Given to answer a friend's question

Which commandments allow for changes as how we live them now that we are in the year 2009?

The answer is “none.” But the answer is also “all.”

Where the Creator gave us commandments to last for all time, He also gave us a world that changes. In this, the commandments are meant to be flexible. When Luther recognized it to be so, he wrote out simple explanations to the commandments, which he called the Small Catechism. His work makes it a little easier to translate God’s desires into specific action.

So now, many years later, with issues confronting us that could not even have been imagined (by humans) when the commandments were newly carved, we may apply the ancient word of God to the modern world.

Here are some principles for reading the commandments, following Luther and the scripture itself:

1. Be kind and forgiving of your neighbor; assume the best. The purpose of the commandments is not to give us ways to accuse, blame or condemn others, even though it’s fun and makes us feel good about ourselves. (Matthew 7:1-5)

2. In contrast, be as strict as possible with yourself. When a question arises in your heart about whether a commandment forbids you doing something, assume it does. Likewise, the question, “Do I really have to . . . ?” should get a yes, by default. Exceptions to this principle are few. (Matthew 18:21-22)

3. Remember that the law does not justify. Too many of us think that God gave the commandments so that we could make ourselves righteous by obeying them. Then we fall into the trap of reading the Bible like an instruction book on how to live, and not a proclamation of God’s love. Did they really think that, if they understood the commandments clearly, they could keep themselves from sinning? (Luke 17:10)

4. We are saved by grace. Sin is less about the things we do than about our radical disconnect (uprootedness) from God, which we chose: rather than let God be God, and let Him do the commandment writing and the justifying, we humans would prefer to be our own gods. (Genesis 3:5) We broke it, and can’t fix it. Only grace can rectify this situation.

5. Finally, forgiveness is not permission, still less sanction. (John 8:11)

Devotions, given in front of a Bishop

God’s grace and peace are yours through Jesus Christ
Isaiah 43
surely the times call for a new thing to be done; society changing, churches changing - even new churches are emerging
God does not disappoint, but does the new thing that is needed
I said needed, not expected, nor perhaps what we have desired
new thing is not what we may wish to claim; and such claims proliferate. Such that the Holy Spirit is invoked and claimed to be the driving force behind cultural changes, VBS materials the color of candles
I find it to be a greedy arrogance, the claim that God’s new thing has only been done among Lutherans of North America; and not even all of those
Yet God does not lie. He does the new thing; but the newness of the thing is not a chronologically new thing. It is an ontologically new thing
Behold he is doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it? It is the same new thing he has always done
The new thing is forever new, always different, and so is always a surprise to the world.
The world would want the new thing to be a new toy; a new tolerance or intolerance; a new victory or new defeat a new treasure or power
Instead God surprises the world with this new thing: God is saving his people. And in that he is making all things new, as he has from the beginning. It is called redemption, the making new of something that had been corrupted, corroded, and no longer as it had been created. But behold, he does a new thing; he makes the thing new.
Here is a new thing. The Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith.
In the same way he does the same new thing in church, calls gathers enlightens sanctifies the WHOLE Christian church on earth, and keeps it UNITED with Jesus Christ in the one true faith
There can be no other new Christian. As there can be no new church. Those are absurdities. The only new Christian, the only new church, is the one that is new because God made it new in the gospel of Jesus Christ
The only new church is the one that is, the one that has always been the steward of his gospel, and steward of so many more gifts, from bread and wine to time and talent, to well-drilling equipment and schools for girls
The only new church is the one that is, the one that has always been the evangelist, proclaiming the pure gospel in this world
And the world is still surprised. God keeps doing the same old new thing, to the shock, wonder, horror, amazement and joy of this world
Behold, he is doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it?

Emergency Exit Only

Usually you see them at the door, big muscles and dark shades, deciding who can come in to the party and who can't. They must be very good at this, because you hardly ever see them change their minds later on. Only once have I seen a bouncer actually bounce.

We were in a sports bar in Bloomington, Indiana, where we had gone to see the Indiana-Kentucky game (not only was it an away game, but we were too broke to buy tickets or travel). Indiana won, so we all had happy faces as we turned to go home. This wasn't enough for one fan, however. In a beer-strengthened fit of celebration, he grabbed one of the hefty bar tables and flipped it on its side. Just like that, a bouncer came up behind him, took him by belt and collar, and extruded him out the nearest door. This was an emergency exit, so there was no handle on the other side to let the guy back in. I'm sure the expulsion took less than a second, total. When a bouncer gets a real chance to bounce, it's a sight to behold.

