“Wait for the Lord, whose day is near. Wait for the Lord: be strong, take heart!” (ELW, 262)
This December, we celebrate the season of Advent. From now until Christmas, we wait for our Lord, Jesus Christ, to come to us. We wait for our God to come incarnate as baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We wait for Jesus to come to our hearts and minds daily. We wait for Jesus to come again to judge the living and the dead in all of his glory.
“The Holy Spirit call us together as the people of God.” (ELW, 92)
The very first action of every worship is that the Holy Spirit draws people together. God is the initial actor in our worship.
We do not just go to church. We do not invite ourselves to worship. We do not create a worship experience. We do not drive to the church.
October is one of my favorite months because we get to celebrate Reformation Day. Did you know that we celebrate Halloween and the birth of the Lutheran Church on the same day? On October 31st, in the year 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses concerning indulgences in the Catholic Church. At one time, all people in Europe were a part of the Roman Catholic Church. Even Martin Luther was a monk and a preacher in the Catholic Church.
A few years ago, I was invited to preach at the congregation where I grew up. They were celebrating their 60th anniversary as a congregation that year. As part of that, they invited those who had graduated from high school in the past 15 years or so and are currently involved in some kind of ministry to come back and share with the congregation how our involvement with the various ministries of the congregation leads us to lives of service.
This is the way we greet each other on Easter Sunday and on the Sundays during the Easter season. This greeting connects us to Christians over the millennia since Jesus’ death and resurrection, reminding us of the surprise and joy that Christians will always experience at that thought.
It’s easy to understand why the early Christians were absolutely astounded that, hope against hope, their Lord, Savior, and friend was ALIVE!