Higher Things Blogosphere

Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere : Youth

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:14:56 -0400

Michael "internet Monk" Spencer is always a provocative read. As an Evangelical pilgrim in a "post-Evangelical wilderness," Spencer provides a unique perspective on the state of Christianity from the Protestant side of things.

In a recent post, Spencer does some critical reflection on his 35 years in youth ministry. His thoughts are worth pondering, especially considering Spencer's street cred and the fact that so much of what is called "youth ministry" is influenced by Baptist-Evangelicalism. Spencer's antidote to the maladies of youth ministry: Build meaningful and maturing relationships to Jesus Christ and to the Church. Here are some vintage IM quotes:

"We’ve been told that we can use any tool to make church interesting, so youth workers like myself were allowed to run a program of fun, trips, food, sports, recreation, etc. in order to keep young people hanging around for whatever the church was doing. We now know that those young people simply insisted that the church become like their youth group and, ta da- there is today’s evangelicalism. Oh…and there’s a bunch of our kids, never coming back to church again because they eqaute it with juvenile, shallow entertainment."

"The shift from getting 120 kids to a concert to getting 12 kids to pray every morning is huge, and most churches won’t put up with it."

"Let me be clear that families- where there are Christian families- are obviously crucial. But Jesus isn’t creating a community of families. He’s recreating the family around him."

You can read the rest here.

Christus Victor : Worship

John Pawlitz — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:17:14 -0400

The merit of worship is in the merit he possesses whom we worship. We do not worship to gain merit for ourselves, but because he whom we worship is meritorious. We do not worship because of our needs, but rather in awe of his deeds, which inspire our worship. We do not worship because the liturgy contains God, but because God fills the liturgy and makes his name dwell there. We do not worship with enthusiasm, but fear. This draws us to God: God himself.

I have said my peace; if I am wrong, I do not know myself and cannot see it and must be considered by Socrates the greatest fool.

Bloghardt's Reflector : St. Luke 15:1-10 - Trinity 4 - 2009

Bloghardt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:17:07 -0400

St. Luke 15:1-10 - Trinity 4 - 2009
St. Mark Lutheran Church - June 28, 2009
Listen Here

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Today...Jesus does the unthinkable. He eats with sinners. He rubs elbows with the wrong sort of people. Tax collectors. Sinners. Gentiles. He hangs with the likes of you and me.

The Pharisees grumbled. They would! Their religion was for righteous people. Good people can come in. Bad people can’t. Religious people are welcome. Tax collectors are not. They wanted a church full of .. well people just like them.

Jesus’ response is to tell them a parable. What man or you, if he had a hundred sheep and one strayed, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine and go get the one who strayed? What shepherd wouldn’t do that?

It’s a rhetorical question. That’s what shepherds do - they go track down stray sheep. Well, except the Pharisees. They don’t. So, Jesus continues, “What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one doesn’t comb the house for that one that she lost?”

And again, the Pharisees wouldn’t. But, Jesus would. That’s what He was doing eating with the sinners - He was going after the lost sheep and the lost coins and bringing His Father joy!

Notice the difference: The Father is for lost things - lost people. The Pharisees exist for themselves.

Jesus lives for others. Not a one lost - not a sheep, a coin, not a you, not a me. He shows us how God is - God is for sinners, for failures, for those who can’t get by on their own.

God is for the lost, for the hurting, for the helpless. God is for those who cannot help or save themselves.

God is like that. He has every reason to be angry, but rather delights in steadfast love. Here is God who passes over the sins of His people - He pardons them and remembers them no more.

Here is the God who saves you from your sins - by living a perfect for you. What you can’t do, Jesus does and what He does He does on your behalf and in your place.

Then, He suffers, so you won’t suffer. He takes on the punishment of your lost-ness. He dies and shields you from all the anger, wraith, hatred, and hell that God has for what you have done and haven’t done. Jesus takes it all and gives you His resurrected life.

Jesus is calling us today of the Pharisee’s religion. He’s calling us to stop thinking of God the way we have thought of God in the past and to start looking at Jesus alone.

