Go & Tell the Story

12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.    -- 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 This year's synod assembly focused on how "We Are One". Though we could not gather together in person, we still worshipped together, as one. We still celebrated important milestones like the anniversary of women's ordination together, as one. We still learned about our Serving Arm partners and how we are doing God's work together, as one. And we still took a look back at all the wonderful ways we as the synod, in spite of the pandemic, continue to be the church together, as one. For those who were unable to join or would like to revisit our time together at assembly, the recording is available at this link. For those who are interested in learning about or sharing informa...

  By Rev. Emily Johnson, pastor at Christ Lutheran, Louisville, NE We all are one in mission, We all are one in call, Our varied gifts united By Christ, the Lord of all.   So starts the hymn by Rusty Edwards (ELW 576), which starts playing in my head (which frequently transitions to singing out loud) whenever we start talking about “being one” in church circles. This is a good soundtrack to accompany such a discussion, as it hits the main points, that it is Christ who unites, calls, and sends us even as it is Christ who gives each of us different gifts and ways for living out the mission. This last point is fleshed out in the second verse:   Our ministries are different;  Our purpose is the same: To touch the lives of others With God’s surprising grace, So every folk and nation May feel God’s warm embrace.   Unity resides in a commonality of purpose and oddly enough, this requires a diversity of skills and approaches. As part of my call I get to teach ...

 By Bishop Brian Maas “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” It’s the very last night of his life, and Jesus knows what lies ahead—but Jesus prays for his disciples; prays for us. What is it that he prays? Among other things, he prays for God to protect us, and he prays that we may be ONE--one as he is one with the Father (and the Holy Spirit).  Based on the polarizing division all around, I’d say we don’t have a prayer of experiencing that kind of unity. Except we do—we have this prayer, His prayer. And I believe that while God alone can complete it, we all have a role to play in achieving it. I think the heavy lifting in Jesus’ prayer is in that clause, “as we are one.” We all confess that we are part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. We confess that there is one Body of Christ over the whole world, and that we’re all part of it. But we certainly don’t look like One the way God looks like one. T...