OneMinuteGospel

“Changing the End of the Story”

by Dr. Susan Murithi

The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ; that even though creation deserves to die due to its sinful rebellion to God, they have a chance to live. When sin entered the world, creation was doomed to suffer the consequence which is eternal death and separation from God. But Jesus came to change the ending to that story. By having faith in his life, death and resurrection, our relationship with God is restored. We are enabled to embrace the love of God and live eternally with him. To live free of sin, judgement, and death. That is the good news of the gospel.

104 words

I have not met Susan in person, though we belonged to the same Great Plains UM conference. She currently serves as pastor of the Unied Methodist Church in St. Paul, Nebraska. Susan and I had a mutually encouraging zoom conversation earlier this year, so I contacted her and asked her for an OMG. She is a scholar, as well as a pastor, having earned a Ph.D. in intercultural studies.

I like the contrasting words Susan uses: rebellion and relationship, live and die, separation and restored, eternal death and live eternally. The pivotal person in each of these is Jesus, who "came to change the ending to that story." To me the best line in her OMG is "to live free of sin, judgment, and death." Yes, that is good news!

Next post: Tuesday, September 12 from Bob Jordan, "Who You Are."

-st