Pastoral Letter
January 2010
2 Corinthians 9:15 “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.”
As we celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the formation of the Church of the Lutheran Confession,
we give thanks to God for His “inexpressible gift” to us. We give thanks not for the CLC, but for
the Gospel ministry God has entrusted to us. We gift thanks for the “inexpressible gift” of God’s
Son, Jesus and the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us by the grace of God. Grace is the
undeserved gift of forgiveness and life to lost and condemned sinners.
In this section of 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks of the “grace” of thankful giving.
These believers were enabled by God to bring their offerings out of faith and to show their
thanksgiving to God in a concrete way. Chapters eight and nine of Second Corinthians remind
us of the value of grace-giving:
! We look upon giving as a privilege not a choice.
(2 Corinthians 9:7) “for God loves a cheerful giver.”