The Reformation Post

On the one hand, it's nice to celebrate Reformation Day multiple times. On the other hand, I dislike having Reformation Sunday so far from Reformation Day. I really dislike the fact, too, that there is that other celebration which always covers up Reformation Day. You know--dress up and beg for candy day. Okay, now I'm sounding like a stodgy old coot who can't have fun. I like dressing up in costume. I don't mind handing out candy to the neighborhood kids (even though I'm not home half the time on Halloween). I just don't like Halloween supplanting one of my favorite festivals.

I like Reformation for many reasons. First, I'm Lutheran. If it weren't for that Reformation Day in 1517, I likely wouldn't be Lutheran now. Second, there's something wonderful about being a rebel in October. Autumn and revolution are in the air. . .

Maybe the Reformation has been a bit too romanticized. Picture Luther, a big, strong rabble-rouser nailing the theses to the door of the church. The people swoon at his brillance and flock to his side. The others rally around this brilliant, witty man and Germany is transformed, even if the Roman Catholic church is not, those papists them. Katie and Luther marry, and everyone lives happily every after. Uh. . . what do you mean that's not how it happened?

Luther trying to stand up for what is true and counter the false teachings of the church write some debate points. He puts his life on the line as the Pope and others place a death sentence on him. Many others did follow him and work to bring Christ and the Gospel back to a church which had all but left Christ and His cross behind. Wars begin over the church. Others try to follow Luther's lead, yet they lead ever farther from Christ. Even Katie and Luther struggle in life with deaths of their children. When Luther dies, Katie struggles to survive when those who admired her husband now neglect her and even want to take her surviving children from her. Guess it wasn't all peaches and cream.

Sometimes it seems as though we fight the Reformation all over again. Every new era has to have voices steering the church from its self-centered, law-oriented, Christless Christianity; and point it back to Christ and His cross. It is as I learned once in Germany: OhneKreuz, Keine Krone.

A Contrast

The 2009 Lutheran Church Extension Fund calendars have arrived, and they are titled "Seasons of Life," which always makes me think of the song from the musical Rent "Seasons of Love"; at which point I start singing that song. This is not the most annoying part.

I glanced through the calendar today, as I am always curious to see if there is anybody I know in the pictures (there is). The picture for July was more vexing than the line "How do you measure a year?" running incessantly through my brain.

I know the picture comes from one of the National Youth Gatherings;and to put the best construction on things, maybe the photo was taken at a Lost and Found mini-concert where they were singing "His Banner Over Me is Love" complete with motions. In which case, why are there only two or three people doing the motions? And what is up with the guy in the background with the oddly peaceful look? It didn't help that the Bible verse to go with it is I Timothy 4:12: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." I'm not sure this is what Paul had in mind. . .

Ironically, the latest issue of Higher Things magazine came in the mail today. I read through it, seeing all the people I know or sort of know or wish I could know and what they wrote. In it there was no dumbing it down for the kids. Was there fun? Absolutely (just read the masthead)! Was there content? Of course! There were articles about parables, how to keep one's faith strong, tips for how to defend the Real Presence in the sacrament, what mission work is, and how to listen to a sermon. I learned something while reading, and I'm not even the target audience for the magazine.

Let me pose this elongated question: If Pastor Preus says (and I paraphrase as best as I can), "At Higher Things we work when we work, we play when we play, and we worship when we worship," then what are the people doing in the picture--working, playing, or worshipping--and what does that say for the contrast between the two gatherings?

Maybe those who dare to be Lutheran don't know how to have fun; but judging from Pastor Borghardt, I think we have a pretty good grasp of fun.

My Favorite Hymn

It was a lovely Reformation Vespers service this afternoon. The music was exceptional, the sermon fit the specs, and we got to sing my favorite hymn.
My favorite hymn used to be “Behold a Host,” but got sent out of the top slot (it still chokes me up—more on that another day) when I stumbled across this one. I was in college and it was the assigned hymn of the day in Lutheran Worship. I noticed it had two positives going for it before I even sang it. First, the music was written by Jan Bender, pronounced Yahn (for John), a German composer who once taught at Concordia, Seward, NE. Second, the text was written by Martin Franzmann, a pastor whose hymn texts are unparalleled. A hymn by this pair has to be fantastic; so it is. It is a hymn which speaks of the story of salvation, and is more than applicable today.

