5 Interesting Things About the Wedding at Cana

A wedding at Cana is remembered as the occasion for Jesus' first miracle, when He turned water into wine.

Here are five interesting things about John 2:1-11, in which the incident is recounted.

1. John begins the account with the words, "On the third day..." Most scholars now believe that this represents the third day of man named Nathanael following Jesus. How Nathanael came to do that is recounted in John 1:43-51. It appears right before the account of the wedding in John's Gospel.

Coming at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, the phrase, "on the third day," foreshadows Jesus' resurrection, which comes on the third day from His crucifixion.

2. There is whimsy in this incident, underscoring that Jesus is both true God and true human. Here we see Him as God and as a human being.

Jesus' mother presents Him with a dilemma: The supply of wine for the celebrants of a wedding banquet, the kind of event which typically ran for about a week in those days, had given out. Implicit in Mary's statement of fact apparently, is a request that reflects her understanding of Who Jesus is, the "Word made flesh," God in human skin.

But Jesus is also her son. Like generations of sons before and since, Jesus is playful in His response to Mary. I think we can well imagine a teasing tone in Jesus' voice and a smile on His face when He tells her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to Me? My hour has not yet come." (More on that below.)

Also, like generations of moms, Mary takes her son's teasing in stride and, certain that He will respond to her request, turns to the servants and says, "Do whatever He tells you."

Even if you don't believe that Jesus teased His mother here, you have to admit that choosing to reveal His divinity for the first time through an act that allowed a party to continue and prevent its hosts from being humiliated, seems, on the face of it, a whimsical choice on Jesus' part. But God isn't just solemn Lord of the universe; He's also the author of joy.

3. The "hour" to which Jesus is referring undoubtedly is the hour when His divinity was to be fully revealed. Of course, His divinity would be at least intimated soon. After all, who but God could turn water into wine?

But Jesus' divinity would not be fully understood until after His resurrection. Many still refuse to understand it or believe it. To those who paid attention though, miracles like this one served as signs of Jesus' identity and mission. They still serve the same purpose today.

4. The water turned into wine reminds us of the two Sacraments of the Church: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

The first is our port of entry into the Church. (By "Church," I'm not referring to a denominational organization or a specific congregation, but the Church composed of those who turn from sin and persist in believing in Jesus as their only God and Savior.) Holy Baptism is what Jesus is talking about in John 3:5, when He says, "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit." In Baptism, the Holy Spirit claims us as children of God. Of course, like all children, we may run away from being God's child. We may opt out of trusting in the God Who claims us in Baptism. But Baptism assures us that, as the old saying puts it, God is absent from our lives, it wasn't God Who moved.

The second is the sustenance Christ gives to us along our journey as believers. In a mysterious way we can't explain or articulate, Christ comes to us in Communion, offering us forgiveness of sin as we receive His body and blood in, with, and under the bread and the wine. This is what Jesus meant when, at the Passover He celebrated with His disciples just before He was arrested and executed, He handed them bread and said, "Take, eat; this is My body," then handed them wine and said, "Drink from it all of you; for this is My blood...which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 20:26-29)

The Lutheran movement of which I'm a part has always said that it's pointless to argue over how many Sacraments there are. But we also believe that three things make a thing a Sacrament, a mysterious means by which God's grace in Christ is imparted to us:

• It was instituted or commanded by Christ.
• It entails a physical element.
• It comes with the promise of forgiveness of sin to those who receive it with belief.

Interestingly, John's Gospel is the most sacramental of the for Gospels found in the New Testament. Yet, in it, we find no command from Jesus to baptize and He doesn't mention Jesus' institution of Holy Communion during his account of the Last Supper. John, the consummate artist, emphasizes the importance of the two sacraments by not including overt references to Jesus instituting either of them.

5. This incident, coming at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, is the start of what biblical scholars would call an inclusion which culminates at John 19:34. In this latter passage, wanting to confirm that Jesus, then hanging on the cross, is dead, a soldier pierces His side "and at once blood and water came out."

Ancient writers often used inclusions in order to emphasize an important theme. There are many of them in the Bible and an inclusion can encompass both large and small sections of Scripture. They offer a good interpretive tool for those who want to understand God's Word.

Everything within this particular inclusion, the story of Jesus' time on earth, helps us to stand in awe of the incredible fact that God took on human flesh to make His grace, power, and love accessible to all who believe in Him (see John 1:1-14; 3:16; 14:6).

Today, although we can't see Jesus, Who is alive and ascended to heaven, He remains accessible to us in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, among other ways. We also can experience Jesus, of course, in the Bible, God's normative and authoritative book for us; prayer in Jesus' Name; and the fellowship of other Christians. But the Sacraments, with their physical elements, have about them the mystery of the God, Who is Spirit, taking on flesh to become "the Lamb of God."

So, this passage, laden with whimsy and taking place at a party, also foreshadows Christ's death for the sins of humanity and His resurrection. It also points to the fact that all who believe in Jesus will, one day, be guests at a party--a banquet, a celebration--that never ends. (See also Luke 15:22-23.)

There's a lot more to be said about this passage. But this post is only about five interesting things. You might want to explore and reflect on the passage for yourself, using a good commentary like IVP Bible Background Commentary (New Testament) by Craig Keener.

A Prayer for President Obama As He's Inaugurated This Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend

Here is one of the petitions we offered up during the Prayers of Intercession during the 10:15 worship service this morning at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio.

Gracious, mighty King, today in a private ceremony and tomorrow during the traditional public celebration, President Obama will be sworn in to a second term as our president.

These events will come during the Martin Luther King. Jr. holiday, in which we remember the Christian leader who challenged Christians, white and black, and all Americans to stand against public policies which demanded Christians and others to worship false deities like racism and the lie of white racial superiority.

Although bigotry still rears its ugly, sinful head among us in our culture all the time, we pray that, using Christians who follow King’s example, You will crush racism out of existence.

As Americans who love our country, the Constitution, the freedom to worship that we enjoy, and the peaceful transition of power which is part of our national life, we pray your blessings on President Obama.

As he is inaugurated, we pray that Your Spirit would give him your wisdom, that he will be open to your wisdom, that you will protect him and his family from all danger and harm, and that throughout his tenure, as we individual Americans live in daily repentance and renewal, moved by the witness for Christ they hear from individual Christians like us, will come to follow Christ and so have peace with God, now and in eternity. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

The Son of God (Augsburg Confession, Part 3)

We’re involved in a sermon series that seeks to answer the question, “What is a Lutheran Christian?” We’re using one of the basic confessional documents of Lutheranism, The Augsburg Confession, which presents the Lutheran understanding of Biblical Christian faith, to help us answer that question.

Before launching into an exploration of the Confession's Article 3, “The Son of God,” I want you to know something: The devil worked hard to prevent this sermon from being studied for, written, and delivered. This past week, I have learned anew the truth of the words of Ephesians 6:12: “...our struggle [as followers of Jesus Christ] is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil...” The devil has fought with me every step of the way. I have been in the midst of the very kind of spiritual warfare that Martin Luther wrote about in A Mighty Fortress is Our God. And it is only by the grace of God, given to those who cling to Jesus Christ, that I've been able to push through.

This is a sermon then, that the devil does not want you to hear. So, I ask you all to pray that the Holy Spirit will work powerfully in this moment to open our minds, hearts, and wills to the only Truth we can reliably build our lives upon.

Now, there’s a reason the devil doesn’t want this sermon to be given today. It’s because the truths The Augsburg Confession’s Article 3 asserts about Who Jesus is, about what Jesus has done, and about what Jesus will do in the future, contradict the lies about Jesus that are gaining increasing currency in our time.

And Satan, the one Jesus calls “the father of lies” is behind every one of the lies told about Jesus today. You can’t go through a week without encountering these lies on the Internet, on TV, or in newspapers and magazines. Supposedly knowledgeable people say that Jesus wasn’t God in the flesh, wasn’t born of a virgin, didn’t rise physically from the dead, and isn’t the only pathway to God.

They ignore the testimony of reliable witnesses as to Jesus being the Son of God and Savior of the world.

