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![[Gottesblog] The Confidence and Courage of Faith in the Life and Labors of Love, by Rick Stuckwisch](https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/332069/G_logo_1500_f5mj7a_300x300.jpg){kind=logo}
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
The Confidence and Courage of Faith in the Life and Labors of Love
by Rick Stuckwisch
“At this time, in the present danger of the plague, we are in a state of trepidation. It is as though we did not have the command to live and to call upon God. We have a most dependable Word uttered by the mouth of the Son of God (John 11:25-26): ‘I Am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.’ But who is interested in this Word or pays any attention to it? Similarly, anyone can be certain about his calling from the Word of God, whether it is a calling in civil life or in the church. But there is nothing we neglect more than our duty. The negligence and idleness of the government is familiar to all. The bishops and the pastors remain silent like dumb dogs (cf. Is. 56:10) and do not believe that they are what they are; they strive for riches and honors, but they do not perform their tasks. Meanwhile we complain that we lack the opportunity to do good works.
“We have the command that applies to us all, namely, that we should love God and fear no one — not the devil, not the Turk, not the plague — when we walk in our ways, even if our life is in danger, in accordance with the passage (Ps. 27:14): ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage.’ But who heeds this? Nobody. For nobody believes that God has commanded confidence and has condemned despair. Therefore this passage [Genesis 22:1-14] deserves careful consideration, in order that we may learn true obedience toward God and how important it is to have the assurance of a command from God and with what great confidence this fills the hearts of the godly. We assuredly should have sought for this in the remotest limits of the world, but there is no need of a long journey or of a painstaking search. Our home, body, and heart are full of commands of God; yet we do not believe. Therefore we feel no joy; nor do we have any light or understanding with regard to that spiritual pride and confidence that is based on the Word of God and His commands.
“It is for this reason that the examples of the fathers, in which the efficacy and power of the Word of God and of faith are prominent, should be exalted and carefully emphasized, as David boasts (Ps. 119:50): ‘These are my comfort, namely, Thy utterances.’ Relying on these utterances, he killed a bear, a lion, and the Philistine Goliath, and performed other difficult and remarkable feats. . . .
“Thus in this unbelievable trial [in which the Lord commanded him to sacrifice his son, Isaac,] it was Abraham’s sole consolation that he knew he had a command from God. He surely would not have fled from the plague or from many thousands of Turks, because his heart held fast to this confidence: ‘I believe in God Almighty.’ But what are 10,000 Turks in comparison with Almighty God? Therefore he does not delay at this point, but he immediately takes hold of the command and is ready to carry out the sacrifice.
“We should learn to understand this power of the Word of God — this power which the Holy Spirit is wont to exalt so much that He makes it greater than every creature, hell, death, and the good and bad angels. Yes, He even makes it equal to God, as it actually is, inasmuch as in Rom. 1:16 Paul calls it ‘the might and power of God’; and indeed one should feel the same way about the spoken Word. Abraham understood this very clearly; therefore he had no doubt that Isaac, even if he were to die, nevertheless would be revived and that his progeny would live on, because God does not permit His command and promise to be of no effect.
“In Ps. 91;7, 11 it is stated: ‘A thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. For He will give His angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.’ He who holds firmly to this promise and meanwhile diligently does his duty in his place, which he knows has been assigned to him by God, even if some dangers or obstacles are put in his way, nevertheless has no doubt about a happy issue and favorable outcome but is convinced in his heart that all the angels will come flying from heaven to help and defend him rather than that any godly undertaking in accord with the Word of God should be in vain and useless. What you undertake on the strength of His Word must succeed, even though there were to be no angel remaining in heaven” (From Dr. Luther’s Lectures on Genesis 22:3, Luther’s Works AE 4, 105-107).
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
Tuesday Jan 26, 2021
What is the history surrounding Septuagesima? What are the ceremonies associated with it? What are the biblical themes for Septuagesima and what is its connection to Lent? These questions among others are answered by Stefan Gramenz (pastor of The Lutheran Church of Christ the King, Pawling, NY, and an Editor of The Lutheran Missal Project). He recently published an article on The Lutheran Missal Project's blog entitled Septuagesimal Strife, which serves as the basis for our conversation.
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Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
When Demons Show Up
by Anthony Dodgers
“People shouldn’t call for demons unless they really mean what they say.”
In The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis’s final volume in The Chronicles of Narnia, the enemies of Narnia promote a false teaching that Aslan, the great Lion and true King of Narnia, is the same as Tash, the wicked vulture-like god of the Calormenes. It eventually becomes clear that they have no problem equating the two beings because they believe in neither of them. But then, invoked by these enemies of truth, Tash shows up:
Roughly the shape of a man but it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel, curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head, stretching them out Northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers—all twenty of them—were curved like its beak and had long, pointed, bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass seemed to wither beneath it.
[True and faithful Narnians witness the arrival of this pagan god:]
“It seems, then,” said the Unicorn, “That there is a real Tash, after all.”
“Yes,” said the Dwarf. “And this fool of an Ape, who didn’t believe in Tash, will get more than he bargained for! He has called for Tash: Tash has come…
It has come to dwell among us. They have called it and it has come… People shouldn’t call for demons unless they really mean what they say.” (The Last Battle, Chapter VIII).
