What I figured out this evening

I watched Dave Letterman this evening, and his guest was Bill O'Reilly. Their discussion gave me food for thought. I used to watch Letterman every night when I was in high school and through my first couple years of college. Nowadays I watch The Factor with Bill O'Reilly.

I think the difference is that I've grown up and I've started thinking for myself. Letterman used to be good enough for me. I just wanted to be entertained. Now I like my entertainment to have some substance to it.

Sermon for 3/22/09 – Fourth Sunday in Lent (LSB-B)

Sin and a Pole
Numbers 21:4-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.


The children of God found themselves dissatisfied with God’s ways of providing for them. He had delivered His people from slavery in the land of Egypt. He provided food and water in the wilderness. He had protected them from and given them victory over their enemies in their wilderness wanderings. And yet, they were dissatisfied. They were impatient, and they made no bones about expressing that impatience to Moses. They even went so far as to say that they would rather be back in Egypt, living in slavery than continue their detour through the wilderness, forgetting that they had begged God to deliver them from that slavery. God had always provided for them when they asked for what they needed. All they had to do was to ask. Instead, they grumbled about Moses; but since Moses was merely doing what God had ordered him to do, the Israelites were really grumbling against God.

I know that sounds preposterous to us who rely on God for “clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children”—“all that we need to support this body and life.” Certainly the congregation of the faithful today would never think of complaining about the way God does things, would we? Except . . . we do. Why would God send us a snowstorm when we’re still getting over hurricanes? Why would God allow His children to suffer while the minions of evil seem to thrive? Why would God announce and deliver the forgiveness of sins through sinful men and ordinary, boring things like water, bread and wine? In the end, we are no better than the Israelites of old. We demand better from Him, as though He has been holding out on us. We do not trust in God. And as you know from Luther’s explanations of the Ten Commandments, this is the essence of sin.

As the Israelites found out, the wages of sin is death. And as bad as the Children of Israel thought things were, they can always get much worse when God withdraws His grace. God sent among them snakes—poisonous snakes. The snakes bit the people, and the people began to die. Now, it’s no coincidence that the instrument of judgment was snakes. The Israelites knew all too well the connection: how Adam and Eve trusted the serpent in the Garden rather than God, and how that led to the judgment of death. God meant to remind His children of the connection between sin and death. And that’s what we would have to look forward to, if that had, indeed, been the end of the story. Our lack of trust in God, our grumbling against Him, our sin—these things make us deserving of the same death sentence that the Israelites received.

But even now, hearing this story, we’re questioning God! Was it really necessary for God to send poisonous snakes? Did they have to be deadly? Where’s this supposed mercy for which God is so famous? But that’s the thing. Instead of writing them off, God used these snakes to call His people to repentance. That’s what the Law is meant to do. As we hear so often in the funeral liturgy at the graveside, St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.” So the Lord showed them their sin, and this did exactly what it was supposed to do: it brought the people back and turned them around. They went to Moses and confessed their sin—their lack of trust, their lack of faithfulness. And then they asked Moses to pray for them, that the Lord would deliver them. Moses did exactly that.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve done the same thing this morning. We’ve come to this place from a number of different places and conditions, but the one thing we all have in common is that we’re poor, miserable sinners. Recognizing your sinfulness, you came here to confess your sins, to repent of them, and to ask God for forgiveness. Our consciences are heavy-laden with our sin, and only the grace of God can remove that burden from us.

The Israelites found that out when God gave Moses a seemingly strange command: “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Despite the strangeness of the request, Moses obeyed without question. After all, he had seen God provide water from a rock and manna from heaven. He knew that God’s Word would do exactly what He said. So Moses made the serpent and set it on the pole. Without the command of God, this would have been idolatry. But the power of the cure was in the Word of God. God said that those who looked on the brazen serpent would be cured, and that’s exactly what happened. Notice that God didn’t say the serpents would stop biting. But the bites no longer had any sting. It didn’t matter how many times the snake bit. The people looked at the serpent on the pole in repentance and faith, and they lived.

This was a temporary cure for a temporary disease. It took another pole with something greater hanging from it to bring to us a full and holy cure. In our Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that He will be lifted up just as the snake was lifted up in the wilderness. Some people think of being lifted up as being glorified, and sometimes that’s the case. But it would not be so in this case. True to His Word—for God always keeps His Word—Christ was lifted up on the pole of the cross, lifted up in shame and disgrace, lifted up to be mocked and spat upon, lifted up to die. What happened in the wilderness happened in an even greater way on Golgotha. Jesus took the very sin that was killing us and bore it Himself upon the cross, so that all who look upon Him in faith would live—and not just for a time, but for all eternity.

Earlier I read to you from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, a passage which is often read at the graveside of those who depart in the faith. Paul writes, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.” But he doesn’t stop there. He continues by saying, “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God doesn’t stop when He sends the snakes that trouble us. He provides relief, pardon, peace, forgiveness, and life through the body and blood of His Son. He promised from the moments after the first sin in the Garden that He would send a Savior, and He kept his promise. We can count on God to keep His Word, even when we don’t keep ours, even when we grumble against Him. God is faithful, and those who look upon God in Christ through faith will live forever. In the name of the Father, Son (+), and Holy Spirit. Amen.


