Nothing can separate us from God

REDEEMER LUTHERAN & ST. THEODORE'S

By Lisa Rotchford

Reverend

Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore’s Episcopal churches are meeting for worship inside and outside the house of the Lord. Join us on Sunday for “Pick up Your Spirits, with Prayer and Communion.” Those who want to worship outside can attend the drive-up/walk-up communion service out in front of the church on the northeast side of the church from 9:30–10:15 a.m. A traditional 30-minute worship service will start inside the sanctuary at 10:30 a.m.

We are officially six months into this difficult time when we are not called to be together physically but apart. However, as Christians, we are called together by our faith and love of our Lord, savior and redeemer Jesus Christ, nothing can seperate us. Nothing separates us from our God, the love of God or God’s hands. Not even a pandemic can limit our relationship with God.

It’s as if Paul were writing to us in Seal Beach instead of Rome when he gave us a direction to live under a time of stress (remember, he was writing from within prison walls, quite limiting like a pandemic). Whether we are allowed to worship together or apart, we are one with the Lord. We can “love each other genuinely; hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection and honor one another, not lagging in zeal and being ardent in spirit. In all ways, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Hope that we can be together again soon. Let us be patient in any suffering we endure. Above all let us persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints by extending hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12:9).

September is the time the national Lutheran church encourages to take on outreach projects that benefit the wider community and God’s kingdom under the moniker “God’s Work, Our Hands.” The annual food donation drive will be each Sunday of September. If you have a non-perishable food item on your shelf that you’d like to share with a hungry neighbor in need, we will be collecting food for the neediest in Orange County. The barrels in front of the church on Sunday mornings will collect your food or cash donations, which will be taken to Lutheran Social Services’ shelves to feed the hungry.

The apostle Paul wrote that though our movements may be limited, we are not imprisoned but free in Christ. This year especially we can contemplate what it means to do God’s work with our hands as our hands are held by God’s as he walks us through this time. Let us go to God’s house and may the work we do be our worship to the one who is with us always.