straight schlueter

Pastors: Servants of Christ or Servants of Self

2013-06-12T14:16:00.000-04:00

I have been recently captivated reading Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. I cannot help but be

impressed with the care he takes in introducing his characters. The priest who comes and goes in a moment while watching the movie (I have not seen the stage version) has pages upon pages devoted to describing his character as a man who is gracious and kind and a genuine servant of Christ. I would aspire to be more like this man as I serve my own parish. I wonder if the section that follows would not serve to inform the behavior of my own Church body as she gathers in convention in a few weeks?

Just as there are bigwigs elsewhere, there are big mitres in the Church. These are the bishops who stand well at Court, who are rich, well endowed, skilful, accepted by the world, who know how to pray, no doubt, but who know also how to beg, who feel little scruple at making a whole diocese dance attendance in their person, who are connecting links between the sacristy and diplomacy, who are abbes rather than priests, prelates rather than bishops. Happy those who approach them! Being persons of influence, they create a shower about them, upon the assiduous and the favored, and upon all the young men who understand the art of pleasing, of large parishes, prebends, archidiaconates, chaplaincies, and cathedral posts, while awaiting episcopal honors. As they advance themselves, they cause their satellites to progress also; it is a whole solar system on the march. Their radiance casts a gleam of purple over their suite. Their prosperity is crumbled up behind the scenes, into nice little promotions. The larger the diocese of the patron, the fatter the curacy for the favorite. And then, there is Rome. A bishop who understands how to become an archbishop, an archbishop who knows how to become a cardinal, carries you with him as conclavist; you enter a court of papal jurisdiction, you receive the pallium, and behold! you are an auditor, then a papal chamberlain, then monsignor, and from a Grace to an Eminence is only a step, and between the Eminence and the Holiness there is but the smoke of a ballot. Every skull-cap may dream of the tiara. The priest is nowadays the only man who can become a king in a regular manner; and what a king! the supreme king. Then what a nursery of aspirations is a seminary! How many blushing choristers, how many youthful abbes bear on their heads Perrette's pot of milk! Who knows how easy it is for ambition to call itself vocation? in good faith, perchance, and deceiving itself, devotee that it is.

Les Miserables Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 12

Election Day for those whose Eternal Election is already decided

2012-11-05T14:18:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow marks the end of a very tiresome election cycle. So many adds, so many placards, so many phone calls, so many commercials...

The right to vote is one of our most celebrated American freedoms. With each election cycle, every day citizens have the power to decide the leaders for the nation and thus the direction of the country. As great a power as this is, holding it in the hands of the people means that through the course of every election cycle, each candidate and lobby group is competing for the vote of every citizen.

There was a time when this process involved reason and thoughtful deliberation, yet anymore votes are won and lost by way of slander and smear campaigns, not to mention out and out lies. While every American cherishes the right to vote, most people I talk to cannot stand the political ads on our TV and radio and in our mailbox. By the time Election Day rolls around, it is safe to say that we are feeling "fed up".

One thing that the Christian can't help but notice during the election cycle is the stark contrast between the way business is conducted in the world and the way things are done in the church. All these attack ads and smear campaigns are evidence that the worldly playbook says "win at all costs". After all, the end justifies the means. If you have to break a few rules, tell a few lies it is all okay so long as you come out on top in the end.

The worldly playbook is built for a worldly kingdom. Whether Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, or independent, each party fight over the same thing: control of that earthly kingdom. In this kingdom, government is god and power is salvation. Christians know better.

The Lord reveals to us in His Word that government is good and it serves God's purpose of keeping the world in order but it cannot save us. Christians know that salvation will not be dressed in a navy blue suit and sit in an oval office, rather salvation was stripped bare, beaten and nailed to a cross.

Because our salvation is found in Jesus and because our Kingdom is of heaven and not of earth we are free from the stress and the strain of winning these earthly battles. While the world sees this election and can think only of all that is to be lost or gained, the Christian understands that that all the world is already passing. Our desire is not to save or be saved for the world, but to be saved and to save others from the world. We serve Jesus. We carry the gospel. We love our neighbor.

The election still has a few hours to go. It will be over soon. I for one, can't wait. We all will go to the polls and cast our vote but the victor, in the grand scheme of things really won't win much - just 4 short years of service in a limited office over a small nation on an insignificant place called earth. Ultimately God has all the power and he has given all authority to Jesus. And Jesus has loved you enough to die for you.

And so this sets the stage for you and me. Elections are a small blip on history's timeline. The work that God has called us to is eternal. We work for him and we serve him as he saves and preserves us for all time.

Audio from Pentecost 13 Mark 7:1-13

2012-08-26T22:29:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I totally ripped off Harrison's opening joke for his District Convention sermon. It worked for his theme, it worked for mine too. Other than that, here's the sermon for August 26.

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Pentecost 10 Sermon

2012-08-05T11:11:00.001-04:00

It would seem that as of this week, the new test of Christian orthodoxy has to do with whether or not you eat at ChikFilA. I am sure you have heard of the controversy. Dan Cathy, CEO of the Atlanta-based fast food chain, told a small obscure Christian Newspaper that he supports traditional marriage and all of a sudden he has been labeled as a hate-filled bigot and his restaurants are no longer welcome in at least 3 major cities around the country.

In response to these actions, supporters of free speech and the free exercise of religion showed up in droves this past Wednesday to give their patronage to the maligned restaurant chain. It was not unusual to wait in line at least an hour if not two. The restaurant drew protests on Friday from those supportive of the gay rights agenda. Clearly Chik Fil A has become the dividing line of the controversy and those who consider themselves defenders of Orthodox Christianity and orthodox constitutional America have a new favorite restaurant.

Yet one can’t help but wonder if Jesus wants more from his faithful few.

The community of faith and faithful belief was divided all these generations ago when our Lord himself walked the earth. They were divided by their allegiance to Jesus. Some sought to make him their king while others wanted to be rid of him, to never hear his name spoken out in the public square (or really even in private for that matter). Does that sound familiar to our world? Yet for those who considered themselves to be faithful to Jesus and to his cause, for those who were bold to speak, bold to listen, and bold to follow Jesus, the Lord, the Son of God, Jesus wanted more from them. Jesus urged them to great understanding. Jesus sought to push them, to move them beyond their public allegiance to private devotion and private understanding. Jesus sought to push them to faith.

In our text today, the orthodox Jesus followers came looking for Jesus. The Apostle John shows us that these believers came in search of their long awaited prophet, a repristinated Moses. Moses came with bread from heaven, food from the skies that filled their empty bellies and wowed them with great works and signs from God. The Lord worked through Moses and through Moses the people were saved from slavery and secured in the land promised to Abraham. And so now, all these generations later, the people were empty, they were hungry for a new prophet, a new Moses who would save them from slavery and fill them with food from heaven.

Enter the Lord… Jesus who teaches and heals and performs the signs associated with the office of prophet, who teaches the people and leads them. And the people took notice. This must be the long awaited prophet. This must be the promised salvation of the Lord’s people, Israel. He taught them on the hillside. He fed them with bread from heaven. They were ready to take him then and there and make them their king.

But Jesus didn’t come to be Israel’s king.

This story parallels our own. Ancient deliverance from oppression and foundation of a religious society. Contemporary controversy fueled by a secularly minded few. A people hungry for a leader to stand behind and stand up for. And Jesus is at the center.

Yet when the people thought to make Jesus their king – they saw how he fed the crowd 5000 strong with only a few loaves and fish – Jesus withdrew. He didn’t come to be Israel’s king. He hasn’t come to be America’s king. He isn’t fighting for cultures and societies. He isn’t fighting to uphold family values and traditional morals. Jesus doesn’t want to be the king in a kingdom that we have built, that we have established and created and defined. Jesus already is king. High King! Of Heaven no less. And the issue is not whether we call him King or if we make him King in our Kingdom. The issue is whether or not we are worthy to be called servants in his.

Whether you eat your chicken from ChikFilA, KFC, or even McNuggets at McDonalds – this food is earthly food. These kingdoms are earthly kingdoms and they are doomed to fall.

“Do not work for the food that perishes,” says Jesus, “but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”

The food that matters is the food that we receive from Jesus. The kingdom that matters is the kingdom that is ruled by Jesus. It is not that we fit Jesus into our kingdoms so that he thinks like we do and so that he joins our battles on our side. What matters is that we think like he does and we join his side.

His side is not traditional marriage and family values. It is not a Judeo Christian based morality. And, if we were honest we would say that is a good thing. Because traditional family values condemn us just as much as they condemn anybody else. We talk about traditional definitions of marriage. We talk about how the family is falling apart. But then we go out and participate in the things that tear apart the family. Did you know that divorce rates among Christians are virtually the same as they are among non-Christians? Did you know that unmarried Christian young people are just as likely to engage in sex as non-Christian young people? Did you know that Christian men and women are just as likely to use pornography as non-Christians? Are these family values?

Or we talk about the free exercise of religion as though it were an absolute value. Christians should be able to exercise their faith in the public square! How regularly do we exercise that faith in private? We have freedom to worship God as we choose, yet in spite of that great freedom, how regularly do we choose to do something else? All the things we fight for in public condemn us in private.

And so Jesus gives us a better way, a better work for us to do. Jesus said, “This is the work of God; that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Jesus gives us a better work to do; the work of God is faith. The work of God is that we believe in the one whom he has sent. The work of God is simply to confess that Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Son of man is Lord. It is to confess that he has saved you from your sin through his perfect and innocent death. And that because of his resurrection and ascension to heaven you will live under him in an eternal and heavenly kingdom. This is the work of Jesus. This is what Jesus commands for us to do.

And Jesus’ heavenly kingdom is a much better kingdom than any kingdom we could concoct. Earthly kingdoms fights for dominance and dominion, they go to war over earthly food and daily bread. God has those in abundance and he gives them out for free. The eyes of all look to the Lord and he gives them their food at the proper time. He opens his had to satisfy the desires of all living things.

Earthly kingdoms fight to set us free from those who would hurt us or oppress us, but only Jesus can truly set us free. There is no law that he has not fulfilled and no requirement from which he has not set us free. There is no enemy that he has not conquered.

The work of God is that we swear our allegiance to the one who came to die for the sins of the world. He does not command that we jump on board an earthly bandwagon or support and earthly cause. In fact, He commands that we die to this world, that we deny ourselves in this world, because this world is perishing and passing away. He commands that we lay it aside and leave it behind and in its place we bow our knees and our hearts to him.

Psalm 2 asks the question: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:1-6 ESV)

The Lord has set his king in heaven. He is the eternal king of an eternal kingdom. We are not worthy to be called his servants but he has called us to believe. Let us do the work of his heavenly kingdom.

Amen.

Should My Child See The Hunger Games

2012-05-03T16:33:00.000-04:00

If you have kids who happen to be in their adolescent to pre-teen age years, chances are he or she is somehow tapped in to the Hunger Games phenomenon. There is a movie that has been out for a little over a month that has earned hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. The book that the movie is based from has also sold millions of copies and is hard to get a hold of at the local library due to the long waiting lists. Kids are reading this book and seeing this movie. Parents have wondered if it is appropriate for their adolescent kids to go see it or to read it.

So why is there a question?

The Hunger Games is violent. The story is futuristic and dystopian, that is to say some time in the future the world has gotten worse. The heroine, Katniss Everdeen, lives in one of 12 districts that essentially functions as serfdoms where the residents are required to provide goods that are consumed in the chief city, Capitol. The means of suppression and control is a yearly event called the Hunger Games where each of the 12 servant districts must provide 2 children aged 12-18, a boy and a girl, to compete in a nationally televised fight to the death. The lone survivor/winner receives wealth and his or her district receives extra food for a year. The plot without a doubt is violent.

