This Changes Everything


By Bishop Brian Maas

That was the theme of this summer’s ELCA Youth Gathering—a once-every-three-years event that is one of the most outstanding things we do together as Church. Over 30,000 young people gather for five days of changing the lives of others through service, and for having their lives changed through worship, Bible study, fellowship, interactive learning experiences and of course, service.

But “This Changes Everything” is more than a one-time event theme. It’s a reality we’re invited to experience every day. My fear is, we don’t. Or more accurately, we do—and we don’t recognize it.

The Small Catechism reminds us that Baptism is a daily thing—every morning we die to all of yesterday’s sin, failures and disappointments, and a new self, the self that God creates and gifts us to be, rises up to live a new day, new opportunities, a new life. This is incredible—and it happens whether we recognize it or not! But what a difference when we do. God grants that miracle daily, through sheer grace. Blind to it, I’m burdened by yesterday. Aware of it, that burden lifts and today is a whole new possibility.

That change is real for both congregations and individuals. The whole purpose of our gathering weekly for worship and fellowship isn’t to fulfill some obligation or duty, to check in on old friends, to see if there’s anything entertaining in the sermon or old favorites on the hymn board. The whole purpose of gathering as church is to hear again—and to remind one another—that This Changes Everything. The gospel of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ means hope for the despairing, welcome for the outcast, peace for the traumatized, rest for the weary and inspiration for all.

When a congregation remembers its purpose, when it gathers around Word and Sacrament to be renewed for living, that experience changes everything! But when a congregation forgets this purpose, when it gathers for any other reason—habit, duty, sustaining a building, organizing good deeds—it falls short of what the Spirit is there, waiting to do. When a congregation remembers its purpose, people do not leave worship the same as they arrived.

What is your experience of life in your congregation? How often do you leave thinking, “This changes everything!”? And if the answer is, “not very often” (or, God forbid, “never”), what are you prepared to do about it?

This isn’t a matter of your pastor preaching thundering sermons or your worship leaders blaring inspirational music—though we could always use a little more of the Spirit’s energy. It’s a matter of each member who gathers recognizing and sharing what God is up to in their lives and the world. It’s a matter of banding together to hold one another up, to talk about our faith, to ask “What does this mean?” every time we hear the Word.

The world is searching for the place and the people where this happens. We can be those people. We are those people, when we recognize and share anew that This Changes Everything.






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