It's a Saturday morning at the Christian Friends of New Americans Peace Center in St. Louis, and seven Nepali men are eagerly spending the start of their weekend in class. The seven students, members of three St. Louis congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (Ascension, Messiah, and St. John’s Lutheran), are participating in a “leadership class,” learning to become better equipped to lead and teach in their communities.
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“Walking in a winter wonderland” makes us think of being bundled up in heavy coats, warming our hands around a thermos of hot cocoa while the snow gently falls from the dark gray sky. And even if winter doesn’t mean December or snowfall for you, winter and snow are often described in the Bible.
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During fall, the fields are ripe for harvest and farmers work day and night to bring in the bounty of the fields, the undeserved gifts from the hands of our loving heavenly Father. The selected readings in our Grace Bible reading plan are all about God’s grace for undeserving sinners. Like mercy, which we examined over the summer, grace is a form of undeserved love, but it is quite different.
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Each of the readings in this Bible reading plan is about mercy. Just like His grace, God’s mercy flows out of His great love. But grace and mercy are very different
from each other. Grace is in the mind; it is a decision to love someone who does not deserve that love. Mercy is in the heart. It is looking at someone’s pain and agony and having a deep gut reaction—feelings of concern, care, and pity, the
feeling that I have to do something, get involved. It doesn’t matter if the suffering is that person’s own fault or even if that person is just getting what he or she deserves.
Ellen Kehe, a frequent short-term missionary through LAMP [Lutheran Association of Missionaries & Pilots] Ministry, brings the Gospel to villages in the remote northern regions of Canada. Ellen has a heart for reaching children and has conducted VBS mission trips through LAMP for the past 11 years. Though she faces challenges in villages that have not heard of Christ’s love, she, along with others, is shining the light of God’s Word in dark places. Concordia Gospel Outreach partnered with LAMP to provide the teams with Christ-centered VBS materials. Read our interview with Ellen Kehe to learn more about the important work she and others like her are doing for the sake of the Gospel—and the impact you have when you donate to Concordia Gospel Outreach.
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Retired pastor, hymnwriter, and grandfather of two survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Gregory J. Wismar has written and donated to Concordia Gospel Outreach a hymn commemorating the first anniversary of the Newtown tragedy. His family and the town he once called home have been greatly impacted by this tragic event, but now he hopes his words might be used to help bring hope and healing to those suffering and in need of encouragement.
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