This Is Who We Are

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Though the earth shall change, though the mountains tremble
though the water rage, you God are here.
Though the nations war, though the peoples battle,
Though the empire falters, you God are here.*

This has been a shocking week and I don’t know if the insurrection at the US Capitol is a one-time event or the start of something not good for the nation. We shouldn’t be so certain that this won’t get worse. We shouldn’t think that once President Trump leaves office that things will calm down. Democracy is always more fragile than we realize.

The above comes from a song called, “Though the Earth shall change.” You can watch a video of the song by Luke and Momoko here. The song is based on Psalm 46 which is also the inspiration for “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” I think in times like these when everything we were sure of crumbles, God is present with us.

We start our worship series for Epiphany called “We Are Church for the Sake of the World.” Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.” We will be looking at what it means for our church and the church to exist for others.

Epiphany is a time when Jesus is revealed to the world. We saw a lot of things that were revealed this week. Jesus' Baptism revealed him to be the Savior of the world. How is the church, our church revealed in our world: in Mahtomedi/White Bear Lake, Minnesota and towards the ends of the earth?

Here are some questions for this week:

How can First Christian be revealed to our community and how can our church reveal Christ to others in our world? If you aren’t a member of First Christian, how can your congregation reveal Christ in your community? How can you do that on an individual basis?

Read the article by Esau McCaulley. How does the baptism of Jesus relate to his encounter with Pilate? What does the article have to say about identity, about who we are? What do last week’s events have to do with our baptisms?

Look at the lyrics of the song again. How do the lyrics link to the baptism of Jesus?

You can watch the video of the worship service by going here. To listen to just the sermon, go to the sermon podcast which is located here.



*Song: Though the Earth Shall Change, (based on Psalm 46); Rolf Vegdahl/Tom Witt. © 2009 Augsburg Fortress.