On Holiday

398 Grace

Two weeks ago I bought a book at our public library branch (for sale items by Friends of the Library) titled, "My mother's favorite song; tender stories of home to deepen your faith" by John William Smith (Howard Publishing, 1995). It looked brand new; the publisher's statement on the verso of the title page included a statement about Jesus coming again, and the book flap story appeared to be sound. So for $2 it looked worth the price to purchase "one of America's best storytellers." Now after having read several selections during my morning devotions, I'll say, "money well-spent."

Often when I'm told that such-and-so gave a wonderful, moving sermon (our church has 10 services in 3 locations, and sometimes I wouldn't even recognize the speaker if I saw him), I ask, "Did he present the gospel?" And I get a blank stare or a stammer. That's why I like a liturgical service (we have two); it clearly says, "and for his [Jesus] sake, forgives you your sin." Brings me up real smart, that does. Nothing in what I did or will do makes me worthy of forgiveness. It's all grace.

On p. 121 of Smith's book he writes my story:

"When I was growing up, I never heard much about grace at church--I mean, in sermons or classes. I slowly figured out that it was important and that we needed it, but we were sort of embarrassed by it."

Actually, I'm not sure I heard about grace at all. We didn't even sing "Amazing Grace" in those days.

"Now that we've discovered it, we're trying to make up for lost time and make the most of it. It has become an issue. Can we have too much grace? Will grace fix anything? Does grace mean that everybody is saved? Does grace mean that we don't have to do anything? . . ."

"Nothing crucifes the self more than grace. And nothing is more painful than self-crucifixion. Nothing strikes a more savage blow against our basic pride and sense of self-worth than grace. Being able to accept grace is very hard, because it makes such intense demands. On my road to God, nothing I have encountered has baffled and frustrated me more than grace. It is the most nonsensical, illogical, unpredictable, unreasonable thing in all of God's arsenal of weapons that are designed to defeat the enemy within all of us--ourselves."

Our sermons at UALC are grace-lite, or Jesus-lite, I think because if not done right, they can sound legalistic or harsh. I mean, who wants to be told she is sinful? Who wants to know he doesn't measure up? It might turn off the seekers; it might shake up the members. It's far easier to admonish the congregation to do more, be more, adore more. Grace? You can't earn it, but it sure isn't cheap.

397

Advice from an entertainer

Last week I saw in the Wall Street Journal an interview with Betty White concerning her years on the small screen. Remember, she was on the Mary Tyler Moore show and is still being seen on reruns of Golden Girls. She commented:

The biggest change [in TV series] is the industry's drastic expansion. . . Anytime something gets so big, the product gets watered down."

Hmmm. Happens to churches too, Betty. We go for the numbers and in so doing, water down our product (message).

396

Churchy talk

Today I took that 15 question test in Newsweek on religion and I scored 100%. If I'm so smart, why do I not have a clue what these two paragraphs are about?

"Emerging Church leaders focus on epistemology, arguing that modernism corrupted the church by limiting its focus to a defense of propositional truth based in an unassailable philosophical foundation. The rejection of foundationalism is a central theme of emergent culture." Albert Mohler "What should we think of the Emerging Church? Pt. 1"

And then there's this obfuscatory telling of how to become a Christian--if I were an unbeliever I would have no idea what they were talking about, and I'd wonder what they had against capital letters.

