This week in the NALC

Friends,

This week, we have added 5 new congregations and 12 new pastors to the NALC.  Included among the pastors is Rev. Jay Johnson, St. John, Royal.  Welcome!

Did you see the April newsletter of the NALC and Lutheran CORE?  The quote I found most challenging was from President Idossa of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.  He reflected on the burning of 57 churches, the displacement of 3600 people from their homes including beatings and killings.  He said, "It has been granted to us not only to believe in Jesus Christ, but also to suffer for him." 

It has been "granted."  It is a gift of God that they were given the opportunity to literally lay their lives on the line for Jesus Christ.  For Americans, who do not like to suffer at all, for American Christians who so often are willing to compromise ("Can't we all just get along?"), this is foreign territory.  Yes, many of us have to endure hardship for our faith in less physical ways.  I am not seeking to downplay those experiences.  Instead, I find it encouraging and inspiring to interpret life through the Gospel.  "Whoever wants to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me."

May we be found faithful!

Pr. Jim Lehmann