Category Archives: Christian Life

Do all to the glory of God

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This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. I have not always been a Christian. So when I discuss this, it’s not from the perspective, “well that’s what Christians do their whole lives”. I’ve been involved in athletics pretty much all my life. I was on and off swim teams since I was about 8 years old. I played football from when I was eleven years old until I was seventeen. I worked at the local YMCA where I played basketball, racquetball, weights, and other stuff here and there. I’ve stayed active for the last 40 odd years mostly training and participating in triathlons, also kickboxing and a little basketball mixed in. If anyone can get me into to a racquetball regular game, I’d love it if someone could hook me up with a regular racquetball game again.

Having said all that, yes, it’s been a regular part of my life. And frankly, while I do try, I’ve never been good at anything. It was necessary, serving in the Coast Guard Reserve, my job was operational. I had to stay in condition, because I could be called on at any time to be involved in very physically strenuous situations. So yes, I’ve had a reason to stay active for a long time and it’s been an important part of my life. It really drags me down when I don’t keep up a regular routine. So who knows, maybe I need those endorphins, dopamine etc in order to feel good. But as I grew as a Christian and have become a pastor, I’ve realized that we do have a responsibility to maintain the body God gave us and to especially not abuse it. Now believe me, I’m not any “George Gorgeous”, if you saw me I look pretty much of a dumpy old guy. But… a year ago, I did get a stress test done because of a minor issue. The technician asked me if I worked out because she could see it on the results I was producing and when the doctor looked at my results, he pretty much told me to “get outta here, you’re wasting my time”.

Having said all this, in no way shape or manner am I saying that to be a “good Christian” you need to be in great shape. It’s not a works thing, but in my continual discussion about our “relationship” with Jesus, He gave us our body, mind, everything we have. Don’t most of us want to be in good shape and look good for our spouse, SO? Don’t we want to feel good, have energy, all the benefits of good health? The better we maintain ourselves, the better we serve our Savior, our family, our brothers and sisters in Jesus, the church etc. So don’t we serve and relate better to everyone involved when we do the best we can to maintain ourselves?

Now, IN NO WAY SHAPE FORM OR MANNER, am I saying that you can only be a good Christian if you’re in good physical condition, you’re all pretty and photogenic and all that stuff. Too many “churches” have some need to be all pretty and everyone associated all pretty, that is straight out phoney, hollow and misguided. It’s sort of in the sense of the “cool kids” table in high school. No that’s unacceptable in a Christian church. We need churches that are authentic, phoniness in the church is killing the church and is leaving too many others to die without Jesus. I’ve known plenty of great saints who could barely lift themselves, no less a dumbbell. And believe me I have my own issues that need to be dealt with, I’m not trying to sell that I’m perfect. What I am trying to say is that we still strive to be the best we can with what God gives us. There is way too much mediocrity, and excuses out there. We are called to be perfect as our Father is perfect. Let’s do what we can to strive for that goal, but accepting that no matter what, all of us will fall short and most (like me), miserably so.

An article in Christianity Today (June 2013 pp 39-43) discussing this very subject and I think is a really good perspective. One beef I do have with many Christians is their ability to phoney themselves, their church, their lives in general up. Which certainly does not enhance our witness in the world and refers back to my “cool kids table”. If you’re a Christian and concerned about being part of the “cool kids”, you are already way off track. The world is phoney beyond all question. Why do we keep trying to emulate the world? The church has to be authentic, warts, chubby pastors (like me), lack of talent, but authentic, faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Leslie Leyland Fields makes some great points and does sternly caution against a wrongheaded approach to encouraging all that God’s given us. We should be strong in mind, body and spirit. Doesn’t always work out that way, sometimes due to circumstances beyond our control But we should work on what is in our control, not because it makes us better, but frankly makes us a better witness to Christ. Ms Fields quotes Charlie Shedd: “…if our bodies are to be [or already are] temples of the Holy Spirit, we had best get them down to the size God intended.” Fair enough.

“PraiseMoves cites 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 as its foundational verses: ‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.’ … Many in the faith and wellness movement cite the apostle Paul: ‘Whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.”

I really like Ms Fields point: “…outside the church, it challenges the prevailing notion that our bodies belong to us alone – either as machines to be hacked and fueled, or as ‘plastic’ to be reshaped, starved, pierced and used for pleasure or vanity. and inside the church, it challenges the dualistic worldview that God cares only about ‘spiritual’ matters.”

To be sure, as Ms Fields points out, we do not become stupid, obsessive and phoney over the subject of physical fitness and conditioning. We do it with intelligence, planning, something that we will benefit from on many levels. With the mind-set of serving God, that we want to build our relationship with Him, that we want to serve our family, fellow Christians, our church to the best of our ability and this is one way to do it. Realizing that regardless of our physical condition we are to always serve the Lord and the Body of Christ. But to quote Nike “just do it”. How about a church filled with people who do strive, who do want to bless each other, who are spiritually, mentally and physically doing their best in order to disciple others to strive to be their best for Christ who gave us His best.

Sure, how about a Big Bang wedding???

