For the past hour, I have been sitting with a blank Word document before me, trying to think of what to write for this month.  All that I keep thinking is, “It can’t already be a new year, can it?”

January 2012.  By our calendar, it is a new year.  A new year which at this point holds as many possibilities as the blank Word document that was staring at me a moment ago.

This new year, also contains cycles that are already in motion that impact the fresh new year.  Although it is a new calendar year, the school year is nearing its halfway point.  The liturgical church year, which begins with Advent, began about a month before this new year.  The seasons cycle (both in nature and sports) throughout the year.  Although there is a new year just ahead, it’s almost as if we’re constantly fluctuating between new beginnings and being in the midst of waiting for the next beginning.

In the midst of the new beginnings and various cycles, we are surrounded by almost constant change.  Sometimes the changes are small, other times the changes are considerably larger.

God made some huge changes for us.  In the beginning, God changed the nothingness of the universe and created a place for man to dwell with Him.  On the first Christmas, He sent His Son Jesus to the earth He created to be fully God and fully human so that He could change our eternal destination.  When Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter morning, He changed everything.  Instead of leaving us stranded on the path of eternal separation from God with sin, death, and the devil, Jesus exchanged himself.  He bore our sin, death, and punishment in hell so that as baptized children of God, we have forgiveness and eternal life with God.

Even though we often think of change as a bad thing, think of where we would be without it.

This time of year you may be reflecting on the things that happened in 2011, looking forward to what could happen in 2012, what you would like to change for 2012.  A year may be full of successes and failures, joy and happiness, failed expectations and surprising accomplishments, sickness, health, and a host of other memories.  But though we may change, or the circumstances around us, Jesus does not.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. –Hebrews 13:8

No matter what changes to or around us, Jesus remains our constant.  God remains faithful to us, and keeps His promises.

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Deaconess Amanda

It may not be a surprise that at this time of the year my mind is on gifts.  Did the image of your Christmas gift list just pop into your mind?  The gifts you have already purchased?  The ones you need to buy or that you are hoping to make?  Or maybe you’re imagining the gifts that you’re hoping to receive at the end of this month?  But those are not the kind of gifts that I’ve been pondering lately.

“I wish I was more skilled at that.”

I’m fairly certain that I’m not the only one who has thought that statement.  Public speaking is my “that.”  At least it is the one that I tend to have the biggest challenge with.  Speaking in front of a group may not be quite as terrifying to me as it was even two years ago, but it is something that does not come naturally to me.  Oftentimes, I wish that I could speak as well as I can write.

One of the gifts that God has given me is the fellowship of His body.  Through a myriad of people, He has reminded me that each and every one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made, and a part of that is that we have different gifts and talents.  We were not made with a cookie cutter, and we are not interchangeable.  Each of us is a part of God’s story for showing His love to the lost.  And we each have a different way to do that.

This does not mean that God can only use us where He has given us gifts.  Everything we have, even our very lives, are used to His glory.  He knows every aspect, every trait of who we are.  In those areas that are our weaknesses, God’s glory shines through all the more (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).  I know that on my own, when I lead a devotion or read the Old Testament and Epistle reading that it is not by my strength or power.  It is only by God’s grace and power.

What are the gifts that God has given you?  What are those areas that you have that you feel are your weaknesses, but God continues to work through you there?

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Deaconess Amanda

I don’t think I am the only one who has been impressed by the renovations that Grace Lutheran Church & School has been undergoing over the past year.  The amazing work that has been done in Kramer Hall, the Cafeteria/Fellowship Hall, the Church Office, the School Office, the Early Education Office, the Library, and all the classrooms.  Our building has been blessed by those who have put time, talent, and treasure into the ministry of Grace by supporting the physical building.  Thank you to everyone who was involved!

Lately, it seems that my conversations have been led to the thought that Grace can’t just stop with the physical renovation.  We need a “spiritual renovation” as well, to be restored and renewed by the love and presence of God.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we are told that our bodies are temples (Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. -1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  A temple is not just one big room, but is made up of many.  This applies to our bodies as well.  Our body is made up of various rooms (our heart, our soul, our strength, and our mind) all in need of the renovating and refurbishing that our physical buildings need.

This is something that we cannot do for or by ourselves, but is the work of God.  He sees the rooms that we have neglected or allowed to get cluttered in our life, and He knows how to fix it.

Renovations don’t just happen in an instant, they take time and effort.  Often when you’re in the middle of a renovation, you wonder if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.  But in the end, it’s worth it.

How do we undergo a spiritual renovation?  By using the proper tools.  These tools include (but are not limited to) worship, being in God’s Word, sharing God’s love with others, showing the love of Christ to others, and praying.  God is the one who is doing the work, and to know His plan we can’t just spend one hour a week with him.

We know that just like home or building renovations, spiritual renovations can look overwhelming and scary and often it’s hard to find a place to start.  One of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the ability to be in conversation with Him.  To be able to listen to His response to our questions through the Word.  If you need help finding a starting place or if you want to talk more about the idea of spiritual renovations, I encourage you to come and talk with me, Pastor Loughran, or our Elders.  God has gifted us a community to live and grow in. We are eager to share in these renovations with you, just as we have shared in the building renovations together.

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Deaconess Amanda

The image of the body of Christ from chapter four of Ephesians has been continuing to find its way into my thoughts this past month.

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

In high school, I had three knee surgeries on my left knee over the course of a year.  One thing that I remember was being surprised about was how much my right knee began to ache.  When you think about it, it does make sense.  With my left knee injured and then not bearing too much weight, my right knee was doing the majority of the work.  My body was not working properly according to the way it was created, and the rest of the body could feel it.

Isn’t that also true in our church?  You can take it on the level of the whole Christian Church and on the level of Grace Lutheran Church and School individually.  When parts of the body are not working together, the body suffers.  When parts of the body are overworked, the body suffers.  When parts of the body bear the load of another part of the body, the body suffers.

So where does Grace Lutheran Church and School stand as a body?  Is the body equipped, with each part working properly and building itself up in love?

I think that showing each other encouragement and appreciation is so important, and yet it is something that is easy to let slip thinking that someone else will take the time to do it.  I know that I am guilty of it.  It is important to strengthen and build each other and the body up.  It took a lot of Physical Therapy and patience for my knee to heal and get on the right track for working properly, and it takes hard work for the church body to grow and thrive.

So I wanted to thank all those who are a part of the ministries that make up our body here at Grace.  (If I forget a ministry or group, I apologize… we are blessed to have a lot going on at Grace.  Know that you are still appreciated for the work and service you do!)  Thank you to all our staff and faculty, our Congregation Officers, our Board of Elders, our Board of Trustees, our Board for Day School Ministries, our Board for Parish Education, our Board for Stewardship, our Board for Finance, our Board for Youth Ministries, our Board for Mission Outreach, our Board for Fellowship, our Board for Social Ministry, our Members-at-Large, our various committees, Altar Guild, Beacon House, Bible Study Leaders, Bread Delivery, Bereavement, Carpenter’s Hands, Church Office Volunteers, Didache Hour & Sunday School Teachers, Greeters, OWLS, Media Ministry, Music Ministry, LWML, Nursery, Prayer Chain, Prayer Shawls & Knitting Group, Stephen Ministry, Thrift Store Ministry, Women’s Guild, Ushers, Vacation Bible School, Volunteers, Woodworkers, and Youth Ministry.

Thanks be to God that He has prepared work for each of us has an important role to play in making up the body of Christ!  May He continue to use us to hold each other together, be equipped for all that comes our way, work together properly, and build each other up in love!

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Deaconess Amanda

With GLS’s theme verse this year being Ephesians 4:7 (But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift), I have found myself drawn to read Ephesians 4. Especially verses 1-16, which is about the unity in the body of Christ.  Before continuing to read my article, I encourage you to grab your Bible, go to biblegateway.com, or use whatever technology you access the Bible on and read through Ephesians 4:1-16.

In this section of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul urges us “to walk in a manner worth of the calling to which you have been called” (v1), which is the calling of Christian faith.  The qualities that Paul uses to describe this manner of which we are to walk (humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, and unity of peace) are qualities of Christ Himself, worked in each believer for unity in the Body.  What is the measure of Christ’s gift of grace?  He gives the fullness of His grace to each believer.  Paul highlights some of the vocations that make up Christ’s body, and reminds us that as one Body, we are protected from the dangers of our time.

One of the parts of this passage that really stands out to me is the body language at the end:  “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

Typically when I think of the Church as the Body of Christ, I think of 1 Corinthians 12:12 (For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ).  Which usually gives me the imagery of being parts or limbs of the body (as 1 Corinthians 12 goes on to talk about the hand, foot, eye and ear). There’s more to the body than those general parts, as Paul says in Ephesians the body is also made up of parts like the joints and ligaments.

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Each of us has been given Christ’s full measure of grace.  When He died and rose, He saved us and invited us to be a part of His Body.  That is His gift to all of us.  We are not Cookie Cutter Christians.  We are not all hands, we are not all feet, we are not all ligaments.  We each have different gifts and talents that He has blessed us with.  All of them equally important to have a fully functioning body that is able to grow and build the body up.

The gifts and talents that you have been given serve and function in the Body in a way that only you can.  You may see what that is, or you may be trying to figure that out.  Some of you might be able to see the gifts in those around you that they cannot see on their own.  Wherever you are in knowing your place in the Body, know that there is a place just for you.  Christ was wounded and afflicted because of His love for you, and His desire to make you a part of His very body.  He values you and all His children.

May you find refuge in His wounds and love as He teaches you to love and serve according to your calling…whatever it may be.

Blessings and Love in Christ,
Deaconess Amanda