The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

"The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology" by Charles Porterfield Krauth

When I was on my vicarage, I spent a lot of time poring over (and lusting after) my vicarage bishop's library. I have been able to reproduce much of that library in the years since then, but for the longest time I was unable to acquire The Conservative Reformation and its Theology by Charles Porterfield Krauth. I gave some thought to acquiring it through less than honest means--read as: photocopier--but I contented myself with a number of other books and hoped that someday I'd find it through a used bookstore of in the library of some retiring pastor.

Then Concordia Publishing House decided to reprint this volume, and I obtained for myself a copy. The unfortunate arrival in Louisiana of hurricane Gustav gave me the opportunity to start reading this weighty volume, and it has been a true blessing to me. I've only read about half of it in the past six months, but reading it has re-kindled in my the joy of theological learning. I've spent much of the past three years pining for what I've been missing outside of parish ministry. God only knows when or if I will return to parish ministry. As I wait and as I serve area congregations as a pulpit supply pastor, this book has helped to bring some theological depth back into my thinking, which in turns feeds the sermons I preach and the Bible studies I lead.

Let me share with you a quote that reminds me of the pastor and the man I want to be: "But, with all, and in all, and above all, we wish to send forth men, who shall be living illustrations of the power of the gospel they preach; men, who shall show the oneness and stability of a true faith, ready to yield preferences to secure principles, to make the sacrifices of love to the consciences of the weak in things indifferent, and to stand as the anvil to the beater under the strokes of obloquy and misrepresentation. We wish men, who will have the mind of Jesus Christ, thrilling in every pulse with love to souls . . ." (p. 178)

I don't know that I've been that man, that pastor. I don't know that I can be that pastor. In fact, I know I can't be that pastor. I repent of those failures. God willing and God helping me, I can but strive to be that pastor, to repent when I fail, and to rely on the power of the Word of God to do what I cannot.

If you haven't already done so, whether layman or pastor, do pick this book up and read it. I can heartily recommend it, and I commend Concordia Publishing House for reprinting it.

Now if I can just get up the nerve to see if they'll print my novel . . .

5 Things

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ/Blog and elaborate on the subjects given.

You can ask questions about the post without me giving you 5 subjects. If you do want topics, please ask for them.

I received my topics from Rev. Charles Lehmann at http://chaz-lehmann.livejournal.com/

1. CLTS (which stands for Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary)
2. John Frahm III
3. New Orleans
4. Having a family
5. Being a pastor

Here are my responses:

1. CLTS: Unlike most LCMS pastors, I attended neither Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, nor Concordia Theologica Seminary in Forty Wayne, Indiana. Instead I attended Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario. One of the biggest reasons was that I could live at home and commute, thus saving money on room and board while keeping the job I'd held for the previous five years, since St. Catharines was only about 45 minutes from home. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn't attend the seminary in St. Louis. The academic reputation of Concordia, St. Louis, was such that I had no interest in attending there. I just don't have the academic credentials, and the arrogance I perceived at the time was just too much to be borne. I gave serious consideration to Fort Wayne. One of my friends would be going into his final year when I started my first year, so I knew I'd have at least some connection to the seminary. But there were rumors going around Bronxville during my last year that the LCMS was going to try to close down the Fort Wayne seminary, and I didn't want to start there if there was a possibility I could end up in St. Louis anyway. Unfortunately, the campus visit that I had planned to make with my best friend to visit both the US seminaries was cancelled due to a well-timed snowstorm during Christmas break, so I didn't get to experience either of them at the time. I have since rectified that lack, but I had nothing to convince me that either of the seminaries would suit me.

Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, on the other hand, had a lot that appealed to me beyond its mere proximity to my home. The small class size assured me that I wouldn't be able to lose myself in a large classroom and just sneak by. I knew I needed to be under pressure to perform, and in a graduating class of six, I had nowhere to hide. I also appreciated the fact that a small student body would tend to be more like a family. I was seldom disappointed in that aspect, though my second year of seminary nearly drove me away from the Ministry altogether. (But that's a story for another time.) Since I wouldn't be living on campus--since there was no place on campus for us to live--I wouldn't have the distractions of dorm life. And when I visited the campus, I was met by Dean Roger Humann, a man who impressed me with both his eminent competence and his gentle humility.

I was a little disappointed with the lack of options for electives, as I would love to have been able to take some course work on campus ministry and some further electives on liturgical theology. Also, I didn't exactly hit it off with some of my professors from the beginning, especially some of the adjunct professors. But all in all, even with a very stressful second year, my seminary experience was wonderful, and I can honestly say that it prepared me fairly well for parish ministry. Oh, there are things that no seminary class can prepare you for--like the challenges of serving a dual parish in rural North Dakota, for instance--but I don't feel I missed out on much by going to St. Catharines instead of Fort Wayne. Maybe living on campus in Fort Wayne might have been better for me in some ways, but I think that was balanced nicely by the fact that I worked 30 hours a week during seminary, preparing me for being on call 24 hours a day and working 50 to 90 hour weeks at times.

