He wanted her to grow up among people who could support her in the face of these crushing experiences. She deserved a community that had the concepts and vocabulary (sin, grace, forgiveness, cross and resurrection), the experience and courage, to help her make sense of her life.
DESIGN PICS
people declare that message of his unconditional love and mercy to us, we have what they declare: God’s seat of mercy (not judgment) in our midst. And that’s it! It is all that mat- ters in our Christian life. M
By Jane Strohl S
ome time ago a young woman confided in me that she had had an abortion. I’ll call her Maggie. Not yet 18, she had just started her fresh- man year in college as an education major when she got pregnant. The father was certainly not in a position to marry her. Hearing that she was pregnant, he distanced himself, and she ended up alone. Maggie told me that she was sorry for the stupidity and carelessness of the behavior. “A life is a life. I need to atone for what I have done,” said Maggie, who couldn’t face God any longer. “Now I must live with this for the rest of my life. I don’t know how I can. I am so ashamed.” The doctrine of justification through grace by faith alone, apart from the works of the law, is first and foremost about pastoral care. In the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Philipp Melanchthon criticizes the church of his day for its teaching that a Christian has
to acquire Christ’s saving grace by faithful obedience rather than receive it freely as a gift, simply by trusting God’s promise. •••
Sin is a harsh word and a freeing
one. When it’s in the open, the word of “forgiveness” can be proclaimed. This doesn’t minimize what hap- pened; it is not denial. To be forgiven is to live in the truth and to learn to stave off temptation. Regret is one thing, despair another. You don’t atone. You drown yourself in God’s mercy daily, and you rise up again and again to live, really live, fiercely and faithfully.
Here the sacraments prove to be so powerful in our lives.
Some years ago I asked a class to write on the topic: How would you make the case for baptizing their baby to a young couple with little connection to the church? One student wrote that he would
tell the couple why he had baptized his own daughter. There would come a time as she grew when she would recognize the deep cruelty in the world and wonder why there was so much misery. One day she would suffer when people she trusted failed her. She would fail herself, driven by her selfishness and ability to hurt others.
So here is Maggie, “marked with the cross
of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit.” This is what we can tell her. You can’t remove it. Nothing you do can undo it. It is not about your actions—it is about Christ’s love. If you think Christ no longer loves you because of what you have done, you are so wrong. The Lord calls you to the table. “The body of Christ given for you. The blood of Christ shed for you.”
Luther exulted in those words “for you.” He insisted that the words of institution be pronounced loud and clear so the hopeless and the heartless couldn’t deflect the unrelenting mercy of God in Christ Jesus.
The gospel is most especially for people burdened with guilt, despair, terror or fury; people who can find neither peace nor purpose. Here is Jesus for them in story and promise to free them from their bondage, turning their gaze outward to see new possibilities.
This is why the article of justi- fication still matters today. There are Maggies all around us: people crippled by guilt, unable to pick up the pieces of their lives and move forward. They are hemorrhaging, and they need the healing of Christ’s mercy freely given. M
March 2012 19
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