Emmanuel Lutheran Church

July 2020

July 4th is Independence Day. It is a day our country celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document that contains these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Our Bible contains these words in Genesis:

Then God said “let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over….every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them…and indeed it was very good.

One might surmise that, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve indeed had life, liberty and happiness. What changed all that? They gave up their life, liberty and happiness to be, in the serpent’s words, “like God, knowing good and evil.”

God knows good and evil and keeps a proper balance between the two. Humankind knows good and evil also, but is unable to maintain that proper balance. Sin against God’s very good creation seems to prevail many times, too many times.

Sin creeps into our systems and institutions (the church as we know is not exempt). Sin rears its ugly head in policies, in political ideologies, in governments and in societal norms. Because of sin, some may see the United States of America as being anything but for equal rights, for life, for liberty, for happiness and lose sight of the fact that our country is based on these principles, that these principles continue to form and shape policy change and create laws that work towards accomplishing these things. That’s the beauty of our country in spite of its flaws.

What is going on in our country right now is the result of the Declaration of Independence’s words, the surging advocacy for these unalienable rights as we continue to strive to achieve them in spite of the sin that keeps us from that goal. Ironically it is sin that has called our attention to this need to continue to strive for reform.

As Christians, as Lutheran Christians, we know that we live in two kingdoms as Luther put it. To simplify a complex doctrine (and I do mean simplify J), we live both under the law and the Gospel. We are at the same time sinner and saint. We are captive to sin, yet freed by grace. This freedom is true liberty. It is true life. It is true happiness. Jesus said “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” There is no greater declaration of independence than that!

Pastor Alan

For information on the ELCA’s position on racism, see the social statement titled: “Freed In Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture,” go to:

https://www.elca.org/Faith/Faith-and-Society/Social-Statements/Race-Ethnicity-and-Culture