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Weekly Notes
Devotion In this week’s Gospel passage, Jesus casts a demon out of a possessed man. And that’s not even the strange part of the story! What’s strange is that the people are surprised not that Jesus has done this, but that he brings “a new teaching – and with authority” (Mark 1:27). In other words, they’re surprised because Jesus’ words match his deeds. Perhaps that’s not so strange after all. All too often our relationships suffer because we’ve failed to live out the commitments we made to one another. We say, “I love you,” but act as though we’re passing acquaintances. We say that God came to bring justice and mercy, but live complacently with an unjust society and yearn for retributive punishment. What’s strange about Jesus is that he lives the words he speaks, and even more than that, he calls the church to that kind of life as well. To love in word and deed. To have our actions match the commitments we make to peace and wholeness, to faithfulness and righteousness. These are the aspirations of a church enlivened by the living God! This week, consider one area of your life where you know your words and deeds don’t match up. Ask God to come into that place, to brings God’s image into that space, and help transform your life into a reflection of Jesus, who brings a new teaching with authority every time our Christian words match up with a Christian life. Grace and peace, Pastor Andrew
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Greetings in Christ!
It was wonderful to install Matt in worship yesterday and to welcome him and Kristy as friends of CLC. As a reminder, his office hours are weekdays from 9am-1pm. Weekly Notes + Pastor will be at the Region 9 ELCA Campus Ministers’ Conference Sunday evening through Wednesday. + Our first interest meeting for Across the Spectrum is Sunday, February 1st, at 3pm. + Lectionary Study continues Mondays at Noon at the church. Bring your lunch and join in the discussion! + Those interested in volunteering for communion assistant or to read scripture are encouraged to sign up in advance. Please email admin@clcradford.org if interested. Devotional Many of us remember the story of Jonah running from God and ending up in the belly of a giant fish. Lesser known is that his powerful prophecy turned the people of Nineveh from idolatry to faithfulness. Where were those words from Jonah’s mouth? “Forty more days and Nineveh will fall!” Wow. Powerful stuff. Excuse my yawn. The tragic hilarity of Jonah’s story is just how much he does not want to be faithful to God’s word. Jonah’s prejudice toward Nineveh first sends Jonah running toward Spain before he finally ends up in all washed up. When he gets to Nineveh, Jonah offers the bare minimum of God’s prophecy. And yet, through that shred of faithfulness, God led an entire city to repentance. God works through us, sometimes even despite us, to work the radical grace of the Gospel into the fabric of the world. Of course, this isn’t permission to do the bare minimum. When God calls us, we ought not run away or perform only the easiest tasks set before us. Rather, we may trust that God works for the good despite our sinfulness. We may trust that, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is working to reconcile all things to God, even if that makes us uncomfortable. This week, keep an eye out for where God is calling you, especially in those areas where God is challenging preconceived notions about the depth and width of God’s grace. Grace and peace, Pastor Andrew Greetings in Christ!
Weekly Notes + Council Tuesday at 7pm at the CLC + There is a Stewardship Town Hall Meeting Thursday January 15th at 6:30pm at Luther Memorial in Blacksburg. We need at least two representatives to help us discern the best practices for stewardship and pledging for CLC. Let Pastor know if you’re interested! + If you’d like a copy of one of the old hymnals or songbooks, they’re on tables in the Fellowship Hall. Please leave a freewill donation to benefit our Highlander Lutherans campus ministry. Leftover copies will be donated. + Installation and Welcome of our new Parish Administrator, Matthew Atkinson, at worship on Sunday January 18th. + Those interested in volunteering for communion assistant or to read scripture are encouraged to sign up in advance. + New Office hours: Monday through Friday 9:00am to 1:00 PM Devotional This month, our Sunday school emphasis is the intersection of faith and health. And this Sunday’s reading from 1st Corinthians 6 help us to contextualize our bodily health with a key phrase: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?” Simultaneously, we live life in our own bodies, and yet those bodies help to constitute to the Body of Christ. The decisions we make with our bodies, then, have effects far beyond our personal lives. How we use our bodies affects the body of Christ. All too often, we choose to use our bodies in ways that bring division or destruction to Christ and the church. Actions of sin and selfishness work against the love and selflessness inherent to the work of Christ, who shares His body with us on the Cross and on the altar. As we continue to discern how we might develop Healer’s Hands, our ministry that focuses on wellness and wholeness, we must find ways to use our bodies that help to strengthen the Body of Christ, to bring joy to Jesus, and to bless the world God calls us to love and serve. We are members of Christ Jesus in these bodies. Let us use them in ways that reveal Christ in goodness and glory to the world. Grace and peace, Pastor Andrew Greetings in Christ!
Merry Christmas once again! Today is the last day of Christmas before we enter Epiphany tomorrow. Thank God for Bethlehem’s light in these dark winter days. Weekly Notes + Lectionary study returns this week on Tuesday at 7pm at the Pastor’s House (1302 4th Street). + There is a Stewardship Town Hall Meeting Thursday January 15th at 6:30pm at Luther Memorial In Blacksburg. We need at least two representatives to help us discern the best practices for stewardship and pledging for CLC. Let Pastor know if you’re interested! + If you’d like a copy of one of the old hymnals or songbooks, they’re on tables in the Fellowship Hall. Please leave a freewill donation to benefit our Highlander Lutherans campus ministry. Leftover copies will be donated. Devotional The author of Acts describes an interesting scene where some disciples of Jesus have not yet received the Holy Spirit. Paul, confused by this situation, asks, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" The disciples answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." Huh?!?!? Never heard of the Holy Spirit? Third person of the Triune God? Did you not pay attention in confirmation class?! Of course, this reaction is a bit overstated; in the time of Paul and the other apostles, the Holy Spirit’s activity was a new movement, a fresh wind, associated with baptism in the name of Jesus. Often times we feel far removed from God. Unlike those first disciples who didn’t know the Holy Spirit, each of us, at our own baptism, received the gift of God’s Spirit. Even when we feel far from God, God is not far from us, but rather alive in us, active as the spirit of faithfulness and justice, of righteousness and mercy. In this new year, we all will face the realities of life that make us feel distant from God in Christ. At those times, it is the gift of God to remember our baptism, not just as a splashing or dunking of water, but of the entrance of the Holy Spirit fully into our lives. God remains at work in us, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the whole world. Thanks be to God! Grace and peace, Pastor Andrew |
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July 2016
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Worship 10am Fellowship 11am "A fellowship living and sharing the love of God through worship, service, wellness, and hospitality." 
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