Reflections

I came to Christus Victor Lutheran Church looking for a place to share the gifts God gave me to use in ministry. Yet it has been so much more than that. God continued to mold me and continues to form me.

Each day in my walk with Christ I am humbled and encouraged by the people of God.

Our expectations are so small as compared to God’s vision. We each have an equal and essential part in that vision. God has placed each of us in this place, at this time, with our unique gifts to share in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). What is the passion God has placed in your heart?

The possibilities and the potential for mission and ministry at Christus Victor are up to us through the Grace of God.

Individually.

Collectively.

In Communion with the Holy Trinity.

Are we ready? Are we willing?

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one an-other with whatever gift each of you has received. –1 Peter 4:10

Father God, Thank you for the gift of life. Forgive our lack of sight.
Grant us peace and wisdom to follow you through our human doubts.
You have shared with us your only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
Let us embrace Christ as our past, present and future.
Let us embrace the call to serve.
Let us embrace the call to create and conserve.
Let us embrace the call to share the Gospel.
Let us embrace You wholly and completely.
For it is only in You we find Hope, Peace and Purpose.
In our Savior’s Name we pray. Amen.

Sermon for February 8, 2009 on Mark 1:29-39

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How many of you have ever been in a car that has a GPS unit? For those of you who don’t know what they are or have never used one, the GPS unit or Global Positioning System is a little box that sits in your car and tells you which way to go. All you have to do is plug in your starting point and ending point and the GPS will get you there

(Or so they say.)

The first time I ever encountered a GPS was when I was up in North Carolina for my sister’s wedding. Heather and I were riding with my neice, Karen. She was so excited because she just installed the new GPS in her car. She turned it on as we were traveling from the rehearsal back to the hotel. I was enthralled! The voice from the GPS said, “Turn right onto such and such a street,” and Karen did, and off we were. About half way through the trip the GPS said, “Turn left in 200 feet.” Karen went straight. The GPS now said, “Recalibrating… Turn left in 300 feet.” Karen went straight! Now this was starting to drive me crazy. I know that my neice is a strong willed woman but why wasn’t she at least listening to this little box in her car?

Finally, after the fifth recalibration I said, “Karen, do you know where you’re going?”

“Oh yes,” she siad, “I know a much easier route.” Read more…

For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven, a time to break down and a time to build up. –Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

God has truly blessed us here at Christus Victor. We have grown from being a mission outreach of Emmanuel Church in Naples, holding our first service on December 7, 1975 at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Bonita Springs. In December 1976, a church site was selected on US 41. The first service was held in the new church on December 7, 1980. In 1991, under the direction of Pastor Theodore Wendt, planning was begun for a new sanctuary. The theme was, “Stir Us Lord – Stepping out in Faith.” Pastor Thomas J. Slater began his ministry in July 1996 and with love and devotion led us through the planning and construction stages. Ground was broken on March 29, 1998, with the first service in our new sanctuary held on June 6, 1999.

We have walked in Jesus’ way as he led us through the years. It is time again to “Look Upward, Move Forward and Reach Outward” in our faith journey. As God first sent his son, so we must continue to obey Jesus’ command to spread His message of love and forgiveness to all – one another, family friends, neighbors and our community at large. Let us go forward in faith so all may “Live Victoriously.”

We come before you, dear Lord, in thanksgiving and praise for all your blessings. Take our hands and lead us as we step out in faith to do your will. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

As I sit here in this beautiful sanctuary where we worship,  I think about the people that came before me. The members that had the vision to come together and build this church and make it a reality. Maybe there are many of you still here today who took part in that vision. If you are – thank you.

We now have that same opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many people that follow us. Ten or twenty years from now, someone will have shared the same joy we feel now and thank all of us for having the vision to move forward.

As we kick off this campaign, we set the stage for this church to come together with our vision, with our mission and with our dreams, all to do the work as disciples of Jesus Christ.

The morning of Saturday, February 7th was a beautiful morning! Perhaps you were out in Victory Park that morning as well. We were setting up for the February 8th Old-Fashioned Church Picnic the kick-off to the Capital Campaign Fund Drive.

I have seen pictures and heard stories about the church picnic, but I didn’t quite know what to expect when I arrived to help with the picnic preparations. I somewhat felt like I was getting ready for a wedding reception—there was talk of food preparations, canopy set-up, table moving, and chair arranging. Of course the picnic will have a water balloon toss and I have never personally been to a wedding with water balloons, but I can still be surprised!

The wonderful thing about the picnic preparation was the excitement. People were laughing and joking, planning and arranging, and coming with their own unique talent and vision. It was ministry in action!

There was one point in the picnic prep where we had to put up the awe-inspiring, colossal, circus replicating, king canopy. It was a tent! It was a gigantic tent with several poles, numerous connecting pieces, and a very large canvas roof. The slim to nil assembly instructions added to our feeling of discontentment. This tent was a challenge! One of the assemblers noted, “well we’ve been able to assemble the other canopies, so let’s try to do this one.” The tent lay in pieces all over the ground. We looked at each other with tentative expressions and began to wonder if we could succeed. We were called to the task, but were we up to it? Yes! It was now the time to raise that tent!

One by one we stepped up to the challenge and started saying—well I have this piece, what piece do you have… oh I think this piece can be used here, what do you think? When the giant job first grabbed our attention there were four of us trying to do the work. But soon many joined in, coming together, stepping in to help, lending a hand, offering a perspective, and keeping spirits high. Eventually there were 10-12 of us working on the giant task.

But then we discovered a snag in the challenge. There was one too many long connectors and one too few short connectors. What did we do with this challenge? The group came together and with creativity and intentional modifications made the tent work. As one large group we raised the tent top together and put it in place.

This is God’s call to us. We work together with intent. We are called to share Christ that all might live victoriously and we do this by working together in ministry. We all have our talents—some of us have the vision to plan, others to see the connecting pieces, some to instruct, and some to think creatively when there’s a snag in the plan. Now is the time for our energy, enthusiasm, faith, and teamwork to come together so that Christus Victor may spread God’s good news to our community and the world we live in today.