White Mountain Theology

In Honor of Bonhoeffer

2011-10-25T08:11:00.002-05:00

My studies this fall have taken me into the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The seminar course I've been taking has delved into his Christology lectures, Discipleship, and now his Ethics. He is a quite a theologian--both complex and simple: Complex in that while he turns many phrases that lend themselves to quotability, those phrases shorn of their anchor in context are amenable to manipulation; simple in that no part of his theology escapes being anchored in the person of Jesus Christ. Everything... everything is focused on Jesus. In honor of that focus, I post the lyrics below. They're from a hymn by Annie Johnson Flint with a tune by Oskar Ahnfelt.

I look not back; God knows the fruitless efforts.

The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets.

I leave them all with Him who blots the record,

And graciously forgives, and then forgets.

I look not forward, God sees all the future,

The road that, short or long, will lead me home,

And He will face with me its ev'ry trial,

And bear for me the burdens that may come.

I look not round me; then would fears assail me,

So wild the tumult of earth's restless seas,

So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,

So vain the hope of comfort and of ease.

I look not inward; that would make me wretched;

For I have naught on which to stay my trust.

Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings,

And week endeavors crumbling into dust.

But I look up - into the face of Jesus,

For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;

And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,

And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.

Ahhh.... Jesus only. Cf. Mat 17:8 "When they looked up, all they saw was Jesus alone."

Free Will vs. Bound Will

2011-10-01T14:49:00.003-05:00

"Free Will" vs. the "Captive Will" is one of the most 'sensitive' issues in Christendom. Usually, the controversy is thought of philosophically. This is to the detriment of the discussion. As the philosopher Peter Singer once wrote,"We have to believe in Free Will! We have no choice!"

Philosophically, the antonym to "Free Will" is "Determinism." Consequently, when confronted with the loss of their Free Will, most people lament: "But we're not puppets are we?" To which Gerhard Forde would respond by waving his arms and announcing: "See, no strings!" Under Determinism, the end product is not "Faith" but "FATE"--all things are inevitable. Not only does Fate take away choice but it destroys responsibility.

When the controversy is taken up theologically, the antonym of "Free Will" is the "Bound Will." We are bound to choose the things we choose, we can't escape it. This isn't about the Determinism of our behavior but about determining our "being." The Old Adam or Eve is "bound" to sin; sinfulness is their "ontology"--their "being-ness." The new creature in Christ is bound to righteousness; sin is behind them in the old being. Saintliness is their "ontology"--their being-ness.

The sinner can only sin and is bound to sin--a captive to that triumvirate of powers: the devil, the world, and the sinful self. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, all we have access to--visibly and manifestly--are works of the flesh. Which, because they are done out of our "mortality," these works of the flesh are mortal sins, as Luther discusses in the Heidelberg Disputation.

The saint can only do works of righteousness--a bound servant of Christ and neighbor; living under Christ in his kingdom, serving him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. While we are in the flesh, during the days of our baptism, the glorious life of the saint is hidden from us. As Saint Paul writes in Colossians 3:3-4 "You are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ--who is your life--appears in glory, then your life too, will appear in glory" Since its life is hidden, the saint is accessible only to faith--faith in Christ. This is why Paul MUST confess in Galatians 2:20: "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God..."

Under "religion" and "Free Will," the Christian life is determined to be the commitment to making "right" choices regarding thinking, feeling, and doing, so that progress is made from being a "sinner" to being a "saint." Religion can agree that we are both sinner and saint at the same time... existing somewhere on the continuum stretched between the two absolutes: absolute sinner and absolute saint. The Christian life is "achieved" through progress on the continuum. This is the paradigm of religion.

However, under "faith in Christ" and the "Bondage of the Will," the Christian life is given by the handing over of Christ to you as the Holy Spirit works faith through the Means of Grace. There is no progress,only death and new life. There is no continuously existing self to make progress on a continuum between absolute saint and absolute sinner. Both the absolute saint and the absolute sinner exist simultaneously--totally saint and totally sinner at one and the same time. This "double" ontology--200% being--is always "received" never "achieved." It is the "passive" life of the Christian--the passion of being done unto. This is the paradigm of faith.

During these days of our Baptism we have citizenship in two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world, manifested by flesh, and under the triumvirate of powers--the devil, the world, and our sinful selves; and the kingdom of Christ (the new creation), manifested by faith, and under the Lordship of Christ with his righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. These two kingdoms are connected--not by the sinner's progress toward saintliness--but by Jesus Christ himself. Since Christ is the first fruits of the new creation delivered through the Means of Grace, his person is the only bit of the new creation accessible to us while we wait for glory. For now, during these days of our Baptism, being "joined" to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection--is THE ONLY WAY this double life is available to us. There is no "progress," There is only the "return" to baptism and its benefits: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every confession, absolution, and subsequent repentance is a return to baptism and its reality of life in two kingdoms.

Under the religion paradigm, faith is concerned with direction, direction, direction. Faith is like a mathematical "vector:" it has a direction and it has a magnitude. Religion is all about getting your faith-vector pointed in the right direction and then increasing its magnitude--that is, the "strength" of your faith. Faith is a human emotion: trust, loyalty, confidence, commitment, etc. Faith is treated like any other human virtue--it is "our" work. Preaching is exhortation to use, motivate, and increase our faith--usually so that the religious "institution" can benefit from it.

Under the faith paradigm, faith is concerned with location, location, location. Faith is not about "movement" but about being "planted"--located. Faith in Christ "locates" you "in Christ" where you have an invisible, redeeming, divine reality that tears you away from and places you in contrast to all other realities. You have "life" in two kingdoms. You are fully located in each.

In the kingdom of this world you are "wholly" a creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have nothing to prove, nothing to hide, and nothing to lose. You are fully aware your "flesh" is mortal; it has no future; and that it has only two purposes: 1) to be of some "use" to the neighbor; and, 2) to say "Amen, let it be with me as the Lord has said," when it hears the Word of God.

In the kingdom of Christ you are a holy new creature, fully a creature of God your Creator. You have no need for more "proof;" nothing more can be uncovered for you; and you have nothing more to gain. You have fully received your immortality; you have an eternal future; and that it has only one purpose: to bow and confess that Jesus Christ--the Lamb who was slain--is Lord.

You can see these two paradigms at work in the various ways Hebrews 11:1 is translated. Some translators use words for faith that arise from within the person--faith is "internalized." Other translations use words for faith that come from outside the person--faith is "externalized."

Some examples of these various ways of translating Hebrews 11:1--

Internalized Faith:
NET Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
NIV Bible--Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NLT Bible--Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

You can see how it is all focused on the person: "being sure," "being convinced," "being certain," "having confidence..."

Externalized Faith:
NASB, ESB & NRSV--Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
KJV & NKJV--Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can see how it is focused on what is "outside" of the person, being "given" to the person:
"assurance,"--which some outside authority provides
"conviction"--which is pronounced by an external word
"substance" & "evidence" (which are my favorites) these have such a SOLID sense to them, anchoring faith in a reality beyond the vagaries of human virtue and emotion... anchoring it in the reality of the person of Jesus Christ himself.

All of this is to say, that you can't really preach "ABOUT" free will or the bondage of the will. You must preach Christ in such a way that you hand him over so the people can have faith. In this faith they will come to see how they're bound to sin but free in Christ.

Forde on Christian Freedom

2011-08-20T08:51:00.003-05:00

“A Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none.”

–Martin Luther in “On the Freedom of a Christian

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

--the Apostle Paul (Galatians 5:1)

(Inserted by editor)

What does this mean? The answer is that it means just what it says! A Christian is subject to absolutely no one or anything. It means that because of God’s act in Jesus Christ, that which makes you to be a Christian; you are absolutely free from all the nonsense that people usually and inevitably associate with the name of religion. It means that God has taken care of everything that has to do with your relationship to him. You are subject to no one, no institution, no set of rules, no laws, nothing, absolutely nothing. You are free, absolutely free! God has, in effect, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, put up for the entire world a blazing KEEP OUT sign over the whole province of religion and salvation. This, God has said, is my business, and shoved us out into the world where our real business is. That, really, is what Luther meant when he insisted that salvation is by grace alone, sola gratia. It means that God has an absolute monopoly on the salvation business, and that you are free, absolutely free, when you simply take God at his word. He has made you a free Lord of all things!

Think of it! When, in the entire history of the church, has anything so radical, so optimistic, so bold ever been said about humanity? Usually we hear that Luther was so pessimistic and gloomy, so insistent upon human sinfulness and total worthlessness. But what about this? A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none! Did Luther really mean it? Can we take him at his word here? It seems so dangerous, so reckless, and so foolhardy. So much so that we are afraid to believe it! And that, I am afraid is precisely the way we react. Right here we reach the critical point: the fear of this freedom. We are afraid of it because we are not sure where it will head. We are afraid to say that humans are set free because then who is to make sure that they will be kept religious and moral? That is where the battle is lost. We say to ourselves “well, of course, he didn’t really mean it just that way!” and then the scale which was balanced so delicately just on the brink of success wavers and falls back in the other direction, and we begin to say that the believer is not really free, but that there are after all certain religious rules that one had better live up to. We begin to set up all kinds of forms and standards and laws and rules, usually of a very petty little sort that one must conform to in order to be accounted properly religious. Somehow we get sucked back into the whole machinery of religion, we get sucked back into the salvation business ourselves—making it seem that even if God does most of it, nevertheless there is that little bit we have to do ourselves. Instead of Christian freedom to move out and do something really big and worthwhile, we get Christianity. We try to put Christ to work in the penny-ante business of making us religious. Faith is no longer a declaration of independence, but a sickly introverted groveling around in the morass of our own religiosity. In place of freedom, we have bondage to “churchianity” and religion.

--Gerhard Forde: “Freedom to Reform” Reformation Day, 1967

Lutheran Quarterly, Volume XXV/Number 2, Summer 2011, pp. 170-171

Set Apart from the "Christian" world

2011-01-25T04:17:00.002-06:00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The Third Article of the Apostles Creed reads as follows:

I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Christian church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Martin Luther in his “Small Catechism” in reference to the Third Article writes,

“What does this mean?

I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith.

In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keep it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

In this Christian church day after day he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life.

THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE.”

If nothing else sets us apart from all the others who claim the name of “Christian” this statement by Luther certainly does. The so called Christian world is run amok with the notion of free will. That is, that we are responsible for our relationship with God. That somehow we “have to do something” in order to be connected with God. OR we have to do something in order to maintain our relationship to God. The idea that God does it ALL is deeply offensive to something deep within us.

These words of Luther drive to that something deep within us and confronts and kills it. Luther’s words take EVERYTHING AWAY FROM US and turns around and GIVES US EVERYTHING. That something deep within us that is so offended is “the old Adam” or “the old Eve.”

God has two works he performs on each one of us. One is called his “alien work” and the second is called his proper work. The ALIEN WORK is to bring the full force of the Law of God down on us so that we are judged and condemned as the worst of sinners. The Holy Spirit works through his Law to kill us, to put that old Adam and old Eve to DEATH. Romans 7 is a remarkable description of that work through the Law to kill. “Sin, seeking opportunity through the Law, seduced me and through the commandment killed me” Paul writes.

The second work of God is his PROPER WORK and that is the declaration of the Gospel. It is the announcement of forgiveness and new life in Christ. Paul put so well in Galatians chapter 2:19-20, where he writes, “I through the Law died to the Law that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, I don’t live any longer. IT is CHRIST who lives in me!”

To have to do anything is a LAW and it means we are still alive and able. To be severed from the Law means we are dead and unable to do anything. Therefore the life in us is another’s, CHRIST HIMSELF.

Luther’s statement beginning with “What does this mean?” takes everything away from us and then declares the HOLY SPIRIT works everything in us. He is the mediator of the presence of Christ within us as our new life. For without the mediation of the Holy Spirit Christ would be one to be imitated by us. Then we would rise up and seek to make Christ real in our life and conduct. As a consequence, we would then be thinking and acting as if we are still alive!

The Holy Spirit mediates Christ in us so that He is one to whom we are being conformed. All this is being done to us because we are DEAD and can do NOTHING.

II Corinthians chapter 3 is a remarkable description of this by Paul where he writes, “Now where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. And we all with unveiled faces reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are BEING transfigured into HIS IMAGE from one degree of glory to another and ALL this comes from the LORD who is the SPIRIT!”

©Richard J. Smith

The Questions to Ask

2011-01-21T05:50:00.003-06:00

Theological Discernment strips away the accretions of pious personality and religious pomposity to expose the core of a preacher's or a theologian's message. If that core isn't Christ and him crucified... If that core doesn't seek to take everything captive to Christ, then that preacher or theologian is not a "theologian of the cross" but rather practicing theologies of glory.

Theological Discernment is about having the tools to strip away such accretions. Steve Paulson--professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul--recently delivered such a set of tools into my hands. The tool set consists of three questions that can be posed to a preacher's sermon or a theologian's writings. If the preacher or theologian have answers that differ from the ones given, then it's likely they don't have their Christology right. If their Christology's not right, they're not properly distinguishing Law and Gospel. If they can't distinguish Law and Gospel properly, then they're operating under the "opinio legis" system and not from "fides Christe."

Steve's three questions followed by their appropriate answers are:

1) Who or What killed Jesus?

Answer: The Law killed Jesus because he was forgiving sins.

2) What did God do with a dead Jesus?

Answer: He raised him from the dead so that he would continue to forgive sins.

3) Where do you find Jesus now?

Answer: On the lips of a preacher who's declaring your sins forgiven.

My take:

Simple.

Religion--because it operates under the "opinio legis" always seeks to complicate things and to introduce extraneous matters. There is "complex" religion and "simple" religion. In complex religion there are a multitude of persons all arranged in a hierarchy of authority, all demanding obedience of one kind or another; your religious "duty" is to determine your place in the hierarchy and be appropriately obedient. In simple religion the complexity has been reduced to two persons: Jesus and you; your religious duty is express your loyalty to your "pal" Jesus by not disappointing his or others expectations of your relationship.

Faith--because it is the operation of "fides Christe"--simplifies everything: It is Christ and Christ alone. Jesus Christ lays no burden of religious duty on you--he carries your burden. Jesus Christ requires no piety from you--whatever piety you practice is for your own enjoyment not his. Jesus Christ delivers you into humility--where there's no possibility of religious pomposity. Jesus Christ takes your brand new eternal life and hides it away with himself in God for safekeeping until he is manifest in glory, then your new life will be manifest as well. Until then, Jesus Christ who is now your life, takes your mortal life and hands it over to your neighbors so that you might be of some use to them while you wait for Jesus and his glory.