This might sound like an odd story line for a series of children's booksand you might be wondering why the series is popular. The story is well constructed and the plot is quickly paced and interesting. Where the story really shines is in the shaping of the characters themselves. The author, Suzanne Colllins, constructs likable characters that the reader can easily relate to and root for. If your kids have read it, ask them about Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Cinna, or President Snow; I am sure the will be able to tell you all about them like they know them personally. The Hunger Games is a well told story.

So why the concern?

As already mentioned, a fight to the death among children is a violent plot element. The thought of kids killing kids is stark and tragic. Katniss herself tells the story so you see the games through her perspective. You get to know the other characters through her experience with them. You feel her tragedy and anger and grief as she lives through this experience. Parents would be wise to gauge the level of maturity in their children to determine their preparedness to handle these themes.

There is a larger question here that involves the criterion used by parents when they allow their children to consume any type of media. Is violence of any kind appropriate? What about sexuality (a theme that the Hunger Games does bump up against at least in the book)? Should Christian families consume any such media? There are a few things to consider. The first is the individual child's ability to process such themes and images. Studies show that violent images in TV, movies and video games increase arousal (especially in boys) and the likelihood of aggressive behavior.

Often gratuitously violent media creates an image that aggressiveness and violence is more manly and more desirable and can therefore have a negative overall effect on behavior.understood within its appropriate context is likewise a means to understand and appreciate this good gift of God.

Similar things can be said about sexual images and themes in media. And just like violent themes can affect behavior, likewise sexually themed media can alter a child's perspective on what they understand to be "normal" and "acceptable" behavior. Caution is to be urged.

So how should parents set their standards?

Sometimes we want to take a zero tolerance policy. No sex. No violence. Period. To hold to such a policy would mean that would need to lock ourselves away in a cave and never come out, not even to read our Bibles (which contains examples of both). Additionally we are apt to create new laws for ourselves that God has not written hoping that we can make ourselves holy and righteous by means of what we do and do not do, of what we see and do not see. This leads us down the path of legalism. A Christian is righteous by faith for the sake of Christ and in love seeks to obey God's commands in the Bible. Christians do not make up lots of extra rules to try to make themselves holy.

So what is a Christian to do?

The world is a violent place. Turn on the news, open a book or a magazine and you will see instances of violence. Likewise the world is a sexualized place. Rather than learning to hide from it, Christians and Christian children need to learn discernment. Again the world is a violent place. Scripture teaches Christians how God deals withviolence - by the violent death of His Son on the cross. Scripture teaches Christians where and when violence is appropriate and necessary (Romans 13:4) and what to do when someone reacts violently toward you (Matthew 5:39). Therefore, some violent themes are beneficial. Experiencing them by way of our media exposes us to the violence in the world and helps us to know how to make sense of it.

Other times violence is bad. Other times violence is portrayed for the sheer pleasure of it; the enjoyment of watching someone in pain or enduring a gruesome death. This is wrong. People are made in the image of God. To enjoy suffering and torture is to enjoy the destruction of God's image.

Similarly with sexual themes. God made sex. Sex is a good gift that God has given for the benefit and mutual love of a husband and wife. To consider it as an aspect of human relationships that should be

A high level of discernment is needed here by Christians and Christian parents because our society and culture has adopted so many harmful opinions about sex. We are led to believe that sex is "just sex" - a recreational activity with zero complications or consequences. It's not. Sex is a lot like fire: keep fire in the fireplace and it warms the house, take it out of the place that was made to contain it and it can burn down the homestead. Much of the portrayal of sex and sexuality is purely gratuitous and dishonors the good gift of God and treats those it portrays as mere objects instead of one made in God's image.

So let's get back to The Hunger Games?

Is there violence? Yes. Katniss as the heroine does fight and she does kill. Note that her acts of violence are different. Some kill for sport. Katniss does not. She kills twice; once in defense of a friend and once to end the suffering of an enemy. This might introduce a good discussion: was Katniss right to kill Cato? What about sex? The Hunger Games contains no sex. That said, Katniss does struggle to understand the romantic feelings she experiences as she finds herself caught between two male characters. (Again, this might be a good opportunity for discussion between parents and their kids) There is a very minor sexual tone to these engagements that parents, especially of younger children, should be aware of.

Parents need to learn discernment when answering questions of appropriate media consumption for their children. There are many angles to consider; from the appropriateness of the material itself, to the readiness of their child to handle such material. A discerning parent would want to teach discernment to their child. This would mean that parents must know what media their children are consuming. It is always easiest to draw lines in black and white, but parents must take advantage of situations that are presented and use them as opportunities to teach their child

to discern for themselves what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong.

Proverbs says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when heis old he will not depart from it."

Being a parent is your Christian duty. God gave you that job. God gave you to your children. Teach them. They will be blessed by it.

His Body has been Raised. Your's will be too.

2012-04-10T10:38:00.001-04:00

For the last few thousand years the Church has confessed to believe in the “resurrection of the dead”. We confess it in the ecumenical creeds. The Apostle Paul teaches it. Jesus himself teaches it. But, as he does with every other doctrine or Word from God, the devil wants to take that away. The devil has attacked this word of God in several different ways.

To confess the resurrection of the dead is to confess that God has honored the body. We can see in the Bible just how greatly God values his creation of our bodies. In Genesis 2, when God first gave us a body he implemented a very deliberate process, forming Adam out of clay and then breathing into him. This was different from how he made the other bodies – animals and fish and birds. With them he simply spoke them into existence but he honored the human race with a very deliberate and “hands on” approach to our creation.

Through the Old Testament we can see that God cares for the bodies of his people. When he gives the law to the Israelites through Moses he adds provisions for the body. When he leads his people through the wilderness he feeds their bodies and he makes sure that they are clothed. Their shoes don’t wear out and their garments don’t wear thin. (Deuteronomy 29:5)

With the New Testament and through the Epistles we can see God’s care for the body. The sacraments are not just spiritual but they are visible and involve the body – baptism wets the forehead, the Eucharist feeds the soul and the body with spiritual but also physical food.

The greatest sign of God's honor for our bodies is the fact that He himself has one. When he decided to save us he went out and got for himself a body. He was incarnate. He was en-fleshed. He took for himself even those aspects to having a body that we might find less honorable (diapers, trips to the toilet, acne) and he honored our bodies by himself engaging in them. His honorable body even died, as our dishonorable bodies do.

But then Christ was raised. Paul calls him the first fruits from among those who have died. After our sins were paid for, Jesus took back his body and glorified it so that now the One who sits enthroned in heaven has a body. He is a flesh and blood human being just the same way that we are.

Satan wants to dishonor what God's Word teaches us that God has honored. Satan does a lot of things to dishonor our bodies. There are lots of examples that we see in our own contemporary society. They are subtle attacks on the resurrection.

God defends our bodies in the commandments. Satan undermines these commandments to dishonor our bodies. God defends our bodies from being dishonored by violence in the 5^th Commandment. Satan responds to this honor by inciting our culture to glorify violence. Explicit gore and gruesomeness are top dollar entertainment (Saw I, II, III, IV etc.). Bodies of little babies are dismembered and discarded as part of the abortion practice. Bodies of adults are euthanized when people have determined they are no longer useful.

God also defends and honors our bodies in the 6^th Commandment. Satan dishonors our bodies by teaching us that sex is just sex and the body is just a commodity to be bought and sold and used up. This is the message given in the "hook up" culture, in prostitution, in pornography. Paul reminds us that our bodies should not be united to a prostitute because God has honored them by making them the temple of his Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

I will inch out on a limb a little and make a claim. I believe that the trend of tattooing is an example of Satan's attack against the resurrection and against the body. To begin with, much of the tattooing seems to have neo pagan influence - many of the designs are tribal or naturalist. Neo-paganism is dualistic in nature. It emphasized the spirit at the expense of the body. In addition, there is physical violence and pain that is endured through these decorative procedures that becomes addictive according to many who have submitted them. Is there also a connection between the sex industry, prostitution and pornography and the tattooing? I think so. I believe that at the heart of this trend is a notion that the body isn’t important – it’s just meat and skin. It can and perhaps even should be decorated and improved. I believe there is a connection to Satan’s attack on the body, especially his attack on the 6^th commandment and the 5^th commandment and today’s neo pagan cultural influence.

Sometimes even within the church Christians are tempted to overlook the importance of the body. Jeff Gibbs has observed that Christian funerals often leave those dead in Christ in heaven when they neglect to preach the resurrection. Overly spiritualized sacraments that neglect the forgiveness of sins in the eating and drinking and in the baptizing neglect God’s care for our bodies. This leaves the door open for Satan to sneak in and disrupt the Church through those egregious and more obvious cultural temptations.

The Lord honors our bodies. He cares for our bodies. He made them. He gave a body to each one of us. He feeds and clothes those bodies. He has given his law to defend and protect those bodies. He has taken a body for himself so that he could use his to die for ours. His has been raised so that ours can also be raised. Satan wants to take this away. The Word of God won’t let him. The better we study that Word the better equipped we will to defend the thing that God has determined is worth dying to save.

2012-03-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

I adapted this sermon and preached it at St Paul Chuckery this past Sunday. It is from the book Selected Sermons from Norman Nagel. Follow the link to buy the book. It will be well worth what you spend to have in your library.

Here is audio if you want to listen.

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In our reading we have the third and last prediction of the passion, the fifth Sunday in Lent, Judica, which comes from the Introit, "Vindicate (or Judge) me O God." Who dares to pray such a prayer? Jesus does. Through Lent we have been following Jesus toward Calvary. Our Judica Gospel tells of the last stretch of that journey. "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem" Who dares to take such a journey? Jesus does.

The Disciples hung back in foreboding and fear. They were amazed and afraid. Twelve disciples. Twelve tribes of Israel. He who leads the disciples is the Lord of Israel, just as the statement of His presence, the bright cloud, led Israel on her journey to the Promised Land, which was entered by way of Jericho. That is where Bartimaeus is given his sight. He sees as the twelve failed to see.

Jesus told the twelve, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles." (Mark 10:33) The twelve did not get it. They did not see. What blinded them was their lust for power and the fear that they might lose out or lose their lives. First James and John, then the others, were indignant that they might only get third or fourth place or even - perish the thought - twelfth place, the bottom spot. They were looking to get the top spots. "One on your right hand, and the other on your left hand in your glory." (Mark 10:37) The two brothers just wanted to keep in in the family. The fight about who gets the right hand spot can wait until later, so long as its one of them. When we see that sort of thing going on today - nepotism, influence peddling, heads rolling, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, jostling for the power spots, simony, who gets to call the shots in the church and who has the greatest influence and clout in the voters meeting - when we see that sort of thing going on it just makes us want to puke in disgust.

Jesus does not puke. He continues on his way to Jerusalem. And he draws us along with Him, which means leaving all that putrid and enslaving stuff behind. How gently Jesus draws the disciples on. "You do not know what your are asking," He tells the brothers. The place is at his right hand and at his left. We know who gets those places when Jesus is crowned, proclaimed king, and enthroned, as John says. Those at his right hand and at his left are those who are crucified with him. All three of them are numbered with the transgressors.

One of the criminals who hung next to Jesus on the cross mocked Him, "If you are the Christ save yourself and us." (Luke 23:39) The other rebuked the thief saying, "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." (Luke 23:41) The just for the unjust, Jesus is judged as the one who bears the iniquity of us all. He drinks the cup of God's wrath on sin, before which he shuddered at Gethsemane, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you; take away this cup from me. Never the less not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36) Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief when him made himself an offering to for sin.

