by Pastor Pat Badkey
[My friend and seminary classmate, Pastor Pat Badkey, preached at the morning worship service at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, this past Sunday, November 18. I was installed as Saint Matthew's pastor that day. Pat, her husband, Steve, and I were seminary classmates. Through the years, they have remained our dear friends and our kids practically grew up together. Pat is one of the finest and most faithful pastors I know. So, I was honored and happy when she consented to give the sermon as I was installed. Below is Pat's sermon.]
Isaiah 65:17-25
About a week ago I received some news via email from friends who now live in Columbus, Ohio. It was a birth announcement from a friend with whom I had worked with for about two-and-a-half years at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cincinnati. Well, actually, her husband Ben wrote the email; I think Deanna might have been a little tired out from the birth.
The announcement went like this: “We are proud to announce that we have added a new member to the family as of yesterday evening. Lauren Jane was born on November 5, 20007. She weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz, and was 21” tall. Mom and baby are doing well and recovering. Bryce is eagerly looking forward to teaching her how to play baseball, cars and trains…two early pictures are attached. Hope all is well! Ben, Deanna and Bryce.” Two adorable pictures followed in the email and she is a cutie.
Birth announcements and announcements of new life are always wonderful to receive because they bring good news full of hope and possibility to the people who receive them.
I thought of new life as I read our text in Isaiah 65:17-25. This passage was written to the people of Israel after they have returned from their long exile in Babylon. What they find when they finally get home surprises them. Their country lays in waste and their beloved city, Jerusalem, is in ruins.
To people who find themselves in a rather hopeless situation, the prophet announces these words from God, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy and its people as a delight”. God promises them that people will live long lives, their work shall prosper, and they shall enjoy the fruits of their labor. God promises them peace and then God continues by saying, “Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear.”
In this passage God is announcing to his people a future filled with hope and possibility and it is promised to them not as a reward for present righteousness but as pure undeserved gift from God, a God who promises to answer our heartfelt prayers even before they are asked. God is promising to transform the whole cosmos simply because the Lord is a gracious and creative God, a God who is present with his people.
As I heard these hopeful words about God creating a new heaven and a new earth, I tried to imagine hearing them as Christians who are standing at the beginning of a great new adventure in their lives together. I tried to imagine hearing them as a congregation who was installing a new pastor to lead their congregation and as a pastor who was called to provide pastoral leadership to a new congregation. These words from the prophet Isaiah promise that God will be present in their new life together and will help them create the ministry they have been called to do.
As a congregation and as a pastor begin their mutual ministry, it seems there are two things they must do. The first is this, the congregation and the pastor must commit to being in ministry together for the sake of Jesus, just as a husband and wife might commit to being married and being a couple.
Let me tell you a story. The year is 1985. It is spring and I am living in Toledo with my husband Steve and our daughter Charissa, who is just a little over a year old. I have taken the last nine months or so off because I needed to regroup after finishing seminary and also within that same time frame, we moved to Toledo and celebrated our daughter’s first birthday. If you do calculations, the preceding year-and-a-half had been pretty hectic for us. Well, the bishop’s office calls me one day in April and asks if I would like to interview for a part time call in Toledo, at St. Petri Lutheran Church. You see, I had told the bishop’s office, that as I began ministry, I would really like to serve a congregation at least initially on a part-time basis. So the synod office calls and says they would like me to interview for this position and that it is the only position they have that is part time in Toledo. So I say yes, I will interview. I interview, and it goes well. But the one thing that makes me hesitant is the senior pastor I will be working with has this reputation around town of being a rather loose cannon. Eventually, the congregation extends the call to me. I pray and think about the call, but I am still not sure for some reason if I should accept it. I keep thinking, “What if it does not go well? Then what will I do? Then what will happen?”
I decide to call the assistant to the bishop, who was Pastor Kirk Havel at the time, to speak with him about my feelings and concerns. As I talked with Pastor Havel, raising my concerns, raising my fears, that this might be less than the perfect situation, he patiently listened, then he said to me, “Pat, no congregation is perfect. Other staff members are not without their issues. Perhaps you need to think about entering into ministry with a congregation like you enter into marriage. Couples try to get to know each other the very best they can before they get married, right?” I said, “Yes.” (Steve and I, like most couples, had done pre-marital counseling) He continued, “But basically couples enter into marriage for better for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, as their vows say, because they never know what the future will bring. They end up committing to the marriage and to each other to make it the best marriage they can. They end up saying we both must use our individual gifts to make it strong.”
He went on to say, “I think the same is true with ministry. Once you decide you have been called to serve a particular congregation, you have to be committed to it just like you are to your marriage and see where that takes you.”
Well, I must tell you when I heard those words, it was like a light bulb going off in my head and my heart and I accepted the call. Those words allowed me to give that congregation my all and commit to the ministry I felt called to share with the people of St. Petri. I was no longer worried and concerned about the situation being perfect as much as all of us working toward the ministry and mission our Lord had called us to do in the south side of Toledo. It was an exciting time for me and I felt blessed to serve alongside that pastor who had the reputation of being a loose cannon because he proved to be a wonderful colleague and in a congregation that wanted to figure out new ways they could serve their Lord as they celebrated over 100 years of ministry.
It seems that is a good part of what we are doing here today at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. We are celebrating the commitment Pastor Mark Daniels is making to you as your pastor and you are making to him as a congregation to be in mission together for the sake of Jesus.
We are also celebrating the new ministry to which God is calling St Matthew’s. Be assured, the ministry you will do together will not always be perfect or should I say, will not always go smoothly (ask any couple who has been married 50 years, maybe even 25, maybe even 10 years, if their marriages have always been perfect or without bumps), but that does not mean the ministry will not be blessed, or that God can not use St. Matthew’s in great and creative ways for the sake of the good news of Jesus Christ.
The second thing a congregation and a new pastor must do is remember the Holy Spirit has empowered them to build together and dream about the ministry to which they are called.
Pastor Ed Markquart, Lutheran pastor and author of an evangelism course called “Witnesses for Christ,” recounts a dream he had one evening. He said the dream began rather oddly. He, even though it is the year 2000, finds himself sitting in his old 1963 VW bug in the dream. Pastor Markquart said this was odd because it was the very car he had driven to his first parish in 1973. The car was old then, ten years old, gray-green in color and very dilapidated with hardly any floorboard left and fenders that were falling off and seemed to frown.
Anyway, he is in his 1963 VW bug and sitting at a stop sign and in the lane next to him is a red Porsche with its motor running. In the dream, the driver of the Porsche then gunned his engine and Pastor Markquart said he then gunned his, sending a signal to the driver of the Porsche, that yes, he was willing to race (Warning should be noted here that none of us should really do this except in a dream).
The driver of the red Porsche was a handsome young man with dark hair and he had a mustache. Pastor Markquart noted to himself in the dream that his hair use to look like that about 25 years ago. The young man glances at Pastor Markquart again as he puts a cigarette to his lips. Pastor Markquart glances at him but he lifts a carton of milk to his lips instead. In the red Porsche, next to the young, dark haired, handsome driver sits an equally beautiful young woman, who makes him and the car look really good. And next to Pastor Markquart sits, you guessed it, his wife of thirty years. The driver guns the engine once again to a quiet roar. So Pastor Markquart guns his engine again and it sounds rather like a whining toy engine.
Well, the light changed. Wheels whirled and there was blue smoke all over the pavement as Pastor Markquart pulled away from the red Porsche and its occupants. Pastor Markquart said what the driver of that red Porsche did not know was that the night before in his dreams, he had installed a new Ferrari engine in his VW bug and it now had power, real power. As he pulled away from the Porsche, he heard the beautiful young woman exclaim: “What does he have under that hood?”
What is this dream trying to proclaim to us this day of the celebration of the installation of a pastor?
It reminds us that God’s Spirit has been poured out on all the followers of Jesus. Pastor Markquart would say this, that as Christians we have been given unexpected power in our lives, like that engine in that VW bug gave him the power to beat that Porsche in an unexpected fashion. He would say, as Christians, we have been given unexpected power because we have received God’s spirit in our baptisms and this power that we have received and which lives within us allows us do more with our lives, our ministries, and in our congregations than we can ever imagine, think, or ask—so we can spread Jesus’ love and forgiveness to all people in unimaginable ways. This outpouring of his spirit is one of the ways God lets his creativity loose in the world.
So being empowered by this unexpected Holy Spirit, a pastor new to a congregation and a congregation must commit to discover together the visions, the dreams God has now for his people, his people of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. Of course this is a challenge. But it is exactly why God has brought you all to this point in time and it is this ministry we also celebrate at this service today.
In the prophet Isaiah, God says, “Behold I am creating something new,” to the people of Israel. That is what God is doing here today. God is creating a new relationship between a people and their pastor and a pastor and his people, and God is pouring out his life-giving spirit so established ministries may thrive and visions of new ministries may come to life in unexpected ways at St. Matthew’s. May God bless the mutual work and ministry which this congregation and their new pastor have been called to do in the name of Jesus. Amen
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
"What is a Moderate?"
I write about that here. Thanks to Joe Gandelman for asking me to join his blogging team at The Moderate Voice. It really is an honor.
I will continue to blog here, at RedBlueChristian.com, and at ShoutLife.com/markdaniels.
I will continue to blog here, at RedBlueChristian.com, and at ShoutLife.com/markdaniels.
A Pass at This Sunday's Bible Lessons
[Each week, I take at least one "pass" at the Bible lessons that will be read during worship at the congregation I serve as pastor, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. The passes are designed to help the people--and me--prepare for worship. Hopefully, others will find them helpful too, as we use the Church Year-related lectionary appointed for congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is similar to the lectionaries of most other Christian traditions.]The Bible Lessons:
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 46
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43
General Comments:
1. November 25 brings us to Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church Year. For an overview of the meaning and uses of the Church Year, you can go here.
2. The first lesson was written by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. He was active as a prophet around 627 to 586 B.C., during the period when the last five kings of Judah were on their thrones.
Last week, we mentioned that the Old Testament lesson from Malachi was written after the Babylonian Exile. Jeremiah was written before that traumatic event. (In the Babylonian Captivity, thousands of citizens of Judah were forced into slavery in Babylon, the capital city of the Chaldeans, a nation that overran Judah. The captivity would only definitively end in about 538 B.C., when the Persians would conquer the Chaldeans.)
3. Some background that might help in understanding Jeremiah: Judah, also known as Judea, was what remained of the nation of Israel in the time of its first three kings: Saul, David, and Solomon. Solomon, David's son, was the most powerful of Israel's kings, expanding the country's economic and military might. But Solomon also began the process of perverting Israel's religious life. He countenanced the worship of many foreign deities, splintering Israel's loyalty to God, usually for the sake of getting along with neighboring nations with whom Solomon formed economic and military alliances. This process of syncretism led to Israel's undoing.
Solomon died in 970 B.C. Israel split in two in 930 B.C. The Northern Kingdom, which took the name of Israel, broke away from the rest of the former nation, seating its own king and centering its worship life in Samaria. (Samaritans still existed, as you know from reading the New Testament, in Jesus' day. Samaritans were hated by the residents of the Southern Kingdom.)
The Southern Kingdom, called Judah or Judea, strove to maintain the Davidic line for its kings, and was headquartered in Jerusalem, the site of the temple built on God's orders. It was in Bethlehem, David's hometown, then about five miles from Jerusalem, that the Old Testament said, the Messiah would be born.
