The M.O.S.A.I.C. Community

NEWS: Abortion is "most compelling moral issue of our time"

2011-02-20T06:32:00.001-05:00

From the Chicago Tribune:

Abortion is "most compelling moral issue of our time"

The Rev. Bob Barron, priest and theology professor, University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein As Chicago's Cardinal Francis George joins other abortion rights opponents in Washington for the M...

The full story can be viewed at:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2011/01/abortion-is-most-compelling-moral-issue-of-our-time.html

Get the Chicago Tribune Android app from the Android Marketpalce.

What Confessional-Lutheran-Urban-Parochial Education Can Learn from Home Schooling: Beginning the Conversation

2011-02-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

I am now approaching the second anniversary of my first visit to St. Philip Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, Illinois. In late June 2009 the people of St. Philip extended me a call to be their pastor; I accepted and moved my family to Chicago in August 2009.

Prior to our move we schooled our four children at home. Upon the move to St. Philip the children were placed in the parochial school. This move has been blessed with difficulty. That may seem a curious turn of phrase, but it reflects the belief that the Lord of the Church called us to St. Philip and will use our mutual experience to bless both my family and the people I have been called to serve and that are now our neighbors.

There are great benefits to a parochial school education, especially in an urban setting like ours. I will speak and write more about this in the future, and there are many ways in which I believe parochial education can be improved.

The related video clip below is from one of my favorite authors, Sir Ken Robinson. Sir Ken speaks with authority and passion about human creativity and how the discovery and cultivation of said creativity can and should lead to changes in the way think about ourselves and educate our children. In this particular video Sir Ken is responding to a question he received about what public education may learn from home schooling. His response, though brief, is a reply with which I resonate…

What Teachers Make Final Moviebk2 0001

2011-02-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

A friend posted this on Facebook. I like it.

NYTimes: Last Christians Ponder Leaving a Hometown in Iraq

2011-01-20T09:13:00.001-05:00

Very sad...

From The New York Times:

Last Christians Ponder Leaving a Hometown in Iraq

By JOHN LELAND and DURAID ADNAN

A town known for its religious harmony had about 70 Christian families before the 2003 invasion by the United States. Now it is down to just one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/world/middleeast/20christian.html

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Reflections on “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand

2011-01-05T03:34:00.001-05:00

A book must be pretty engaging to keep me up at night. Normally, when I hit the pillow I’m out in minutes. Well, it’s half-past-two in the morning, I’m on vacation, and I fired up my computer because I am compelled to record some thoughts after finishing Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Random House, 2010), is a story that centers on the indefatigable Louie Zamperini, a youthful rogue turned Olympic runner turned WWII bombardier turned P.O.W. turned redeemer of youthful rogues. I write that Unbroken “centers” on Zamperini because, as the author alludes in her epilogue, Mr. Zamperini’s story is equally about the myriad GIs who braved incomprehensible conditions and treatment.

Zamperini’s story grabs our attention because he is the Olympic runner who, before war intervened, was about to break the four-minute-mile, but Hillenbrand’s recounting respectfully and engagingly draws us in to the lives of family, friends, colleagues, and enemies.

Unbroken is a truly wonder-full read.

Readers will laugh at the stories of Louie’s petulant childhood and at the heroic humor of he and his fellow POWs. The will marvel at the survival story. They will burn with anger at their ravenous treatment. They will read at rapt attention as Hillenbrand leads them to the threshold of the family reunion that only they believed they would ever have. Readers will cry when they see the picture of Louie embracing his mother. They may sigh the deep and soul-full sigh of brotherhood, as I did, when the author traces the post-war path that made for the book’s paradoxical title.

I hope this story is not made into a movie, at least not of the one-and-a-half hour variety. I did not see Seabiscuit, the movie based upon Hillenbrand’s previous book, but I can only imagine Unbroken’s vast and profound story being cheapened by a feature-length film. A sequence of films or a Band of Brothers type of docu-drama might reasonably render the story. It is a project that I would love to see documentary filmmaker Ken Burns tackle, not as a documentary, but as a movie-series. Now, that’s an interesting idea…

I suspect that I will reflect more on this book in the future. Perhaps I will post those reflections here. Certainly, Unbroken is very thought-provoking, one of the most worthwhile books I have purchased in some time.

NYTimes: A Tough Season for Believers

2010-12-20T18:48:00.001-05:00

An interesting read with a conclusion that aptly summarizes the situation and challenges for American Christians...

From The New York Times:

A Tough Season for Believers

By ROSS DOUTHAT

Christmas is hard for everyone. But it's particularly hard for people who actually believe in it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/opinion/20douthat.html

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Christmas Sermon Mini-Series at St. Philip

2010-12-13T14:33:00.001-05:00

Getting your company through a recession - Recessions - Accounting Solutions Ltd

2010-12-13T12:49:00.000-05:00

The essay link below is from the front page of a business web site. The business is owned by a member of my congregation, but I call it to the public's attention because it is a very unusual piece of business advice. It's about the things that are most important, the things that are the foundation of any business or enterprise.

I'm particularly struck by this:

Everyone loses something in a depression. Make sure that it is something you can afford to lose. Your marriage, your health, your honor, your relationships with your family and friends... how can you replace these? Yet the inexperienced seem to sacrifice these first.

That quote has inspired a Christmas sermon mini-series at my congregation. Give this essay a shot. It's well worth your time.

Getting your company through a recession - Recessions - Accounting Solutions Ltd

Encouragement for Pastor and People in Advent and Christmas

2010-12-06T17:19:00.001-05:00

I really appreciate the encouragement that the new President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod offers—to laypeople and clergy alike—in his Advent message.

Advent Blessing from President Harrison from VimeoLCMS on Vimeo.

NYTimes: The Changing Culture War

2010-12-06T15:08:00.001-05:00

What does this mean for the church in general and Lutherans in particular?

From The New York Times:

The Changing Culture War

By ROSS DOUTHAT

Middle America retreats from marriage, and religion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/opinion/06douthat.html

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Reasoning for Three-Year-Olds and Influencing Behavior

2010-11-26T12:04:00.001-05:00

I am a very imperfect parent, and I am trying to do better than just “Do this because I said so,” though that is a perfectly acceptable reason now and then. On this note, I had an amusing interchange with my three-year-old this morning that illustrates both my lack of creativity and his delightful reasoning…

Dad (to 3-yr-old who is holding himself): Son, you need to go potty.

3YO: I don't want to go potty.

Dad: Son, you need to go potty.

3YO: No. I don't want to go potty.

Dad: Son, you need to go potty.

3YO (resolutely): No.

Dad (a little steamed): Did you just tell me “no”?

3YO: I don’t want to go potty.

Dad: I know you don’t want to go potty, but you need to.

3YO: No.

Dad (heating up): Ok. Well you can go to the potty, or you go to your room and be all by yourself. [Pregnant pause from Dad while he searches for a more graceful option than just either-or.] Or, you can have a spanking. Which do you want?

3YO (with certainty): I want to go potty.

I’m thinking about the book Nudge that I started but never finished: Sometimes influencing behavior is just about asking the right questions.

Quinn says election provided "mandate" to raise income tax for schools - chicagotribune.com

2010-11-06T16:59:00.000-04:00

Really?

I'm almost speechless.

Quinn says election provided "mandate" to raise income tax for schools - chicagotribune.com

Love Listening to Erin Bode Sing

2010-11-06T13:52:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcIKnQxhCW0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

NCAA D-1 Football Playoff Proposal

2010-10-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

I used to hate the idea of a college football playoff. I have changed my mind.

I enjoy Division 1 college football and I know that the NCAA crowns football champions in its other divisions by means of playoffs. I enjoy rewarding teams that have had success a trip to a warm-weather bowl game. I enjoy the drama of the NCAA D-1 men’s basketball tournament and think a playoff in football would offer not only drama but also provide the athletes a much better opportunity to prove, on the field, who is the national champion. I also know that, as the NCAA advertisement says, most of these kids will “go pro” in something other than football. They’re students, and they need to turn back to academics after the New Year.

After reading several proposals over the past couple years, including the 16 team proposal by Dan Wetzel that I read today and the earlier eight team proposal by Sports Illustrated (Sorry, I cannot find the link.), here is a modest D-1 football playoff proposal.

NCAA D-1 Football Playoff Proposal

Last Sat in Nov:	Conference Championships
1st Sat in Dec:	No games
2nd Sat in Dec:	Round of 16*
3rd Sat in Dec:	Round of 8*
4th Sat in Dec:	Bowls
Dec 31st:	Great Bowls
Jan 1st:	Great Bowls + Final 4
Following Sat:	National Championship

The Bids

I think I like Weztel’s idea to give automatic bids to the conference champions. I’m not sure about the NCAA basketball-style selection committee for the five at-large bids. I might like borrowing from the old SI proposal and just use the BCS formula to award the remaining available bids.

The Schedule

Quite frankly, I would rather require these athletes and staffs to go home on Thanksgiving weekend or catch up on school work, but a lot of these conferences will have championship games and it looks like that is the weekend for them. After the conference championship Saturday, it makes sense to give the playoff teams an extra week to rest and prepare for the round of 16. The high seeds get the reward of playing at home for rounds one and two, but I offer this caveat: give the home team 70-80% of the tickets and let the home team decide where the game is played.

I make this last suggestion because many of these schools are “northern” and would be playing in December. For example, though Michigan’s “Big House” is a phenomenal location, it can be pretty nasty weather-wise in Ann Arbor in mid-December. If beautiful Ford Field in Detroit were available and you gave the team 80% of the tickets at a venue like that, they might say that’s the way to go.

The proposed schedule provides another break around the Christmas holiday. This gives some time for the playoff teams and their families to get together, but also provides opportunities for the existing bowl games that operate. In that week following Christmas the bowls operate up through the the late afternoon of January 1st.

It might make sense with the Dec 31 and Jan 1 bowls to call them (for lack of a better name at this time) the “Great Bowls.” These bowls may have some formula, perhaps allowing those defeated in the rounds of 16 and 8 an opportunity to compete against other teams.

My proposal suggests that January first have the football version of the Final Four at night, with the first game at around 6pm and then have the national championship game on the following Saturday.

All of this get us a reasonably undisputed national champion, keeps the regular season very meaningful, grants independents and BCS-busters like Boise State a real shot, keeps bowls and the warm weather travel opportunity, and gets it all done before everyone has to show up for the second semester.

This surely doesn’t consider everything, but that is not my interest. My interest is summarized in the paragraph above. What do you think?

Seated with Jesus

2010-10-06T07:32:00.001-04:00

Matthew 9:9-13 (ESV)
⁹As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. ¹⁰And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I am thankful to be seated with Jesus.

Man convicted of murder in DUI crash that killed Nick Adenhart - MLB - SI.com

2010-09-28T10:24:00.000-04:00

Just months after my father died in a car crash in 1992 (He had a heart attack at the wheel and crashed into a tree.), my younger brother's best friend was killed by a drunk driver going up the wrong side of the highway. The story below and about the deaths of A's pitcher Nick Adenhart and his friends illustrates just how dangerous it is to drink and drive, and raises the "curious" cases of Braylon Edwards of the New York Jets and other professional athletes who suffer little penalty for drunk driving. True, Edwards didn't kill anyone (Thank God.), but in driving at twice the legal limit he all-but fired a weapon in a public place. Gilbert Arenas of the NBA's Washington Wizards goes to jail and loses a full year of play and salary after carrying a weapon into his locker room, but Mr. Edwards and others in the NFL get to play and make game-winning catches, for example, just days after arrests for "driving while intoxicated."

It's time to take drunk driving more seriously. If you want your players to be role models, NFL, MLB, NBA, etc., then it's time for more than a slap on the wrist, even if the offense doesn't injure someone.

Man convicted of murder in DUI crash that killed Nick Adenhart - MLB - SI.com

Allowances

2010-09-10T08:13:00.001-04:00

My wife and I have talked on-and-off for years about whether to institute an “allowance” policy for our children. At present, we still do not have them…

With this in mind I downloaded a few of National Public Radio (NPR) “Planet Money” podcasts, including “Allowance Economics: Candy, Taxes, and Potty Training” from September 3, 2010. The interview features Australian economist, Joshua Gans, who as a father of three young children has been toying for years with his own system of incentives in his household.

I listened intently while on the treadmill this morning. I am curious to hear from other parents about their allowance policies.

Christian Leadership with Depth and Authenticity

2010-09-03T17:32:00.001-04:00

The new President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Rev. Matthew Harrison, has a degree of theological depth and a personal authenticity that I admire greatly. I have just listened—again—to his first media interview on the day of his election.

The interview occurs on a formerly sanctioned but now “independent” Lutheran radio program called “Issues, etc” (The story of how this happened is found in this Wall Street Journal column.). I am not as regular a listener as I would like, but—now and then—I turn to www.Issuesetc.org for important reflection on key issues that affect us.

For those who want to hear an excellent example of depth and humility in Christian servant-leadership, click here.

Reporting on the “End” of Combat in Iraq

2010-08-30T07:37:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to believe that after seven years of direct U.S. military involvement in Iraq, the loss of millions of lives, the spending of billions of dollars, that it is barely news. I would have thought that it would be right under the masthead in the nation’s premier media outlets, but pictured below are today’s front pages of the on-line versions of the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and Time magazine. The end of combat is not mentioned.

These images were taken between 0600 and 0615 Central time in Chicago.

I remember September 11, 2001, the visit of George Tenet to the Oval Office, the buildup to this war, the speech of Colin Powel before the United Nations, the countless images of the dead and maimed and displaced. I still think that if my CIA director walked into my oval office and said something like (as I understand what Mr. Tenet said) “Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” that I would not have made a different decision than President Bush. I hope history shows that some good comes from this decision, for all involved, but as far as I can see right now it has been mostly tragic.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this reporting, but something is missing this morning…

Great Teams Change Lives

2010-08-17T08:35:00.001-04:00

A Facebook post by my high school team mate, Jim Shields, got me thinking about what a difference being part of a good team can be for someone’s life…

I graduated from Frankenmuth High School (Frankenmuth, Michigan) in 1988 and had the honor of playing on two of the finest boys teams in Frankenmuth High School history. Both the football and basketball teams went to the state semifinals after outstanding seasons. For now, I focus on the football team.

Jim Shields (mentioned above) was our all-state punter and kicker. While we were crushed by eventual state champion Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the state semis at Alma College, I will never forgot the busloads of CC kids getting out, coming in to the stands, and gasping as Jim Shields rocked pre-game practice punts into the stratosphere.

Jim was just one of several outstanding athletes on that team. Scott Jacobs was an all-state wide receiver. We had a fine quarterback in Myron Mauer, a great compliment of linemen (One of whom, Troy Reinert, still (I believe) holds as sack record at FHS and another, Steve Heinlein, who went on the Air Force Academy.), and all-conference caliber players all over the field.

One of our running backs, Paul Sica, gave one of great out-of-body athletic performances I have ever seen in that state semifinal. I’m confident he didn’t show the coaches before the game, but Paul opened his mouth in a pre-game huddle and showed us tonsils the size of golf balls. I don’t know how the guy could breath! He was totally miserable and played his guts out. Many of us remember Michael Jordan’s famous “flu game” against Utah (1996?). Respectfully, I’ll put Paul’s effort that day up there with Jordan’s or anyone else’s for that matter. There was no money on the line, no scholarship, just the commitment to us—the team—and to excellence that competition provided us.

If you click here you’ll see a web page with a single game playoff interception record at FHS. It has my name on it. Elsewhere my name appears for a single season total of six. Some historian of FHS football years from now might look at these records and come to a silly conclusion. The fact is that I had little business being on that field.

My “backup” was a superior athlete named Scott Jackson, who went on to start the following year as a senior and set all kinds of records. Scott could dunk at basketball when he was 5’6”. He was a great athlete, and he played sparingly because I was a senior, the student body president, and because I worked hard in practice. (Our head coach, Ralph Munger, tried to reward guys like me with playing time because he believed it was best for the team in the long-run. He’s now become a Michigan high school legend at Rockford High School.)

I got six interceptions that season, in part because nobody wanted to throw anywhere near all-stater Scott Jacobs, who played defensive back next to me, and because we had a tremendous defensive line and linebacker corps who made life miserable for the opposing offenses. At least two of those six interceptions almost literally fell into my lap. One was a tipped ball that was stupidly thrown by the quarterback at the end of the game. I got a touchdown for that one. (Thanks for the block, Jim Frank.) Another was a “Hail Mary” at the end of the first playoff game against Cheboygan that the quarterback just heaved into the air and I ended up being the one in the pile who came up with the ball.

There are many lessons from all this, but the high school football experience, especially, was life-changing for me, giving me confidence and a sense of accomplishment as I ventured off, away from my family, for my tumultuous college years. I had some success in high school football because I was a decent athlete on a team of great athletes that had coaches that expected us to maximize our potential and gave us every opportunity to do so.

Our coaches, knowing the talent we had from the time we were in elementary school, spent years encouraging, cajoling, and developing both the talent and the commitment to one another that would allow us to achieve personal and corporate successes that most of us could not have imagined when we were on the playground as little children. That team did not just “appear.” It was molded and shaped over many years, and it changes all of our lives for the better.

May God give us who are now in leadership the vision and commitment to personal and corporate excellence, to develop and use our God-given gifts for the good of our neighbor, that we might mold and shape great teams in our families and workplaces, for great teams change lives.

The Marriage of Priests

2010-08-14T08:11:00.001-04:00

The Roman Catholic church has been rocked by sexual abuse scandals in recent years. Sadly, this is nothing new.

The chief confessional document of the Lutheran Reformation, The Augsburg Confession (1530), in Article 23 speaks of complaints about “unchaste” priests and then makes the Biblical case for the marriage thereof.

My own assessment is that many Lutherans tend to overstate the case for marriage in practice. Whereas St. Paul encourages men and women to be single ("I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another." –1 Corinthians 7:7, ESV), we often do not properly warn those who would be married of the worldly challenges Paul speaks of for married people.

Article 23 (below) speaks well of the blessings and challenges of marriage for those men who would service in the Office of the Holy Ministry, making the Biblical case therefore, but also upholding the Biblical teaching that some have the “gift of chastity.”

Article XXIII: Of the Marriage of Priests.

