Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
Wartburg Theological Seminary (WTS) has a gym on campus. It is not the best equipment. Most of it dated because it was bought secondhand or donated to the seminary. Before I had a gym membership at the local YMCA I enjoyed going down to the gym. At that time I lived by myself completely broke in a one bedroom apartment and needed something to fill my time. The highlight of the gym wasn’t the gym equipment, the really old TV, or the workout videos from the 1970’s. The highlight of the WTS gym was its name, The Re-Formation Room (REE-FORMATION). How fitting for a Lutheran seminary to name its gym after the reformation. Do you ever give thought to this pronunciation for reformation? The goal of Martin Luther was not to break off of the Catholic Church but rather to reform it. He sought to take this church that he loved and bring it back to something that reflects God’s grace. When Martin Luther was excommunicated he was given no other choice but to start a church movement separate from the Catholic Church. Interesting enough the idea of reforming didn’t stop in the 1500’s. It continues even to and through us. The idea of continuing to reform was reflected in the Second Vatican Council of 1965. Rather than bearing down on our differences both the Lutheran and the Catholic Church have sought to renew our relationship. This is why the celebration of 500 years since the protestant reformation has been done largely in conjunction with our Catholic brothers and sisters. We are on a journey from conflict to communion. So the Lutheran church (at least the ELCA) is seeking to reform through renewing and revitalizing a fractured relationship. As we look forward to October 29th, Reformation Sunday, it is important to think of how God’s grace and love through Jesus Christ is reforming us. Perhaps this grace is calling for us to renew, revitalize, reopen, rearrange, renovate, repair, restart, rekindle, or refresh. After 500 years of reforming, how might Jesus be calling you to reform? **This blog post comes from an article written by Pastor Reed in the October edition of "The Spire", a monthly newsletter for Augustana Lutheran Church. If you are interested in recieving the newsletter on a regular basis please email [email protected].
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I am a golfer…a really bad golfer…but I love to golf. Sometimes I hit the shot that makes me want to go play another round of golf, but a lot of the time I agree with Mark Twain who said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” As frustrating as it is to improve my golf game I find the game of golf parallels quite nicely with the Christian life.
How well do you follow the commandments? Do you put things before God? Swear? Let yourself get busy so you don’t set aside time for God and God’s Word? Treat elders and authorities without respect or as an elder or authority do not give a reason to be respected? Kill somebody? Look lustfully at someone not your spouse? Spoken poorly about someone behind their back? Or wished that you had the money, house, fame, or life of another human being? “You shall love the Lord your God, therefore, and keep [The Lord’s] charge, [The Lord’s] decrees, [The Lord’s] ordinances, and [The Lord’s] commandments always.” - Deut 11:1 Did you past the test? It’s a pass/fail test. The hard part is that anything under 100% loyalty and faithfulness to God is a fail. For those of you that think you do all of those things read Matthew 5:21-30 and reconsider. So what is the price for failure? Perhaps Romans 6:23 is popping in your head “For the wages of sin is death…” Death is our reward or price for failure. That is what we get for not being perfect! Hold up. I hope you notice the ellipses (…) for the scripture passage. Romans 6:23 is not a doom and gloom verse. Here is the verse in its entirety: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The point of the Christian life is not to make ourselves perfect. Christ has done that for us. “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” – Romans 6:4 A Christian life is given a perspective of newness of life. You live your life as faithfully as you can to God and your neighbor because of this newness of life given. This is where golf comes back into the fold. I do not know of anyone that after playing 18 holes of golf had a perfect score of 18. (I am happy to break 100 most of the time) Yet, you go out and play to enjoy the game and maybe have a few better shots than you had the game before. We go out in our lives trying to live better and do better than we did before without any stress of having a perfect day. You will fail if you think you can be perfectly faithful to God just as you will fail if you think you can shoot an 18 after 18 holes of golf. Luckily, as Christians we can go out and keep playing the game of life always trying our best without the worry of being perfect. Points and Questions to Ponder
The first book of the Bible starts with creation. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…” This is the first part of Genesis 1:1. The rest of the chapter is devoted to how God created the world. Within this little snippet is a claim; all things were created from nothing. In light of that, let’s take a look at Romans 8:1-11:
1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (New Revised Standard Version) This passage speaks of living a life according to the Spirit not the flesh. What does this mean? This means living a life which puts God and God’s mission first instead of living a life that puts the things of this world first. When we put our trust and faith in the things of this world (possessions, money, people, and any created thing) before God we are putting our trust in something that at its core came from nothing. When we live according to the flesh, live according to the desires of our physical bodies, we are putting our trust in something that will eventually fail us when we die and we return to our pre-created state of nothingness. When you look to the end of the road of life after only living according to the flesh you will see nothing. No purpose and no existence. However, living a life of the Spirit puts trust and faith in the Creator instead of the created. God is eternal and did not come from nothing. When we put our trust and faith in God (live according to the Spirit) we put our trust in eternity. When we look to the end of the road of life in which we live according to the Spirit we see that it keeps going. It does not stop at our earthly death. We don’t see nothingness, but rather an eternal road of life. This is the promise we received in Christ’s death and resurrection. “11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Points or Questions to Ponder: 1. Even if you could trace your genealogy all the way back to Adam and Eve you’d still find a time when your family tree did not exist (i.e. came from nothing). 2. What are some examples in your own life of living in the flesh versus living in the Spirit? |
AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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