The Northern Kingdom fell in 722 B.C. Prophets in both the north and the south were certain that the fall resulted from the nation's faithlessness.
Jeremiah believed that the Southern Kingdom was filled with a faithlessness that would eventually lead to that nation's downfall, a foreign king who worshiped a foreign god would be the instrument of the one God of the universe to bring judgment on God's people.
3. As was true of last week's Old Testament lesson from Malachi, Jeremiah's presentation in this passage doesn't end with judgment. He also holds out the possibility of restoration. In the preceding chapters, he presents condemnations of Judah's last five kings, the nation's civil rulers. At 23:1, he turns his attention to the religious leaders, shepherds who, he says, have led Judah away from God. But the main theme of these verses is Jeremiah's foretelling of the coming of Judah's last king, the Messiah.
4. In v. 6, the title given to the Messiah, “the Lord is our righteousness,” could as eaily be, "the Lord is our justice-bringer." This relates as much to the way in which the Messiah will save sinners from condemnation for their sin, bringing forgiveness to sinners justified by God, as it does to justice. As The Jerome Bible Commentary points out, "Isaiah had given a similar name to this future king--i.e., 'imannu 'el, 'God is with us.'"
More on the other lessons for this Sunday tomorrow, I hope.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
More Prayers Requested
Tomorrow morning I will be fornally installed as pastor of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio.
I ask your prayers for my ministry here. Ask God to help me to be a faithful, effective shepherd for Saint Matthew.
Pray too, that God will help this wonderful congregation to grow in faith, hope, love, unity, outreach, service, prayer, and giving in Jesus' Name. Your prayers, especially at about 10:15 (EST) on Sunday morning, joined with those being offered during Saint Matthew's worship service that day, would be deeply appreciated.
I would also appreciate your continuing prayers for my former parishes, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Okolona, Ohio, where I served for six years, and Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, where I was for seventeen years. My family and I were really blessed by our times in those parishes and were inspired by the deep faith in Christ we saw and experienced in their people. Please pray that God will help them grow in all the ways in which I now prayerfully seek growth for Saint Matthew.
In addition, I ask your prayers for Logan, Ohio, a beautiful area facing economic challenges resulting from major industries shutting down or moving overseas.
Thanks!
I ask your prayers for my ministry here. Ask God to help me to be a faithful, effective shepherd for Saint Matthew.
Pray too, that God will help this wonderful congregation to grow in faith, hope, love, unity, outreach, service, prayer, and giving in Jesus' Name. Your prayers, especially at about 10:15 (EST) on Sunday morning, joined with those being offered during Saint Matthew's worship service that day, would be deeply appreciated.
I would also appreciate your continuing prayers for my former parishes, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Okolona, Ohio, where I served for six years, and Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, where I was for seventeen years. My family and I were really blessed by our times in those parishes and were inspired by the deep faith in Christ we saw and experienced in their people. Please pray that God will help them grow in all the ways in which I now prayerfully seek growth for Saint Matthew.
In addition, I ask your prayers for Logan, Ohio, a beautiful area facing economic challenges resulting from major industries shutting down or moving overseas.
Thanks!
Friday, November 16, 2007
"This is the old left hander, rounding third and heading for home"
For decades, that was Joe Nuxhall's signature goodbye on the Reds radio network. Nuxhall, who, at age fifteen, became the youngest major leaguer in history, went on to be a Reds announcer for decades, a fixture of the Cincinnati landscape. Nuxhall has died. Below is Pullitzer Prize-winning Cincinnati Enquirer editorial cartoonist Jim Borgman's touching tribute to Nux.
Nuxhall was never a great broadcaster and was only a mediocre career pitcher, his 1944 entry into the Major Leagues no doubt helped by the wartime shortage of able-bodied ball players off fighting in the European and Pacific theaters. But he was an indelible character who loved baseball and loved the Cincinnati community. Nux, the man, was greater than the sum of his parts. He will be missed.
Nuxhall was never a great broadcaster and was only a mediocre career pitcher, his 1944 entry into the Major Leagues no doubt helped by the wartime shortage of able-bodied ball players off fighting in the European and Pacific theaters. But he was an indelible character who loved baseball and loved the Cincinnati community. Nux, the man, was greater than the sum of his parts. He will be missed.
The Game
Go, Buckeyes!Beat Michigan!
Regular readers of this blog know that this Buckeye fan always regarded 2007 as a rebuilding season for the Ohio State football team.I also pointed out a few weeks ago that the last four games of the regular season would be major tests for the Buckeyes.
Many focused on the team's away games against Penn State, held three weeks ago in Happy Valley, and tomorrow's game against Michigan, ignoring the "Oreo filling" of the four week stretch, Wisconsin and Illinois, both formidable teams.
Ron Zook's Illini played a masterful game last week, particularly as they gobbled up yardage and time in the fourth quarter, knocking Ohio State out of first place in the BCS standings with a 28 to 21 win.
A Buckeye victory over Michigan at the Big House tomorrow is far from a given as the Buckeyes and Wolverines enact the 2007 installment of what I regard as the greatest rivalry in sports. All three of Michigan's losses this year have been to very good teams: Appalachian State, a football power among smaller schools; Oregon; and Wisconsin. Michigan Stadium provides the second-best home team advantage in college football, after Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
The Buckeyes, who dropped to seventh place in the BCS standings after last Saturday's loss, still have a remote--extremely remote--chance of playing in the national championship game. But more immediately, they're playing for the Big Ten title and a little respect after Illinois seemed to vindicate the skeptics' assessments of Ohio State.
And, the unappreciated fact is that, in spite of what the naysayers will tell you, the Big Ten isn't down this year, it's stronger AND the troubles some of its better teams had with non-conference teams stem from the greater parity that exists in college football generally. The result is more exciting games and seeming "upsets."
But make no mistake about it, Ohio State, the 2007 season's great overachiever, and Michigan, the season's notorious underachiever, are both great teams, filled with nationally recruited players all hungry to prove themselves on the biggest stage in sports.
Once again, we can expect the OSU-Michigan game to be a war.
Check out:
How important is this game?
Everything's Coming Up Roses?
Will Lloyd Dot the I...in "win" or "Ohio'?
The always-interesting Tim May
Boeckman is focused
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wow!
On Monday, the congregation I've recently begun to serve as pastor, Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, hosted a blood drive. The congregation was actively involved in it in countless ways.
I enjoyed observing how the people of Saint Matthew and of Logan came together for this great event. It was love in action, full of good humor...and great home-made food!
In addition to seeing Central Ohio Red Cross personnel process the blood donations of 77 people, I witnessed another wonderful thing: 76 people underwent bone marrow transplant screening.
The coordinator of the screenings was stunned. Ordinarily, she told me, she would expect that a number equivalent to 10% of those who donated blood would submit to the transplant screening. But there was a good reason for the response of the people of Logan. Even though they knew that there was little chance that their marrow would be a match, their hearts have been touched by the courageous battle against leukemia being waged by a Logan teen. I'm privileged to be her pastor. Through her, they know that bone marrow transplants can give leukemia patients new leases on life!
Right now, Sarah is undergoing a round of chemotherapy. She's no doubt buoyed by the prayers and love of many people, not to mention her own plucky faith and by the support of good friends and an extraordinary family and church community.
Seeing the response of the people of Logan and Saint Matthew made me offer a prayer of thankfulness that God has allowed me to come here.
I'm also continuing to pray for Sarah and I would appreciate your prayers for her as well.
[For information on how a bone marrow transplant works, go here.]
I enjoyed observing how the people of Saint Matthew and of Logan came together for this great event. It was love in action, full of good humor...and great home-made food!
In addition to seeing Central Ohio Red Cross personnel process the blood donations of 77 people, I witnessed another wonderful thing: 76 people underwent bone marrow transplant screening.
The coordinator of the screenings was stunned. Ordinarily, she told me, she would expect that a number equivalent to 10% of those who donated blood would submit to the transplant screening. But there was a good reason for the response of the people of Logan. Even though they knew that there was little chance that their marrow would be a match, their hearts have been touched by the courageous battle against leukemia being waged by a Logan teen. I'm privileged to be her pastor. Through her, they know that bone marrow transplants can give leukemia patients new leases on life!
Right now, Sarah is undergoing a round of chemotherapy. She's no doubt buoyed by the prayers and love of many people, not to mention her own plucky faith and by the support of good friends and an extraordinary family and church community.
Seeing the response of the people of Logan and Saint Matthew made me offer a prayer of thankfulness that God has allowed me to come here.
I'm also continuing to pray for Sarah and I would appreciate your prayers for her as well.
[For information on how a bone marrow transplant works, go here.]
Three Great Southeastern Ohio Eateries
Here are three terrific places at which we've enjoyed reasonably-priced meals since our recent move to Logan, Ohio:
For more on the Hocking Hills, see here.
[IN THE COMMENTS: I'm corrected on my information regarding the numbers of people visiting Yellowstone Park. Thanks for that! Nonetheless, Hocking County and southeastern Ohio are beautiful.]
The Spotted OwlHocking County, with its numerous state parks, cliffs, caves, and the gorgeous Hocking Hills, is a beautiful place. I'm told that annually, it attracts 2-million visitors, double the number who go to Yellowstone Park each year. If you come to Hocking County sometime soon, be sure to check out one of these great places to eat while here. (The Four Reasons is in nearby historic Lancaster, county seat of Fairfield County.)
Great Expectations
The Four Reasons
For more on the Hocking Hills, see here.
[IN THE COMMENTS: I'm corrected on my information regarding the numbers of people visiting Yellowstone Park. Thanks for that! Nonetheless, Hocking County and southeastern Ohio are beautiful.]
Ohio Indicates How Evenly Divided Country Is
Politically, Ohio, which was in recent decades dominated by the Republicans until last year's midterm elections, is a perennial swing state in presidential polling. But Ohio almost always supports the winning presidential candidates. (See here.)Two recent polls taken among Ohio voters demonstrates that the state is neither Red or Blue, reflecting the divisions in the country and possibly foreshadowing another close presidential election in 2008.
An Ohio Poll shows Ohio voters almost equally divided in all their perceptions of the war in Iraq:
The poll included phone interviews with Ohio registered voters between Oct. 19 and Oct. 31. Some of the results:
- 46 percent said the war was going "very well" or "fairly well," and 53 percent said it was going "not too well" or "not at all well." Of those, 75 percent of Democrats expressed negative opinions on the war, compared to 30 percent of Republicans.
- 47 percent said the United States made the right decision in invading Iraq, 51 percent said it was the wrong decision and 1 percent had no opinion. Of the total, 77 percent of Republicans thought military action was the right decision, compared to 21 percent of Democrats.
- 50 percent thought troops should be brought home as soon as possible and 48 percent thought troops should stay until the situation is stabilized. Of those, 76 percent of Republicans thought the military should stay until conditions become more stable, versus 22 percent of Democrats.
A Quinnipiac Poll shows that Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, the presumptive frontrunners of their respective parties are virtually tied in Ohio:
The Quinnipiac Poll, which surveyed 1,231 Ohio voters between Nov. 6-11, showed Clinton with 44% support and with Giuliani 43%. That is an improvement for the former New York City mayor, who trailed Clinton in Ohio by six percentage points in an October Quinnipiac Poll.
But this may be the more interesting result of the latter poll:
• 46% of married Ohio women say they would never vote for Clinton.
• Meanwhile, 46% of single women say they'd never vote for Guiliani.
What that means, I don't know. Any impressions?