The Proclamation on the Plains Conference on Jan. 2-4, 2011

Dr. Steven Paulson of Luther Seminary (St. Paul, Minn.)

Luther House of Studies, Sioux Falls, SD

2010-12-05T21:10:00.002-06:00

The Second Sunday in Advent C

December 5, 2010

Wilmington and Trinity Lutheran Churches

Alexander and Arnegard, North Dakota

Isaiah 11:1-10

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Romans 15:4-13

Matthew 3:1-12

“Of a Shepherd and Some Snakes”

Greetings to you on this day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan… But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!” (Matthew 3:5 & 7) John singles out the religious leaders of his day for particular attention and uses their presences as the occasion to give a vivid description of the Messiah’s coming. During these Sundays in Advent, I’ll be preaching on the three estates: family, church, and government. These estates have been established by God as gifts while we wait for the final revealing of Jesus Christ—the Son of Man—in all his glory.

The first estate to be given is that of family. It’s establishment came at the marriage of Adam and Eve. It is maintained as subsequent families establish themselves by marriage and continue from generation to generation. Family is the foundation of community and of commerce. Family is the place of work and play. It is the arena in which God’s good gifts of this creation—food, shelter, clothing, daily work, and all we need from day to day—are provided, earned, and received through a vast, interwoven set of obligations.

Now all of us know that the obligations of family, the demands of work, the necessity of provided food, shelter, clothing, and all their ancillaries—those obligations get overwhelming. God had an answer: church. Church was the place where people stopped. It was their limit. When that limit approached, the people could do nothing more than worship before it, contemplating the mystery—not of their work—but of God’s work. The reformers called it “The Divine Service”—the place and time where God served himself to his people. The people could do nothing more than receive what God was doing to them. This was their worship: to simply receive. And to know that they were receiving everything God had to give simply because God wanted to give it. They had to do nothing to earn God’s gifts. God served the people by giving gifts and the people served their God by receiving them.

Church and worship would come to be reinforced by established commands and rituals: the commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy” and the sacrifices of the Temple which formalized the forgiveness of sins. Those who lead the family in church and worship were established as a hereditary priesthood—the Levites. They were often compared with shepherds.

But John doesn’t compare the Pharisees and Sadducees with shepherds; he calls them the illegitimate spawn of snakes. The “church” situation had gotten quite complicated by the time of John. The Jewish nation was occupied by the Roman army. The Romans had overcome the previous occupiers. The Jews had helped them do this and had thus earned a privileged status as an allied nation rather than an occupied nation. The Jews were allowed to keep their own civil government and their religion. The Romans had one requirement: that there be order in the streets.

This requirement became a challenge. The Jews still had the Levite priesthood but many other religious denominations had arisen: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. The Zealots posed a big problem: they were revolutionaries wanting to drive out the occupying Romans. They used guerilla warfare to accomplish this. These tactics threatened the Jewish religious establishment. The establishment had a good thing going. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Levites all came together in a ruling council called the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin governed the operation of the Temple. It was the site of one hundred thousand sacrifices per year. The meat from sacrificial animals, the grain and the oil were all a major source of food for the people of Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin governed the operation of the people’s lives—enforcing and adjudicating the various laws; working closely with Roman authorities who provided the man power for the imposition of penalties and the collection of the Temple tax.

John and subsequently, Jesus, threatened to upset the lucrative system the religious authorities had developed. Those authorities had corrupted “church” and turned it into a religious system. Instead of providing a divine service wherein the people simply received the gifts of God, those religious authorities had turned the divine service into an industry for their own benefit and enrichment. Instead of being receivers of God’s gifts, the people were required to give to God. The estate of church had been stood on its head. The shepherds had turned into snakes.

Ole was dying. He sent a message to his IRS agent and his lawyer, asking them to come to his bedside. They arrived and sat next to the bed. Ole lay back on his pillow and smiled contentedly. After sitting in silence for a while, the lawyer had to ask, “Ole, why are we here.” Ole answered: Jesus died between two thieves, and that’s how I want to go, too.”

So God who had always been the giver, became the ultimate giver, and gave his son—Jesus the Christ—who would be the only and final shepherd God’s people would ever need. Jesus the Christ came to give his life in order that everyone would know—all the people of every time and every place—that everyone would know that God gives and gives and gives. God serves his people and their proper worship is to simply receive what he gives—namely to receive the gift of his Son, the Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd says, “Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” When all creation is broken by sin, the daily work required for daily bread oppresses us. Family, community, and commerce become a burden. Sinful creatures are oppressed by their labor. There is no rest for the wicked. There is no rest, except in Jesus Christ. Jesus the Good Shepherd gives rest from our labors, peace for our souls, and forgiveness for our sins. All these are the gifts of a gracious God who wants you to know the truth about yourselves and him: God serves you through church and you serve your neighbor through family, community, and commerce. When you know this truth, you are repented and near the kingdom the heaven. You just have to wait for its final revealing.

And, while you wait, enjoy church. There you will hear John the Baptist naming the brood of vipers so you will know them; there you will hear Jesus declared the Good Shepherd for you; there you will hear the truth about yourselves and God; and there, having heard the truth, you will have had God’s work done to you so you can do your work for your neighbors while you wait

Thanks be to God! Amen

While You Wait

2010-12-05T20:45:00.005-06:00

01 Advent A Isaiah 2:1-5

November 28, 2010 Psalm 122

Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Romans 13:11-14

Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota Matthew 24:36-44

“While You Wait”

Greetings to you on this day that the Lord has made—a day for us to rejoice and be glad! Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Apostle Paul declared: “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” (Romans 13:11) When you don’t know the hour or the day of the appointed time, you have to settle for just knowing that the time of waiting is getting shorter. None of us like waiting. One of the funniest comedy routines I’ve ever heard was by Ken Davis on waiting. One beauty salon, he said, was capitalizing on people’s impatience. They’d posted a big hand-written sign announcing: “Ears pierced while you wait.”

Though waiting for the main event—that is, waiting for the coming of the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to gather the elect—though waiting for that event wears us down, Jesus warns: “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Be watchful, be ready, be prepared—these are the qualities expected of those who wait. Just like disaster preparedness, there is no end to the experts who are willing to sell you advice or market their products to you so you can be appropriately watchful, ready, and prepared for the coming of the Son of Man and be numbered among the elect.

For two thousand years there’s been one religious prescription or another as proper preparation for the end times. Various times in church history have called for retreat to the desert; isolation in monasteries, holy pilgrimages, sacred duties, giving your heart to Jesus, working for peace and justice, etc. Martin Luther saw through the pretense of all these sorts of labors to their uncomfortable truth: these prescribed labors were more about the maintenance of the religious institution and its enrichment than about doing God-given work. Luther lumped all the labors prescribed by the religious leaders into one category: self-chosen works—that is, those things people choose to do as demonstrations of their own holiness or preparedness for their being one of the elect.

In contrast, Luther held that we do not get to choose our works but that God gives work to do while we wait. He called for people to be busy doing the things God had created humanity to be doing. This work is delivered through the three estates God established: family, church, and government. These things were readily available in the first chapters of Genesis. The first people, Adam and Eve, had been given three estates—three arenas or “institutions”—in which to be doing the things God had given over to them. The very first estate was that of family: established with the “marriage” of Adam and Eve and continued through the instruction to them “Be fruitful!” The second estate was that of church: established by the Word of God which set limits upon them “You shall not eat!” while at the same time giving them everything they needed “You may eat freely…” The third estate was that of government and came after they’d been expelled from the Garden. Force and coercion was now necessary to restrain sin; read how God handled Cain after the death of Abel.

During this Advent season with its warnings to be ready, on watch, and prepared, I’ll be preaching on how our work in these three estates is our readiness and preparation.

Jesus himself points to the household as the arena of proper preparation for the coming of the Son of Man. In the verses immediately following our gospel text for the day, Jesus declares: “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (Matthew 24:45-46) The household—the family—is the first estate established by God and endorsed by Jesus as an arena for our labors while we wait.

Essential to the establishment of the family is the coming together of man and woman as husband and wife—the one flesh of Genesis chapter two. Just as scripture declares in Genesis 5:2—“He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind,”” so too does it declare: “and the two shall be one flesh.” Marriage is the foundation upon which the estate of family—and subsequently all the activity of economy—is built. As Luther sees it, the biblical understanding is simple: strong marriages equal strong families, strong families equal strong communities, strong communities equal strong commerce between them. Marriage, family, community, commerce—in each of them humanity has a variety of vocations: husband, father, citizen, boss.

Each vocation is a God-given duty so that we are some benefit to our neighbor. In the carrying out of these various duties we are doing the work of being “wholly-human”—that’s with a “w” and two “l”s—wholly. This is the “wholly-ness” which inspired Luther to declare a mother with babe on her knees and the servant with a mop have a work more holy than any bishop in his robes.

When he comes, Jesus Christ can find us employed in no better and greater task than in doing our duty.

A black poet -- French E Oliver, 1921 writes:

“There’s a king and a captain high,

And he’s coming by and by,

And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.

You can hear his legions charging in the regions of the sky,

And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.

There’s a man they thrust aside,

Who was tortured till he died,

And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.

He was hated and rejected,

He was scorned and crucified,

And he’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.

When he comes! When he comes!

He’ll be crowned by saints and angels when he comes.

They’ll be shouting out Hosanna! to the man that men denied,

And I’ll kneel among my cotton when he comes.”

If you are doing your duty, however simple that duty may be, on the day Christ comes there will be joy for you.^{^[1]} Those off doing their self-chosen works of dissipating vice or religious virtue will not be ready, watchful, or prepared. God has given us work to do while we wait so that our neighbors will share in this creation’s abundance. Thanks be to God Amen

^{^[1]}The Gospel of Matthew : Volume 2. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily Study Bible, Rev. ed. (317). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.

Grace Straight Up!

2010-11-28T19:31:00.005-06:00

A great sermon for Reformation Day, by Pastor Larry Peters, preached on October 31, 2010

Not so long ago I had a conversation with a Christian who wondered about those Lutherans, especially their educational programs. I told him about us and related about Sunday school and Bible study, but he did not seem interested. Then I talked about catechism class and confirmation and it was catechism class that caught his interest. He saw it as an indoctrination (negative idea) in which we told kids the answers when we should have been equipping them to think for themselves and choose their own answers to life’s big questions. I responded that catechism was indeed indoctrination – not to the teachings of men but the embrace of God’s Word and the teaching that alone imparts forgiveness, life and salvation.

This man saw the truth of God’s Word as many truths, taught by many different denominations, and the Christian’s purpose to find the version of truth that fits you. We all find temptation to see matters of faith as less about truth than about interpretation – as if God’s Word were sufficiently vague to make it impossible to know whose take on that Word is genuine and true. We all find certain attraction that we get to decide what Scripture says and what is truth.

I am here today to tell you that this is baloney. The different ways people read God’s Word are not merely variations on a theme but radically different Gospels. The Reformation of Luther is not about competing interpretations but about the one Gospel which is true and others which are false. If you read St. Paul’s letters, you hear him warn the people against departing from the truth that He delivered to them. He was not offering one version of the truth but the only truth that saves — the truth of Jesus Christ. We face exactly the same challenge today.

Christianity is not the domain of differing but equally true ideas about God. Christianity is not some umbrella religion of many different truths that all claim to be right. Christianity is about the one, true Gospel that has the power to forgive, save, and give eternal life. The other gospels are false gospels that are powerless to do anything for you. Luther’s battle was not with a pope or a council but with a false gospel which had robbed the Church of the Word that does what it says, delivers what it promises, and bestows what it speaks.

Lutheran identity is not rooted in an opinion of a man named Luther but in the rediscovery of this one true Gospel at a time when it had long been hidden and distorted by false teachings that deprived it of its power to do what that Gospel promises to do – to forgive our sins, redeem us from death, and impart to us eternal salvation. Lutherans do not proclaim a Lutheran Gospel but the one, true, unchanging Gospel that St. Paul insists is the only truth at all. What is this truth? The article on which the Church stands or falls is justification – how are we saved.

We are saved by grace as the free gift of God in Christ Jesus and not by our works. The truth is that much of what you hear on TV and the popular books hawked as Christian today is nothing less than a religion of works. If you are good enough, you get happiness, health, and wealth today and if you are not, you have to fix what is wrong so that God can give you these things. This is not the Gospel of the cross, of sin and forgiveness, of death and life.

We are saved through faith – not a faith which is the fruit of our reason or intellect or the warm fuzzy of our feelings but the faith that only the Holy Spirit can plant in us, working through the Word and Sacraments, so that we might grasp hold of the cross and trust in Jesus Christ alone. This faith is not about your decision but about God’s declaration, not about knowledge or understanding but about trust.

We are saved in Christ – not as one of many messengers whom God has sent whose names may be Moroni or Mohammed but as the one and only Son of God, incarnate by the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, who suffered as the innocent for the guilty, died a death that was ours to die and rose to impart to us the life none of us could accomplish for ourselves. Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus – not a teacher or mentor or role model but the Savior whom the prophets promised, who kept the commandments for us, and who alone has the power to cloth us in righteousness and holiness. Without this Jesus, the whole Christian religion falls apart and there is nothing left to hold on to or hope in.

It is not that we Lutherans have an exclusive claim to this truth – we do not. But apart from this exclusive truth, there are no Christians. We gladly affirm those who came before us and those who may not bear the name Lutheran but who confess this saving truth. Yet we also warn that apart from this saving truth, there is no truth that saves, no hope for life over death, and no good but the fleeting pleasure of the moment.

Lutherans confess that this Gospel is the message of Scripture and no other. It is this message that is confessed from Genesis to Revelation. It is this Gospel of Jesus Christ, this Gospel of the cross and empty tomb, and this Gospel of forgiveness, life and salvation that is the one message of the Bible. Scripture cradles the Christ of the manger and cross and empty tomb and without Him its words speak nothing to us.

This is the truth that saves – it is not a consolation for the bad things you have to endure in this life but the hope that sustains you today because by baptism and faith you confess the eternal tomorrow Jesus prepare for you. This is the Word that sets us free from sin, free from fear, and free from the impossible task of being good enough to fix what is wrong with you.

What is the Lutheran difference? In reality, there is none. In our confessions, Lutherans hold in trust the one, true, saving Gospel which is the promise for all but which is always under assault. We are not Lutherans to be different but Lutherans to be faithful to this one saving Gospel. We celebrate the Reformation history because this Gospel could not be silenced, because of the faithful who confessed before the world the faithful truth that still sets us free. We call ourselves Lutheran only because of this heritage of faithfulness and we pledge to do nothing less than faithfully raise up this Gospel and this Christ in our own time.
In our Lutheran Confessions is not our interpretation of the Bible but embodied for all the one truth that belongs to all in Christ. This is the ecumenical truth that alone reforms and unites and saves. We exist as Lutherans for the sake of this one authentic truth in Jesus Christ, to proclaim it to the world and to live it out within the community of God’s Word and sacraments. The truth that endures forever!

