Atom“Faith Comes by Hearing About Jesus”
“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
In the July edition of The Lutheran magazine, columnist Peter Marty begins a series of columns seeking to answer the question, “Why in the world would anyone want to be a Lutheran Christian?” After all, there are many other ways of following Jesus, so why Lutheran? It seems an intriguing question and I look forward to future columns. Marty was a colleague of mine in Southeastern Iowa and is a fine pastor. He is also a clever and clear thinker and a fine writer, so I commend him to you even as I look forward to his musings.
His question did of course make me think of my own experience. How did I come to be a Lutheran Christian and a pastor to boot? Of course a good deal of it had to do with my growing up in little Outing, MN, a tiny tourist burg north of Crosby. There were only two churches in town, a Congregational Church and a little Lutheran church just starting up. My parents chose Lutheran – no doubt because of their upbringing – and I was among the first children baptized into Christ in that little church – baptized even before the members raised the first A-framed timbers of their new building. So, I guess I am a Lutheran first of by chance of geography (lots of Scandinavians and Germans lived in these parts) and secondly by choice of my parents. But I could have certainly left this way of living the Christian faith many times since. So why am I Lutheran Christian?
Because Lutheran Christians first and foremost are intent on conveying that God loves us. God loves us with a deep and passionate love that reaches out to us. Although I learned many Bible verses, the most clear in my mind is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that God gave His only Son…” I am a Lutheran Christian because Lutheran parents take so seriously the promise they made to God when their children were baptized – the promise to pass on the faith…to teach the faith and to sing the faith and to live the faith with their children.
So, again, among my first clear memories of life in this world is the memory of being a part of the gathering of children on the old wooden chairs assembled before the “Sunday School Altar” in the basement. One parent would sit at the old upright piano and joyfully ring out the melodies of “Jesus Loves Me,” and “What a Friend we Have in Jesus,” and “The B-I-B-L-E, Yes that’s the Book for Me.” Another parent whose children were already grown and moved to another community would read the Bible story and retell the story with a “flannel graph” or “film-strip” projector (if you’re under 40 you may have to ask about these). And then another parent would take us to our “room” – one of many tables placed throughout the room and strategically divided by less-than-sound-proof curtains – and tell us again about Jesus…just to be sure we had heard clearly!
I am a Lutheran Christian, I am sure, because Lutheran Christians are pretty clear that faith in Jesus does not happen mysteriously or by chance. It does not just drop out of the sky on a sunbeam, but happens by “hearing” and by “seeing” and by “experiencing” the Word of God shared. It is through this Word of God that the Holy Spirit makes its way into our hearts and lives and leads us to faith and trust in Jesus…
Which is why Rally Day and the start-ups of Sunday school and confirmation are such big deals to us. It is why Christian parents and friends of First Lutheran take so seriously their calling to pass on what they know and to make sure the children of Detroit Lakes will hear again the Word of God and the good news that “Jesus loves them too!”
Thanks for teaching. Thanks for serving. Thanks for being a Church that “tells the story.”
Pastor Wade
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