How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news,
who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." (Isaiah 52:7)
The following Welcome Statement was adopted by Zion’s congregation council on February 18, 2010.
Welcoming all people, as Christ has welcomed us!
We, the congregation of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rahway, NJ, affirm with the apostle Paul that despite the diversity of our persons and our gifts, we who are baptized into the body of Christ are called by the Holy Spirit to live in harmony with one another and to welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed each of us, for the glory of God (Romans 15:5-7). Indeed, in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). Christ has made us one in Holy Baptism, and we welcome to the membership of this congregation all people who seek to be disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, without regard to distinctions among persons. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)
Therefore, we publicly declare:
-that all persons are loved by God, without partiality (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9);
-that all persons are welcome to become full members of this congregation through the sacrament of Holy Baptism or upon making a public Affirmation of Baptism, according to the teachings and practices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;
-that all members of this congregation are expected and encouraged to fully participate in the sacramental and communal life of this congregation; and
-that all members of this congregation are expected to live together in mutual love and service to one another and to our neighbors, as commanded by our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I was thinking about giving up sandwiches for Lent. But, then, I thought about the prophet Joel. “Rend your heart and not your garments”, says Joel. Or in my case “your menus”.
Joel is one of the so-called Minor Prophets, meaning his book doesn’t take all that long to read. Joel writes about the fallout from a plague of locusts. Alas! There are no grapes to make the wine. There is no grain to be harvested to make the flour. Blow the trumpet! (Not a modern trumpet, but a ram’s horn – a shofar.) Summon the people! Gather together for a fast.
Well, that’s interesting… gather together for a fast. So, it’s not about what I am going to give up; it’s about what we are going to give up. There’s also some irony here: a fast is called, but what would they eat anyway? All of the crops had been destroyed. Talk about a downturn in the economy! This is serious business.
When you come to church, you are supposed to remember to bring your envelope. But, Joel says, don’t worry that you can’t bring your proper offering. Who knows? Maybe the Lord himself will provide the offering. Instead, think of what you can give – your heart. And no, not your “achy breaky heart”.
In Joel’s time, the heart was thought to be the seat of the will, as opposed to the seat of emotion. Joel is telling us to break our wills to God, to offer our broken agendas to God. “Return to the Lord your God”, says Joel. Turn around. Face God. Proclaim a fast. A fast that’s not about giving up sandwiches, or chocolate, or alcohol, or whatever… This is a communal fast, meaning we are called to come together as a congregation and to give up the dividing walls between us.
How are we going to do this? By relying on the steadfast love of God. This Hebrew concept of the steadfast love of God is in essence the same thing as Lutherans talk about when they use the word gospel – as in law and gospel. God’s word comes to us in two ways: the law tells us what God wants us to do – return to the Lord, call a fast, come to church – and the gospel tells us what God does. God is gracious and merciful. And because God is gracious and merciful, we have courage to repent.
If our main concept of God is that of a judge dangling us over the pit, we’re not going to want to go there. But, because God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, we are given the necessary motivation to turn back and face God. The Law is what we do, or are supposed to do. The Gospel is what God does.
One of the problems of being human is that we like to pretend we are in charge. So, we like scenarios that fool us into believing we are in charge and that we can earn God’s love. If I act in this certain way, or if I don’t act in this other way, then God will love me. This is the human way of thinking. But, here is God’s way of thinking: because I love you so much, therefore, you will return my love. As Christians, we see God’s steadfast love in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. As followers of Jesus, we join together with other followers of Jesus to radiate his steadfast love to everyone we meet. We are called to welcome all people as children of God, and to love them as God loves us.
There can be no mistake. If it comes down to the law versus the gospel, the gospel will always win. Yes, the law is there for a reason – two reasons, actually: to keep good order in society, and to drive us back into the arms of Christ. So, you see, the gospel always trumps the law. And even though you are dust, and to dust you shall return, God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
It always seems odd to me when I observe people trying to “evangelize” others by quoting Scripture at them. There’s a presumption that the content of Scripture is recognized by non-Christians as somehow relevant to them. But why should that be? Why would people who do not see themselves among the people of faith from whom, about whom, and to whom the Scriptures were written, consider the witness of Scriptures to be meaningful to their own lives and experiences?
St. Paul seems to have recognized this point himself. During his missionary journeys, according to the Book of Acts, he routinely visited the Jewish synagogues to worship and witness to Christ, pointing to the Jewish Scriptures to argue that Jesus was the Messiah the prophets had long anticipated. At that time, Christianity was still understood as a Jewish sect, and it made perfect sense that Paul would worship among fellow Jews and communicate with them in the context they understood and found meaningful.