Robert Capon wrote of this truth in vivid terms in his book From Noon to Three: “The reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two hundred proof grace — of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the gospel — after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps — suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started…Grace has to be drunk straight boys: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case.”

God help us to stand for this truth today with courage and confidence, to drink deeply of his sweet grace, not to dilute it in any way, nor to allow it ever again to be cast aside in favor of something which is powerless to reach into the abyss of our sin and death with forgiveness and life. This is what the Reformation is about. Then and now. Amen.

courtesy of Cyberbrethren

http://cyberbrethren.com/2010/11/28/the-reformation-is-not-about-different-opinions-but-different-gospels/

The Unasked Question

2010-10-22T19:11:00.004-05:00

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost C Wilmington and Trinity Lutheran Church Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota October 24, 2010 Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 Psalm 84:1-7 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 8:9-14

“The Unasked Question”

Greetings to you, greetings on this day that the Lord has made; a day for us to rejoice and be glad. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” (Luke 18:10) By this time in Jesus’ life his companions would have become accustomed to his use of the Pharisees as examples of a “wrong” righteousness. The real shock would have come in hearing that a “tax collector” went up to the Temple. The hypocrisy of such an event would have stirred the crowd so that it didn’t think to ask an important question

Jesus further stirs up the crowd by the parable’s reversal of fortunes. The Pharisee, a paragon of virtue and filled with righteousness, is not “justified.” Not necessarily self-righteousness, he is thanking God for the blessings he’s received—blessings that define “holiness”—the being “set apart for God.” This “holy” Pharisee is expressing gratitude for his “being different” from the un-holy. The tax collector, on the other hand, is “un-holy” in the sense that he has none of the virtues or righteous practices that set him apart from others and for God. As Jesus tells it, this tax collector is unique in his un-holiness as he cries for mercy and confesses his sin. In a great “reversal” of fortunes, Jesus tells the crowd that the “un-holy” tax collector will go to his home justified and not the “holy” Pharisee.

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled; but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14b) With these words Jesus sets the old Adam and the old Eve busy out-doing one another in “humbling” themselves. And it’s a race. Who can be more humble than the next one? Eventually, the whole purpose is defeated: the old sinner takes pride in being so humble. How do I know? Ole explained to me one day, saying: There I was humble and glad of it, but then I was sad that I was glad that I was humble, then I was glad that I was sad that I was glad that I was humble, then I was sad that I was glad that I was sad that I was glad that I was humble. Yep… that Ole sure nailed what happens when you get “turned in on yourself” in a quest for humility. Jesus, by telling his hearers that “justification” is applied to the humble, could not have “turned them in on themselves” in a more calculated manner.

Jesus’ hearers were so busy looking at themselves and their own status vis-à-vis humility that none of them asked the most important question. The crowd missed it, exegetes have missed it, and you’ve missed it: all—then and now caught by the drama of contrast between the Pharisee and the tax collector. Two men went up to the Temple to pray, only one returned home justified; the other went home merely righteous.

Now, I have to say, I want the Pharisee for my neighbor. In this parable Jesus depicts him as a paragon of virtue. By his own admission he’s not a thief, a violent man, or an adulterer; therefore my property, my person, and my wife would be safe. He’s a religious man, too, with a well-practiced piety; generous with his tithe; and patriotic to boot—that is, he’s not cooperating with those pagan Romans. Yep, the Pharisee would be my choice for a neighbor. In fact, a whole neighborhood of such people would make quite a safe community, one anybody would want to live in.

That’s not necessarily the case for a neighborhood full of tax collectors. I mean, how could you trust one of them as a neighbor? They’re thieves, stealing legitimately maybe, but thieves none-the-less. They’re collaborators, helping impose a military occupation upon their own country. How could they be religious, cooperating with the pagan Romans? Their occupation branded them sinful. Why, if one moved in next door, the whole neighborhood would be devaluated. Yep, I’d rather have the Pharisee for a neighbor than the tax collector.

But Jesus tells the parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” Two men went up to the Temple to pray, only one returned home justified; the other went home merely righteous. Nobody, nobody asks Jesus the most important question so Jesus has to answer it himself. Immediately upon telling this parable, Jesus must receive or not the little children. Jesus answers then, the unasked question by declaring: “I tell you the truth; whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17)

Two men went up to the Temple to pray, only one returned home justified; the other went home merely righteous. The unasked question hanging over that ending is “How did they know?” How did the tax collector know that he went down to his home justified? How did the Pharisee know that he went down to his home merely righteous? The tax collector’s plea, “Lord have mercy!” hangs in the air unanswered; his confessed sinfulness unabsolved. The Pharisee’s prayer of thankfulness elicits no further reward than what he’s already received: virtue and righteousness. How do they know that one is justified and the other is not?

Just looking at them, which would make the better neighbor? Just looking at them, one possesses the righteousness of justification—the other, not. Just looking at them sets us up for the great “reversal” of fortunes: the “un-holy” tax collector goes to his home justified—the “holy” Pharisee, not. So the question hangs there: “How do they know?” The answer is “They don’t know.” They don’t know because they don’t have a preacher.

Two men go up to the Temple to pray… not to find a preacher. Because they don’t find a preacher, neither one of them ever knows justification or righteousness. Because they don’t find a preacher, the sinner never hears a life-restoring word of promise; and the virtuous and righteous one never hears a pretention-destroying word of law. Because they don’t find a preacher, they’re left to themselves and their own humility or lack thereof.

Because nobody asks the question “How do they know,” Jesus has to answer the unasked question: “I tell you the truth; whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17) His answer plumbs the depths of the previous parable: it is much, much deeper than the difference between humility and self-righteousness. Plumbing the depths of that parable takes you right to the sheer election of God who declares: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy! I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Romans 9:15) God is the one who chooses. God is the one who decides who is justified and who is not. Nobody, nobody self-selects either by humility or by virtue. Nobody knows by looking who is justified or who is merely righteous. Nobody knows by looking… by looking at themselves… or by looking at others… nobody knows by looking who is one of God’s elect.

For that you have to be told. To be told is to hear a preacher. To hear a preacher is to be like a child always being given an authoritative word of command and promise, of law and gospel. To be like a child is to humbled beneath another’s authority and simply receive what your Lord delivers.

This is what the God who elects and who chooses has to say to you: “Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God Incarnate, was handed over to such as the likes of you and you killed him. But God raised him up from the dead so that the whole world will know that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. By your baptism into Christ you have been baptized into his death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too you may live a new life. For, if you have been humbled with him in a death like his, you shall certainly be exalted with him in a resurrection like his!”

You have found a preacher. You are not left to yourselves and your own humility or lack thereof: In the name of Jesus the Christ and your Lord your sins are forgiven. Now, you too, can go down to your home.

The End of Religion

2010-10-15T20:20:00.005-05:00

“Capon’s Take On the ‘End of Religion’”

from Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: paradox, outrage, and vindication in the parables of Jesus

by Robert Farrar Capon

Matthew 17:24-27 “The First Parable of Grace”

24When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the tax?” 25He said, “Yes.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their sons or from others?” 26And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”

Capon writes:[1] (footnotes are not in the original)

The general thrust of my treatment of the coin in the fish’s mouth—and especially of Jesus’ words, “then the children are free”—is to interpret the whole passage as a proclamation of the end of religion. To me, the episode says that whatever it was that religion was trying to do (the religion of the temple in particular and, by extension, all religions everywhere) will not be accomplished by religious acts at all but in the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As I said, that perception seems to have been so liberating to Jesus that he allowed himself the frivolity of this very odd miracle indeed. But beyond that, it is also (or at least it should be) radically liberating to everyone.

The entire human race is profoundly and desperately religious. From the dim beginnings of our history right up to the present day, there is not a man, woman, or child of us who has ever been immune to the temptation to think that the relationship between God and humanity can be repaired from our side, by our efforts. Whether those efforts involve creedal correctness, cultic performances, or ethical achievements—or whether they amount to little more than crassly superstitious behavior—we are all, at some deep level, committed to them. If we are not convinced that God can be conned into being favorable to us by dint of our doctrinal orthodoxy, or chicken sacrifices, or the gritting of our moral teeth, we still have a hard time shaking the belief that stepping over sidewalk cracks, or hanging up the bath towel so the label won’t show, will somehow render the Rule of the Universe kindhearted, softheaded, or both.

But as the Epistle to the Hebrews pointed out long ago, all such behavior is bunk. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins[2], nor can any other religious act do what it sets out to do. Either it is ineffective for its purpose, or the supposedly effective intellectual, spiritual, or moral uprightness it counts on to do the job is simple unavailable. The point is, we haven’t got a card in our hand that can take even a single trick against God. Religion, therefore—despite the correctness of its insistence that something needs to be done about our relationship with God—remains unqualified bad news: it traps us in a game we will always and everywhere lose.

But the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is precisely Good News. It is the announcement, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that God has simply called off the game—that he has taken all the disasters religion was trying to remedy and, without any recourse to religion at all. Set them to rights by himself. How sad, then, when the church acts as if it is in the religion business rather than in the Gospel-proclaiming business. What a disservice, not only to itself but to a world perpetually sinking in the quagmire of religiosity, when it harps on creed, cult, and conduct as the touchstones of salvation. What a perversion of the truth that sets us free (John 8:32)[3] when it takes the news that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)[4], and turns it into a proclamation of God as just one more insufferable bookkeeper.

I realize this is a long fetch from the parable of the coin in the fish’s mouth, but I make no apologies. In fact I end with something even farther fetched. The Messiah whom Jesus’ contemporaries expected—and likewise any and all of the messiahs’ the world has looked to ever since (even, alas, the church’s all-too-often graceless, punishing version of Jesus’ own messiahship)—are like nothing so much a religious versions of “Santa Claus is coming to town.” The words of that dreadful Christmas song sum up perfectly the only kind of messianic behavior the human race, in its self-destructive folly, is prepared to accept: “He’s making a list; he’s checking it twice; he’s going to find out who’s naughty, or nice”—and so on into the dark night of all the tests this naughty world can never pass. For my money, what Jesus senses clearly and for the first time in the coin in the fish’s mouth is that he is not, thank God, Santa Claus. He will come to the world’s sins with no lists to check, no tests to grade, no debts to collect, no scores to settle. He will wipe away the handwriting that was against us and nail it to his cross (Col. 2:14)[5]. He will save, not some minuscule coterie of good little boys and girls with religious money in their piggy banks, but all the stone-broke, deadbeat, overextended children of this world whom he, as the Son of man—the holy Child of God, the Ultimate Big Kid, if you please—will set free in the liberation of his death.

And when he senses that… well, it is simple to laugh. He tacks a “Gone Fishing” sign over the sweatshop of religion, and for the debts of all sinners who ever lived; he provides exact change for free. How nice it would be if the church could only remember to keep itself in on the joke.

[1] Capon, Robert Farrar, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: paradox, outrage, and vindication in the parables of Jesus, pp 176-178, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K., combined edition, 2002

[2] Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.”

[3] John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”

[4] Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”

[5] Colossians 2:14 “having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

The Devil, the Doctor?

2010-10-14T19:56:00.002-05:00

Oh, how little did Luther think of free will?

So little of it that not even the devil had free will but was compelled by God to act against his own interests.

The following is quoted from Steve Hein (the reference is at the end) and presents a snippet of what Steven calls Luther’s De Servo Arbitrio Diaboli, “concerning the unfree will of the

Devil”: against his will, he is forced to proclaim God’s Word.

(quote)

Luther could also refer to the Devil as the Magister conscientiaa—
Master of the conscience. It is odd, notes Oberman, that much of the Luther
revivals in the 19th and early 20th centuries could portray Luther as the great
champion of the conscience over against the powers of this world. Luther
insisted that the Christian conscience be tied to the Word of God. Let it
thereby be imprisoned by God. “The alternative to this ‘prison of God’,”
notes Oberman about Luther, “is not ‘freedom of conscience’ but rather
‘conscience imprisoned by the Devil’, because the conscience—and this is
terrifying even unbearable for the modern ear—is the natural kingdom of the
Devil.”

Luther had one other strange title for the Devil as he considered his

work of tentatio. He called him Doctor Consolatorius—the Doctor of

consolation, which is the honorary title of the Holy Spirit! The Unholy Spirit

comes to us and makes his case in the conscience that by rights we belong to

him. The Hound of Hell … has three throats—sin, the law, and death.21

Our sinfulness, in word and deed, has erected a wall between us and God,

and we are imprisoned behind it. But it is precisely at this point that we have

proof of Christ’s presence and His righteousness. Here we have the

unmistakable sign of being the elect of God—justified, and joined to Christ

by faith. The Devil is not interested in the unbeliever—he has all of them

already. His battle is with those who belong to the “Enemy”; where the

Gospel lives in the heart, where the Word of Christ rules the conscience by

faith. Here is our experiential assurance—and the Devil provides it—that we

really belong to Christ. What comfort! Said Luther, “the fact that the Devil

presses us so hard shows that we are on the right side”.22 Satan attacks the

conscience and afflicts the heart and soul, pointing out our spiritual

poverty—our wretchedness, cowardice, and weakness in fear, love, and

trust. But then, here therefore, are the consolations and comforting signs that

we most assuredly belong to Christ. God enlists the Devil to assure the

Christian of his own election by experiences of the sickness unto death.

This

is Luther’s De Servo Arbitrio Diaboli, “concerning the unfree will of the

Devil”: against his will, he is forced to proclaim God’s Word.

Hein, Steven A., "Tentatio," Lutheran Theological Review, 10 (1997-98), 29-47.

The Hammer of God!

2010-09-13T22:35:00.002-05:00

A "Manifesto" for "Societas Crucis"

2010-08-17T20:38:00.000-05:00

Pretension Busters: Challenges

2010-08-13T06:32:00.002-05:00

Who would have thought they'd be so long and so hard?

Come...

see why

over at St. Martie's Place.

There is a Time

2010-08-13T06:27:00.001-05:00

2010-08-12 Irene Henderson
When Jesus declares in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are..." he is not making a future promised contingent upon the realization of some condition. No, he is establishing a present condition, in this time, right now. Indeed, there is a time for every matter under the sun and the Lord of all time has made each time beautiful in its time. Our dear Irene knew this. Thanks be to God for the life of this woman!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11a
Matthew 5:1-10

Pretension Busters: Burnout

2010-08-09T07:50:00.001-05:00

Attitudes are contagious, dangerous...

