LAMPLIGHTER Winter 2021
A God-Lived Life by Pastor Joel Leyrer In one of his Christmas sermons Martin Luther speculates how difficult and lonely it must have been for Mary and Joseph on the night they arrived in Bethlehem. Tired, hungry, and in the last hours of a full-term pregnancy, the couple found shelter in a stable because “there was no room for them in the inn.” After describing the forlorn conditions under which Mary and Joseph delivered baby Jesus, Luther goes on to make this application: There are many of you in this congregation who think to yourselves: “If only I had been there! How quick I would have been to help the Baby! I would have washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherds to see the Lord lying in a manger!” Yes, you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time, you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Childish and silly thoughts are these! Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself. The point he makes is clear: Living as a Christian, a little Christ and one who sees Christ in others, we have the privilege of demonstrating what God looks like in how we live our lives. By the time you receive this edition of the Lamplighter we will be half-way through our four-part “God-Lived Life” stewardship initiative. Its purpose is not to call into
question our relationship with Christ or “guilt” us into action; rather it is encouragement to increasingly represent him well in every aspect of our lives. In October we considered the life of being a disciple and what that looks like. In November we considered how we honor Christ through a life lived shrewdly. In January we will consider a life lived for others. In February we will conclude by considering a life of hospitality. The first Sunday of each of these months features a sermon and special video presentation devoted to the four emphases above, followed by a special mailing with suggestions, or “challenges,” on how we can prayerfully carry out this particular aspect of a God-lived life for the rest of the month. How will we receive these challenges? Not as a sterile checklist of “things to do that prove we are Christians.” Rather, they will provide us with a menu of practical guidelines to more intentionally put the words of James 1:22 into practice: “Do not merely listen to the word . . . Do what it says!” And since this stewardship initiative involves our entire family of faith, we will also be an encouragement to each other as, together, we practice a “God-lived life.” May God bless us as we grow in his Word and in our lives of living it!