2. John Frahm III: John was in his last year while I was going through my horrible second year at St. Catharines. To be honest, I didn't really like about half of the Fourth Year students at the time, though I've gotten to like them better in the years since. But John wasn't one of those guys. I liked John . . . despite his annoying tendancy to cheer for the Minnesota Vikings. I liked the fact that he threw around German words and phrases rather than Latin words and phrases, even if I couldn't understand those any more than I could the Latin. I also liked the fact that he was approachable. But what I liked most about John was his Lutheran orthodoxy. I think I learned more about what Lutherans believe beyond the basics from John than I did from my teachers that year, probably because I was so miserable in classes that I wanted to stop paying attention. I don't know who gave it to him, but John had earned for himself, and rightly so, the nickname "the Boombox of Lutheran orthodoxy". He knew his stuff, but he wasn't an a$$ about it the way some could be. John was a good friend at a time when I really needed one, and though we've not been as close in days since, I will always appreciate John Frahm as one of the main reasons I survived seminary.

3. New Orleans: I've lived in southeastern Louisiana for over three years now, and in that time I've preached all over the place, including New Orleans and its immediate environs. I've also visited the city a number of times for a number of reasons, both for business and for pleasure. Though there's so much more I want to experience there, I've come to love what I've seen. I could ride the riverboats every day (as long as I wore sunscreen and a hat). St. Charles Avenue is a beautiful drive at any time of the year. The restaurants are wonderful. The people are (usually) friendly. There's so much atmosphere, so many sights to see, so many little shops and hidden delights. No matter where I go in life, I think a little piece of me will always stay in Louisiana.

4. Having a family: I spent a lot of my life as a single man. I didn't even date that much. To be honest, as much as I wanted it, I didn't think I would ever get married, much less have any children. When I met Faith, it surprised me how easily and how quickly we hit it off. That she brought with her a child from a previous relationship caught me off guard, I will admit, but Alexis and I seemed be able to coexist. In the space of a year I went from being completely single to being married with a child, and in another year we had a total of three children. I'd like to be able to say that I'm a good father, though my lack of patience probably puts that beyond the realm of possibility. But I'm a caring and loving father, even if I'm not always doing or saying the right thing. I love having a family, as much of a pain in the behind as it can be sometimes. Maybe things might have been easier if I'd stayed single or if we didn't have any children, but there's no way my life would have been better.

5. Being a pastor: I've been a pastor for nearly 9 years now, and I've experienced a little bit of everything. I've seen what a loving congregation can do to make a pastor's life easier. I've seen what dissatisfied parishioners can do to a pastor and even to his wife. I've learned the kind of love that I never thought that I could have for people, being as introverted as I am. And I've learned that there's things I never want to experience again. All that being said, I love being a pastor. There are things I could do better. There are difficulties and frustrations that sometimes make me want to rip out my goatee. There are some people who can be so cruel that it can almost make you want to brain them with a processional cross. But when it comes down to it, I can't picture myself wanting to do anything else. Oh, I've been forced to find something else for the time being, but I am, first and foremost, a pastor. Well, I am first and foremost a child of God. But I am not a recreation center manager. That's just something I do. I am a pastor. As it is with fatherhood, there are undoubtedly those who are better pastors than I am, people who have a firmer grasp of theology, people who are more loving, people who are better preachers, people who are better at visiting the sick and the shut-in. But I love all of it. I love the hard work and long hours. I love the struggle with a difficult text. I love the vaguely sick feeling I get every time I step into the pulpit. I love that Christ uses me to speak His absolution and feed His body and blood to His people. I truly believe that God chose me to be a pastor, as awful and as terrifying as that Call can be at times. And I'm glad He did.

Living Together Before Marriage

I'm always intrigued that people think it's better to live together as a prelude to marriage than it is to just get married. I know the arguments--the three major ones, at least. The first one goes something like, "It's much better to pay for a moving truck than it is to pay for a lawyer." Aside from the Scriptural, theological and moral arguments--and rest assured, I know plenty of those--there's a good reason not to go the living together route. Living together gives you an automatic out. Living together is not a real commitment. When you're free to go at any time, you don't face a true test because you don't have to face a true test. When the first sign of struggle or of hardship approaches, it's too easy to walk out the door without a look back. True commitment is signing on for the long haul, knowing that the hardship is coming, and resolving to stick it out "for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health". Rather than expecting to pay for the moving truck, why not expect the best and make it work without the moving truck or the lawyer?

The second argument has to do with sex. "Don't you want to know if you're compatible?" Tell me something. Does one of you have Tab A? Does the other have Slot A? Poof! You're compatible. Your preferences are negotiable, and part of the marriage relationship is learning what you like and how you work together. Trial and error, experimentation and hard work will go a long way to helping you learn to make your partner happy and helping your partner learn to make you happy. That's not just true about sex, but it is true about sex.

And the third argument is that living together is the best way to get to know someone on the way to getting married. If that were true, no one would ever have gotten married in the first place. If you do it right, getting to know someone takes a lifetime. You only start in dating. The rest of it is done in marriage. And sure, you want to know before you get married what a person is truly like. But if you think you'll get that from living together, you're wrong. What you get in living together is a skewed picture, the doctored picture that's been touched up so you don't' see the blemishes. And when you do see the blemishes when you're living together, it's all over.

You want a trial? Commit a crime. You want a test? Go to college. You want a real relationship? Find someone of the opposite sex who loves you, who cares about you, and who is willing to stick with you no matter what. Then marry them.

Happy Valentines Day. Go love somebody.

Retirement

One of my pastor friends made a comment about his retirement date, which is projected to happen around the year 2040, and it got me to thinking about my future. When I was a new pastor, I'd given that some thought . . . though what a 25 year-old is doing thinking of retirement is beyond me. Anyway, after some consideration, I'd come to the conclusion that I probably wouldn't retire. The work is too important, and if the Lord wanted me to stop, He'd bring me Home.

