On abstinence and alcohol...

A friend pointed me to the words of Clement in his treatise "On Drinking."  I admit that I had not read it before.  If you are like me, I might point you to it so that you might become acquainted with this little work.  You can read it online here.

Let me merely point you to a couple of gems from this essay.  “[youth] should keep as much as possible away from this medicine” – but Clement speaks differently to us older folks, whom he thinks may partake in moderation with great benefit . . .

. . . of the draught, to warm by the harmless medicine of the vine the chill of age, which the decay of time has produced. For old men’s passions are not, for the most part, stirred to such agitation as to drive them to the shipwreck of drunkenness. For being moored by reason and time, as by anchors, they stand with greater ease the storm of passions that rushes down from intemperance.

Growing up Lutheran in the Midwest, drinking, in moderation, was not a particular problem.  There was always alcohol in my home growing up but it was there with a warning to youth similar to the words of Clement.  I never really thought about it but Chesterton reminds us that the etymological source of the word alcohol is Arabic.  How utterly strange!  Our word for wine, beer, and other spirits is an Arabic word -- made spectacularly odd by the fact that Islam is at war with alcoholic beverages!

The problem of alcohol is not so much its use as its abuse.  Perhaps the reason why youth are discouraged is that booze tends to, as one author put it, awaken not the beast in us but the devil.  Those who handle it need to have some experience dealing with the devil and some awareness of how the devil seems to use our weakness to alcohol (it might have something to do with sex).  We bring terrible harm upon us and those whom we love, as well as sin greatly, when we, as one put it, view the world through the bottom of a cocktail glass.  Yet it occurs to me that those who avoid wine have are not devoid of the sins it may magnify and are probably guilty of other sins in greater degree than those who imbibe.

Scripture is replete with condemnations for drunkenness but reminds us that it does not have to end this way.  Psalm 104:15 tells us And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.  Ecclesiastes 10:19 says Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life.  Jesus turned water into wine and wine into His blood and thus specified and sanctified its use for our heavenly as well as earthly joy -- all in fulfillment of Isaiah's promise of a banquet of well marbled meat and wine twice refined!  The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) even codified this gift by saying: “They should temper the wine to themselves and themselves to the wine.”

Now by no means am I ignorant of the terrible and horrible cost paid by those who do not heed the call to moderation -- and neither does Scripture soften in any ways its condemnation or its identification of the abuses that proceed from such immoderate use of God's gift.  However, the answer lies less in temperance but in the temperate use of the gift.  That is where the Church can enter in -- reminding us of the gift and the burden that resides in the same cup -- whether moderately or immoderately taken.

Anyway, I offer this to you in the bleak midwinter while snow, cold, dank and dark weather may test our joys... Take a little wine for your stomach... and for your heart... but don't forget the "little."

I'll sue if I do not get the job...

If you can imagine it, it probably will unfold in the remnants of the once noble Anglican Communion.  This time a candidate for Bishop who was passed over is mulling over a suit against the C of  E thinking that he was overlooked on purpose because he is gay.

Read it all here...

Apparently ordination is no longer the privilege bestowed by the Church upon candidates whom the Church has elected but a right to be demanded and for which legal action may ensure if the right is not honored.  I do not get it.  Whatever does it matter why the Church has passed on a candidate?  That is the right of the Church to which the candidate has no recourse.  The reason may not be right or fair or logical but the Church does not have to explain it or defend it.  The decision gets made.  Funny how this is not about orthodox faith or practice but about sexual orientation.  Funny how this is not about what is best for the Church or the faith but about the bruised ego of someone who believes they deserved something for which they had expectation of right. 

I know that there have been seminarians asked not to return, graduates who did not receive certification for ordination, and candidates who were never elected to a congregation.  Some of those have been my friends and acquaintances.  I know that all were greatly disappointed and all went through life-changing struggles in response.  But in no case did anyone sue in the mistaken belief that ordination is a right.  I would expect that had the SCOTUS decision on Hosanna-Tabor been different, these suits might have become more common here in the US and even, perhaps, in our own LCMS. 

