We recently came across the Annual Meeting packet from 1954-55. The theme for the meeting was “We Build for Tomorrow.” Pastor Nelson, in his letter to the not yet formed congregation, noted that their ministry was established on three “stones”: Faith – Prayer – Sacrifice.
Much has changed since then! Average worship attendance was 168 in 1955. Average Sunday School attendance was 196!!! 196!!! Where did we put all of those children?
The budget for that year was $9554.42. The pastor’s salary was almost half of the budget. The building fund balance was $18,653.98.
They had a Canvass Committee comprised of seventeen men who visited potential members as well as those already committed to the young congregation, to ask for their financial commitment to the building fund as well as to the general fund. Those gentlemen include the fathers of two of our current members. There is also a member of that committee who sends a very generous financial contribution to Luther Memorial each year to this day, although he has not been a part of the congregation for many years.
What an interesting document to look through! This large worshipping community didn’t have a building or a settled place to meet. They had to go door to door, house to house, to solicit support and involvement. And they did it all on the stones (Pastor Nelson’s term) of Faith, Prayer, and Sacrifice.
We don’t think much about sacrifice these days, because the culture has changed enough that it’s not a stated value. Still, sacrifice is a term that is not unfamiliar to those who follow Jesus. Generally, when we think of his sacrifice, we think of it in terms of his death. I’ve been thinking of the other sacrifices Jesus made as he healed the sick, taught the crowds and the disciples, sought after a place for prayer and rest, and continuously resisted the powers of the empire. Mary, his mother, also sacrificed: reputation and relationship and any sense that she could shield her first born from harm. Joseph sacrificed reputation as well, as he raised this child who had come from God and who was God. The disciples sacrificed as they followed Jesus and eventually most of them were martyred anyway.
So little is asked of us on this Christian journey because for so long, in the American west, Christianity and the empire have been willing dance partners. That is changing, though. More and more people are finding the hierarchy and hypocrisy of the Church to be more than they can bear.
What, then, is the response of the Church? I suggest that we go to Pastor Nelson’s “stones” of Faith, Prayer, and Sacrifice. Faith, not in ourselves, but in Jesus. Let us hear anew his call to care for the outcast and stranger in sacrificial ways. Let us follow his command to put aside our own desires, take up our cross, and follow him.
Prayer will sustain us when the going is hard, as it will certainly be. Prayer will not operate as some sort of magic bullet; instead it will put us in relationship with the God who is always as close as our breath.
And let’s revisit sacrifice. Let’s think again when we say that it’s too cold/hot/early/late/rainy/sunny/inconvenient because the Seahawks/Mariners are playing to come to worship. Let’s think again when our response to the request for time or involvement or financial support feels just a little more than we want to give.
This congregation exists because those who came before us sacrificed. They had faith in the Triune God and in God’s call to plant this congregation in the Broadview neighborhood. And they soaked their work with prayer.
As this new decade begins, may we visit anew how we support and steward the ministry God has entrusted to us. And may we be full of boldness as we share the Good News of God in Jesus Christ, who has come into the world, and who is coming again.
Faithfully, Pastor Julie Hutson
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The Messenger- December 2019