Introduction

Welcome to the Narrative Lectionary at Faith Lutheran Church!

This year, we'll be working our way through the Bible during our weekend worship services.

The Bible has many things in it's pages: rules, advice, poetry, and prayers....

BUT ABOVE ALL IT HOLDS A STORY: GOD'S STORY OF SALVATION.

As we hear these lessons and the story they contain, try seeing them through a certain "lens" called "The 4 Gs."  (Borrowed from the people at the Fuller Institute).  They describe God's story in a nutshell:

God’s Story, Our Story: The Four G’s

Good

“God saw everything that he had made; and indeed, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31 

God created us and all that exists. God has done amazing work and all that God creates is good.  Our food and shelter, even the air we breathe, comes from God.  God has loved us from before the beginning of time. We have been created in the image of God and are good.  GOD IS GOOD.

Guilt

“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Romans 3:23 

We humans have taken the good things that God has made and we have twisted them into something that is not good. This happens every day.  Despite our best intentions, we are filled with GUILT. We are unfaithful to God and we don’t care for those around us. In so many ways we fall short. THIS GUILT SEPARATES US FROM GOD.

 

Grace

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

God could have looked at this sorry situation and punished us.  Instead, God sent God’s only son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.  Jesus led God’s great rescue operation by teaching us about the Kingdom of God (what things look like when God’s way is followed), by dying for our sins and by rising from the dead on the third day.  His death forgives our sins and his resurrection defeats death and brings us new life. This new life happens after we die and here and now as we live. Through Jesus, God offers us GRACE. WE EXPERIENCE THIS GRACE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

Gratitude

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

We have been saved by grace and have been made right with God.  Because of this we are free to live a life of GRATITUDE for what God has done for us.  We thank God by helping the people around us: worshiping God, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and by working for peace and justice in the world. Everything we do now is our “thank you” to God for what Jesus has done for us.