Sermon: Septuagesima - 2018

28 January 2018

Text: Matt 20:1-16

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We live in a culture of contradictions. 

On the one hand, we live in the age of the participation trophy, where everybody gets a prize just for playing.  On the other hand, we practically worship the players and coaches of the teams that win the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NCAA National Championship.

On the one hand, we live in the age of expecting equal outcomes for everyone based on every imaginable way to categorize people.  On the other hand, we’re a status-driven culture, where we’re judged by our houses, our cars, our watches, our tennis shoes, and by just about any other silly way to establish a pecking order between people, where having bigger and more expensive stuff adds to one’s personal value and reputation.

So it’s especially interesting to see how people respond to the truth of what Christianity is, what Jesus actually teaches, why our Lord came into our world, and why it makes a difference to be a Christian instead of something else.

Almost nobody really understands what Christianity is, and that includes a lot of Christians.

Christianity is not about being nice.  Sometimes Jesus just plain isn’t.  Christianity isn’t about being a good person and going to heaven.  Nobody is that good.  Christianity isn’t about short-term political and social considerations.  Those change with every generation, and as it seems now, with every month.  Jesus isn’t here to validate your feelings about sexuality, or to promise you a private jet if you have enough faith, or to teach the world that everybody gets a trophy and nobody is wrong, nor to only bring people into His kingdom who happen to be the right ethnic background.  Jesus is not here to reward you because He is impressed with you, because He’s really not.

All the attempts to make Jesus into one’s own image fail.

And this is why our Lord tells parables.  He teaches us about Himself, about us, and about His kingdom.  “The kingdom of heaven is like…” begins many of His parables, including this one: the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.  This story is delightfully shocking, as it has the power to offend just about everyone: those on the Left who think Jesus offers “social justice” to people based on identity politics, as well as those on the Right who think that somehow they earn God’s favor for being right.  The Lord’s kingdom is based on equality, but not the kind that most people say they want.  The Lord’s kingdom is based on the right of the property owner to do whatever he wants, but of course it is God who owns everything.  There is something here to scandalize everyone in our fallen world.

The kingdom of heaven is not like anything on this earth!

The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house,” says Jesus, who goes out to hire workers.  This master pays them each a denarius a day, the going rate set by the market – not by law, not by intimidation, not by a sense of charity.  He offers a denarius a day, and strikes a contract with these all-day workers.

Two hours later, he needs more workers.  He offers them “whatever is right.”  And they agree.  There is agreement about “what is right.”  There are no arguments based on “your reality” and “my reality” or objections that “right” is subjective and unknowable.  The deal is struck, and the workers enter the vineyard.

He finds more workers at noon, and then at three.  He makes the same deal with them.  And then, with one hour left in the twelve hour workday, the master hires these poor guys who have been passed up all day, and they work only an hour.

“And when evening came,” says, Jesus, “the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.”

And here, dear brothers and sisters, is where things get really interesting.  The guys that worked only one hour were paid a denarius.  A whole denarius!  That’s a whole day’s wage for one hour!  The guys who worked all day heard about this, and they were excited, as they presumed that they would get a lot more than a denarius.

But they didn’t.  They received just what the master told them they would receive: one denarius.  A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.  And they are furious.  They grumble.  They object that it is unfair to pay them a denarius, the same as the guys who worked one hour.  After all, they bore “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

And here is where Jesus teaches us about the kingdom of heaven.  The master replies, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  Did you not agree for a denarius?  Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

Dear friends, we have an over-inflated view of what we are worth.  We really think God “owes us something.”  We really think that we deserve God’s grace.  We really think that we are better than others.  It’s called sin.  And if you don’t suffer from it, then you don’t need a Savior.  But if you do need a Savior (and you do), then you need the Savior’s grace.  That is what this parable is about.  That is what the kingdom is about.  That is what Jesus is about.

That’s what the denarius coins represent, dear brothers and sisters.  God graciously “pays” his workers not what they deserve, but what they need.  Because, frankly, if we were paid what we deserve, we would be cast into hell.  But instead, we are baptized and redeemed, paid the “denarius” of Christ’s blood that admits us into the kingdom – whether we live to be a hundred, or die in infancy, whether we suffer martyrdom for the sake of Jesus, or whether we live a long comfortable life.  It isn’t our business how God shows mercy to others.  He is allowed to do what He chooses with what is His.  And far be it from us to begrudge His generosity! 

Instead of grumbling, dear friends, let us rejoice!  Instead of complaining that someone else got a denarius, let us live a life of joy that we have been made rich by the blood of Christ, shed on the cross, offered as an atonement for your sins, and even poured into the cup for you to drink as the very Word of God delivered to you in Holy Communion.

