Gloria Dei

Because of work and leisure, I travel away from home about fifty days a year. While it is thrilling to go off and see new places in our world, there’s nothing quite like the sight of home coming into view. I sense that on a plane approaching the airport, in a taxi headed into St. Anthony Park, and, most of all, whenever I turn into my own drive.

Gloria Dei is part of my home in this world. It is my community of faith, and whether I know you personally or not, you help me make sense of my life. I belong to Gloria Dei 24/7. I say that not because I am always at the church building on S. Snelling, but because my relationship with you – and to Christ who has called us all into faith – sustains me day in and day out.

I grew up in a family in which weekly church attendance was simply part of the deep fabric of our lives. The Lull children were not perfectly behaved in those pews at St. John Lutheran Church in Fremont, Ohio. We wiggled and squirmed. We talked too much. We poked each other and passed notes. But we also learned to sing the great hymns of our faith, to know the vast and complex story of scripture, and to draw hope and direction from the preaching of God’s Word. It was our way of life.

I’m grown-up now, living apart from family, and blessed with a vocation that places daily challenges before me. But, belonging to the People of God remains a way of life – my joy in life. The Word and the sacraments feed me each Sunday, but you dear sister or brother, you give me joy and encouragement all through the week.

PRAYER: Good and gracious God, in every decade of our life you call us to be signs of your living presence for each other and for all persons in our world. Form our lives through the rhythms of daily prayer and weekly worship to be living signs of Christ’s presence for each other. In Christ’s power send us out to give our lives away in sacrifice and in service. In Christ’s
name. Amen.

Pastor Patricia Lull