ESV Gains International Traction

The ESV Bible Blog has a post about the president of Ghana being sworn in on an ESV Bible.

There are things that irk me about the ESV, but it is a vast improvement over the NIV. I suppose we should keep in mind that every English Bible is only a translation, and no translation is going to be perfect. One thing going for the ESV is that an ESV with the Apocrypha is being released February 1, 2009. This provides Lutherans, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics with a conservative alternative to the hideously leftist NRSV.

It also bears saying that the ESV Study Bible is a tremendous scholarly work, arguably the best (and most economical) single-volume study Bible in the English language, even with its tilt toward Reformed and Neo-Evangelical theology in the study notes and many of the articles (some of its assertions about Lutheran theology are simply wrong). The maps and charts, as well as the included customizable online version, are head and shoulders above anything else on the market. It would have been better if the ESV Study Bible were more truly ecumenical - as its ancestral New Oxford Annotated (RSV) was. But for its aids and helps to understanding the literal reading of the text, the ESV Study Bible is a real treasure.

Hopefully, the upcoming Lutheran Study Bible from CPH (the LCMS's publishing house) will incorporate some of these outstanding features as well. Augsburg Fortress (the ELCA's publishing house) is also coming out with a Lutheran Study Bible this year. Hopefully, there won't be too much confusion!

We may indeed see the ESV overtake not only the NIV but also the NKJV as the preferred conservative modern English-language Bible translation.

The Latin Lover Podcast

"The Latin Lover" isn't a title one would associate with an American monk living in Rome - but "The Latin Lover" in this case is the Rev. Fr. Reginald "Reggie" Foster, the Vatican's foremost expert in the Latin language.

I stumbled upon Fr. Reggie's podcasts. You can subscribe and hear the good father hold forth on various topics related to ecclesiastical Latin and church history. If you think the words "Latin" and "lecture" and "boring" go together, you're dead wrong. Father Reggie is anything but dusty and musty (graduates of Concordia Theological Seminary - Fort Wayne will be reminded of our incomparable and beloved Dr. David Scaer - either with warm affection or with a chilling sense of dread - or both at the same time).

So if you'd like to be a Latin Lover, check out these podcasts. Father's Christmas special can be heard here. And here is a site dedicated to Fr. Reggie's Latin pedagogy.

Sermon: Epiphany (transferred)

7 January 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

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

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

There is something about royalty that we Americans distrust. There is something terribly unfair about allowing a man to govern just because of his parentage. And even though we Americans have our Kennedy and Bush families, we at least make them stand for election.

Kings, however, are not elected – at least not by the people.

In the church’s Gospel reading for the Day of Epiphany, we have several kings. There is the seated king of the Jews, Herod, a wicked king who was not particularly loved by his own people, a cruel man who exalted himself for the sake of power. There is also the new and eternal King of the Jews, our Lord Jesus Christ, a King who is not only godly, but is also God, who was likewise not loved by a goodly number of His own people, a perfect Man who humbled Himself out of love for the people He has come to rescue.

Then there are the magi, traditionally three kings from the orient, who were led to the one “born king of the Jews” by a star, and likely informed about the coming King by a copy of the Old Testament left behind in Persia by the ancestors of King Jesus hundreds of years earlier.

So who has been “born king of the Jews?” The question is why Herod is “troubled” – for Herod and his ruling dynasty were not truly legitimate. They clung to the power they seized by ruthlessness and by appeasing the pagan Romans. Herod and his family were destined to be knocked off the throne, and they seem to grasp the tenuous nature of their rule. King Herod fears King Jesus – for Jesus is truly the one “born king of the Jews” – which was to be written in words above His thorn-crowned head a little more than thirty years later by the Roman governor Pilate – a friend of a later Herodian king who would likewise seek the extermination of the true King of the Jews.

Unlike the jealous pretender-king and tyrant Herod, who would go as far as to murder babies in a desperate bid to rid the world of the one “born king of the Jews” according to the ancient prophecies, the magi humbled themselves before the baby King. The magi brought gifts demonstrating the fitness of Jesus for the throne – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And what’s more, they did not call upon King Jesus as equal heads of state, as fellow monarchs, as peers within the royal system. Indeed, these kings “fell down and worshiped Him.” The nature, the divine nature, of King Jesus was revealed to the magi. And it may well have been revealed by the prophet Isaiah: “the wealth of the nations shall come to you… 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.”

The magi did not come to worship Herod. In fact, they only consulted Herod for information about the one “born king of the Jews.”

The Church has set aside this “twelfth night,” this day after the twelfth day of Christmas, to commemorate this “epiphany,” this manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He has been shown to the entire world – even to Gentile kings from hundreds of miles away – to be worthy of not only respect due a king, but worship due to God alone: “God in man made manifest.”

Our Lord’s entire life was to be a manifestation of God in the flesh, of the Lord’s ministry of reconciliation in a physical body, a body born of Mary, a body that ate bread and drank wine, a body that would bear scorn, stripes, and a spear, a crucified body gushing water and blood, a body that withheld nothing from His beloved people.

For when the one “born king of the Jews” hung on the cross, He demonstrated not the vengeance of Herod, but the mercy of God: “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” Rather than spill the blood of children to save Himself seated on a throne, our Lord spills His own precious blood to save the children of those who sent Him to the cross. Pilate’s sign that read: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” was the thing Herod feared most – a manifestation, an epiphany, for all the world to see that it is Jesus who is the true and legitimate King, while the Herodians were half-breed pretenders to a puppet throne.

The magi came to adore the eternal King – as do we. We come to this holy place week after week, year after year. Christians have come to “fall down and worship Him” century after century where He is to be found. We bend the knee to the One who was given gold, frankincense, and myrrh, offering Him our lives as humble tokens of submission to His kingship and His divinity.

But this king, unlike wicked Herod, doesn’t come to hold onto power, to govern by terror and intimidation, to collaborate with our enemies. No indeed! Our Lord and King uses His power to make us kings and priests of a new kingdom with Him, governed by love and righteousness. Jesus came to conquer our enemies – and did so on the cross. This King does not tax us for His own comfort, but rather gives Himself as a gift of Himself to comfort us – the bread of His flesh and the wine of His blood.

Like the royal magi who bowed in humility, our Lord Jesus gets on His hands and knees before His disciples to scrub their feet. Rather than exalt Himself on a mighty throne, our Lord descends from the highest throne of all to lie in a manger and hang on a cross, to lie in a tomb, to descend into hell, and to rise again to demonstrate his Lordship over sin, death, and the devil.

The discomfort we Americans have in the face of royalty has to do with the unfairness of it all. Why shouldn’t we enjoy the same benefits as the aristocrats? Our dear Lord agrees. For in taking on our flesh, He has elevated our human flesh to the level of the divine. In His kingly status as the Son of David and the Son of God, He shares his kingship and His kingdom with all of us, declaring us all to be Sons of God through Him. The most unfair thing of all is that we poor miserable sinners do not get what we deserve. For we are no better than the cruel and hypocritical King Herod – and yet, the one “born king of the Jews” unfairly overlooks that, forgives us our sins, intercedes to the Father on our behalf, takes away our reproach and guilt, and manifests Himself as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who has come to rescue us, so that we may, with St. Paul, “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God.”

