“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

“Joe always went to his local barber, Mr. Verks for a monthly shave and haircut. But one day Verks the barber was ill. So the barber’s wife, Grace, took over. Joe noticed over subsequent weeks that his beard was not growing. The barber, a good Lutheran, explained the mystery. “You now understand that when we are not shaved by Verks,” he said, “you’re shaved by Grace.”

“…the people you love have two sides to them. One is the side they love you back with, and the other is the side that, even when they do not mean to, they can sting you with like a wasp.” (Buechner, Frederick. Listening to Your Life. HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

Saved by Grace through faith. It is what we lean upon when we encounter the close shaves in life. It is one of the fundamental teachings of the Lutheran Church – Justification by Faith through Grace. As the scripture states above, Grace is a gift from G-d. There is nothing we can do to earn such Grace. This is important for us all to understand, G-d does still depend upon our works. Now before you accuse me of heresy, listen to what I am saying. Our works are Not to earn G-d’s continued love, but because Grace deserves our continued efforts of an active, loving relationship of faith through loving deeds of service.

Martin Luther spent much of his time in the Monastery trying to earn G-d’s love and favor. No matter how much he did, no matter how badly he mortified his own flesh, he could not find the G-d of love he so much wanted in his life – he could feel the sting of the wasp of judgment, but the love of G-d eluded him. So he returned over and over again to scripture, until he read those words: The one who is righteous will live by faith.

Now that we are well into the New Year, we are either well into the changes we had hoped to make in 2021, or we have already abandoned them. Thank the Lord our G-d is not as capricious with Grace as we are with works. Justification by Grace through faith. It saves us time and time again.

Pastor Dave

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!” Pharaoh continued, “Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop working!” That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.” So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.’” So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.” And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?” Exodus 5:1-14

“Buechner discusses the beginning of his fascination with the Land of Oz: King Rinkitink and his young friend Prince Inga of Pingaree came into possession of three magic pearls—a blue one that conferred such strength that no power could resist it; a pink one that protected its owner from all dangers; and a pure white one that could speak words of great wisdom and helpfulness. “Never question the truth of what you fail to understand,” the white pearl said when Rinkitink consulted it for the first time, “for the world is filled with wonders.” It was great wisdom indeed, and has proved greatly helpful many times since.” (Buechner, Frederick. Listening to Your Life. HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

“For the world is filled with wonders”, the white pearl said to King Rinkitink. Even with the knowledge we have about the ways of this world, there are still many wonders that elude our understanding. We can put people and crafts on the surface of the Moon or Mars, but we have a hard time understanding how Covid-19 kills some healthy people, and spares the life of people with underlying health conditions. Or, why did G-d allow the Israelites and the Jews to linger under persecution and death – both during their time in Egypt and then again in the Holocaust.

Why does it seem that when we are experiencing difficulties, more difficulties seem to pile on? I know this is not often the case, but just because we may have one problem does not mean a second or third may be just on the horizon. They say deaths come in threes, and sometimes difficulties come in threes as well. It is the way of chance and randomness. But our faith is not left to chance and randomness. We may feel as if the Lord has forgotten us, but in fact the Lord is continually fighting battles for us – the first battle being the battle against sin, death and the devil. That battle rages on day after day. And it is for just this reason that Jesus was sent to die once and for all times for the sins of all people. Death was defeated on the cross, but the battle against evil and sin continues, because the earth and this existence is the playground of the devil. In 2021, just like Moses, let us turn to G-d for direction, in the best of times and in the worst of times.

Pastor Dave