"For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18) Those words are Peter's words, preaching in his first Epistle. Yet In Gethsemane Peter also slept, "For their eyes were heavy," (Mark 14:40). Then he thought power, (swinging a sword), would help Jesus. At Caesarea Philippi, Peter spoke for Satan. Peter wanted no crucified Christ. In today's Gospel he is indignant with James and John for trying to get the top spots. Jesus had a long way to pull them when he, walking ahead, went up to Jerusalem. There is death for them in that Lenten journey.

Jesus speaks of the cup that is His to drink at his baptism, his death that is His to do. Are you able? We are able. "Yes" says Jesus, "they will be yours, and that will put an end to your worrying about who sits at the right hand and who sits at the left. When yours are the cup and the baptism, you will no longer carry on as those who are not Mine. Those who are not Mine think of themselves great by how many people they can push around, get on top of, lording it over them, laying it on them from above, great by how many you can make serve you. That is not where Jesus does His thing. Jesus is at the bottom of the pile. The whole weight of it comes down on him. He is one lump with all sinners. All sins' enslavement He is slave to - judged, damned.

Jesus spoke of it as giving his life as a ransom for many. Ransomer is Redeemer, go'el and the price is his life. For many, as in Isaiah 53, Jesus speaks His disciples into that many, as He does also when He gives His body to eat and his blood to drink into our mouths this morning. His blood is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Our liturgy follows Luke at this point and says, "For you". The phrase "for you" evokes faith. Yes, for me too. We say, "Amen" as Jesus gives into us His body and blood. Those to whom our Lord gives His body and blood can pray, "Judge me O God" If he tosses you out, he is tossing out the body and blood of his son - and He cannot do that.

God did the judgment on you when He did the judgment on your sins on Jesus. That death for your sin was given you. It is yours at Baptism. His cup, His baptism - yours. There was a putting of you to death in your baptism by words and water and a new "you" was born, a you no longer enslaved to sin. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20). It is no dead inert stuff that the Lord gives into your mouth this morning. As he forgives and enlivens you with his body and his blood, his body and blood are alive in you in the same way when he spoke of them as a ransom for many, for you, not to be served but to serve.

Amen.

Vocation and Sport

2012-03-14T11:32:00.000-04:00

It's March, the time of year that Michigan State Basketball fans start to salivate and this year more than ever. After all, Michigan State is coming off a great season as Big Ten co-champions and conference tournament champions. They are headed to the NCAA tournament as a number one seed with expectations high for a return trip to the Final Four.

What a difference a year makes. Last season the Spartans were loaded with talent. Last season they were preseason favorites to return to the Final Four and maybe even win a national championship. But it didn't happen, far from it. Instead it was a season marred with disappointments. They barely made the tournament and bowed out with a first round loss.

Compare that to this season. The Spartans started the year un-ranked, were picked to finish somewhere in the middle of the conference. They didn’t appear on anybody’s radar even as a dark horse. But then the season began; two losses to North Carolina and Duke, and then 15 straight wins, a conference championship, and hope for a national championship. What an amazing turn around!

But that's college basketball.

Then again, that's human nature.

In comparing the two seasons, the biggest problem with last year’s team had nothing to do with their talent pool. It had everything to do with performance. The team was virtually intact from a 2010 team that went to the final four. They should have been awesome. But they were not. They were a huge disappointment; and the biggest problem was sin.

Now you don't typically hear sports analysts discuss sin as a factor in the outcome of a basketball game. But it’s there. And just like it affects everything else, it also affects basketball. It affects baseball, football, tennis, track & field, downhill skiing, and the luge. Why? Because sin affects sinners and the people who play sports are sinners.

So what does that have to do with the Spartans? They had a roster full of sinners. And that sin got in the way. It’s well documented. Players were dismissed mid-season for "being a bad teammate". Locker room squabbles led to on court performance issues. Star players disappeared at crucial points in the game. And sin was at the heart of all of it.

Sin messes with your head. It hurts your confidence. It creates poor team chemistry. It makes it difficult to come back from “adversity”. It does all of these things because it insinuates selfishness pride, greed, shame, lust, anger, all into the minds and hearts and psyche of each individual athlete.

Here's how it works. Let’s say a point guard steps up to the free throw line after a foul for a one & one. There can be any number of things that go through his mind. Much of it is psychological, but it is also spiritual. He steps up to that line not just as an athlete, his Old Adam steps up to the line with him. The devil is not far behind. He experiences pride and lust for glory, anger, covetousness, jealousy, greed, all pulling at him to succeed so he earns glory and fame and power. It feeds his ego and motivates him so that nothing and no one stand in his way. It also shakes his confidence. It hovers around with fear and anxiety. It diminishes his worth and value apart from his success and threatens him with failure. He is eager for success and opportunity and at the same time he fights with fear. Athletic competition is a prime outlet for the Old Adam. It pushes him out from hiding and can encourage bad behavior, just think Shaq & Kobe, Ndamukong Suh, or Cincinnati-Xavier. Each athlete (or team of athletes) is a sinner and this sin has an impact on his or her athletic performance.

So back to the Spartans. Does this mean that they had a bad season because they were sinners? In part. Are they winning this season because they are no longer sinners? Of course not. The Spartans are winning because they are playing together as a team. Sometimes the law can have that affect. The law motivates sometimes by threats (a hard week of practice, getting kicked off the team) sometimes by reason (hard work's cause to success's affect is solid logic) sometimes by emotion. The Spartans are hard, going all out and focused on their goal. They are playing with emotion, with love for the game, and with each person understanding and accepting his role. With each person looking out for his teammate. This is good when it works. It is much easier to do and to sustain when you are winning. Losing a few times can really make the wheels a fall off that good behavior.

There is another way. For the Christian there is hope for addressing this temptation and sin. For good or bad I am or have been an athlete. I have competed at the high school level and at the college level and more recently at the recreational level. That is never to say that I was very good. But I played. I participated. And I have experienced these things first hand. I will personally say that an understanding of life under the cross and Christian vocation made me a better teammate, a more consistent performer, and less prone to the attacks of Satan. It all has to do with Christian freedom

I am a sinner. I experienced in game temptations to covet, glory, lust, greed, conceit, selfishness and pride. I experienced the fear of failure that can cause an athlete to disappear in a game. I have had competitors try to get in my head. Understanding myself to be a redeemed child of God enabled me to call those sins what they are, they are sins. Sure basketball is just a game but it is also an opportunity for sin and temptation. Confessing those sin gives the right diagnosis so that you can apply the right cure.

The right cure is the gospel. Christ on the cross forgives those sins. Yes I am tempted with them and yes I commit them. But yes Jesus forgives them. He washes me clean from them so they are gone. What's even better is that as a baptized child of God my sinner is matched to a saint. My God given saint is free from sin and no longer mastered by temptation. That saint is free from fear and free from the devil and is not enslaved by sin and temptation.

I have played against dirty opponents. Their anger and hotheadedness tends to rub off on other players. But as a Christian I know that Jesus died for my desire to make the game about him and me. I also know that Jesus loves him and died for him and so I can love him too. I can play the game without losing my composure.

My understanding of Christian Vocation is also a great boon that pays off in athletic competition. It makes me a better teammate. On every team, every player has their role. These roles are defined by their ability and by the game plan set by the coach. I have been the go-to guy who needs to take the shot. I have also been the support player who needs to play defense and rebound. I have been the bench warmer who needs to cheer the team on and provide a moment's rest for the guys on the floor. Each is important. Forcing a shot because I want points on my stat sheet is selfish. It doesn't help the team (my neighbor) so I shouldn't do it. Hogging the ball or showboating doesn't help the team so I shouldn't do it. Playing half hearted defense doesn't help the team so I should step up and make the plays that need to be made; hustle, move my feet, take a charge all for the good of the team. Whatever my role on the team I should play it as a servant to the other members of the team. My Old Adam says no. The Gospel sets me free to say yes, to fill my role on the team.

I love college basketball. As a college basketball fan, I love Coach Izzo. I think he's a great coach. I love the way he coaches and the teams he puts together. I love the way his teams thrive on hard work and 110% effort. But that's not vocation. It's a system built by reason and logic and hard work. It's a system that works and produces success.

The doctrine of vocation is not a system. It's not built for NCAA tournament success. It's God's gift to sinners. God calls them out of slavery to their Old Adam and calls them to freedom and to service. Vocation doesn't give skills where there aren't any (I can personally attest to that). But it does call sinners to serve their neighbors (and teammates and opponents) as forgiven saints of God. It gives the Christian athlete freedom and brings back the joy of God's good gift of sport.

Gospel or Relationship: You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'

2012-03-06T15:21:00.001-05:00

Lutherans are about as warm and fuzzy as Statler and Waldorf. In case these names are not familiar, they are the theater critics/hecklers from the Muppet Show who like nothing and criticize everything. While light hearted comedy would take place on the Muppet stage these two stiffs sat in the balcony pointing and laughing at the ridiculous frivolity.

Sound Lutheran? Maybe clichéd Lutheran. But perhaps there is a kinder, gentler Lutheran that doesn’t get the same recognition that your stereotypical Statler & Waldorfian Lutherans receive.

Perhaps the caricature is rooted in the contrast. After all, Lutheran Christians are not usually thought of as “touchy-feely”. They are thought to be cold and aloof, especially when compared to what you might find in your average American Evangelical worship center. What you might find there is most likely to be categorized as what I like to call a Gospel of Relationship.

So what is the Gospel of Relationship?

It is not the Gospel – or at least not the Biblical or Christ-centered, cross-focused Gospel. That Gospel is all about Jesus. It is about what Jesus has done to save sinners from sin, death, and Satan. The Biblical Gospel is about God’s gift of His Son to die for us on the cross so that we might receive God’s gift of eternal salvation and avoid our much deserved punishment in hell. The Biblical Gospel is about that gift delivered to you through God’s Word and His Sacraments.

The Gospel of Relationship is about your relationship with God. Now this is tricky, because the Christian does have a relationship with God. That relationship involves emotions such as love, joy, excitement, and even elation. These emotions are good and they are a natural response to God’s love for us. But that is what they are, a response. The emotions are not the sum and substance of the relationship; likewise the relationship is not the sum and substance of the Gospel. In the Gospel of Relationship, instead of proclaiming the Christ centered, cross focused Gospel of Scripture the proclamation is all about relationships.

There is a view of relationships popular in the secular world today that teaches us that relationships are all about feelings. Making a marriage work is all about romance. Romance is all about an emotional experience. The emotional experience is all about intimacy and openness and vulnerability and chemistry. If you have those things with another person, then you have romance, then you have a relationship that will supposedly last and stand the test of time.

As one who has been married for 15 years, romance and chemistry and intimacy and openness are great. They are an exciting aspect to a relationship with another person. But as great as those things are, you can’t build a lasting relationship on them. After 15 years most of my mojo has worn off and my wife has heard all of my best jokes. While I might think my jokes are still funny, they are hardly enough to keep our marriage intact; especially when it comes time to get up in the middle of the night because the 3 year old has nightmares or the 8 year old has a tummy ache. Likewise, my mojo won’t cut it when it comes time to pay medical bills or taxes. There has to be something more, a stronger glue that holds us together than just simply an emotional spark. If human relationships based on feelings are shaky, how much more so will be that relationship with God?

Relational Worship
If you want to see this gospel of relationship in action, the best place to find it is in the worship service. After all faith is as worship does (lex orandi lex credendi). The Gospel of Relationship is on full display in the worship service of those evangelical churches. If relationships are all about intimacy and feelings, then the relationship with God must also be about intimacy and feelings.

