Welcome one and all to our first installment of "What Makes a Lutheran?" In this article we are going to talk about what makes a Lutheran "cross-eyed." Of course, I am not talking about something that is going to make us stare at our noses all the time. No, I am talking about what it is that keeps our eyes always focused on the cross. Our whole theology, our whole make-up, our whole existence as Lutherans is cross-eyed.

Many people these days claim that there are many ways of knowing God. They say that we can know God by experiencing him in nature, in the trees or in the mountains. A golfer may claim to be able to find God on the golf course (for me this would be an agry god!). Others claim that you can only know God through some sort of religious experience, which are all, by the way, equal in their eyes. They would say we can each experience God in our own ways.

Not so with Lutherans. We say that there is only one place to really truly know God, there is only one place where we can really experience God, and that is in Jesus Christ. We cannot truly know God unless we know him as a rabbi who was crucified on a cross 2000 years ago for our sins. This is the only place where God has fully revealed himself to us. The entire Bible backs this up as the entire Bible is a book about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we claim to know God apart from his life, death, and resurrection, apart from his cross, then we do not know the true living God at all.

For us Lutherans, this isn't just some sort of academic argument where we are trying to show that we have the best view of God. No, not at all. This knowledge of God dying on the cross in the person of Jesus Chris for our forgiveness is the only hope we have! Everything we do as Christians must stem from and return to the cross at all times! We must keep our eyes focused on the cross. As we travel through this season of Lent, let us remain cross-eyed in our thoughts and prayers.

Pastor Bob