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

I have little patience for the abuse of technology known as the obnoxious cell phone ring.  I dislike it but when it happens in a restaurant I endure it.  I resent it when it happens in the cinema and wonder why the theater allows it.  I despise it when it happens in church and, if I had the guts, would come down from the chancel and beat the phone to smithereens when it occurs.  But I have to hand it to the conductor who stopped the New York Philharmonic and would not continue until the offender acknowledged his offense, silenced the phone, and promised it would not happen again.  If I had more courage, I would do the same thing when it happens in Church.  Pray for me.

You can read it all here..... courtesy of the Wall Street Journal...

What kind of church do you need...

According to Andrew Doran (First Things), Oscar Wilde once observed that “the Catholic Church is for saints and sinners alone. For respectable people, the Anglican Church will do.” Newt Gingrich would have made a pitiable Anglican–or Mormon, for that matter. As a Catholic, however, he fits right in. Catholics are all too familiar with frailty, and in fact the central Christian idea of redemption by Christ presupposes a need for such redemption. 

I have little to say about where New Gingrich feels at home.  I have less to say about source of the quote or the measure of the life or faith of the man who said it.  But, unlike most little ditties people say, this one is worth remembering.

While certainly meant with a certain measure of humor, the quote expresses a great deal of truth.  The churches that preach sin and repentance, grace and forgiveness are often seen as out of step for "respectable" folks only because the respectable folks don't talk in those terms or think in those categories.  The quote would most certainly have to be redone today.  Perhaps the Anglican Church would do for those who like the appearance of traditional Christianity (albeit doctrinally diverse and, yes, lite) but the rest of the crowd would be better suited for other places.  Those who think religion is mostly morality might probably like the Mormon Church.  Those who think religion is mostly about happy lives and good feelings might better head to Lakewood and Osteen.  You can continue the list.  But Oscar Wilde hits it on the mark.  The evangelical and catholic faith is about redemption for sinners, righteousness for the evil, cleansing for the guilty, life for the dying, and hope for those who know they cannot repair what is wrong in them or in the world.

If the Church is out of step, or appears to be out of step, it just might be because that Church is being faithful to the Gospel.  I will admit that I do not worry much about being relevant.  I do worry about being faithful.  I do worry about being effective (in being faithful).  I do worry about catechesis.  I do worry about what goes on in worship.  I do worry about settling for what is easy instead of striving for our best for Him who gave His all.  But relevance is not high on my list.  I hope and pray it is not high on yours, either.  If what it takes is to fill the pews requires us to be unfaithful, then let us rejoice at the remnant in the pews and preach with the vigor and honesty of Stephen to the masses.  Even if we see no change in the statistics, we will have done what God calls us to do.  And, in the end, this is the only approval that matters...

Come On Now! Puleeeeeze!

Everyone including gays believes that marriage and family are under attack and are being changed in more than definition.  We all know that.  We have read all the statistics to prove it.  But really, now many families now fit the definition of polyamorous?  Are we taking 10%?  No.  Are we talking 5%?  No. My best guess is that we are talking something well to the right of the decimal point.  Yet the media continues to parade images that make us think that these are significant minorities and therefore close to or close to becoming mainstream.

The latest example of this is ABC's Nightline.  Watch it if you want.



It chronicles a polyamorous family raising a young son.  The more we see things like this, the more we believe that lie that these are common.  And that is exactly the danger.  The media has taken great pains to include gays in ways that mask the very small minority GLABT people are in comparison to the whole of American society.  Why there are those who believe there are as many GLABT folks out there in the American population as there are Black or Hispanic in the American ethnic mix.  GLABT make up well below 10% of the population -- some would argue no more than 5% -- yet their voice and their presence in the media belies that small number.  Here a news show gives significant coverage to what is an anomaly, an oddity, or miniscule minority among American families.  Yet, the very showing of this story gives it a presence and credibility larger than life.  Just because you can find someone doing it, does not make it normal and does not portend the future shape of the American family.  Lets be honest here.  That is all I ask.

Sing Em All, Boys!

George Weigel had some advice about hymns used in the Mass.  What he wrote for Roman Catholic ears is food for Lutheran ones, as well.