I've been thinking about this in light of the current "clergy shortage" in the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod which apparently precipitates the need for programs such as DELTO and SMPP. According to the January 2009 edition of "The Lutheran Witness", we have 9,164 pastors in the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, 5,356 of whom are serving parishes right now. Remembering for the moment that some of those pastors are serving in congregations with two or more pastors and others are serving two or more congregations, that leaves approximately 811 congregations without a pastor and 3,808 pastors who are not serving a parish right now. So my question is, is there truly a pastor shortage? My former district president told me in no uncertain terms and in capital letters, "THERE IS NO CLERGY SHORTAGE." He was was mistaken about a number of things, but I don't think he was wrong about this. Of the 3,808 pastors not serving a parish right now, there's no indication of how many of those are retired/emeritus and how many of those are CRM or inactive pastors who remain on the clergy roster. But between those 3,808 pastors, are there truly not 811 pastors who could not serve those congregations without a pastor? I know I just turned down a Call to a congregation that needed a pastor, and I'm one of those 3,808, but that does not mean I'm unwilling to serve. And I know I'm not the only guy in this circumstance.

I don't have any beef with the brother who is looking forward to his retirement. That's a decision every pastor must make for himself, and I can't fault anyone who feels they need to step away from the strife. The life of a pastor can be worrisome, and even the best of situations can be exhausting. I've seen both sides of this now. I've seen the Ministry in good times and in bad. I've seen pastors treat their congregations like they were children . . . or worse. I've seen congregations treat their pastors like hirelings . . . or worse. But I've seen congregations love their pastors through horrible family situations and worse, and I've seen pastors sit at the bedsides of their parishioners for literally days on end. Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, pastors have a responsibility to preach the Word. And I plan on doing so until the day I die.

My decision concerning the Call to Grace, El Paso

Since by now it has been announced to the Grace congregation in El Paso, Texas, I can now announce it publically. I have regretfully decided to decline the Divine Call to serve as their pastor. It was not an easy decision to make, and my heart bleeds for the Grace congregation. Please pray for this congregation, that they may receive a faithful pastor and persevere under difficult circumstances. They are not receiving much support from the people whose job it is to support them, and that made the decision to decline that much harder.

I imagine there are some people out there who can't understand why I'd decline a Call when I desire one so desperately. All I can say is that I honestly believe that the Lord wants me to be where I am right now. That could change tomorrow. Who knows but God? I'll leave that up to Him.


Thank you so much for your prayers for me throughout this process. God is good, and He will provide--both for me and for Grace.

Strange Days

Well, today is the day. I joke about President-Elect (or maybe by the time I post this it will just be "President") Obama being the Second Coming of Christ, and even today I joked about him parting or walking on the waters of the Reflection Pool in Washington DC on his way to the inauguration. I don't take talk of Barack Obama being the new Messiah as seriously as some of my Democrat associations do. However, I do hope he succeeds as President, if for no other reason than that I'm selfish. I don't want our economy to complete its downward spiral by completely crashing--and yes, I know we're on our way there, anyway. I don't want us to be the target of numerous terrorist attacks. I don't want the United States to become weak militarily. I hope President Obama overcomes his lack of experience. More than that, I hope he overcomes his lack of respect for life, especially that of the pre-born. He has a lot to prove. A lot of people put a lot of faith in him, and for the sake of our nation (and for my own sake), I hope he doesn't disappoint. So yes, today is a great day. The election process of our democratic republic has succeeded yet again, and we have brought to office another President of the United States of America, a Commander-in-Chief for our Armed Forces, a Chief Executive. Though I will treat him with a lot more respect than President Bush ever received from his detractors, don't expect me to be excited about the man we as a nation picked. After all, I voted for the other guy. However, congratulations, President Obama. You will be in my prayers.

As he leaves office, I would like to thank President Bush for his service to our nation. Less than a year into his presidency he faced the greatest test any of our elected officials has ever had to take, and he passed. He took a nation at its lowest point and gave us hope and confidence that we could overcome. It has been 2,689 days since we've faced a terrorist attack on domestic American soil, and much of that is thanks to the fact that President Bush had the chutzpah to make the difficult decision to send our fighting men and women to the Middle East to seek our terrorists where they were instead of waiting for them to come to us. Yes, the economy has taken a nosedive on his watch, but there is plenty of blame to be shared, especially with Clinton who pushed for mortgages to be given to people who could not repay them. I was very proud to call President Bush "my President". I'm one of the 29%. And even if I weren't, I would have spoken of and treated him with a lot more respect than he received from the media and a majority of our nation.

On a much happier note, this past Sunday my wife became a Lutheran, and we were able to receive Holy Communion together for the first time. I am very proud of my wife. After the way she was treated by those who called themselves Lutherans at my last congregation, Faith would have had every right to tell me, "I'm sorry, dear, but if that's the way Lutherans act, there's no way I will ever become one." I wouldn't have forced her to become a Lutheran under any circumstances. She made the choice herself, and I am very happy to have a Lutheran wife.

A bit of news

I received a Call. I was notified of this on December 27, but I didn't want to say anything until I received the paperwork and it became official. The paperwork arrived today, and I've had a bit of a chance to look it over. The Call is to Grace Lutheran Church in El Paso, Texas. (Texas? Whoda thunkit?) They have an active membership of 60 people, and they average about 30 people in worship. I would be what's known as a bi-vocational pastor--that is, I would be a pastor, but I'd have to find another job to supplement what the church would be able to provide for me.

