Árdís - 01.01.1964, Page 12

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ÁRDÍ S
We Lutherans realize the rich heritage that we have in our church
but are prone to treasure our faith as one cherishes fragile heir-
looms or fine china. Our inherited faith is good only if it is put to
the test and we experience it for ourselves. In fact, our inherited
faith will be found to be dead if it is not regularly tried and used.
When we really need it we will find it is a lifeless skeleton unable
to give us any strength or support at all. It needs to be exercised
regularly.
The church, we have said, is God’s house but we can also call
it a power station. It seems corny to say it (I mean no disrespect)
but isn’t it true? We need to get a “charge” out of going to church.
How do you feel about attending divine worship on a Sunday
morning? Is it something to be tolerated because you feel it’s a
good habit, it doesn’t take too much time, and you want to create
a good impression? Or do you enter the church with eager antici-
pation because you are going to meet God there and hear what
He has to say to you?
Our 11-year-old son came to me in great excitement one eve-
ning recently. He was ready for bed and had been reading his
devotional magazine. He held the page out for me to see and urged
me to read it. “Just read this! Here, read this!” The story was of
a Sunday school teacher who asked his class what they would do
if they found in their mailbox some day a letter addressed to them
personally, signed by God in Heaven. The children gave various
answers. One said he would frame the letter and hang it in his
room, another thought he would read it every day, some said they
would tell all their friends and neighbors. Then the teacher said,
“We already have a letter from God. It’s for each of us. We call
it the Holy Bible.”
This discovery should be exciting for each of us. We should
be excited over the good news the letter contains. But are we? . . .
We are being challenged.
We realize that any commendation or criticism of the church
is really leveled at us as individuals. We are the church. So the
challenge is for us as individuals to live lives that show the joy
and power of the Christian message.
Never think that what you, one ordinary person, do or say is
unimportant, that it doesn’t matter. Like being on “Candid Camera”,