By the way, in the Quinnipiac Poll, John Edwards does a lot better against Clinton.Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Organ Donation: A Christian's Duty?
A few days ago, at a regular gathering of area Lutheran clergy I've begun attending, a colleague shared a moving letter received by a woman who had visited the pastor at his office. The woman was evidently making the rounds among several area churches during what was recognized by many Methodist churches as Organ Donation Sunday.It seems that the woman's daughter died a few years ago and the young woman's organs were donated for medical use. Nothing could assuage the mother's grief, to be sure. But the woman had just received a letter which she hoped might motivate others to consent to organ donation. The letter was from a young wife and mother who had received her daughter's heart. She told this mother she would always be grateful for the gift of life that her daughter's heart had made possible. Obviously, the mother was happy to receive the letter and made her feel that, if her daughter had to die, at least some part of her physical remains could be used here on earth to bring renewed life to another person.
A day after hearing my colleague's account and reading the letter sent by the transplant recipient, I read this in Christian Century magazine:
The Church of England says human organ donation is a Christian duty, in line with the giving of oneself and personal possessions voluntarily for the well-being of others. The church's statement came during discussion in the House of Lords on whether a position on organ donation should be adopted across the 27-member European Union, of which Britain is a part. The church made it clear that it remains firmly opposed to the sale of human organs, but it said that living donors giving organs freely is acceptable when no commercial gain is involved (RNS).Methodist bishop and theologian Albert Outler said near the end of his life, “For forty years, I’ve gotten it wrong. I’ve been telling people, ‘You’ve got to love! You’ve got to love!’ But the truth is that through Jesus, we get to love!”
Maybe organ donation isn't a Christian imperative because we have to do it, but a Christian imperative because we get to do it, an act of love for neighbors we'll never see...at least on this side of the resurrection.
[UPDATE: In the comments, Chris points out that our own Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has long seen organ donation by live donors as an act of love and those of deceased family members as an act of good stewardship. (Stewardship is the management of our time, talents, and other resources, including our bodies, minds, possessions, and money, in light of our faith in Jesus Christ.) See here and here.]
Imagine...
if the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced that she was awarding Germany's highest civilian honor posthumously to a Nazi death camp commander.How would we react to that?
What would such an award say about Germany's intentions today or how it viewed its despotic past?
Questions like this rattled around in my mind the other day when I read this profile of George Koval in The New York Times. Koval was the Iowa-born son of Russian immigrants who gained high security clearance to the Manhattan Project in which America's atomic bombs were developed. He then passed the information he gained along to the late Soviet Union.
Koval, of whom I'd never previously heard, died recently. Russian president Vladimir Putin has honored Koval for helping to "speed up considerably the time it took for the Soviet Union to develop an atomic bomb of its own.”
Putin's apparent intention for honoring Koval was to give his Russian nation someone to celebrate. But he's honored a spy who betrayed the United States while in the US Army. His greatest achievement was stealing technological secrets that allowed the Soviets to develop atomic weaponry they would not have likely developed on their own intellectual firepower.
Putin could honor people like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author who courageously stood up to Soviet Communism and fought for democracy. Or someone like Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet-era physicist who also became a democracy advocate. Those and countless others like them could legitimately be recognized as Russian heroes.
But it says volumes about Putin, the former KGB-agent who apparently will let go of executive power only in name once his presidential term is completed, and about his nation, that they select as a hero a quisling whose thievery supported one of the most murderous empires in human history.
Democracy is a wonderful system of government. But it doesn't cure all ills. Unless a nation has what I call the metaphysical infrastructure to allow for the functioning of democracy, it won't behave differently from traditional, more despotic, forms of government.
Democracy, of a kind, has come to Russia. But Russia's national inferiority complex, evident since the days of Peter the Great, who slavishly imitated European ways, and the strong tendency of Russians to applaud authoritarianism mean that it's plausible for the country's president to honor someone like Koval.
In this age of radical Islamic terrorism and the rise of China, it would be good for Americans and American policymakers to remember that many Russians and Russian leaders still brood over the way the Cold War ended and still see something laudable and heroic in the Communist era.
If Angela Merkel honored an old Nazi, we would be appalled. We should be no less horrified by Vladimir Putin's recognition of George Koval.
[From The New York Times, above, left to right: George Koval, Vladimir Putin.]
Does the Resurrection Matter?
[This sermon was shared with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, Logan, Ohio, during worship on November 11. 2007.]
Luke 20:27-38
Do we believe in the resurrection of the dead?
And if we do, what difference does it make in how we live our lives each day?
The Sadducees who confront Jesus in our Gospel lesson today were a small but influential group within first-century Judea. Unlike Jesus and the rest of their fellow Jews, the Sadducees believed that only the first five books of the Bible constituted the Word of God. These five books--Genesis, Exodus, Levitcus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--are what the scholars call, the Pentateuch and are also referred to as, the books of Moses. The resurrection of the dead isn’t specifically mentioned in those five books. And so the Sadducees rejected the whole idea of a resurrection of the dead.
In doing so, they were rejecting what many passages in the other thirty-four books of the Old Testament teach about the resurrection of those who believe in the God that you and I have met in Jesus Christ, including those of Job in today’s Old Testament lesson. In spite of Job’s anger with God for letting a profusion of tragedies come his way and anger with friends who claimed that all of his misfortunes were Job’s fault, Job trusted God and said, “...I know that my Redeemer lives and...at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”
We might think that people who refuse to believe that God can bring new life to dead bones just lack faith. But the Sadducees did believe in God. Their problem was that their faith was in a God they’d whittled down to human size.
Maybe their wealth and influence--because the Sadducees were a wealthy and influential bunch--had stunted their imaginations.
Maybe they couldn’t imagine God being any bigger or more powerful than they were. It limited their faith.
There are people in our churches today who have a similarly limited faith. Recently, a man told me about the reaction of an elderly family member to the decision of another family member, who had just died, to be cremated. “It’s too bad John won’t rise again,” the older woman said. “What makes you think that John won’t rise?” the man asked. “Well, he’s just going to be ashes,” the woman replied. “There won’t be anything left of him.” To this, the man said, “It seems to me that it was from dust that God first created human beings. If He did it once, He can do it again!”
In rejecting the idea that God could resurrect the dead, the Sadducees were doing more than just forgetting that God is able to do what seems impossible, though. They were also ignoring the evidence staring them in the face: Jesus Himself.
The confrontation recounted in today’s Gospel lesson happens in the temple in Jerusalem on the Tuesday before Jesus’ crucifixion. By this point in Jesus’ activities, He had already fed 5000 people with a few fish and scraps of bread, cast out demons, declared forgiveness to people alienated from God, healed the lame, and even brought a dead girl back to life. All these signs should have told the Sadducees that Jesus possessed power over life and death. And yet, from the perspective of their limited faith, all the Sadducees could think to do when they spoke with Jesus was start a religious argument.
Intent on making Jesus look ridiculous for saying that those who believe in Him will rise, they present Jesus with an imaginary case study meant to cause Him to stumble. It’s all rooted in something called levirate law, which is discussed in the Old Testament books of Genesis and Deuteronomy. Under this law, among the ancient Jews, property could only be inherited by a firstborn son. If a woman was widowed before giving birth to a child and her father wouldn’t take her back into his home, she had nothing. To help the woman and to ensure that the deceased husband’s family line continued, levirate law said that his next unmarried brother had to take the widow as his wife. Their first son would be considered the dead man’s heir. In their fictional case study, the Sadducees tell Jesus, there was a woman who married a procession of seven brothers, each of them dying and leaving her childless. “In the resurrection of the dead,” the Sadducees asked, “whose wife will this woman be?”
It’s a gotcha question to which the Sadducees were sure there was no answer. But Jesus answers them in two ways:
But left unanswered are two questions:
Each week when we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we affirm our belief in “the resurrection of the dead.” But what exactly does it mean to believe that as followers of Jesus Christ, we can look forward to a physical resurrection? Above all, I think it means that God gives us the power to live each day here to its fullest!
One of the heroes of the twentieth century, a man who’s still living, is Desmond Tutu. Tutu, a black South African who served as an archbishop of the Anglican Church, won the Nobel Peace Prize for opposing the system of apartheid which once existed in his country. Under apartheid something like 90% of the country was essentially enslaved. Throughout the struggle which led to the liberation of South Africa, Tutu daily received death threats.
Someone once asked him why he kept up his peaceful fight for freedom. He was an educated man. He could have served quietly as a simple clergyman. Why, the questioner asked, did he willfully face the possibility of assassination to continue the struggle? I can’t help it, Tutu said. When I see injustice, I must fight it. “Besides, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a Christian!”
After the racist government of South Africa fell and a new one was established under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu once more forsook safety and comfort to head a reconciliation task force that saw South Africa’s formerly persecuted Black majority forgive and seek vengeance from the many members of the White minority which had for so many years oppressed them.
When you belong to Jesus Christ and you know that His grace and forgiveness have given you life beyond the grave, you can live this life to the full. You can fight for what’s right. You can share the Good News of Jesus even with those who may oppose or ridicule you. You can dare to serve others in Jesus’ Name!
And you don't have to be a Nobel Peace Prize winner to live in such daring ways! I once read the true story of two men I’ll call John and Joe. They worked in a real estate office together. John somehow stole a commission from Joe. Joe was understandably furious and that began an unspoken feud, the two men separated by a wall of surly silence. One day, Joe learned that John’s wife had just been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Joe was conscience-struck. Although he was sure that John had wronged him, he was equally sure that he needed to strive for reconciliation. So, Joe did something he hadn’t done in months. When he saw John had arrived at the office, Joe walked into his cubicle and said, “I hear that Mary’s having some health problems. How’s she doing?” When you know that one day you will rise and be with Jesus, you can forget about keeping score in this life. You can dare to do things like forgive, forbear, and love others.
A seminary professor of mine loved reading murder mysteries. But he had the strange habit of always reading the last chapter first. By doing so, he said, he not only knew how the story would end, he also knew how to read the book. He knew what facts were important and what weren’t, what to pay attention to and what to ignore.
Through Jesus, we know how the story will end. All who believe in Him will never perish. They’ll live with God forever. Because this is true, we can be filled with the power to live life God’s way and to focus on what’s important: to love God and neighbor; to worship God with our whole lives; to serve others in Jesus’ Name; to make disciples by telling others the Good News of new and everlasting life for all who turn from sin and follow Christ; to forgive and get on with the business of living.
For the Christian, the resurrection of the dead is no mere abstraction. It’s a reality Jesus has secured for us through His own death and resurrection. And it’s what frees us from our fears and hang-ups in this life. The resurrection frees us to live not only in eternity, it also frees us to live today!
Luke 20:27-38
Do we believe in the resurrection of the dead?
And if we do, what difference does it make in how we live our lives each day?
The Sadducees who confront Jesus in our Gospel lesson today were a small but influential group within first-century Judea. Unlike Jesus and the rest of their fellow Jews, the Sadducees believed that only the first five books of the Bible constituted the Word of God. These five books--Genesis, Exodus, Levitcus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--are what the scholars call, the Pentateuch and are also referred to as, the books of Moses. The resurrection of the dead isn’t specifically mentioned in those five books. And so the Sadducees rejected the whole idea of a resurrection of the dead.