Music Directors and Pastors: As a general rule, sing all the verses of a processional or recessional hymn. Good hymns have a textual integrity that is lost when we sing hymn-excerpts rather than hymns. It doesn’t take that much more time to sing all six verses of “For All the Saints” or all four verses of “Crown Him with Many Crowns”; cutting such great texts by two-thirds or one-half inevitably sends the signal that music in the liturgy is filler—and
there is no room for filler in the sacred liturgy. [emphasis mine]

On New Year's Day, not exactly the highest attended Sunday of the year (at least I hope not), we sang all stanzas of "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" during the distribution.  Well, let me rephrase that.  The distribution was completed by stanza 5 or 6 at each service but we kept on.  We had a cantor give the folks a break by singing stanzas 5 and 11 but we sang them all.  People used to say something to me about singing all the stanzas but hardly anyone does anymore -- because they know how ever many stanzas that hymn has, that is how many we will sing.  Period.


So, if you won't listen to a nobody like me, listen to George Weigel -- acclaimed columnist, well published author, and esteemed commentator on things religious and cultural.  Sing em all, boys.  Sing em all!!

Honey, is that you?

Apparently a Pastor's wife paid a body double $10,000 over two years to impersonate her by sitting in the front pew, greeting folks, hugging her clergy husband and getting away with it. "It was worth it," she said. Read it all here....

On a more serious note...

I have known not a few wives of Pastors (and their children) who have wished at one time or another to belong to another congregation so I am not entirely unsympathetic to the desire behind the story (or joke, it is it not factual).  Some congregations present job, responsibility, and role to the wife of the Pastor (yet without paycheck) and it is not hard to understand some of the resentment.  On one questionnaire I was asked about the role of my wife and I told the prospective congregation that my wife's role was that of loving wife to me and loving mother to my children and that she had a gift and vocation as a nurse.  I did not get the call.

Wives and children of the Pastor are often the only ones in the parish without a Pastor -- for who can honestly be husband and Pastor to your wife or father and Pastor to your children.  I have chosen to be husband and father and that means that there have been some tough times when we as a family have been alone, without the aid of pastoral care or comfort in time of need.  In a perfect world it would not be so but we do not live in a perfect world.  DPs are often too busy running around putting out fires to be bishops to their clergy and their families.  Even then, there are honest concerns about what it might mean to a Pastor's future if weakness, sin, or need within him or his family were communicated to the one in charge of putting names on a call list.  I had a wonderful bishop in the first decade of my pastoral ministry and have searched since for the same kind of honest love, wise guidance, and pastoral concern for me and my family.  Brother clergy and circuit counselors are often under the same pressure of time and distance to be there for the Pastor and his family in the way the Pastor is for the other families of his parish.

Pastor's families are under great stress just as Pastors and parishes are but they are often far enough down in the chain that they do not get the attention and pastoral care that they deserve.  I do not see the situation improving as the stresses of our busy and frustrating lives are expressed in the relationships we live out as the people of God in one place, attached to one altar.  We certainly do not live in an age of Herr Pastor when the man and his family lived their lives on a pedestal, expected to manifest a version of holiness, perfection, and success far above the folks in the congregation.  The other side is just as difficult as Pastors become service men whose job is to make folks feel welcome, attend to their needs, and make sure they are happy.  The contours of such a pastoral role are at least as fraught with difficulty as the Herr Pastor model of old.

Bottom line -- pray for your Pastor.  Pray for his wife.  Pray for his children.  Pray before you criticize.  Pray before you advise.  Pray before you presume to know what is going on within his family.  Lifted up in prayer by his people, the Pastor and his family will benefit (and therefore the congregation) from the grace of God that fills in all the gaps we find here on earth and sustains the weary and stressed in their baptismal vocation within the job, home, community, and congregation.

It's not nothing...

A friend who is Roman Catholic was complaining about things at his Roman Catholic parish.  He said the highpoint of the music is still "Gather Us In" style of song.  He said the priest still wanders from the text of the Mass.  He said the people still dress like they are going to a picnic.  He said that the distribution still uses too many extraordinary ministers, that people are still not kneeling, and that it is a warehouse style of Church (get um in and get um out).  So I assumed he was disappointed about the changes in the Mass.  I was wrong.  He said, "It is not nothing.  The crisis in the Catholic Church won't be solved by a few words changing.  But it is not nothing.  It is a start and a start in the right direction."

