Control

Control.

This little word embodies our struggle to find our way in the world. The more we try to maintain control, the more we struggle when we lose it. Narcissism runs rampant in our culture; trying to control every outcome.  But what happens when we lose control? Where do we turn? We also want to try to control who is in, and who is out.

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10 that those who try to maintain control of their own faith, and especially of their own righteousness, will struggle to do it. When we believe that we can live up to the demands of perfection as laid out by the law, and expected from those around us, we are dependent on maintaining control; and because it is demanded since birth, who of us has really done this?

Paul says that it is impossible, nor necessary for those in Christ. And how do we hear of this great relief? By someone telling us His word of promise, and claim us in Christ’s name. What Paul is demanding is for each of us to tell those around us of the good news of Jesus Christ. That Jesus is in control and the he has the final word over you and your life.

Come to worship this weekend to hear Jesus’ claiming word for you, a word so near to you that it is on your lips, and in your heart!

Jeff Backer, Intern Pastor

The Choosy God

Being chosen is a distant second to being the chooser, but it is still better than being completely ignored. The only thing worse is to be chosen and then un-chosen. Any kid on the playground can attest to it, and big kids being drafted to professional sports can too. You want to be selected first, but if that doesn't happen you just want your name to be called. But what happens if the chooser chooses you, but then suddenly says, "I meant the one next to you." That's devastating.

St. Paul has been arguing that God is the chooser, and that he has chosen you in baptism. He chose the unrighteous (the old you) in order to make you righteous (the new you) simply because he chose you. He sent a preacher to choose you in baptism, to take you away from sin and death and give you forgiveness and life. That's his choice for you. But now comes Romans 9 along with the questions: "Didn't he choose others first? What about the Israelites?" 

Just how choosy is God? Has he turned his back on his "chosen people" because they rejected Jesus? If so, will he not just choose the best Christians and un-choose the rest? Can God just choose to ignore his previous choosing? No. God is faithful to his promise. Each one. Every choice. Always keeping his promise.

More Certain Than the Sun

Ben Franklin once said that, “the only certainties in life are death and taxes!” If we really think about it, there are very few certainties that we can count on. It is pretty much assumed that the sun will rise and the sun will set. This does not mean you can actually see the sun every day, because it could be covered by clouds, or obstructed from view, like in a forest. But we still see its light, and most days, feel its warmth. The sun is there; we can count on it.

The apostle Paul wrote his letter to the people in Rome who had come to believe in Jesus Christ. Though Paul himself had not yet traveled to Rome to establish a church there, he writes to them in what Luther calls “the purest gospel proclamation in all of the New Testament.” Chapter 8 from Romans is where we can hear the promise from God that is more certain than the sun rising, and because he gave His Son to claim those whom he has called through the gospel, it is even more certain than death, because Jesus has even overcome that “certainty.”

We are called and claimed through the gospel as God’s children, adopted … chosen to be a part of the royal family along with Jesus as the firstborn. Join us for worship this weekend as through the witness of St. Paul, we proclaim the certainty that nothing … absolutely nothing in all of creation (because God created ALL!) can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus! Amen.

Inarticulate Prayer

Romans 8:12-27
“For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but [the] Spirit [of God] intercedes [for us] with sighs too deep for words”  (Romans 8:26; RSV)  

Have you at times in your life, known this witness of St. Paul of “sighs too deep for words”? Times when you just flat-out collapse, failing to find words to bear the heavy freight of life’s struggles … Times when you just come to the end of yourself? … A time when someone asks you to pray, but you don’t even know where to begin? … And so, what strange comfort it is to hear that even the esteemed Apostle Paul confesses such times when he himself – like us – doesn’t know how to pray. We think that ease and fluency at prayer comes with great spiritual achievement and intense faith. But here, one of Christendom’s greatest representatives witnesses how he finds it impossible at times to pray as he ought. (In this our summer series on the book of Roman, think back a couple of weeks, where St. Paul also creates “solidarity of faith” with us – confessing the civil war of failed will-power that goes on within us every day. Cf. Rom. 7:15f.)

“With sighs too deep for words …”  Inarticulate prayer. 

So, what is the Bible teaching us here? What is St. Paul “unloading”? … Could it be that the truest prayers do not easily find words? Could it be that prayer that bubbles-up to fall “trippingly from the tongue” is neither rooted very deep nor ascends to much effect? The truth is this: the more real the need to pray, the harder it is to express that need. Jacques Ellul, the 20th century French theologian has perhaps the best one-word-definition for prayer: “Help!” … “With sighs too deep for words …” 

My friends, if there is any one theme that binds all of Holy Scripture together, from Israel’s family tree in Genesis to St. John the Seer’s vision of the future in the apocalypse of Revelation, it is this: that bios (“life”) can only be understood fully in relation to Theos (“God”). In this relationship, there’s often little language but a sigh or a cry. As a mother interprets by some secret wisdom of her own the meaning of her child’s feeble cry, and hears that cry before anyone else … so God looks into our hearts and understands the need for which we can find no words. As St. Paul counsels us: “When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15b-16). 

And as children of God, come join us for worship this weekend, as we hear again God’s Spirit speaking to us through St. Paul witness as well as in the well-beloved assurance of the Psalmist: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

John Christopherson
Senior Pastor

The Spirit is Life

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Romans 8:6 (NRSV)

I want more life and peace – so why can’t I just set my mind on the Spirit? Daily I am pulled between “the things of the flesh” and “the things of the Spirit.” Or as St. Paul said in our reading from Romans 7 last week, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (v. 15, 19)

If St. Paul struggled mightily, in his call to follow Jesus, what chance do I have? O Lord, what will end this struggle within me?

Would more maturity allow me to follow Christ more devotedly? That is, wait a few years and the struggle will be nonexistent? I don’t think so. I’m turning forty this year, so there’s no denying anymore that I am an actual adult. Although I have a little more self-control than the days of my youth, the struggle between the flesh and the mind is as real as it ever was.

Would more money free me from earthly cares and desires and help me follow him more single-mindedly? Pretty sure that would just cause me to struggle more between the spirit and flesh, so that’s a no. Would more free time allow me to achieve a Spirit-based mindset? Well, if how I use my free time now is any indicator, I’d probably find a way to squander that too. What about more sleep? Would that help me in this struggle? Real talk: as someone who has only had a handful of uninterrupted nights over the past ten years, I’m going to mark this one as a maybe.

No, the struggle isn’t ever going to end as long as I am in this body. In other words, the struggle will actually kill me. But here’s some amazing news: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

Christ dwells in me – that’s not something I have achieved, it’s the promise of my baptism. That knowledge leads me on through the struggle. Knowing that I’m surrounded on every side by the support of a Christian community, like the one we’re in together at First Lutheran, encourages me too. And we have the gift of the promised Spirit among us to “help us in our weakness” and daily forgive our sins in the name of Jesus Christ. Yes, the struggle is real, but God is greater!

See you in church,
Pastor Katherine