1] There has been common complaint concerning the examples of priests who were not chaste. 2] For that reason also Pope Pius is reported to have said that there were certain causes why marriage was taken away from priests, but that there were far weightier ones why it ought to be given back; for so Platina writes. 3] Since, therefore, our priests were desirous to avoid these open scandals, they married wives, and taught that it was lawful for them to contract matrimony. First, because 4] Paul says, 1 Cor. 7, 2. 9: To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. Also: It is better to marry than to burn. Secondly 5] Christ says, Matt. 19, 11: All men cannot receive this saying, where He teaches that not all men are fit to lead a single life; for God created man for procreation, Gen. 1, 28. 6] Nor is it in man’s power, without a singular gift and work of God, to alter this creation. [For it is manifest, and many have confessed that no good, honest, chaste life, no Christian, sincere, upright conduct has resulted (from the attempt), but a horrible, fearful unrest and torment of conscience has been felt by many until the end.] Therefore, 7] those who are not fit to lead a single life ought to 8] contract matrimony. For no man’s law, no vow, can annul the commandment and ordinance of God. For these reasons 9] the priests teach that it is lawful for them to marry wives.

10] It is also evident that in the ancient Church priests were married men. 11] For Paul says, 1 Tim. 3, 2, that a bishop should be chosen who is the husband of one wife. 12] And in Germany, four hundred years ago for the first time, the priests were violently compelled to lead a single life, who indeed offered such resistance that the Archbishop of Mayence, when about to publish the Pope’s decree concerning this matter, was almost killed in the tumult raised by the enraged priests. 13] And so harsh was the dealing in the matter that not only were marriages forbidden for the future, but also existing marriages were torn asunder, contrary to all laws, divine and human, contrary even to the Canons themselves, made not only by the Popes, but by most celebrated Synods. [Moreover, many God-fearing and intelligent people in high station are known frequently to have expressed misgivings that such enforced celibacy and depriving men of marriage (which God Himself has instituted and left free to men) has never produced any good results, but has brought on many great and evil vices and much iniquity.]

14] Seeing also that, as the world is aging, man’s nature is gradually growing weaker, it is well to guard that no more vices steal into Germany.

15] Furthermore, God ordained marriage to be a help against human infirmity. 16] The Canons themselves say that the old rigor ought now and then, in the latter times, to be relaxed because of the weakness of men; which it is to be wished were done also in this matter. 17] And it is to be expected that the churches shall at some time lack pastors if marriage is any longer forbidden.

18] But while the commandment of God is in force, while the custom of the Church is well known, while impure celibacy causes many scandals, adulteries, and other crimes deserving the punishments of just magistrates, yet it is a marvelous thing that in nothing is more cruelty exercised than against 19] the marriage of priests. God has given commandment to honor marriage. By the laws of all 20] well-ordered commonwealths, even among the heathen, marriage is most highly honored. 21] But now men, and that, priests, are cruelly put to death, contrary to the intent of the Canons, for no other cause than 22] marriage. Paul, in 1 Tim. 4, 3, calls that a doctrine of devils which forbids marriage. 23] This may now be readily understood when the law against marriage is maintained by such penalties.

24] But as no law of man can annul the commandment of God, so neither can it be done by any vow. 25] Accordingly, Cyprian also advises that women who do not keep the chastity they have promised should marry. His words are these (Book I, Epistle XI): But if they be unwilling or unable to persevere, it is better for them to marry than to fall into the fire by their lusts; they should certainly give no offense to their brethren and sisters.

26] And even the Canons show some leniency toward those who have taken vows before the proper age, as heretofore has generally been the case.

Concordia Triglotta - English : The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, (Milwaukee WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 1997), 65.

Buying wood for dinner

2010-08-10T10:32:00.000-04:00

Our first night camping as a family of six...

Cooked steaks over the wood fire. Exquisite! I can't think of a steak that tasted better since my honeymoon in St. Maarten 14 years ago, and that was an $150 meal.

Good to have a getaway with the family!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Lutheranism & the Classics Promotion - "Ilias Malorum"

2010-08-06T19:17:00.000-04:00

Confessing with Courage

2010-08-02T09:01:00.001-04:00

I love to hear the accounts of St. Paul’s witness. Today’s New Testament reading in the highly recommended Treasury of Daily Prayer is Acts 26.24-27.8, where Paul, a prisoner for the sake of the Gospel, makes his confession and missionary appeal to Kings Agrippa and Festus. Also included in the reading is the beginning account of Paul’s famous journey to Rome:

And as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad.” But Paul said, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time you think to make me a Christian!” And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them; and when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for. And putting to sea from there we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. And when we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go on, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea." (Acts 26:24-27:8, RSV)

Here is the Treasury’s great prayer for the day:

Lord Jesus Christ, before whom all in heaven and earth shall bow, grant courage that Your children may confess Your saving name in the face of any opposition from a world hostile to the Gospel. Help them to remember Your faithful people who sacrificed much and even faced death rather than dishonor You when called upon to deny the faith. By Your Spirit, strengthen them to be faithful and to confess You boldly, knowing that You will confess Your own before the Father in heaven, with whom You and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Bacon, Context, Theological Education, and the Gospel

2010-07-31T12:07:00.001-04:00

Viral among my LCMS friends recently was a YouTube video clip from non-denominational preacher Joel Osteen in which he spoke about the dangers of some foods (like bacon) prohibited in the Old Testament. To be fair, it is obviously an edited clip so we do not have the benefit of full context here. And, to be fair, some of the issues raised about the nature and quality of the food are to be taken seriously. Nobody would argue that bacon, for example, is a food so healthy that one should eat it every day.

The above being said, if the the entirety of the message is consistent with the clip then the man is preaching as the Word of God a dangerous distortion, for to suggest that it is against God’s will to eat pork, for example, is to display an ignorance of the Scriptures and theological implications of the incarnation.

In Mark 7.19 the Gospel tells us that Jesus “thus declared all foods clean.” In Acts 10 Jesus reaffirmed this to Peter, telling Peter to go ahead and eat the foods that had been prohibited before the New Testament. Peter reacted strongly to this, at which The LORD replied, “Do not call anything unclean that I have made clean!”

Again, I refrain from utterly condemning the preacher here, for I do not have the full context, (The recent Shirley Sherrod incident should teach us—as it has taught President Obama—about being careful with context in internet videos.) but—for me—among the many other issues this raises is the importance of a good theological education for pastors. Now, even a good theological education can’t keep one from error, but (again, if this one is true) this one is one of those seemingly elementary errors that has serious theological and practical implications, for this error throws people back on to the keeping of “The Law” for salvation (see my earlier post from today.) and to do that is to TOTALLY UNDERMINE the essence of the Christian faith.

Friends, bacon is clearly not a health food, but it is not forbidden by God. Guard and protect your body by avoiding gluttony of all sorts, but don’t be afraid to enjoy the good things of the creation that have been declared “clean” in incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus.

On that note, here’s some country fried bacon from “Chicago’s must-try dishes” in the Chicago Tribune on-line:

Love and Fulfilling the Law

2010-07-31T09:07:00.001-04:00

There is a proper Biblical understanding of the relationship between justifying faith and the related good works. If this aspect of the faith is misunderstood it leads to utter despair. To understand this relationship rightly, on the other hand, is to have true peace with God and abiding freedom.

The readings for July 31st in The Treasury of Daily Prayer include—in addition to Ps 80.14-19; 1 Sam 16.1-23; and Acts 25.13-27—the beginning of Article 5 of The Apology of The Augsburg Confession (AAC), “Love and Fulfilling the Law.” This article brings comfort to the reader by explaining the Biblical relationship of faith and good works.

I am reading from the new Reader's Edition of The Book of Concord, the collection of faith statements that summarize Lutheran theology and which include the AAC. This edition includes the following helpful preparatory note on AAC V:

Good works do not cause justification; rather, they are the result of justification. Melanchthon [the writer of the AAC] carefully distinguishes between the effect of the Law before a person is justified and he effect of the Law after a person is justified. Rome had garbled these critical biblical distinctions with disastrous consequences. Melanchthon returns to them constantly, writing the longest article in the Apology. Lutherans believe that Christians improve at keeping the Law, and they require good works. However, good works are not necessary for salvation, but are the necessary fruit of salvation…

Copyright may prevent me from extensive quotations from the Reader’s Edition, so here are paragraphs 1-8 of AAC V from an older translation that is in the public domain. In a few places I have put explanatory material in brackets [italics]:

Article III: Of Love and the Fulfilling of the Law.

1] Here the adversaries [Roman church] urge against us: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments, Matt. 19, 17; likewise: The doers of the Law shall be justified, Rom. 2, 13, and many other like things concerning the Law [10 Commandments] and works. Before we reply to this, we must first declare what we believe concerning love and the fulfilling of the Law.

2] It is written in the prophet, Jer. 31, 33: I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And in Rom. 3, 31, Paul says: Do we, then, make void the Law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the Law. And Christ says, Matt. 19, 17: If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Likewise, 1 Cor. 13, 3: If I have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 3] These and similar sentences testify that the Law ought to be begun in us, and be kept by us more and more [that we are to keep the Law when we have been justified by faith, and thus increase more and more in the Spirit]. Moreover, we speak not of ceremonies, but of that Law which gives commandment concerning the movements of the heart, namely, the Decalog [10 Commandments]. 4] Because, indeed, faith brings the Holy Ghost, and produces in hearts a new life, it is necessary that it should produce spiritual movements in hearts. And what these movements are, the prophet, Jer. 31, 33 shows, when he says: I will put My Law into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. Therefore, when we have been justified by faith and regenerated, we begin to fear and love God, to pray to Him, to expect from Him aid, to give thanks and praise Him, and to obey Him in afflictions. We begin also to love our neighbors, because our hearts have spiritual and holy movements [there is now, through the Spirit of Christ a new heart, mind, and spirit within].

5] These things cannot occur until we have been justified by faith, and, regenerated, we receive the Holy Ghost: first, because the Law cannot 6] be kept without [the knowledge of] Christ; and likewise the Law cannot be kept without the Holy Ghost. But the Holy Ghost is received by faith, according to the declaration of Paul, Gal. 3, 14: That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 7] Then, too, how can the human heart love God while it knows that He is terribly angry, and is oppressing us with temporal and perpetual calamities? But the Law always accuses us always, shows that God is angry. [Therefore, what the scholastics say of the love of God is a dream.] 8] God therefore is not loved until we apprehend mercy by faith. Not until then does He become a lovable object. –Concordia Triglotta - English : The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Milwaukee WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 1997), 161.

Creativity and Christian Education

2010-07-29T23:25:00.001-04:00

This is a follow-up on a previous post in which I reflected upon economic ideas I heard from clips at the Aspen Ideas Festival…

In the previous post I quoted futurist Richard Florida, who said:

Every single human being is creative. The key task of our time is to move behind an economic model where the creative talents of 30 or 35 percent are harnessed and utilized for economic gains . . . The true challenge of our time is to stoke the creative furnace that lies deep within every single individual.

I then went on to speak about my role as a pastor of a parochial school and my sense of what a Lutheran education can be:

My belief is that the Christian Gospel and the Lutheran understanding of vocation can and should undergird an education that rejoices in the unique gift of God that is each child. Only the Gospel of Christ truly sets one free; only the Word of God which proclaims this Gospel truly understands freedom. I believe this truth calls for teachers who are faithful disciples and passionate learners. I believe this calls for a dramatically different approach to just about every aspect of education. I believe this calls for courage on the part of parents and a true partnership with them in the education of their children. My struggle in this is analogous, I suspect, to that of many a business owner: How do we facilitate transformation?

Another presenter from the Aspen Ideas Festival, a man I am familiar with through the TED podcasts, is education and creativity specialist, Sir Ken Robinson. In the talk below from AIF he presents a summary of his latest book, The Element.

If you are interested in education, creativity, and helping people discover and utilize their God-given gifts, it’s 74 very valuable minutes. Surprising and wonderful is the video shown at about the 68 minute mark by the founders of The Blue Man group and the school they have begun.

Having seen this extended talk I’m rather interested in reading The Element with some others who want to explore the future of Lutheran education. Perhaps my planned Sunday night “Cana Bible Study” for this fall will become the “Cana Book Club.” We’ll see…

The Church and the New Economy

2010-07-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Back in the spring of 2009, before the possibility of a move to Chicago, I picked up a copy of The Atlantic monthly because I was a former subscriber and intrigued by the cover, "How the Crash Will Reshape America".

The author of the cover article, Richard Florida, thinks that the restructuring that is taking place is the most significant change in economic history. He believes that of the Midwestern cities Chicago is most likely to thrive. He has some particularly intriguing thoughts on home ownership, opining that it inhibits creativity and growth. It is, of course, too early to tell about many things, but even if he is partially correct, whether about the specifics or the grand scheme of things, the implications are dramatic.

Mr. Florida argues that “creativity” is key to new economy. At about 18:30 minutes into the video below he says:

Every single human being is creative. The key task of our time is to move behind an economic model where the creative talents of 30 or 35 percent are harnessed and utilized for economic gains . . . The true challenge of our time is to stoke the creative furnace that lies deep within every single individual.

I believed this to be true long before I ever heard of Richard Florida, but as the new pastor of a church with a long-established parochial school, I am thinking even more deeply about these issues. My belief is that the Christian Gospel and the Lutheran understanding of vocation can and should undergird an education that rejoices in the unique gift of God that is each child. Only the Gospel of Christ truly sets one free; only the Word of God which proclaims this Gospel truly understands freedom. I believe this truth calls for teachers who are faithful disciples and passionate learners. I believe this calls for a dramatically different approach to just about every aspect of education. I believe this calls for courage on the part of parents and a true partnership with them in the education of their children. My struggle in this is analogous, I suspect, to that of many a business owner: How do we facilitate transformation?

Perhaps fortunately, the transformation is upon us at my parish. It cannot be delayed.

Lord God, You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Here is a the recent Aspen Ideas Festival address by Mr. Florida that I mentioned above.

Thinking about University Education (with a little poke at my Buckeye friends)

2010-07-28T20:09:00.001-04:00

I recently ran across an interesting interview in The Atlantic online, “What’s Wrong with the American University System,” by Jennie Rothenberg Gritz. Ms. Gritz interviews Dr. Andrew Hacker, Professor Emeritus of Queens College (NY), who has recently published the book Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids---and What We Can Do About It.

Dr. Hacker, apparently, is a advocate of both liberal arts and practical training (e.g., engineering), and he’s not a terribly big fan of the Ivy League. Ms. Gritz asks him some very pointed questions about the merits of an elite school education. Dr. Hacker gives pointed responses. The interview is worth the read. I don’t know if I’d buy the book, but I might get it from the library…

One choice little nugget is about Division I athletics, in which Dr. Hacker takes a dig at Ohio State that is guaranteed to decrease demand for his book in the Buckeye state and find itself on posters in Ann Arbor:

At a college like Ohio State, the team makes money. The undergraduates pour into the stadium for the big Ohio-Michigan game. They paint their faces red and blue and all the rest. But what are they cheering for? Victory in a football game. Michigan is actually a much better university than Ohio State—its reputation, its medical school, its law school, and so on. It makes you wonder whether Ohio is putting so much into its sports teams because its academics really aren't so great.

Here's what my wife says to all this!

Music and the Word of God

2010-07-28T10:05:00.001-04:00

Today many churches commemorate the faith and work of Church musician Johann Sebastian Bach (cf. Bach devotee Paul McCain’s blog post here.). As such, it is a great day to extol music. The Treasury of Daily Prayer has a wonderful quotation today from Martin Luther’s 1538 introduction to Georg Rhau’s symphony and a lovely prayer giving thanks for Bach and the gift of music.

This calls to mind a great quotation from a seminary classmate, spoken years ago, if I recall rightly, at a joint student discussion of worship between student leaders at Concordia Theological Seminary (Ft. Wayne) and Concordia Seminary (St. Louis).

My classmate said something like:

The Word of God is like a diamond, pure and sparkling. The task of Church music is, like the prongs of a ring, to uphold the diamond without obscuring it.

Well said, and as the prayer from the Treasury for today says:

Almighty God…Continue to grant this gift of inspiration to all Your servants who write and make music for Your people, that with joy we on earth may glimpse Your beauty and at length know the inexhaustible richness of Your new creation in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Let’s Be Careful with “Salvation” Shall We?

2010-07-27T21:12:00.000-04:00

Cub great Andre Dawson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame recently. He gave a nice speech, with a rebuke of those who stain the game and an admonition to youth to be aware of the dangers of the street. But he also said to youth, “Baseball can be your salvation.”

Now, Mr. Dawson presented himself as a man of God, and I have no reason to say otherwise, but I want to suggest that Christians avoid earthly references to “salvation.” I think we are wiser to use that word for things that are truly eternal.

If you want to see the speech, click here. The quotation to which I referred to takes in a section of the speech that begins about six minutes in.

A Prayer for—and Reflection upon—the Resurrected Life

2010-07-27T09:40:00.001-04:00

Christ, our risen Lord, Your resurrection showed us what we will someday be and what we already are now through our Baptism into Your holy name. Give us courage to bear in our bodies Your resurrected life as we live out the fruit of Your victory over death through works of charity and mercy; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. –Prayer of the Day (1065) for July 27 in The Treasury of Daily Prayer.

This prayer in the Treasury follows the New Testament reading from Acts 22.30-23.11 where St. Paul lives the resurrection life by confessing the Christ before an antagonist council. The Lord “rewarded” this by “imprisoning” Paul and sending him via guard to Rome, saying, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” (Acts 23.11, ESV)

The thing is, of course, is that Christians are simul justus et peccator—simultaneously saint and sinner (cf. Romans 7)—which means that though we pray to live the resurrected life and desire to do so, sin still enters in, often in ways that are oblivious to the Baptized. This brings me to a quotation from Martin Luther where he describes the sacraments:

Therefore we always teach that the Sacraments and all external things which God ordains and institutes should not be regarded according to the coarse, external mask, as we regard the shell of a nut, but as the Word of God is included therein.(Triglotta, “Large Catechism,” IV.19)

It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but even non-Christians might find this helpful in viewing their Christian neighbors. Be careful of judging a Christian by the “external mask,” for as sinner-saints we have, in a sense, two competing natures. The old sinful nature hates God and doesn’t want anything to do with the ways of God; the Christian nature wants to keep God’s name holy and do God’s will. Thus, we pray prayers like the one above, but sometimes—often—we fall into temptation. In Galatians St. Paul puts it this way:

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17, ESV)

Nowhere in the Bible is the Christian’s daily internal battle better described than in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (referred to above). Here Paul describes both the conflict and the proper focus of the Christian:

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being [Christian nature], but I see in my members [“flesh,” the sinful nature] another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." (Romans 7:21-8:2, ESV)

This is why following Christ is a life of “daily contrition and repentance.” (Luther, Small Catechism, Part IV). In fact, this daily struggle and the importance of maintaining the proper focus on the free Gospel of Christ, is the heart and soul of Christianity and the very beginning of “The Reformation,” for the first of Luther’s famous "95 Theses" says:

Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite [Repent!], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.