They also ignore the fact that the ancient documentation for the understanding of Jesus they denigrate came earlier and from more different sources than any of the documentation that exists in relationship to other figures of the ancient world.

For example, Colossians 1:15-20, written by Paul in about 60 AD, is composed of material reflecting the confession of faith that all scholars, conservative and liberal, agree Christians were using to give witness about Jesus almost immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection.

The confession of faith found in these verses came together so close to the days of Jesus' time on earth that to read it is almost like reading an email about an event that happened yesterday. Take a look:

[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. [Emphasis is mine.]

It’s bad enough that these lies are being foisted on the world at large. But what’s worse is that these revisionist views, held by people who want to revise God’s truth, have taken root in our own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

For example, recently an assistant to the bishop of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of our ELCA, Don Carlson, writing a guest post on his bishop’s web site, wrote of Jesus’ virgin birth: “I think that the [Christmas] stories are made up...”

In 2009, our ELCA publishing house issued a version of the Bible they called Lutheran Study Bible. It had footnotes written by ELCA scholars ostensibly designed to help readers better understand the Bible. Now, one of the most important passages in Scripture is Matthew 28:19-20, in which the risen Jesus, just before ascending into heaven, gives what we call “the great commission” to His Church, commanding us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching people to obey all that He commands.” But Dr. Duane Priebe, professor of systematic theology at another ELCA seminary, Wartburg in Iowa, wrote this in his footnote on Matthew 28:19-20: “[Jesus] does not mean make everyone disciples...Jesus includes in salvation people who do not believe in Him.”* While the New Testament intimates that people who have not heard the good news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection and seek to live in accordance with the law that God has written on every human heart (see Romans 2:14-16), will be treated with mercy by God, those who have heard the good news of Jesus and have not believed, according to Jesus, will be eternally separated from God (see John 3:16-18; Mark 16:16; John 8:24).

These incidents of revisionism aren’t isolated. Increasingly, revisionist theology is favored by the hierarchy, clergy, and publications of our denomination.

The reason for revisionism’s popularity is no mystery.  According to Genesis 3:5, Adam and Eve, responding to the temptations of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, wanted to “be like God” and so do we. Deny the revealed truths about Jesus, the Son of God, and you can be a god yourself, the ultimate authority over your life. But, folks, lose these truths about Jesus in order to act as our own gods, and we lose life, hope, peace, our humanity, and our salvation!

Please pull a copy of The Augsburg Confession from the pew racks and turn to Article 3, on page 12. It says:

Our churches teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God..., assumed the human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. So there are two natures--the divine and the human--inseparably joined in one person. There is one Christ, true God and true man, who was born of the virgin Mary, truly suffered, was crucified, died, and was buried. He did this to reconcile the Father to us and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt [which we talked about last Sunday], but also for the actual sins of [humankind].

He also descended into hell, and truly rose again in the third day. Afterward, He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. There He forever reigns and has dominion over all creatures. He sanctifies [meaning, He makes holy or sets apart for God] those who believe in Him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts to rule, comfort, and make them alive. He defends them against the devil and the power of sin.

The same Christ will openly come again to judge the living and the dead, and so forth, according to the Apostles’ Creed.

Every word of this article is rooted in the witness of Scripture. Every word lifts up Jesus as the Son of God. And it stands as a condemnation of the lies a revisionist world tells about Jesus.

But how can we know that the revisionists are wrong?

How can you and I know that Jesus is the Son of God Who can fill both dead consciences and dead bodies with new life?
 
Let me lay before you one rational, empirical reason for believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

And then let me tell how I believe you can personally know that what the Bible and The Augsburg Confession teach about Jesus is true.

The revisionists say that the first Christians didn’t really meet the resurrected Jesus. They say that after Jesus’ death on the cross, the first Christians thought back on Him and had good feelings. These good feelings, the revisionists claim, caused the first Christians to think of Jesus as being with them in some way. Then, they claim, the Christians made up the stories of Jesus’ resurrection to convince others that they could have good feelings too.

Please pull out the pew Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

First Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul in about 55 AD to the church at Corinth, which he had founded. Here, he reminds them, of the most basic evidence that Jesus is Lord. He says:

...I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas [Cephas is the Latin version of the apostle Peter’s name], then by the twelve [apostles, including  Matthias, who took the place of Judas after Judas betrayed Jesus and took his own life]. After that He was seen by over five hundred [believers in Jesus] at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep [some had died by 55 AD]. After that [the risen Jesus] was seen by James [this is one of physical sons of Mary and Joseph and Jesus grew up in the same household with James], then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also...

Paul claims that more than 500 people had seen the risen Jesus!

He was no figment of their good feelings.

He was real.

He was true God and true man, born of a virgin, the only way to peace with God, Who died and rose to give us a life with that not even death can destroy.

The first Christians never wavered in affirming the reality of Who Jesus was, of His physical resurrection, or of His promise to return one day to fully establish His kingdom.

They staked their lives on these truths, hard as nails people who had drunk deeply of life and of sin, but who had been given new life through Christ.

And many of these tough people--fishermen, tax collectors, former prostitutes, soldiers, manual laborers, scholars, rich, poor, men, and women would, like Paul and Peter, accept execution a punishment for their belief in the Son of God, rather than turning their backs on Jesus!

The first followers of Jesus weren't firebrands. They weren't kooks. They weren't desperate. They had everything to lose and nothing to gain from sticking with their story about Jesus. Yet they did stick with it!

When you see rational people staking their lives on the veracity of a truth they claim to have experienced--John says that he and the other first Christians had heard, seen, and touched with their hands the crucified and risen Son of God (see 1 John 1:1-3)--that’s an empirical reason for believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

But trusting in Jesus--having faith in Jesus--isn’t the result of believing in empirical evidence.

I have known people and you have too, who believed that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was born of a virgin, and that after suffering for us, He rose from the dead. Yet they still don't believe in Jesus. They don't trust Him. They trust themselves. Or they put their trust in things of the world, every one of which will die.

The simple truth is that we can’t be forced into believing in Jesus by trotting out facts. Nor can we be said to believe in Jesus just because we accept the veracity of the New Testament's claims about Jesus. According to 1 Corinthians 12:3, faith in Jesus is a gift that God’s Holy Spirit creates only in those who are willing to believe in Jesus.

And this leads us to how, finally, you and I can know that Jesus, the Son of God, is, has done, and will do all the things claimed by Article 3 of the Confession.

Turn please to Hebrews 11:1. It says:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

You’ve heard me tell many times of my experience as an atheist who came to faith in Jesus Christ.  Intrigued by the Lutheran Christians of Ann’s home church, I attended a 16-week class called, Life with God.

I read the book we used for the class.

I read and wrote down all the Bible verses to which it referred.

I asked questions.

I listened.

The more I heard and read about Jesus, the more I wanted Him as my Lord!

I was still resistant. I had my own plans. I really wanted to be my own god.

But, in the midst of all this, even when I still thought of myself as an atheist, I found myself praying to the God revealed to the whole world in Jesus.

There wasn’t a lightning flash moment when faith came to me. I simply had been open to believing and the closer I got to Jesus, the more firmly the Holy Spirit created faith in Jesus within me.

I believed in the Son of God.

As the passage from Hebrews tells us, my faith became the evidence of things unseen.

Among the people I've meet on this earth, I’ve never known a person born of a virgin.

Or a sinless human being.

Or someone who rose from the dead days after their death.

And neither have you.

But by faith I came to know and I still know such a person, the God-man Jesus.

And if we will open ourselves to Him, all of us can, by faith, know Him.

We can experience His presence with us as a constant companion who will usher us into the presence and love of God.

And as we hold onto that faith, as we cling to Jesus, we can be assured that one day we will see Him face to face.

This is a sermon the devil didn’t want you to hear, which only proves how important it is to know, follow, and surrender to Jesus, the Son of God. Amen!

[This was shared during both worship services with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio today.]

*After numerous protests, Priebe's comments were excised from the next edition of Lutheran Study Bible. However, he never recanted for the position he took on Matthew 28:19-20. Nor, apparently, was there ever any attempt on the part of the ELCA or the synod to correct him or the church's publishing house for his original comments.

