Nebraska Synod ELCA

by Pastor Greg Berger, Assistant to the Bishop

In the season of Easter our senses are especially heightened to the heart of the Christian message:

  “Jesus is risen! (He is risen indeed!)”

Everything about who we are and what God has done and is doing for us is packed into those three words.

We are called to tell the story of the crucified, risen, and ascended Savior, Jesus. Who is this Jesus? What does it mean that he is risen? Why do we say “is,” not “was”? We tell others the story of how that Good News makes a difference for us and for the world. We share how we live in it every day. We tell the story, individually and as faith communities.

Congregations in transition, that is, seeking a certified or rostered leader, write a Ministry Site Profile (MSP). It can be thought of as an application, as a brochure or advertisement: “Come be our pastor! We want you as our leader!” But more than that, the Ministry Site Profile is telling the story of that particular faith community and how they are and how they envision living out the Gospel in the future. It is an invitation for a leader to come and walk in covenant with them. I like to use the verb, “gospelling.” Maybe that’s not a real word, but it describes what we are doing: Sharing the story of when God breaks in to our bad news world with love, mercy, forgiveness, grace. Gospelling one another, Gospelling our neighbor.

Rejoice! Lutheran Church in Omaha, is in transition. They have completed their MSP. Their document does an amazing job of telling the story of who they are and who they seek to be. As most congregations do, the Ministry Site Profile writing team invited members to complete a survey. There were some reservations, doubting if it would tell them anything they didn’t already know. Boy were they surprised! Members of Rejoice! used this opportunity to tell the story of their congregation. It was stories of individuals and families gospelling! They were stories of welcome, discipleship, care, support in need, equipping, opportunities to put love into action. They were stories of lives changed because of the people and the ministries of Rejoice! Lutheran Church.

Some of those stories were added to the MSP. And with that, a form filled in information, facts, trends, preferences and hopes, was made alive with The Story! Any leader reading Rejoice!’s profile will know, the heart of the Easter message is proclaimed in word and deed by God’s people in this place. These are disciples who Go and…Tell the story!

We all have the same story: “Jesus is risen! (He is risen indeed!)”. It is the story of God’s love. I have a prism hanging in the window of my office, a beautiful piece of cut glass. Just like the beautiful love of God. But as that prism takes a singular beam of light and breaks it into a beautiful rainbow of color, the Story of God is an array of colorful stories, unique to each person and faith community. The same beam of “Son-light,” displayed in multiple, colorful, stories.

What is the story you can tell of God’s love refracted in your life, congregation, community? How does the next chapter of your story – individual and corporate unfold? How is Grace revealed, Love manifest, Mercy celebrated? Go and tell the story! Go and tell how God is gospelling in your life and world!