Streaming

Who are you? I know, kind of a loaded question. But I am also sure that you have been asked that question before. The context of the question will dictate how you answer. Being asked that question in a job interview will probably result in different answer than if you were asked that question prior to your first date with someone. Well, who are you? I am a…father/mother, husband/wife, son/daughter, neighbor, coworker. The list can go on and on. How about descriptive words? Who are you?

It’s hard to love souls sometimes. Oh, my own kids, that’s easy! My spouse, my best friend, no problem. But the guy who robbed my house? The competitor who ran me out of business? My ex? The student who bullied my child? Is that even possible, that you and I could still love those souls too – that we could want them to be with us in heaven? Today we turn to an account from Bible history that astounds me more and more every time I read it. When it’s taught at Sunday school, it’s usually given a title like “God Heals Naaman’s Leprosy.”

The miracles of Jesus have fascinated many throughout the ages. In Jesus’ day people would travel across the miles just to see him perform a miracle. Bible scholars today still marvel at the frequency and purpose behind the miracles of Jesus. How many miracles can you remember? Which one do you think was the greatest?

Stewardship is our focus today. But, I actually wonder to myself, “Self, what does the congregation know about stewardship?” So, let’s have a little open forum-ish devotion. If you had to fill in the blank, what would you say to this – “Stewardship is…” And remember this, as I tell my catechism students, “There are no wrong answers, except for the wrong ones.” So, how would you fill in that blank – Stewardship is…?

It was the late 1940s, a time when sexual norms were in line with biblical truth. A time long before Roe vs. Wade had been decided. Prayer and Bible reading was not uncommon in public schools. The divorce rate was half what it is today. Church attendance in the US was at the highest point in the past 100 years coming off of a post WW2 nation-wide increase. Why? Moral values as a whole were for the most part in line with Biblical norms. Unlike today where many seek out Christian schools, wanting a safe moral environment for their kids, that was not the case in the late 1940s. Yet as a small group of Christians in Fond du Lac officially formed Faith Lutheran Church almost 75 years ago, they made a strong commitment to Christian education.