Today I had the privilege of visiting Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City, one of my close neighbors. I not only received the Word, but also the body and blood of Christ, and in addition witnessed a Baptism. And all of that before lunchtime! I'm not sure what could possibly happen during the rest of the day to top that. Pastor Hartwig invited me to preach at the three weekend services so that I could get to know the congregation and they could meet their new neighbor. Everyone was quite welcoming of me and my family and I received many inquiries about what's happening with St. Silas.
If you are curious about what's been happening with St. Silas so far, I would encourage you to read the original post on this blog where I describe the work thus far. In addition to what's listed there I have met with more of the local clergy in North Liberty, launched a website for St. Silas, preached at several other LCMS congregations in the District, made connections with several individuals and families who have expressed an interest in attending St. Silas once services are being held, and continued to get to know the city and make connections. The work is slow and requires patience. I learned the hard way last week that if you pay attention to the actual progress of a church plant you will lose all emotional stability. One day things are great, the next day things are discouraging. Rather than paying too much attention to what my eyes see I have been driven back to Christ's promises, "I will build my church" (Mt. 16:18) and "neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:7). And as I noted in the promotional video, I love the parable of the growing seed:
"And [Jesus] said, 'The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come'" (Mk. 4:26-29).So I don't know how the growth happens, and according to the parable, that's not my business. To us it appears to happen "by itself" as the parable puts it. The Greek word there is "automate" where we get our English word "automatically." There is one person who has the responsibility of growing the Church. It's not me, it's not you. It's Jesus, and he does it through the Word. It's very tempting to ask the question, "How do we grow the Church?" That's the wrong question to ask. The better question is, "How is the seed planted? How is it watered? How is it fed?" Through his pastors Jesus plants with preaching, waters with Baptism, and feeds with his body and blood in the Lord's Supper. Simple as that. And then he causes the Church to grow.
If you want to keep up with more of what's happening with St. Silas, you can subscribe to this blog to receive updates to your inbox. You can check out our website at www.stsilaslutheran.org. If you have not yet seen the promotional video for the church plant it's available online at www.youtube.com/stsilaslutheran. Occasionally I'll ask for input concerning something or post an interesting link on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/stsilaslutheran. I'm also available by e-mail: stsilaslutheran@gmail.com.
Thank you for having me to preach God's Word. It was a pleasure to get to know you a little better.
In Christ
Pastor Andrew Richard
St. Silas Lutheran Church
www.stsilaslutheran.org
www.facebook.com/stsilaslutheran
stsilaslutheran@gmail.com
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