And we, along with the magi, continue to fall down and worship Him and “bring gold and frankincense,” as well as “good news, the praises of the Lord,” now and evermore, world without end. Amen.

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

Fr. Hollywood on Lew Rockwell

Every Empire Tries It

Sermon: Christmas 2 and Baptism of Madeline Bates

4 January 2009 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 2:22-40

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

This is the time of year when new replaces old, and endings become beginnings.

We don’t see the imagery as much as we used to, but the spectacle of the new year is often illustrated symbolically by the juxtaposition of a hunched over old man, representing last year, and a diapered baby, representing the coming year.

And since we Christians (and yes, even the whole world) mark time in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ, there is something profound to the notion that the yielding of the Old Covenant, the Old testament, to be fulfilled by the genesis of the New, would be marked by a baby in swaddling cloths.

Having once more celebrated the birth of God in the flesh, the world has yet again added another year to our universal calendar, 2009 A.D., Anno Domini, which in the Latin of the Empire that governed the holy land during the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Blessed Lord, means “in the year of our Lord.” Jesus Christ is the world’s Lord, the Lamb of God that “takest away the sin of the world.” And what the world calls New Year’s Day, the Christian Church throughout the world celebrates as the Eighth Day of Christmas, the day after the Seven Days of Creation, the first day of a new era. The Eighth Day is the Old Testament’s appointed time, according to the Law of the Old Covenant, to circumcise male children, marking them in their flesh as parties to the Old Covenant. Our Lord Jesus, even as an eight-day old infant, is not merely an ordinary party of the covenant, but the guarantor – for it would be His blood that would be spilled – not only in circumcision, but at the cross – blood shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.

And our Lord, as the holy firstborn, is declared by the Law of Moses itself to be “holy to the Lord.” And this fulfillment of the Old Covenant ushers in the New Covenant. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

And with the world, we celebrate another new beginning. But against the grain of the world, we, the Church, join St. Simeon in gazing upon the flesh and blood of Christ Himself and singing: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.”

For the Old Covenant finds its fulfillment in Christ, as the Old Passover becomes the eternally New Eucharist, as the eyes of Israel looked forward to the coming Messiah, the eyes of the Church are always fixed on the same Messiah who has come, who comes, and who will come again.

The Old Covenant, and the passing of the baton to the New Covenant, the New Testament, the blood of which flows not only in our chalice but in the veins of our dear Lord, is shown so clearly in the persons of Sts. Simeon and Anna.

Both are elderly children of Israel. Simeon is a prophet bearing a promise, a priestly and holy man who was told he would “not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” Like his ancestor Abraham, the elderly Simeon clung to the promise, knowing that each passing year brought him closer to the grave, but also knowing that each year brought him closer to the Promise. And at last, while “in the Spirit” in the temple, Simeon held the very Promise, which he calls “salvation”, in his arms. He is now ready to “depart in peace” – not in fear, not in doubt, not in distress, but in “peace.” For our Lord and the baby in his arms is the very Prince of Peace.

After this momentous encounter with Simeon, Mary and Joseph behold yet another personification of the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, in the form of Anna. She too was elderly, a daughter of Israel, a holy prophetess and a godly widow who “did not depart from the temple.” And that temple was being moved – from the magnificent stone edifice of the Old Covenant to the fleshly temple of the New Testament of the infant Lord.

“Behold, I make all things new,” would that little Child, the one more ancient than the world itself, later prophecy Himself – the same One who would tell the world that to enter His kingdom, one must become as a little child.

And as the Church has done on our Lord’s orders since the day of His ascension, we have been receiving men, women, and yes even little children, into the Lord’s kingdom by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our dear little sister in Christ, Madeline Bates, has just been received into the Kingdom, made an heir of the Covenant that our Lord fulfilled and of the Testament that our Lord bears in His body and blood, by His Word, and according to His promise.

For Madeline’s eyes too have seen salvation “that [God] has prepared in the presence of all peoples.” Even as members of the body of Christ are born, live, and die – some after long lives like our beloved brother Simeon and sister Anna, some in their infancy – we are all claimed as His own through baptism and made heirs of the Kingdom by His Word and promise.

To Madeline, this date, January 4, 2009, is the greatest day of her life. It is superior even to the date of her physical birth – as great and wonderful as the birth of a child is, especially for mothers and fathers who witness anew the Lord’s creation miracle. This date is greater even than her wedding day will be – even as marriage is a miraculous fusing of two into one flesh – for today, Madeline joined the Church and became a member of the Bride of Christ. And today is even a greater day than the day Madeline will herself enter the glories of heaven – as joyful as that date will be for her (and of course, as we hope and pray that will happen when Madeline has lived a full and long life of promise in God’s Kingdom, like Simeon and Anna). For this day, by water and the Word, Madeline truly entered heaven, dying to the sinful flesh, being crucified with Christ, and rising to newness of life according to the Lord’s promise and pledge.

Dear brothers and sisters, even as we join Simeon’s song of praise of the baby Jesus nearly every Sunday together, as a Church, having just seen the Lord with the eyes of faith (even as our eyes see bread and wine), having just communed with the One who fulfills the ancient Covenant, the One who pledges new and eternal life to us guaranteed by the collateral of His blood – we too can pray with thanks to our Lord any time that we are ready to “depart in peace” according to His Word.

For what is that Word, dear friends? That Word is that you have been forgiven. That Word is that baptismal water bears with it the promise of Christ Himself unto eternal life. That Word is that we, the Church, live in communion with the Christ Child, that we have the privilege to do and see every Sunday what Simeon and Anna waited for decades to do and see, that every Sunday we are able to hear the fulfilled promises that generations of Israelites could only hope and wait for through the passing of centuries and centuries.

The Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, true God and true Man, brings you good news. He has come to swaddle you in the love of the Father. He has come to lay you in the manger of His grace. He has come to feed you with Manna from heaven. He has come to lead you by water through the perils of a sinful world in the ark of the Church. He has come to keep you in the one true faith year after year, decade after decade, until each one of us is ready to “depart in peace.”

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

Depression Advice

As we enter a depressed economy, good stewardship calls for Christians and non-Christians alike to be wise with their money and possessions.

Obviously, as the economy has boomed in the past few decades - fueled by never-ending optimism based on borrowing and interest rates held artificially low by the Federal Reserve system, as well as a consumer economy in which marketeers have hypnotically convinced us all to spend money like it's going out of style, it's clear that there are adjustments that we will all have to make.

Fortunately, the overarching idea is quite simple: "spend less money than you make." Sometimes, this is called "living within your means." However, I think the title of this article:10 Smartest Ways to Live Beneath Your Means by Jack Zavada - from the Dumb Little Man: Tips for Life blog (from October 10, 2007) is better terminology.

By living beneath your means, you're doing more than merely breaking even. The idea is not just to avoid debt, but to do even better: savings and investment. It is another way of saying to be thrifty. This is something that most people from my generation and younger have never had to do in our lives.

All of the author's suggestion are simple, common sense strategies that we just need to be reminded of. These are the kinds of things our grandparents and great-grandparents who survived the Great Depression learned from experience. They made it, and we can too. But we need to be wise stewards and cannot simply continue "business as usual" - which for many of us means "if I want it now, I buy it now - even if I have to put it on the credit card."

