Not just Jell-o

I've grown weary of always seeming defensive. Why should I have to apologize for being everything the media and "open-minded, free-thinkers" find offensive? I believe what I believe, because I believe it is the correct way, just as others who hold to their own opinions believe theirs is. I don't recall having told any of them to "stop watching CNN and think for yourself." I may have attempted to engage them in rational, logical debate; however, there is nothing wrong with that. Since when is discussion wrong? If you can run a commercial about saving the environment, then I should be able to run a commercial about saving the fetuses. Right? No?
Being a Lutheran, apparently, is also wrong. Despite his kindesses about our singing, a certain Minnesota author doesn't really like us. By the way, since the invention of the "praise band" even Lutherans are losing their ability to sing--it has nothing to do with harmonies printed in a certain hymnal published in 1982.
We Lutherans are not all about guilt and stubbornness and coffee and Jell-o. It is not a mindset to be escaped--released from its prison-like constraints. It is a doctrine to be grasped. I know, I know--we're not the only ones going to heaven. We do, however, speak of our doctrine as a correct exposition of scripture. That's the point. We believe what we do because we believe it is the correct exposition of scripture. Why be that which one thinks is otherwise? Luther wrote 95 points about how the church of his time missed the mark; our forbears left their homeland because they disagreed with having a sterile, empty faith thrust upon them by a government wanting everybody to "just get along". This is why we tend to be vociferous when it comes to doctrine. A little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump.
Certain strains of Lutheran have gotten watered down over the years, and have fallen into the "just get along" mindset, going so far as to agree to disagree with Rome over that whole Reformation thing--one CTSFW professor referred to it as "The Augsburg Concession".
When it comes right down to it, what we believe is simple: We are sinners, Christ died in our place and rose so that we may be heirs of heaven. It's not that we did anything to help it. Maybe that's why Lutheranism is so hard in catching on. It's too simple. To much confession and absolution and not enough work on our part. Maybe I'm being defensive again.

Students, Disciples, and Sheep

I disagreed with the spelling book the other day as it wanted discipline as a synonym for punishment. Too often discipline is perceived as nothing more that that. As the vicar pointed out at our faculty Bible study, discipline is based on disciple, which means student; therefore, I think it not a stretch to reason that to have discipline is akin to studiousness
We had listed qualities we teachers most desired in students, and the first one listed was “listens”, closely followed by “follows directions”. Comparing those two most-desired qualities to disciples of Christ was an interesting exercise indeed.
Jesus says in John chapter 10 that the sheep hear the shepherd’s voice and follow him because they know their shepherd’s voice.
How often do students listen? How often do they follow directions? Being a teacher, I know that it’s less than one wants to admit. Too often a student’s listening gets drowned out by clutter—thoughts of what’s for lunch, thoughts of what am I doing here at school, daydreaming, noise and clamor coming from those around a student, whispering from a neighboring desk pulling attention away from the teacher—all of these can keep a student from listening. Following directions, then, is nearly impossible because one has not heard or attended to listening.
So it is in the life of the sheep. The disciple, the follower of Christ, hears the master’s voice, but does not always listen. We, like sheep, have gone astray. Too much clutter—what’s for lunch, what am I doing here in life, daydreaming, noise and clamor from all sides, the whispering pull of seductive idols of all sorts—keep us from listening to Christ. We do not follow the Law, therefore, because we have not heard or attended. The history of God’s people shows this over and over and over again. Adam and Eve were seduced by the sleek serpentine words; the Israelites were won over with a disheartening report of the size of the people of the land and their walls; Kings of Israel and Judah turned from truth to following Asherah and Baals; Pharisees made up their own laws to follow ritualistically instead of God’s Law.
For all this we cry, “Lord, have mercy!” We turn to Christ, our Shepherd, who became the sheep led to slaughter for us. He is the one who listened and followed the Law of His Father, so that his sheep might be spared and be His disciples—studious ones discipling others.

