Text Box: GOOD HOPE LUTHERAN CHURCH Wayne C. Garman, Pastor TITONKA, IOWA 50480 OFFICE PHONE: 928-2282 KITCHEN: 928-2780 EMAIL: goodhope@netins.net (Pastor) ghsecy@netins.net (Secretary) Text Box: VOL. XVVIIII No. 1 February 2012 Text Box: Years ago in a congregation I served in Germany, my family and I were privileged to be the host family for two members of a choir from the African country of Ghana which was touring western Europe. As is my habit when I meet someone from a country about which I know little, I asked one of them how, in their language, do they greet someone. I learned that in Ewe, the native language of Ghana, when you see someone on the path, you say “E-lag-be? (which means literally, “Do you live?”)” The proper response is “Me-lag-be (I live!)” This exchange is similar to our “How are you” and “I’m fine!” Similarly, there seems to be no single word in Ewe which translates into the English word “faith.” Our guest explained that the phrase they use to talk about faith stems from the wonderful feeling of sinking down on a chair after a long journey by foot. Their phrase means in English, “to lean one’s whole weight on the chair.” Indeed, faith recognizes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the heaven-sent Savior of mankind. It leans on the certainty that His Word has the almighty power to cleanse us from our sins and to grant us every needful blessing. It does not demand visible evidence. Christian faith simply trusts confident that with God nothing is impossible and that what God has promised He will perform. Such faith is the gift of God. The very Word of God on which we are to lean is the power through which saving faith is born and through which it is nourished in our hearts. For this Word, which is Spirit and life, is the power of God to provide salvation to everyone who believes. Lord, give us such a faith as this. And then, whatever may come, we’ll taste even now the hallowed bliss of an eternal home. Amen.

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