Pastor's Page, February 2012

So you shall observe to do just as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. “You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
- Deuteronomy 5:32-33

Dear Friends in Christ,

“...You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that it may be well with you.” I love this relationship that God has with the people of Israel. Of course we have the same covenant relationship. “Walk in the way of the Lord that it may be well with you.” We say it’s a good thing to walk in the way of the Lord, but do we stop and ask ourselves ‘how am I doing?’ How is my walk with the Lord?

As you know the month of February brings us each year into the season of Lent where the language of ‘discipline’ and ‘walk’ become more common. Already Mali is asking us for devotionals to enhance our walk by sharing daily with one another a reflection and a prayer. Brad is preparing music and singers to touch our spirits with reflective and joyful music to enhance the emotions of our faith. This past month Brad and I have been gathering and reading dramas in order to help us listen in to the dialogue of faith through which the Lenten season takes us toward the cross and to the empty tomb. Others, of course, are thinking of the common table we will share during those Soup Suppers, which also nurture our fellowship as we gather for a midweek worship... “that it may be well with you.”

The month of February wil l take us to the mountain peak of the Transfiguration and then with that glorious vision in mind we will go back to the lowlands and journey toward Mount Zion and Mount Calvary and the highest point of our Christian faith. In the meantime some of us will give up coffee or chocolate or something else to remind us of putting Christ first in our lives.... “that it may be well with you.” Maybe you will also add in some extra time for prayer, worship, service and giving.

“Walking in the way of the Lord” is meant to be a joyful journey which leaves the world a better place when we’re gone. I found it insightful (even if it is legalistic) that during the last two years the Presidential candidate Romney had donated more than $4 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the formal name for the Mormon Church. In an interview he explained: “The Bible speaks about providing tithes and offerings. I made a commitment to my church a long, long time ago that I would give 10% of my income to the church. And I followed through on that commitment . ” Romney is hardly alone in his donation policy. A recent survey on Mormons in America by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 79% of the Mormons surveyed said they paid a tithe to their church, while just 19% said they didn’t. While Lutherans fall far short of this level of giving we still believe in returning to God a portion of our incomes “that it may be well with you” and also “well” with the many needy and hurting in our world.

It has been our practice at Redeemer for many years to designate the midweek Lenten offering to one or more special appeals. This year in addition to our regular giving we will receive a Lenten offering at our Wednesday services for the ELCA Malaria project for mosquito nets, and for our Second Annual Compassion Weekend.

Like the Israelites of old, we as Christ’s church today walk together in faith as God’s people because it is “well with us,” and the world is also blessed through our faithfulness.

In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Gary Petersen

Pastor Gary Petersen's biography