Holy Living means Wholly Giving

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.  Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.  Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct...”

-- I Peter 1:13-15

Friends of Atonement,

            According to St. Peter, our holy living starts with God’s holy giving.  God’s holiness is to be the pattern for our own lives and conduct.  That’s a tall order for fallible sinners like us – but there is a place where we are renewed and forgiven of our old ways and encouraged and strengthened to live for God.  This all happens through God’s grace, which we discover again and again in being part of a church community.  Once again, I’m writing to thank you for patterning your life on God’s holy giving by supporting the mission and work of Atonement Lutheran Church. 

            There is much good work done through this congregation, but there are also many ways in which we support God’s work beyond our congregation.  Besides the amazing work of Atonement’s own ministry teams and our Helping Hands Food Pantry, we support many organizations and groups that touch people with God’s love both near and far.  Many of the people being helped we will never see; many of their stories we will never hear.  But we trust that in giving to these good causes, we are giving to our trust-worthy God. 

            This past month, we have celebrated God’s Work Our Hands Sunday (which this year fell on September 11, the 15^th anniversary of the attacks) with a very special blessing for our local police and fire workers.  Meals from the church were sent out to on-duty first responders at police and fire stations in and around Wesley Chapel.  I received a wonderful thank you this week from our Pasco fire chief, who appreciates the care and support that you showed on that special day.

            We are in the midst of a 5-week campaign to learn about our Florida Lutheran camp, Luther Springs, and the ongoing efforts to upgrade and expand the facilities there.  Children and adults throughout Florida have a special “place apart” to experience God’s love through the wonder of creation.  We will be asking for pledges to help Luther Springs over the next three years as they try to raise a grand total of $3 million.  We hope to do our part and raise our goal of $10,000 from Atonement members – only a dime a day from each family, but enough to be a significant part of this great project.

            Last month I attended a special training put on by the Boy Scouts of America for representatives of Charter Organizations.  That’s a fancy term for groups like Atonement which sponsor Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops.  We are proud to be the Charter Organization of Boy Scout Troop 2, a very active local scout group which meets at the church on Wednesday evenings.  We also provide meeting space for Cub Scout Pack 148, and several Girl Scout groups.  Young people from our scout troop help with our food drives each year.  Some of their scouts came and led the flag ceremony at our 9/11 service.  As I learned at the training, there are many more ways we could involve them, and get church members involved with them. 

            We also support the work of local ELCA churches in the Tampa Bay area by giving annually to the work of the Tampa Conference.  As the current dean of the conference, I have been helping several of our sister congregations find pastors to replace those recently retired.  Since I’ve started, we have installed 6 pastors into new leadership positions.  Coming up on Saturday November 19, Lutheran clergy and church members from our conference will gather at Calvary Lutheran Church in Apollo Beach to hear from ELCA leaders, share ministry stories and decide how to direct our mission funds to best support the work of our conference.  You too, are welcome to come meet fellow Tampa Bay Lutherans at our Fall Conference Gathering.

            A portion of our regular offerings each Sunday is shared with the Florida-Bahamas Synod, which in turn sends over half of what they receive towards the mission work of the whole ELCA.  Missionaries around the world, hunger and disaster relief, justice work, support for new mission starts, seminaries and synod staff throughout the ELCA are all supported through our congregation’s “benevolence giving” to the wider church.  We have been growing every year in the amount we send out to synod, and are continuing to increase it as a proportion of our annual budget.           

            St. Peter tells Christians to let go of their old desires which caused them to put themselves first, and to generously practice holy living.  I am so inspired when I see you doing just that in your wholehearted support of God’s work at Atonement.  But it’s even more impressive to see that love get passed on to others.  As we join together to support causes beyond our congregation – ministries that help young and old in our communities and around the world – a miracle takes place before our eyes, and our own holy living becomes another instance of God’s holy giving.   

Peace