Pastor’s Corner
“Hey Satan, I Have Something to Say to You!”
I know we talk to God. We pray, we sing, we talk out loud to God in our homes and while we are driving. I think that is normal and expected of Christians. Let me ask you something maybe a bit unex-pected . . . have you ever talked to the devil? Now, I do NOT mean that you pray or sing or talk to the devil in the same way we talk to God. But, have you ever said anything to the devil?
Full disclosure: I have. I have not “talked” to the devil so much as I have basically “told him off.” I was thinking about this unusual phenomenon on Sunday when we were singing hymn #594 “God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It.” This hymn has 5 stanzas to it. The 1st and 5th are proclamations of what Christ has done for us. But stanzas 2, 3 & 4 are not addressed to God. Stanza 2 has us speaking to “sin.” Stanza 3 has us speaking to “Satan.” And Stanza 4 has us speaking to “death.” But we are not talking to this unholy Trin-ity as we do a friend or God. Instead, we are “talking” to them by basically telling them that they have all utterly failed to separate us from Christ. Stanza 3, which is addressed to Satan, says this (and please note how YOU are the one doing the talking in this stanza!):
Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I’ve traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!
Well, it looks like I am not the only one who has said something to Satan, all of us have! And what we have reminded Satan is that Christ has beaten him and united Himself to us in baptism (we also remind “sin” and “death” that they have also lost in the other stanzas).
Jesus Christ is doing such amazing things for you through His death and resurrection all of which have been poured over you in baptism. When you have a chance check out the other stanzas from hymn #594 and remind yourself of all the wonderful things Christ has done for you. And while you are at it, go ahead and have a conversation with “sin, Satan, and death.” Remind them they have lost and because of Christ, you have won!
-- Pastor Grimenstein