One of my pastor colleagues said, "BTW, the Lord says, 'take it.'" I know what he means. I just wish it was that simple. I know I've said repeatedly that I want a Call, and here one is, handed to me. I have no problem with the idea of being a worker-priest. Part of me figured that would be the only way I'd get back into parish ministry. I have no reason not to give this Call the serious consideration it deserves, and I will certainly do so. This will probably take a little longer than the usual three to four weeks for me to decide, however. A lot of my decision will be based on whether or not I can find work that will allow me to support my family while being flexible enough to allow me to do what I need to do as a parish pastor. After all, the congregation wants their pastor to help them to grow to the point where they can support the pastor, and that's going to take a lot of work and a lot of time. The church doesn't have a parsonage, so I'd have to buy a house. But they can't afford any kind of housing allowance. The congregation also can't afford any kind of health insurance. There are a lot of questions about how this would work, and I'll be asking those questions over the next few weeks. It's not a cut-and-dried yes-or-no situation.

I ask that you keep me in your prayers as I deliberate--me, my family, and Grace Lutheran Church in El Paso. God help me.


By the way, Faith and I have been married for four years today! Can you believe she's put up with me for that long? Thanks be to God for bringing this wonderful woman into my life.

A Commodore Christmas to You and Yours!

Enjoy these classic carols via a classic computer. This is especially for Pastor Klages!



A blessed and Happy Christmas! May Immanuel--God become flesh to dwell among us--bless you now and throughout the coming new year.

The Terrible Toddler Twins at Three

These were taken at the party to celebrate their third birthday. Enjoy!


This is Michael holding his new camera.


This is Molly stacking blocks.

And now for something completely different.

I usually don't post things like this, but every so often it's nice to have a change of pace. I borrowed this from The Rebellious Pastor's Wife:

Basic instructions - bold what you've done

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (in Germany, no less!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (Does this include mushrooms?)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (No, but I've slept on a regular train)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (not unless you count day cruises)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (I can't even learn them when someone else is teaching them!)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (not on a grand scale)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Not unless this includes breaking someone else's finger)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (I assume this includes being the father of one.)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (or two or three)

Inviting Johnny B. to Christmas

I'm working on my sermon for Sunday based on John 1:6-8, 19-28. (Please note that there are two links there if you intend to read the whole text.) As I read this, I can't help but find myself a little envious of the Baptist. If ever there was a man who knew his place in the Kingdom of God, it was John. Scripture had told him what he was to be; and even before he was born, he was doing what he was supposed to be doing: pointing to Christ and saying, "There He is! He's the one!" His entire life was spent in preparation for the culmination of his role as the final prophet of the Old Testament Church. When people came to find out what this John guy was all about, all he said was, "I am not the Christ." When he was forced to expand on that answer, even that answer pointed away from himself to the Word of God and to the Christ whose way John had come to prepare. His final word on the matter was, "He must increase, but I must decrease." I can't imagine any of this was easy, even with his role clearly laid out for him; but I do envy him that foreknowledge, especially as I struggle with my current vocational black hole. Christ said, "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." Truly, only a great man could look at himself and say with no deceit and no vanity, "I must decrease." In this Christmas season, when so many things would have us puff up our own importance, may we all be able to say with John, "[Christ] must increase; I must decrease."

When hockey and idiocy collide at full speed . . .

. . . you get Sean Avery.

Sean Avery is a goon who plays for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. He has moderate talent for hockey, but he has great talent as an agitator. This time, however, he took agitation too far, speaking of Calgary Flames player Dion Phaneuf and Dion's relationship with actress and former Avery girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert, calling her his sloppy seconds. The NHL has suspended him indefinitely, pending a meeting between Avery and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Bettman. I blame him for the near-death of hockey through the lockout of 2004-2005. I blame him for hockey's plunging popularity. But I cannot blame him for suspending Avery. In fact, I think this is one of the few good decisions he has made in his tenure as Commissioner.

The Dallas Stars said that if the NHL hadn't suspended him, they would have. I'm also no fan of the Dallas Stars, and I haven't been for nearly a decade when Brett Hull "scored" with his foot in the crease and the NHL did not overturn the call, giving the Stars the Stanley Cup and denying the Sabres their rightful chance to win it. But I applaud the organization, players and management, for their stand.

An ESPN.com reader responding to this article said, "Guys like Avery could save the NHL. The league has no personality. I love hockey and am a diehard Blues fan, but the league needs a little controversy to draw some attention. Avery is a punk, but he's an interesting punk..." If garbage like that is what it takes to make hockey popular again, I say, let it die. I'd rather have no hockey than that kind of hockey.

The One-Year Lectionary, Historic and Otherwise

The Rev. Paul McCain from Concordia Publishing House sent out a survey for users of the One-Year Lectionary. This post shows his understanding of the results. CPH won't resource the One-Year Lectionary, except that it has printed a lectionary book--which, incidentally, costs twice as much as the lectionary books for the three-year cycle. Apparently the cost of assembling such resources would not be met in demand for said resources.

