The opening piece is from “Union with Christ” – The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther.
Luther writes: …as I have said often enough, faith makes us lords; through faith we even become gods and partake of the divine nature and name, as Psalm 81 says: “I have said, you are gods and children together of the highest of the high.” But through love we become like the poorest of the poor. According to the faith we need nothing and yet have complete abundance. Through faith we receive good from above from God. Through love we release them from below to our neighbor. Just as Christ according his deity needed nothing, but in his humanity served everyone who needed him.
Our faith is not merely for ourselves. Rather, through faith we participate in that wonderful Reign of God in which we embody the character of the one who give us our daily bread and our very breath. Through love we take what is given to us and make it a gift that is passed on to those around us – the stranger – the enemy – the friend. And there in that participation in God’s love others enter into the same participation. Next thing you know, there is a beloved community living in a way that is quite contrary to the ways of the world. There is an old camp song that I have sung too many times while working at camps years ago…Pass it on. How simple and yet profound are the words… “that’s how it is with God’s love, once you experience it…you want to pass it on” This is not just a handing over of the love, it is making that love our love and handing over something very real and concrete.
Connection: What will you be releasing to your neighbors as you, in faith, participate in the Reign of God today?
Most High God, you lift us up as your Spirit encourages us to trust in you alone. We give you thanks for the depth of your love that fills us up and then overflows so that your love may be encountered by the world through us. Amen.
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