Be A Light Bearer |12.15.24|Shadows and Light pt.3

Be A Light Bearer

Luke 4:18-19

Pastor Bill Sullivan

As you find your seats, it's my pleasure to welcome up and introduce maybe for the first time for some of you, Pastor Bill Sullivan. Pastor Bill was the first senior pastor that New Life Lutheran called when New Life first started as a church. You are our first full-time pastor that we called as a church. And Pastor Bill has graciously come back to share the word with us today, to encourage us today. I'm really excited after I heard it for a service already, but also one of the things I just want to commend to you, any of you who don't know Pastor Bill, one of the things that I so appreciate about Pastor Bill is how much you love this church and this church family, and how much you and your wife, Marcia, are committed to this church family. So even though you've moved a little further away to be closer to your kids,(...) Pastor Bill and Marcia are still connected with us online every single week, part of our worshiping community. And so thank you, Pastor Bill. Can we give him a welcome for being here today?

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Well, good morning. It is great to be home because I really feel like, hey, did you come home this morning?(...) And if you don't mind, I'm going to sit down.

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I used to go ahead of operation on a detached retina on my eye. And when they fixed it after they fixed it, one of the things that I have had the joy of experiencing is kind of a balance. So if I were to stand up and walk around, you would think probably that I'm drunk.(...) So I decided that perhaps it's best that I sit this morning. And besides the way if somebody doesn't like it, it doesn't matter anymore because I, you know, nobody can fire me. So it's a good thing. So there's a couple of things that I want to do. First of all, just to introduce myself a little bit, because I realize it's been over six years since I retired and left them working on my seventh year since I retired. And there's a lot of people here that don't have a clue who I am. So I had the joy and privilege. My wife, Marcia and I came to New Life in 2010,(...) just in July 2010, six months into the congregation's life. And I had the joy of serving as the first full time pastor of the congregation. And before that, I spent eight years. New Life is a part of a loose association of congregations called Loosman congregations in Mission for Christ. And I had the privilege of serving as the first national service coordinator of the association before I before I came to New Life. So that's kind of a little bit about my history. And this morning, there's three reasons that I'm really glad to be here. And the first reason is probably not the most important reason. But when Pastor Drew called and asked and said, if I could be here this morning, I said, sure, because the Vikings don't beat up on the Bears till tomorrow night.(...) So I didn't have to be home by noon for the game today. So I said, yeah, I'll be glad to be there. And then the second reason is is that when I was here, when the congregation said goodbye to Pastor Eric several weeks ago, a couple of months ago now, Cheryl Staint asked me if if I could be here to help the congregation celebrate its 15th anniversary.(...) And I said, when is it? And she said, it's like the third week in January. It's like the 15th of January, something like that. And I said, oh my gosh.

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It said, I go, I hate winter. I just want you to know that I hate winter. I said, I go every year to Florida for one week. And the week that I'm scheduled to be gone is the third week in January. I said, Cheryl,(...) what do you think? You think I'd rather be on the sunny beaches of Florida in January, in the middle of January, on the snowy hills of Northern Illinois.(...) And she looked at me and kind of figured out really fast that I was probably going to go to Florida.(...) So I got a chance then, instead of being one of a bunch of folks to be able to be here on the 15th of January to wish the congregation a happy birthday. I get to be here today and be the first person to wish you a happy birthday. And so that was the second reason that I was really glad to be there, to be here this morning. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in a little while. But the third reason, and this is really the most important reason that I'm really glad to be with you this morning, is because I am really so pleased at the theme of your time together and of the sermons that you've been hearing from Pastor Drew and as we've gone through this Advent season. Focusing on what is one of the very, just most beautiful passages of scripture, and that is the prologue to the Gospel of John, where we hear that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, and that this Word that becomes flesh is the light of the world, the light which the darkness cannot overcome. And so it just really captures in just a few sentences God's great plan from creation,(...) where Christ was present in creation until the moment that he enters human history, to be in the process of redeeming us and restoring us into a right relationship with God. And so there's really nothing that I'd really rather have the opportunity to talk with you about than the great themes of light and darkness that John talks about there in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. And I want to begin this morning by kind of asking you to think about those two terms, light and darkness, that are talked about in scripture, and about the human emotions that we feel as we think about each of those words, because they each have a great deal to say to us in scripture about life and about our life together in Christ, and about our mission and our ministry in the world. And I'm going to tell you just a little story and ask you to kind of complete a sentence for me at the end of this little story. We had, I don't know if some of you, I think you probably had the same windstorm here that we had a couple of weeks at home in Merenga where I live now. And there's a cold front coming through and it was just a really, really windy night. And I have the privilege, we built a house with our oldest daughter and son-in-law, and we live on one side of the house and they live on the other side of the house. And every day I get to spend time with my soon to be eight year old grandson. I get to get him on the bus in the morning, I get to get him off the bus in the afternoon and be there with him until his parents get home. Sometimes they have things to do after school and they're not home until maybe six o'clock or something like that. Well, this time of the year gets dark at four thirty. So we had this windstorm the other day.

