Message from Pastor Ele
Happy New Year!
January 2, 2019
And in our case … a double new year greeting!
On February 20, 2019, Covenant Lutheran formally begins “new year #36” in our life as a congregation, and what a journey it is to celebrate! In terms of generations (as a block of time), Covenant is decidedly into its second generation, with every intention to be a light-bearing servant of Christ in the Barker Cypress community. This resolve takes into account the varied transitions our congregation has lived through in the last 10 years; crowned by the decision last April to declare a “timeout” period of revitalization, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) describes it here—
As the ELCA looks ahead to the future, we aspire to have congregations whose faith shines in their relationships with God, each other and their community. Vital congregations experience heightened worship, prayer, study of scripture, and sharing of testimony as they discern the presence and will of God in their midst.
https://elca.org/Future-Directions/CongVitality
And why ever not!!!
During the first 12
+
weeks that the redevelopment team has been reading, studying, and questioning the book of Acts, we have noticed how much the stories in Luke’s account cause us to reflect on the church of the 21
st
century
.
Acts, as written, does not allow us to dwell in its past. We found ourselves present and visible in the characters in the stories of Acts. We have paid attention to the way God’s will entered into the movement of the faith that evolved into the congregational life we now take for granted.
