Introduction
This article is the September 2010 installment of my monthly message in the parish newsletter for Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb.
Message
The Holy Cross
One of the handy features on the ELCA’s Web site is a “Find a Congregation” page. A little searching there led me to know that within the ELCA, “First” is the name of 424 congregations, “St. Paul” 561, “St. John” 617, and “Trinity” 720.
But what about Holy Cross? It’s quite a bit more rare than those more common names. Our congregation shares its name with 50 other ELCA congregations across the United States. So, for some reason, ours is an unusual choice, even more unusual than including “American” in the name, which 65 congregations do.
One of the nice things about many congregations’ names is that our liturgical calendar has a festival celebrating the saint or name for God: St. Paul—Jan. 25; St. John—Dec. 27, Trinity—the Sunday after Pentecost.
Holy Cross has its own festival too. It falls each year on Sept. 14, which comes on a Tuesday this month.
To give us a chance to come together in worship to celebrate the gift of salvation that the Father has given us through his Son’s death on the Holy Cross and to praise him for the ministry he has given us by the power of their Holy Spirit, we will hold a special service. Here are the details:
Holy Cross Day at Holy Cross Church
Vespers
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010
If you have a cross in your home, please bring it with you when you come to worship. We will have a procession, bring our crosses to the chancel, and place them on the altar. Then we will pray for God to bless them, so that we are reminded daily by those crosses of his gifts.
Welcome to the Table
Each year when we step over from the summer to the fall, we offer classes for our congregation’s children entering fifth grade to come together with their parents and guardians and to prepare to receive their first Holy
Communion. This year we held that class on Sunday, Aug. 29. Once the youth have spent this time exploring the gifts that our Lord gives through the bread of heaven—his body—and the cup of salvation—his blood—we welcome them to join us at the Table.
This is a time of blessing, both for them and for us. They enter into the fellowship we enjoy because our Father invites the baptized to share in the Communion his Son established, so that we may depart together in ministry empowered by their Holy Spirit.
It never hurts to ask again the question we all learn from Martin Luther’s Small Catechism:
What is the sacrament of the Altar?
It is the true body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ
under the bread and wine,
instituted by Christ himself
for us Christians to eat and to drink.
Mission of the Church
Sometimes little signs remind us of big changes. If you’ve had a chance to stop by our church building, you may have smelled wet paint and new carpet. They are surely signs that some freshening is underway in the offices.
But they also signify that our congregation is traveling along its path in its search for a new pastor. What a time for prayerful expectation and expectant prayer! Pray for the Call Committee and the Council in their deliberations, for pastors seeking calls, and for our whole congregation, that we may be open to the Holy Spirit and may follow God’s lead in preparing for the next step in Holy Cross Lutheran Church’s journey to carry out the Church’s mission.
This can be a time of wonder, perhaps apprehension, but it can also be a time to adopt the attitude that Mary, the mother of our Lord, shared with us when she said to the angel Gabriel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38, NRSV)
Blessings!