But when Paul visited Athens, and stood in the Areopagus among people who were neither Jewish nor Christian, he took a different approach. Arguing his point from the witness of the prophets would not have been very meaningful or compelling to pagan Athenians, for whom the Jewish prophets were total strangers, and the narratives of Israel’s people and their historical experiences with God were of little or no import. Instead, Paul appealed to what the Athenians already knew. Starting with the common experiences of all people, as it were, Paul was able to make the particular experiences of one people more relevant. (Acts 17:16-34)
Some time ago, I read that America is becoming an increasingly pre-Christian society. Pre-Christian implies before Christianity became widespread and commonplace, as distinct from the term non-Christian, which simply implies that one is not now Christian, even if one may have been at some time. There was a time – a time in which many of us alive today actually lived – when most Americans could reasonably assume that everyone around us had some knowledge of and experience with Christianity, even if they weren’t active church-goers themselves. But that assumption is no longer valid. Surveys in recent years suggest increases in the percentages of people who have never been Christians, have never received any instruction in the Christian faith, and whose experience of Christian worship – if it is worship – is limited to the occasional wedding or funeral of an acquaintance. What these people may know of Christianity is largely what they observe in the popular media, which may well explain why Christianity is in decline; the headline hogs don’t typically offer flattering or accurate depictions of the Way of Jesus of Nazareth. While the percentage of pre-Christian and non-Christian peoples increases, the percentage of Christians in America declines. We are more and more likely to find ourselves today, and in the near future, in St. Paul’s position in the Areopagus.
So, how might we witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in the American Areopagus? Here’s my go at it…
We are Christians.
We believe that there is one God who created all things, and that God’s love is the sine qua non for understanding the relationship between God and creation. God created humankind in God’s own image, to bear God’s love in the world as both stewards of creation and beneficiaries of creation’s gifts and God’s abundant peace.
This was, and is, God’s vision and intention. But realistically, we all know how far removed the world is from that vision. Strained relationships, violence, poverty, sickness, greed, injustice, and indifference abound. No one completely escapes the consequences of our present circumstances; people, all living things, and the earth itself suffer. Even natural disasters testify to the magnitude of the chasm between God’s vision and the reality of our condition.
We recognize that much of what we and all of creation suffer is the consequence of our own human actions. We bear responsibility for what we do and what we leave undone, and all actions and inactions have consequences. The consequences may affect us now, but may just as well affect generations to come. We may see the cause-and-effect relationships clearly or not so clearly. We may even willfully turn a blind eye to the relationships to disingenuously deny our responsibility.
As people of faith, we understand that we must own up and accept responsibility. Strained relationships, violence, poverty, sickness, greed, injustice, and indifference are not the consequences of loving relationships; they exist because we become indifferent, or even hostile, to love as central to creation’s order. Whether by accident or design, in abandoning love, we have effectively rebelled against God and God’s vision.
But God does not abandon what God loves. We know this from our long history of recognizing God active in our lives and in the lives of our ancestors in faith. God’s love is willful and intentional; time and again, God reaches out to humankind to set our relationships right. God is determined that God’s vision will be our reality.
From among all the peoples of the earth, God called a wandering Aramean named Abraham to serve God, promising that from him and his wife Sarah a particular people would be the instruments of God’s reconciliation with all of humankind. Some two thousand years ago, that promise came to fruition when God came into the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, one of Abraham and Sarah’s descendents. That singular event in history inaugurated the process by which God puts all things right by God’s own decisive action. God calls all people to be recreated in God’s image, specifically in the image of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, who, sharing our humanity with us, draws us back to God and makes us the people we were meant to be from the very beginning. This is what we mean when we say we are to “put on Christ”.
This is the good news of Jesus Christ: God loves humankind and always will, and through the person of Jesus, God assures us that God’s peace will be a reality in this world. Through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God recreates us to be God’s image-bearers in the world, commands us to love all as we have been loved by Christ, and commissions us to share this good news with everyone by word and by deed.
And this, by the way, is why we at Zion summarize our own mission with the words: Love God, Love your neighbor, Tell the world!
A child is raped, and witnesses either ignore it or cheer.[1] People are beaten and murdered because of their race or perceived immigration status, and the victims are too afraid to seek help.[2] A disgruntled man opens fire on former colleagues at their workplace.[3] A mentally ill physician murders 13 people before he is stopped[4] and Muslims across the country are fearful of the consequences to innocent people.[5] Poor and dispossessed residents of Cleveland mourn the serial murders of their daughters and neighbors, and accuse the local authorities of indifference to their plight.[6] A broad measure of unemployment in the U.S. shows that 17.5% of the nation’s workers are either unemployed or underemployed.[7] Perceptions of injustice rooted in economic disparities plague efforts to address the availability of necessary healthcare[8], and even the distribution of H1N1 vaccine.[9]
This is just a sampling from news headlines during the past week or so. Of course, not all news is bad news, but a listing of all the happy stories I might find among the headlines can only briefly distract us from a realistic appreciation of the seriousness and persistence of what ails us. Don’t misunderstand; I’m no Gloomy Gus jaded by reality or resigned to a violent, unjust, and uncaring world. Neither am I prone to a “happy-clappy” optimism that simply ignores reality.
