Message from Pastor Jepsen


“Grow in the grace and knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”

(2Peter 3:18).  

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Have you ever thought of the Church as an incubator?  In effect, that is what Peter is saying in the passage referenced above.   

As you know, farmers put chicken eggs into incubators until the chicks are ready to hatch and go out into the world.  Hospitals put babies that are born prematurely into incubators so they can continue to mature and develop until they are ready to go home. 

In some ways, that’s what the church is – an incubator.  We, too, are to help one another mature until we are ready to go out into the world and give witness to our faith in word, deed.  Just as children are not ready to go out into the world and face the challenges and temptations of an adult, so too should we as Christians be prepared by faithful worship, fellowship, study, devotion and prayer to go out into the world lest we be led astray by temptations that are too much for us. 

In addition, the church helps us to mature and develop until that time when our gracious Lord calls us home.  The psychiatrist Carl Jung said that we spend the first part of our lives learning to acquire things – material goods, knowledge and abilities – and we spend the last part of life learning how to let go.  I like that.  It reminds me that just as I have spent much of my life acquiring things – skills/talents, wisdom, worldly possessions, etc., I will eventually have to let go of all these things so that when the Lord calls, I will be ready, unencumbered, to take my Saviour’s hand.  All that is part of growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.  

Pilgrim Lutheran Church is a place where we as individuals, families and congregational fellowship walk together and seek to grow in the grace and knowledge that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  Families that take their faith commitment seriously, groups within the congregation, regular worship, classes and other opportunities for learning and service to God and others - all these are ways in which we have the opportunity grow.   

Come, walk with us as we grow in grace and learn how to follow our Saviour’s call together. 

 

Sincerely, in Christ,

Gary R. Jepsen, Pastor

 

 

 

 

Last updated November 15, 2008 07:44 PM