Consider the music. Much of today’s Contemporary Christian Music can be categorized as love ballads to Jesus. Cartman from South Park has observed that you can take a love ballad, remove the name of your girlfriend, swap in the name Jesus and it would work as a contemporary worship song. The formula works in reverse as well. Take Jesus out of your favorite contemporary worship song and insert the name of your girlfriend and the song probably works just as well. Consider the lyrics to this song by Casting Crowns:

Your love is extravagant

Your friendship, it is intimate

I feel like moving to the rhythm of Your grace

Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place

Your love is extravagant

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin

No greater love have I ever known You considered me a friend

Capture my heart again

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin

No greater love have I ever known; You considered me a friend

Capture my heart again

Your love is extravagant

Your friendship, it is intimate

The song contains a weak allusion to the cross with the mention of sin. But even if I left that in all I would have to do is replace Christ with the name of my wife and the rest could stay the same.

The Gospel of Relationship is also apparent in the person who is leading the worship service, that is to say the pastor or worship leader. Having the right guy is absolutely important. He has to have the right personality, the right wit and humor, the ability to work the crowd and make them feel at ease and welcome. He has to be the poster boy family man (or woman) who has his (or her) family life all together. The family has to look picture perfect, like a JC Penny catalog. If this seems too cynical, picture an frumpy, overweight, middle aged balding guy with a dull personality and jokes that fall flat filling the role of pastor or worship leader in a mega church. It wouldn’t ever work. The pastor has to be the model for the relationship. He has to look and act and be the part.

Sometimes the Gospel of Relationship also gets shoehorned into the liturgy, and with disastrous results. The liturgy is adapted to fit this new theology. Custom creeds and confessions of sin are home baked to reflect this relational gospel.

Take the creeds. The ecumenical creeds don't quite fit so new ones are written. They reflect a new gospel. In this new gospel it is less important what God does and more important how we relate to what god does or how we relate to each other.

Take this creed taken from the United Methodists.

We believe in God, Creator of the world; and in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of creation. We believe in the Holy Spirit, through whom we acknowledge God’s gifts, and we repent of our sin in misusing these gifts to idolatrous ends.

We affirm the natural world as God’s handiwork and dedicate ourselves to its preservation, enhancement, and faithful use by humankind.

We joyfully receive for ourselves and others the blessings of community, sexuality, marriage, and the family.

We commit ourselves to the rights of men, women, children, youth, young adults, the aging, and people with disabilities; to improvement of the quality of life; and to the rights and dignity of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities.

We believe in the right and duty of persons to work for the glory of God and the good of themselves and others and in the protection of their welfare in so doing; in the rights to property as a trust from God, collective bargaining, and responsible consumption; and in the elimination of economic and social distress.

We dedicate ourselves to peace throughout the world, to the rule of justice and law among nations, and to individual freedom for all people of the world.

We believe in the present and final triumph of God’s Word in human affairs and gladly accept our commission to manifest the life of the gospel in the world. Amen.

There are definitely a number of different theological dynamics in that creed. But you can't help but notice that much of its underpinnings have to do with the relationships of men, women, children, youth... community, sexuality, and so on and so forth.

If relationship is found in the way we define the faith, then it certainly has an impact on those thing we do that interfere with that faith. It has an impact on the way we understand sin. When there is a confession of sins, those confessions are less about Biblical themes of iniquity contrasted with God's sacrifice and propitiation. They more about hurts we have caused, journey’s we have taken, things we feel in our hearts. While it is true that sin interrupts relationships and takes away closeness in those relationships, that is hardly the most necessary thing to confess when we are face to face with God. Our biggest problem is not that someone has been hurt or disrespected or treated poorly. Our biggest problem is that we have disobeyed the commands of the Almighty God.

An important thing to take notice of is that the solution for human hurts to human relationships is always a man made restoration. If my biggest sin is that I was selfish with my wife, then I can restore that relationship by buying her flowers or writing her a card or saying "I'm sorry." The false assumption is that we have the power to create Christian Fellowship through our love and our forgiveness. That's not how the Bible says it works. The parable of the Unforgiving Servant from Matthew 18 demonstrates that our forgiveness is always and only fueled by the forgiveness we have received. Our restoration with each other only truly happens when we have been restored to Christ. It is as we keep our focus on what Christ has done and the debt that he has cancelled that we are able to be restored to each other. This relationship Gospel makes it all about you and me (and Jesus might get an Oscar for a supporting role).

The historic, Christ-centered, Cross-focused Gospel is a different gospel. It is a better gospel. It's better because it is all about what God has done and does for you in Christ. God himself in all his power and majesty and holiness and faithfulness shows up every Lord’s Day to care for, protect, serve, and love his very own people. This Gospel is sacramental and therefore it is sure and objective. Christians have a rock solid sign and guarantee of God's love every Sunday regardless of the feelings. It is Christ centered worship. It may or may not be “intimate” or relational.

This is why Historic Christ centered Cross focused Lutheranism is truly the Gospel of Relationship. The Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners is the only way to a truly restored relationship first with God and then with one another. It is in the gospel that we have community and fellowship (koinonia) and love (agape). Jesus fixes our relationship with him by way of the cross and then by the outward signs of the Gospel found in the means of grace. With the Jesus Gospel there is no doubting fellowship with God. It is there in the supper. There is no doubting God's forgiveness it is there in Baptism. There is no fear that perhaps some of our sins have not been forgiven because when you privately confess them to your pastor he has attached Christ's forgiveness directly to them in the absolution. The forgiveness that Christ gives for sure undoes the lies of the Devil and then drives away your bad conscience that used to have you living in fear of your guilt and sin. You can approach God's throne of Grace in confidence and then you can approach your neighbor in love. When your neighbor sins against you, you can truly forgive him because as much as it hurts you can look to the cross and see your own forgiveness and then pass that on to your neighbor. Without this, the relationships we might build are just a dim or hollow or a complete sham. Without this gospel we are left scrambling to find other ways to make them work with things like Love Dares or Sexperiments.

The true Gospel doesn't need these any gimics. It doesn't rely on personal enchantment or chemistry or wit or fresh thinking. It doesn't need a 40 day long program to make it work. The Gospel does what it does because God says it does it. It makes us alive. It refreshes us with God's love and then it creates in us love for our neighbor. The true Gospel is a gospel of relationship but it is God's work and God's effort and God guarantee.

Of Quarterbacks and Character

2012-02-10T11:14:00.001-05:00

I was in the car listening to ESPN radio the other day. The announcer had some statistical data comparing Kyle Ortom and Tim Tebow. Based on his data he was making the point that Orton was actually better quarterback than Tim Tebow. He had an overall better pass completion percentage and a better quarterback rating. This seems to me to be an oversimplification of the data. Sure maybe Kyle Orton has a better overall rating. But I would be interested to see a more specific analysis of the information. How do those completion ratings change in high-pressure situations? Do the quarterbacking decisions result in points on the scoreboard when it matters most and when the game is on the line? I am not a football expert and the tale of the tape might reveal something different but it seems to me that Tim Tebow has something that most quarterbacks don't. An ability to perform at his best when he needs it most. To be fair, it does matter who we are comparing him to. He's not an elite quarterback like Tom Brady or Drew Brees; that seems to be self-evident. But does he offer a better chance to win then Kyle Orton? I think he does. I think he possesses something intangible and immeasurable. Tim Tebow is a fierce competitor. When the game is on the line he finds a way to make plays. He doesn't ever give up. He keeps fighting until the last whistle blows. I think this is the character that he possesses that makes him so popular. I think this is what ESPN sports analysts don't understand. In a world of high priced sports athletes who only are interested in themselves Tim Tebow stands for something greater than himself. He sees professional football not as a means to promote himself and make himself wealthy, instead he sees his position as an NFL quarterback as an opportunity to help others. He gives sick kids free tickets to watch him play. He uses his huge salary to build hospitals in the Philippines. He talks about being grateful for the opportunity to play a game instead of promoting his own talent. In a world of athletes who only talk about themselves and leave their team behind in the interest of making the most money Tim Tebow is a breath of fresh air. And I think Tim Tebow is a reminder for all those sportscasters of exactly what they are not. Selfless. Kind. Generous. Not self seeking not overly impressed with himself. The mass media wants Tim Tebow to fail. They criticized him. They tear him down, all because his greatest success is a reminder for them of their greatest failure. Tim Tebow is a role model. He might not be the greatest passer the NFL has ever seen, but he is certainly a better person than what the NFL has seen in quite some time. Perhaps his most ardent critics aught to take a page from his play book. And while he may not be great isn't all that bad either. And in the meantime he is given the city of Denver something worthwhile to cheer about

Sermon on the Lord's Prayer - 3rd and 4th petitions

2012-01-06T11:34:00.000-05:00

This is a preview of this coming Sunday's sermon (January 8) that I will preach at St. Paul Chuckery. We are beginning 2012 with a series on the Lord's Prayer. Enjoy!

Grace mercy and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Here we now consider the poor bread basket, the necessaries of our body and of the temporal life.”

Today in our ongoing series on the Lord’s Prayer we consider the 3^rd Petition as well as the 4^th. Thy Will be done and Give us this day. We have begun with the bread. We have begun with the 4^th.

In the 4^th Petition we pray for bread, but this prayer is for much more than just mere bread. Bread is only the finished product. It is that thing that we need to eat and to live. But bread doesn’t appear all by itself. Before there can be bread there must be someone to bake it, there must be flour and grain and eggs and sugar, there must be a farmer to grow and to harvest the grain, cattle and chickens for milk and eggs, land to plant the seed, sunshine and rain to make it grow. Daily bread is much more than just a prayer for bread. IT is a prayer for everything that goes in to making and preparing that bread. It involves all of commerce and all of life. This simple prayer is a prayer that God would provide all of those things as much as we need them. We pray that God would support us in our earthly and physical life.

Last week we mentioned that the prayer that God’s Kingdom come was not a prayer for our election cycle – God’s Kingdom is not of this earth, so a prayer for God’s Kingdom has nothing to do with who is president in Washington, Beijing, Moscow, Baghdad or Tehran. But, here in the 4^th Petition good government is included. (we can’t after all make a living and eat our bread in peace unless there is a government to help us protect it. God provides this. God takes care of us, of his world and his whole creation by creating our various stations in life: bakers and farmers and presidents and autoworkers and soldiers and teachers and mothers & fathers. He gives each station each office for our good and then he calls various ones of us to fill those stations. Tom, you bake bread; Marsha, you be a nurse to bandage and heal; Al, you go farm – plant and harvest; Jill, go paint and draw – and since you’re so good at it teach others to do it!

It’s God’s world, God’s creation. He makes it. He keeps it running. He enlists us and calls us to participate in this work together with him.

When you, the Christian pray this prayer you do not simply pray it for yourself – Lord I want my pantry full. You pray this prayer for all people, for your neighbor. Notice that the prayer is not singular. Give me this day my daily bread. It is profoundly plural. Us and Our! We pray not just for ourselves but for each other. Lord you have blessed me with more than I need, but I have noticed that my neighbor has a need. You pray for your neighbor and for that need. And if you are going to pray for it, you also should help to fill it.

Remember the words of James in chapter 2 of his epistle. What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace be warm and well fed.” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith, if it does not have works is dead.” (James 2:14-17)

Remember the preaching of John the Baptist? “Whoever has two coats is to share with him who has none. Whoever has food is to do likewise.”

Even as we pray that God would fill us it is our duty to fill others.

So we pray this prayer on behalf of our neighbor. But we also pray this prayer against Satan. Luther says that “for all his thought and desire is to deprive us of all that we have from God and to hinder it. He is not satisfied to obstruct and destroy spiritual government by leading souls astray with his lies and power. He also prevents and hinders the stability of all government and honorable, peaceable relations on the earth.” [LC III p 80]

Wherever there is dissention and disagreement know that the devil is at work. Wherever there is want and poverty and need, know that the devil is at work.

“If it were in his power and our prayer (next to God) did not prevent him, we would not keep a straw in the field a penny in the house, yes even our life for an hour.” [LC III p 81]

In the 3^rd Petition our Lord teaches us to pray, “Thy will be done.”