This fellow is generally a glum guy about most things (don't even ask him about politics or professional sports).  But... I found his statement honest but positive.  I think we Lutherans (especially Missourians and I speak in particular to Missourians) might learn something from him.  For all the struggles we have faced, there have been symbolic yet significant strides toward a hopeful future.  I am going to name a few things that may not be everything but they are not nothing, either.

1. Lutheran Service Book has largely brought us back to one book and it is a fine book and has the best hymn collection of any hymnal in this country (no matter the denomination) -- if it is underused.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
2. Our leadership is addressing the financial urgency and the restructuring mandate in our Synod with careful but confident leadership -- even if the problems are not solved or solvable right now.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
3. Our Seminaries have solidly Lutheran faculties and, while I prefer one to the other, they are generally producing good candidates and good Lutheran theologians -- even if some of them change their stripes or change their perspective once away from the campus.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
4. Though we are half the size of the ELCA, Missouri stepped up to the plate and adopted a big goal with respect to a huge problem in the Lutheran Malaria Initiative -- even if we may not reach our goals or overcome this plague upon the poor (especially the children and the weak) we have shown heart and courage.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
5. While Augsburg Fortress is having big financial problems and other publishers of religious works are being scooped up by profit motivated public companies, Concordia continues to produce excellent products and especially fine works targeted toward more serious Lutheran readers -- though some of the curriculums are not nearly Lutheran enough for me and some items a little pricey.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
6. Lutherans are receiving the Sacrament of the Altar with greater frequency than ever in the history of our Synod -- though the catechesis on the Eucharist is not what it should be and the liturgy may not be as full as it should be.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
7. After decades of relative isolation and dead end talks with the ELCA, the LCMS has engaged Lutheran partners throughout the world, has entered into full communion with many, and is actively seeking out serious dialog with conservative Anglicans, WELS, ELS, and those who have left ELCA -- though we are still relatively lonely as a church body and I feel that pain as I know many of you do.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!
8. The Lutheran Church Extension Fund remains the most profound and excellent financial resource of any church body in America and is healthy and robust even in this economy -- some of their decisions have not set well with me and others may have similar concerns about their judgement in terms of who to lend to and how much to lend.  It is not everything but it is not nothing!

I could go on but you get the point.... at some level, a whole lot of not nothings add up to a real something.  This is not a Pollyanna perspective, wishful thinking, optimism, or possibility thinking.  It is taking stock of some of the real and positive things that too often get swept away in the doomsday prophecies of those who say our best days were a half a century ago, those who say we have to become something different to survive, and those who look longingly across the fence into other backyards.

Can Bach Be Claimed by Rome?

Lutherans have almost singlehandedly carved out a niche in church music that is beyond the court oriented church music of other traditions and profoundly parish oriented.  The tradition of the Lutheran cantor and the great shoes of Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Walther, and so many others have give us a heritage that is the envy of so very many Christians.  For us Lutherans, Bach remains not only the high point but the model of churchly music and parish life.  Bach is the giant but, it seems, he is a giant not without appreciation among other Christians.  Here one author give credit rightfully to Luther and to Bach but then tries to claim Bach as one who stands within the Roman Catholic umbrella and who may be claimed for them as well as for Lutheranism.  I am skeptical. 

Funny how Bach is claimed by so many now but was hardly appreciated in his life (except for his keyboard mastery).  Well, you can read it yourself but for me, I think Bach is far more a product of Lutheran Orthodoxy than he is a son of Rome.  Disagree if you must, but I will say up front you are wrong.  You can talk about my dog but I draw the line at Bach.  I am glad that Rome likes Bach, too, but Bach is as Lutheran as Luther.  The problem here is that Rome has forgotten that Luther and Lutheranism is evangelical catholicism and that Bach shows evangelical catholicism at its best.  The Lutheran Confessions take practical form in the life and musical legacy of J. S. Bach in a way that has never been equaled since -- though we should not stop trying!

Ya gotta laugh....

2012 - a 25th Anniversary

Photo from the January The Lutheran magazine.