Repentance involves sorrow over sin (contrition) and belief the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins (faith). So it is that “the resurrected life” is lived not by faith in self-improvement (which would lead to despair as we see our failures) but by faith in the Son of God (Who always hopes, always perseveres (1 Cor 13)). Indeed, as Paul wrote in Galatians 2:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

Amen.

Is Religion Necessary?

2010-07-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

Interesting that Lutherans are mentioned prominently in this discussion of NY Times bloggers (Do We Need Religion?). More interesting is the assumption that the United States is headed the way of Europe, albeit on a different timetable. I question that assumption. I wonder if others do, too…

Harrison Speaks about Missions and the Role of LCMS Seminaries

2010-07-25T16:38:00.002-04:00

Below is a clip from the address of Rev. Matthew C. Harrison the day after his election as President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The impromptu address was given at a reception for the two seminaries of the LCMS held at Memorial Lutheran Church of Houston.

The video was taken from my phone, so I apologize for the image quality, but it is the audio—the passion and theological vision of the speaker and the response of the community gathered—that makes this powerful.

A Little Sunday Afternoon Humor

2010-07-25T13:52:00.001-04:00

Something brought the old Saturday Night skit, “Wedgie Fever” into my brain, and so I went searching for it on the web. I found found it!

And I also found this fun little Dilbert number…

The Relationship of Faith and Works

2010-07-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Lutherans have long been accused, as also St. Paul was, of preaching faith at the expense of works. By no means!

Today’s suggested reading in The Treasury of Daily Prayer includes paragraphs 61-74 of Article IV in The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, one of the chief summary statements of Lutheran belief. Here are paragraphs 73-74, which speak to the question of the relationship of faith and good works:

The term alone [sola] offends some people, even though Paul says in Romans 3:28, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” He says in Ephesians 2.8-9, “It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” He says in Romans 3:24, “justified by His grace as a gift.” If the exclusive term alone displeases, let them remove from Paul also the exclusives freely, not of works, it is the gift, and so on. For these also are exclusives. It is, however, the notion of merit that we exclude. We do not exclude the Word or Sacraments, as the adversaries falsely charge against us. We have said earlier that faith is conceived from the Word. We honor the ministry of the Word <Preaching Office and Word> in the highest degree. Love and works must also follow faith. Therefore, they are not excluded so that they do not follow faith, but confidence in the merit of love or of works is excluded in justification. We will clearly show this.

For Lutherans, and for those who want to understand Lutheran teaching, I highly recommend the translation of the Lutheran Confessions from which this quotation was taken. Published by Concordia Publishing House, Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions contains many historical notes, explanations, etc. that greatly assist the reader.

Enjoy!

Humility and Class as the LCMS Leadership Torch is Passed

2010-07-23T19:26:00.002-04:00

I have known Rev. Matthew Harrison for years. I have watched him present. I have read his translation and writing, and I have believed for some time that he was well-suited to lead our synod. And, though I have disagreed with some of Dr. Kieschnick’s policies and approach, I have always found him a very personal, approachable, and pious man. He also runs a very “tight ship” at convention; that is, he knows how to run a good meeting.
Below is video of President Kieschnick receiving the news that he was being replaced as President of the Synod. You will see him receive this bitter disappointment with dignity and class. You will see the President-elect, Rev. Harrison, speak with great humility. There was no triumphalism from him, no self-aggrandizing.
After the convention I greeted President Kieschnick and wished him God’s blessings on his next venture, and I certainly do pray that for him. He is a vigorous man, with a devoted wife, and I pray that when the disappointment ebbs that he and Rev. Harrison will be able to speak and find a way for the new President-emeritus to use his gifts in service to the church he served for so many years.

For this time, as we approach the 500th anniversary of The Reformation in 2017, I believe The LORD has given us a servant who has shown himself to faithful to the Lutheran Confession of faith and simultaneously vigorous in engaging the culture. We, as the people of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, have also given his office great new power. May he use it with the humility and grace that both he and his predecessor showed on 13 July, A.D. 2010.

Returning to the Mission

2010-07-23T11:47:00.001-04:00

After two weeks of serving as a delegate for the LC-MS convention and a short vacation I am back to my mission work in Chicago…

There is a vortex of financial trouble here (I know we are not unique in that regard.) that threatens to draw me in an render me unable to see the work that God has before us here at St. Philip: gathering God’s people around word a sacrament for forgiveness and life, and preaching and teaching the Gospel to all nations.

Thus, I delighted in reading some blog posts by our fourth grade teacher, Miss Lexi Schmidt. In spite of my own foibles and mismanagement, God managed to enable us to secure Miss Schmidt’s talents for the coordination of local outreach in June and for international outreach (Guatemala) in July.

Miss Schmidt did a marvelous job of organizing our first Vacation Bible School in years. We had around 120 kids, 25% of which were not from our church and school community. Praise the Lord! Now, as I said, Miss Schmidt is in Guatemala (Miss Schmidt's Blog). She is teaching Christ via various means, including Bible studies, teaching English, and through service. (If you click on her blog you’ll hear music from a July 13th post. If you don’t want to hear that you’ll have to scroll down and hit the “stop” button.) I am very thankful for her, and my fervent prayer is that this is just the beginning of a new era of outreach here at St. Philip.

Lord Jesus, earthly concerns abound. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on You, the author and perfecter of my faith, for You bore the shame of the cross with joy, forgiving my sins, that I may be Your own and live with You in Your kingdom, and serve you in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. Amen

Creativity

2010-07-19T09:33:00.001-04:00

This shot is a metaphor for all sorts of things…

LCMS Convention Wrap-up, Part 1

2010-07-17T16:23:00.001-04:00

Since i'm traveling and on my phone I'll be brief...

1. I think the LCMS is a lot more united than much of the voting % suggest.

The weighing of issues and voting on them tends to make for two convenient "camps." The reality is vastly more complex than that, and the way to reveal that broader unity is not through oppositional voting but through real theological dialogue. Structure and governance DO make a difference, but my sense is that Pres.-elect Harrison was elected because--at the end of the day--he offered a deeply theological leadership and has an established record of facilitating the effectual and merciful use of God's gifts in the church.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Cooperation in Externals

2010-07-14T10:24:00.001-04:00

Before the LCMS convention is Res. 3-03A, which attempts to grapple with the challenges presented by the long-agreed cooperation of the LCMS and the ELCA in social service type of arrangements ("externals"). The challenge is that even though there are many cooperative agencies and arrangements, the two church bodies are traveling increasingly divergent theological paths...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Convention adopts radical structure changes on narrow margins

2010-07-13T00:41:00.001-04:00

The LCMS convention seemed to begin to get "edgy" today as many proposals were adopted by very narrow margins. I sensed the tenor of many delegates turning as this continued, a concern for basic fairness. We'll see what this means tomorrow when we turn to significant constitutional issues...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

2010-07-12T11:29:00.001-04:00

Soon to vote on radical resolution 8-08A which would grant dramatic new authority to Synod president. Efficient? Perhaps. But at what cost?

2010-07-12T11:27:00.001-04:00

Lost internet connection in my room. Will update as soon as I can.

Election for LCMS President

2010-07-11T07:18:00.000-04:00

I expect this morning to see a motion, as the convention opens, to change the proposed schedule. I wasn't sure about this at first, but I now tend to think that having the Presidential election completed will help us to focus on the merits of the proposals themselves.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Proposals to Franchise “Commissioned Ministers” in The LC—MS

2010-07-10T09:23:00.001-04:00

A new proposal is out to enfranchise commissioned ministers in the LCMS. Proposed by-laws 4.2.3 and 4.2.3.1 (see Today's Business) allows a congregation to send a congregation to send either the pastor or a commissioned minister (non-pastoral church worker) to vote in district convention.

This proposal is a radical departure from historic LCMS practice, which recognizes two distinct and God-given “offices” in the church: the pastor, an office that can be occupied only by men who are rightly called; and the royal priesthood (1 Pet 2.9), the office that belongs to all the baptized.

More formal floor committee meetings are scheduled for Saturday, July 10th. We shall see what transpires…

2010-07-09T18:36:00.001-04:00

Long floor hearing on structure. I made the case for term limits for all synodical (LCMS) offices, but for some reason those in authority are standing pat.

2010-07-09T13:06:00.001-04:00

I just set up mobile blogging. This is my test.

2010 LCMS Convention Updates

2010-07-06T12:55:00.001-04:00

As I promised the folks in my circuit (E15) of the Northern Illinois District, Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, I plan to be giving daily updates from the convention via this blog.

Give Peace a Chance & The Lutheran Difference

2010-06-24T08:57:00.001-04:00

A laughed yesterday when my three-year-old appeared for Vacation Bible School with his new shirt: “Give Peas a Chance.” It had a nice pea (the vegetable) on the front. Frankly, it is a shirt that was much better suited for his older brother, for whom anything green was anathema, but that’s another story…

So, the New Testament reading for today in The Treasury of Daily Prayer is John 20.19-31, which includes this:

" On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”" (John 20:19-23, RSV)

When the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection He did not speak words of condemnation to those who had—in one way or another—abandoned Him. Rather, He spoke words of forgiveness: “Peace be with you!”

This forgiveness—the declaration of God that the punishment for sin is paid by Christ and that His merit is applied to those who believe in Him—this forgiveness is the heart and center of the Christian life. It is forgiveness that gives true peace, that rest of soul which is confident—come what may—that one is secure in God’s love and care.

Thus, at the center of the Christian life is how forgiveness comes. Shall we obscure the work of God and credit ourselves—even in some small way—with the faith that grasps the Gospel message of Christ’s forgiveness? No!

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." (John 1:12-13, NIV)

It is God’s work that we have forgiveness and peace, and God uses “means”—things outside ourselves (Luther used the word “alien” to describe this for-us-from-the-outside aspect of faith.) to give forgiveness and life to us by His Word.

Thus, we come to my little summary of “The Lutheran Difference,” my attempt to speak to the essence of Lutheran theology in a way that is not a caricature but rather opens the door to the beauty of the Christian faith and, in particular, the Lutheran confession thereof.

I put it this way:

The Lutheran difference is characterized by an absolute, unrelenting focus on forgiveness…and the means by which Christ promises it.

I have found this difference to be profoundly peaceful, as—in the midst of my own sins and failures—I find my hope and confidence totally outside myself, in Christ’s Word and sacraments. In these God comes to me with the forgiveness, peace and hope that only the Creator and Redeemer of the cosmos can provide.

A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath

2010-06-15T09:14:00.001-04:00

At the recent Northern Illinois District (LCMS) meeting of 2010 LCMS convention delegates, NID President, Rev. Dan Gilbert, encouraged the delegates to prepare for the convention prayerfully. In particular, he encouraged the reading of and meditation upon Proverbs.

It just so happens that much of June in Concordia Publishing House’s Treasury of Daily Prayer is in Proverbs. (For more information about the Treasury, or to purchase, click here.)The Old Testament reading for June 15th is Proverbs 15.1-29, and there is a lot of meat to chew on in this proverb.

"A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit." (Proverbs 15:4, ESV)

I struggle with this. I tend to have a quick, hot temper, reacting sometimes impulsively. I have been—prayerfully—trying to work on this in recent years. Prayerfully beginning the day has been a good help to me. There are days—even as a pastor—where I just rush into my day without having made plans to pray beforehand. This is foolish, and leads to expressions in word and deed that lack wisdom.

"The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly." (Proverbs 15:14, ESV)

I have done much better on this is recent years, gathering information and seeking to understand before I speak. As I look back on my life I had a wonderful teacher in my early professional years, when I worked as a Legislative Aide for Michigan State Representative Glenn Oxender of Sturgis, Michigan. Glenn was as fine a Christian man as I have ever met, gentle in soul and always seeking knowledge and understanding.

"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention." (Proverbs 15:18, ESV)

Isn’t that the truth! How often, for example as a parent, have I created strife by letting my temper get the best of me, but when I am “quick to listen and slow to speak” (James 1) much contention is avoided.

"The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway." (Proverbs 15:19, ESV)

Laziness, as a parent, husband, wife, or worker, leads to nothing but more trouble and difficulty. It’s sure easy, though!

"Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22, ESV)

This is an interesting verse for me, especially in my Chicago context, where I face a decent amount of pressure—sometimes subtle and sometimes not—to do much business autocratically and “behind closed doors.” This verse does NOT say, “Committees of the whole are best.” It DOES say that plans are best made with a good deal of advice and—by context—from a good variety of people.

"The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things." (Proverbs 15:28, ESV)

Following this counsel, though wise, of course, often leads to difficulty. There have been times where something was said or done that I knew demanded a response, but in seeking to be temperate and not say or do something I would regret and that would be spoken without knowledge, I chose to let the immediate situation take its course. In a couple of these situations that has put me in the position—as I see now—of not defending someone’s reputation (an 8th commandment violation).

This last point gets us back to the very beginning: prayer. Not giving adequate time to prayer at the beginning of the day, or during times of intense discussion, can lead to all sorts of unnecessary trouble, so I conclude with the “Prayer of the Day” for June 15 in The Treasury of Daily Prayer:

O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

NBA Finals a Fun Diversion

2010-06-11T09:43:00.001-04:00

There’s nothing overtly theological about this, but—as I’ve said before—I’m enjoying these 2010 NBA Finals. I posted on Facebook during the first half, “I’m rooting for the Lakers, but I think the Celtics win this one tonight.” Turns out I was right, with the Celtic bench offering up inspiring play.

SI.com’s Ian Thomsen recorded a funny exchange between game four’s heroes, Nate Robinson and Glenn Davis:

Boston was up 70-64, the Lakers were calling timeout with 8:22 remaining, and Davis was screaming like something not quite human while Robinson jumped on his back with both arms around his trunkish neck.

"You were on my back?'' asked Davis at the news conference.

"You didn't even notice,'' said Robinson. "We're like Shrek and Donkey. You can't separate us.''

"You shouldn't have let us two get up here,'' said Davis to the audience of reporters.

It will be interesting to see how the Lakers respond in game 5…

Reflections on Competition after Game Two of the 2010 NBA Finals

2010-06-09T12:27:00.001-04:00

For the most part, I care little for the NBA or MLB regular seasons, as there is typically a lack of intensity, but I really enjoy playoffs. Sunday night’s Lakers-Celtics game had a surprising conclusion (a Celtics win in LA), and passionate, skilled play (Rajon Rondo is sometimes a wizard with the basketball.). There is also in these series’ a chess match of sorts between the coaching staffs. Doc Rivers, the Celtics coach, gets a chance to match up with Phil Jackson, perhaps the NBA’s best all-time coach. Rivers would probably tell you “it’s all about the players,” but don’t believe a word of that. These men like to compete, and I love to watch it all play out.

This will sound odd given the above, but the winning and losing has always been less important to me than the opportunity high-level competition provides to expand individual and corporate abilities. Andrew Bynum’s team lost on Sunday, for example, but he gave a passionate and skilled performance. Reports the next day suggested he thinks that was a waste, but it certainly won’t be a waste in the long-term and—Who knows?—what he and his team mates and coaches are learning about his capabilities may well help turn the series in LA’s direction.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard thinks this may be an “epic” series (Ballard "epic"). I sure hope so. The b-ball on TV may drive my girls crazy, but in an odd sort of way it is fuel for my soul: the opportunity to turn away from my personal and work challenges and watch people who are the best in the world challenge each other to be better. I love it.

Inculcating Respect for The Office of The Holy Ministry

2010-04-30T10:16:00.001-04:00

Dr. Gene Veith in a blog post (The Future of the LCMS) began a discussion on the remarkable presidential nomination numbers for the upcoming elections of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. As the discussion and tenor thereof touch on a number of issues that are important to me it seemed fitting to post my comment here. I encourage my readers to also click the link above and read Dr. Veith’s post.

I appreciate the comments of many here, yet as a pastoral delegate I want to offer a word of admonition and encouragement. For many who support the incumbent LCMS President he is "Rev. Kieschnick" or "President Kieschnick" while his "opponent" is "Matt" or "Harrison." Likewise, many who support Rev. Harrison refer to him with the title while his "opponent" is simply "Jerry" or "Kieschnick." Please remember that whomever you support for the office of president of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, BOTH men are called and ordained servants of the Word, both elected to their offices and those offices deserve respect (1 Thes 5.12-13).

I believe that Rev. Harrison is fundamentally correct in saying that our challenges in the LCMS are not fundamentally structural but theological. One of the ways by which we show our resolve to be Lutherans is to respect the Office of the Holy Ministry, and one of the ways by which we show respect for the Office is to always speak respectfully of those in the Office. My district president in Northern Illinois, Rev. Dan Gilbert, often tells us that among ourselves we may call him "Dan," and I appreciate that collegiality, but--respectfully--I will not call him simply by his first name, nor if I disagree with him will I flippantly call him "Gilbert" because the Lord is clear that His people are to respect His servants.

I respectfully encourage fellow delegates and members of the LCMS to show our theological resolve by referring to the two men, Rev. Harrison and President Kieschnick, with their titles.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Lance Armstrong O'Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Northern Illinois, Circuit E15 Pastoral Delegate

Tim Tebow to Jacksonville at #10

2010-04-21T08:17:00.001-04:00

There has been talk in the last couple of years about the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars moving to Los Angeles or some other locale. I think Jacksonville can be a viable NFL franchise, and I’m rooting for them to take Tim Tebow with their 10th pick in the first round of the NFL’s 2010 draft. There are lots of reason’s why, but here is part of my argument.

I remember about four years ago reading a quotation from University of Florida coach Urban Meyer about Tim Tebow’s decision to pick Florida over Alabama. Coach Meyer said something like “If Tebow doesn’t come it sets our program back 10 years.” It seemed a crazy statement at the time, but it doesn’t seem so crazy now. There is something about the young man. He combines significant athletic gifts with intelligence and character.

This last aspect, character, is a big part of my argument for Jacksonville to take the “risk” of selecting Tebow so early in the draft. One of the great things that I appreciate about Tebow is his deep Christian faith, a faith that permeates his life pursuits and seems to have steadied him in the midst of the near idol-worship levels of devotion by Florida football fans. Unlike any other college athlete that I can think of Tebow has shown that he will invest himself not only in football but in his nearly home city of Jacksonville.

If they take Tebow, I think in 10 years we’ll be reading about Jacksonville being the model franchise of the century’s second decade, as Indianapolis and New England are argued to be the model franchises of the first decade of the 21st century.

