Candlelight Gathering of Remembrance

“Comfort, comfort my people, says God.” There are many moments in our lives when we need comfort.

There are tough times when we yearn for consolation. The suffering people who looked for God’s Messiah were given a hope-filled image of God in the writings of Isaiah. It expresses the belief that no matter what happens to us, God will be there to comfort and support us. Christmas can be a time for many when we are in need of that reassurance and comfort. Perhaps we are grieving over the loss of a loved one, struggling with illness, or have experienced the loss of a job. We wonder how we will get through the holidays.

The surprises of Christmas unfold into great love

The signs of Christmas are the signs of healing, forgiveness, and joy; and the redemption of human life and nature.  Jesus the Messiah came to bring light into all darkness.

Our Christmas preparations should make room for Jesus the Messiah; both the vulnerability of the baby Christ as well as the missional passion of the grown Jesus.

Despite all the activity that we generate during the Christmas Season, the true “Christmas” arrives according to God’s unpredictable timing and through his unforeseen agency.  We are, then, to be ready to receive the Christmas gifts of God.

Having resolved not to “fall “ for false and corrupt shepherds, it is time to hone in, despite all the interference, on the vibrant signal of Jesus Christ!

The Church's commission, which is the foundation of its freedom, consists in this: in Christ's stead, and so in the service of his own Word and work, to deliver all people, through preaching and sacrament, the message of the free grace of God.

We reject the false doctrine that with human vainglory the Church could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of self- chosen desires, purposes and plans.

Scripture tells us that by divine appointment the State, in this still unredeemed world in which also the Church is situated, has the task of maintaining justice and peace, so far as human discernment and human ability make this possible, by means of the threat and use of force. The Church acknowledges with gratitude and reverence toward God the benefit of this, his appointment. It draws attention to God's Dominion, God's commandment and justice, and with these the responsibility of those who rule and those who are ruled. It trusts and obeys the power of the Word, by which God upholds all things.

We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the State should and could become the sole and total order of human life and so fulfill the vocation of the Church as well.

We reject the false doctrine that beyond its special commission the Church should and could take on the nature, tasks and dignity which belong to the State and thus become itself an organ of the State.

Christ's Church is to be Independent from Political Power