{"id":5873,"date":"2024-10-19T08:56:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T13:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/?p=5873"},"modified":"2025-01-18T11:10:45","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T17:10:45","slug":"ponderings-from-pastor-patti-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/2024\/10\/19\/ponderings-from-pastor-patti-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Ponderings from Pastor Patti – October 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cFor there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption of Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Romans 3:22-24 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

October is the month in which Reformation Day falls, which is a day we celebrate the reform of the church.\u00a0 It is that day when Martin Luther posted a list of \u201cinconsistencies\u201d he found between what the Bible was telling him and what he was hearing from the church authorities.<\/p>\n

The Bible was printed only in Latin in those days and so the average person was not able to read it for themselves.\u00a0 But Martin Luther had received some higher education which opened the scriptures for him, but what he was reading did not match up with what the church leaders were telling the people.\u00a0 And so, he posted the list (95 Theses) on the Wittenberg Church doors to encourage a debate with the authorities.\u00a0 And that is how the reform of the church began.<\/p>\n

God calls us to be formed and reformed daily in our faith journey, shedding the old self and breathing in new life, living into our new identity as Child of God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God also invites us to ponder on how God might<\/p>\n

be inviting us into grace.\u00a0 In Paul\u2019s words to the Romans, we learn that grace is a gift of God.\u00a0 We cannot earn it \u2026 nor do we ever deserve it, but it is given freely to us.\u00a0 It embodies the gifts of life and salvation which are pure gifts as well.<\/p>\n

We cultivate love throughout the month of October by Cultivating Grace through reconciliation and continued community connections.\u00a0 As we remember the reforming of the church, let us listen for God\u2019s invitation for us to \u201cbe\u201d church in a changing world.<\/p>\n

So let me leave you with a question to ponder on.\u00a0 In what ways have you seen and experienced God\u2019s grace made real for you?<\/p>\n

Pray with me \u2026 Dear God, prepare our hearts to be a sanctuary for your word and love.\u00a0 And let us cultivate your love in our families, in our communities and in your world.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2013 Pastor Patti<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption of Christ Jesus.\u201d \u2013 Romans 3:22-24 \u2013 October is the month in which Reformation Day falls, which is a day we celebrate the reform of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8agoY-1wJ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5919,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5873\/revisions\/5919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}