I would claim that America is suffering a similar fate. On January 3, 2021, the opening prayer for Congress was concluded with these words: “Give us peace… peace even in this chamber, now and evermore. We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, a god known by many names and many different faiths. Amen and Awoman.” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, is also a minister in the United Methodist Church, yet he prayed for peace in the House’s chamber while invoking demons. Three days later “demons” showed up in that chamber.
On January 6, a protest devolving into a riot spilled into the Capitol building. Far from being a unified group with a set goal in mind, this crowd included everyone from “Grandmas for Trump” to the guy in the Camp Auschwitz hoodie. And no one can forget the shirtless Norse pagan shaman. The “sacrilege” committed by this mob was not lost on our elites either. Following the riot, both Democrats and Republicans had all kinds of condemnation for these people who violated their “temple of democracy.”
Everything is theological. Demons were invoked on Sunday and they showed up on Wednesday. I am not saying that the storming of the Capitol on January 6 was directly caused by Rep. Cleaver’s prayer. But the true God always hears the blasphemous prayers of the wicked and He answers those prayers in His wrath. The true Narnians should not be blind to the obvious connection between this country’s faithlessness and the violent degeneracy we see today.
Our nation has worshiped demons for a long time, and it should be no surprise when they show up, whether they come from the right or the left. We have had the institutionalized slaughter of unborn children for almost 50 years. That is no less than the worship of Moloch. We have countless ways of accessing pornography, and its softer versions are basically mainstream. That is hardly different than how the worshipers of Baal and Asherah could consort with their gods by visiting the temple prostitute. Mars and Bacchus are adored by the ubiquitous violence and hedonism of our entertainment, encouraged by the rhetoric of politicians and celebrities.
If our nation is devoted to such things, can we be surprised that our people have come to embody such things? Have we forgotten the wisdom of the psalmist?
Our God is in the heavens;
He does all that He pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them. (Psalm 115:3–8)
In contrast to the living God, idols are lifeless and empty. And those who worship them become like them. Those who worship sex and violence get nothing but shame and fear, injustice and death. If you call for demons, they will come.
In case you think I’m being too literal, the Apostle Paul is the one who exposes the gods:
What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? (1 Corinthians 10:19–22)
Yet this is precisely what the unbelieving nations do: they provoke the Lord. The psalmist sees this blasphemy and marvels:
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
The beginning of Psalm 2 describes many in our nation, those who think they can rule themselves and overthrow the rule and order of God. They rebel against the Creator and Christ. And yet…
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
The enemies of God cannot touch Him. Their demon gods cannot rescue them from His hand. His judgment is set. His will is done.
Then He will speak to them in His wrath,
and terrify them in His fury, saying,
“As for Me, I have set My King
on Zion, My holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to Me, “You are My Son;
today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your heritage,
and the ends of the earth Your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
In these verses, we hear the Father’s eternal decree: His Son is the one true King and He reigns from the holy hill of Zion, the holy hill of Calvary. He is enthroned upon the cross and, by dying and rising again, He is given all authority in heaven and on earth. All who submit to this King in faith are made His heritage, His possession, citizens of His eternal kingdom. All who mock and resist the crucified King will be broken, shattered, and cast down forever.
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest He be angry, and you perish in the way,
for His wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. (Psalm 2)
The lesson we must learn from the evil that is coming upon our nation is that it’s getting what it deserves. And we have all participated in our nation’s sinful decadence in one way or another. We all need to repent. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.” Turn back to Him and mourn your sin. Confess it, and flee from it and its destructive end. “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Blessed are all who flee to the King on His holy hill, and find absolution and protection in His holy blood.
This also means that there is no cause for despair. The blessed can be confident in our King who rules over all nations. Even surrounded by demons, we can continue in good works and peace, for we belong to the living God. And even if this society and nation fall apart, we can rebuild. The Church has done it before. While earthly empires crumble into dust, the Church picks up the pieces and carries on. So, it is still right to hope for goodness in this world, for as long as we remain faithful to God’s Word, we can hope for His blessing here and now. More than that, we have hope that goes beyond this world. Our King gives His life to us, and we will live in His Kingdom that cannot be destroyed.
Let us pray: Almighty God, merciful Father, You are right to be angry over our many sins. Yet, we flee to Your mercy that You have shown us in our Savior and His death on the cross for the world. Forgive us and restore us, that we may live holy lives and serve Your kingdom here while this world lasts. “Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord; peace in our time, O send us! For there is none on earth but You, none other to defend us. You only, Lord, can fight for us” (LSB 777). We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our King, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one true God, now and forever. Amen.
Sunday Jan 17, 2021
Sunday Jan 17, 2021
www.gottesdienst.org/gottesblog/2020/12/15/timeo-daneos-et-dona-ferentes
“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.”— VIRGIL
There is a reason why Homer’s “Trojan Horse” has become a metaphor in nearly every language. Nearly every invasion of diabolical, revolutionary ideas comes by invitation rather than by frontal assault.
The progressive purveyors of the Gramscian “Long March Through the Institutions” understand the importance of targeting the Christian Church in order to push their agenda. And so we saw Critical Theory embed and mainstream itself into mainline churches ever so slowly over the course of decades. They used Academia as their command post: universities, Bible colleges, divinity schools, and seminaries. Scholars advocating Higher Criticism made their way into the church’s educational facilities, at first slowly, then in an onslaught.
From there, the cancer could metastasize into our parishes, parochial schools, and literature of ordinary Christians. This Trojan Horse successfully overthrew Christianity in many liberal, mainline church bodies. But the ruse was discovered in the 1970s in the LCMS, and the Critical Method was turned away by those who were willing to take a stand against it.
