Archive for the ‘Pastor’s Blog’ Category.
March 8, 2011, 12:35 pm
Running For Christ
St. Lucas Lutheran Church
2011 Mission Trip to Brazil
In July 2011, a team of members from St. Lucas Lutheran Church in St. Louis will travel to Brazil to assist Lutheran schools in a very poor area of southern Brazil during their winter break (seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere). The students have little else to occupy their time, so the faculty provides continuing education opportunities during the break, giving up their own vacation time to assist these young children. The St. Lucas Mission Team will be traveling as servants for Christ, assisting in whatever is needed to be a blessing to this powerful ministry to a people in desperate need of hope. We may help with English lessons, lead devotions, assist with construction, or simply clean classrooms and bathrooms for the sake of the ministry in these schools.
The cost for a team of 7 people is approximately $21,000. To help with these costs, Pastor Biber will be “running for Christ.” On April 10, 2011, Pastor Biber will run in the St. Louis Marathon (26.2 miles). Throughout his training and in the race, Pastor Biber will wear “Running for Christ” shirts to make known why he is running and hopeful to bear witness to others that we do not run in vain. Please consider partnering with Pastor Biber and with the members of St. Lucas in this mission endeavor. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of hundreds of children who need help to break the cycle of poverty and who need the saving grace of God even more. A monthly newsletter detailing the preparations for the trip and the “Running for Christ” training will be sent to all who make pledges. This mission trip involves much more than just those who will go – we will all be partnering with schools in Brazil to bring Christ to the students and families in this needy area.
$.25/mile ($6.55) $1.00/mile ($26.20) $5.00/mile ($131.00) $10.00/mile ($262.00)
I would like to give $_____________ now to support St. Lucas’ work in Brazil
Please send name, address, e-mail address and pledge amount/check to:
St. Lucas Lutheran Church
Brazil Mission Trip
7100 Morganford Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63116
November 17, 2009, 1:16 am
It is my hope that this will be the first or many opportunities to share with you thoughts and insights as I read through Scriptures in preparation for sermons and Bible classes and for personal devotion.
Acts 1:1 “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach.”
Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. They can, and perhaps should, be read as one narrative. Often, we separate the Gospels and Acts because the four Gospels set forth the life of Jesus while the Book of Acts tells what the disciples did after Jesus had departed into heaven. In fact, the full title that is often used to refer to the book of Acts is “The Acts of the Apostles.”
However, this first verse of Acts tells us that Luke had a different idea. He tells the person to whom he is writing that the Gospel he had written was about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” But if Jesus ascended into heaven, wouldn’t that be the conclusion of His work and teaching? Why isit thebeginning? The answer comes when we connect Jesus’ command to the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit with the events of Pentecost. Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit and, through that Spirit working through the disciples, Jesus’ work continues. In fact, you can look at Peter’s words in Acts 3:12. After Peter healed a lame beggar, others were astonished at the power he displayed. In response, he asks them “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” It is not the work of the Peter, but Jesus working through him. Acts is not the work of the disciples, but the continuing work of Jesus Christ through the disciples.
What does this mean for us today? The ministry of Jesus Christ continues. Like the disciples, we have received the promised Holy Spirit. Like the disciples, Jesus continues to reach out in grace to the world through us. The work we do as a congregation is not our work alone, but it is Christ, who lives in us, working through us. There are still people whom God is calling to His saving grace and we have the privilege of bring that message to them. Take the time to read through the book of Acts, keeping in mind that the work of God in and through the disciples that is set forth there continues in the ministry of St. Lucas today.