This is how God is, He gives up His life for sinners - for you and me. In Christ, He doesn’t love one color or age or nationality more than another. In Christ, He’s for Jews and Germans, He’s for Italians and Greeks. He’s for IRS Agents, prostitutes, garbage men, for men like Michael Jackson, and rich CEO’s. In Christ, He’s for the lost. He’s for you and me.

The Pharisees didn’t think they were lost. They thought they were on just fine on their own. If anyone was in God’s church, they were.

And because they didn’t realize how lost they were, they didn’t understand that they needed a Savior, just as much as the tax collectors and sinners.

Which takes us to today.. Where we are... In this place.. After fifty years of being a church. Not bad.. Not bad at all. Fifty years is something to thank God for...

But there’s the temptation, right before us, to think as the Pharisees did. That we are in, we are fine, if anyone is in heaven, it’ll be us. I mean, after all, we are Lutherans.

But do we still know, do we still understand, that we have no hope outside of Jesus? Do we comprehend the peril that our sins put us in? Do we understand that our sins separate us from God - each one, every single sin, creates a chasm between us and salvation that we cannot by ourselves jump or make up for.

Have we forgotten as a church, as Lutherans, that we on our own, are lost. Lost to God and lost to one another.

Have we forgotten that we are the sinners? We are the murderers, abusers, tax collectors We are the adulterers, thieves, and robbers. We are the haters of God, the idolators, the perverts, and the reprobates.

And if you sit up in your chair and say, “no that’s not me...” Well, then..think about how you have lived. What part of your life are you thinking is clean enough to stand before Almighty God?

None of it. For apart from Jesus, all you have is our sins and our death. You are like the tax collectors and sinners. Apart from Jesus, you are the one who are lost. You are the one who needs to be found by God.

Turn from your sins. Really turn. Be horrified by them. Run from them. Apologize to those you have wrong. Don’t expect them to change or get annoyed they aren’t up to your level of Christianity. Let all of that go and hear the Gospel...

“And when he has found his lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when the Shepherd comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

For today, Jesus has found you. He found you in your baptism, He found you in the Word, He found you in the Absolution.

You are the lost sheep. The lost coin. And there is joy in heaven, more joy than over the ninety-nine Lutherans who don’t need to repent. Joy over you.

And that there is joy in the presence of the angels means that the One who is in the center of the angels, the Father is rejoicing.

They were lost. I found them! They are mine. My children. My Sheep. My lost coin. They know they need me. Apart from Me, they’d be lost. But, I have found them in my Son.

Dear Saints of God, be the church that spends the next fifty years always ready to receive others - old members like me, or young members like the ones at VBS this week.

Let this place be a hospital for sinners - where the poor, the lame, the sick, the children who can’t tend to themselves, people who haven’t anywhere else to go, are welcome. Be ready to welcome the Michael Jacksons of the world - those that no one wants around. Be for them.

But, first, be for the little ones. Welcome the little ones like you did in VBS this week. Can you imagine the joy in heaven when the little ones heard the Gospel at VBS this week?

Can you imagine how happy the Father was to have the little lambs singing to Him? Little strays, some of which, don’t get to hear about Him from their parents.

Then, think of those around you. Think of how loving you can be to them by just saying, “You know.. This world is tough, it’s brutal, come with me to where I go to recharge my batteries, to hear the forgiveness of sins. Come with me to church.”

“No one will judge you there. Everyone at my church is there for the same reason: They are sinners who need forgiveness.”

Can you possibly be more loving and respectful than that? You don’t have to quote them a thousand Bible verses, just a, “Come and have Jesus eat with you at my church. He wants to help you and I do too.”

Whether they listen to you or not, love them that much. Receive them like Jesus has received you.

Our little church cannot exist for herself. If that’s what we think we are doing here - gathering together and then in fifty years we’ll be gone and the building will be sold to someone else. If that’s what we think, we need to repent of living only for ourselves today.

No, St. Mark is here for us sinners to receive gifts from Jesus and then pass that forgiveness and life to those around us! To little ones in VBS, in Sunday School, at youth group, at the conferences the kids go to.

Then to older ones by talking to our neighbors, inviting them to Seniors, Lydia Guild, Ruth Guild, Bible Class, and anywhere where Jesus is having Supper with us.

