It is true. All who are considering a relationship with God, on a journey with God, or seeking a better way to live are welcome at Grace. We are an inclusive family/community of faith which is committed to loving God and loving others.

Whatever despair, discouragement, and doubt you bring to church this day, a better way of living is available to you. On this Sixth Sunday of Easter, Randy Frazee in his book The Connecting Church 2.0 reminds us that loving God and others is the key in knowing and experiencing the unconditional love of God.

At the core of God’s being is unconditional love. And we benefit from God’s unconditional love in our undeserving condition. God “follows us” actively, like a shepherd pursues a lost sheep; not passively like a shadow. Martin Luther writes,

“A sheep must live entirely by its shepherd’s help, protection, and care. As soon as it loses him, it is surrounded by all kinds of dangers and must perish, for it is quite unable to help itself. The reason? It is a poor, weak, simple little beast that can neither feed nor rule itself, nor find the right way, nor protect itself against any kind of danger or misfortune.…Still, however weak and small an animal a sheep may be, it nevertheless has this trait about it: it is very careful to stay near its shepherd, take comfort in his help and protection, and follow him however and wherever he may lead it.” (Martin Luther, “Psalm 23, Expounded One Evening after Grace at the Dinner Table,” trans. W.A. Lambert, rev. Harold J. Grimm, In Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis, Concordia, 2007), 12:153-157.

The Lord is your shepherd. The Lord restores your soul. Be a follower of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. You will experience the always-present, no-matter-what-is-happening, unconditional love of God today, tomorrow, and all the days of your life.

On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

We are born with an innate readiness to seek out and attach ourselves to others. As infants, we sought a state of physical and emotional connectedness with our parents. Our parents, as primary care providers, gave us good and bad experiences. Those experiences have profoundly affected us. From our parents we received the capacity or lack thereof to form durable and loving relationships. We also received the capacity or lack thereof to develop our own mental or intellectual capacities fully and productively.

A capacity for true relationships with friends, a partner, and children is not easy to come by or develop. We must come to terms not only with our need for autonomy as individuals, but also with the equally important need to be in community. We must also develop the ability to tolerate knowledge without attempting to restrict the feelings or behavior of others in order to meet our own needs or desires. Relationships are complicated.

Authentic relationships, however, are fundamental to our social, emotional, and intellectual well-being. They are at the fabric of our society. For some it is more difficult than others to develop lasting and intimate relationships. But, relationships, no matter how difficult, are paramount to human well-being and satisfaction.

I learned patterns of intimacy from my parents and developed my own pattern of intellectual and emotional behaviors to develop and nurture intimacy. Intimacy is a gift from God. However, it is a gift that must be intentionally nurtured over a lifetime.

May I encourage each of you to look at your relationships with God and others. How are you taking care of them? Are relationships in which you are involved growing deeper in intimacy? How have relationships you value become stagnant?

Next week, I will list all the ministries at Grace which you can engage to go deeper in your relationship with God and others.

On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

Society is marked. It is marked by moral and ethical relativism, religious and political pluralism, individual and community activism, and national and international isolationism.

As Christians, we are marked. We should insist on the marks of the Church to characterize our life as a church at Grace.

• To preach the gospel marks us.
• To properly administer the sacraments marks us.
• To rightly exercise church discipline marks us.

If these are the marks that the Bible defines as essential, then we should be able to identify their opposites: a false gospel, corruption of the sacraments and worship, and abuse or neglect of church discipline.

If a church is marked by the preaching of the gospel, the proper administration of the sacraments, and the right exercise of church discipline, then it will produce disciples who are revealing, resolute, ready, responsive, resilient, reframed, repentant, receptive, and reverent.

Followers of Jesus Christ are to be leaven as well as salt and light for individual and social change. At one time, the Church held a privileged place in culture. That is no longer the case. A shift from modern to postmodern philosophical assumptions began in the early seventies. The message of the Church was no longer readily accepted. Culture’s response was apathetic if not outright hostile. Today’s culture is postmodern and pluralistic. The church seems to accept that it is marginalized in culture

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One. Jesus Christ suffered for you and me. Jesus Christ stayed focused on the will of his Father, so that he could work out our salvation. He died for our sins. Jesus Christ rose from the dead so that we could experience forgiveness for those sins and live a new life, now and eternally.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ has died for your sins? Do you believe that by placing your faith in him, you are forgiven and will live a new life and have eternal life? Do you believe that you are marked by Jesus Christ to be a change agent in society and culture? If so, you exist in order for others to find their bearings and begin to walk in a new direction. That new direction will truly give seekers the life they have so precariously been seeking.

On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

Prayer is our essential connection, our link with God. Often, we make prayer an exercise as opposed to a conversation with God: a conversation, which God yearns to have with God’s children. Learning how to be people of prayer is a wonderful journey. In fact, the results of prayer are even more incredible, for we begin to see that our God is real and very much involved in our lives and world.

How do we become people who are committed to prayer and its marvelous effectiveness?

• First, we need to be people who really want God’s attitudes and perspectives to be evident in our lives. That is accomplished when we begin to make our spiritual health as equally important as our financial health or our physical health. Saying no to things that are cramping out spiritual health is the beginning.
• Second, we need to be people that believe God answers prayer and is personally involved in our lives. Do you really believe that God wants to work for you to bring about God’s character in your life? Do you really believe that God cares, intimately, about the situations, people and circumstances that confront you every day? We become people that believe God answers prayer by praying.
• Third, we need to be people who want to be more like Jesus Christ. That means we need to confess the desires of our heart that want power and prestige. We need to confess the competitive spirit that seeks to be first and the spirit that desires to look good at all costs. In fact, we must become people that forsake the lie of self-importance and believe the promise of being conformed to the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ.

God is faithful to all of God’s promises, because God cannot do otherwise. We, however, must be people who put faith in action and make the necessary sacrifices to attain the quality of life that God promises. The results of prayer are amazing. They can be yours today. You too can have the experience of being used by God, through prayer, to make a difference in our church, in someone’s life, and in Wichita. I am expecting great things. Expect the unexpected.

On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor

Christians around the world begin Holy Week on Palm Sunday and continue with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. We experience the journey into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s earthly obedience, suffering, and death is a tangible reminder that the Son of God, fully God and fully human did something for humanity that it could not do for itself: Salvation.

As I reflect upon the meaning of the Holy Week Story, I become more and more convinced that authenticity is of utmost importance in the Christian walk. This conviction arises from my experience with people in the parishes I have served, the college where I taught, and with the people I encounter throughout Wichita, Kansas, our country and the world.

What is authenticity?

First, to live authentically means to speak truth to yourself. Are you willing to look in the mirror of your life and honestly admit what you see?

Second, to live authentically means not to pretend. Integrate your Christian faith into everyday life. Living an authentic life in the Christian faith means that you face the ups and the downs with equal honesty and forthrightness.

Authenticity is the indicator of being fully alive in Jesus Christ. No untruth. No pretending. Authenticity is freeing and liberating. It’s the way of Jesus.

Remember, if you say you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you will be the best Jesus that someone sees. You are the best Jesus someone will see. May you live in the authenticity of that calling this Easter Season and every day.

On our Interim Pastor journey with you, I remain faithfully yours,

Steve

The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh

Interim Pastor