Our faith, as both followers of Jesus and as Lutherans, is a product of people who stood for their convictions. Jesus was a person of convictions. His cause was love. He lived that conviction by healing on the Sabbath, by eating with “questionable” people, by touching people with leprosy, and by forgiving sins.
Martin Luther was also a person of convictions. Luther’s cause was the gospel–the good news that we cannot obtain forgiveness or righteousness from God on our own, but that it comes by God’s grace and through our faith in Jesus.
If we were to make a list of those who have gone before us who stood up for their convictions, it would contain countless other individuals. Perhaps our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers are also among them. I am the person I am today–Christian, Lutheran woman, pastor–because so many stood for their convictions. You are the person you are today for the same reasons.
Our convictions, our core values, represent our faith. They are our faith. The ways in which we use our voices, our money, our time, and our talents say something about the God in whom we place our trust.
This message is an excerpt from “Faith reflections: Faith in action” by Emily K. Hartner in the September 2020 issue of Café.
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