Pop Consumption Down, Coffee Consumption Up Among College Students

Someone asked me how I ever got ordained as a Lutheran pastor in light of the fact that I don't drink coffee. Coffee-drinking seems endemic to my clergy of my tradition.

And, it's not as though coffee-abstinence is a family thing, either. My Dad is a four-cups-as-soon-as-he-wakes-up guy. He and my mum still enjoy their caffeinated coffee around the clock. All my siblings drink coffee. My wife likes her coffee. And both of our kids are now baristas.

But honestly, the smell of coffee almost makes me sick to my stomach.

Despite all of that, I like coffee shops. I enjoy their atmospheres, the quiet conversation they foster. And I get jazzed, as I sit there drinking an orange juice or a water, that the person at the next table working with such dedication on her keyboard might be writing a best-seller. It almost makes me wish I liked coffee. But my taste buds rebel.

Here's an NPR story on the rising popularity of coffee over against soft drinks among young people, the link to which was sent to me by one of our baristas. Getting rid of carbonation and sugar is no doubt a great thing, but as this report indicates, coffee isn't a harmless addiction either.

"To live is Christ...

...to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

So, we keep following Christ, loving God, loving neighbor, and telling others about the new life that on Jesus Christ, the God-Man, can give to those who believe in Him. Whether we Christians live or die, we belong to Christ and it will always be our privilege to glorify Him only!

Not ourselves.

Not our parents.

Not our kids.

Not our friends.

Not our church.

Not our country.

Not our race.

Not our favorite team.

Not our favorite musician, film star, or politician.

Nor out favorite hobby, book, or movie.

We glorify the only one who can set us free to be our true selves for all eternity: Jesus Christ!

Death couldn't stop Jesus. And all who belong to Him, who turn from sin and believe in Him, are also unstoppable.

Here's Unstoppable, another great track from TobyMac's latest CD.

Keep Your Eye on One Thing

That's all you need to do.

"...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

Here's the title track from TobyMac's latest CD.

What is 'Original Sin'? (Augsburg Confession, Part 2)

Last week, we began a series of sermons that will seek to answer the question, “What is a Lutheran Christian?”

You’ll remember that we said that this is an important question to answer not because of some desire to continue a human tradition. Lutherans have always believed that if our understanding of Biblical Christian faith can be shown to be wrong through the Bible or plain reason based on the Bible, we will admit our errors and bring an end to the Lutheran movement.

So, what does it mean to be a Lutheran?

To help us answer this question, we’re going to The Augsburg Confession, one of the basic confessional statements of Lutheranism. Written in 1530, it was the first place in which Lutheran Christians systematically explained their beliefs about Biblical Christianity to the greater world.

Today, we’re going to look at Article 2 of the confession, which deals with the subject of Original Sin.

You may be thinking, “Sin? Don’t we talk about sin all the time?” If you feel that way, you must not be alone. When I do the morning crossword puzzles in the newspaper, one of their gimme clues is, “Topic of sermon, three letters”: S-I-N.

But before your eyes glaze over, let me share three things that the doctrine of original sin is not.

First, the term original sin is not a reference to the first time human beings sinned. We inherit original sin from Adam and Eve, but their biting into the fruit that God told them not to touch is not what we’re talking about when we say, “original sin.”

Second, original sin does not refer to a specific sin like giving the importance of God to people or things rather than to God Himself, or craving blessings that other people have, or gossiping, or speaking falsely or uncharitably of others, or using God’s Name for other than prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, or committing murder. Original sin is the condition that makes these sinful acts attractive, enticing, sometimes irresistible. Those are all sins we commit because of original sin.

Third, the doctrine of original sin is not disposable. That's because we cannot understand the depths of God’s love, not just for the world or for the human race, but also for each of us as individuals, unless we understand original sin. This is probably why Philipp Melanchthon, the Wittenberg University colleague of Martin Luther’s who was charged with writing The Augsburg Confession,  made an explanation of original sin article #2, right after article #1, about God!

Do you remember last week when I pointed out that the term trinity doesn’t appear in the Bible, that it’s only a bag believers created to hold a single truth revealed about God in a bunch of different places in the Bible?

The same can be said of the term original sin. It never appears in the Bible. But the Bible reveals the existence of what we call original sin in many places.

So, what do we Lutherans mean when we talk about original sin?

Please pull out the editions of The Augsburg Confession from the pew racks and turn to page 12, where you’ll find Article II, Original Sin. The first paragraph says:

Our [Lutheran] churches teach that since the fall of Adam..., all who are naturally born are born with sin..., that is without the fear of God, without trust in God, and the inclination to sin, called concupiscence. Concupiscence is a disease and original vice that is truly sin. It damns and brings eternal death on those who are not born anew through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.

Original sin is an inborn condition we inherit from our parents. We are born without fear (or respect or awe) of God and without a capacity for trusting in God. And we are born with an inclination to sin, something that the confession describes as concupiscence.

Original sin is why seemingly nice, mature, thoughtful people (like you and me) commit acts of sin.

Original sin drives us to have our own ways, to be our own gods, to be answerable only to ourselves.

Original sin is our inability to trust God or to trust that God’s will is superior to what we might will for ourselves.

Now, I want to show you a couple of passages of Scripture.

Turn please to Genesis 6:5. This verse comes as God, disgusted with the sin of the human race, is about to destroy all of humanity except for eight people--Noah, his wife, their three sons, and the three sons’ wives--in a great flood. It says: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of [humanity] was great in the earth, and that every intent of his heart was only evil continually.”

Now, we might read that verse and think, “Wow! People had become pretty sinful before the flood. It’s a good thing God saved eight people who believed in Him, so He could start all over with them. A fresh start with good people!” But take a look at another verse, Genesis 8:21.

This passage comes after the flood. Noah has just made a sacrificial offering to God and we’re told: “And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for [humanity’s] sake, although the imagination of [humanity’s] heart is evil from his youth...”

Despite the flood that had destroyed all but eight believing members of the human race, the eight survivors were still afflicted with original sin. Nothing had changed!

And according to the Bible and the Lutheran confessions, we human beings are helpless to overcome original sin. We can't resolve to fear God, trust in God, or resist temptation. As we say in our confession of sin, "We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves."

The genetic defect of original sin isn’t a little ill like a speeding ticket for which we can pay a fine and be in God’s good graces. That’s why the confession says that original sin is “truly sin,” something that blocks God’s forgiving grace from our lives, something that will prevent us from enjoying peace with God or ourselves, now and in eternity.

Apart from the intervention of God, original sin ensures that we will be forever sinful, forever incapable of being right with God, the world, or even ourselves, and forever enemies of God.

Original sin is what David was talking about in Psalm 51:5, when he said, “I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.”

It’s what the apostle Paul was wrestling with when, appalled by his orientation to sin instead of trust in God, wrote in Romans 7:15-18: “...what I will to do [the good thing I resolve to do], that I do not practice; but what I hate, I do...[verse 17]...it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.”

Now, some people read or hear the honest professions of innate sinfulness coming from people like David and Paul and say, “Sheesh! That’s an awfully pessimistic view of human beings. It makes us seem like monsters. Surely, human beings do some good on their own steam, apart from God.”

It’s true that we human beings can be trained or may see it in our best interests to engage in what others of the Lutheran confessions call, “civic righteousness,” the righteousness that might help us get along with our neighbors or the people we come into into contact with every day.

But civic righteousness, the righteousness of going along to get along is unimpressive to God! And it doesn't get us any closer to reconciliation with the only One Who can set us free from sin and death.

Jesus, God in human flesh, you know, gave the great commandment to love God completely and to love other human beings with the same passion and consideration with which we love ourselves, But elsewhere, Jesus says that civic righteousness won’t do. He says that even unbelieving people who daily sin and ignore the will of God can perform the deeds that cause others to say, “What a nice guy! What a good woman!”

He says, “...if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors [well known extortionists who spent their time with prostitutes] do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even Gentiles [non-Jews who didn’t know God] do the same. Be perfect [meaning whole, complete, at peace with the world], therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

How many of you here this morning, even after confessing your sins, can say that you’re perfect, whole, complete, at peace with the world this morning? Me neither.

