Now.
Every mouth be silenced –
The whole world.

God,
in his sight
prescribed knowledge
apart from
righteousness.

God has been disclosed
and is attested
by
prophets
through faith.

For all who believe,
there is no distinction –
all have sinned
and
fall
short.

They are now justified.
Grace
as
gift.

Redemption
in Christ Jesus:
God put forward
sacrifice –
effective
to show his righteousness.

Divine forbearance
passed                         over
sins
previously
committed

to prove at the present time
he
justifies the one.

What becomes of boasting?

It is excluded.

By works?
No,
By faith.

We hold
a
person
by faith.

As I read this text for Reformation Sunday, I wondered what it might be like to look at it with fresh eyes, always seeing and hearing Scripture anew – always receiving God’s grace with renewed hope.

Engaging in the process of circling words that caught my attention, listing them out, playing with and shuffling them around on the screen, it was a joy to see what the Holy Spirit was bringing out of Paul’s words.

I saw people standing silent, in awe of this gift of grace. God prescribing the remedy of a knowledge – of a love – wider and richer, so far beyond our own feeble attempts at righteousness.

I saw the prophets of the ages, standing on the margins, working tenaciously and tirelessly to point to a God so much more expansive than our tribalism and cliques, our categories and self-justifications, our needs to be right or in control.

I saw how we had all sinned and fallen short, creating distance between ourselves and God and between one another – a chasm only grace as holy gift can descend into and transcend. That God’s sacrifice, given in love, showed the righteousness of God alone and divine patience even with all the sins we’ve committed and harm we’ve transmitted.

I saw how no one can boast if we remember this is God’s generous work we receive with open hearts.

I saw that the end of the poem was really a beginning – an invitation and a challenge. What would it look like to generously and graciously hold each other in the faith that God is doing a new and beautiful thing in each person’s life? To trust God is always bringing redemption, re-formation, and re-creation for a weary world?

© Annabelle P. Markey