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We were sitting, I was sitting with my grandson and we were talking and all of a sudden the lights went out and it was like pitch black in our house. You know, it was just pitch black in the living room. And when the lights went out and it got dark, the first thing that my grandson said to me, and this is where I want you to finish the sentence for me, is this.(...) "Papa,(...) I'm really scared.

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I'm really afraid.

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I'm really afraid."

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And that captures the essence of what it means for the world to walk in darkness.

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It captures what it means for the world to walk in darkness from a spiritual sense. Think about it.

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When we think of all of the human emotions tied up with darkness,

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fear is the father of all of the rest of the emotions that we feel.

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Because what is it that fear leads to in our lives? It leads to hopelessness. It leads to despair. It leads to uncertainty.

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It leads to questioning all sorts of things, questioning life.

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Fear is the father of all of the things that we associate in the Bible with darkness,(...) with walking in darkness.

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And fear is paralyzing and it causes all of those other things.

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And so when the lights came back on, you know, William said, "I feel so much better now." You know, the opposite of fear, walking in darkness, is the peace that comes with walking in the light.

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The prince of darkness is the prince of fear,(...) the devil. The prince of fear. The prince of light is Jesus, the prince of peace.

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Right? So this morning, I want to just take a couple of the principal humans that were a part of that first Christmas.

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And to look at the beginnings of the incarnation of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, and how God moves both of them from fear to peace, which enables them to carry out God's mission,

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God's plan for them in their lives.

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Okay?(...) So we're going to take a look at Mary and we're going to take a look at Joseph.(...) And then we're going to spend a little time with their cousin, John the Baptist, because we find out in the scriptures that Mary and Joseph, Mary is related to Elizabeth, who is the mother of John the Baptist, and then Mary and Joseph being the parents of, the earthly parents of Jesus. So we're going to take a look. If you want to grab that, I marked the pages on the Pew Bibles in front of you, in front of the chairs. If you want to follow along there or on your phones or whatever you want to do, that's fine. But we're going to start and we're going to take a look at how both Mary and Joseph deal with the darkness, the fear,(...) the spiritual darkness of fear,

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and how God moves them to light. First of all, as we're talking about that, did you know that of all of the commands in scripture,

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there's one that is mentioned more times than anything else in all of scripture that God tells us to do or not to do.(...) And I haven't fact checked it, but I've read that the Bible says 366 times, one for every day of the year plus one for leap year. One phrase, and you know what it is?

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Fear not.

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There's a reason for that.

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There's a reason that God says fear not so many times because he knows that we're so prone to it. And he knows that it causes so many other things that keep us from accomplishing what God has envisioned for us. So let's start with Mary in the gospel of Luke. It's on page 43 in the back part of your Bibles. If you're following along with the Bibles of the chairs in front of you, we're going to look at chapter one, verses 26 through 38. And you're going to see exactly that both Mary and Joseph, the very first thing that God has to say to them has to deal with fear.

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In the sixth month, starting in the 26th verse of chapter one,(...) in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth.

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To a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, to the house of the house of David.(...) The virgin's name was Mary and he came to her and he said, greetings favored one.(...) The Lord is with you.(...) But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. You know, another word for the word perplexed probably is what? She was afraid.(...) She was afraid of what the angel was saying. Or imagine this, Mary and Joseph were just, you know, late teenagers and there was much that was going on here. So anyway, the Lord said to her, greetings favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, do not be afraid.