". . . the birthing of christians is a work of the holy spirit, to which the church community is midwife. as you are called by holy spirit into a love relationship with god, we will come alongside you as your journey and discern a calling to christian faith." Apostles Church, Seattle

395

The new Lutheran hymnal

In our congregation, I haven't heard anything about the new hymnal for ELCA, although from time to time I read about it on the internet. These things take a long time to work through, and our congregation does very little that other Lutherans would recognize anyway, so we are not the audience. At our Mill Run location, there are no hymnals. I use the hymnal for hymns if it matches what's on the screen just because I hate to totally lose my music reading ability; occasionally it is needed for liturgy, but not often. So what I have here are comments (used with permission) excerpted from an e-mail from another Lutheran, a choir director in another denomination, who does know music and liturgy and attended a regional workshop:

"There were 141 registered; majority was made up of pastors, choir directors and those interested in ELCA worship. The presentation team consisted of 5 pastors and 2 laymen from the Northern Illinois Synod. They went through one complete service setting as well as playing a very fine DVD hosted by Rev. Mark Hanson on the birth and completion of this new hymnal.

From the voices around me, I knew I was in the company of people who love to sing, know how to sing and have little trouble with rhythm or range.

I was impressed with the amount of information contained in this new hymnal. The line drawings, alone, were worth the price of the book.

But I came away feeling that those who put the hymns together did not give much consideration to range: many ran up to Ds, Es and even Fs on the treble clef. Too high for most congregations.

And the number of choices of service settings, prayers and responses was overwhelming. Putting hymns from WOV and the purple Hymnal Supplement into this new ELW was a great idea, but they overdid it on the liturgical variety.

I know it's been over 30 years since the green hymnal publication but I left the meeting wondering if the cost to each congregation was worth the gain in newer, more contemporary hymns and ten Holy Communion settings."

Ten communion settings? Silly me, we're lucky at our church to use one and only the older people know it. I'm almost afraid to see what 10 different settings can do to gender-free pronouns.

394

Was I the only Christian disappointed?

I thought it was good that the planners of the memorial service for the VA Tech students and faculty represented several faith groups: Sedki Riad, a Muslim, Julie Still, a Buddhist, Sue Kurtz, a Jew, and Bill King, a Lutheran. The campus is obviously very multi-cultural with many first and second generation Americans, and some of the dead were international students. The Muslim, Jew and Buddhist seemed to represent the beliefs of their faith, reading for comfort from their holy books, quoting their leaders even as they expressed their sorrow and disbelief. But the Lutheran pastor . . . well, here's what he said:

"We're gathered this afternoon for many purposes. To weep for lost friends and families, to mourn our lost innocence, to walk forward in the wake of unspeakable tragedy, to embrace hope in the shadow of despair, to join our voices and our longing for peace, healing and understanding which is much greater than any single faith community, to embrace that which unifies, and to reject the seductive temptation to hate."

"We gather together weeping, yes, we weep with an agony too deep for words and sighs that are inexpressible, but also we gather affirming the sovereignty of life over death. At a time such as this the darkness of evil seems powerful indeed. It casts a pall over our simple joys, joys as simple as playing Frisbee on the Drill Field. We struggle to imagine a future beyond this agony. If we ever harbored any illusions that our campus is an idyllic refuge from the violence of the rest the world, they are gone forever. And yet we come to this place to testify that the light of love cannot be defeated. Amid all our pain, we confess that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it," said King.

"We cannot undo yesterday's tragic events, but we can sit in patient silence with those who mourn as they seek for a way forward. As we share light one with another, we reclaim our campus. Let us deny death's power to rob us of all that we have loved about Virginia Tech, our community. Let us cast our lot with hope in defiance of despair," said King, who invited the convocation to a moment of silence. From The Lutheran (ELCA magazine).

Does this represent any particular faith perspective? If you didn't know it was spoken by a Lutheran pastor, would you even have identified the speaker as Christian, especially since he doesn't seem able or willing to identify the light shining in the darkness? Sad, very sad.

393

A very sad interview

A young man from a counseling center--Christian or new age or secular, couldn't tell--was interviewed in Blacksburg today by Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts about how to counsel the parents and children in the aftermath of yesterday's shooting. Of course, he had no answers--who would? But he could have offered something positive and hopeful. He was either muzzled, tongue tied, or didn't know the Biblical truth that there is evil and sin in this world and that God has a plan. He stumbled around in some theological quicksand about "free will," but that was about as far as he got, and Robin even had to throw him a few prompts. Some students, however, knew the source of comfort.





