Putting the Bible to Work

by pastored

This has been a good spring for Bible studies at Resurrection. We've made a great beginning with the Lifelight friends and family edition, our midweek Bible study has been enjoyable for our regulars, and our Sunday morning Bible class has seen improved discussion after we moved out of the sanctuary into a room with a table.

When Jesus had one of the worst recorded days of His ministry, when a large number of his disciples abandoned Him, He turned to the twelve and said, “do you want to leave me, too?” Peter answered him famously, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” While Jesus no doubt said many things that have been forgotten, the Bible still holds for us those words of eternal life.

But for Peter and the other disciples, they were not words floating around in their brains, or recited in a trance (as Mohammed is claimed to have spoken). Instead, they were words that were lived out together, the master and the disciples. With the words of Jesus, God wove a story out of the disciples' lives.

This is the best way to put the Bible to work in your life. In the Bible we have leftover pieces of these old stories, written in human lives. They are great stories to tell, as we often do in church. They are great stories to learn, as writers like St. Paul explain what they mean for us.

But best if all is when we let God weave the stories of the Bible into our own life's stories. If God is an artist (one way to look at Him), then His medium is not oil, or pencil, any more than music or clay. It is human lives, and each of us is a work of His art. The Bible is how that story is shaped.

Don't give into the temptation of using the Bible to justify what you have already decided. Let it speak to you, and know that it will push you into places you did not, maybe, want to go. Yet, if you do that, then the Bible studies here will be more than just the makings of a good spring. They will be truly life changing.

Entered Apr-26-2008 [16:27 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Something Cool for the Administratively Challenged

by pastored

I recently started using this web site as part of my ongoing struggle to get organized. I hope this one works. Each time I re-commit myself to make lists, I seem to get a tiny bit better at it. The site is fun to use, so hopefully that will help.

The site has a section in the "About" area called "The Zen of Todoist." I'm not sure I like the "Zen" part, but I'll accept it, because it is cool:

Now is better than later.
Later is better than never.
Organized is better than messy.
Big things are composed of smaller things.
Smaller things are done by action.
Think like a person of action.
Act like a person of thought.
The beginning is half of every action.
The longest journey starts with the first step.
Everything should be made as simple as possible.
But not simpler.
Celebrate any progress.
Don't wait to get perfect.
Deadlines and stress are a part of life.

My favorite part is "Think like a person of action / Act like a person of thought." It strikes me that Jesus did that.

Entered Mar-12-2008 [18:38 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Now that I have Your Attention...

by pastored

People have begun to notice that we are using materials from the new hymnal produced by the LCMS. It is called the "Lutheran Service Book" (or LSB), and I guess that using the "color" approach that so many people do it will be called the "maroon hymnal" or the "brown hymnal."

I mentioned this new hymnal to the voters' assembly almost two years ago and urged that we look into adopting it. Many of us are very adverse to change here at Resurrection, and it has been a point of pride for some that we never went to the "blue hymnal," or Lutheran Worship. So, when I suggested that we look into it, I think that there may have been more than a few who just hoped the whole thing would go away.

Some changes offer so much good that they are worth the trouble. This hymnal is one of them, in my opinion. It occurred to me that my practice of putting the words for hymns, and the liturgy, in a worship folder each week was enabling us to think we are using the old Lutheran Hymnal when really we are not. Instead, what we use is the liturgy from the Old Hymnal (with some changes) and hymns that are drawn mostly from the Lutheran Hymnal, but much of our service now comes from other places.

Since the church year started (back in Advent, last December), we have been using exclusively materials from the New Hymnal, with very few changes. I think we've done one hymn that's not in the new hymnal: the congregational favorite, "Here I am, Lord." All the others—including On Eagles' winge, Angels we have heard on High, It came upon a Midnight Clear, and How Great Thou Art— are in the new hymnal. (None of the hymns I listed are in the old hymnal.)