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Mary, for you have found favor with God and now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus.(...) He will be great.

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He will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor,(...) David.(...) He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end.

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Mary said to the angel, how can this be?

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Since I'm a virgin,(...) the angel said to her,(...) the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be holy.(...) He will be called the son of God. And now your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son.

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And this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.

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For nothing will be impossible with God.(...) Then Mary said,(...) here am I, the servant of the Lord.

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Let it be with me according to your word.(...) And then the angel departed from her. Do you see the beauty of that?

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How it begins with fear.

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You know,(...) it was it was a very difficult thing to to be an unwed mother.

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In the time of Jesus birth, it was it was it was dangerous.

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You know, women were often put to death.

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If they were found to have committed adultery.(...) I mean, the stigma was was horrendous.

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And Mary was a young girl with her life in front of her. She was afraid.

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And God moves her from this paralyzing fear to the place where she,

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because the light of the word comes to her and shows her what God God's promised for her is, what God's plan for is. And Jesus let it be to me according to your word. In fact, she goes on to write to sing one of the most beautiful songs in all of scripture called the Magnificat, where she says, blessed am I amongst women

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and greatest, the Lord who has done great things for me. You see this transformation that happens in her life because the light of Christ,(...) the light of the word, the light that God brings

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is, you know, dissolves the fear within her and enables her to to do this great thing that God has called her to do and to be the mother of of of Jesus here on Earth. Now, let's move to Joseph and look and see how he deals with the news that that he is to to take Mary as his husband and to be the earthly father for Jesus. We're in Matthew, the first chapter.

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It is on page one of the New Testament in the back part of your Bibles. And we're going to look at verses 18 through

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twenty five, the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, and the very same thing that happens with Mary happens of Joseph. The very first thing that Mary feels is the very first thing that Joseph feels. Let's look now. The birth of Jesus, the Messiah, took place in this way. Starting at verse 18, when his mother, Mary, had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.(...) Her husband, Joseph,(...) being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace,(...) planned to dismiss her quietly.

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But just when he had resolved to do this,(...) an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,(...) Joseph,(...) son of David,(...) do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,(...) for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.(...) She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins.

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All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Look, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God with us.(...) When Joseph awoke from sleep,(...) he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took her as his wife,(...) but he had no marital relations with her until she had born a son and he named him Jesus.

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The very same progression.

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The angel comes to Joseph in his dream and he's already filled with fear.(...) I mean, you know, Mary's found to be pregnant. And of course, his reputation is on the line too.(...) People are going to look at him and say, you know, you're the father.

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And he was a righteous man. And so he was planning because he was afraid of what might come to kind of put her aside, to break off the engagement quietly.

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And we see what fear was doing to him as well. And so the angel comes to him in his dream and says, Joseph,(...) don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.

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For here's what God has planned.

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And as we look at Mary and Joseph throughout the rest of scripture, we see that they are faithful to the calling that God has on their life to do as God has called them to do, they put their fear and all of the things that come along with it aside and let the light of Christ be the light that guides their lives.

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And we could look at other examples all the way through scripture of that light and darkness theme and the fear that changes to peace and hope because of the light that Christ brings into people's lives. And so we're going to look at John the Baptist for just a second and see what

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the scripture kind of outlines as the purpose of those who bear witness to the light in the world, John and each of us, because we are all those who are called to bear witness to the light of Christ in our lives. We're in the gospel of John, the very first chapter, and we're just going to look at three verses, the sixth through the ninth verses of the gospel. According to John, it is on page 70 of your New Testament in the back of the Bible, starting at verse six.

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There was a man sent from God whose name was John. You could put your name in there. You know, we can all put our own names in there. He came as a witness to testify to the light so that all might believe through him.

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He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light,(...) the true light,(...) which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. And that true light is Jesus.