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As I’ve pointed out before, Lutherans treat a wedding as a matter of worship.

First yea, it really gets under my skin having five comedians (the Big Bang Wedding between Howard and Bernadette) claiming that they’re “ordained” ministers. The state designates those who can marry, such as county clerks, judges etc, they’re certainly not “ordained”, the state sets the requirements. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it’s not enough to be ordained, you have to be the pastor of an active church.

Yes, people can be designated by the state to perform a one-time marriage ceremony and I think there are states that can license you to regularly perform weddings. That does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that you’re “ordained”. The United States military requires chaplains to have a Masters of Divinity Degree, that chaplains are properly examined and ordained by a recognized religious organization and also requires further training. I would say that this is the best description of being “ordained”, you sure as heck don’t do it on line for one wedding ceremony.

Now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest, what I’m really twisted about is the trivial, sentimental, “it’s all about me” wedding ceremony. As I said, Lutherans hold weddings to be a worship service. It is a serious, albeit joyous, occasion, and needs to be treated seriously. Why on earth would you want to start something as serious and sacred as marriage with something as trivial as what was on television?

We don’t treat marriage very seriously, it’s a convenience, it’s social convention, it’s a reason to have fun time. But it’s really not a commitment. Sorry ladies, but for too many of you it’s just a time where you’re the center of attention, and the fun and the party is all about you. Afterwards, well… I’ve had my own experiences. I try and I am going to be redoubling that effort, to insist that anyone I marry has a significant amount of counseling. I went to some time and expense to get trained in a comprehensive program to let people analyse a lot of their interpersonal relationships and to deal with them as we do counseling. I want them to start out in their marriage with as much as possible on the table between the two. I don’t want to hear 2, 3, 5 however many years down the road: “well we just couldn’t work it out…” I want it to get worked out before the marriage. My goal is to marry a man and a woman who go into marriage with their eyes wide open and to have that marriage last a life time. I’m going to do all that I can to make sure it doesn’t end in divorce.

ESV Mark 10:8 and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” … 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,”
Divorce is not acceptable to God. Yes it happens and He certainly provides in the cases when an unbelieving spouse wants a divorce or simply walks away. And divorce is not the unforgivable sin. But as a Christian pastor who only wants to marry two people who are in Christ, who are married in Christian worship, who take solemn vows before God to stay married “…so long as you both shall live?” You just made a solemn vow, for those who want to get married, you should seriously consider what you are doing when you are taking that vow before God.

Save all the sentimental, dancing around, food, decorations, trivial stuff etc for the reception. I promise I will, probably, show up. But I won’t stay long so you can do some of the crazy stuff. But in that sanctuary, before that altar and a minister of the Gospel, your family and friends, it is serious business. It is done in formal dress, in a formal environment, before God in order to emphasize the solemnity of the occasion. We all need to treat it that way and understand what we say and do. I’m sure the Big Bang stuff is all cute and fun, but marriage, from the start, should be about that relationship that Jesus lives before us. Jesus’ example is about His being the bridegroom and the church being the bride. He has sacrificed all for His bride and protected and served her, how could the bride, the church, not do as much as it can. We take that relationship of Christ and His Church as our example as husband and wife and live that in the strength and faith that the Holy Spirit gives us to live as one-flesh.

I know someone’s going to fuss, “oh it’s just television”, yea but. This is what people take seriously the absolute trivializing of marriage, and be honest, that’s where too many people are today. So let’s knock off the stupid stuff about being a “Reverend”, it’s a lot of hard work, time and education. Believe me. As much as you trivialize the Ministry of Christ’s Church and the institution of marriage, what really should we take seriously anymore?

Evangelical, worship?

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For those who think that I’m being unreasonable in respect to “big-box, happy-clappy” “church”, I submit the following from John Stackhouse in Leadership Journal (Winter 2015 p 14). Leadership Journal is a great publication, all due respect to them and John Stackhouse, but neither are known for their support of “high-church/liturgical” worship.   

“As for reciting creeds, well, no: evangelicals normally do not recite creeds in our services. [help me out here, do you really believe that if you say Jesus a couple of times in a sermon and then make the rest of it about you, don’t do any of the things that Jesus told us to do or we do in order to strengthen ourselves in Jesus, that is being a Christian? Seriously how do you figure? We are told that we are supposed to take our relationships seriously and then we make the one with Jesus all about me? How does that work?] “Evangelicals that are not part of liturgical traditions – and that’s most of us – instead tend to worship in “hymn sandwich” [and what evangelicals sing are not hymns] services: lots of singing, with maybe a greeting and some announcements in the interstices, then a longish sermon, then more singing – with perhaps a collection and a closing prayer … No call to worship, no confession and absolution of sin, no series of Scripture readings (OT, Gospel, Epistles,) no congregational prayers, NO “OUR FATHER” [???], no Creed … And so on. It’s pretty bad – and it’s actually regressing…

…nowadays the trend-setting churches seem to have fallen back into two halves – singing and preaching – … that’s pretty much all there is to the service.” [pg 14 Leadership Journal]

Sorry folks that is not Christian worship! Throw Jesus’ Name around a couple of times and that’s Christian worship? Ya… No! Heavens, can’t mention sin! We have some sensitive souls here and anyway, we’re all basically good suburban-living people. None of that blood and gore stuff, the crucifixion? Just doesn’t work for us. There certainly won’t be a crucifix in any “Evangelical” sanctuary and ya, no cross either. Lord’s Supper? Body and Blood! Really? Confession? I refer you back to line 3 of this paragraph. And no Lord’s Prayer? What is the point? We were told to do these things, or at least we are honoring the Lord when we do this. The point of worship is to lift up and praise and worship God. One woman, from “evangelical” tradition, complained that I had my back to the audience most of the time. Ya, her words. No Creed? Really what do you believe? Ya, you, it’s all about you.

