{"id":10942,"date":"2026-09-10T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=10942"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:47:59","slug":"september-13-2026-holding-conviction-and-practicing-welcomg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/september-13-2026-holding-conviction-and-practicing-welcomg\/","title":{"rendered":"September 13, 2026 – Holding Conviction and Practicing Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prepare<\/b><\/h4>\n

In Romans 14, Paul turns from love, the focus at the end of chapter 13, to welcome. It is a practical explanation of what that love looks like when we are living together with people who believe and practice differently than we do.<\/span><\/p>\n

The church in Rome is struggling to get along. There are significant differences among the believers, especially around faith practices that affect daily life: what foods they should eat and which days should be treated as holy. Paul refers to some believers as \u201cweak\u201d and others as \u201cstrong.\u201d Some scholars believe these differences also carried an ethnoracial component, with the former consisting primarily of Jewish followers of Jesus and the latter primarily of Gentile followers. Whatever the exact circumstances, these are not abstract theological disagreements. They affect how people eat, worship, and live together.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Paul does not tell them to stop caring about these differences. In fact, he says, \u201cLet all be fully convinced in their own minds\u201d (verse 5). Conviction is not the problem. The problem is what happens when our convictions become a reason to judge, despise, or exclude another person.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul calls the church to hold deep conviction alongside deep humility. We may be convinced of what we believe, but our certainty does not make us God. We do not belong to ourselves; we belong to Christ. Whether we eat or do not eat, whether we observe one day or another, we do so for the Lord. Christ alone is Lord, and judgment belongs to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how do the strong and the weak, and all those who hold different convictions, live together? They welcome one another. They hold tightly to what they believe without using those beliefs to push someone else away. Christian community does not require the disappearance of difference. Instead, Paul imagines a community in which conviction is accompanied by humility because all are held together by something greater than themselves: the love of Jesus Christ, Lord of all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opening Activity<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tell about a time you met someone who practiced their faith differently than you. This could be another Christian, someone of another faith, or someone with no faith at all. How did you discover your differences? How did you respond? Did it affect your relationship?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Text Read Aloud<\/strong><\/h4>\n