Cross posted at Collecting my thoughts

Why is he still a priest?

Rev. Jeffrey John, an Anglican priest, didn't get to be bishop because of his long term homosexual affair, but apparently he can deny the most important belief in the Christian faith and insult millions of Christians living and dead, many who died for the belief he's ridiculing, and remain a priest. Some speculated on one web site that because the announcement was made on April 1, it was an April Fool's joke, but this is really nothing new for liberals. I've heard more "God is love" sermons that leave out human sin and the cross and how God wants to be our best friend no questions asked, than I care to remember.

Here's his Lenten talk on BBC. What drivel.

From Pierced for our transgressions, p. 216-217: These charges are extremely serious. We cannot pretend that critics of penal substitution are raising a minor point of dispute: they are accusing us of propagating a theological novelty, imposing our twisted modern world views on God's holy word, unwittingly encouraging and justifying sadistic acts of violence, and worshipping a malevolent, hypocritical deity who bears no resemblance whatsoever to the loving God of the Bible. Disagreements over penal substitution are fundamental; they cannot be ignored.

Misunderstanding Jesus

On my way to church this morning, I heard a woman on NPR saying that liberal Christians were making a comeback on the political scene (not her words, but the idea) and that Jesus had talked more about "serving the poor" than anything else. Not really. I can't find such a program in the listing, so it must have been a quip quote in the news since we were approaching the hour--I moved on to another station

Often in the New Testament women "get it" when the men, even Jesus' close followers, are clueless. I think that's why the resurrection was revealed first to women. But the woman I heard today is missing the big picture. She probably thinks the feeding of the five thousand in Matthew is about feeding the poor and hungry; that sowing the seed and harvesting is about grain. Jesus did not set aside any of the concerns of Mosaic Law for the poor--don't exploit or oppress them, but have compassion. However, God didn't need to send his only Son to die on the cross for that message--it had been told and retold for thousands of years. But the biggest emphasis of the New Testament is who Jesus said he was. The conservative Christians also major in minors--like homosexuality (most Biblical admonitions and advice on sex are for men who lust after women, not men) or modest dress or homeschooling. But at least the records show they are more generous with their money than the liberals, and they know who they are worshiping.

The primary focus of the Gospels isn't the poor, or poverty, or even misuse of wealth (although all are very important topics) or end times, but the last week of Jesus' life leading to his death and resurrection. When the woman anoints and worships Jesus with the expensive perfume, who is it that expresses concern for what that money could have done for the poor? Why Judas, of course.

Conversation Peace

Our Women of the Word Bible study selection this spring is Conversation Peace; the power of transformed speech by Mary A. Kassian (Lifeway Press, 2001, 2006). The Saturday group runs through May 12 at our UALC Mill Run campus and there is a video and workbook. I believe there are women's groups for WOW that meet Tuesday evenings and Thursday morning at our Lytham Road location. This morning we surprised our leader with a birthday party--a chocolate raspberry ice cream cake from Graeter's. We paused our discussion of the text and video for laughs and jokes. Then she told us that after her husband was released from the hospital after a heart attack (she is now a widow) he had lost a lot of weight, and the only thing that tasted good to him was raspberry chocolate chip ice cream, so every time she eats it she remembers him. The woman who ordered the cake didn't know that. That's how God arranges birthday parties.

Our fearless, faithful leader

Listening

One of the advantages of blogging is being able to link to the items you want to share, but since I also print and bind mine, I've just got to provide the heart of this one. It's from Pomegranate and Paper.

"Yesterday in church, the priest asked what we had chosen as our Lentan penance. I squirmed a little in the pew because, as I wrote last week, I don't do the "what I gave up for Lent thing". And then he said that he had a suggestion for anyone who hadn't chosen a "penance" yet. He suggested that we chose what he considered the hardest penance of all: listening. Specifically, listening to someone that we don't like to listen to, someone with whom we are not sympatico.

