Pastor's Pen- October 2006

Dear Friends in Christ,

The calendar tells us that fall has officially arrived and one can in fact feel it and smell it in the air. Days of sunshine and drying weather begin to make folks anxious for the start of harvest and the intense activity of the next few weeks. This is also a time of extra activity in the lives of the congregations as well with a number of special events taking place and days to be celebrated.

This month third graders at Mansfield will be receiving their bibles as a part of their life long journey of growing in faith and understanding as children of God. The LYO will once again be sponsoring Octoberfest to be served at Mansfield on Sunday, the 15^th. Eleven ninth graders will be affirming the promises of their baptisms in the rite of Affirmation at worship in both congregations on Sunday, October 22. On October 29, we will once again celebrate Reformation Sunday in celebration of our roots as a people of faith as well as to look with honesty at areas in which reform continues to be needed yet today.

In the midst of all of this activity both in the Church family and without it is easy for us to lose sight of the message of God’s gracious love for us as revealed in the Savior, Jesus the Christ. Salvation has been won for us and all of God’s creation in the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior. There is nothing that we can do to earn that which has already been given. Moved by the Spirit we respond to what God has done with lives filled with thanks and praise from our acts of worship to our gifts of resources to our commitments to gather with God’s people to our willingness to learn and grow as God’s creativity continues to be revealed in our midst. We have been truly blessed as well as entrusted with the riches that God’s creation has to offer. In joy we return to God the first fruits of that with which we have been blessed so that God’s glory may be shared with the whole world.

As busy as we might become, even with the best and most important of tasks, let us be mindful of time spent with God as well. God will see us through busy-ness, change and reform, and we will be stronger witnesses as a result. With God first in our lives, everything else will find its place and balance.