In 1987 the leaders of the AELC, ALC, LCA came together and poured from three different cruets into one chalice to give visual weight to the constitution convention for the new Lutheran Church, April 30-May 3, in Columbus, Ohio.  Bishops David Preus, Will Herzfeld, and James Crumley represented the hope invested in the Lutheran union that had evaded Lutheranism in America for so long.  In the end, it proved that this hope was fractured more than by the absence of Missouri.  The unity that was celebrated was a unity in which differences were papered over, serious questions left unresolved, and flawed structures and operating procedures would direct this body away from its confessional moorings and toward its own schism and splintering.  Over its lifespan, this new Lutheran body dropped about 20% of its membership, never lived up to the projections of work or influence, and left behind many of those who had longed and prayed for the day when Lutheran union was not a hope but a reality.

I say this with no pride or arrogance but with a great deal of regret and sadness.  The Lord deserved better and still does -- from those who came together for form the ELCA and from Missouri.  The hopes and dreams of many in Missouri sought the day when what was begun in 1987 might finally include the LCMS and, perhaps, other Lutheran groups.  Instead, ELCA and Missouri are farther than ever from each other -- in identity, confession, and practice.  No one today sees much in the future for Lutheran unity or union.  The ELCA has sliced off the LCMC and the NALC and not a few independent Lutheran congregations and the loss continues, though slower than before.  Missouri has shed its own 10% and struggles with the mistrust and a doctrinal diversity that were only hinted at when it suffered its own schism in the 1970s.

John Tietjen wrote "Which Way to Lutheran Unity?" and the question seems even more germane now than when this book was first written in the 1960s.  Which way, indeed?  Except the unity of this question is now the unity within the ELCA and within Missouri -- not the unity or union between the bodies.  Those were heady days for some and days filled with angst for others.  Who among those looking ahead could have foreseen the troubles and trials Lutheranism has faced since 1987?  Personally, I believe that Missouri is in the best position but the struggles ahead of us to resolve our own internal problems may end up consuming us and our leaders without resolution in sight.  It is time to repent, as Harrison often says, and to work for positive resolution of the things that ail us or we will be looking back to 2012 with even more regret and sorrow over the undoing of those who claim to be heirs of the Great Reformation and who insist the legacy of Luther is theirs....

Hate Religion.... Love Jesus

This video has made the rounds and I pass it on to you.  The points made a good points and yet in the midst of all of this I find myself torn by some sympathy to his points and frustration over the somewhat false perception of "religion" and "church" that he uses.

I pass this on only because it seems to describe the feelings of many who have become fed up with the "church" and "religion" while remaining affectionate toward Jesus and in search of a "church" that is more like Jesus and less like "religion."

No one but a fool would argue that the "church" and "religion" have masked and dulled the Christ whom the Scripture unfolds to us but I refuse to grant the premise of this young man -- namely that they have so masked and dulled Christ that He can no longer be found there.  In fact, it is because of the Lord acting within the church that have the Scriptures and sacraments as the means of grace that continue to call into being the Church and call individual Christians into that community of grace.

Oh, well, you listen to it and tell me what you think....

When flying Air Tran -- Give Me Jesus!

Turns out that an Air Tran jet was awaiting routine maintenance before take off and the seats were populated in part by members of the Wesleyan University Chorale.  Seemed a great opportunity for the Chorale to do its stuff and that is exactly what they did -- they filled up the empty moments with a great spiritual, setting by Lutheran Larry Fleming.  "Give Me Jesus" is not only a fine selection, well done within the limited acoustical environment of a jet, but, the appropriate prayer of anyone flying on Air Tran. 

Go into a narrow room with your lap top, think of expensive drinks, bad food, cheap snacks, a narrow seat shoehorned in between other narrow seats, miniscule rest rooms with blue water you should not drink, and close your eyes and listen... it is like being there!

Tips for those considering a Dr. Seuss liturgy...

 

Ever wonder what other Lutherans are lookin at in their own denominational magazine...

Read it all below:

• Be not afraid.  Have fun!
• Make a cooperative effort of creataive people...
• Pick songs and hymns that speak to and of children and child-like faith...
• Decorate your sanctuary with Seuss books...
• Encourage children to bring a Seuss stuffed animal....
• Refer to the The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss or The Parables of Dr. Seuss...
• Worshipers should practice the liturgy so they read and pray it with dignity and reverence...

