Germans using force and compulsion? No way!

"Don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it!"
--- Basil Fawlty

Why am I not surprised at this account of the bureaucratized government's use of jack booted thuggery and compulsion from, uh, where else? And how is it that the people of Marburg can "not see" that this is for their own good and the good of the Vaterland?

Some volks just never learn lessons from history.

Word games and communion statements

A parishioner of mine was out of town and brought back a bulletin. He asked me to look at the communion statement, it included:

"Please read and answer the following questions. They are helpful in preparing for the Lord's Supper:

1. Have I been baptized in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
2. Do I believe that I am a sinful human being without hope of eternal life except for God's mercy in Christ?
3. Do I believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son and my personal Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil?
4. Do I believe that Jesus Christ is personally present in the Sacrament of Holy Communion with His true Body and Blood?
5. Do I intend, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to live a Godly life?

Our Holy Communion practice is called "CLOSE" communion, not "CLOSED" communion. "Close" communion invites all those who answer the above questions in the affirmative. "Closed" communion practice allows only confirmed members of ----------- Lutheran Church to commune. We do NOT attempt to obstruct or restrict anyone from coming to the Lord's table. We DO seek to help each guest; visitor, and member, to prepare for the celebration of the Sacrament. Because of the importance and value of Holy Communion, we ask that each one present carefully read, understand, and answer the above questions before communing, and if it is your first time communing with us, please speak to one of our Ushers, Elders, or Pastors."

There is an additional line that says:

"A wine that has been chemically treated to remove all alcohol and sulfites is offered in clear glasses in the individual trays."

Oh boy.

First of all, this "closed" vs. "close" is a lot of nonsense. It is a false dichotomy. Notice this church's practice - if you, as an individual, can accept the five questions (which everyone from Roman Catholic to Reformed can), you are welcome at this Missouri Synod Lutheran church's altar.

However, this overlooks the fact that the Missouri Synod congregations are specifically in fellowship with a couple dozen churches around the world - which means we are in doctrinal agreement resulting in altar and pulpit fellowship. An LCMS Lutheran is in communion with the Lutheran Church Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, and many other church bodies around the world. An LCMS Lutheran is not in communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the United Methodist Church, or the Roman Catholic Church. There are simply doctrinal differences that separate us - many of which involve disputes over just what one is eating and drinking at the altar - and those doctrinal divisions are not addressed in five simple questions to scan at the beginning of the service so that we can make individual choices about communing. The Church is, by definition, an "assembly" - a community of faith. These are not decisions properly left to individuals, but rather to our whole family.

You are either in communion with, or not in communion with Christians of other church bodies. As a pastor, I may be invited to preach and officiate at the Eucharist at one of our sister churches in the Russian Ingrian Lutheran Church. However, I may not concelebrate a wedding at a local Russian Orthodox Church or preach in a local Pentecostal church. To do so would be to send a false message. One could not do that with integrity. It all has to do with being in communion.

That is the nature of fellowship and communion that is completely lost in this church's approach, and their artificial use of "closed" and "close" to describe two different policies.

Notice that the church presents only two extreme scenarios: 1) closed communion means no visitors can commune (not even LCMS visitors), and 2) close communion means opening the rail to Roman Catholics, Reformed, and ELCA Lutherans. Those are the two options according to this church. But of course, the traditional and ancient understanding of communion - which has been upheld by the Missouri Synod since its inception until recent years - is neither of these extremes.

There is no other word for this convenient game-playing to achieve a specific result (open communion). It is simply a lie.

Our churches are part of a network of churches that share doctrine and practice and are in a state of communion with each other. This particular congregation's approach to communion completely ignores this reality that is our agree-upon paradigm. Exceptions need to be handled by the pastor (and indeed, there always are exceptions) - but this is not a matter of pastoral exception, but published policy.

The idea that we "do NOT attempt to obstruct or restrict anyone from coming to the Lord's table" flies in the face of St. Paul's words (which were ironically quoted in the bulletin on the very same page) from 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 that a person may well eat and drink to his judgment. This is why the sacraments ("the mysteries of God") have men (pastors) charged with administering them ("the stewards of the mysteries of God" - 1 Cor 4:1). In the same way that pharmacists don't hand out prescription drugs willy-nilly, neither do pastors (at least those who believe in the supernatural power of the consecrated elements) do the same with Holy Communion. This is why our Augsburg Confession positively cites the traditional example of the pastoral care according to St. John Chrysostom, and confesses with clarity and integrity how our churches are to administer the holy sacrament:

"On holy days, and at other times, when communicants are present, Mass is held and those who desire it are communicated. Thus the Mass is preserved among us in its proper use which was formerly observed in the church and which can be proved by St. Paul's statement in 1 Cor. 11:20 ff. and by many statements of the Fathers. For Chrysostom reports how the priest stood every day, inviting some to Communion and forbidding others to approach." (AC XXIV:35-36)

This is the very opposite of saying: "we do NOT attempt to obstruct or restrict anyone."

There is an additional ambiguity in question 4: "Do I believe that Jesus Christ is personally present in the Sacrament of Holy Communion with His true Body and Blood?" The "with" seems to divide the "personal" presence of Jesus from His physical presence. In fact, the use of "personal" instead of "physical" is one way to make Lutheran communion acceptable to Reformer Christians - a tactic tried by many groups in history to jam the square peg of Lutheran theology into the round hole of Reformed practice for the sake of an artificial unity. In this case, it is either by design with a bad intent, or by ignorance with a bad result. For the sake of the eighth commandment, let's presume in this case the latter.

Nevertheless, there is another use of "weasel words" that cannot simply be excused by ignorance. Consider the line in the church's bulletin (cited earlier) that "A wine that has been chemically treated to remove all alcohol and sulfites is offered in clear glasses in the individual trays."

A wine that has been "chemically treated" to remove one of the component parts that makes it wine is, by definition, not wine. In fact, it is "grape juice." Notice how the writer goes to great pains to circumvent the ontologically correct (and more concise and precise) term to instead use a sort of hocus-pocus to transubstantiate the innovation of grape juice into dominically mandated "wine."

To take the reverse, most parents would have no problem giving their young children a big glass of grape juice. But what if we gave Junior a big glass of "grape juice" that was "chemically treated" with a process of fermentation to "add alcohol and sulfites" - would it still be "grape juice"? Of course not. It would be wine, and the same parents would not serve it. It's simply not the same thing.

We do not fear God if we delude ourselves into thinking that our synod will not be chastened by the Lord for such unfaithfulness. What better definition of "integrity" is there than "confession" - simply and plainly saying the same thing as the Lord in His revealed Word? We need to pray fervently that the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of the pastors and lay people in these congregations.

Now she's the "song leader"...

It looks like the Texas District must be getting a little negative feedback. The website of the youth gathering has been changed.

The LCMS pastor has been bumped to top billing, and Pastor Jobe's official Texas LCMS title has been changed from "Lead Worshiper" to "Song Leader." She also fell two slots in this "bull market."

Lord have mercy, I don't know what's more fun to watch: Louisiana secular politics or the ecclesiastical version of our neighbors to the West. Great show!

Perhaps the Next Texas Ute Gaddering?

Let's keep this our little secret. Don't give the Texas District any more bright ideas.