Some people are starting to notice little changes. Some of you may not have liked some of the newer hymns I've put in. Believe me, they will grow on you.

We can't keep up what we're doing forever. The hymn numbers in the worship folders match books that we don't have in the chairs. A few copies of LSB are available in the building, but that's all. We are technically in violation of some copyrights by what we're doing, though I don't think we'll get in trouble for it in the short term.

My goal was to have a discussion of the new hymnal. Start thinking about it. I hope you'll agree, when you think about it, that a hymnal like the LSB that works very hard to preserve the best of the old Lutheran Hymnal but has much needed updates, is something we can be blessed by. Speak with each other about this, so we can have an informed discussion when the time comes.

Entered Feb-27-2008 [18:56 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Lifelight Begins this Month

by pastored

I'm excited about Lifelight. It's a Bible study program published by Concordia publishing house that we will be offering starting this month and running through just before Memorial day.

I'm happy whenever we study the Bible, of course. I'm even happier when the program we're using is put together by people whose interpretation of the Bible matches our own—the one that we consider correct. To get excited, though, it takes something more. Lifelight has that something more.

Lifelight is very well put together. The questions range from simple, fact-based ones to those that require some thought and reflection. The way that the program is put together has a spark to it that makes it nicer to do. Just like I prefer certain restaurants, stores, or offices over others, I prefer lifelight. It just "fits". All restaurants have the same equipment (kitchens, tables, entryways, place settings, etc.), but some are just better combinations, and have things better done. Lifelight is like that for a Bible study.

But there's more even beyond that. Lifelight is more than just materials. It's more than well done materials. It's an entire philosophy of Bible study. It tells us that:

• You'll get more out of Bible study by doing a little every day.
• A formal time of study, with a beginning of worship and prayer, gives the Holy Spirit the most room to work.
• You will learn the best with a group of others. We are the body of Christ, and we study best, as we do everything best, a a group.
• The fine points of a leader's presentation make the most sense after you've spent some time getting ready to hear them.

Using the Lifelight approach, you can learn more and also grow closer to the people you're studying with. We are looking for people to begin attending our first Lifelight session, starting the Monday after Easter. Pray about it, think about it, and then sign up. I can just about guarantee that, if you'll give it nine weeks, you'll be at least as excited as I am.

Entered Feb-27-2008 [18:01 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Five Reasons to come to Lenten Services this Year

by pastored

It's that time of year again. Every February I cajole and beg all of our members to come to the midweek services. I understand that some of you have some very legitimate health-related reasons not to travel at night, but I still find myself wishing that we were just as full on Wednesday midweeks as we are on Sundays. I spent some time thinking about why you should come to our Lenten services this year, and I came up with five main ones:

1. A Great Series of Readings. I went to a minister's conference and Waco and we went over the passion account in Matthew's gospel. Our presenter, Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, is a Bible Professor at our St. Louis Seminary and has written a commentary on Matthew. He knows an incredible amount about this portion of Scripture. As we went through the readings together, I was struck once again by the power of Matthew's account. We will all experience this again — or perhaps for the very first time! — as we move through these texts and consider Matthew's words.
2. A Sermon Series that Applies to You. Based on the readings we covered, the overall theme that Dr. Gibbs chose is "Not our plan, but God's Plan." It almost sounds like a truism, doesn't it? We all say that we want to stick with God's plan, not ours. It is by spending time digesting the words Matthew has given us that we will really understand what this means for us. You can be a part of that! You can receive the power to get into God's plans by considering, slowly, reverently and in detail, just how Jesus followed God's plan.
3. Powerful Lenten hymns, new and old. There are some beautiful Lenten hymns in our tradition, some older, and some newer. This year, I've focused more on the old favorites, but we will do two Lenten hymns every week on Wednesday. While we will also sing some Lenten hymns on Sundays, there are some that you just won't hear if you don't come midweek. When I was growing up, I came to love being a Lutheran because of these beautiful Lenten hymns. Come and enjoy them, and bring your kids.
4. The Body of Christ at Resurrection. We aren't all "Lone Ranger Christians." God meant for us to be together. There is a fellowship and togetherness midweek that just doesn't happen any other time. You need to come and enjoy this, and grow closer to your brothers and sisters in Christ.
5. You need this. Who isn't busier these days than a one-armed paper hanger? You could prepare for Easter by trying to give some extra money as a love offering to God, but what He wants from you most of all is what you have the least of: your time. Plan to come, and if you do, God will bless you for it.

