A Family of Faith in Jesus

Dear Friends in Christ,

We recently finished making a new photo directory for our congregation here at Trinity. Inside the pages of the directory are the pictures of our family. As one looks at all of the different pictures, they will notice that we are all different. Some of us are young and some older. Some of us have been members at Trinity for decades and others have recently joined. We each have different addresses and phone numbers listed in our directory pages just as surely as our pictures are each different too. No two smiling faces in our directory are the same. We here at Trinity are truly a collection of unique individuals- but just as that is true- so too is this… we are all united by something that is greater than any one of us.

We are part of a family of faith here at Trinity- a family that our Heavenly Father has called us into by our baptisms into Him. We are a family of individuals for whom Jesus died. In the light of Jesus’ resurrection, as a family, we journey through life together here on earth and we all cling to Christ’s promise of eternal life in Him, by God’s grace and for our Savior’s sake. You see we are a collection of many different people of all ages and personalities, but in Jesus we are more than that. In Jesus we are one. Don’t take my word for it though- hear this from God’s Word.

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

 – Romans 12:4-5

I pray that the truth of our oneness in Christ will pervade all we do together as a family of faith in the years to come. Here in 2019 at Trinity, we are preparing to celebrate our 175th anniversary as a congregation later this year. The theme of our celebration will be based on a hymn from our Lutheran Service Book. The song’s opening line says this, “O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come.” I think it is an especially fitting hymn and theme for our faith family; not only in 2019, but beyond.

Research has shown us that the average life span of a Christian congregation is around 80 years, that tells us that Trinity has been tremendously blessed by God through her many years. We thank the Lord that we don’t have to look only to the past to find His blessings though, but we rejoice that our God has promised to be with us today, tomorrow, and for all our days to come, too. For when we gather together as His people to hear His Word and receive His gifts to us, we are renewed, refreshed, and reminded that our God is with us always even to the very end of the age. The One who has been our help in ages past is surely the One who will be our hope for all our days ahead.

With that truth in our minds and hearts we go forth- as brothers and sisters who have been gathered into one family through Jesus Christ. You can rest assured that in the years to come we won’t always look like our pictures in our directory, some of our contact information will change, some of us will depart to be with the Lord, other faces and people will join our family by God’s grace- our family won’t always look the way it does now, but in Christ we have a promise that our God will always be with us and that in Him- we are one.

Pastor Andrew Wilson