And gotta tell you, “sermons”? Pretty much Joel Osteen feel good, how can we have a better life, yada, yada. Hey there’s plenty of good Christian music out there. I have no problem with Christian music, I will sprinkle it into worship once in awhile to enhance the sermon. But, sorry, one reason why men do not get involved with Christian worship is because, when it’s singing, dancing around and a little gratuitous preaching, it’s hard to take it seriously. If guys really can’t see the point and have nothing to take seriously, they aren’t going to do it and this is alienating a lot of guys from Christ. The happy-clappy types will be called to account for the way that they don’t worship, that they make it too much about them and very little about Jesus.

This kind of worship is a travesty, it’s not worship. It’s self-gratification and mutual edification, but no room for God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sorry, but we continue to look ridiculous and irrelevant to the rest of the world. If we don’t take Christ seriously, why on earth would the world?

Stupid behavior of others does affect other people

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I will qualify this by saying that in terms of substance abuse that I have frankly just never got it. Don’t understand why anyone would, so yea I’m lacking in empathy.
Having said that, for someone to use that as an excuse is for that person to continue to live in their own little world of denial, just another excuse which some many abusers are so good at. So grow up and get a grip.
The usual abusers excuse is “what I do doesn’t hurt anyone else”. Wow! If you believe that I have a bridge you might like to buy.
There has been a reality series on television that has really driven this home for me. One particular episode is a father with three sons where the oldest son is abusing OxyContin and he is enabling that son with money and excuses and the father has his own gambling addiction. He has two younger sons and they are victims of all this. They are living in a hotel and will probably be on the street shortly and they often don’t get anywhere near enough to eat. They are early adolescence. Lack of food at this stage of development will affect them through their whole life, because of someone else’s abuse and neglect.
The father had a good job but was finally fired for embezzling. He probably should be in jail for that which would impact his sons.
To say that the bad habits of the two older ones doesn’t affect others is to live in your own little world of denial and we’re not even talking about how it affects extended family members.
The answer? Legalizing marijuana? So now we condone bad behavior and create even more problems? We see that legalized gambling has created a whole set of social problems. People going into debt, health issues, living on the street because of wasting money on government gambling. Both government regulated gambling and drugs are more expensive than what’s on the street. Those who don’t have money are just wasting more?
The family who usually gets sucked into giving them money and just enabling the problem. Who suffer financial loss, anxiety and often abuse for enabling?
I submit that putting any kind of abuser in jail helps everyone. Get treatments? Sure but make it legal? That’s just dumb. The public is safer by putting abusers away. Family doesn’t have to suffer by losing money, not being taken care of, going through all the drama and violence that abusers put families through. They’re in jail they’re relatively safe. They’re being treated, fed, sheltered and others can get on with their lives without having to spend the time and energy on substance abusers.
Legalizing drugs, gambling is not an answers it exacerbates the problem for everyone. Government has a stake in it and won’t give it up because it’s getting revenue from this and in the meantime everyone else suffers.
Anyone who believes in “victimless” crimes is ridiculously naive. The amount of damage caused by “victimless” crimes rips through our society.
Do we extend compassion to people who suffer like this? Sure but once they are in a place where they have to confront their issue, stop living in their denial. As Christians we should do what we can to get those on the street to deal with those problems. But as a pastor I have people who need attention for real issues and not just problems they created themselves or government enabled them to do. Do I focus on the person who has wrecked their life through their ignorance and selfishness? Or the person who is trying and is in need of strengthening? Yet government, society keeps enabling people and then dumping the problems that enabling causes on someone else, often the church. The church barely has enough resources to deal with what it’s supposed to do in Jesus. As a pastor I’m not really in a position to undo the problems government has created.
We pray we encourage, but at some point we need to help those who are dealing with reality and have to cut the cord with those who want to drag me down, their family down and anyone else who gets dragged in. Just so they can have another drink, another joint, place another bet?

We are called to take risks and be bold as the church and as individual Christians.

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I worked in corporate finance for 20 years, mostly for very large corporations and organizations. I spent 29 years in the Coast Guard always in an operational capacity and I worked in other capacities in other sectors. The common denominator with these is that the status quo is just not acceptable. Standing still, same ole/same ole, “we never did it that way before”, however, is the MO with most churches. I’m not talking creative worship or “user friendly”, any of the quasi Christian attempts to entertain or be “relevant”. (I just read recently about a woman serving on the “worship team”, who wasn’t sure she was ready to go on stage.)