But this is now half a century in the past.
The Long March has left the LCMS surrounded. We have seen church body after church body succumb. And the strategy has shifted to focus on issues of race and sexuality under the color of “social justice.” Where we have seen incursions of the Critical Theory methodology in the LCMS manifests more in two distinct areas: educational institutions, and “saltwater” districts.
And before the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins, I am generalizing. There are notable exceptions. There are indeed professors and there are coastal institutions of our church that are bastions of orthodoxy. But if you are going to think strategically, you have to generalize. A good general understands that there are certain types of terrain where an ambush is more likely, where he has more reason to fear heavy artillery, or under what circumstances his own people may find themselves trapped behind enemy lines. A good bit of strategy involves playing the odds.
And playing the odds means looking at things as they are, not based on sentimentality or desires.
Odds are, if you’re going to have clubs dedicated to breaking the sixth commandment and celebrating sexual deviancy contrary to Holy Scripture, it is most likely that this Trojan Horse will be wheeled into a university setting, and again, most likely (though not exclusively) on the coasts.
If you’re going to have a violent BLM member receive a Servant of Christ award, chances are, this will be in an educational setting and, again, will likely be on one of the coasts.
If you’re going to have a convocation based on Critical Race Theory, watch the synod’s schools - especially the seminaries.
If an employee in one of our church’s institutions who is unrepentant regarding the sixth commandment and the Lord’s created order of male and female is to be promoted and lauded by the administration, that Trojan Horse is likely to be wheeled into the groves of LCMS Academia, and again, likely not in “flyover country.”
If a district is going to consecrate female “deacons” and vest them in albs and stoles, chances are that this will not be in the heartland (while the South is also sometimes known for this particular Trojan Horse).
If there are institutions bearing the name “Lutheran” to which many LCMS young people are encouraged to attend - but where they will encounter “ordained” female “Lutheran pastors” and Higher Critical Method biblical hermeneutics, what are the chances that this is an educational institution? Why do we send young people such mixed messages? Can we not cut down the Asherah poles and stop the worship on the “high places”? Instead, we wheel the abomination right into our own gates and encourage our young people to jump right in. And if young people leave our churches, then I suppose the traditional liturgy is to blame.
The quote above from Virgil’s Aeneid is loosely translated as “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” That too has become a proverb of the ages, because it is sage advice. Those who serve on boards overseeing our Concordia system and our seminaries - as well as those charged with oversight of our more liberal districts - should strive to be vigilant, prepared to sound the alarm (utilizing the tools that we have today in social media), aware of Greeks bearing gifts, and prepared to send Critical Theory right back to where it came from. Resist the urge to go along to get along. Don’t wait. The Church needs to know now!
For today, the very same handsome structure that gives you prestige and street cred - and perhaps even a large salary - will tomorrow pop open with hostile soldiers intent upon slaughtering your children in their beds.
Friday Jan 15, 2021
Friday Jan 15, 2021
With Every Soldier of the Heavenly Army
Announcing the moveable feasts, Epiphany 2020
Note: this essay appeared in Gottesdienst (the print journal) in the Michaelmas 2020 issue. Today would have been my son’s sixteenth birthday, and so I would like to share this with our readers today. The Proper Preface is a confession of the unity of the Church - Militant and Triumphant - and a confession of the resurrection of the dead. Requiescat in Pace, Leonidas Beane+.
You can subscribe to the print journal here.
“Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You, and saying . . .”— THE COMMON PROPER PREFACE
“We shall meet, but we shall miss him— "THE VACANT CHAIR"
There will be one vacant chair
We shall linger to caress him
While we breathe our evening prayer.”
Our common Proper Preface concludes: “With angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying,…” followed by the Sanctus. It is a confession of our joining together as a great choir: the Church Militant on earth, the Church Triumphant in heaven, along with the hierarchy of the angelic hosts, as we, like Isaiah in Chapter 6, find ourselves around the throne of God singing the thrice-holy Sanctus, bridging heaven and earth, with one foot in time and another in eternity, praising the Lord in preparation for the burning coal of the Eucharist to be placed upon our lips to purge our sins.
For those of us whose loved ones have died, the confession of the “company of heaven” is of great comfort, a reminder and confession that our sainted beloved departed of the Church Triumphant are in the Lord’s presence—even as are we, as we join with our Lord and with them to breach time and space, as our Lord condescends to commune with us in His body and blood.
The conclusion of our Proper Preface comes from the Book of Common Prayer. It seems to correspond with the Latin from the Tridentine Proper Preface of Eastertide, Christmastide, and Ascension (and other feasts):
“Et ideo cum angelis et archangelis, cum thronis et dominationibus, cumque omni militia caelestis exercitus, hymnum gloriae tuae canimus, sine fine dicentes . . . … [(And so with angels and archangels, with Tthrones and Ddominions, and with every soldier of the heavenly army, we sing a hymn to Your glory, evermore saying . . .])”
This gives us a more militant picture of the heavenly hosts (“hosts” meaning “armies,” translating the Hebrew “Sabaoth”).