And for the Lutheran remnant in the Lonestar State: "Remember the Augustana!"

Pastor Jobe in her own words

Is there any way that Lutheran pastors and congregations currently being held hostage in the rebel Texas District can place themselves under the ecclesiastical oversight of African bishops? "Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya - Texas Missionary District" - I like it.

"Do not despair, O little flock." Come, Lord + Jesus.

Woman Pastor to Lead Worship at LCMS Youth Event

Thanks to "Chuck Finney" for bringing this to light.

The Texas District's 2008 Youth Gathering coming up in November has an interesting array of speakers scheduled. Note that the "lead worshiper" is Kari Jobe (see below).

Kari Jobe - Lead Worshipper
For over 13 years, I have been involved with worship groups that have ministered around the world... I believe it's not enough for us to merely experience God's presence; we must also affect the lives of others and help them draw closer to God. My passion is to see people impacted and changed by His goodness, and to see the world changed by the reality and nearness of God's presence. - Kari Jobe

Kari is an associate pastor at the non-denominational Gateway Church, a congregation that denies baptismal regeneration and the Real Presence in Holy Communion - which of course is completely at odds with Lutheran doctrine as well as the centrality of altar, font, and pulpit to Lutheran worship. How she can be the "lead worshiper" of a gathering of Lutherans without falling into unionism is quite a mystery.

Furthermore, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, at least as of this writing, affirms the masculinity of the pastoral office and upholds the scriptural and traditional proscription against women clergy. According to Gateway's website of ministry staff, Kari is an "associate pastor" (see below)

Kari Jobe
Associate Pastor, Worship

Pastor Kari sums up her understanding of her ministry at her MySpace page (see below).

About Kari Jobe

For over 13 years, I have been involved with worship groups that have ministered around the world. In April 2006, I took a position as a Worship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, where I serve on a regular basis. I believe it's not enough for us to merely experience God's presence; we must also affect the lives of others and help them draw closer to God. My passion is to see people impacted and changed by His goodness, and to see the world changed by the reality and nearness of God's presence.

I hope I will be proven wrong, but I'm going to "go out on a limb" (and not a very flimsy limb at that) and make a few predictions:

No officials in the LCMS will say anything about this. Anyone who complains will be cast as "unloving" or some such. Neither the praesidium, nor the seminaries, nor any district presidents will denounce women pastors leading worship at youth gatherings. There will be no disciplinary actions taken against anyone.

This kind of thing will expand, and will continue to send a message to our young people that women's ordination is okay, as are unionistic worship, and worship that not only sets aside our Lutheran confession of sacraments as well as the traditional western liturgy. What will be deemed as an acceptable replacement is emotional, exciting, entertainment based religion of a general non-denominational sort.

Then we wonder why people leave - why those who actually strive for the sacramental and liturgical Presence of our Lord Jesus (as confessed in the Lutheran confessions) seek that Presence outside of Lutheranism. On the other hand, we also see the exodus of young people who have been taught there is no difference between Lutheranism and non-denominationalism, and so they likewise leave Lutheran churches in seek of even bigger and better entertainment.

It is no wonder why so many of our young people are confused and leaving the LCMS. It is also no wonder why so many of our seminarians, vicars, and pastors are appalled at the dissonance between what we confess on paper and how we worship in the real world, and leave the LCMS for Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, or Roman Catholicism. In many cases, the doctrine and practice of those churches is closer to the Lutheran confessions than our own churches! I'm not in favor of either group's departure from the LCMS, but it takes a great deal of self-delusion to overlook why this is happening. Maybe our dwindling membership is a judgment against the LCMS for its infidelity. And if this is the case, no amount of corporate marketing gimmicks can replace repentance.

And it is utterly galling to hear our LCMS bureaucrats take backhanded swipes at the Higher Things youth conferences (which originated and grew exponentially as a reaction against this kind of anything-goes theology and practice) by saying these "official" gatherings (unlike Higher Things) have passed doctrinal review (implying that Higher Things is some kind of un-Lutheran rogue organization). Of course, Martin Luther's baptismal "flood prayer" initially failed the doctrinal review process, so I suppose it should not come as a shock that women clergy leading worship may well receive a doctrinal green light.

So, if you want unionism, rock and roll, and women clergy, it appears that you can get it in at least one official event put on by the LCMS.

Like our synodical president said: "This is not your grandfather's church!"

A Trio of Musical Articles

Today's paper had three convergent articles about music and New Orleans, testifying to the ability of music to bring people together, forge community, and bring a sense of joy to our lives.

First, here is a lyrical tribute to the ubiquity of music in New Orleans, as documented by Chris Rose as only this master of pen and heart can present it.

Next, here is a story about a former cop who took up the violin in middle age, and now serenades the city.

And finally, here, a musical former Marine saves the life of a suicidal comrade at a chance meeting with the power of a trumpet and human contact.

Sermon: Trinity 11

3 August 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA
Text: Luke 18:9-14 (Eph 2:1-10)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Dear Christians, our Lord Jesus speaks to us today concerning mortal sin. There is a tendency for us sinners to categorize certain sins as bad, and others as not so bad. And the way we do it is pretty simple: the sins other people do are really bad, the sins we do are minor.

To us sinners, the mortal sins are the really big ones, like mass murder, genocide, blowing up buildings, and things like that. In fact, most of us would add things like murder, adultery, and abusing children to the list of sins we believe are unforgivable.

Some may even add homosexuality and abortion to the list, as these sins are high on the political agenda.

But all of these sins are forgivable. These sins can be confessed, repented of, and absolved. A person can ask to be forgiven of these sins, and our Lord Jesus Christ died specifically for these transgressions, even as He charged me “by virtue of my office” to absolve these trespasses.

But a sin that is mortal is a sin that kills. It destroys both body and soul. It is a sin that, by definition, can’t be forgiven. And what makes a sin mortal is not necessarily the amount of damage done, but rather the fact that the sinner refuses to be forgiven.
Any sin can well become mortal, can drag us body and soul into hell. The quickest way to condemnation is not to go on a serial killing spree, but rather refuse to be forgiven!

Some people refuse to be forgiven out of despair. We see this in Judas Iscariot. He is the son of perdition. Satan blinded his eyes to faith, so that even a very sorry Judas refused to believe that the holy sacrifice of our blessed Lord even covered his sins. The refusal to believe, the lack of faith, is mortal. For you cannot make a man accept salvation any more than you can make the proverbial unwilling horse take a drink.

But there is the kind of refusal to be forgiven that isn’t based on despair, but rather the opposite.

Jesus is warning the Pharisees, and He is warning us, dear brothers and sisters, that the first step to hell is to trust in yourself. Notice what provokes our Lord’s story: “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” These people did not “fear love and trust in God above all things,” but rather placed themselves on that pedestal, “trusting in themselves that they were righteous.”

For if you trust in your own righteousness, why do you need a pastor to absolve you of your sins? Why do you need to come to communion? In fact, if you trust in your own righteousness, Jesus is a fool, for He went to the cross for nothing. If you trust in your own righteousness, the Holy Spirit is also a fool, for He inspired the Scriptures that tell us again and again that we are all “like sheep that have gone astray,” that “there is none righteous, no, not one,” that “the wages of sin is death,” that through one man, death came to all men.