Indianapolis is a good example of the possibilities. In the run-up to the last super bowl Indy quarterback Peyton Manning spoke about how Indiana, because of the Colts, has been turned into a football state. This applies to Jacksonville because one of the arguments against Jacksonville as a football business is that “Florida is a college football state.” Tebow in Jacksonville, like Manning in Indianapolis, will change that.

The numbers on Tebow are clear (See SI.com article), as is his character. To be sure, he will now be tested in ways that he never before has, but I am rooting for him for a lot of reasons. One of those is that I think he has been unjustly criticized football-wise. Mostly, I’m rooting for him because it’s a pleasure to witness the young man’s commitment to his Lord and the humility with which he does it.

I think that Urban Meyer’s belief about Tebow going to the University of Florida will also be fulfilled in Jacksonville… If Jacksonville will dare to have a “non-traditional” quarterback.

Easter 1 Sermon: Essence and Commission

2010-04-11T10:50:00.000-04:00

Essence and Commission
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

The First Sunday after Easter
11 April, A.D. 2010
Ps 148; Acts 5.12-20 (21-32); Rev 1.4-18; Jn 20.19-31

Central Christological Thought (CCT):
In His “Resurrection Eve” appearance to the Apostles Jesus: 1) reiterates the essence of His purpose and teaching; and 2) commissions them to extend His ministry.

Introduction

. . . Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, . . . from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Revelation 1:4-5, ESV) [Amen]

Today we see that [CCT] In His “Resurrection Evening” appearance to the Apostles Jesus: 1) reiterates the essence of His purpose and teaching; and 2) commissions them to extend His ministry.

It will be helpful, then, to begin by defining what we mean by essence and commission...

es’sence n. [F., fr. essentia, formed as if fr. a pres. part. of esse to be...] 2. Logic. . . . b. ... the totality of those properties or attributes which are indispensable to whatever can be named by a certain term or classified as a certain class.

The “essence” defines a thing. For example, today they will be playing golf at a famous course in Georgia, and there are certain officials there so-designated to ensure that it is golf that is played. If one of the players tees up a large, oblong, leather ball with a small set of laces in the center, the rules official will say something like, “Sir, you may hit that football with your driver, but I can assure you that it will disqualify you from this tournament. We will be playing golf today at The Masters, and golf, by definition, requires a ‘small, resilient ball’.”

In other words, tee up a football on a golf course and you have something, but it is not golf, for of the essence of golf is the “small resilient ball.”

Today, again, we will be talking about the “essence of Christ’s purpose and teaching.” In a minute, we will learn what that essence is.

First, however, let’s speak of “Christ’s Apostolic Commission.”

I. Christ’s Apostolic Commission.

com-mis’sion n. [F., fr. L. commissio...] 1. A formal written warrant or authority, granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain duties...

You’ll notice that commission is a compound word made up of the prefix com- meaning “together” or “with”--and the root mission--meaning, roughly, “sent with a purpose.” And that is, astonishingly and profoundly, what Jesus is doing on Easter Evening:

"Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”" (John 20:21, ESV)

To these men who had the doors locked because they were afraid Jesus sent out as the personal extension of His ministry. Just as Son of God was begotten of the Father and sent into the world, so were the Apostles sent of the Son into the world. And this not a one-time event, for the Greek has the present-progressive tense, “I am sending.” That is, Jesus will continue His ministry through the Apostles and the Church that is founded upon their witness of Him. Jesus, in fact, had foretold this in His “high priestly prayer” offered in the Upper Room on the night of His betrayal:

“I do not ask [pray] for these [Apostles] only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word," (John 17:20, ESV)

This speaks of the reality that St. Paul later reminds us of in chapter two of his Letter to the Ephesians:

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:19-22, ESV)

The Word of Christ that comes to us from the Apostles and Prophets is the foundation of the church. The question for us, now, is: What is the essence of that Word?

II. The Essence of Christ’s Purpose and Teaching

And this brings us back to Easter Evening and the subsequent words of Jesus, but here I want to quote from the Revised Standard Version, which (in this case) does a better job of rendering the original:

"Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”" (John 20:21-23, RSV)

To those Christ had just given His authority to continue His ministry, His first word about what they would preach is about the forgiveness of sin. FORGIVENESS OF SINS is the essence of the church’s proclamation.

The essence of Christ’s purpose and teaching is not about earning God’s favor; it is not about looking good in the sight of your neighbors; it is not about self-actualization. It is about, in the words of St. Paul:

... God [in Christ] reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19, ESV)

Christ didn’t suffer the cross because we had fallen into benign little “mistakes.” God didn’t require the sacrifice of the Eternally Begotten Son of God because we were good “but not just quite good enough.” Friends, the Scriptures are clear:

"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, ESV)

Of necessity, Christ’s message of forgiveness, of reconciliation, means that the church must also, as Jesus says, “retain sins.” That word--retain--does not mean “don’t forgive.” The “retaining of sins” is, rather, Godly, Fatherly, “discipline.” It’s “binding” sin, “holding” the sinner like a parent does to a child who has just done something very wrong: “Do you realize what you’ve done????”

Indeed, it is the Church’s God-given responsibility to call people to repentance, and that means the proclamation, as we Lutherans say, of “Law and Gospel”…

God wants us to love our spouses, not demean them.
God wants us to honor our parents, not steal from them.
God says, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” so “take the plank out of your own eye” before you arrogantly say “My way or the highway.”
God says, “be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry,” not “claim your rights and get up your opponent’s grill.”
God says, “speak the truth in love,” for truth--without love--is actually malice.

And the truth--about us and about God--is spoken in loving candor through his prophet, Isaiah:

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him [on Christ] the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6, ESV)

Conclusion

What we deserve the Lord Jesus lovingly took upon Himself. Through Christ we are forgiven, and this forgiveness--and, thus, the proclamation of Law and Gospel--is the essence of Christ’s purpose and ministry. It is who we are. . . in church, at home, and in the community. Therefore,

to [Christ] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. . . (Revelation 1:4-6, ESV)

Christ is risen! [He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!]

Considering “Challenges in Mission and Outreach”

2010-04-09T09:05:00.001-04:00

Rev. Paul McCain over at Cyberbrethren has a provocative and helpful post on “Challenges in Mission and Outreach.” In this post he uses the Frankenmuth mission colony as an example of a mission model’s deficiencies. In a “comment” to the post I offered what basically amounts to an addendum. In the case that it’s not published I offer below. Please read Rev. McCain’s post (click link above) and then return to my comment.

I have a keen interest in this issue. If I can carve out the time at my new mission station in Chicago, it would be interesting to make it my doctoral dissertation…

My reply to Rev. McCain:

Good summary: repent, expand your world-view, be ever-learning from the Scriptures (Bereans). You’re missing the spelling of Frankenmuth, for one, but I suspect you have a reason for that. Your post seems to suggest that the Frankenmuth mission failed (though you didn’t use that word). Though it was wrapped in its cultural mid-19th century dress, we should note that the mission-colony concept under which Frankenmuth was organized was one of the most unique efforts in the history of Christian missions. Frankenmuth remains a thriving mission colony to this day, keeping its heritage and supporting missions world-wide, and (self-disclosure) this former pagan was converted and learned the basics of the faith there. It’s rather simplistic to suggest that the new-found faith of the Chippewa “didn’t hold” because the missionaries were Germans and didn’t know any other way to be Christians. The missionary pastor spent a good deal of time with the Indians, learned Chippewa, and baptized a goodly number of them. The government then moved the Chippewa. We didn’t get to see what might have happened as the bi-cultural Christian Chippewa moved back and forth between two cultures. This is to say, the more “incarnational” model (#2 in your post) wasn’t widely known at the time, but it was being learned, and your post is a reflection of that. It would be fascinating to see a 21st century mission-colony, having learned from the mono-cultural model, that goes into frontier mission territory according to the incarnational model .

Thanks for your post.

Easter Day Sermon

2010-04-07T16:56:00.001-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up:
Easter Day
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Easter Festival Service
4 April, A.D. 2010
Job 19.23-27; 1 Cor 15.51-57; Jn 20.1-18 (trans. fr. Easter Dawn)

Introduction: Running To and From the Tomb

You may not have noticed that there’s a lot of running going on in the initial resurrection accounts:

in Jn 20 (our Gospel this morning) Mary Magdalene runs to tell Peter and the others that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb;
moments later Peter and John were running toward the tomb.

To most of us, I suspect, there is nothing exceptional about running. We see people running all the time: running down the street, running along Lakeshore Drive. And, for us, those who do run usually dress in attire that is both comfortable for running and says, “Have a look at my legs.” There is often nothing subtle or modest about it at all.

The world at the time of Jesus is a totally different world. People, generally, did not run. Certainly, highly respected people--or those associated with them--did not run. For one, the typical attire of the age involved longer, flowing, open clothing. Modesty and dignity demanded that they not expose themselves by running. This standard, in fact, still holds in many a Middle Eastern village. Biblical commentator Ken Bailey, who grew up as a missionary kid in peasant Palestinian villages says, “An oriental nobleman with flowing robes never runs anywhere. To do so is humiliating.” (Kenneth E Bailey, “Poet and Peasant,” in Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes, Combined ed. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), 181.) Second-century B.C. Jewish commentator Ben Sirach says, “A man’s manner of walking tells you what he is.” (Sir. 19:30) (Bailey, “Poet and Peasant,” 181.) And the Greek philosopher Aristotle is reported to have said, “Great men never run in public.’” (Bailey, “Poet and Peasant,” 181)

So, even though Jesus’ disciples are “common people,” and even though the Lord Jesus never seems to have demanded the trappings of His status as a respected teacher, the fact is that He was a respected teacher; as such, social standards dictated a certain demeanor among His disciples. Running in public, then, would have been among those often “unwritten rules” of social conduct.

I. Prodigal Parallels

Thus, that fact that Mary and Peter and John reportedly just flat out run in the face of the empty tomb is actually quite significant. Indeed, what is going on here among the disciples of Jesus has an important parallel to one of Jesus’ most famous parables, that of The Prodigal Son.

In The Parable of the Prodigal Son, as you may know, a respected nobleman has two sons. The younger son is an ungrateful scoundrel who signals that he’d just as soon have his father dead by asking for his inheritance in advance. The gracious and wise father, no doubt to the shock of the whole community, grants the prodigal son his wish, even though the father knows what will happen...

So it is that the prodigal son wastes his inheritance in a scandalous way and ends up penniless and destitute. In this state he finally realizes who he is and what a truly gracious man his father is. Confident in that grace the “prodigal son” repentantly return to the village.

Understand, now, that what the prodigal son did was an affront not just to father and his family but to the whole community. As such, he would have had to run a gauntlet of townspeople when he came back who might well have said, “You made your choice. Stay out!”

But Jesus illustrates the grace of God in this, that-as He says in the parable--when the father sees his prodigal son far off, defying all convention the father runs though to the outskirts of town--robes flowing--and before his son can say a word has wrapped his arms around him in welcome, weeping with joy that the son who was lost is found. It is in the midst of that embrace that the prodigal son utters his confession of repentance and faith, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” He has given away his inheritance. All that the father has rightly belongs to the older son, but the father throws a lavish feast for the prodigal son, who is thus restored to the family and will now live thankfully in his father’s grace.

II. The Resurrection Welcome

Friends, for Mary Magdalene, and for us, the friendly words of Jesus--“Why are you weeping?” are like that that father’s embrace of his prodigal son. The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6, ESV)

Yes, we all like sheep have gone astray. We are disrespectful to our parents, to our employees and employers, to our children. And we know in our hearts that God does not look on those sins lightly, that disrespect and dishonor of those in our love and care is, ultimately, disrespect for God. We are, each in our own way, like the prodigal son.

But the cross and resurrection of Jesus is about God, like the gracious father, running to us, scorning the shame, and lovingly embracing us, just as John--one of those runners to the the empty tomb--writes: “For God so loved the world--loved you--that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn 3.16) God, again like the gracious father in the parable, took the shame of our prodigal sins upon himself in and through Christ, and His resurrection from the dead that we celebrate today, is like that father’s loving embrace. Yes, there will be some earthly consequences for our sins--like there would be for the prodigal son in the parable--but, because of Christ, we are restored to God and true life. The resurrection of Christ gives victory over sin and death--our great final enemies so that we may say, with Job:

"For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God," (Job 19:25-26, ESV)

Conclusion

Indeed, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:56-57, ESV)

Christ is risen! [He is risen, indeed! Alleluia]

Easter Sunrise Homily

2010-04-04T08:20:00.000-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up:
The Resurrection of Our Lord
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Easter Sonrise Service

May Chapel of Rosehill Cemetery--Chicago
3 April, A.D. 2010
Isa 65.17-25; 1 Cor 15.19-26; Lk 24.1-12 (trans. fr. Easter Day)

"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:19-22, ESV)

These words from our Lord, on this day, in this setting, call us all to repentance. They call us to remember with the eyes of faith who we really are, that even as we live and breath we are “dual-citizens,” having simultaneously an earthly and a heavenly citizenship. On this day, in this setting, though, we remember that our earthly citizenship will pass away. As St. Paul says in Philippians 3:

"Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." (Philippians 3:20-21, ESV)

All around us we see vivid reminders of death, “death” being what St. Paul called “the wages of sin.” Yes, this is a powerful setting to proclaim the victory of Jesus Christ. Christ is risen!!! [He is risen, indeed!] Today that victory over the grave speaks prophetically still, as we anticipate with hope what what Isaiah prophesied some 700 years before Christ’s birth:

" “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.. . They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord." (Isaiah 65:17, 23-25, ESV)

Yes, the God-Man Jesus, whose resurrection we celebrate today with Mary and Peter all the company of heaven, this Jesus who has kept every promise, has promised to return for us and for all the faithful whose bodies have turned to dust. For though we may return to dust, that is not the end of the story. The end of the story that we remember this morning is that glory awaits us! And is not an end but rather a “new beginning.”

Is that not the hope that dwells deep in every human soul, the hope that becomes so evident when we encounter death, especially the death of one we love? It certainly is the hope that animated Peter, who defied all social convention and “ran to the tomb.” You can almost hear it in his mind, “Can it really be true???”

Yes, Peter! Yes, friend! For “if in this life only we have hoped in Christ, [then] we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those [like the faithful gathered around us here] who have fallen asleep.

Yes! If Christ is raised from the dead, then all His promises are true. And His promises are for you, just like they were to a woman named Martha:

"Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”" (John 11:21-27, ESV)

And Martha saw the glory of God. In God’s own time, you will, too.

Christ is risen!!! [He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!]

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Meditation for Holy Saturday

2010-04-03T16:30:00.000-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up: Holy Saturday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Holy Saturday
3 April, A.D. 2010
Dan 6.1-24; 1 Pet 4.1-8; Mt 27.57-66

The time was past for Joseph of Arimathea’s “quiet faith” in Jesus. Finally, he stepped forward, “honoring” Jesus by having Him placed in his own newly hewn tomb. There would have been many witnesses of Joseph’s display of faith, for a body is not moved or prepared by one person and rolling the stone in front of the tomb would have taken many men. Besides these, as Mark tells us, Mary Magdalene and other women witnessed all this, and stayed there, as faithful mourners, keeping watch over the tomb.

So too, in a sense, are we.

“In a sense” because we speak the Gloria Patri again today; “in a sense” because we remember Christ’s descent into Hell, where--as St. Peter tells us in chapter three--He went not for punishment but to proclaim victory over sin and death... we mourn “in a sense” because we live in the light of the Resurrection. We know the end of the story. We know that our Lord has shut the lion of death’s mouth. In that we rejoice today, but quietly...

Quietly we mourn, for to remember the tomb is to remember why our Lord was in the tomb. We mourn because we know what St. Peter so powerfully proclaimed in his great Pentecost sermon: “This Jesus, whom you crucified, God has made both LORD and Christ.” (Acts 2.36) Ultimately, we all must come to terms with this: Christ died because of me.

The women certainly know this: Mary Magdalene, the one from whom Jesus cast seven demons; Mary the sister of Lazarus, who prepared Jesus for burial by pouring perfume on Him and in a stunning display of faith and humility, wiped His feet with her hair.

They know. We know.

And so, as in a peaceful visit to a faithful relative’s grave, we come. Here, though we know He is “raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,” we mourn a little and give thanks, like Joseph and the women, for having journeyed through Lent and Holy Week we have a greater appreciation for the cost of our peace.

Jesus lives. Thanks be to God.

Good Friday Tenebrae Homily

2010-04-02T20:00:00.001-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up:
Good Friday Tenebrae
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Good Friday Tenebrae Service
2 April, A.D. 2010
7:00 p.m.
Ps 22; Jn 19.1-42

Introduction

Tonight, as we ponder the cross, a key teaching, a divine mystery, is presented starkly before us. The mystery is the person of Christ, who is simultaneously fully God and fully man. The implications of this, though (perhaps) realized in devotion, are difficult for Christians to maintain in practice, individually and corporately.

Tonight, in the literal Latin words of Pontius Pilate, we “Ecce homo!” (“Behold, The Man!”) Pilate clearly had no idea what a profound statement that was, but I pray that by the time that we are done this evening each of us will better understand both who is on the cross and why.

I. The Image of God and the Loss Thereof

The reflection continues for us at the beginning, Genesis 1 and 2...

"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:26-27, ESV)

Notice the “divine plural” there. God makes man in “our image.” This is not just a literary device, for the Scriptures make clear that there is--mysteriously--unity and plurality in God. There is “one God,” but “three distinct persons.” As we confess in the Athanasian Creed: The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods but one God.

So, man is made, uniquely, in the image of The Holy Trinity; thus, as the Scriptures teach, in some ways “like God”--e.g., having an eternal soul--and in other ways unlike God--for instance, man--though incredibly powerful and intelligent--is certainly not all-powerful or all-knowing. There is a clear and loving distinction and unity between The Creator and his creation.

Relatedly and importantly for us this evening, in the further explanation of the Creation in Genesis 2 we are told:

"And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." (Genesis 2:25, ESV)

They were created as they were intended and it as was “very good.” They were--body and soul--perfect, and they knew it. Then something simple and profoundly bad happened:

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”" (Genesis 3:6-10, ESV)

Something truly cosmic has happened here, and Adam and Eve knew it. They who had been created in love to be God’s stewards of the earth had sought to supplant God, the creature arrogantly defying God’s Word. And in so doing they found themselves truly naked, not just in the physical sense--where the organs of creation and nurture were exposed--but truly, profound, spiritually, alone. Those created for perfect communion with God had chosen to utterly reject him and his will for them.

Yet, in this same chapter three God had made a restoring promise...

And this brings us back to the cross and The One found thereon: Jesus...

II. The Second Adam

" Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)." (Matthew 1:18-23, ESV)

Yes...