And if any of you find helpful articles for getting through the coming depression, please post them in comments!

+ Bishop Andrew Elisa + R.I.P.

The passing of 2008 brought another bittersweet passing, the entrance of Bishop Andrew Elisa into glory (31 December 2008).

Bishop Andrew presided over the fledgling Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sudan (ELCS), a conservative, confessional, and traditional Evangelical Catholic church body in communion with the LCMS.

Several of my friends and colleagues knew Bishop Andrew much more intimately than I did. My classmate and friend, the Rev. Kent Schaaf, SSP, spent three weeks with Bp. Elisa teaching seminary classes in Sudan. Bishop Elisa also presided at Mass and preached where Kent serves as pastor, All Saints Lutheran Church in Charlotte, NC. Also, my dear friends, the Rev. Subdeacon Latif Gaba, SSP, and his wife Ruth, had the privilege of hosting the bishop at their apartment in Fort Wayne. All and sundry were impressed with the bishop's quiet demeanor, true humility, and deep piety and devotion to the Lord and to His bride, the Church.

First and foremost, Bishop Andrew Elisa presided over Sudanese Lutherans as a churchman, a loving pastor, a servant of Christ.

I met the bishop once while visiting my old field work congregation, Zion Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne (where I was also ordained) a few years back. Bishop Andrew spoke softly and carried a big crosier (that is to say, the Word of God). He gave a presentation about his fellow Sudanese Christians and all the crosses they bear for the sake of Christ. He did not whine or complain. He simply explained the way things are. He was cheerful even in the midst of telling us of the pain and suffering of his people. This is a pastor who led a persecuted minority of Christians in the midst of Muslim oppression and civil war. He saw fellow Christians martyred, and churches and schools burned to the ground. In the midst of it all, the bishop never lost faith, never became embittered, never sought revenge, and never veered from the Way of the Cross.

What a great example of a blessed churchman and faithful Christian saint we have in Blessed Andrew, now that his life on this side of the grave has been completed.

I look forward to singing the liturgy again with the good bishop around the throne of our Lord for eternity. May we all follow in the footsteps of this faithful churchman as we too tread the cruciform path of our Lord and Master.

Soli Deo gloria!

Coincidentally...

Mrs. H. and I just finished the preface of our latest tandem read, Coincidentally by George W. Rutler. Fr. Rutler is a highly educated Roman Catholic priest in the archdiocese of New York, a writer with a wicked sense of humor - and he is not afraid to use it.

As we've only started the book, I can't yet give it the official Father Hollywood Imprimatur, but if the preface can itself be commended to the FH reader, then consider it done.

This book not only has value because of its content, but it is a treasure in and of itself. It was a gift to me and Mrs. H. from our dear friend, the Rev. Subdeacon Latif Gaba, who served in his subdiaconal role during my holy ordination to the presbyterate. Br. Latif is also a member of the Society of Saint Polycarp (SSP) of which I serve as the current dean, a religious society of Lutheran men, both lay and clergy, bound by a rule of prayer. Br. Latif is also one of my oldest friends from my seminary days, arguably one of the foremost authorities on liturgical matters in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. His wife, Ruth, is a gifted and brilliant lady who served for many years as librarian at Concordia Theological Seminary - Fort Wayne. We had the pleasure of hosting Latif in the Hollywood Manse a few days during our last SSP retreat, and Lion Boy still laughs at the antics of "Uncle Latif."

The Gabas today live in Milwaukee, and are members of St. Stephen Lutheran Church under the pastoral care of the Rev. Tim May, SSP.

But back to Fr. Rutler's book...

Coincidentally is actually a collection of columns that Fr. Rutler wrote - usually with tongue in cheek - regarding coincidences of history. And regarding such matters, Rutler has an almost Lutheran way of looking at them - that one can tumble off the side of the horse on the side of superstition, that sees connections everywhere to the point of paranoia and fanaticism - but one can also fall off the other side and refuse to see any of the providential hand at work. In support of providence, Fr. Rytler cites an old saying that "coincidences are divine puns" (page x).

Fr. Rutler is, I believe, the first author that I have ever read that used a word that sent me to the Oxford English Dictionary (his use of the word "ambisinistrous" on page xiii initially drove me to a fruitless quest to find the word in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Tenth Edition). If you like words, you will thoroughly enjoy reading Fr. Rutler. To call him a "wordsmith" would be like making reference to a surgeon as a meat-cutter.

Like all brilliant men, Fr. Rutler not only abhors political correctness, he mocks it. I believe he is spot on when he writes:

"We Americans place such an exaggerated confidence in the power of politics to change things that we tend to interpret most acts politically, and this is the recipe for undisciplined moral zeal. Even philosophers and theologians are characterized as 'conservative' or 'liberal' and speech is either politically correct or incorrect. This was carried to an extreme when an American diplomat at the United nations in the Clinton administration referred to Nelson Mandela as an 'African American South African.' No American in the audience seemed to think the lingusitics odd, presumably because absurdity is not recognized by such as those who take politicized language seriously."

Absurdity is exactly what we are left with when language is made to bow to political power.

I could not help but think of the ridiculousness of a recent Lutheran Witness article about a group of people providing nativity sets to poor churches ("Bringing a Nativity Set to Every Home," Lutheran Witness, December 2008, p. 15). The article at first addresses the absurdity of political correctness by making reference to the "cultural outlook that nativity-set displays in public settings were potentially 'offensive.'" The author notes her appropriate disdain for PC by putting "offensive" in quotes.

But what she gives with one hand, she takes with the other. In the next paragraph, she refers to a nonprofit group that buys nativities for churches "starting their own nativity-set ministries" - using the synodically-correct term "ministry" to describe any act by any religious organization whatsover. But it gets better. The group seeks to "purchase African-American and Hispanic sets."

Oh goodness!

People (even people receiving charity) now want an "African-American" or "Hispanic" Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Nevermind that there is nothing American (or African, or Hispanic, for that matter) about the real flesh-and-blood Semitic Messiah born in Bethlehem centuries before anyone even knew what America was. Furthermore, at the time of our Lord, Hispania wasn't even yet a Roman province, let alone the ancestor a politically-charged racial word. This kind of PC pandering takes the focus off of our Blessed Lord who came at a specific place and time in human history, of specific heritage, and seeks to claim him for one's own ancestral group - in the same way that one can manipulate the race or ethnicity of a fictional literary charcter. Such an approach to our Blessed Lord - at least as it is deliberately done in our day and age and political culture, a time of racially-charged lingusitics and symbolics - only serves as a form of gnostic idolatry, a making of God "in our image" - which likewise serves the Oprah-god of "self-esteem." And so the author of this article falls right into the lingusitic trap of political correctness even in her use of language, like an innocent lamb wandering into a pit of quicksand.

But at least such absurdities provide us with something to laugh at, some point of realistic reference that reminds us that the world of political correctness is just plain ridiculousness on its face, a nonsensical world of Cheshire Cats and White Rabbits - such as the time when a newspaper reported that a strruggling business was now safely "in the African American."

Anyway, I know I have gone off on a tangent, and that's why this is a blog and not a thesis. If you've read this far, you're obviously a kind and indulgent reader - and when I've finished Coincidentally, I'll provide you with a more complete review - which of course, dear reader, you are free to read or ignore.

