You are invited to join with members of the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA in a study of Pastor Bouman’s book titled, They are Us: Lutherans and Immigration. Through stories of crisis and hope, They Are Us helps Christian communities understand themselves and their ministries as part of God’s narrative of love and hospitality for the little, the lost, the last, and the least.
In the Gospel for Reformation Sunday in John, chapter 8 Jesus says to us: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Those who are grasped by the truth of the Gospel have the freedom to be for the world, to serve the neighbor. That, finally, is the power of the reformation. What began as a crisis in pastoral care, in a concern that we not seek to escape from a confrontation with our mortality and a life apart from God (which we call sin), is a powerful word to us: the Gospel sets us free for truth, for service, for living for others. That alone authentically renews and reforms the church. St. Luke’s future will not come through schemes for survival, but from the truth that we are set free to serve in an always renewing and reforming mission.