"When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic [His “undergarment” or loincloth]. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” [Ps 22.18] So the soldiers did these things." (John 19:23-24, ESV)

The soldiers and the others think that by removing all His clothing they are shaming Him, but in fact they are revealing His unique, Divine-Human splendor. “Behold The God-Man!”, unashamed, the new Adam, as St. Paul says:

"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:18-19, ESV)

Indeed,

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Galatians 4:4-7, ESV)

Sons and daughters of God, Behold the God-Man! Unashamed. The promised “second Adam.” Could a cross and grave possibly hold him? No!

Then be not afraid.

Meditation for Good Friday Vespers

2010-04-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up: Good Friday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Good Friday
2 April, A.D. 2010
Isa 52.13-53.12; Heb 4.14-16, 5.2-9; Jn 19.17-30

By the time Jesus got to the cross He was “marred almost beyond all recognition.” He had been brutally beaten and wore a crown of thorns that gouged his skull, leaving the kind of marks that make one cringe; He “had no form or majesty that we would look at him”; He was “as one from whom men hide their faces.” (Isa 53.2,3) Indeed, to read the “suffering servant” passages in Isaiah is to be astounded by their predictive veracity, and to ask some logical questions:

How, for so many centuries, did the religious leaders of Israel come to ignore the powerful prophecy of Isaiah? How were the people so ill-prepared for what God had so clearly spoken?

The answer strikes powerfully close to home, and--again--the predictive veracity of Isaiah is stunning: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa 53.6)

This is what makes Jesus’ “first word” so powerful, for Luke tells us something that neither John nor the others record. At Golgotha--the place of the skull--where Jesus’ own skull throbbed because of the piercing thorns, where His flesh hung from His body, they put Him to the most excruciating and cursed form of death. There, appropriately centered between two criminals and marred beyond recognition, was the Word who said, “Let there be light”; the One who breathed the breath of life into Adam. He was the second--and greater--Adam, the great and final high priest doing the work which only this priest could do. His “first word” is, fittingly, an intercession: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23.34)

How true that was. And how true that is.

For we who are gathered here dare not let this Word pass as merely an historical remembrance. These are the Words of Jesus. They are, therefore, Living Water that wells up to eternal life. They are words for us, too, like the Word of God through Isaiah was--and is--for us: “We all like sheep have gone astray...”

Yes, on this truly “Good” Friday it is well for us to remember that Jesus’ “first Word” is for us, too. Most often we do not know what we do. We hurt one another, especially those whom we love, with our words and deeds. Often it is the subtle things that hurt the most: the rolling of the eyes, the change in tone, the turning away when love would have us face one another.

Yes, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” is for us, and whereas we in word and deed betray Him, on this Good Friday we see the God-Man whose Word and Deed are without fail. Behold!

" Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16, ESV)

Maundy Thursday Homily

2010-04-02T07:49:00.001-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up: Maundy Thursday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Maundy Thursday
1 April, A.D. 2010
Jer 31.31-34; Heb 10.15-25; Lk 22.7-20

Introduction

I like a sermon that has rich application for daily life. These are helpful to me and I know that they are helpful to others. But there is also a place in our life together for straight-up teaching, a time to sit at the feet of Jesus and just learn. This evening’s reflection on one particular aspect of The Lord’s Supper is one of those sermons... That being said, if you listen closely you will see that there is a clear application of this teaching to you and your life...

I. The Blood of the Old Testament

Key to a fuller understanding of The New Testament and The Lord’s Supper is the Passover instruction of Exodus 12 regarding the shedding of and placement of the lamb’s blood. The lamb was to be slaughtered and the blood swiped over the door’s lentel. Then, as you may recall, the lamb was to be thoroughly roasted. No blood was to be found. Why? We get an answer to this in the instructions that God later gave to Moses called the book of Leviticus:

"If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." (Leviticus 17:10-11, ESV)

This prohibition against ingesting blood would be in direct contrast to the animistic and pagan practices of the non-Israelite peoples. For many of these peoples drinking the blood of animals was part of a fertility cult, as if fertility came from an animal and not from God. For many animists and pagans--even today--the blood of animals was used to “feed” and appease deities that lived in the ground, the “underworld.” However, The LORD--as the first commandment makes clear--does not tolerate rivals.

Indeed, the God of Israel, with these prescriptions in Leviticus 16 and 17, makes clear He--God--“reserved all blood for himself as the life-giver. It had to be given back to him... It could not be handed over to other gods and demons, since they had no right to use it.” (--Kleinig, John W. Leviticus. Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture, 366. St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 2003. I am indebted to Dr. Kleinig for much of the material here.)

The “life is in the blood” because the life comes from God. So, as theologian John Kleinig explains, “Life-giving blessing could not be obtained from the blood of animals, but only from God and from contact with him in worship.” --Kleinig, Leviticus, 368.

Again, it is not that blood wasn’t used. On the contrary! As the Letter to the Hebrews tells us:

"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Hebrews 9:22, ESV)

Blood is all over the Old Testament. It is simply, though importantly, that it wasn’t to be ingested. For “the life is in the blood” and God--the author of life--had a plan for the blood...

II. The Blood of the New Testament

Which brings us to the seemingly scandalous pronouncement of Jesus that we remember and celebrate this evening:

“Take and drink, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

Taking the Word of Jesus seriously about what this is, how is this not a violation of God’s taboo?

The answer to that question has everything to do with God’s Word and sanction.

Eating Christ’s body and drinking His blood doesn’t violate the taboo because Jesus is God and God is the author of all life, and the Scriptures are clear with regard to the worship and life of the Old Testament, to quote Dr. Kleinig , that “[God] did not allow anyone to take the life of any animal unless he himself had sanctioned it (Gen 9:304).” (Kleinig, Leviticus, 366.) Again, God is the author of life and God doesn’t allow that life to be taken without his sanction.

Clearly, God sanctioned the cross.

Thus, to continue the quotation from Dr. Kleinig, “Christ’s institution does not really violate that taboo because it [The Lord’s Supper] is the ultimate reason for it [the taboo].” (Kleinig, Leviticus, 366.) That is to say, the Old Testament restriction on ingesting blood was reserved until the complete and final sacrifice was accomplished on the cross. Thereafter the Blood of God would not be offered in sacrifice but given as a gift.

Thus, the basic principal obtains. As in the Old Testament, so also in the New: Life-giving blessing can be obtained only from God and from contact with him in worship... in accordance with His Word.

And God’s Word is clear that his will is that we receive forgiveness and blessing through contact and faith in Christ. Luther puts it this way:

In the NT we have been freed from attachment to external places. . . . Our spiritual place is Christ, because God has determined that he will not hear [anyone] except through this place, Christ. . . . Christ is our one and only place, our time, and everything else required for prayer. Just as the Jews had no other sanctuary than the one in Jerusalem, so we have no other sanctuary than this one, Jesus, the Son of Mary. (from WA40, quoted by Kleinig from “Where Is Your God?” 128)--Kleinig, Leviticus, 370.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude by paraphrasing the words of Dr. Kleinig:

By means of [Christ’s] blood he conveys to worthy communicants (1 Cor 11:27-32) all the eternal blessings that he gained for the faithful through his self-sacrifice. By giving his blood to drink, he sprinkles [our] hearts, [our] consciences (Heb 9:13-14; 10:22; 12:24; 1 Pet 1:2). Through his blood [we] have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28); 1 Cor 11:25; Eph 1:7). His blood justifies [us] before God the Father (Rom 5:9) and cleanses [us] from all impurity (Heb 9:14; 1 Jn 1:7). [We] can therefore approach God the Father through his blood in Holy Communion (Eph 2:13; Heb 10:19). By means of that blood [we] are consecrated as priests together with Christ (Heb 10:29); 13:12) and equipped for [our] priestly service of him (Heb 13:20-21). As priests whose robes have been washed with his holy blood (Rev 7:14), [we] can use his blood to overcome Satan and triumph over the powers of darkness (Rev 12:11). (Kleinig, Leviticus, 371.)

Christ’s triumph is ours in Holy Communion. If that is not a reason, in repentance, to come frequently to the Lord’s Table then I do not know what is.

May the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Meditation for Holy Thursday Vespers

2010-04-01T16:30:00.000-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up: Holy Thursday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Holy Thursday
1 April, A.D. 2010
Ex 12.1-14; 1 Cor 11.23-32; Jn 13.1-17, 31b-35

What happens in the Upper Room on the night of Christ’s betrayal is fascinating to behold, for this account so powerfully reveals the grace and love of Christ. He knows that in one way or another all the disciples will betray Him. He knows that He will soon suffer the full wrath of God on behalf of that which He so lovingly created. Still He feeds them. Still, He loves them. Of course, this is all a part of what He is trying to teach. True love--agape--does what is right for the other, even in the face of negative consequences.

Thus, after receiving the forgiveness of Christ in The Supper, our lives, in the words of the classic post-communion prayer, are to be lives of “faith toward [God] and ... fervent love toward one another.”

Yes, we are saved by the faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. That Biblical teaching must be adequately distinguished, but the Scriptures make clear that faith does not exist in a vacuum. Luther writes about this in his wonderful Genesis commentary, written some time in the late 1530s:

We know indeed that faith is never alone but brings with it love and other manifold gifts. For he who believes in God and is sure that God is graciously inclined toward us, since He gave His Son and with His Son the hope of eternal life, how could he not love God with all his heart? How could he not revere Him? How could he not strive to display a grateful heart for such great blessings and to obey God while bearing hardships?

Thus faith brings with it a multitude of the most beautiful virtues and is never alone. But matters must not be confused on this account, and what is characteristic of faith alone should not be attributed to other virtues.

Faith is the mother, so to speak, from whom that crop of virtues springs. If faith is not there first, you would look in vain for those virtues. If faith has not embraced the promises concerning Christ, no love and no other virtues will be there, even if for a time hypocrites were to paint what seem to be likenesses of them. --Martin Luther, vol. 3, Luther's Works, Vol. 3 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 15-20, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1961), 3:25.>

Of course, Jesus says it much more simply. After the humble and unsavory work of washing dirty first-century feet He tells His disciples: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." (John 13:34, ESV)

Meditation for Holy Wednesday

2010-03-31T16:30:00.000-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up:

Holy Wednesday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Holy Wednesday
31 March, A.D. 2010
Isa 62.11-63.7; Rm 5.6-11; Jn 13.16-38

His apparel is splendid, yet it splattered a blood red, like the clothes of one who makes wine. It is beautiful, yet it is stained.

What is this metaphor?

Isaiah knows it. At the very beginning of the book that bears his name it is written:

"“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." (Isaiah 1:18, ESV)

St. Paul knows it. In chapter five of his Letter to the Romans his Spirit-borne words ring out: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, ESV)

This is the “great reversal,” God, in a sense, turning right-side up what we had turned up-side down, God forgiving through the blood of Christ what we had made so terribly wrong.

Yes, there is a “Judas” in all of us who steals and even betrays innocent blood. We don’t like to admit it. We say, “I’m basically a good person,” but looking truly into the mirror of God’s Law lays bare our souls. By nature we are centered not on the will of God but solely, myopically, on our own way. Even those in Christ have an “old Adam,” a sinful nature does not hallow God’s name and will.

Yet, as we sang, Christ comes “not in terrors as the King of Kings but with kindness and goodness, with healing in His wings.” The message of the Christianity is, “Through the cross we are reconciled to God.” We are restored to God’s favor, not because of anything we have done, but because Christ, the Eternal Son of God--in his love for us--offered to take God’s wrath against sin upon Himself.

And, so, the way of Christ is “upside down.” It is not “natural.” We find true life in community, in love; that is, in--again in the words of St. Paul--“looking not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2.4)

Meditation for Holy Tuesday

2010-03-31T10:29:00.001-04:00

Upside Down yet Rightside Up: Holy Tuesday

by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor

St. Philip Lutheran Church and School

Chicago, Illinois

Holy Tuesday

30 March, A.D. 2010

Isa 49.1-7; 1 Cor 1.18-25 (26-31); Jn 12.23-50

We have heard this thunderous voice before. We heard it in Exodus 19, on Mt. Sinai, when God met Moses on the mountain. We heard it at Christ’s Baptism where God the Father spoke, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3.17) And we heard it, too, on the Mount of Transfiguration, where the Father repeated, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” and then added an imperative, “Listen to Him!” (Mt 17.5)

Indeed, this is exactly why we are here...

700 years before Christ’s birth, the LORD prophesied through his servant, Isaiah, that a “suffering servant” would come whose Word would be like a “sword” and in Whom salvation would “reach to the end of the earth” (Isa 49.6); to all peoples.

So it is that the people recognized that when Christ spoke He spoke with authority (Mt 7.29). Yet His Word was--and is--troubling. His Word challenges the “prevailing thinking” about God, about salvation and about life. He came not as a political savior for a peculiar people or a miracle-worker or as a “guru” or “philospher” to show people how to “think” their way into God’s favor.

Yes, there is something seemingly “upside-down” about all of this. As St. Paul wrote in First Corinthians [1.22-25], many among the race of Jews demanded signs--great signals of God’s supernatural intervention as if God would just “wave away” the rebellion of sin --and many Greeks (or non-Jews) sought wisdom--trying in vain to earn salvation through personal effort--but in Christ God deals finally and decisively with our great enemies: sin and death.

This is why the cross is so powerful. It is powerful because on the cross is found the the Eternal Son of God--innocent--nailed and suffering. The cross confronts our fears and avoidances and worldly wisdom. It is shocking. It strikes at something that we know in the depth of our souls: the consequences of sin--our sin--cannot be avoided. The cross is GOD taking sin seriously. Thus, the cross is--paradoxically--where “the Son of Man is glorified.” (Jn 12.23) As such, Christ’s analogy about glorification thunders with authority:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." (John 12:24-26, ESV)

Yes, Lord, we need Thy presence every passing hour. Let your victory over the cross and grave be our hope. Teach us, because you have dealt finally and completely with sin, not to fear the path you have set before us, for there is no place we would rather be than in Your presence.

Meditation for Holy Monday

2010-03-29T08:13:00.001-04:00

Upside Down yet Right Side Up: Holy Monday
by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell, Pastor
St. Philip Lutheran Church and School
Chicago, Illinois

Holy Monday
29 March, A.D. 2010
Isa 50.5-10; Heb 9.11-15; Jn 12.1-23

On this Holy Monday we return to Palm Sunday, but our reading from John 12 gives us a broader context. The crowds that gathered had heard about Lazarus being raised from the dead. It seems a bit of a circus atmosphere, as if many who are gathered are simply bystanders, gawkers like those who gather to witness someone’s suffering in an auto accident. They aren’t really interested in Jesus, in His teaching. They just want the fountain of youth.

But as Deitrich Bonfhoeffer reminded us in Cost of Discipleship, there is not not simply the well of living water. With the Water comes the Life. There is no life with Jesus apart from following Him, no discipleship without a cross. This is good and right and salutary. We have been “purified from dead works to serve the living God.”

Yes, there it is, always to be kept in mind, in faith: the living God. Jesus lives... He will die. That we know, but Lazarus was a foreshadowing. Death will not keep its hold on Him. For those who drink of the Living Water will never die, and He is the Living Water. In Him is life, and that life is the light of men: your Light, your Life.

God Uses Pathetic Little Men

2010-03-24T08:08:00.001-04:00

It has been enlightening reading Exodus again. Wednesday of Lent 5 in The Treasury of Daily Prayer has Exodus 4.1-18 as the Old Testament reading. In this reading Moses tries to beg out of his assignment, comes up with excuses and in the process ticks The LORD off (“Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses.”—Ex 4.14).

Even so, God uses Moses. He gets him a helper (his brother, Aaron) and provides him with a miraculous staff. The LORD doesn’t say, “Forget you.” Of course, this is in keeping with how God operates. In the New Testament St. Paul makes note of this in First Corinthians:

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV)

Impossibilities

2010-03-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

The Old Testament reading in my Treasury of Daily Prayer for Tuesday of Lent 5 is Exodus 2.23-3.22. It had been a while since I read this account; in particular, I had forgotten the “end” of this reading.

This particular section finds Moses in Midian, tending his father-in-law’s flocks. Once the “prince of Egypt,” now he is a lowly shepherd in the middle of nowhere. His ancestral people are 400-plus years into slavery.

Yet, here comes the God of the Universe (speaking from a bush that is afire and yet not consumed) and says, “I have heard the cries of my people. You go, Moses, and lead them out.”

Moses, of course, is a taken aback by this, and asks some questions, yet God (of course) does not waiver. In fact—and this is what I forgot about the whole account—God even promises Moses that the enslaved people will end up “plundering” the Egyptians. So, a large nation of slaves will be delivered miraculously from this condition. Pharaoh will, God told Moses, eventually let the people go. Furthermore, when all is said and done they will leave with flocks and herds and gold and silver—some of the great treasure of Egypt…

What is striking me about this on this particular morning is that this must have seemed impossible, if not to Moses then certainly to the “elders of Israel” to whom Moses was sent to tell this story. I can only imagine that conversation! “Hello, Gentlemen. We Hebrews are poor, pitiful slaves. The greatness of our forefathers is talked about, but we are the laughing stock of the nations. We have no power, no wealth. We are in chains. Our people cannot imagine another life. YET, in short order we will plunder Egypt and head back to the land of our ancestors wealthier than our father Jacob could possibly have imagined.”

Impossible.

Yet that is exactly what happened.

Sometimes (in fact, often) God calls us to the seemingly impossible. In the face of this “leaders” need simply to faithfully do the work to which God has called them; that is, “get out of the way” and let God “do his thing.”

I suspect that many pastors, like me, have trouble with this. Like Moses, we are called "out of Midian” to people who don’t know us or even fully trust us. And because most of us are eminently qualified for the task, again in an analogous way to Moses (“Hey, folks, I left everything to go to the seminary. It was impossible, but God made it happen somehow. We can do this!”) we can easily lose our bearings. We know that the calling is of God, but once in the office we are tempted to trust too much in our abilities (“Hey God, you were pretty smart to pick me for this post.”).

To be sure, the gifts and abilities and even the personal history of Moses were a part of the picture in Israel’s deliverance, but—ultimately—it was not Moses who led the people out of Egypt, it was The LORD, the One who said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

I am being caused to remember that this morning, and that is a good thing for a pastor, no?

The Progress of the Recession and Thinking Ahead

2010-03-17T11:56:00.000-04:00

I just received this by email. You may have seen it. It’s a by-county time-lapse of the progress of job loss over the last three years. It just reiterates the point many have been making that this recovery will be very different from anything that most American have seen in their lifetime. Every challenge is an opportunity, but one can’t see this and not understand we’re in the midst of shifts that impact every area of life.