Though the results weren't surprising, they were disappointing. I preach at a number of congregations in the greater New Orleans area, and about half of them use the One-Year Lectionary. I've used both the three-year cycle and the one-year cycle for a complete cycle and more, and I prefer the one-year cycle. While you don't cover quite as much of the Bible, I've found that it's easier to go deeper into the text with each successive year.

I've asked this elsewhere, and I'll ask it here: What can be done to resource the one-year cycle? At the bare minimum, I'd like to see a Bible study done for the readings in each Sunday of the one-year cycle. I already do something like this for when I fill in for congregations down here that use it, but I'd like to have better Greek and Hebrew scholars in on such a project.
What else would you like to see in terms of one-year resources?

Family news

Today we received an official diagnosis for my son: autism. This came as no surprise to us, as we've been pursuing and receiving therapy as if we were already sure. Nonetheless, there is both a bit of relief and a bit of worry that comes with the official word.

Michael turns three in less than a month (as does his sister, Molly). On that day he officially ages out of the program called "Early Steps", through whom we have been receiving much of his therapy. With the official diagnosis, we should be able to maintain at least some of that therapy, but we'll be working with the school system for the rest. This is not exactly comforting, as Louisiana has the worst education rating in the United States. But we're hoping that what we'll be keeping will be making up for what the school system lacks. (Of course, a Call to somewhere with a better school system and more options for therapy would be nice.)

The headache of "incessant internal purification"

Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. --Deuteronomy 8:1-3

For some reason, as my son and I sat on the couch this morning waiting for everyone else's day to begin, my thoughts turned to the Office of the Ministry and to doctrine and outreach. The Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, President of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, stated boldly at his installation as President, "People, this is NOT a game. Our incessant internal purification at the expense of the eternal destiny of the souls of men and women for whom Christ died must stop!" The first time I heard the words in person was at the 2003 North Dakota District Convention, where President Kieschnick himself spoke against "incessant internal purification" as a hinderance to reaching the lost.

Hearing the words "incessant internal purification" makes my teeth itch. At first glance, it seems reasonable that the fate of the souls of men is much more important than the attempt to have perfect doctrine. The example that I seem to hear most is that there are more important things than knowing how many angels can stand or dance on the head of a pin. And to a certain extent, that's true. To reach the unchurch and the lost, we don't begin by teaching the full counsel of God, any more than we begin with our own children by handing them Franz Pieper's Christian Dogmatics.

However, there is more to "incessant internal purification" than meets the eye. There is a false dichotomy that separates evangelism/mission and doctrine. After all, if you don't know the Lord and His Word, how, then, can you teach the unreached about the Lord and His Word? In his sermon "Why Dare and Can We Never Give Up the Church's Struggle for the Pure Doctrine?" in 1876, the Rev. Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, First President of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, said it this way:

Oh my dear friends of the Lutheran faith, confession, and conflict, do not be misled when today those are everywhere accused of lovelessness who still do not give up the battle for pure doctrine in our Church. . . . Oh my dear friends, let us indeed sorrow and lament over this: that false teachers constantly assail the pure doctrine in our Church and thus are at fault for the conflict and strife in the Church. However, let us never lament but rather extol and praise God that he always awakens men who fight against those false teachers, for, I repeat, this pertains to "the common salvation." . . . This conflict is one commanded us by God and is therefore certainly one blessed in time and in eternity. . . . Oh, therefore, let us never listen to those who praise and extol the conflict of the Reformation for the pure Gospel but want to know nothing of a similar conflict in our days.

To say it in an even more succinct fashion, the Rev. Alvin L. Barry, former President of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, put it this way: "Keep the message straight, Missouri! Get the message out, Missouri!"

There is a proper order to evangelism and outreach. First we must get the message straight. We do the unbeliever no favor if we lead him to a Christ who exists only in the imagination of our hearts. First we must be rooted in the Word of God. As the Church lives not on bread alone but "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD", we must know what the Lord reveals to us about Himself through the Word. Only then can we reach out with the Word to the unbeliever with the Christ that actually exists, the Christ who makes Himself known through that very Word. Reaching out without first getting it straight may reach a goodly number of people, but you will not be bringing them to where they need to be.

It has been said that pastors who seek what is dismissively termed "incessant internal purification" live in an ivory tower. Well, we need those ivory tower pastors. Just as we prefer brain surgeons to perform brain surgery rather than general practitioners, we need pastors who specialize in specific areas of the Word of God. These ivory tower pastors have a specific task: to delve into the Word of God so that they may teach the pastors of the Church.

We also need men who are willing to climb those ivory towers, pastors who will sit at the feet of these specialists and learn from them. They climb a goodly number of these ivory towers, and each time they come down they bring with them the riches that the ivory tower pastors have mined from the Word. These are the "general practitioner" pastors, men who do not necessarily specialize in a specific area of the Word but have a solid foundation in that Word. These are the pastors who teach the laity, equipping them for the work God gives them to do. These are the pastors who, with the laity they have educated in the Word, reach out to the unchurched, to the dying, to the wayward and lost. These pastors may not have specialized in a specific area of the Word, but they bring with them a solid foundation and background in the Word. They have studied and can teach about the Jesus who has revealed Himself to us in His Word.

It is as Jesus said to the seventy as He sent them out: "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few" (Luke 10:2a). But He doesn't stop there. He adds, "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Luke 10:2b). It is the Lord who calls men to serve as pastors. He chose the Twelve, and He taught them. He gave them three years of intense training under His watchful eye. And then He commanded them saying, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20a). Notice that He doesn't say to them, "Teach them only what you think is important." He commands them to share the full counsel of what He revealed to them.

