If you worshipped with us over the past two weeks, we’ve been spending time talking about core values.
These values aren’t things we aspire to be, they are things we do right now and our goal is to do them well.
Our mission statement and our core values are clearly described on our website: https://communitylv.org/what-we-believe.
You will even see them as you come up the stairs to church!
In past week we have shown clearly how we embrace and live into every core value we named as a congregation.
Welcome: A week ago Thursday we welcomed over 200 people to our church parking lot for our 23rd annual Trunk or Treat Halloween Party. Many families from the neighborhood came and enjoyed a fun evening where they were welcomed and made to feel “at home.”
We couldn’t do this year after year without the tremendous support of our church family who came out to serve our community with warm smiles and piles of candy.
Worship: As a church this is the primary activity of Community Lutheran Church! We worship Jesus who died and rose again from the dead. In doing so, we know that nothing can separate us from God’s love, not even death itself! We gather as a church family to praise Jesus and give thanks for all God has done in our lives.
Learning: We recognize the importance and commitment to be “lifelong learners.” There is always an opportunity to learn at CLC. Just this week 70 people gathered on Wednesday to share dinner and then engage in learning about the life of King David. This coming Sunday, I will be teaching a class on what it means to be a Lutheran Christian. There are other opportunities to learn as well, including Sunday School and Youth Group!
Service: We are a church that serves all the time! Not ourselves, but each other and the community. Why? There is an inescapable conclusion found in the teachings of Jesus that we show our love for one another by how we serve. We learn from the Bible that points us towards serving the way Jesus served us by dying for our sins.
You can see the signs of service everywhere at CLC! From our kitchen to our welcome desk, to ushers, greeters and Communion assistants, the Glitter Team, landscaping, the gift store. When the larger community needs our help we are ready to jump in with our senior feeding program, peanut butter, Operation Christmas Child, quilters, knitters, Carolyn’s Closet, Angel Tree and even Halloween candy. And we do even more than these things listed here!
Generosity: If we live into the first four core values of: Welcome, Worship, Learning and Service the inevitable result is a “lifestyle of generosity.” Simply put we give because God gave. We give of our time, our money and even our expertise/passion. We most look like Jesus when we give to others or to the church.
Living into our core values as individuals will lead us on a path of Inspired Growth… closer to God and closer to each other.
God bless you,
Pr. Ben