21 October 2005

The week ends with a quote from Lectures on Galatians in Luther's Works.

...a Christian, properly defined, is free of all laws and is subject to nothing, internally or externally. But I purposefully said" to the extent that he is a Christian: (not "to the extent that he is a man or a woman"); that is, to the extent that he has his conscience trained, adorned, and enriched by this faith, this great and inestimable treasure...
Thus the Christian is greater than the entire world. For in his heart he has this seemingly small gift; yet the smallness of this gift and treasure, which he holds in faith, is greater than heaven and earth, because Christ, who is this gift is greater. (LW 26, p.134)

There are many times when Luther uses the word Christian very distinctly. It is not so much as I hear it used today. Today it often sounds meaningless or it is filled with so much baggage that is filled with issues of morality or political grappling in the church that I hear or see very little of the Christ alive among us. But we have this gift that has been given to us that takes us and makes us into a new people. There is no magic here. It is the gracious movement of our God blesses us and brings us into a wealth of life that is as available to us as the present day. Here Luther is making sure that we understand the gift of life that is handed to us outside of and with help from our works. Some may say this gift is faith in Christ, Jesus. Then again, it can be argued that the gift can be seen as the faith of Christ, Jesus. This slight changing in how we word this gift does not alter the gift that is ours - a gift that is the power for new life. It may change in how we bring this gift to the people around us.

Connection: Christian is not heavy laden with an agenda that makes us legitimate Christians. Rather, the gift is very light and at the same time, a gift so grand it is the whole life of us. Sometimes we simply must prayerfully remember how we are being swept up into the presence of Christ - this gift of new life.

We long for you to break into our day, O God. And yet, we know that you already have and you are with us even now. Sometimes we simply need to be made free from our blindness and our willingness to remain blind so that we do not have to take the risk to trust how bountifully you bless us with your life. Amen.