Last year, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s The Freedom of the Christian– a writing responsible for igniting the Reformation as much as the Ninety-Five Theses. Five hundred years later, we find there are multiple ways people in our society understand the word “freedom.”
Of course, as Christians living in the USA, we know that “freedom” is vital to our American identity, too. However, we need to remember, “The American Founders’ idea of individual freedom is not the same freedom offered to us through the humanity of Jesus Christ. What Christ offers us is not freedom FROM others or from our limitations or from the realities of the world, but freedom FOR all these things in the form of self=giving love.” I hope you will join us in adult Sunday School as we explore what Christian freedom means for us today. We will also have occasional sessions on caring for people with dementia with loving freedom.
In confirmation this year, we will explore church history. We will see how century after century, followers of Jesus have often been beautifully clueless Duh!sciples who are “saved by God’s grace,” as we will see in the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.
Finally, in worship, we will see Jesus in a variety of conflict-and-controversy stories from Mark’s Gospel. We will see Jesus clash with his opponents, but even more frequently with his own disciples. Time after time, he patiently retrains them in the Way of Amazing Grace.
Peace be with you all,
Pastor Tim
3131Pastor@gmail.com