St. John Lutheran Church

Community Need

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ (Mt. 25:21)

So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'” (Lk. 17:10)

I was reflecting on passages such as those above in preparation for a sermon about the great expectations that God has for us, when I was reminded that this is the same God who commands a day of Sabbath rest.

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. (Ex. 31:15a)

What a great God we have, who calls us through the gospel, empowers us with God’s very presence in the Holy Spirit, and sends us forth in hope that we might be the instruments for the realization of God’s Kingdom in the world today.

But this same God knows that we need rest and time for renewal. We need time to establish relationships with one another in the Body of Christ, and to restore relationships to God through worship and the sacraments. We need the community which the Church is meant to be.

So we work to be the Body of Christ and to build up the body of Christ. And in that work we are united through Christ with one another, in the community of faith. A fundamental need is met in our community. A need for others, not merely neighbors to serve, but brothers and sisters in Christ to grow with. In the best case, we are strengthened by those around us to be the best persons we can be. Those persons around us are those through whom God has chosen to form us.

So, I invite you to pray for your community of faith, in thanksgiving for the blessings and growth which it offers, and for yourself as member, that you might find the community you need in the Body of Christ.

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Rom. 12: 4-5)