How many of you can say that after hearing the words of absolution today--”the entire forgiveness of all your sins”--that you have finally and completely jettisoned your desire to trust your own judgment or desires instead of the will of God? I haven't either.

As long as we live on this earth, our inheritance from Adam and Eve, original sin--our unwillingness to respect or trust God and our desire to ignore the ten commandments and do things our own ways--will nag us, dog us, tempt us.

We might well ask with the apostle Paul as he considered the reality of original sin in his own soul, “Wretched man [or woman] that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Now, I’ve painted a bleak picture this morning. But then original sin is a bleak reality. And it won’t do to sugar coat things. The stakes are too high. Let me try to illustrate what I mean.

You’re the passenger in a car driving through a rainstorm on a two lane road. The driver is about to switch into the opposite lane to pass the car ahead of you. You realize that he doesn’t see that ahead, about 1000 feet away, barreling down the hill, charging your way, in the opposite lane, the lane into which the driver is about to go, is a semi.

What would you do as the passenger in that car?

Would you tell yourself, “I won’t say anything. The driver is a good guy. He’ll figure things out”?

Would you think, “I’ve always lived a pretty good life. Even if I die, I’m sure I’ll be OK”?

Or would you, at the top of your lungs, yell at the driver, “Stop! Stay in this lane or that truck will kill us?”

Folks, original sin is a truck freighted with eternal separation from God for anyone who chooses to listen to their own ideas, rather than to those of God. It's barreling toward us from the moment we're conceived. The Bible tells us about original sin and I'm telling you about original sin again today because God doesn't want you to be ever separated from Him. God doesn't want any of us to die in our sin.

Though this has been a bleak topic, we are not without hope. Turn to Romans 5:8. It says: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners [still imprisoned by the sin into which we were born], Christ died for us.”

Jesus, the Son of God, is the lane, the way, we can follow to avoid the condemnation our sinfulness deserves.

And that’s what (and Who) we’ll talk about next Sunday. 

[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, this morning.]

Seinfeld Was Wrong; I Was Interested

Despite his prediction at the beginning, I was interested in this interview Jerry Seinfeld gave to The New York Times. I've always found his bits funny, but confession time: I've never watched a single episode of the Seinfeld sitcom.

Despite his prediction at the beginning, I was interested in this interview Jerry Seinfeld gave to The New York Times. I've always found his bits funny, but confession time: I've never watched a single episode of the Seinfeld sitcom.

He's right about how intimidating a computer cursor is. The cursor taunts any writer: "Whaddya gonna say now, Big Shot?" "Hey. Mr. or Ms. Communicator, there's a deadline approaching!"

That's a feeling I get every week when, after studying and praying desperately, I start to write a sermon.

In fact, I sometimes wonder if the term "cursor" isn't a non-sexual double entendre invented by the IT department to taunt right brain creative types. The cursor says, "Curse you, Mr. Smarty Pants!"

But writers felt the fear of emptiness where words should be long before computers or cursors. Ernest Hemingway, a writer known for his physically adventurous life style, was once asked the most frightening thing he'd ever come up against. He said, "A blank piece of paper."

Exactly how I felt back when I wrote my sermons out long hand. Cursors!

[Kudos to Michael Hyatt for linking to this video!]

"Can You Limit Your Sitting and Sleeping to Just 23-1/2 Hours a Day?"

That's the question Dr. Mike Evans asks at the end of this 9-1/2 minute video which, in a compelling, fun, and content-rich format, gives us all plenty of "food" for thought. And it may incite us to get off our duffs to walk for a half-hour a day.

Watching the video is required for members of the insurance plan to which clergy who wish to get some health discounts. (Good idea, huh?)

But I'd have watched the video anyway.

Watch it yourself: It really could change your life!

Why People Get Angry with God...and What We Should Do About It

People who believe in God sometimes get angry with God.

Exhibit A for this truth is a man whose story is told in the Old Testament portion of the Bible, Job. Job was a man whose faith even God bragged about. But when God allows a series of tragedies to happen to Job, Job gets mad at God.

Even in his anger with God though (and despite the stupid words of condemnation of Job gets from "friends," who think they're defending God), Job never stops believing in God.

If you believe in God or want to believe in God and you feel anger toward God, it's silly to not express that emotion to God.

That's because God knows what you're feeling and thinking already. Psalm 139:2-4 says: "You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways." God knows about your anger.

But why do we get mad at God?

Recently, my wife and I read How to Get Along with Almost Anyone by counseling therapist and college professor H. Norman Wright. He showed that one of the biggest reasons we human beings get angry at other human beings can be summed up in two words: Disappointed expectations.

It's true.

An employee expects a Christmas bonus never promised and it doesn't materialize.

A wife expects her husband's enthusiasm for her newest promotion at work even though they had never decided together that this would be a great move for their family.

Charlie Brown expects candy when he goes begging on Halloween night...and all he gets is a rock.

Sometimes our anger with others is warranted. But not if the person with whom we're angry doesn't share our expectations. When the other person hasn't promised what we expect of them, we've got no right to be mad at them!

So, what does this have to do with anger with God?

Just this: Sometimes our anger with God is based on the wrong expectations of a relationship with God. We misunderstand what benefits accrue to those who believe in God. That's why Job said accusingly to God, "...you destroy the hope of mortals. You prevail forever against them, and they pass away; you change their countenance, and send them away..." (Job 14:19-20).

Job seems to think that life is a kind meritocracy, that if a person worships and is faithful to God, works hard and plays by the rules, he or she will merit a smooth life.

But God never promises smooth lives to those who trust in Him.

When God came to the earth in the person of Jesus Christ, He said, "[God] makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).

Faith in God doesn't give the faithful exemptions from the bad things that happen in this imperfect world.

The person who trusts in the God revealed to the whole world in Jesus Christ can expect that God will give them the forgiveness of their sins, the power of the Holy Spirit in making decisions in their lives, the certainty of a life untouched by tragedy after we, like Jesus, experience death and resurrection, and the unshakeable presence of God with us until this world no longer exists.

But faith in God isn't a rabbit's foot that makes the hard and inexplicable stuff of life go away.

Jesus warned His followers that they would even be persecuted for believing in Him. "In the world you will face persecution," He says, "But take courage; I have conquered the world!" (John 16:33).

We can expect an eternity of blessings from God. Those blessings begin in this world.

But sometimes we get angry with God because we have unfair expectations; we expect God to fulfill promises God has never made.

I hope that the reasons I have written this piece are obvious.

But, let's be clear: There are two reasons I have not had in writing this post.

1. I haven't written this post to impose guilt on people who may be feeling angry with God or to tell them to, "Snap out of it!" That's definitely not my goal.

I do ask you to take some time looking at the sources of your anger with God.

Then, spend some time getting to know God better.

The normative word from God and about God is the Bible. That's a great place to go to understand a bit better what the Creator of the universe and you can expect of one another when you follow Him. (For five tips on reading the Bible, go here.)

2. I haven't written this post for readers to send this link to friends whose griefs and anger with God are fresh as if to tell them, "Get over it!"

If you have a friend who's angry with God right now, the best thing for you to do is the opposite of what Job's friends did:

• Listen to them. 
• Let them articulate their feelings. 
• Don't try to explain things you can't explain. 
• Pray for your friend and pray for the moment when the freshness of their anger will have subsided enough that they'll be ready to talk things out with a friend--maybe you.

Remember, no one gets angry with a God in Whom they don't at least want to believe. God isn't afraid of believers' anger toward Him. You shouldn't be either.

Review: 'Night Flight' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Just finished reading Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's 1942 novel, Night Flight, a gnarled paperback copy of which I picked up for a buck at Half Price Books some months ago.

The author, of course, is best known for writing The Little Prince, a book I've never read.

For someone as prosaic as I am, Saint-Exupéry's style can at times be infuriating. It isn't that his style is florid. Nor is he wordy; Night Flight only runs to 128 pages. It's that he uses lots of metaphors. Sentence after sentence they come marching at you until, after about two pages, you almost feel you're drowning in them.