When did worship become entertainment?

In terms of risk in the church, it’s not about monkeying around with age-old worship in favor of “entertaining”, people-pleasing. Worship is worship. Frankly if we got serious about it, we would begin to realize the benefits of genuine worship, plus genuinely lifting up our Creator/Sustainer/Savior up to praise, glorify and give thanksgiving to.

But yes, in other ways we need to take “risks”. Way too many churches discourage anyone they somehow consider “different”. Far too many people have a very general definition of “different”.

“Success” as a Christian, in the church, is always about Jesus and those who are truly disciples of Jesus, those who are saved. Period. Yes, numbers, money, activities are great. But that is not success. It is in the world and that’s the way it will be, but the church is about becoming and living as the Body of Christ. But does that mean just passivity or are we expected to risk, to step out and be bold for Jesus? The answer, obviously, is to be bold for Jesus.

This is probably self-evident, but Inc Magazine writes: “The INC 500 ENTREPRENEURS excel in every area identified by Gallup. But they absolutely dominate in three strengths: risk-taking, business focus and determination -compared with the national sample. Those strengths are, not coincidentally, the ones most universally associated with business starts, survival and scaling.”

These are not areas that Christians excel in. There is no risk taking, there is an excessive focus on being conservative. Nice, non-commital worship, restrictive use of the facility, nice-pleasant studies- don’t want to get into the controversial. One area that’s especially showing up in the church is; that Jesus isn’t the only way. Too much accommodating the individual and less and less faithfulness to true worship and what we do to serve the Lord. It is risky to tell someone that they have to be a member of the church in order to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus. Too many encourage you to follow the easy path and worry more about the person than the Lord.

It’s easy to turn people away from using the church facility. One thing that bugs me is that with few exceptions, the church sanctuary is used once a week. There should be more worship during the week, not to use the sanctuary for other things, but to increase worship opportunities, making worship more accessible and meaningful. The rest of the facility should be in regular use for small groups, groups that serve the community. Too often it’s easier to just say no, or only accept the “safest” groups or situations.

I’m not saying that churches, for the most part, do this with mean-spirited. I’m sure most people feel a genuine duty to protect what is there, especially when there’s been a long familial relationship with a particular church. You certainly don’t want to tear up Great-Great-Aunt Tilly’s whatever. It may have nothing to do with church or worship or be obsolete or beyond repair, but who wants to be the one to do the deed? Having said that, tough decisions do need to be made. Not arbitrarily, not because “well that’s so old”, but with the intent of what is going to serve best, what glorifies God and helps people in their Christian-disciple lives. To do that means stepping out in risk. The group that would like to use the facility may not be the “right” kind of people, but you need to welcome them, integrate them into the life of the congregation and help them to grow in Jesus. You disciple them, you take the risk. God put them there for a reason, for you to take the opportunity to be a good disciple of Jesus.

This can be fun, it can be exciting, it can be a rush like you’ve never known. The exhilaration of being used by the Holy Spirit to bring someone to salvation in Jesus is unforgettable and frankly even addicting. When you really do step out and take that risk, you are going to want to keep going.

“Gallup says those with a talent for risk-taking possess a highly optimistic perception of risk but are also rational decision makers who have an extraordinary ability to mitigate that risk. The assessment shows that Inc 500 founders are more likely than other entrepreneurs to take more and bigger risks. But they are also more likely to optimize their chances for good outcomes and, consequently, rapid growth.” (Leigh Buchanan Inc Magazine September 2014 p 30).

We are children of God, the Creator of all, the great sustainer. How can we not be optimistic, how can we take such a negative view when the Holy Spirit is really pressing on us to do something? How can you not be excited about the opportunity? Yea, I guess the vast majority of people in the world see risk as scary and unproductive (why try? It’s not going to work). OK. So? If we are His, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will always “succeed”, but really is their any doubt that it’s not going to be an experience that is rewarding, in terms of growth, in terms of strengthening, in terms of building relationships, on and on? We are the children of God He who will do miracles, they will usually be subtle, but when you think back, you will see the miracle. We need to start taking the risks that the world does. Our risk-taking results in eternal reward, where people in the world are so less reluctant to take risks for material gain that will just end up destroyed. Yea, I don’t want to knock down, Great-Grandfather Elwood’s desk, not lack of respect, but what is truly helping people to come to Christ and what is truly glorifying God. Within those parameters we need to take risks, everything else are lesser considerations and should never keep us from our greater calls.

And I am not saying “name it and claim it”, but it has been my experience that when you do take a risk, we Christians call it faith, that people see that and respond. Often you will get the support you need for a particular “risk” and sometimes you even get more from people who want to encourage the church to continue to step out in faith.

How do we as risk takers in the world, readily understand how that looks as a Christian and how to we live that as disciples of Jesus and part of a church? Join us on our Wednesday morning Coffee Breaks, shop at the corner of Beaver and W King Sts, 10am, park behind the church and walk about 20 yards. First timers? I will buy you a cup of coffee. God bless.

