Greetings to our Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As Christians, we are an accumulation of beliefs and practices, thoughts and actions. We ascribe to certain and particular understandings of the Christian faith, and we are called to act in ways consistent with such understandings. We love because God in Christ has and continues to love us. We care for one another as God in Christ cares for us. our well-being is in God's hands and in our as well. 

Early in Martin Luther's theological undertaking, he also wrestled with ways to describe the Christian life. In his treatise "On Christian Freedom" Luther began by stating, "Many people view Christian faith as something easy, and quite a few people even count it as if it were related to the virtues. They do this because they have not judged faith in light of any experience, nor have they ever tasted its great power." From there, Luther proposed a way to describe our Christian faith under two separate but connected themes:

   "The Christian is a completely free lord of all, subject to none.

    The Christian is a completely dutiful servant of all, subject to all."

That is, in and through Christ, we are freed from the power and demands of sin. But within that freedom, we become aware of our empowerment to live our lives in a manner consistent with that which Christ lived for us, a selfless love that seeks and works for the well-being of others. But in so doing, the focus is not to be on the work but on Christ who strengthens us for such work.

Luther stated, "Works cannot glorify God, although they can be done to God's glory if faith is present." Here, Luther is but confirming what Paul had written in Galatians 5:1, 13: "For freedom Christ has set us free... For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another." From this Christian perspective, freedom contains both a freedom from and a freedom to. In Christ we are freed from the selfish demands of sin and are freed to selflessly care for one another.

Luther further connected this freedom to the priesthood we all come to share in Christ, "the priesthood of all believers": "through the priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for others, and to teach one another the things that are of God." The priesthood we share in Christ conforms us to the very character of Christ Jesus, one who risked his life in many ways in order to demonstrate love to others.The Christian seeks only what pleases God. Faith is effective through love, "bearing one another's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).

Grace and Peace to all. 

Pastor John