Pilgrim’s Core

What is the one thing that Pilgrim can’t lose and still be Pilgrim Lutheran Church?

There are truly many things that make Pilgrim Pilgrim. Music has a long, central role at Pilgrim. Who can imagine Pilgrim without its Rieger organ and one of our choirs leading worship on Sunday? Or can you imagine worshiping at Pilgrim without the large gold cross hanging above the altar? I can’t. Pilgrim’s known for being a warm, friendly place where newcomers are welcomed and greeted. In fact, people who are new to Pilgrim quickly find themselves involved!

However vital all these are to make Pilgrim who and what we are they don’t make up the very core of Pilgrim Lutheran Church. Pilgrim’s core consists of our doctrine and the practice that flows from that doctrine.

We are more than Pilgrim Church. We are Pilgrim Lutheran Church. It is that Lutheran doctrine and our adherence to it that makes us who we are. As Lutheran Christians we truly follow those three Reformation solas: sola fide, sola gratia, and sola scriptura (faith alone, grace alone, and Scripture alone). Our beliefs come solely from God’s Word, the Bible. In that Word we learn that we’re saved by grace through faith, not by what we do or try to do. This grace of God is received through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. This is what we preach and teach.

If you take this doctrine away from Pilgrim Lutheran Church you end up with Pilgrim Church—which could be something dramatically different than who and what we are. This doctrine is at the core of who and what we are as a Church. It is our identity.

From the heart of that doctrine come the practices which flow out of it. Yes, music is important at Pilgrim. Yet music is a practice that flows from that doctrine. In fact, it works best when it carries that doctrine through its beautiful music and creative, proclaiming lyric.

The cross that hangs so dramatically above Pilgrim’s altar is important. It’s so much more than merely a piece of art. Located at the focal point of our attention it’s an expression of the belief that is at the heart of Pilgrim. It points us to the Person who suffered and died on that cross for us.

Even Pilgrim’s warm, friendly demeanor is a reflection of the doctrine that’s at the core of Pilgrim Lutheran. Through the warm relationships we seek to build with those who visit with us we hope to come to a point where we might be able to share what we have. We can do that by pointing to the cross. We can do that by singing beautiful hymns whose texts are so overflowing with God’s grace and mercy that they can fill the hopeless with that truly good news. We seek to point them to Jesus.

That’s why I believe the very heart and soul of Pilgrim Lutheran Church is our doctrine or beliefs. Who and what we are as a Church all flow from that central point.

Or at least it should. If it doesn’t then we need to take a hard, close look at ourselves and what we’re doing as church.

Regards, in Christ,
PJKreft