If you trust in your own righteousness, you not only have no need of the Christian religion, you have no need of Christ. If you trust in your own righteousness, you have no need of a Savior, because you are your own savior.

And what a sad delusion this is, dear friends! God the Father has given us His “only begotten Son,” the “Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,” who “bears our iniquities” and “by whose stripes we are healed.” God gives us the Holy Spirit, who inspires Scripture like our crystal-clear letter of St, Paul to the church of Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

It doesn’t get much clearer than that, dear friends. The Holy Spirit has articulated the Gospel through St. Paul, the apostle and servant of Christ Jesus – who likewise preached the same Good News and backed it up by dying and rising.

In our Lord’s parable, there are two men, but only one of them “went down from his house justified rather than the other.” The world would look at the religiousness of the Pharisee, and conclude that he is by far the one who is justified. After all, this man is a churchgoer, a big giver to the treasury, a volunteer who serves on boards and councils, a respected pillar of the community.

And what must the world think of the tax collector? He is a petty thief, a man who is so great a sinner that his guilt impels him to hunch over in church and carry on begging for mercy. Why, he even calls himself a sinner in his prayer!

This is a no-brainer, isn’t it? Well, it is to our Lord.

For our Lord doesn’t judge by shallow appearances and the public face we wear as a mask. What does our Lord see in these two men? In the Pharisee, he sees a man who trusts in himself that he is righteous. He sees a man who not once asks for mercy or prays for a Savior. He sees a man immersed in sin, but deluded into not seeing it. He sees a man who is so blind that he cannot even see his own sins. He sees a man who worships himself instead of the Triune God. He sees a man in mortal danger if he doesn’t confess and repent – which is exactly what the tax collector is doing.

It is the humble tax collector, not the arrogant Pharisee, who goes down to his house justified. And it is by his fruits that we know him. While the Pharisee is loudly confessing other peoples’ sins and boasting that he doesn’t do any of them, the Pharisees, as our Lord points out, not only trusts in his own righteousness, but they also despises others. Seeing everyone else as a sinner, the Pharisees love themselves but hate their neighbors – all the while patting themselves on the back and dismissing their need for forgiveness.

But notice the attitude of the tax collector. He has stolen from people, and it grieves him. He is guilty of breaking the commandments, and his heart is contrite. This is a man who in spite of his sins, truly loves other people and regrets the way he has treated God. And, what’s more, he knows who God is, and it’s not himself. Instead of confessing the sins of others, he confronts his own. Instead of boasting, he is broken. Instead of justifying himself, he prays the true “sinner’s prayer”: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” For he confesses his sin, and though he feels unworthy, still has enough faith to ask for God’s mercy. He doesn’t ask for it unless he believes he can get it. He is confident, but not cocky. He has faith, but a humble faith that is anchored in the promises of God rather than in his own righteousness.

Our sinful flesh always wants to be the Pharisee, always seeks glory, always demands recognition and credit, always loves and trusts in itself rather than in God, all the while, despising others. And it is this Pharisee that must be drowned daily in the repentance given to us and our second birth at the font. It is this demon that must continually be exorcised by the sign of the cross. It is the mortality that must be put to death before it becomes mortal.

And so here we are again, dear friends, gathered to hear the promises of God, kneeling humbly to eat His flesh and drink His blood – all because we know we need a Savior, all because the one thing we truly know about ourselves is that we can’t trust in ourselves that we are righteous.

You who are humbled by your sins, take heart! For hear the final word of our blessed Lord once more: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Amen.

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

The Gospel According to Quadrophenia

The 1979 film Quadrophenia is not appropriate for Sunday School class by any means.

It bears an R rating because of its explicit vulgarity, violence, depictions of drug use, and some brief nudity. And yet, with that kept firmly in mind, there is also the familiar Christian themes of redemption, of the triumph of life over death, of the shallowness of disorder and violence, and a repudiation of the false promises of materialism. The film also makes metaphorical use of the Biblical imagery of water as a means of grace and cleansing, the bringer of both life and death.

The film has a gritty, street feel to it. The acting is realistic, and well played. I found the working-class English accents tough to discern at first (and there are no subtitles on the DVD). The pacing is a little slow by modern American standards, but the storytelling and cinematography are outstanding. In 2004, the movie publication Total Film named it as the 35th greatest British film of all time.

On its surface, it is a fictionalized docudrama about a clash of youth cultures (Mods vs. Rockers) in the mid 1960s in England. But in reality, the film investigates some very deep philosophical themes - as all art endeavors to do. Set around the time of the peak of the Mod-Rocker violence ("the Second Battle of Hastings") in 1964, the story focuses on the troubles of "Jimmy" - a working class teenage boy who identifies with the "Mod" lifestyle.

The Mods rode small Italian motor scooters (typically customized with extra lights and mirrors), dressed in snazzy suits, listened to British and Caribbean pop music, and took pills to fuel their dance parties and mob fights. Their opponents were the Rockers, who rode motorcycles, wore jeans and leather jackets, listened to American rock music, and mainly stuck with alcohol as their drug of choice. It's fairly easy to see the antagonism between the two subcultures.

The violence between Mods and Rockers reached a peak in 1964, and was the cause of a lot of panic among Britons.

In Quadrophenia, Jimmy is going through the growing pains of being an adolescent in search of his own identity. He rebels against his parents, despises his low-end job as the mail-boy in an office, takes solace in his scooter, drinking, drugs, sexuality, and Mod music - trying desperately to fit in somewhere.

The title is a play on words, as Jimmy's father accuses his son of having a split personality - a common misunderstanding of schizophrenia. Jimmy feels that he has four personalities - hence "Quadrophenia". This four-part personality doesn't really emerge in the film, but is part of the short-story written by Pete Townshend in the liner notes of the original 1973 album of the same name by Townshed's band, The Who (a musical favorite of the Mods in the early 1960s).

Jimmy's teen angst and alienation leads him on a series of misadventures including parties, drinking, drugs, sex, and violence. The story reaches a breaking point during a long weekend in which many Londoners visit the beach at Brighton. In 1964, Mods and Rockers descended on Brighton Beach by the thousands.

The mob mentality serves as an adrenaline rush to Jimmy, who finally feels he fits in as part of the Mods. His life appears to have meaning in this place at this time. He looks up the larger-than-life Mod leader "Ace Face" (played by rock musician Sting in his first major acting role), who epitomizes "cool" - something Jimmy seeks as the guiding force in his own life. While at Brighton, Jimmy gets involved in rioting and wild partying. He seduces the girl he has been yearning for with pills, and gets the payoff of a tawdry sexual encounter in the back alley shed, as mob violence is in full force outside. He feels alive and part of something bigger than himself, a sense of belonging, of being loved.

But things soon unwind into a rapid Job-like descent into misery. He is arrested. His girlfriend dumps him. He is fired from his job. His parents throw him out of his home. He crashes his scooter. His friends look upon him more and more as an outcast. He spends his entire severance pay on drugs, and then boards a train to go back to Brighton in a desperate search of his former sense of fitting in.

But while there, things only get worse.

He sees his former hero, Ace Face - but is utterly dismayed to learn that this man he idolized is, in fact, a lowly bellboy at a hotel, clad in his uniform and being ordered about by the hotel's well-heeled customers.