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Confronted by Costly Grace

2010-03-04T10:52:00.000-05:00

I am preparing for the second sermon in a Lenten series on the Christian's stewardship of God's gifts. Thinking of this drew me back to a powerful book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. First published in German in 1937 under the title Nachfolge (discipleship), it is known to English readers as The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer, for those who might not know, was a Lutheran pastor who was killed in a concentration camp for his role in an attempted assassination on Adolph Hitler.

Whatever one may think of a pastor being involved in an assassination plot, Bonhoeffer was a serious Christian at a serious time for Christians. He took up Christ's call to discipleship and his Nachfolge, and his life, is testament of this. The Cost of Discipleship includes some of the most powerful expositions of vocation and Christian discipleship I have read, or will ever read. Here is just one:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace...

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will well all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift of which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Macmillan, 1963: 45, 47-48)

To read this is to see the truth. It lays bare the souls of those who call themselves Christians. This Lent, it calls us to repentance and, thus, to reconciliation.

Perfection is Following Christ

2010-03-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

There was a simple but powerful statement about the Christian life in today's reading (Wed of Lent 3) from Concordia Publishing House's Treasury of Daily Prayer. The reading is from the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XXVII.45-50. It concerns the passage in Matthew 19 (v.21) where Jesus says, "If you would be perfect, ell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."

The Apology says:

"This passage has stirred up many who have imagined that casting away possessions and the control of property is perfection...The abandonment of property has no command or advice in the Scriptures. Evangelical poverty does not come from the abandonment of property, but from not being greedy, from not trusting in wealth, just as David was poor in a most wealthy kingdom... Since the abandonment of property is merely a human tradition, it is a useless service...But , Christ speaks about perfection here. Indeed, those who quote the text in a butchered way violate it. Perfection is found in what Christ adds [at the end of Mt 19.21], 'Follow me'."

The rest of the Article is worth reading, for it speaks of vocation--the unique way each of us is called to follow Christ--but the key point is that there is no perfection apart from Christ. The Word of God lays bare the idolatry to which each of us is tempted. (In the case of the the "rich young ruler" to whom Jesus was speaking in Matthew 19 the issue was attachment to wealth.) Perfection--indeed, true life!--is in Him. The "rich young ruler" to whom Christ was speaking seemed to discover that eventually, for he is likely John Mark, who showed a halting Christian faith in the years to follow this encounter with Christ, including quite a split with Paul, but who is known to history as one of the great witnesses of The Lord. He, after all, is the one whose vocational talents came to be used of God in The Gospel According to St. Mark.

Lessons in Conflict Management

2010-02-23T08:57:00.011-05:00

Years ago my good friend and college room mate, Michael Soenen (then serving as the CEO of FTD Floral Co.) said something to me that I will always remember: "Conflict is not a bad thing. It's how you handle the conflict that is the issue." This is not self-evident, but it is true--in family life, in community life, and in church life. Now, you can "win" a conflict or you can "resolve" a conflict. It takes courage go face-to-face with the principals in a conflict, and you can "win" one that way, but in addition to courage it takes faith and hope and love to resolve a conflict. St. Paul speaks of this love in 1 Corinthians 13:

⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

In an earlier post I wrote of the extraordinary trip by two early "fathers" of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, C.F.W. Walther and F.C.D. Wyneken. I want to return to that briefly today and a lesson from them in love and managing conflict...

I am reading the wonderful "travel reports" by Walther and Wyneken in Rev. Matthew Harrison's At Home in the House of My Fathers: Presidential Sermons, Essays, Letters, and Addresses from the Missouri Synod's Great Era of Unity and Growth (Lutheran Legacy, 2009). I am particularly taken today by the words of Wilhelm Loehe, the Bavarian Pastor who was a key supporter of the nascent German Lutheran Church in America. Loehe had theological "misgivings" about the direction of the early Missouri Synod and those misgivings were breaking out into conflict. To help resolve this the Missourians had invited Loehe to come to America, but there was so much broader church trouble in Germany that Loehe was unable to accept the invitation. In response, a response Loehe recognized as a great act of love and sacrifice, the Missourians sent their leaders, Walther and Wyneken, to Germany. Here is part of Loehe's report on the visit, originally published in his Kirchliche Mittheilungen, no. 10 (1851):

Now that we have seen them [Walther and Wyneken], and pondered that which was said, we may well state that our hope for peace was not in vain. Sometimes during our talks it seemed as if we each started from different bases, but after advancing toward each other for a while, we did come together, and peacefully so. Entirely different circumstances often teach (us) to see, understand, and portray one and the same common truth from different sides. These interpretations then suffer sometimes from a certain one-sidedness. However, if these perspectives, opinions, and explanations are compared to each other, and no passion or peculiarity muddies the view, then the right, all-around, ecumenical comprehension can be agreed upon.Then the voices step out of the opposition of one-sidedness and into harmony, the unity in diversity. (At Home, p.67)

The nascent Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, in its lay and ordained leadership, showed great courage in sending their leaders to their beloved brothers in Germany. I believe they had courage precisely because they--and the men they were sending--were filled with faith, hope and love. This is a great lesson for each of us, in our families and communities and churches.

Lord, help us to see our own faults, that in times of conflict we may be filled with repentant humility. Send us the Holy Spirit that by your Son's example, in light of His cross-borne forgiveness, we may journey confidently to those brothers and sisters with whom we have conflict. Let us be in these meetings who we are in You, filled with love and bearing the fruit of the Spirit, that we may hear and speak the truth graciously. Amen.

Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, and Some Christian Reflections on Race

2010-02-12T08:33:00.005-05:00

It is President Abraham Lincoln's birthday and the kids are out of school. I am in the office early thinking about a wonderful play I saw yesterday and giving thanks for many things...

As a little boy my mother invested in a series of books called Value Tales by Spencer and Ann Donegan Johnson. These children's books teach values such as "determination," "patience," and "courage" by mixing some imaginary play with the true stories of amazing people. Through Value Tales I was introduced, when I was just learning to really read, to Louis Pasteur, Helen Keller, the Wright Brothers, Elizabeth Fry, Chochise, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and--most importantly today--Jackie Robinson.

After all these years I have few artifacts from my childhood...but I have a number of the Value Tales, and I am reading them to my children.

The Value of Courage: The Story of Jackie Robinson made a particular impression upon me (I was probably in third grade when I first read it.). Through this book my mother began to teach me about fairness and courage and the evils of racial prejudice. There is so much that most of us adults do not remember from our childhoods, but I remember this book and from the time of its first reading I have had a very visceral, gut-level disdain for racial prejudice...even when I find it in myself.

I grew up in very white communities. This homogeneity often led to simple human xenophobia (fear of foreigners). Over the years I have learned that all types of communities are xenophobic. Country people often have a "fear" of city people, and city people of country people; Mexican communities often have a "fear" of Anglo-Saxon communities and vice-versa; etc., etc. The root of this xenophobia is raw, sinful, pride, and pride--in its essence--is the worship of self, the notion that I am the center of the universe and the rightful judge of all that is right. Every baby of every culture exhibits this; every toddler's little "fit" is an expression of pride. The truth is that as we "mature" we simply learn to veil this pride, which--again--is at its core self-deification: believing one's self to be "god."

So it is that in our basic, human, sinful pride we have within us the implicit judgement that we --and those "like us"--are the proper measure for what a true human being is. Again, this truth is often veiled, but some times it breaks out crassly. I have heard young people of Asian decent make comments that make clear they believe Asians are superior human beings, and I have heard similar things from Americans and Swedes and Malagasi's about others, and from "blacks" and from "whites."

However, the truth that cannot be denied is that there is a much greater biological difference between, for example, those who have detached or attached ear lobes than between those who have lighter or darker skin. (Thanks to Ken Ham and his team at Answers in Genesis for defending this point so powerfully, both in biological and spiritual terms.) Race--the color of one's skin--is, biologically, practically irrelevant. It is simply a matter of infinitesimal difference in a pigment.

My mother didn't teach me this by means of biology, though she could have. She taught me by means of the story of Jackie Robinson.

Yesterday, at Centre-East "Youth Theater" in Skokie, Illinois, the Dallas Children's Theater Touring Company helped me cement this truth about the irrelevance of race to my eldest daughter and the other upper-grade students at St. Philip Lutheran School. They taught by means of wonderful theatrical play about Jackie Robinson's life entitled, "Most Valuable Player." It was thoroughly excellent, well-explained and well-performed. I was not able to greet the actors after the performance--the schools were quickly ushered-out to the busses--but if I had been able I would have given them most hearty thanks and congratulations. I suspect that Most Valuable Player will be for many of the children in that theater what The Value of Courage: The Story of Jackie Robinson was to me. Certainly, I pray that this is the case.

I pray that this is the case because the Holy Scriptures make clear--in spite of the sometimes sordid history of Biblical interpretation--that there are not degrees of humanity. In fact, the Scriptures make clear that there is one human race and that the Kingdom of God is for all. The Lord Jesus made this clear in His ministry to both Jews and Gentiles, and Christ's Church evidenced this when--at its "truest"--it carried the reconciling mission of Christ's forgiveness, literally, around the world, from North Africa to the Far East to Scandinavia to, eventually, the Americas...

***

I have come to understand that the process that led to my call as Pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church was controversial. Much of this, as I understand, had little to do with me. Nevertheless, feelings were hurt and people offended. Some have left St. Philip. Many have come back. Many are visiting for the first time. Many are giving St. Philip a second look. All that I know is that when I looked at the row of kids that I escorted to the play yesterday I saw a glimpse of heaven, and the kids around me could not know it, but I was profoundly affected, just like I was when I looked into the classrooms during my call-process visit here in May.

As a little boy in homogeneous white communities I was taught by my mother that race is irrelevant and that anyone who says otherwise is a liar. Later, when--after a long season of rebellion against Christ--I was returned to the Church, Christian friends helped me study the Bible. In the Bible I learned something beyond the biological truth. I learned that God's forgiveness in Christ is for all, regardless of what they looked like. I learned that God rejoices in the repentance of every prideful person, and I learned to hear with joy St. John's account of worship in heaven:

" After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”" (Revelation 7:9-10, ESV)

So, this morning I am thanking God for bringing me here and realizing a dream that was slowly revealed to me: "Lance, you who were taught as a boy the truth that shades of color do not matter, will preach the reconciling Word of Christ to one of the world's most racially diverse neighborhoods."

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for bringing me to St. Philip. Lord, only you can truly bind the wounds of those impacted by sinful pride. Lead us to repentance, to reconciliation, and to the joy that is discovered when people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation worship You as one.

How Is Christ's Merit Obtained?

2010-02-06T09:00:00.005-05:00

Luther was ill and (he believed) near death when he wrote the Smalcald Articles as a summary statement of what he and his fellow believers confessed. It is written almost as a last will and testament. Now, it has been quite a while since I have been in the Smalcald Articles, but as I read again this morning I was struck by the absolute upending of the whole medieval order that is found, just in Part II on "The Mass." Here is the very end of that section:

Christ's mert is obtained not by our works or pennies, but from grace through faith, without money and merit [Ephesians 2:8-9]. It is offered not through the pope's power, but through the preaching of God's Word [1 Corinthians 1:21]

Martin Luther, The Smalcald Articles (1537)

From Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (2nd ed.)

(St. Louis: CPH, 2006), p. 266.

The Blessings of Face-to-Face Communication

2010-02-05T08:02:00.004-05:00

I have had the pleasure, in the last few days, of reading the ecclesiastical travel journal of early Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod fathers, C.F.W. Walther and F.C.D. Wyneken. In early 1852 these two men took an early steamship from the U.S. back to the land of their birth for the purpose of mending and, perhaps, improving relations with the "mother" Lutheran churches of Germany.

The United States was truly a frontier mission field at the time, "uncivilized" and with a national ethos of church and state distinction that was not imaginable to those who had not lived under it. The fledgling church now known as The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod had to theologize and organize itself independently from the government, an almost incomprehensible concept for those on the Continent. As this happened some of the theological formulations befuddled and alarmed many continental churchmen. A "wedge" began to appear between the mother and her daughter churches.

In response to this the people of the frontier daughter church (LC-MS), after much less-than-fruitful correspondence, purposed to repair the breach by sending two of their most able churchmen, Walther and Wyneken, to speak directly to pastors and congregations in the homeland.

Regrettably, my German is infantile, so much of this very important history was inaccessible to me until recently, when a current LC-MS churchman, Rev. Matthew Harrison, published At Home in the House of My Fathers, a collection of, as his subtitle reads, "presidential sermons, essays, letters, and addresses from the Missouri Synod's great era of unity and growth."

The accounts to which I have alluded come from the early pages of At Home, and I am struck as I read Walther and Wyneken's travel report by how critically important face-to-face contact is, perhaps especially in conflict situations. The reports suggest that upon physically meeting and conversing with church leaders these early LC-MS leaders were able to better explain the nature of their context and confession of faith, all of which were misunderstood by many in Germany. These men knew--and their church (the LC-MS) knew--what much modern communication theory has "proven": real "communication" is primarily non-verbal. How we say something is an important indicator of what we say. What in print is easily misinterpreted is, in person, more readily understood.

Perhaps I will return to this subject again soon, but the implications of these truths about face-to-face contact redound in all areas of life.

P.S. At Home in the House of My Fathers is published by Lutheran Legacy. Here's the link to their site: http://www.lutheranlegacy.org/.

Treasures in The Treasury

2010-02-04T07:41:00.004-05:00

I'm really looking forward to the next series of readings in Concordia Publishing House's wonderful devotional resource, The Treasury of Daily Prayer. (Find it at www.cph.org)

The readings for February fourth are:

1. Ps 127

2. Job 1.1-22

3. Jn 1.1-18

4. The Smalcald Articles, I and II.I

The Treasury is a wonderful resource for Lutherans; indeed, for all Christians. To my non-Lutheran friends I highly recommend another recent CPH resource, a new "reader's edition" of the collection of Lutheran confessional writings commonly called The Book of Concord (The Smalcald Articles are found herein.). The new "reader's edition," formally entitled Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, is full of explanations, charts, woodcuts, etc. that help the reader understand the context. As we approach the 500th anniversary of The Reformation in 2017, and the wider interest in Luther that this anniversary will provoke, Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (2nd ed) will prove to be a tremendous ecumenical resource.

Three cheers to CPH for making these wonderful new English resources available!!!

"Life is Like a River" by Siobhan O'Donnell

2009-12-24T12:14:00.006-05:00

I was off practicing my sermon this morning (Christmas Eve) and when I came back my eleven-year-old daughter had written a poem for Christmas Eve. Here it is:

Life is Like a River

Life is like a river, bending and changing directions. At times it is smooth, and at times it is rough. A river has a beginning and an end, but where a river stops the water keeps flowing. So it is with life in Christ.--Siobhan E. O'Donnell

Indeed!

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks for a Wonderful Father

2009-12-09T09:07:00.004-05:00

"Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you." --the 4th Commandment (Exodus 20.12, ESV)

From James Earl O'Donnell

Pictured above is my father, James Earl O'Donnell, with his mother, Anna, some time in the early 1960s, when he was serving in the U.S. Navy, stationed at Okinawa, and spending a lot of time in and around Vietnam.

I had the occasion recently to meet a man who had little relationship with his father, even though they lived near one another. In fact, I was told, they went through a period where they did not speak for something like 20 years. This I find profoundly sad, for today my family remembers the seventeenth anniversary of my father's death, and--yes, for all his faults--I lived every day knowing that I had a father who loved me. As I grew older I began to realize the depth of his sacrifice for me and my siblings. I realize that more deeply every day.

Thus, on this day, I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for my earthly father, who parented with passion and much grace. Above all, in spite of his years of rebellion, I give thanks to the Lord for His forbearance in patiently teaching my father and calling him to public repentance just three days before he died. That God-given act of submission and humility, though I initially rejected it and was angered by it, became in these last seventeen years a constant source of encouragement and thanksgiving.

I think my father would be particularly pleased with where the Lord has now placed me, as pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church and School in Chicago. I say this because my work is analogous to the work my father was doing at the time of his death. In 1988 he was given the opportunity to manage a couple GM parts factories in Mississippi. They were in big trouble; in danger of closing. Finally given the opportunity to exercise the breadth of his significant personal skills and experience, those plants in short order were transformed into clean, productive workplaces and, as I understand, models for the corporation. Many hundreds of jobs, I was told, were saved because Jim O'Donnell showed a love for people and gave them the opportunity to exercise their talents.

At St. Philip I have an analogous situation--a congregation with a great history and great people who have been through some challenging times. My task is to set people free through the Gospel, to help the people realize their God-given gifts and use them, in the congregation and the community. In this work, I recognize, I am simply an undershepherd, for St. Philip is Christ's congregation. I am a "steward of the mysteries of God," not the author and perfecter thereof.

O let the people praise Thy worth,

In all good works increasing;

The land shall plenteous fruit bring forth,

Thy Word is rich in blessing.

May god the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit bless us!

Let all the world praise Him alone,

Let solemn awe possess us.

Now let our hearts say, "Amen!"

--"May God Bestow on Us His Grace"

Lutheran Service Book #823 (CPH, 2006)

First Snow in Chicago & the Pastoral Journey

2009-12-07T11:21:00.005-05:00

Pictured to the left is our parsonage and the adjacent Early Childhood Center on W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Chicago. They are under the first snow of the 2009-10 winter. It was a lovely sight to see, though I know I'll be sick of the snow by late January or early February.

The kids were thrilled, and as I walked them to school this morning it was tough to keep them out of it! In any case, I welcome the snow. There is something about it that lightens my step, especially after the l-o-n-g day yesterday...

I was up at 4am (typical for a Sunday) and then off to practice my sermon and the service for a couple hours. My wife still has the flu, so I was able to help a bit with getting the kids ready for service. My eldest daughter volunteers to babysit some little kids while I teach a new member class at 9:00 a.m. The class went well, and then we had a fine worship service at 10:00 a.m. I am preaching a special series of sorts for the Sundays of Advent and Christmas that I am calling "St. Philip Celebrates." Each Sunday we meditate on a key concept from the Epistle reading. Here's an outline:

Advent 1 (29 Nov 2009): Love 1 Thes 3.9-11

Advent 2 (6 Dec 2009): Partnership Phil 1.2-11

Advent 3 (13 Dec 2009): Prayer Phil 4.4-7

Advent 4 (20 Dec 2009): Offerings Heb 10.5-10

Xmas Eve (24 Dec 2009): Family 1 Jn 4.7-16

Xmas Midnight (24 Dec 2009): Liberty Titus 2.11-14

Xmas Day (25 Dec 2009): Inheritance Titus 3.4-7

Sun > Xmas (27 Dec 2009): Patience 1 Jn 1.1-2.2

The readings from the New Testament epistles ("letters") are often commentary on the Gospel, which itself is fulfillment of the Old Testament, so it has been enjoyable to weave these together in a way--I am finding--that connects the whole of the Scripture to present.