Don’t begrudge someone else eating the body of Christ and drinking His blood!  Don’t be offended that someone else receives Holy Absolution!  Don’t look at the screaming baby at the baptismal font with contempt that he also receives the denarius of salvation even though he has arrived at this world in the eleventh hour.  Rather let us enjoy the kindness of our master and the richness of His grace!  Let us be grateful that the Lord calls others to work in His vineyard and join us in the field to work for Him who makes us rich beyond measure! 

Let us remember that the kingdom of heaven is not like this fallen, brutal, dog-eat-dog world.  Rather the kingdom of heaven is the realm of our King, who knows all, who sees all, who loves all.  And in His mercy, “the last will be first, and the first last.”  And that is not a contradiction, but rather a demonstration of the Lord’s boundless grace and mercy, a denarius given to us for His labor, though we don’t deserve it.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Transfiguration - 2018

21 January 2018

Text: Matt 17:1-9

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The Transfiguration of our Lord is a dramatic event.  It was, of course, something the three apostles Peter, James, and John would never forget.  And it is something that we don’t forget either, as the church remembers this remarkable revelation of who Jesus is each year as we make our way to Lent, to Good Friday, and to Easter.

Our Lord takes the three of them up a mountain.  His face and clothes glow with a blast of radiant light.  Jesus is seen talking with Moses and Elijah.  Peter says something about building tents for the three of them.  Then there is a cloud and the voice of God the Father announcing approval of His Son Jesus.  The three disciples are “terrified” and they fall to the ground.  And then it is all over, that quick.  Everything goes back to normal, and all they see is Jesus: “Jesus only.”  And then Jesus tells them to keep quiet about all of this, “until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

I gave you a quick rundown of this incident as recorded in our Gospel reading, but I left out a detail.  Maybe you missed it.  It goes by so quickly, and it doesn’t seem important, so you might not have caught it.  But it is a detail that was so important that the Evangelist made sure that it was included in his account right at the beginning, and the Holy Spirit has made sure that you heard it today.

The three words at the beginning of this reading are: “After six days.”

“After six days.”

So why is this important?  Well, six days prior, Peter, the leader of the apostles and of our Lord’s inner circle of Peter, James, and John, confessed Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of God.”  And Jesus told Peter that this confession was revealed to him by the Father. 

This is a crucial turning point for our Lord and for the church.  For the revelation of who Jesus is hasn’t been completed – even after Peter’s confession.  Our Lord is going to take Peter with two witnesses and really make it clear who He is, why He is here, and what is going to happen in the future. 

And once again, this entire revelation is set off by the words “after six days.”

What happens after six days, dear friends?  After six days, comes the seventh day, the Sabbath, the weekly Day of Rest that we Christians keep as “The Lord’s Day,” that is “Sunday.”  While the pagan world chose to honor the sun, the brightest star in our sky that blazes with light, we Christians honor a different kind of Son: the Son of God and Son of Man, whose light is uncreated and divine.  Their sun is created, whereas our Son is the Creator.

“After six days” reminds us that the universe was created in six days, and “after six days,” God rested.  He rested from His labors, and He called creation “very good.”  “In the beginning, God created,” says the first verse of the first book of the Bible.  “In the beginning was the Word,” says the first verse of the last Gospel in the Bible.  In the beginning was God, and in the beginning was the Word by whom all things were made.  “After six days,” after the creation, after the Word declared, “Let the be light, and there was light,” after the universe was created and after the man Adam, who was to become the earthly ancestor of Jesus, after the six days of creation, Jesus comes into our world to fix it, to rescue us, to shine light into the dark places of our sinful world and our sinful flesh, to enlighten us with the Gospel and the revelation that He is God in the flesh, that the Father is well-pleased, and that the “Son of Man” will indeed be “raised from the dead.”

“After six days,” Jesus speaks to Moses and Elijah, conversing with the Law and the Prophets, as the One who fulfills both the law and the prophets.  He reveals who He is to the disciples, and He blazes with glorious and frightening light.  This is the unvarnished and unveiled glory and might of God.  “After six days” He has come into the world to be the world’s Sabbath rest, to spend the sixth day on the cross and in the tomb, to die for us and in our place, to defeat Satan himself by atoning for us and rescuing us from the devil’s clutches.  “After six days,” He announces, “It is finished,” and the Father’s words, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased” are brought to their fulfillment upon the cross, as the Son flawlessly and faithfully obeys the Father’s will, and creation is redeemed, all “after six days.”

“After six days” comes the Sabbath, His rest in the tomb, and at the end of that Sabbath, comes the Eighth Day, the First Day of the new creation. “After six days” Jesus will come again to restore creation to its glory with a New Heaven and a New Earth!

Dear friends, we don’t see the Lord in His full transfigured glory “after six days,” but we do see a revelation of Jesus as He has revealed Himself to us.  For “after six days” comes our own mountaintop experience, the revelation of Jesus Christ, as we too hear the voice of God in the Scriptures, and we too see Jesus change form before our eyes.  We see bread and wine, but we know that by His Word and mighty power, by His promise, and by His fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, we hear the voice of God proclaim: “This is My body.  This is My blood.”  We fall to our knees, and we too pray, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” 

For we too experience the cross and the resurrection, the creation and the condummation of time, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the “after six days” of the Lord Jesus Christ coming among us, revealing Himself to us, and shining the light of His grace and His countenance upon us.  And “after six days” we too lift up our eyes and see “Jesus only” as our weekly Divine Service is all about His Word and His presence, His faithfulness to us in the forgiveness of our sins, in His perfect obedience to the Father, and with His invitation to us to “rise and have no fear” having eaten His body and having drunk His blood unto eternal life. 

We too come down the mountain, and we too leave this holy ground to go back to our own ordinary lives.  But “after six days,” we have the privilege to return.

But unlike Peter, James, and John, we are not under a restriction.  For the Son of Man has indeed been raised from the dead.  We confess His resurrection, and we confess His coming among us in the flesh.  And “after six days” we will confess yet again that He comes to us in the Sacrament of the Altar, that He appeared to Peter, James, and John, that He was indeed crucified, died, and was buried, and on the third day, He rose again.  “After six days” we will again remember our baptism, confess our sins, hear the good news, and meet with Him anew in the miracle of His presence in the Holy Communion, week in and week out, on the Lord’s Day and wherever and whenever the Church gathers in His name by His grace. 

And when our last hour on this side of the grave comes, we can die in the faith “after six days,” knowing that we will have our own Sabbath rest, assured of lifting up our eyes and seeing “Jesus only” when He raises us to eternal life, “after six days.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Epiphany 2 - 2018

14 January 2018

Text: John 2:1-11

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

If there is one human institution that shouldn’t be controversial at all, one that binds all people of all times together because of overall agreement, it should be marriage.  For the entire gamut of human history, men and women have left their parents, married a partner of the opposite sex, and typically have brought forth children from this union.  The marriage usually begins by a ceremony and a celebratory meal, and is shared by the families and the community.

This pattern is virtually universal across times and places, across cultures and religions.  It is natural, biological, seems to be psychologically and sociologically satisfying, and is the basis of society and civilization.

It should be no surprise that our Lord chose a wedding feast to perform this “the first of His signs.”  For there is nothing more human, ordinary, natural, and joyful than a wedding.  But there is also something supernatural as well, for our Lord said that God puts men and women together in marriage, and that the two become “one flesh.”  This transcends what we see with our eyes when men and women join together in holy matrimony.

It is also interesting that our Lord chose water and wine to be the substances involved in this first miracle, this first manifestation of His glory in His ministry.  For our earth is mostly water, and wine is a result of the natural fermentation of the fruits of the earth.  But there is also something supernatural in this miracle of Jesus as well, for water doesn’t naturally become wine.  And even the natural rules of hospitality are turned on their head by our good and merciful Lord Jesus, who unlike “everyone” who “serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine,” instead has kept “the good wine” until the end.

Given that in Scripture, Jesus is called the Bridegroom and the Church is called the Bride, we can see how He uses the example of marriage and a wedding feast to teach us about the kingdom, and about Himself.  For in a marriage, the two become one flesh in a way that is both natural and supernatural.  Our Lord Jesus was born into our world both naturally, as a boy borne by His mother, but also in a supernatural way, born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, the eternal Word made flesh.

And what about the Bride?  We Christians are natural human beings living in a natural world.  And when we partake of the intimacy of Holy Communion, we truly eat bread and truly drink wine – even as the attendees of that wedding feast at Cana in Galilee did, even as people have been doing in ordinary meals for thousands of years.  And yet, our Holy Communion is also supernatural, for our Lord said, “This is My body” and “this cup is the New Testament in My blood,” all “for the forgiveness of sins.”  This is indeed a meal, but it is not ordinary.  It is just as miraculous and wondrous as that first of the Lord’s signs when He turned the water into wine through His Word and by His own will and power, delegating authority to the servants by whose hands our Lord worked the miracle (even as His mother told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you”).

Our Lord’s sign: His use of His Word to transform brokenness into completeness, lack into plenty, shame into joy, and disbelief into faith, is repeated every time His Bride gathers in His presence and celebrating the eternal feast according to His Word.  In this ordinary and extraordinary meal, we enjoy a physical and spiritual union with our Lord and our God, who joins Himself to us in a great sacramental mystery, forgiving our sins, and drawing us to Himself in an extraordinarily ordinary way.

We do just as Blessed Mary advised the servants that day: “Do whatever He tells you.”

He has told us: “Do this in memory of Me.”  He has told us: “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  He has told us, “If you forgive anyone His sins, they are forgiven.  If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”  He has told us to preach and to teach and to confess Him according to our various callings and vocations.  He has told us to forgive others their sins, to ask forgiveness of those whom we sin against, to partake of His body and blood, to hear His Word, to pray, praise and give thanks, to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Our Lord has come to us who were starving in brokenness, and has given us a banquet in fulfilment.  He has come to us in our poverty of alienation from God, and has given us riches beyond measure in His grace and mercy and divine communion.  He has come to us in our mortal life of struggle with sin, and has delivered to us eternal life and His very righteousness as a free and full gift, won for us at the cross, and delivered to us by His Word, and placed before us as a meal of union and of communion under bread and wine.

This was indeed the first of our Lord’s signs, but it was not to be the last.  Nobody could have predicted what was to come when the Lord turned water into wine at Cana in Galilee that day, but we know what happens, dear friends.  We have seen not only this manifestation of His glory, but also its fulfillment in His laying down His life for His Bride at the cross, in His glorious resurrection from the dead, and in His miraculous ongoing feast of bread and wine (now become His body and blood through His Word spoken by His servants).

For our Lord has saved the best for last, that is, the wine of His blood and the bread of His body, the Word of His cross, the proclamation of His Gospel, our redemption by His sacrifice, and our resurrection to eternal life by means of His resurrection.

And while the world has taken even the simplicity of marriage and twisted it into a confused mess out of step with nature and stripped of that which makes it supernatural, our Lord Jesus Christ does the very opposite, dear friends.  Rather taking the natural and blessing it with the supernatural, taking something ordinary and making it holy, and elevating the common to the realm of the glorious: all as a wedding gift for His Bride.  

We continue to “do whatever He tells” us in this celebratory meal and eternal feast, as He manifests His glory, and we believe in Him!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Epiphany (transferred) - 2018

7 January 2018

Text: Matt 2:1-12 (Isa 60:1-6, Eph 3:1-12)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The inventor Thomas Edison conducted thousands of experiments before getting a successful lightbulb.  It must have been a cause of great joy when, at last, his invention lit up and stayed glowing.  One can only wonder if he knew then just how much this invention would not just change the world, but revolutionize the lives of billions of people from that time forth.

Similarly, one has to wonder if the Magi realized the revolution happening in the world by the coming of the boy King whom they visited, following the light of a star in order to come and worship Him, to bring gifts, and then to bring this good news to the Gentiles, who would grow to be billions of people through the passing of millennia.

The light of the Christ Child coming into the world was something spoken of by the prophets, including Isaiah, whose words of revelation resound among us still: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”  For the prophet understands the fallen world, our struggle against sin, death, and the devil, the “darkness” that ravages the earth, and the “thick darkness” that plagues the peoples. 

It is as though our sins rolled back the creation from the command of the very Word of God: “Let there be light!” and falling back into chaos with our rebellious flesh defiantly demanding: “Let there be darkness!”

Since the fall in Eden, dear friends, we have been struggling with the darkness: the darkness of our souls, the darkness of the hearts of man, the darkness of confusion and brokenness, and the darkness of the tomb.

But God did not leave us in the dark.  Once again, by means of the Word of God, He commanded anew: “Let there be light!”  For the light came into our world in Jesus Christ: Light of Light, very God of very God.”  For “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The “darkness has not overcome it,” dear friends, for “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

This is why our Christian art depicts the magi visiting the Holy Family at the manger, when in fact, their visit was maybe a couple years later, not in a stable but in a house.  The point is that the visit of the magi, led by the star, is closely connected to the birth of Jesus.  Furthermore, it took them a long time to travel by the light of the star from the east to the place where the prophecy of Isaiah, “Arise, shine, for your light has come” was fulfilled in the infant body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice how the theme of light illuminates our readings today, even as the word “epiphany” means a “shining forth” or a “revealing.”  It is like then Moses came down from the mountain and his unveiled face shone with the reflected light of God, or later, when the Lord Jesus figuratively takes off his veil at the mountain of transfiguration, and Peter, James, and John will see Him dazzling with light in His full glory.

The other theme in our readings, in addition to the shining of light to overcome the darkness, is the fact that this light is not only there to illuminate the chosen people of Israel.  For in Christ, God chooses His people from among all peoples, all nations, the Jews and the Gentiles, children of Abraham whether by blood or by adoption.

To St. Paul, this was a “mystery… made known… by revelation.”  The word “revelation” is literally an “unveiling.”  When the veil is removed, the light shines, exposing the reality of who Jesus is: the Savior of the entire world!  As St. Paul elaborates: “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, partakers of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

And St. Paul was given grace “to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone” so that we have “boldness and access” – access to God that was formerly denied to us in our dark past – “with confidence through our faith in Him.”

The coming of the magi is a clear fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “the wealth of the nations” – “nations” being the same word translated as ‘Gentiles’ – “shall come to you. A multitude of camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come.  They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.”

This good news radiating from the Word Made Flesh, this manifestation of the living God in the form of the baby King of the Jews is not only for the Jews but also for the far-off Gentiles.  He has come to redeem all the peoples who formerly lived in darkness.  The Word that declared, “Let there be light” in the beginning is making a new beginning, coming into our world as light, and the world has come to worship Him, our uncreated Light, by the light of a created star.

The magi offer creaturely gifts to the Creator, gifts that ultimately already belong to Him.  This is the same thing that we do, dear friends, making offerings to our Lord even though He lacks nothing, and already owns all things.  In giving, the magi were not enriching Jesus, but were enriching themselves.  For this was an act of love, of worship, of faith, and of the confession before God and man that this baby is indeed both God and Man, and He is a King to be worshiped!

And no matter how the forces of darkness scowl and rage and lash out, they cannot extinguish this light!  Herod wanted to know where to find the Child so as to snuff out His life, but Herod’s dark mission would fail.  For “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” 

Not even the darkness that enveloped the dying Jesus on the cross could extinguish this light.  Not even the darkness of the tomb in which our Lord’s body was laid could snuff it out.  Not even the darkness of our own sin and the dark lies of the devil can extinguish the Light of Christ!  For the Light came into the world to destroy the darkness of sin by atoning for it, to obliterate the darkness of death by vanquishing it, and to eradicate the darkness of Satan by conquering him.

And just as the still, small voice bears the Word of God, and just as a single candle chases away the darkness, so too does the tiny baby Jesus – His very presence in our dark world – forever deliver the brightness of the Gospel to us, to all peoples, to Jews and Gentiles, even as we reflect back a small portion of His light and His love in our gifts.

Edison’s tiny bulb forever broke the hold of darkness over the life of mankind in this material world.  But the baby Jesus is the eternal “light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome,” whose light brings us into eternal light and life with God, so that you, dear brothers and sisters, “shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult.”

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The more things change...

Charles Porterfield Krauth (1823-1883)

When error is admitted into the Church, it will be found that the stages of its progress are always three.  It begins by asking toleration.  Its friends say to the majority: You need not be afraid of us; we are few, and weak; only let us alone; we shall not disturb the faith of others.  The Church has her standards of doctrine; of course we shall never interfere with them; we only ask for ourselves to be spared interference with our private opinions.  Indulged in this for a time, error goes on to assert equal rights.  Truth and error are two balancing forces.  The Church shall do nothing which looks like deciding between them; that would be partiality.  It is bigotry to assert any superior right for the truth.  We are to agree to differ, and any favoring of the truth, because it is the truth, is partisanship.  What the friends of truth and error hold in common is fundamental.  Anything on which they differ is ipso facto non-essential.  Anybody who makes account of such a thing is a disturber of the peace of the church.  Truth and error are two co-ordinate powers, and the great secret of church-statesmanship is to preserve the balance between them.  From this point error soon goes on to its natural end, which is to assert supremacy.  Truth started with tolerating; it comes to be merely tolerated, and that only for a time.  Error claims a preference for its judgments on all disputed points.  It puts men into positions, not as at first in spite of their departure from the Church's faith, but in consequence of it.  Their recommendation is that they repudiate the faith, and position is given to them to teach others to repudiate it, and to make them skillful in combating it.

     ~ Charles Porterfield Krauth, (1871)

        The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology, pp 195-6

Who was the better scholar, Luther or Erasmus?

Dr. E. Christian Kopff's paper, presented here at the CCLE's 17th annual conference (Summer 2017) might surprise you!  Dr. Kopff analyzes the great knock-down-drag-out scholarly clash between Desiderius Erasmus (Freedom of the Will) and Martin Luther (Bondage of the Will) in their citation and use of classical writers in their famous works on free will and its limits.

Dr. Kopff (University of Colorado - Boulder and the American Academy in Rome) is the author of the remarkable book The Devil Knows Latin: Why America Needs the Classical Tradition (2000).

I had the privilege of being right up front for this presentation (held as a wonderful restaurant in Cheyanne, Wyoming), and it is always  great pleasure to hear Dr. Kopff speak!

Correcting the Record on Luther

In response to opinions expressed by Renzo Puccetti in this piece published in American Conservative: "The Dangers of Theosentimentalism" by Rod Dreyer, my friend Dr. William Tighe, a Roman Catholic history professor and scholar at Muhlenberg College, corrects some mistaken information regarding Martin Luther and modern Lutherans:

It is unfortunate, to say the least, that such a cri de coeur as that of Renzo Puccetti, should contain such a statement (thus rendering it liable, sadly, to casual dismissal) as this:

“Please someone tell me, how a simple Catholic could keep his sensus fidelium, infallibilis in credendo, when the founder of the Lutherans, who approve of abortion, contraception, IVF, euthanasia and gay marriage, who don’t believe into the virginity of Our Lady, or in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in body, blood and divinity, not to mention a number of other truths of faith, is celebrated as a renovator rather than a destroyer.” 

I’m hardly an admirer of Luther (and Richard Rex’s book has reenforced my distaste for him), but fair is fair, after all.

Modern “liberal Lutherans,” like many other “liberal ‘Christians,'” may “approve of approve of abortion, contraception, IVF, euthanasia and gay marriage” and may not “believe into ( sic ) the virginity of Our Lady, or in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in body, blood and divinity,” but “the founder of the Lutherans” (by which he can only mean Martin Luther) would almost certainly have opposed “abortion, contraception, IVF, euthanasia and gay marriage” had they entered his imagination as imaginable things, or things which any Christians might accept or practice; and, in fact, Luther did believe into “the virginity of Our Lady” (both as regards the conception of Our Lord, and also her “perpetual virginity,” in which Zwingli and Calvin also believed) and also “the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in body, blood and divinity” (and furiously attacked other Reformers who denied it, considering their views on the “Lord’s Supper” far worse in this respect than those of the “papists”).

A believing Catholic might perhaps stigmatize Luther as “the original Protestant,” but he was neither (in his own day or subsequently) “the typical Protestant” (as regards denial of central Catholic beliefs and practices) or “a Liberal Protestant.” Rather, Lutherans who embrace “abortion, contraception, IVF, euthanasia and gay marriage” and who deny “the virginity of Our Lady, or … the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in body, blood and divinity” demonstrate by those very facts how far they have forsaken the “faith of their founder.”

Thank you, Dr. Tighe, for your commitment to truth and accuracy!

Feminization of the Church

The following talk was given by the Rev. Dr. Steve Hein at the 2017 Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education's 17th annual conference in Cheyanne, Wyoming (#CCLEXVII).

Dr. Hein takes up the thorny topic of gender in the church.  But this isn't what you think.  This has nothing to do with "gender identity" and transgenderism.

Rather, he addresses the symptom of modern western churches largely being unrepresented by male parishioners, and the effects which flow from this disparity.  Dr. Hein traces this phenomenon historically - and surprisingly, it isn't rooted in the modern feminist movement, but dates back to the Middle Ages.  This is not only an intriguing topic in terms of history and theology, it is a pastoral issue as well - especially considering the role of fathers in the propagation of the faith to their children and the future of Christianity in the West.

Here are links to the audio:

• Part One 
• Part Two
• Part Three

Other audio and video from the many outstanding presentations can be found here.

A couple of books that Dr. Hein refers to in his presentation are:

• Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow, and 
• The Church Impotent by Leon Podles

A couple of works by Dr. Hein that you might find of interest:

"Fathers, Don't Let Them Die" (blog post)

The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? (book)

Thank you, Dr. Hein, for tackling this controversial and crucial issue to the life and faith of not only ourselves, but our descendants as they battle the world, the devil, and the sinful flesh.  I encourage everyone to listen to his presentation and think about what can be done in your own family and parish for the sake of the Gospel.

What father tells the oncologist of their cancer-stricken child that they will not make their next appointment because it conflicts with her soccer game?  And yet, recent statistics suggest that many of our children baptized as infants joined many a soccer league, but never made it to their confirmation as adolescents.

~ Rev. Dr. Steve Hein

Sermon: Wednesday of Christmas 1 - 2018

3 January 2018

Text: Luke 2:22-40 (Isa 11:1-5, 2 Sam 7:1-16)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

As the church drags her feet to continue our Christmas celebration, we are reminded of just how revolutionary our Lord’s coming was. 

Seven hundred years before the Lord’s birth, the prophet Isaiah spoke of Him as “a shoot from the stump of Jesse” and “a branch from his roots.”  This is alluded to in one of the lines of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” 

For Jesse was the father of David: the boy who slew the giant, the man after God’s own heart, the mighty king of Israel whose descendant would sit on the throne forever.  But the line of Jesse seemed to have come to an end.  For his kingdom divided into civil war, chaos, and division.  The northern Kingdom, Israel, had already been wiped from the face of the earth by the time of Isaiah.  And Judah, the Southern Kingdom, was taken into captivity in Babylon in the sixth century BC.  And while the people returned to rebuild the Temple, they did not restart their kingdom.  They found themselves ruled by Persians, then Greeks, then Romans.  The tree that represented the children of Israel was like an old, dead, dry stump.

It remained so until the coming of Jesus, when a fresh green sprout grew out of that stump: the shoot from the stump of Jesse.  For that little child Jesus is a restarting of the People of God, the King who has appeared in the most unlikely of births.

Israel was old and worn out, tired and so long under occupation that nobody could remember what it was like to live in one’s own country under one’s own king.  And there were all of these hopeful prophecies that just never seemed to come true, year after year, generation after generation, century after century.  It was as though winter had become permanent, and a chilling darkness settled over the nation, without hope of even a ray of sunshine.

And yet, the old ones held on.  Simeon, the elderly priest, clung to life because he had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he “would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  And like Abraham who believed God’s promise of a son, even as he continued aging and was nearly a century old, St. Simeon refuses to disbelieve.  Simeon clings to the Word of God no matter who may scoff or simply abandon belief.  For God always keeps His Word.  So Simeon is “waiting for the consolation of Israel.”

And another elderly Saint, Anna the prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, was an eighty-four year old widow whose life was devoted to serving God in the temple: “worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”  How ridiculous she must have looked to the young women!  Anna waited around “for the redemption of Jerusalem,” wasting her life with religion when everybody knows that this does no good. 

The old ones – at least these old ones – kept the faith while others made fun of them, or ignored them, getting on with the more important things in life.

So Simeon waited for consolation and Anna waited for redemption.  They waited as their bodies aged.  They waited as time passed.  They waited while everything seemed to go on as always.

And then it happened: a bolt from the blue!  The tender green shoot pushed its way out of the worn and dry old stump that people couldn’t even be bothered to dig out.  The virgin conceived and bore a Son: the Son of David, Emmanuel, Jesus!  The Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords: the Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world!  “Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins.”  Righteousness was to console Simeon and faithfulness was to redeem Anna.

When Mary and Joseph brought the Christ Child to the temple “according to the custom of the Law,” St. Simeon realized that his wait was over!  He held the Child and blessed God: “Lord, you are now letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word.”  St. Simeon had seen the Christ child and was now free to “depart in peace.”  His eyes saw salvation, prepared by God for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike.  Simeon had a blessing and a prophecy for Mary and Joseph – for this work of Jesus was not going to be easy.  There would be resistance.  There would be war.  Mary herself would suffer the mother’s worst nightmare of seeing her Son suffer and die before her eyes. 

But Simeon knew what this meant: Christ was in our world to “strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips, He shall kill the wicked.” 

For Jesus has come to be the consolation of Israel, to vindicate them from the hands of their enemies – indeed through His righteousness and His faithfulness given as a gift to the Jew and the Gentile alike.

And indeed, there was also the faithful elderly widow Anna.  She was there in the temple as well to welcome the Christ Child.  Her wait was also over.  For “coming up that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Her wait was also over.  She waited for redemption, and that redemption came to her right there in Jerusalem! 

And all of the sudden, the tired became the fresh, the dreary became bright, the frail became the robust.  The shoot from the stump would grow to be a branch, and that branch would become the cornerstone of the church, the very Tree of Life with vibrant roots and green offshoots, sprouting every which way even to the ends of the earth!

Simeon and Anna knew that the world would never be the same.  Anna could not stop speaking about Jesus, and Simeon knew that he had held Salvation Himself in his arms.

This, dear friends, is the ongoing wonder of Christmas.  The world celebrates the child in the manger, and then moves on to more important things.  But the Church knows that nothing is more important than the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

That sword that would pierce the Blessed Virgin’s heart would be the cross, and that cross would be the salvation of her soul and the redemption of the universe. 

For as St. Paul reminds us: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

This, dear friends, is why we can pray with Jesus to “our Father who art in heaven,” “crying, ‘Abba, Father!’”

For we know what Simeon realized and what caused Anna to rejoice: “You are no longer a slave, but a son,” that is, “an heir through God.”

