A Letter of Thanksgiving and Encouragement

Blessings to each and all of you, the saints who gather and worship our Lord Jesus Christ at St. James Lutheran Church.
          

I, a servant of Jesus Christ and your shepherd, thank God every time that I think of you.  God has done a lot for you all, especially in the past few years.

You must know the deep appreciation that I am very thankful for your response to God’s call to further support the ministry God is doing through you here. For it shows that you understand greatly the resurrection life; that God is not done, but in fact is only just starting a new beginning here among you all.

Have you not noticed?  Have you not been aware?  Behold, visitors and many new siblings in Christ to our community who have joined you/us in worship, in our lives, in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who loves us, gives us grace, and holds us tight in embrace!  Why?  Because you have made the love of God known to them, and to those they know, and so on forth.

As I serve you, I know God has so much more planned for you. Believe! Trust! that God has more in store than what we simply see right now, for that is the labor of having faith!  Abraham believed in God’s promise of descendants.  Jacob believed in the promise of a new identity.  Joseph believed in God’s goodness beyond enslavement, prison, and famine.  Moses and God’s people believed in freedom and an exclusive relationship.  And many more.

And in Jesus, we were shown how God believed, God showed faith that we would/could desire the goodness of all through he who gave himself for us! Taking up his cross, Jesus displayed this faithfulness of God for all to experience God’s steadfast love that knows no bounds and could not even be contained by the grave! And when he rose into heaven, he charged the disciples, and so us too their spiritual descendants, with being witnesses to God’s love, grace, and embrace in the world until he returns!

So, I give thanks and praise to God for the witnessing you have done, the witnessing you are doing, and the witnessing you will do! Keep the faith alive in how you live in the world. Thank you for believing in God, who believes in you! Amen.