No kidding!!!  It was advertized in The Lutheran and lists this web site for information on a sample Dr. Seuss liturgy or helps on how to do one in your parish.... www.thelutheran.org/feature/january...

Theodor Geisel had to be one of the more famous modern Lutherans but. . . a "Seusscharist"????

For you have given us this great time,
filled with laughter, humor and rhyme.
And you have shown us your holy love,
that you have sent from heaven high above...

And they served green eggs and ham and a good time was had by all...  Truth is always stranger than fiction... always!

The History of the Roman Empire, etc., ala' Terry Maher

Terry Maher, aka Past Elder, is a frequent poster on this blog (frequent fliers get free miles, the best I can do here is to occasionally pass on the wisdom of frequent posters).  He has detailed a history of the Roman Empire, Eastern Empire, and the Church's life intertwined in both.  It is a quick but fairly thorough journey and I pass it on here.  You may just want to re-read it a few times because history is often confused and repetitive.

My point is simple.  Of all the problems that face us today, it may seem a slight one that we are so ignorant of our past and yet it is not insignificant at all.  It is a deep and profound hole in our wisdom that continues to affect and slant our judgment.  I appeal to all Christians not to skip a good reading of history.  It is invaluable in understanding the present or guiding the future.

For those inclined for a more detailed and relaxed journey through that period, I might recommend The Church from Age to Age by Concordia.  It is a big book and it covers a big subject.  Take a gander at it and you will not be disappointed.

Though I fancy myself a historian, the much I know is dwarfed by that which I have forgotten and that which I never learned.  Yet it is a consistently revealed truth that we lack a good perspective on our past and we suffer for it.  Most of us judge the far past by the recent past and so we fall into the gravest of errors.  We judge Lutheranism by what we were taught in catechism or what we experienced growing up and we often miss what this Church really looks like.  We judge the Middle East by what we hear on the news and forget the conflict is a feud among brothers still claiming the birthright for themselves.  We subject ourselves to the swings from mind to heart, conservative to liberal, without realizing the roots of this rhythm go back far earlier than our own lives or history.  No, we all would better understand who we are and what is going on around us if we knew more about the past.  For those who find it a dull string of dates and places, history is the richest of stories populated by the most interesting of characters.  Our scriptwriters know this and the best of cinema and TV is often the recreation of yesterday aided by some good editing and great scenery.  It would benefit us all if we learned this important truth.

that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom...

I would hope that every Lutheran would have more than a passing familiarity with the genius of Luther's Small Catechism (not necessarily including all the added material which supplements Luther's words).  I find his explanations growing more and more profound the more I teach the catechism and the older I get.  Nowhere is that more true than in his answers to the "What does this mean" of the Creed.

There are phrases that literally jump out at you.  "All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me..."  or "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him..." or "not with silver or gold but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death..."

It strikes me though that we are not fully comfortable with some of what Luther says.  We are less comfortable with the parts that deal with our response:  "For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him..." or "that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness..."  We are thankful for all that God does but we resist the idea that we have a duty as Christians to respond with more than thanks and praise.  It is that serve and obey part that we wrestle with.  In the same way, we are delighted in what it has cost God to make us His own but we are not so delighted in the living under Him and serving Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness part.  I speak here not to others but from the perspective of my own stubborn heart and will.

We want to be God's as long as being God's does not conflict with our lifestyle.  We want to belong to the Lord as long as belonging to the Lord does not mean we have to restrain our tongue or restrain our quick judgements of others.  We want to receive what He has to offer us -- born of His sacrificial suffering and death -- but we find it a stretch to aspire to or reach for the saintly lives that befit that identity and calling as the children of God  by baptism and faith.

I speak as a Lutheran and to Lutherans.  Holiness of life, charity in judgement, and knowing when something is neither beneficial nor helpful to say are not our strong points.  I tell myself all the time the same old tired excuses that justify all our failures -- what do you expect, I am still a sinner... I am no worse than others and better than some... we are saved by grace and not by works...

