Month: February 2021

“…being fully convinced that God was able to do what God had promised.” – Romans 4:21

Most intimate relationships begin with an abiding trust between two parties. Rarely, do marriages, families, and friendships set out from the place of, “I’ll stay with this until something better comes along, or something better finds me and lures me away.” Yet, because of our human nature, our tendency towards self-absorption to the exclusion of other’s concerns, relationships endure conflict inevitably. These experiences are painful and heartbreaking. Sin doing what sin does, harms our relationship with ourselves, others, the God who made us, and the world that God made. Our negative, inner voice tells us that we may be unlovable. We doubt and wonder, “will they still love me if I am unlovable?”

Our broken nature affirms that negative voice with our siblings in Christ when we become the perpetuation of that cycle of suffering instead of its alleviation. When we doubt our loveliness, we tend towards scarcity and project our harmful self-image, instead of the divine, grace-filled image, on each other. It continues on, generation after generation, relationship after relationship. Is there a way out of this cycle of harm that we exact upon each other? As one of my favorite duos once sang, “Can’t we stop hurting each other…making each other cry…tearing each other apart… without ever knowing why?”

In the play, “By the Skin of Our Teeth,” by Thorton Wilder, at a place of conflict between the main characters, Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, there were significant doubts about their future together. Mr. Antrobus was asking a similar question when he was feeling unlovable. His spouse reassures him, saying, “I didn’t marry you because you were perfect. I didn’t even marry you because you loved me. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise that I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage.”

Promises transform us into new people. They give us a new identity, as we are not alone, but connected. Promises bring the power to offer hope and healing in an otherwise disappointing and damaging reality. The promise that God enfleshed in Jesus transforms this world. When human beings fall short of fully giving and receiving love in their unloveliness, God remains faithful, and answers the terrifying question, “Will you still love me when I am unlovable?” with the grace-filled answer, “Yes. You are mine. I love you without condition.” The divine gifts received in that promise heals us and frees us from the cycles of harm that we have created for ourselves and others. The promise forms us into new creations and pulls us out of our inward gazing.  The promise wakes us to see the divine image, the divine promise, in all that God has made, in all whom God made. In this transformation, this conversion, we live by faith in the promise and remember. Remember that we have been, are now, and will be loved in our imperfection, in our unloveliness. God’s promise perfects.

“And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you.” – 1 Peter 3:21

In the center of Fredsville Lutheran Church, where I did my vicariate year (internship), there is a small, replica of a sailing ship suspended by wires from the ceiling. Fredsville was founded by Danish settlers, and its name means “peaceful village” or “village of peace.” This is a common practice among Danish churches symbolizing the memory of their ancestors who made the journey before them. It is the common ship that sails across the waters of life to our heavenly home. This ancient symbol of the ark represents the church, the body of Christ, always leading God’s beloved to safety and freedom. 

We hear this imagery of the ark from the prayers read during the baptism service. They remind us of our common baptismal journey. One of these prayers read, “by the baptism of his death and resurrection, your Son, Jesus, carried us safely to freedom. The floods shall not overwhelm us, and the deep shall not swallow us up, for Christ has brought us over to the land of promise.” 

Often, the ship of the church sails through rough waters and impassable storms. We cry out like the disciples caught in a storm, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (Matthew 8:25) We wonder if Jesus cares about us. We find it hard to have faith when we are overwhelmed. Yet, Jesus does hear our cry. He looks at us with compassion. He stands in the storm and commands, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39) The wind and the sea obey him because he is God. He reminds us who he is, “I am; Do not be afraid!” (John 6:20)

Jesus went before us into the storm when he accepted death for our sake on the cross and was risen from the dead. He carries us over the sloshing waters of life. He sees us through the damage that we have created by things we have done and failed to do. He does this because of his love for us. He has marked us by his promise, and we are his. We belong to Christ in whom we have been baptized. He forgives our sins, heals our brokenness, and restores our weariness. We are never alone when we go through the storms. The flood of life’s woes does not have the power to overwhelm us or swallow us up, because Christ has already overwhelmed and swallowed up sin, death, and all evil. 

Jesus guides the ship that we are on. Living by faith, we trust that the Holy Spirit is going to fill the sails of our hearts, minds, spirits, and churches with the inexhaustible, divine wind of grace and mercy. We pray that the church, and God’s beloved within it, will always be led to safety and freedom through the hearing of the Gospel until the day comes when all will rest beside still waters in the peaceful village of heavenly rest, the fulfillment and completion of God’s promise to us in our baptism.