We often think of the Church on earth as the Church Militant—and so we are. We wage war against the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh as we live here in time in the fallen order. We think of the saints in heaven as the Church Triumphant—and so they are. In Christ, they have triumphed over the world, the devil, and the sinful flesh, even as they await the consummation, the resurrection, and the great reunion between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant in eternity. But this doesn’t mean that the saints in heaven are not taking part in the battle, for the saints in heaven pray for us, as we confess in Apology 21:8: “[C]oncerning the saints we concede that, just as, when alive, they pray for the Church universal in general, so in heaven they pray for the Church in general.”
And so we are comforted not only that we join with our Lord and with the company of heaven in the Divine Service, we can also rejoice in the prayers of the departed saints, our unity with them in the great Una Sancta, and the protection of the angels for which we pray, evening and morning.
To the unbelieving world, death is the final victor. It claims everyone. It is non-negotiable and irrevocable. It lurks about us for our entire lives. It strikes, sometimes suddenly, always painfully, at times tragically, and it separates us from our loved ones. It creates a crisis for those who wish to see transcendence and meaning, when all they can muster is materialism and lack of purpose. The fear of death creates a sense of spiritual nihilism and material hedonism. People desperately look for meaning in transient pleasures, as evidenced by the recent fads in funeral practice, including the more recent designs etched into tombstones.
Unbelievers look for a sense of a metaphorical “eternal life” in the form of our beloved departed “living on in our hearts.” Non-Christian (and sadly, some Christian) believers in an afterlife may seek after signs and engage in superstitions—or worse yet, partake in séances and spiritualism, real or imagined, to seek communion with their loved ones. But we Christians have the revelation of God’s Word that we human beings are both material and spiritual, that mankind was created in God’s image, that we are beloved of the Lord and redeemed by Jesus Christ at the cross, that we are baptized into Christ, and that we are nourished by His very flesh and blood. And that is where the real communion happens—where eternity breaks into time, where the spiritual is enfleshed in the material, where Christ is central in the Church’s adoration of Christ, and the Church’s union with Christ.
Sadly, even Christian people fall prey to the sentimentality of the world – especially in our own cultural reality of emotionalism.
But this maudlin feelings-based version of Christianity is not new. There is a sad poem from the War Between the States that wallows in self-pity over the loss of a son during the conflict. It is called “The Vacant Chair.” It points to the constant reminder of the vacant chair that brings sadness and grief to the family, even in the midst of their prayers. The poem, which was later turned into a song, never mentions the resurrection, the reunion that we as believers confess, and certainly no objective hope of the mercy of God as conveyed in Holy Baptism, the Word, or the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The poem is all about the grief, and is devoid of hope. I’ve always loathed the song. Admittedly, some of my bias is probably attributable to the fact that it is a Yankee composition, but the main reason is that it entirely misses the point of the Christian faith itself.
As Gottesdienst readers may know, my fifteen-year-old son took his own life in May. He had just found out that an activity that was very important to him had been cancelled because of fears of coronavirus. As was the case with all of us, his whole social life had already been altered as the lockdown continued to be extended. This was a spontaneous act, an attack of the devil upon one of the Lord’s baptized, a pious young man who faithfully served seven years, twice a week, in the chancel with me. He knew the Scriptures and had a solid faith on this side of the grave. This was a spontaneous act that the Lord in His ineffable and infinite wisdom permitted to happen. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
There is a vacant chair in our chancel: Leo’s chair. He served as our acolyte, our crucifier, and as one entrusted to process with the Gospel Book. He assisted me and the deacon as we distributed the Holy Elements. During the distribution, he reverently did what needed to be done in the chancel without direction, always with a reverence and a piety that wordlessly confessed his vocation at that time and place. In some ways, Leo was like a subdeacon for our congregation. He was a cadet officer in the Civil Air Patrol (the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary), and carried out his ceremonial duties with martial confidence: done with excellence, and yet without an overbearing military rigidity. He truly understood what the word “reverence” means, and most certainly does even in eternity. His absence on this side of the grave has left a gaping hole during our parish’s Divine Service, and indeed, a literal vacant chair in the chancel.
And yet, he remains present with our Lord, even as are we.
Our Altar Book is on the Epistle side of the altar, just a few feet from Leo’s vacant chair. While I chant the Proper Preface, I see the vacant chair clearly in my peripheral vision. The Proper Preface for Sunday Masses contains references to the resurrection (“who on this day overcame death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life”), which, juxtaposed with the vacant chair, is a poignant reminder of the promises of God. And the words,: “and all the company of heaven—which is our shorthand in English for the confession of the presence of “every soldier of the heavenly army—is a confession of the presence of the departed saints.
The Proper Preface for Eastertide is even more explicit:
And most especially are we bound to praise You on this day for the glorious resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, the very Paschal Lamb, who was sacrificed for us and bore the sins of the world. By His dying He has destroyed death, and by His rising again He has restored to us everlasting life.
Rather than filling my heart with maudlin anguish, when I see the vacant chair and I defiantly chant that ancient confession of the unity of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant around our Lord who is physically present with us in Word and Sacrament, who has destroyed death, who is risen, and whose resurrection points us to the “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting” of all who believe and are baptized, of all of us whose sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb, of all of our Lord’s redeemed who eat His flesh and drink His blood—I am comforted with the objective reality of our Lord’s victory over sin, death, and hell. Satan wins battles, but he has lost the war. And even his casualties are but temporary.