I will warn you dear Christians, think twice before you pray this prayer.

This first petition that we have covered is one that we can readily agree to pray and eagerly get behind. Lord give me bread, preserve my wealth and health and stability. While you’re at it do the same for my neighbor. We like that prayer, but this next one – the one that comes directly before it – Thy will be done – that is a terrifying prayer.

It’s terrifying because it means you have to die.

The Small Catechism tells us that the devil, the world and our sinful flesh get in the way of God’s will. They do not want God’s Kingdom to come or his name to be kept holy and so they fight against it. You are on the devils side in this fight. You might not agree. You might not care to hear that. But it is true. The Catechism says that it is. St Paul says it is. “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)

The Apostle John says the same thing. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

In order for God’s will truly to be done. In order for God to really and completely and totally have his way with you, it is necessary that you die. It is necessary that your will, your priorities, your aspirations, your pursuits, your pleasures, your achievements to be set aside. And there are many of them. Some of them are temporal – careers, personal records and achievements, family goals, financial goals. These become gods that take the place of the One God. Some of these goal are even spiritual goals – your commitment, your goodness, your effort to do the right thing, your rightness and righteousness ,your prayer life! The Christian does not look at herself and say, “I need to be a better Christian, I need to be a more devout Christian. I need to pray more, be more sincere, be more faithful, be a better husband or wife or sister of brother.” The Christian looks to Jesus and simply prays, Lord may your will be done with me. And if you are to do better, to know more, to grow more deeply, God will do it.

God’s Kingdom first came to you when He first gave you His Name. Our Lord fulfilled the first two petitions – Hallowed be thy Name and thy Kingdom come – when you were baptized. He gave you his name through His Word and according to Faith he made you an heir of His Kingdom. The Gospel has come to you and made you a Christian. And that’s just it. That’s where your death began – you died to yourself and to your sinful flesh and to your own quest for wealth and power and glory – to you own will on the day that you were baptized.

Paul writes in Romans 6:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:3-11 ESV)

In the Large Catechism Luther writes, “In God’s Kingdom, although we have prayed for the greatest need – for the Gospel, faith, and the Holy Spirit, that He may govern us and redeem us from the devil’s power – we must also pray that God’s will be done. For there will be strange events if we are to abide God’s will. We shall have to suffer many thrusts and blows on that account from everything that seeks to oppose and prevent the fulfillment of the first two petitions.” [LC III p 61]

So your death that began at your baptism and is God’s Will for overcoming your will is accompanied by trials, by struggles, by temptations. Our sinful flesh always wants these things to be gone as soon as possible. Our sinful flesh wants to return too quickly to the 4^th petition where God gives us bread and peace and prosperity. That is the god we want. But that god is a false God. Jesus calls you to die. Jesus calls you to take up your cross and follow him. Jesus calls you to postpone present glory for the sake of that which is still to come. Heaven. Un-spoiled peace. Unspoiled prosperity. And more than just bread – a feast.

The Christian faith is a faith that is lived in the present with an eye to future. We live today, but in the hope of tomorrow. The gifts of today can seem to sparkle and shine but they will fade when compared to the future hope of eternity. Lord get us to that day. Give us bread for today. But as far as tomorrow, as far as forever is concerned – may your will be done and not mine.

Amen.

Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T11:05:00.002-05:00

The other night my kids watched one of the latest holiday children's specials that are on network tv this time of year. They were watching Kung Fu Panda. As they watched one things that stood out to me was the fact that the special never mentioned what holiday it was that they were celebrating. They were celebrating "the holiday" and getting ready for "the winter feast". There was never a word about what holiday or what feast they were going to celebrate.

It seems to be a pattern that the more recent the holiday special are the less there is any specific mention of Christmas. Compare the Charlie Brown Christmas special. There are no bones about what holiday is celebrated, they are celebrating Christmas. They are looking for a Christmas tree. They children perform in a Christmas program. The Peanuts Gang even reads the Christmas narrative from Luke 2. They are celebrating Christmas. More than that they are celebrating a Christian Christmas. The Peanuts Special still airs on TV, most likely for the sake of nostalgia. Today the specials seem to follow the trend illustrated by Po the Panda.

My Christians sensibilities are tempted to be offended by this, to see it as an affront to the Chritsian faith. But as I reflected further it occurred to me that this is not entirely a bad thing.

For the Christian this time of year is about Christ. It is a celebration of God coming to his creation to redeem us and save us from sin and death and Satan. This has everything to do with the Gospel of Jesus. We celebrate because this is God taking action to accomplish our salvation. To mark this celebration we decorate with evergreen trees that remind us of the ever lasting life that is ours because of Jesus. We use lights and candles because they remind us of the Light of the World who has come to enlighten our hearts in faith. We give gifts to remind us of the greatest Gift that God has given to us in the person of his Son.

It just so happens that there is another holiday that occurs this time of year. It happens to coincide with the Christian celebration of Christmas and there are many similar customs and traditions. There is gift giving, tree decorating, lights, and color schemes, but in spite of their similarities they are not the same holiday. They are different. One is a celebration of God's salvation come in human flesh to save the world from sin. One is a celebration of God's greatest gift to us, the other is a celebration of our gifts to each other. Some of these gifts we give are in the abstract; things like Christmas spirit, or peace or joy or good will. Some of these gifts are material; gifts like a diamond engagement ring, a new BMW, a Lego set, or a Kohl's gift card.

Television is all about selling those gifts. It is primarily a medium where product manufacturers sell their products. NBC, CBS, ABC don't produce programming out of the goodness of their heart or because they really want to tell a story or because they have a message to proclaim. For the broadcasting companies television isn't about the programming at all. It is about the commercials. The programming is only the incentive to get us to watch the commercials. NBC and all the rest want want to be able to charge as much as possible for that air time so they need to make their programming as broadly appealing as possible. There are lots of people who celebrate a holiday in December and who will be potential customers for the advertisers. Some will celebrate Christmas, some will celebrate Hanukkah, some will celebrate Kwanza, some will just celebrate Santa Claus. So Kung Fu Panda doesn't decorate for Christmas, he decorates for "the Holiday". He doesn't have "Christmas Dinner, he has a "winter feast". And I am okay with that. Because at least he is being honest.

Even if he called his "winter feast" Christmas he wouldn't really be celebrating Christmas. He wouldn't be celebrating God's gift of salvation through the birth of the Christ Child for the salvation of the world from sin, he would be celebrating a generic holiday that recognized our gifts of peace, good will and gift cards to each other. Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Shrek Donkey and Fiona, and the Madagascar Penguins only want to sell those things. To leave it at that and call it a holiday keeps things honest and leave the Christmas feast to the Christians. When it gets down to it, I am okay with that. Po can wish you a "Happy Holiday". I will wish you a Merry Christmas!

True Christmas Spirit

2011-12-05T10:07:00.000-05:00

There is a kind of romance that comes alive every year with the approach of Christmas. It is an eagerness and an expectation that fills the world with excitement. The bright lights, the Christmas trees, the wrapped packages under the tree all add to the joy and the anticipation. We call it Christmas Spirit, and it is catching. It fills people and moves them to acts of generosity, to feelings of good will and peace toward men. It opens their hearts in joy. The realist in us, quickly acknowledges these as romantic notions, but there is something about it that you can't escape. Why else would the Salvation Army bell ringers stand out in the cold unless there was some timely spirit of generosity that invaded the season?

But this Christmas Spirit doesn't last. December 26th comes, the parties are over the family gatherings are done. The ill-fitting gifts are returned and soon the world is like it was. The joy, the expectation, the generosity, they all fade with the season and come down with the decorations.

But does it have to be that way? Is Christmas Spirit reserved only for the month of December? Can it be Christmas in January or July? Is it necessary for the Christmas joy to fade and the Christmas generosity to wane? Is it possible that peace and good will toward men could last throughout the year and not be things that we put on and then take off like a Christmas sweater? Yes!

Christmas Spirit is a God given gift that is year round. Angel Choirs sing just as much on New Years Eve or even All Hallows Eve as they do on Christmas Eve. And for the Christian, the spirit of generosity and joy and good will toward men are year round fruits of the spirit that aren't just reserved for a holiday.

We all remember the angels who visited the shepherds on the hillside with the message that they brought good news of great joy that would be for all people. But Luke, the same Gospel writer who tells us of shepherds and angels tells us of further joy.

Those same angels who rejoiced at the birth of the Christ child burst into heavenly delight and song when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7)

Jesus' disciples were filled with joy when they saw their Lord alive on the third day after he died on the cross. (Luke 24:41) After they saw him ascend into heaven they returned to Jerusalem where they were continually worshipping God with great joy.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that joy is a fruit that is produced in the heart of a Christian when the seed of faith is watered by the Holy Spirit so that it grows up and produces a harvest. Christians can't help but rejoice because of what God has done for them in Christ!

If joy is for the whole year, than how much more is good will. Usually when we consider "good will toward men" we make the assumption that this good will is a general feeling of favor that we feel toward each other. We think of it as just being kind, lending a helping hand, paying it forward. These are all fine, but they are meaningless with out God's good will toward us.

The catechism reminds us of God's good will. "God's will is done every time he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God's name or let his kingdom come; and when he strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die. This is the good and gracious will of God.

Elsewhere, St Paul tells us that according to the purpose of God's good will we were predestined to be adopted through Jesus Christ as God's own children, his sons and heirs. (Ephesians 1:5) Jesus tells us that it is the Father's good pleasure to give to us his Kingdom. (Luke 12:32) And because God's will has been accomplished in us, that is to say because we have come to repentance and faith through the power of the Spirit we are able to will and to do what is good. (Philippians 2:13)

And then there is that issue of generosity. Typically charities depend on the Christmas season for their coffers to be filled because it is a time when the Christmas Spirit motivates people to give. Yet Jesus tells us that when he returns on the last day to judge the living and the dead his Christians will be commended for how generous they were with Him, seeing him cold and naked and sick and suffering and caring for his bodily needs.

Dr Martin Luther puts it like this: "This is an outstanding praise of hospitality in order that we may be sure that God himself is in our home, is being fed at our house, is lying down and resting as often as some pious brother in exile because of the Gospel comes to us and is received hospitably by us. This is called brotherly love or Christian charity; it is greater than that general kindness which is extended even to strangers and enemies when they are in need of our aid. Even the accounts of the friendships of the Gentiles, like those of Theseus and Hercules, of Pylades and Orestes, are nothing in comparison with the brotherhood in the church; its bond is an association with God so close that the Son of God says that whatever is done to the least of His is done to Himself. Therefore their hearts go out without hypocrisy to the needs of their neighbor, and nothing is either so costly or so difficult that a Christian does not undertake it for the sake of the brethren." (Quoted from Treasury of Daily Prayer)

The joy of Christmas is that God himself came down to earth from Heaven to save sinners and set them free so that they could live in eternal joy. The world can muster up joy for a season, put on a happy face for a month or so and give away a little Christmas cheer. But it doesn't last. It can't last. True joy comes from Jesus. True selfless love and generosity comes from the working of the Spirit so that we give to one another because we have been given to by God. True good will does not originate in us but comes from God who accomplished his will by sending his Son, born of a woman, laid in a manger, worshiped by shepherds and angels so that he could live and die under the law, so that you and I could believe and have life. True Christmas Spirit is Christian Spirit and that is yours year round.

Christ and the Economics of Christmas

2011-11-29T11:16:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend it was reported that US retailers saw a profit of about $52 billion as as 226 million shoppers took to the malls this past (Black) Friday. The numbers were higher than expected (about 74 million more shoppers than predicted) and set records for sales. Economic analysts are hoping this is a good sign.

