity. Part of our task of the next several months is figuring out together just how these Guiding Principles will guide us. What sort of changes will we need to make together? What sort of callings might we take up (or put down!) because of them? How will we continue to check the principles themselves against God's Word and what we believe God is calling us to do and to be? Its up to every one of us to help our congregation claim these Guiding Principles and figure out how to live them out more fully and in new ways.

“So, pastor,” you might be saying to yourself, “what you're saying is you're pretty much not going to tell us how Guiding Principles are supposed to work.” And I suppose that's true, but not just because I want to be difficult. There are several reasons that our use of Guiding Principles can't just be laid out by me and followed by everyone else. The first reason is that they aren't just my Guiding Principles, or the Guiding Principles of the Transformation Team or the Church Council—they are our Guiding Principles. Another reason is that a big part of using them comes from the process of figuring out how we are going to use them, together, as a community of faith—to guide our life together as a congregation, to guide each of us as we seek to follow Jesus, and to guide our interactions with the community outside our walls. But the main reason I'm not going to just tell you all how we're going to use the Guiding Principles is that I actually don't know how they are going to work on us, or just what God has in store for us as we seek to live them out. But I'm excited see!

Over the next several months there will be many opportunities for us to use, think about, and apply our Guiding Principles, both in hypothetical situations and in the real life decisions we make together. And we should be prepared for God to transform us through them—and in ways we can't even imagine. To illustrate, I'll share a story from another Transformation congregation much like ours in Phoenix, Arizona: Alleluia Lutheran Church. They adopted a set of Guiding Principles (which are actually quite similar to ours) and they decided to propose a hypothetical situation to the congregation as a way to help people see how they might work. “Suppose,” they said “the City of Phoenix was looking for a solution to help homeless people find shelter on the coldest days and they asked our congregation if we would be willing to share our facilities to help.” Instead of pitting it as an argument between one side that thinks this is a good idea, and one side that thinks its a bad idea, they used their Guiding Principles, asking “If we were to take these principles seriously what sort of decision would we make?” When they used their Guiding Principles (Jesus is Lord, God welcomes everyone, Everything we have belongs to God, Everyone is on God's team, and Everyone needs a neighbor like us) they decided that choosing to help with the homeless project would be more in line with their principles (and closer to God's dream for them) than deciding not to. “God's welcome really is for everyone, including the homeless,” they decided, “and since our stuff is really God's stuff and we are part of God's team, we should share what we have with them—and doing so is being the sort of neighbor we would like to have.” If this sort of proposal were in front of them, they said, they would participate.

Well wouldn't you know it, that very same week—completely out of the blue—they got a letter from the Mayor of Phoenix asking if they would be interested in participating in a program very much like their hypothetical one. Who would have thought! It seems as though God was calling them to be serious about their Guiding Principles! Through their Guiding Principles God has continued to challenge them and is transforming them from a dying little Lutheran congregation, into a thriving, relevant, disciple-making community of faith. I look forward to see what God is planning for us as well!

To learn more about our Guiding Principles, the process we went though to develop them, and more about Transformation in general (including a link to Alleluia Lutheran Church) click on the “Transformation” link at www.BethlehemSpokane.org.

Pastor Erik--February 2008

It's hard to believe that its time to start thinking about Lent already.

As I write this, my Christmas lights still hang on my house (no matter what I claimed I would be up to on Epiphany Sunday afternoon!) and a heavy blanket of snow which fell yesterday makes it hard to imagine spring as anything close to right around the corner. Nevertheless, Ash Wednesday is on February 3rd this year, one day later than the earliest it can possibly be—in fact the earliest it will be until the year 2160. The system for choosing the date for Easter is unbelievably complicated and has to do with the phases of the moon, the vernal equinox, and a 2000 year debate over which calendar one is meant to use. Suffice it to say, Easter comes 40 days after Ash Wednesday and it always falls (for Christians in the West) between March 22 and April 25th (inclusive). Sundays during Lent are not counted in the 40 days, because while Lent is meant to be a time of prayer, fasting, and preparation for the celebration of Christ's resurrection, every single Sunday is a “little Easter” when we gather together to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Sundays are times to celebrate and feast—no fasting allowed! I have to admit, as interesting as it may be to ponder church church calendar, our family calendar this month is dominated by another date—February 16th—the day Tauni is due to give birth to our second daughter. The Bethlehem church council has voted to give me some leave to be with my family during this important time and so our Lenten time together this year will be a bit different. For two weeks following the baby's birth I will be on paternity leave. On Sundays during those two weeks we will be having “Hymn Sing” services where we will sing our congregation's favorite hymns (and there are many!) from the lists you all have submitted in the last several weeks. I have to admit, I'm disappointed that I will miss these. If you have an emergency and need pastoral care during these two weeks, call the church cell phone number (252-0445) which will be forwarded to a local Lutheran pastor who will be filling in during my absence. After that, for four weeks I'll be preaching and leading adult education on Sundays, I'll be in the office on Tuesdays from 9:30-12:30, but otherwise working half time from home. I'll check messages and email and will have my cell phone back in case of emergencies. Our Wednesday night Akaloo education program with our other 6 cluster churches is on hold for Lent (we start back again March 25th). On Ash Wednesday we will use a service that combines the Ash Wednesday ritual from our new hymnal together with Taizé prayer. Throughout Lent we will continue our Bethlehem tradition of Wednesday night soup suppers (6:15pm) and will be joining together in Holden Evening Prayer (7:00pm) led by our some of our congregation's many gifted singers. There will be no soup supper or service on the Wednesday before Easter (March 19th), but we will be celebrating a full Passover Seder Supper on Maundy Thursday (March 20, 6:30pm) as we did last year to much acclaim. Good Friday (March 21, 7pm) will again be Taizé prayer, there will be no Easter Vigil this year, and Easter Sunday we will worship at 10:30am. As we welcome another child into our family Tauni and I appreciate Bethlehem's willingness to give me a bit of time away from our church family. Please pray for us as we enter this new journey—and may God be with you on your Lenten journey.

Pastor Erik

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Bethlehem Lutheran Church's Guiding Principles (Passed at the Annual Meeting January 27th 2008)

• Jesus is Lord and Savior
• Everyone is welcome
• Love changes people
• We are called to work in God’s world
• God uses ordinary people like us
• God shows the way