Our liturgy is filled with such gems: little confessions that perhaps often go unnoticed. But when we need to hear them, they are there for us. Without fail, our merciful Lord speaks to us. We do well to listen. For “while we breathe our evening prayer,” we certainly grieve for our departed loved ones. And yet, our prayers are answered by the Lord who is victorious, who has triumphed over the devil, whose blood shed upon the cross redeems us, even as it is miraculously given to us as the “medicine of immortality.” And unlike the poem, the “we” isn’t just our family that “will meet” and “miss him,” but the “we” that meets is the entire Church, “on earth as it is in heaven.” And yes, we miss him, but we also are in his presence and the presence of all the saints. And the Proper Preface confesses the resurrection, which gives us hope and joy and the promise of a reunion in the flesh that will never end. The Divine Service is not maudlin, but rather joyful. It is not devoid of hope, but to the contrary, overflows with hope like the cup in the 23rd Twenty-third Psalm.
In this context, the vacant chair is a reminder of the soldiers of the heavenly army, the confessors who are triumphant, the redeemed in the bosom of the Lamb, the departed who await our arrival, those who intercede for the Church, and those for whom no prayers are necessary. The evening prayers that we breathe are songs of thankfulness and praise, of the Lamb’s victory, of the Christian’s union with Christ’s death and burial, and his union with Christ’s resurrection and newness of life (Rom. 6:4–5). We, the Church—Militant and Triumphant—sing our Thrice Holy in unison, praising the Trinity in Unity, unified, but with a blended harmony.
What separates the temporal reality of the vacant chair from the eternal reality of the throne from which our Lord rules is a thin veil, a veil that in reality has been torn asunder by Him who cried out in triumph, “It is finished!”
Portrait by Tiffany Leigeber
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
ON STEALING: WHY LOCKDOWNS ARE EVIL
250 This is enough of an explanation of what stealing is. Let the commandment not be understood too narrowly. But let it apply to everything that has to do with our neighbors. Briefly, in summary (as in the former commandments) this is what is forbidden: (a) To do our neighbor any injury or wrong (in any conceivable manner, by impeding, hindering, and withholding his possessions and property), or even to consent or allow such injury. Instead, we should interfere and prevent it. 251 (b) It is commanded that we advance and improve his possessions. When they suffer lack, we should help, share, and lend both to friends and foes [Matthew 5:42]. 252 Whoever now seeks and desires good works will find here more than enough to do that are heartily acceptable and pleasing to God. In addition, they are favored and crowned with excellent blessings. So we are to be richly compensated for all that we do for our neighbor’s good and from friendship. Luther, Large Catechism I:250-252
After my sermon a couple of weeks ago, I was asked why I had referred to the government lockdown of businesses as stealing. To consider that, we must first reflect on the Seventh Commandment. In the Small Catechism, you learned that here God instructs you to protect the possessions and income that He has given to your neighbor. God desires that you be content with what He has given you and not scheme to take your neighbor’s property in a way that may appear right or in any dishonest way. Instead, He commands that you help and be of service to him in keeping it so that you improve and protect them. There are no exceptions to this, even in the case of the government or someone who feels like it is the right thing to do.
What is the connection to the lockdowns? Consider what the lockdowns have done. While large corporations, strip clubs, and casinos were kept open, many restaurants, bars, and small family-owned businesses have been crippled and forced to close. Owners had their businesses taken from them even though there was no proof that they were spreading the disease. They had to lay off employees, denying them wages. It was not the business, but the government that was stealing the wages. This leads to more stealing as taxes are increased on our neighbors. Work is good and holy under this commandment, but more people are once more living off the government instead of working for the good of our neighbors. Meanwhile, the government chooses to print money which leads to inflation and theft from our neighbor as prices escalate. Before COVID we were at record low unemployment, but lockdowns have forced people back under the umbrella of the government, closed legitimate businesses, and punished our neighbors. To quote Luther, the lockdowns have impeded, hindered and withheld our neighbor’s property.
The argument has been made that this will save lives, but the actual evidence is that depriving our neighbor of his business has not in any way slowed the spread or “saved a life.” States where the lockdowns are harshest have not slowed the number of cases. The actual fact is that people’s lives are being shattered, families are being torn apart because of financial tensions, drug and alcohol use has increased, and suicides are rising to all-time highs. Meanwhile, while I give thanks that we have not hindered people from supporting major corporations who employ our neighbors, we cannot condone the stealing from other neighbors. In the church, we must help our neighbor to improve and protect his property and business because it has been given to him by God. Let us speak up for our neighbor and protest the government selectively stealing from him.
Of course, stealing property and livelihoods has been coupled with stealing lives. Who has suffered the most from this? Who has had the most stolen from them? The elderly, who have had their families stolen from them to “save lives.” Perhaps, the poor around the world who are being neglected while we who have so much are living in fear of a virus that 99+% of us will survive. And what about the children? Young children are not learning anything but fear and trembling as adults cannot smile and laugh with them, hug them, play with them, and when necessary express their disapproval. Children are not benefitting from in-person learning as many schools have closed. We push them into a bubble and forbid their interaction so that suicides increase. Surely, there are countless others who are falling between the cracks. Lord, grant that we repent of this behavior and wisdom finally prevails so that we once again recognize the importance of a free and open society if there is to be good for our neighbor.
Tuesday Jan 12, 2021
Tuesday Jan 12, 2021
Perceive, Know, Fulfill
by Jason Braaten
The first Sunday that follows the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord always causes a slight struggle within me. The struggle is this. What should be observed on that Sunday: The First Sunday after Epiphany or The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord? I have typically gone with the Baptism of Our Lord. But when I do, I always cringe at not having this collect:
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You and grant that they both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
This collect, I think, should be our prayer every day . It is always needed, and it seems, is needed all the more these days as we witness the turmoil in our nation and culture.