For Jesus eats with sinners. He eats with us. He wants to eat with them too.

Let’s be that church who is always welcoming others - even those who don’t look, sound, or talk like we do.

Let’s be the church that passes the faith on to others - to little ones and to older ones too.

For today, the Father is rejoicing. For today Jesus is doing the unthinkable again - He eats with sinners. He rubs elbows with the wrong sort of people. Tax collectors. Sinners. Gentiles. He hangs with the likes of you and me.

Take eat His Body, given for you. Take drink, His Blood, shed for you for the remission of all your sins.

Yes, there is joy today - in heaven and in this place. For lost sheep have been found. Lost coins have been located. And you and me, with all our sins and failures, we are forgiven. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Psalming Padawan : What kind of Jesus?

Psalming Padawan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:02:40 -0400

What kind of Jesus do we have? Surely some images come to mind. Everyone out there has their own version of who they think Jesus is. Maybe he's just a really nice guy. A good role model, a law-giver. Just a wise teacher like Buddha. Maybe he's the type of guy who might give us our best life right now. Maybe he gives us everything we want now, and if we don't get it, we have to work to get it.

What of our Jesus? Maybe we see Jesus like the Bible shows him to be - one who is for us. Even with us - God in the flesh. What kind of Jesus was for us this week? For the woman subject to bleeding from Mark 5. WE konw the story - a woman was subject to bleeding for 12 years. She spent all she had on doctors who could do nothing for her. So she sought Jesus. "All I have to touch is the hem of his garments, and I will be made well," the woman thought, "Just rest in the shadow of his wings."

So she does that very thing, and we get a different Jesus today. Sure he is for us and the woman, but Jesus is a little confused. Sure, some might say that he's wanting a confession of faith of the woman, but Jesus seems a bit surprised at his power going out. What does this mean for our Jesus?

It gives a glimpse of his nature, of who he is as God-in-the-flesh. He gives all the time. He forgives all the time. It even surprises him. All he can do is give, give, give. Give healing to the woman. Give himself for our sins on the cross. Clothe us with himself in baptism. Give his words to ring in our ears, and give his body and blood to us in communion. What kind of Jesus do we have? A giving-all-the-time Jesus.

Brent Kuhlman : Pentecost 4

Brent Kuhlman — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:38:47 -0400

Click here to listen to an mp3 of this sermon.

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8)
21 June 2009

St. Mark 5:21-43

No sleeping, snoring Jesus this week. No boating this weekend. He’s on the beach after calming the storm and after healing a demon possessed man who lived in a cemetery. Lord Jesus. Lord of the winds and the waves. Lord over sin, death, and the devil. No wonder a great crowd is waiting for Him on the shore. People have been waiting. Waiting for generations. For centuries. For the kingdom of God. For the Christ. And here He is – fully awake -- on the seashore.

In Mark’s Gospel people come out of the woodwork. People you’d never expect. But word has been leaking out that the Messiah has come. And so off these hungry-for-the-Gospel-people go looking for Jesus. Trusting in Jesus. Giving Him the highest of worship: faith.

Today there’s two. No “little” faith with them like the disciples in the boat last week. Or total rejection by the Gerasenes just a few verses before this text.

First up: Jairus -- the big shot synagogue ruler. Has a little girl. Twelve years old. She is very sick. Deathbed sick. Hospice sick. There’s not much time left. Down to just hours. Maybe even minutes. Where does Jairus look for help? To whom does he desperately look?

Not to himself. Jairus is nothing. But to the Savior who has burst on to the scene! Jairus gets through the crowd to Jesus. But the mighty synagogue official comes before Lord Jesus only as a beggar. Falls down before Jesus’ feet and out spills the beggar’s cry of faith: “My little girl is at death’s door. Please, please come. Lay your hands on her and bless her Jesus so that she can get better and live.”

They take off. Off to the house. “Hurry Jesus! We don’t have much time!” Everyone’s on the edge of their seats to see what will happen. Jesus marches along to save a little girl from the icy grip of death itself. As they go the throng of humanity presses, squeezes and pushes against the Lord Jesus.

