Dear Church,

Grace and peace are yours through Jesus Christ. Amen.

This weekend at Resurrection...
Saturday
8:00 AM Property Team Mowing and Care
10:00 AM Fall Festival Planning Team Meeting Fellowship Hall
5:00 PM Café Style Worship Service in Fellowship Hall

Sunday
9:30 AM Worship [Welcome new Director of Music, Gina Jones!]
10:30 AM Fellowship Hour in Fellowship Hall

We will support Matthew’s Hope by collecting pouches (no cans, please) of meat, (tuna, chicken, spam) on September 5 and 13. There will be a special basket at the baptismal font for these donations. REMEMBER to wear your GWOH t-shirts to worship NEXT SUNDAY. Service projects will include,

• Making sandwiches for Matthew's Hope for distribution to the homeless and hungry

• Preparing snack bags for children with The Children's Hunger Project. These bags will be distributed to children through Brevard County Schools.

• Writing cards of encouragement and support for shut-ins and thank you cards for first responders.

Ezekiel 33:7-11
The prophet’s responsibility to warn the people

Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matt. 18:20). In these Sundays after Pentecost, we are repeatedly reminded that God has not abandoned us and that Christ’s resurrection and ascension are a beginning for us, not an end. The readings this week focus on the practical work of the gathered Christian community: turning from sin to repentance, from conflict to reconciliation. The question is as relevant today as it was for the disciples and the first Christians: How do we live together, work together, as the body of Christ? We have been saved by grace, liberated by God’s love to love one another. What does it mean for us and for our community to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14) and to clothe ourselves in love?

We keep asking these questions because the way we gather as Christians continues to be profoundly countercultural. We do not gather as a social club, drawn and kept together only by shared demographics and interests. If church is only a social club, there is no reason to continue to gather if conflict arises, if uncomfortable issues are raised, or if “the way it’s always been” begins to change. If church is only a social club, there is no reason to do the hard work of reconciliation and forgiveness.

God calls us into community knowing that being in community is hard. In scripture we can find practical guidance for gathering through good and hard times. The Holy Spirit is always at work—in, through, and among us—to gather and regather us again. In community we meet and become Christ’s body in ways that are impossible for us as individuals; all the commandments are fulfilled in this call to neighbor-love (Rom. 13:9).

What a gift we share in this community at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection! We gather this weekend around Christ and with Christ all around us. I can’t wait to worship with you!

In peace and hope,

Pastor Paul