Our Common Life

Pastoral Letter for Easter Season

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Greetings in the name of our crucified and risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is now a little more than one month since we last met together in our sanctuary for worship, prayer and holy communion. Over the course of this month, the Holy Spirit has preserved us in our common life together in Christ. Through Internet connections and applications such as Facebook, YouTube and Zoom we have gathered together around God's Word for worship, teaching and prayer. Through traditional phone and wireless connections we have reached out in fellowship to care for, encourage and comfort one another. Through mail and delivery services or even through gifts we drop at the doorstep, we have reminded each other of the connections we share to each other through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I praise and thank the Lord for you. I praise and thank the Lord for the love you have shared and received from each other in Jesus' name. I praise and thank God that throughout this month, you have worked so diligently and generously to slow the spread, to protect the most vulnerable and to sustain the mission  of Christ, using your many and diverse spiritual gifts in so many new and creative ways. I praise and thank our Lord for you!

Yet now it seems that we will need to patiently persevere in this way for at least another month. Just that realization can be overwhelming and disheartening. So, I write to you today so that you do not lose heart, but instead you might be strengthened in your faith in Jesus and inspired in your love by participating fully in the common life we share. 

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