I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD

For the year 2016, the Church Council of ELCIN resolved to have Exodus 20:2 (Deut. 5:6) as the watch-word. This was in response to disturbing signs showing that Namibians most of them ELCIN believers, seem to be easily lured by forces fitting the category of gods and idols. Are there idols in Finland as well? Such forces include alcohol, poverty, greedy, power, negative cultural elements, traditional practices, modernity and Pentecostalism. The situation here is bad, so much that, it requires God’s self-identification and reminder of His justified demands on his children. Using Exodus 20:2 and Deut. 5:6, ELCIN calls on God to speak directly to His people in Namibia and elsewhere in the world.  

On behalf of believers in the ELCIN Western Diocese, I greet all Finnish believers in general, and all members of the Espoo Diocese, in particular. What God is saying to us in ELCIN, He says to you all in ELCF as well: I am the Lord your God, ... you shall not have any other gods before me (Ex.20:1-3).

Egypt, where Israelites were slaves, indeed the whole world, is full of different gods (idols), both traditional and modern, who demand obedience from the children of God. In the first commandment, God identifies Himself (v.1): I am The (only) Lord your God (v.2), and prohibits any of His children to have any additional gods (v.3): You shall have no other gods besides me. God expects total obedience from His children. God also gave justification, why these demands should be taken serious (v.2): … who liberated them from Egypt, where they were enslaved.

The response of God’s children to (a) God’s self-identification, (b) God’s demands and (c) God’s justification, is their linkage to the Apostolic Creed, article one and to the Lord’s Prayer, petition four. In article one of the Apostolic Creed, God’s children repeat an emphatic Yes to the divine claim and demands of God in vs.2-3. In petition four, they demonstrate their trust in God by showing total dependence on Him for survival and existence. To pray: Give us today our daily bread is to acknowledge that we exist, because God makes it possible. To say “I believe in God the Father …” is to say we have no any other God to depend on.

ELCIN is calling all her members and partners world-over, to join in reciting (a) Exodus 20:1-3, or Deut. 5:6, (b) the first article of the Apostolic Creed and (c) the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer. These cover all our needs: to have a God, to trust God and to depend on God. On the one hand we pray (for) God to channel His mercies through our fellow humans to us. We receive our bread from God via others and God acts through the/us to receive bread from Him. But we also pray against anything (e.g. drought) or anybody (e.g. dictator) who may prevent God’s children from receiving their daily bread. As ELCIN Western and ELCF Espoo Dioceses recite God’s Word and pray together, may we keep what bread means and what it means to have, trust and ‘believe’in a God.

I greet you all! (Bishop Veikko Munyika, ELCIN Western Diocese, Namibia)