O God, O Lord of heav’n and earth
Thy living finger never wrote
That life should be an aimless mote,
A deathward drift from futile birth.
Thy Word meant life triumphant hurled
In splendor through They broken world.
Since light awoke and life began.
Thou hast desired Thy life for man.

The first verse talks about how not only did God create the world, He also intended man to have life. It smacks evolutionary theory in the face. I don’t know if Franzmann planned it to be such, but it takes all secular humanism and throws it out the window.

Our fatal will to equal Thee,
Our rebel will wrought death and night.
We seized and used in prideful spite
Thy wondrous gift of liberty.
We housed us in this house of doom,
Where death had royal scope and room,
Until Thy servant, Prince of Peace,
Breached all its walls for our release.

The second verse shows original sin quite distinctly. There is no one righteous, no, not one. What powerful images of rebelliousness and separation, not to mention the idea of us acting as though we know better than God and misuse His gifts. Personally, I like the text in Lutheran Worship where it says “We walled us in this house of doom” better because it echoes the language of modernity of building walls—cutting ourselves off. Christ as militant and breaking down the walls we built to keep us out; what a seeking love!

Thou camest to our hall of death,
O Christ, to breathe our poisoned air,
To drink for us the dark despair
That strangled our reluctant breath.
How beautiful the feet that trod
The road that leads us back to God!
How beautiful the feet that ran
To bring the great good news to man!

The third verse shows the contrast between the depth of our sinfulness [poisoned air] and the depth of Christ’s salvation [drink for us the dark despair]. It then comments on those who bring us the good news of Christ’s salvation.

O Spirit, who didst once restore
Thy Church that it might be again
The bringer of good news to men,
Breathe on Thy cloven Church once more,
That in these gray and latter days
There may be those whose life is praise,
Each life a high doxology
To Father, Son, and unto Thee.

The final verse always chokes me up. I don’t know the history of the tune name to this hymn, WITTENBERG NEW, but I assume the significance in that it is new and a connection to Wittenberg, birthplace of the Reformation. Throughout the history of the church, men have always wanted to take the good news of Christ and transform it to something man-made. This verse speaks directly to that; asking the Spirit to continue to restore the Church to being Christ-centered, not man-centered.
Knowing this hymn was written in some dark days of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s history, looking at the church today, and knowing that Satan loves a church divided; this verse is a fervent prayer by and for Christ’s people to remain faithful to the end.

The King and His Tenants

We've been going through Leviticus in Bible class on Wednesday mornings. I came into this particular study around chapter 18, and I felt I needed some more insight, so I borrowed my husband's Concordia Commentary on Leviticus by Dr. Kleinig and began taking notes before each class. [Does that make me thorough, an overachiever, or just plain nerdy?]

I am constantly amazed by what I have learned.

Over the past two classes we covered Leviticus 25 where it talks about the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee. This chapter shows the relationship between God and His people and the land. God is the landowner, the Israelites are the caretakers. As we discussed this today, it reminded me of the Gospel lesson a few weeks ago. Matthew 21: 33-46 contains the parable of the unfaithful tenants; a Bible story that I really like, especially how it is so closely connected to Isaiah 5:1-7. Today, I could really see why the Pharisees were so angry with Jesus over his parable of the tenants. People who know their Law of Moses would know they are tenants of God's land. The Pharisees got the point of the parable. It was very obvious.

God is the King, the benevolent, who loves His people deeply and give them everything. The people reject Him, their king, and kill His son Jesus. Yet Jesus is the one who pays for the rejection of the people by becoming rejected by God and crucified on a cross. Not just for the Pharisees, but for us.

What else can one say but wow?

Vocation

I've been thinking much about vocation lately. I am having trouble putting into words what I continue to ponder. (Maybe this is why I can never get published--whoever heard of a writer that has trouble putting thoughts into words being successful?)
One thought that I come back to is why can't we as Christians just live our lives as Christians? I mean, overarching all, I am a Christian. Then I am whatever I am--parent, spouse, child, employee, teacher, student--and I am the best whatever I am living my life in Christ.
It seems to me that one does not have to be a "Bible thumper" on a street corner or an activist of a sort to be a solid witness of Christ to the world. We are to be light, reflecting Christ to the world. What kind of lamp sets the house ablaze with its light? That lamp would be called a defective fire hazard. We are to be salt, seasoning the world. What kind of salt is tolerated in heavy amounts? Sure, we can't hide our light under a basket, which is pointless; or leave our saltiness in the cupboard claiming a low-sodium diet. We need to be in the world sharing the Gospel of Jesus with those around us. Still I ask, do we need to do it in such a pushy, patronizing manner? It seems to me that I'd rather have a person see Christ in all I say and do by my saying and doing everything through Christ in my vocation rather than trying to convince them by my words only. (See what I mean about the putting into words?)
Maybe I should ponder more.