After an enjoyable morning service and some cafe time afterwards, I continued my short after-service class entitled "Worship: Why We Do What We Do." After that, from 12-2pm we had a community open-house at the preschool and grade school. The open house provided the opportunity to meet some friendly prospective families, which was a pleasure. After the open house I had the less-pleasurable part of the day: two hours of budget meetings in which we're trying to figure a way to keep our program whole and somehow emerge from the recession without the benefit of a now-nearly-depleted endowment. Fortunately, we have some good minds on the project and a lot of excellent people serving St. Philip. We are trusting the Lord and working hard. It will be nice to look back and see how the Lord got us through this. The time in the valley now, however, is very challenging.

After the budget meeting I had the opportunity to preside at our new twice-monthly 1st & 3rd Sunday) Sunday Night Service at 5:00 p.m. This is an abbreviated service, held in a chapel, and conducted somewhat like what I do with my shut-in or nursing home communion services, but with the full Sunday morning sermon. The Sunday Night Service provides--as I found at my previous parish--a blessed "intimacy," an opportunity for worship for those who work on Sunday morning or late into the night on Saturday. It also provides an opportunity for those who--for whatever reason--find it difficult to walk through the big doors and see all the people at the typical Sunday morning service. It is, by virtue of the setting and numbers, a more "informal" service, a good place to either begin one's journey in Christ or begin the journey back for those who have been away for a while...

After the night service I went home to have dinner, put on my jammies, and "crash," but dinner was interrupted by an emergency phone call from a member about a fellow-member who is in the hospital with a stroke. Thus, it was back into uniform and service for a short trip to the hospital. There I was greeting by an active member who was doing quite well and surrounded by friends and family. So often at visits of this sort the person in the hospital is alone and feels a bit abandoned. Here, I could see, was a friend beloved by many. Thus, in spite of how tired I was, it was a great encouragement to see Christ at work.

All in all, it was a long day, but a blessed one. Now, today, I have another long day, but one that concludes with the joy of a prospective member visit, and then--hopefully--a little time with the family before bed time.

I am loving my pastoral journey in Chicago. It is challenging in every way that I imagined it would be... and in some ways that I would not have imagined!!! :)

Live (almost) from Chicago!

2009-12-04T10:24:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted since August 1, 2009, but I believe in this medium, and the opportunity that it affords to help me inform people about what is going on and to help them get to know me better. Thus, with apologies for the delay, here we go!

On August 16, 2009 I took office as the Pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church and School on Chicago's north side. Truth be told, my work began well before that, but it has been particularly intense from the moment we arrived. I had my first meeting, an introduction to the Board of The Foundation for St. Philip, while the moving company was still unpacking the truck on August 10th. The next day (Aug 11th) the teachers reported for duty at the school, and I was there to get acquainted and prepare for the school year with them. We had a glorious installation service on the afternoon on August 16, 2009, and the next Sunday was the opening service for the school. Both were very well-attended by church and school families. Hope was--and is--in the air.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not [yet] seen." -Hebrews 11.1

Clearly, part of my responsibility as the Pastor of St. Philip is to proceed in faith and hope and conviction, or--as St. Paul puts it in Philippians 3:

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

St. Philip has been through some years of struggle, and as with any family that has been through a period of struggle, a sort of homeostasis of struggle is achieved. That is, we get "used to" living in "survival mode" or in thoughts and actions that are, ultimately, unhelpful. (I read a very helpful book about this years ago, Generation to Generation by Edwin Friedman.) So it is that a key to my faithful service as St. Philip's pastor is to not get distracted by "what lies behind" but point myself and the people here at St. Philip ahead, constantly ahead, in assurance of the things hoped for.

The picture above is from the "Harvest Festival" held in the gym at St. Philip Lutheran School on November 14, 2009. It is a great example of that for which we must hope and strive: church families and school families coming together, enjoying one another and supporting Christ's ministry. And a glorious ministry it is! St. Philip is a congregation with a great future. Our forefathers have bequeathed to us a lovely facility in which to celebrate the Gospel and our school is strongly Christ-centered, with a consequent history of demonstrated academic excellence. Still, it is God's will for us to "strain forward to what lies ahead"; that is, to greater maturity in Christ--as individuals and as a congregation.

So it is, in my call as a missionary-pastor, that I take the example of St. Paul:

"Him [Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." (Colossians 1:28-29, ESV)

God Bless These Good People

2009-08-01T16:09:00.002-04:00

Today we concluded another miraculous garage sale in Van Wert, Ohio. We had to sell a good bit of our furniture, as many items would not fit in our new parsonage in Chicago, Illinois. I say miraculous because, given the nearly 16% unemployment rate in Van Wert county, I didn't think it would be possible that we would sell our refrigerator, washer and dryer, hutch, dry sink, table and chairs, corner desk, wicker dresser set, etc., etc., etc...

Yet, we did.

When all was nearly said and done we packed the four kinds in Grandma and Grandpa Allen's van and sent them off to the lake, leaving my wife and I to finish up the sale, clean up, and then pack for the weekend in Michigan.

I was pondering this, my first official weekend as the former pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Van Wert, Ohio, while doing the post-sale clean up behind the garage. There I found the little treasure pictured above that expresses the feelings of our whole family.

The picture is of the back-side of a piece of the broken church bell. In my eldest daughter's handwriting is the message:

"from the O'Donnells
"God bless thease good pepple"

We'll forgive her the spelling, but that is exactly our prayer, that these people here at Emmanuel will be greatly blessed in the days and weeks and months and years ahead. They supported us heart and soul, and even as we make our preparations for St. Philip in Chicago we are profoundly thankful for the people of Emmanuel...and we always will be.

Moves Should Be Long and Slow

2009-07-18T20:22:00.003-04:00

The best meal that I ever had was at a four or five star restaurant in St. Maarten during my honeymoon. I had the most exquisite Argentinian steak and the perfect glass of wine to match. To be sure, the food was great, but I think of this now and understand that the food was just part of the overall atmosphere. We ate slowly, Carrie and I, savoring the magnificent fare before us. We were not on a schedule; we did not feel the anxiety of a wait staff hungry for the tips that would come with a new customer. There was no pressure but to enjoy the food and, above all, each other.

I say all this because I am realizing again just how emotionally jarring family moves can be; realizing, perhaps, that they do not have to be so jarring.

I am pictured here taking apart the cradle that we had purchased and stained prior to our second child's arrival. I was in a hurry to take it apart and put it into its moving box so that I could get to other things. Then God intervened. I realized that I would probably never see this piece of furniture together again. I was rushing through my packing job like I would rush through the drive-through lane at a fast food restaurant. What I should have done is invite the children down to help me, and talk to them about when they slept in it, where we lived, etc. In that way the move could have been a blessed family time, as it would have led to other discussions about the way God has guided us in our past, and how He will do so in the future. Instead, the cradle was almost completely apart when, by God's grace, I was permitted a moment of insight. Thankfully interrupted, I went upstairs and invited the firstborn to come down and take a picture of her dad taking apart a piece of furniture.

It would be nice if we had a month or two to do this; that is, it would be a blessing for a move to be sacred time, a time to pause and remember how we got to where we are, to make of the sorting of artifacts a time of growth and renewal. Instead, moving time is mostly busy and physically efficient, with the occasional flicker of grace and insight. I am thankful for that latter moment now, thankful for the years of grace behind us that make a great foundation for what is ahead...

Little Treasures Found While Packing

2009-07-16T08:52:00.003-04:00

Pictured to the left is my wife's Franklin Planner page for 18 November 2000. This was discovered last night as we sat up in the living room until midnight going through old papers that might be "pitched" in preparation for our move to Chicago.

Recorded with joy for posterity is a brief dinner table interchange between myself (L) and my first-born, a daughter (S), then just 27 months old. She was (and is!) an extraordinarily verbal child. While we found this is fairly common for girls, Carrie and I had marveled that we could actually have a conversation and reason with a child just a year-and-a-half old! Here at just over two, you can see that she has already developed a lively sense of verbal play, an ability that is blooming.

For those who cannot read the pictured text, here it is:

L to S: "Shall we pray?"
S: "No. I can't. I'm picking my nose."
L to S: "OK. Well, let us know when you're done picking your nose so we can pray."
S: "OK."

Joy!

Announcing a Farewell to a Beloved Congregation

2009-07-12T21:40:00.006-04:00

Today I had to announce my acceptance of the call to be the Pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, Illinois. Below is the text of the letter that I read to my congregation today at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Van Wert...

12 July, A.D. 2009

Emmanuel Lutheran Church

705 S. Washington St.

Van Wert, OH 45891

Dear Brothers and Sisters at Emmanuel,

As many of you know, I have accepted the call to St. Philip Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, Illinois. There is a temptation in such situations to say too much or too little. I will try to avoid both extremes.

Since our visit to Chicago in early May we have done a lot of thinking about the last seven years. I imagine myself in the pulpit, looking out over the congregation, and seeing how the “face” of the congregation has changed. There are a lot of new faces, many faces that returned in these last years, a few faces that left, and many faces that we will not see again until the Lord takes us to Himself. We have been through a lot together: a tornado, basement floods, a building project, a remodeling project, the expansion of our TV ministry, and the beginning of our Web ministry. We have grieved together, prayed together, rejoiced together. Here the O’Donnells welcomed a new daughter, buried a son, and labored together with our church family to make ours a family of six.

Here at Emmanuel I learned, with your help, to be a real Lutheran pastor. As a student and vicar I loved preaching, but you helped teach me in a new way to apply Law and Gospel to the deepest realities of peoples’ lives. While preaching and teaching the Gospel is my greatest joy in the Ministry, my greatest honor in the ministry is the care of the sick and shut-ins, especially the care of those nearing the end of life; here, too, you have helped me learn to be what the Germans call a Seelsorger, “curer of souls.”

Yet, these cannot be the only things considered. Back in the spring of 2002 I had been asking the Lord if it was time to leave graduate school early. “Lord,” we prayed, “do we stay or is it time to go?” Out of the blue, shortly after those prayers began, I was asked whether I would be willing to consider a call to Van Wert, and a few months later, on the heels of a tornado, we were in the parsonage. It has been a whirlwind ever since, but most definitely a blessed one. Nevertheless, early this year a similar question came back to my consciousness. I began to ask the Lord whether it might be time for new leadership at Emmanuel, and the only way to know was if I had a call to consider. I was told by the District that in the current climate it could take four years for a call to emerge. That was fine with me; thus, we were shocked when the phone call from St. Philip came less than four months later.

As I told you, St. Philip is an urban congregation with a school. The usual report in such situations is that the church is doing reasonably well and school is in trouble. That seems to be reversed at St. Philip. The school appears to be thriving. The church, on the other hand, appears to be in a situation similar to Emmanuel’s at the time of Pastor Barlow’s arrival, struggling from recent difficulties but with the possibility of recovery. It is a congregation that as of the late 1990s had over 300 in worship on Sunday in two services and now has 70 in one service. St. Philip is in one of the most ethnically diverse and densely populated areas in the U.S. It is a challenging ministry situation and, in a sense, a risky one. Needless to say, the call to serve there gave us a lot to consider.

In spite of the wonderful relationships that have developed, the great comfort and familiarity and prospects here in Ohio, versus the challenging ministry situation there—the starting over, the challenge to family life, the surprising timing, et cetera—after much reflection my conviction is that this is God’s will. I am confident that great things are in store for Van Wert and for Emmanuel. I believe that if the lay leadership at Emmanuel will rise to the challenge of the vacancy, especially the challenge of fulfilling the catechetical goals that we recently set, then Emmanuel will be poised to take advantage of the good things that I trust are going to happen in Van Wert. That is my prayer for you, that you will now begin a new season of growth in which God is preparing you for the great things that you cannot yet see.

Friends, it has been my honor to serve you, but I believe I must respectfully request your peaceful release, that I may begin my service at St. Philip.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell

Good Writing is Still Best Savored in Print

2009-06-29T16:45:00.009-04:00

If you want to read a good story, one that will make a good day great or a cruddy day tolerable, go to a local store and purchase the June 28, 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated. The cover story features big league catcher Joe Mauer, who is chasing a .400 batting average this season. His is a fine story, but the gem of the issue is the one pictured to left, "The Way It Should Be" by Thomas Lake. The picture is of the issue opened up on top of my wife's laptop with a post-it note in the middle saying "Read this."

Lake's essay tells the now-famous story of Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace, who helped opponent Sara Tucholsky record her first and only collegiate home run. Tucholsky tore her anterior cruciate ligament while rounding the bases. These two opponents, led by Holtman, literally carried her around the bases, helping her touch each one along the way. You can see the a video essay by ESPN at the end of this post, but you should really read the story first.

To be sure, this is a great character story, but that is not my point. My point is that Lake's telling of the story makes one of the great character-though-sports moments of my life better, and reading it in print enabled me to savor the story in a way that a digital edition just cannot. The article is filled with anecdotes of how the story affected very different people all over the country and puts Holtman's act in the larger context of her story.

I began reading the article at the lunch table, and then I wadded up the magazine and took it to another room. Then phone calls interupted and I set it, open, on my desk. On the way back to work I picked it up and scanned where I left off. Taken again by the story, I was forced to sit down and finish the last few paragraphs. Along the way the pages were stained a bit by the oils of the bread from my sandwhich. The magazine had been opened and closed, pages folded and unfolded and krinkled. All of this indicated that the magazine had been handled quite a bit. Thus, the folded up pages on my wife's computer, stained by my finger prints, with the hand-written note communicated much more than the words on the note. It said, "This really moved me" in a way that cannot be replicated by an email or Facebook link or even a post-it note on a Kindle. I would like to think that this is significant, as my wife longs for the intimacy of knowing my thoughts, and like most men what I'm "feeling" often goes without notice.

Good writing is still best savored in print. Indeed, there is something about print that makes good writing qualitatively better, especially when it is shared.

It is a funny convergence, this reading of the Lake essay today, as I had been thinking about print and digital media since Friday, when Robb Krecklow, the publisher of the Van Wert Times Bulletin and a member of my congregation, published a column on how print media is still very much around, even if the digital revolution is changing things. I would love for the paper to start putting Robb's column up on the web.

Wait.

Perhaps that would defeat part of the purpose.

Dried Cork

2009-06-10T22:52:00.007-04:00

One more night of vacation Bible school (VBS) to go! The kids are having lots of fun and (it appears) learning a bit in the process. By the end of the evening, however, I'm tired and like to unwind with a glass of vino. As a conoissuer of cheap Chilean wine I was ready to try my last remaining bottle; namely that of the 2004 Solterra carmenere grape. Now, I say I like to have a glass of wine, but the truth is that I'm no expert. I have a good and helpful little cork removal tool, and I haven't had any trouble with it in a while, but this evening was a disaster. First there was this:

From Dried out cork

Then there was this:

From Dried out cork

Thus, I forced to do this:

From Dried out cork

Now, I was expecting a bit more out of this wine, as I paid an additional $1 for this particular bottle (The "Reserve" got me.), but it ended up having the aroma of something like an alpaca farm. Thus, in addition to the totally dry cork that forced me to strain my vino, the wine itself did not go well with my low-fat Cheese-its.

In any case, it made for a good laugh with me and my wife, and that's always worth it.

Pastoring in a Rural City

2009-06-09T11:01:00.005-04:00

Pastoring in a Rural City

by Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell

12 April, A.D. 2007; rev. 9 June, A.D. 2009^{^[1]}

Earthly Point of Contact

“Hey, Lance!” I hear from the lane next door. I have just walked into the local bowling alley. It is early spring and my youth group is out for a little Sunday afternoon fun. I turn to see a couple familiar faces, but at first I cannot remember the names, so I say hello and we begin to talk. I became acquainted with this couple at a neighborhood association meeting, and our conversation is about some of the issues that drew us together in the first place, a conversation that quickly leads us to local politics, for two of my members are running for local office, and both are involved in the issues about which we are speaking. However, the member running for mayor is not mentioned, so I say, “What about so-and-so?”

“Oh, he hasn’t been here long enough. He’s only been here twenty years or so.”

***

The little interchange above says a great deal about what rural communities value and how they are organized and function. One must understand that I met this couple over city-type issues, namely, proposed changes to the increasingly busy state highway that runs right through town and right in front of my church building. Furthermore, the man speaking to me is not fond of the current mayor and knows that he has been a divisive figure. Moreover, the current mayor is not a native son of the community either. What matters, in the mind of this man and to most people in rural settings, is that the one of candidates has been here longer. Longevity reigns.

Now, in the larger cities in which I have lived and worked, it is hard for me to imagine the opponent of an unpopular mayor being dismissed because he’s “only been here twenty years or so.”

All this is to say that in a rural city you will have some “city” issues like indigents, traffic problems, drugs, crime, race, poverty. My experience suggests that such issues in suburban and urban communities are typically faced in a “can-do,” urgent, and functional manner. (The “inner city,” I believe, is another matter.) My experience in urban and suburban environments suggests, for example, that if the mayor isn’t doing his job well enough, then people will not have significant value conflict with electing a new mayor, even if he hasn’t been around that long. However, in a rural community, even a rural city, communal ties are strong and generational, and the value priorities are different: longevity reigns.

This is not to say that merit and function and urgency and a host of other values are irrelevant in the rural environment. It is simply a matter of priority, and this has profound implications for ministry.

What is a “Rural City”?

Before I continue, let me speak for a minute about the seeming paradox of the “rural city.” (The U.S. Census Bureau calls the city I’m talking about a “micropolitan,” but not all micropolitans are “rural,” so I’ll stick with “rural city.”) The rural city is a center of commerce and population that serves as the hub of a larger geographic area whose ethos is agricultural. The rural city has houses closely packed, some with small yards and many with no yards at all. It will have run down buildings and graffiti and--as I alluded before--in microcosm, most if not all of the issues faced by larger urban centers. The difference is that most of those living in the rural city, deep-down, do not think of themselves as “city people,” and for myriad reasons, they choose to stay even though moving to an urban center would present many of them with greater opportunities for economic and cultural “advancement.” They choose to stay, typically, because their value priorities are family, community, longevity, a tie to the land. These things trump all others.

