The ascension of Jesus in the creeds

Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after he rose from the dead (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:1-11) , so that would be May 9, however, we're starting a new sermon series at UALC, so today's topic was the Ascension in the creeds (next Sunday is Ascension Sunday in the church calendar). There are three creeds accepted by all Christian churches (Apostles, Nicene and Athenasian), and the ascension of our Lord phrase is in all of them. " He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;" "and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;" "He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;".

http://www.rca.org/page.aspx?pid=2765

Creeds, Book of Concord

J.S. Bach Day

Today may be Presidents' Day (Washington's Birthday Observed), but yesterday at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC), Lytham Road, it must have been JS Bach day. For the Prelude we enjoyed Prelude in F Minor; the Offertory was In thee O Lord have I put my trust; and the Postlude as we left the sanctuary was Salvation unto us has come. Allan Willis, organist, Paul Ulring, Senior Pastor, preaching at the traditional services.

Eat your hearts out contemporary service worshippers.

Advent Meditations from the writings of Henri Nouwen

I can't imagine a Roman Catholic congregation, say St. Agatha's or St. Andrew's located near-by in Upper Arlington, selecting an advent devotional booklet prepared from the writings of Martin Luther or John Calvin, but Upper Arlington Lutheran Church distributed "Advent Meditations from the writings of Henri Nouwen," a prominent Roman Catholic priest who died in 1996. Even if he weren't Catholic, when his writings are sliced and diced and packaged like this, they make no sense. For example:

"Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there." What does that say? What does it mean? Could you rephrase it? Could you apply it?

"Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of hope alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us." I don't know where your hope is, but mine isn't in the Christian community. My Christian community isn't why I can "live with courage" or "live without surrendering to powerful forces seducing me toward despair." Huh?

After observing that Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah were all waiting, Nouwen says, "We too can wait only if what we are waiting for has already begun for us." I think I understand all the components of this essay on waiting, seed, growing, nurture, promise, but why does the actual Bible make more sense than the meditation on it?

The problem here, is the problem I have with most writing by Catholics. It's very pretty; it's devotional; it's awe inspiring; some is even powerful. But there's no gospel. That's where the power is; that's our hope.

The clarity of Luther's voice is surely apparent in his Advent and Christmas preaching - the Lord's Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem, the preaching of John the Baptist, the annunciation, and the nativity. Showing remarkable theological insight and pastoral warmth, Luther crafts vivid and graphic pictures of the meanness and misery of the biblical stories of the Lord's birth. All the great themes of Luther's theology - incarnation, justification, the "happy exchange," sacraments, the theology of the cross - are present in these sermons. Advent and Christmas evoke the best in Luther's preaching as he proclaims Bethlehem's crib in light of the cross. Ulrich Asendorf rightly notes that "Luther's Advent sermons are a microcosm of his spiritual world."
Ulrich Asendorf, "Luther's Sermons on Advent as a Summary of His Theology," in A Lively Legacy: Essays in Honor of Robert Preus, edited by Kurt Marquart, John Stephenson, and Bjarne W. Teigen (Fort Wayne: Concordia Theological Seminary, 1985), 13.

Haiti's national holiday

November 18th is a major national holiday in Haiti (my husband has been on 5 mission trips and loves the people), commemorating the Battle of Vertières, in which the army of the escaped slaves conquered the last remnant of the French army. Dave Mann, our pastor who serves there, says it's the only enduring successful slave revolt in the history of the world, and it was against one of the strongest military forces of the world at the time, that of Napoleon Bonaparte.

And look at Haiti today, compared to countries whose governments or colonial powers which freed their slaves or serfs due to moral outrage or pressure from Christians and folded them into the economy. The Haitian slaves knew they wanted something elusive, like "freedom." However, they didn't have much cooperation of powerful forces in other countries which also had slaves and feared revolts--like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, etc.

And even if they had, they didn't know how to run the plantations or cities or schools or the government and army. They soon occupied the mansions and consumed the wealth of their former masters, put brutal dictators (lighter skinned than the masses, but still African) in charge who again stole their much reduced wealth, and sunk into poverty that exists to this day. Even so, the faith in God of the Haitian
people would put their wealthier neighbors in the U.S. to shame.

This moment in history brings to my mind today's "Occupiers," vague on the concept of freedom, naive about economics, offending all forces around them that might be more reasonable, and consuming their movement from the inside, but unlike the devout Haitians, they have no faith in anything higher than themselves.