He described listening as a physical and spiritual act. He suggested we listen without words, that is, that we truly listen without forming a reply, without thinking of what to say next, and without chiming in with what was bothering us. He spoke of listening as the act of opening up fully to another and receiving their words without judgment, without reaction, and without an eye on the clock. My mind immediately raced to all the times I've been impatient with listening: to my kids as I'm just home from work, to my mother in law on the phone with her repetitive list of complaints, to my own mother when she wants to tell me about the intrigues around the mah jong table, and to my husband when he just needs to tell me how he feels and have me accept what he says.

I'm working on listening this week. To really hearing what others are telling me. Sometimes that means listening more to the silences than to the words. I find that listening quiets the words in my own head. It takes me out of my self, beyond my needs, and my mind racing from thought to thought."

Living under the law

Our church is having a Sunday preaching series on recovery from addictions, with handouts for personal or group study, with an over arching theme, Pathway to a Life that Matters. Someone, the person who wrote the handouts or suggested the current series, is quite enamored of the 12 step program for addictions. Frankly, I've yet to hear or participate in a Christian 12-step program that is as good as the original "Higher Power" AA program. I attended many meetings in the 1980s, and if I ever needed to seek out accepting, non-judgemental people, that's where I would go, even today. And trust me, I have many other options and resources. When well intentioned people try to take this model and revise it for weight loss, shopping or Christian accountability, it just falls flat.

But when Christian preachers and staff do try to help the disciples of Jesus who are plagued with overeating, codependency, grief, alcohol or drugs, and don't first and last build up the believer with the Good News of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, they are teaching and preaching the law, not the Gospel.

I haven't attended the Sunday School classes, so this past week I just stopped at the front desk and picked up the first five handouts that go along with the sermon series. The format for each week is Pray, Discuss, Read, Reflect, Consider, Pray. All five handouts are legalistic and narcissistic. I got to week 4 before the word "Jesus" even appeared. Not even the prayers are "In the name of Jesus." Almost all the scripture references are to the Old Testament, and one verse in Matthew doesn't mention in the outline that Jesus said it, and it is so out of context it doesn't even say why "the burden is light." (hint: Jesus died for our sins) Twelve step programs are about moral inventories; Christianity is about forgiven sins and living a changed life in Christ.

If this were a two hour class, where the teachers could lead gently and quitely up to the unveiling of the Good News so they wouldn't scare anyone away at potty breaks, I could give the writer a two on a scale of ten. But saved sinners and unsaved seekers (the only two groups in the pew) come and go, float in and out, attend at 3 locations choosing one or more of our 10 services. Please, please, please dear godly, believing pastors (and whoever wrote this pablum), don't let a single opportunity go by that you don't let the people know that Jesus loves them so much he lived a perfect life and died a perfect death on their behalf, and that the solution for their hurts and griefs and addictions is Jesus, not another self-help program that can send them to Hell with good intentions and a pat on the back!

When Paul told Peter to live by faith, not the law (Galatians 2)

Concerning the Jews in Jerusalem
Peter and Paul had a big spat
"You’re putting them under the law, old friend."
Paul told Peter, "Don't preach like that."

Not for a minute did Saint Paul give in,
Even when they were face to face.
At Antioch Paul then told Saint Peter
"Your gospel is such a disgrace."

"We know by law we are not justified
Although by birth we are both Jews,
Our faith is in Christ Jesus, Risen Lord
From whom we have heard the Good News."

What's in your church library?

Joe McKeever, a Baptist pastor in New Orleans, tells of a couple, Rudy and Rose French, who were called by God to NOLA after Katrina. Even in clean up, some people resist change.

"You should have seen the library," he said. "Old stuff that should have been thrown out ages ago. Why would anyone keep telephone directories for ten years? We cleaned it out."

