500 Years

Castle Church Wittenberg, Germany

 Today marks the 500^th anniversary of what is accepted as the beginning of the Reformation.  Luther wanted to reform his church, but soon found irreconcilable differences. He put his life at risk, took advantage of new technology, and moved forward teaching a clearer understanding of God’s love for His people.

Here is what the reformation means to me:

Sola Scriptura

I do not have to try to decide which books speak the truth about God. I can turn to the Bible with complete confidence that not only is it God’s word, but it reveals itself. The Bible is more than a book of faith; it is the revelation of grace.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me. John 5:39

Sola Fide

It is not my responsibility to save myself or to make myself pleasing to God in order to earn salvation. I can do good works to show the love of God to others but my good works do not add up on some sort of score card. I cannot earn salvation; it has been earned for me and is given to me through my faith which is also a God-given gift. I am free to do good works out of thankful joy; not because of the burden of guilt.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2: 8-9

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Sola Gratia

I am a precious, beloved child of God because of God’s merciful disposition. He is not a sadistic task master; He is a loving Father who wants what is best for me even when I seek what is worst. This grace is serious, efficacious, and revealed to me through the means of grace: the Word and Sacraments. This grace comes to me because of the sacrifice and victory of Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Solus Christus

My salvation does not need anything but Jesus Christ and His redemptive love and actions.

Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68

Martin Luther

I can see how God can work change through the work of a flawed, sinful, leader. God helped Luther to use his intelligence and passion to its utmost and accomplished His work in spite of Luther’s weakness and failings. 

God can use me, too; even me. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes  to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

God loves me, He saves me, He makes it possible for me to believe and to serve Him. He brings good out of my life, in spite of my sin.

These are simple, yet powerful, truths.

A mighty fortress is our God,

A trusty shield and weapon;

He helps us free from every need 

That hath us now o’ertaken. 

The old evil foe. 

Now means deadly woe; 

Deep guile and great might 

Are His dread arms in fight

On earth is not His equal. 

With might of ours can naught be done, 
Soon were our loss effected;
 But for us fights the valiant One, 
Whom God Himself elected. 
Ask ye, Who is this? 
Jesus Christ it is, 
Of Sabaoth Lord, 
And there's none other God; 
He hold the field forever.

Salt, Light, and Germs

There is a new book out about Joseph Lister and his campaign in the 19^th century to make surgery safer. Dr. Lister took Pasteur’s new science of microbiology and applied germ theory to surgery infections. In his day, surgeons thought that infections were caused by bad air and nothing could be done about it. Lister proved them wrong, but not until he weathered a fair amount of criticism.

His fellow surgeons, proud of their filthy, bloody, surgery aprons thought Lister’s theory of bringing dirt into the wound as the cause of infection to be medical heresy. Of course surgeons were not to blame for their patients’ deaths. It was simply the luck of the draw – or at least the luck of the air.

Lister was scorned, ridiculed, and even vilified in the medical journal Lancet as surgeons were warned not to adopt his methods. It wasn’t until he saved the life of two members of the royal family that his preaching against germs started to gain credibility.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand, and it give light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16

As children of God, redeemed by our Savior, we serve the world as Christian versions of Dr. Lister. Instead of relying on papers written by a fellow scientist, we gain our wisdom from the study of scripture. Armed with this knowledge we work and live in our world, but strive to not be of the world. We see evidence of the germs of sin and try to live a different life as a testament to what can be rather than simply giving in to the natural consequences of sin.

We do not do this for salvation because salvation has already been won for us. We do not do this of our own accord, because without God’s help we can do no good work. We do this because God has saved us and taught us about sin and its consequences. We do this to be salt and light; to be an example to others by preserving what is good and shining a light on what is bad.

Like Lister we often talk to people who do not want to hear. We risk being condemned for our beliefs about the value of life and the value of living a good life. Others are warned to not believe us and we are often scorned and ridiculed.

And like Lister we are not without sin or error in the way we live our lives as salt and light. We have found better antiseptics since Lister’s time and he was convinced that it was a lost cause to try to sterilize the surgery room.  Furthermore, Dr. Lister, the surgeon had germs on him, too. Likewise our lives are filled with sin and grief. Yet, in that grief we know we are forgiven children of God and He uses us to further His ministry.

Lord, make my heart clean and help my words, actions and values be true salt and light in a stinky, dirty, germy world.

Hemmed In, Behind and Before

O LORD, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:1-6

I am not a stranger to my current situation. I have been here before. I have stood at the watershed moment that likely marks the beginning of the end for a parent. Like for so many other elderly parents, it's begun with a fall.

Some children lose their parents far too young. Others receive an unexpected phone call. Some of us have the opportunity to hold a hand and walk alongside our parent as God begins the preparation for the journey home. We do not know how long this journey will be, but we feel in our hearts the first step has been taken and the road will not likely turn in a different direction.

Each situation has its own unique grief and joy. Each situation offers its own blessings and opportunities.

While I certainly cannot predict this journey, having walked this path before I know some of the decisions ahead; decisions about levels of care; decisions about permanent moves or temporary; decisions balancing medications to offer palliative care rather than healing. Palliative care offers relief from physical, mental, and emotional stress in order to improve the quality of life. It is strange that this starts at the end of life. We could use this relief so much earlier.

I love the spiritual palliative care offered by the words of Psalm 139. My siblings and I feel hemmed in by the stresses and busyness of lives that do not stop when we need to care for our mother. We feel boxed in by the need to interpret doctors and nurses and share their information in a way our mother can understand. We feel a bit claustrophobic in terms of our ability to understand what the doctors are saying while reading between the lines of their communication.

