The Holy Spirit inspired King David to write in Psalm 122:1, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
As Peace Lutheran Church family, we had the joy of sharing this sentiment as God allowed us to “go to the House of the Lord” together on Feb. 13 and celebrate the blessing of retiring our mortgage on our blessed church facility! A once – in – a – lifetime event for many of us, we were blessed to share this moment together in our church’ s history as we are celebrating our 50th anniversary as an LCMS congregation. Our current facility was built in 1994, located at a central spot in the community, and it has allowed us to provide many community service and outreach projects in addition to our Word and Sacrament ministry.
As part of our experience together that Sunday, we each filled out a “Certificate of Indebtedness… and Freedom” as pictured; the Bible reminds us that we each owe an eternity worth of suffering in hell for our sins– a debt we can never pay off! But thanks be to God, for Jesus came as our Savior and paid the whole price for us on the cross, declaring, “It is Finished– “TETELESTAI!” on the cross (John 19:30): a specific business- world term for “DEBT IS PAID– IN FULL!” So we each acknowledged our sin debt and rejoiced in Christ’s payment on our behalf by signing our “debt certificates” and marking them with the cross of Christ as His signature declaring them paid off, and then depositing them into the bin to be burned up along with the church mortgage note. Praise God for His marvelous gifts!
It is our prayer that this celebration of a significant milestone together will be a powerful motivation for our church family to press forward in serving the Lord and our community in His precious Name– while He grants us time and opportunity! Thank you for a brief prayer for us as we share our District’s work together in the Lord’s Harvest field!
Submitted by Brian Pummill, Pastor of Peace Lutheran
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