Lutheran Central Newsletter
January 20, 2023
Our Mission: “To share the Good News of Jesus Christ, teach children, and assist parents in training children to be witnessing Christians and productive citizens.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
For the month of January our students will be learning about Goodness!
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Jesus takes up the concept of goodness early in the Sermon on the Mount (which spans from Matthew 5 to Matthew 7). Part of goodness is, well, doing good works. As you may recall, only God is good, and He gets to decide what works are good. He tells us what those are in the Ten Commandments, which we can sum by in this way: love God and love your neighbor. Love, says St. Paul, is the fulfilling of the Law.
Jesus tells us that Christian lives that are conformed by the good works aren’t to bring attention to how awesome we are, but they serve to bring glory to our Heavenly Father. How does that work?
If God is good, and if our lives look like the works that He calls good, those who benefit from our good works see the goodness of God in us. In Genesis, when Esau set aside his rivalry with his brother, Jacob, and forgave him, Jacob said seeing Esau’s face was like seeing the face of God (Genesis 33:10).
This shows the real motivation for living a life of good works. If we do good to each other for the attention and accolades that that kind of life brings, that’s our reward. But if our desire to do good to one another is borne out of a love for what God calls good, others will see Him in us.
Let us pray: Merciful Father, through Holy Baptism, You called us to be Your own possession. Grant that our lives may evidence the working of Your Holy Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, according to the image of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Written by: Pastor Jordan McKinley
Students and Families we are praying for this week....
Allison and Abigail Schwade, Brinleigh Shelton, Preston Shelton, Evan, Graham, and Julia Shoemaker, Matthew Sitterding, Emma and Jace Sparks, Juliette Spencer, Rhett and Rossi Spencer
Lunch Balance Reminder
Please contact the office with any questions.
National Lutheran Schools Week-Is Here!
The National Lutheran Schools week theme for this year is “Making Disciples for Life”.
The associated scripture verse is Matthew 28:18-20 which says: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'”