One of the things you will notice as you read articles and letters that I write is that I sign them all in the same way. Following my signature you will see EPH. 2:8-9 & 10. You may well wonder why. I have two reasons. This month in my letter to you I will explain.

The first reason is that Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 were the verses assigned to me the day I was confirmed. Here is what those words say:

These words are the essence of what we believe about how we are saved. There is nothing in us that deserves the goodness and grace of God. Of ourselves, we are enemies of God. We are objects of His wrath. However, as the Bible says, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. This is the Gospel. God saves us. We don’t save ourselves. It is not about what we do. It is all about Jesus. We can’t boast that we have been to church every Sunday or that we put money in the offering plate. We can’t boast about our years of service to the church or our family connection to our congregation. What these inspired words say is clear: We are saved by the undeserved love and favor of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Pastor Aufdemberge thought that these words were important for me to carry with me the rest of my life. When I share them with you at the bottom of my letters, I show you just how important they are to me. They are important enough for me to share with you, at least by reference, every month! Now that’s important!

However, as you look at my signature, you see that I do not just stop at verse 9. I include, with the ampersand, verse 10. This is the forgotten verse. Verse 10 is overshadowed by the grace of verses 8 and 9. Verse 10 is so important for us! It tells us:

This workmanship and work that has been prepared for us is the reason that we exist as a congregation. We have rehearsed in our mission statement that God’s mission for Zion Lutheran Church is to spread the Gospel and grow in fellowship. This is so true! This mission is carried out when we begin to see ourselves in the light of verse 10. The works we do in carrying out this ministry are the ones that we have been prepared to do. There isn’t anyone who is a member of Zion who is here by accident. God has called you here. He has decided that He wants you to serve Him and His Kingdom from right here. He has known from the beginning that you would be here. Now you are. As you are, you are laboring under His direction with His blessing as long as you are open to His leading.

There is a great deal of activity at Zion. New faces and old are being gathered in larger numbers each week to be fed and equipped by the ministry of Word and Sacrament. They are all meant to be here. They have been given special gifts to serve the Lord and His people. YOU are one of those faces. I challenge you to ask the Lord to show you just how it is HE is going to use you in the bright future of this ministry. I know He will. After all, He has told us about that in Ephesians 2:10!