Evanglism, outreach, missions--what Jesus calls "making disciples"--consists of two things: baptizing and teaching. Focusing on Baptism without regard for the doctrine of the Church is unfaithful, at best. And focusing on neither Baptism nor the doctrine of the Church in our outreach efforts is nothing more than misleading and nothing less than sinful. Thanks be to God for faithful pastors and laity who both "keep the message straight" and "get the message out"!

A new resource for daily prayer

Prayer is one of the greatest gifts God gives to His people. The ability to call upon Him as Father, as taught to us by our Brother and bestowed upon us in Baptism, is a rich blessing. Nevertheless, prayer is another of God's gifts that often finds itself neglected. I certainly speak for myself in this matter. I've tried ex corde prayer (prayer from the heart). I've tried using my miniature-sized copy of Lutheran Worship as my prayerbook. I've used numerous books that are specifically prepared as prayerbooks, such as The Brotherhood Prayer Book from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood; The Minister's Prayerbook, which was edited by Dobberstein; and my favorite to this point: The Daily Office, edited by Herbert Lindemann. I even wrote my MDiv treatise on daily prayer. (And it's no earth-shattering work, I assure you. If I had it to do over again, I'd at least quadruple the research and spend more than six months working on it.)

Despite all this, my prayer life has always been a struggle for me. Too often I find myself not praying when I get up in the morning, when I eat, when I go to bed at night. My prayers lately seem to have become the products of the moments of need. "Lord, help me put the children to sleep." "Lord, give me patience." "Lord, I'd like to be a parish pastor again." The Lord certainly hears and answers these in-the-moment prayers. However, being outside the parish ministry at the moment, the struggle to maintain daily prayer has become more difficult. As a parish pastor there's always some flexibility to your morning schedule, and you can pencil in time for prayer and study before you head out for visits or hit the books for your sermon and Bible class work. But working in an office and having young children in the house, maintaining a schedule has been difficult at best.

Though no book can make it easier to schedule time to pray, the new Treasury of Daily Prayer from Concordia Publishing House has the potential to help you make the most of the prayer time you have. With orders of worship, daily scripture readings included in full, the entire Psalter, and a liturgical calendar to follow, you have a large collection of resources in one place. If you feel the need to supplement these resources with readings from the Book of Concord, the book suggests readings from the Confessions for each day. It's a flexible book, and it's completely Lutheran--and thus completely Christian--in its content.

I received my copy of the Treasury today, and I used it for prayer tonight. I prayed the Order of Compline, which is exactly as I remember it from Lutheran Worship as we prayed it at Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary. The ease of the book and its convenient size--about the size of a hymnal or mid-sized Bible--are surprising. Though it's too early to say for sure, Treasury of Daily Prayer may supplant The Daily Office as my favorite prayer book. I can already without hesitation recommend it highly.

Pastors Outside the Church

Every so often I'm caught off guard by the expectations, ideas, and misconceptions people have about pastors. I thought it would be a less frequent happening with me being outside the parish ministry at the moment, but if anything, it has happened more.

To give you a little background, I'm the manager of a community center in rural Louisiana. I oversee the day-to-day operations, bring in new ideas, and try to keep things running smoothly as I try to bring more people in to use the facility. I have a staff of 5 under me, three of whom are maintenance staff. I have an office assistant, an evening "building babysitter", and the three maintenance workers. The evening worker is the mother of one of my maintenance workers, and that maintenance worker is the father of another maintenance worker.

One of our workers left something fairly serious undone, and it could have been a very costly mistake. Fortunately, it turned out not to be so, but it could have been bad. And then something went missing at work, something only a worker with a key would be able to access. I asked everyone who has a key if they had used the missing item. I didn't accuse anyone of stealing, and I wasn't harsh. Nevertheless, the mother of one of the workers came in to the office today and gave me twenty minutes of heck. And she capped it off by saying, "And you [sic] a pastor. I expected better from you."

So what was it I did that was un-pastorly: overseeing my staff? Holding them responsible for their actions? I guess I'm missing something . . . and have been for a long time.

Article on abortion

As wonderful a writer as I am (*wink*), sometimes even a teacher of the church must allow himself to be taught by others, and to let those others teach his usual audience. In that spirit, I bring you this excellent article by Uwe Siemon-Netto about abortion as genocide.

________________

Remembering Collective Shame
By Uwe Siemon-Netto

This column requires a caveat: I am not an American citizen and therefore neither a Republican nor a Democrat. But as a German residing permanently in the United States I believe I have a duty to opine on at least one aspect of the upcoming elections – the question whether years from now Americans will have to wrestle with collective shame, just as I have had to deal with collective shame over what has happened in Germany in my childhood for my entire life.

It was West Germany’s first postwar president, Theodor Heuss, who coined the phrase, "collective shame" contrasting it with the notion of collective guilt, which he rejected. No, I cannot be expected to feel guilty for crimes the Nazis committed while I was still in elementary school. But as a bearer of a German passport I have never ceased feeling ashamed because three years before I was born German voters elected leaders planning the annihilation of millions of innocent people.

