June 2023
We the Branches
You can probably name those who always manage to take care of this thing, that thing, and the other thing in our church. However, you might not even come close to naming all of our hard working members getting things done. People who are obvious like those in leadership roles and those who aren’t so obvious like those who are carefully preparing for the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There are so many in our church who are getting things done when they need to be done. I find that as I get older and I watch my good friends at church age along with me, I think about who is going to follow behind us. I’m so thankful that I am seeing many good men and women willing to step up and serve our church and our Lord. We have recently seen many members with the talent and the willingness to work hard on building projects. We maintain our sanctuary and keep the church clean and tidy. We have fresh faces providing beautiful music to worship our Lord. I have a plea to our congregation; let us continue to teach and encourage our younger members to maintain and strengthen our little church. We have a relatively small presence in Bemidji but we have an ever important message of truth that can only be found in the True Word revealed to us in the Bible. Jesus said “I am the vine, you are the branches.” We are all connected to Jesus in this way when we tell our friends about what Jesus did for us, when we show how our lives are blessed by knowing our savior, or even picking up the trash at church. That which we do to show we are among the branches of Jesus, we show that we are saved. We know that our good deeds are not what save us, but when the Holy Spirit is in our hearts, we can’t help but be actively caring for our church members, our church property, and our called workers teaching the young through the old.
-MPS