From the Pastor

In the Beginning

Whether you are involved with a school or are long past those school schedules, when the calendar turns to August you start to think of beginnings. This is the month that Resurrection Lutheran School is back in session, it’s the month with all the back-to-school sales and “fall” sports beginning. The weather tells us it’s summer, but the motion of day-to-day life tells us a new season is beginning.

What change comes to you when something new begins? Does it bring you excitement or dread? Are you already exhausted or filled with new energy? No matter how you feel, you can’t deny that beginnings always bring something new. What will that new thing be for you this August?

God is always working in the newness of beginnings because it is God who creates something new in each beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the beginning. In a way, He invented beginnings. It is in the beginning of things, days, seasons, life, schedules, etc. that God is always working. He is always ready to be at work in the beginning of anything and His work is mainly to create something new. What is that new thing?

In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He comes saying, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” God and His work of creating new things comes with Jesus who brings the beginning of God’s kingdom on earth. What does the beginning of God’s kingdom look like? It looks like the creation of something new. It looks like healing, community, love, forgiveness, compassion, safety, unity, grace. It looks like all the miraculous works and teachings of Jesus that we read of in the Gospels.

God is working in beginnings, and He is still bringing His kingdom. What are the beginnings for you? It might be big seasons or routine schedules. Where do you see the kingdom of God in your beginnings?

We all live through the routine beginnings of each day. When you begin the day, do you begin the day in what God is creating? God creates His faith in you each and every day and we get to participate with God in His kingdom work of creating faith. When you begin each day with God’s Word, you are beginning God’s created day with His kingdom mindset, orienting your heart and mind towards what His kingdom looks like. We also begin our week with that same kingdom orientation. We begin in His Church, worshiping together in unity and community. It is in worship that we see God’s kingdom working through the action of His Word proclaimed and heard.

When we participate with our Creator God in the habit of beginnings each day and week, He creates in us the work of His kingdom, using us to begin faith in those He puts before us.

Your beginning brother in Christ,
Pastor Zach Sarrault