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And you and I are called as was John who spent the rest of his life bearing witness,

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bearing testimony to the light of Christ up until the time that he was beheaded

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and martyred for the faith. You and I are called to the same task in our lives, to be witnesses to the light(...) and to not be paralyzed by fear or any of the things that come with it, but to be changed into those who bear the light of Christ to the world around them.(...) Jesus kind of flushes that out a little bit at the beginning of his earthly ministry. Our last stop this morning as we look through the scriptures for just a second in the fourth chapter of the gospel of Luke, which is on page 47. I'm going to flip over there to page 47 in your Bibles. We're going to look at the just two verses where Jesus kind of expounds upon that whole to bear witness to the world and what our job is as Christians in the 18th and 19th verses of, as Jesus begins his public ministry, he's been baptized by John and the river Jordan. So what a great thing to have celebrated baptisms here this morning. And as soon as he comes up out of the waters of the Jordan, he goes off for 40 days in the wilderness by himself, where he is strengthened by the Holy Spirit for his, his mission. And he comes back and he goes to the temple. And these are the first words from the prophet that he shares in the temple that day. Here's what he says, starting in verse 18. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.(...) He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to, to the blind,(...) to let the oppressed go free,(...) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, which is another way of saying, when Jesus says to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. You see, that's just another kind of imagery of the very same thing.

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The recovery of sight for the blind, the recovery of sight, the light, the blind being the darkness.(...) And so Jesus says, I've been sent to proclaim the recovery of, of light to the blind, of life to those who are dead. And so I want to move forward now to,(...) you know, to, to today and to talk about how I see all of this as a way of expressing what God has done here in the midst of this congregation for the last 15 years.

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And I'm going to kind of just tell you a little bit about the story for those of you who, who are new to new life and who weren't here 15 years ago in the congregation started, it's an amazing story to me of how God moves people from fear to peace, from darkness to light,(...) from that which paralyzes us to that, which sets us free to do his work in remarkable ways in our world today.

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In January of 2010,(...) events happened in the life as sometimes throughout history. We see recorded in the scriptures,(...) those who are appointed by God to lead his people, sometimes the people who are the shepherds of the church kind of lose their way and they become kind of full of themselves.

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And they start to think that, you know, maybe they've got better ideas than God has.(...) And so they, they will sometimes try to move people in directions that are contrary to the light that shines from the pages of scriptures.(...) And that was happening in the life of the church body that, that those congregations that those people that left congregations to become a part of new life found themselves in.(...) And so, you know,(...) early in January of that year, people left,(...) started with a group of folks in Rock Falls at a congregation there who, who left because they felt as though the foundation of our faith, which is the light of God emanating from the scriptures.(...) The, the word is the rock on which we stand and who felt as though that was being compromised.(...) And so I had to leave to start over again. And I'm telling you, I know that as I spoke to many of those people, there was some of that fear that can lead to paralysis, that can lead to despair, that can lead to all sorts of things that were, was there as they, as they took that step, but here's the amazing thing. Within the course of a week they were worshiping again in a community center in Rock Falls because, you know, the light, the darkness can't overcome the light. And the light broke through and there was people used that were willing to step in and help them to kind of get started. And a few months later, folks from another congregation who experienced the same thing joined them.(...) This is all between January and, and late May of 2010.

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In the midst of all of that, well, that was going on here with the folks that, that were a part of the birth of new life. I was at a place in my own life where I really felt it as though it was kind of one of the darkest times of my ministry in my life.(...) It was a very scary time for me.

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A number of things kind of all came together in a March of 2010,(...) just leading up to Holy Week. And one of the things that happened is that for those of you who don't know my wife, Marcia, she had a very serious hemorrhagic stroke 20 years ago, and it's presented a number of challenges for her. And I was traveling a great deal of the time and it was becoming more difficult for her to be able to function when I was going away from home. And so, you know, struggling with, you know, what, what comes next.

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And, and on top of that, I was experiencing some, some challenges with my own health and some difficulties with my heart. And then a third thing that kind of was a part of that all during the very same time was a number of things that were going on with me and just kind of some struggles with the leadership in the folks that were in charge of the association. It's kind of a long story that I don't need to go into in great depth now, but it left, it led to the place where just before Holy Week of 2010, this is in March, I was just really a dark place.

