St. Mark to Peace

LETTER OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE CONGREGATION OF ST. MARK TO PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as from your brothers and sisters in Christ here at St. Mark in Charlottesville. We are writing to encourage you and offer our support in your many good works in Charlottesville and beyond, from those who share both your goals and your struggles.

Our congregations share much in common. In addition to being Lutherans in Charlottesville, our congregations have shared similar experiences.

Our common faith and inspiration through the Holy Spirit has inspired both of our congregations to become missional in purpose, being Christ’s presence in the community and the world. We honor your affirmation that “We believe we have been blessed by God to be a blessing to others”, and commend the many ways that your mission is manifest. Like St. Mark, the congregation of Peace is involved and contributing to the work of IMPACT and PACEM in helping the poor and disadvantaged in the Charlottesville region, and we see your commitment extending to global missions as well, as does our own, through your work with the ELCA Hunger Appeal, Christmas Miracle International and with mission work in Honduras and Togo.

We at St. Mark are encouraged by these demonstrations of your commitment to live lives of active faith in the world; we find much in common with your mission work both locally and worldwide, and feel that these are very parallel to much of our own social ministry. We give thanks for these manifestations of faith in action, and the blessing to the community that Peace Lutheran is offering in these ministries. We also feel that these works, along with our common faith background, draw us close together as a joint Lutheran faith community.

We also share common struggles. Both of our congregations have endured upheavals, changes of pastoral leadership, and personal struggles which seem beyond our control and can seem discouraging and disheartening to the mood of the community. We write to encourage you that you are not alone in experiencing these issues, and especially encourage you, as St. Paul did, to endure the sufferings that these challenges can bring.

St. Mark has gone through its own similar struggles both as a congregation and on the individual level, and we are able to encourage you in this because we have gone through a long transition in pastoral leadership and feel blessed that we anticipate new pastoral leadership to come to St. Mark. We have truly come to understand what St. Paul meant when he wrote to the Romans that “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

We especially encourage you to have faith in each other as a congregation and as the body of Christ in the world, and to cherish the relationships, the worship and the ministry that you undertake together. Perhaps because of mutual suffering through challenging times, while you may feel discouraged at times, you can rejoice that together, you can bear each others burdens, and appreciate what each of you means and contributes to the whole of Peace Lutheran, and what your congregation can mean in the Charlottesville community and the world. Having endured similar challenges, while we have been tested and sometimes discouraged ourselves, we have found ourselves stronger in faith both individually and collectively, and know you can come to the same resolution, through prayer, mutual support and encouraging and supporting one another.

We therefore look forward to walking with you in the journey of faith, as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and as fellow Lutherans working in mutual ministry to the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbors and God’s children both near and far. We hope to hear of continuing good news from your good works and from the growth of your congregation, knowing that the grace of God can accomplish far more than our mere human efforts. How much may we expect God to bless our congregations, when we ask him to give us what we need, materially and spiritually, to do His will?

We praise God for your presence in the community, and we look forward to working with you in the vineyards of ministry in Charlottesville. Hopefully we will have more opportunity to meet and encourage one another face to face.

With love and encouragement of the Holy Spirit,

The congregation of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Charlottesville