GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
This Sunday we welcome Pastor John Meyer who will preach and lead our worship service. Please extend a warm CTK welcome as I take a week off with my extended family in northern Minnesota at William’s Narrows on Little Cut Foot Sioux Lake. If you see a visitor, please be sure to give them a CTK coffee mug with a brochure highlighting our ministries and a little bag of M&Ms. Mugs can be found on the usher’s table. Let’s all do our part to welcome our visitors.
I always look forward to this week of vacation time with my family. This year on Sunday, we will celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of my sister and brother-in-law. My other sister, the oldest, the social organizer of our bunch has asked us to share some memories of their wedding day and what we admire about their marriage. Isn’t that a good idea? I like the idea and know that when I put some thought into it and write something down, we will all be blessed with what we share. It will be good for the whole family. We know how important it is to hear the words and listen to other’s reflections. It is rare that I tell this couple how important their witness is to me and how thankful I am for them but now I have the opportunity.
When I passed the email onto my children, the first response was “I wasn’t there at their wedding” which is true as I encouraged them to answer the second question. I learned from my children that this attitude is often true of my own behavior. I often need to explore the negative, the can’t, before I can get to the positive, the I can. Maybe that is why I am not getting a boat load of ideas from you as to what you would like to share with our neighbors in the popcorn holder for National Night Out on August 2nd or you don’t know how to share them, or you are waiting on the Holy Spirit.
To stir your creative ideas, I’m going to put out some wipe boards and make an idea station for you to leave your ideas of what we might put on a popcorn holder to give to our neighbor. What message do you want to share with them? What good news of God made known to us in Jesus Christ do we want to communicate?
Many of us have sour or negative attitudes about evangelism, about sharing God’s good news. We know what we don’t want to sound like and sometimes we have to go there before we can get to what we do want to share. Images of fire and brimstone or believe this or go to H-E-double toothpicks dance in our heads. We don’t want to offend or cause discomfort. We want to point to Jesus and God’s amazing love for us with simple and welcoming words. So, let’s get to it and move beyond our awkwardness and shine the light of God’s love with our neighbors. Remember we are a church on a hill, meant to be seen and to shine.
Last Sunday, I attended St. Peter’s Lutheran Church of Cape Cod in Harwich, MA. Most of the Lutheran Churches that we saw were named St. Peter in the New England area because they are near the ocean and Peter was a fisherman by trade. People of Christ the King, our name reflects on us. St. Peter’s adds a worship service in the summer to welcome vacationers. We were given a little gift when we were introduced at the end of the worship service. A magnet with a picture of their stained-glass window, the Bible verse from Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.” The name of their church and website. This was their message to their visitors and guests.
What will our message be? What message of good news do you want to share with our neighbors? Let’s get popping, August 2 and National Night Out is coming right up!
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