In doing so, they were rejecting what many passages in the other thirty-four books of the Old Testament teach about the resurrection of those who believe in the God that you and I have met in Jesus Christ, including those of Job in today’s Old Testament lesson. In spite of Job’s anger with God for letting a profusion of tragedies come his way and anger with friends who claimed that all of his misfortunes were Job’s fault, Job trusted God and said, “...I know that my Redeemer lives and...at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”
We might think that people who refuse to believe that God can bring new life to dead bones just lack faith. But the Sadducees did believe in God. Their problem was that their faith was in a God they’d whittled down to human size.
Maybe their wealth and influence--because the Sadducees were a wealthy and influential bunch--had stunted their imaginations.
Maybe they couldn’t imagine God being any bigger or more powerful than they were. It limited their faith.
There are people in our churches today who have a similarly limited faith. Recently, a man told me about the reaction of an elderly family member to the decision of another family member, who had just died, to be cremated. “It’s too bad John won’t rise again,” the older woman said. “What makes you think that John won’t rise?” the man asked. “Well, he’s just going to be ashes,” the woman replied. “There won’t be anything left of him.” To this, the man said, “It seems to me that it was from dust that God first created human beings. If He did it once, He can do it again!”
In rejecting the idea that God could resurrect the dead, the Sadducees were doing more than just forgetting that God is able to do what seems impossible, though. They were also ignoring the evidence staring them in the face: Jesus Himself.
The confrontation recounted in today’s Gospel lesson happens in the temple in Jerusalem on the Tuesday before Jesus’ crucifixion. By this point in Jesus’ activities, He had already fed 5000 people with a few fish and scraps of bread, cast out demons, declared forgiveness to people alienated from God, healed the lame, and even brought a dead girl back to life. All these signs should have told the Sadducees that Jesus possessed power over life and death. And yet, from the perspective of their limited faith, all the Sadducees could think to do when they spoke with Jesus was start a religious argument.
Intent on making Jesus look ridiculous for saying that those who believe in Him will rise, they present Jesus with an imaginary case study meant to cause Him to stumble. It’s all rooted in something called levirate law, which is discussed in the Old Testament books of Genesis and Deuteronomy. Under this law, among the ancient Jews, property could only be inherited by a firstborn son. If a woman was widowed before giving birth to a child and her father wouldn’t take her back into his home, she had nothing. To help the woman and to ensure that the deceased husband’s family line continued, levirate law said that his next unmarried brother had to take the widow as his wife. Their first son would be considered the dead man’s heir. In their fictional case study, the Sadducees tell Jesus, there was a woman who married a procession of seven brothers, each of them dying and leaving her childless. “In the resurrection of the dead,” the Sadducees asked, “whose wife will this woman be?”
It’s a gotcha question to which the Sadducees were sure there was no answer. But Jesus answers them in two ways:
- First, with the facts. In heaven, He says, marriage won’t happen. Marriage is designed for life in this limited world. But in heaven, those Jesus describes as “the children of the resurrection” will live as loving sisters and brothers, with God as our Father. The joys there will be better than those experienced in the best marriages here.
- Second, Jesus points out that even Moses himself, the traditional author of the first five books of the Bible which the Sadducees held dear, believed in the resurrection of the dead. After all, Jesus tells them, Moses, at the burning bush, called the Lord, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” and then pointed out that “he is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
But left unanswered are two questions:
- Whether the Sadducees came to believe that the resurrection is real?
- And whether that belief made any difference in their lives?
Each week when we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we affirm our belief in “the resurrection of the dead.” But what exactly does it mean to believe that as followers of Jesus Christ, we can look forward to a physical resurrection? Above all, I think it means that God gives us the power to live each day here to its fullest!
One of the heroes of the twentieth century, a man who’s still living, is Desmond Tutu. Tutu, a black South African who served as an archbishop of the Anglican Church, won the Nobel Peace Prize for opposing the system of apartheid which once existed in his country. Under apartheid something like 90% of the country was essentially enslaved. Throughout the struggle which led to the liberation of South Africa, Tutu daily received death threats.
Someone once asked him why he kept up his peaceful fight for freedom. He was an educated man. He could have served quietly as a simple clergyman. Why, the questioner asked, did he willfully face the possibility of assassination to continue the struggle? I can’t help it, Tutu said. When I see injustice, I must fight it. “Besides, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a Christian!”
After the racist government of South Africa fell and a new one was established under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu once more forsook safety and comfort to head a reconciliation task force that saw South Africa’s formerly persecuted Black majority forgive and seek vengeance from the many members of the White minority which had for so many years oppressed them.
When you belong to Jesus Christ and you know that His grace and forgiveness have given you life beyond the grave, you can live this life to the full. You can fight for what’s right. You can share the Good News of Jesus even with those who may oppose or ridicule you. You can dare to serve others in Jesus’ Name!
And you don't have to be a Nobel Peace Prize winner to live in such daring ways! I once read the true story of two men I’ll call John and Joe. They worked in a real estate office together. John somehow stole a commission from Joe. Joe was understandably furious and that began an unspoken feud, the two men separated by a wall of surly silence. One day, Joe learned that John’s wife had just been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Joe was conscience-struck. Although he was sure that John had wronged him, he was equally sure that he needed to strive for reconciliation. So, Joe did something he hadn’t done in months. When he saw John had arrived at the office, Joe walked into his cubicle and said, “I hear that Mary’s having some health problems. How’s she doing?” When you know that one day you will rise and be with Jesus, you can forget about keeping score in this life. You can dare to do things like forgive, forbear, and love others.
A seminary professor of mine loved reading murder mysteries. But he had the strange habit of always reading the last chapter first. By doing so, he said, he not only knew how the story would end, he also knew how to read the book. He knew what facts were important and what weren’t, what to pay attention to and what to ignore.
Through Jesus, we know how the story will end. All who believe in Him will never perish. They’ll live with God forever. Because this is true, we can be filled with the power to live life God’s way and to focus on what’s important: to love God and neighbor; to worship God with our whole lives; to serve others in Jesus’ Name; to make disciples by telling others the Good News of new and everlasting life for all who turn from sin and follow Christ; to forgive and get on with the business of living.
For the Christian, the resurrection of the dead is no mere abstraction. It’s a reality Jesus has secured for us through His own death and resurrection. And it’s what frees us from our fears and hang-ups in this life. The resurrection frees us to live not only in eternity, it also frees us to live today!
A Pass at This Sunday's Bible Lessons
[I'm not preaching this coming Sunday, as I'll be formally installed as pastor of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. (The sermon will be provided by our dear friend, Pastor Pat Badkey. Pat and her husband, Steve Fahnestock, were seminary classmates of mine. Through the years, our families have remained close.) I will though, be discussing the Bible lessons for Sunday with the adult Sunday School class at Saint Matthew and one of these texts will be the bases on which Pastor Pat builds her sermon that day. I present passes like these each week as a way of helping the people of Saint Matthew prepare for worship. But because our texts are based on the lesson plan (the lectionary) that goes with the Church Year, others should find them helpful as well.]
The Bible Lessons:
Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Comments:
1. This will be the next-to-last Sunday of the Church Year. November 25 will bring us to the final Sunday of the Church Year, known as Christ the King.
2. One of the apparent themes of these texts is what's known as, the Day of the Lord. We Christians believe that the risen, ascended Jesus will return to the world and that judgment will be rendered. It isn't a day to be feared for those who follow the God of the Bible, believing in Jesus Christ.
3. Another interesting aspect of these texts is that it demonstrates that Biblical faith isn't a black and white thing. God's creation and reign are, for those who want to hamstring God, a bit complicated. For example, the Old Testament book of Malachi, written by a prophet sometime after 530BC, addresses the abuse or neglect of the temple which absorbed Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile of God's people. The prophet seems to be saying, "Respect the temple as the place where God dwells on earth and where you worship God together." On the other hand, in the Gospel lesson from Luke, Jesus tells the disciples not to be overawed by the temple of His day. God can't be contained in buildings.
Also, in the Luke passage, Jesus tells the disciples that one day, Christians will be persecuted for following Him, but to not worry about what they'll say beforehand. Yet, in other places in Scripture, writing to a persecuted Church in Asia Minor, the apostle Peter, who was listening to Jesus when He spoke the words in the Gospel lesson, tells the people to always be prepared to give an account for the hope in them. (But to do so with "gentleness and reverence.")
Are these contradictions? I don't think so. Truth is a big thing and is applied in different ways depending on the context.
In the first set of passages mentioned above, the concern of both Malachi and Jesus is respect for God. Temples are respected when people actually worship God in them; that's what Malachi was saying. But temples shouldn't be the objects of our worship. Only God should be. That's what Jesus was saying.
Jesus was counseling His followers not to be afraid and to rely on God. Peter was counseling Christians to grow in their faith, including in their capacity to love those who persecute them; that's how they would be prepared to give an account for the eternal hope in them.
Christian faith is simple. It isn't simplistic.
4. In the mid-sixth century, Israel was overrun by the Babylonian empire, many of its people sent to Babylon as slaves, and the temple in Jerusalem destroyed. Later, the people were allowed to return. They were slow to rebuild the capital city or the temple, a scandalous circumstance which has been addressed, as mentioned above, by Nehemiah and Ezra. But even after the temple was built, God's people were spiritually lackadaisical. These are the circumstances addressed by Malachi.
5. Malachi isn't a proper name. It's a word that means My Messenger, which appears in the opening verse of the book.
6. Traditionally, the New Testament book of Second Thessalonians has been attributed to Paul. As I've explained before, in the ancient world, it was legitimate for someone operating in the school of thought of a revered teacher to write under that teacher's name. There are sufficient differences in nomenclature and word usage for some scholars to suspect that this book wasn't written by Paul. Others though point out that the book is too short to reach an authoritative conclusion about authorship. Nonetheless, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church has seen the Word of God in this wonderful book. (For more on Thessalonica, go here.)
7. Opinion is also divided on what exactly lay behind the idleness of the Thessalonian Christians. Traditionally, it's been thought--and I'm inclined to agree with the thought--that the Thessalonian Christians were sort of a proto-Left Behind gang. According to this this school of thought, they were obsessed with Jesus' return and were convinced that it was imminent. They thought that because life in this world was ending soon, it was pointless to work. They became idle and a bunch of idle, busybodies.
Others say that the Thessalonian church were simply like the rest of the human race, prone to lazily going through life with little thought for living lives that express gratitude to God for life or life made new in Christ.
8. Jesus commends steadfast faith in Him, even in the face of the trials and persecutions He discusses. He also warns Christians against being obsessed with His return. As in the Thessalonian text, we're told to simply be faithful. A story is told, sometimes about Saint Augustine and at other times about Martin Luther, probably apocryphal. But it's a good story nonetheless. One of the great men is approached while hoeing his garden. "What would you do if you knew Jesus were coming back tomorrow?" the questioner asks. Without looking up from his work, it's said that the teacher replies, "Finish this row." If even Jesus was unaware of the hour of His return, it isn't for us to know. Our call is simply to be faithful while we live on this earth.
The Bible Lessons:
Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Comments:
1. This will be the next-to-last Sunday of the Church Year. November 25 will bring us to the final Sunday of the Church Year, known as Christ the King.
2. One of the apparent themes of these texts is what's known as, the Day of the Lord. We Christians believe that the risen, ascended Jesus will return to the world and that judgment will be rendered. It isn't a day to be feared for those who follow the God of the Bible, believing in Jesus Christ.
3. Another interesting aspect of these texts is that it demonstrates that Biblical faith isn't a black and white thing. God's creation and reign are, for those who want to hamstring God, a bit complicated. For example, the Old Testament book of Malachi, written by a prophet sometime after 530BC, addresses the abuse or neglect of the temple which absorbed Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile of God's people. The prophet seems to be saying, "Respect the temple as the place where God dwells on earth and where you worship God together." On the other hand, in the Gospel lesson from Luke, Jesus tells the disciples not to be overawed by the temple of His day. God can't be contained in buildings.
