Pastor’s Reflection… It’s time to focus on Jesus! 

We live in the greatest time to be church. By church we mean the universal worldwide Chrisitan Church and individual Christian congregations, like Parma Lutheran. This is the greatest time to be church because people today need God’s grace, forgiveness, love, healing, and acceptance in Christ Jesus now more than in any other time throughout the history of the church. We live in a time of unbridled selfishness and distraction, and anger, meanness, and conflict of cultures and contrasting world views, and opposing political ideologies.  People need Jesus now more than ever, yet many churches are closing their doors. It’s time we refocus on Jesus and rethink our priorities by realigning ourselves on Jesus of the gospels. 

 

What is church? The word “church’ comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “assembly of people” or “gathering.”  As much as we church people sometimes mistakenly confuse church to mean our building, nowhere in the Bible do we interpret ekklesia to mean a building. Church in the Bible is always the people! According to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (1:22-23) church is the body of Christ.  We as church and individual members of it represent our living Lord Jesus Christ and proclaim his message of grace, forgiveness, and love. What we see Jesus doing in the gospels is our example of what we ought to be focused on and doing here-and-now as church. 

 

We live in a time when Jesus and His church are needed now more than ever! But if so, why then are so many congregations closing their doors? If we are indeed the body of Christ, why are people not coming to meet Jesus among us when back in Jesus’ day people flocked to hear Jesus’ message of love and healing, and to worship Him?  Have we taken our focus off of Jesus? Am I, are you, focusing too much on our church building and its furnishings, or on things other than Jesus, and not enough on being the body of Christ and doing His work here in Parma? 

 

I firmly believe worship attendance and church membership are down, and churches are closing throughout America, NOT because Jesus left His church, not even because society changed, but because many of us as modern day Christians and church members lost our focus on Jesus and shifted our priorities! Like Peter when he stepped out of the boat at the invitation of Jesus to walk on the water. (See Matthew 14:22-33). Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water with his eyes locked in faith onto the eyes of his Lord.  By faith Peter walked on the water! Then the instant Peter took his eyes off Jesus and focused his attention on his fear of the wind and waves Peter sank! Peter shifted his focus from faith to fear! Pete allowed fear to overpower his faith! As church and individual members of it, like Peter, we too may have shifted our focus from our faith in Jesus and instead placed our focus upon our fear of the wind and waves of our lives. 

 

Let’s NOT take our focus off of Jesus and our faith in Him! In a world that needs Jesus now more than ever we must faithfully be His body in the world where people who need the grace, forgiveness, love and healing of Jesus will find Him among us. As we enter into discussion about the future of our building, whether we sell and move, or stay and remodel according to our needs, let’s look at the building and its furnishings merely as tools for Christian ministry. Let’s remember we as church are the body of Jesus Christ in the world today. And let’s get busy for Jesus, and keep our focus on Him! 

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Journeying together in Christ,

Pastor “Jay” Plummer