A Living Faith in Christ

31 years ago, I began serving with Pastor Bruss as one of Beautiful Savior's pastors. For the previous 5 years I had served as the sole pastor of Zion Lutheran in Ridgeville Corners, Ohio. Even though I was convinced that accepting the Call to Beautiful Savior was what the Lord was leading me to do, part of me didn't want to leave Zion because I had grown to love the people I had the privilege of serving and I was worried about what life would be like without me being there, not because I was the world's best pastor and no one else could serve them well (if not better) than me, but because there is always a bit of fear of the "What if?" As it turned out, their next pastor was excellent and served them well for several years, as did the next after him.

This weekend's epistle lesson from 1 Thessalonians 1 was written by Paul to a new Christian church in the city of Thessalonica. For the background of Paul being used by the Lord to found the church there, read Acts 17:1-9. There you will read that the new group of believers quickly faced persecution. For Paul who was sent away, you can imagine the worry and concern about what would happen. Would people remain faithful to the risen Lord Jesus or would they walk away from the faith? When he received good reports, Paul was overjoyed. But it wasn't only Paul who had heard about the Thessalonians, but other churches as well. Their example of the faith inspired others.

It's not that they were acting a certain way so others would talk about them. Rather, they were an example of what it looks like when the risen Christ is alive and well among His people through His Spirit. Where Jesus is, the evil one will bring opposition, but the Spirit will work faith, hope, and love.

And that's what He continues to work among us, His people. Even in the midst of significant challenges which some among us are going through, The Lord still holds His people close to Him in His arms of love -- arms once stretched out on a cross for us that we might live in the peace and joy of being the forgiven, redeemed children of God. Pastor Schmidt