Truth is, I became so fed up with Saint-Exupéry's style in the early going that I nearly threw Night Flight into the Half Price sell pile.

But after a while, I got used to his writing and even came to enjoy the word pictures Saint-Exupéry painted.

The plot is taut and engaging.

Night Flight, set probably in the 1930s, is the story of French aviation pioneers who introduce airmail service in South America, circulating not only there, but also carrying mail to and from Europe.

It's less a novel than it is a short story, tightly focused on a few characters, particularly the psychological drama playing out, on a night of dangerous storms, in the mind and will of the man in charge of the mail service.

Saint-Exupéry, himself an aviation pioneer, portrays the dangers and challenges--physical and psychological--the pioneers in any field are likely to face.

The book's vivid portrayal of these dangers is its greatest attribute. Its greatest deficiency, to me, is its inherent nihilism and anthropocentric narcissism. Saint-Exupéry seems to have believed in a life without God or much purpose apart from whatever purpose human beings choose to impose on it.

As I read Night Flight, I was struck constantly by the fact that Saint-Exupéry himself, died on a reconnaissance mission for the Free French during World War II.

If you can find this book in the library or at Half Price for a buck, it could be worth the time you spend on reading it. Some of the metaphors are stunning.

5 Thoughts on Prayer for the New Year

The beginning of a new year is often a time when people resolve to have a more active prayer life. But through the years, I've seen people who make this resolution with sincerity find it tough to pursue. So, here are a few thoughts on prayer to help you have a fulfilling prayer life.

1. Remember that prayer is a lot simpler than you may think. "What should I say?" people have asked me.

Jesus says that He calls those who follow Him and obey Him by trusting in Him for their salvation are His friends (John 15:5; John 6:29).

So, ask yourself, "How do I talk with my friends?" Before you get together with your friends, do you sit down and put together an agenda?

Formal, public prayer may sometimes require more forethought and planning. But if the God made known to all the world in Jesus Christ is your friend, just talk with Him.

2. Remember that prayer is a lot more complicated than you may think.

I love something C.S. Lewis writes in his classic, Mere Christianity:

An ordinary Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get in touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him [God the Holy Spirit, Who comes to us in Holy Baptism]. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God--that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying--the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on--the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being [the Holy Trinity, one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. 

Every prayer we offer is an instance of God empowering us to militate against our inborn impulse to self-sufficiency and self-will. And that is a complicated miracle of grace. Never lose your wonder at that!

3. Remember that it's likely your most genuine, authentic praying will happen when you are so overwhelmed by your circumstances that you don't know what to pray. 

The Bible teaches that God's power is brought to bear perfectly in our lives when we are strong enough to admit our vulnerability and weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This is why Ole Hallesby, a great Lutheran pastor and teacher of the last century, said that there are two elements that must be present in order for prayer to actually be prayer:

• faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ and 
• helplessness, the realization that only God and not we ourselves can make happen the things for which we pray.

Don't put off praying if life has you so overwhelmed that you don't know what to say to God! Romans 8:26 in the New Testament says:

...we do not know how to pray as we ought, but...[the Holy] Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words...

Go to God. God will take care of the rest.

4. Nothing you pray about, no request you make, is stupid.

As you continue to submit to God, He may show you through His Word, the Bible, and through counsel consistent with the Bible that you hear or learn in other ways, that some of your requests as ill-advised or even contrary to the will of God.

But never be afraid to speak your mind and heart to God!

Someone, Bill Hybels among others, has said that, as Jesus promises, God always answers prayer offered in Jesus' Name. But God may answer our prayers in four different ways:

• God may say, "No"
• God may say, "Maybe"
• God may say, "Wait"
• God may say, "Yes"

Maturity as a Christian is, in some ways, measured by the grace with which we accept God's answers to our prayers. Our spiritual maturity is maybe most challenged when God says, "Yes" to our prayers. (More on that some other time.)

5. It's good to keep God's priorities for prayer in mind. When God in the flesh, Jesus, was asked by His disciples how to pray, He gave as a model what we call, "the Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father."

The prayer is divisible into sections and prayer petitions, as Martin Luther does in The Small Catechism:

• The introduction: Our Father, Who art in heaven
• The first petition: Hallowed be Thy Name
• The second petition: Thy kingdom come
• The third petition: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
• The fourth petition: Give us this day our daily bread
• The fifth petition: And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us
• The sixth petition: And lead us not into temptation
• The seventh petition: But deliver us from evil
• The conclusion (added by the Church, based on Scripture): For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen

Among the sins from which Jesus came to free those who believe in Him is the tyranny of self. He wants to free us from our penchant for allowing our own sin-tinged desires and inherent selfishness to dictate what we ask from God.

The Lord's Prayer represents a way we can ask God to move us away from selfishness to holiness in our praying.

The introduction and the first three petitions are all about God's Name and will being honored by the world and us. It isn't until the fourth petition that Jesus teaches us to pray for something for ourselves and even then, He doesn't tell us to pray for a iPad or a Mercedes-Benz, but what we need this day to live.

Seeking to have our prayer lives reflect the kind of concern for God and for others that Jesus models in the Lord's Prayer is a good goal.

I'm still working on that myself and, because I'm a sinner saved only by the grace God grants to those who surrender to Jesus, I no doubt will have to continue working on it until the moment I draw my last breath on earth.But some goals are worth pursuing no matter how outrageous the odds!

"Fully Equipped"

Here.

The Three-in-One God (Augsburg Confession, Part 1)

To begin this morning, a personal word. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I would have no joy in this life and no hope for eternity were it not for the witness of Lutheran Christianity.

Baptized in an evangelical Friends church, confirmed in a United Methodist congregation, I know that I had many times heard the good news--the gospel--of Jesus Christ, that God so loved the world that He sent Jesus to die and rise so that all who turn from sin and believe in Him will have life with God for eternity. But the message never took with me and following a decade of youthful atheism, it was only after I’d heard and experienced the Lutheran understanding of the Gospel that I could say with firm and informed conviction, “I believe in God the Father...I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord...I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

So, the Lutheran witness for Christ is more precious to me than I can ever explain.

But what is a Lutheran?

It has never been more important for Lutherans to know the answer to that question than it is today.

There’s a rising tide of ignorance about God in today’s world. Ignorance about God comes in two forms. People can be ignorant because they choose to ignore God’s revealed truth or people can be ignorant because they simply don’t know.

This latter form of ignorance is the sadder because it means that no informed, loving person with faith in Christ has ever shared the message of Christ with them. Christians must be prepared always, in the words of 1 Peter 3:15, “to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.”

Jesus says, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” If we have a scintilla of compassion for other human beings, we must know what we believe and why and be prepared to lovingly and respectfully share our belief.

But what does this have to do with being a specifically Lutheran Christian? Aren’t there other Christian churches?

Yes, there are other Christian churches and Lutherans have never been so arrogant as to say that we’re the only ones who have Biblical Christianity right.

But as we will see during the Sundays to come, Lutheran Christians have a particular understanding of Biblical Christian faith. Historically we have said, paraphrasing Martin Luther, “This is what we believe. But if you can show us by Scripture and plain reason based on Scripture that we are wrong, we will lay down our Lutheran confessions of faith and admit that we were wrong.” Otherwise our stance is, “Here we stand.”

We take our stand because the movement that began when that young monk Luther posted 95 theses on a church door on October 31, 1517, isn’t about petty, unimportant issues. It’s about life and death and eternity issues.

Get these issues wrong and there will be many people living without the joy that comes from having Christ in your life every day. Get these issues wrong and millions of people who might otherwise be reconciled to God through Christ will be separated from God for eternity. And these things will happen not because other Christian denominations and traditions aren't sharing the Gospel, but because there are lots of people like me in whom the Gospel never would have made a connection apart from the unique Lutheran witness for Christ.

That’s why what we’re about in the Church--trusting in, following, and sharing Jesus Christ--should be the most important thing in your life, whatever your job, whatever your station!

