Message From Our Pastor

The people of Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church are truly A PILGRIM PEOPLE. They are people who are on the move, rejoicing to run the race that is set before them. Sometimes they stumble, at other times they fall, but God’s pilgrim people always keep on striving, because they know where they are going and how to get there. They are in no doubt about their destiny. Pilgrims know and find their rest and home at last, in Jerusalem the blest, (LSB #813). 

These pilgrims, young and old, come from many DIFFERENT NATIONS, different races, but they all belong to the SAME FAMILY. They are CHILDREN OF GOD through faith in Jesus Christ. Their pilgrimage through this life may be short or long, yet like Christians in all generations they look forward to their arrival in that celestial city “whose builder and maker is God.” 

Pilgrim people know that here they have no permanent home. They know that “the here and now” is not all there is. Thus they are freed from the fundamental anxiety of existence. Yet at the same time they are never at rest, and NEVER REALLY AT HOME IN THIS WORLD. They will always be incomplete until they meet their Saviour “face to face.” They carry within themselves what C.S. Lewis calls “that inconsolable secret,” a feeling of homesickness for their real home. Without such a homeland toward which their faith in Christ directs them, these citizens of heaven here on earth would indeed find life to be tedious and tasteless affair. 

God’s great love for sinful mankind was demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the hinge upon which the door of history swings, the motivation and mainspring of all our endeavours. CHRIST ALONE makes possible the certainty of OUR ETERNAL INHERITANCE. But we are a people not only interested in the journey’s end, but also in the journey itself and what happens along the way. Christ, our Lord, has promised to be with us on the journey. For that reason our Lord Jesus Christ established His church. He calls us into Christian fellowship. He equips and sends us to help others for whom Christ died, on to that destination. [Pilgrim Lutheran Church 25^th Anniversary book, p. 1-2] 

Life can be lonely at times, but you need not be alone in your journey. Christ the Saviour, longs to be known by pilgrims just like you. He encourages you to join like-minded others in their journey with Him. If you don’t have a church home, we hope you will make Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church, your church home.

Yours in Christ,

 Pastor Mark Koehler

{ Return to Top of Page }