Christians are peaceful, are great servants, are there for anyone in trouble. I will take Jesus anytime over anything else in the world.

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The following is from Dr Dale Meyer, the President of Concordia Seminary, he was the president while I was a student there, I took a couple of his classes and I think the world of Dr Meyer. I am posting his blog from today to undergird some of my comments afterwards. In no way has Dr Meyer endorsed or not endorsed, I don’t really know the background on “Charlie Hebdo” and so he is providing some of that and also some thoughts as a Pastor and leader in my church hierarchy. (And yes feel free to check out the link to First St John’s while you’re at it.)
First Saint John’s, York, Pa. shared Dale Meyer‘s status.
Posted by Jim Driskell · 19 minutes ago
Meyer Minute for January 8

“Compliments to the French police for their quick identification and pursuit of the three evil men who gunned down the 12 people in Paris. Amidst many thoughts, I’m also thinking about this as a sincere church-goer…

First, Charlie Hebdo satirizes the Christian religion (understand Roman Catholic) even more than Islam. I googled and found cartoons that were very offensive to me as a follower of Jesus.

Second, last Saturday the Wall Street Journal ran a front page feature on empty churches in Europe. A little over 11% of the French attend services every week. Germany is the same. While there are still true believers in Europe, Christendom is dead.

Secularized society…mockery of religion…it’s not unlike the situation early Christians found themselves in. A minority in a pluralistic society where everything was relative, many early Christians were mocked, shunned, and here-and-there the victims of violence.

That’s Europe; what about America? American Christians aren’t living in a Charlie Hebdo Europe…yet. It could come, we see signs, but it doesn’t have to. One key to the future will be the energy that you and I put into the institutional church, and that comes down to the congregations where we worship. St. Paul said he was a “helper of joy” to the Corinthian church (2 Corinthians 1:24). The decline of institutional religion in America is a fact. Doing our part to make vibrant, welcoming churches, and lots and lots of them, could be one way God will bless America in the future.”

Driskell – Amen, Amen, and Amen, you want to see a vibrant United States, let’s all get back to meaningful Christian worship. I would disagree in one sense, being the reference to Christendom being dead in Europe. I certainly understand Dr Meyer’s basis for saying that, but I also believe that God always has a remnant of believers. While the organization may be in very bad shape, Christ’s church is always present.
The one point that I did want to elaborate on is Dr Meyer’s reference to the fact that “Charlie Hebdo” satirizes Christianity more than Islam. I don’t doubt Dr Meyer’s assertion for an instant. Now with the exception of some nut jobs, Christianity is a peaceful religion. Yes, I know, blah, blah, blah, there have been periods where it has not lived up to that and abused its position as the church. Sorry, but that’s bad judgment on the part of individuals, the church should not get a beat down because of some dumbness in the hierarchy. I’d sure like to see many other institutions held to that standard.
My biggest beef is this, the fringe, lunatic atheist element like Richard Dawkins who continually tries to lump all religions together with the violence of Islam. To the effect that, and frankly I can never follow the logic, but that doesn’t seem to stop them, that religion somehow makes people crazy and they do stupid things. I refer you to my previous blog, which readily points out all the good that Christianity has done through history and right up to the present time. Christians have regularly put themselves in harms way to serve others. Christianity is a relationship with God the Son, Jesus who sacrificed Himself for us and we are called to live sacrificially for others. Regardless of whether they are Christians or not. J Warner Wallace suggests that before you buy in to such palpable nonsense of the “new Atheism” who makes such ridiculous claims, a la Richard Dawkins, consider this. What are the claims of the Bible? Oh yes, there is a recognition that there will be violence, that the world is a dark and dangerous place. But we are told as Christians to be the ones to sacrifice, as our Savior did, to stand up for what is the best, as our Savior is. Does that mean that we can never resort to violence. No! Sometimes, there is a need to protect innocent life, especially against belief systems, like secular humanism (Fascism, Communism and any other system that condones taking life in order to build up or prop up governments (in particular) that are illegitimate.
Take away, cut to the chase is this: I can’t speak for Islam, won’t do it, just won’t go there, just no point. There is no doubt in my mind that Christians put their lives on the line in any of the incidents that are going down in France right now. I do have to observe that if Europeans weren’t so ready to jettison the church in favor of humanist philosophies that are so violent and so readily reject the sanctify of human life, that they probably wouldn’t be subject to so much violence. I have no need to satirize other religions because I have full confidence in the truth of Christianity, someone wants to satirize it, hey rock and roll. Their satire doesn’t change the facts, and frankly if you held the lives up of those who engage in such nonsense, I’d be willing to bet there would be plenty to satirize in them. But don’t, just DON’T lump Christianity in with any kind of religiously incited violence or any other religion, the differences are profound. It’s a stupid, untenable position. The Richard Dawkins’s of the world can make silly claims and a small percentage of the population might believe them, but when the chips are down, my faith will be in a Christian; if my life is at risk, if I need education, medical attention, or a helping hand. There is no other belief system in the world, in mankind, that can make such a claim. So go satirize that Richard Dawkins and Charlie Hebdo and anybody who wants to respond with violence to satirism.