It’s especially important for us to know what it means to be Lutheran Christians today because, sadly, many in our own denomination seem intent on turning their backs on confessional Lutheran Christianity and taking us with them. We can’t let that happen!

The structure around which these sermons will be built is The Augsburg Confession. Christians, especially Lutheran Christians, have always been in the explaining business. We try to explain God to the outside world. We try to explain God to ourselves. We do that not because we think the Bible is deficient. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. And it conveys all the truth about God that a person needs to believe and live out faith in Jesus Christ.

But what do we believe about the Bible?

How do we understand what God is telling us in the histories, hymns, wisdom sayings, prophecies, apocalyptic visions, and teachings that make up the Bible?

And how do we then explain what we have come to understand of these things?

That’s where the Augsburg Confession comes in. You can, if you want, read the background of the confession that you’ll find in the front section of the tan and brown editions that are in all the pew racks this morning. The Augsburg Confession was written by Philipp Melanchthon in 1530 to explain what members of the evangelical movement (the good news movement), later called Lutherans, believed.

Lutherans have always included the Augsburg Confession in its Book of Concord, a set of statements of Christian faith that summarize what we Lutherans believe about the God of the Bible. In the constitutions of the ELCA, the Southern Ohio Synod, and Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, we say the same. There’s no better place to find the answer to the question, “What is a Lutheran Christian?” than to look to the Augsburg Confession.

Now, I had a road map all laid out for this series. I was going to cram all twenty-eight articles of the Augsburg Confession into ten weeks of preaching. But as I banged my head against the wall on this sermon the other day, I told Ann, “If I introduce the Confession and talk about two of its articles, I’ll end up with a fifty-page sermon.” “Then, slow it down,” she said. “Nobody cares if you take ten sermons or fifty, just as long as each one of them helps us in our faith.” I hate it when the Holy Spirit tells Ann what I should do! So, we’re going to slow things down. Understanding what it means to be a Lutheran Christian warrants taking things slow.

Please turn to page 11 in The Augsburg Confession and look at Article 1, God. It starts our: “Our churches [that is, our Lutheran churches] teach with common consent that the decree of the council of Nicaea [the council held in the 4th century in the Turkish city of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed] the unity of the divine essence and the three persons is true. It is to be believed without any doubt. God is one divine essence who is eternal, without a body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. He is the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible...Yet there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit...These three persons are of the same essence and power...” 

So, like other Christians, we Lutherans believe that there is one God in three Persons Who is Lord of all creation. The word Trinity, which describes this truth about God, never appears in the Bible. But the word trinity is a bag in which Biblical truth is carried. It’s just a shorthand way of describing what the Bible reveals to us about God. But where does the Bible tell us that God is one God in three persons?

Let’s start at the beginning. Turn to Genesis 1:26. God, the sole creator of the universe, says: “‘Let Us make man in our image, according to Our likeness...” Question: Who is God talking to? There is only one Creator of the universe and He’s talking to at least one other person about creating. This is our first indication that the one God Who creates is more than one person.

Flash forward to Genesis 18:1. Abraham and Sarah have been waiting many years for God to fulfill His promise of giving them a son through whom God would make them the parents of nations. “Then the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.” The Lord--a translation of God’s Name, Yahweh, which means I AM--appeared to Abraham. “So [Abraham] lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him...” It would appear that when God showed up to meet Abraham face to face, Abraham saw God as three persons.

Now flash forward again, some 2100 years after the death of Abraham, to Jesus to learn more about this mystery. Look at John 8:58. Jesus tells a group questioning His authority: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Jesus is staking His claim that He is Yahweh, God. Yet this same Jesus also prays to God the Father, a hint that God can be three and yet also one.

Take a look at another passage, Matthew 28:19. Jesus knew and believed the words of Moses from Deuteronomy in the Old Testament: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God [Yahweh your God], the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). He knew too that worship given to anyone other than God is idolatry, a violation of the first commandment. Yet, Jesus allowed people to worship Him. And, after rising from the dead, just before ascending to heaven, Jesus gives this commission to His Church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...”

Jesus puts both Himself and the Holy Spirit on the same level as God the Father. Anyone who would do this could rightly be regarded either as a horrible liar or a madman. Yet we know that Jesus was neither madman nor liar. The Bible teaches and Lutheran believe that there is one God in three persons.

So, we come to this familiar question: What does this mean?

Maybe the most important thing about the Trinity for us is that God, within the fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, had all the fulfillment, love, and relationship any living being could want. God didn’t need to make the world. God didn’t need to make us. And God didn’t need all the grief and heartache we have caused Him by our rejection of Him and the hurt we cause to other people who, just like us, are made in the image of God. God doesn’t need to do any of these things. He doesn’t really need anybody else.

But God chose to give us life. God chose to become one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, to bear our sins on a cross, to die taking the execution for sin we deserve, then rose from the dead to tear open eternity to all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

God chooses to this day to give new life to all who trust in Christ.

God is filled with love!

His willingness to step outside of the sure comforts of perfect relationship He enjoys within the Trinity to reach out to us shows us just how loving this God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--truly is.

And that’s more than enough of God’s Word for us to know and soak up today...or any day, for that matter. Amen

[This was prepared to be shared during both worship services with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, this morning.]

"The 7 Secrets to Chasing Your Dream"

That's the title of this short, wise post written by Geoff Talbot.

Other Than That, What Did You Think of Russell Crowe in 'Les Miserables'?

An old joke has someone asking Mary Lincoln after her husband was assassinated, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

I’ve never cared for the music from Les Miserables and so, have no plans to see it. Our daughter, who has sung the music many times, went to see the film because of that and hated the movie, especially owing to what she saw as its overabundance of gore.

But Taylor Marsh, guest columnist over at The Moderate Voice evidently loves the novel and the musical on which it's based.

His review of Russell Crowe's performance in the blockbuster movie though is, to put it mildly, sharply critical. He says that Crowe is guilty of an "epic fail." There is no reason to ask Marsh about his opinion of Crowe's turn in the movie musical. He has emphatically assassinated the Aussie's performance.

He faults Crowe both for being a poor singer and for so focusing on the musicality which Marsh feels, is beyond his capacity, that he fails to develop the character of Javert, the baddie of Les Mis whose obsession with Jean Valjean is the driver of much of the novel's and the musical's drama. (Javert is Ahab to Valjean's Moby Dick.)

Along the way, Marsh also has bad things to say about the history of non-professional singers being cast in lead roles in film musicals for which he feels they had no talent. He singles out Audrey Hepburn, almost all of whose vocals in the classic film musical, My Fair Lady, were replaced with the singing of a professional singer, for particular criticism.

As a general rule, I don’t think it’s necessary for actors in musicals to be professional singers. Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons did more than creditable work in the film version of Guys and Dolls, arguably the best musical ever.

And, unlike Marsh, I liked Audrey Hepburn’s pre-dubbed versions for My Fair Lady, some of which I've heard on TCM, precisely because her vocals seemed so much more in-character than did the dubbed pseudo-operatic renderings of the talented singer whose voice filled in for Hepburn's. Rex Harrison’s talk-singing also works in that film.

(Given that Harrison was performing as Henry Higgins on Broadway at roughly the same time that Bob Dylan was beginning his recording career with such tunes in his repertoire as ‘Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues’ and ‘Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,’ Harrison and Dylan might be considered, with a little stretch of the imagination, as early progenitors of rap music. Not really, I’m just funning on this point.)

Whether Crowe is any good, musically or dramatically, in Les Miserables, is not likely something about which I'll ever have an opinion. (Loved Crowe in A Beautiful Mind and The Insider, never cared for the movie, The Gladiator and so can't say whether I cared for his performance in it or not.) But I think that there's more to inhabiting and presenting a song than having a technically theatrical voice. And sometimes it's the subtle things that convey what's going on inside of a character.

UPDATE: From a discussion of the use of dubbing in movie musicals, Ann Althouse records her "annoyance" with movies in general. While I sometimes take a pass on watching movies because sitting through a film that may or may not interest me makes me feel that I'm wasting my time, that's not always the case. What about you? Do you watch movies any more?

"They could spend seven hours a day watching that?"

McCullough's response to the last question is the clincher.

