Every church has some quirks. University Lutheran is no exception.

One of our quirks is this thing we call an “Annual Focus”. It’s sort of a year-long theme for what we’re doing together as a church.

We just got done with “A Jesus Centered Community”. That one may have sounded familiar because it starts off the same as our “identity statement,” “A Jesus Centered Community of Scripture, Faith, and Grace.”

If you thought THAT sounded familiar, wait until you hear this year’s focus: “A Community of Scripture”. 

As Lutherans, we recognize that Scripture is important. It is the source of our theology. Unlike some other groups of Christians, we limit our theology to come only from Scripture. It can be supported by other things like intellect and tradition, but we recognize that there is something good about saying that our theology finds its basis in Scripture, or it doesn’t get to be called “our theology”. 

But Scripture is also HARD. We get that. I get that as your pastor. I took classes on Scripture. I read books about Scripture. And it is STILL hard for me sometimes to read it and know what is happening.

It’s ok that Scripture is hard. It’s ok to confess that truth. Somewhere along the line I think Satan snuck a lie into our heads that “Scripture should be easy to read and understand for Christians.” He tells that lie because we will then feel insecure when we open up the Bible, start reading Isaiah and then despair about what we don’t understand. Enough of that feeling, and we’ll stop reading all together. And that’s a win for the Father of Lies. 

So this year we’re going to combat that lie. No, Scripture isn’t easy. Only an idiot would say it is. BUT….

But just because something is hard, that doesn’t mean it’s not good. There are plenty of things in my life that are hard and good. And honestly, I appreciate those good things a lot more *because* they are hard. But all of those things were approachable for me at some point. Hard is ok as as long as it starts off as approachable. 

As we dig into being “A Community of Scripture,” this year, we’re not going to tell you it is easy. But we are going to try to make it approachable. We’re going to give you opportunities to connect with the depth and beauty of Scripture. We’re going to give you a chance to work on the difficult task of reading Scripture. As as we do, we’ll find Jesus as the center of it, for all of it points to Him – and He is so approachable that He came to you and offered You His Word.