The faithful telling of the Bible

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It seems to be easy lately to think that the there is just a remnant of Christians, only a few that are left to raise up God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But then a long comes an event or a message that demonstrates that Christians are very much alive, faithful and active.

Case in point the production of the television series The Bible produced by husband and wife Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. I will qualify this upfront by saying that I really did appreciate The Bible that it really was a faithful portrayal of the Bible. It always amuses me when people call the Bible ‘boring’. That is biblical illiteracy. If I can be a little tacky, the Bible has it all violence, intrigue, sex, infidelity, charity, faithfulness, sacrifice, integrity, pride and strength. The Bible has good, bad, somewhere in the middle, ordinary people confronting extraordinary circumstances. The last thing I would describe the Bible as is boring. One of the things that always annoyed me was the way different people/beings of the Bible have been portrayed in movies and media. Jesus always seems to be sort of soft and prissy, and that just could not have been the case. He was probably a carpenter, He spent so much of His earthly ministry outside, traveling around, even out on the boats with some of His disciples. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus was very much a manly man and nothing in the Bible contradicts that. Another is this idea that angels are sort of beautiful, poofy women. Again that is not biblical. Any description of angels in the Bible depicts them as male. The depiction in the television series of angels as more like ninjas would be a lot more faithful to the biblical narrative.

Angel in The Bible Does kind of create an interesting contrast with Ms Downey’s portrayal of an angel in the television series Touched by an Angel 

Forbes Magazine did a feature on the couple and their production of The Bible and future productions based on the Bible. Their success, that I would consider a lot more biblicaly based, then most contemporary productions (yea, just ask me about Noah ugh), anyway “The Bible made its debut in 2013, and even on a relatively esoteric cable channel was able to outdraw the networks; at one point Burnett had the No. 1 show in America five nights out of the week. And viewers couldn’t get enough: The Bible has sold over 1 million copies via DVD and Blu-ray….the movie spinoff, which Burnett and Downey spent an estimated $1 million to bankroll, has done $68 million worldwide…” (Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Dorothy Pomerantz  Forbes Magazine July 21, 2014 pp 55 – 60)

Clearly a faithful rendering of the Bible, not too pious, not too imaginary (yea like Noah) are greatly in demand. God’s story is the most compelling ever: “There are not a lot of books being read these days’, says Paul Telegdy, NBC’s president of late-night and alternative programming. ‘But there is one that’s being read and reread, and that’s the Bible.”

Burnett points out that a lot of contemporary television and movies are biblically based: “…he says take their dominant influence from the world’s most popular book: Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Matrix.” The Matrix??? I guess he’d know better than me. Point being is that too much media has either dumbed down the Bible, or made it too sugar coated or made it to ham handed, none of which are faithful renderings. Straightforward, human portrayal of the Bible is what God inspired the writers of the Bible to write and that has what guided the faithful for 2,000 years. There is plenty of hunger in the world for the real Bible. Let’s faithfully teach, preach and relate the Bible. The Holy Spirit will use that to lead and inspire others, we don’t need to embellish what was perfectly inspired by God.

Good News to the Poor, All of us Isaiah 61: 1-11 First St Johns Dec 14, 2014

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Please check out the audio version of this sermon, click on he above link or copy and paste into your browser.

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and if you are anointed and if the Holy Spirit is on you, say … AMEN!

The reading in Isaiah is the theme of the sermon today, but I have to start with our epistle reading. Paul tells us to exhort, so I am going to exhort you: “Rejoice always!” We know what time of year it is, we are reminded that while Advent is a time of penance, of clearing the clutter of sin that has gathered in our heart we are prepared for the coming of the Christ child and just as significantly, His second coming at the end of time. So yes, rejoice, but still remember to pray without ceasing. Part of prayer should be repentance. Pray for forgiveness, but a special emphasis on praying for help to prepare for His return. For myself, Lord remind me of whose I am in You, that I am saved in You. Yes I need forgiveness, that I am sinful, that I need a Savior.

700 years before the fact, before it actually happens God is giving Isaiah the words that Jesus says in Luke 4: 18-19. These are the words that Jesus says at the beginning of His earthly ministry. He had just gone through the temptation by Satan, certainly Satan knew Jesus is God the Son and now Jesus has gone back to his hometown, Nazareth. He proclaimed the words of Isaiah to identify Himself as the one anointed by God. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but His ministry started when He returned to Nazareth and in front of the synagogue on the Sabbath day He proclaimed, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.”

What, just the poor? Yea! Who are the poor? In terms of our relationship with God, we are all poor. Remember “Christmas Clubs”? I don’t think banks have them anymore, but all year long, you would go to the bank (yea, definitely before electronic banking), you would take part of your regular income and deposit it in your Christmas Club account? Back then it would actually earn some meaningful income and then just before Christmas, not Black Friday, that wasn’t around either. You would take everything you’ve saved, go and buy your presents and decorations and holiday food. When you emptied that account you might have felt like you had some money, but after a few days of Christmas shopping you felt even lighter in the pocket book then you had before. You may have been poor again, but celebrating the birth of Jesus makes us rich.