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I went wondering what was coming next for me. And I was on the road traveling and speaking to congregations in the western part of the country in Montana, where I grew up. And, and the director of operations for the association called me the Sunday, just a few days before, before Palm Sunday. And I was scheduled to be able to be home and to have some time to rest and to kind of, kind of avoid things. And she said, I, I just found out that there's one more place where you have to go before you come, you go home for Easter. She said, you need to speak at a new church in Rock Falls in Sterling, Illinois.

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And, and my first reaction was really, I'm tired. You know, I'm struggling. I'm having a hard time wanting to go home. And she said, well, you just need to do this. And I said, okay. And so, I mean, I was, I was kind of reluctant and I think people kind of knew maybe a little bit that Sunday that I might've been a little reluctant, but here's, this is kind of one of the funny things that happens sometimes in how God maybe has a sense of humor in all of this, that I was on Palm Sunday, getting ready to preach here at the Rags to Ruses place that new life was meeting in at the time. And I had to go to the bathroom and I was in the bathroom and Bob Smelter, who was now gone to be with the Lord, was in the bathroom with me. And here we were talking and he said, and he said, how are you doing?(...) I said, well,(...) I'm kind of having a tough time. Now, just honest with him, I'm kind of having a tough time. He said, I'm kind of wondering what comes next for me. I'm not sure what, what she told them. There might be changes coming.(...) This is on a sun on Palm Sunday.

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So little known to me, I knew I was right in the process of getting ready to call its first pastor. They had been talking to some people and they were not sure exactly if the person they were talking to was the right person. And so he left the bathroom and went right to Gary Sandrock, who is the president of the congregation. And he said, you know what? I think that he might be looking for someplace new to go. He might be looking. He might be looking for a job here shortly.(...) So by Wednesday of that week, which is when things kind of came to a head for me after I had gone home from here and I'd had a meeting that had really resulted in the fact that I was, I decided to move on to something else.

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It was, I think Wednesday or Thursday that I got a call from, from, I think it was Gary that was on the phone, I think they'd like to interview me to be the pastor here at New Life.

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And on Good Friday,(...) which is really symbolic of the darkest day in the church year, now where we,(...) where Jesus dies, you know, and there's all sorts of fear amongst his disciples, you know, on Good Friday, in the midst of that whole time of darkness for me in my life, I interviewed to be the pastor at New Life.

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And a few days later, they, you know, wasn't too much after that, that people said, you know, we'd like to call you to be our pastor.

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Here's the thing that, and it's, you know, a couple months later, we were here, started on July 1st of that year.(...) And here's the, here's, here's the beauty of how God works when we let him in the, in the middle of our, of our darkness and our fear,(...) how God can work through that if we will let the light of Christ shine as that situation.

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What happened was here was a group of people beginning a new congregation who had just come through a time of darkness for them, really.

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And a lot of questioning and fear as they started a new journey.(...) And they kind of looked at me as the one who provided a little spark of hope, a little light in the darkness to come in and to serve as their pastor. On the other hand,(...) I looked at them as the light in my darkness.

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You see,(...) I looked at New Life as the spark of light giving me hope for a new beginning.

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In the midst of my darkness. And that's how the Lord works. If we allow him to break in to our darkness, break into our fear and to let him lead into God and,(...) and the next eight years were remarkable in our life together as the people of God in this place.(...) Oh, just from a personal standpoint, let alone the things that happened that benefited and began the work of Christ for this congregation in this community. For me,(...) you know, I was able to, to celebrate during the time that we were here. My oldest daughter was married to her husband and we celebrated that together with the people of God in this place. My grandson, who I get to be with every day and get him on the bus and off of us. And just spend time with him.(...) I had to baptize him right there in that font. And they have the people of God in this place celebrate his coming into the kingdom of God through his baptism.

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When I, during my time here at New Life,(...) I contracted pneumonia, a rare form of pneumonia that almost killed me.(...) I had a couple of people visit me that say, you know, I didn't think after I saw you that I visited you, I didn't think I was going to see you again. I was really sick. But the people of New Life were the light in our darkness.

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They cared for me and Pastor Ben, who was here was,(...) you know, the other pastor that was here serving with me stepped in and just did a remarkable job. People brought meals to our house. I took care of my wife for weeks while I was sick and then for weeks more after that while I was recovering at home.