...even lethal.

Come, visit St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Blogging

2010-08-09T07:42:00.002-05:00

Blogging and preaching...

...they're connected.

Visit St. Martie's Place and see how

Pretension Busters: Blame

2010-07-15T08:11:00.001-05:00

Knowing who to blame...

Come, see for yourself:

St. Martie's Place

The Beginning of Hope Is the End of Our Story

2010-07-14T10:39:00.006-05:00

The Lord said to Abraham,

“Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’ Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”

Then Sarah lied, saying,

“I did not laugh,” because she was afraid.

But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.”

Genesis 18:13-15

Then as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.” Then they went out and ran from the tomb, for terror and bewilderment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Mark 16:5-8

Reading on the Girardian Reflections site I came across this reference to James Alison's book "Raising Abel." Christian hope does not arise from God's "Yes!" to who we are and what we do. Christian hope arises from God's resounding "No!" to who we are and what we do. God says, "No!" so that he can say "Yes!" to who Christ makes of us and what Christ does in us. But--as Alison so ably portrays--between God's "No!" and God's "Yes!" there must be a complete end and totally new beginning.

Quote:

If you would like a more fruitful pairing of this story (all 15 verses) with a Gospel text, James Alison has a great one in Raising Abel, pp. 160ff., where he pairs it with Mark 16. When Sarah hears the promise, she laughs; and when God questions her about it, she lies because "she was afraid" (the Greek Septuagint: ephobethe gar). When the women at the empty tomb are confronted with the promise, they didn't tell anyone for they were afraid (Gr: ephobounto gar). He uses this pairing to begin a discussion of Christian hope: "I want to focus on this because there is nothing pretty about Christian hope. Whatever Christian hope is, it begins in terror and utter disorientation in the face of the collapse of all that is familiar and well known." [p. 161] To give you one other crucial paragraph from this chapter as a follow-up:

In the light of all this we can begin to understand Christian hope as an unexpected rupture in the system. What do I mean by system? Every system. As humans we all live and inscribe our lives within a series of systems, of games whose rules we know and to which we adapt ourselves to a greater or a lesser extent. By 'the system' I mean every way of ours of having a story, of organizing our thinking and acting, every way of forging our lives and of talking about them as something sure. And this system is, for many people, most of the time, quite livable. It is moved neither by great hopes nor shaken by great despairs. However, as I have tried to show throughout these pages, every story, in as far as it is grasped, is a system structured by the murderous lie, whose security depends on some exclusion. That is, every system is dominated and shaded by the definitive impossibility which comes from death, the impossibility of moving the stone. [pp. 173-174]

End Quote

All of us develop a "narrative"--a story--we tell ourselves about ourselves. We narrate ourselves into existence, always with little ability to tell the truth about ourselves to ourselves. Of necessity we protect that narrative, dividing it into public and private components. Our "self-defense" system--as Alison says so vehemently--is quite capable (indeed Alison says its "inescapable") of killing in order to maintain the purity of our narrative. The first victim is the truth, then those who tell the truth, and eventually, the source of truth itself--Jesus Christ the Word of God.

But God's Word will not be silenced! In one way or another this Word from outside of ourselves confronts the word we tell ourselves. Just there, there in that instant, the confrontation of Word against word, of God's narration vs. our narration, of truth over lie, we are exposed and fearful. God's truth puts an end to our lies. Our "story" by which we spoke ourselves into existence is silenced: we die. And there in that silence God's Word speaks us into our new existence; such is the birth of hope.

Jesus Christ--and him crucified--is not just another "addition" to our narrative. He just doesn't become one more character in the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. He puts our story to an end so that his story begins "for us."

Pretension Busters: Bitterness

2010-07-14T07:34:00.001-05:00

Bitterness...

--better than dreams

find out for yourself, visit St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Beauty

2010-07-13T14:42:00.001-05:00

Even moral beauty is only skin deep

visit: St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Bailouts

2010-07-07T07:08:00.002-05:00

Was Jesus a "bailout" of humanity?

St. Marties' Place

Christ without a cross... HUH?

2010-07-04T18:55:00.004-05:00

This...

"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment

through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."

--H. Richard Niebuhr

...DOES NOT describe faith in Christ.

This..

Christ's work of redemption does not cancel the twofold aspect of God's dealings with mankind. He continues to deal with us in love or in wrath. For Christ's work does not imply the resolution of a conflict between differing attributes of God, as though God's love had overcome his wrath. Then the Word of reconciliation would simply mean the victory of God's love. But the work of redemption is much more than a process in the mind of God. it is an act of God. God acted when he reconciled the world in Jesus Christ. Christ has borne vicariously the sins of all mankind and suffered for the their sake the wrath of God. By striking him, God's wrath struck all mankind. So the word of Jesus' death is a word of condemnation (law). The voice of condemnation in the law forces all men into the fellowship of the death of Christ. Christ's continued work of redemption makes us die with him, for we stand condemned by the fact of his death for our sins. But he who submits to the verdict of the law submits to the wrath of God as did Christ. He belongs to the Crucified and therefore also to the Risen One. In the midst of death he receives life. To raise us with Christ is the proper work of God, or, as it were, the proper Word of God--the gospel.

--Vilmos Vajta in "Luther on Worship: an interpretation" p. 74

...DOES describe faith in Christ.

Pretension Busters: Arrogance

2010-07-03T06:27:00.002-05:00

The arrogance of niceness...

...St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Apathy

2010-07-02T00:07:00.002-05:00

When God doesn't answer...

St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Ambition

2010-07-01T06:42:00.001-05:00

For two kinds of "ambitious" stories check out:

St. Martie's Place

Pretension Busters: Agony

2010-06-29T07:50:00.001-05:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

http://stmartiesplace.blogspot.com/2010/06/pretension-busters-agony.html

Of Sow's Ears and Silk Purses

2010-06-28T12:31:00.001-05:00

2010-06-27 05 Pentecost C, part 1

Being "fit" for the kingdom of God is not a matter of how straight one can plow. It's not a matter of plowing at all. The difference between sinner and saint, between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, is qualitative not quantitative. There ain't gonna be no sinners on their best behavior in heaven!

Readings: 1 Kings 19:15--16, 19--21 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1, 13--25 Luke 9:51--62

The Truth Can Do What?

2010-06-28T12:26:00.002-05:00

010-06-20 04 Pentecost C
The transformative truth takes sinners naked before God and mad with sin to clothe them and put in them a right mind; between the two there's a death and resurrection--first Jesus', then ours.
Lectionary Readings:
Isaiah 65:1--9
Psalm 22:19--28
Galatians 3:23--29
Luke 8:26--39

Pretension Busters: Adversity

2010-06-28T08:56:00.000-05:00

check it out here:

St. Martie's Place

Bored and Curious

2010-06-27T19:31:00.000-05:00

2010--06-13 03 Pentecost C
When Christ is preached again and again, Satan uses satiety and curiosity to tempt people to something new--a new and different word, perhaps? Succumbing to temptation, they violate the "one flesh"-ness of the body of Christ to which they've been conformed.
Lectionary Readings:
2 Samuel 11:26—12:10, 13–15
Psalm 32
Galatians 2:15–21
Luke 7:36—8:3

Life Out of Death

2010-06-27T19:30:00.000-05:00

2010-06-06 02 Pentecost C
In the forgiveness of our sins Jesus Christ gives up his life and goes down to death so that we might have life brought out of our death in sin.
Lectionary Readings:
1 Kings 17:17–24
or 1 Kings 17:8–16 [17–24]
Psalm 30
or Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11–24
Luke 7:11–17

Boundaries by Choice: God's not Ours

2010-06-27T19:28:00.000-05:00

2010-05-30 Holy Trinity Sunday C,
In the Anthanasian Creed we confess that God chooses us and puts limits on our idolatry, even our idolatry of the self and its works.
Lectionary Readings:
Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1–5
John 16:12–15

God's "Big Bird" Plan for Our Salvation

2010-06-27T19:26:00.000-05:00

2010-05-23 Pentecost C
The Holy Spirit is one big bird plopped down on the entire earth yet anonymous--always pointing away from itself and saying, "Here's Jesus!"
Acts 2:1–21
or Genesis 11:1–9
Psalm 104:24–34, 35b

Glory, Unity, and Love

2010-06-27T19:25:00.001-05:00

2010-05-16 07 Easter C
Jesus prays to the Father in the presence of the disciples so that they may know the Father answers prayer by granting a glory unrecognizable to the world, establishing a unity unachievable by effort, and giving a love so costly, it's deadly.
Lectionary Readings:
Acts 16:16–34
Psalm 97
Revelation 22:12–14, 16–17, 20–21
John 17:20–26

How's that "Love" Thing Working Out?

2010-06-27T19:23:00.001-05:00

2010-05-09 06 Easter C
Not one of us sinners can love on command. In three and a half millenia since the establishment of the law, love has only been achieved by one person: Jesus Christ who establishes his peace in the midst of our striving.
Lectionary Readings:
Acts 16:9–15
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10, 22—22:5
John 14:23–29

Life in Two Kingdoms

2010-06-27T19:22:00.000-05:00

2010-05-02 05 Easter C

We are all immigrants receiving life--life in both the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of the next--receiving life as a gift. Yet one life obligates and demands of us that we prove who we are or lose it and to hide our sins while the other is always sheer gift with no demands for proof, no threats of loss, and no sin to hide.

Lectionary Readings:

Acts 11:1--18

Psalm 148

Revelation 21:1--6

John 13:31--35

Pretension Busters:

2010-06-27T19:10:00.003-05:00

Achievement

www.despair.com

Arrogance cannot be avoided or true hope be present

unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work

--Martin Luther

(Heidelberg Disputation, Thesis 11)

Solomon ordered a temple to be built to honor the Lord, as well as a royal palace for himself. Solomon had 70,000 common laborers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, in addition to 3,600 supervisors.

2 Chronicles 2:1-2

Hank Lanknecht from Trinity Seminary once said in a sermon based on the apocryphal Daniel and the priests of Baal that "we give to God the things we most want to enjoy ourselves." Solomon satisfied his vision and his determination to "enjoy" honoring the Lord with the Temple by using the same tactics the Egyptians had used many generations before: conscription of those different--"put the aliens to work!" Furthermore, these "aliens" were the very ones Joshua had been ordered by the Lord to eradicate. Their existence was an ongoing reminder of the peoples' failure of obedience. Perhaps there is something sadly ironic that the very ones whom the Lord had ordered exterminated should be the ones building the temple to honor their would be exterminator. But my sense of irony is most aroused when I consider the warning the Lord gave to Solomon concerning his building of the Temple: the Lord's presence was contingent upon Solomon's obedience and lack of idolatry. (1 Kings 6:11-13) How Solomon could hear that warning and still go ahead and complete the Temple with labor whose very presence represented disobedience has to be one of the most ironic stories in scripture.

Christians have often become a source of "expendable labor"--or at least, expendable income--to those determined to 'give to God the things they most want to enjoy themselves.' The "Babel Syndrome" runs deep in all of us, I guess. Though the confusion of language may have been the end of the Babel culture, the Syndrome will only be eradicated when the Old Adam, the Old Eve, and this old, old creation pass away. Until then, we'll continue to be "expendable labor and income" to those with shiny visions and great determination to honor themselves in the guise of giving to the Lord.

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

(Galatians 5:1)

Pretension Busters

2010-06-24T22:07:00.011-05:00

Accomplishment

www.despair.com

Arrogance cannot be avoided or true hope be present

unless the judgment of condemnation is feared in every work

--Martin Luther

(Heidelberg Disputation, Thesis 11)

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

(Isaiah 55:11)

When it comes to having a "special effects" budget, God should have an unlimited--even infinite--repository upon which to draw. The sinner in us--the old Adam and the old Eve--knows this and covets God's special effects. The simple miracle of Faith In Christ insufficiently impresses this covetous desire. For, after all, what's so impressive about a washed-up, itinerant rabbi dying on a cross? Now, if he had come down from there and saved himself, that would have been an "accomplishment" worthy of his claim to be the Son of God!

Instead, God's special effects are hidden within the realm of nature, easily (or sometimes not) explainable by the laws of nature and easily dismissed by sinners covetous of the spectacular. God wraps his purpose in the plainness of his Word delivered by all too ordinary human means: a failed messiah-figure, a common preacher, an old, musty book. These too are easily dismissed by the old Adam and the old Eve. In their place the old sinner in us inserts the special effects of its own enthusiasm which--as long as its "budget" lasts--shows forth the accomplishment, not of Faith in Christ, but of faith in self.

Yet, when the Holy Spirit goes to work as God's Word gets delivered by those ordinary human means, God's purpose gets accomplished and prospers in the salvation of the world. By these simple means--Word and Sacrament--the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps those who hear in the one true faith--that is, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

No fooling!

Ephesians 3:8-12

To me – less than the least of all the saints – this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to enlighten everyone about God’s secret plan – a secret that has been hidden for ages in God who has created all things. The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms. This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access to God because of Christ’s faithfulness.

Tell Us Plainly

2010-06-24T13:48:00.001-05:00

2010-04-25 04 Easter C

Encountering the plain God, naked and not clothed in Christ Jesus, is as dramatic as discovering the hands of the herdsman can also be the hands of the butcher.

Lectionary Readings:

Acts 9:36--43

Psalm 23

Revelation 7:9--17

John 10:22--30

Robust Authority, Not Literal Tyranny

2010-06-24T13:46:00.001-05:00

2010-04-11 Delivered to the Lutheran Free Conference at the Missouri/Yellowstone Confluence Center on April 11, 2010.

We had six presenters and five Lutheran denominations AND A LARGE CROWD!

We were pleasantly shocked by the standing room only gathering. I guess Lutherans are indeed concerned

about the authority of God's Word.

It's a New Day

2010-06-24T13:43:00.001-05:00

2010-04-11 02 Easter C

On the Day of the Resurrection Jesus greets fearful disciples, gives gifts to them, welcoming them to a New Day--the 8th Day of Creation--Life in the kingdom of God.

John 20:19-31

Remember When

2010-06-24T13:39:00.000-05:00

2010-04-04 The Resurrection of Our Lord C

Preached on the Sunday of Resurrection for Our Lord 2010; proclaiming that the living Lord is present where he has promised to be found--at the pulpit, the font, and the altar--where his command "Remember!" is fulfilled.

Tell Me Your Secret

2010-06-24T13:36:00.001-05:00

2010-04-03

The funeral sermon for Ada Murie who, at age 93, had been the keeper of the community's memory and memorabilia for 75 years or so. No one will know how many quilts she made but she usually had four going at the same time: blocking, stitching, tying, and hemming. Thanks be to God for the life of this woman!