Ministry in the Rural City

Many reading this will say, “Of course!” because they are from rural areas, but those from urban areas, or those who have acclimated to the suburban-urban value set, will find ministry in the rural city confounding. And, truth be told, even those from rural environments will be confounded because the very decision to leave and attend the seminary is a decision driven by different value priorities. One leaves “the plow” behind because the call to serve trumps all other things. When you make that decision, when the call to serve overrides all other values, you automatically are at odds with those who choose to stay.

Thus, I am increasingly convinced that the only way to overcome the longevity obstacle (and other values obstacles) and faithfully pastor in such an environment is to view one’s self as a missionary.

A missionary, of necessity, is a pastor and sociologist. A missionary understands that he is an outsider and that he will likely always be an outsider. He accepts that reality and even sees it as an advantage. His God-given task is to proclaim the Gospel, and as an outsider he may be able to understand the people to whom he is sent in ways that they cannot see themselves, and if he is wise he may be able to preach the Gospel to them in a manner that penetrates even more deeply into the soil of their lives. Thus, a missionary will consciously use all the tools at his disposal--earthly and theological. Like the missionary in a totally foreign land, he will immerse himself in their lives, taking the attitude of a learner, asking Who? What? Why? When? How? He will assiduously take notes. He will honor his “ancestors” in the ministry and the ancestors that make up the fabric of communal memory in the land to which he is sent. He will learn to speak ill of no one, for all are related. He will take, from the very beginning, the long view. He will not look vainly at his own ministry. He will see that it is Christ’s mission, and trust the Word to grow in due season. He will find his joy not in the immediate signs of “success” so important to the suburbanite, but in the glory of discovering the Word itself.

Indeed, the more the rural city missionary immerses himself in the people’s lives and comes to know them and their values, the more he agonizingly prays for wisdom as to how the Gospel is to be proclaimed, the more he will understand that he is Christ’s instrument, and the more he will find the Word taking deep root in himself.

Yes, pastoring in a rural city is a missionary task, and if this is your call, may our Lord Christ prosper the work of your hands.

[1]. This essay was submitted at the request of the Rev. Scott Stiegmeyer of Concordia Theological Seminary for a collection of essays for seminary students. It was not included among the final collection, but my convictions remain as a missiological and pastoral statement.

"Revenge" Comes to Van Wert!

2009-06-03T08:35:00.004-04:00

Our local newspaper, the Van Wert Times-Bulletin (www.timesbulletin.com), is reporting today that automotive design corporation Revenge Designs will build a new sedan in Van Wert, Ohio based around the radical and highly efficient new motor designed by Doug Pelmear.

This is an E85-only engine that is reported to get 110 miles per gallon. The Times Bulletin reports that Pelmear "has placed one of his motors inside a 1986 Ford Mustang, qualifying for the multi-million dollar first prize in the Progressive Automobile X Prize by averaging 110 miles per gallon. Pelmear quickly pointed out, however, that this is not some gas-sipping motor that will be impractical for general use. It performed at that mileage level while still producing 400 horsepower and 500 ft.-lbs of torque."

Those are amazing figures, and great news for our area of the world!

For the Revenge Design facility story see "Revenge Designs Chooses Van Wert for Facility" ( http://timesbulletin.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=152509&TM=30808.27.).

For more on the innovative Pelmear engine see "Pelmear Opens Manufacturing Facility for 110 mpg Engine" at http://timesbulletin.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=152502&TM=30808.27.

The 2009 GM Bankruptcy and Childhood Lessons on Leadership and Responsibility

2009-06-01T23:03:00.011-04:00

I think there is a lot that I should not say right now, so I will be brief, but the collapse of General Motors makes me want to SCREAM!!!!

Pictured to the left is an image of the Pontiac "J Car" that I lifted off wikipedia. I was just a kid when my father, a mid-level General Motors manager-executive, bought a new one of these for my mother and her long drive to and from work. It was a piece of #%^$ from the moment he brought it home, and that is a charitable statement coming from a pastor.

Look, I know that a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt by this, including MANY in my own family, but I can't see these headlines and ponder what is going to happen to my mother with the potential loss of my father's pension, and not think of the string of explitives that poured forth from my father's mouth when his brand new J car was falling apart. I can't help but think of the lessons on leadership that he gave that day. I was just a kid, but I vividly remember my dad talking about the better way of quality that he had learned while stationed in Japan in he early 1960s. I remember him being really *&^(& about that J car and telling me, basically, that union and management leadership failed in their moral responsibility to put the systems in place to build a better car when they knew it was possible.

Leadership makes a difference, and though I'm not an auto industry insider, it's impossible to avoid the conclusion that over the years the labor AND management leadership failed. To be sure, the quality of GM vehicles has improved markedly since that wretched J car, but any eejit with half a brain knew that the rise of the Eastern economies would at some point drive up demand for gas and that fuel prices would spike. Yes, all these manufacturers are being hit by a big storm, but some are weathering it better than others, in part, because they had the foresight to invest in less profitable products in the short term because it would better help them to prepare for the future or other eventualities.

To see a future problem and look the other way, or to know a better way and choose to ignore it, is not just a "mistake," it is a moral failure--dare I say?--a sin. This lesson applies in all areas of life. In fact, it's interesting just how often I think of that J car example in my pastoral work. It can be very easy for a pastor to see issues in his congregation and say to himself, "I'll leave it for the next guy to clean up." There is no faithfulness and love of neighbor in that sentiment.

Whether as a pastor or a parent or as a worker on the line or as a senior executive, part of our responsibility to our neighbor whom God has called us to serve is to--in the words of Martin Luther--"help him to improve and protect his possessions and income." The collapse of General Motors will be an abiding lesson to me about the consequences of bad leadership. It reminds me of how my father passionately rejected my occasional --to use his words-- "half-@#!" effort at my childhood chores and always encouraged me to "do it right the first time."

We have a moral responsibility to do the best we can at what God has called us to do. There is no other way.

The Pastor's Getaway

2009-05-26T22:46:00.004-04:00

I'm a "Type A" guy, and I don't "throttle down" well. Given that I live in a parsonage that is literally attached to the church I serve, we have found that one of the best ways for me to truly relax is to leave the premises.

Pictured here is sunset on the lake where my in-laws live. Just two-and-a-half hours north of us, Grandma and Grandpa's place has been a place of true rest for me. There is something about the water that settles my nerves, whether it's sunset-calm as pictured here or whether it's covered in ice and snow. Part of the relaxing, strange as it may sound, is that the family is with me. I love to be surrounded by them. I love to hear the children laughing and playing in the snow or in the sandbox or in the water. That is heavenly to me. To sit with my wife and watch the sunset on the lake, with the children tucked in bed, is heavenly.

I know that many churches give very little time off for their pastors, and I think that that is flat-out, certifiably, crazy. Pastors are always on call, and there's a certain stress level with that, even in a smaller parish. If you live in proximity to the parish, as I do, there are always additional things that blur the boundaries between family and working life. There are the knocks on the door from indigents looking for help (I literally had someone looking for food money ignore the "private" sign on the parsonage door and walk right into our living room not too long ago.). There are also the after-hours knocks on the door from parishioners to have someone let them in the church because they forgot their keys. Such things are usually not a bother, not a "big deal," but they do contribute to the overall atmosphere that family time is never fully family time when we are home. And, of course, there is the sense (analogous to any family-owned business) that you could always do more, more, more.

Pastors need rest. I am thankful that my parish knows me well enough not to be bothered when we take off on a Friday afternoon for the lake and come back after dinner on Saturday night, and I am thankful that I have such a restful place to go.

Thank you, Lord, for my congregation's understanding that I rest best with uninterrupted family time, and thank you for providing such a marvelous place for us to gather.

Great Idea: Tokens for "Screen Time"

2009-05-08T08:39:00.003-04:00

Pictured to the left is our "littlest" man holding one of his big brother's new "screen tokens." Here's where all of this comes from...

At the 2009 Midwest Home School Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, lecturer Susan Wise Bauer talked about "screens" and education. Dr. Bauer is clearly an advocate of the discipline of reading and the written word (see www.welltrainedmind.com), but she used two Macintosh laptops during her presentations (looked like one MacBook and one MacBook Air) and spoke with some degree of fluency about the media world. She also manages an eleborate web site or two, with discussion groups, so the woman is not anti-screen.

Among the many things that caught our attention in her presentations was the "token for screen time" policy that the Bauers use in their home school. Each child gets a certain amount of "screen time" per week, and these blocks of time are represented by tokens that are turned-in to the home educator.

We adopted this policy as soon as we came home from the conference.

The classical curriculum demands that the "reading muscles" are well-toned, but part of the goal of a "neo-classical" education is to help a child learn how to gather information, evaluate it, and competently articulate an opinion. In the modern world, this also means learning the ability to gather and evaluate digital media. Clearly, a good neo-classical education in the modern world demands the teaching and use of computers, etc. Yet, the fact is that absorbing information from a screen (image-based) is much easier than reading (text-based); that is, screan viewing (and screen learning), as Dr. Bauer made clear, does not exercise the brain in the same way that book-learning does.

The Bauer's "token for screen time" idea is a great policy for any home. It helps children learn to discipline their use of time in front of the computer or television; thus, in conjunction with an education that demands the disciplined exercise of the "reading muscles," it helps to train a mind well for the vagaries of digital life.

The Blessings of Morning Prayer with the Family

2009-05-07T10:31:00.003-04:00

Christians are not either saint or sinner. They are, in fact, both saint and sinner simultaneously (Luther called this in the Latin, simul justus et peccator). St. Paul, writer of 1/3 of the New Testament, gives voice to this in his Letter to the Romans:

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being [Christian nature], but I see in my members [the parts of the body, a.k.a. “the flesh”] another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. –Romans 7.21-25 (ESV)

One of the great things about having morning prayers with small children is the remarkable "innocence" with which the contrary natures display themselves. We had a lovely example of that this morning. After reading a summary of the First Samuel account of David escaping King Saul through the friendship of Saul's son, Jonathan, we prayed The Lord's Prayer and the gave every one around the table the opportunity to add special things that were on their mind. We had lovely and simple prayers for a good school day, for the unemployed, for the little one to learn new words, and then we came to Mommy at the other end of the table. What happened next is "Exhibit A" of the simul justus et peccator teaching of St. Paul:

Mommy: [Devoutly, with hands folded and head bowed] "Lord, help us to have a good school day. Help us to be obedient..."
Two-year-old: [with smile on face and cream cheese smeared all over the place] "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I rest my case.

Posterity

2009-05-01T10:33:00.016-04:00

I woke up this morning to this beautiful sight, which reminded me again of some very memorable words:

Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity. We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world to come—the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility.

William Jefferson Clinton

42nd President of The United States

First Inaugural Address

21 January, A.D. 1993

One need not agree with any of the former President's policy initiatives to see the wisdom of these words. I remember listening to that address from a small radio at the desk in my cubicle at Michigan's State Capitol. I was twenty-three, outside the church, newly without a father, and about to enter the most devastating months of my life. At that time I only knew I was without a father. I was only beginning to suffer the consequences of having rejected God the Father . . .

Yet these words have stuck with me all these years. When I woke up and saw my son's beautiful little face I quoted the paragraph from memory, though I remember little else of the President's speech, or of any other inaugural speech for that matter.

Such is the power of words, of language, of truth.

I am a Christian husband and father, and I am a pastor. These words of the former President, in my family and parish context, remind me of the "sacred responsibility" that I have to prepare my children, and the children of my parish, to live faithfully in this world and be watchful for the world to come.

Which brings me to related thoughts on the "Rethinking Confirmation" theme. . .

Dr. Susan Wise Bauer concluded her 2009 Midwest Home School Conference lecture, "The Joy of Classical Education in the Home," with a summary of her goals for a full classical education at home (K-12). We want a twelfth-grader, she said, to:

1. be able to get information and evaluate it;
2. know what he is good at;
3. speak and write with some authority.

What we are attempting to do by means of the classical model is teach our children to think, to be life-long learners. Indeed, Dr. Bauer repeated in many and various ways, that learning is a life-long project.

As I adapt this to the parish education context (In my case that is a context that does NOT include any level of parochial school.), and think of the little boy pictured above, we want to send him off to college with:

1. a comprehensive Biblical literacy. That is, he has gathered the information. He knows his way around the Scriptures. For example, he knows Israel's history and the life of Jesus and the early church (He will know this even better if, under the classical model, he has been taught this with a chronological world history.); and

2. a comprehensive doctrinal literacy. That is, he has evaluated the Biblical "data" and knows how, in Christ, all these events work together. He will, for example, not be bewildered by the near-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 because he will understand how this, in a sense, foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ. For another example, he will see and understand the connection between the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50, the life of Jesus, and the summary of God's teaching on providence in Romans 8.28: "God works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose." Above all, he will understand the central teaching of the Scripture; namely, that man is accounted "righteous" before God purely and solely because of the work of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God. Thus, with a comprehensive Biblical and doctrinal literacy, he will live with

3. a functional Christian worldview. That is, he understands that his Baptism united him with the death and resurrection of Jesus, gave him the forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation, and that his life is as one who (though still having a sinful nature) is also a participant in the divine nature (A Christian is, this side of heaven, simultaneously saint and sinner.). He is to live as one liberated from the burden of perfection, freed to pursue the further development of his God-given gifts knowing that these are to be used in service of God and neighbor in a life of daily contrition and repentance. Moreover, one with a functional Christian worldview will articulate these truths in word and deed; that is, he understands the challenges of modern life, speaks (and writes with varying competency) Christian truth in the midst of this life, and acts in God-honoring ways in defense of the faith and in love toward their neighbor.

Notice that number 3 uses functional rather than comprehensive. This is because we are talking about eighteen-year-olds here. The goal of Christian catechesis is, indeed, to instill a comprehensive Christian worldview, but such a worldview is formed only through years of daily prayer, Biblical reflection, and testing of the faith. I am still experimenting with the English words that best correspond to these three ideas (I lean toward foundational, functional, and comprehensive.) and the classical education model for the Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric stages, but I am confident that with the active participation of the family and the parish an eighteen-year-old can have a comprehensive Biblical and doctrinal literacy (#s 1&2); I am confident, therefore, that any family and parish thusly committed to these goals will have prepared their children for adult life with a functional Christian worldview (#3) and the tools to see that worldview mature over time.

This is why I am pondering the possibility of either using The Rite of Confirmation as a culminatory rite for the senior year or commencing a new ritual that would celebrate the maturity of faith that diligent participation in catechetical life all through the schoool years suggests. If Confirmation were moved to the senior year it would mean the necessary separation of Confirmation and First Communion. In that case a Rite for First Communion (Lutheran Service Book has this) would replace Confirmation. I think that I would prefer this nomenclature, but there may be issues wth the broader church that mitigate against it (See the debate over the age for First Communion at Four and Twenty + Blackbirds http://four-and-twenty-something.blogspot.com/ on related issues.). I think that if we are to move to this type of paradigm that the church might want to offer some extra incentive, like a scholarship, for those who dedicate themselves to further catechesis and Christian service throughout high school.

God-willing, I shall reflect more on this in the coming days.

Goals for Christian Education

2009-04-30T16:28:00.004-04:00

At the April voters’ meeting of Emmanuel Lutheran Church I presented an outline of Christian education goals for the congregation. Here is the text from a pamphlet I am working on:

The Gospel

of Christ rescues and renews human souls.

It is the heart and center of the Christian faith. Therefore, out of respect for peoples’ eternal souls, we at Emmanuel Lutheran Church maintain an absolute, unrelenting focus on forgiveness and the means by which Christ promises it.

We know that people—at school, at work, or wherever—are constantly confronted by personal and corporate “bait and switch” hypocrisy, so we strive to teach the Christian faith with historic authenticity: straight-up, no gimmicks. We know that Christ calls the church to be “in the world but not of the world.” Thus, like our Lord, we “meet people where they’re at”—we welcome all, regardless of background or situation—but we do not leave them there. All Christians are called to discipleship, and it is a lifelong journey.

The purpose of all Christian education at Emmanuel is:

to develop a comprehensive Biblical literacy

(i.e., know what the Bible says); and

to develop a comprehensive doctrinal literacy

(i.e., know what the Bible means); so that we might

instill a comprehensive Christian worldview

(i.e., believe the Gospel and live it out).

From Christian Education

The Church is not like a fast-food restaurant or department store selling products that are here today and gone tomorrow. Our “business” is the Word of God, which is eternal and true. Therefore, all instruction aims to instill in the Baptized the confidence that comes with Christ’s forgiveness; all instruction aims to teach people who they are in Christ and prepare them to think and act wisely; all instruction aims to help people lead lives of “daily contrition and repentance.”

—The People of Emmanuel Lutheran Church

Adopted 26 April, A.D. 2009

Rethinking Confirmation in Light of the Classical Education Model

2009-04-30T13:52:00.009-04:00

Rethinking Confirmation in Light of the Classical Education Model

By Rev. Lance Armstrong O’Donnell

30 April, A.D. 2009

There is quite a debate going on over at the blog four and twenty + blackbirds concerning the age at which someone is admitted to Holy Communion (cf. http://four-and-twenty-something.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Holy%20Communion ). This debate touches on a host of issues that I have been pondering for some time…

Of particular interest to me as the Pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church of Van Wert, Ohio is my sorrow, regret, angst, fear, hope, and love regarding our catechumens’ (i.e., those being taught The Faith) ability to understand, articulate and practice the Christian faith in a pluralistic culture.

Recently I attended all the lectures of Dr. Susan Wise Bauer (scion and apologist of classical education in the home) at the 2009 Midwest Home School Convention. These lectures are helping me articulate long-pondered thoughts and ideas related to Christian catechesis. In her lecture, “The Joy of Classical Education at Home,” Dr. Bauer outlined the basic structure of the classical model, which she likened to a house with roof and foundation. Here is her outline from www.welltraningmind.com:

WHAT IS CLASSICAL EDUCATION?

The foundation: principles of teaching

Language intensive (reflective, not reactive)

Trains the mind to learn

Demands self-discipline

The walls:

Grammar stage learning

Logic stage learning

Rhetoric stage learning

Use of living books and original sources

Distinction: skills vs. content

The roof:

The chronological study of history

(Source: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classicaledintro.pdf)

Here I depict Dr. Bauer’s outline graphically:

From Recently Updated

In further posts I will ponder how this model may adapted for catechesis in my congregation.

The Agitator by Bill Simmons

2009-04-27T22:34:00.002-04:00

Ok, I'm not a huge Bill Simmons fan (ESPN's "The Sports Guy"), but I laughed while delaying sleep this evening and reading section 10, "The Agitator," of his column, "One for the Ages." If you like sports and can appreciate the way some guys on another team can really tick you off, section 10 at least is a good read. Here it is:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090423&sportCat=nba