THOUGHTS FROM PASTOR LIZ DAVIS
October 2021
Grace and peace to you, siblings in Christ!
When you think of God, what is the first thing you think? How do you feel? What do you see?
How did your image and relationship with God develop? Were there pictures in your home? Stories read and
told? Practices of worship, singing, or prayer? Formative experiences?
October 31st is Reformation Day, when we commemorate the Reformation, a movement of church renewal
in Europe in the 1500s. One leader of this movement was German monk, priest, and professor Martin
Luther. Our congregation is in this tradition, which is why we are called “Lutheran.”
Early in his life, Martin Luther developed an image of God that was harsh and frightening. This image may
have emerged from a mixture of a number of places: church teaching, demanding parents, a dangerous and
uncertain world, and his own health struggles. Luther was plagued by a debilitating fear of God and sense of
his own unworthiness. He never felt like he was enough. This changed through guidance from his spiritual
advisor, who put him on a path that led him to encounter our loving God in renewed scriptural study.
Luther’s experience of God changed, and that shift changed him and the whole church! Luther came to
discover that God is love, acting towards us with grace. Through Jesus, God comes towards us with gifts of
forgiveness and life. No longer do we have to push ourselves to climb up to God through good works or
right belief; we rest and rely on the work Jesus has already done for us. In faith, which itself is a gift of God,
we cling to Jesus’ faithfulness: Jesus has done everything for us! Luther discovered that even in his sin, he
is enough, he is worthy of God’s abundant love.
Luther’s shifting experience of God led him to preach and work against practices in the church that made
people feel unworthy and structures that relied on a hierarchy of holiness among people. He worked to
expand people’s access to the Bible so that they could follow his path of discovering a loving God for
themselves. He encouraged ordinary people to see their lives as opportunities to live and share the gospel.
As your pastor, my hope is that I can help you to discover and claim an image of God that helps you to
know God as loving and grace-filled, and know yourself as worthy and called to share the gospel. Centering
ourselves in God’s love, we can act with love and grace towards others, and through us they will come to
know God. I’d be happy to meet with you and talk about your image of God, where that image came from,
and how you can grow in discovering and living in God’s love for you! You are beloved and worthy because
Jesus has made you so!
God is with you!
-Pastor Liz
When you think of God, what is the first thing you think? How do you feel? What do you see?
How did your image and relationship with God develop? Were there pictures in your home? Stories read and
told? Practices of worship, singing, or prayer? Formative experiences?
October 31st is Reformation Day, when we commemorate the Reformation, a movement of church renewal
in Europe in the 1500s. One leader of this movement was German monk, priest, and professor Martin
Luther. Our congregation is in this tradition, which is why we are called “Lutheran.”
Early in his life, Martin Luther developed an image of God that was harsh and frightening. This image may
have emerged from a mixture of a number of places: church teaching, demanding parents, a dangerous and
uncertain world, and his own health struggles. Luther was plagued by a debilitating fear of God and sense of
his own unworthiness. He never felt like he was enough. This changed through guidance from his spiritual
advisor, who put him on a path that led him to encounter our loving God in renewed scriptural study.
Luther’s experience of God changed, and that shift changed him and the whole church! Luther came to
discover that God is love, acting towards us with grace. Through Jesus, God comes towards us with gifts of
forgiveness and life. No longer do we have to push ourselves to climb up to God through good works or
right belief; we rest and rely on the work Jesus has already done for us. In faith, which itself is a gift of God,
we cling to Jesus’ faithfulness: Jesus has done everything for us! Luther discovered that even in his sin, he
is enough, he is worthy of God’s abundant love.
Luther’s shifting experience of God led him to preach and work against practices in the church that made
people feel unworthy and structures that relied on a hierarchy of holiness among people. He worked to
expand people’s access to the Bible so that they could follow his path of discovering a loving God for
themselves. He encouraged ordinary people to see their lives as opportunities to live and share the gospel.
As your pastor, my hope is that I can help you to discover and claim an image of God that helps you to
know God as loving and grace-filled, and know yourself as worthy and called to share the gospel. Centering
ourselves in God’s love, we can act with love and grace towards others, and through us they will come to
know God. I’d be happy to meet with you and talk about your image of God, where that image came from,
and how you can grow in discovering and living in God’s love for you! You are beloved and worthy because
Jesus has made you so!
God is with you!
-Pastor Liz