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Baptized,
We Live
Introduction
A
Way Of Seeing
A
Way Of Hearing
Lutheran
Liturgy
A
Way Of Teaching
A
Way Of Following
Bible
References and Bibliography
Home
Services
at St Anne's
Music at St Anne's
-Lunchtime
Music Series
-Furaha
Choir
-BachVespers
-Jazz
Vespers
History of St Anne's
Lutherans
in London
What do Lutherans
believe?
Fundraising
at St Anne's
How to join us
Contact us
New features:
St. Anne's Cookbook is
finally available! Divine Dishes: Culinary
Delights from St. Anne's Communities
Past
events
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10th Bach Festival
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Youth Day 2005 - Way, Truth, Life
St Anne's gets
a rave review in The Times
Table
Talks
Daily
Bible Readings
Youth
Group
Pastor
Margrethe Kleiber
Link
to our sister church in Washington
About
Lutherans living in London
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We
have affirmed that the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of seeing - God
in the infant Jesus, God in Jesus dying on the cross, God in all
creation, God in history, God in bread, wine and water. We
also teach that the same Holy Spirit bestows upon us the gift of
hearing ...
THE
LIVING WORD. |
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What
is the Living Word ?
First we need to understand the
opposite of "Living Word", which is "Dead
Word" - truth packaged in propositions with which we can argue,
agree, or disagree. In contrast, Living Word is truth manifest
in an event, a story or an encounter through which God addresses us
and calls for repentance, revolution, a redirection of life.
The New Testament word for this change is METANOIA, which means
"to turn around and go in the opposite direction." |
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We teach that the
Word of God is LIVING ADDRESS1
which enters our hearts2
calling for radical change.
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This
understanding of WORD as confronting address rather than rational
proposition is one way in which Lutheran teaching champions Hebrew
thought over Greek thought.3
Greek thought which would package
truth in debatable propositions has often prevailed in the Christian
church throughout the centuries. |
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1. The word
"address" does not mean a "street number" or a
"formal lecture" but God's passionate, invoking, calling,
begging, confronting appeal to us.
2. In
Luther's thought the "heart" is the willing, responding,
deciding self.
3. In Chapter
One we saw another example of the way Lutheran teaching
champions Hebrew thinking over Greek thinking. Hebrew thought
affirms the goodness of the creation, an earth filled with the glory
of God, while Greek thought sees matter as evil and therefore
separates God from creation, the spiritual from the physical.
Thanks to Robert Goeser of Pacific
Lutheran Theological Seminary for helping me to understand
Luther's concept of Living Word.
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LIVING WORD IS
THE "ADDRESS" THAT CREATES CHANGE. |
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Living Word is like the
plea of an old-fashioned young man on his knees asking a young woman to marry him.
She realizes that her affirmative response to this "address" will change
the rest of her life .
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When
Jesus confronted the fishermen with the two words, "Follow me," they
realized that an affirmative response to this "address" would
change the rest of their lives. This was Living Word!
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Jesus told parables as a way of confronting the hearers with
the Living Word. Parables were not intended to serve as "packages"
for religious propositions but as HEARING EVENTS - stories which would gently break into the
hearts of the people demanding and creating change.
The climactic address of God's Living Word is the event of the
life, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. When we
hear the story, God breaks into our lives pleading ... |
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"Give
up your ....... games
false gods
illusions
vindications
excuses.
Give up your dreams of finding wholeness and validation in
your good works, your status, in what you own and consume, in your group or
national identity, in your morality, in your self-fulfillment, in
pleasure, in what you can do to change history."
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Through Christ, God woos us and pleads with us,
"I love you. I forgive you. I want you. Trust me.
Obey me. Enter the joy of my kingdom." When we hear this call,
we hear THE LIVING WORD.
The LIVING WORD comes as LAW and
GOSPEL. The WORD exposes our "turned-in-on-self"
ways and demands that we change (LAW). The WORD, by love,
forgiveness and the victory won on the cross (GOSPEL), empowers the very
change which it demands. Thus the new life is totally a GIFT. |
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