Shouting: "Bellboy!," Jimmy steals Ace's fancy Vespa scooter, and drives to the beach. He speeds along, perilously near the edge of the breathtaking white cliffs of Dover. The camera angles show Jimmy zooming along the cliffs as the sea churns below. There were several references to water and drowning in the film. It begins to become obvious where this is headed.

Death by drowning seems to be the only solution to Jimmy's completely messed up life and sense of not fitting in anywhere. He points the scooter at the cliff as The Who sings in the soundtrack:

I've had enough of dancehalls
I've had enough of pills
I've had enough of streetfights
I've seen my share of kills
I'm finished with the fashions
And acting like I'm tough
I'm bored with hate and passion
I've had enough of trying to love.

The music stops abruptly. Jimmy guns the bike and heads toward the cliff at full speed. The ending is a bit of a surprise, however, as the Vespa is seen hurling into space with no rider. It crashes on the ground below in front of the sea. The film is a little ambiguous of Jimmy's fate, but the short story makes it clear that he does not commit suicide. Rather, he finds redemption in the cleansing, pouring rain.

The next word we hear is the same as the last one: "love." Both the short story/concept album and the film end with the song "Love Reign O'er Me" - in which the play on words is between "rain" (an image invoked in the song) and "reign." The love that Jimmy seeks is something that he submits to (something completely missing in his life of rebellion and anti-authoritarianism). In his prayer "Love reign o'er me," he is submitting to a "reign" and in so doing he is surrendering to something greater. He finds his redemption in genuine love, a love that rules over him. It is a love dropped upon him by grace, unexpected grace, anchored in the imagery of water.

In seeking to drown, Jimmy finds life - but only in drowning his old man, in repentance, in surrender and submission. This takes place amid the chalky white cliffs of Dover, symbolizing purity, and amid the crashing of the bike - symbolic of the treasures of this world which are passing and never satisfy, but are mere desires rooted in materialism and conformity. All of that is worthless as Jimmy finds his salvation and new life in water, and in being reigned over and rained upon, from heaven.

The imagery in the film is powerful, and the ending is perhaps even more powerful given the no-holds-barred realism of the depravity of Jimmy's former existence. Though not explicitly Christian in any way, the movie carries with it the theme of redemption, of life overcoming death, of a new man emerging from water, a grown man, a man who has been plucked from the "wages of sin" itself. This theme of redemption has influenced art in the west since the days of Constantine.

I find the film beautiful even in its ugliness, and an exposition of baptismal regeneration and repentance - even in spite of what some may only see as the glorification of violence and youth rebellion. In fact, I see the film as a stark repudiation of the youth culture, as it leads Jimmy only further into a spiral of despair, while his redemption, by contrast, comes in the form of repentance and love rained (and reigned) over him from the heavens.

Live the Dream wordle

I got a very slick mailing from HealingPlaceChurch (all the hippest swinging happening megachurches eliminate space between their words), a non-denominational millennialist, charismatic megachurch from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Anyway, the mailing was huge, the paper stock was thick enough to double as door panels for my Toyota. It was elegant to the point of opulent, and came with a DVD (which I have yet to watch).

It was an invitation to their annual women's conference called Live the Dream. The cover letter was from a lady named De Lynn Rizzo, the "women's pastor" of the congregation. It was signed "love ya" - and all that was missing was the cloying scent of perfume and lipstick on the envelope.

I looked over the materials, and there are some quotes from Scripture - all carefully cherrypicked to support their theology of glory and "name it and claim it" positive-thinking religion. Surprisingly, "Jesus" was mentioned, I think twice (which is sometimes more than He is in letters I get from various LCMS bureaucratic entities) - but there is no mention whatsoever about sin, atonement, redemption, the cross - i.e. the Gospel. The entire mailing is a tribute to living large and painting on a happy face (perhaps with botox, if not Prozac) - complete with perfectly coiffed tresses, beaming perfectly straight white teeth, and perfect beauty-queen features. Goodness, women must spend hours upon hours getting ready to attend their services!

Very slick, and overwhelming in presentation. It had the glittery feel of a Super Bowl halftime show.

Anyway, I chunked their website (for the Live the Dream conference) through Wordle, and above is a diagram of the most commonly used words in their presentation - the larger words being more common. You'll note that our Lord Jesus didn't make the cut. You can click on the Wordle to make it bigger.

This is utterly typical of the plastic and shallow megachurch movement that unfortunately has become synonymous with Christianity in the minds of many cynical non-believers. It is also a seductive siren song calling people away from historic and traditional communions into an optimistic religion with only a coincidental and occasional overlap with Christianity.

Sermon: Baptism of Christopher Carter Melling

Wednesday of Trinity 10, Baptism of Christopher Melling 30 July 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA

Text: Luke 19:41-48 (1 Cor 12:1-11)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Dear Christians, you’ve seen a baby get wet this evening.

To most people and under most circumstances, this isn’t really worth the trouble to come to see. But here we all are, parents, sponsors, relatives, a special candle, a certificate, and a celebration.

To the non-believing world, this is the height of stupidity. To religious people who don’t worship our God, this is a quaint ceremony that symbolizes our unity as a community. To some Christians, this is a hollow ritual, since Christopher can’t choose to be a Christian. To other Christians, this is no baptism, since Salem Lutheran Church doesn’t belong to the right bureaucracy.

But when Christopher’s baptism is despised or attacked, whether by believers or non-believers, it is the work of the devil. For we have the promise of God, the command to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” and the iron-clad word: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” And we have it on good authority, in fact the only infallible authority, that “these little ones” can indeed, in the words of our Lord Himself, “believe in Me.”

Belief is just another way to say “faith,” the faith through which we are saved, the faith we confess, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ given to us as a gracious free gift.

In our Gospel, our Lord weeps tears of sadness. For His beloved city of Jerusalem refused to believe. They “did not know the time of [their] visitation.” God had come to them in the flesh, in a way that they could see (like water held in a pastor’s hand), hear (like water splashing in a font as the Holy Trinity is invoked), and touch (like water dripping from the head of a newly-regenerated baby).

But in spite of this visitation, Jerusalem refused to believe.

Unbelief is the work of Satan. Unbelief condemns the unchristian world and tempts the followers of Christ toward the abandonment of the faith. Indeed, the beautiful passage of the power of baptism: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” is completed by its opposite, the power of unbelief: “but he who does not believe, will be condemned.”

We believe in the regenerative work of this baptism not because we’re in the right denomination, not because Christopher can “make a decision for Jesus,” not now, not twelve years from now, not a hundred years from now. We believe, because we have been visited – by the Word of God in the flesh, and by the Holy Spirit whom He has sent to us.

As St. Paul proclaims in our epistle from his letter to the Church at Corinth: “Therefore I make known to you that no-one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no-one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.”

It’s too early to tell what gifts, what talents, what skills Christopher has inside of him. We have no idea what he will do to make a living, whom he will marry, how many children he will father – but we do know one thing, by virtue of the water and the Word given to Him under the sign of the holy cross this evening: Christopher has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, of eternal life, of a second birth, of access to God the Father through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit and through the Word and flesh of Jesus, our great high priest. “There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all…. One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

Christopher, and all the baptized, have been given the gift of life through water and the Spirit. The source of that gift was confessed in the hymn we sang by the Lutheran hymn writer Richard Resch:

The gifts Christ freely gives
He gives to you and me
To be His Church, His bride His chosen, saved and free!
Saints blest with these rich gifts
Are children who proclaim
They were won by Christ
And cling to His strong name.