Why is it that the law under the wrong motivation is capable of getting from us more than the Gospel can get using the right motivation?  Now, don't throw all the theology at me here.  This is not a theological question.  It is a question of desire.  Some of us say in the confession "forgive us, renew us and lead us... that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name..."  I struggle with the part that follows "forgive us..."  It is the renewal and following part that is uncomfortable to me... It is the delight in His will and the walking in His ways that remains a struggle...

Paul McCain has often lamented that we are too comfortable preaching justification and not so comfortable preaching sanctification.  He gets no argument from me.  I know it not simply as a preacher but as a hearer.  Yet this is the essential weakness that often speaks more loudly than the proclamation of our lips.  We do not aspire to sainthood or, at least, not at the cost of fitting in with the world and its expectations and values.  The desire to live saintly lives and Pharisaism do not go hand in hand.  To be a sinner, forgiven by our gracious God, and content to live within the familiar ruts of our sinfulness is a hypocrisy far greater than forgiven sinners who fail in their high goals and expectations of holiness and righteous living.


While it does not surprise me that Christians divorce, abort, engage in pre- and extra-marital sex, cheat, lie, covet, and consume in equal numbers with the unbelievers, it does surprise me that we are comfortable or that we have found our miserable peace with this contradiction.  I am under no illusions about our success ratio but I also know that there will no success without desire and effort to become the people God has declared us to be.

Just a few thoughts about my own personal struggle to live out what my lips profess....

Exactly....

Christopher Hall put his finger on one of the points I have been trying to make here.  Why do we get all bent out of shape when LCMS Pastors participate in joint worship with clergy with whom we are not in fellowship and then shrug our shoulders at the non-sacramental, seeker sensitive, non-denominational style worship that goes on in so many LCMS congregations every Sunday -- and which is indistinguishable from the local generic Protestant or non-denominational congregation down the block?  Exactly.

Read it all HERE......

As the good Pastor said, "I do not do either, by the way," so no one is advocating for joint worship.  What is being challenged is the identification of our church body and our confession that one makes from the non-sacramental and non-liturgical services that are the norm for so many LCMS folk on Sunday morning (especially in larger and suburban congregations).

Dethroning Bud... or the German Contribution to American Culture

This just in:  After years of gaining ground, The Silver Bullet has finally caught the King.  Coors Light outsold Budweiser last year to become the nation's second most popular brew after Bud Light, according to estimates by an industry trade publication.  Ah, but this is just one more chapter in the long and sad story of Germans (Lutherans) and their quest to make a place, a home, within American culture and life...

When I grew up their were no multinational giants brewing beer.  The beers in our household were regional.  Hamms (from the land of sky blue waters) or Schlitz (the beer that made Milwaukee famous) or Storz (local, Omaha, and light, dry, smooth) or Blatz or Falstaff or Carling or Schaefer, and so on.  Most of these were started by sturdy German stock.  They were entrepreneurs and savvy marketers who saw an opening and transformed American culture and life with their creations of malt, hops, and yeast.  As they moved up the economic ladder the owners and their workers moved from the apartments, tenements, and crowded neighborhoods to the suburbs and their identity diluted as they became more and more Americanized.  

So it was for Lutheran denominations.  They were stronger and more unified when they lived in closer proximity and more regional than national.  As they moved out and merged, their identities were watered down and their unity tested by unintended diversity.  As we sought to appeal to a broader taste, we found it hard to maintain the particular marks of our Lutheran-ness as well as our ethnic and cultural heritage.  Much of what was Lutheranisms unity and identity now remains more the proverbial joke of lutefisk and Lake Wobegon than the reality of a people truly marked by a common confession and liturgical culture.  Lars, Lena, Ole, Fritz and Lieselotte have become Jaden, Jackson, Madison, Caden, and Mikayla.  Our people are much more in tune with what is happening now than their ethnic or cultural heritage.  Distanced from family and the familial home places of generations past, they have a new found freedom to seek out and define their Lutheranism on their own terms.

In 1852 George Schneider began what became Anheuser-Busch.  Coops of smaller brewers turned into big multinational companies whose headquarters are no longer American addresses (South Africa, Belgium, etc.).  I well recall my first picnic on the lawn of the then brand new International Center of the LCMS and the giant tap on a sixteen wheeler to accompany the grill fare with appropriate beverage.  The giant brewer of St. Louis had historic ties to the LCMS.

