The Unfailing Word

Two of the older members of Toni's extended family passed away in recent days.  Ruth Dahlin, who was like a second mother to Toni's dad, and Ellsworth Dahlin, who was as close as an older brother.  Ruth's funeral will be here in Cokato on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.

Toni's dad is from Cokato.  The church he grew up in is the one I resigned from in August.  That church has splintered and split, as have many ELCA congregations.  Many church members are still feeling unsettled and wondering what the future will bring.  It's like the foundations of many lives are being shattered.

Whatever it is that we face, God's Word does not fail.  God's Word created the world and that Word does not change.  Even death itself cannot defeat it.  God's Word itself became human and lived among us.  He was crucified and all was lost.  But then He rose from the dead.  Death and destruction do not have the last word.  The first and last Word belongs to God--and that Word is Life.

John 1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

No local church and no "denomination" will stand forever.  When those shake and quake, we flee to the unfailing Word of God.  That Word, alone, will stand.  The Word of God will not fail.

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