Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 31 December 2014 - Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14

Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Wednesday, 31 December 2014 - Scripture: Ephesians 1: The God of Glory
3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
13-14 It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.[The Message]
When I as a pastor officiate at a baptism and make the mark of the cross on the forehead of a newly baptized child of God, adult or baby, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. In that moment, when the words are spoken, "you have been marked with the cross of Christ forever," a profound truth is proclaimed to the world—this one can no longer be seen as unloved, forgotten, or orphaned. This one can now only be called beloved, re-membered into the Body of Christ, a child of God. Nothing can change this fact.
I am overwhelmed at that moment because I am remembering that this is true of me as well. No matter how many times I fail, I am still loved by God. Every time I feel an outsider in the world or culture that surrounds me, I recall that God remembers me. God has adopted me, not because I have deserved it, but because of the grace that is bestowed on me through Jesus Christ.
Thank you, God, for choosing me to be part of your kingdom. As this year comes to a close and the New Year dawns I know that you have been with me; I know that you are still with me, and you will be with me until you call me home. Amen.
Tor Kristian Berg
Pastor, First Lutheran Church
Bothell, Wash. 
Master of Divinity , 1994
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.[The Revised Standard Version]
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