And these gifts abide for as long as we shall live, gifts that even transcend the grave and extend unto eternity. Our baptisms do not only serve us while our heads remain wet and while our baptismal candle burns, but cling to us as long as we have flesh and blood. The greatest treasure any of us has in this life is baptism. It is this watery grace that sees us through times of pain, of doubt, of fear, of temptation, of all forms of suffering, of helplessness, of times when our faith itself is a dimly burning wick, times of persecution, and even the hour of death itself.

We are reminded of our baptism every time we invoke Father, Son, and Spirit; whenever we cross ourselves; whenever we drink water, bathe, get caught in a rainstorm, see a rainbow, confess our sins and receive absolution, and even when we witness the Holy Baptism of other saints.

We are especially reminded of our baptism when we approach the altar to partake in the body and blood of Him who baptized us: the One whose mighty word speaks through the feeble lips of the pastor; the One whose bloodied, crucified hands bless us and absolve us through the shaky mortal hands of the messenger; the One who gives of Himself, whose body we eat, whose blood we drink, the water from whose riven side covers us and our sins through this same glorious and gracious gift we saw visited upon Christopher this evening.

The name “Christopher” means “Christ bearer.” It is the name of a legendary saint who, as the story goes, carried the baby Christ child safely across water. In a very real sense, Christopher became a baby “Christ bearer” this evening, even as all Christians are Christophers who bear Christ – not across water, but through water. And it is Christ who carries us in our baptism, bearing us as we bear our crosses, carrying us even as we are powerless to carry ourselves, delivering us from the death that we have earned and which He endured on our behalf.

And there is simply no-one: no person, no group, no church, no power on earth nor angelic being above or below – who has the power to contradict or gainsay what God the Father has done this evening through His Son Jesus Christ and by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We have the words of Christ, the Word of Scripture, and the simple fact that a baptism that has been done can never be undone, that this child is a child of the most high God, that he is a “Christ bearer” who carries with him the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Christians, we know the time of our visitation today. We have seen a baby get wet this evening. And what’s more, we are bound to thank and praise our good and merciful Lord, even as we proclaim with the hymnist:

All glory to the One
Who lavishes such love;
The Triune God in love
Assures our life above.
His means of grace for us
Are gifts He loves to give;
All thanks and praise for His
Great love by which we live. Amen.

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

Cappuccino, part deux

This morning's paper has some right funny and acerbic writing from our beloved Chris Rose. I'll give you a minute to prepare the coffee. Smells good...

Cappuccino and Louisiana Political Scandals

The Hollywood Family morning ritual involves two crucial elements - cappuccino and the Times-Picayune.

While I'm preparing the frothy hi-caf nectar of the friars (cappuccino takes its name from its color, which approximates the robes of the Franciscan Cappuchin monks), Mrs. Hollywood is scanning the newspaper for the latest reactions to the latest political scandals.

We are seldom "disappointed."

Most big city newspapers are dull, owned by the same dull conglomerates, clones of each other, politically predictable, and devoid of anything interesting. I lived in Philadelphia, where the Inquirer was known as the Stink-quirer or the Ink-waste. In Atlanta, we all detested (and consequently ignored) the Journal-Constitution (a.k.a. the Urinal-Constipation), a page of which is depicted in the official portrait of the late Gov. Lester Maddox hanging in the state capitol wrapped around a dead fish. The Columbia (SC) State was more along the lines of Pravda (I used to call it the Statist). But the New Orleans Times-Picayune is different.

The writers are clever, the journalists are hard-hitting, even the political cartoons and letters to the editor are edgy. And, given our outrageous political climate, they never run out of scandals to cover. They are so numerous that the newspaper actually addresses them with satire and humor.

And there is one saving grace about political corruption in Louisiana - it is bipartisan.

We have a Republican "family values" U.S. Senator (David Vitter) who, shall we say, enjoys the "New Orleans Ladies" (ahem). The kind that are available for lease, the expensive ones that the Crescent City was known for decades ago, and still seem to exist for politicians. In spite of this, the Senator still soldiers on fighting for good conservative values. In fact, I believe he recently co-sponsored a bill with Senator Craig of "wide stance" fame. Grand Old Party. Or is that Par-TAY!

We also have a Democrat "fight for the poor" U.S. Representative ("Dollar" Bill Jefferson), who decided to help himself to some of that money supposed to help the poor. Investigators found $90,000 in cash in his freezer. He assures us that there is an explanation. It's been months and months, and we're still waiting. Several members of his family have been indicted for fraud and dipping into the public trough, with one having copped a plea and turn witness against the rest of the family. Of course, the Congressman is standing for re-election. That's the beauty of the Democrats - they'll let you run for re-election from prison. Equal opportunity and all that.

In recent months, we've had a local mayor, Eddie Price, smashed out of his gourd, plow his city truck through a toll booth, ignore efforts to pull over, and when he finally did, the police didn't give him a field sobriety test or even file a report. After the media exposed this matter, he finally got a ticket. A ticket. Wow.

We recently had a New Orleans cop leading other police on a high-speed chase through the city, after which he struck another policeman. He said he was justified because he was "running late for work." Shortly thereafter, another NOPD officer, frustrated at having to wait in a carpool line, decided to wave her gun, curse, and threaten parents picking up their kids from a community center - all in front of frightened children. One of her superiors told her within hearing of the public that she should have shot the man who calmed her down and talked her into holstering her pistol. In the midst of these scandals, a 35 year veteran with a spotless record decided to wear the old uniform shirt as a tribute to his fallen comrades on his last day at work, and was investigated, and retired under a cloud that revoked his commission - until the Times-Picayune broke the story and the egg-faced police chief repented of digging in and defending the stupid move, and finally "fixed the glitch."

Never a dull moment!

This morning's installment saw State Senator Derrick Shepherd (D-Marrero) spending the night in custody in a halfway house. Shepherd, who is already being charged under Federal law for swindling thousands of dollars from the people of Louisiana (along the lines of Bill Jefferson), perhaps to appeal to a sense of inclusiveness and non-partisan corruption, was arrested after his ex-girlfriend charged him with breaking into her home, beating her up, and stealing her Blackberry and a hundred bucks. When the police came, the Senator was at home receiving a lap dance - perhaps purchased with the aforementioned c-note. However, the ex-girlfriend (who herself holds a political job, transportation coordinator for the New Orleans Recovery School District - scary!) has now changed her story, and claims that she and the Senator are still lovers (maybe the lap dancer was a gift?). They were just having a tiff, and so she decided to file a false police report - which she has now revoked.

Lucky for the Senator she changed her mind. He almost had his bond revoked in the Federal case - which would have placed him in the pokey until his trial begins in October. Oh my goodness, what a soap opera!

So, with the latest round of "entertainment" we not only have good old fashioned Democrat malfeasance, but the Republican bump and grind to boot. I guess Senator Shepherd, known for his pro-life (not "wide") stance, is, shall we say, "reaching across the aisle."