But thanks again to Latif for his gift from months ago. Books are like little time bombs that may tick away for months or even years. So far, we're having a "blast."

Father Hollywood Recommends...

Passionate Housewives Desperate for God

Today was a nice "day off" for the Hollywoods, a lounge-around kind of day that enabled Father and Mrs. H. to do a lot of reading together. We enjoy reading aloud to one another, typically alternating chapters, though time usually doesn't permit us to spend hours in lectio continua, though God's gift of the Kalendae Januariae and a holiday for the Annus Novus provided us opportunity to do so today.

Mrs. H. had previously read Passionate Housewives, and really enjoyed it. She recently started re-reading it, and suggested that I read it as well. So, we went ahead and read it together.

The book is paperback, 206 pages, and was published in 2007. It retails for $16.00, but is currently offered for $10.88 and is highly-rated by reviewers on Amazon. The authors are both Christian wives and mothers.

Jennie Chancey is a mother of eight and editor of the Ladies Against Feminism website and also runs a home-based business called Sense & Sensibility Patterns. She is an outstanding wordsmith, has traveled extensively, and is also the daughter of the first American women to ever fly in a Soviet Mig-29.

Stacy McDonald has apparently "gone metric" as a mother of ten children, and is the wife of Pastor James McDonald of Providence Church (Presbyterian) in Peoria. She has also authored several other books on Christian family life (e.g. Raising Maidens of Virtue), and having family ties to South Louisiana, knows that making pralines from scratch calls for bourbon.

The intended target reader of the book is a Christian woman. Obviously, I only meet one of the two criteria (and I know I'm leaving myself wide open to all of my smart-alec pastor friends here, especially given my admitted fondness for fruity beverages that sport little umbrellas...), but being a parish pastor in the midst of a culture that is heavily influenced, if not completely overtaken, by a feminist, egalitarian, gender-bending worldview, I would include Christian clergymen as good candidates for Passionate Housewives readers. Look, guys, you need to know what is going on in the culture - Christian and secular. This kind of a read is just as important as poring over Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. In fact, I believe the book to be a salutary read for all Christian husbands, for I think Christian women and men alike would benefit by examining the countercultural role of the Christian wife. The issue of sex and its God-given roles has, in fact, become the front line of the battle in the Church's current firefight against heresy - as evidenced by worldwide ruptures in Christian communions over women's ordination and the issue of homosexuality. Anyway, I read the book in the role of a polite, quiet, and privileged observer of a dialogue between Mrs. Chancey, Mrs. McDonald, and their sisters in Christ.

Several things impressed me. Both of the authors display an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the Scriptures as encouragement for the Christian life and as exortation to the living-out of the vocation of godly womanhood. The authors apply the Word of God to their own real-world experiences as Christian family women living a lifestyle that is scorned by the world, and sadly, patronized even by many Christian women. The book is not a theology tome, though it clearly has a theological underpinning as a work encouraging Christian women in their vocation as women by virtue of the divine order of creation (over and against the pop-culture's "me-ology" in the words of Mrs. McDonald). Though one might expect such a book to be "preachy" or even legalistic, it is neither. Its tone is sisterly, gentle, encouraging, theologically evangelical and rooted in God's mercy in Christ. It is patient and sympathetic yet without compromise. The prose is candid and conversational without being sloppy or overly colloquial. You will feel like the authors are sitting with you in the parlor sipping a cup of tea and simultaneously tending to their children while carrying on an intelligent discussion about Christian womanhood.

Passionate Housewives is a kind of manual for Christian wives who want to know what biblical womanhood looks like when lived out in the real world. And far from a life of drudgery, Chancey and McDonald present the life of Christian wife and mother to be glorious and joyful. Between the two of them, these ladies have enough children to field two complete baseball teams, so they do have real life experience. Passionate Housewives is far from theoretical and speculative - and the incarnational reality shines through in their references not only to heaven and angels but also to wiping noses and changing diapers.

Here are a couple samples from the book, one from each of the authors:

Mrs. McDonald writes:

"I remember once counseling a young woman who was having difficulty submitting to her husband. When I explained to her that Scripture required her to submit to her husband as unto the Lord, she insisted, with more than a little indignation, that it was impossible to submit to a man who wasn't even trying to meet her needs. It was actually his fault, she explained, that she was forced to sin by not respecting him.

"She went on to describe how her pastor had told her that Scripture didn't require her to even love her husband (ignoring Titus 2:4); only her husband was given that mandate toward her. The neglectful minister also told my friend that she was only required to submit to her husband as long as he 'loved her as Christ loved the church.' To make it even more confusing, she believed that she was the one who was to decide what 'loving her' meant, which in her estimation included (among a long list of other things) how well he fathered her children.

"I asked her pointedly, 'So, are you saying that you believe you are only required to submit to your husband on the days when he 'loves you as Christ loved the Church?'

"'Yes,' she said resolutely. 'When he shows me that kind of love, I will have no problem submitting to him.'

"Her resolve quickly diminished when I pointed out to her that by her logic, her husband also would only be required to love her on those days when she submitted to him as unto the Lord. On the days when he viewed her behavior as unsubmissive, he was free to ignore and neglect her. I explained to her that if they both continued to insist on 'loving for self' rather than 'dying to self,' neither would ever see success in their marriage....

"Thankfully, my friend was more interested in hearing the truth than having her ears tickled. She repented and purposed to submit to her husband regardless of his response or the amount of love and attention he showed her and the children. Her husband eventually came around as he saw the slow and deliberate change in his wife" (pp. 13-14).

Mrs. Chancey writes:

"So, if a housewife isn't that stereotype of 1950s perfection in pearls and heels, than what is she? Down through the centuries, poets and artists have often idealized womanhood and created 'pictures of perfection,' as Jane Austen famously wrote. The nineteenth century gave birth to stacks upon stacks of domestic 'bibles' - books that detailed the duties of virtuous housekeeping and child training. While there is much to applaud in these poetic and practical paeans to femininity and domesticity, we are not attempting to resurrect old-fashioned ideals for the sake of 'the good old days.' What we really desire to do in this book is to present a full-orbed picture of biblical womanhood in all its beauty and complexity - and demonstrate why that picture is realistic and timeless rather than impractical and culture-bound.

"Rest assured that biblical homemaking isn't about shiny appliances or weed-free flowerbeds (though these certainly might be some tools of the trade). It isn't about perfect children in neatly-stitched clothes. It isn't about mealy-mouthed 'yes-women' who never offer an opinion or share an original thought. Far from it! Biblical womanhood is challenging, intelligent, adventurous, kingdom-building, whole-hearted hard work. It encompasses all kinds of gifts and talents and provides us with an outlet for genuinely purposeful creativity and effort - all within the realm of the fully functioning Christian home" (pp. 159-160).

I suspect that Passionate Housewives is the kind of book that will both anger and inspire Christian women - by challenging the dominant worldview that eschews wifely submission, and by encouraging Christian women to be a helpmeet to their husbands and to serve the Lord by the holy vocation He has given them - an honorable and crucial station for the continuance of God's Kingdom. I also suspect that it will be to many Christian women what The Hammer of God is to a lot of Lutheran pastors, a beloved companion to be read, re-read, dog-eared, and marked up as a practical affirmation of our priestly vocations in service of the Kingdom - vocations often hated by the world and sadly scorned even within the Church, but vocations nonetheless established by the Lord Himself for the salvation of mankind.

