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Text Box: The Lakes Lutheran Church is a welcoming congregation that nurtures diversity, spiritual growth, faithful service, & community outreach– fulfilling the spiritual & physical needs of all.

 

 

 

 

 

2 Corinthians 3:3-6

…you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  5Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, 6who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

COVENANT PEOPLE

God has given us a new covenant in Christ; let us recommit ourselves to God and to each other.

This month brings us to Good Friday and Easter, “love divine, all loves excelling.” We cannot love or thank God adequately. But as we are able, with the Spirit’s help, we will give ourselves to praising God; we will let God open us to receive the joy of Christ our Savior.

In worship, humbly we come and bow before our loving God, and there the Cup of the New Covenant is given to us to share with each other and with the world. The new covenant is the promise that God has made with us through the blood of Christ, that we are utterly forgiven and welcomed into a brand new relationship with God and with each other. God brings it all together.

Our role is not completely passive. We are like a bird. In flight, it seems the bird is motionless—gliding along on the currents of air. But it cannot fly without holding out its wings and exercising its strength, maintaining its speed. We too cannot get off the ground without opening our arms to God, “the wind beneath our wings.” We cannot get anyplace just letting God do all the work—limp wings won’t hold any air. God has designed and enabled our

Text Box: strength to work with his. The Spirit alerts us, awakens us, activates us, directs us—we’re designed to fly. Speed also keeps the bird in the air, even as an airplane needs to keep above a certain stall speed. Below that speed the airplane has the flight characteristics of a rock. Christians are all disciples, followers of Christ, moving forward with him, serving with him, praying with him. Forward motion in Christ’s direction gives the lift we need in order to fly. In a new mission congregation, every single person helps the congregation get off the ground; without the concerted effort of each person, it just won’t happen. There are so few people that some have to manage several tasks. Our congregation is not new, but we too can get off the ground and take flight when all of us are flapping together. That kind of coordination and energy happen because God is involved. With the help of God, our congregation will get off the ground. God has important work for us to do, and it will take all of us rededicating