By the way, The Greater Journey, the McCullough book which occupies most of the attention in this interview is fantastic!

Thanks to my son for sending out the link to this video.




 

Who Are These "Celebrities"?

Saw this magazine cover while shopping today at Costco.

The cover says it has the scoop on, "What Tore Them Apart."

My first thought? "Who are they?"

I wasn't interested enough in learning who they are to do a Google search.

It just struck me what our celebrity culture has come to. Once upon a time, there were a few people who were celebrities: leaders in government and other institutions, a handful of entertainers, writers, and artists, and that was about it.

But with the explosion of the Internet, which came after the advent of five-million channels on cable and satellite TV, a media machine that eats and spits out "celebrities" at roughly the same rate at which your Toro cuts and discharges blades of grass, almost anyone can be a celebrity.

And Andy Warhol turns out to have grossly overestimated the shelf lives of instant celebrities; fifteen minutes takes many way past their expiration dates.

The consequence is, of course, that people's stars go by so quickly that many in this celebrity-craving culture miss them altogether.

I'm sorry that this couple experienced some sort of split.

But, if they're fortunate, they won't be celebrities much longer and they both can focus on being the one thing we should most want to be, actual human beings.

 [See also here.]

3 Lessons My Health Issues Have Taught Me

[This was prepared to be shared with the people of the Logan Cancer Recovery Group this evening.]

Since my last visit with you several years ago, a few things have happened in my life.

In 2010, I suffered a heart attack that took out 40% of my heart. Since then, a stent was implanted in an artery that had been 100% blocked and in 2011, as a precautionary measure, I received a defibrillator/pacemaker.

Also in 2011, a small spot of melanoma was found on my left leg and I underwent an outpatient surgical procedure at the James Center at Ohio State. A biopsy showed that there was no cancer in the surrounding area.

In 2012, I developed a stubborn rash that ultimately proved to be a symptom of Celiac Disease, a genetic condition that may or may not show up in he course of a person’s life. The thinking is that all that whole wheat I was eating to keep my heart healthy triggered the activation of the Celiac Disease. Because I still had a rash and both my wife and I were getting acclimated to the new gluten-free, wheat-free diet that is the only treatment that exists for Celiac, we had to cancel a planned visit with friends who live in France.

Shortly after the Celiac diagnosis, I told an old high school classmate: “It’s no biggie. Heart, cancer, and Celiac were all on my bucket list.” We laughed and he said, “Man, you gotta get a different list.”

Now, I’m doing well. Most days I do several miles of brisk walking. My heart is steady at about 60 beats per minute. My blood pressure, which has never been an issue, is, my doctor says, “perfect.”

There’s been no hint of skin cancer on any other part of my body.

And I’m actually enjoying the gluten-free diet.

After my last physical, my doctor declared that I was in "great shape."

I can’t claim to have experienced anything like what many of you have gone through. But I have learned some things I either didn’t know or didn’t pay much attention to before my last visit with you. They’re probably things all of you know from your experiences. Nonetheless, they’re worth remembering.

So what are some of these lessons I’ve learned?

First: Any time we receive bad news about our health, we should remember that it isn’t always our faults. We know that smoking leaves us at heightened risk for heart attack and cancer. We know that not exercising and not getting immunized leaves us susceptible to all sorts of diseases. We know that it’s not wise to drive without securing our seat belts. There are common sense precautions we all can take to reduce our risk for diseases or accidents.

But sometimes bad things happen even to cautious people.

In Matthew 5:45, Jesus says that the Father “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

In Romans, the apostle Paul says that the whole universe groans under the weight of the condition of sin, that condition of enmity between God and the creation that you and I have inherited from Adam and Eve.

For nearly two years after my heart attack, I beat myself up for it. Although I had been unaware of feeling stressed, I assumed since I had none of the other risk factors for a heart attack that I had stressed myself into it. I even said so publicly. And stress may have played some role in it.

But only recently, my doctor said that he didn’t think my heart attack was caused by stress. “What was it then?” I asked. He paused for a long time and then said, “Maybe just bad luck.”

Now, I don’t believe in luck. But I do believe that there are some things that happen to us over which we have no control. In fact, most of the things that happen to us are probably in that category.

My doctor told me, “Mark, you may have been born with a partially occluded artery that simply took fifty-seven years to become completely blocked.” He went on to say that given the numbers of collateral arteries that had developed near the blocked one, something that would have taken decades to develop, I probably was born with that blockage.

Again, common sense dictates that we control those negative behaviors or habits that may endanger our health and instead, engage in other habits, like exercise, that can help us. But not every illness we’re hit with has anything to do with our behaviors. Our genes, our environments, or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time can all work against us.

The last thing we need to do when we’re hit with a negative medical diagnosis is to send ourselves on a guilt trip. That will not help us feel better.

A second lesson is really one I have re-learned. It’s summarized in the words of Pastor Chuck Swindoll. “I am convinced,” Swindoll has said, “that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” Viktor Frankl, the psychotherapist who survived time in a Nazi concentration camp said much the same thing when he wrote that, “Everything can be taken from a [person] but one thing; the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances...”

Every one of you here this evening knows well that while we may not control what happens to us, we can control how we react to it.

I have known people who suffered minor health setbacks and allowed them to become death sentences. These people withdrew from life, proclaimed themselves to be suffering from the terminal disease of being human, shuttered their spirits, metaphorically wrapped themselves in cotton balls, and waited for the Grim Reaper.

Others recognize though that life, even in the midst of adversity, is a precious, undeserved gift from God worth living, worth cherishing.

Some of you know "B" from our congregation. B will turn 99 years old in a few days. A few years back, her sons and she decided that she could no longer fend for herself in her home. So, she moved to an assisted care facility.

B is legally blind and has to wear hearing aids. Last year, she had Shingles.

She could be bitter, wondering why she’s still around despite her afflictions. But that isn’t the choice she’s made. Always an avid reader, now largely unable to read, she listens to about five novels on CD every week. She works out every day, is a member of the garden club, participates in the crossword puzzle group, laughs, and keeps me on the straight and narrow.

B once told me that after the decision was made that she needed to leave her home, “I could have felt sorry for myself. But I decided to be happy.” We can control how we react to what happens to us.

A third lesson I’ve re-learned in a powerful way over the past few years is the most important one of all. It’s this. When Jesus tells those who believe in Him, “I am with you always, even to the close of the age,” you can bank on it.

I have never felt the closeness of Jesus, the One Who died and rose to set me free from bondage to sin and death, more than I have in the two-and-a-half years since my heart attack.

And belief in Jesus, Emmanuel--God with us--is good for our health and good for our recovery from health challenges.

This is borne out by research. In the book, The Faith Factor: Proof of the Healing Power of Prayer, Dr. Dale Matthews and co-author Connie Clark write: “Scientific studies show that religious involvement helps people prevent illness, recover from illness, and--most remarkably--live longer.” [The authors' italics.]

They go on to cite several studies that prove that point. For example, a 1972 study of 91,909 people in Washington County, Maryland “found that those who attended church once or more a week had significantly lower death rates from” coronary disease, emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. They also had less tuberculosis and other diseases.

In 1995, a Dartmouth University study of 232 elderly patients who underwent open-heart surgery showed that the “overall death rate among these patients was 9 percent the first six months after surgery. But for patients who said they attended church regularly, the death rate was 5 percent; the death rate for non-church attenders was nearly three times what it was for churchgoers.” Even more impressively, among the believers, the 37 patients who said they received “significant ‘strength and comfort’ from their beliefs all survived the six-month period.”

The authors go on to document study after study that show the positive effect that faith has on cancer patients, those suffering from depression and grief, and those who have addictions.

Now, we all know, as one of my seminary professors used to remind us, that, except for Jesus, God in the flesh, Who rose from the dead, and Enoch and Elijah, two Old Testament figures who never died, the ratio of births to deaths among the human race remains 1 to 1.

But I have learned that belonging to a Savior Who gives new and everlasting life to all who repent--disavowing the power of sin over their lives--and believe in Jesus--surrendering their whole lives to Him--have a power for living and dealing with life’s adversities that those who don’t have a  relationship with Christ don't enjoy.

