I am comforted by the thought of an eternal
future where finally free of all that limits life we will live fully into
the hopes and dreams and desires of God. But when the faith we preach is more
about waiting for eternal reward than living in the temporal reality the question might be asked of us,
“Why do you stand looking up towards heaven?” Like most things Lutheran we do
better when we balance what will be with what is. So we count on a day of
redemption but it is not why we love the Lord. It is for the here and now that
we believe despite the gold standard of the Protestant work ethic, namely
delayed gratification. Rather we, like the first disciples, are told to leave
the mountain and go home because there is much to be done. Living the future in
the present is to be devoted to the kind of constant prayer that spends more
time on its feet than knees. And while hands clasped together might be more pious,
hands open wide for service are more helpful.
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