“For it is God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6

Several years ago, a friend gifted me a handmade, ceramic coffee mug and ashtray that she had found at a craft fair. Both found a lot of use during my first year of ministry. Unfortunately, for both, it was short-lived. The coffee mug fell in the sink while washing dishes and shattered. The ashtray broke during a healing service when it was knocked off a wooden pedestal accidentally. Like most ceramics who have faced similar fates, they were beyond the power of super-glue to heal them, and sadly found a new home in the trash. 

            St. Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, describes holding a treasure in clay jars. The clay jars represent human fragility. The treasure is the extraordinary power of God to make known the glory of God in Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit. God chose to give this treasure, the awesome free gift of faith, the most precious treasure one can have, to easily shattered hearts, discouraged minds, and overwhelmed bodies. They become witnesses to God’s power to restore wholeness. God’s Spirit raises God’s own to trust in the one who was crucified for them, Jesus. These shattered vessels offer testimony that is by God’s gracious gift alone that we live.

            There will always be difficult days. Sin, death, and evil will always attempt to convince us that they have won. Our life may seem empty of God’s loving and merciful presence. There are days we might feel like giving up, that nothing is ever going to change or get better. We may be tempted to run after quick fixes, reacting to the temporary, failing to trust in the eternal and permanent God, who is holding the world together. We may feel like broken vessels, damaged goods, that no one wants. 

            Yet, the Spirit of God, St. Paul reminds us, that raised Jesus Christ from the dead still lives in you and will raise you up. His and our testimony of God’s saving power is, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in us the body of the death of Jesus to that the life of Jesus may be visible in our bodies.” (2 Cor 4:8-10) God’s beloved carry the death of Jesus because he has carried your death to the cross already. The very God who breathed life into the clay and raised Jesus from the dead breathes new life in you. This power of God repairs the unrepairable and redeems the unredeemable. God makes whole all that is fragile and shattered.

The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. – Psalm 147.3

At the beginning of each bible study, I ask, “For what shall we pray for today?” We have a regular member of the group who without fail will say, “healing.” There are no specifics given, just healing. This request has been made so often, that even when that person is absent from the gathering, someone else will offer the request in absentia. It is an important reminder that we ought to always pray for healing. It also makes that person present with us, even though absent physically. 

Human beings suffer. Hearts are broken every day. New wounds are opened. Disappointment abounds. Unfulfilled dreams are mourned. Creation longs for its redemption and cries out for the fulfillment of Christ’s promise. The world needs healing.

Try as we might, all the skills and science, the full use of God’s gift of mind, body, and spirit, cannot heal our innate brokenness. The advancements of medicine cannot heal the sin-sick soul. Pandemic and political divisiveness has left in its wake damaged, if not shattered, relationships among families, congregations, and friends. Communities were worn already by differences in opinion and the need to physically, mentally, and spiritually distance from each other. Sadly, there is no vaccine that will prevent the further spread of our most grievous faults that are ingrained in our DNA. People will harm us. We will continue to fail one another. We need healing. 

Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism, “Suppose there was a physician who had so much skill that people would not die, or even if they died, would afterword live eternally. Just think how the world would snow and rain money upon such a person! Because of the throng of rich people crowding around, no one else would be able to get near. Now, here in Baptism, there is brought free of charge, to every person’s door such a treasure and medicine that swallows up death and keeps all people alive.”

The source of our healing comes from the very promise of Christ given to us in baptism. This baptism has joined us to Christ’s own self, his suffering body. We are joined to his death and therefore rise with him to new life. We do not face our broken-heartedness and woundedness alone, Christ suffers with us and for us. 

Psalm 147 begins with “Praise the Lord!” This psalm was written by those who have returned from their version of distancing, an exile that forced them from the familiar and returned them to the uncertainty of the future. They offered their praise to God for God’s graciousness towards them. They proclaim that the Lord heals the brokenhearted.  The Lord gathers the outcast. The Lord lifts up the downtrodden. They had been witnesses to God’s restorative power in their lives and they gave praise.            

Healing is not easy. It requires time, patience, and much prayer. God’s word has been sent out to us. As God has done before, God will do again. Cling to the promise of the good news, the only treasure and medicine that can heal us is Christ crucified for you. The Lord is with you. Healing will happen. Praise the Lord.