The way of the breweries has become the way of Lutherans in America.  With each succeeding merger, Lutheran identity was diluted and the brew became more and more palatable to the generic taste of the American landscape.  Missouri has no history of merger but as it expanded, grew, and attempted to exert its presence beyond the natural shape of its initial incarnation, it, too, has found it hard to retain the same consistency and identity -- the conflict over the recipe came to a head in the 1960s and 1970s and was resolved by a new brand (AELC).

Beers became less unique and more ordinary over time until the multinationals found that the only real way to expand market share was to come up with low cal versions of their premium brews.  Now we find ourselves in the strange position of having new micro-brews begin to flex their wings and infuse the beer industry with some new interest and taste (much more like the original versions).  Even the biggies in the market have their own small labels to try and keep up with the trend.  Funny thing, though, when I go into Kroger to purchase a six pack, I no longer pay much attention to those within the big families and have learned all sorts of new names (Yazoo Dos Perros, Yuengling Black and Tan, Fat Tire, among them).

Lutheranism is also going the way of the brews.  The big national brands have stumbled and lost market share while we have a sea of new names and acronyms entering the religious marketplace.  The smaller brands tend to be more consistent and cohesive, have a stronger identity and Lutheran palate, and more interest (as well as being more interesting).  Even within the big names, smaller caucuses have been born that define themselves even within the major label (church growth, confessional, liturgical, etc.).  Makes me think that you need to watch the beer taste to predict how things will go in Lutheranism.  Even if looking at the ups and downs of the beer barons and wannabes does not predict Lutheranism's future all that accurately, it gives us an appropriate beverage to soften the blow of our failure.  And that ain't a bad thing!

Technology does not come without a price tag...

Just in.... Some 63% of American households spend 35% more on technology bills than utility bills, according to an in-depth survey of 1,100 adults.

This is first of all a measure of our wealth that we spend more on technology than utility bills (gas, electric, water and sewer).  Second it tells us where our priorities are as people.  Third it suggests that if we are convinced of the need, we will find the funds to cover the cost of our addictions.

I was amazed at the interviews of those who stood in line for the I-Phone 5 and was shocked to hear that several of those who were ditching their 4s in favor of the % were unemployed, one a late twenty-something who was living in his parents' basement without a job for more than 9 months.  He said he had pretty much given up looking.  But... that did not dissuade him from finding the dollars for the latest and greatest in technological toys.

The Church is not immune from the pressure to spend more on technology that may enhance but does not necessarily support or extend the work of ministry.  My email box and mail box is stuffed full of tech catalogs telling me what I cannot afford to be without as a Pastor or church leader.  Most of the stuff is good and it might be usable but most of it does not substantially impact what we do.  It certainly would create more work -- to make use of all this technology means that we have to spend time on it -- time that we might spend elsewhere.

Believe you me I know this tension.  I spend about 20-30 minutes a day on this blog and reading other blogs.  Usually from 6:30 am to about 7 am each morning, I limit myself to the time I spend on the internet.  I had a computer failure and still have not put an email program into service (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc, I have used in the past).  One of the reasons for this is because I get my mail off the internet, I get it twice a day and do not live enslaved to the little icon that tells me "you've got mail."  It is not a burden but real freedom to get and send my email less often.  It is a good discipline.

One of the utility folks I know said that though our appliances are increasingly energy efficient, the number of things plugged in at the average household has multiplied exponentially.  That happens in the Church as well.  Though our most recent addition was built 12 years ago, we find ourselves constantly complaining about the lack of outlets all around the building.  Now I see that you can replace your regular outlets and put in receptacles that have USB ports right in them to charge up all your electronics.

The price tag of our technology addition is not merely paid in dollars and cents.  It is paid in the time spent on these devices and away from other things.  We have to constantly work to make sure that we are not doing these things because we can and make sure that we are using technology wisely at home and in the Church.

Real men... even actors... pray

In a CBS interview, Mark (Marky Mark) Walhberg spoke of the prayer book he carries with him and noted how the profession of faith had changed in his church (Roman) and how he learned the word "consbustantial."  Not too bad!