The winds have died down, the sun is out, and the heat is back. Generators aren’t humming in most places. The trees that were over roads and on houses and in streets have been cut up and tucked onto the shoulders of the roads – at least here in Tallahassee. But even here, the storm isn’t over for many of us. A storm of this magnitude lives on in our lives in a variety of ways: in praying for those who are still recovering, in seeking out ways to volunteer or donate, in beginning every conversation with “how did you fare in the storm?” or “do you have power yet?/when did it come on?” 
There is a general underlying anxiety in most of the emails and texts that I’ve fielded. Questions like, “how do I help? how do I get to Panama City/Marianna/Blountstown/Mexico Beach? what is the District doing? how is so-and-so?” Many of these questions come from a completely sanctified place – but I’m concerned about where some of them might be coming from, and I want to address what may be the elephant in the room. This dingy colored, rabid pachyderm is named “guilt”. Guilt can dress itself up as virtue, as can most sin, but guilt does a particularly spectacular job. I want to be clear, however, that guilt is not virtuous, it is no friend of the Gospel, it is the reason for the Gospel.
I know that I have heard all about that “Lutheran guilt” that is supposed to be a part of our tribe. That word should not have our tradition’s name affixed to it. It is a lie of the devil and it is a travesty that we have allowed that lie of “Lutheran guilt” to exist, some of us even promoting it. Lutheran theology is about forgiveness, absolution, about the Gospel – it is about the elimination of guilt, not the perpetuation of it. However, because of this, we are also not silent about our guilt. We recognize it, face it head on, and name it as we would a terrible hurricane. This is not to promote it, to make light of it, or to domesticate it – it is rather to eradicate it, to keep its seriously ill effects away from us, and to banish it.
Why is this important after the storm? Because you, Christian, should not be working from guilt. Many people, especially in Tallahassee are. They work out of the survivor guilt of having not get hit as hard as Mexico Beach, out of the guilt of not giving to victims of the last hurricane or natural disaster, out of simply the guilt of “well, I should do something.” You can do that, but it is going to be the fruit of a dead tree – and as we have seen, dead trees fall in a storm. If you leave that dead tree in your yard, it’s going to come crashing down on your house and pin you to the ground with one of its branches stuck through your heart.
Instead, act because of a different tree. Act because of the tree of salvation, the tree of the holy cross of Jesus. That is the Gospel tree. That tree will catch the debris and even the falling trees in our lives and will hold them at bay, away from harming us. That Gospel tree keeps us safe so that we can get up in the morning and joyfully run the chainsaw to cut through the junk in our yard and our neighbor’s yard. That Gospel tree shows us all we have to be thankful for and motivates us to work, not in guilt, but in grace – in enjoyment – in gratitude – in love – in laughter – in all that is good.
So if you’re plagued by guilt, listen to these next words: “Because of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven, Christian, in the Name of the Triune God Himself.” If you’re still plagued by guilt, then come and talk to me and we’ll start to cut away the junk. And once that sick tree of guilt is demolished, let’s have some fun serving and donating and serving our neighbors, instead of doing it out of guilt.