Atlantic District Publications

Letters from the President - Arise, Shine

January 2, 2012 at 1:19 PM

About two billion of the world’s Christians, including Lutherans, follow the cycle of the church year.  Our seasons, our colors, our lessons, our themes, the sweep of the Christian story of salvation, all of that and forms the rhythmical roll through our spiritual lives.  Across the divides of doctrinal disputes large and small, Lutherans and Roman Catholics and the Orthodox traditions and the Anglicans along with some other Protestants value this rhythm with what to the rest of the world appears to be some kind of unity, even though we often tend to emphasize internally what keeps us apart rather than what binds us together.

What if those themes were living emphases that sent the faithful forth having been blessed through Word and Meal to bless the world?  To start at the church’s beginning we would have to revert to Advent – how have we helped the world, and our specific worlds of influence block by block and house by house, to know that there is a way to live expectantly, joyously, hopefully?  If two billion people spent Advent living that way because of the message that a promised Savior becomes One of us, would not power be released from on high?

If, then, against all the incredible global and cultural forces of consumerism, glad-handing and false messaging, we stuck to the simple truth of the Incarnation, that this Holy Child was sent to us to be God’s salvation for us, could it be heard?  I know, your answer is probably the same as mine – barely.  It’s too loud.  The shout and the din connected to the other cycle, the Midwinter Holiday Sequence that begins with Black Friday and ends with Super Bowl Sunday and/or Mardi Gras, is what we’re told gets us through the northern hemisphere dark times.

Which brings me to the season of Epiphany.  It’s our time to shine.  It’s God’s time to shine in the darkness with the Light of Christ.  Our core message, I believe, has great opportunity to be heard right now and even right now this year, 2012.  We have this month and a half, given to us by the Church catholic through the centuries, to let the Word go forth that we’re not stuck in the doldrums.  We are up and at ‘em, not because of the dim bulb that is a New Year’s resolution, but because of the incandescent Lord who reigns in our hearts and empowers our lives.  Arise, shine, people of God in the Atlantic District!  Our Light has come – and it’s our time to share it!