They’re making progress. Going as fast as they can to the house. Then all of sudden Lord Jesus hesitates. No. Comes full stop! Someone has touched His coat! And Jesus perceives that He’s helped someone because His divine healing power flowed from His body. He won’t budge until He finds out who came to Him in faith. “Which one of you touched my garments?” Jesus asks.

Are you kidding Jesus? Good grief! There’s a whole mass of humanity pressing up against you! It’s a scene of human gridlock and yet you ask, “Who touched me?”

During this delay Jairus is probably getting quite anxious. Every second counts. But Jesus delays. He wants to know. Someone who believes in Him touched Him.

And lo and behold it is a woman. An unclean, outcast from the worshiping community hemorrhaging-for-twelve-years-woman. Spent all her savings on physicians. And their health care only made her condition worse. She’s heard that Messiah has come. So she dares to come up from behind Him to touch – just touch a piece of His coat. And she felt it. The healing. The hemorrhaging dries up.

His eyes meet up with hers. She’s terrified. She too is reduced to being only a beggar before the Lord. Falls down before Him. Confesses what she, an unclean, hemorrhaging woman has done. “It was me Lord! I touched you! I’m sorry. I was so sick. The physicians took all my money. Made my condition worse. You’re all I have left Jesus. You’re the only one who can help me!”

And Lord Jesus, in this mass of humanity, is there entirely for her. Yes, that’s right, there just for her – this poor, poor woman. He absorbs her uncleanness. Takes it in His body in order to take it to Calvary and die for it. And in exchange she is cleansed. Restored. Redeemed. She is not just a woman. Now she is a: DAUGHTER! She belongs. She’s a part of God’s family.

Jesus praises her faith. Her faith in Jesus. “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your sickness.”

But this delay has cost Jairus dearly. While Jesus was having this divine service on the road, messengers arrive to tell Jairus that his daughter has died. “No need to bother with this Jesus anymore Master Jairus,” they say. “He’s of no use now!”

Jesus overhears this conversation. He steps up to the plate. “Do not be so afraid any more. I’m here. Only believe!”   An outstanding promise from the One who is the Resurrection and the Life. “Do not fear. Only believe.”

So off they go again to the house. Jesus lets Peter, James and John go along. Once they get to the house the commotion and lamentation is in full swing. In those days mourners were even hired.

Jesus acts like nothing is wrong. And really with Him nothing is ever wrong. “Why all the weeping and wailing? The child isn’t dead. She’s only sleeping!” And their crying turns into hilarious laughter. The only time in the New Testament that Jesus evokes laughter. It’s a mocking laughter. “What an idiot! What a maroon! Of course she’s dead! Who is this fool Jairus?” And the world still laughs at this Jesus who treats death like a sleep.

Jesus leaves the mockers outside and goes in to the little girl’s bedroom. Takes Dad, Mom, Peter, James, and John with Him. Grabs her hand. He’s there entirely for her. “Talitha kum! (Little girl, it’s time to get up now!)”

And His words do what they say. They give what they say. The twelve year old daughter “immediately” gets up and walks around the room.

The woman was hemorrhaging to death. Jairus’ daughter died. But Jesus was there entirely for them. Two daughters. One healed. One raised from the dead. Both given even more: salvation.

Today you’ve come out of the woodwork. Expecting good gifts from Lord Jesus. You have His promise too: “Do not be afraid. Only believe. Believe that I’ve raised you from the dead in Baptism to live a new life of faith in Me.” Yes, indeed. Jesus is here entirely for you. With all the power of His dying for you. His Body. His Blood. For you for you to eat for pardon from all your sin. That’s His promise. Once you were dead. But now you are alive. And then more to come. Resurrection and eternal life on the Last Day. "I’m here entirely for you too. Do not be afraid. Only believe."

In the Name of Jesus.

Christus Victor : Books, the Greatest Form of Escapism

John Pawlitz — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 04:31:26 -0400

Reading The Count of Monte Cristo has finally convinced me that books are — without meaning any disrespect to whatever else has been invented (except the internet) — man's greatest escape. I hate to tap Keats, but what else can I do? explain as if for the first time and lie concerning the perpetrator of such insight? "Ode to a Grecian Urn" is so eloquent (if not quite Lutheran) when it describes the depicted scenes that I cannot help but cite a line or two to reinforce my point:

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
    To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
    And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
    Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
        Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

...