Actually, it seems that in this prayer we are asking God to rest His hand upon us and our environs so that we actually begin, not just to ask Him to open our eyes, but that we begin asking ourselves along with asking Him: what is it actually that we need to perceive and know and then faithfully fulfill. We are praying that He would enlighten us to our lack of perception and knowledge, to highlight that we are in need, and to give us His grace and power to begin fulfilling those things, perhaps even being filled with those things.
So what might those things be? What are the things that we ought to perceive and to know, and upon receiving that perception and knowledge to fulfill them by God’s grace and power? This is the fundamental question, isn’t it? To what shall we be committed toward those ends?
First, I think that we should perceive and know that we are in a war. I’m not talking specifically about the events leading up to and following the events of November 3rd (though I do think these events are revelatory in shaping what’s going on). I’m talking about the fact that we must remember we are the church militant, the fighting church. Our enemies are not of the flesh, as St. Paul says:
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12
and again,
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. – 2 Corinthians 10:3–6
So we are in a war. But we are not waging a war of flesh and blood. But let’s not spiritualize this too much. We are still waging a war in the flesh. We are embodied souls, enfleshed spirits. We are living and breathing, flesh and blood creatures. And while it’s true that the way in which we wage this warfare is not according to the flesh, we are still waging it in the flesh. We still do, act, speak, argue. We do that to topple every stronghold of the enemy, to destroy every argument and highfalutin opinion that is raised against the knowledge of God. And we do that by taking every thought – ours and theirs – captive to the obedience of Christ.
And this raises the second point: How do we do that? How do we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? This includes two types of thoughts: our thoughts and others’ thoughts. So the first stronghold to topple is the stronghold of our own hearts and minds. And, having done that, then the second stronghold to topple is the hearts and minds of others. Jesus tells us to be careful about doing eye surgery on others when our own sight is obstructed:
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. – Matthew 7:3–5
We must begin with ourselves. We must first get our own house in order. Otherwise, we are just raising Cain. This is done by the sweat of your brow. It is done by diligent study of the Scriptures, by reading and wrestling with our doctrine in the Confessions, engaging Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Walther. It’s done by reading good books in general. But I also think it must be done by manual labor. We must work with our hands, create things, fix things, work with material things and not live in our heads. We cannot be perennial walking and talking examples of the Dunning Kruger effect. There is no better way to realize your own failings and blindspots than working with your hands, building and fixing things. And doing that you begin to learn what actually works, what actually can be done, etc.
Weekly attendance at the Divine Service is paramount too. This is the place where we not only receive all the blessings of what Christ won for us by His Cross and Passion, but it is a place where we learn humility by being humble. There we confess our sins. There we submit to the teaching of another: God’s teaching through another man. But it’s there where we also learn to listen and to speak, how to listen and how to speak. By listening to the Word read out loud and preached, we’re being taught to perceive and know what we are to do, and then give grace and power to fulfill the same. We’re given a voice to speak the excellencies of His who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Those excellencies are not simply that God loves us and forgives us in Christ. Those excellencies are that we are actually, in flesh and blood, a new creation (weak though we may be, but new nonetheless). And that light enlightens us not just to the fact that we belong to God and are forgiven our debts, but a light that enlightens a path to live and walk in that our sin-darkened eyes, minds, and hearts would otherwise miss.
That means a brutal honesty about our sin. Consider, I mean it, consider your life in light of the Ten Commandments.
Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? – Small Catechism on Confession
Really consider it. Are you lazy? Are you negligent? Are you wasteful? Do an accounting of your day. Really, do it. Cast those deeds against God’s Word and see if it’s shattered or crushed.
We have all been put in specific places by God, that is, we all have a calling from God in family, church, and society (and by society, I am not referring to global or national politics. I mean local, where you actually live, your community, your neighbors, those with whom you share a fence and property line, those you shop for groceries, etc). We must focus on these local things: the local church, the immediate family, the local society/community. It’s here where you stand your ground, so to speak. It’s here where you are on guard duty (Ephesians 6:10–20). For it is there, where you have been given an opportunity take down the strongholds of others who also walk in the flesh. It’s there where you have been put, commanded, exhorted to do this.
What do you do for them? You draw near to them; you be a neighbor to them (Luke 10:25–37). Or as the author of the Book of Hebrews puts it:
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. – Hebrews 13:2
Here you do human things. You converse over the fence. You have them over for supper. You pray with them when they tell you something is not going well. You give gifts, you share the bounty of the garden or the hunt. You tell them the truth when the truth needs to be said. You are always ready to give a defense for what you believe with a spirit of gentleness. You do human things for and with those for whom Christ died.
We are in a war. We are walking in the flesh. But we do not wage the war according to the flesh. The weapons we employ are mighty. They are the weapons our Lord employed in His every interaction while in the flesh – teaching, arguing, serving, praying, healing/caring, hospitality, forgiving, and dying. He knew what must be done. He told us what must be done. And He did it. May we always, following His example, by God’s grace and power perceive and know what we ought to do and by that same grace and power fulfill the same.
Tuesday Jan 12, 2021
Tuesday Jan 12, 2021
Politics flow downstream from culture. And the culture along with its politics seems more than ever to stand squarely against the church. St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . . ." What are the weapons of the church's warfare against the strongholds of this world's culture? What should Christians stock up on, so to speak, so that they are ready to engage in the war that we are undoubtedly in?