The Day the Mighty Maker Died

2010-06-24T13:33:00.002-05:00

2010-04-02 Good Friday C
When Jesus gave up his spirit, the Word of God fell silent. Without the one through whom all things were created and in whom all things hold together, creation itself began to be overrun by chaos. Jesus went to his grave not just concerned for his own resurrection but risking the dissolution of the entire creation which had been made through him. I'd say it was a close run thing.

The "New" Commandment

2010-06-24T13:32:00.002-05:00

2010-04-01 Maundy Thursday C

What's "new" in the new commandment Jesus gives? It's the "as I have loved you." How did Jesus love? Watch and hear.

Jesus Died for You

2010-06-24T08:26:00.002-05:00

2010-03-28 Palm/Passion Sunday C, part 1 What you will hear today is a sermon written by Gerhardt Forde—a preacher, and a professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary—a favorite professor of mine who understood the radical nature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Presenting this sermon continues in the tradition established by Luther in which preachers accomplished in theology circulated sermons called "postiles" for less accomplished parish pastors to use. This was published in 2004 and contained in the "The More Radical Gospel." Transcribed from A More Radical Gospel: Essays on Eschatology, Authority, Atonement, and Ecumenism by Gerhard O. Forde; edited by Mark C. Mattes and Steven D. Paulson 2004 Lutheran Quarterly Books Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 255 Jefferson Ave. S. E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503

The Space between "From" and "To"

2010-06-21T08:39:00.001-05:00

Arthur A. "Art" Link was committed to the ground from which he came on June 6th, 2010 in the Alexander Cemetery. The landscape was lush from the rain; the sun warmed us gently; and friends and family supported one another. The Word of God from Genesis 3 was declared: "You are dust and to dust you shall return." Into that little space between "from" and "to" God sows the the seed of his Word--Jesus Christ.

Natalie's Story

2010-05-16T22:18:00.003-05:00

Natalie Gessert gives an interview to "Lutherans Alive"--a video ministry of the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod, ELCA. Natalie is in the first year of her call to Oak Grove Lutheran Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania.

Just in Case You Thought the ELCA Churchwide Assembly Had the Final Word in the Culture Wars

2010-04-28T10:32:00.002-05:00

HOMOSEXUALITY: Not innate, not life-long, not unchangeable

Pediatricians caution educators on dealing with sexual orientation and gender confusion among students
via Virtue Online
accessed April 28, 2010

News release from American College of Pediatricians
April 5, 2010

The American College of Pediatricians cautions educators about the management of students experiencing same-sex attraction or exhibiting symptoms of gender confusion. These concerns are outlined in a letter and fact sheet sent by College president Thomas Benton, MD, to all 14,800 school district superintendents in the U.S.

Dr. Benton also alerts them to a new Web resource, FactsAboutYouth.com, which was created by a coalition of health professionals to provide factual information to educators, parents, and students about sexual development.

"As pediatricians, our primary interest is in the health and well-being of children and youth," Dr. Den Trumbull, vice president of the College explains. "We are increasingly concerned that in too many instances, misinformation or incorrect assumptions are guiding well-intentioned educators to adopt policies that are actually harmful to those youth dealing with sexual confusion."

The College reminds school superintendents that it is not uncommon for adolescents to experience transient confusion about their sexual orientation and that most students will ultimately adopt a heterosexual orientation if not otherwise encouraged. For this reason, schools should not seek to develop policy which "affirms" or encourages these non-heterosexual attractions among students who may merely be experimenting or experiencing temporary sexual confusion. Such premature labeling can lead some adolescents to engage in homosexual behaviors that carry serious physical and mental health risks.

There is no scientific evidence that anyone is born gay or transgendered. Therefore, the College further advises that schools should not teach or imply to students that homosexual attraction is innate, always life-long and unchangeable. Research has shown that therapy to restore heterosexual attraction can be effective for many people.

Optimal health and respect for all students can only be achieved within a school by first respecting the rights of students and parents to accurate information and to self-determination. It is the school's legitimate role to provide a safe environment for respectful self-expression for all students. It is not the school's role to diagnose or attempt to treat any student's medical condition, and certainly not the school's role to "affirm" a student's perceived personal sexual orientation.

The American College of Pediatricians is a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children. The College produces sound policy, based upon the best available research, to assist parents and to influence society in the endeavor of childrearing.

To read the letter to school superintendents, Click Here. http://factsaboutyouth.com/wp-content/uploads/Superintendent-LetterC_3.311.pdf

To read the fact sheet provided to superintendents, Click Here. http://factsaboutyouth.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts-on-full-sheet-Apr-1.pdf

To go to the homepage of the American College of Pediatricians, Click Here.http://americancollegeofpediatricians.org/

2010-04-07T20:00:00.002-05:00

Law on the Left, Law on the Right, Caught in the Middle Again

When the Law is established without Christ, we have tyranny. When the Law is thought to be ended without Christ, we have anarchy--which is really just tyranny by the most easily offended. Caught in the middle, we go to our graves and await the resurrection. Preached on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, series C, March 21, 2010 at Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, ND

The texts were:

The DEMANDING Word of God

2010-04-06T13:34:00.003-05:00

The Word of God will not be content to be just one word among many. "So says the Lord...," must the only word, the defining word, the word which clarifies the world to us and us to ourselves.

Erich Auerbach writes thusly:

The world of the Scripture stories is not satisfied with claiming to be a historically true reality--it insists that it is the only real world.... Al other scenes, issues, and ordinances have nor right to appear independently of it, and it is promised that all of them, the history of all mankind, will be given their due place within its frame, will be subordinated to it. The Scripture stories do not, like Homer's court our favor, they do not flatter us that they may please us and enchant us--they seek to subject us, and if we refuse to be subjected we are rebels.

Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature

Erich Auerbach

Princeton University Press; 50 Anv edition (April 7, 2003)

http://www.amazon.com/Mimesis-Representation-Reality-Western-Literature/dp/069111336X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

"No such thing as Christian Ethics!"

2010-04-01T21:28:00.002-05:00

So says Dietrich Bonhoeffer according to Thomas Pearson.

who posts a well argued and researched paper on the subject at the

Journal of Lutheran Ethics.

"Bonhoeffer and the End of Christian Ethics"

Especially apropos to our current situation in the ELCA is the following paragraph found near the end which turns the ELCA's current fascination with being "communities of moral deliberation" into further evidence that it is becoming less and less a church called into existence by the Word of God and more and more a social club with illusions of holiness sustained by its own busy-ness.

24] And Bonhoeffer would be likely bemused to hear a proposal that the Church should be "a community of moral deliberation." There are many venues in the secular world that might well serve as centers for moral deliberation - institutions, professions, community organizations, among others. But why the Church? Given Bonhoeffer's singular vision of the Christian Church as stripped of any pretense to ethical or religious expertise - or expertise of any kind - it would seem that the Church might be the last place to look for moral deliberation. Like the stricken hearers of Peter's speech in Acts 2, however, the Church seems forever obsessed with finding something productive to do. Ethics is a serious subject in our culture, even if more often observed in the breach. So the Church is regularly tempted to deflect its gaze from the center of its life, and to take up those matters which will keep it busy, including moral deliberation. In so doing, we squander our freedom. Bonhoeffer would have none of it. Bonhoeffer's last months at Tegel were not filled with ethical fulminations against an oppressive political regime that had abandoned all pretense of seeking justice. There is very little indication in his final letters that he was engaged in standard moral deliberation, of discerning causes or proposing solutions. Instead, he engaged in praying, preaching and pastoral ministry, those actions of ultimate significance for the Church, carried out in the midst of an extreme attenuation of the penultimate: a manifestation of his Christian freedom. Bonhoeffer was by that time quite starkly beyond good and evil, beyond "religion," where the cross of Christ was the only living icon for those who must surely die. In our day, as the Church faces its peculiar trials in a world pious but no longer religious, it is likely he would encourage us to do the same.

Question on Performative Language

2010-03-24T22:37:00.002-05:00

Tim. Thanks for your excellent comments. For some reason I cannot post on my site, so I am responding here.

The question I have relates to the distinction between the being of the Word, the knowing of the Word, and what the Word does. What exactly is this relationship? Does what the Word does determine the being of the Word, or simply our knowing of it?

Even if we know the answer to this, however, we are still faced with the question of the identity conditions of what the Word does. How exactly do we know that life is communicated by the Word, (in spite of the fact of death), when we cannot know what would count as the ontological contour of such life? What does it mean exactly for the Word to do?

Sometimes things are very obvious until we start to think about them really hard. If I cannot specify the precise conditions under which life and forgiveness are decidedly not communicated, how can I know for sure when they are? This is a general problem for all who want to think deeply about the hidden nature of faith and salvation.

Dennis

Thanks for your excellent post!

The Contender

2010-03-24T07:38:00.001-05:00

The funeral sermon preached for Charles Aasen who contended for the joys of married, family, and civic identity but could not contend for victory over the devil, the world and our sinful selves. Against that triumvirate of evil Christ is the ONLY contender and he has already won the victory! March 18, 2010 in Trinity Lutheran Church of Alexander, North Dakota

The text of this sermon can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=376997949705

Signum Philosophicum

2010-03-22T10:08:00.001-05:00

I am seeking to understand more clearly the common claim that theological language must be understood primarily donationally, a view espoused paradigmatically by Ebeling and adopted in the tradition of hermeneutical theology. In the following post I am responding specifically to Bayer who connects the claim to Austin's use of a performative utterance. See here. I am, as always, deeply interested in theological conversation.

A Tale of Two Siblings

2010-03-17T11:01:00.001-05:00

A profligate father, two greedy sons, an unmentioned community, one preacher, and a sacramental fatted calf comprise this parable's cast. The world with all its prodigal younger sons; the world with all its begrudging elder sons; the world with all its skeptical and necessarily protective communities will be reconciled to the Father by the sacrifice of Christ. Delivered at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, TX on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson.

The text for this sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=355589409705

Salvation Insurance? No, Thank You!

2010-03-09T06:03:00.001-06:00

The Third Sunday of Lent C March 7, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota The fig tree (and those Pharisees and Sadducees) die particularly from being unfruitful, unproductive. Makes you want to get out your yield calculator, doesnt it? Figure out your fruit per hour, see how that measures up? Has your life yielded enough fruit to make it on your own, or will you have to file for salvation insurance? Sadly enough, thats the way a goodly number of those who call themselves Christian treat our Lord Jesus Christ: salvation insurance. Isaiah 55:1-9 Psalm 63:1-8 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-13

The Sermon Text can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=347404189705

A Cosmic Game of Chicken

2010-03-09T05:57:00.000-06:00

A Cosmic Game of Chicken
The Second Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010 Wilmington & Trinity Lutheran Churches Arnegard & Alexander, North Dakota When the Word of God descended from heaven in the person of Jesus the Christ, the worlds children were already well practiced in the ascension of their own glory. Jesus—coming down—was on a collision course with the world going up. And there on the curb sat the devil egging on the both of them as if it were some cosmic game of chicken and the devil would take the one who flinched first. Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35

Sermon text found here:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/timothy-j-swenson/a-cosmic-game-of-chicken/331995374705

First the Bad News, then the Good News

2010-02-19T07:04:00.000-06:00

The funeral sermon for Bruce White delivered by the Rev. Timothy J. Swenson at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alexander, North Dakota on February 17th, 2010. The texts were 2 Timothy 4:6-7; Psalm 23; John 16:33-34 The bad news: everybody, all mortal things, die; this happens at baptism when we are buried with Christ into a death like his; into the resulting silence God speaks the Good News: "Christ is your life!"

The text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&&suggest&note_id=314614309705

"Listen!" said one; "Look!" said the other

2010-02-16T05:58:00.000-06:00

The sermon delivered February 14, 2010 at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota, on the occasion of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, Cycle C, by Timothy J. Swenson. The proclamation declares the difference between "listen" and "look" as the difference between theologians of the cross and theologies of glory, exposing sinners as "faithless and perverse." The texts are: Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36 [37-43]

The text of the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=306414824705

Caught and Called Out

2010-02-15T14:37:00.001-06:00

"Caught and Called Out" the sermon preached by Timothy J. Swenson on February 7, 2010 at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota, on the occasion of the 5th Sunday after Epiphany, Cycle C. The sermon preaches the miraculous catch of fish as a "catching out" of sinners so that they are called out of sin by the gift of faith.

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

The text of the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=304233409705

Beloved Betrayers

2010-02-15T06:42:00.001-06:00

The sermon delivered by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson on January 31, 2010--the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Cycle C, in Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, ND. The sermon uses a social science understanding the the "honor/shame" society in Jesus' day to expose the betrayal of Jesus' followers. The texts are:

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:4-10
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30

The text of the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=304222809705

Presence and Promise and Tears in the Eye

2010-02-13T20:15:00.001-06:00

Presence and Promise and Tears in the Eye

This is the sermon that would have been delivered January 24th at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard--except we had a snow day, no worship. Consequently, this preaching was done during a chapel service at the Good Shepherd Home in Watford City, ND. The texts are the lectionary for RCL 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21 Timothy J Swenson, preaching

The text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=281396799705

Held in the Center, Not Pushing the Limits

2010-02-13T19:54:00.001-06:00

The sermon preached January 17, 2010 in Wilmington Lutheran Church of Arnegard, North Dakota on the occasion of the Second Sunday after Epiphany and the congregation's annual meeting, by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson. The lectionary readings were: Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

The sermon's text can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=257412799705

The Truth about Yourself and God

2010-01-19T11:45:00.002-06:00

A sermon preached on the occasion of Arnold Anderson's funeral at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson. Confrontation with God through the rebuking rod of God's Law and through the gathering staff of God's Gospel is like "wrestling with angels" and reveals the truth about us as sinners and about God as one who redeems sinners. Genesis 32:24-31 Psalm 23 Hebrews 11:20-21 John 4:1-29

The text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/tjswenson1?v=app_2347471856&ref=profile

The Champion Takes the Field

2010-01-11T06:06:00.002-06:00

2010 010 A sermon delivered at Wilmington Lutheran Church of Arnegard, North Dakota on Sunday, January 10th, 2010--the Baptism of Our Lord. The texts were Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8: ; & Luke 3:

The text for the sermon can be found here

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=244709054705

From God's Heart to Yours

2010-01-04T12:33:00.001-06:00

2010-01-03 02 Christmas Sermon part 1 A sermon preached on the Second Sunday after Christmas at Wilmington Lutheran Church. The Gospel reading was John 1:1-18 and the second lesson was Ephesians 1:3-14. These beautiful texts declare who Jesus is (Christology) and what he does (soteriology). Our Lord is not merely something "applied" to us, his heart (his life) replaces ours.

