Dying and rising

Lutheran, The, Feb 2004 by Weissenbuehler, Wayne

Question takes us to the depths of faith

What does it mean that we are to die and be raised with Christ?

This question takes us to the depths and mystery of the faith. Paul wrestles with the reality that we must die to our old way of living and be raised to new life in Christ, but he assures us in Romans 6:4: "Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead ... we, too, might walk in newness of life."

True, we all must die. But even now we are told to "lose our life in order that our life be saved" (Mark 8:34-35). This means more than the possibility of martyrdom for the sake of Christ. It means we are to die to self so we can live to Christ (Galatians 2:19-20).

And Martin Luther in the Small Catechism reminds us that this is a daily dying and rising: "Our sinful self with all its evil deeds and desires should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever."

Do Lutherans believe in the devil and demons? And do they practice exorcisms?

We don't believe in the devil and demons in the same sense that we believe in God, which for us means a relationship of faith and trust. But we do acknowledge the presence, power and danger of evils opposed to God. Such evils hurt and destroy, keeping people from God and what God intends for human life.

The precise form this mysterious enemy takes isn't always easy to ascertain. Much of the language we use is metaphorical, but the truth to which it points is real.

Evil is the absence of God and of good. Author C.S. Lewis' image of the difference between God and Satan is that the devil is empty and seeks to fill itself by "feasting" on people. God is "full" and seeks to fill us.

We do practice exorcisms-the casting out of demons. A small remnant of a rite of exorcism is still in our baptismal liturgy: "Do you renounce all the forces of evil, the devil and all his empty promises?"

Some people regularly pray for those who suffer from demonic possession, seeking to cast it out in the name of Jesus. This is a practice more widely used in some of our sister Lutheran churches in Africa. They have much to teach us.

Weissenbuehler is a pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church, Englewood, Cola., and former bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod.