Sermon: Trinity 21

Image of John 1 ("In the beginning was the Word...") in Greek as posted here.

12 October 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: John 4:46-54 (Gen 1:1-2:3, Eph 6:10-17)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

On first glance, today’s readings from the Word of God have nothing in common with one another. It’s like the fathers of the Church just pulled out a few things at random: the creation account according to Moses, St. Paul’s poetic description of putting on the armor of God, and a healing miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded by the Apostle John.

But, dear brothers and sisters, these readings have everything in common. Though separated by centuries, Moses, Paul, and John have one thing in common in these passages of the Word of God, and that is: the Word of God itself.

Notice what the Word of God is teaching us about the Word of God!

In the Genesis account, we are told that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” His creation was not just a crafting of pre-existent matter, but a true creation, a making of something out of nothing in the way that only God could do. And this very same Creator God revealed to His servant Moses that this creation was through His Word: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” The words “God said” appear ten times in the first chapter of Genesis. For God creates through His spoken Word.

God’s Word is not like our words – words which are only vibrating air that may or may not reflect truth. Our words, at best can only describe reality. But the Word of God has creative power. “God said… and there was…”

All creation exists through God’s Word. And this has been revealed to us through that same powerful Word.

The Word of God is not just information. God’s Word isn’t there just to answer our scientific curiosity. For as God’s Word, as recorded in St. Paul’ letter to the Ephesians proclaims: the Word of God is “the sword of the Spirit” – the very same Spirit that hovered over the waters in the beginning as the Word of God was calling all things into being. The Word of God is not only the agent of creation, it is our defense against our enemies.

This sword of the Spirit, which has come to be the symbol of St. Paul in Christian art, often called by its ancient name, the Gladius Spiritus, is the only weapon we have been given to wield against the devil. Indeed, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Word made flesh, parried the blows of the devil with the Word of God of Scripture, thrusting and stabbing with it, ultimately slaying the devil with the Sword of His Word, uttering the powerful words: “It is finished” from the cross as he delivered the mortal blow upon the serpent.

Even as we pray “deliver us from evil,” it is the Lord Himself who delivers us through His Word, the Word that is to be on our minds, hearts, and lips, the mighty Word that creates us and defends us, the Word of the Spirit, the Word made flesh.

As John the Apostle proclaims: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

But the Word of God is not finished with us yet! The Word doesn’t merely create us out of nothing and provide us with a weapon to wield against the devil, there is much more indeed.

The Word made flesh Himself, the Word who used His Word as a sword against the devil, uses His Word to heal, to beat back death, and to fulfill the promise to make all things new.

While our Lord is scolding the people of Galilee for their lack of faith, for their desire to see signs and wonders, He encounters a nobleman whose son was ill. He pleads with Jesus, which is to say, he prays: “Sir, come down before my child dies!” This nobleman was not there for a show. He wasn’t looking for signs and wonders. Rather he was a concerned father, whose love for his son impelled him to find help where it may be found. He was not driven by curiosity and the desire to be entertained – but rather by paternal love. It was this man’s desire to see his son overcome death. And this is something our loving Father in heaven certainly understands.

Death is knocking at the nobleman’s door, seeking to take away his son.

But if you recall from our Genesis account, there is no mention of death. Death was not part of the original plan of creation. Death is the result of what our ancestors did, and what we continually do. And that is sin. We have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed. And like the nobleman, all we can do is pray to Jesus for healing, that we may be spared the “temporal and eternal punishment” we have “justly deserved.” Like the nobleman, we ask for the Lord’s grace and mercy: “Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord!”

In the case of the nobleman, the Lord granted his prayer, and then some, as our Lord Jesus Christ pronounces: “Go your way; your son lives.” And St. John continues his account:

So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

Behold the miracle through the Word of Jesus – not only the physical healing of his son, but the miraculous conversion through faith in that Word of “his whole household.”

The Word of God not only heals, not only beats back death and conquers the grave, the Word of God creates faith, and as the sword of the Spirit, the Word defeats the lies of the devil and wins people to the truth of the Gospel.

And so here we are, dear friends, praying to the Word made flesh whose sacrifice in the flesh takes away our sins, strikes a mortal blow against Satan, and reverses the ravages of death itself. Like the nobleman, we aren’t here for signs and wonders, but rather because we have a need, and we know that the Word of God delivers. Like the nobleman, we stand before our Master and plead: “be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being.”

And like the nobleman, we hear a word of promise from the Word Himself – this time pronounced by a “called and ordained servant of the Word,” announcing the grace of God to us all, and by the Lord’s command, saying: “I forgive you all your sins.”

And that Word is the same Word that healed the nobleman’s son and brought salvation to that entire family. The Word of God is mighty. It creates all things. It defends us against every evil. It brings the sick to health, the dead to life, and the sinful to pardon. The Word of God brings us into Holy Communion with the very Creator and Father of the Word Himself, who through the Sword of the Spirit gives us everlasting life.

Dear brothers and sisters, the nobleman did not come to Jesus looking for a sign, but he got one anyway. He received the miraculous sign confirming the work and Word of God.

He was given what he asked for – and more.

We too are given much more than signs, much more than simply the things for which we ask. We are given healing – just as the nobleman’s son was. We are given victory over “principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness.” We are given faith in the Word of God that He keeps His promises. We are given forgiveness and life and salvation. And all of this is given to us by the Word – the Word made flesh, the Word through which all things were made, the Word of God that is the sword of the Spirit.

Once again, hear the Word of the Lord. “I forgive you all your sins…”

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

Politicians Can't Read (or: We Were Warned)

Check out this quote:

"Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to 'buy' houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of the homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment."

So, who said this, and when? John McCain? Barack Obama? Ha! If only...

This was written in 1946 (!) by a conservative journalist and economist of the Austrian school, Henry Hazlitt in his seminal work Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt is credited with bringing the free-market economic theory of Ludwig von Mises to the English speaking world.

We were warned more than sixty years before the current meltdown.

The book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the current worldwide economic meltdown, anyone who considers the vocation of citizen to be a God-given station in life, anyone who believes in the concept of being good stewards with the "talents" entrusted to us. It should be a "must read" for anyone serving in national politics.

But at this point, if we could get your average congressman, senator, Fed chairman, president, former president, or candidate for president or vice president up to the level of reading Green Eggs and Ham we would be moving in the right literary direction.

Normally, I would want to see people serving in government to be brighter than those of us who elect them. But given the hole the politicians have dug us into, the only way to even begin climbing our way out will require us to be smarter and better educated than the Washington ruling bureaucracy.

The good news is that's not much of a stretch right now.

If you haven't read Economics in One Lesson, you might want to do so. You can order the latest edition here.

Sermon: Funeral of Ronald Richoux

Funeral of Ronald Richoux
Friday of Trinity 20
10 October 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 22:1-14 (Isa 55:1-9)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Dear Jean, June, Jason, Matthew, Mark, Liz, grandchildren, those related by marriage, all family members, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends - the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

There are times when every father must do something unpopular, something his children do not understand. But fathers who love their children will do what is best for them regardless. It is up to the sons and daughters to put their faith in their father that “father knows best.”

Our dear brother in Christ Ronald Richoux certainly knew this – as do all of us blessed to have the title “father.” And so does the One to whom we pray: “Our Father who art in heaven.” For listen again to the Word of God: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

In times like this, we are tempted to ask “Why?” Why was our husband, brother, father, grandfather, friend, and parishioner taken from us? Why did he suffer illness? Why him? Why now? But our heavenly Father doesn’t answer such questions. Instead, He replies: “My ways are not your ways.” And there is great comfort here, dear brothers and sisters. For God is in control. He is all powerful and knows all things. But God is not just some capricious force of nature. He is our loving Father who cares for us and who knows what is best for us. Even though we don’t understand God’s plan, there is a plan.

Nothing is by accident.

Ronald passed from this life on the same date as his sister. And what a merciful statement of family solidarity our Lord, who is in command of all things, makes to us! Ronald breathed his last on this side of the grave on a Sunday – the day when his family would always gather as a family, in love for each other. Sunday is also the “family day” of the Christian Church, a weekly reminder of our Lord’s resurrection, a feast of thanksgiving in the Holy Eucharist, in which we have communion with our Heavenly Father by the forgiveness of our sins. Even the readings for today are the Church’s assigned passages of Scripture for last Sunday – and how appropriate they are!

We don’t know why Ronald was called home when we weren’t finished with him here. But God’s ways are indeed not our ways. His plan is not our plan – but there is a divine plan at work. Ronald’s mission is now complete, his reason for being with us in this “valley of tears” is over. He has been permitted to leave behind this fallen world of sin, sickness, and death, to be called into the marvelous light of paradise with the angels and archangels, with all the faithful departed, and with the Holy Trinity, to await the resurrection of the flesh, in anticipation of all of us joining him on that glorious day in which we too will find our rest.

We may never know for sure what God’s plan was for Ronald. Those details may well remain hidden from us. But we do know a few things he was created to do. Ronald Richoux was created to be Jean’s loving and devoted husband of 43 years. He was created to father a large, loving, close-knit family. He was created to be an example of manhood to his sons and to teach his daughter what to look for in a husband. He was given the gift of appreciation of the beauty of God’s creation, the gift of a dry sense of humor, the gift of many friends. But most of all, he was given the greatest of all gifts – eternal life, freely given to him through Holy Baptism, nurtured through Holy Absolution and the preaching of the Holy Gospel. He was strengthened in his faith through participation in Holy Communion.

Through these gifts, Ronald Richoux received faith – a real, flesh and blood faith that gave him the courage to look death in the eye and not be overcome. Through these gifts, Ronald’s sins were forgiven, and the ancient curse of our ancestors that separated us from God had been lifted. Through these gifts, Ronald was prepared for this day – the day his body will be laid in a tomb to await the glorious resurrection promised by our Lord, a promise Ronald believed without wavering, a promise that comforts us today.

In our Gospel, our Lord tells the story of a wedding feast. The king withholds nothing from those who are invited – a royal feast, a wedding banquet, the privilege to eat at the table with the king. But some were too busy. Some had other priorities. They had lost faith in their king, and now served themselves instead. In their selfishness, they squandered the invitation, and the king found others to invite to this feast – the good and the bad, the poor, the sinners and tax collectors, the imperfect, the hurting, and those burdened with guilt. In other words, all of us “poor miserable sinners” have been invited to the Lord’s Table. We are worthy not because of ourselves, but because the King has called us, and has chosen us. The king provides us with a wedding garment to wear, signifying that we are indeed worthy. This wedding garment was given to us when we became His dear children at baptism.

In the story, the king finds an impostor at this feast – a man without a wedding garment on. He is thrown out. For many are called, but few are chosen.

Like all those who believe and are baptized, like all those who commune with the Lord, hearing His Word proclaimed, those who know the voice of the Good Shepherd and are indeed His sheep – Ronald Richoux wears the baptismal wedding garment that is the gift of the King! Ronald is worthy and sits at the table, feasting with the Lord, “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven”! And in this Holy Communion, we partake of the same Christ whose face Ronald now sees. In this Sacrament, we not only feast upon the Lamb who takes away all our sin, we feast with all others like us, those whose sins have been taken away by the same Lamb, all our departed brothers and sisters in Christ. They are all here with us! For where Jesus is, there is Ronald Richoux. Where the body and blood of Jesus are, there you are sure to find the Lord’s servants who are now at rest.

Good fathers must make unpopular decisions – and that is why we respect them so. They don’t act just to make us happy in the short term, they do whatever it takes to protect us, nourish us, make us into the men and women we have been created to be, and do whatever is best for us.

Our earthly fathers – as imperfect as they all are – are snapshots of the Fatherhood of God.

We do not always understand the will of our heavenly Father, but we always know that our Father loves us, takes away our sins by the blood of His only begotten Son, and that it is His will that we join in His Son’s victory over sin and death, a victory that gives Ronald and all the saints, everlasting life.

Indeed, “father knows best,” and “our Father who art in Heaven” knows best. We rejoice in the love of fathers, and in the “Father’s Love Begotten” in Christ Jesus that has brought Ronald Richoux victory over the grave and everlasting life! Amen.

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

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged! by the Scottish Lutheran, Rev. Mike Keith, a really solid traditionalist Lutheran pastor from Ft. Qu'Appelle, SK. And if you don't now what state SK is, you'll have to look it up youself. :-)

Anyway, this is the question as tweaked by Pastor Keith's tagger, Rev. William Weedon:

What five people - past or present - inspire your spiritual life??Hmmm...OK, we know that our Lord Himself has to be at the top of the list, so He is assumed. Your five simply follow Him. In Lutheran circles, we will also presume "Fr. Martin of Wittenberg" as well. :-)So the five would be additional people who (humanly speaking) have greatly impacted your life of faith and love on this earth.

This is a really great question, and I'm going to narrow my list to the following (with, of course, my own "honorable mention" list following this numbered list). Numbers 1-3 are people with whom I had personal contact, while 4 and 5 are obviously known to me only through their writing.

1) Rev. Alvin Boehlke - a humble, soft-spoken now retired LCMS pastor who catechized and baptized me in 1982, and who preached Law and Gospel and fed me with the Holy Sacrament while I was under his pastoral care for some five years. When I first met him and asked what Lutherans believe, he handed me a copy of the Augsburg Confession - which I still have and keep in my office at church 26 years later.

2) Rev. Dr. David Scaer - The legendary (and bombastic) seminary professor at CTS Fort Wayne who teaches the faith and specializes in the Scriptures with integrity, panache, and wit. In spite of his gruff persona and abrasive classroom shtick, he is a true gentleman, churchman, intellectual, and pastor. He always makes his students think, and challenges them to do so sacramentally and christologically.

3) Rev. Prof. Kurt Marquart - The now sainted genius professor who taught the Lutheran Confessions (among other interesting and unique classes, such as Apologetics) at CTS Fort Wayne. Aristocratic in bearing, devout in faith, articulate in discourse, and yet genuinely humble and ever ready to help anyone in need, he was completely fluent in several languages and was gifted in rhetoric. He brought a kindness and warmth to his teaching, which was always designed to make the material accessible to his students - no matter how difficult the subject matter. He was a true gentleman, churchman, scholar, educator, and above all, a genuine pastor.

4) St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr - An apostolic father and churchman called the "most significant figure for our times" by Rev. Dr. John Stephenson. St. Polycarp was the link between the Apostle John and St. Irenaeus. He was martyred at age 84, after refusing to renounce his Lord. He was a humble, and yet courageous bishop whose writing clearly demonstrated that the Scriptures were constantly on his mind and lips, both as a Christian, and in his ministry as a bishop. His steadfastness to the Lord and His Church in the face of a hostile culture remains an inspiration today, as do his episcopal and fatherly exhortations from his Epistle to the Philippians.

5) Rev. Dr. Arthur C. Piepkorn, Confessor - Now sainted professor at CS St. Louis, a churchman, historian, beloved professor, and theologian par excellence. He had a keen understanding of Lutheranism not as an "ism" but rather as a living Evangelical tradition within Catholicism. His writings continue to shape the ongoing movement toward a more historical ecclesiology and appreciation of liturgy, sacraments, and the ordained priesthood among Lutherans. He was the face of Lutheranism in ecumenical dialogue for decades - especially among the Roman Catholic theologians who held him in high esteem.

I do have a list of honorable mentions (in no particular order):

Rev. Dr. Fred Baue - my former pastor who planted the seed of my going to seminary.
Mrs. Mamie Hustead - my late Baptist great-grandmother whose devotion to the Gospel and the Holy Scriptures were greatly inspiring.
Mrs. Patricia Beane - my late mother who read Scripture to me from my earliest days.
Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer - friend and CTS Fort Wayne professor who taught me Greek.
Mr. Rick Bowman - my childhood friend who invited me to attend church with him.
Rev. Dr. Burnell Eckardt - publisher of Gottesdienst and brilliant writer/theologian.
Rev. Subdeacon Latif Gaba - one of my oldest friends from seminary, a former classmate, whose deep theological insights are always a joy to read and discuss.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Bo Giertz, Bishop and Confessor - sainted author of Hammer of God, former atheist who became Sweden's youngest bishop, an advocate of the liturgy, pastoral care, and the authority of Scripture, defender of the male pastorate and leader of the confessional resistance in Sweden.
Dr. C.S. Lewis - Author, lay theologian, literature professor, convert from atheism, genius.
Rev. Kantor Richard Resch - professor at CTS Fort Wayne - taught me more about church music than any other person, and allowed me to sing with the Seminary Kantorei.
Rev. Jim King, S.J. - Jesuit priest, my first Theology instructor at Walsh Jesuit High School.
Rev. Dr. William Weinrich - brilliant historical theologian and professor at CTS Fort Wayne.
Rev. Douglas Punke - who ordained me into the presbyterate.

I'm sure I'll think of others, and I'll add them as they pop into my mind.

Thanks, Mike, for tagging me, and I hope you'll forgive my tardiness.

Okay, now I guess I get to tag some folks.

How about: Peter Scaer (who as far as I now, doesn't blog, but he is free to post his answers as a comment to this post), Piotr Malysz, Past Elder, and Latif Gaba.

Your Bailout Dollars at Work

The folks at AIG are enjoying their $85,000,000,000 "bailout."

Check out this invoice of how they spent $440,000 of that money within a few days sending executives to a corporate retreat at a swanky California resort.

It was really nice of them (meaning "us") to throw in the $23,000 worth of spa treatments. Why, those poor suits were so stressed out by all of this, what else was there to do? What inhumane and uncaring soul would deny these poor people such basic human necessities as: "catered banquets, golf outings and visits to the resort's spa and salon"? Are these not the birthright of every American?

But the least they could do is send me one of the mints on their pillows. I don't know about you, but I didn't even get a "thank you" card. But maybe that's their way of being responsible and frugal with the taxpayer's money. Those stamps have really gone up.

Had enough yet?

More Pearls of Wisdom from our District

On Partnership (October 7, 2008):

"Stephen Ministries cites the quiet yet significant shift in leadership - from the star leader to the builder leader. They point out that successful, enduring organizations have leaders who empower people to share ownership of a dynamic mission and work synergistically to succeed. So do not try to do it alone! Develop partnerships and teams at the local level! Ministries strive when people are more devoted to the mission than to the leader of the organization."

I believe this paragraph is illustrative that there is an "ecclesiology gap" between the dominant culture of the LCMS and the traditional worldview of the Church Catholic.

The Christian Church is, by definition, the most "enduring organization" in history. She has survived persecution, political turmoil, heavy-handed leadership, infighting, schism, heresy, cultural shifts, liturgical butchery, musical inanity, and even the Ablaze!(tm) program. Not even the gates of hell will prevail against her. She is eternal. And yet her survival is not "synergistic" (nor based on "shared ownership"), but monergistic (rooted in divine grace).

And this most enduring organization of all thrives best when people are more devoted to the Leader of the organization, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, than they are to some bureaucratic organizational mission.

Political Discourse

I didn't watch the latest McCain-Obama debate - though the universal consensus I'm hearing from the press, from colleagues, and from across the political spectrum is disappointment. One area of common ground among Democrats and Republicans is the mutual dissatisfaction with today's political discourse.

Nobody will answer a direct question! No one will simply let his 'yes' be 'yes' and his 'no', 'no'. It used to be that a skilled rhetorician could answer a question and yet "steer" his answer smoothly in a direction of his choosing. But today, rhetorical smoothness has been replaced by the sudden jerkiness of the sound byte. Intelligent discussion has been supplanted by the parroting of "talking points". Questions are now just blatantly ignored. It has almost gotten to the point where a "debate" might include the question: "What is two plus two?" and the answer: "my opponent is a jerk."

I believe this disappointing performance of the top echelon of the candidates reflects a "dumbing down" of politicians overall. There are exceptions, of course, but the brightest and best as a rule don't serve in government. Instead, we get the slick, the connected, the wealthy, the image-salesman, the one with a quip, the one who tells people what their itching ears want to hear - with no regard for truthfulness.

Our politicians have become laughingstocks and buffoons.

This election cycle is no different than any other (though perhaps worse in magnitude) - we are besieged by career politicians doing the bidding of lobbyists and handlers - all pulled by the strings of focus groups, strategists, and party bosses.

That is not leadership, but marketing.

The uncanny resemblance Sarah Palin has to Tina Fey invites Fey's comedic timing and imagination to perfectly spoof this reality. The above video shows that Fey's "comedic" rambling shtick is virtually identical to Palin's "serious" rambling discourse. Think about it - there is an increasingly blurry line between Saturday Night Live and the Federal government.

The United States is quickly becoming a parody of itself. Statesmanship is all but dead. And on that, it seems that Republicans and Democrats have a lot of agreement.

The Post-Church Era?

Here is a quote from an official dispatch from my District (which is the LCMS's version of a "diocese"). This was written by one of the lay district officials.

"Many persons no longer come to the church to "join" the church. This is especially true for the younger generations. However, even the more mature will choose to support the ministries and participate with time and monetary support but reluctant about joining and what that means. For years, we have approached it with a mentality of believing like us, behaving like us, and then eventually belonging to the congregation. This was true in a church era. However, in this post-church era great significance in placed on belonging before they work on the instructional classes (catechesis)."

I find the words "Post-Church Era" to be disturbing. I think Scripture is clear: the Church is an eternal entity. And while the culture is increasingly hostile to the Bride of Christ - especially the more the Church clings to ecclesiastical traditions that the world finds repugnant - we have the Lord's promise: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18).

The word "post-church" is an oxymoron to the believer. Such language is the prattle of secular sociologists. When the Church stops talking like the Church, when she uses the language of something else - like a business in need of a bailout, or a social club in need of a marketing strategy to attract new members - it is indicative that she no longer sees herself as the supenatural bride of a supernatural God - but rather just another organization that can be analyzed and manipulated using the world's methodologies.

Instead of speaking of Christianity in the argot of the atheist analyst (from the perspective of the world) as "post-church", we should be describing the fallen world (from the perspective of Christ and his church) as that which is passing away.

It's little wonder that so many church bureaucrats I run into are wearing phony, forced smiles that cannot hide the lines of worry and despair in their faces, reflecting a lack of faith in the Holy Spirit. And so these middle-aged men try to adopt the faddish lingo of the iPod generation and the secular "youth culture" in a desperate and pathetic bid for "relevance."

I can't help but think of this "lost generation" of "church leadership" when I hear the melancholic strains of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days." There is nothing so sad and so tragic - especially when the Church's glory days are always in the "eternal present." The Church is around us, before us, behind us, extending back to the Old Testament and forward unto eternity. We are literally surrounded by "angels and archangels and glorious company of heaven" in the Divine Service - if we care to yield to the comfort of the liturgy and truly listen. And at the center of the liturgy and of the Christian life is Jesus Himself, in the flesh - not merely a message to talk about, a tally on a scorecard, but the Godhead made manifest in the flesh and in humble elements given for our consumption and communion.

People who talk the defeatist rhetoric of living in a "post-church" era have truly lost touch with the Gospel. Instead of a catholic and effecacious living faith to impart, they have an obsolete and uncompetitive product to vend - seeking to revive the carcass with marketing gimmicry.

They've traded in their compass for a shiny new GPS - but they're still lost.

Osteen to Help with Bailout!

This Just In from TBNN!

Pierre Cardin Has Lost His Mind

Fashion is often a bellwether for the culture. As the stock market becomes bearish, we are seeing women's wear becoming more conservative and men's suits more classic.

But there are always exceptions, aren't there?

Other than seeing (and enjoying) The Devil Wears Prada, I don't know anything about fashion. I wear black cargo pants from WalMart and ill-fitting clerical shirts from Almy. I realize that I am in no professional position to critique the design of ladies' clothing (though I did a stint as a software consultant at Leslie Fay in Pennsylvania back in the nineties while Arthur Anderson Consulting was calling the shots - and my boss told many of us back then that Anderson was "cooking the books" - an expression I had never heard before - and that people from Arthur Anderson would eventually be in jail).

And I do have an old set of soft luggage with the Pierre Cardin label on it, so I guess that makes me "qualified" to critique the latest offerings (as if!).

But be all that as it may, based on Cardin's latest creations, I think it is safe to say that this is one Frenchman that needs help. He has lost his grip on reality.

I mean, look at this picture! Oh, the humanity!

I really feel bad for this model. Can't you just imagine, the agency tells her she's going to be going on a dramatic, exotic seaside shoot at Theoule-sur-Mer in the South of France for the famous Pierre Cardin? She was probably imagining beautiful gowns, or expensive dresses, or even some kind of flattering casual line or stylish swimware. And professionally, she would be able to include the pictures in her portfolio, show them off to mom and dad, put them on her MySpace, and use them as a jumping-off point to make a bigger splash in her profession.

But look at what actually happened! I think the look on her face says it all.

This is just one step removed from putting on a giant mouse costume at Chuck E. Cheese's. I'm sure the pay was good, and she probably had top-notch travel and accommodations, but let's face it, this outfit is more along the lines of a giant grape in a Fruit of the Loom ad, or Big Fig from the old Fig Newton commercials. As a modeling job, this just doesn't look much different than putting on a chicken suit in front of a Popeyes and handing out flyers for 30 cents off a side dish of your choice.

How can you not just feel terrible for this unfortunate lass?

And does Pierre Cardin actually think real people are going to be running out and buying this? Is he envisioning a futuristic world where we all have personal jet-packs and need to have nylon delta-plane airfoils to fly around? Did he think he was doing the costuming for a production of the Jetsons or a bad Star Trek parody? What is up with those low-slug armholes? Are the tights and boots sold separately? And what exactly is that fin on the top of the head part for? How did the photographer not laugh himself silly?

Goodness, is there any grace and glamor left in this man's head? Maybe it's time for Pierre Cardin to retire and let someone with some connection to reality run his company for him.

Oh la la la la la la la!

Sermon: Trinity 20

5 October 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 22:1-14 (Eph 5:15-21)


In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

One of the results of the fall into sin is that we lack balance. God pours out gifts upon us, all by grace, and He bids us to enjoy ourselves. It seems like a pretty simple assignment. But what do we do in our sinful, fallen state? We either stuff ourselves or starve ourselves.

Instead of being content with the gift of wine that, in the words of the Psalmist, “gladdens the heart,” our sinful flesh must be scolded by St. Paul not to be “fools,” not to be “unwise,” and not to be “drunk with wine.” Our flesh is very good at taking a beautiful gift and perverting it through immoderation. It isn’t sufficient to “gladden the heart,” we abuse the Lord’s creation to the point of impaired judgment, brawls, and even sickness. What is a good and noble gift from the Lord is often distorted into a destroyer of hearth and home. And we sinful human beings do this with every good gift of God – not just alcohol.

And then there is the opposite problem. The Lord gives us the gift of joy, the gift of beauty, the gift of grace without limit, and through our own sinful nearsightedness, we refuse to see this glorious grace he has bestowed upon us. To paraphrase Auntie Mame from the old musical: “Life is a banquet, and some poor people are starving to death” (Auntie Mame said it a little more emphatically in a way that wouldn’t be very appropriate from the pulpit).

And the sin of spurning the Lord’s grace is an even greater sin than gluttony. For when we are greedy, selfish, and gluttonous, it’s hard to fool ourselves. We know that we need to repent. But “starving to death” in the face of the Lord’s bountiful goodness can easily be mistaken as an act of holiness. How often we hear in our churches that it is somehow more noble to offer the Banquet of the Lord’s Supper less frequently! This is spiritual starvation in the face of a literally endless table of eternally satisfying food. How often we hear of churches who offer their parishioners the fluff of entertainment instead of the meat of the liturgy! I have even heard of pastors boasting – boasting – that their copies of the Book of Concord go unread – as if this kind of spiritual anorexia were somehow healthy.

But even in this congregation – where the Sacrament is offered weekly and the traditional liturgy and hymnody are retained – we can, and do, easily fall into the starvation trap as well. Our congregation is lacking both a Vice President and an at large member of the Board of Directors. Our Board of Elders is down to five men. It is not uncommon for our boards to call a meeting, and then have to reschedule for the lack of a quorum. Our congregational meetings are not well attended. We’ve had to suspend Sunday School for all but the youngest children because the many young people in our congregation are nowhere to be seen. How many confirmands have we seen fall off the face of the earth after taking their first communion? Hopefully, it won’t be their last communion as it was with Judas. Bible class is not all that well attended. And as is so often the case with our fallen natures, 20% are expected to do 80% of the work – though 80-20 is probably too conservative in this case.

The Lord is giving us a banquet, but too many are starving.

Our Lord speaks to us of a feast, dear brothers and sisters. His Gospel is indeed Gospel, but there are words of warning as well. Our Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to “a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.”

Can you imagine spurning a royal banquet? Can you imagine the humiliation the king would feel at being snubbed?

“Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.’” But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ‘And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.’”

Notice by this point, any pretensions of piety are out the window. The desire to spurn the grace of the king has become openly murderous and destructive. In this case, self-destructive. We don’t have to imagine the reaction of the king. For our Lord continues his parable:

“But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

The king is determined to have a full banquet hall – even if it means bringing in outsiders, calling the undesirable, having to wash up the unclean and mix social rank at the table. In fact, the king will have to supply the wedding garment, since these guests aren’t even high enough up the social ladder to have the right attire. But what does the king find at this banquet? An imposter:

“a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

We have been called, as the Lord invites all men to repent and believe the Gospel. But only the few who are chosen wear the baptismal garb of the believer. The unbeliever who seeks to enter the kingdom by his own merits apart from the will of the Triune God, lacking faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he is a forgiven sinner by grace through faith – will find himself removed from the banquet he tried to enter unworthily.

Ironically, those who were originally so unworthy that they had to be given a proper jacket for dinner will find themselves worthy – because the king himself declared their worthiness.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us never forget that we are worthy by the sheer grace of God, as we are clothed with the Lord’s righteous garment through baptism. Let us feast with joy – not as gluttons and greedy savages, but rather as joyful sinner-saints who are neither too haughty to wear the King’s garment and feast at the King’s table, nor are we so self-centered that we turn our belly into our god and lose sight of the gift.

The Lord has gone out into the highways and invited us to the table. He invites us to feast with Him every week in the Divine Service, to enjoy the appetizers of Confession and Bible class, to savor the many courses of Word and Sacrament, of prayer and service to our neighbors, and to partake of the dessert of eternal life. He provides this feast to us in the eternal glorification of His Son, whose true body and blood are the bread and wine of this banquet. He provides this holy and life-giving meal to us beggars, whose tattered clothing is covered over with a royal baptismal robe, a wedding garment for this feast, provided, like the banquet itself, by the King.

Let us not misuse this feast like the impostor, nor let us take this feast for granted like those who refused to come when invited. Let us not gorge ourselves as gluttons nor starve ourselves in arrogance and pride. Rather, let us feast! Let us enjoy the goodness of the Lord. Let us accept His mercy and find satisfaction and grace in the holiest meal of all, a banquet that will have no end. Amen.

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

Louis Armstrong & Danny Kaye

This is just extraordinary showmanship. You'll think you're hearing double.

So, who really won the Cold War?

Here is an outstanding article published in Canada's National Post about why this proposed Wall Street bailout is nothing other than warmed-over Marxism.

The author is absolutely right.

Economically, a centrally-planned national bank is the fifth principle of Marx's Communist Manifesto, as the author points out. He also explains coherently and concisely why this principle - which is now embraced by mainstream "conservatism" is doomed to fail.

For further evidence that the Soviet Union didn't really fold but has only relocated to American shores, read this Associated Press piece. I especially like this part:

Now it's not about financial institutions. The focus has switched to everyday Americans. And it's not an expenditure of taxpayer money, it's an "investment."

...

"Let's not call it a bailout. Let's call it a rescue," said Republican John McCain.

Democratic rival Barack Obama said, "This is no longer just a Wall Street crisis -- it's an American crisis, and it's the American economy that needs this rescue plan."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's take: Its not a bailout but "a buy in, so that we can turn our economy around."

Bush, McCain, Obama and top congressional leaders agree the plan -- which would nationalize large numbers of bad mortgages and securities tied to them -- is needed to unclog the nation's financial arteries.

We need to "nationalize" bad mortgages. It's not a bailout, but a "buy-in," a "rescue plan," an "investment." The Communists (who were likewise proponents of nationalizing the economy) often changed the names of things to try to convince us, in the words of George Orwell, that "War is peace", "Freedom is slavery", and "Ignorance is strength."

Politically, I'm struck by the inherent Soviet-style polit-bureaucracy going on here. Instead of the mythical two-party system, we have the leadership of both "parties" agreeing in principle about the need for this unconstitutional corporate welfare. Both presidential candidates of our allegedly two-party system are in lockstep unity with each other that the taxpayers bear the burden of this bailout. Pelosi and Bush might as well be slow-dancing with each other.

So, in reality, we only have one party (sound familiar?). Finally, notice the use of rhetoric, of euphemisms, and of outright propaganda and lying that is going on! Goodness, back in the Cold War days, we mocked the Russians for this kind of thing.

And speaking of Communism, check out this excerpt from the actual bill (now, this is the one that failed in the House, but a version of which will most certainly be brought back from the dead like the Frankenstein monster to be wed to its bride that passed the Senate today):

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Huh? Non-reviewable? May not be reviewed by any court? Goodness, does that sound remotely American? Again, such a proposal coming out of 1950s Moscow would have drawn hoots from the same supposed "conservatives" who are willing for this to become law in 2008 Washington.

Incredible.

Well, there are two small silver linings here, comrades:

1) quite a few people are waking up the the fraud that is today considered "conservative" economics and are learning about truly conservative economics instead (and they are calling their senators and congressmen, as well as pulling their money out of Wall Street and away from the increasingly-worthless dollar - or should we just go whole-hog and start calling it the American Ruble?).

2) Louisiana's two senators, one from each half of our single American party, were among the 25 senators who voted against Karl Marx on this one.

Sermon: Feast of St, Michael and All Angels (Michaelmas)

28 September 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 18:1-10 (Dan 12:1-3, Rev 12:7-12)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Not all saints are human. In fact, there are legions of non-human saints that are part of the Lord’s created universe that is “invisible” as we confess in the Nicene Creed.

Today, we pause and give praise to God for the work of one such non-human saint – St. Michael the Archangel – as well as for the service of all the angels who serve the Lord God before His face – holy messengers sent by God to proclaim the Word of God to men in extraordinary circumstances, as well as guardians who carry out of blessed Lord’s unseen and ongoing work in protecting us from harm and from the attacks of the evil one.

Since the fall in Eden, the human race has been caught in the crossfire between the Father who loves them and the devil who seeks their destruction. As Luther once pointed out, it is a great blessing to us that much of the carnage of this warfare is unseen to us, that we are blissfully unaware of the spiritual battle waging between the Lord’s hosts under the command of the Archangel, and the diabolical hordes in the service of Satan.

Talk of angels and devils may embarrass many Christians today, but our Lord Himself speaks of the fact that “in heaven… angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven” and these angels are watching over the “little ones” who believe in Him. Our Lord’s ministry involves healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the Gospel, and exorcising demons – which are all parts of the same work of undermining the destruction of the devil in order to bring mankind back to paradise.

In our Small Catechism, Dr. Luther implores us to pray for angelic protection twice a day in order to befuddle the power of Satan in tormenting us.

This biblical revelation of vicious warfare and all-out battle for the bodies and souls of the Lord’s creatures is hardly the stuff of the popular culture, in which angels are bare-bottomed babies or fair-skinned girls with fairy wings. Traditional art, by contrast, reflects the biblical imagery of the warrior-spirits, manly without being man, masculine without being carnal, wielding a sword not for personal gain or glory, but rather in the eternal service of the Holy Trinity.

St. Michael and all the holy angels are not our masters – for even the apostle John was rebuked for kneeling and worshiping the angel who gave him the Book of Revelation. Rather, these heroic spirits are our servants. It is man, who was “created a little lower than the angels” that is ultimately given dominion over the angels – for our Lord Jesus Christ is a Man, whose humanity is not diminished by His divinity. And it is before this Man that the angels kneel in homage and worship.

What a joy and a blessing that our Lord Himself fights for us, and even though One of our race, the crucified and risen God-Man Jesus Christ, has defeated the devil, what comfort it is that we still enjoy the protection of armies of watchers and holy ones who do the Lord’s bidding in keeping us from danger and holding Satan at bay. For the devil is indeed at the top of the list of those whom our Lord warns, and not merely warns, but prophesies against: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” As the Lord reveals in His Word, Satan is to be drowned in a lake of fire, from which he will never be able to torment, possess, tempt, lure, accuse, or trick mankind again. His fate is sealed.

And yet, until that time, life in this fallen world is no child’s play. We are at war, dear brothers and sisters, desperate, hand-to-hand combat with the forces of evil. The devil bares his teeth like a ravenous lion at us. Death and darkness surround us. The grave mocks us. Satan leers at us. We are badgered and harried. But it is all a show and a sham, dear friends. Satan tells us that we are unworthy and that he has defeated us. He bids us to sin and turn our backs on God. But listen again, dear baptized Christians, to the mighty Word of God: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Satan is a deceiver “who deceives the whole world.” He is a liar. Indeed, he is the father of lies. So what does it mean when the chief liar himself tries to convince us that we are unworthy of the Gospel and that we are in his grip? It is just another worthless, formless lie, dear friends. You were baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You were marked with the seal and the sign of the Holy Cross, the most repugnant reminder of Satan’s humiliating and skull-crushing defeat. You have been freely given the Holy Spirit in your baptism. You are freely given the Word of the Lord Jesus Himself declaring you to be worthy, to be forgiven, to be in communion with Him – not merely spiritually, but in the flesh. Your body is mingled with His body and your blood is mingled with His blood – the blood of the New Testament, the Testament that bespeaks you worthy over and against the pathetic empty lies of Satan, the demoted angel whose time is short.

And try as he might, the dragon can’t harm us, devour us, or force us away from our Good Shepherd. The Lord has assigned unseen legions of angels to beat back the devil’s minions. The Archangel Michael’s name itself is a war cry of victory over the devil, as it is actually a rhetorical question: “Who is like the Lord?” St. Michael takes up his sword, and under the command of the Lord Himself, hurls this mocking question back in the face of the mocker himself. For the answer is nothing but defeat for the devil. Jesus Himself tells us that we are like the Lord – created in the very image of God. And our Lord Jesus Himself is the image, the icon of God’s righteousness, made flesh for us, removing all of our sins, and bodily interposing Himself, at the cross and at the altar, between us and the wicked intentions of the evil one.

Indeed, there is an invisible world, a dimension we are not permitted to see. Some of us, no doubt have entertained angels unawares as the author of the Book of Hebrews reveals. We are without doubt protected by ministering spirits who face the Lord Himself in heaven, as our Lord tells us – as we in the Lord’s Kingdom are those who have become little children, whose weakness and helplessness are not liabilities, but actually strength. For in our weakness, the Lord dispatches “angels and archangels” who are with us, who worship with us, with whom we pray and praise and sing. And though they are unseen to us, and although they, and not we, see the face of the Father, they are our comrades under arms, these “stars of the morning so gloriously bright… angelic hosts battling for right.” They are our protectors under the command of the Lord and under the watchful eye of St. Michael, “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people,” and by the protection the Lord renders through his warriors, the Lord Himself promises that His people “shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.”

And though our guardians are of the invisible realm, we have the assurance of the Word of God that they are indeed present in the Lord’s service to “deliver us from evil.” And with Dr. Luther and saints throughout the ages, we pray: “Let your holy angel be with us, that the evil foe may have no power over us.” Amen.

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

Lutheran Theology Blog

I've been meaning to give Father Hollywood readers a heads-up about a Lutheran Theology blog that lay and clergy theologians of a more intellectual bent might enjoy (of course, the way the blogosphere works, you probably already know about it anyway).

But nevertheless, I would like to recommend Lutheran Theology as a unique resource because of its ecumenicity - being run by a former Lutheran (now Anglican) parish priest, and includes current Lutheran pastors and academic theologians - several of whom were seminary classmates of mine (specifically Oxford-trained Rev. Bryce Wandrey, S.T.M. candidate Rev. Luke Zimmerman, Harvard doctoral candidate Rev. Piotr Malysz, and Loyola professor and Notre Dame Ph.D. Rev. Dr. John Paul Salay) - all utterly brilliant guys, it should go without saying. But they are also men with a sense of humor who are equally comfortable on a tavern stool as they are in the sanctuary pulpit or at the classroom lecturn.

The advantage of this blog is that it allows Luther (and others, such as Sasse and Bonhoeffer) to breathe a little, not being stifled by the stagnant air of 21st century American Lutheranism.

Who's laughing now?

Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, and an adherent of the much-maligned Austrian School of Economics and the Ludwig von Mises Institute (not to mention the economic adviser of the Ron Paul presidential campaign) appeared on FOX "fair and balanced" News in December of 2006 predicting just what we have seen in the housing industry that is now threatening the integrity of the American economy and virtually assuring the further devaluation of the U.S. dollar.

Notice how the cocksure mob of smug establishment Republicans, filled with hubris, mock and laugh while Schiff calmly predicts just what has come to pass - to the hoots and heckles of the "experts".

It's kind of eerie in retrospect, isn't it?

When people from the conservative, free market Austrian School of Economics have been warning us for years that these exact things would transpire, do you think we ought to listen to them? Or should we just continue sticking our heads in the sand and believing the Money Fairy and Manifest Destiny will just bail us out again and again?

Hello? Is anyone in the Republicrat Party listening? Look, if you've had enough of this pseudo-conservatism, start reading Lew Rockwell (and other sources of sound economic and conservative thought, such as the Mises Institute's Bailout Reader) and think for yourself instead of just saying "Ditto!" to radio entertainers and buying what the establishment party hacks are trying to sell you.

Father Hollywood Recommends...

...the finest coffee I have ever had, from Bean's Coffee Company.

First of all, there is no relation between any member of my family and this company. My name is Beane, and their company's name is "Bean's." I get the same discount from Bean's as I get at L.L.Bean's - nothing. And that's not a complaint! All I'm doing is pointing out that this isn't my company, nor am I related to anyone at Bean's. As "Michael Bolton" says in Office Space - "It's just a coincidence."

I just really love their coffee!

We in New Orleans savor our java! During the War (Between the States), New Orleanians stubbornly continued our coffee habit - especially by stretching supplies by mixing chicory with the arabica - a custom carried on by our famous Cafe du Monde (which has been selling chicory-laced cafe au lait 24 hours a day almost without interruption since opening in 1862 when it was established during military occupation). In war, peace, and hurricanes, coffee has always been a big deal in the Crescent City! In fact, New Orleans is one market Starbucks struggles in, because we have a plethora of top-quality local coffee shops, both franchises and "ma and pa" establishments. (We treat Starbucks as "corporate carpetbaggers" and only frequent them in dire caffeine emergencies...)

Coffee is also nearly sacramental in the Hollywood home - as the matinal cappuccino ritual is carried out with the precision and reverence of the Japanese tea ceremony and with the temporal regularity of the whirr of the central air conditioner in a South Louisiana Summer. Coffee is the one luxury the Treasury Department (Mrs. Hollywood) approves and insists upon (we are Gevalia subscribers - though our orders have dwindled considerably since discovering Bean's).

We know and love our coffee.

But keep in mind that Bean's is not a coffee house. Rather they are purveyors of exquisite (and yet affordable) coffee. They set up just about every Saturday at the Gretna Farmers' Market, and Mrs. Hollywood, Lion Boy, and myself probably pick up a pound about every other week from the Daldegan family, the proprietors who faithfully work the market themselves. They are really nice folks, and are always cheerful and dedicated to giving excellent customer service. In fact, they hand deliver orders of their coffee to locals.

Our favorite (and I mean favorite) is their Tanzanian Peaberry. We use it both in its fine-ground form for espresso and cappuccino (both hot and iced), as well as course-ground for regular hot coffee (which we make in a low-tech flavor-maximizing French press).

But whether you enjoy espresso or American-style coffee, hot or iced, and even if you make your coffee in an automatic drip maker instead of a press - this coffee will simply blow you away. It's the finest we've ever had. It is so fresh, so recently roasted, and of such quality, that the beans are literally wet with the natural oils. The smell that wafts from a little bag fills the house and is heavenly. There is no other way to describe it.

Bean's will ship to your home. You can order right from their webpage, and your order is roasted after you order it! This is just unbelievable, and explains why it is so good. They sell eight different varieties (including the Tanzanian), and explain all the characteristics of each.

Give Bean's a shot, and let me know what you think!

Understanding the Crisis

Chart of the value of the dollar 1800-2000 courtesy of Seeking Alpha.

I believe a lot of people are terribly frustrated by the current economic crisis because they don't have a clue as to what is going on. All they know is that a lot of extremely wealthy corporations and banks are asking for handouts and welfare - lots of it. Billions and billions of dollars. Maybe a trillion, but who's counting? And they (the taxpayers) understand that they (the banks) will get it (the handouts). And who will pay? Who will do the "bailing out"? The taxpayers. One way or another, this is a direct wealth transfer from us to them. We know it is going to happen, and we know that we are getting the short end of the stick again.

No wonder the taxpayers, who are also voters, are balking.

Part of the problem is that the vast majority of voters have no clue what the Federal Reserve does, how it works, where money comes from, and why these kinds of credit meltdowns happen. There is almost a "shadow government" operating behind the scenes, an unelected cadre of wealthy men turning wheels and spinning gears. None of us are supposed to look behind the curtain. In fact, the Federal Reserve is not even permitted to be audited!

We would like to think our elected officials (as well as those seeking higher office) understand what's happening. But it becomes apparent that many of them are as clueless as the rest of us. Instead of sober explanations we get hysterical finger pointing. Instead of intelligent analysis we get glib one-liners. Instead of frank talk, we get focus-group approved talking points.

Sen. Barack Obama says: "This plan can't just be a plan for Wall Street, it has to be a plan for Main Street." This is a three-second jingle that means absolutely nothing. It's just a clever way to rhetorically link "Wall Street" to "Main Street" for the sake of a soundbyte. This is the best we can get from a man who covets the presidency. I think Sen. Obama would have a better career on Madison Avenue than Pennsylvania Avenue, if I may play with the "street" analogy a little myself.

I saw a headline for an article regarding Sen. John McCain's analysis that was more hopeful: "McCain says Fed should stop government bailouts." Hey, maybe this guy gets it. Of course, before I got my hopes too high, I read the article: "Addressing a business group in Wisconsin, the Republican presidential hopeful said the Fed should get back to what he called 'its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation.'"

Huh?

That's like condemning the mafia for lawlessness and thuggery and saying that it needs to get back to its "core business of protection schemes, running numbers rackets, and prostitution." So, Sen. McCain believes the Fed's job is to "manage our money supply and inflation." Managing inflation? Inflation is the devaluation of our currency. Their job is to "manage" the theft of everyone who trades in dollars by systematically lowering the value of that dollar in your pocket? Is there any such power delegated to anyone in the Constitution? Would we tolerate the deliberate reduction of the gallon or the pound by some unelected unseen bureaucracy every time we bought gasoline or produce? Obviously, someone benefits from this arrangement (the modern-day equivalent of the ancient crime of shaving a bit off of the gold coins). And now, those who have benefited for so long, those who have enriched themselves at our expense, those who have now killed the goose that laid the golden egg, want a welfare check. "Don't you people realize how expensive Beemers and private jets are? I mean, billionaire bankers have to make a living too! Do you think it's easy?" Let's take up a collection...

Anyway, I'm afraid Sen. McCain doesn't get it any better than Sen. Obama. They are indeed two sides of the same coin that has been demetalized and stripped of its value. It's a two-headed trinket that you can't even redeem for a cup of coffee.

And then there was the news report of Gov. Palin's speech before 60,000 enthusiastic supporters in Florida (which, if it had been Obama, we would have heard mockery from talk radio comparing him to a messianic figure): "[John McCain] will fix the nation's economy if voters give the GOP four more years in the White House." Now, that is not a direct quote from Gov. Palin, but rather a paraphrase from the reporter - who was in no way hostile in his reporting. If she actually did either say or imply such a thing, think about the implications. If the president of the United States can indeed "fix the economy," then who should be fixing it now? Aren't people who support McCain-Palin also supporters of President Bush? And if President Bush is responsible, than how can this be Congress's fault, or the Democrats' fault, or Obama's fault - as a lot of GOP members are positing.

If the future possible President McCain can fix it, that means the incumbent President Bush broke it. On the other hand, if Congress broke it, that means President McCain can't fix it either. So, which is it? Does the buck stop with the president or with Congress? But then again, Senator McCain thinks it is the Fed's job to "regulate" our "inflation" anyway.

Has the entire Federal government gone mad?

The only way to make sense of any of this is to learn what caused the crisis in the first place, and that means we Americans - especially those of you who are so passionate about the "right" to vote - need to know what the Fed does, why we got into this mess, and what is the proper way to get out of it. Unfortunately, we will not learn any of this is school, nor listening to Rush, nor reading the latest Ann Coulter book. But fortunately, you can educate yourself.

For example, conservative economist F.A. Hayek was swimming upstream in the boom-bust-depression 1920s and 30s as the mainstream study of economics went in the completely opposite (socialist) direction. His was walking the "lonely way" of market economics, and was only recognized for his genius internationally by the 1974 Nobel Prize committee. Hayek predicted the mess we are in today, as did other economists who likewise were the minority voice against socialism and the welfare state. If you'd like to learn more, check this out! As a voter and a taxpayer, you owe it to your fellow Americans, as well as to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren who will still be "bailing out" the current crop of corporate welfare recipients.

Don't think for a minute that the other side isn't plotting and scheming to lay the blame for this on conservatism and free market economics. They are already at work.

Maybe we conservative-minded Americans need to spend less time in front of the TV (even if it is FOX News), less time listening to talk radio (even if it is Rush and Sean), and less time looking for a really cool t-shirt making fun of liberalism - and start actually walking the conservative walk by reading, learning, thinking, teaching, and demanding that our legislators and politicians do more than mouth platitudes and continue to protect their friends while saddling all of us with the burdens.

Sermon: Feast of St. Matthew

21 September 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 9:9-13 (Eph 4:7-16)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

There is no clearer expression of the Gospel and no more concise explanation of the conflict between true and false religion than is found in these five simple verses from Matthew’s Gospel.

Jesus calls a sinful man to follow him. People who do not see their own sinfulness complain about this. Jesus rebukes them with Scripture and explains His mission to forgive sinners. He also points out that our role as forgiven sinners is to be merciful in response, rather than to depend on our own sacrifices.

St. Matthew uses his own situation as not only a kind of sermon illustration, but as a summary of the Gospel and as a means to summarize the entire message of Jesus to the believer and unbeliever alike in this short passage. And this, dear friends, is the work of the Holy Spirit, inspiring the Evangelist to take up his pen and leave this Gospel as a written testimony that will endure until the Lord returns.

St. Matthew doesn’t waste a lot of ink explaining the nature of his call to become a disciple. Jesus called him. He followed. The tax collector left his booth, left his job, left his former occupation of greed – left it all – to be a disciple of Jesus. Our blessed Lord said: “Follow me,” and “so he arose and followed Him.” Matthew has nothing to say about himself other than that he followed. Matthew doesn’t give any testimony about himself – but rather testifies to the words and deeds of our Lord.

In fact, Matthew groups himself with the “sinners and tax collectors” sitting at the table with Jesus – a fact that upsets the Pharisees. Far from painting a virtuous picture of himself, Matthew shows that he is a castoff, a pariah to the movers and shakers of society. Matthew is a filthy tax collector. He says it matter-of-factly, not in order to teach us about himself, but rather to teach us about Jesus.

St. Matthew is an Evangelist, one of four charged with inscripturating the life story of our Blessed Lord. He is a minister of Jesus Christ. He is a preacher of the Gospel. He is not a showman or a charlatan. He is not an entertainer or an inspirational speaker. Rather he is a sinner, a filthy tax collector, a cause of shame to Jesus in the eyes of the world.

And this is whom God chose to write the first Gospel.

Notice, it isn’t about Matthew. It never has been about Matthew. Matthew is the messenger, but the message points to the Messiah. For St. Matthew doesn’t speak his own words, but the very Word of God from the lips of the Lord with whom St. Matthew ate at table.

Our Lord sums up His messianic mission very simply: “Only the sick need a doctor.” In other words, Jesus has come for sinners and sinners only. If you believe you don’t need a Savior, then you don’t need Jesus. For there is nothing a doctor can do for a patient who believes he is not sick. It is only in acknowledging our frailty and our weakness, our infirmity and our desolation, our filthiness and helplessness that the Great Physician can bring us a cure. Those who refuse to accept that they too suffer from the terminal disease of life in this fallen world will simply perish with the cure looking them right in the face.

And this was indeed St. Matthew’s calling and purpose in this life. St. Matthew’s Gospel, according to tradition, was carried by St. Bartholomew to India. Matthew’s Gospel was translated from Hebrew to Greek, was universally recognized by the Church as the very first book of the New Testament, and is today found in Bibles and New Testaments in churches, in hotel rooms, in the pockets of soldiers, on college campuses, in grade schools, in the homes of believers and unbelievers alike. St. Matthew continued to testify of his Lord and Master nearly 2,000 years later, and in every imaginable language.

The Word of God is there for all. It pulls no punches. It has no secret hidden codes. The meaning hasn’t changed in two millennia. There is no riddle to solve and no puzzle to work out. St. Matthew simply reports what our Lord says: the simple fact that He is the Great Physician, and physicians come for the sick.

Jesus has come into the world to save sinners.

So, who could have an issue with that? Only people who do not perceive themselves as sinners. For them, the Kingdom of God is an exclusive place that they have earned by clawing and scratching, by sacrificing, and by working. And along comes Jesus with His throng of misfits: drunks, whores, thieves, crooks, even a terrorist. Later, one of Jesus’s preachers whose works will find their way into Scripture will be a guy who used to try to snuff out the Christian faith, who wrote: “And to the one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” But where does this leave all the work and the sacrifice of the clawing and scratching Pharisees?

Well, our Lord tells them: “go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” In other words, Jesus has just told them their work is useless and their sacrifice is in vain. For Jesus is the sacrifice. Their work is to be merciful. This is indeed the work of forgiven sinners.

Any sacrifice we make is one of thanksgiving, not for the forgiveness of sins. Any work that we do is not for credit, but simply because it needs done. And when we do repent, when we do struggle against evil, when we do manage to do good works for the sake of the Kingdom, we don’t get one step closer to redemption – for redemption is already ours. The Physician has come for us, for the sick, for the tax collectors and sinners – not for those who would justify themselves.

St. Matthew is an Evangelist, that is, a forgiven sinner with Good News. He is also a preacher of the Gospel, an apostolic witness, a minister, a bishop, an overseer. He is one charged with responsibility for “equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” in order “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.”

And by the will of that Christ, sitting at the head of the table where Matthew was invited and counted worthy to eat and drink the bread and wine of the Lord’s body and blood – to the consternation of the self-righteous – St. Matthew became a messenger for us of the Gospel, a bearer of the greatest news of all time, a proclaimer of Christ crucified, a witness of the cross and resurrection, but most of all, a fellow redeemed sinner like all of us who has been declared a saint, worthy of our remembrance, affection, and…

Praise, Lord, for him whose Gospel
Your human life declared.
Who worldly gain forsaking,
Your path of suff’ring shared.
From all unrighteous mammon,
O raise our eyes anew
That we in our vocation
May rise and follow You.

Amen.

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

With a bang and a whimper?

"What we are witnessing today is how empires end..." 

--- Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan has the guts (and the economic understanding) to say what needs to be said. Wall Street, the Democrats, and the Republicans are clueless.  Congress is going on vacation.  The Fed is pledging money not appropriated by Congress - in fact, the money doesn't exist.  It's printed out of thin air!

The sad part is this was all completely avoidable - if we had had a conservative party in Washington.  There was a period of six years in which the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency - but of course, government grew and grew, spending went up and up, the borrowed-money joyride rolled on, and if that weren't enough, Roe vs. Wade needlessly continued to be the "law" of the land, and now the GOP has the unmitigated gall to point the finger at anyone other than itself for its failures.

Meanwhile, real conservatism is going to take the blame because of what the counterfeit conservatives have been doing and calling it conservatism.

I think Buchanan called it.  Real conservatives are frugal, they pay their bills, they obey the law, and they mind their own business.  But what do the folks who have co-opted the term do?  They spend like there's no tomorrow, they borrow from what amounts to a printing press, they run roughshod over the Constitution, and they involve the United States in conflicts all over the world that we have no business being involved with (let alone the obvious fact that we can't pay for it).

The real beneficiaries of the current Republican joyride and economic crash (not counting the politically well-connected, those who have already become rich at our expense, and the massive network of lobbyists) will be the Democrats.  And the Republicans have no-one to blame but themselves.  Meanwhile, we, the American people are going to have to pay, and pay, and pay - in blood, in taxes, in a devalued dollar, and in the inevitable international blowback that we, our children, and grandchildren will have to suffer for the hubris of these politicians who think "conservative" means making the government bigger, spending more money, borrowing more - while criticizing the Democrats for doing the very same thing.  And of course, neither major party will move in a conservative direction.  Both are proposing more government tinkering and more "bailing out."

We think these people in Washington are smart.  We think they're well-read and highly educated.  We think they understand economics and history and the Constitution.  I should have figured it out when I lived in Philadelphia and was set-up at a booth at a community fair with a bust of Thomas Jefferson.  I asked Representative Jon Fox, a highly touted "conservative" Republican U.S. Congressman, what he thought of my "friend" on the table.  Before he could draw a breath, his lackey, latched to his side like Smithers to Burns in the Simpsons, almost in a panic, whispered in the Congressman's ear: "It's Thomas Jefferson!"

I really do believe most of our politicians in Washington would fail miserably at "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"  

Also in Pennsylvania, I remember a visit to my State Rep's office (she was a Democrat, but I don't remember her name).  I asked her if she could sponsor a piece of legislation on the floor of the Statehouse in Harrisburg.  I read the short proposal to her and asked her to read it over for herself.  She said she could not.  She was opposed to it.  You should have seen the look on her face when I told her she had already agreed to it - it was a verbatim quote from the State Constitution.  She feebly offered that maybe it should be changed - but as I pointed out to her, that passage was from a part of the Constitution that was not permitted to ever be amended (it was from the State's version of the Bill of Rights).  Why didn't she know this?  What the heck to we pay these people to know - if not the bloody Constitution?

These folks are simply not very bright.  Some probably are.  But I believe the vast majority of them are hucksters and Bull Artists, people who would fail in the private sector.  They demand junkets, per diems, lucrative retirement packages, special privileges, and deference from the rest of us - when they are more fit for picking up litter off the side of the road.  And now we are approaching an economic meltdown, and there they are, like deer in the headlights.  Clueless, pointing fingers, and scurrying like roaches for cover.  I shouldn't be surprised, but I still can't help being appalled.  

Thanks a lot, Washington.  Thanks Democrats, and thanks Republicans.  I'm beginning to think Thomas Woods' definition of bipartisanship makes a lot of sense: "the Stupid Party getting together with the Evil Party to do something both stupid and evil."

But I suppose the old saying is true: we get the government we deserve.  Man, have we scraped the bottom of the garbage dumpster, or what?

Serious Grammar!