This shouldn’t surprise us. Jesus describes Himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life.” When we have a relationship with Jesus, we know that we belong to God now and for all eternity and that nothing can separate us from God or His love for us.

If that doesn’t give us strength to handle anything, nothing will!

So, these are the lessons I have learned or relearned these past few years, lessons I’m sure you all know well.

Number one, when we get a bad medical diagnosis, we need to change what behaviors and habits we can, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for things we can’t control.

Number two, we can’t always control what happens to us, but we can control how we react to what happens to us.

Number three, we need to embrace and maintain a strong personal relationship with Christ through prayer, reading God’s Word, regular worship attendance, service in Christ’s Name, and sharing our faith in Christ with others.

When we undertake these steps, we will ensure that however long we live, we will truly live, making full use of the gift of life with which God has blessed each of us. Thank you.

Any Questions?

This from the Harvard Business Review's Daily Stat. Draw your own conclusions.

JANUARY 2, 2013

Fatal Heart Attacks Decline When Workplaces Go Smoke-Free

U.S. states that impose workplace smoking bans covering the entire population can expect to see about 70 fewer fatal heart attacks annually, on average, among workers ages 25 to 54, in comparison with states having no workplace smoking bans, says a team led by Scott Adams of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Put another way, heart attack fatalities for that age group fall by 17% when states go from having no bans to total workplace smoking prohibitions, the researchers say. Some 36 states have workplace smoking bans of some kind, but many of the laws exclude restaurants and bars.

Source: The short-term impact of smoke-free workplace laws on fatal heart attacks

5 Tips for Reading the Bible in 2013

It's a brand new year and if you're like many people, amid all the hubbub and football games of January 1, you may already be one day behind in your new year's resolution to read the entire Bible in a year.

Averaging just over three chapters a day, it is possible for you to read all sixty-six books of the Scriptures by the end of 2013. So, if you didn't read your three chapters yesterday, don't give up!

There are many good reasons for reading the Bible.

We Lutheran Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God because it gives faithful witness to the foundational Word Who gave life in the beginning and Who gives new life to those who turn from sin (repent) and believe (surrender one's life trustingly) in Jesus Christ.

The book of John in the New Testament says of Jesus, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things came into being in Him." It goes on to say that, "the Word became flesh and lived among us...From His fullness we have received grace upon grace..." (John 1:1-18) The Bible then is God's Word about the Word of God!

The Bible is also the place to find the authoritative answers revealed by God about God, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and how to live our lives each day. As another place in the New Testament reminds us, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).

So, reading this book is important. But how can you stick with it? Here are a few tips.

First: You might want to recruit some friends who will read the Bible over the course of the year, then meet weekly to discuss it.

In 2011, we decided to read the Bible together in a year's time at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, the congregation I serve as pastor. Participants read at home, then joined in weekly discussion groups held on Wednesdays, one group meeting mornings and another in the evenings.

Reading the Bible together like this helps us to be accountable for doing the reading. It helps keep us "on task."

A group also affords us forgiveness and understanding when we, inevitably, fall behind from time to time.

And we learn a lot from others by reading and discussing God's Word together in this way.

Second: Find a translation with which you're comfortable.

We're blessed to live in a time in which there are many English translations of the Bible. Some are better than others, of course.

But if you find yourself tripping over the King James Version's thee's, thou's, and begats, consider reading the Bible in a translation that you can more readily understand.

Many translations can be found online, not costing you a penny.

Among my favorite translations are the New Revised Standard Version, the Good News Bible, the New International Version, and The Message. (One deficiency of The Message, by the way, is that it doesn't note the verses the way other translations and paraphrases of the Bible do.)

Third: Even if you do decide to use an online Bible over the course of the year, you should go to the expense of getting a basic commentary of the Bible.

Good commentaries will give you background information on the passages, explain the usage of certain words, and may even contain maps. The Eerdman's Companion to the Bible is one such book. The investment needed to buy this book will, if you use it as you read the Bible, be more than worth it!

Fourth: Consider getting a study Bible.

Such Bibles will contain some of the resources found in commentaries. You'll pay a bit more for a study Bible, but not have the expense of a commentary.

The Life Application Bibles, which exist in several different translations, are really great.

So too is The Student Bible with tremendous explanatory articles throughout by Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford.

Another great study Bible is The Lutheran Study Bible, published by Concordia Publishing House. While I disagree with my Lutheran Church/Missouri Synod brothers and sisters on some points of theology, especially in their understanding of the role of women, who I believe Scripture teaches are equal to men, I nonetheless find this study Bible extremely helpful.

I cannot endorse the study Bible published by my own denominational publishing house.

Fifth: Remember Jesus came into the world to give forgiveness. So, forgive yourself when you miss a day of reading the Bible or when events intrude and you miss a bunch of days.

The best thing to do when someone learning to ride a horse, bicycle, or skateboard falls is get back up and have at it again. The same is true of reading the Bible. Either pick up where you left off in your reading or, if you're using a list of dated readings, start in again for the readings assigned for the day.

Remember: Reading the Bible isn't about putting a notch on your belt or proving that you're a Super-Christian.

It's about getting to know God better, the way you do a friend.

A friend won't beat you up if you're unable to make the lunches you planned to have together. Friends understand.

So does God. The intentions of our hearts count a lot with God.

Enjoy getting to know God as your best friend by reading the Bible in 2013!

5 Reasons You Should Share Your Faith in Christ This Year

It's a new year and the events of the past year demonstrate how desperately people need the peace of mind and heart that come from the God Who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ.

That means that the Church, the people who daily engage in battle against their own sin and entrust their lives to Jesus Christ, their God, need to get busy sharing their faith in Christ.

Not convinced? Here are five reasons you should share your faith in Christ in 2013.

1. Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. Jesus once summarized God's moral law, as revealed in the Old Testament's Ten Commandments, in what has come to be called the great commandment. It's made up of two parts, each of which cite passages from the Old Testament. Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second commandment is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).

A relationship with Jesus Christ is the best thing that can come to a person. So, if we love our neighbors, we must share Christ.

We should take the first believers in Christ as our models. They simply told their skeptical friends, "Come and see." If we love our friends, neighbors, and family members, we must share Christ with them!

2. Jesus commissions Christians to make disciples, that is, followers of Christ. Faith is not reproduced genetically. Just because your parents were committed Christians who took you to church as a kid doesn't mean that you're a disciple. Faith is passed on from person to person.

That's why Jesus tells Christians, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned" (Matthew 16:15-16).

3. Your neighbor needs Christ. There's an inborn hole in every soul that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. That hole is the vacuum where a right and loving relationship with God and neighbor is meant to be. Jesus is the only way that hole can be filled!

Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

At risk to their lives, early followers of the crucified and risen Jesus told people, "There is salvation in no one else, for their is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

4. Without a saving faith in Jesus Christ, your neighbor will be separated from God today and for eternity. Jesus says: "For God so loved the world [everybody] that He gave His only Son [Jesus], so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the Name of the only Son of God" (John 3:16-18).

5. Our own faith grows as we share Christ with others and our own faith ebbs as we fail to share Christ with others. We have a need to share our faith.

Jesus tells believers in Him, "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

Jesus, the light of the world, ignites the flame of faith in all who are baptized and believe in Him. When we let others see our faith, it lights their way to peace with God, others, and themselves. When we tamp down the flame of faith, we harm others and threaten the very existence of faith within us.

That's why, after being beaten and threatened with grave consequences if they shared their faith in Christ with others, Peter and John, two early followers of Jesus told the authorities, "Whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20).

Peter and John, of course, were witnesses of both Jesus' death and His resurrection. We have the witness of hundreds of such eyewitnesses like them who risked their lives to share the fantastic story of the God of all creation taking on human flesh in the person of Jesus, then dying and rising, to give new lives to all who repent and believe in Christ.

We also have the witness of millions of people in the centuries since Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection that their lives were transformed by faith in Christ. Believers in Christ today have similar stories.

How can we possibly keep from speaking about Jesus? News this good has to be shared.

Happy new year!