Dave Mann with student choir, 2007, at Institution Univers, Ouanaminthe, a private Christian school.

Branching out

Pastor Paul Ulring, our senior pastor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, gave the sermon last Sunday at the Mill Run campus sanctuary service on the theme branching out. He first reminded us that the "enemy of the best is the good," (you know you're about to hear you're doing good things but not enough when you hear that). He said "branching out" means that living things reproduce--they have offspring, and if they are churches, they make disciples. Then he suggested we always be prepared to tell "our story"--how we came to know Jesus. Later in the narthex I saw Ruth Foster and told her I remembered how she was part of my story when we met in a women's Bible study called "Harried Housewives" at First Community Church in 1974 and she worked at WCVO. Paul went on to say that UALC has made a commitment to a church plant on the east side of Columbus of $150,000 to help a new congregation get started. This congregation will be part of our newly formed synod, North American Lutheran Church.

I jotted down these four points about branching out:

1) You care about what you pray about.

2) Be watchful and thankful--don't miss opportunities.

3) Be wise in the way you act.

4) Be sure your conversation is seasoned with salt, full of grace.

I sort of smiled remembering that I've heard us admonished before about not being so aggressive with our witness that we turn people off. Really. I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard a witness about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that I thought was over the top. But I myself have missed thousands, maybe millions of opportunities to offer hope, love, justice, peace and a place in heaven to an unbeliever.

The beginning of Lent

Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC) is a multi-campus Lutheran Congregation (NALC) located in Upper Arlington, Hilliard, and Columbus, Ohio. At three locations we have nine services and 4 worship styles on Sunday, two traditional (at Lytham only), celebration/contemporary (two at Mill Run and one Lytham), X-alt (two at Mill Run and one Lytham), and blended (at Hilltop).

There are a number of opportunities for Ash Wednesday, the traditional starting date for Lent, when Christians observe 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays) of prayer, service, and repentence.

Ash Wednesday, March 9
Services at Lytham Road, 2300 Lytham Rd., Upper Arlington, OH 43220
6:30 am, Spoken service with communion
12:00 pm, Traditional service with communion, light lunch following
6:00 pm, Family service, ashes for children
7:30 pm, Traditional service with communion

Services at Mill Run, 3500 Mill Run Dr., Hilliard, OH 43026
6:30 pm, Family service, ashes for children, with communion
7:30 pm, Contemporary service with communion

Service at Hilltop, 12 S. Terrace Ave., Columbus, OH 43204
7:00 pm, Worship with communion

An Analysis of the Pre-Pauline Creed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Last night in Pastor Eric's class "Ten tough questions" at the Mill Run campus of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church he discussed the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is absolutely central to the Christian faith, and I've been surprised by some who prefer to focus everything on the cross, or everything on good works. Eric showed us the 12 appearances of Jesus over a period of 40 days after his death (after a very vivid description with slides of how and why no one survived a crucifixion). Then he focused on the first Christian creed, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, which predates all the Gospel accounts and predates Paul's own experience (Damascus Road). It's a fairly simple creed, but one the earliest Christians may have been saying to each other 1-3 years after the Resurrection. You are wasting your time hanging around Christian churches for the music, the values, the projects that make you feel good, or even a salary, if you deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus. And this is our hope for our future, too.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
and that he was buried
and that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Eric's presentation isn't on the web site yet (the class is recorded), but here's something very similar.

An Analysis of the Pre-Pauline Creed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry

Human Sexuality

This is a paragraph from UALC's "What we believe" which among many other topics, addresses human sexuality:

We believe that our sexuality is a good gift from God. Sexual intimacy is blessed by Him when expressed according to God’s design, within the context of monogamous heterosexual marriage. Outside of that context, sexual intimacy, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is sin. All who desire to turn from sin, sexual or otherwise, can be forgiven and renewed by the grace of God in Jesus. (Genesis 2:24; Exodus 20:14; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 1:26-32)

And yet when 92% of the voting members of UALC chose to leave the ELCA synod because after 22 years of parsing words and cutting corners a tiny minority of members of a task force had decided that God could bless homosexual unions among our clergy, good friends have decided to look elsewhere for a believing congregation. They said, "The percentage voting to leave surprised me and made me feel unwelcome. I had no idea the congregation was this conservative."