"I Protest!" He Said Revoltingly

Warning: the statements you are about to read may be considered radical by those who are radical.
We wonder what kind of environment we will leave our children. We will leave them the environment we create for them.
The lesson is simple biology. There is a male and a female, they mate and produce offspring. Humans must be the exception to the rule. There are still male and female humans; it’s just mating and producing offspring aren’t what they used to be. In times past, humans married to make it official: the expectation was that only after this step was procreation acceptable. Sure, there were aberrations from the start—Lamech and his two wives, Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters, Judah and his daughter-in-law, and the list goes on.
Yet what of our children? Society has created new rules for marriage. Don’t bother: move in together, try it out for a time. If you have kids, so what? If you plan to make it legal, you can always change your mind. There will be no fault, no blame, just a judge who will help you split the assets equitably.
These new marriage rules even fudge when it comes to male and female. That’s just a trifle. If you want to go male/male, female/female that’s fine. If you want some combination—well, that might be taking it a bit too far. . .for now. . .we have to have morals, after all.
Then there’s the whole mating part. Why wait for marriage since it’s outmoded anyway? Embrace your sexuality. We’re all to sexy for our [insert noun here], so if you got it, flaunt it. Email it. Kiss your date goodnight somewhere other than the lips on the first date, even if you are only a pre-teen who still thinks you can be Miley or Selena in a year or two. Experiment. Please your partner or significant other as necessary. If it feels good, do it, is our mantra. Spouses are so passé.
Don’t forget about the offspring part. We no longer need offspring on “baby come when ready” terms. If the baby comes when the mother or father is not ready, kill it. If the baby cries too much after it comes, shake it to death or drown it (this, ironically is still illegal in most states). If the baby doesn’t come, manufacture it in a test tube, Petri dish, and surrogate womb. It still does take two to tango, so if half of the components are not available the natural way, beg or borrow the necessary components. No thought of the children who have to accept that they may never know their paternal inseminator, maternal donor, or even the reality of their conception. How does one think a child will react to this when he is older? Children have many familial issues growing up to begin with. How might this effect them?
It seems to me that global warming and cooling are not the only environmental issues we need to consider when pondering our children’s future. More importantly, we need to consider the familial environment we want for them. We can’t connect the dots whichever way we desire, for our sake and theirs.

Fw:Fw:Schlock

Dear Family and Friends,

Please, Please, PLEASE! For the love of my sanity, do not forward me any more emails which contain the following line: "If you love Jesus, forward this to every heathen in your address book. If you loathe Jesus, please sit on your rear and do nothing or delete this immediately." I sincerely doubt that on the Last Day Jesus will ask me and all other believers, "Did you forward every single email about me?" I'm guessing that the separation between the sheep and the goats is not contingent upon such.

If you feel compelled to forward me such items, then at least delete the last line so that my pietistic works-righteous side (which feels compelled to forward every such email) can stay thoroughly squelched.

If you must foward me items rather than tell me information about what's going on in your life or inquiring about mine, please forward me funny things. I'll pass on the motherhood-and-apple-pie bandwith devourers.

I hope I have been forward with my requests. Lastly, do not, I repeat, DO NOT send me the story about the atheist professor and the chalk. I average it about twice a year and I've sent it to everyone. Thank you.

Orianna

P.S. Send this to every person in your address book, or I will send you the Amish virus.

Neihardt Was Ahead of His Time

I once read this clever piece:

“The Life Cycle of an Idea” by David A. Roach

1. The ignorant superstition of naked unwashed savages.

2. Outrageous blasphemy, and an affront to all which is right and holy.

3. Dangerously reckless speculation, but there may be a grain of fact in it somewhere.

4. Well, the obvious truth: so transparently self-evident, even a child could see it!

5. The commonly accepted explanation, true in most situations, but on very close inspection there are some serious loopholes.

6. Traditional and conventional lore, but to be honest about it, we just stick with it because nothing better has been formulated.

7. Obsolete thinking, pretty much discredited in enlightened circles, although a few die-hard supporters of the notion can be found.

8. Hilarious hokum, but the imbecilic delusions of by-gone days teach a broader
lesson: it is unwise to accept anything, no matter how plausible, at face value.

9. The ignorant superstition of naked unwashed savages.

Why does one have to be stupid to believe in something that is not commonly accepted? These days it is our faith. Yet there is much commonly accepted that is less credible to reality than a bush which burns but is not consumed.

John G. Neihardt has a short story entitled “The Last Thunder Song.” I highly recommend reading it. Published in 1904, this story was prophetic inasmuch as the author penned some statements regarding the characters’ views of religion which are parallel to modern times.

The whole premise of the story is that the Omahas are having a rain dance to end a drought. The narrator makes the two following statements to set the reader up: “. . .the old men carried with them long memories and an implicit faith. The young men. . .carried with them curiosity and doubt, which, if properly united, beget derision,” and “The old men went to a shrine; the young men went to a show. When a shrine becomes a show, they say the world advances a step.” At the rain dance a preacher and a newspaper man have the following conversation:
“Lamentable, isn’t it [said the reporter], that such institutions as rain prayers should exist on the very threshold of the twentieth century?”
“I think, returned the minister, “that the twentieth century has no intention of eliminating God!”

