The theme for Concordia Lutheran High School’s 2025-2026 school year is “Built Up . . . with Christ at the Center.” It is based upon Colossians 2:6-7, where Paul writes, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Obviously, we’re zeroing in on the key words of Built Up in this text, and yet we cannot ignore the context. Before being Built Up in Christ, we first receive Him. That order is significant. Imagine if Paul had reversed it and said, “Build yourselves up! Walk in the ways of Christ and then you will receive Him.” Now the focus has completely changed from Christ (and what He’s done for us) to me (and what I need to do to get myself up to His level). If that were the case, we’d all be doomed.
We have a lot of great things going for us here at Concordia Lutheran High School. This is literally a building year for Concordia Lutheran High School. Our student enrollment is growing. The numbers of our faculty and staff are growing. Soon our building will undergo significant changes and additions. But if one of our goals was to achieve salvation for ourselves, we’d have very little reason for establishing and maintaining this school.
We recognize that Christ is at the center of everything we do here. It all starts with Christ. He took on human flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary came to us to save us and redeem us. He lived the perfect life that we could not live and credits us with His righteousness. He sacrificed Himself upon the cross for your sins. Later in Colossians 2, Paul says, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
Christ is the source of our life and salvation. After His resurrection and ascension, He sent His Holy Spirit to establish a relationship with us through the work of His church. Each of us has received Him through Holy Baptism and continually receives Him through His proclaimed Word and through communion in the Lord’s Supper. We walk in Him because He has chosen to walk with us and redeem us and bring us into His kingdom through the forgiveness of sins. But the Lord doesn’t stop there. He is our solid foundation. We are rooted in Him and Built Up in Him.
Alongside the physical and numerical growth at Concordia Lutheran High School, our mission remains the same. “Concordia Lutheran High School pursues Christ-centered educational excellence that equips individuals for lifelong learning and service as disciples of Jesus Christ.” This is His school and we are His people, equipped to serve Him and one another with thanksgiving for all the blessings He provides. As this new school year begins, we thank God for all of His blessings and the opportunities that we have to be Built Up by Him.
In Christ,
Pastor Chad Hoover