I look for a fuller understanding of reality – reality that encompasses what is, what was, and what will be. Reality includes our understanding of what ought to be, our vision of what is possible, our confidence that working toward our vision is not in vain, and our anticipation of that vision’s perfection. “Change” is very much a part of reality, and all change is guided either by purposeful effort or effortless entropy.
To what purpose, then, should we live in this world and direct our efforts?
Very soon, the church will celebrate Christ the King. With this festival, we conclude a full year of remembering and retelling the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through Sunday readings and seasonal commemorations. For an entire year we have traced the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the Way of Jesus:
-the prophetic promises of Advent;
-the joyful celebration of Jesus’ nativity;
-Jesus’ public ministry of bringing God’s kingdom near to the sick, poor, and oppressed;
-Jesus’ calling of disciples to learn, walk in, and spread the Way of Jesus;
-Jesus’ contention with those opposed to his Way;
-Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, torture, and murder;
-Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, that both vanquished the power that death can have over us, and encourages us to have hope and faith in Jesus and his Way;
-Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit to the church – the Spirit of Christ that dwells with us;
-and the disciples’ continued mission of love and service in the Way of Jesus, who despite their own frailties – and the sometimes deadly opposition of others – stayed the Way, and invited others to go with them and with Jesus.
The story of Jesus of Nazareth and of Jesus’ disciples offers us a vision of humankind and all of creation that issues directly from the Creator. The story tells of the creation as God intended from the beginning – all things created good, and humankind created in God’s image to care for one another and for all of creation. The story repudiates what has gone awry from God’s intentions – injustice, violence, poverty, famine – and invites humankind to turn back to God and God’s original vision. The story tells of a re-creation inaugurated by God – a re-creation of humankind in the image of God-with-us, Jesus of Nazareth. And at the story’s conclusion, what God has inaugurated comes to its perfection with the full restoration of humankind and all of creation to its original purpose and goodness. To this purpose, God calls us to live and direct our efforts.
On the day we commemorate Christ the King, we hold up and celebrate the end of the story – the perfection of what God inaugurated at the birth of Jesus. The end is what we look forward to, the vision we pursue by means that anticipate and embody the end of our pursuit. The end gives hope and inspiration to continue when events and circumstances conspire to threaten and overwhelm us, because we already know how the story will end.
On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the prophet Daniel[10] will remind us that God has not abandoned us to the way things were or the way things are. Whatever threatens us, all of creation belongs to God and to God’s chosen one, and the end of the story is certain. Despite all evidence to the contrary, for people of faith, “the belief and hope in a Savior that enters exactly where the forces of chaos seem to be most rampant is what allows one to get up and face the day.”[11] Our labor in Christ is not in vain.[12]
On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the prophet John of Patmos[13] will remind us to whom all creation and all time belongs: “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” John addressed his prophecy to churches struggling with complacency, assimilation, temptation, and even violent persecution – which is to say, John addressed all churches in every place and time. And in the fullness of his prophecy, John encourages and admonishes the faithful to never forget the end of the story, and to live in the Spirit of Christ with the certainty of our hope and faith that God’s intentions for creation will come to perfection. Our labor in Christ is not in vain.
On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the evangelist John[14] will remind us that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s chosen Savior of creation, and that God’s purposes will not go unopposed. Those who profit or benefit from injustice, violence, poverty, and famine will conspire against God; murder and subterfuge are not beneath their scruples. Nevertheless, the end of the story is certain. Death will not be the final verdict on God’s purposes. Our labor in Christ is not in vain.
We have a fuller understanding of reality precisely because we know the end of the story and anticipate Christ the King.
When I first started discovering who God was, as a child, I was terrified because I was taught that I had to behave a certain way or do certain things in order for God to love me and allow me into heaven with Him when my time came. Whenever I would not go to bed when I should, did not finish my homework, did not eat my vegetables, or did not do whatever it was my parents were asking me to do – no matter what it was – I was told that God would punish me and I would be sent to live in hell with Satan and all the bad people. So, growing up, I felt that I could never make any mistakes, I always had to be perfect, and I had to always do “good” things, otherwise, God would not love me and when I died God would never let me live with Him in heaven.
When I was a youth, something happened to me that was very bad. It was not my fault, but I thought it was. I blamed myself so much that I began to hate myself and thought that God must hate me too. This experience made me feel separated from God’s love. I used to believe that there were some things that were just so unforgivable and too awful for even God to forgive. I would hide from my friends and frequently do things to physically hurt myself, like binging and purging. Doing this kind of thing is not always about being thin as most people might think. For me, it was strictly about punishing myself because I thought I was a bad person.
