“Do not be afraid! For see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord…” For 2000 years, this Good News has brought great joy to human hearts! Sunday at Living Springs, we are excited to celebrate “Christmas in July.” It is an opportunity to focus on the gift of Christmas without all the holiday trappings – also a reminder that for half of our planet, in the southern hemisphere, the celebration of Christ’s birth is a summer event. With record-setting heat and floods and storms in the news, it may be no coincidence that this Sunday’s lesson from Romans 8 speaks of the groaning of God’s creation – and yet, the apostle Paul reminds us that the sure, certain hope of God will always have the final word in every circumstance – even the final word of all history. Thanks be to God! We give thanks for all who participated and prayed for our Midlands Lutheran GraceWorks servant days this past week. We had 19 youth & adults from LS join others – pulling little wagons & passing out cold water on sweltering city streets; serving over 100 lunches to persons in homelessness; preparing clothes & food for those in need at Mission Lexington, Sharing God’s Love, and Keeping It Real ministries for homeless vets; delivering meals to homebound seniors; working at Cristo Rey Mission, St. John’s EMS, and Jubilee Academy children’s school; distributing care packages for first responders; making care kits and layettes for Tanzania; and so much more. For 4 days, they served and worshipped and heard speakers deliver life-shaping messages about the power of scripture, grace, and faith … what a joyful week of experiencing and sharing God’s growing hope! Thanks be to God! Last Sunday, we celebrated Christmas in July. If you didn’t hear the special music with cello, French horn & choir, you can still find the service on YouTube. And if you weren’t able to do our Christmas craft as a reminder to live year-round as people of joy for others, there are still some kits in the fellowship hall. This Sunday, we worship at 8:15 and 10:30, with our ongoing Livestream and parking lot feed at 10:30. We are blessed to have Lauren Bloss share an inspiring liturgical dance based on the song, “How He Loves Us!” We hear Jesus’ parable about weeds and wheat – his reminder for us to resist the temptation to take on God’s role, wanting to pass judgment to try to weed out others and in the process, destroy the good wheat of God’s kingdom growing hope. Jesus says that God is the one who will take care of the weeding process; and in the end, God’s kingdom harvest of hope will not be thwarted by the weeds of the world. Thanks be to God! I leave you with words from Sunday’s Psalm 86: “I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name forevermore – for great is your love toward me! … You, O Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth!” May the Spirit fill our hearts with the growing hope of our loving God as we look forward to worshipping together this Sunday! Christ’s peace!