Like they had been worshipping and serving on a different planet. I wonder what they thought the phrase "monogamous heterosexual marriage" meant?

Whatever happened to SALT groups?

After we joined UALC in 1976 we invited the others in our "new member" class to our home to see if they were interested in becoming a more permanent, contract group that would meet on a regular basis. We had been in a Couples Group at First Community Church for eight years and liked that model with rotating host family choosing the topic or speaker for the evening with occasional social events or service projects. Five of the six couples came, and four decided to stay together.

At that time, UALC had no mechanism for creating small groups. It had traditional "Lutheran" type groups like women's study/social circles, Altar Guild, ad hoc task groups, choir, and committees that reported to various staff or board members. That first couples group stayed together about 4 or 5 years. After that group disbanded we either joined or created (can't remember which) another group that was a bit more fluid--there were some core members, but others came and went--8 or 10--as it suited their needs and schedule. The third group we joined was about a year old and its leader died shortly after we joined. My husband took over even though we'd only been in the group a short time. By then (early 90s?) the church had actively begun to organize small groups and christen them SALT, or, "Sharing and Living Together." (I much prefer the term Serving and Learning Together but . . . oh well). The church had regular meetings for SALT group leaders for communicating with the rest of us and a staff member to oversee putting new groups together. After 10+ years with that group, we went a few years without an intimate friend-fellowship-prayer group meeting regularly, and we missed it. About three-four years ago we were invited to join a group that had begun in the late 1990s from a new members class and we're still together.

SALT has been a successful model for bringing people who don't know each other together in a very large church with four styles of worship in three locations and nine services. At some of our Sunday evening meetings, we may have heard four different service leaders/pastors that morning. We still rotate hosting and planning, and occasionally have service projects or attend an event together.

So why has UALC dropped any mention of SALT on its Web page or printed small group "connected" and "study" brochures reprinted in 2009? Why is there no shepherd for SALT on the paid staff? Not even a volunteer? The worship attendance is dropping (decrease of 414 between Dec. 2007 and Dec. 2009 according to the Jan 19 Council minutes). Maybe we need to get back to a model that was in use when we were bursting at the seams and decided we needed another campus? Technology like Facebook, Twitter and web sites are great--but they don't take the place of face to face contact, praying together, studying together, going out to eat, sharing child care or visiting a friend in the hospital.

Not to be offensive, but. . .

We're being encouraged to save on our utilities at our three locations. Years ago I was taught that constantly turning lights on and off didn't really save electricity. However, there's another reason not to turn out the lights at Lytham Road Ladies Rooms. At least during busy times like Sunday Morning, Thursday morning, weddings, funerals, etc. It turns off the ventilation. 'Nuf said?

But if that's not enough. The rooms have no windows, so they are pitch black when you enter. The ladies room in the back of the church is off a windowless hallway where some conscientious Christian has also turned out the lights. That's not very welcoming for visitors. And dangerous.

Gender issues in the ESV

Our church, UALC, has been using the NIV for many years, but I've noticed a number of people, including at least 2 of our pastors, have moved to the English Standard Version, which is essentially a word for word translation, as opposed to phrase for phrase or a paraphrase. Looking through the website for the ESV, I noticed this on "gender issues."

Gender Issues

In the area of gender language, the goal of the ESV is to render literally what is in the original.

For example, “anyone” replaces “any man” where there is no word corresponding to “man” in the original languages, and “people” rather than “men” is regularly used where the original languages refer to both men and women. But the words “man” and “men” are retained where a male meaning component is part of the original Greek or Hebrew.

Similarly, the English word “brothers” (translating the Greek word adelphoi) is retained as an important familial form of address between fellow-Jews and fellow-Christians in the first century. A recurring note is included to indicate that the term “brothers” (adelphoi) was often used in Greek to refer to both men and women, and to indicate the specific instances in the text where this is the case.

In addition, the English word “sons” (translating the Greek word huioi) is retained in specific instances because of its meaning as a legal term in the adoption and inheritance laws of first-century Rome. As used by the apostle Paul, this term refers to the status of all Christians, both men and women, who, having been adopted into God’s family, now enjoy all the privileges, obligations, and inheritance rights of God’s children.

The inclusive use of the generic “he” has also regularly been retained, because this is consistent with similar usage in the original languages and because an essentially literal translation would be impossible without it.

Similarly, where God and man are compared or contrasted in the original, the ESV retains the generic use of “man” as the clearest way to express the contrast within the framework of essentially literal translation.