Sometimes it takes a Hurricane.

386 Hypocrites, what Jesus said

Yesterday I was watching an animated, interesting speaker on Book TV, Walter Benn Michaels on his book, "The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality." He was speaking to a group of students, I think it was Yale or Harvard, but that doesn't really matter. They were good listeners with well-thought out questions. At first I thought he was a conservative because he was outlining the hypocrisy of some liberal causes (like a law suit on behalf of women because a woman was earning $1.2 million and her male colleagues in the same field $1.6 million). But no! He was a liberal challenging his own troops to make a difference where it counts. Finally one young man asked if the fact the author was earning $200,000 a year didn't make him a hypocrite to be speaking out in favor of leveling salaries to make working people more equal.

Great question, he responded (he said this to everyone--I think they teach you this before book signing tours even though you'll hear it 100 times). But I only make $175,000, he replied at which time he went on to justify sending his children to private schools because given the times (or was it the city where he chose to live or the moon spots or classes they needed in basket weaving) it was the only rational thing to do. Meanwhile, his excellent income left him free to criticize inequalities in the public education system (he didn't add that, those are my thoughts) including the NEA.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." Matt. 23:13-14

Still, he was less a hypocrite than most (although God doesn't grade on a curve, I do). Also, there was no indication he was a believer or even a Christer (Easter and Christmas Christian), so Jesus was speaking to us, not him.

385 Lutheran sacraments

"Lutherans recognize only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, because Luther could find no clear evidence that Christ instituted any other sacraments. Baptism commissions all believers to a common ministry, but for the sake of enduring witness and good order in the church, there is a divinely instituted, special, ordained ministry. Lutherans have not always agreed on the precise differences between the ministry of all the baptized (the "common priesthood of all believers") and the ministry of the ordained, but they have nevertheless rejected any notion of a divinely instituted structure of hierarchical priesthood. An ordained Lutheran pastor is a baptized Christian who is called to the public ministry of word and sacraments after proper training and examination, and the rite of ordination is the solemn commissioning to be faithful to this call." Lutheranism. ERIC GRITSCH. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. Vol. 8. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. p5538-5540. 15 vols. On-line edition accessed Jan. 21, 2007.

Lutherans, at least none I know, don't rebaptize. If you can't remember your baptism, don't ask for a do-over from a Lutheran because you'll be told God remembers even if you don't. Also, of all the service opportunities I've had since joining UALC in 1974, serving communion is the high point. I can't tell you the beauty and privilege of handing the body of Christ to a dear sweet 85 year old who has struggled to get to the communion rail.

384 Featured church of the week

on U.S. Farm Report today is First Baptist Church of Wayne, NE, which organized in 1882, which means the congregation is celebrating its 125th birthday! I think the reporter said they built their present facility in 1909. Their website is simple and easy to read. It's easy to look at the list of chores and ministries of their members (did one woman really do coffee, communion and clean the downstairs all alone in December or was she just in charge?). Unlike the websites of much larger, wealthier churches. No names of course.

383 A joke in the Frozen Chosen discussion

I laughed out loud at this one. It was in the blog comments section.

"A young boy was shocked to find that his neighborhood playmates had never been baptized. Thinking quickly, he led them all to the nearest church.

A janitor, the only person there at the time, opened the door and let them in. Upon hearing what they wanted, he led them into the bathroom, where he proceeded to sprinkle each of them with water from a toilet.

Walking home, the boys began to wonder what demonination they had joined.

"Well we can't be baptists," one boy said, "because they dunk you all the way in."

"Well, we can't be Catholics," another boy said. "They pour water over your head and light candles."

After further discussion, another boy finally interrupted in disgust. "Come on, guys, didn't you smell that water? We're 'piscopalians!" "

382 The Frozen Chosen

is not a term with which I'm familiar, but apparently it is a derogatory term for Presbyterians, and a WaPo writer made a serious blunder, showing ignorance of church traditions and Calvinists, when referring to Episcopalians with that term. The hullabaloo was caused when there was a write up about the Falls Church Episcopal church in Fairfax County, VA leaving the denomination and that they might be speaking in tongues and having ecstatic worship experiences. [Shhhh, don't tell--fundies, you know.] Well, a woman who actually worships there wrote them up. Be sure to read the comments.

381 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, although two I made many years ago I have kept to this day. (To stop biting my fingernails and to always put my keys in the same place in my purse.)

However, on January 1 I was looking for an open coffee shop and went into the Starbucks which opened about 30 minutes earlier than the first store I tried. I was reading, minding my own business, when a gentleman on his way out the door said something to me about finding a coffee shop on a holiday. So we started talking--we knew some of the same people and had a similar health problem.

Eventually (because I made an opening) we got around to church and faith. He started talking about his "The One Year Bible" which he had with him and uses to lead a Bible study group. He said he'd tried reading the Bible through many times, but this method worked for him and kept him from tunnel vision.

When I got home I pulled our copy (NIV) off the shelf. I've made it to January 3, which may be longer than the last time I tried it. In the Matthew passage today (3:7-4:11) the devil is tempting Jesus after his 40 day fast. Each time, Jesus responds to temptation with, "it is written." Eventually the devil gives up and the angels came.

Sounds like a plan. But first you need to know what is written and where.

380 Volunteering at the Lutheran Food Pantry

Tuesday I had the opportunity to work at the Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio newly remodeled Choice Food Pantry. I was very impressed with the new layout and system which I believe provides the client with more responsibility, dignity, and less waste. The food is now all arranged on movable shelving units (can be stocked in the back and moved to the client area), color coded by USDA food pyramid graph. After the client is screened and approved by an experienced staff member, the volunteer picks up the card with the amounts allowed (a family of 10 with 6 children would have very different needs than a retired couple), and walks with the client through the aisles and they pick out what they know their families will eat. People with diabetes or cholesterol problems stop and read the labels. It takes a little longer than the old method where the volunteer selected the items, but in the long run there will be less waste. Tuesday had a special treat that I would have loved--30 piece slabs of wonderful, fresh corn bread from a local restaurant. Only one family unit turned it down. Each family can have as much bread (muffins, bagels, rolls, buns) as they can use up without it counting as a choice.

Because it is the Christmas season, each client also received age and sex appropriate gifts purchased, packaged and wrapped by the churches of central Ohio. Some families received table decorations and stockings with personal care items until we ran out. Adults received knit hats and gloves if they wanted them. Each child in the family received a very nice selection of new books, including a hard cover children's Bible.

Did you know that the "working poor" families and the welfare families in this country have about the same income, but the working families by percentage of income are the most generous of any group? Yes, they donate a higher percentage of their incomes than do the wealthiest income group; and welfare families with about the same income give almost nothing to others. There is dignity in work and self-sufficency. Occasionally, something happens to people of limited means--maybe grandchildren have to be taken in, or a heating bill is outrageous, the support check doesn't come, or there's an illness, so they need a little boost from the food pantry.

LSSCO distributed 2,416,715 lbs. or $2.8 million worth of food, and used 28,000 volunteer hours in 2006. This time of year 80-90 family units are being served at the location where I worked. The poor in the USA are not underfed or poorly clothed; many are overweight or obese, they dress well and have access to or own an automobile. For whatever personal circumstance, they are in a moment--or a month--of hardship. However, the Bible says in Matt. 25:35 that it is the ones feeding the hungry who are benefiting, because they are meeting Jesus, the Son of Man, who will be separating the sheep and goats. Keep that in mind the next time you are needed as a volunteer. There are no goats in heaven; only sheep.

Cross posted at Collecting My Thoughts

Food banks
hunger
Lutheran Social Services