Well done, ladies! Thank you for your work and insights and for your faithful devotion to your holy callings, and blessings to you and your families in this new year.

The Obsolete Man

Here is a link to CBS, where you can watch a really interesting and provocative episode of The Twilight Zone, namely "The Obsolete Man", Episode 65, which ran in 1961. Unfortunately, the link includes commercials, but it is a very good quality format, in its glorious original black and white.

This particular episode stars Burgess Meredith, and in the words of the CBS website, the plot is summarized: "In a future state where religion and books have been banned, a librarian is judged obsolete by the Chancellor and sentenced to death."

Of course, there is an interesting twist in the plot, and a "moral of the story" - this time a prescient lesson about totalitarianism and the inevitable result of a culture hostile to the Christian faith and to books. It's especially interesting, given today's politically correct culture that antithetically spins Atheism as benign and religion as toxic and dangerous. Of course, 1961 was much closer in time to the establishment of the twentieth century's large atheistic and anti-intellectual tyrannies, whereas modern-day apologists for Atheism assume that we've all forgotten where the Atheistic state inexorably leads.

And note the program's use of readings from the Psalms. You won't find such remarkable things on network TV these days. Such politically incorrect portrayals of the "culture of death" have become as "obsolete" in today's cultural climate as Rod Serling's cigarette commercial at the end of the program.

Submitted for your approval...

Classical Language Miscellany

Here is a really interesting piece about Venetian - a Romance language spoken in Venice and its surrounding areas that is actually older than Italian. I'm embarrassed to say I have never heard of this!

And here is a webpage that converts any date into the ancient Roman calendar - which I still find confusing, but since reading Chapter 13 (CAPITVLVM XIII) of Hans H. Oerberg's brilliant natural learning method Latin text, Lingua Latina, I kind of get it.

Today, Tuesday 30 December A.D. 2008 would be, in the old Roman calendar:

Hodie est dies Martis
Ante diem tertium Kalendis Januarius
anno domini MMVIII

(Today is the day of Mars
the third day before the Calends of January
in the year of our Lord 2008)

Numbers and dates are always really tough for me - especially the numbers in French between 60 and 100 (as they reflect the ancient Gallic fascination with twenty instead of the decimal system). My brain always freezes when I try to say a year in French ("mille neuf cent quatre-vingt... - oh the heck with it, Nineteen Eighty Four"). The same is true for trying to figure out a date in the old Roman way (you count backwards from either the first of the next month (Kalends), or from the middle of the current month (Ides), or from nine days before Ides (Nones) of the current month). I think that's right anyway. In the right-hand column, you'll also find a widget showing the current date converted into the Roman system.

In mostly unrelated news, this sounds like the very coolest way to learn Biblical (Koine) Greek.

And just en passant, while on the topic of language, a couple of books I found really fascinating: Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler and A Natural History of Latin by Tore Janson.

Amazon.com's Best of 2008

An interesting list based on sales and user ratings from Amazon.

Notice that the "best-loved" book, as rated by customers, turned out to be a political manifesto by a Republican politician - and not John McCain or George W. Bush!

With 741 customer reviews, the book garnered 682 5-stars, 42 4-stars, 7 3-stars, 2 2-stars, and 8 1-stars - which is really statistically remarkable.

I read it myself, and heartily recommend it - especially now that the political season is over, and we're now facing a potential long-term depression (predicted by the author who repeatedly warned the public and Congress, often to jeers) for the very reasons outlined in this book.

All of the sudden, the author is being treated with respect. No matter whom you voted for, nor how you might identify yourself politically, you might want to read this book and consider the ideas put forth - especially given the knee-jerk reaction of both mainstream Republicans and Democrats to seek radical and demonstrably ill-advised solutions outside the realm of freedom and the Constitution.

This book explains all the reasons why we are in this mess, and outlines a real solution out of it, and does so in a concise and easy to grasp format that neither bamboozles the reader with data and jargon nor insults the reader's intelligence with slogans and dumbed-down prose.

The Year In Review

If you want to have a funny remembrance of a distinctly unfunny year, have a look at Dave Barry's Year in Review, which is his annual satirical look back. This year's offering is called Bailing out of 2008.

If you've not read Dave Barry, he is a satirical columnist and humorist who works for the Miami Herald. His website can be found here.

Please keep in mind that Barry is a satirist and a humorist. If you have no sense of humor, or if you are politically partisan and your feelings are easily hurt, you might want to read something else instead, like the Washington Post or Rush Limbaugh.

Father Hollywood Recommends...

The Tale of Despereaux


Fr. and Mrs. H. took Lion Boy to the movies today, and we saw The Tale of Despereaux. It was a hit all the way around. It is the story of a big-eared small-statured mouse named Despereaux who, unlike the rest of the mice, is endowed with a sense of courage, curiosity, and chivalry - all set within a rather traditional fairy tale.

We have not read the book, and were thus unfamiliar with the story and the characters. It is an animated film, but doesn't have an overdone CGI look. In fact, even though it is a CGI animation, it still has the feel of a classic hand-drawn cartoon. The cast of voices is impressive, featuring Matthew Broderick in the title role, as well as Emma Watson, Dustin Hoffman, Tracy Ullman, Kevin Kline, Ciarán Hinds (Julius Caesar from HBO's Rome), and others. Sigourney Weaver served as the narrator.

But best of all was the message behind the film. It is an unapologetic tribute to virtue, especially courage, chivalry, honor, integrity, and forgiveness. Though the movie is not "Christian" in an overt sense, it does uphold the values of Christian knighthood, traditional sex roles, a clear identification of good and evil (while even maintaining the traditional Christian view of simul iustus et peccator - "at the same time saint and sinner"), and gives historic Christianity a nod in the form of a Roman-style arena in which victims are martyred to the bloodlust of the crowd of rats (in one such scene, Despereaux is on the stage about to be devoured by a cat on a chain (symbolic of the Roman lions?) and the "stage" on the floor of the arena is in the form of a cross.

The movie is refreshingly devoid of a lot of things common to children's movies these days. There were no jokes about flatulence, no double entendres, no rap or hip-hop songs, no wise-cracks or one-liners, no glorification of glib, no attempt to drag in pop-culture references, and no attempt to make evil characters seem good, and no new-age or antichristian spirituality.

Most surprising of all, there was no political correctness. The chivalric characters were masculine (no obligatory heroic tomboy had to come to the aid of the sniveling male characters), the women were pleased to be protected by men, there was no "gender-bending" or sops to the homosexual lobby. There was no racial or ethnic agenda, no attempt to belittle the Christian faith, no patronizing of the handicapped, nor left-wing propaganda such as environmentalism and global warming, no p.c. statements against guns, nor nanny-state screeds about the dangers of cigarettes or the need for bicycle helmets.

It's just a nice, old-fashioned fairy-tale that lauds honor, chivalry, and courage, and shamelessly demonstrates the power of forgiveness.

