¹⁷ He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸ Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¹⁹ So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-22

Dear God, I’ve really been thinking of this idea since my prayer yesterday about the God I know vs. the God another “Christian” might know. And I put quotes around Christian not because they are the supposed Christian, but because one or both of us might not be following you the way we are supposed to.

How much more complicated was this for new Christians in Paul’s time? They only had Old Testament scripture and oral stories of Jesus plus some of them had letters from Paul. I would imagine faith and belief in you are and what that meant for them were all over the place. Hence, the need Paul felt to write these letters. To clarify who you are. Who you and Jesus are. Who you and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are. Who you are as a Trinity–one Triune God.

The only way I know how to learn more about you is to start with the Scripture that has been preserved for me as the Bible, spend time introspectively meditating on it, and then inviting the Holy Spirit to convict me of sin and repenting as I see what I am doing wrong. Or where my thinking is wrong. Or where my beliefs are wrong. I know I’m not right about everything. I know parts of my theology are wrong. But which parts?

Father, I’m about to go to a special church service at a local Lutheran church that is doing a 5th-Sunday Hymn Sing. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to sitting/standing with other Christians and worshipping you together. I want to see the words and really sing them to you. I want to have memories rekindled of years when I was younger and had a youthful faith that might have gotten a little calloused over the years. Create in me a clean heart, oh, God. And renew a fresh Spirit within me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen