“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.”  (1 John 1:3)

It’s something that you experience in a non-religious way all the time.  Perhaps a few of your friends go on a trip, and when they return, there’s only one way to reconnect: listen to their stories of the trip.  Or maybe a neighbor becomes ill and undergoes a long treatment.  How can you be that neighbor’s friend without hearing about the treatment?

So it goes with the Gospel.  Our God has become flesh—He became a human agent in history who affected the people of a particular place and time in a particular way.  The only way to know this event in God’s life is to know the stories of those who experienced it.  There’s simply no other way.

It’s a reality that stands behind an old saying in the Church: extra ecclesiam nulla salus, “outside of the Church, there is no salvation.”  It’s not a statement of tribal authority (although it has been used that way!), but simply an acknowledgment that the Church is simple: people telling and hearing the history of God, and without knowing His personal history, how can we be His friend?

So now think!  You have heard the story—it’s reached you, touched you, fed you—opening up God’s fellowship and friendship with you.  Are you not amazed?

LET US PRAY: Than you for your Gospel, O Lord, and thank You for the fellowship of those who share, hear, and love it.  Open the ears and hearts of the whole world to Your truth, and thus raise up the harvest of Your Church; in Jesus’ name.  Amen

Pr. Steven K. Gjerde

Zion, Wausau

“Do not lift up your horn on high, do not speak with insolent pride.” For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation;” (Psalm 75:5-6)

The proud of this world speak boasts and make promises and declarations. Only in You Lord is there any boast, for all things are in Your hands. Who are any of us to boast of anything, for You give and You take and You have purposes that we are unable to fathom. Let it be enough to know You and to be invited to walk in Your ways that we might learn to truly praise You in all things.

Lord, I do rail against things that are not in my control. Guide me, Lord, in Your ways that I may know that only in You can I begin to see things as they are. Help me overcome the sin that causes me to think that I can either boast, or lament when what concerns me is in Your hands. From You alone comes the hope or the lament of this age. Teach me to respond faithfully in Your will.

Lord Jesus, as You walked the earth, You showed us the range of emotions that You had concerning humanity. In great love, You reached out to heal the sick and to lift up the lonely. You gave Yourself that we might know life and be prepared for life eternal. Over what then should I lament? It is all in Your hands. Teach me to lift up my voice and hands to proclaim with my life Your salvation. Amen.