We do not want to be here. But this is where God wants us to be. This is the work and ministry He sets before us. We are hemmed in, behind and before, but the weight we feel on our shoulder is not the weight of decision; it is the hand of God reminding us of His very presence in our lives, in our decisions, and in our mother’s care. Such knowledge is indeed too wonderful for us to comprehend. Instead we stand before Him, with one hand holding the hand of our mother. We stand blessed and loved and we take a deep breath before that first step. The path before us, while unknown to us is known to our Heavenly Father.

If this is your journey, too, know that God's comfort rests on your shoulder, also. 

Abba Father, hear our prayer.

Giving what is needed not what is deserved

When push comes to shove.

You reap what you sow.

You get what you pay for.

We have many colloquialisms that remind us to expect to be treated in the way we have treated others. It should be no surprise when our self-righteous anger generates self-righteous anger in response. We have been doing this since we were infants and first used our mirror neurons to understand and use emotions. When we do it as adults it is called complementary behavior – or complementarity.

When our spouse comes down the stairs in a nasty mood,  nasty mood neurons are stimulated and we just might respond in kind. When a coworker treats us with kindness we are predisposed to react similarly. Likewise, if our child’s behavior indicates hopelessness and helplessness we compliment that behavior by giving help. We don’t even have to think about it. We simply react.

Non-complementarity, on the other hand, is responding in the opposite way of what is expected. Whereas complementarity will continue a behavior – anger begets anger. An unexpected response is more likely to change behavior.

Sometimes we have to give people what they need, not what they deserve.

A child expressing helplessness might be best helped with encouragement that another try will accomplish the task. Without the encouragement to keep at it, the child will continue to feel helpless. It might be just what is needed.

Similarly, the nasty mood of the spouse might be best helped with a healthy dish of empathy, a kind word, and an offer to help with a chore. It is not what is deserved, or expected, but probably what is needed.

Matching emotions is what comes naturally to us. Responding with the opposite emotion takes patience and consideration and that is an example of grace.

Think how God responds to our sin with forgiveness. How He handles our anger with love. How He reacts to our weak faith by applying His faith-nurturing Word and Sacraments.  God gives us what we need, not what we deserve and this changes us. 

In fact, it changes everything.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His love for us in that  while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:7-9

Because we are justified through the sacrifice of Christ, we are changed. We are no longer slaves to our mirror neurons or our natural sinful responses. We have been loved with an Agape love.

We could not survive long in a world that only mirrored our actions and emotions. We cannot grow and learn in a world that only gives us what we deserve. We should not expect the people around us to improve with only are complementary responses.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. I John 4:18-19

We are justified; our sins are covered; we experience the non-complementarity of grace every day.

With joy we are able to express this grace to others in our little worlds. We can meet anger with compassion, frustration with encouragement, meanness with forgiveness. We can do this because Jesus did it first. God’s blessings abound!

This link below is a fascinating, and hard to believe, story about a non-complementary response. The host of Invisibilia insists that no miracles occurred. As a fellow recipient of what we’ve needed instead of what we deserved– a fellow recipient of grace – I will let you decide.

Disarming a Robbery . . . With a Glass of Wine

An Ineffective Club

Anyone who has been in a confirmation class is familiar with the three uses of the law:

Curb – to maintain external discipline

Mirror – show us our sin and lead us to Salvation

Guide – after justification to show us how we should pattern our lives.

But lately I have seen a different use of the law; a use of the law that is most certainly in error. I have seen the law used as a club.

I notice it most often when good Christians, most of us who are well aware of the receiving of grace in the right-hand kingdom, seem to fail to apply grace in the left-hand kingdom. Instead we justify our beliefs or throw up our hands while hiding behind the law.

When we behave this way, I believe we are rightfully condemned by our non-believing peers.

I am not thinking that grace needs to be applied all of the time. That is not any more correct than applying law all of the time. However, there are some situations where we need to be reminded of the message of these verses:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. I John 4:18-19

Just like the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-34) we err when we feel so confident about our cancelled debt that we neglect to show mercy to others. We may begin to believe that somehow we deserved our forgiveness.

And people, that is very dangerous territory. It is a fallacy that implies that I earned my forgiveness so now this poor fellow must earn his.

Don't go down that road.

The law becomes a club when it is used to self-righteously beat someone down:

• A justification for insulting comments. 
• A refusal to practice empathy.
• A denial of opportunities that might bring about change.  
• An obsessive devotion to the punishment and reward system of behaviorism.
  
• A false belief that we can solve the problems of our world with more law, with tougher law, with unrelenting law.
• A simple, sinful, arbitrary refusal to apply grace to a contrite sinner who needs something the law cannot provide.

We dare not ignore the warning of the parable. The servant was forgiven a huge debt – a lifetime’s worth of sin, if you will. That same servant could not see clear to forgive even a small debt for another. It did not end well.

I know I am a sinner. The mirror effect of the law shows me this every day. Yet, every day God forgives me. I live as simultaneous saint and sinner as the blood shed at the cross covers my sin and brings me into the folds of righteousness. This is a powerful, precious gift. It is a gift that demands to be appropriately shared.

I cannot change opinions, I cannot change lives, and I cannot correct wrongs or improve relationships when I use the law as a club. Only God can bring about these changes and His preferred tool is grace.

I found both law and grace in this quote from Martin Luther posted by a wise friend. May this be my guide as I expound my opinion on social media.

“For you are powerful, not that you may make the weak weaker by oppression, but that you may make them powerful by raising them up and defending them.” Martin Luther: Two Kinds of Righteousness: Luther’s Works AE: 304

Lord, remind me daily of my sin and Your grace. Enable me to show that grace to those who may not deserve it, but like me, desperately need it.

 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5: 19-21

Amen, amen, amen.