Sunday Morning, Sunday Evening

The Minnesota Teen Challenge Choir will be presenting a message of hope and joy this Sunday morning. I hope you will be able to come and hear the music and the testimonies to what God is doing in the lives of these men and women.

Between our two hours of worship I'll be teaching the first half of our new member class. At that class I always go through the statement of faith found in our church's constitution. That statement of faith is below.

On Sunday evening the church council is sponsoring an open forum in regard to denominational issues. We'll gather downstairs in the fellowship hall to share our varied thoughts and feelings and ask questions. Our congregational president will moderate and we'll do our best to answer questions. Notes will be taken -- questions and comments that cannot be answered Sunday evening will come back to the executive committee and a second forum will be held to address them in about two weeks time.

On both Sunday morning and Sunday evening, I pray that we will be submissive to the Lord above all. I am praying that our ears and hearts will be open and our voices filled with love and truth.

I believe we need to be completely compassionate and completely committed to God's created order at the same time. I believe that is what we have always taught and will continue to teach in and through our church.

Thanks for your continued partnership in the gospel.

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Here's what we'll be going over at our new member class this Sunday morning, beginning at 9:45 in the church choir room. I hope you will consider listening in!

Confession of Faith
from the ELC constitution

C2.01.
This congregation confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

C2.02.
This congregation confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

a. Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death and resurrection God fashions a new creation.

b. The proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

c. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.

C2.03.
This congregation accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.

C2.04.
This congregation accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this congregation.

C2.05.
This congregation accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging it as one with it in faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.

C2.06.
This congregation accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.

C2.07.
This congregation confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world.

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