Week of Sabbath II, Day Seven

Prayer for healing:

O Lord,
The good which I know I do not always do. Sometimes I do what is not good, knowing that I will be sorry later. I call upon your strength to carry me through moments of weakness, that my life might be a testament to your goodness. Amen

Reading: Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Meditation:

When I first applied for candidacy in the Lutheran church, I had to go to Oakland, California, and meet with the Bishop’s Assistant in charge of those things. She had a couple of candidacy committee members in her office, and they asked me a few questions to get a glimpse of whether I was seminary material.

I can only remember one of the questions: “So why do you want to be a Lutheran pastor?”

To be honest, I didn’t know a whole lot about Lutheran history. I loved my church, and I loved what I knew of its doctrine. So I gave the only answer I could: “Because of grace.”

At the time, I thought it was an incomplete answer. Today, I think it is the best answer possible. Lutherans are not the only people who speak the language of grace; but we are the community born out of a monk's struggle to find grace, a struggle which led him (Luther, that is) to the book of Romans. What Luther read there ignited a fire which, in turn, ignited the Protestant Reformation. Into that Reformation were called people of many traditions, including, eventually, the Catholic Church with which Luther had taken exception. Opening the doors of faith to God's grace is surely Luther's greatest gift to us all, and for that, I am proud to call myself a Lutheran.

We are a people of God’s grace, justified by God’s loving action through Jesus Christ. And that is enough.

How does being justified by God’s grace lead you down new pathways for the sake of the gospel?

Prayer of thanksgiving:

God of grace,
I give you thanks this day that you have called me into your loving presence, and fortified me with your hope and strength. I know that you are with me in sorrow and joy, loving me into better ways of being each day. I pray that you would continue to shower me with your love as I grow. Amen