The text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=233218064705

We're Not In Kansas Anymore!

2010-01-04T12:31:00.001-06:00

2009-12-27 Christmas One Sermon preached at Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, North Dakota by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson. Based on Luke 2:41-52 the preaching declares that God's Word is the active agent God wields upon us, working his grace upon sinners, giving us a 200% identity and transporting us into the coming kingdom of Christ's reign.

The text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=222608539705

This God's For You!

2010-01-04T12:29:00.001-06:00

2009-12-24 Christmas Eve Sermon delivered at Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, North Dakota by the Reverend Timothy J. Swenson. The gospel text Luke 2:1-21. Jesus does not just deliver "good news" about God; he IS the CONTENT of the good news about God.

Text for the sermon can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=216821784705

Magnificently Used Up

2009-12-21T19:49:00.001-06:00

2009-12-20 04 Advent C sermon based on Mary's Magnificat in Luke chapter 1; delivered at Wilmington Lutheran Church in Arnegard, North Dakota. Mary's words are to the human landscape what the 'voice crying in the wilderness' are for the geographic landscape. God will use up all things to prepare his way.

The text is available here:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/timothy-j-swenson/magnificently-used-up/211016974705

2009-12-15T06:05:00.001-06:00

Sifting, Sifting, Sifting, NOT Shifting, Shifting, Shifting

2009-12-13 Sermon Advent 03C Trinity delivered in Alexander, North Dakota, preached on Luke 3:18, John the Baptist confronts the crowds

You can find the text here:

http://www.facebook.com/tjswenson1?v=app_2347471856&ref=profile

"Forgiven Sinners: Stand Up and Take It"

2009-11-29T17:59:00.002-06:00

A sermon delivered on 01C Advent--2009-11-29--in Wilmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, North Dakota.
The gospel text--Luke 21:25-36

The text can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=90671024674&topic=11964

God's Word Clarifies Us

2009-11-24T20:13:00.001-06:00

A Thanksgiving Sermon from Deuteronomy 8:7-13

delivered at Wilmington Lutheran Church, November 23, 2009

God's Word: the Garden

2009-11-20T16:17:00.003-06:00

A sermon preached by the Rev. Timothy J. Swenson on the occasion of Wally Samuelson's Funeral Service and Willmington Lutheran Church, Arnegard, North Dakota. Wally was a husband and father of five sons, a veteran of the Korean War, an elevator manager by profession, and a staunch member and supporter of the Arnegard community. He died from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. The texts for the day were Genesis 2:8-10a, 15; Psalm 91:9-16; Revelation 22:1-5; Matthew 4:1-11. The special music was "On Eagles' Wings" and "In the Garden."

"Not I, but Christ"

2009-10-24T21:37:00.002-05:00

Dick Smith, preacher, delivers Christ, and him crucified, to a bunch of sinners gathered as the Augsburg Lutheran Churches at its 2009 convention in El Paso, TX at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

Forging a Fellowship of Preachers

2009-09-24T06:35:00.000-05:00

This conference explores the practical implications of establishing preachers as a fellowship held accountable to one another by the “mutual conversation and consolation [AND confrontation] of the saints;” who practice a “theology of friendship” as declared by Jesus: “I call you friends because I have revealed all things to you.” Jn. 15:15; and among whom authority is exercised by the preaching of Word in such a way that the Gospel’s good news establishes the Law within its appropriate boundaries.

Conversation, Consolation, Confrontation: Forging a Fellowship of Preachers

Joining the Unchurched

2009-09-23T22:07:00.001-05:00

--James Arne Nestingen

http://www.wordalone.org/docs/nestingen-joining-unchurched.shtml

In its August assembly in Minneapolis, going by the definition set down in Augustana VII, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America effectively declared that it is no longer a church. Among those unchurched by this decision, a poignant question remains: What in the world do we do now? Consideration of this question requires among other things, some careful examination of definitions. Going back to the sources, some alternatives should emerge.

The seventh article of the Augsburg Confession, which has united Lutherans since the l6th century, defines the church as the people of God gathered together to hear the word and receive the sacraments. The term Word of God carries over from John 1 and other biblical references where the Word incarnates God’s power—originally in Christ, now in the biblical word preached and administered in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. As such, God’s Word moves to do what it says, accomplishing God’s purposes. It does not float around ethereally in elusive meanings waiting to be unlocked by theologians. Neither does it depend on harried pastors or gatherings of the pious seeking to apply it. Rather, God’s word takes over earthen vessels—human declarations, conversations and correspondence—using such means to seek out sinners. Gathering the lost and the damned in its hearing, it effects forgiveness, reckons righteous, kills and makes alive. Finally, it frees. In this way, God’s Word literally creates the church.

The ELCA has redefined the Word of God. Instead of understanding it in terms of what God does with words, the theologians of the church—with the bishops in tow—have uncritically shifted out of the original Lutheran argument into a scheme in which God’s word depends on its meaning. To no one’s surprise, in this setup the power transfers from the word itself to the interpreters of the word—those who decide what it really means. The biblical text is ambiguous by definition, they say, and consequently only the informed—generally, those who are superior, either intellectually or politically—can finally determine what it says. Old Erasmus, his most sophisticated opponent, tried this on Luther and got the drubbing of his life. But in the ELCA, having long lost its theological moorings, the leadership has gotten away with it. That is how theologians and church leaders could dismiss as unclear biblical passages that produced a two thousand year old, all but universal consensus concerning homosexual practice. This consensus continues to hold with force among Roman Catholics, the Orthodox and most Protestant Churches, and because it is biblical, isn’t subject to change. But it no longer holds in the ELCA. In a naked power play by the privileged—the few allowed some actual voice in the proceedings—this mighty consensus fell to a bogus, prefabricated ambiguity crafted to disallow it.

With the action taken in the Minneapolis assembly, the ELCA has made such power mongering official procedure and policy. The Word of God does not create, shape or control it; no, the ELCA controls the interpretation of the Word. Confronted by the Word, it puts the matter to the vote, using all available means to manipulate the outcome. The ploy begins with the best of suburban manners, recognizing various perspectives informing interpretation. But then the knife swings—since all perspectives are equal, no interpretation can claim the authority of the text. On this basis, the Sixth Commandment loses all bearing—the elites of the ELCA’s membership can dismiss what they no longer respect, God’s determination of sexual limits.

In making this move, asserting authority over Scripture by subjecting it to a vote, the ELCA has forfeited obedience for a scheme of management. Traditionally, the church has been spoken of as a steward of the Word. Here’s the difference: stewards tend what belongs to another; managers take control, displacing the original speaker for the ends they have in mind. Like the medieval papacy that Luther and the reformers set off against, the ELCA in its assembly declared itself master of the Word rather than servant. Instead of proclaiming God’s Word, it formally proclaims itself as arbiter of the word. An organization which no longer hears its Lord’s voice cannot be considered a church, according to the Augsburg Confession’s definition. It may still claim religious credentials, but it has decisively broken its continuity in the faith. It gathers together not to proclaim God’s Word but to vote on it.

Given this reversal in the ELCA’s use of Scripture, it has to be acknowledged that there are many ecumenical churches which work with theories of meaning. The basic assumptions in this way of thinking were set down by St. Augustine, one of the very most important theologians in the history of the church, way back in the fourth century. Since then, if not before, this has been one of the keys to the power of the papacy. Because words mean things, a variety of interpretations are possible. Therefore, the office of the papacy acts as a check, controlling the range of interpretation. The bishops share in this authority.

The Calvinism undergirding much of American Protestantism works with the same theory. The interpreter shows faith the way from the Word to what it signifies or means, thereby bringing the Word and faith together in understanding. Because the process of interpretation always remains vulnerable to the power of original sin, however, it must necessarily be checked. So the congregation, the elders, pastors and theologians are linked together in a system of mutual watchfulness. The lay people, elders, pastors and theologians all look both ways, watching over each of the other layers of authority. Interpretation requires constant scrutiny, lest the interpreters be led astray. In American church life the systems of checks vary from one Protestant church to another, but the necessity gets minded.

While willy-nilly, uncritically taking over schemes of meaning in approaching God’s Word, the ELCA dropped the checks Roman Catholics and Protestants have carefully maintained. It did this in a couple of decisive missteps taken by the Commission for the New Lutheran Church (CNLC), which back in the 1980s put together what became the ELCA.

The first misstep has left its footprint on the underside of the quota system put in place to select voting members at the assemblies. Positive aspects of quotas can still be argued. After 20 years, the ELCA remains 97 percent white. Some significant departures after the August assembly may make the church even whiter. Still the quotas may have brought some people forward who had been otherwise excluded. That would be a matter of thanks. Yet there’s another side to it.

Quotas include but in order to do so, they also eliminate. In fact, they do so arbitrarily, fastening on characteristics like race and gender but not necessarily putting an equal priority on characteristics, like wisdom, fidelity and zeal. In fact, while the evidence has been difficult to come by, extended experience with the system strongly suggests that those most likely to be included are the manageable, those eager to please, no matter what their race or gender, while those most likely to be eliminated are the gifted and challenging, those most likely to make waves. Here the quota systems can claim objectivity—black, white or other, male or female, the strongest are the most likely to get dropped.

This has had a devastating impact on the development of future leadership in the ELCA. The most gifted young men and women, if they survive a candidacy process often enough manifestly hostile, routinely get sidelined. In the meantime, those readily cultivated by the leadership quickly move into chairs left open by the quota system. In fact, elimination may have been the real purpose in drafting quotas. A generation of Evangelical Catholics, many of them highly capable and aggressive, got washed out by the quotas early in the history of the ELCA. The leaders saved themselves some trouble, but at great cost to the church.

Quotas in place, the founders of the ELCA took another, equally troublesome misstep. At least as officially interpreted, the CNLC totally disconnected the assemblies of the church from the congregations that support and by their donations, pay for them. Both clergy and lay people—the voting members, as they are called—get elected to serve in the assemblies. But having been granted such authority, the voting members have no responsibility to represent the people who selected them and consequently, no accountability whatsoever. In a set up that defies all of the usual political logic, the voters can literally do as they please, answering to no one but themselves.

Of course, national officials along with the bishops do whatever they can to stage manage the assemblies, thereby moving the voting members in their own direction. In fact, this appears to have been one of main purposes in changing delegates into voting members. Disconnected from their congregations, voting members are at least theoretically more subject to manipulation. The leadership’s possible gain, however, comes at the congregations’ loss. The local parishes pay the bills for the whole church but for all of that, they have literally nothing to say about the so-called “churchwide.” This arrangement defies some of the oldest and simplest rules in American public life—“whoever pays the piper, calls the tune,” for example, or “no taxation without representation.”

The results of these missteps surface right away in the assemblies. In a predominantly rural church, the meetings are scheduled in August—the busiest time of year in farming communities. They last over a week, requiring both the leisure and the finances to spend that much time away. These two factors by themselves eliminate substantial portions of the membership from ever serving in an assembly. Among those who have the means, the quotas take over. Some voting members manage to get selected for every assembly, others are there taking their turn. Few have had the time or experience to be at home in the proceedings and appear dependent on their bishops. But for all of this, church officials take no chances, carefully instructing voters in the differences between delegates and voting members.

The discussions of controversial issues on the floor follow suit. Though the proceedings have allegedly been opened to deal with an ambiguity in Scripture, they quickly become anything but biblical assessment. Rules of evidence, the normal standards for disciplined consideration go right out the window, replaced by anecdotes about gay friends, psychological caricatures of the Apostle Paul, stereotypes of happy homosexual couples, imaginative descriptions of the real motives of the opponents, personal assertions and the like. With this, the hallways and the back of the assembly fill up with gay advocates bussed in to influence the voters using, commonly enough, intimidation up to and including physical threats. With all of this, the bishops—said to be responsible for the unity of the church—stand by in silence. In their own assemblies, they hide behind punctilious observation of Roberts Rules of Order; at the national, while the gay advocates freely use the microphones, those who are opposed remain conspicuously silent.

Ecumenically, it could hardly be a stranger procedure. Having made the interpretation of Scripture a problem of meaning, the ELCA does not, like the Roman Catholics, bring in the bishops for clarification—with rare exception, the current bishops don’t have the scholarly training commonly available among Roman Catholics. Neither does the ELCA bring together theologians, pastors, elders and representatives of the congregations. With eight seminary faculties to choose from, the national leadership fielded two theologians for the Minneapolis assembly, both of them advocates of practicing homosexual pastors. All of the theologians, who opposed the leadership’s agenda, including some of the strongest and best known in the church, were eliminated. One managed to sneak in below the radar, having been selected as a voting member.

The only precedent for such a procedure goes back to the reformation. Andreas Bodenstein von Carlstadt, a colleague of Luther’s on the Wittenberg faculty who had three earned doctorates, in Luther’s words “swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all.” He roamed through the streets approaching people with no training whatsoever, asking them to interpret the Scripture to him. Technically, this has been called “enthusiasm,” literally “God within-ism,” the idea that the Holy Spirit in the heart supersedes Scripture and sets aside all the normal standards. Having floated away into such a never-never land beyond the ordinary, in reality the August churchwide assembly has stranded the ELCA ecumenically. By declaring the ELCA no longer a church, by enfranchising the like-minded to perpetuate their power, the leadership has taken the people it was called to serve into isolation. In fact, other Lutherans—particularly the Africans who now represent the largest share of Lutherans in the world—are already registering their objections. Like African Episcopalians, they serve in a context where Moslems are ready to pounce on any evidence of Christian tolerance of immorality. The ELCA betrayed its own brothers and sisters. The survival of the Lutheran World Federation, already problematic, has to be considered an open question.

The ELCA’s standing in the ecumenical movement, in which it has historically provided decisive leadership, has also come under review. Benedict XVI, the orthodox patriarchs and commonly the Protestant leaders as well, know both Scripture and the church’s tradition intimately—well enough to recognize the difference between the historically certain and the ambiguity of convenience. They can hardly welcome a church that has defied standards they consider inviolate.

That leaves The Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ as the ELCA’s remaining ecumenical partners. The Episcopalians, who in Called to Common Mission treated the ELCA like a source of infection before turning around and endorsing a homosexual bishop, are in the process of losing their standing in their own communion. According to second hand reports, the UCC’s national offices have been taken over by gay advocates. In fact, for all of the ELCA’s vaunted inclusiveness, in the end everybody looks more and more alike.

