Galilee Staff

Pastor Ralph Baumgartner ralph.baumgartner@gmail.com Pastor’s Corner from the November *Voice*: On All Saints’ Day (November 1st) we celebrate the church—all the saints living and dead—down through the ages. In other words, it is kind of like a Memorial Day for the church, but this commemoration includes those living now as well. We will observe All Saints’ Day at Galilee Lutheran Church on Sunday, November 2nd. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews expresses a thought that is appropriate for All Saints’ Day. He writes, “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (12:1). This thought was written to Christians who had some struggles similar to ours today. According to Prof. Thomas G. Long, the Letter to the Hebrews was written to discouraged and weary Christians. In fact, Long goes on to comment that the recipients were, quite simply, exhausted. They suffered from “a fatigue of faith”. They were tired of their religion and tired of trying to live the Christian life every day. Because of their fatigue, those who received this letter began to show the familiar symptoms experienced by almost every congregation today: irregular attendance at worship and neglect of deeds of Christian mercy (10:24-25). Serious Christians today do experience a kind of “battle fatigue” from competing with and banging up against modern society. Our busy schedules, our craziness from trying to do too many things at once, the demands placed upon us by others, the strong temptation to become materialistic and self-centered, and the emptiness we often feel all work against us to create this fatigue of faith. After all our efforts are expended, we sometimes wonder in our honest moments if all this hassle is worth it. Furthermore, we may slide into questioning if having the faith and living the Christian life will make any kind of difference to the world. In those times when we are lost and cannot find the path on our own, we discover that Jesus blazed the trail and is rightly called the “pioneer of our faith” (12:2). Because we cannot travel the path on our own, Jesus, who traveled it without sin and made it possible for us to follow him, is rightly called the “perfecter of our faith” (12:2). So we are called to travel on the path set before us, and to run it like a footrace. However, this is not an individual footrace, with each runner headed for the finish line. Instead, it is like a relay race. Along the sidelines is that great cloud of witnesses who cheer us on and help us to remember that it all is indeed worth it. We are to keep our eyes on the prize, our eyes on Jesus. So let us continue on our course and remember all of the saints who have gone on before us and now give us the encouragement to be faithful in our calling in the world. See you in church! Pastor Ralph	Music & Choir Director: Jo Ann French jfrench.galilee@cpinternet.com Jo's Worship Blog Children & Youth Ministry Coordinator: Position Open Administrative Assistant: Cindy Einertson galileelutheran@isd.net President of the Congregation: Miriam Peterson Miriam.Peterson@comcast.net