So... what do you think? Even if you can't make it every week, look at your calendar and come when you can. God wants to bless us in a big way, and we can let Him by being open and receptive to His Word. It will be waiting for you starting on Wednesday.

Entered Feb-03-2008 [03:30 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

The Golden Compass

by pastored

We are fortunate in our small town to have a movie theater whose management actually cares about what local ministers think. They invited us to a screening of The Golden Compass and asked us to write reviews to put on their lobby wall. Here's mine. I don't think I put any spoilers in it.

I want to thank the Stagecoach Theater for the opportunity to write about The Golden Compass. I did not watch the movie with the other ministers in the morning. Instead, I watched along with my wife and my youngest son, who is fourteen. My son and I had read the books in the trilogy, “His Dark Materials,” and so we were interested in watching the movie. In our family, we have always felt that the best way to bring children up in the Lord is to tell them the truth and teach them to think for themselves.

The books in the “Dark Materials” trilogy are far more insidious in their opposition to Christianity than is the movie, The Golden Compass. Even in the books, the first volume contains only hints of what becomes much more obvious by the end. I enjoyed reading the first book; I put up with the second book; I barely tolerated the third—it was not only full of anti-Christian statements, it was pretty disjointed and unsatisfying compared to the first two volumes as well. So, one thing I do recommend: if you like the movie, don't buy the books as a Christmas present. Borrow them or read some reviews of them first. Even many non-Christian readers have found them disappointing.

Entered Dec-10-2007 [21:22 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Shaping the Future

by pastored

I used to spend a fair amount of time playing computer games. I especially liked the "3d" or "first person" variety because, oddly enough, it was fun to walk around in a virtual world and look at the scenery. Killing bad guys was just something else to do in those worlds. Later, I kind of lost interest in many of them, but I still enjoy watching my sons play games from time to time.

In a "first person" game that takes place in a computerized outdoors, it is interesting how the computer handles things (like trees) that are far away. It is very difficult for the computer to show you all of 3,000 trees, especially if most of them are far away. So, many of these games will draw just vague outlines, and then as you move closer, fill in the details. You can see that effect in many different "first person" games when you move around outside.

We're kind of like that with the future. As we move forward, we can't really even guess where we will be years from now. Ricki and I always wonder around our anniversary how we could never have guessed how things have turned out for us during the two decades (and change) we've been married. Yet, as we moved closer, we saw — first a vague outline, then more clearly as the time approached.

We're doing that right now with Lifelight. In October, the voters agreed upon a general framework of goals and possibilities for the program. It was an outline, just a vague idea of what might happen. November will be the month when that future starts to take a definite shape. I've gotten 3 or 4 people to help me do that, and you'll be hearing from them as we work through a number of details.

The future is taking shape. Like a computer game, it can be interesting to watch. It is downright exciting to be a part of it, though. Let's all thank God this November for the ways in which He allows us to shape our own futures. Blessings innumerable, and all thanks to Him, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Entered Oct-23-2007 [17:01 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Gideon's Fleece

by pastored

The story of Gideon has always fascinated and intrigued me. Like many other Old Testament accounts, it shows how the Lord can use deeply flawed people to accomplish His purposes, which is an ongoing comfort to me.

