From the Pastor

In some editions of Luther's Small Catechism, we can find a simple pattern for beginning and ending our days in prayer and for placing our entire life, in faith, "under the care of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
In the morning, as soon as you get out of bed, you are to make the sign of the holy cross and say: "Under the care of God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen." Then, kneeling or standing, say the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer. ... After singing a hymn, or whatever else may serve your devotion, you are to go to your work joyfully.
The evening blessing is exactly the same, with one exception: Instead of going to work joyfully, we are to go to sleep "quickly and cheerfully."
There is much, much more to the practice of prayer than seeing to it that God gives us the things we think we need so much. Prayer empowers our discipleship. It strengthens our relationship with the God who loves us, who wants to speak with us and who promises to be with us, our God, forever. In prayer, we turn and return to God in love and trust and, in turning, we find our lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the practice of these simple morning and evening prayers, we bracket our waking hours with a very real return to the event in our past where God claimed us for God’s own — our baptism. These simple prayers, then, become powerful confession by which we announce to ourselves and to the world that the old things have passed away and the new is coming to life as Christ is formed in us.
In prayer, in worship around Word and Sacrament and in study, God is forming us, making us into something, something new and wonderful. In prayer, in worship around Word and Sacrament and in study, God joins us to each other through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am excited to be part of what God is growing from out of this community. I am excited to see how God is transforming us as we meet for prayer, for worship and for study.
Our new year of ministry for the sake of God's world begins in baptism. It begins anew each day when the Spirit calls us to prayer. It is empowered as pray together, worship together, study together. It is my prayer at the beginning of this year, that more and more of us will carve out time to devote to these three events: prayer, worship and study. So that after kneeling together, we may stand together; after worshipping together, we may go out together from the Lord’s table to share the good news of God’s love that overcomes barriers and connects one to many.
God bless our new year of ministry together.
Pastor Jim