Over the past several years everyone has felt the economic pinch of recession. People have been out of work, businesses have been forced to close, those who kept their jobs have had to take a cut in pay. Everyone is hoping that this year is the year we turn the corner and go back to better and more profitable times. Yet, there are those who believe the records set by holiday shoppers are based on false hope and misplaced optimism.

Our current recession did not happen by accident. It was a credit bubble that got us here. People were overconfident in their ability to pay back loans taken out to buy homes and cars and hdtv's that they couldn't afford. When it came time to pay back the loans, they did not have the cash and so they defaulted. On the surface it appeared that the economy was booming, but it was based on promises to pay that could not be met. Since the bubble burst, we have all had to cut back and tighten our belts. We have had to live in our current homes, drive our old cars and watch our old tv's. We want to go back. We want what we had a decade ago. We want free spending and big piles of packages under the tree at Christmas.

Christians know that Christmas is CHRISTmas, it is the worship of the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God who has come to save the world from sin. He comes with salvation and he comes to bring peace on earth and good will toward men; but he comes bringing heavenly blessings and heavenly salvation for a heavenly kingdom. He comes to bring forgiveness and eternal life. There is a competing god who comes at Christmas. He brings gifts, but they are earthly and material. They are wrapped in paper and come with low monthly payments but a high interest rate. We are all looking for our god to come at Christmas, but not everyone calls him Christ!

People who know more than I do have predicted that our economy is still over-valued. They are predicting the likelihood of a further fall from economic glory. The bottom could completely fall out. The optimism on display over the weekend could be just the thing to send us back down into the depths of recession - people bank on optimism and false hope instead of cash in hand and money in the bank. It wouldn't take much to restart the tumble.

Yet still we are told to spend. Christmas is coming, go shopping. Keep the economy moving. Spend your way to salvation! But isn't that what got us into the recession in the first place?

For Christians, this serves as a good reminder. False gods don't ever provide what they promise. They are always built on a false hope and give promises that they cannot keep, and like a high interest rate on a credit card, there are always strings attached. You will have to pay and when you can't, when the bubble bursts you are left with nothing.

But the other god, the true and Triune God, he also comes at Christmas. He comes with real love and with real salvation. He comes, not to give you everything on your wish list, but instead to give you what you need; forgiveness and salvation from sin, the promise of eternal life free from judgment and just punishment. He comes to serve and to heal and to protect and to save. His gifts are free, with no strings attached, no hidden interest rates. Not backdoor fees, just free.

A friend of mine just made it back from a trip to a national retailer. He was wished a generic "happy holidays" by a clerk who admitted to having been instructed not to mention Christmas. How sad. The one who came on the first Christmas is kept from the celebration of the current one. He has been replaced by another god. Yet, of the two gods coming, both promising to bring salvation on Christmas, only one will deliver a salvation that will last and a salvation that will matter.

Come Ye Thankful

2011-11-28T11:40:00.003-05:00

This is the text of the sermon I preached for Thanksgiving
Grace mercy and peace be to your from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
An almost universal favorite out of all the thanksgiving hymns is the hymn Come You Thankful People Come. It is a thanksgiving classic. From its harvest theme to its familiar tune, it is well loved and enjoyed especially this time of year. While this hymn is thoughtful and meaningful in it presentation of the harvest of earthly goods that we celebrate on Thanksgiving, there is a more profound message in this hymn. We will explore those themes this evening as our meditation is guided by the text of the hymn. We will sing the first stanza now:

Come you thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home
All be safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin
God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied
Come to Gods own temple come raise the song of harvest home

Come You Thankful People Come is a harvest hymn. And harvest is a time of celebration. You who are farmers know just how much planning and preparation went in to those fields. There is the plowing and planting, pre-planting prep work that is done in the fields before the seeds can be sewn. The seed is purchased and then planted in the soil for what you hope will be an abundant year. But you never know. You do the best you can to buy the best seed, make the fields the most hospitable for that seed, you put it in the ground, pray that the weather doesn’t too anything too extreme and then hope for the best. Some might say farming is a gamble. Others might say it’s an exercise of faith. But then, when the work is done, the crops have grown and ripened, all the work of harvest is complete and the grain is in the barn, there is joy and relief. There is money in the bank and bread on the table for another year. It’s a time to thanks God for his goodness and to be glad for the blessings of the year.
All of this is evident in the first stanza of our hymn. Come you thankful people. Raise the song of harvest! It’s done. And It’s time to celebrate. God has provided for our needs, he has supplied our wants. He has given us reason to sing.

All the world is God’s own field, fruit onto his praise to yield
wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown
first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear
Lord of harvest grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be

There is a solidarity that the farmer shares with the Lord; both after all are farmers. Both have gone out into the world to sew seeds hoping for a fruitful harvest but all the while fully acknowledging that where the seeds have been sewn there are also weeds that will grow. While you sew your seed into the ground, our Lord sews the seeds of his Word of life into the hearts of men, so that the seeds will produce a yield of faith – so that Christians will grow up from these seeds who will mature and ripen and produce fruit. Some seeds will produce a yield. But some will not. Jesus tells us that Satan sews weeds in the Lord’s field. Fruitless stalks that mimic the wheat, but that have no faith and produce no fruit. Lord may we be those stalks that carry the grain! May we be counted among the faithful and the fruitful. May we hear your Word, take it to heart, believe it and live it so that on the last day we might be considered wholesome and pure.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take his harvest home,
From his field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Give his angels charge at last, in the fire the tares to cast
But the fruitful ears to store, in his garner evermore.

These past weeks you have been out in the fields. And to your joy, from what I have been told ,the Lord has blessed you with an abundant harvest. In spite of the wet spring and the late planting, God provided the conditions that were just right for your crops to grow and be fruitful. God knows what he is doing.The days are coming when our Lord will go out into his harvest field. Jesus even said to his disciples that the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. Who will go out into the fields? Just like the Lord has provided heat and light and moisture for the corn and soybeans to grow, the Lord has provided just the right amounts of the necessary things for faith to mature and grow. Luther taught that faith matures from meditation, prayer and testing (or temptation).

Just like the plants require moisture and sunshine for their growth, Christians require the Word of God and prayer for their refreshing and growth. Christians receive the Word as it is given by God just like the soil soaks up the rain. But then, after the crops have received that refreshing, they require heat, some nice warm days to really get those seed to germinate and to push those seedlings into mature corn or wheat or beans. And so do we. We need just the right amount of heat, we need our faith to be tested through temptations and trials. To accomplish this our Lord turns up the heat, he sends trials and temptations to us that make us grow, that help us to mature in faith by teaching us just how desperate we are for Jesus, so that we receive his gifts and are thirsty for more. And then, when the Lord sends out his angels on the last day to bring in his harvest he will find you mature and ready and fruitful.

Even so Lord quickly come to your final harvest home.
Gather now your people in, free from sorrow free from sin
There forever purified, in your garner to abide
Come with all your angels comes raise the glorious harvest home.

Driving around earlier today I could see a good number of fields that have been harvested. The crops have been brought in, the grain has been stored away or sold and the field is lying there waiting for the winter to come. But not all. There are a few still to be harvested before the winter comes. Until that time there is work to be done.Likewise with our Lord’s fields. He has brought in his harvest from the seeds that have been planted, but not all. There are still fields with crops standing waiting to be brought in out of the cold of the world and in protection from the winter to come. The cold winter of the Lord’s judgment is coming. It will be here soon. May we work while there is still time so that no one is lost and no grain is wasted.Thanksgiving is a harvest celebration. Tomorrow as we are gathered around our tables we will be giving thanks to God for all that he has provided throughout the year, he has blessed us greatly and abundantly. Our thanksgiving feast, as good and rich as it will be, is only a poor comparison to the feast that we will enjoy on the last day, when the Lord of the harvest has brought in his harvest from his fields, where we will celebrate with him forever.Amen.And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Veteran's Day

2011-11-20T20:16:00.001-05:00

Marysville Ohio has a Veterans Day Memorial Program every year. This year I was privileged to be asked to offer an invocation and a benediction. This is what I wrote: Dear Friends and Fellows Citizens, I would like to begin with a word of thanks. I am truly honored to be here, to address you today. I am here on behalf of the clergy of our county and it is my privilege to offer an invocation; to call on the name of God and request that he bless our nation, its citizens, its leaders, those who serve and especially on this day, those who have served to defend her. On this Veteran’s Day, we ask God to offer his protection to our Nation’s Armed Forces even as they have risked themselves for our protection. May God be with them all. St Paul the Apostle, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote these words concerning those who govern us. He said, “They are God's servants for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Romans 13:3-4 ESV) If we are to have rulers with the power to bear the sword then here must be a hand to hold that sword. A hand that is strong and ready to wield its power at the very moment it becomes necessary. And if there is to be such a hand, there must be soldiers, men and women trained and equipped to fight, who are prepared to operate the machines and the weapons of war so that those who do wrong might receive just recompense. Because here, in the exercise of justice, law abiding citizens are kept safe so that we can go about our lives and conduct our business without threat, both to our safety and our way of life. Therefore, on this Veterans Day we gladly honor the men and women who have served as the hand on the sword ready to pick it up and fight for us and our way of life when threatened by our enemies. I invite you to pray with me if you wish. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, You are a God who prefers justice over injustice, order over chaos, and peace over conflict. I pray on this day that you would ensure that our nation be a people committed to upholding justice, maintaining order and promoting peace both within our own land and throughout the world. Lord, I pray that you would curb all wickedness and sin among us. Bring justice where there is injustice. Bring order where there is upheaval; bring peace where there is conflict. Lord, I give you thanks that you have provided our nation with authorities to govern. May they be servants committed to the peace and general welfare of all people. Lord you have given to our authorities the power to maintain order. So that there may be peace and order you have provided the men and women of the Armed Forces. On this day I give special thanks to you for our veterans. I thank you for their willing service and their resolute dedication. May the citizens of our nation honor them for their service, respect them for their courage, and emulate them for their selflessness. Finally Lord, I ask your blessing on our proceedings this day. May our attitudes and actions reflect the honor that is due those who have served with honor, even as you have served us through their hands to provide for our protection and for all that we need to support this body and life. I pray this and all things in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Benediction I am privileged to serve as the pastor of St Paul Chuckery Lutheran church and School. St Paul is a congregation formed in the Lutheran tradition, borrowing its name from the 16th Century reformer, Dr Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a theology professor but he was also a pastor and it happened that one who was employed as a soldier came to Pastor Luther with a troubled conscience due to the often violent nature of his vocation. The work of a warrior,after all, involves fighting, and at times even killing. Pastor Luther wrote to this man a letter hoping to calm his conscience and allay his fears. In his letter of response, Dr Luther wrote to him that the office and work of a soldier is honored and instituted by God, that ultimately it is God's work and God's judgment executed in the world to punish those who do wrong and protect those who do right. Elsewhere Luther writes that peace and good government are gifts of God provided for us just as he provides for us our daily needs of food and clothing and a place to live. [SC LP 4th Petition] Clearly without the work and the service provided by our soldiers, both active and retired, our world would be much more dangerous and much less hospitable for honest work and good living. We owe our armed forces a great debt. Union County Ohio is a peaceful community. We have the freedom to assemble here together today giving honor to our veterans, and not one of us is afraid to be here. We are here of our own choice and by our own free will. No one has forced us to come or threatened us if we chose to stay home. Yet even in our own day there are nations around the world whose citizens do not have the same freedom. They do not have freedom to assemble,freedom to speak their mind, freedom to pray to the god of their choosing. We can give thanks to God that we enjoy these freedoms and we can give thanks to God that he has provided us with the men and women willing to serve to protect these freedoms. As we make our way back to our jobs and to our homes let us give thanks to the men and women who have served, often at great risk and always at great cost; as we go home to our families may we remember those who because of their service are separated from theirs; as we leave this assembly to assemble again in our free houses of worship and prayer let us give praise and honor to God who has instituted this right and good office, who defends us from dis order and chaos, who provides for our peace, and who serves us with honorable men and women willing to take up arms and go to fight so that we can live here in peace and prosperity. May the God of all peace and all comfort bless our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Still in the Whirlwind

2011-08-29T12:56:00.004-04:00

Over at CNN Belief Blog, Stephen Prothero (My Take: God No Longer in the Whirlwind) has an interesting piece, interesting especially in light of Michelle Bachman's recent comments in Florida claiming that the earthquake and now Hurricane Irene are a wake up call to the politicians in Washington. I would agree with the author who looks for rationale in science and explanations in tectonic plates, etc. Yet, being a Christian, I also believe that God has control over those tectonic plates, ocean currents, and air pressure. There is a secularized Christianity that looks for explanations to these events only in the scientific. I disagree. Yes they are related to the movement of natural phenomenon, yet what kind of a god is God if he has no control over these events - the name for this view is Deism: a god who is uninvolved and distant and who lets the world take care of itself. I find this god to be somewhat small and emasculated. The flip side are the vocal "conservative" Christians who open their mouths and sound like kooks. They rightly honor God as Lord of the wind and the waves but then pretend that they have a special access to him that the rest of us must respect (usually for a fee paid to their "ministry"). Interestingly enough, the Old Testament had a litmus test for those who pretended to speak for God; 100% accuracy. The penalty for a swing and a miss was death. (Deuteronomy 18:20) I wonder what the likes of our modern day prophets would think about that?

