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Here’s a Thought for Oct. 28

Living Word Lutheran Church, Marshall

“Even those long ago dead and buried – will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.” Philippians 2:10, The Message

I was not a guest at my grandparents’ wedding ceremony. Nevertheless, I believe that the event took place. I can’t prove it. I don’t have any pictures from the day. I don’t even know what day of the year marked the anniversary of their wedding. I do know that they had nine kids because I’ve met all of them – and three are still alive.

One of those kids was my own mother who was not supposed live for more than a few days due to serious complications at birth. In fact, her mother was told to stop after having four children. My mother was to stop even before her first child had come to full term. Neither of them listened to their first doctor’s advice.

Just because you’ve never seen something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Or, if you never witnessed it with your own two eyes doesn’t necessarily mean that it didn’t take place. I’ve never seen “sin” as a physical manifestation such as, “there goes sin running down the sidewalk.” I have however, witnessed sin’s effects.

Though I was fortunate to be away from home during the windstorm here a few years ago I didn’t dodge the results. The wind ripped our chimney cap off of our house and dropped it in someone else’s back yard. Most things are not designed to be hurled through the air (much less land unscathed) so when they do they can get destroyed.

I was not an eyewitness to the brutal scourge and subsequent crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. I heard that it was a bloody mess (literally). I’ve also read (and believe) that the blood of Jesus (the blood of the Lamb of God) cleanses us (takes away the sin of the world) purifies our sin and that our white robes – though stained scarlet – will be washed in His blood and become clean again.

That doesn’t make sense to me. Blood is one of the hardest things to clean up. A nick from the razor and a drop of blood on a pristine, white dress shirt will often consign that once beautiful shirt to the rag pile. Sin would love to have that much power – but since it’s invisible – it’s also (ultimately) powerless. The only thing invisible that has ultimate power is God. Sin has influence to stain or degrade us but lacks the power to change our nature.

So even though I’m free to pretend that my grandparents never had a wedding day it’s likely that someone in my family has a picture to prove it – and were they to show it to me I would be forced to immediately either doubt the picture’s authenticity, question my aunt’s (or uncle’s) sanity or to believe it with all my heart, oddly warmed by the thought of what has transpired because of what happened one afternoon in the past.

I know that I can choose to ignore the people who can present evidence that definitively proves there was a day in my history when my grandparents were wed. But if I were to attempt such folly I would have to ignore at least half of myself – every time I look in the mirror-and deny the fact that I am exactly 50 percent of my mother and 50 percent of my father, both of whom had grandparents – or so I’m told.

Jesus Christ is either history’s greatest hoax and humankind’s most fabulous charade or – He’s LORD.

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