Seeing Red!

Yes friends, it's Reformation week! While most of my friends get excited at the end of October because it's Halloween time, I'm the dork that gets excited because the church gets decked out in red and I get to hear about Martin Luther. Again, I'm fully aware that I'm a nerd but I don't really care! :)

And today topped off an amazing weekend! I was shown beyond a doubt that God is present and at work in this congregation in a big way! Last night we had a leadership dinner for the capital campaign that we're starting at the church. It was around 200 leaders in the church gathered and dressed up for dinner, drinks, special speakers, and a chance to be the first ones to put forward our pledges for the new sanctuary and youth space. And it was incredible! The NC bishop spoke which was very enjoyable but the kicker was a family from the congregation. This family had been through the wringer since I've gotten here. The mother found out by chance and very fortunately, that she had a fairly large brain tumor. They operated on it and the sugery was 100% successful and she is making a great recovery. And she and her husband spoke about the experience and what God had been doing in their lives through the church and it was so moving, I can't even explain it. She got up there to speak and God was speaking through her, there was no doubt. It was incredibly moving and even after I had left the event, I spent there in awe of what God is doing in the world, through the church as a whole.

And today was great, it was Lutheran, and it was perfect for a Lutheran geek like me. I love hearing the Romans verse 1:16-17: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." We live by faith, we have life by faith, we are made right with God and can stand blameless before him, without the stain of sin because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. I can never hear that enough! I don't buy my way into heaven by what I can do but by what Jesus has done.

Okay, I'm finished with that for this post but I can't help myself. It's one of those weeks where I have seen and felt and experienced God in so many ways that my heart and soul are overflowing. God is at work in this world still and when I may start to doubt this, I can look back on weekends like this and find hope, faith, and love.