Pray for the Candidates

2011-06-16T09:42:00.004-04:00

I am not sure that this is widely known, but just as was the case a year ago, there are seminary graduates and candidates for placement who are still waiting to receive a call. I happen to have one of these men in my own charge at the moment. He was serving a convertible vicarage, the original congregation was not able to keep him, and we were blessed to have him come serve the remaining months of his vicarage here with us. He has served very, very well. He has been a much needed help while he has been here. Every member of the congregation will mourn the day that he (together with his wife) packs up to leave for his permanent placement.

There are a few things to say here. The first is that I am terribly impressed at how well prepared this man is to serve. Our seminaries do an amazing job of training these men to do the job that our LCMS congregations will ask them to do. He has a solid grip on law and gospel. He is a wonderful teacher and Bible study leader. He is a wonderful preacher. If he is any indication of the caliber of candidates our seminaries are turning out, then our synod is (and will be on into the future) blessed by him and those with him.

The second point builds from the first. From what I know there are 8 candidates still remaining, waiting to receive calls. There are approximately 200-250 congregations vacant and looking to call. Now, certainly not all of these congregations would be a suitable match for a candidate. But I am sure that many would. However, there seems to be this notion (I believe it is inherited from the business world and has crept in to the church) that a pastor needs to be tested and experienced before they will offer a call. They are afraid that calling someone "inexperienced" will be a risk. I believe that this is a false notion; one not consistent with theology; one that places institutional and administrative expertise over the authority of Christ to forgive sinners through the means of grace.

A pastor is the voice of Christ to speak His Word of consolation and forgiveness to sinners and to the suffering and grieving. He is the man Christ has appointed to exercise His keys, locking heaven for the unrepentant and unlocking heaven for the contrite. He is the one authorized by Christ to counteract the accusatory lies of Satan that burden the consciences of sinners. Certainly years in the Office will assist these men in applying the Gifts more pointedly or peacefully. But each of these candidates, once called and ordained are just as authorized, just as equipped, just as ready to serve as would be Luther, or Chemnitz, or Walther, or any of Lutheran heroes.

And so when your new, fresh from the seminary, wet behind the ears pastor stands up to absolve you, your sins are not less absolved because he lacks experience. When he presides at the Supper, Christ is not any less in with or under the bread or wine because he has only spoken the words of institution once, twice, or eight hundred fifty seven times. Your newly baptized son or daughter is not any less forgiven or sealed by the Holy Spirit because your pastor lacks administrative expertise. Remember Paul's charge to Timothy: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12) Your new pastor is Christ's man given to you to do the job he has equipped and authorized him to do. Trust Jesus. Don't trust the man, no matter how many years he has served.

These men still anticipating placements and calls are well trained to handle the Word of God. They are well prepared to offer Christ's gifts of forgiveness and healing. Our congregations should not let the world deceive them into a misplaced fear. Instead they should welcome these men who are and will be His gifts to His Church.

From God's Lips to Your Ears

2011-05-09T10:13:00.002-04:00

There is no bigger conversation killer than to tell someone you've just met that you are a pastor. If it has happened to me once, it has happened a thousand times, I am engaged in a nice conversation with someone I've just met, I tell them I'm a pastor and that little piece of information changes the entire tone of the conversation. They suddenly back track, feel the need to explain previous comments, tell me about the church they attend and how active they are. The fact that I am a pastor makes them feel insecure and guilty. I am willing to bet I am not the only pastor with this experience. Satan does his best to rob Christians of the gifts Christ has given to his Church.

The Christian life is one that is filled with troubles. Christians are sinners, they live with other sinners. Therefore we all sin against each other. I sin against you. You sin against me. It has a tendency to make life complicated. As if that were not enough, there are untold disasters and diseases that occur all the time that again make life complicated. "Why is this happening to me?" "Where has God gone?" "Does God still love me?" God has given pastors to Christian to help with these very issues.

You have troubles, you have sins, you have frustrations, but because of the Satan induced stigma, you can’t tell the pastor. You don’t want him to know. He will make you feel guilty.

Jesus says “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.” Jesus says to his pastors, “If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven.”

Jesus has not given you a pastor to judge you. Jesus has given to you a pastor so that when you tell him your sins, you have an ear that will listen. Jesus gives to you a pastor so that after he has heard your sin there will be a mouth and a voice to speak to you forgiveness. Jesus has promised that when pastors speak forgiveness it is Heaven's forgiveness. Jesus promises that when a pastor speaks consolation and comfort, it is Heaven's consolation and Heaven's comfort.

God gives pastors to his church. God gave Peter to the Jews to be their pastor. They were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37) and he told them of Christ’s forgiveness (Acts 2:38-39). God has given a pastor to you. His voice delivers to you Jesus. His ears deliver your cares to Jesus. His voice forgives your sin. Do not let Satan take this away from you.

Drought or Flood?

2011-04-28T08:56:00.001-04:00

Will the rain every stop? I am sure that is the question we are all asking these days. From the farmers among us who can’t get out into their fields until they dry out to the weekend warrior who wants to cut his grass, to the little child who would just like to go out and ride her bicycle, I am sure that all of us are looking for a break in the clouds and fewer mud puddles.
Yet, while at this moment we are wishing for a hiatus from the rain, the time might soon come when we will be wishing for more. Often it happens that as the summer months drag on, the heat of the summer months dries out the ground and dries up all the water. It can happen that the muddied earth becomes dry and dusty and cracked. In those moments we pray for what we feel at this moment is more than enough.
If there is one lesson we should learn from history, it ought to be that God send His Word often the same way he sends the rain. God gives His Word and grace in torrential downpours that drench us and soak us through, not to bone but to our very soul, with His living waters. That Word refreshes us, causes us to grown in faith and life, it blesses us and strengthens us for our battles with sin and Satan. Yet foolishly sinful hearted human beings often despise this Word of God, feel like we have had our fill of it, and convince ourselves we could get by without it.
Dr. Martin Luther put it this way. “God’s word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been. It has been with the Jews, but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have [Islam]. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s gone, it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy hands are bound to have a lean year.” [American Edition, 45:353]
Luther was warning the German churches that they take hold of the Word while it was present. When sinful hearts despise that Word, God takes it away and when it’s gone it’s gone. Consider his example of the Jews. They had the Christ, the apostles, Pentecost, the Holy Spirit and the Church. Yet they denied Christ, despised the Word and they have become for the most part and unbelieving people. Consider the Germans. The Lord blessed them with the Reformation. They made a staunch and soled confession of faith at Augsburg. They enjoyed a period of vibrant growth as they held tightly to the faith that they fought for. Yet they eventually gave in to rationalism and in modern times the German church is largely a secular church. The showers came. The Word of God poured down upon the people. They were refreshed and enlightened with faith. They despised that Word and now the Lord has taken it away. (Isaiah 5:1-7, Hebrews 6:1-7)
Our own American churches are following that identical pattern. Consider the mainline denominations. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, they were once vibrant worshipping Christian communities. They have despised God’s Word and laid it aside to subject it to academic scrutiny. Those Churches are withering in the drought. Consider the large mega churches. Instead of preaching the Word of God and Christ crucified they preach pop psychology and self-fulfillment. The world loves these messages and so they have numbers and money and fancy buildings. They do not preach the Word of God. Instead they are like tumble weeds that are blown the direction of the latest fad. (Psalm 1:4) The Church in America has despised the Word of God. His clouds of Grace are beginning to break and the heat of his wrath may soon dry up what remains of his grace.
The question for you to answer, St Paul Chuckery is this: will you go the way of the Jews, the Germans, and follow the footsteps of the churches that remain around you? You have God’s Word. Will you despise that Word so that God takes it away?
Only this past Sunday we were gathered together around God’s gifts of Word and Sacrament to be fed by God for faith and life. Just as your backyard is drenched and soaked with rain, so are you drenched and soaked with God’s Word and Grace. It has puddled up around you so that you have it in plenty. Yet do you despise that Word?
Our catechism teaches us that we ought not “despise preaching and His Word but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” (Explanation to the 3rd Commandment) Have you received God’s Word and grace as that thing that is the most important? Are there other areas of life or even of the church that you have come to see as more necessary to you and your existence beside the Word? What is it that has replaced that Word? Sleep? Recreation? Sports? Money? How to run the church? That person who sits in the pew beside you? There are lots of things that Satan would use to distract us from God’s Word and Grace. (Matthew 13: 18-19) Do not be lead into that temptation. See the warning. Repent and receive God’s grace.
And God gives that grace in plenty. (John 1:16) Just as the rains fall from the sky and have the water ways brimming above their banks so does God give His grace. He pours it out like a monsoon that keeps coming and coming and coming. And the ensuing flood is a flood of forgiveness that washes away sin. The rains fall and cleanse and refresh and well up in a rushing flood that washes away the litter and pollution of sin that we have left to rot along the banks. God’s pure word overwhelms our sin and drowns our sinful nature so that we are once again made clean.
And after the flood comes growth. (Isaiah 45:8, Psalm 46:4) The water gives life to our life so that we become green and grow and bear fruit. We reach up our branches into the light of His grace and offer up our fruit to Him as a sacrifice of praise. (Psalm 1:3, Isaiah 55:10-11, Ezekiel 47:12) He prunes us, digs around us, fertilizes us so that we are a productive garden of believers. (Luke 13:6-9)
So let us heed the warning. Give attention to the history, not be made fools by our own carelessness. Instead let us hold God’s Word sacred. Let us receive it with joy and thanksgiving so that we gladly hear and learn it.

Sermon for Palm Sunday, Confirmation Sunday

2011-04-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

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This is the audio from Palm Sunday, Sunday of the Passion, which was also Confirmation Sunday at St Paul Chuckery

Jumping the Shark While Wearing a Meat Dress

2011-04-18T12:47:00.006-04:00

In television they call it "jumping the shark". A particular series has run its course and is no longer producing interesting content. The producers need some way to keep the audience tuning in, so they create some outlandish and over the top scenario to generate interest. In the waning episodes of the Happy Days series, the Fonze jumped a shark on water skis in an Evil Kanevalish sort of way. Hence the term.