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

Perhaps I am simply being what they call Romantic. What the poet calls "Attic shape" no doubt is to be found in literature. Being able to imagine (or, to be) in the dungeon with Edmond Dantes, or imagining seeing him whisked away from his fair Mercédes —why is it so easy for me to imagine that?—, the looks of triumph on his enemies' faces, and his arrest and being sent to court, or feeling his nervous energy and excitement as he searched the isle of Monte Cristo... or to witness the demeanor of Mr. Morrel, to meet with the tale of Haydee, the iniquities of certain villains. All of this I felt more real than my own life. Perhaps until now I have fancied my life something more than it was, making me unable to feel something I considered beneath me.

Christus Victor : Alia iacta est

John Pawlitz — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:29:02 -0400

Or to put it in other terms, it's on. I have a great desire to re-learn Greek and some other things I have let slip out of my mind and there is such a finite set of terms used in the Bible, there is no reason, except laziness, for me not to know them all.

Latest News : Reflections for June 28 through August 1 Now Available

Rev. Mark Buetow — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:03:50 -0400

Higher Things has the next batch of Daily Reflections ready for you to download! These Reflections cover June 28 through August 1, 2009. With reflections on the readings for the Trinity Season, the Catechism and the Daily Lectionary, these Reflections will daily deliver Jesus and point you to Him through His Word and Sacraments. These Reflections are written by Pastor Greg Schultz, Campbell Hill, Illinois, and HT's own Internet Services editor, Pastor Mark Buetow, Du Quoin, Illinonis. To download the Reflections in a printable booklet, click HERE.

Bloghardt's Reflector : VICTORY!

Bloghardt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:06:23 -0400

LSU beats the University of Texas in the CWS!

Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere : Vienna Teng

Rev. William M. Cwirla — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:45:38 -0400

I've been listening to Pandora Radio lately, opening a literal Pandora's Box of possibilities on my variegated musical horizons. This turns out to be somewhat of a distraction since I'm always having to stop whatever I'm doing to check out who is playing, inevitably leading to an impulse download followed by a gargantuan iTunes bill at the end of the month.

As I've noted before, I'm a huge Alison Kraus fan, which, for a middle-aged rocker like myself, is a bit of a genre reach, but hey, she did a terrific collaboration with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame and won a Grammy for it. I'm still waiting for her to do an album with Roger Daltry of the Who, who in my humble opinion, can out sing, and out scream Robert Plant any day of the week.

My Alison Kraus-seeded station on Pandora turned up a 30 year-old Taiwanese-American singer/songwriter named Vienna Teng who records on the indie Zöe/Rounder label. Let's take a moment to be thankful for indie labels, which may well be the salvation of good music for yet another generation.

Vienna Teng (her actual name is Cynthia Yih Shih) is a Stanford grad who worked as a software engineer for Cisco Systems until 2002 when she quit to pursue a full time music career. Software engineers come a dime a dozen; decent singer songwriters are nearly an endangered species.

Vienna Teng is a classically-trained pianist with a versatile voice that seamlessly alternates between sultry alto and lilting soprano evocative of Joni Mitchell, sometimes all in the same measure. Her unique compositional style weds classical, jazz, pop, country, and world music-infused melodies with edgy, often melancholy, poetry. Topics range from meddling grandmothers, late winter snowfalls, corporate corruption, dead uncles, job burnout, abortion, gay marriage to an "atheist Christmas song," all with a certain postmodern ambiguity that forces you to listen closely. I don't know too many songwriters who would dare to lead with a line that goes "I died in a car wreck...." Her jarring juxtaposition of text and tune appears intentionally ironic at times, tweaking the tentative detente between medium and message. Though her songs sound autobiographical, they are actually a kind of lyrical fiction that hides much more than it reveals.

Needless to say, I'm smitten.

Her latest release is called "Inland Territory." I suggest you listen to her in chronological order and track her musical development: Waking Hour (2002), Warm Strangers (2004), Dreaming Through the Noise (2008), and Inland Territory (2009). There is clearly a progression.