After doing this to myself, I would spend some time alone, hating myself and quietly thinking that this was the punishment I deserved. I thought if I punished myself, then God would not punish me. But in reality, what I did to myself only made me feel better for a short period of time. After a while, I would just feel bad all over again because I never felt that the punishment was enough and no matter what I did, I still did not feel it was enough to earn God’s love so that he would save me.
I know now that only God can save us from ourselves and no matter what we do or how hard we try, there is no way we can save ourselves on our own. But, for a long time, I felt no comfort in God because I was not taught about God’s love for me or God’s grace and mercy. I was only taught about the law and knew nothing about the good news of the Gospel, as I know it today. When you feel that you are unable to take refuge in God’s love, it can be a very scary and isolating experience.
I spent much of my life depending on people to validate my self-worth. I would rely on their words and opinions to make me feel good about myself rather than relying on the Word of God and God’s love. I learned the hard way that looking to, and depending solely on, the opinions of people, rather than trusting in God’s love for me and who I am in God’s heart, is an exhausting and unfulfilling experience. I have found that most human love is not always unconditional and may not always be as genuine as it might seem. But, God’s love is.
I still struggle with this sometimes, but reading my Bible and listening to God’s word when it is taught or preached to me, has helped me to know that God loves me. It does not matter what other people’s opinions or criticisms of me are, or even what their beliefs are, as long as I know who I am in God’s heart.
Over the past several years, I discovered that it is not a question of whether one deserves God’s love or not, because it is a gift freely given, unconditionally, to everyone. I am still learning that no matter what we have done in our past, or the mistakes that we continue to make, God never stops loving us. We are not perfect, we are just human, and no one is immune to mistakes, bad decisions or bad behavior. God knows we are not perfect. God made us. And even though God is not happy when we behave badly, or when we fail, God still loves us.
It is a relief for me to hear that there is nothing I have to do to earn God’s love or my salvation. I spent many years putting so much pressure on myself trying to be perfect, worrying about everything I did and said, because I thought I had to earn my ticket into heaven. This was a complete waste of time because Jesus already bought my ticket into heaven.
This realization has been the beginning of a new world for me. Sometimes, I still find myself trying to adjust my mind and my heart to this way of thinking and living in God’s love and grace. It is not something that can happen overnight, it takes time to begin to feel a sense of peace. I spent almost my entire life trying to find a way to God’s love so that I could secure my salvation. Well, you could imagine my surprise and relief when I realized that God’s love was with me all along, my whole life, the entire time, and I didn’t know it. I always had God’s love, and the gift of salvation was already mine. The Holy Spirit was living inside of me the whole time. I was searching for something that I already had.
When I finally came to terms with this reality, in a way I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She was always trying so hard to find her way home, when she already had the gift to get home all along. It was with her the whole time in the Ruby Slippers, but she didn’t know it until someone told her. Just like I had the gift of the Holy Spirit inside of me all along and I didn’t know it until God found a way to tell me. Now I don’t have to search for it anymore. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is right here.
As it says in Romans 8: 26-27,
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints (saints, meaning us as forgiven sinners) according to the will of God.
There are times when I struggle with the knowledge that God’s love is unconditional and a gift freely given that has always been there for me and for all of us. Opening my heart to understanding and accepting this is making a significant difference in the way I live my life and how I love and care for others. The biggest challenge for me has always been accepting that God loves us no matter what, even when there are times we feel the least loveable, God will never abandon us. So, why live with regret or guilt when there can be joy in accepting God’s love and mercy. Accepting this is changing my life and is helping me find a deeper relationship with Jesus. As long as I continue to keep my faith and trust in Christ, I know that I will be able to face any obstacle that comes my way.
We all know that life is not so easy at times, but it was not meant to be easy and Jesus himself never said it would be. We just have to remember that Jesus is with us every step of the way, just like he promised. And there is nothing that can separate us from Jesus’ love. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans,
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
This blog is the online journal of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rahway, NJ. Here, members and friends of this congregation post essays, reflections, devotions, and sermons about Christian faith and practice, service to our neighbors, discipleship, and the witness of Scripture.
Postings here are the personal expressions of the authors, and do not necessarily represent "official" positions of this congregation or the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
We are a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, located at the corner of Elm & Esterbrook Aves. in Rahway, NJ 07065-3220Telephone: 732-388-1815
Weekly Worship Schedule Saturday 5:30 pm - Sung Eucharist Sunday 9:15 am - Interactive Family Liturgy & Sunday School Sunday 10:30 am - Sung Eucharist