Lutherans are the reason that heaven has bouncers. The Baptists will never have a little too much to drink and the Episcopalians will never use their shrimp forks to pick up a piece of cheese that fell on the floor. But you gotta worry about those Lutherans.

The only way a Lutheran will get into this party is on a pass. What's more, the honest Lutherans know they're getting in on a pass. Sola Gratia.

Jesus says, "Aw, Dad; can't they come to the party? They're my friends. I promise they won't break anything."

And so Our Father decided to let even the Lutherans into heaven. But then He hired bouncers.

Coming Down

As Moses came down from the mountaintop, he heard the people of Israel singing. This was good. The tune, St. Catherine, was one he liked, though he still found it difficult to tap toe while carrying two large stone tablets.

(In a weird bit of coincidence, the monastery founded on that spot several centuries later is named St. Catherine's.)

The trouble started when he rounded the corner and noticed not a well ordered worship space with congregants standing in neat pew-like rows, but dancing (and not the liturgical dance kind either) around an enormous golden calf.

He soon regretted his decision to listen to the words of their hymn:

Cow of our fathers (Holy Cow!)
We will be true to you - for now.

Incurvatus

This pair of sins, Pride and False Humility, have this in common: that both are turned in on the self, and hence make a god out of the self.

Pride looks at the gifts of God found within and observes, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this." (Deuteronomy 8:17)

False Humility looks at the same and observes, "'I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.'" (Matthew 25:25)

The only option for the faithful is to turn outward. True Humility takes what God has given and moves it outside of the self.

Even in this

"Do not squander your afflictions."
--Fred Jordan

"Thank God for trials."
--Dan Deardoff

I'm pretty sure neither of these people I quoted were original to these ideas, but they are my source, anyway. So I thank God for them.

The Tree of Knowing Better

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. Not that it needed to be.

So that when the woman saw that the fruit looked good and smelled delicious; and that it was trans-fat and cholesterol free; and she was convinced that by eating of it she would not violate The Commandment, that is, "As Long As You Are Not Hurting Anyone Else;" and when she perceived that God, when He said no, was messing with her freedom and imposing His idea of morality on her when He couldn't possibly know what it was like to be her; and anyway God always loves us the way we are (He created us with curiosity and desire and never makes mistakes) and will always forgive us no matter what; when she saw that she had to do what she felt was best for her and her family; and what was the big deal anyway -

in short, when she could no longer think of any reason not to -

she took of the fruit and ate.

She also gave some to her husband, who apparently needed even less convincing than she did. In the space of half a verse, he ate too.

And so they became as God. If you believe the advertising.

And for August; Zen Lutheran of the Month

"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything."
--G. K. Chesterton

Zen Lutheran of the month for July

"The only alternative to tradition is bad tradition."
--Jaroslav Pelikan (who really was a Lutheran, at least most of the time)

Church Wrecking

There are two ways to wreck a church. One is to turn it into a business; the other is to turn it into a democracy. Although Democratic Capitalism works nicely for countries, it's hell on church.

The Crux

To be in the world and not of it is to be on a cross.

Zen Lutheran of the Month

Hey, don't you know it's a waste of your day
Caught up in endless solutions
That have no meaning, just another hunch
Based upon jumping conclusions
Caught up in endless solutions
Backed up against a wall of confusion
Living a life of illusion

--Joe Walsh

More on Pain

I feel I should say more about my recent healing.

(No, my knee has not begun hurting again.)

Perhaps we're tempted to ask why - why would God give me a miracle? I did not ask for healing, and it really was a rather minor problem for me. There are so many others with deeper needs.

One of two things is true:

1) God wanted my attention at that time and place. He got it, and continues to have it. I'll keep telling people about this until further notice. Also will keep praising.

2) The Spirit blows where it will, and no one knows the movement of it. I'm thinking that none of the Pentecost people prayed for the gift of speaking in tongues either. BAM! YOU get a spiritual gift, and YOU get a spiritual gift, and YOU . . .

There in God's Garden

The One who made me came in the flesh and died so that I may be reconciled to him. I had uprooted myself from his garden; I was not what I had been created to be. I was deemed unfit. But now through Christ I am re-created and re-deemed.

