1 Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. – Psalm 1:1-3
As the children, youth, and young adults of our congregation head back to school, I can’t help but think of the Lord’s call for each of us to be life-long learners. We have the chance to not only grow in the knowledge of his creation and world, but to grow in the promises of His grace and guidance. There is a joke that is told about a man who sat at his kitchen table in desperate prayer for God to reveal Himself and His will to the man. He prayed fervently and feverishly for God to speak to him. All that he wanted to hear was the voice of God. There was nothing uniquely wrong with the man’s prayer or his yearning to draw closer to God, but there was a problem that in the midst of all of his prayers to God He never opened up the Bible which lay just three short feet away on the kitchen counter. God does not always answer our prayers the way we would like to, but He does answer. He has provided for us a way to hear the voice of the Lord for our lives in the Scriptures.
This fall, we would like to invite you to a new season with the Lord. We would like to invite you to grow in the Lord as described above in our reading from Psalm 1. While we may not be ready for it, we already begin to prepare ourselves for the coming months when leaves will change and fall, as the growing season will come to a close. Yet, for the one who delights in the words of the Lord meditating day and night it is always a season for growth—to bud and flourish with his grace. Whether it is in personal devotion or an opportunity to gather again with your longstanding small group bible study or to start a new small group, we invite you to grow deep into the Word of the Lord this fall.
God invites us to both grow deep into the sweet water of His mercy and grace, so that we may also go wide into this world, spreading our branches to bear fruit in our vocations. So many of us express a desire to make a difference in our world and to leave a lasting legacy. Perhaps that outer growth and flourishing must first start with the inner growth of our roots into the depths of God’s love and forgiveness. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." The life application? Great things can be unleashed from a single life, if we give it the right conditions and time to grow. After all, as Martin Luther reminds us, “This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
So this fall, we invite you to come and grow with us. Look for more information to come on our weekend Bible studies, our new Fall Women’s study, opportunities to be a part of a small group through a congregational study held this fall. May you be blessed in this season of life, as you grow in the lavish grace of your Lord Jesus Christ.
Closing Prayer: Lord, we desire to hear Your voice and to do Your will. Help us to turn regularly to Your Word of truth to hear Your promises that are found alone in You. Give us hearts that yearn for Your presence, so that we may remember that You are with us wherever we go. Transform our perspective of our daily lives to see that each word spoken and every act done is a chance to worship and to serve You. All this we ask in the precious name of Christ, our Savior. Amen.
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Kurt Ebert