24
Second, since nothing is more practical than a good theory, here is a picture of what this looks like in daily life. Imagine you’re having coffee at the local diner and some- one asks you: “Do you ever wish that you had been called into the ministry?” You answer, “But I was called by God!” Your friend looks surprised and asks: “When did that hap-
pen? Why didn’t you say yes?” You might respond with something like this: “On the second Sunday, of the sixth month, of the reign of President So-and-So, God called me with these words: ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ And I have been living that calling ever since. Currently, I am serving God as a parent and as a friend ... [and so on].”
A surplus of words Surplus, n. There is a lot more where that came from.
Toward the end of the Gospel of John, the evangelist wrote these words: “Now Jesus did many other things in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book” (20:30). That is true about these Lutheran words too. There are a lot more words that aren’t in this short article: word and sacrament, law and gospel, justice and sanctification, two kingdoms, and on and on and on.
These words were written here as a sort of sampler. If you like these words, you might have a good time digging into some others. And here is a one last Lutheran word: Amen. (Which means, “Yes, yes, it shall be so.)
idea. If you think God is a bully, that is.
Maybe God can do whatever God wants. But here’s the deal. God has promised to do certain things and not to do certain other things. In other words, God has promised that God won’t do whatever God wants. God has promised that even though God may at times want to do (or not do) some things, God won’t do them (or will do them). God won’t … abandon you, disown you, drown the world in a flood, refuse to forgive your sins when you repent, live your life for you or turn you into a puppet, and so on.
God will … love you, forgive you, bless you, be with you, stick with you and the entire world to the very end. Because God is faithful.
Rolf Jacobson
Excerpted from Crazy Talk, pages 13 and 68.
MICHAEL D. WATSON/SHUTTERSTOCK 26 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72