For other views, here is Dr. Veith's take on the movie. And below is a link to Issues, Etc.'s interview with the Gary Ross, the writer and producer of the movie:

Sermon: Holy Innocents and Baptism of Emma Althage

28 December 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Matt 2:13-18 (Jer 31:15-17, Rev 14:1-5)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

While the world is “moving on” from Christmas and retailers are already gearing up for St. Valentines Day, the Christian Church lingers in the holy festival. For Christmas is a twelve day feast, and today is only the fourth day. And though this is a time of celebration and joy – as this is the ongoing feast of our Lord’s being born into human flesh, even as today marks the spiritual birth of Emma Althage and the placing of the divine name upon her – today is nevertheless a bittersweet day.

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, as Christians around the world remember the infants of Bethlehem who gave their lives as a ransom for the Ransomer.

For we Christians are in a war. It is a war that good has won, that right has triumphed, that our Lord has crushed the head of the old evil foe by taking on our flesh, dying in our flesh, rising again in our flesh, and giving His flesh and blood to us as gracious gifts to being us into communion with the Holy Trinity anew. But as in any war, there are casualties.

Even in triumph, there is the sounding of “Taps.” Even in victory, there is mourning of those who gave their lives for the cause.

And this cause, dear brothers and sisters, is greater than any worldly state or political battle. This cause, the cause for which the Holy Innocents died, is the cause of the final defeat of evil. Satan fought desperately to try to extinguish the Light of the world, the very fire that will burn him. The devil sought to commit divine infanticide and thus deny salvation to the world by extinguishing our only hope. And though the angel of the Lord warned St. Joseph, the guardian of our blessed Lord, to whisk mother and child away to Egypt for safety, Satan’s wrath still raged against the infant boys of Bethlehem for the sole reason that they had commonality with our Lord.

And on that terrible day,

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more.”

And though the ancestral Rachel refuses to be comforted for her descendants, there is still hope in the form of a divine promise:

“Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
There is hope in your future, says the LORD,
That your children shall come back to their own border.”

Even though these children were to become casualties in the ancient belligerence between God and Satan, these children are promised not only a resurrection, but a renewed life in the nation of God’s people. They will be reunited with their mothers and their ancestral grandmother. Their sacrifice is not in vain, nor will these youngest of soldiers ever be forgotten in their ultimate sacrifice for their King and His kingdom.

It is easy for us to question why the Lord allows any casualties in this battle. The Church honors her martyrs by the thousands. But His ways are certainly not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We cannot fathom God’s will or discern why He chose, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, to recall these little warriors from their mother’s breasts are take them to Himself. But all we can do is praise God for His glory and thank Him for securing this victory for them and for us.

And lest we forget, the greatest sacrifice of all came in the form of our Lord’s death on the cross. For the Babe of Bethlehem is the only True Holy Innocent. And like the Holy Innocents whose blood was shed by a wicked king named Herod, a later Herod, in cooperation with the priests, scribes, and Romans, would also inflict a mortal wound on the cause of justice – only in this case, mortal would only be for a short time, as immortality was to swallow up mortality for all time. And the holy innocence of the Redeemer would grant Holy Innocence to the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem. Their innocence is truly His innocence.

And it is indeed only in light of this gift and in the certain hope of the resurrection that we can be joyful and thankful for these Holy Innocents whose lives continue to testify to the malignance of Satan, who continues to tempt us to doubt and fear. For as vile as the Serpent is, the Seed of the woman is greater.

It is also in this certain hope, in this basking of victory, that we can rejoice with little Emma, for today, she has likewise become a “Holy Innocent,” a saint who has died to sin and rose to life again with her Redeemer in a second birth. And though her blood was not shed today, her Savior’s blood was indeed shed – for her and for all of us. And that saving body and blood of our Lord is given to us here in this holy place, to strengthen us for battle and to mark us as “Holy Innocents,” protected like the homes marked with the blood of the Passover Lamb, rendering the angel of death harmless – for the blood of Christ has already defeated Satan and won life for us.

For this Passover Lamb has Himself come back from being sacrificed, and now, according to the holy Apostle John, is “standing on Mount Zion,” not lying in death nor humbled and kneeling, but “standing” along with those “having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Of course, according to our Lord’s command and promise, we baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And notice what John hears in his vision: “a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters.” John also hears the redeemed singing praise of their Redeemer, “who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.”

What a remarkable vision of the Church, dear friends. These Holy Innocents are “redeemed,” that is ransomed, bought back by the Lamb Himself, and notice how the ransomed ones act – “they follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” They do not wander off or seek to escape. Where He goes, they are sure to follow, like a flock of lambs themselves, who know the voice of their loving Shepherd.

And even though many of these redeemed suffered on this side of the grave, many giving their lives in martyrdom for the cause, for the sake of the kingdom, and for their Redeemer-King Himself, they now find happiness and glory, serving the Lamb and singing His praises unto eternity.

Even in the time of Christmas joy, even as we welcome our dear little sister through the miracle of baptism, and even as we sing a new song unto the Lord, let us not forget that we are at war. There is a good reason we sing “By All Your Saints in Warfare.” There have been, and there will continue to be, casualties. We will have hardship and suffering as do all soldiers and men under orders. But let us never forget that the ultimate victory has already been won. The struggle against sin, death, and the devil has already been settled by our Blessed Lord, the Holy Innocent of all holy innocents, who fights for us, who prays for us, who atones for us, and who makes us “without fault before the throne of God.”

We are the victors. Emma is the latest in our band of victorious warriors, a little “Holy Innocent” herself, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and by the washing of regeneration. The Holy Innocents were likewise washed in the Lamb’s blood, and it is He, the Lamb, the Redeemer, the King, the Son of David, the Son of God called out of Egypt, who has won the war and declared eternal peace with God, for the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, for Emma, for us, and for all who are baptized and believe, now and unto eternity. Amen.

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

Wall Street Journal Makes Sense (for once)

This editorial is perhaps the best and most concise summary as to why Keynsian BushObamanomics will continue to create economic hardship, and this short article also serves as a well-written primer on free market economics (the Austrian School).

Amazingly, the mainstream Wall Street Journal printed it. The sad part is that almost without exception, members of the outgoing and incoming administrations, Congress, the Fed, and the Treasury Department will ignore it, or stare at it like a cow looking at a new barn door (to borrow a phrase from Luther).

Does anyone in Washington remember the age-old adages like "There is no such thing as a free lunch," "Money doesn't grow on trees," and "You can't rob Peter to pay Paul."? And where are all the "conservatives" that supposedly exist in the Republican Party?

Instead of actually addressing the problem with unpopular effective solutions, we will see the mainstream Republicans and Democrats continue to try to nationalize, stimulate, tax, spend, borrow, print, tweak, bomb, make-work, and confiscate deadbeat, bankrupt America out of the debt-hole.

Eventually, it will come down to this: "Pay your bills!" Hopefully, America and its intellectually-challenged federal government will stop believing in the Myth of the Omnipotent State and the Philosopher's Stone before we turn into a third world country. It can happen here. History is replete with examples of Humpty-Dumptys protesting that they are "too big to fall" even as horses and men are helpless to put the yolk back inside the broken shell. One way or another, we will have to work our way out of this mess - or we will fall like Rome and watch helplessly as our economy becomes like Zimbabwe's.