Yea, this time of year, like it or not, we are all kind of poor so that we can have that great holiday celebration. But that’s not what Jesus is really talking about.  He’s talking about the “Poor in Spirit”. Where does that phrase come from? … The Beatitudes, “The Sermon on the Mount”. What does He say about the “Poor in Spirit”? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We want to be “Poor in Spirit” don’t we? As Christians, by definition we should be poor in spirit in order to have the Kingdom of Heaven. That Kingdom came when Jesus came into the world. We who are the poor in spirit have inherited that kingdom. We are living that kingdom today. While that kingdom has arrived in Jesus and we should live our lives as subjects of the kingdom, as loyal subjects of King Jesus, the kingdom that is to come, as we pray for it, has not yet been realized. You may not think you’re “poor” in anything, but you would be wrong, unless of course you don’t know Christ as your Savior.

It is Jesus who has been xv;m’ That is anointed, kings and priests would be “anointed”, this would be a special blessing to them to bear their duties, to faithfully serve, to be the ones who would do what Yahweh has designated them to do. We call Jesus, Messiah, that is the One who is anointed, who has been blessed and designated by God to bring us the Good News, to bind up, proclaim liberty, release those who are bound. All the things that sin imposes on us and Jesus is anointed to save us from.

While Yahweh is giving the words to Isaiah of the great promise of the Savior, He’s also reaffirming a previous promise. He’s reaffirming a promise made about 800 years earlier, to Abraham, not just that Abraham will have, what we know to be hundreds of millions of descendants, but that they will be blessed in Jesus who has been anointed, who has the Spirit of the Lord. We who are blessed to be eternally saved in Jesus, in the resurrection. In one of the verses not quoted, Yahweh promises “…you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of God;…” Peter re-emphasizes that when he writes 700 years later: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” You may be poor in spirit, but Yahweh says that we are priests, minister of our God and speaks through Peter to re-affirm that promise 700 years later.

We end with God’s promises that will be confirmed and carried out by Jesus during His human lifetime and will be the gifts of all who are in Jesus, you and I, until He returns that second and last time. Isaiah writes: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; … He has clothed me with the garments of salvation…the robe of righteousness, the bridegroom will have a beautiful headdress and the bride will be adorned in jewels.” It may be difficult to picture or appreciate, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will understand how magnificent it will be when we see it accomplished in all of us who are in Jesus. We have a tiny little speck of it when we celebrate Christmas, the lights and decorations, for the Lord’s first coming. We can’t even begin to imagine how magnificent it will be, what we will see in the second coming of Jesus.

Paul’s words, two simple phrases, write them down in your journal, really think over them: “Rejoice always” “Pray without ceasing”. Rejoice because we have the promises. Pray to stay strong in God’s promises. Rejoice always means, always. It’s often tough to do, but always means always; not just when you’re in the mood. Not just when Christmas is coming, or maybe when it’s over. Rejoice even when someone bashes in your door, when you’re in the hospital, yes even when the time of year reminds you who won’t be at the Christmas feast this year. Rejoice not because they’re gone, but because we have the eternal promises to be with those we love and to enjoy the magnificence of eternity in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So how do you rejoice this Advent, what are your prayers?

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Yea, get it right! Let’s take Jesus and ourselves seriously

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A lot is being written lately, about how younger generations have just stopped going to church. I’m not sure that means stopped being a Christian, but just stopped going to church. Yea I guess this is my favorite whipping boy, but it’s tough to take a lot of “Christian” churches seriously today. Which is why I think it’s not just an issue of younger people but also of men. Women are relationally oriented and will support things that are important even if they don’t seem to be a achieving their purpose. I think the young and immature are too critical in their assessment of anything, except their own shortcomings. I think with men there is too little in terms of cooperation and truly understanding the purpose of a strong Christian relationship, e.g. “I have all the answers don’t need no one else.” Again a maturity issue since it does seem when guys get older they realize that they really don’t have all the answers and it’s not a weakness to find someone who does.
I do find it bizarre how I’m often treated as if a clerical collar took away almost 30 years of corporate and military experience. That lack of respect and maturity seems to have something to do with this lack of respect lack of seriousness on the part of many, the young particularly in respect to the church. The church needs to get out of the entertainment business, it needs to challenge the “big box” churches who lower the credibility and seriousness of the church and clergy need to start being a lot more assertive and a lot less in terms of people-pleasing and a sort of “Sunday School” theology. The rest of society would be doing itself and everyone else to start holding the church, clergy responsible for a serious theology and not country club/Sunday School mentality.
The church should start holding people to high expectations instead of just being happy there are butts in the pews. As much as the world doesn’t treat the church and clergy with respect, perhaps it’s time to have higher expectations of others before they are treated seriously instead of seeming to be accommodating just to get them into church.
Why is there an exodus of men and young from the church is that they aren’t serious and they, rightly perceive the church is not serious.
It’s reached the point of obnoxious with the NFL “gotta get it right”, multiple “reviews” of every tricky-tack play. Frankly they’re not interested in getting it “right” as much as trying to get some cheesey edge. In terms of living our lives in Christ in integrity, seriously trying to get our lives right for ourselves, our wives and our children and all that in relation to the church, not really interested in getting it “right” especially when the happy-clappy, people pleasing churches make it easy to not be taken seriously.

