Called for More: A People Set Apart to Love

Our world today tells us that success means producing more, buying more, and achieving more. We are encouraged to measure our worth by our accomplishments, our possessions, and our ability to keep up. 

But God calls us to a different kind of more. We are called to remember who we are and whose we are. We belong to God, and that changes everything. 

That brings us into our stewardship season at Bethany. During stewardship season, we invite our community to reflect on how God is calling us to use our energy, abilities, relationships, and financial resources. Stewardship is about more than checking a box or deciding on an amount for the coming year. It is an opportunity to reflect on the gifts God has entrusted to you and to consider how those gifts might bless others. 

We give because we have received. And when you give to Bethany, you aren't simply keeping an organization running. You are sustaining and participating in a community that worships together, cares for one another, and seeks to be a blessing beyond ourselves. 

Your generosity helps make it possible for us to pack food with local organizations, collect donations to serve our neighbors, offer ministries for children and youth, and show up when someone in our congregation needs a helping hand. This is part of what it means to be a people set apart to love. 

For God so loved us that God’s love must shape the way we participate in the world. For God so loved us that we must choose compassion over indifference, generosity over scarcity, and community over isolation. For God so loved us that we must remember that our gifts are not ours to keep for ourselves alone, but opportunities to participate in what God is doing among us. 

Perhaps you are wondering what it means to be part of this community. Maybe you've been worshiping with us for a while. Maybe you've been visiting in person or online. Maybe you're curious about Lutheran Christianity. Maybe you have questions about what makes Bethany different. 

This fall, we're creating some space for those questions. On October 18, Bethany will begin a series called “Come and See: Bethany.” 

We'll spend time getting to know Bethany, learning about the Lutheran faith, and talking about what it means to be part of this particular community. We'll gather after the 9:30 a.m. worship service, and there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions, meet others, and talk with me. 

Come because you're curious. Come because you're considering a new church community. Together, we will learn what it means to follow God in this particular time and place. 

We will keep asking questions, growing in faith, and discovering new ways to love our neighbors. And we will keep returning to the story of God's faithfulness and asking how our lives might reflect that love. 

So wherever you find yourself this week, I invite you to wonder: What has God given you, and how might God be calling you to use it in service of love? What might it look like for you to choose, in your own life, to serve the Lord? 

There is room for you at Bethany. There is room to ask questions, to grow, to serve, and to discover what it means to belong to a community called to live differently in response to God's enduring faithfulness. 

We are called for more. We are called to be a people set apart to love. 

Come and see. 

Peace, 

Pastor Katie