He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter, Christ Lutheran! I pray you have felt the power of the risen Christ in your life in this new season. As we are loved just as we are by our amazing God, I pray each one of us has also been renewed by the promise and hope of the resurrection.
Hope is a powerful thing. It allows us to live differently and love more deeply. It opens our eyes to new possibilities and opens our hearts to living into how the Holy Spirit is moving in us. My hope and prayer are that this gift of hope, given to us through the resurrected Christ, moves us to seek ways in which we are living out our command to love others in tangible ways.

As the body of Christ, we have a powerful tool to utilize the gifts of being a community. Together we can share our gifts to create opportunities for Christ’s love to be widely known in our congregation, in our community, and in our Central Southern Illinois Synod. I would like to invite you to take part in an important event that will allow us to help shape our synod so that our shared ministries will make an even greater impact for our local and global siblings in Christ.
As a part of a synod-wide visioning process that will ultimately give our congregations tools and support to become more unified in our ministries, there will be an important listening session happening on Sunday, April 21st from 1-3pm at St. Matthew Lutheran in Urbana. This time together will be an opportunity for all of us to reflect on what is and isn’t working in our partnerships with one another and our synod. It will allow members of our congregations to give vital feedback to some important questions so that together we can move forward creating better relationships and communication among the body of Christ in Central-Southern Illinois.
Beginning the week after Easter, there will be a sign-up sheet posted on the bulletin
board for anyone who would like to attend the listening session. I would encourage you to attend, as the more participation we have from our various congregations, the better information our synod will have to make necessary decisions that will allow us to become the synod body God is calling us to be.
If you are not able to attend the session, there is also an online survey you can take
through the synod website. This link is posted in the e-news and in the April newsletter. Thank you for considering taking part in this important endeavor. We are resurrection people—people of new life and of hope. Let us take this gift and use it so that our body of Christ is truly unified in our ministry to the world.

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Pastor Julia