Pastoral Message

Dear Flock:

I was having lunch the other day with Pastor and Mrs. Robb in our flock and we said the silliest thing. “Sometime you get a sandwich and you just have to grab and hold on.” I said, “Just like faith. I’m using that as a sermon idea sometime.” Not so. Now is the time.

I’ve heard other expressions. A woman once said to me, “Danny, I’m riding on bare faith right now.” Or, in seminary class (which must be quite a Lutheran example), I remember this illustration: Imagine you’re drowning, and someone is reaching out to help you. Faith is grasping the hand that grasps you.

I like that one pretty well, too, because it bespeaks the role of God in the relationship. Not just our own grabbing or riding, but that we’re in it with God and God is in it with us. That kind of mutuality, I think, is pretty compelling.

How do you think of faith?

Yours,

Pastor Dan