The Daily Lutheran is the newsletter of the 9th Churchwide Assembly. It’s published by the staff of The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA. Editor: Sonia C. Solomonson. Writers: Elizabeth Hunter, Kathleen Kastilahn, Julie B. Sevig and Ann Hafften. Photographer: Michael D. Watson. Production editor: Andrea S. Pohlmann. Web production: Amber Leberman.
“Our God will do a new thing!” sang a choir made up of ELCA bishops and spouses during Wednesday’s communion service. Preacher Gregg Mast echoed that clarion cry in a sermon based on Matthew 9:1-8, Jesus’ healing of a man who was paralyzed.
Mast, the Reformed Church in America’s director for ministry services, described Mother Teresa’s action during a processional of powerful religious leaders into a cathedral. She continued processing down a side aisle and out the doors. After a search, the leaders found her sitting on the front steps with people who couldn’t get inside.
“She said simply when they found her, ‘I was looking for the face of Christ,’ ” Mast said.
“What does it mean to go out to the front of our cathedrals not only to carry God’s grace, but to discover it?” he asked. “There’s something deep in our hearts that whispers to us that there’s a ‘them’ and an ‘us.’ You fill in the pronouns. ... But today we are told God is doing a new thing.”
After the passing of the peace, the choir sang an F. Melius Christiansen arrangement of Beautiful Savior as voting members and visitors viewed images of the face of Christ—vivid, expressive faces of people around the world—displayed on the altar backdrop.
© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
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