The ironic part, of course is that our culture looks upon Christianity as the newspaper man looked at the Omahas. Many of those who were raised in the church look upon religion as the young Omahas looked at the old Omahas. Not that I am equating true Christianity with a false religion, but let the reader be aware. There is little sacred.

Election Day

In another few hours, Election Day will be behind us. As of this writing, some polls are closed. Returns are coming in, and my husband has taken up his chair to settle in with Brit Hume and Fox News for the duration. I am in the other room, hoping that the candidate for whom I voted wins.
There are many things about this election I have not liked. I have not liked the duration. When did these guys announce that they were running for president? Was it 2004? I have not liked the rancor and insinuations. I have not liked the way age/gender/race played into how people viewed the candidates. May the most qualified be elected--I don't care if you're a purple female or a green male--the constitution does state you have to be over 35, but I can live with that age issue.
The economy became a huge issue as of late. I still don't see that trumping things like national security and right to life. I've said it before; a government that does not care about life does not honestly care about its people.
This is where it is difficult to have dual citizenship. I know that no matter what happens today, God knows what will happen to His people, and He will work all things together for our good, as St. Paul says in Romans 8. It is still human to be concerned with what happens in America with a presidential change. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be a Christian in America. No, we don't have to worship underground or risk imprisonment for praying; yet, it is becoming harder to stand for truth, justice, and mercy in a society which creates its own truth, defines justice as finding the right loophole, and mercy is for those who want it, not those who need it. (Since when did pity trump empathy?)
Well, until they haul us all off to jail or the looney bin (because they've re-defined lunacy as someone who disagrees with them), I guess what we have to do is live our vocation and be salt and light and stand for the truth and pray for our leaders. They've got a tough job ahead of them, no matter who they are. And Christ died for them too--that we dare not forget. . .

For All the Saints

I used to brag about not not crying at movies and such silliness. Then it happened. . .in high school literature class that we watched the Masterpiece Theater production of A Tale of Two Cities. At the end when Sydney Carton is walking to the guillotine saying, "It is a far, far better thing that I do. . ." and quoting John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life." Just picture a flock of high school girls walking the halls betweeen classes sobbing. I believe this was my transformation into an emotional person who cries at movies, weddings, ordinations (really), and such.

I get emotional, especially at funerals. That is not too unusual, but I cry even if I don't know the person. Merely mention "Abide with Me" and I'm prematurely weeping. On All Saints' Day, it's even worse. There are a few hymns which always make me shed a tear or two. "Behold a Host" is one. "Jerusalem the Golden" is another. The last verse of my favorite hymn also makes me a little weepy. One of my favorite All Saints' Day hymns is "For All the Saints," and it always makes me cry. Let me state that my [in]ability to play it has nothing to do with the fact.

I've started to notice a pattern in this, however. When there is a hymn which talks about the church triumphant and being in God's eternal presence, I start to cry. Maybe as I get older I become more burdened by the weight of the struggle in the church militant and await eagerly the church triumphant.

As more people I know transfer their membership from the church militant to the church triumphant, it reminds me too of that cloud of witnesses which surrounds us. Those who have left earthly life and rejoice in God's presence. I think of their lives, and the influence they had on so many in this world. I think of their struggles and how they triumphed. Most importantly, I think of how it was not their life, but rather Christ's life, death, and resurrection which rescued their life and our lives from sin, death, and Satan.

On this All Saints' Day, I will get a little weepy, but ever hold fast to Christ's words: "I am the resurrection and the life."

[If you're wondering about the picture, this is the cemetary where many of my biological and church family members are buried. I think it is one of the best places a body could rest and await the last day.]

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.