One center of interest in Gideon's story is the role of the fleece. An angel came and spoke to Gideon, telling him that he was the Lord's instrument to deliver Israel. Gideon was uncertain. He asked God for a test: he wanted to wake up and find a fleece left overnight to be dry, even if the ground around it was covered with dew. Once this happened, he asked for another test, this time the opposite: wet fleece on dry ground. In both cases, the Lord did what he asked. In fact, he wrung a whole bowl of dew out of one fleece.

I've never been spoken to by an angel in such a clear way. It always seemed to me that if I saw a messenger from God and heard the message, I wouldn't think to doubt it. Yet, if I did, I would be very likely to ask God for some final verification. In a way, I do it all the time.

There are things we want. Sometimes, we want them so badly, nothing else seems to matter; and yet, when we prepare to set about getting them, we're not sure. Should you take that new job? Should you make that investment? Should you move to that city? These are the kinds of questions where there doesn't seem to be any right answer sometimes, and it's then that we sometimes use our own fleeces. Gideon's story tells us that they are not displeasing to God.

"Lord, I am going to be completely honest in this interview, and if I was meant to get that job, I will." This is a modern-day kind of fleece. "I'm going to look for an apartment, and if I find one I can afford, then I will take it as a sign that I should move." Some of these things seem almost silly looking back on them, but if we offer them as prayers to God — as Gideon did — we can legitimately look at them as communication from Him, for God controls all things.

Does that mean that if we use fleeces and pray to God that all of our decisions will wind up being happy for us? No, not as we would measure it. God's plan for your life very likely does not involve unbroken, ever-increasing happiness. Yet, He loves us and has made a plan in that love with our very best interests at heart. He invites us to participate in that plan and help form it, through prayer.

Let us pray for the fleeces in our lives in the church as well. I have a sense that a big part of our direction as a church is involved with Lifelight, as you can read about here. Let's pray, and watch, and listen. God will talk to us.

Entered Sep-19-2007 [18:52 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

Shame as Deterrent to Truth

by pastored

Two items in the news on abortion, one via the Belmont Club and one from National Review Online, served to start some thoughts in my head.

The Belmont Club referred to a female doctor in Australia who chose to sacrifice her own life to save the life of her unborn child. The title, aptly chosen, for the post on this story was, "That's what Moms do." The National Review Online article referred to a court case where the New Jersey Supreme court refused to recognize liability of an abortion doctor who denied to a patient that she had a baby inside of her. "It's just tissue," is what he said. When the woman found out otherwise and took the doctor to court, the court refused to hear the case. The "tissue's" blood was on her own head, apparently.

I started thinking about the framing of these sorts of questions as "the sanctity of life." Sanctity is simply another word for holiness, from Latin instead of Saxon roots. Holy things are set apart; they are not to be treated lightly or trampled on. I like the implication that life issues are also set apart; we must tread carefully around them. Treating life as holy is difficult for many practitioners of medical science, since as the old proverb states, familiarity breeds contempt. It's a feeling I understand in the more mundane matter of the chancel in our sanctuary, surely a holy place in the minds of our members, but to me there is always the danger that it will become something less.

Three individuals in these stories have varying attitudes regarding the sanctity of life. The hapless woman who apparently didn't understand that a baby was growing in her understood at a certain level that babies are special and should be protected. The abortion doctor (and the judges) have a typically postmodern conception of these matters as immaterial, and "holiness," if it exists at all, only exists for individuals. The doctor, who gave up her own life for her child's, had not only a full understanding of what was happening, but also joy in understanding just exactly what her sacrifice was accomplishing. These variations in attitude are a part of life today, and reality for a Christian means acknowledging how deep they go.

As a Christian, I identify most strongly with the woman sacrificing her life. I would hope that, if I were in a similar situation, I might make a similar sacrifice. The problem for me comes in communicating this attitude to others. For if a man or a woman has been acting for years with a cavalier attitude toward life, and has made decisions based on that attitude, then changing the attitude means adopting a certain amount of shame. St. Paul was haunted by the Christians he persecuted even after years of bringing others to faith; similarly, acknowledging that life is holy becomes extremely difficult for those who have acted as though it were not. We are fools to ignore this factor in others.

