What Do You Do When You Don't Have To Do Anything.

At the Church Wide Assembly, Bishop Hanson said the following as part of his report:
"Now that by God’s grace through faith on account of Christ we are free—free from bondage to sin, death, and the devil—what are we going to do? Now that we don’t have to do anything to earn God’s favor, what are we going to do? Listen to Luther’s response in Freedom of a Christian:
I will therefore give myself as Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ."
Some form of this statement is going to work itself into a number of my sermons. It states something I've been wrestling with so much better than I could get my head around.

btw, there is A LOT of comments I want to make about the discussion of the Sexuality statement and resolutions at the CWA, but I will hold my tongue rather than type something rash, save for one statement.
If your objection to the Sexuality report and resolutions is because most of the rest of the Christian bodies and denominations are not with us, I really think you need to at least pay REAL close attention on Reformation Day or secondly, realize you are going against the very nature of the Lutheran tradition.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oh Yeah, Football

Quick Random Football Notes The BCS should be abolished. The OSU deserves to be in the title game, but making a case for LSU, Oklahoma or USC is very easy. I hate the ESPN whiners saying how tough a playoff would be. I think the sweater vest can use the extra resources at The OSU in a playoff a little better than he did at Youngstown State where he won 3 National Titles in 1AA. If division 3 non-scholarship teams can play a 16 game tournament, so can the megabucks schools. Michigan will be better off for not having Les Miles. Why Brian Kelly is not on any list amazes me. I'd love to see GoBlue call the sweater vest and offer a blank check. The Pats beat the Ravens to stay undefeated. The Ravens whine about "phantom calls." Mugging isn't a phantom crime. Losing your composure isn't a phantom crime. Having an "offensive genius" run an offense that has held back an all-time defense isn't a phantom crime. Billick is the only person in the NFL who need
Read more

Lutheran Carnival LV

Image
Prepare Ye is proud to host the 55th Lutheran Carnival . As I'm preparing to pack up and move to Gettysburg to enter the Seminary there, I thought I'd volunteer to host the carnival and delay packing up the computer for one more weekend. Please ignore the mess, the assorted boxes and bubble wrap just laying around and enjoy the submissions. (Oh, if you carry any boxes - be sure to lift with your legs!) The posts are listed in submission order: The Tour Marm presents I Saw a Man Walk on the Moon , a touching look back on her memories and relationship with her stepfather. Write to right presents 3 Easy Steps On How To Create A Productive Life , an enlightening essay on how to do what's truly important. I wish I would have seen the "Strip Out the Useless" advice before I started packing! The Pistol Packin' Presbytera presents National Ice Cream Day: Passing On Family Traditions , a post which links the past and present as she describes family and friends
Read more

And Music Still On MTV

Image
"1985" by Bowling for Soup A quick tale of woe from a second-career seminarian. I don't know how the conversation got started, (I blame Law & Gospel ) but I got in a conversation with some of my class mates who are pipeliners. The discussion was about embarassing clothing. I grew up in the 70's & 80's, the two decades that provided the most opportunities for fashion crimes. If you were ever at the height of fashion coolness in those decades, you do NOT want to show anyone those photos now. One of my classmates (bless her heart) said, "I didn't even go to school in the 80's." I honestly have clothes here with me that are older than many of my classmates. I'll take my arthritic knees and kneel to pray before I go to bed. Hopefully I can get up. I know my experience will pay off sometime soon, but how long must I wait O Lord?
Read more