Also, in the Luke passage, Jesus tells the disciples that one day, Christians will be persecuted for following Him, but to not worry about what they'll say beforehand. Yet, in other places in Scripture, writing to a persecuted Church in Asia Minor, the apostle Peter, who was listening to Jesus when He spoke the words in the Gospel lesson, tells the people to always be prepared to give an account for the hope in them. (But to do so with "gentleness and reverence.")
Are these contradictions? I don't think so. Truth is a big thing and is applied in different ways depending on the context.
In the first set of passages mentioned above, the concern of both Malachi and Jesus is respect for God. Temples are respected when people actually worship God in them; that's what Malachi was saying. But temples shouldn't be the objects of our worship. Only God should be. That's what Jesus was saying.
Jesus was counseling His followers not to be afraid and to rely on God. Peter was counseling Christians to grow in their faith, including in their capacity to love those who persecute them; that's how they would be prepared to give an account for the eternal hope in them.
Christian faith is simple. It isn't simplistic.
4. In the mid-sixth century, Israel was overrun by the Babylonian empire, many of its people sent to Babylon as slaves, and the temple in Jerusalem destroyed. Later, the people were allowed to return. They were slow to rebuild the capital city or the temple, a scandalous circumstance which has been addressed, as mentioned above, by Nehemiah and Ezra. But even after the temple was built, God's people were spiritually lackadaisical. These are the circumstances addressed by Malachi.
5. Malachi isn't a proper name. It's a word that means My Messenger, which appears in the opening verse of the book.
6. Traditionally, the New Testament book of Second Thessalonians has been attributed to Paul. As I've explained before, in the ancient world, it was legitimate for someone operating in the school of thought of a revered teacher to write under that teacher's name. There are sufficient differences in nomenclature and word usage for some scholars to suspect that this book wasn't written by Paul. Others though point out that the book is too short to reach an authoritative conclusion about authorship. Nonetheless, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church has seen the Word of God in this wonderful book. (For more on Thessalonica, go here.)
7. Opinion is also divided on what exactly lay behind the idleness of the Thessalonian Christians. Traditionally, it's been thought--and I'm inclined to agree with the thought--that the Thessalonian Christians were sort of a proto-Left Behind gang. According to this this school of thought, they were obsessed with Jesus' return and were convinced that it was imminent. They thought that because life in this world was ending soon, it was pointless to work. They became idle and a bunch of idle, busybodies.
Others say that the Thessalonian church were simply like the rest of the human race, prone to lazily going through life with little thought for living lives that express gratitude to God for life or life made new in Christ.
8. Jesus commends steadfast faith in Him, even in the face of the trials and persecutions He discusses. He also warns Christians against being obsessed with His return. As in the Thessalonian text, we're told to simply be faithful. A story is told, sometimes about Saint Augustine and at other times about Martin Luther, probably apocryphal. But it's a good story nonetheless. One of the great men is approached while hoeing his garden. "What would you do if you knew Jesus were coming back tomorrow?" the questioner asks. Without looking up from his work, it's said that the teacher replies, "Finish this row." If even Jesus was unaware of the hour of His return, it isn't for us to know. Our call is simply to be faithful while we live on this earth.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
What Saints Are Like
[This message was shared with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, during worship on Sunday, November 4, my first official Sunday as pastor of the congregation. We celebrated it as All Saints Sunday.]
Luke 6:20-31
Today, I'm going to do something which in seminary we were taught never to do. I'm going to give you the two points of my sermon. That way, you can feel free to fall asleep. You can still say you know what the sermon was about. Here they are:
Her name was Mabel and the story of her impact on a young seminary student chaplain is told in John Ortberg’s book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Mabel was a resident of a nursing home, blind, nearly-deaf, and suffering from a cancer that was disfiguring her face. She’d been bedridden for twenty-five years. Tom Schmidt was the student chaplain, working at the nursing home where Mabel lived.
It was Mother’s Day and Schmidt was making his rounds. He decided to try ignoring his revulsion at the sight of Mabel and to present her with a flower. He didn’t want to do it, especially since he was sure that Mabel would be unresponsive. “Here’s a flower,” he told her. “Happy Mother’s Day.” Mabel pulled the flower to her face, attempting to smell it and then, in somewhat slurred speech, said, “Thank you. It’s lovely. But can I give it to someone else? I can’t see it, you know, I’m blind.” So, Schmidt rolled Mabel’s wheelchair to another resident and watched her as she held out the flower and said, “Here, this is from Jesus.” “That,” said Tom Schmidt, “was when it began to dawn on me that this was not an ordinary human being.”
As Schmidt’s acquaintance with Mabel grew, so did his sense of awe. He felt each time he entered her room that he was walking on holy ground. Often, he would read a Scripture to Mabel and from memory, she would mouth the words along with him. Then, she might break into a song praising God. “I never heard her speak of loneliness or pain except in the stress she placed on certain lines in certain hymns,” Schmidt recalls. The student chaplain began going to Mabel’s room with pen in hand, ready to jot down the amazing things that she said.
During one week, Schmidt says, he was stressing out, thinking about exams at seminary and a million other things he had to get done, when a question dawned on him, “What does Mabel have to think about—hour after hour, day after day, week after week, not even able to know if it’s day or night?” So, the next time he was at the nursing home, Schmidt decided to ask Mabel. “Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?” Listen closely to Schmidt’s recollection:
Taking our cue from Jesus’ words for us in today’s Gospel lesson, I think we can say that a saint is a person blessed by God. But as you read or hear this passage, what’s called, “The Sermon on the Plain,” from the Gospel of Luke, it hits you that Jesus has an entirely different idea of what it means to be “blessed by God” than you and I usually have.
Week before last, fires raged through southern California, particularly affecting San Diego. It was a terrible disaster and I’m sure that like me, you’ve been praying for the people affected by the fires. A player for the San Diego Chargers who has a home in the area met with reporters last week and said, that although all of his neighbors’ houses were destroyed, “Thank God” the fire had literally gone around his house, leaving him unscathed.
I’m not picking on this player and I don’t want to read too much into his words. I’m sure that he was sincere in what he said. But I wonder if he believes that God determined to leave his house standing and decided that his neighbors’ places had to be destroyed?
And what would this player say about the victims of other disasters that happen in life?
What would he say about Mabel?
Would he say that because of the multiple tragedies that had stricken her and the long years of suffering she’d endured that she wasn’t really blessed by God?
That she wasn’t a saint?
That she didn’t really have a connection with the Lord she so fervently confessed and in Whom she so clearly believed?
In fairness, he probably wouldn’t say those things.
And yet, in his comments about how his property hadn’t burned down when the homes of his neighbors had, that player, seems to have the world’s idea of what it means to be blessed. That’s because the world appears to believe that when life breaks our way, we’re blessed by God and that when the events of life go against us, we’re not. But in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus turns ideas like that on their head. He does so in two major ways, I think.
Listen again to how Jesus begins His message for us this morning. He says: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
Talk about turning things on their head! You’re blessed, Jesus says, and you’re a saint when you’re poor, hungry, and grief-stricken. If I had to distill those three beatitudes into one, I’d say simply, “Blessed are the empty.” The poor have empty pockets. The hungry, empty bellies. The grieving, an empty place at the dinner table. Or an empty spot in the easy chair in the family room. These are the blessed ones. How can Jesus say that?
Recently, my wife Ann and I spoke with a young woman who had wandered from God. Not in some dramatic way. Instead, she had just allowed her relationship with God to move to the sidelines of her life. But not long ago, her life hit a crisis point. She found a church and began to regularly attend worship there. She’s also established a daily time of prayer and Bible and devotional reading. Ann asked this young woman, “What brought you back to God?” “I was empty inside,” she said. “I just knew that I needed God.” Saints are people who understand the emptiness of life without God and they invite the God we meet in Jesus Christ to fill their emptiness. Blessed are the empty!
Jesus also says, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” In these words, Jesus seems to say, "Blessed are you when you risk having others reject you because you follow Christ. You will never be rejected by God!"
Methodist bishop Will Willimon once served as dean of the chapel at Duke University. He tells about a Duke student he encouraged “to go out for rush,” joining a fraternity. Willimon explains, “He had grown up as an only child. I thought the incentive to socialize would be good for him, get him out, expose him to others. [But] That night, there had been too much alcohol, and people under the influence are sometimes people at their worst. The incident…involved a number of people. Afterwards, when a police report had been made, a secret meeting was held and everyone was asked to keep the whole thing quiet. And everyone agreed to keep quiet. Everyone but him. It’s not right, he had said to them. This isn’t what a fraternity is to be about. We’re making a wrong even worse. From that night on, he was no longer considered by them a ‘brother.’” In Jesus’ terms, he was excluded, reviled, defamed because of his relationship with Christ and his desire, despite the difficulty and pain of it, to follow Christ’s lead.
Being blessed, being a saint, doesn’t mean that we’re insulated from the pain or grief of this life.
This isn’t heaven.
This is an imperfect world in which bad things happen to even the most faithful people.
The loved ones and friends of those Saint Matthew saints who passed from this life this past year whose names we honored a short time ago can testify to that. Sometimes, in fact, the world reserves its worst treatment for people who seek to follow Christ. But Jesus, the Savior Who, the New Testament tells us, ”emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” so that He could die and rise and secure eternity with God for all who believe in Him, brings blessings to those who dare to follow Him!
Blessed are the empty; they will be filled with God!
Blessed are those who risk rejection by others; God will never reject them!
Today, I invite you to trust, however hesitantly or incompletely, that Jesus’ words are true. Trust that you are among His saints and that You are part of His Kingdom forever.
Because you are!
Luke 6:20-31
Today, I'm going to do something which in seminary we were taught never to do. I'm going to give you the two points of my sermon. That way, you can feel free to fall asleep. You can still say you know what the sermon was about. Here they are:
- Blessed are the empty.
- Blessed are those who risk rejection by others because they follow Christ.
Her name was Mabel and the story of her impact on a young seminary student chaplain is told in John Ortberg’s book, The Life You’ve Always Wanted. Mabel was a resident of a nursing home, blind, nearly-deaf, and suffering from a cancer that was disfiguring her face. She’d been bedridden for twenty-five years. Tom Schmidt was the student chaplain, working at the nursing home where Mabel lived.
It was Mother’s Day and Schmidt was making his rounds. He decided to try ignoring his revulsion at the sight of Mabel and to present her with a flower. He didn’t want to do it, especially since he was sure that Mabel would be unresponsive. “Here’s a flower,” he told her. “Happy Mother’s Day.” Mabel pulled the flower to her face, attempting to smell it and then, in somewhat slurred speech, said, “Thank you. It’s lovely. But can I give it to someone else? I can’t see it, you know, I’m blind.” So, Schmidt rolled Mabel’s wheelchair to another resident and watched her as she held out the flower and said, “Here, this is from Jesus.” “That,” said Tom Schmidt, “was when it began to dawn on me that this was not an ordinary human being.”
As Schmidt’s acquaintance with Mabel grew, so did his sense of awe. He felt each time he entered her room that he was walking on holy ground. Often, he would read a Scripture to Mabel and from memory, she would mouth the words along with him. Then, she might break into a song praising God. “I never heard her speak of loneliness or pain except in the stress she placed on certain lines in certain hymns,” Schmidt recalls. The student chaplain began going to Mabel’s room with pen in hand, ready to jot down the amazing things that she said.