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And, you know, we saw firsthand how the light of Christ was so redemptive in our lives and chased away the darkness and the fear and how powerful the body of Christ can be when it when it functions the way that it's supposed to. And we saw remarkable things happen in our community.(...) As New Life, we know just we built the building this facility together to serve the community. And it's used by the community in so many ways.(...) I'll never forget it was just so wonderful. I came while we were preparing the site one day and there was a desk sitting in the middle of a cornfield and Sheryl said, yeah, we put your desk right where it's going to be when the building is built.(...) And it was it was just sitting there in this cornfield. And I have a picture of Sheryl Von Holden said, I was just looking at that picture this week. And, you know, it was just such a remarkable time as we worked together to to build this facility. But then not only that, but to begin serving our community. And for 15 years, the light of Christ has just emanated from this place.(...) And you, you know, as we each listen to to to Jesus saying to us, you know,(...) I've sent you to be to proclaim liberty, to proclaim release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, to to be the bearers of light in your community.

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It's been a remarkable thing to see. And as the congregation approaches, you know, its first 15 years,(...) God is calling on all of us. I mean, each of us never to forget the Bible says never flag in showing zeal. Never get tired of doing good.(...) Never get tired of of sharing the light that lives in you. Remember, you're not the light, but you're bearers of the light. The one who is the light of the world lives in you and wants to to to share that light with people that walk in darkness. And I'm telling you, if you look at the world in which we live, it is filled. You know, it is as you look around you. It's filled with darkness. And there are people that are afraid.(...) Right. You all know people, you know, neighbors that are afraid of whatever has come their way. All sorts of things that keep people in darkness and keep people in fear and hopelessness and despair and all sorts of uncertainty in their lives. And we know because of what we've experienced together, that there is hope, that there is light in the darkness,(...) that there is hope and there is peace and there is joy that is found in Christ. And we are called to be bearers of the light to our community. Jesus wants to use each of us, each of us, just as you have been the light to me and to my family. And as I pray, you know, I have had the privilege to be the light to you. We are called to continue to be the light to our community. God will show you if you ask him every day. And as the congregation moves into another 15 years of faithful ministry and beyond,(...) you know, we are each called to remember that Jesus calls us to, to bear the light,(...) to be bearers of the light, to be sharers of the light, to bring light into the darkness of those who are around us and to share the hope and the joy and the peace and the love of Christ that only Jesus can give because people look for answers in their darkness that they will never, they will never find any place other than in a relationship with the light of the world.(...) They won't. They won't find it anyplace else.

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And if we don't share it with them, they might never know.

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So God bless you as you move into a new chapter of your life together as a congregation. And I'm so grateful to have been able to have this time to just reflect on that together. And I would like to pray for you as we close this morning.

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Father, I thank you for for your goodness to this congregation.

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I thank you for the light of Christ that moved people from fear to to step out and to trust you and to begin a new life together with Christ, the light of the world at the center of the ministry of this place. And I thank you for the faithful servants that have been a part of that. I thank you for for Pastor Phil, who has served here since we started in an emeritus position. I thank you for Pastor Adam, who was with us for a while. Thank you for Pastor Ben.

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And I thank you for Pastor Eric.(...) And now, Lord, I thank you for Pastor Drew and their faithful service to this place. I pray that you would continue to bless their ministry. Lord, I thank you for the new pastor that you have already chosen to be a part of this congregation's life in the years ahead.

(...)

What I just pray that you would help the congregation to to see who that is. And as you lead them to discover the person you've already selected to be a part of this congregation's life into the future.(...) I pray that you would be with every member of the body of Christ in this place, that you would help them to move beyond any fear or doubt or any other darkness that the evil one would throw at them to to discover joy and peace and hope and a purpose, their purpose, for sharing the light of Christ with those around them in this community so that others might come to know the one who is the light of the world, the Prince of Peace, the one who shatters our darkness and leads us into a life filled with hope and goodness.

(...)

Lord, thank you again for your faithfulness to us. Help us to be faithful to you.(...) In Jesus name we pray. Amen.