Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Priesthood of All Believers: You Bring God’s Love to the World

The Luther Rose

The scripture readings for this Sunday (Lent 3) are the 10 Commandments (Exodus 10:1-17) and the story of Jesus' cleansing the temple (John 2:13-22). The readings raise the question, what is worship? Jesus' teachings and healings all show that he was passionate about people's love of God, about where their heart is, that is, about worship and above how they live their lives out of that commitment.

Because basically these teachings (and faithful worship) pull us into an encounter with God, to be changed by God's love. This is spiritual worship! (The contemporary distinctions made by some people between spiritual and religious are so misguided!) This change, over a lifetime, is grace-FILLED, because it makes us capable of loving, of seeing the world as God loves it. For "God so loved the world [the Greek meaning is "cosmos"], that he gave his only Son..." (John 3:16)

God's love in Jesus pulls us into God's loving heart, pictured at the center of the rose. There all pains, griefs, sins, inadequacies are healed. Happily freed, we can live God's great and deep love in our daily lives. In that we are ministers, priests, bringing God's goodness and light (1 Peter 2:9) to places of darkness in ourselves and the world.

What a privileged life's calling, which is open to anyone who comes to trust that Jesus Christ is the way to abundant life.

See you in church on Sunday!

Faithfully, Pr. Nancy