Our Turn Now
Our 2017 Stewardship Campaign begins on October 22nd. This year’s theme is called Our Turn Now. In conjunction with our 75th anniversary as a congregation we are looking back at how people (both in the story of the Bible and in the story of our congregation) have left behind a lasting legacy of faithfulness. Our vision is that this might encourage us to pick up the mantle and see how we might pass these wonderful legacies of faithfulness on to future generations.
In its basic meaning, a legacy is a gift -often a substantial gift that needs to be properly managed – that is transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. A legacy can be seen as what we leave behind for the next generation. Our legacies can be money, property, life lessons, examples of living, ways of communicating grace etc.… The important thing to understand is that we are always leaving behind a legacy; either a bad one or a good one.
So what are the legacies that you remember that helped develop your faith? Whether we are aware of it or not, there is a treasure trove of stories of what God’s faithful people have done during the past 75years here at Alpine that have helped many of us go deeper in our ability to understand and trust God. I would love to hear them and collect them for future generations. Would you mind writing some of them down and either emailing them to me (pastor@alpinelutheran.com) or dropping them off at the church office?
One of the biggest legacies that Jesus left behind for us (besides saving us and repairing our relationship with God) is this value that we should all have; “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other” (John 13:35). Let’s face it, our world is very confused about love. There are so many mixed messages about what it is, how to obtain it, and what you should do with it once you have it. Jesus understood how much people needed to see what real loved looked like. The early church caught on to this and did their best to leave behind what a real legacy of love would look like if it was lived out by a committed group of people. That legacy has encouraged Christians for the past two thousand years!
So what are your stories? Who has communicated the Gospel of grace to you in such a way that it helped you trust God more? What are the stories of faithfulness from Alpine’s past that people today need to hear? Let me know!
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