Today, I was reminded of two gems that my church has given me, actually to all. One, is the use of the Lectionary, coordinated weekly and daily readings from Scripture, and two, Dr. Luther's teachings on baptism. Boring stuff right? But not necessarily, and how do they go together?
The devotion I read this morning was based on Luke 18:18-39 chosen to go with last Sunday's assigned lesson from Luke 14. The title is "Riches Reimagined" The recent Sunday lessons have shown us a Sabbath attitude, honoring God by honoring, loving our neighbor, as how our lives look when we are committed to Christ - to the community of God. Then in this past Sunday's lesson Jesus talked about the cost of being committed. You might think he would talk about how others will treat his committed followers, but here he says something quite different. He said I should give up my self-interest, the attitude of possessing; owning/controlling people, things, ideas... But he also talked about benefits and I like the way the writer of this devotion put it,
"He wasn't promising worldly riches, but the boundless wealth of true community in the kingdom of God. Finding that depth of community can entirely rewrite our priorities."
But, daily, I sin and fall back into my self-interests; me, me, me... Enter Dr. Luther who encourages us to daily call on the grace of our baptism. "... that (daily) the Old Adam... be drowned and die ... and that a new man should daily emerge and arise..."
I don't know that I would have stumbled on these readings as a continued thought without the help of the lectionary, and when I acknowledge that I daily fall into living for self, I have Dr. Luther's reminder to daily call on God's grace in my baptism.
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