Having sifted through the definitions, where does this leave those of us who have loved and served the churches that formed the ELCA? One of the great words implied in Augustana VII gets passed over quickly, a “wherever.” Unlike both the Roman Catholic and common Protestant definitions, the Augsburg Confession’s definition of the church involves no specific institutional designs or commitments. It stays ecumenically open in the fullest sense, regarding the governmental arrangements of church bodies as provisional necessities but no more than that. “Wherever” the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, “wherever” sinners gather to hear and receive Word and sacrament, God’s word has become incarnate in down-to-earth community. As much as it may have meant to its members through the years, the ELCA has no ultimate claim on their loyalties.

So, to begin with, since the ELCA has used an unbridled, unchecked assembly to unchurch those who continue to hold to the Word alone, there’s no point wasting either time or money on it. This includes the national church structures along with the synods, whose bishops—even if they didn’t openly advocate dropping the Scriptural priority—remained silent. Like the traditores in the early church who handed over Scripture in the face of persecution, the silent bishops gave up their standing. The only way they can be dealt with is in repentance. A few synods can still claim loyalty, even if they have to be treated cautiously. Already, congregations all over the ELCA have been cutting out all benevolence. This represents a first and minimal step.

Starting here, those voting members in Minneapolis who represented themselves so effectively should be invited to pick up the check—excluded, left voiceless, and now unchurched, there is absolutely no reason for the rest of us to pay their bills. The same goes for the faculties of the church. Their development officers talk Lutheran, especially when the budgets start to squeeze, but with all save a few exceptions, the rest of those on campus—particularly the theologians—find it a strange and in their own eyes, primitive language. With this, they clear the way for the sexual consumerism of the culture. Since they no longer value what we believe and have been carried beyond the Ten Commandments, they also should go Dutch.

Taking the implied “wherever” of Augustana VII, there are still many trustworthy congregations and faithful pastors across the ELCA. Generally, their trademark is the absolution. Where the forgiveness of sins gets declared Sunday after Sunday, Christ is usually preached in the pulpit, as well. So, too, the sacraments are freely bestowed. Such congregations are to be treasured. If you belong to one of them, Christ is blessing you. Faithful congregations, trustworthy pastors deserve all the support they can get.

This appears to be one of the best alternatives available right now. Using the language of the ELCA, two levels or expressions of the church have betrayed it—the national and the synodical. Undoubtedly, if the people in the congregations of the ELCA had been fully represented in the Minneapolis vote, the gay proposals would have failed decisively even while gay and lesbian members within the congregations themselves would have been treated with respect and love. There’s good reason, given such percentages, to hold with the parishes.

Staying in the congregations, however, requires some critical assessment of both the pastor and the parish leadership. Some parishioners wanting out of the ELCA have already learned from their pastors that the respect for conscience called for by the sexuality commission extends only to advocates, not to those being unchurched. Others learned after the fact that their pastor, having kept silence on the issue, went away to Minneapolis to vote for anal and oral sex among the clergy. In such instances, the best alternative may be to look elsewhere.

Still, congregations are multi-dimensional, with many layers of witness. Sometimes, even though the pastor complains about forgiveness as a downer, the choir faithfully preaches Christ Jesus and the liturgy serves him. Often enough, as in the church colleges, faithful lay people in the congregations sustain its witness day to day. One way or another, the good Lord finds a way to sound the Word in the hearing of his people. “Where ever” that happens, the triune God is at work. In such circumstances, people may still find a place in their congregations.

If it is possible to stay, the terms have to be changed. For many faithful ELCA people, the tithe and benevolence have been a joyful way of life. This makes withholding funds from the church particularly painful. There are, however, a number of Lutheran agencies that need support. Lutheran World Relief, for example, has been one of the most effective international agencies for helping victims of catastrophes as well as developing economies. Given the ELCA’s betrayal, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod—which jointly funds LWR—may very well pull out of the arrangement. LWR, like other faithful Lutheran agencies, can use all the support they get.

In those congregations that choose to stay in the ELCA, it would be wise to consider affiliating with other parishes that have refused to accept being unchurched. WordAlone Network people have learned that their parishes become particularly vulnerable to the bishop’s opposition when it comes time to call another pastor. Remaining on the ELCA roster while affiliating with other like-minded congregations offers the possibility of both participation—in for instance, the missions efforts of the ELCA, where some faithful leadership remains—and protection. Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and Lutheran Core are both at work on such affiliations.

A faithful Australian friend suggests still another alternative. That is affiliating with one of the synods in the ELCA where the Lutheran confessional heritage still can claim standing. Though the bishops with rare exception remained silent in Minneapolis, even while whispering their apprehensions to sympathetic ears, there are some indications that two or three of them recognize the debacle they brought on themselves. In repentance, they might restore a possibility for those of us who still confess the biblical word in both law and gospel. Though the connections between such synods and the national offices would have to be carefully tended, finding a reliable affiliation in the structures might be a source of stability for the time being. For very many people, however, the unchurching declared in Minneapolis signals the loss of all three of the ELCA’s alleged levels, congregation included. They have already declared or are carefully considering intentions to leave the church altogether. This involves some deep pain, and has to be respected accordingly. The big question for such people is destination—where do you go?

Here Augustana VII’s implicit “wherever” should be helpful. To begin with, there are other Lutheran congregations nearby. The different labels can’t claim nearly as much loyalty as the gospel—it just takes some testing. The president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod made an outstanding statement to the Minneapolis assembly. Any number of faithful Missouri congregations faithfully preach the word and administer the sacraments, even if some of them seem far more interested in who they exclude than whom they include. Given the conflicts within the church, it will be a while before Missouri’s future becomes clear. Just the same, Apostolic Lutherans and Wisconsin Synod people can get carried past inward looking ways into real and powerful witness to Christ Jesus.

Finally, since it isn’t institutional, the strongly suggested “wherever” of the seventh Article of the Augsburg Confession can under some circumstances lead beyond Lutheran parishes into other denominations. Some of the most devout Lutherans, including learned theologians who were formerly part of the ELCA, are now Roman Catholics. It may be premature and even unthinkable for some of us, but on the other hand, where Christ is proclaimed in Word and Sacrament and sinners gather to hear and receive it, the triune God can break beyond misunderstandings to do his work. By the same token, while confessional Lutherans have always had apprehensions, there may be other Protestant churches that have seen the limit of meaning in the sacraments and have to come to concentrate much more on what Christ is actually doing. The test remains the same: are Christ’s gifts really being handed over to sinners?

At any rate, it’s up to you now. In a way that would have been inconceivable even earlier this summer, you are on your own. Having been unchurched by the ELCA assembly; excluded, unrepresented and voiceless, you have been cut loose from that which connected you with believers across the world and across the ages. So you have been numbered among the rejects. But for all of that, you’ve got company. If you don’t find your neighbors in the faith where you usually did, they are out looking for you. Jesus loves sinners—you qualify. He never lost one of us.

ELCA: How Did We Come to This?

2009-09-05T13:51:00.002-05:00

by Robert Benne

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11108

During last week's biennial Church Wide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the church affirmed major policy recommendations to allow for the blessing of same-sex unions (which practice will soon inflate to same-sex marriage) and the rostering of gay and lesbian pastors in partnered relationships. Earlier in the week it also passed by one vote-out of over a thousand total votes cast-a Social Statement on Sexuality that admitted there was no consensus on the moral evaluation of homosexual conduct, and offered no compelling biblical or theological reasons to support the policies it later in fact adopted.

The Statement was firm and bold on issues that everyone agreed upon-the moral condemnation of promiscuity, pornography, sexual exploitation, etc.-but indecisive and vague about contested issues-co-habitation, premarital sex, the importance of the nuclear family, and, of course, homosexual conduct. Right before the vote on the Social Statement a totally unexpected tornado hit the Minneapolis Conference Center where we were meeting as well as the huge Central Lutheran Church next door, knocking the cross off one of its towers. Orthodox voting members saw the work of God in the tornado's cross-toppling effects and in the vote that passed with a .666 majority. Revisionists noted that the sun came out after the vote. In response the orthodox quipped that the sun comes out almost every day but rogue tornados are pretty rare.

Those in the orthodox camp warned the assembly not to vote on binding church doctrine, especially if it had no convincing biblical or theological arguments to overturn the moral consensus of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church held throughout the ages and by 99% of the world's Christians. Such action would identify the ELCA with a rapidly declining liberal Protestantism while departing from orthodox teaching and practice. Strong arguments against the Social Statement and policy recommendations were made by pastors and laypersons-bishops were for the most part silent-to no avail. The church left the Great Tradition of moral teaching to identify with the United Church of Christ and the Episcopalians.

How did this come to be? On the one hand, the fact that the largest American Lutheran church body had become the first confessional church to accept homosexual conduct was a traumatic shock to many. There was much anger and anguish. On the other hand, the decision was not at all unexpected by those of us who have fought against the underlying currents operating in the church from its very inception. The fight has been long yet predictable. Liberal Protestantism was the ELCA's destination. Indeed, its presiding Bishop, Mark Hanson-is fast becoming the charismatic leader of liberal Protestantism.

"There is nothing but the Social Gospel," shouted a voting member at the assembly. But that is certainly not Lutheran doctrine. The various programs of social change taken to heart by the church are human works in God's left-hand reign, having to do with the Law, not the Gospel. Rather, the real Gospel is clear: the grace of God in Jesus Christ is offered to repentant sinners condemned by the Law and then called to amendment of life by the Spirit. Liberating efforts in the realm of social and political change are possibly effects of the Gospel, but certainly not the Gospel itself.

But the ELCA has accepted the Social Gospel as its working theology even though its constitution has a marvelous statement of the classic Gospel. The liberating movements fueled by militant feminism, multiculturalism, anti-racism, anti-heterosexism, anti-imperialism, and now ecologism have been moved to the center while the classic Gospel and its missional imperatives have been pushed to the periphery. The policies issuing from these liberationist themes are non-negotiable in the ELCA, which is compelling evidence that they are at the center. No one can dislodge the ELCA's commitment to purge all masculine language about God from its speech and worship, to demur on the biblically normative status of the nuclear family, to refuse to put limits on abortion in its internal policies or to advocate publicly for pro-life policies, to press for left-wing public domestic and foreign policy, to replace evangelism abroad with dialog, to commit to "full inclusion" of gays and lesbians at the expense of church unity, and to buy in fully to the movement against global warming. Though it is dogmatic on these issues it is confused about something as important as the assessment of homosexual conduct. Yet, it acts anyway because of the pressure exerted by those who want to liberate church and society from heterosexism.

But how did the liberal Protestant agenda replace the Christian core? There are many reasons, a goodly number that evangelicals share with Lutherans: a culture moving quickly toward permissive morality; the self-esteem movement leading to cheap grace; lay individualism combined with apathy toward Christian teaching; an obliviousness to church tradition and to the voice of the world church; and, above all, the loss of an authentic principle of authority in the church. This last item I will address in more detail later.

The ELCA has a particular history that has compounded these problems. The mid-80s planning stage of the ELCA was dramatically affected by a group of radicals who pressed liberationist (feminist, black, multiculturalist, gay) legislative initiatives right into the center of the ELCA structures. Among them was a quota system that skews every committee, council, task force, synod assembly, and national assembly toward the "progressive" side. (There are quotas for representing specific groups in all the organized activity of the church. 60% must be lay, 50% must be women, 10% must be people of color or whose language is other than English. The losers, of course, are white male pastors; our Virginia delegation to the assembly, for example, had only one male pastor among its eight elected members.) Further, the prescribed structure distanced the 65 Bishops from the decision-making of the church. The Bishops have only influence, not power. (Aware of their divisiveness, the Bishops voted 44-14 to require a two thirds majority for the enactment of the Sexuality Task Force's policy recommendations, but were ignored by both the Church Council and the Assembly.) Theologians were given no formal, ongoing, corporate role in setting the direction of the ELCA. They, too, were kept at a distance and actually viewed as one more competing interest group.

The radicals so decisive in the defining moments of the ELCA intended to smash the authority of the influential white male theologians and bishops who had informally kept both the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America on course. The radicals wanted many voices and perspectives, especially those of the "marginalized," put forward in the ongoing deliberations of the ELCA. They were so successful that now after twenty years there is no authoritative biblical or theological guidance in the church. There are only many voices. The 2009 Assembly legitmated those many voices by adapting a "bound-conscience" principle in which anyone claiming a sincerely-held conviction on about any doctrine must be respected. The truth of the Word of God has been reduced to sincerely-held opinion.

What was truly chilling about the Assembly's debates was that the revisionists seemed to quote Jesus and the Bible as knowledgeably and persuasively as the orthodox. Passages reinforcing their respective agendas were selected and then brilliantly woven into their arguments. Both sides seemed to have the Bible on their side. The revisionists "contextualized" and relativized the relevant texts. The orthodox claimed a plain sense reading of Scripture. The Lutheran Confessions were utilized effectively by both sides. There was no authoritative interpretation conveyed by any agent or agency in the church. The church was and is rudderless.

Sola Scriptura, a Lutheran principle adopted by evangelicals, did not seem to be sufficient in such circumstances. An authoritative tradition of interpretation of the Bible seemed to be essential. More was needed than the Word alone. Protestants seem to lack such an authoritative tradition so they fight and split. In this situation the option of swimming the Tiber seems all the more tempting

The fall-out of these historic moves by the ELCA is hard to predict, mainly because the Lutheran orthodox have no group of dissenting Bishops around whom to rally. There will be a profusion of different responses by congregations and individuals. Many congregations and individuals will leave the ELCA. Others will bide their time to see what Lutheran CORE (Lutheran Coalition for Renewal) will become as it strives to articulate and then embody the best of Lutheranism. Many will withdraw from involvement in the ELCA and its Synods and live at the local level. Many others will try to live on as if nothing happened. Others will approve of the new direction. But a tectonic shift has taken place, and it wasn't primarily about sex. The ELCA has formally left the Great Tradition for liberal Protestantism.

----Robert Benne was a voting member of the Virginia Synod at the 2009 Church Wide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is Director of the Roanoke College Center for Religion and Society

A Clear Eye from the Pig Sty 2009

2009-08-29T07:34:00.005-05:00

Hey, folks!

New video here of Lou Hesse, Executive Director, Augsburg Lutheran Churches and former member of the ELCA's Task Force on Human Sexuality--the one who stood before the 2005 church-wide assembly to present a confessional, traditional, and dissenting view, addresses the 9th Annual Convention of the Augsburg Lutheran Churches at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in El Paso, TX. There are four parts to the video.

More on "Repentance"

2009-08-27T05:21:00.002-05:00

Was repentance assumed as a necessary component in "the Keys" at least as early as 1547.

