—Romans
13:11-14— When Augustine heard a child’s voice say, “Take and read,” he
opened his Bible and read verse 14 from our Epistle for this week. Obediently,
he “put on” Christ and he became one of our greatest Christians. To “put on”
means to be incorporated into Christ so that one is “a man in Christ.”
To be ready for the Lord’s Great Day, we put
on Christ so that in us Christ confronts Himself. We are His people. He is one
of us. To be properly dressed for the Lord’s Great Day, we are to put on
Christ’s robe of righteousness. This calls for a human response. Christ is
coming. We are to be ready by putting on Christ. This we do at baptism.
Today is
Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday. In the midst of a Civil War
President Lincoln declared that American would pause to give thanks to God for
the many blessings we have experienced in life. It’s easy to lose sight of the
blessings which come from the Lord.
Luther’s explanation to the 1st Article helps us articulate
what it means to be shaped by the hand of God. A rough translation follows:
I believe that God created me, along with
all creatures. God gave to me: body and soul, eyes, ears and all the other
parts of my body, my mind and all my senses and preserves them as well. God
gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and land, spouse and
children, fields, animals, and all I own. Every day God abundantly provides
everything I need to nourish this body and life. God protects me against all
danger, shields and defends me from all evil. God does all this because of
pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, not because I've earned it or
deserved it. For all of this, I must thank, praise, serve, and obey God. Yes,
this is true!
[1] Collect
for Thanksgiving, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis
Thanksgiving image copyright © Google Images
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