July 2026 - Mission, Faith, and Ordinary Time

From the Desk of Pastor David, July 2026

I recently had the pleasure of visiting with Pastor Nixon Mwitula who leads First Evangelical Lutheran Church in the north side Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. The church was founded in 1930 and the building, once vibrant with a large congregation, was constructed in a cathedral style.  Much has changed since then.  After years of declining attendance, the church was eventually closed during covid.  Pastor Nixon, originally from Tanzania, East Africa, studied at Lutheran School of Theology in Hyde Park and, two years ago, accepted a call from our Chicago Synod to re-open the church as a “mission developer,” that is, one who starts a new church from scratch.  His challenges are many. First Evangelical’s building, like many in our synod, suffers from years of neglect and has much-needed deferred maintenance. While some gentrification of the neighborhood has occurred, his primary outreach is to the homeless and migrants.  

Sixteen hundred years ago, St Augustine wrote that faith (religion) and reason (science) are intertwined; our faith motivates us to understand the world around us, and our critical thinking allows us to make good choices, including the ability to fathom the truth of the Gospel. May God open the eyes of more families to come to a saving grace in God and return to our Christian communities.

Now we enter what is known in the Church Calendar as “Ordinary Time.”  This doesn’t mean it is unimportant or uneventful.  The word “ordinary” refers to an order of things.  It is a time to focus our attention on one of the four Gospels, and it carries us to Advent before Christmas.  The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
And the same is true with life in the Church. The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.  So, as we go into “ordinary time,” don’t think of it as routine, rather see it as a time we can continue to meet and greet, to worship the Lord, and to serve each other and our neighbors. God has great things in store for Grace Lutheran Church!