COSLC Newsletter September 2007

What makes us Spiritual, Christian, Lutheran? What makes us Humble, Dedicated, Loving? What gives us Strength, Passion, Faith? Is it all even understandable? These are huge concepts to digest and understand. These aren’t things that just happen as we get older. These aren’t things that just one day manifest themselves. These are traits, beliefs, and attitudes that make us who we are. If one brick could make a house, then we would be at ease, but it takes more than that to keep us safe, dry, and warm. Just like life can’t be built on any one principle alone it takes many principles and understandings to build a solid individual.
What does make us Spiritual, Christian, and Lutheran? From birth we constantly want to seek knowledge and understanding. This is the reason we ask why the sky is blue, and other similar questions. It is this need to understand more that gives us our spirituality, our need to identify further then what can be seen, to comprehend and understand the heavens. For most of us our spirituality is cultivated via our parents into belief. For some it is a belief that Jesus died for our sins, and that no matter how bad we mess-up or stumble God will always be there, watching out for us. As we grow older we then begin to ask questions inside our faith. For some, such as Lutherans, this is encouraged. This is what our Denomination thrives on; it is why Martin Luther separated from the Catholic Church. It is Luther’s understanding of faith by grace that fuels us to ask questions because we know that if a question leads to a fall, God’s Grace will always be there as our safety net.
How then do we become Humble, Dedicated, and Loving? The mere idea of faith by grace opens the doorway to humbleness. To put ourselves in front of others can be an act of faith as large as jumping from ten stories into a safety net. Making a mistake in front of that group whether it is the church, our colleagues, our family, or a group of complete strangers can be an incredibly humbling experience. It is humbling of ourselves before others and God that can give us our Dedication. When we are humbled we realize that our fears of inadequacy and failure melt away because others are not judging us as hard as we judge ourselves. This is the doorway to understanding that God does not judge us as we judge ourselves. This in turn breeds a Dedication to others and God that is based not on our fears and inadequacies but on a humbled Love. This Love is steadfast and endearing and is willing to be open to others in a way we did not know when we were consumed in the fear of being humbled.
How then in this Love do we find Strength, Passion, and Faith? A Love that pours from us to others gives Strength not just to ourselves but to those we interact with as well. This isn’t a Strength of domination or power over others, but is a Strength of Loving and caring to see another succeed. As our ability to truly Love increases, so does our Strength giving us the Passion and drive to help others. Our Passion then doesn’t act on the whims of our wants and needs but acts to provide for the needs of others. Passion as we know it changes from a physical desire to a spiritual longing. A Spiritual longing that increases the Love, Strength, and Passion of others so that they may be able to go out and do likewise. This Passion not only gives us willingly to others, but also increases our Faith. It increases our Faith because if it were not for our Faith we would not be on this journey. Then as our Faith increases through Love, Strength, and Passion so to our Love, Strength, and Passion increase because of our Faith.
Go forth then and grow In Love, Strength, Passion and Faith.

Respectfully given with Love, Strength, Passion, and Faith,
Nick

Is it about Jesus or God

As Christians do we worship Jesus or do we worship God? It seems to me that we focus too heavily on Jesus and not enough on God. Was Jesus Important? Sure, as a Teacher and the Grace his death brought. But as the dictionary describes it, Christianity is based on the religious principles taught by Jesus. So is it right to raise the teacher above the subject matter? It's like asking if a math teacher is above his subject. You love and admire the teacher for the way they teach and the warm feeling you get when you begin to understand why a parabola can be graphed from an equation that consists of more letters then it does numbers. Is that going to help you when it comes time, in the real world to figure out your taxes, or calculate a food budget? Probably not. Now, Jesus and Math teachers may not have much in common to you, but the principal is the same. What Jesus was trying to teach was a belief in God that was loving and giving not only from God to human but then from human to human. It wasn't a love that could only be transferred from God to Jesus to human to believing human. It was a belief and love that transcended borders and cultures not through wrath and force of belief but through love and compassion for all mankind. A math teacher's gift to a student is knowledge and how to apply it in the real world, just as Gods gift to us through Jesus is Grace and Love, not Jesus himself.