In each case the objective has been transparency to the original text, allowing the reader to understand the original on its own terms rather than on the terms of our present-day culture.

The Poor and the Christian Church

As I've noted here numerous times, I'm really uncomfortable with Christian churches taking money from the government to meet their God-given commitments to those less fortunate, while shelving God's command to preach the Gospel because that's not allowed with USDA food distribution grants or the HUD housing rehab or the HHS neighborhood clinic. "Peace and Justice" Christians, whether liberal or conservative, Protestant or Catholic or Orthodox, need to open the Old Testament--to the Book of Job. The story of Job is a non-Israelite story. Scholars don't agree on how old the story is, or where it came from, but a casual reading shows that Job was considered a righteous and moral man by his peers and himself, a man devoted to God. Job in his own words described his close fellowship with God, his wonderful family, his blessings of wealth, and his respected position in the community (this sounds like the "health and wealth" gospel you find on Christian TV). Then disaster takes it ALL away. We see that Job is an adherent of an ancient patriarchial religion, common among many desert people--he avoids adultery, including carnal lust, even the smallest thought that would contaminate his mind; he doesn't lie or deceive and was never unfair; he was fair even to his slaves; he was a man of great charity, helping the widow and fatherless orphans; he didn't worship idols and knew that silver and gold could be idols; he didn't gloat when his enemies failed; he didn't hate the foreigner and practiced hospitality; he hadn't obtained his land by robbery; no one ever charged him with being hypocrite. He "wore righteousness as a garment."

So if this is the sum total of what Jesus came to preach, he was a few centuries late--the people already knew all this. What constituted righteousness was well known, common knowledge, just as today. So Christians need to make sure that their own "righteousness" is more than that, it must include the Gospel, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If the USDA summer lunch and snack program forbids distributing printed Bible tracts, or says you can't sing songs about Jesus or that you can't console a pregnant mother with life giving testimony about your own situation, then DON'T TAKE THE MONEY! Don't pay your church staff to go after and manage these grants. It's a deal with the Devil.

President Obama promised us in his 2008 campaign that he was going to strip religion from these programs--and even in the old days of "a thousand points of light," (Bush I slogan) Christians were restricted about what they could do or say in order to receive government grants. But we've already seen how President Obama co-opted the Catholic church in their own building on their own grounds dangling before them the prestige of having the President stand at their podium. He won't be any less harsh to Lutherans running lunch programs in neutral community buildings in Hilliard and on the Hilltop.

Government programs are rarely "temporary" and almost never go away. They just get bigger because so many staff government jobs are dependent on them. They spawn entire marketing and printing projects, distribution channels, factories to process food, conferences and workshops to keep employees informed of changes in the law (with travel to interesting cities like Las Vegas and New Orleans), warehouses and storage equipment, soup kitchens, special healthy snack creation, and all manner of cross fertilization of other projects, especially environmental, the current craze. What started 65 years ago when my grandparents were farming in Illinois and Iowa to use up agricultural surpluses to help the farmers after WWII, has run amok creating a dependency among the poor and the distributers alike. And I use the word "poor" loosely here--to qualify for food assistance, the family of 4 can earn $41,299 and add $6,959 for each additional family member.

"Ohio Foodbanks began in 1985 to develop the federally funded Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) within the state of Ohio. Working in conjunction with the Department of Education and then the Ohio Department of Agriculture and finally with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services the Ohio Foodbanks struggled through many years of programmatic development, burdensome federal bureaucratic processes, repeated threats of cuts to the TEFAP food sources, and the constant recognition that even in the best of times, the food was generally in insufficient amounts to meet the growing needs of the hungry Ohioans." So now they are a line item in the state budget guaranteeing a permanent income stream. OASHF

"TOLEDO NORTHWEST OHIO FOOD BANK
• 87% of pantries, 70% of kitchens, and 36% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations.
• At the agency level, 80% of agencies with at least one pantry, kitchen, or shelter and 69% of all agencies including those only with other types of programs are faith-based. Toledo NW Ohio Food Bank, 2006"

Cross posted at Collecting My Thoughts.

We’re praying for Fargo

Our youngest associate pastor, Eric Waters, announced at Thursday night Bible Study that he’d appreciate our prayers for Fargo, where he formerly was the pastor of the First Lutheran church. He and his wife just had their 5th child, Jonathon, so he was a bit sleep deprived, but smiling. According to the AP report, the people of Fargo went to church today and then went back to creating sandbags for dikes.

