Pastor Martin's
Message for February, 2010
St. Paul writes, "Indeed, the body
does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, `Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that
would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear would say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to
the body,' that would not make it any less a
part of the body. If the whole body
were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member,
where would the
body be. As it is there are many members yet one body." 1
Corinthians 12:14-20.
In the past
couple of months, my uncle, and Godfather, was hospitalized after a heart attack and
my stepmother was hospitalized with pneumonia. With my recent visit and vacation to Phoenix, Arizona, I was able to see both of them and
they are doing very well. I thank everyone
for your prayers for both my uncle and stepmother, as they were in the
hospital. Their recent hospitalization and myself
celebrating another birthday has caused me
to reflect upon and to be very thankful for my health and how all of the parts of my body seem to be working as
best as they can for a person who is in
his fifties. I have heard and learned from family, friends and colleagues of
what is waiting for me as I grow
older and how some of those body parts might not be working as well as they are right now.
Maybe you too can relate to my time of reflection and giving thanks for how your health is and for your body that is working
as best as it can for whatever age
you are. At times, we need to check with our doctors and specialists to make sure that our bodies are working as well
as they can be regardless of what age we might be.
As we from time to time need to check
in with doctors and specialists regarding our physical bodies, we also need to
check in with our spiritual bodies and how they are responding to
God's call upon us, as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, those of us who are the feet, hands, ears, eyes and
noses of Christ. Soon we will begin our Lenten Journey and our focus for our Midweek Lenten Services will be "The
Body of Christ," as we look upon our spiritual bodies as the feet,
eyes, hands, mouth, ears and heart of Christ. This will be a very inspirational
focus this. Lenten Season, especially as you are in the call process for a new pastor, so that we
can focus upon what makes us as the body of Christ and how we can better
serve our Savior as the feet, eyes, hands, mouth, ears and heart of Christ.
Please join us on Ash Wednesday, February 17, at 7:00 p.m. as we begin our Lenten Journey and
are reminded that our physical bodies are "dust and from dust we shall return."
Then join us each Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. as we feed our physical bodies with
our Lenten Soup and Bread Suppers and then feed our spiritual bodies with our Midweek Lenten Services at 7:00
p.m. May our Savior Jesus bless us as
we walk with him throughout this Lenten Journey as the feet, eyes, hands,
mouth, ears and heart of Christ!
