The 2nd Lent Sunday: Psalm 27; Luke 13:31-35
Key Verse: “The Lord is my light, my salvation, and the stronghold of my life.” Psalm 27:1
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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Lenten Blessings. It is the 2nd Sunday of Lent.
Last week, I saw a post from a Pastor on Facebook. He asked two questions. The first one was, “Do you think baptism is necessary for salvation?” And the second question was, “What did Luther believe?” It was interesting to read some responses from my colleagues. His post reminded me of another pastor’s post on Facebook about two months ago. She listed several hypothetical statements in her post. One of them caught my attention. It said that we can follow Christ without claiming Christianity and without going to church. The reason behind her posting has to do with the current dwindling congregations in our denomination.
Don’t we all wrestle from time to time in our faith journey? For instance, when bad things happen to good people, when our prayers are not answered, or when our faith doesn’t seem to work in a hopeless situation. In fact, wrestling with God is a good thing. It gives us opportunities to own our faith more bravely and to discover what frightens us the most.
If I were asked the questions above, I would say that I can’t imagine there isn’t baptism. Without baptism, people wouldn’t be able to claim the same identity that they can share. It is like forming a family through marriage and having children, either through giving birth or adoption. Jesus Christ establishes a new covenant with a group of people, which is like a marriage. What keeps this marriage working is God’s salvation, which is to live a right relationship with each other and with God. And this group of people are called either Christians or Church. Like a growing family with children and grandchildren, through baptism, Christians (or the Church) keep growing in number.
Since what Jesus said is more important than what Martin Luther believed, I will take Jesus’ word for it. Didn’t Jesus believe and teach the practice of baptism in Matthew 28? To be honest, sometimes I’m concerned about the reason behind the questions that we are asked to wrestle with. Are we trying to justify our inability to own our faith by asking such similar questions, or are we seeking an opportunity to own our faith bravely by wrestling with God?
Because of the mutual identity that we share as the people of God, I am able to say to you that The Lord is my light and your light; the Lord is my salvation and your salvation; the Lord is the stronghold of my life and your life. Whatever God has gifted to me, it is yours, too.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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