It might be a good idea to keep an eye on the U.S. Dollar Index and the price of gold. Barring a miracle (like President Elect Obama reading this WSJ article, doing a lot of research, and becoming an advocate of the free market), the U.S. Dollar is destined for destruction.

Can it come back after such a fell? I guess that depends on how well we learn our lessons and revert back to common sense.

Quote of the Week...

From the Rev. Aaron Koch's blog, "The Staff of Aaron", in his post Living Nativity:

"I recall even one Lutheran pastor who would kneel before a plastic Jesus as part of a school Christmas program, but who thought it wrong to genuflect at the altar during the consecration!"

I honestly didn't know whether to be appalled, to just laugh, or both. You have to have a sense of humor - and a "graveyard" sense of humor at that - in order to survive in the Missouri Synod.

Unbelievable!

This was sent to me by a chiropractor friend. Just watching this video makes me want to make an appointment. But what precision and skill!

Decline and Fall...

Christmas around the world.

Christmas in Illinois.

It's all over, folks. Not with a bang, but a laugh-track.

To spend or not to spend...

The above video is a montage of folks who saw the current recession/depression coming.

Meanwhile, mainstream economic "experts" (Keynsian) are emphatic that our current economic malaise can be fixed by just spending money. Columnist Karen De Coster has a provocative essay on the cultural implications of the borrow-and-spend mentality even as the bubble is bursting.

And here is a stunning reminder of the power of frugality, delayed gratification, and the giving of oneself as opposed to consumerism.

By contrast, the same economic "experts" (who believe we can spend our way to prosperity) in government have given us the biggest Ponzi scheme of all, based on spending as opposed to saving - and then having the nerve to call it "social security." And here is proof that the Ponzi scheme runs deeper than Social Security right to the very heart of the American economic system.

However, Citigroup tacitly admits that gold could rise above $2,000 next year - which doesn't reflect sudden demand for fancy jewelry, but rather the diminishing value of the "dollar" (which really means "Federal Reserve Notes" backed by hot air, a belief in the "philosopher's stone," and desperate hopes that people will keep spending their way to prosperity.

One can only wonder if these Keynsian economists really believe their own propaganda. How can they? It's pure insanity.

Twilight, Harry Potter, and Christianity

The recent film Twilight, based on the popular book (which is part of a best-selling series of books) by Mormon author Stephenie Meyer, aimed at teen-age and pre-teen girls has caused quite a stir.

Twilight is a teenage love story between a mortal girl and a vampire. Christians debate one another, sometimes harshly so, about whether this story is a virtuous pro-life tale of chivalry and chastity, or whether it is a destructive ode to seduction, unhealthy obsession, and the occult.

Similarly, the Harry Potter books caused a ruckus in the Christian world when they became a cultural phenomenon, with one camp arguing that the book series lauded dishonest, selfish behavior and normalized the occult and encouraged youngsters to dabble in spells and witchcraft, while others countered that the books, written by a Christian author, simply used magic as an innocent literary device in order to teach a moral of good and evil and to make reading fun and popular again among young people.

So, what are Christian parents to do? Is there anything to the argument that such pop-culture expressions of storytelling have to do with the demonic, or is this rather just fundamentalist raving?

A book that I found both helpful and eye-opening was written neither by a Protestant fundamentalist nor by a confessional Lutheran, but rather by a conservative traditionalist Roman Catholic named Michael D. O'Brien. O'Brien is a self-educated Canadian artist, novelist, and literary and social critic from Ottawa, Canada. He is also good friends with our own Rev. Dr. John R. Stephenson, a Lutheran Church - Canada (LCC) seminary professor and editor of the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series (the LCC is a spin-off of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and our two communions are in fellowship). Though O'Brien has no formal academic credentials, Stephenson (who has degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham) holds O'Brien in high intellectual esteem as a churchman and thinker.

O'Brien's book, A Landscape With Dragons, was written in 1998 and published by Ignatius Press. It is a gripping read which is basically 166 pages of analysis of the symbolism of traditional western storytelling - especially the realm of children's stories - and how that tradition has been impacted by postmodernism. The latter third of the book is actually a suggested reading list for Christian families, grouped by age.

Mr. O'Brien's website has a good bit of his essays and lit-crit in addition to displaying his artwork. Incidentally, he also designed the cover art for the recent book of poetry by another LCC pastor, the Rev. Kurt E. Reinhardt called My Light and My Salvation - which I'm hoping to read and review soon.

On page 20 of Landscape, O'Brien tells of an incident at the Natural History Museum in Ottawa, involving the visceral reaction of his one-year old to the museum's T. Rex on display. When Lion Boy was the same age, the Hollywoods were in Ottawa (Mrs. H.'s home town) and we visited the same T. Rex in the same museum (Mrs. H. was a frequent visitor in her childhood). Leo's reaction was exactly the same. O'Brien uses the anecdote to introduce the reader to the ubiquitous symbolism of the dragon in literature - as well as his own theory of the dragon's literary origin.

Fascinating stuff, and truly helpful for Christian literary enthusiasts and parents.

Anyway, the book is a bargain, and though it would be nice to have a new edition, it is still an eye-opener that is even more relevant today a decade after its publication.

Sermon: Christmas

25 December 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: John 1:1-14 (Ex 40:17-21, 34-38; Titus 3:4-7)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

I think most people know that the Bible opens with these words: “In the beginning,” for indeed, as Moses first book called Genesis begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And the first thing God created in this formless void of darkness was light. With the creation of light, the Lord brought matter and energy into existence, and shaped them by His own hand to bring all things into being.

But we, His rebellious creatures, often delude ourselves into believing that we are more than creatures, seeking to be God Himself. And their doing the same thing we do, our ancestors put us on a path that led us back to darkness. By our sins, by choosing to be people of darkness, by preferring to have our evil deeds covered by the shadow of night – we shy away from the very Light that animated us, that gave us the breath of life.

And another book, a Gospel, a Book of Good News written by the Apostle and Evangelist St. John, likewise makes his beginning with “In the beginning.” But in John’s beginning, we find something that precedes the creation of the heavens and the earth. We hear of the Logos, that is, the Word.

For the same Word that spoke light into existence is the very Word that “was with God” and yet at the same time “was God.” And “all things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

But so shortly after the time of the beginning, we chose darkness over light, we rejected the Word and chose our own wicked and pathetic words instead, poor imitations of the Almighty Word through which we were created and by which we have the light of life.

Instead of the light of life, we poor miserable sinners live in the constant shadow of death. As fallen men, we despise the light, for the light exposes our lawless deeds and wicked thoughts. We live in the delusion that the darkness conceals our iniquity – but the one who created all things sees all things. Nothing is truly hidden.

And as a father pities his poor children who wail out in the darkness, our Father has come to bring us light, to save us from the darkness of the grave and the decay of death.

The Word by whom all things were made becomes the Word by whom we are redeemed and re-created. Our darkness is to be yet again dispersed, as the veil is shred. The separation between God and man, the gap between the divine and the human, is to be forever bridged and occupied by the Logos Himself, for the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This Word, this Christ, this Savior, is He who is the “true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”

And just as the Word, the Logos, commanded “Let there be light” and “there was light,” so too does the Logos - the Word of God Himself, the Light that is uncreated – burst into our dark world to illuminate us.