Holy Communion continued I

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My Christian background is a little odd, although more and more it’s becoming common among younger generations and is not out of the question with in my “baby boomer” generation. I was dedicated as an American Baptist (“Baptists” don’t baptize infants. Parents “dedicate” their children, promising that they will raise their child as a Christian in the Baptist Church.) I was married by a “Congregational” minister (it’s now called United Church of Christ). I was baptized by a United Methodist Minister and ordained by a Lutheran minister. I cannot say I was “raised’ as a Christian, no less in any particular tradition. I’m not saying that based on my checkered past that I’m an expert on various traditions of the Lord’s Supper, but my experience might give me a little bit of a unique perspective.

To be clear, yea, I have a firm conviction about the Lord’s Supper, I’m very serious about the Lord’s Supper. Lutherans would agree with Roman Catholics that the Bread and Wine in the Lord’s Supper is the true Body and Blood of Jesus. There’s disagreement as how that’s arrived at and dealt with, but just to give you a place to start to understand what the church’s position is. Having been a Methodist, I’ve seen the Lord’s Supper treated more like a cookie and coco break during worship, I’ve seen it treated pretty cavalierly in other traditions too, it’s offensive, it’s really offensive, it’s the Holy Body of our Lord and Savior.

I know I’m kind of stacking the discussion, but Jesus told us: “Take, eat; this is my body.”, Not this is a symbol, this is something I’m doing to be chummy, this is some weird mystical thing. No this is My Body, this is My Blood. This is what has been sacrificed for you, this is what has been given to be a part of you, this is what was given in order to assure you I paid the price for you sin and you are now forgiven, there should be no doubt in your mind about this.

OK? Don’t think there’s a lot of room to maneuver. When we treat the Body and Blood less than that, then it’s hard to take seriously those who treat His Body so lightly. For those of you who are so easily offended, this is real offense, mistreating the true Body and Blood of your Savior, the One who died to pay for your sins.

Rev Dr Peter Kurowski has written a really great book “Close Communion Conversations”, discussing issues associated with the Lord’s Supper. Since different denominations have different perspectives on the Lord’s Supper, most denominations try to specifiy with whom it is appropriate to allow to share communion with outside the denomination. For most of Protestant Christianity all you have to do is profess some acceptance of Christ and be able to fog up a mirror. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod takes our most solemn sacrament very seriously and, I feel at least, that it should be treated seriously by everyone, regardless of church or lack of church.

Therefore I refer to Dr Kurowski’s book to discuss the concepts of “Open Communion”, “Closed Communion” which are the two contrasts, and “Close Communion” which Dr Kurowski labels the middle ground.

“Open Communion in the extreme is the notion that the Lord’s Supper is administered to all people who come to the altar without any due diligence on the part of the administering pastor. This is not how Jesus wants His supper distributed. (1 Corinthians 4:1; Matthew 28: 18-20) Such a position is reckless and loveless. It creates Corinthian confusion. Church bodies that run this direction invariably will lose a true gospel centeredness lapsing into lawlessness. The person of Christ is diminished and “It is finished!” is rarely heard by the famished (John 19:30).”

‘Closed Communion” in the extreme is the notion that the Lord’s Supper is administered only to people who are communicant members of a denomination that has publicly declared altar fellowship. Though well meaning, this brittle approach is a reproach to many a saint who comes to the Lord’s Table hungering for righteousness but is met with a stone wall rather than a cup of compassion. The damage done when one’s position is too narrow is chilling, devastating and at times causes irreparable harm turning the Church – a hospital for sinners – into a kind of “Club Christ”, or a “Christ who clubs!”

“Close Communion Conversations” seeks to pursue the good golden gospel middle of genuine evangelical theology on altar fellowship issues…The guideline in service of the gospel runs this way: Although we have as a general rule closed communion we have exceptions to the rule. Both the general rule and the exceptions to the rule are for the sake of the gospel. At the same time the exceptions ought not t become the rule.”

“Because of this evangelical guideline, I prefer the term close communion. It captures the theological tensions in which evangelical Christianity must live. It brings with it a paradoxical Lutheran edge.” (pp 9-10)

This sets the discussion and I want to emphasize that when in doubt, my preference is to have “closed’ communion. I’ve written about this before, but it is not to set some sort of “more worthy Christian”, but to assure that the recipient truly understands and accepts a correct understanding of what the Lord’s Supper truly is. I often tell those who are new to the Lutheran Church that we don’t want them to feel excluded, we want them to understand how seriously we take the Lord’s Supper, that it is for their spiritual health. As a member eligible to receive the Lord’s Supper a person stands before the church that, as a part of membership, they vow to accept the true understanding of what the Lord’s Supper truly is. I want to give people the Lord’s Supper, believe me it is one of the great parts of being a pastor. But I want to do it to the recipients spiritual health and nourishment and knowing that we both understand what we are doing.

Please feel free to discuss and I plan to have more discussion.