This from an article in the online archives of "Logia." (accessed 08-26-2009)

http://www.logia.org/features/feature182.pdf

"If this is indeed so, as Regin Prenter says, that the divine
service is the place of justification, then justification has found
its artistic expression in St. Mary’s Church at Wittenberg. I am
thinking here of the altarpiece by Lucas Cranach, which actually
consists of four pictures.
At the center is the picture of the institution of the Lord’s
Supper. One of the participants is Martin Luther, the man with
the beard who receives the chalice. ŠThis is how Luther looked
when he — safe from his opponents — lived in Wartburg Castle
as Junker Georg. It is no accident that it is he who receives the
chalice. After all, Luther, like Jan Huss a century earlier, had
given the people not only the bread but also the chalice.
On the lefthand side, we see how Melanchthon baptizes a
child, with Cranach himself as a sponsor. It is remarkable that
Melanchthon baptizes, because he was not ordained. On the
right-hand side, Johannes Bugenhagen, the congregation’s pastor,
uses the keys of the kingdom of heaven. On the one side is
a penitent man who kneels; on the other side is an impenitent
man who turns away from him in anger.
Bearing the altarpiece, in the predella, we see Luther preaching
to his congregation to which belong, among others, Luther’s
wife, Catharine; his daughter, Magdalena; and his son, Hans.

The content of the sermon is Christ crucified."

God’s Smile
Worship as Source of Christian Life
Carl Axel Aurelius
Translated by Holger Sonntag

I don't necessarily see this as a "withholding" of forgiveness. More likely the "impenitent man" did not hear the "for you"-ness of the absolution. Still... One can easily understand how eagerly the institutional church would take up this "power" and use it manipulatively.

Furthermore;

1) The declaration of forgiveness to UNREPENTANT SINNERS is ABSOLUTELY necessary. Otherwise, no one would get to hear it and preachers would never get to declare it.

2) The Gospel itself--that is the forgiveness of sins FOR THE UNWORTHY (especially the unrepentant)--works repentance because it is THE WORD that puts sinners to death and raises saints to new life.

3) Such repentance is not the "contrition" which sinners FEEL, but is the actual death of the sinner's aspirations to "storm" heaven with right feelings, right thoughts, and right deeds. Physical death of the mortal flesh finally repents us for good and we cannot "help" ourselves any longer but must simply wait upon God's Word.

4) To declare forgiveness only to the "believing" is to practice the very un-Lutheran doctrine of Limited Atonement.

5) The paradoxical "both/and"--ness of the simul must be maintained. While the sinner may actual "feel" sorry and improve behavior, the saint has already been "taken up" into God with with Christ awaiting revelation in the New Creation.

6) Remembering the the two kinds of righteousness allows for declaring the saint "divinely righteous for Christ's sake," while visiting the necessity of "civil righteousness"--and the consequences of violation--upon the sinner penitent or not.

Remember Mt. 18

The Law can only go so far. After repeated attempts to garner "repentance" from the sinner, the ultimate answer is to "treat them like tax collectors and sinners." And what did Jesus DO with tax collectors and sinners? He ate with them! He DIED for them! Absolution is finally the answer, even to "absolute" refusal.

Any group whether institutional or not has requirements for membership, some qualities that "define" who's in and who's out of the group. Otherwise it wouldn't be a "group." The challenge to the group comes from a member's "violation" of those requirements. If such violation is allowed to stand, the "viability" of the group is threatened. The challenge to individual member is imposed by the authority of the group when the requirements are violated. Submission to such authority may threaten the life of the individual. This is our predicament "under the Law:" left unenforced, it leads to the "group's" death, enforced totally it leads to the individual's end. The Law can only end in DEATH.

We left then with a paradoxical corollary to Luther's definition of a Christian as "free Lord, AND bound servant." The corollary can be stated thusly: "The individual so forgives the group's enforcement of authority that the individual risks death at the hands of the group. AND... The group so forgives the individual's violation that the group itself risks dissolution (death) from the hands of the violator."

Here we have the paradoxical reign of "justice and mercy," God's two-fisted rule over creation by which he "loves" it. Neither justice or mercy can "rule" alone, their tension must be maintained lest we fall into the tyranny of Nomianism or the tyranny of an Anti-nomian anarchy.

Finally, we must ask ourselves: Does our salvation finally rest on our righteousness according to law which we are able to obey now that we "have" Christ? Or... Does our salvation rest on "CHRIST ALONE?" The first turns us back on ourselves (in curvatus se) to wonder about our "obedience" while the second "straightens" us up (justification) so that we can "behold" our salvation in Christ. Alternatively... Does our salvation rest upon the Word Alone and our hearing of it; or does it rest upon the "fruits" which the Word produces. Faith in Christ means, not only "trusting" in him for salvation but also "trusting" that he will bring about the fruits of such salvation--whether we can SEE them or not (Hebrews 11)--faith is NOT sight!

Tim

NO Repentance Demanded!

2009-08-24T18:55:00.002-05:00

Now I know where the reason for the devotion to "repentance" comes from in Lutheran circles (Hat Tip: Kris Baudler on the Applied Theology List Serve)

The opening paragraph of Missouri's (Reu's) "Office of the Keys" reads:

"What is the Office of the Keys?

The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent."

Matthew reads:
"19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

No demand for repentance there. Jesus is giving them the kingdom and telling them that the "Word" they will preach will be an effective and powerful word--literally the "Word of God!" cf. Is 55. Whatever PROMISES they bind to people on earth have been, are, and will be the promises kept in heaven. This is the Gospel that delivers faith. Whatever SIN/LAW/COMMANDS they free people from on earth have been, are, and will be the very same ones they are "loosed" from in heaven. This, too, is the Gospel that delivers faith. Therefore, faith is the only KEY necessary for the kingdom.

Likewise John reads:
23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

No demand for repentance there. Jesus is telling them of the necessity of preaching. The "Good News of "forgiveness" must be delivered personally. cf. Romans 10. Again, this is an effective Word in that when the absolution is declared to someone, his sins are actually and truly forgiven. However, if that forgiveness is NOT delivered personally, that is, not preached "for you," then how is the "one who has never heard" to know that they are forgiven? In such a case, from the unhearing one's perspective, they are not forgiven.

The kingdom depends solely upon the delivery of Christ by a preacher so that hearers may have "faith in Christ" as the Holy Spirit "calls, gathers, enlightens..."

The demand for "visible" repentance is yet another venue of religious manipulation.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

2009-08-21T05:44:00.005-05:00

12^th Sunday after Pentecost

Gospel: John 6:56-69

Sunday, August 23, 2009

In verse 56, Jesus says, “He who eats my flesh and eats my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Further on he says, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (6:63).

At first glance one might think that Jesus is contradicting himself. The flesh avails in eating his flesh and then the flesh doesn’t avail. But Jesus is not speaking of the same flesh. In the first statement he is referring to himself, his flesh and blood. In the second comment he is referring to our flesh. This brings to mind his comment to Nicodemus back in the third chapter of John’s Gospel. In speaking of the new life which is ours in Christ he says one must be born again of water and the spirit (a reference to water baptism where one is united with Christ in his death so we die, and where we are given Christ to be the new life in us.) In that dialogue Jesus says “that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit” (3:6).

Christ abides in us. Communion is a sign and seal of his life in us. Our flesh is of no avail. That is, our effort, our struggle, to do the good and avoid evil accomplishes nothing but to make matters worse. As our brother Paul wrote, “the good that I would I do not. The evil that I would not that I do” (Romans 7). Further he declares that the law came to increase sin (Romans 5). The end result of the Law is to put us to death, so that CHRIST IS THE LIFE IN US. “…the words I have spoken to you are SPIRIT AND LIFE” (6:63).

That we can do nothing toward God is amplified by Christ in his comment that even abiding in Christ is NOT OUR DOING. In verse 65, he says, “…I told you that NO ONE can COME to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

The question can be asked, if we cannot do the good then how is the Christian life to come about? Jesus addresses that himself in his “abiding” comment addressed to his disciples in the upper room on the eve of his death on the cross. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he it is that BEARS MUCH FRUIT for apart from me YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (15:5)! Our brother Paul put it this way, “God has done what the LAW weakened by the FLESH could not do; sending his Son in the likeness of Sin and for sin condemned sin the flesh IN ORDER that the just requirements of the LAW might be fulfilled in us who walk NOT according to the FLESH but according to the SPIRIT” (Romans 8:4)!

The Christian life is NOT about you and me; it is about CHRIST alone! As Brother Martin Luther wrote, one thing is enjoined upon the Christian: that each day he remind himself of his baptism, that therein he died with Christ and now Christ is the life in him (from “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church). EVERYTHING STEMS from our baptism. In Him is life abundant and fruit abundant.

©Dick Smith

The Need to Be Right

2009-08-12T21:45:00.001-05:00

The Reverend Lenae Rasmussen preaches at the second night worship service at the 9th Annual Convention of the Augsburg Lutheran Churches at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in El Paso, TX

"The end of Free Will is the beginning of Faith."

2009-08-12T10:58:00.002-05:00

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Sunday, August 9, 2009

9^th Sunday after Pentecost

From an old sinner for whom Christ Died.

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-5

“Jesus said to them; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (verse 35)…”No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (verse 44).

There is NO FREEDOM OF CHOICE here; NO FREE WILL. The Father will draw the person otherwise it won’t happen. All the invitations in the world by preachers to come to Jesus fall flat and accomplish NOTHING because Jesus says it simply can’t happen that way.

God does the choosing. It is out of our hands. It is in his hands ONLY.

SO where does that put you and me? Are we excluded or included?

The answer is found only in an outside Word that comes to us. “FAITH comes by hearing and hearing by the preaching of CHRIST” (Romans 10). Paul therefore writes, “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news’” (Romans 10:15). They come, not on their own free will, (because there is no free will), but because they have been sent.

They are sent to speak the Word: “YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN FOR JESUS’ SAKE!” And where there is forgiveness there is already before the forgiveness the real presence of CHRIST in you as a redeeming reality. He is now your LIFE, “for you are dead and your life is now hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4)! That Word is proclaimed here: “you are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” It is proclaimed here: “Take and eat. This is my body given for YOU…This is the cup of the New Testament which is shed for YOU…”

Oral Word, water Baptism, Holy Communion, all three; declare God’s action for you and NO ACTION on your part AT ALL.

As Salvation is TOTALLY an act of God in Christ for you so also those who are to declare this WORD are totally chosen by God. There is no FREE WILL here either. Baptism (yours and all others) is the authority to declare this WORD to the world. All baptized are “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing; to one a fragrance from death to death to the other a fragrance from life to life” (II Cor. 2:15-16).

As Jesus said to his disciples so he says to YOU and ME: “You did NOT choose ME, but I chose YOU and appointed YOU that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide… (John 15:16). “I am the vine, YOU are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, FOR APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:5)!

SOLA DEO GLORIA!

©Dick Smith

"Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!"

2009-08-11T22:27:00.004-05:00

The Reverend Richard Smith preaches at the first night worship service of the 9th Annual Gathering of Augsburg Lutheran Churches, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, Texas.

2009-07-26 Sermon on Mark 6:7

2009-08-09T06:17:00.003-05:00

The Reverend Timothy J. Swenson preaches at the pre-convention worship service of the 9th Annual Gathering of Augsburg Lutheran Churches, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, El Paso, Texas.
Mark 6:7--"Jesus called the Twelve to himself and then sent them out two-by-two."
(three videos)

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Christianity Complements Citizenship

2009-08-01T19:59:00.002-05:00

Roger Scruton

Forgiveness and Irony

What makes the West strong

Here's an excellent and well-written piece from the City Journal that describes the necessity of the Christian virtues of forgiveness and irony to "fill up" citizenship with meaning. The author contrasts these "virtues" with the culture of repudiation that has driven them from the public square and with existential threat posed by a "terrorism" which has as its target concepts abstracted from its victims.

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_1_the-west.html

Here are the essay's concluding paragraph's:

What, then, should our stance be in this existential confrontation? I think we should emphasize the very great virtues and achievements that we have built on our legacy of tolerance and show a willingness to criticize and amend all the vices to which it has also given undue space. We should resurrect Locke’s distinction between liberty and license and make it absolutely clear to our children that liberty is a form of order, not a license for anarchy and self-indulgence. We should cease to mock the things that mattered to our parents and grandparents, and we should be proud of what they achieved. This is not arrogance but a just recognition of our privileges.

We should also drop all the multicultural waffling that has so confused public life in the West and reaffirm the core idea of social membership in the Western tradition, which is the idea of citizenship. By sending out the message that we believe in what we have, are prepared to share it, but are not prepared to see it destroyed, we do the only thing that we can do to defuse the current conflict. Because forgiveness is at the heart of our culture, this message ought surely to be enough, even if we proclaim it in a spirit of irony.

The Breath of God

2009-07-31T20:48:00.004-05:00

In and Out
...so goes the breath of God
gathering in disciples to their death and the revelation of Christ their life,
and scattering out apostles to the death of Christ their life and the revelation of their life as
disciples needing the "discipline" of the Word once again.

Read the sermon:
"In and Out"

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

2009-07-11T09:01:00.000-05:00

From an old sinner for whom Christ died.

6th Sunday after Pentecost July 12, 2009
Second Lesson Ephesians 1:3-14

This is a remarkable passage about predestination: how God has chosen
us from the foundations of the world, as it reads, "...even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons
(/daughters) through Jesus Christ,..."(1:4-5a).

God does the choosing and declares us holy and blameless through
Christ, regardless of our sins as well as our sinfulness that is
hidden from our conscious minds.

THE QUESTION AT HAND is this: Do we fit in here somewhere or we are
excluded? Is predestination for others and not for us?
If one views the message of Scripture in a static sense, that is,
ideas on a page, then one can step back from it and look at it from
afar. This allows for all kinds of speculation about God, others,
ourselves, whose saved, whose not, etc.

HOWEVER the Message of Scripture is not a static reality but a DYNAMIC
REALITY. That is, it draws us into the message and places the message
around us and in us.

SO when it reads in this Lesson, "you" its means you, the one reading
this. When it reads "us" it means you and me as well as others. This
is the significance of predestination. It places all of the action
with God and none with you and me.

Verse 13 emphsizes the fact that "believing" is an act of the Holy
Spirit not our doing. Thus the words apply to you and me.
"In him YOU also, WHO have heard the word of truth, the gospel of YOUR
salvation, and have believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until WE acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his glory"(1:13-14).

As Brother Martin Luther wrote and we learned in Confirmation
instruction, from his "Small Catechism," "I believe that I CANNOT by
my reason or strength (understanding or effort) believe in Jesus
Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by
the Gospel enlightened with his gifts and sanctified and kept me in
the true faith."

And so he has for YOU and for ME.

THANKS BE TO GOD in Jesus Christ our Lord!

@ Dick Smith