Good morning everyone:
Have you noticed how unusual it is for anyone to take a stand on anything? If a company’s policies are unpopular, it will likely bow to public pressure and change them. A candidate for elected office will often check polls or study focus groups and then alter his positions accordingly. If someone speaks their mind and is criticized, they may well surrender their views or at least keep quiet about them. We have all done that, too, haven’t we? It’s much easier to “go with the flow” than to stand against it.
That’s why tomorrow is such a remarkable day. Five young people from our Messiah family will publicly take a stand which is increasingly unpopular with our society. They know it. They realize they will face criticism and other forms of persecution for speaking up. Yet they want to confess their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior from sin and death.
They can’t take the credit for that bold stand. It is the Spirit’s gift of faith created in them at their baptism and sustained and strengthened through the Word over their childhood years which gives them the courage. The Lord’s goal is that they will “no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men….Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:14-15).
Thank God for the faith He has worked in our confirmands which anchors them to Christ and enables them to take a solid stand on the eternal truth of the Word. Thank Him for working that faith in each of us by His means of grace. Let’s look forward to receiving Word and Sacrament tomorrow, that the Lord may strengthen us further to always stand with Him. Then tomorrow truly will be a remarkable day! Why not invite a friend or neighbor to join us?
First service will be at the usual 8:00 a.m. time. The choir will rehearse at 9:10 and the children at 9:25. The Examination of the confirmands is at 9:45, followed by second service and the Rite of Confirmation at 10:45 a.m. The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated in both services.
Late-breaking news! Yesterday the Lord blessed the Erik and Jessie Nelson family with the birth of a daughter: Brianna Reese Charynn (8 lbs. 13 oz.; 21 in.).
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
