...what we do in ministry becomes very crucial for the people we serve in our congregations and in the community. We have the Good News that no one else has and we need to proclaim it for the sake of the world!

What a privilege it is to share the Gospel with a world in need of hearing this message.

The news in our world today is not good.

Places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran bring bad news daily. Acts of terrorism close to home continue to be a real possibility. And now, the issue of immigration threatens to divide us even more as a nation. Gasoline prices have reached $3 per gallon in some places, and one analyst believes the price will climb to $5 per gallon before we begin to see relief. Weekly we hear of the effects of global warming on our environment. And I could go on and on, and you could add to the list, concerning the bad news we continue to hear daily.

Also, I think our people live daily with feelings of guilt and inadequacy as they try to meet the demands of life. They come to worship each Sunday weighed down by the Sin and sins that pervade their lives.

Life is seen by most as "demand" and most of us know, if we are honest, that we do not measure up, either to our own standards, or the standards of others and especially not the standards that God sets for us.

So, what we do in ministry becomes very crucial for the people we serve in our congregations and in the community. We have the Good News that no one else has and we need to proclaim it for the sake of the world.

The Easter season provides a great opportunity to do this with its texts focused on the presence of Christ in our lives. The early disciples knew that Jesus was alive because they sensed his presence in their midst. When they came together Jesus was there… on the road to Emmaus, in Jerusalem, in Galilee, by the lake.

And he promises to be present with us in Word and Sacrament, whenever two or three gather in his name, whenever we pray in his name. That Good News counters all the bad news we live with daily in our lives.

A couple of years ago as a group of us were starting to plan the Preaching for Mission events, Fred Neidner, a professor at Valparaiso University, told a story about what happened to him just before leaving for the meeting. He shared with his students where he was going and what he was doing.

In response, one of his students who was a single parent struggling to go to school and raise her kids said, "Tell them that we hurt more than they know." "Also, tell them that we need to see Jesus."

Our people need to see Jesus. Our communities need to see Jesus. Our world needs to see Jesus.

Is there any more important work than this?

He is the only one that can meet our needs and the needs of the world. Through Word and Sacrament, through prayer, worship and music we meet Jesus. And through this meeting Jesus comes to live in us and we join him in his work in the world so that others may see Jesus.

No wonder the early disciples when faced with the struggles of their day prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus."

May that be our prayer also.

Yours in Christ,

Bishop Jim Stuck