Paul doesn't know how to do anything half way. He spent all his time and energy amassing an impressive Hebrew of the Hebrew's pedigree but then in turning to Christ trashed it all. "I regard them as rubbish..." Granted he sees his former confidence as an impediment to knowing Christ and attaining an eternal inheritance and in that sense we all need to let go of whatever might stand in our way of taking hold of Christ. On the other hand I would not know Christ except for the teachers and preachers who in the past passed on the traditions that shaped their lives of faith. Even Paul would not have know the Christ who took hold of him apart from the storied history of the people that God called out of Egypt. So I will hold onto to my Lutheran heritage, but not too tightly, so that I can take hold of the Christ who meets us outside the boundaries of our particular and peculiar expressions of the faith.
Lent 5C 2010
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