A Picture of the Church
This last Sunday we spent the day extending welcomes. We welcomed Deacon Christine Yucha into our community (formally) as she was installed. The installer, Bishop Yehiel Curry, was our guest as we welcomed him to share the Gospel in preaching and conversations. This selfie is my favorite picture of the day. It encapsulates the variety of gifts and backgrounds that are what make our church (St. Paul and the ELCA) so exciting. Diversity not only in gender and ethnicity, but also in talents. In one picture we captured a Bishop, a Pastor and a Deacon. All of these roles are so different and necessary for the work of the church (hence the Bishop's Facebook hashtag #OneBodyManyMembers).
I also love this picture for the other hashtag the Bishop attached to it #LstcRepresentedToday!...because we did. I think back that as recently as 2013 all three of us were as yet students exploring our faith and calls in to ministry as students at LSTC. If you told me then that we would become partners in ministry gathered at St. Paul like the picture shows, I would've said "In what world?!?". And yet, here we are. God is always working in ways beyond our understanding and yet I understand one thing to be true in all of this: The future is bright for the church!