The Wedding Banquet

How often do we think of the son and the bride in the parable of the wedding banquet? How disappointing to have the guests not show up! Here is the paradox: the guests are the bride! Hence, this is not merely the guests not showing up, but the bride herself--for the wedding is of Christ and his bride, the church.
One would never run a wedding like this--invite the chosen who refuse, or worse, kill the servants, thereby launching a military strike; have a bride that is, in a sense, an unknown no-show; invite just anyone to sit in the honored place--this is a bridezilla disaster!
Yet God, the King does not set up his banquet in earthly terms. He is not looking for a fairytale wedding with bridesmaids in pale colors and perfectly coiffed hair or Canon in D played by a string quartet among white fragrant flowers. No, this is a celebration with His beloved ones; for this is no mere wedding reception but an everlasting banquet celebrating the consummation of His Son's redemption of His guests, His bride, His beloved for eternity!

Trouble with Sin

The trouble with sin is that it's just too easy. Sure, there are times when one goes through a moral struggle; but there are so many other times we blunder into sin without a second thought or a glance backwards. We are so steeped in sin that sometimes we look at our sin and think, "well, that's life." Many people deny the doctrine of original sin, but we truly have to ask ourselves, do we always love God with our whole hearts? Of course the answer is no. We are truly selfish people who don't follow God's law.
There's a second problem. We believe we can follow God's law. Well, THAT'S not going to happen. Adam and Eve had one command: Don't eat that. We know what happened from there. How can we expect to have ten times that and follow them?
Here's a third problem. We become complacent about sin, and we rationalize that it is our life. There's that first commandment coming back to accuse us. We figure if it effects only ourselves, why should anyone else care? As Billy Joel says, "I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life; go ahead with your own life; leave me alone."
It truly is, however, just like mothers everywhere have said--It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Our own sins effect many people. Sometimes it's such a small way that we argue that is doesn't matter. Sometimes it's so huge that we can do nothing other than admit we screwed up. No matter what, someone always gets hurt, and it's always a big deal.
One can point out any number of examples in scripture where someone gets hurt due to sin. Adam and Eve hurt each other, all their ancestors, and even the animal who had to lose its life to cover their shame; David and Bathsheba and Uriah; the list goes on and on.
Someone greater did get hurt for our sin. Jesus, true God and man, the sinless one was the one ultimately hurt for our sin. He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted; pierced and nailed to the cross; abused, injured, and killed; abandoned by God and suffered under our punishment. This is the payment for our careless sins, our self-aggrandizement, our lack of concern for anyone else, our original sin of "looking out for number 1."
Jesus has taken our sin, death, and shame upon Himself so that we can be free.

The End is the Beginning

It began with Wednesday Bible study as we wend our way through Leviticus. Then it was faculty devotions on Monday last when the subject resurfaced. Thursday last it was the Pastors' Roundtable discussion on the 3rd commandment on Issues, Etc.

The first day is the eighth day. It is the first day of the week, as well as the last. It is the beginning of eternity. It is the connecting link between weeks. The start of the week when God gives us His gifts; it was the start of all our weeks with our first Sunday in baptism.

We move through our week, living out our vocation. Then we return to it at the end of our week, as we repent of our sins, and find that it is the beginning of our week as we receive forgiveness through Word and Sacrament.

It is not only the day which ties together the loose ends of temporal life which would surely unravel without God's grace; it is the day which is transcendent, linking us to angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven.

On the first Sabbath God rested, setting the pattern for our lives. God works so that we can rest. We as humans rebel against renewing rest. Laziness doesn't count. We strain to show how good we are through our own works.
In the divine service, we rest. This rest is not taken, but in Jesus' salvation, rest is given.
In him is the Sabbath in completion, in fulfillment.