A minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for repairs to their church building.  Therefore, he was annoyed to find that the regular organist became sick and a substitute had to be brought in at the last minute.  The substitute wanted to know what to play.  "Here's a copy of the service," the pastor said impatiently.  "But you'll have to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances and before the service begins."

          During the announcements, the minister got to the difficult subject and said, "Brothers and Sisters, we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need $4,000 more, and we need it right away.  If any of you can pledge $100 or more, please stand up."  And at that moment, the substitute organist began playing, "The Star Spangled Banner."  And that is how the substitute became their regular organist!

          A church that prays together, stays together.  And a church that laughs and has fellowship often, stays together even more.  This congregation, this small part of the Christian church has a builder, the Holy Spirit.  He is the one who has brought you all to these doors, seeking Jesus Christ and a renewed faith.  I also believe many of you have come seeking new Christian friends.  Part of our mission at Epiphany is to bring more people into "Loving Fellowship."  It's one of our five purposes.  We do that through social events, work days, projects needing many hands and encouragement.

          While we seek fellowship with each other, we also need to seek fellowship with God, and we do that through our church partner, the Holy Spirit.  Martin Luther once said the reason the Holy Spirit is called holy is because His main job is to make people holy, holy by believing in Jesus Christ.  The word "Holy" means "set apart for God's use."  In baptism we are cleansed of our old sins and separated from our former sinful way of life.  Through the Word and sacraments, God makes us His children - we call this Justification, being forgiven by a loving God.  At the same time we are sanctified, which means "being made holy" and set apart for God.

          Sanctification is a process whereby we grow in the knowledge of God and His Word, and in the ability to do His will, that is, what He wants us to do.  The more we grow in God's Word, the more we will do God's will.  The more and more we learn of the Bible, the less and less we will do that is contrary to what God wants.  You and I are saved by God's grace, His undeserved love for us, through faith in Jesus Christ.  During Reformation, we learn once again that by grace alone we are saved by faith alone, and we know this through the scriptures alone.  To put it another way, by justification we are made children of God, and by sanctification we learn how to act as His children.

          The central figure in our justification is Jesus Christ, and the central figure in our sanctification is the Holy Spirit.  In our baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us and give us His holy gifts and holy attitudes.  That is how we learn to live by love, joy, peace, patience and all the rest of the "fruits of the Spirit."  He also gives us certain gifts to help the Body of Christ be built up.  To some of us, God gives special abilities to teach, to share Jesus, to lead, to encourage, to give generously, or to discern God's will.  Everyone is given the same spiritual attitudes but not everyone is given the same spiritual gifts.  Those we must discover as we grow in our faith.

          St. Paul in our text today gives us His benediction, His blessing.  "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen."  We may know about grace and love, but we don't always know about fellowship.  Fellowship usually means "getting along," being with those with whom we have things in common.  Fellowship is like communion, sharing spiritual things.

          Spiritual fellowship means having God within us.  St. Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20 that, "Christ lives in us."  Spiritually, He dwells in us through faith; physically, He dwells in us through Holy Communion.  When we eat and drink His true body and blood under the bread and wine, Christ actually comes to dwell within us.

          Believers in Jesus have both Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  That's why our bodies are the "Temple of the Holy Spirit."  And that's why St. Paul tells us we shouldn't act any more like unbelievers.  We are changed, transformed - we're not the same.  And that change comes because we have fellowship with God.  God within us is the closest fellowship possible.  God within us means we are no longer the old people we once were, but we are made new.  Fellowship with God is a very important part of being a Christian.

          Fellowship also means cooperation.  This past week Brian and I went pheasant hunting in South Dakota.  We met up with a dozen or more other men, all of which were new to us except the man who organized the hunting party.  We stayed in the same hotel, ate together, told stories together, laughed together, drank a little beer together, and for two intense days, we hunted together.  When you hunt in a large party with literally hundreds of pheasants flying out of a field, you need to be well organized.  One group, the walkers, walks the field to shoot pheasants who fly up as they walk, while a smaller group, the blockers, stand at the end of the field and try to shoot the pheasants who fly ahead.

          We all learned quickly the importance of cooperation when we're all carrying shotguns.  There's something humbling about facing a line of men with guns walking straight at you!  You learn to work together, and you're constantly aware of where everyone else is.  If you don't, you shoot the wrong thing!  And when the hunt is over, no one looks for the actual bird he shot, because all birds are put together, and we all take our limit home, no matter if we shot ten birds or only one.  And those two days we got our limits by about 1 o'clock.  And for every bird we shot, two dozen birds got away.  The pheasant harvest is truly plentiful this year in Kimball, South Dakota.  And Thanksgiving dinner at the Tasler home will be very tasty indeed!

          Two thousand years ago, the eternal Son of God was born of the virgin Mary and became the incarnate Christ, which means God in the flesh - 100% God and 100% man.  He was "Emmanuel, which means, God with us" (Matthew 1:23), and yet He was an ordinary looking baby who grew up to be an ordinary looking man.  However, when He entered His earthly ministry at the age of thirty, His awesome Godly power was revealed as He went all over the Holy Land "to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)   And wherever He went, "In all the cities and villages, He taught and preached and healed every sickness and disease among the people." (Matthew 9:35)

          The Gospels reveal that for the entire three year period of His earthly ministry, Christ performed countless awesome miracles as He went about fulfilling the will of His Father.  He cured all types of physical and spiritual illnesses, stilled storms, fed thousands, raised the dead and changed hearts wherever He went.  And despite all the Bible tells us, St. John wrote, "Jesus did many other things as well.  If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

          That same Christ dwells in every Christian today (Hebrews 13:8), because God wants "all people to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4)   Because Christ lives in us, He accomplishes great things through us.  As we grow and as our church grows, we must stop thinking of our own human efforts, which are limited by our training, experience, resources and abilities.  Christ lives within us, so we must expect awesome miracles to happen through us.  And we must prepare for those miracles through taking necessary steps.

          We must believe that the "communion of the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 13:14) is really a partnership with the Holy Spirit, which will produce miraculous results.  Jesus has promised us: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing, and He will do even greater things than these." (John 14:12)   Some would say amazing things have happened at Epiphany Lutheran Church.  Well, according to Christ's promise, we can expect more amazing things to happen, because He lives in us, and has called us to follow Him in all things.

          In the church, when we talk about "fellowship", we're talking about something far more significant than just a group of people getting together because they all happen to have common interests.  The church is not just one of many interest groups with an agenda to push on people.  We are the voice of the Gospel.  We are heralds of God's Good News in Jesus Christ.  And the Gospel cannot be silenced.  The Gospel is not just one of many ideas - it is the Main Idea of humanity.  Fellowship with God goes to the heart of our relationship with God.  He who loves us lives within us.  We who have God within us are brought together despite our sins and differences.  The fellowship of the Holy Spirit produces a bond between people and brings people together to cooperate in the great task of the Gospel.

          That bond is never more obvious than in a good Christian marriage.  Saturday morning, as Carol prepared her breakfast, the little plastic measuring cup fell into the blender as it was running and her breakfast drink was instantly airborne, being spread over the kitchen.  On the counter, under cabinets, on floor, her robe and even in her hair, were bits of a thick breakfast drink.  Four hands quickly cleaned most things, and we were thankful it didn't hit some things that might have been ruined.  Fellowship bonds us together in common experiences, even unexpected ones.

          May Epiphany congregation be bonded together by the common work of God that we all have - sharing the Gospel, worshipping our Lord, serving His people, reaching out to people in need and growing in the knowledge and grace of God.  "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."  Amen.

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.