My healing

For those of you who wanted to know, here's the story of my miracle.
I have (had) a bad knee. My left knee was numb on one side and the rest of it hurt most of the time. If I strained it on a given day, it would hurt A LOT all day until I slept. In the morning it would most often feel better, but not great. Then, if it didn't feel better in the morning, it would hurt all day that day also. Maybe the next morning it would be better, and so on.

I was in Omaha on an Urban Plunge (Try it!), and we spent about four hours pushing heavy shopping carts for food pantry clients, after which my knee was in great pain. I was hoping the pain would go away by morning, but I really didn't believe it would. Sure enough, the next morning it still hurt - just as much as the day before.

After half a morning's activities, including a church service, I was still hurting. Then we went to another church (Salem Baptist) for their service. I remember limping on my way in.

The church was alive with praise. The Holy Spirit was most certainly in attendance.

After an indeterminate time of music and praise, the Pastor began to read from Ephesians 2. When he got to the words "But God . . . !!!!, I noticed my knee did not hurt. It was not numb, in fact, the "normal" numbness was also gone.

IT SHOULD HAVE HURT. I should have been in agony, having been on my feet for a couple of hours by then. But it felt great. In fact, it does not hurt now, two and a half weeks later.

Now I know Lutherans are not supposed to believe in miraculous healings. Well, maybe in principle; but each specific case can be explained away as something naturalistic. "Lutheran faith healing" is oxymoronic. I certainly never would have believed in healing miracles, except in the broadest possible sense.

Until today.

Shoulda written this five days ago

I've decided to become a postitmodernist. I believe nothing that can't be written on a 2x2 piece of paper. And you can't use the back cuz that's where the sticky stuff is.

What comes after postmodern?

A comment on my last post pointed out that aiming at postmodernism is problematic because there isn't a specific target. Exactly true. Nevertheless, I tilt at windmills.

A postmodernist is one who throws out the baby with the bath water, because space is needed to give the baby a bath.

Even though, as a postmodernist would point out, it would be easier, more thorough, quicker, and more permanent to burn my house to the ground, I persist in taking out the trash every Monday.

How to Fly

I threw myself at Existentialism and missed. So now I'm a Lutheran.

I'm taking aim at postmodernism. I have a bad feeling about this.

Big Purple Dinosaur

There's a guy who sits down front at the early service, and you know it when he's there. People usually react to him in one of two ways - they laugh or groan.

He sings loud; and off key; and off tempo. Especially when he gets to one of those old favorite hymns, he really lets loose, and sings it the way he always has, the way he has always liked to sing it. It's the way nobody else likes.

But I say that if everybody sang with as much heart as he does, we would have heavenly worship.

How he sings is not about you.

Epidemic

Doctor Jesus was puzzled that so many of his patients were dying. After all, he had diagnosed them correctly and sent them off to the pharmacy with proper prescriptions.

Clearly, the pharmacy was the place to begin investigating.

"Didn't my patients come here to have their prescriptions filled?"

"Well, yes, they did."

"And did you give them their medicine?"

"No, actually, I didn't."

"Why in the world not? Don't you know how sick they are?"

"See, that's just it. I personally don't believe in illness."

"Come again?"

"As far as I'm concerned, everybody is OK. It's really not for me to judge who's sick. Besides, if I keep telling people they're sick, they'll get mad at me. And then they won't come to my pharmacy anymore."

From then on, Jesus told his patients not to go to that pharmacy.

Eyes to See

I have happened upon an anthology of short stories, presently up to two volumes, which carries the title "Eyes to See," and is collected by Bret Lott.
Mr. Lott has collected some wonderful stories by Christian authors. Stuff worth reading. Not the mindless entertainment that seems so popular, but authentically good writing by the likes of Chesterton, Updike, O'Connor, Endo, and many others.
Highly recommended.

She was right

The woman at the Global Mission Event told us that northerners were not free from guilt regarding slavery; nor were people whose ancestors came over after the 13-15th amendments. I qualified for innocence on both counts, but that wasn't good enough for her.
Then I said something about there not being any gospel in it, which in retrospect was a weak attempt at self-justification (aren't they all?).
She was right. She was calling me to repentance; that is always right.
How about this definition - repentance is the rejection of self-justification.

Seven Eleven

Jesus has a new job.

He works at the convenience store.

He hates it.

Preoccupied

For somebody who's totally irrelevant, I sure am busy.