Text Box: 6670 Vaughn Rd, Montgomery, AL, 36116       (334) 277-4213

Text Box: Sunday Worship Schedule · 8:00 am & 10:45 am · 9:15 am Sunday School .    Wednesday Worship · 6:15pm Service      

Text Box: Pastor’s Message  

Text Box: April, 2012:   To all the Saints at Messiah: It has been a while since I have written anything for the newsletter and for that I apologize to you all. I find it more and more difficult to be passionate about much of anything these days. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m getting older and more patient or I’m just tired of all the “stuff” that passes as news in the world. In any case I do have something I want to talk about. How does your faith inform your politics? Or maybe more pointedly does it inform your politics at all? Before I go any further, I have a confession to make: I am neither a conservative or a liberal, Republican or Democrat, I am a self avowed Moderate. I can fall to the left on some issues and to the right on others. For instance I am pro life and I can see the need for an effective welfare system. Those two issues put me on both sides of the fence and yet both are informed by the same thing Jesus taught. We live in a very complicated world and we are beset by issues of every kind everyday and we are asked to make judgements on these issues everyday. We find ourselves presently in an election year and these issues are thrown at us every time we watch the news as candidates pontificate. So I ask the question again, “Does your faith inform your decision making process when confronted by these things?” I have another confession: I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for the entirety of the creation. That means there isn’t anyone who God doesn’t love; there isn’t anyone who isn’t offered the very life of God. In other words, there are no exceptions. And, I believe God’s love transcends time. (That means that God loves even the unborn and those yet to be conceived.) This is the core from which I draw when I am confronted with any issue. This core of belief is applied to my reasoning process and guides my decisions. Faith and reason - in that order- must operate hand in hand for those of us who follow Jesus. I recently watched the video of the preacher who introduced Rick Santorum to his church. In that video he said from the pulpit that if you’re not a Christian or if you are a liberal then you don’t belong in this country. That is an example of a Christian allowing his politics to inform his faith. By this man’s measure Jesus would have to leave the US since Jesus is Jewish and by the standards of many of Jesus’ contemporaries he was a liberal. As Lutherans we have a slogan that was coined by St. Paul. You all know it. “ By grace you have been saved through faith.” (Ephesians 2:8) Another way to translate the word“saved” from the Greek is “freed.” So we could say that we have been freed by God’s grace.We have been freed from death and now we are free to love as God loves us. Because we have been freed from death and, therefore, the fear that comes with death , we no longer need to be so concerned with our own preservation. We can look outward to our neighbor and care about them and we can ask ourselves what is best for our neighbor. It has been my experience that as I use this way of making decisions I find myself in disagreement with the world. Why? Because the world believes that our neighbor’s well being isn’t important. The world teaches us that “I” am the only important person. This way of thinking creates a very myopic person. So my brothers and sisters in Christ think, but please make sure your thinking is informed first and foremost by your faith. Shalom Pr. Randy

Text Box: 6670 Vaughn Rd, Montgomery, AL, 36116       (334) 277-4213

Text Box: Home Newsletter Sermon Audio Calendar Sunday Bulletins What is a Lutheran Pastor’s Message Pastor’s Bio Direction & Contacts Lunches 4 Learning    

Our pages are graciously hosted by:

FREE Nonprofit Hosting by InfoTeam
Click Here for more information