January 2008 Newsletter from Pastor Jonathan BrandenburgEvery year it is the same thing for me. I promise to be more disciplined about my exercising. I promise to eat healthier. I promise to spend more time in prayer and in Scripture. I promise to keep my promises that I make. However, every year promises are broken. Not every promise, yet enough to make me think that people are incapable of keeping all their promises no matter how much discipline they put into the matter.
Jesus told a parable once about two sons who were asked by their father to go work in the family vineyard. One of the sons refused to work in the vineyard, however after his father left he changed his mind and went to work. The other son said, “Yes sir, I am going right now.” However, after the father left he changed his mind, and in the end didn’t work in the vineyard at all. Jesus then asks a very penetrating question: “Which of the two did the will of his father?” And the disciples rightly answered, “The first son.”
Jesus told this parable to the disciples and to the Jews in order to make them realize that just saying you are something doesn’t actually make it so. Jesus told the people that they didn’t believe John the Baptist’s message, but sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes did and so they were entering the kingdom of heaven and the Jewish people were not. Even when the Jews saw Jesus, they still didn’t believe.
My brothers and sisters, many people in this world proclaim to be Christians and followers of Christ. We have no way to tell who is telling the truth and who is not; truly that is for Christ to judge. However, Scripture is very clear about child of God does or at least tries to do on a daily basis: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50). Jesus makes clear that his followers, his brothers and sisters, the Father’s sons and daughters are the one’s who seek to carry out the will of the Father in their lives.
If we believe in Christ Jesus truly we have a new life and a salvation that is free and without charge. However, if we do believe, we also take on the responsibility of being a child of God. We take on the promise to do the Father’s will on earth as Christ did while He was on earth. Can we be perfect like Christ was? No! Does God only give love and grace to those who are perfect? Absolutely not! However, does the Father in Heaven ask us to work for His will in His vineyard here on earth? Very much so!
Therefore, I challenge you to find our what job, what work the Father in Heaven is asking you to do during this New Year. You might be surprised what adventure God has in store for you…yes, little, ole’ imperfect you! God’s blessings and Happy New Year!
Pastor Jonathan
The President's Notes for January 2008
The New Year, 2008, is just around the corner, with lots of good things happening here at Faith. On December 15, we had our second family night. Despite scheduling conflicts and illnesses, we had a nice turnout and a good time was had by all. We’ll have another in January. Lots of fun. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Our third, and last, Advent Service was held on Wednesday, 15 December. We went out caroling for a while afterward. Lots of our neighbors were delighted to see us. We even got a box of chocolates.
Sunday School continues to be very interesting. For example, Russ Elsberry and I have been conducting a series on various religions for our junior and senior high school students. We’ve gone through Christianity to Jehovah’s Witnesses, with some interesting stops along the way. We’ll finish this series in January and start something else right after. Remember, we’ll run our classes even if only one child is present; we promise an interesting and educational experience for our children.
The Worship Committee will start a new series of meetings in the new year. We’ll see what we’ve learned about trying different forms of worship, and thinking about what else to try. We’ll be asking for congregational feedback stay tuned. Also, Worship Committee meetings are open to anyone interested in joining in. Among other things, we’ll be thinking about music, and hymnals.
Pastor Prange will be Faith’s designated representative for Lutheran Campus Ministry at CSUMB. The ministry itself is in a period of transition, and the Board of Directors agreed to help support LCM, and Pr. Prange, during that period.
As you know, we’ve started a number of new initiatives, but still have more good ideas to execute. We’ll update the voters at our January meeting. There will also be another retreat in the springtime.
All things considered, 2008 looks like a very interesting year. Stay tuned, and get involved. Blessings for your New Year.
New Bible Study for 2008
We have finally finished our study of I Corinthians, and it was an awesome and wonderful ride. I pray all those who participated were blessed as much as your pastor was. We will be starting up our new bible study starting January 6th, 2008. It will be a topic driven bible study, and at the time of printing the topic is still unknown. Yet, your pastor promises that it will be a topic pertinent to today’s culture, and will involve study of both Scripture and ethics.
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