This Week at First Lutheran

This Weekend in Worship

Sacrament of Holy Baptism At 9 A.M.
Scripture: Psalm 111; Mark 1:21-28
Preaching: Pr. Steve Knudson
Message: “For the Healing of the World”
Synopsis: The ministry of Jesus begins with the announcement of the Gospel, the promise of the kingdom of God coming into the world, and the first acts of healing and resotration of those who are captivated by forces and illness beyond their control. In the contest with the unclean Spirit, Jesus restores a person to his own self, to his own right mind, and Jesus restores the person back into community, to a place of belonging, wholeness. To do so, Jesus must confront the powers of the unclean spirit. There is a No on the way to the Yes. A no to what captivates, on the way to the yes of healing, thanks and priase. Psalm 111 speaks to this no and yes, a recognition of the forces of evil that are dangerous and captivating. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." the word for fear is not so muich terror, as it means respect and awe and a judicious trepidation before a greater power. Wisdom has been described as understanding what you truly need to respect, to have a sense of proportion so as to make the better choice. The wisdom here is the wisdom of faith, the wisdom to trust God, rather than to trust oneself, or rather than to trust things of this world. The wisdom of faith is to understand, like someone caught in an addiction, that what needs to be respected is not the sense of shame or the fear of what might happen if one left the addiction, as the fear and respect if you did not. the fear of the Lord is understanding the bigger picture, the greater perspective of what is at stake, and what makes for true healing and well being.