And yet He doesn’t accomplish this by a mushroom cloud, by a nuclear blast, by a collision of atoms into a cosmic conflagration that ignites all of creation into obliteration – but rather in the “still small voice” of a boy, a poor child lying in a manger trough in the chill of a stable in the middle of the night – the King of creation reclining with His creatures, the Good Shepherd unto whom come shepherds from the countryside who have been given a sign from the angel.

Indeed, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” in our toxic world, living in the midst of our sin, our selfishness, our suffering, our pain, and the death that we deserve, but which He was not obligated to taste. And yet He takes this cup, He allows the light of His life to be temporarily extinguished so that we may bask in the glow of His resurrection.

“And we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.” We can behold His glory, because like the Glory of the Lord as manifested in the Tabernacle, this Glory shines forth as a Light, condemning the darkness into non-existence, and as the Word, serving as a “lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” In fact, this Word made flesh is the path, He is the “way, the truth, and the life.”

This holy incarnate Light drives us to pray:

Thy light and grace
Our guilt efface,
Thy heav’nly riches all our loss retrieving.
Immanuel,
Thy birth doth quell
The pow’r of hell and Satan’s bold deceiving.

And we gather here, as the Church has done since the Boy of the Manger became the Man of Sorrows, and we eat his flesh that once lay in the food trough, and we drink His blood that was shed by way of a cup not of His choosing. By the light of our Lord, our eyes are illuminated by faith alone, and we see the manger become a cross, and a stable become an empty tomb. We see bread become His holy body and wine become His holy blood. We see death vivified into life and the darkness made lucid into light – a light and life that will have no end.

Dear friends, the Light is not our enemy, but our friend. This light has not come to condemn, but to save. He has come to be a beacon, not as a lamp to expose us. The glow of the Light has come to warm our cold hearts, not to melt us into oblivion. For just as darkness becomes non-existent when a lamp is lit, so too do our sins cease to be when they come into contact with this Holy Light. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” But we, dear friends, comprehend it. We grasp it, cling to it, and hold on for dear life, knowing that this Light is our only way out of the dark pit of exile and separation in which we have been living these thousands of years.

And this revelation of light was first manifest to us, the redeemed, at the manger. To us Christians, the manger is more than a feeding trough for livestock, it is the location of Eden itself. We pray with the hymnist:

O Jesus Christ,
Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O lord,
Doth lie the Word
Made flesh for us; here in Thy grace forth shineth.

May this blessing of the Word Made Flesh in His Light-bearing manger illuminate the Church and keep her safe from every form of darkness and evil, now and unto eternity. Amen.

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

Sermon: Christmas Eve - Midnight Mass

24 December 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 2:1-20 (Isa 9:2-7, Titus 2:11-14)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

The idea of midnight is associated closely with Christmas. In fact, to many people, it just isn’t Christmas without a Midnight Mass and the flickering of candles.

The carol “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” invokes this idea that the birth of Christ came at the darkest moment of the night. And this is based on a prophecy with which we began this Divine Service so close to the darkest time of the darkest day of the year. The apocryphal Book of Wisdom proclaims: “When all was still and it was midnight, Your almighty Word descended from the royal throne.”

The Book of Wisdom is included in many older Lutheran Bibles, but isn’t usually treated as authoritative. And yet, without any Biblical evidence, the Church universal chooses commemorate the birth of Christ at midnight – the time when the sun is farthest away – on December 25, which, in the days of the birth of Christ, was the winter solstice, the day on which the sun shines the least.

In other words, the birth of Christ is commemorated at the time of the peak of darkness.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the sunshine of God’s righteousness. He warms the hearts of us living in a cold and gloomy world, bringing a warm glowing flame to a desolate and dreary home of fallen man.

The prophet Isaiah speaks of the Christ child, born in the midnight of our souls, taking flesh in the solstice of the evil of the world, when he writes: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”

“Let there be light” said our Creator, bringing order to chaos and heat to lifeless and motionless matter. And though we have dimmed this light by our sins and by our rebellion, and though man has chosen the darkness over the light – nevertheless, the light still triumphs! The light scatters the darkness and dispels all gloom, removing our sins the way a shaft of sunlight reduces a shadow to nothing less than non-existence. We worship none other than the “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.”

And this Light was indeed “begotten, not made” and “for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.”

Traditionally, when Christians have said the Nicene Creed, at this point, at “and was made man”, everyone would drop to one knee, even as the shepherds genuflected before the incarnate Lord in the manger, and the people confessing the Creed would stop in a holy hush and a ponderous pause to contemplate the mystery of this Christmas incarnation of God into human flesh.

For this incarnation and this holy birth took place at the depth of human darkness, even as paganism ruled the world, as the Winter Solstice was not merely a geological phenomenon that resulted in coldness and darkness, but rather was celebrated as a “holiday,” as a festival in tribute to the created objects rather than the Creator, as a devotion to the darkness that covers the evil deeds of man, the same darkness that tried in vain to snuff out the Light of Christ that truly did come upon a midnight clear.

For what does the prophet say accompanies this holy Light? “You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest.” God Himself has “broken the yoke” of our burden in this world of sin and death, in which the sons of Adam must live by the sweat of his brow, contending with thorns, and groaning under the weight of the yoke of sin’s burden and death’s harness.

The Lord’s coming has also broken the “rod of his oppressor,” and true light will come from the fire lit by the “warrior’s sandal” and by “garments rolled in blood” – for indeed, “unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder.” We sinful men are not worthy to untie His sandal, and yet we sinful men stripped Him of His garments bloodied with the very blood that saves us.

And the prophet testifies that the name of this Light of Light, this child whose beaming countenance splits the darkness of night, will be called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father” and “Prince of Peace.”

For this child in the manger is God in the flesh, the One who has come to illuminate us and warm us with His very body and blood, with His Word, with His sacrificial love, and with His victory over sin, death, and the devil.

As St. Titus reminds us: “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” the very “blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ was born in a time of deep and profound darkness, of a multiplicity of lawless deeds. For these were the days of Caesar Augustus, the powerful man who was worshiped as a god, the head of an empire that would try to extinguish the light of Christ and to destroy the holy Church – and yet, in the process, would itself be brought to the light under the sign of the cross. Our Lord was born in the days when men worshiped the creature instead of the Creator and celebrated darkness in the form of the Solstice Festival – which some today who love the dark are trying to elevate as an alternative to our celebration of Holy Light.

And even after Herod’s attempt to destroy the Christ child, even after Caesar imposed a tax that would force the pregnant Virgin Mary to take a long and arduous trip, and even though there was no room for Him at the inn – our Lord, the Light of the World, was born into this darkness, where shepherds kept watch “over their flocks by night,” even as an “angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.” And it would later be a shining star that led the gentile kings from the orient, men of wisdom and science, to see this divine Child, whose birth was to be “a light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of [God’s] people Israel.

Dear friends, the darkness of our sins has been dispelled by the light of Christ, the good news that the “incarnate Deity” is “pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel” on this “silent night,” this “holy night” in which we sing:

“Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord at Thy birth,
Jesus Lord at Thy birth.” Amen.

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