Larry Beane (pastor of Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA, and Departmental Editor of Gottesdienst: the Journal of Lutheran Liturgy) walks us through the anti-Christian sentiments of our culture and its strongholds, so that we may be to identify them and then topple them by taking every thought captive to the obedience to Christ.
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Saturday Jan 09, 2021
Saturday Jan 09, 2021
Waiting until things get back to normal . . .
by Jason Braaten
There is a sense among the clergy ranks that we need to wait to begin doing things until the pandemic is over, until things get back to normal. On top of this is the fear that what we do during the current pandemic climate will be poorly received by the world because we’re in a pandemic. Besides the fact that the world is going to be the world and will always find an excuse to hate what the church does, I think this type of thinking is leading us to be comfortable with the status quo.
So here’s the thing: If the pandemic is real, then we have every reason to be bold in our preaching of the gospel, setting forth biblical truths against this world’s culture of death and defeat, and showing hospitality as our Lord sets forth in the holy Scripture. If the pandemic, however, is not real, if it is overblown and not as bad as the media and our governing authorities make out to be, then we have no excuse for not being bold in our preaching of the gospel, setting forth biblical truths against this world’s culture of death and defeat, and showing hospitality as our Lord sets forth in the holy Scripture. Either the pandemic is real, or it is not real. Therefore, we should be bold in our preaching of the gospel, setting forth biblical truths against this world’s culture of death and defeat, and showing hospitality as our Lord sets forth in the holy Scripture.
Let me explain:
If the pandemic is real. If it’s as bad as the media and our governing authorities make it out to be, then there is no greater time that the world needs to hear the message of the gospel, there is no greater circumstance where we need to be bold in our proclamation of the truths of Scripture of finding ways to combat the onslaught of this world’s present darkness with the gospel of light. If it’s what everyone is saying it is, there is no greater time and every reason to find ways to connect with people, face to face, by any means possible. If it’s as bad as they say it is, we can’t wait for it to be over. We have to let our life and conversation reflect the truth of the resurrection of Jesus.
If, however, the pandemic isn’t real. If it’s not as bad as the media and the governing authorities say it is. If it is being overblown and hyped, then we have no excuse for not doing all of the above, for not letting our life and conversation reflect the resurrection of Jesus.
This same argument should be used from the perspective of our members. If the pandemic is real, there is no greater time to make use of the Lord’s gifts in Word and Sacrament and gathering together with the saints. If the pandemic is not real, there is no excuse for us not to do so. Either it’s real or it’s not real. Therefore, we should make use of the Lord’s gifts in Word and Sacrament and gathering together with the saints.
The church lives in the world. But it doesn’t get its directions and orders from the world. We are in a battle, but we don’t wage war according to the flesh, with the weapons of the flesh. Our weapons are, on the contrary, mighty. They are not of this flesh and of this world. They are mighty because they belong to the Lord, where we bring every thought and action into submission of Christ. We can’t hide while the battle rages. We must engage in the battle for the right side because there really is no middle ground. We don’t let our theology excuse us from action, but our theology is the reason we do act. We aren’t lazy for the Lord and the things of God but zealous.
Let us resolve this year to act and to work because we have every reason to do it and no excuse not to.
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Thursday Jan 07, 2021
Expertise, Vocation, and Gordon's Rule
A pastor that I like and respect made the following observation on social media:
I know it's been said before, but I honestly had NO idea so many pastors were in reality experts on political science, medical science, disease control, economic theories, and the like.
Clearly I went to a different seminary where they only taught us about Jesus.
I'm cool with that, though, I guess. I mean, since talking about Jesus is my job, I don't mind just knowing about Him.
Obviously, he’s being a little cheeky and addressing an issue of someone going “out of his lane” and speaking to something that, in the opinion of this pastor, he is not qualified to address. I get that. But I think he is taking things too far. And my disagreement with him should not be seen in any way as disrespect. But I do disagree.
His comment made me think about the cultural tendency to dismiss what pastors might say with a flippant wave of the hand and a facile roll of the eye, because, they’re, well, pastors. Aside from the “religion thing,” what could a pastor possibly say that could have any value? I’m reading the great satirical wartime military novel, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. The attitude of all of the characters toward the squadron’s chaplain is illustrative. He is seen as having no value in the “real world” whatsoever. And he has come to agree with them.
Interestingly, in the “real world,” many of the greatest minds in the history of science have been clergy, who have also historically been great writers, poets, philosophers, artists, and professors.
Just in my own circle of friends in the world of the clergy, I know pastors who are indeed medical doctors, lawyers, military personnel (including a rear admiral, a colonel, a JAG, and a Navy captain - the latter of which happens to be a retired fighter pilot). I know pastors who are musicians and composers: classical, choral, rock and roll, and even one who plays the banjo (you might know him too). I know pastors who are experts at woodworking, cars, motorcycles, firearms, hunting, farming, leadership and management, literature, film, body-building, health and fitness, baseball, martial arts, comedy, bicycling, running, and a few aficionados and connoisseurs of wine, scotch, and cigars. A good number of pastors are teachers and professors in many and various subjects from grade school to grad school. Many are fluent in several ancient and modern languages. Increasingly, pastors are bi-vocational, and having multiple areas of skill is a matter of survival.