Weary residents of this sandbagged city came together in churches Sunday, counting their blessings that the Red River finally stopped rising and praying the levees would hold back its wrath. A brief levee break that swamped a school provided a warning of the kind of threat that still hangs over them in the days ahead.

Church services that are a staple of life on Sunday mornings in Fargo took on greater significance as people gathered after a week of round-the clock sandbagging. They sang hymns and held hands, asking together for divine help in avoiding disaster.

"Pastor Eric Waters was born and raised in Syracuse, New York. After coming to faith at Dartmouth College, he attended Yale Divinity School and graduated in 1999. Waters has served parishes in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota, and is currently Associate Pastor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio. He received his Doctor of Ministry in Biblical Preaching from Luther Seminary in 2008." from WorkingPreacher.org

People Magazine in Haiti

My husband recently returned from a short term mission trip in Haiti. The poverty and lack of infrastructure are astounding--no electricity, no running water, no police force, no garbage control or pick up, but because this was his third trip, it's not as shocking as the first time. Mid-week he picked up a People Magazine one of the members of the team had brought along. It's not a magazine we read--he sees it occasionally at the doctor or dentist office. He said he started to leaf through it, then in disgust put it down. What a terrible depiction of our culture--the mindless consumerism, the groveling over entertainers, the glorification of unmarried motherhood. Whose culture is poor?

To read about Haitian culture, see our Pam Mann's Creole Crusts, Lenten Devotions. At the UALC website. You can download it or pick a copy up at any of the church locations. Imagine having your personal items stolen, and then confronting the thief when you see her wearing your clothes, only to be told you should be thankful not more was taken! As a Christian, just where is your treasure?

God's economy

This probably isn't that. Our church (UALC) after a lot of prayer bought a big chunk of land in a developing, but undeveloped area, of northwest Columbus called Mill Run. We had multiple services on Sunday at our Upper Arlington Lytham Road location (6 I think), the parking lots were crowded, supposedly the experts told us that visitors stop coming when you are 3/4 full on a Sunday, so the solution seemed to be to move further away from our 40 year old suburban location which couldn't expand. The almost 32 acres cost $2.5 million. We were sold the idea of having two campuses--but one church, and that's what we voted for--then. Every step of the way was covered in prayer and endless meetings. We even had outdoor services on the empty land, sitting on blankets and lawn chairs trying to visualize God's plan. We occupied the new building on New Year's Eve 2000 with a mortgage of $11 million, and it was virtually filled from the first day.

There has been some refinancing along the way, and other evangelical churches have been growing in the meanwhile which cuts into our "customer" base. Also, the new building has been a huge draw for young families, who love the music and programming for kids, but . . . support? During the boom times they had so many obligations, new homes, cars, vacations, etc., and now in lean times, things are just tough and some have lost their jobs. We had a huge fund raising effort to prepay the morgage about 3 years ago bringing it from $7.8 million to $1.6 million currently. We added a third campus in a well maintained urban church in a declining neighborhood which provided service opportunities--after a lot of prayer for direction. But that multi-campus, one church, idea? That has recently been abandoned, and increasingly we are moving to separate "communities." And the "extra" land--that's a problem, too. Now we are being asked to consider selling the remaining undeveloped 16 acres (which considerably enhances the park, condos and nursing home neighbors just by being pristine, semi-wooded and undeveloped).

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking this question: Who and where is the God who told us to buy the land in 1991 and 1992? Were the church leaders mistaken then? Are they mistaken now? Who is the God we prayed to during the Jublilee in 2006? The God we were praising when the people responded and so much of the debt was retired. And as an afterthought. Where are the investors who want this land when so many stores are empty in the shopping center next door?

This I know about God, for sure. He's not creating any more land for us to take care of.

Bill Mackenbach

Bill Mackenbach and I were in the nursing home ministry together at our church and recently he has been in a nursing home himself. This morning my husband found out at church that he died last night while in prayer with our senior pastor. What an exit for the Lord's servant! He truly was a man of God. I got to know him first in the Stephen's Ministry (something the church had back in the 80s) when I was visiting a wife, and he the husband; also their 3 children were about the same ages as ours, so we felt a bond there too. He was one of the most jolly, loving, funny guys I've ever had the pleasure to know. There will be laughter in heaven today!

