|
Australian Christian Resources |
|---|
Lutheranism as a Way of Life
Refreshingly describes Lutheranism as a way of seeing, hearing, teaching, and following. For individual reading, adult classes, new member instruction.
"I was handed Baptized We Live by a woman Lutheran pastor when I visited her church and asked for more information about what Lutherans believe. Wow! This book is sooo uplifting, happy, refreshingly un-churchy. If you can picture Charles Shultz's Snoopy reincarnated as a Lutheran minister and writing about what he believes in....you're getting close to what this book is like.
Erlander doesn't really write at all: he explodes in joy (illustrated joy). And in love, inclusiveness, acceptance, and in awe of God. Example: "God does not despise flesh. He dwelled in the flesh of Jesus and he dwells in flesh today. The ruler of the universe hides himself in the common, in the stuff of this earth. God lives in creation; He lives in all. Therefore, we see God in all..." (Erlander's note:) " 'Flesh' in this context refers to the human body--bones, muscles, organs, etc. and, in a wider sense, the material world. The goodness of matter is affirmed in Genesis l and, above all, in the birth of Jesus as God in flesh. When Paul talks about 'flesh' in Romans', he is not talking about matter but a will that is directed away from God. We need to understand the difference between these two uses of 'flesh' in order to avoid the unbiblical idea that matter is evil." And then further on: "We are Christians because God surprised us."
This inclusiveness extends to ecumenism as well: "We are catholic Christians, members of the universal and apostolic church, one family in Christ by Baptism. We pray for and work for the unity of the whole church on earth, longing for the day when the Holy Spirit will gather all Christians into a single body, a people who will be one,as Jesus and the Father are one." But the words alone don't give a true idea of the book....the reader has to open the covers and join in the multi-media experience created from one pencil and one gentle mind that obviously has spent time laughing first hand with God."