In my own life, I’ve worked retail, loaded trucks in a warehouse, been a corrections officer, had a career as an IT consultant, and recently, was a pretty darn good Uber driver and New Orleans tour guide (if I do say so myself). I’m also a fire service and Civil Air Patrol chaplain. I have been a HAM radio operator for 45 years now (though I don’t purport to be knowledgeable on the state of the art of radio as it exists today - but back in the day as a pre-teen, I could keep up with the grizzled WW2 veterans when it came to sending and receiving Morse Code at 50+ words per minute). I was a Latin teacher based almost entirely on self-study. I currently also teach high school, and my coursework includes economics, political science, American history, and literature. So I consider myself a ongoing student of all of these topics as well. I take my study in economics and political theory very seriously, and do a lot of reading in those areas. Whatever I want to learn, I always try to be the dumbest guy in the room - and for some of us (as in myself) this is not a difficult thing. I find that to be a great way to learn a topic well and quickly. It would be strange indeed if I knew nothing about my subject areas in my concurrent vocation as teacher.
It goes without saying that I have picked up a few skills along the path of life - in spite of my highest academic degree being a BA in History (the MDiv is not an academic degree). And it also stands to reason that most things I’m terrible at (like everyone else). We’re all good at different things. But I suspect most of us pastors do have skills and knowledge that have nothing to do with theology. We should not see ourselves and other pastors (and laymen of both sexes) like the hapless Chaplain Captain Tappman in Catch-22.
Most pastors also have other vocations that include being husbands and fathers. And though society treats these holy vocations as if they were a joke, these are among the most important callings of all - and being adept in these familial roles in no way takes away from a man’s role as pastor. In fact, they are an addition rather than a subtraction.
And for a pastor who is an American citizen and who votes, he should know a thing or two about American history, political theory, the Constitution, and political science in general. He really also ought to know something about economics, since politics often touches upon it. As far as medicine and disease control go, if one has certain equipment, one ought to read up on how to use and maintain it. And this goes for the human body as well. Every owner and operator of a physique would do well to study, research, and have a sense of keeping the apparatus going. This is not to say that every body-owner should charge money to treat other people, but by the same token, knowing a thing or two about diseases and treatments should not be seen as stepping out of one’s vocation unless one has a medical doctorate.
And everything that I have just said about pastors can, and does, apply to the laity as well.
For example, I have nurses in my congregation who are a great resource for medical advice (I had a medical doctor in the parish, but he is now with the Lord). I also have parishioners whom I ask for advice who have no medical training, but who have expertise and experience in natural medicine and supplementation. The last medical doctor I went to admitted quite frankly that a lot of medical doctors are quacks. He is himself a dissident on the government line on masks and Covid. So whether one has a degree or not, caveat emptor (buyer beware) still applies. Professionals can, and do, disagree with each other. It would be scary if they didn’t.
I have a friend who is a literature professor who has published many outstanding books on military history - with no formal training or certification in that field. I know many people who have never set foot in a university, but who are among the smartest, wisest, and most skilled and erudite people that I know. One would be crazy not to seek out their counsel. I have a parishioner who is an associate concertmaster philharmonic violinist who works as an auto mechanic, is a devoted husband and father, and who is one of my top go-to resources when it comes to cocktail mixology.
That is the glorious reality of the doctrine of vocation.
I live in South Louisiana, and most people would not believe how many completely untrained, unlettered chefs there are from every walk of life in these environs, whose cuisine is, as they say, “to die for.” And in this part of the country, men often “wear the apron” in the family, as the kitchen may well be as much his domain as is the garage. Indeed, grease may be used to fry a turkey or lube a motorcycle chain. And the guy doing both might well be a state Supreme Court justice or a shelf-stocker at Walmart. Nobody bats an eye.
The Lutheran doctrine of vocation is not a slavish reliance on technocracy and experts with a piece of paper from an academic institution or the state.
In fact, it was our tradition that forged ahead with opening the Bible to ordinary people so that they could read Scripture for themselves, so as not to rely solely upon theological experts - who were often hoodwinking them. And a person may well have a vocation for something not based on a degree or certification, not based on a government license or trade union card - but simply based on self-interest and self-study. Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier to become an expert on just about any topic without paying a dime of tuition. This is not to say that everybody is an expert. Far from it. But neither should we assume that someone isn’t an expert without letters behind his name, nor uncritically accept the word of those who do.
We should use discernment.
A friend of mine named Gordon is an attorney. We have attended the same economics seminar and book club for many years. When I first met Gordon, it seemed like he knew everything about everything. At first, I suspected that he was a common blowhard, along the lines of the court-holder from the classic Robert Ringer book Winning Through Intimidation. But, my goodness! Was my suspicion ever wrong! I learned quickly that Gordon really does know everything about everything, like the proverbial Jeeves from the P.G. Wodehouse books. No matter what topic pops up: Japanese culture, the Cuban revolution, economics, philosophy, jurisprudence, American history, warfare, - pretty much everything - he can hold his own with the experts, but in no way comes off as arrogant. Gordon told us his secret. From the time he was quite young, he made a commitment to himself to read for two hours a day. The topic doesn’t matter. Just read.
And so, whether Gordon has a degree in this or that really doesn’t matter. He is a cornucopia of knowledge. Indeed, in this day and age, it is easier to become a renaissance man than it was during the Renaissance.
Pastors, I would encourage you to adopt Gordon’s Rule. And that goes for laymen of both sexes as well.