Tuesday, 31 August, 2004

The opening piece is from “Union with Christ” – The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther.

For the next three months, several people will be contributing to these devotions.



The sine qua non of the transformation is, as we have claimed, “union with Christ.” Christ is the one who transfers a sinner to Christ himself and who changes the sinner. The transformation also means that Christ hides the Christian from God’s wrath until it has passed. But we are hid in Christ throughout our earthly life, because sin is always present in a Christian. A Christian can be saved only under the condition that he or she has the gift of faith, through which one can be hidden under the protection of Christ.



One note I have written in the margin next to this piece is “no one can deny the faith of another person or deny one’s relationship in Christ.” Trusting that God acts in such a profound way on our behalf so as to have us sheltered in Christ – in any time and in all situation –means that God places each of us above the condemning words and actions of others. Who is to be a judge among us? No one…not one of us. The power in the community of Christ is that we trust what God does for us…all of us…in Christ. Within that power is a freedom that lets our hearts rest and our lives begin to blossom from the deep soil of God’s gracious will for us. Yes, there are plenty of ways to claim to build up a church on the bases of a litany of nit-picking demands and restrictions, but in all of them, the transformative power of God is boxed up and put away. In union with Christ, we are let lose in the world and we are both blessed by the presence of others and we become a blessing to all.



Connection: Where in this day will the freedom of God’s love take you as your life interacts with others?

Lord God, sometimes we wear masks that hide the beauty you see within us and sometimes, we do not take off those masks and we too never are able to see ourselves as you see us. Give us the courage to see as you see and to trust in your love so that we will be free to share ourselves with the world. Amen.