Christ the King Lutheran Church - Gladwin, Mi.
  • Home
    • Pictorial Directory
    • Contact Us
    • Links
  • Worship Procedures
  • Who are We
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff and Office Hours
    • Church Council
    • History
    • Newsletter
    • Calendar
  • Faith Formation
    • Sunday School
    • Christ the King Youth
    • Camping Ministry
    • Kids Club
    • Confirmation
    • Vacation Bible School
  • Ministries
    • Stephen Ministry
    • Quilting
    • Food Distribution
    • Backpacks for kids
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Parish Nurse
    • Columbarium
  • Worship
    • Schedule of Worship
    • How we worship
    • Children
  • Special Events
  • Budget / Annual Meeting
  • Blog

The Gospel in Scales

The Places of our Planting

11/1/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ancient Corinth is dominated by the Temple to Apollo which sits above the town center. Below sprawl the remains of shops, colonnades, and even the bema, or speaking platform, where the Apostle Paul was once accused before the proconsul Gallio.

Paul was a resident of Corinth for some time. He worked in the city as tentmaker alongside fellow believers Aquila and Priscilla. He spent time in the local synagogue, going there regularly. The spirit of God even urges Paul to continue to stay in Corinth, sharing the gospel of Jesus. For a time, a year and more, Corinth is home to Paul.


And Corinth like any city, town, or village was a chaotic mixture of sin, grace, and redemption. Paul’s words were heard by many: sailors just in from the sea, prostitutes plying their trade, Jews, God Fearers of various backgrounds, Roman officials, Greeks, and soldiers.


​As Paul walked through this town, now little more than rocks with a history, he encountered humans at their best and their worst. Beggars extended their hands to him, Roman soldiers shoved past him, prostitutes beckoned him, slaves hustled by, and Believers, coming from any and all of these groups, greeted him with thanksgiving.
​
Picture
Paul must have had some misgivings when he first came to Corinth. It was a city of great wealth and power with a reputation for luxury and excess. What interest could God possibly have in a place like Corinth? Surely any word of Good News planted in such a place would be choked out instantly by the greed, pride, and vanity that permeated the city’s very air.

​And yet, for a year and half and probably longer, Corinth was home to Paul. He worked there, preached there, and lived there in community with other Believers. God planted Paul in Corinth and bid him put down roots and the church grew and flourished.
​
Just as God planted Paul in Corinth for a time, God plants us too and bids us flourish for the sake of the Gospel. We may also have misgivings about the place of our planting. Perhaps it is somewhere that disappoints us or frightens us. Maybe the place of our planting is not what it used to be or should be. Whatever the place of our planting, God is the one who put us there and God is the one who puts us to work enriching and renewing a tired, cynical, and despairing world.
​

Rarely is the place of our planting what it should be, but that is the very reason that God plants us there. We are not spectators to the coming kingdom of God, we are involved, rooted in God’s saving work.
Paul’s time in Corinth shows us what it is to claim the place of our planting. Jesus’ life on earth does the same. We are invited to love the soil where God has placed us, care for the people growing up around us, and claim the community God has given us to tend. This community will not be perfect. It may even be a place of disappointment, frustration, and discouragement. However, we have the assurance that this will not always be so. God is at work renewing and recreating our world and we are involved: in our homes, in our towns, in the places of our planting.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About the Blog

    Journey through the season of Advent with daily updates on the adventures of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Belliacre, MI as they attempt to cobble together a Christmas Pageant with an unlikely cast of characters.   

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Authors

    Amelia Corbett
    Amelia is a cool chick, who enjoys board game construction, elephants, and overall tom foolery. She lives in Gladwin with her parents and younger sister Beatrice.  

    Pastor Emily Olsen
    The charmingly weird Pastor Emily is blessed to live in Beaverton, serve the people of Christ the King Lutheran in Gladwin, and stand up paddleboard in just about any body of water she can find.  She has cats not snakes, but wouldn't hesitate to take in a stray python. tarantula, or dinosaur should it show up on her doorstep.  

    Illustrator

    Stephanie Dubbs
    Stephanie is an art educator and a landscape/portrait artist.  Her inspirations come from the amazing people she meets and the gorgeous state of Michigan as well as her home state of Florida.  She and he husband love nature.  They are out in the water during the summer months and on the snow in the winter enjoying the simple pleasures of life.  
    ​

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    August 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All

Picture
A church of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America


Like us on Facebook.

Christ the King Lutheran Church
600 S. M 18 
Gladwin, Mi. 48624
989-426-1659
Pastor Emily Olsen
pastor.ctkinggladwin@gmail.com


Email ctkinggladwin@gmail.com for correction or to have information included on this web page
  • Home
    • Pictorial Directory
    • Contact Us
    • Links
  • Worship Procedures
  • Who are We
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff and Office Hours
    • Church Council
    • History
    • Newsletter
    • Calendar
  • Faith Formation
    • Sunday School
    • Christ the King Youth
    • Camping Ministry
    • Kids Club
    • Confirmation
    • Vacation Bible School
  • Ministries
    • Stephen Ministry
    • Quilting
    • Food Distribution
    • Backpacks for kids
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Parish Nurse
    • Columbarium
  • Worship
    • Schedule of Worship
    • How we worship
    • Children
  • Special Events
  • Budget / Annual Meeting
  • Blog