During one week, Schmidt says, he was stressing out, thinking about exams at seminary and a million other things he had to get done, when a question dawned on him, “What does Mabel have to think about—hour after hour, day after day, week after week, not even able to know if it’s day or night?” So, the next time he was at the nursing home, Schmidt decided to ask Mabel. “Mabel, what do you think about when you lie here?” Listen closely to Schmidt’s recollection:
“...’I think about Jesus...[she said]’ I sat there, and thought for a moment about the difficulty, for me of thinking about Jesus for even five minutes, and I asked, ‘What do you think about Jesus?’ She replied slowly and deliberately as I wrote...’I think about how good He’s been to me. He’s been awfully good to me, you know...I’m one of those kind who’s mostly satisfied...Lots of folks wouldn’t care much for what I think...But I don’t care. I’d rather have Jesus. He’s all the world to me.’ "Although Mabel was blind, nearly deaf, suffering from cancer, and confined to her bed, she was likely more alive and happier and, as she said, “satisfied” than many of the people we know. Why is that? The short answer is that Mabel was a saint. But on this All Saints Sunday, it’s good for us to ask, “What exactly is a saint?”
Taking our cue from Jesus’ words for us in today’s Gospel lesson, I think we can say that a saint is a person blessed by God. But as you read or hear this passage, what’s called, “The Sermon on the Plain,” from the Gospel of Luke, it hits you that Jesus has an entirely different idea of what it means to be “blessed by God” than you and I usually have.
Week before last, fires raged through southern California, particularly affecting San Diego. It was a terrible disaster and I’m sure that like me, you’ve been praying for the people affected by the fires. A player for the San Diego Chargers who has a home in the area met with reporters last week and said, that although all of his neighbors’ houses were destroyed, “Thank God” the fire had literally gone around his house, leaving him unscathed.
I’m not picking on this player and I don’t want to read too much into his words. I’m sure that he was sincere in what he said. But I wonder if he believes that God determined to leave his house standing and decided that his neighbors’ places had to be destroyed?
And what would this player say about the victims of other disasters that happen in life?
What would he say about Mabel?
Would he say that because of the multiple tragedies that had stricken her and the long years of suffering she’d endured that she wasn’t really blessed by God?
That she wasn’t a saint?
That she didn’t really have a connection with the Lord she so fervently confessed and in Whom she so clearly believed?
In fairness, he probably wouldn’t say those things.
And yet, in his comments about how his property hadn’t burned down when the homes of his neighbors had, that player, seems to have the world’s idea of what it means to be blessed. That’s because the world appears to believe that when life breaks our way, we’re blessed by God and that when the events of life go against us, we’re not. But in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus turns ideas like that on their head. He does so in two major ways, I think.
Listen again to how Jesus begins His message for us this morning. He says: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”
Talk about turning things on their head! You’re blessed, Jesus says, and you’re a saint when you’re poor, hungry, and grief-stricken. If I had to distill those three beatitudes into one, I’d say simply, “Blessed are the empty.” The poor have empty pockets. The hungry, empty bellies. The grieving, an empty place at the dinner table. Or an empty spot in the easy chair in the family room. These are the blessed ones. How can Jesus say that?
Recently, my wife Ann and I spoke with a young woman who had wandered from God. Not in some dramatic way. Instead, she had just allowed her relationship with God to move to the sidelines of her life. But not long ago, her life hit a crisis point. She found a church and began to regularly attend worship there. She’s also established a daily time of prayer and Bible and devotional reading. Ann asked this young woman, “What brought you back to God?” “I was empty inside,” she said. “I just knew that I needed God.” Saints are people who understand the emptiness of life without God and they invite the God we meet in Jesus Christ to fill their emptiness. Blessed are the empty!
Jesus also says, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.” In these words, Jesus seems to say, "Blessed are you when you risk having others reject you because you follow Christ. You will never be rejected by God!"
Methodist bishop Will Willimon once served as dean of the chapel at Duke University. He tells about a Duke student he encouraged “to go out for rush,” joining a fraternity. Willimon explains, “He had grown up as an only child. I thought the incentive to socialize would be good for him, get him out, expose him to others. [But] That night, there had been too much alcohol, and people under the influence are sometimes people at their worst. The incident…involved a number of people. Afterwards, when a police report had been made, a secret meeting was held and everyone was asked to keep the whole thing quiet. And everyone agreed to keep quiet. Everyone but him. It’s not right, he had said to them. This isn’t what a fraternity is to be about. We’re making a wrong even worse. From that night on, he was no longer considered by them a ‘brother.’” In Jesus’ terms, he was excluded, reviled, defamed because of his relationship with Christ and his desire, despite the difficulty and pain of it, to follow Christ’s lead.
Being blessed, being a saint, doesn’t mean that we’re insulated from the pain or grief of this life.
This isn’t heaven.
This is an imperfect world in which bad things happen to even the most faithful people.
The loved ones and friends of those Saint Matthew saints who passed from this life this past year whose names we honored a short time ago can testify to that. Sometimes, in fact, the world reserves its worst treatment for people who seek to follow Christ. But Jesus, the Savior Who, the New Testament tells us, ”emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” so that He could die and rise and secure eternity with God for all who believe in Him, brings blessings to those who dare to follow Him!
Blessed are the empty; they will be filled with God!
Blessed are those who risk rejection by others; God will never reject them!
Today, I invite you to trust, however hesitantly or incompletely, that Jesus’ words are true. Trust that you are among His saints and that You are part of His Kingdom forever.
Because you are!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Hmmm
The Buckeyes can't let up today or when they face Michigan's Wolverines next week. This, from ESPN.com:
Michigan and its fans should not drown in its sorrows with Saturday's loss. Since 1980, the Wolverines have lost three times in the game immediately prior to playing Ohio State. Each of those previous three times, the Wolverines have bounced back and defeated the Buckeyes.
Romero: How We Treat the Poor is How We Treat God
[This devotional piece comes from my friend and colleague, Glen VanderKloot, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Springfield, Illinois. It cites Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Romero was gunned down in 1980, while serving Holy Communion to cancer patients. His crime? Speaking against the oppression of the poor in his homeland. Glen VanderKloot sends our a daily emailed inspiration. To subscribe, send him an email at at olwf1@gliq.net and put SUBSCRIBE on the subject line.]+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A Thought for the Day
The guarantee of one’s prayer is not in saying a
lot of words. The guarantee of one’s petition is
very easy to know:
How do I treat the poor?
Because that is where God is. The degree to which
you approach them, or the scorn with which you
approach them—that is how you approach your God.
What you do to them, you do to God. The way you
look at them is the way you look at God.
Archbishop Oscar Romero
+++++++++
Scripture
Matthew 25:34-40 TNIV
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right,
'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see
you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes
and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in
prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever
you did for one of the least of these brothers and
sisters of mine, you did for me.'
Prayer
Lord, help me to see you in the eyes of everyone in need
and to respond with love and kindness and assistance.
Amen
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
A Pass at Luke 20:27-38
[My wife, son, and I have just moved to Logan, Ohio, where I will be serving as pastor of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church. Here, I hope to continue to write and post "passes" at the Bible lessons appointed for the Sundays ahead. They're designed to help the people of Saint Matthew to prepare for worship. But they may also be useful to others, since we follow the Church Year used by most Christians each week. Because until Friday, my access to the Internet results only from my walking to the Logan Library and using their free WiFi access, there will only be one pass at the lesson.]
1. The appointed lessons for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost are: Job 19:23-27a; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; and Luke 20:27-38. The Psalm is Psalm 17:1-9.
2. All three of the lessons for this week share several common themes:
This is a common--and wrongheaded--human response to the tragedies of others. It no doubt stems in part for our very human desire to make sense of things. But not everything that happens in our fallen world "makes sense." Our alienation from God, a condition the Bible calls sin, means that inexplicable things happen in our world. Bad things do happen to all people.
Job doesn't exempt God from blame either. That's okay. As I often tell people who confide that they sometimes get mad at God, only people who believe that God is real, present, and caring get angry with Him. If we didn't believe in God's existence, we wouldn't be angry with Him. The Psalms are replete with examples of people shaking their fist at or bellyaching to God.
We get angry at the tragedies of life because, deep in our DNA, we know that tragedy and death were never meant to be part of the human experience. See here for a discussion of these issues.
Looking back to vv. 19-22, just before this lesson, we see that Job is not only wearied by grief, pain, and his sudden poverty, he also feels persecuted by his friends. He feels that both God and the world are against him. Throughout that section just before our lesson for this week, Job makes references to his flesh, saying that his bones are clinging to his flesh and that he has escaped death himself by the skin of his teeth, wondering why his friends, "like God, are never satisfied with my flesh?" All of this lay in Job's triumphant affirmation of the resurrection of all who believe in the God revealed, first to Israel, and definitively, in Jesus Christ:
Paul's words upbraid modern Christians in two different camps:
Jesus, in fact, had more in common with the Pharisees than with the Sadducees. The Pharisees, although guilty of legalism that obscured the grace and love of God, believed, like Jesus, in a resurrection and that the entire Old Testament was the Word of God.
The Sadducees repudiated the entire notion of a resurrection and believed that only the first five books of the Old Testament, which make up what the scholars refer to as the Pentateuch, were "canonical." (See point 6, here.) The Pentateuch was also called "the books of Moses."
This is why Jesus reference to Moses toward the end of our lesson is so clever, claiming, as He does, that Moses affirmed the reality of the resurrection by referring to the Lord as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
6. The "question" of the Sadducees is really designed to trip Jesus up, anger Him, or ridicule Him. The fictional case study they present to Jesus is rooted in what's called "levirate law." (The word levir is a Latin term, meaning husband's brother.) In most circumstances, it was considered wrong for a woman to marry her husband. (See Leviticus 18:16; 20:21) There were several apparent purposes behind levirate marriage: to maintain the continuation of a family line and to protect women who otherwise were without rights. The refusal of brothers to fulfill their duty under this law, while momentarily embarrassing to the man (check out Deuteronomy 25:5-10, linked below) had an even graver consequence. Women widowed without heirs were often forced into a life of prostitution.
But if a woman was widowed and childless and a brother of her late husband is unmarried, it was his duty to marry the widow. Their first male child--only males had property rights, would be considered the heir of the deceased husband. Levirate marriage is discussed in Genesis 38:8 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
7. The Sadducees, more concerned with religious propriety than with faith in God, were also obsessed with money, being members of the wealthiest classes. For them, "this life" was all there was. So, their "question" springs directly from their beliefs.
8. Jesus responds in two different ways to the Sadducees, as pointed out by Fred Craddock:
1. The appointed lessons for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost are: Job 19:23-27a; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; and Luke 20:27-38. The Psalm is Psalm 17:1-9.
2. All three of the lessons for this week share several common themes:
- Resurrection
- Human obsessions v. God's ways
This is a common--and wrongheaded--human response to the tragedies of others. It no doubt stems in part for our very human desire to make sense of things. But not everything that happens in our fallen world "makes sense." Our alienation from God, a condition the Bible calls sin, means that inexplicable things happen in our world. Bad things do happen to all people.
Job doesn't exempt God from blame either. That's okay. As I often tell people who confide that they sometimes get mad at God, only people who believe that God is real, present, and caring get angry with Him. If we didn't believe in God's existence, we wouldn't be angry with Him. The Psalms are replete with examples of people shaking their fist at or bellyaching to God.
