| Who Do People Say You Are? - article by Joel Hempel
Once Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” As you might remember, Peter gave an answer only the Holy Spirit could have inspired: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matt 16:16). A similar question could be asked of each one of us and of Glendale Lutheran Church as a congregation. Who do people say we are?
Marcia’s stepfather was the kindest and most generous man I have ever known. I remember one Thanksgiving at her parents’ home; the phone rang as we sat down for the holiday dinner. Dad Laesch – who owned a processing dairy in Central Illinois – answered the phone. It was a disgruntled customer who had asked to have a half-gallon of butter pecan ice cream delivered for their Thanksgiving dessert, and what was delivered was a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream. I overheard dad apologize and then add, “I’ll be right over with your ice cream.” He then excused himself, went to the dairy, took four half-gallons of ice cream out of the freezer – including butter pecan, and drove them over to the customer.
This act of kindness and generosity was not an “act.” He honestly did not know how to act kind or generous. He just was! It was his nature to care about people and to serve them faithfully.
In the vision process we are now entering, as we seek to discover the vision God is giving to us, among other questions, we will be asked to identify who we are and why we are the way we are as a congregation. As an organized group of Christians, what is our nature? That is, what is our most natural way of being as a Christian body of believers?
Scripture teaches that as individual Christians, we are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19) and that Christ lives in us (Gal.2:20). Those are powerful images. As important and necessary as it was, Jesus did more than die on the cross for us. He lived a certain way, taught a way of life, and rose from the dead to confirm all of it. So, what lives in us is all of who Jesus was and what he taught.
With the Spirit of Christ living in each of us, it is not too far of a stretch to conclude that Christ is living in us as a congregation – as a body of believers.
People who knew Dan Laesch for any length of time could easily see he was a kind and generous man who did not know how to be anything other than kind and generous. When people get to know Glendale Lutheran Church, what do they see? What about Christ living in us stands out? | 
