NEWSLETTER May 2016
Peace Talk
House of Prayer on Parker and Main May 15th Special Guest Rev. Dr. Jonathan C. Naumann is coming to share the word of God with our congregation on May 15 at both services. He and his wife Cheryl, a Lutheran deaconess, are new LCMS missionaries who will be serving in the Dominican Republic.
From the pastor’s heart: Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Gifts for the Common Good Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, There are so many exciting things happening in our Lutheran community here in Scranton. Besides continuing to shout “He Is Risen! Alleluia!” with conviction of the Easter’s Good News, we are looking forward to welcoming two new pastors (from the Ft. Wayne seminary) into the valley churches within the next couple months. The soon-to-be pastors are John Zimmerman (Immanuel), and Glen Triplett (St. Stephens). They promise to inject new energy and life into our spiritual community. But even as we look forward to this, it is incredibly important to understand that the church is NOT the pastor. The church is the PEOPLE! And we work together in the Holy Spirit with the gifts and talents that He gives us to share the Word of God with all and work for the common good of all (Romans 12). With that preface, Amy Betts and I would ask for your attention over the next few weeks. We will be working hard to introduce what might be new to some of us: the process of discerning and developing our Spiritual Gifts. Then we will consider how we can use them (and our natural talents) in the service of God and His church. This fits in perfectly with the upcoming celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost on May 5th.
is an important and prayerful task that we do in the shadow of the cross and empty tomb. It is important to each of God’s children individually to grow in their gifts and God’s purpose for them. It is also important for the working out of salvation in our congregation as a whole. Nurturing our Spiritual Gifts gets to the root of the problem that members often have - not knowing how we can best serve God in the congregation. We would like to think that we are important in some way, but we often don’t know how, or think we There are different kinds of gifts, are unqualified. but the same Spirit. 5 There are As I have encouraged different kinds of service, but everyone in the past: you the same Lord. 6 There are can always contribute in different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them as many ways as you like in the congregation, but in all men. - 1Cor. 12:4 as your pastor, I try to encourage you to be active in at least ONE way (besides every Sunday worship.) This is a minimal expectation and everyone needs to understand this to be a glad privilege. We do praise God that we have a respectable ministry participation rate in our congregation, but . . . there is always vast room for improvement. Our present task is to assess our gifts and then assign the work of the congregation according to those gifts. We want each congregational member to participate in the ministry of the congregation in the way he/she is most gifted and in the way they will naturally enjoy! But we promise we will try to make this worth while process as painless as possible. We pray that you will find it a great blessing and a powerful witness to the Lord and His salvation he has won for us. Grace and Peace and Blessing and Power be unto us.
By all human measures, this is not an easy task. The devil and our fallen nature will throw up all kinds of obstacles. But it
Pastor Bjornstad