We get angry at the tragedies of life because, deep in our DNA, we know that tragedy and death were never meant to be part of the human experience. See here for a discussion of these issues.
Looking back to vv. 19-22, just before this lesson, we see that Job is not only wearied by grief, pain, and his sudden poverty, he also feels persecuted by his friends. He feels that both God and the world are against him. Throughout that section just before our lesson for this week, Job makes references to his flesh, saying that his bones are clinging to his flesh and that he has escaped death himself by the skin of his teeth, wondering why his friends, "like God, are never satisfied with my flesh?" All of this lay in Job's triumphant affirmation of the resurrection of all who believe in the God revealed, first to Israel, and definitively, in Jesus Christ:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,4. In the 2 Thessalonians passage, the apostle Paul confronts the tendency of the Christians in the Greek city of Thessalonica, to believe reports that Jesus had already returned. Paul asserts that Jesus, God in the flesh, did in fact rise from the dead and that through His resurrection and our faith in Him, we too will experience resurrection. Until Jesus does return or until we leave this earth, we are to be faithful in following Him.
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God...
Paul's words upbraid modern Christians in two different camps:
- Those obsessed with Jesus' return with little thought to actually living in daily repentance and renewal, daily seeking God's help to love God and love neighbor or to make disciples.
- Those who dismiss the reality of Jesus' resurrection and turn their faith into a kind of "feel good" elixir for their troubles. To them, Paul would say, as he did to the church at Corinth, "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:19).
Jesus, in fact, had more in common with the Pharisees than with the Sadducees. The Pharisees, although guilty of legalism that obscured the grace and love of God, believed, like Jesus, in a resurrection and that the entire Old Testament was the Word of God.
The Sadducees repudiated the entire notion of a resurrection and believed that only the first five books of the Old Testament, which make up what the scholars refer to as the Pentateuch, were "canonical." (See point 6, here.) The Pentateuch was also called "the books of Moses."
This is why Jesus reference to Moses toward the end of our lesson is so clever, claiming, as He does, that Moses affirmed the reality of the resurrection by referring to the Lord as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
6. The "question" of the Sadducees is really designed to trip Jesus up, anger Him, or ridicule Him. The fictional case study they present to Jesus is rooted in what's called "levirate law." (The word levir is a Latin term, meaning husband's brother.) In most circumstances, it was considered wrong for a woman to marry her husband. (See Leviticus 18:16; 20:21) There were several apparent purposes behind levirate marriage: to maintain the continuation of a family line and to protect women who otherwise were without rights. The refusal of brothers to fulfill their duty under this law, while momentarily embarrassing to the man (check out Deuteronomy 25:5-10, linked below) had an even graver consequence. Women widowed without heirs were often forced into a life of prostitution.
But if a woman was widowed and childless and a brother of her late husband is unmarried, it was his duty to marry the widow. Their first male child--only males had property rights, would be considered the heir of the deceased husband. Levirate marriage is discussed in Genesis 38:8 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
7. The Sadducees, more concerned with religious propriety than with faith in God, were also obsessed with money, being members of the wealthiest classes. For them, "this life" was all there was. So, their "question" springs directly from their beliefs.
8. Jesus responds in two different ways to the Sadducees, as pointed out by Fred Craddock:
- a. In vv. 34-36, Jesus answers with reason. In the resurrected state, all of what Martin Luther would call "emergency" measures, things like marriage and governments and such, will go by the board. Nobody will be widowed or orphaned. All will have God as Father and, as the New Testament puts it occasionally, husband. It isn't that we won't know or love those with whom we've shared this life. It's just that the old measures will be both unnecessary and defunct.
- b. In vv. 37-38, Jesus responds by alluding to Scripture. As pointed out above, He does so very cleverly, invoking the faith of the very person the Sadducees claimed to be the author of the only books they deemed holy, Moses.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
"You should not go on this ride if you are pregnant, have a history of back or heart problems, or can't fit in the boat."
This cracked me up. It's an ever-enlarging world, after all.
Happy Hallowe'en!
[Here's a piece I wrote several years ago about Hallowe'en and its historical background. I hope you enjoy it.]
The History Channel has an interesting essay on the background of Halloween, October 31. As is true of so many of our holidays, Halloween has gone through many different permutations and was reclaimed and reshaped by Christians.
Halloween has become a huge industry. When I was a boy, it was a sleepy little holiday and it was only because of my parent's prompting that I even went out trick or treating. (I never liked candy. My sugar and fat weakness has always been baked goods.) Today though, Americans spend more on their Halloween celebrations than on any other holiday except Christmas: $6.9-billion!
Of course, some regard this as a dire and disturbing trend. But I see nothing wrong with Halloween. Most of the tales about witches and such are nothing other than classic tales of good versus evil.
The word, Hallowe'en, of course, is a contraction for the words hallowed [or holy] evening. It gets its name because it's the eve before All Saints Day, a time historically set aside by Christians to remember believers in Jesus Christ who have died. (When the New Testament uses the term saint, it doesn't have some super-spiritual person in mind. A saint is nothing other than someone who follows Jesus Christ, a person who has, on faith, received the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life offered by Jesus.)
For a Lutheran like myself, Halloween is also Reformation Day. It was on All Saints Eve, October 31, 1517, that a young monk, priest, and scholar named Martin Luther posted points for debate (his 95 Theses) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. (Church doors were used like our bulletin boards are today.) Luther challenged the Church to re-form itself around the simple truth that a relationship with God cannot be earned or bought or bargained for. It comes as a free gift to those with faith in the God we meet through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Luther's theses set off a conflict of volcanic proportions. Thank God, we live with its after-effects today.
A few key passages of Scripture to consider this Reformation Sunday:
The History Channel has an interesting essay on the background of Halloween, October 31. As is true of so many of our holidays, Halloween has gone through many different permutations and was reclaimed and reshaped by Christians.
Halloween has become a huge industry. When I was a boy, it was a sleepy little holiday and it was only because of my parent's prompting that I even went out trick or treating. (I never liked candy. My sugar and fat weakness has always been baked goods.) Today though, Americans spend more on their Halloween celebrations than on any other holiday except Christmas: $6.9-billion!
Of course, some regard this as a dire and disturbing trend. But I see nothing wrong with Halloween. Most of the tales about witches and such are nothing other than classic tales of good versus evil.
The word, Hallowe'en, of course, is a contraction for the words hallowed [or holy] evening. It gets its name because it's the eve before All Saints Day, a time historically set aside by Christians to remember believers in Jesus Christ who have died. (When the New Testament uses the term saint, it doesn't have some super-spiritual person in mind. A saint is nothing other than someone who follows Jesus Christ, a person who has, on faith, received the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life offered by Jesus.)
For a Lutheran like myself, Halloween is also Reformation Day. It was on All Saints Eve, October 31, 1517, that a young monk, priest, and scholar named Martin Luther posted points for debate (his 95 Theses) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. (Church doors were used like our bulletin boards are today.) Luther challenged the Church to re-form itself around the simple truth that a relationship with God cannot be earned or bought or bargained for. It comes as a free gift to those with faith in the God we meet through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Luther's theses set off a conflict of volcanic proportions. Thank God, we live with its after-effects today.A few key passages of Scripture to consider this Reformation Sunday:
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘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.' [John 3:16-17]
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’ [Romans 1:16-17]
21 But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. [Romans 3:21-26]
You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. [Ephesians 2:1-10]
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. [Second Corinthians 5:16-19]
This Halloween, as you pass out the candy to the trick-or-treaters, you can also remember that God willingly gives us the greatest gift any of us could ever want: brand new life with Him forever, forgiveness of our sins, and the power to become our best selves with God living inside of us.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Thanks to Patrick Oden...
of Dualravens for linking to my Reformation Sunday post. Patrick's blog is among the most thought-provoking and interesting ones I read.
Why This is Called 'Reformation Sunday'
Romans 1:16(This message was shared with the people of Friendship Lutheran Church on Reformation Sunday, 2005. Today is Reformation Sunday, always the Sunday before Reformation Day, October 31.)
He was born in November, 1483, in the German principality of Saxony. His father was a one-time coal miner who, through hard work, had risen to middle class status, the owner of several mines. His mother, who would exert so much influence over the boy was, in the custom of those times, a full-time housewife and mother.
His name was Martin Luther. From an early age, he exhibited great intelligence and many talents. As time passed, he would become an extraordiary preacher, theologian, and musician. These pursuits were far from his father’s intentions for young Martin. Hans Luther wanted Martin to become a lawyer in order to care for him and his wife in their old age.
That, in fact, was the trajectory on which Martin’s life was moving when a shattering experience intervened.
He was heading back to the university he attended, when a ferocious thunderstorm arose. A lightning bolt knocked Luther to the ground. Understandably terrified, Martin cried out to the patron saint of miners. “Saint Ann,” he said, “save me; I will become a monk.”
I once told this story to Father Seavey Joyce, who served Saint Ann's parish in the same small town where I did my seminary internship. Seavey listened and said with an impish smile, "I guess that goes to prove that even saints make mistakes." (He was kidding because, he told me once, he was sure that one day the Roman Catholic Church would name Luther one of its saints.)1
But of course, it wasn't Saint Ann who made a mistake. It was Martin Luther. In fact, in his moment of terror in the thunderstorm, he made several mistakes. Mistake one: Calling for supernatural help from anyone other than the God we know in Jesus Christ. Mistake two: Making a deal in the hopes of placating what Luther thought was an angry God. God doesn’t make deals.
But Luther became part of a long tradition of people who did the right things for the wrong reasons.
In the Old Testament book of Genesis, for example, we find the true story of a young dreamer named Joseph. His father, Jacob, doted on the boy while virtually ignoring his ten other sons. Resentful, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery and then took the coat their father had given to him and spattered it with blood. They showed it to Jacob. He concluded that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
The brothers had done the wrong thing. But it turned out that, unbeknownst to them, they played into God's plans for Joseph. Joseph was set down a difficult road that ultimately led him to become, in effect, the prime minister of Egypt, second in command after the Pharaoh. In that position, Joseph oversaw the storing of crops during seven bumper years in anticipation of seven years of famine, a famine that affected the entire Middle East.
Ultimately, Joseph was able to use the stored crops to save the lives of his very own family members and many others. Later, he was able to tell his brothers that when they sold him into slavery, "You meant it for evil. But God meant it for good so that many might be saved." Joseph's brothers had somehow done the right thing for the wrong reasons.
In the New Testament book of Matthew, we find the story of people who came to see the Christ Child. We call them "wise men." But they were really little more than astologers, people who made horoscopes and superstitiously believed that stars foretold occurrences on this planet. It's the sort of the practice that the Bible condemns completely. We're to depend on God and on nothing and nobody else. Yet, these wise men who followed the stars for the wrong reasons, at the end of their journey, came to the right conclusion: This baby was the Savior of the world.
Martin Luther’s entry into the monastery for the wrong reason turned out to be very right, indeed! I don’t think that his father ever forgave the young Luther for taking the vows of a monk and "abandoning" his family. When, several years later, Luther also was ordained a priest, his father, Hans, expressed the belief that Martin’s call might not have come from God, but from the devil.
Martin Luther, it turns out, was a deeply disturbed young man, probably neurotic. He felt himself utterly and completely guilty of sin. He couldn’t imagine that a morally perfect God could or would forgive him. At times, Luther hated God. He believed that God was playing a vicious game with the human race: Demanding moral perfection and when we were unable to attain it, gleefully sending us to hell.