I have never really understood cultures where great emphasis lies on "saving face" and the avoidance of shame. Yet, it seems, these cultures are dealing with something that is present in everyone to a degree. If we don't learn how to be honest about our own causes of shame, we can never help others see past their own shame to the truth. Jesus delivers us all, "from sin and fear, from guilt and shame." Yet that reality is hard to project. It is more important now than ever, now that our culture has people trampling in ignorance things that ought to be holy.

Entered Sep-14-2007 [17:07 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink

In the Middle, Stuck there or not

by pastored

We humans are in the middle. God put us there. I was thinking about this and an insight struck me that seems profound right now, so I'm writing it down. Maybe later it won't seem so deep after all, but now is now.

I read years ago in Pascal that we are stuck in the middle in a physical sense. Pascal pointed out that the vastness of space exceeds our imagination, and that a microscopic world exists out of our sight which we can't understand either. Considering when he wrote this, he was an amazing thinker, since he was quite accurate without resorting to electron microscopes and Hubbel telescopes. While we understand much more (as a group) of the edges of our existence, in terms of our everyday lives we really are in the middle. We're at the mercy of viruses we can't see and living in a universe apparently tugged at by dark matter we don't understand and can't really envision.

Yet, that isn't the middle I'm thinking of. I'm thinking more of what it means to be a human in a spiritual sense. We are self-aware animals. I've had pet dogs, and they interact with me, but I don't think that any of them lay around and think to themselves, "it's a dog's life." They do what they do mostly on instinct, and their love for their masters and their desire to be fed all go together in one unbreakable package. Humans, on the other hand, have divided body from soul and spirit and live in painful awareness of that distinction.

People become less human in one of two ways. One way is that they succumb to sins of lust and appetite, and like the animals below them, become less human. I remember reading something by a liberal arts type fellow who said that when the burst of pleasure associated with sex overwhelms all our reason, we become truly human. I couldn't disagree more, not because I disapprove of these pleasures, but because a purely physical impulse overwhelming reason is a failure of humanity, not a triumph. The two must coexist, and when it's a happy coexistence, that is humanity at its best. It seems that our postmodern thinkers, going on and on about tribal narratives, are just trying to say that unreasoning behavior is far more common than we once supposed. Like my old pet dog, much human behavior only appears "reasonable" and human by a sort of optical illusion.

The other way that humans become less human is by succumbing to sins of pride and becoming positively demonic. The dictator who makes all decisions based on some abstract principle — a theory of history, the superiority of a race, or even a religious doctrine — has stopped being fully human and has become something less. It is against such monstrous creatures that the idea of decency is offended. For myself, no matter how much I might disagree with another person, there are some actions I would never take against them in cold blood; yet I read others who say they wish nothing but misery and suffering for those who disagree with them. This kind of detachment from human suffering ("to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs" --Joseph Stalin) often seems to them like a step upward, but it is a step away from humanity. It is a sole prerogative of the gods to look dispassionately on human suffering.

In a hundred ways, I see us being tugged at from our middle place. Our appetites and impulses draw us down to the animals we share the earth with; our pride tugs at us to yearn for a place in the heavenlies. While the perverted and the autocratic (often the same people) are the extreme examples of where these sins tug us, each of us finds ourselves being less human when we give in to the little tugs in our lives.

By contrast, the God of the Bible would have us embrace the middle place we have been given. Alone among the world's major religions, Christianity teaches that the Creator gave this middle position the crowning compliment of becoming one of us. They say that J.S. Bach, when he wasn't playing the harpsichord, loved to play the viola because it was "right in the middle of the harmony." God has given humanity that compliment in Christ. Like the old song says, "If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

Entered Sep-12-2007 [14:52 UTC]  | 0 Comments  | Permalink