1 Peter 2:1-3 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-- 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
This verse struck me this morning. As a soon to be father, I can only imagine how perfect and pure my daughter will be when she as born. But as a theologian, I can’t help but also realize that she will be born into sin the minute she takes that first little breath. Lutherans believe that we are born into sin, thanks to the original sin of Adam and Eve. Had Adam and Eve not eaten of the fruit of the tree, sin would perhaps not even be a part of the world as we know it. However, they did commit the act that God had commanded them not to do, and sin entered the world. In our baptisms, we are once again made as pure and as perfect as we will ever be. We are claimed as a child of God forever, and nothing we do can change that. When we die, we die the death of sin, only to be raised and purified in Christ’s resurrection, to live in God’s kingdom for all of eternity. It is here that we will be able to have the “spiritual milk” that we have longed for for so long. It is in
our future resurrection that we will be able to taste and see that the Lord is good. In the Holy Eucharist, we get a glimpse and a taste of that which is coming. Because Christ has been the first born from the dead, so will we be born from the dead when Christ ushers in the coming of the kingdom of God. But in the mean time, we all have a lot of growing to do.
I know that different people like different things, like worship style, music, prayers, etc. What I encourage you to do is for each of you to really start paying attention not to things such as tempo, length of prayers, the style of our worship, etc., but instead to the words that we are singing, praying, speaking, and using to worship the Lord our God. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through these words, just as you are speaking to God through them. Seek in them the purity of God, growing in your spirituality as you do it.
The worship of our God is not just for 10:30 on Sunday morning, but is instead an ongoing practice that happens daily. The same is true for our spirituality. Being spiritual in your daily lives can be just as fulfilling (if not more) than that 1 hour we spend together on Sunday morning. We have 168 hours in a week, why should we just devote 1 to God? I hope each of you have a spiritually fulfilling week, and that you can focus this week on not only tasting, but seeing that the Lord if good.
In our prayers this week: Buddy and Ann, (Buddy is in the assisted living building at Rosecrest), Linwood (recovering from his fall), Carrie (Addison is due any day now).
Let us celebrate the engagement of Billy and Wendy as well!