I am certain that in 1933 most Germans did not find the Nazis’ anti-Semitic rhetoric particularly attractive. What made them choose Hitler, then? It was the economy, stupid, and presumably injured national pride, and similar issues. This came to mind as I read the latest Faith in Life poll of issues Americans in general and white evangelicals in particular consider "very important" in this year’s elections.

Guess what? For both groups, the economy ranked first, while abortion was way down the list. Among Americans in general abortion took ninth and among white evangelicals seventh place, well below gas prices and healthcare. Now, it’s true that most evangelicals still believe that abortion should be illegal, which is where they differ from the general public and, astonishingly, from Roman Catholics even though their own church continues to fight valiantly against the ongoing mass destruction of unborn life. Still, 54 percent of Catholics and 60 percent of young Catholics have declared themselves "pro choice," according to the Faith in Life researchers.

What I am going to say next is going to make me many enemies, of this I am sure: Yes, there is a parallel here between what has happened in Germany in 1933 and what is happening in America now. The legalized murder of 40 million fetuses since Roe v. Wade in 1973 will one day cause collective shame of huge proportions. So what this wasn’t a "holocaust?" This term should remain reserved for another horror in history. But a genocide has been happening in the last 35 years, even if no liberators have shocked the world with photographs they snapped of the victims as the Allies did in Germany in 1945. And it has the open support of politicians running for office next month.

If most Americans, and shockingly even a majority of Catholics think physicians should have the "right" to suck babies’ brains out so that their skulls will collapse making it easy for these abortionists to drag their tiny bodies through the birth canal; if even most white evangelicals think that economic woes are a more important concerns (78 percent) than legalized mass murder (57 percent), then surely a moral lobotomy has been performed on this society.

I agree it would be unscholarly to claim that what is happening in America and much of the Western world every day is "another holocaust." No two historical events are exactly identical. So let’s leave the word "holocaust" where it belongs – next to Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Mauthausen. Still there are compelling parallels between today’s genocide and the Nazi crimes, for example:

1. Man presumes do decide which lives are worthy of living and which are not. "Lebensunwertes Leben" (life unworthy of living) was a Nazi "excuse" for killing mentally handicapped children and adults, a crime that preceded the holocaust committed against the Jews. Notice that today fetuses diagnosed with Downs Syndrome are often aborted as a matter of course in America and Europe.

2. In German-occupied territories, Jews and Gypsies were gassed for no other reason than that some people considered it inconvenient to have them around. Today, unborn children are often slaughtered because it is inconvenient for their mothers to bring their pregnancies to term.

3. Murder I is legally defined as killing another human being with malice and aforethought. The Nazis killed Jewish and Gypsies with deliberation – and maliciously. But what are we to think of babies being killed deliberately simply because they would be a nuisance if they were allowed to live? No malice here?

4. Ordinary Germans of the Nazi era were rightly chastised for not having come to their Jewish neighbors’ rescue when they were rounded up and sent to extermination camps. Ordinary Americans and Western Europeans might find the fad to kill babies disagreeable, but as we see from the Faith in Life poll, most have more pressing concerns.

Some future day Americans and Western Europeans will be asked why they allowed their children to be slaughtered. They would even have less of an excuse than Germans of my grandparents’ and parents’ generation. In Germany, you risked your life if you dared to come to the Jews’ rescue. In today’s democracies the worst that can happen to you is being ridiculed for being "a Christian."

As a foreigner I have no right to tell Americans whom to elect on Nov. 4. Recently, though, a friend asked me: "If you worked in an office and a colleague asked you at the voter cooler, whom he should vote for what would you tell him?" Well, I would say: "I am not here to make up your mind for you. But personally I could never give my vote to so-called pro-choice candidates."

This would doubtless lead to a heated postmodern dialogue. Perhaps the colleague is not a Christian; he might chastise me for mixing politics and religion. "If you as a Christian oppose abortion," he could say, "then by all means don’t get involved in an abortion, just don’t impose your religious views on the rest of us." How would I answer that? An evangelical might yank out his Bible and quote passages pertaining to this issue. But to a non-Christian the Bible is meaningless; I am not sure a political debate around the water cooler is a great venue to start individual evangelization.

My Lutheran approach would be different. I would argue natural law, the law God has written upon the hearts of all human beings, including non-believers. Unless they really have undergone a moral lobotomy they should be open to this story: Down in Wichita, Kansas, there is a physician by the name of George Tiller. On his website he boasts that he has already performed 60,000 abortions, mostly late-term, and week after week he is killing 100 more unborn babies.

Dr. Tiller does not think of these fetuses as clusters of cancerous cells. He knows they are human because he baptizes some of them before he incinerates them in his own crematorium. You don’t baptize non- humans. Dr. Tiller knows that. He is a practicing Lutheran. His former congregation, Holy Cross of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, excommunicated him as an unrepentant sinner. But the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, which belongs to the ELCA, communes him. Did I mention that he kills 100 human beings every week and has already one away with 60.000? Sixty thousand! In Nuremberg they hanged some fiends for murdering less than 60 -- zero point one percent of Hiller’s toll. Perhaps this little tale will give even non-believers pause if they have not discarded their conscience, known to Christians as the law God has written upon every man’s heart. One day, of this I am certain, this will indeed result in collective shame – and God knows what other horrible consequences.


Uwe Siemon-Netto Ph.D., D.Litt.
Director
Center for Lutheran Theology & Public Life
801 Seminary Place
St. Louis, MO 63105