But the good news is that we have journalists that will not only tackle such issues, but will do so with a rapier wit. Enter Jarvis DeBerry. He is on the Times-Picayune editorial staff (and we suspect he writes many of the editorial positions - his crisp writing is pretty easy to spot), and he can actually make his readers laugh out loud. In Louisiana, we have so much political corruption, that sometimes there is nothing to do but laugh. The great thing is that when the whole city is laughing, but angry just the same, things actually get fixed. Politicians who want to keep their misdeeds in the dark, find themselves the butt of jokes everywhere from the statehouse to the corner store. "Laugh at the devil" Martin Luther is reputed to have said, "and he will flee from you." It works, at least in New Orleans.

Here is this morning's offering from Mr. DeBerry. Great stuff!

But it doesn't stop with DeBerry. No indeed! Cartoonist Steve Kelley has a take on it that was in this morning's edition, as well as a riotously funny letter to the editor from Robert Watters, the owner of a Bourbon Street strip club, who implores the Senator to leave the lap dancing to the professionals. The letter simply has to be read to be believed - and lest you non-Louisianans begin to believe that your politicians aren't also in the sewer, check out the end of Watters's letter for the zinger.

But even corruption has more flair in the Pelican State. Where else would you find not only reporting about our crooked senator's domestic problems, his arrest while getting a lap dance, and night in a halfway house; three jokes about him in a political cartoon; an editor ripping him to shreds; and a stinging comic rebuke from a Bourbon Street "peeler bar" owner - all in the mainstream morning paper?

I'm not sure which is frothier - the cappuccino or the Times-Picayune.

The Church: Rent and Distressed

The assigned sermon hymn in the one year series for Lutherans using Lutheran Service Book for this past Sunday was a beloved modern American piece entitled "The Church's One Foundation."

Written in 1866 AD, this hymn proclaims the mysteries of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. In the first stanza alone, the author 1) proclaims the centrality and the divinity of the divine person of Jesus Christ to the Church - linking the theological disciplines of christology and ecclesiology, 2) joins together eschatology ("new creation") and sacramentology in a biblical baptismal reference ("by water and the Word"), 3) invokes the incarnation, the monergism of grace, and the mystery of the Church as the Bride of Christ, and 4) introduces the sacrificial theme of the atonement.

And that's just stanza one.

The third stanza, however, is painfully poignant today. The author speaks of the Church "oppressed." Surprisingly, the author is not speaking of external persecution in the worldly sense (e.g. the Roman arena and cross, Communism, Islam), but rather "by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed."

For this is how the Church is truly oppressed, internally, by her most vicious enemy: the devil.

Luther considered the "cross" - that is persecution, to be a "mark of the Church." If Satan is not working night and day to destoy you, you have become uninteresting to him. Only one who is hopelessly lost has that kind of "luxury." As long as the Bride of Christ endures in the fallen world (and our Lord promises that not even the gates of hell will prevail against her) the true Church will suffer the assaults of schism and heresy bubbling up from within.

This reality is of great comfort when we see encroachments of the secular world upon the Church. For if she were not the Church, Satan wouldn't care to attack her.

No part, jurisdiction, denomination, or confession within the Church Catholic is exempt from such internal discord - though some feel the need to put forth the illusion that their particular denomination is free from such schisms and heresies.

The conservative element of my own confession, known historically as "Lutheranism," is particularly prone to triumphalism and false security because on the surface, we have resisted much of the world's encroachment. Our church body is unabashedly pro-life, we only ordain men to the pastoral office, we openly teach that homosexuality is a sin and not in accordance with God's created order, and we hold unequivocally to the inerrancy of the Bible. Our particular church body also clings without reservation to the 1580 Book of Concord - at least on paper.

All of this can make Lutherans - especially those from conservative American branches of Lutheranism - obnoxiously smug and arrogant. But we have much to keep in mind before we get on our high horses. We have utter confusion about who is authorized to officiate in Word and Sacrament ministry - and are subjected to an endless parade of Bible studies, CTCR reports, votes at conventions, opinions of bureaucratic boards and seminary faculties - all to figure out what the heck the office of the ministry is. If we don't know after 2,000 years, something is wrong.

As expatriots from our synod have rightly pointed out, we have aberrations and abominations regarding the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, whether it is served amid terrible irreverence which belies our confession of the Real Presence, or involves the substitution of foreign elements for the bread and wine used by our Lord. There are disagreements among us over whether or not the Lord's Presence expires from the elements, and whether the Real Presence exists from the time of consecration or only begins when the element is orally received.

We can't even find commonality in such externals as the liturgical forms used in worship.

And in spite of our official positions regarding women's ordination, there are lay members, pastors, and even high ranking church officials who believe women's ordination is not proscribed by Scripture. Many of our young people, according to surveys, believe in premarital sex, homosexual unions, and the legitimacy of abortion. We do not even have consensus as to whom should be communed at our altars.

World Lutheranism suffers from different schisms and heresies - such as a militant established advocacy of women's ordination and the encroachment of the homosexual movement upon theology.

Some see our church body "by schisms rent asunder, by heresies oppressed" and conclude that this cannot be the Church. For certainly, the Church, the true Church, would not be rent and distressed. For such people, the cross is not a mark of the Church, but rather a mark of not being Church.

Some flee to Anglicanism - which shares the Lutheran historical tradition of the western Reformation, and indeed much of our theology and hymnody - certainly our Anglo-Saxon liturgical tradition and western Catholicism. And yet, if there is any communion that typifies being rent asunder and distressed by schism and heresy, it is Anglicanism. There seems to be a special hatred seething in the heart of Satan for the Anglican communion, having used every trick in the book to rend and distress them, many identical issues to that which plague world Lutheranism: women's priestly and episcopal orders and the normalization of homosexuality being chief among them - all stemming from a claimed mastery over, rather than submission to, Holy Scripture.

Some take refuge in Rome, whose heavy hierarchical structure and authoritarianism (as well as gravitas of historical tradition) would seem to make that communion immune from some of the individualism plaguing the heirs of the Reformation. And yet, in the Roman Church, even under a conservative pope, there are still schisms and heresies biting and growling every which way. Feminism and secularism have made horrific inroads into mainstream Roman Catholicism - as well as irreverent entertainment-based liturgies, including clowns, rock music, and dancing girls; an almost flippant view of private confession, and preaching that is overwhelmingly the stuff of Marx and not of Christ. And yet, the Church is still there, for why would Satan be so keen to corrupt those who are not Christ's holy bride?

Many of the same battles are being waged within Reformed Christianity and among the heirs of the Anabaptist movement. American Christianity in particular has become a trainwreck of greed-motivated positive thinking combined with lurid professional wrestling-style showmanship and Madison avenue manipulation.

Many people see the schisms embedded in historic Protestantism and the heresies lurking among their Roman cousins, and begin to look to the East. In fact, "looking East" has an almost poetic and romantic sound to it, to look to the rising sun, facing the orient, keeping one's eyes to where our Lord both ascended and will descend, to take one's theology "ad fontes" - to the source.

And like Lutherans, many of those who have gone to the East are keen to present to non-Orthodox a squeaky-clean schism-and-heresy-free brand of Christianity (which is whet restless "home seeking" converts to Eastern Orthodoxy often seem to be after). The paradox is this: without the cross, there is no Church. Without the devil's constant attacks, there is no Bride of Christ. A perfect Church is no Church at all. And yet, Christians do find their perfection "in Christ," He who is the vine to our branches.