Dear brothers and sisters, you have inherited what Jesus has earned for you: salvation, eternal life, righteousness, and faithfulness.  Our wait is over.  The kingdom is ours.  Like our father Simeon, we can sing, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”  And we can join with our mother Anna, “worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” and speak of Jesus to all who are waiting for His redemption.  For our wait is over.  

The shoot from the stump has become our Tree of Life, bearing the fruit that was once forbidden to our ancestors, but is now given to us as our consolation and redemption.  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Fifty Shades of Netflix

Dinosaur King is a 2007-8 animated TV series based on a Japanese card game of the same name.  It has all the elements that would appeal to pre-teen boys. There doesn't seem to be anything sexual about the the series.  Netflix describes it as follows:

2007 78 eps TV-Y7 FV
Aided by tablets found near a downed meteorite, Max, Rex and Zoe race the evil Alpha Gang as they travel the globe in search of living dinosaurs.

The TV-Y7 FV designation means:

For those programs where fantasy violence may be more intense or more combative than other programs in this category, such programs will be designated TV-Y7-FV. Most parents would find this program suitable for all ages.

There doesn't seem to be any indication that this would include sexuality of any type, nor that such programs would be themes of a so-called adult nature.

One of the features of Netflix is that after watching a program, Netflix makes recommendations of other offerings that might be of interest based on watching and liking a certain program.  Based on my 12-year old son's viewing of Dinosaur King, Netflix kindly recommended fifty other programs "Because you watched Dinosaur King."

All of the 50 recommendations say explicitly: "Because you watched Dinosaur King."  I took screenshots of all of them.  The icons for almost all of the films are pretty racy.

I broke down the themes, ratings, and years of the 50 recommendations:

Themes
Homosexuality: 25
Lesbianism: 17
Underage sexuality: 13
Mockery of religion: 6
Adultery: 5
Transgenderism: 4
Prostitution: 2
Drugs: 2
Pornography: 2

Ratings
TV-MA: 19
NR: 16
R: 8
TV-14: 4
PG-13: 2
NC-17: 1

Years
1990: 1
2006: 1
2008: 1
2010: 3
2011: 3
2012: 1
2013: 2
2014: 8
2015: 19
2016: 8
2017: 3

A sample of these Netflix recommendations:

• King Cobra is a 2016 film (TV-MA) described as follows by Netflix on the screen that says: "because you watched Dinosaur King": "Veteran gay pornography producer Stephen battles two rival producers over rights to his underage creation, Brent Corrigan, with deadly results."  The Wikipedia article of the film points out that this movie is "based on the book Cobra Killer: Gay Porn, Murder, and the Manhunt to Bring the Killers to Justice by Andrew E. Stoner and Peter A. Conway."
• Kiss Me is a 2011 film (NR) that inches toward a theme of incest, described by Netflix: "When Mia attends her estranged father's engagement party and meets her soon-to-be stepsister, sparks fly and Mia unexpectedly falls in love."
• Elena Undone is a 2010 film (NR) as described by Netflix: "When openly gay writer Peyton and love-starved pastor's wife Elena meet, they immediately form a bond which erupts into a sizzling affair."
• I Am Happiness on Earth is a 2014 film (TV-MA) in which "a gay movie director finds himself on both sides of the camera, blurring the line between his real sex life and erotic filmmaking" (Netflix).
• Tangerine is a 2015 film (R) summed up by Netflix: "Fresh out of a stint in jail, transgender prostitute Sin-Dee and her pal Alexandra hit the crazy streets of LA to get revenge on her fickle pimp."
• Henry Gamble's Birthday Party is a 2015 film (NR) described by Netflix: "A teen struggles to reconcile his desires with the strict morals of his religious family, while the adults around him struggle with similar conflicts."  
• Blue is the Warmest Color is a 2013 film rated NC-17 (which is the modern equivalent of an X rating).  Netflix: "Determined to fall in love, 15-year old Adele is focused on boys.  But it's a blue-haired girl she meets on the street who really piques her interest."  The Wikipedia article notes: "At Cannes, the film shocked some critics with its long and graphic sex scenes" and quotes a Variety writer: in saying that the film includes: "the most explosively graphic lesbian sex scenes in recent memory."

So, one can only speculate why an anime series that would appeal to pre-teen boys, that has nothing to do with sex - LGBT or otherwise - nor prostitution, swinging, adultery, mockery of religion, underage gay porn, or other such themes would spawn a recommendation of fifty such movies.

It's also interesting that there has been an explosion of such films since 2014-2015.

This adds meaning to the Netflix slogan: "See what's next."

Note: Thank you to Lew Rockwell for publishing this at LRC, January 5, 2018 here.

Search ResultsThank you Lew Rockwell for publishing this piece on January 5, 2018 at LewRockwell.com here.