Overview Week One: Come and See Week Two: Hearing God's Voice Week Three: Living by Grace Week Four: Gathered at the Table Week Five: Sent into the World Week Six: Walking the Way

Read John 21:1-19

  • Imagine you are Peter. Despite witnessing the resurrected Jesus, you may still be out fishing on those waters wracked with guilt about what you did—you denied Jesus three times in his hour of need. And now, you see Jesus on the shore, cooking you breakfast. Next to the warm fire, Jesus looks you in the eyes three times and asks you, “Do you love me?” What are you feeling right now? How would you have responded?
  • In the crucifixion story, Jesus knows and tells Peter he will betray him. Peter denies it and says he’d never do such a thing. Jesus, of course, was right about Peter. This scene by the fire is how Jesus seems to subtly address that painful mistake in Peter’s life. What does that tell you about how Jesus regards our own failings? Does that make you comfortable talking about your own failings with Jesus?

Lutherans like saying two big words, but often don’t understand what they mean: justification and sanctification.

Read Augsburg Confession, Article IV

Justification describes something God does for us without any regard to our perfection or actions. Before we even have a say in the matter, God justifies us. What does that mean to be justified? It means that God calls you holy and beloved. It means that God repairs any distance between the human and the divine. It means that God removes any fear you may have of where you stand with God—does God love me? Will I go to heaven? These questions are ultimately and irrevocably answered by God before we can even try to earn God’s love. That is justification.

Lutherans make a big deal about Baptism because of justification. Until very recently in Christian history, most people in the Christian world were baptized within a few days of birth. For this reason, when asked, “So when are people justified and how should we know?” Luther and the 16th century reformers startled their peers with their response: baptism! That was startling, because, in the context of that time, it might be akin to us today saying “at birth.” Baptism is so central to us because it is this moment in which we believe the person being baptized can do nothing to earn this moment or prepare for this moment. We also believe it is a vital outward sign of God’s promised justification. At moments when the disciple starts to doubt, “Does God love me?” “Am I going to heaven?” we can point back to their baptism and say—“Have no fear! You have been claimed forever in baptism! Jesus promises in Scripture that those baptized are his beloved now and forever. Period!”

We frequently remember our baptisms in our services for this reason—to keep people focused on the fact that God has already promised to love and keep them forever no matter what happens. It also is a reminder of the next Lutheran word, sanctification.

Justification comes first in discipleship before anything else. God moves first. Then comes sanctification. Sanctification refers to the daily process of becoming more like Jesus. This is where discipleship calls us to examine our weaknesses, our mistakes, our foibles and correct them. Of course, here’s the catch…you can’t achieve sanctification alone either! Sanctification means that we cooperate with the Holy Spirit who, daily, little by little, calls us into more generosity, more humility, more holiness. In the Small Catechism, Luther writes that we should remember our baptisms every single day as a moment to ask the Spirit to drown again anything in us that needs refinement and to lift up out of the water a new and more Christ-like disciple. Daily renewal is a part of discipleship, but what makes it distinct from other paths of “spiritual enlightenment” or “personal improvement” is that the disciple always begins with baptism and the recognition that all depends on God’s action in our lives. Discipleship is not “self-help;” it is a daily flinging of ourselves on God’s help and trustworthy love.

Daily Examen and Thanksgiving for Baptism
  • At the end of your day, find a place to be alone and in silence.
  • Consider lighting a candle. Place a small bowl with water next to you.
  • Close your eyes and settle in, taking deep breaths. When you are ready, you will review your day with the following prompts:
    • Thank You – Review in your mind all the moments of your day from start to finish. Recall what you did, what you saw, what you heard, what you said. Notice moments for which you are grateful. Take time to hold those moments in your mind and speak to God words of gratitude for those moments.
    • I’m Sorry – Review all the moments of your day again. Notice moments where you realize you didn’t see God in others, where you neglected something or someone, where you spoke harshly, where you were unkind to yourself, etc. Take a moment to speak to God about those moments and ask God for God’s forgiveness and comfort.
    • Help Me – Think of the moments of gratitude and the moments of missed opportunities. Consider what might have allowed you to see God clearly in some moments but miss God or God’s invitation at other moments. Were you scared? Were you stressed? Were you overstimulated? Were you exhausted? Ask God to help you do better tomorrow. Thank God for any self-awareness you may have received this evening. If you have realized there are people you need to apologize to tomorrow or things in your life you need to change, resolve to do so tomorrow, and ask God to help you.
  • Close your time in prayer with the following prayer that recalls your baptism and reminds yourself of the promise of God’s mercy. Touch the water you have with you as a reminder of your baptism or trace the sign of cross with the water upon your forehead.

Merciful God, I give you thanks for the grace of this day. For what I have done well, receive my thanks; for what I have done wrong, forgive me; for what I have left undone, have mercy. Wash me again in the promise of baptism, and remind me that I am yours: forgiven, beloved, and set free to begin again. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Letter to Younger Me

Find an old picture of yourself from your childhood. Take a moment to really look at yourself. See not only yourself but also see yourself for what you were at that moment…a child…indeed you are still a child of sorts! Take a moment this week to write to that child. What words of grace and comfort did that child need to hear but maybe didn’t? What words of encouragement did that child need to hear? The point here is to remember that you aren’t just talking to yourself, you are talking to child who didn’t know what you know today. How often we speak to adult selves so harshly and judgmentally. When you are tempted to speak to yourself in that way, think of this activity, this letter, and this picture. Remember that your own internal monologue is still speaking to a child who needs grace, mercy, comfort, and encouragement. We will always receive words of grace and mercy from God, but what about from our own selves?

Living our Baptism - a resource from the ELCA about the five promises made in baptism and how we might each live them out more fully in our lives.

The Examen - If you liked this week's prayer practice, there are more variations of the Examen you can explore. The Examen is a spiritual practice developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century. Today, his followers, the Jesuits, continue writing variations of this prayer practice for all kinds of needs and moments. 

"Dust" by Rob Bell - check out this video. What does it mean to you that Jesus believes in you?  Does this change the way you see yourself as a disciple?