Dear brothers and sisters in Christ –
The year 2020 is upon us, in fact, the first month is gone. Only eleven months to go, and that is so hard to believe. Since 2012 we have talked about the year 2020. We named the project Vision 2020. Yes, it was a word play to see if we could envision what we wanted our facilities to look by the year 2020. Could we have perfect vision?
And I think we have. Day in and day out we have people who enter our facility and make comments. Comments like, “This is so beautiful.” “You really have made big changes here.” And my favorite: “This place is so hospitable.” Over the last eight years we have dreamed and planned and gone through a systematic makeover of our facilities. What a makeover!
However, in a much more profound and meaningful way, Christians experience a life-changing makeover when the Holy Spirit transforms us into new people of faith who desire to live in and for Jesus. This is a total makeover because the Holy Spirit, through the Sacrament of Baptism, brings us to faith, and we die in our sinful selves and our old, earthly way of living. We enter upon a whole new way of life in Christ. Our new present life is hidden with Christ in God. When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus through the Gospel, we become more Christ-like. Unfortunately, our sinful nature still clings to us, so we live with this constant tension between our new lives in Jesus and our old nature. This new inner nature is a spiritual change, and we are filled with peace of God and the blessing of knowing that we are forgiven.
Our new lives in Jesus need to be continually nourished. Like a growing plant that needs water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil, our faith needs to be filled with God’s Word and the opportunity to receive Jesus’ body and blood in Holy Communion. Through faithful reading and studying of the Bible, we grow in faith and knowledge. That is why are Our Redeemer we are about Equipping Disciples to Make Disciples for Jesus. We want to equip you and see your faith grow. The more our faith grows, the more others will see the total makeover that God have given us.
Our facility has really grown in the way it supports our ministry. Thank you for all you have done for the project we called Vision 2020 and the first capital campaign we called Immeasurably More. They were both successful programs, and now we embark upon our second capital campaign called A Little Farther. Thank you in advance for what you will be doing.
Thanks be to God for all the makeovers he does in our lives! Amen!
Pastor Hartwig