Saturday, February 24, 2018

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Saint Matthias, Apostle

Reading: Romans 4:13-25

“For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith."   Romans 4:13

            Righteousness. We are told that Abraham was given a promise by God. Abraham trusted, left his land, his ancestors, his culture. Trusted that God would give heirs, in spite of his and Sarah's old age. Righteousness.

            Martin Luther wrote in Two Kinds of Righteousness, that the first righteousness is a gift of God “instilled in us without our works by grace alone,” from which develops our “proper” righteousness, a life lived “soberly with self, justly with neighbor, devoutly toward God.… Therefore, through the first righteousness arises the voice of the bridegroom who says to the soul, ‘I am yours,’ but through the second comes the voice of the bride who answers, ‘I am yours.”

So Abram trusted that the promise of God would be fulfilled, contrary to all logic. And acted accordingly.

O God of love and promise, may we always answer, “I am yours.” Amen

• ·       Plant a bulb in a pot. begin to water it; place it in a sunny window and watch for signs of promise.