Noting how disturbed Luther was, believing that a fully occupied life would crowd out his worries and fears, and recognizing how intelligent Luther was, his superiors decided that he would study to become a doctor of theology. He would teach at a new university scheduled to be started in the Saxon town of Wittenberg.
At first, a new regimen of work, which included administering a number of monasteries, pastoring a local church, and teaching at the new university, did nothing to assuage Luther’s loathing of God and of himself.
But then, something happened to change Luther’s life and world history. (And, over time, through the Reformation Luther began, my personal history.) Like most seminarians and priests of his day, Luther had never studied Scripture. He did so now, as he prepared for the classes he was teaching.
In the Bible, Luther found a different God than the one often preached in the Church of his day. He saw a God of grace and love Who reaches out to His children, Who charitably understands their fallen humanity, Who forgives and empowers right living, and promises eternity to all with faith in Him. He saw a God Who hates sin while loving sinners, Who calls all to repent for their sin and believe in His Son, Jesus.
He began to see this picture of God as he studied the book of Genesis in preparation for lectures to his students at Wittenberg. He met this God again in the Psalms. And, perhaps most clearly of all, Luther saw this God in the majestic New Testament book of Romans.
A key passage for him was Romans 1:16:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.With his deepening knowledge of the Scriptures and the original Hebrew and Greek in which the Old and New Testaments had been written, Luther’s understanding of God blossomed.
Up until this point in his life, Luther, like most of the people of his time, labored under the mistaken notion that righteousness was a state of moral perfection, a status God commanded of us, although none of us could ever attain it. Such a view made God a kind of contemptuous cat toying with human mice until they died.
Now, Luther saw that righteousness is having a right relationship with God and that it can’t be secured by anything we do. He saw that while God does demand moral purity from us and that our sin earns us everlasting condemnation, God Himself took on flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ so that He could die in our place on the cross and all with faith in Jesus won't be condemned. Instead, God gives all with faith in Jesus forgiveness and everlasting life. That's what Romans means when it talks about salvation and salvation as God's gift to believers in Christ. Period.
Realizing all of this now, Luther, who studied in the tower of the monastery at Wittenberg had what was later called his “tower experience.” While studying God’s Word, Luther had an overpowering sense of the depths of God’s love for all of us--including himself. Coming to know that rigteousness is God’s gift to all who turn from sin and entrust their lives to Christ, Luther said, was like having the gates of heaven thrown open to him! The faithful person would try to respond to the love of God given through Jesus Christ, of course. But, Luther knew, we can’t earn God’s love. It’s a gift called grace.
The once-neurotically ashamed Martin Luther now became a joyful champion of the new life that God gives to all with faith in Christ. As he grew in the confidence he had in Christ and in God’s love for him, Luther grew bolder in sharing what he had learned about God from the Bible.
On October 31, 1517, he posted 95 theses--or propositions--for debate on the church door in Wittenberg. In those days, a scholar who wished to engage in discussion about important issues posted points on the doors of churches. Church doors were the Power Points or bulletin boards of that time.
Luther’s theses were prompted by a common practice in the Roman Catholic Church of his day. The Church then taught that there was a place called “purgatory,” a sort of holding room that the dead supposedly went to between death and eternity. Purgatory was supposed to be a place where people were purified for entry into heaven. To raise money, the Church often authorized the mass sale of pieces of paper known as indulgences. These indulgences allowed people to buy hundreds or thousands of years out of purgatory for loved ones or even themselves.2
Luther, now certain that eternity was a free gift, was deeply offended by this practice. He would later say that if there were such a place as purgatory and that if the Pope, as head of the Church, had the capacity to free people from the place, he should do so out of simple compassion and not accept a penny for the service.3
When Luther’s preaching against indulgences began to effect the bottom line on their sale, the Church went after him. Ultimately, he came under what was known as an “imperial ban.” That meant that both the Church and the powerful Holy Roman Empire, a confederation of principalities and nations, agreed that if any one saw Martin Luther, he was to be killed on sight. Luther was labeled a heretic, a perverter of the Christian faith.
For the balance of his life, Martin Luther remained steadfast in proclaiming the God we see in Jesus Christ, the God of grace and God of glory. Among Luther’s last words were, “We are all beggars,” an acknowledgement that none of us is better or more important than others in God's eyes and that all with faith in Christ are the recipients of God’s charitable gifts: forgiveness and new life. We cannot earn them, but thank God, He loves to give them to those humble enough to surrender to Christ! Luther died in 1546.
We celebrate this day as Reformation Sunday because on All Saints Eve, Hallowed Evening or, as we call it, Halloween, in 1517, Luther’s 95 Theses began a major reformation of the Church. That reform movement goes on to this day. The members of this congregation, are part of it.
Martin Luther had learned from God’s Word that our relationship with God and our freedom from sin and death don’t come from our works or from doing proscribed acts of ritual, religious or otherwise. These things come to us freely from a God Who, in Christ, shows us that He isn’t our enemy, but our very best friend. And having said that, you know now why this Lutheran Church is called Friendship.
1Seavey was a brilliant, humble man of God. A former president of Boston College, with a doctorate in Economics, Seavey volunteered in his retirement years to pastor a parish in Alaska, where there were severe clergy shortages in the Roman Catholic Church. He was instead sent to Michigan's northwestern lower peninsula, where he served faithfully and I was privileged to meet him.
2When Luther first issued the 95 Theses, he had not yet fully concluded to side with Scripture over against the traditions of the Church of his day in repudiating the very existence of purgatory. That's reflected in a number of the theses.
3Throughout the 95 Theses, Luther really let the Pontiffs of his day "off the hook." He doesn't ascribe indulgences to the popes. Rather, he suggests that they're an abusive practice which, if the Pope knew about them, he would quickly shut down for being un-Biblical. Kathryn Kleinhans says that Luther may simply have been giving the Pope an out, a face-saving way of repudiating the indulgence practice, not to mention a way for Luther to avoid a frontal assault on Rome. In this, Luther was practicing what he would later preach in The Small Catechism. Explaining the Eighth Commandment, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," Luther wrote, "We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything." As Kleinhans points out, Luther didn't always take his own Biblically-founded advice, often viciously attacking those who opposed him. All of which just underscores the fact that the Church is composed of sinners in need of God's grace given in Christ!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Closing in on Halloween, Buckeyes Face Scary Challenge
Last week, I talked about how their last five regular season game would give my beloved Buckeyes the challenges that their detractors around the country are claiming they haven't yet had. Ohio State's number one-rated defense did a fantastic job against Michigan State's number one-rated offense last Saturday, allowing the Spartans' offensive squad to score only three points.
But the offense gave Buckeyes fans a fright, turning the ball over twice in fifty seconds to allow the Spartan defense to score two touchdowns, making the final score much closer than it should have been.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes passed the first of the final five regular season tests last week, allowing them to stay atop the major polls and the BCS standings.
So far, this has been a miracle season for the Buckeyes. As I've said repeatedly, I expected this to be a rebuilding season, a share of the Big Ten championship an outside hope. The team has outperformed all my pre-season expectations, giving thrills I never anticipated.
Tomorrow night will bring the biggest challenge Ohio State has had this season. The team goes into Happy Valley to face Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a night game at Penn State two years ago that dashed Buckeye hopes of a dream season. You can be sure that Joe Pa's team will be trying to spin another nightmare scenario again this year.
If the Buckeyes do win, it should turn a lot of detractors into believers, although it might not make them people happy.
Like the kid in my neighborhood I saw after Ohio State's win last Saturday. I decided to take a walk. The air was crisp and inviting, the leaves turning colors. The kid was catching football passes from his dad. He saw that I was wearing one of my Buckeyes shirts. This kid has never spoken to me before. But for him, the shirt must have been like a red cloth flung before a bull. "Michigan State should have won that game," he declared. I laughed; I thought a friendly laugh. But my response did nothing to soften his hostility. "I hate Ohio State." Now, he did say this with a smile. But he clearly meant what he said!
And we live in Ohio! But I suppose his reaction is symbolic to the visceral enmity that many people around the country have toward Ohio State. It's not unlike the hatred that some people have for the Yankees. Although the Buckeyes don't enjoy the kind of unfair advantage that the Yankees have in Major League baseball, Ohio State is clearly among the "haves" in college football, even in this era of increasing parity and resultant Appalachian State-style upsets.
The teams that play against Ohio State aren't immune to these feelings. The number one ranking the Buckeyes now enjoy effectively paints a target on the team's backs every time it hits the field. Each of the Buckeyes' four (or five, counting a bowl game) remaining opponents would love to make my neighbor kid's day by upsetting them. To them, the Buckeyes are a juggernaut who need to be knocked down a peg or two.
I get that. But to me, the Buckeyes represent my hometown, my state, and the only college to which I ever applied, the only college I ever wanted to attend.
My sentiments in favor of the Buckeyes are, I suppose, as irrational as those who hate them.
To all of which, I have a simple response...
To read more, go here.
And here.
Also here.
Check here too.
But the offense gave Buckeyes fans a fright, turning the ball over twice in fifty seconds to allow the Spartan defense to score two touchdowns, making the final score much closer than it should have been.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes passed the first of the final five regular season tests last week, allowing them to stay atop the major polls and the BCS standings.
So far, this has been a miracle season for the Buckeyes. As I've said repeatedly, I expected this to be a rebuilding season, a share of the Big Ten championship an outside hope. The team has outperformed all my pre-season expectations, giving thrills I never anticipated.
Tomorrow night will bring the biggest challenge Ohio State has had this season. The team goes into Happy Valley to face Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a night game at Penn State two years ago that dashed Buckeye hopes of a dream season. You can be sure that Joe Pa's team will be trying to spin another nightmare scenario again this year.
If the Buckeyes do win, it should turn a lot of detractors into believers, although it might not make them people happy.
Like the kid in my neighborhood I saw after Ohio State's win last Saturday. I decided to take a walk. The air was crisp and inviting, the leaves turning colors. The kid was catching football passes from his dad. He saw that I was wearing one of my Buckeyes shirts. This kid has never spoken to me before. But for him, the shirt must have been like a red cloth flung before a bull. "Michigan State should have won that game," he declared. I laughed; I thought a friendly laugh. But my response did nothing to soften his hostility. "I hate Ohio State." Now, he did say this with a smile. But he clearly meant what he said!
And we live in Ohio! But I suppose his reaction is symbolic to the visceral enmity that many people around the country have toward Ohio State. It's not unlike the hatred that some people have for the Yankees. Although the Buckeyes don't enjoy the kind of unfair advantage that the Yankees have in Major League baseball, Ohio State is clearly among the "haves" in college football, even in this era of increasing parity and resultant Appalachian State-style upsets.
The teams that play against Ohio State aren't immune to these feelings. The number one ranking the Buckeyes now enjoy effectively paints a target on the team's backs every time it hits the field. Each of the Buckeyes' four (or five, counting a bowl game) remaining opponents would love to make my neighbor kid's day by upsetting them. To them, the Buckeyes are a juggernaut who need to be knocked down a peg or two.
I get that. But to me, the Buckeyes represent my hometown, my state, and the only college to which I ever applied, the only college I ever wanted to attend.
My sentiments in favor of the Buckeyes are, I suppose, as irrational as those who hate them.
To all of which, I have a simple response...
Go, Buckeyes!
To read more, go here.
And here.
Also here.
Check here too.
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