Self-Taught may be Hazardous

To be misinformed is more dangerous than to be uninformed. Too many people in the church are misinformed, as well as uninformed. It goes back to the wrong application of all God’s people being ministers. The doctrine of vocation has nothing to do with being self-taught in matters of theology.
Why bother with a pastor? It’s like the commercial where the man is on the phone and the doctor on the other end is telling him how to perform surgery on himself. The man skeptically looks at the knife and says, “Shouldn’t you be doing this?” How can we learn without a teacher? In most skills, when one self-teaches, one runs the risk of mis-learning. I would never expect one of my students to read multiple books on how to use a comma and assume they will pass a test without having guided them through the material; however, in the church we think that learning without a pastor to guide us is what congregations should be doing.
We allow ourselves to read and interpret scripture based on our own reasoning. We read a part of scripture and decide for ourselves what it means, even if it is contrary to what scripture really teaches. We allow ourselves to listen to all sorts of teachers through books, radio, television, others, even culture and develop our own personal theology based on the varying messages our varied teachers tell us. Then our pastor has to undo the incorrect teaching and we say, “No, I disagree with you.”
One caveat here is that there are untrustworthy pastors our there who are doing more harm than good; but a pastor who is trustworthy will not lead his people away from the truth, but rather always pointing them to Christ.We always need to be on guard as to the false teachings out there. You know what the FBI says—the best way to spot a counterfeit bill is to study the real ones. The best way to spot bad theology is to study the real deal. This means we can’t make up our own theology to fit our mood. We need to be solid in what we believe so we can say “no” to bad theology, not to our pastors who are trying to lead us farther into what we believe, teach, and confess.

Balance

There is a line in The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel, "Better learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good. Balance bad, better pack up, go home. Understand?"
I'm sure every generation stands at a crossroads of the past and the future, and we are no exception. We stand at a crossroads of faith and culture. Postmodernism has challenged Christianity to the point where the new atheists are asserting that training a child in faith is a form of abuse. People need the Gospel as they always have; yet are ever as rebellious. The Midwest is in a state of denial about globalization, as someone told me recently.
Balance. How do we balance in the church? In our own lives we have to balance vocation with being workaholics for Jesus (as the same someone told me recently). In the church we have to balance midwesternism with globalism. We have to balance faith and culture. We have to find the balance between past and future. To be backward under the name of conservativism is not balance. To throw out liturgy in the name of relevance is not balance. Even "blending" worship styles is not balance.
I don't have the answers, obviously, or I wouldn't be sending this out to the cybersphere. We need to find the balance where we stand firm and where we move forward. Contradiction? Paradox? Perhaps, but not beyond the realm of Christians who are sinners and saints.
Maybe we find balance only through our paradoxes.

From Whom Comes the Armor?

I have a few favorite hymns (some which rarely get sung, but that's another story); one of which was mentioned in the devotion I was reading today. The hymn quoted is "Christ is the World's Redeemer," LSB 539, and the image which caught my attention is "The armor of His soldiers."

The hymn texts makes many statements in the first stanza stating Who Christ is--Redeemer, Lord, our trust, and so on. The word "armor" got me thinking.

The first obvious thought is armor, The Armor of God mentioned in Ephesians 6. In this passage Paul talks about how to "dress" ourselves to be able to stand against the Devil's wiles; only one piece of armor listed is used on the offense--that is the sword of the Word. The next thought is that Christ is the Word. This is how Christ is the armor of His soldiers. He is the One Who fights for us. He stands strong against the devil. The protection we wear--truth, righteousness, readiness/preparation of the gospel of peace, faith, and salvation--all of these come from Christ Himself. None of this armor do we receive from ourselves; they are all gifts Christ gives. He clothes us in the armor, and then He arms us with His Word, Himself, to stand against the wiles of the devil.

How positively sacramental! Christ clothes us with His righteousness in baptism, and arms us with Himself in his Holy Supper. All so that we can withstand every attack the devil launches at us. Christ is truly the world's Redeemer.

Spelling Tests and Tangents

Word #4 was "media". The sentence I made up was "People say that the media is biased."

"What's biased?" a student asked.

"That means they only talk about one side," I replied, trying to think up a quick definition so that we could back to the spelling test.

"Are they?" another student asked.
Unfortunately I had difficulty passing this one by. "Yes," I said. I told them how on the 30th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the local TV station in the only state that Reagan did not carry in '84 gave pro-lifers 30 seconds of coverage, but gave pro-choicers at least 4 times that much. At this point, one student asked, "What's abortion?" [Hey, they are only 7th & 8th graders--don't be too harsh on them. . . at least THEY know that England is not in France, but I digress. . .]

"That's killing babies before they are born," I responded.

I am not sure where the conversation went from there. One person asked if Lutherans were pro-life or pro-choice. Another asked if you have to believe everything the church teaches. Soon questions were flying, and I answered as best and honestly as I could. We touched on abortion, repentance, forgiveness, faith--I think that's about it. One person asked if we could continue the spelling test. Another person said that because they didn't have religion class that day (long story) it was okay. Twenty minutes later we resumed the spelling test, although a couple students were trying to figure out how to get me off topic again. Nice try, ladies, I pick when I go off-topic.