Update from Daily Standard: He was born Jan. 25, 1935, in St. Marys, to Fred J. and Mabel Tangeman Mackenbach. He was married for over 51 years to Gretchen Larsh, who survives.

Other survivors are two sons, J. Eric (Kari Ann) and Kenneth Judd, all of Columbus; a daughter, Lara Ann Mackenbach (Jeffrey Raymond) Froling, Columbus; a brother, Frederick William, Palos Verdes, Calif.; two brothers-in-law, Stephen (June) Larsh, and David (Janis) Larsh; a sister-in-law, Sandra Larsh; and two grandchildren.
He was founder/owner of Mackenbach & Associates, Upper Arlington, for over 38 years, a member of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, and its Alpha program and Bible study group, the Columbus Alzheimer's Association Board and several other professional organizations. He was a 1953 graduate of St. Marys Memorial High School and a 1957 graduate of the Ohio State University, Columbus, and its Delta Tau Delta fraternity and O.S.U. President's Club. He recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the fraternity for his commitment of excellence to the organization.
Celebration of Life services are 3 p.m. Saturday at the church, the Rev. Paul Ulring officiating. Private burial is at a later date.

Contributions can be made to the Memorial Fund of the church or the ALS Association (Lou Gehrig's disease).

Merry Christmas

We had several Christmas Eve services last night then one today at 10 a.m. at Lytham Road (traditional worship, 1960s style architecture). I heard the family behind me whispering:

"This smells like a church. I like it when a church has pews."

For all the pews
who from their labors rest
In oak and walnut we formerly confessed
Your name O Jesus
be forever, blest,
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Where is Martin Luther when you need him?

Pastor Eric Waters mentioned Thursday night that it was 491 years since Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door (October 31, 1517). No modern Christian has the clarity and common sense of Martin Luther--there doesn't seem to be anyone close in the ELCA. I've been reading through the Sept. 30 Council Minutes of our church and see that IF the ELCA decides to ordain gay and lesbian pastors and bless unions of gay and lesbian couples when it meets August 2009, our pastor will lead us away from the ELCA. That sounds pretty vague, especially since everyone knows if it isn't August 2009 it will be 2010 or 2012, but they aren't going to quit, give up or go away. I analyzed the last document at this blog and the language was just bizarre. Imagine writing about biblical sexuality and never mentioning "husband and wife" or "mother and father" with only one reference to a married man and woman. Where in the world do they find writers like that? Obfuscation. Reinvention. Goobledegook. Nonsense.

There are enough of these movements in Christendom among the Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, etc., that they could all pull out of their respective denominations and form their own church based on their sexual orientation first, their own concept of family second, and the word of God a distant third. Why, they could form a denomination of at least several thousand and leave the other millions of Christians to obey God! Why are we even messing around with this? If they aren't going to leave the Christian church, then we should leave them. I think UALC has been fiddling with this issue at least eight years. Come on guys, LEAD US OUT!

There's room for you

on the cruise to the Holy Land, March 2009. UALC folks are cruising! We are going and so are a lot of our friends--Cairo, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Sea of Galilee, Antioch, Tarsus, Antalya, Aspendos, Perga, Ephesus, Athens and Corinth. Wow. I'm worn out already.

When sin is left out of the message

Scott has noticed something missing in the lectionary:

"At the church where you worshiped April 20, was the second lesson I Peter 2:2-10? Did you wonder why the text started with verse 2, rather than at the beginning of the chapter? Was the text read from a Bible or off a Scripture insert in the bulletin?

I ask those questions, because, over the years, I have begun to analyze the lectionary more carefully, noting especially what is *not* included. I have learned to pay particular attention whenever the appointed readings skip an odd verse or two, because very often the verses that are left out are those that declare judgment against sin--the voice of the Law. The bad news of our sinful nature and condemnation before God is too often carefully removed, so that only the good news of salvation remains. When those lessons are read from Scripture inserts, it is easy not even to notice the actual citation and so not realize that the readings have been abridged in that way."

It's not just missing from the lectionary. It's also missing from the Sunday School take-homes at my church. Last Sunday's Hands-On Bible Curriculum (see April 21 entry) Bible verse was James 4:8a, "Come close to God, and God will come close to you." No, this isn't the Thomas Jefferson Bible. The writers just left out some very telling details that put this into perspective. Verse 7 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The other half of verse 8 says, "Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.