But thanks be to God the propaganda of zealous Orthodox converts is really not true at all. For Eastern Orthodoxy is indeed the Church - as are Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Protestantism where the Gospel is proclaimed in sermon and liturgy and where the Sacraments are administered.

And while Eastern Orthodoxy - especially here in the U.S., where they have been somewhat isolated from the larger culture - has done a remarkable job of keeping modernism and postmodernism at bay, the more "mainstream" Orthodoxy becomes, the more converts from Protestantism she takes in, the more she is integrated with American life - the more she too will be "by schisms rent asunder" and "by heresies distressed."

Just as homosexuality is often the cause of much of the rending asunder and distress within mainline churches, one can find gay and lesbian advocacy within Orthodoxy, especially in California, whose culture has great power in shaping young minds. The freedom of speech and anonymity of blogging can only result in even more previously-suppressed diversity of viewpoints regarding homosexuality within Eastern Orthodoxy.

Similarly, Eastern Orthodoxy is not without feminist influences. Indeed, there are even those pushing for women's ordination using Eastern church history as a basis. There are radical Orthodox women theologians pressing a feminist theological perspective. And again, the world of blogging makes access to dissenting views within Orthodoxy regarding feminism more readily available than in times past.

The St. Nina Quarterly is a feminist theological journal from within Eastern Orthodoxy. The late Elizabeth Behr-Sigel, a prominent radical feminist Orthodox theologian, served on their board of directors. Here is a review of her now-out-of-print book The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church, which incidentally, was co-written by Bishop Kallistos Ware - whose book The Orthodox Church has become a standard introduction to Orthodoxy to converts (both Ware and Behr-Sigel are converts from Protestantism). [The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church can be had, though as of this writing, they're rather scarce and a used copy will set you back more than $70.00 at Amazon.]

Syndesmos: The World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth sings the praises of Behr-Sigel, including her iconoclastic views of the male priesthood, in a newsletter that goes so far as to declare her to be a "father in the faith."

In her Times-Online obituary, Behr-Sigel, a former Protestant "pastor", is praised for her work as an Orthodox theologian:

She also argued for the possibility of re-establishing the ordained ministry of the deaconess — a ministry still in evidence well into the early medieval period and even, very occasionally, in modern times.

She sought to re-imagine what she called a “new humanism”; one that would not only fully embrace the feminine dimension of human experience but also balance and correct the “aggressive masculinity” that tends to dominate human affairs.

Her book, The Ministry of Women in the Church, which is in print, is available here.

Bishop Ware, for his part, is not without criticism for holding some rather shocking theological views. Here is a traditionalist critique of his famous book The Orthodox Church. Bishop Ware, comes across as being somewhat open to women's ordination - like (as asserted by the author) the Patriarch of Alexandria, Parthenos III, who openly endorsed the idea (not to mention the idea that non-Christian religions were "paths to God"). Patriarch Parthenos was indeed criticized by his successor Peter VII - but for being "too conservative."

These are the kinds of things that converts, and those seeking converts, are not eager to discuss - any more than we Lutherans are too keen on talking about the blasphemous abominations that occur in places bearing the name "Lutheran". These things are painful and grievous, but the Church, East and West, has always been "rent asunder" and "distressed" by both internal "schisms" and even by "heresies" emerging from within.

But these things in no way negate the faithful remnants within Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Protestantism as being constituent parts of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. In fact, the East's long history of struggles - theological and political - only serve to confirm that she, like the rest of the Church Catholic, is an enemy of the devil - because she is most certainly a part of the Bride of Christ.

While there is a place for theological debate, and even at times, polemics - we Christians would do well not to lose sight of who our real enemy is, as well as who our faithful Husband shall always be.

All Christians can indeed sing together stanza five of "The Church's One Foundation":

Yet she on earth has union
With God, the Three in One.
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O blessed heav'nly chorus!
Lord, save us by Your grace
That we, like saints before us,
May see you face to face.

The silliest song ever written

It's funny every time I hear it.

For the lyrics, click here

The performer whose version of this song is sung on this video is David Allan Coe, a singer who is known for a lot of, shall we say, less-than-family friendly songs (even the titles to many of his tunes could not be shown on television or said on the radio - even in this day and age). But at least we have to give him this much - he reformed himself after being released from prison, and made a life for himself as a performer - all based on self-promotion, gratuitous name dropping, some real flashes of brilliance and genuine musicality, humor, and the creation of a mysterious persona.

His built-in account of how the song was written is (like many of Coe's lyrics) a concocted story. But in fairness, he made the song a hit, and his version is probably the funniest.

But if you'd like to see and hear the song's author, the late Steve Goodman, perform it as he originally wrote it (which he indeed wrote as the definitive spoof of country music), click here.

Goodman, in spite of this utterly silly parody song, also wrote beautiful haunting ballads that really capture American life. My good buddy Fr. David Juhl considers Goodman's melancholy train song The City of New Orleans (famously sung by Arlo Guthrie) to be one of the greatest something or others. I can't pull up the quote because Juhl's blog doesn't have a search thingie. Oh well, suffice it to say, Steve Goodman was a brilliant songwriter and poet who, as is evidenced by this uproariously funny piece of satire, did not take himself too seriously.

Anyway, once this song gets in your head... well, y'all have been warned.

Goose pals

In an earlier post, a reader asked for a picture of Mrs. Hollywood and her Gosling friend. Here it is! (circa 1996 in Wayne, Pennsylvania).



As a bonus, here is my dear friend Mother Goose, plying her maternal vocation in the parking lot of the software company I was working for...

Another crack in the glass ceiling

Hooray for feminism! Remember the days when the exciting world of excessive drinking, vomiting, fisticuffs, incontinence, and generally making a public spectacle of oneself was a male bastion?

Not any more!

Boy, women have come a long way since those bad-old days of Betty Crocker and June Cleaver. If only our grandmothers could have seen this great day of liberation (sniff).

I can hardly wait to see the next domino fall.

Sermon: Trinity 10

27 July 2008 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA Text: Luke 19:41-48 (Jer 8:4-12, 1 Cor 12:1-11)

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

Anyone who has ever held a job knows that something changes when the “big boss” is present – especially when the workers are used to not being supervised. When the executive from afar is coming for a visit to the plant or the office, the floors get swept, there may be a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and employees and managers alike are told to look sharp and put their best foot forward.

In fact, this universal way we react when the boss is coming for a visit has spawned an irreverent bumper sticker that nevertheless has a grain of truth to it: “Jesus is coming – everybody look busy.”

In our Gospel, our Blessed Lord speaks to the City of Jerusalem about His coming as “the time of your visitation.” And the Greek word translated “visitation” is the same word that is translated as “boss” – literally “overseer” – episkopos – the word associated with bishops in the Church.

Jesus Christ is indeed the Overseer and Bishop of our souls, and He has come to visit His creation, especially His bride the Church, and most especially His holy City of Jerusalem.

