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From Pastor Steve
March, 2008 continued..
At our council retreat last year we looked at the empty outline of a picture of the Jesus Good Shepherd and thought about what it means to be the eyes and mouth and ears and hands and feet of Christ. God is the great delegator who for some strange reason has chosen to get good stuff done in the world through the likes of us. We are to be the bright face of God smiling. We are to tell the story of God’s love revealed in Christ. We carry on his ministry of healing and liberation. We are commissioned and empowered and sent to proclaim the good news.We come together to celebrate and practice God’s presence. We come together to be encountered by God’s Word of challenge and promise. That’s the easy part – the fun part. We are transformed in the process. I don’t believe that it is possible to go away from a genuine encounter with God unchanged. If we hear the good news of reconciliation and peace with God that is ever and always proclaimed in this community of Hope we will come to know that we are the living body of Christ in this place and time. Believing that we are known and loved by God who intends to make all things new, we have something wonderful to share. We are sent from being gathered around the Word of Life to share the very thing that we have been given. The name of our church here is “Hope”. Hope is the future revealed and imagined. Hope nourishes and sustains faith. Hope lures us toward the good thing imagined. We have hope – we are hope as we move in the name and the nature of Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Jesus who said:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,” Luke 4:18
And..."All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
And
"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15
Pastor Steve
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