For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21
On my first Sunday at Bethany Lutheran I made reference to the history of our congregation. For 143 years, Bethany Lutheran has existed for the sake of God’s good news in Jesus Christ here in Escanaba, Michigan. On April 15th, 1879 the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Escanaba began with only 35 members.
One hundred years ago, on Christmas day in 1912, we worshipped for the first time in our sanctuary. This year, in 2022, we will have Christmas worship in that same sanctuary. One hundred years of fellowship and worship for the sake of God’s message of Love in Christ Jesus. This big and beautiful sanctuary is testament to the faith of the congregation in those first forty-three years.
Those 35 people had no idea the growth their congregation would experience in fifty years. They had no way of knowing how many building would need to be built to accommodate those who wanted to worship. They had no way to know how the Spirit would work through their ministry, welcoming folks into the body of Christ.
They wanted a place to worship.
They wanted a place to gather and to be fed by God’s Word through readings, preaching, and the sacraments. They needed a place to be sent from to share God’s love with the growing community.
They wanted to share the love they knew in Christ.
143 years later and the landscape of Escanaba and United States religion looks different. We don’t need a bigger building. We don’t need a larger place to worship. But, not everything has changed.
The world still needs to hear the good news that is God’s love for all of creation. The people of our community still need to know God’s abundant grace spreads to them. Our neighborhoods need to hear that Jesus’ love rattles our very reality. God is making all things new.
In Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus presents the same challenge to the crowds gathered around him as he does to the group of 35 Swedish immigrants 143 years ago as he does to us today. Trust what Jesus has come to show us. Trust in what God continues to do in our world.
We belong to God. Stewardship asks us to live into this reality, and trust in God’s goodness. Where do we place our treasures? Do we trust what God can do with our lives, our time, our gifts and our resources? Where does our heart belong?
No one ever knows what the future will hold. By gathered together in God’s love we respond to the world with hope, trusting in God’s future of healing and wholeness.
Peace,
Pastor Lily
All are welcome!
Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.