Pastor's Letter

Focus. It’s what we aim for, our goal – the reason why we do what we do. So, when it comes to church, what should our focus be? Our most natural inclination is to assume that I should be the focus. Church exists for me, to tell me how to have a happy life, a happy marriage, happy children, and a happy job.

But worship isn’t supposed to focus on us. It’s for us to focus on God. That means that church isn’t something to be re-shaped to suit our desires. Church is to be God-centered. In the Bible, He shows us the principles of how we do that in worship:

• reading His Word
• preaching His Word
• praying His Word
• singing His Word
• seeing the Word (in the Lord’s Supper and baptism)

If church is starting to sound like a Dr. Phil episode with an interlude of Led Zeppelin, perhaps it’s time to ask: “Who is this for?” If it’s all there to entertain you, to instruct you on having a happy life, then who are you really focusing on? Our joy comes, not from creating perfect lives on earth – which we can never keep – but by losing our lives in the worship of One far more beautiful and worthy than ourselves.

Ultimately, worship is possible only because of the work of Christ. Christ’s life and death alone pay the penalty of sins and grant us to be counted as righteous before God. Trusting Christ for salvation is what makes the difference between a life staring at ourselves, and one lived focusing on our eternal Creator. 

Soli Deo gloria!

Pastor Steve Marquedant

PS: If you have questions, please contact us.