Congratulations! If ever there was a “word for the month,” this would be the word for June! June is a month when we think of weddings, graduations and confirmations. These events certainly happen in other months, but often times they occur this month, as they do this year at Trinity. In our school we celebrate the graduation of our 8th graders who are moving on to High School. We celebrate kindergartners graduating and entering the first grade of elementary school. We celebrate our members who are graduating from High School and College. Congratulations to all of them!
This upcoming month we celebrate a wedding and marriage at Trinity Lutheran Church. This year we celebrate the marriages of many of our members who were united together here at Trinity forty, fifty and sixty years ago! Congratulations!
And, in this new month of June we bid congratulations and say, “God bless.” to our Confirmands who publicly profess their faith to God and pledge to live in that faith for the rest of their lives. Congratulations!
The word “congratulations” is the combining of two Latin root words literally expressing: “together with + give thanks / show joy = “expressing joy for (with) another in success or at one’s good fortune.” It is not a word that shows up in most translations of the Bible, however it is used in the VOICE translation in Isaiah 66:10
“So be happy for Jerusalem; give her hearty congratulations, whoever holds her dear. Take part in this joyous celebration, especially if you remember her grief.”
In other words, congratulate and rejoice with God’s chosen people for the good fortune that is theirs in His merciful grace! Jerusalem (God’s chosen) had rebelled and sinned against God. Yet He did not abandon them. They suffered discipline for a while but God showed compassion and forgiveness, and restored them. This very same “congratulations” is extended to us, God’s people today! Let us rejoice and congratulate one another for the loving and gracious compassion He has on us in the gift of His Son, our Savior, Jesus!
Congratulations! …By His spirit we graduate to a knowledge and saving faith, and we commence to live a life of faith! Congratulations! …Through Baptism and in faith we are united with Jesus, the bridegroom of the church, the family of faith! Congratulations! …We are called, gathered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit and confirm the testimony of the faith that is within us!
Congratulations! “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another!” (Romans 12:15) Congratulations one and all in the amazing grace, mercy and peace that is ours in Christ the Lord.
~ Pastor Dennis Krueger