Introduction
The people of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Hickman, Neb., have organized a Spirit-Driven Task Force, bringing together almost forty members who have committed to a year of study, prayer, reflection, and deliberation to discern how God is calling the congregation to renewal for the sake of his mission.

This is the sixteenth of a series of weekly meditations with the aim to inspire reflection and encourage conversation among the members of the task force as we journey together in obedience to our Lord’s calling to serve him. You can find an archive of these meditations on the Web at http://widesky.biz/blog/ephemera/spirit-driven-task-force-meditations.

Author
David Frye, a member of the Spirit Driven Task Force and its Steering Committee.

Scripture
“The way we came to know love was that [Jesus Christ] laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” —1 John 3:16, New American Bible

Meditation
Our church year calendar reminds us to remember the lives of our forebears in the faith. Tomorrow, August 14, we remember Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr. He was a Polish Franciscan, ordained in 1919, who taught church history. He later established a friary near Warsaw, Poland. When the Germans invaded that country in 1939, the friary became a sanctuary for three thousand Poles and fifteen hundred Jews. Father Maximilian remained outspoken, overseeing a newspaper that encouraged the faithful to persevere in their beliefs.

In mid 1941, the Nazis shut down the friary and sent Father Maximilian and four of his followers to Auschwitz. According to the accounts:

…[Father Kolbe] surreptitiously carried on his priestly work, hearing confessions and celebrating Mass with bread and wine that were smuggled in. In July a man from Kolbe’s bunker escaped. Ten were selected at random from the remaining men, among whom was Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with a family. Father Maximilian offered to take the man’s place. The commander, who had more use for a young man than an older one in weak health, accepted the offer. The ten were placed in a large cell and left there to starve. After two weeks, only two were alive and only Kolbe was fully conscious. The two were killed with injections of carbolic acid on August 14, 1941 (Philip H. Pfatteicher, New Book of Festivals and Commemorations, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008, p. 395).

When my devotions bring my attention to accounts like this one, I find myself filled with a mixture of feelings: awe, humility, fear, attraction, thankfulness, and wonder. The witness of ones who discover that God has blessed them with the faith to make the supreme sacrifice, to follow so closely in the footsteps of our Lord that they carry their crosses and “lay down their lives,” leads me to contemplate how God is calling me to follow our Lord Jesus Christ.

There’s nothing special about the time in which Father Maximilian or any other martyr has lived and died for the faith; our time, our place, our world confronts us with challenges that may differ in degree, but not in their nature. When we give up our efforts to save ourselves, to preserve our comfort at all costs, and instead, surrender ourselves to the love of Jesus Christ, then we will run up against the occasions in which shouldering our crosses, suffering for our Christ, and sacrificing for our community offer the only way forward in faith.

Father Maximilian didn’t need to depend upon his own strength, his own inner resources, to give him what he needed in his time of trial. He was fortified by a lifetime of trusting in God by faith. He in the community of the Church, immersed himself in God’s history, listened to His Word, and received the Sacrament. Today God offers us the same blessings. We have a community of faith, access to the riches of God’s history, times to hear His Word, and gatherings to celebrate Holy Communion.

Through all of these blessings, we can come to know love in that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, so that we may lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Reflection
Where in your life is God calling you to follow Jesus Christ? What cross does He give you to bear? Where might you have the opportunity to sacrifice yourself for another? What does it look like for our congregation to lay down its life for our brothers and sisters? How might sacrificing ourselves bring glory to God and life to His people?

Prayer
Gracious God our Father, remind us by the example of your servant Maximilian that we too may hear your calling to lay down our lives for others. Strengthen us, by your Holy Spirit, so that we may find the courage to sacrifice our comfort and to walk in the way of the cross, following our Lord Jesus Christ, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.