I enjoy being at a Lutheran school where I can have a candid conversation like this with my students. It is nice to be able to have a class where one can have such a conversation. It was good to go off-topic here. It is sad to see how engrained post-modern culture is in my students. I can't remember the specific statements or questions my students asked, but it what stuck in my mind is that their weltanschauung [world outlook] is truly colored by the weltanschauung society wants them to have. They choose what seems right for them. Don't get me wrong, they're good kids, but we have to dare them to be Lutheran now and not be clouded by the false inconsistencies post-modernism has to offer.

Elusive Faith

I stumbled across this posting while looking up something for my other blog. I was too curious not to read why this man is no longer a Christian. In four parts he lays it all out: He was raised by religious parents, baptized, and felt he was living a lie. He couldn’t feel the power of God working in him. He knew he was a sinner. He stated so much. He had heard of God’s grace, but never “felt” it. Eventually the man came to a crisis in a prayer service. The pastor asked them “all to recall our thoughts and feelings on the day we were saved.” He inwardly admitted his struggles, and thought he could fake it, but then realized he didn’t want to lie. So he left and didn’t look back.

In the page which profiles him is this comment by him:

“I’ve run into this line of thinking before: God is elusive, distant and mysterious while Satan is potent and actively at work, everywhere. Well, it seems to me that I have never encountered either God or Satan. I find it far easier to believe that there’s no one here between my ears but me. I think I realized very early on, without putting it into words, that Christianity on a superficial level sounds like pure nonsense: God impregnated a virgin, had a son, then had his son brutally killed, essentially sacrificing himself to himself -- all for my benefit. What an absurd story. The only thing that could make it real, I decided, would be a personal, emotional experience, an encounter with the divine. I devoted ten years to trying for this. What I found was nothing. So I’ve concluded that religion is all manmade dogma, and pure twaddle to boot. And leading my life this way has worked perfectly well for me, for all the years since.”

I remember Dr. Kleinig once talking about the mysteries of faith. I don’t quite remember where he took it (it’s in my notes somewhere) but I remember his telling of a young man who fell away because they tried to explain all the mysteries. When, as this man experienced, faith is boiled down to something you must do or feel, no mystery is left. The incarnation becomes another “absurd story”. If one can’t feel the power of the Holy Spirit, all they feel is self. Yet feelings are as changeable as a roller coaster—up one minute, down the next, and the stomach in the throat the whole time. Often times faith is not felt, only known. It’s like those days when you love your family in thought only, as they’re driving you so batty that you don’t feel as though you love them.

Someone should have properly divided Law and Gospel for this man. If they had, he may not have reached the conclusion that “religion is all manmade dogma.” Nobody told him that we are sinners and saints at the same time. Nobody told him that we can’t recall the thoughts and feelings we had on the day we were saved because that day happened before we were born. It was accomplished on the cross, and I know I wasn’t born on that day. I know it was the day I was saved, though.

Maybe as a genetic Lutheran I take solid doctrine for granted, forgetting that there are those out there who are Christian but don’t understand what that is or means. Or maybe it’s as Mrs. Mills said that I understand theology because I understand the leap of faith that it takes to move from philosophy to theology. It really isn’t a leap of faith, though. It is Christ and Him crucified and He carries us over—we don’t leap—for one is the theology of the cross, and the other is the theology of glory. It is the former in which our faith is grounded.

Sad

It's sad when something like this happens. I had wondered what happened to Rev. Woodring. Now I know. He tells us to take a deep breath and that it will be okay. I don't think so. The comments run from shameful to way to go. I am at a loss as to what to say. I feel betrayed. I looked up to this man as a teacher of the faith, only to learn he doesn't buy it anymore. It seems that the LC MS has lost a good man brought about by our own infighting. What can we do from here, folks? Where can we go from here? It seems to me that something must be done.

The Pope's Comments Make Sense

The Pope said that U.S. society can undermine the faith. (Read the story.) This is very true. American individualism, the idea of "let's just all get along", political correctness, and the postmodern traits which carry the statement of "you can believe what you want as long as it's right for you" all contribute to the breakdown of faith. How can one lean on a crumbling wall? How can a house stand solidly on a cracked foundation? The truth is that one cannot. Faith built on anything but Christ alone cannot stand securely. Faith in whatever-floats-your-boat today will, in the end, not float anymore. It is only upon Christ and Him crucified that we lean. Any compromise will not work, for how can one compromise the Word made flesh?