But how did Jerusalem react to the Overseer’s visitation? Did they sweep out the dirt from their legalistic religion? Did they cleanse the Temple of its impiety and misuse? Did they fret and implore the priests and the lay people alike to turn from their sins and put their best foot forward? Did everybody “look busy” for the sake of the kingdom? No, they did not. In fact, when the Boss came for His visitation, he found the employees slovenly, disrespectful, out of uniform, belligerent, disobedient, and only concerned with their own paycheck. They seemed to have no idea who He was at all.

When their visitation came, the City of Jerusalem could not be bothered. Instead of repentance, our Lord found impenitence. Instead of a desire to be cleansed of sin, our Lord found a shameless reveling in that sin, what the prophet Jeremiah called not knowing “how to blush.”

And instead of a diadem of gold, our blessed Lord was presented with a crown of thorns.

The visitation of our Lord, His appearance in the flesh, His coming among us, was for our good, for our salvation, for our redemption. And He was rejected by those He came to save. He was handed over to the tender mercies of the Romans while Jerusalem looked on in mockery. And just as Jeremiah lamented six centuries earlier, prophesying: “‘Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But my people do not know the judgment of the Lord…. Behold, they have rejected the Word of the Lord. Therefore, I will give their wives to others. And their fields to those who will inherit them…. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down,’ says the Lord.”

Our Blessed Lord knows Jeremiah’s words, for they are His Word. He knows the harshness that comes as a consequence to impertinence to one’s superiors, to holding the visitation of the Lord God Himself in contempt. The punishment Jerusalem will suffer will be severe and swift. Our Lord weeps just thinking about it.

For in rejecting the cure, they are stuck with the disease. In showing contempt for forgiveness they have chosen condemnation for themselves and their descendants. Having rejected the true Temple, the old Temple they have defiled is doomed. Having turned our Blessed Lord over to the mercies of the Roman enemy, they too will be turned over to the ruthless Roman foe. In three days the Temple of the Lord’s Body would rise again, but when the Temple of Herod was leveled to the ground, it was never to have even one stone upon another ever again.

For when the Lord Himself visited His Father’s house, He did not find a house of prayer, but rather a den of thieves. When He called Jerusalem to repent, the priests and scribes instead hardened their hearts and “sought to destroy Him.”

And this, dear Christians, is why our Lord weeps. He is imploring the people to repent, to know the time of their visitation, to recognize that He is their Overseer, their God, their Redeemer, their very hope of life.

But instead of a well-swept house, He found a mess. Instead of diligent servants he found rebellious self-servers. Instead of the humble fear of the Lord, He found haughty mockery of the One who came to save them.

But lest we become smug on our high twenty first century Gentile horses, pointing the finger at Old Jerusalem and the Old Testament children of Israel – how do we treat our visitation? Is our house swept and in order? Are we putting our best foot forward? Are we at least trying to “look busy” out of fear that our Overseer will find us slacking and catch us unawares not doing what He commands us to do?

Indeed, we are as smug and self-confident as the priests and scribes in Jerusalem. We are in need of repentance and the fear of God just as those for whom our Lord weeps. We too await our Lord’s coming. We too have a temple and sacrifices – that is, our bodies, temples of the Holy Spirit, the living sacrifices we offer as a thank offering to Him who has redeemed us.

Our Lord is calling us to repent, brothers and sisters! Our Lord not only weeps for Jerusalem, but also for Gretna! How many of you came yesterday for confession? How many of you shun the opportunity to participate in Bible class? How many of your children and grandchildren are sleeping in this morning rather than come to the Lord’s House? How many of our fellow members of Salem will find themselves at the mercy of our common enemy, the devil, and will lack the comfort of the faith that they have abandoned and squandered for the love of money, a better job, sporting events, or some other temporary pleasure?

Do we know the time of our visitation?

Dear friends, our Lord is calling us to repent! There is still time – but there may not be tomorrow. There is still the opportunity to confess – though we could be surrounded by an embankment and leveled tomorrow. Now is the time of salvation.

In spite of our Lord’s tears, His chasing out of the moneychangers, the Roman devastation of Jerusalem and of the temple – there is good news here.

Even though the people of Jerusalem did not know the time of their visitation, our Lord still prays on their behalf: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Our Lord is in the forgiving business. He speaks His Word to us today because it is a word of hope, not of condemnation. He is imploring you to confess your sins, to spend time in study of the Holy Word, to receive His Holy Body and Blood as often as you can as a protection against the evil one and as a “mystic sweet communion” with Him who is the Church’s one Foundation.”

Although we don’t do a good job of sweeping out the dirt, our Lord cleanses us as only the Lamb of God can. Although we don’t put our best foot forward, He washes off the filth of our feet as He baptizes us unto everlasting life, even as His holy feet are bloodied by a Roman nail. And though we can’t be bothered to “look busy” because the Boss is coming, our Boss is not merely an Overseer, but is also our Good Shepherd, our Lord, our Savior, our merciful Redeemer.

Jesus doesn’t want you to just “look busy.” Rather, because He has done all the heavy lifting, we have been freed from trying to curry favor with the Boss, freed to spread the Good News of our Good Shepherd to those whom the Lord weeps over. We have been freed to really be about our Father’s business, in our Father’s house, a house of prayer, a place where our Lord teaches us, a place where we can indeed recognize the time of our visitation, a place where the very work of God is carried out by us, His humble servants and lowly workers in the kingdom. For as St. Paul assures us: “there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”

This is not busywork, dear Christians. It is the very work through which the Lord draws us in to His kingdom and redeems us. For our Lord is not merely an Overseer, but a merciful Savior who weeps over His creation and visits it in order to save it. Amen.

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

Biblical Church Growth

(the Duggars of Arkansas)

While all the "experts" tell us the way to grow the Church is to use marketing, gimmicks, slogans, talking points, ditch the liturgy, trash tradition, imitate the local megachurch, push day care centers, ignore our confessional teaching on the ministry and sacraments, and anything else they can throw out there except the simple:

1) make babies,
2) baptize them,
3) catechize them,
4) encourage them to grow up to be faithful Christians and fruitful parents (none of which counts as a single "critical event" on the Ablaze!(tm) scoreboard).

However, here are two bits of good news: one in Canada, the other in the U.S.

Of course, there is one way to appeal to our mindless, Godless culture that utterly hates large (especially Christian) families: we could point out that with only the children from these two families, we could field four baseball teams (excuse me, they're called "franchises" these days).

If you can't appeal to human life (which means nothing in our culture), maybe we can push a sports agenda (which is god in our culture)!

Hey, it's worth a try. Meanwhile, young married Christian couples, it's past your bedtime!

(the Ionces of British Columbia)

Important advice concerning police interviews

In this video, a law professor from Virginia, James Duane, explains why no-one - even innocent people (especially innocent people) should talk to the police when being suspected of a crime. This is counter-intuitive, since our knee-jerk reaction is to "prove" our innocence (after all, the innocent have nothing to hide). But the founders of the Constitution understood why protections against self-incrimination were so important, and the much misunderstood and maligned fifth amendment became part of the Bill of Rights.

This video is quite a wake-up call. I was skeptical about this at first, but Prof. Duane's presentation has made me rethink the matter (and I used to be a corrections officer myself).

Officer George Bruch of the Virginia Beach Police Department gives his side of the story as a police officer. The revelations he makes here are really fascinating. If you'd like to watch Officer's Bruch's retort (and I highly recommend that you do), click here.