Over the weekend it was reported that Lady Gaga is releasing a new single in which she romances Jesus' disciple Judas via the perspective of Mary Magdalene. I think Lady Gaga is perhaps one continuous study in jumping the shark. She dresses in meat. She dresses up like an egg (when she dresses at all). I wonder if the musical content lacks the musical quality to generate its own interest so that it becomes necessary to draw the audience through some other means.

The irony is that she is attacking Jesus by means of Judas, someone who is already a Biblical scoundrel, and Mary Magdalene, who has already been pegged as a prostitute. Much more offensive was the implication of a carnal relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus via Dan Brown and the DaVinci Code. But even then, Mr Brown was far from the first to make that connection. It appears that Ms. Gaga is trying to concoct some new controversy, but with this latest attempt it is doubtful that few are going to care. If she is going to perpetually jump the proverbial shark, she might generate that attention she so craves if she were to make the shark less than proverbial and dig the famous meat dress out of her closet (or would that be her freezer?).

Promises Promises Reflections on Confirmation

2011-04-14T09:27:00.004-04:00

This coming Sunday is Confirmation Sunday at St. Paul. We have three young men who will stand up and publicly confess the Christian faith and promise to be faithful to Christ and His Church for the duration of their lives and suffer all even death rather than fall away from it. This is a remarkable thing.

To begin with it is remarkable because kids are making a promise that most adults these days would not be able to make. We live in a world where people make their promises a lot like an insurance company. They make their promise to get what they want from you (your money, your respect, sex, etc.) But then, when that promise comes back to cost them something they look for an excuse to get out of it. Not much of a promise, if you ask me. Our teen aged kids are making promises of greater weight and with greater commitment than most of the modern adult world.

While this promise that they will make is truly remarkable, it does not occur in a vacuum. They are not blindly devoting themselves to a lost cause. They are not foolishly committing themselves to a god who may or may not honor their commitment. This is not Islam where the only guarantee of salvation is death in jihad. This is Chrstianity. We make promises to God. But these promises are based upon promises that he has made to us. Promises that he has made and kept.

God does not ask us to promise anything that he has not already promised to us. In fact, each promise that these kids are about to make has a companion promise that God himself has already given and already delivered upon.

Do you believe in God the Father Almighty? ... In Jesus Christ, his only Son? ... the Holy Spirit? They then confess the Apostles Creed. This creed is the baptismal creed, confessed by Christians prior to baptism since the Church first began. And there at baptism God made promises to them. In baptism God promised them forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38 Acts 22:16). God promised them salvation from death (Romans 3:5). God promised them Christ's righteousness (Galatians 3:27). God promised them that they would be rescued from Satan and the world (Colossians 2:11-12). God promised them salvation (Mark 16:16 1 Peter 3:21). God promised them eternal life (Romans 6:4) God promised them the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

These kids will promise to be faithful members of Christ's church and of their congregation, St Paul Chuckery. I think Christians these days tend to take that promise for granted. They think of this promise as a pledge that they will be Christians in a general sort of way and that they will belong or attend some church, although not necessarily this congregation. They make this assumption to their own spiritual detriment.

When Christians come to faith and become believers it is not and has never been a strictly individualist sort of thing. God unites Christians together in a body, a community. (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12ff) God promises Christians that as they are joined to him they are joined to each other for their mutual benefit and building up. "If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored all rejoice together." And so we are able to share with each other the love of God that we have received. When a Christian promises to belong to a congregation they are blessed by God through that community of faith.

The biggest and scariest of the promises that Confirmation students make is the promise to be faithful unto death. Here in the USA we can make that promise without breaking too much of a sweat because it is the rare occasion that we are called upon to keep that promise. Christians are free to practice their religion and faith however they choose without threat. This is guaranteed by our constitution. But it could happen. Regardless, this promise is made in light of a promise that God has made and that God has kept. We promise to sacrifice our life for Christ in light of the promise that he kept to sacrifice his life for us. Jesus died for us. He gave his life as a ransom for ours.

Confirmation is about promises. Promises that kids make to God and these days that is a remarkable thing. Most teenagers are thinking about video games and sports and movies, etc. Not these kids. They are thinking about transcendent and eternal truth. They are staking their lives on it. But their promises are only a response, the second beat of the rhythm initiated by God as he made and kept promises to them.

On Pitying the Evolved

2011-04-13T15:44:00.002-04:00

I recently ran across an article from CNN's Beliefnet website entitled "Would Jesus Believe in Evolution". It's by Karl W Giberson. Find it here.

The author has very much to say and goes on for quite a bit, but his premise is easy to debunk on a fairly fundamental level. Elementary Logic warns against a common error that is made in argumentation. This is known as “begging the question”. Question Begging occurs when one assumes one's premise to be true without actually taking the time to prove it.
The author assumes that evolution is true. Based on this assumption he assumes that Jesus, being a practitioner of truth, would agree with evolution. He does not prove his assumption. He makes lots of strong statements about evolution being true, saying things like “It’s more certain that the earth going around the sun.” and “it has been established by careful study and research.” This is only rhetoric and does not prove anything.
The fact remains that there are plenty of scientists who practice their craft with just as much diligence and care as any other, yet who do not share this particular author’s belief in the current evolutionary dogma. There are many scientists who are quite capable of releasing the air from his balloon and have successfully made the case. (There are links to some of these works if you are interested to do further research)
As to Jesus believing in evolution. This again is only rhetoric. Jesus was definitely one who was concerned with truth. The Gospel of John records him as saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jesus also said, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John18:37) In other words, Jesus is truth. Those who want to know truth listen to Jesus. (Compare that to the author who has purported that he has decided what is truth and everyone must listen to him). According to Jesus, who is truth, the Genesis account is more than myth and it is more than general nice words. Jesus viewed it as historically authoritative. In Matthew 19 Jesus quotes Genesis 1 that says that God made Adam and Eve from the beginning. Clearly Jesus, who has claimed that he himself is truth and that those who are interested in knowing truth will listen to him, believes the Genesis account of creation to be historically accurate and authoritative. Jesus would not have believed in evolution.
Ultimately I have three problems with this man’s article. 1. He argues poorly with a logically flawed argument, assuming his conclusion without proving it. 2. He has constructed a theory that he believes explains the origins of life. That is fine. But it is a theory. It is nowhere close to being as certain as what he claims. To say as much is to leave science behind and enter into the realms of a religious dogma of sorts. This makes him a hypocrite. 3. His attempt to assimilate Jesus into his dogma is to undermine the Gospel that tells us that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for sinners so that there is a hope of salvation that transcends this man’s hope of a next great mutation. He turns down what is wonderful in the interest of what is mediocre at best. In my mind, he is to be pitied.

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A - Advent 4 - Isaiah 7.10-17

2010-12-19T06:41:00.001-05:00

Did you know you could try God's patience. Ahaz did it. God gave him a command, to ask for a sign, some visible and tangible evidence that God would do what he said, that God would keep the promise that he gave and Ahaz pretended to be pious. "far be it from me O Lord to put you to the test." A pretty thin attempt to be humble and righteous. And God was not impressed. He saw through the King's attempt to brown nose and gave him a sign any ways.
"The young woman will conceive and bear a son and will call his name Immanuel. And by the time the boy is old enough to know right and wrong the kingdom would fall to the Assyrians."
You see, Ahaz was a wicked king. He worshipped false gods. He even sacrificed his own children to those gods, to the Baals. (2 Chronicles 28) He was not faithful to the Lord and therefore the Lord would give him over to his enemies in judgment for the sins he had committed. The words of Isaiah the prophet are a warning. A call to repentance. A call to turn from sin and believe. But Ahaz heard without listening. He listened without understanding. And the words of Isaiah came true. The Assyrians came and took the kingdom of Judah from Ahaz so that he received his just reward. He was punished for his sin.
That same message of warning and punishment that same plea for repentance could be spoken today. Indeed it must be spoken today.
If you go back and read the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 28 you can find out all about King Ahaz. He was a wicked king. He walked completely in the ways of the world. The world of Ahaz was an idolatrous place - all kinds of false gods that people worshiped and prayed to. 2 Chronicles tells us that Ahaz even burned his children in the fire to these false gods. A reference to the ancient practice of child sacrifice. Sounds rather barbaric, at least until we remember how many children have been killed in our own day and age as their parents peruse the gods of wealth, a career, a reputation. Our age is just as wicked as those that came before us.
But God knows. He knows the condition of His world. He sees what is going on. He sees the sin and wickedness in men's hearts. It is nothing new. And so while he sent Isaiah to speak words of repentance to King Ahaz, he sends His Christians into the world to call for repentance. And that includes you. As you go off to work, to school, to college campuses. You are called to be a witness to the truth of the word of God.
(And by the way, usually the image we have of this involves brash bible thumping or picket signs. Often Christians forget that they can make a ready defense of the Christian faith in a logical and well reasoned way with sound rational arguments. The world does not necessarily hold the intellectual high ground - we however often give it up to them.)
The world needs to hear that there is a God. That there is a creator. That the words of the Bible are true. The world needs to hear the implications of this. That if there is a creator, then it is true that there is a judge. There is a judgment day, when this creator will return to call each of us to account. We need to be ready for that day, and therefore, like King Ahaz, the world needs to repent. Turn from sin and turn to the Savior. Because God is merciful and he has provided a way of salvation.
This text that was one of warning and judgment for Ahaz, was not just warning. There was a promise tucked away in there along with that call to repentance. A promse of a savior. A promise about Jesus.
"A young woman will conceive." This was a sign for Ahaz. A woman he knew would have a son and name him Immanuel. And Ahaz would see the boy grow and could watch the Lord's promised events unfold as the child grew. But that child who served as a reminder of God's judgment was also a sign of God's mercy. That boy would point ahead to another boy who would be born years into the future. Born to another young woman, this one a virgin. And Isaiah's promise would come to roost in the life of this second child in a greater way than the first.
Matthew the author of the Gospel text for today helps us to understand that these words spoken by Isaiah find their greatest fulfillment, not in the time of Ahaz but in a future time. Matthew's ties those words to Joseph and to Mary. Mary, the virgin who conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus the boy who was Immanuel - not just by name, but by his person.
Immanuel, the name Immanuel, in hebrew literally means "God is with us". Now this is true in a general sort of way. We believe that when we worship, as we pray, as we have our devotions God is present with us. But with Jesus it was different, it was more. Jesus was literally God with us. God among us. God present in the flesh with His people. The God who is bigger that the universe and holds all power and authority reduced himself to human stature. The God who will come again to judge the living and the dead on the last day. This God, the True God. The Only God.
Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, is exactly what this world needs. Our world that is so misguided and wrong headed, our world that insists on heading in the wrong direction needs this child. Our world needs the forgiveness that he came to provide. Our world needs the salvation that is found nowhere else in all of heaven and earth. Our world needs Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life.
You see, the miraculous birth of this little baby was a precursor to the greater miracles that he would accomplish later in his life. Of course there were the healings, the walking on water, the mastery over the wind and the waves, the release of those held captive by the devil. But the greatest work of this Christ child, this God with us was his death. His vicarious atonement, where he was our substitute, where he took God's judgment for our sin so that he could pay the price for our sin. And then, to prove that this work was done, he was raised from the dead. Because he was victorious over our sin, he was also victorious over death. Death, the wages of sin, now has no power because of what Jesus has done. The boy, the baby born to a virgin, has saved us.
The Christ has come. Immanuel, God-with-us has come. He came at Christmas born to be our savior. But he is coming back. And when he returns he will come with judgment. In the days of the wicked King Ahaz God enacted judgment through the Assyrian army. When he comes again he will do the job himself. So the world needs to be ready. The world needs to be prepared. We have God's salvation. We have Jesus who died and suffered that judgment in our place. May we speak as clearly as Isaiah. Amen.
And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen