Category: Uncategorized

Happy St. Richard’s Day!

Okay, I know what you’re thinking: Rich has lost it again. His ego has taken over and he has become what the Bible calls, “puffed up” (as in 1 Timothy 6:4 – “he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. . .”). Why else would I call today “St. Richard’s Day” when it clearly is a day named after a real saint, Saint Patrick? Well, I can call it that for a couple reasons.

1. First, because the Bible refers to all Christians as saints. Paul writes to the believers in various churches and addresses them as saints, hagioi in Greek, which can also be translated as “holy ones.” He writes to the saints at Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae, and refers to others at Rome, Corinth, and Thessalonica. Sainthood is not something earned by living a perfect life, or being better than others, but is on account of their faith in Christ. For it is not their own righteousness that is recognized, but the holiness of Jesus Christ himself. You and I are saints by faith in Christ, not by our good works. Sainthood is not a title conferred by a pope or by the vote of a church committee, but a reality lived out in Christ.

Sainthood is not a title conferred by a pope or by the vote of a church committee, but a reality lived out in Christ.

So why do Lutherans still refer to saints such as St. Patrick and, dare I ask it, St. Peter? There are a couple practical answers: the tradition of Church history, and the need to distinguish guys like the biblical Peter from the Peter who works at the fast-food place down the street (or for you fellow Boomers, from “Peter, Paul, and Mary”. . .). But there is also a theological basis. Although our Lutheran Confessions forbid worshiping the saints or praying to them, since there is only one mediator between God and man, who is Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5), they do recognize the value of honoring people who lived lives of exceptional grace and dedication to the Lord. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Article XXI, 4-7 states that we honor the saints for three reasons: 1. To thank God for examples of his mercy, 2. To use the saints as examples for strengthening our faith, and 3. To imitate their faith and other virtues.

Properly understood, then, we are all saints by the grace of God through faith in Christ, and it is good to honor our fellow saints who lived or are still living exemplary lives of faith and service in Christ’s name. So kudos to Patrick and thanks to God for Patrick’s service to the good people of Ireland!

2. There is a second reason I can piggy-back on St. Patrick’s Day and call it St. Richard’s Day, and that is because Ancestry.com has confirmed by my recent DNA test that some of my ancestors were Irish! (Erin go Bragh!) The first Eddys to come to America arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1630 on the last of the Pilgrim ships, The Handmaid. They were from Salisbury, England (maybe that’s why I like Salisbury steak?). But further research indicated our particular branch of the family arrived in the late 1600s from County Antrim in Ireland. This branch settled in New Jersey before moving further west each generation. The DNA test seems to confirm that Irish connection.

But before you picture me wearing green socks and hats or eating corned beef and green cabbage (never green corned beef!), or rooting for the Boston Celtics, I should point out that County Antrim is in Northern Ireland. That’s right: my ancestors were what is called Scotch-Irish, and they were Protestants. And they wore orange, not green.

So now you are likely asking, how can I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day if I’m not actually fully Irish or Roman Catholic? The answer: it’s not Patrick’s or anyone else’s ethnicity I celebrate, but rather his accomplishments of bringing the Gospel to Ireland and, against great opposition, converting almost the entire nation. Oh yeah, and beside that, Patrick wasn’t Irish, nor was he Roman Catholic.

Patrick wasn’t Irish, nor was he Roman Catholic.

There are plenty of sources where you can find the details of his amazing story, but the basic outline is this: Patrick was a Roman-Briton named Patricius who lived in the 5th Century AD. At age 16 he was captured by Irish raiders who took him to Ireland to work as a slave in a pig farm. While slaving, he became a Christian and after six years he escaped and found passage on a boat back to England. He then studied and was ordained as a missionary, and having received a call from God to save the Irish, he returned to the land and people of his slavery and brought them the freedom of Jesus Christ. He became their bishop and spent the rest of his life preaching, teaching, and baptizing them. He wrote his life story, called the Declaration, and a hymn known as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” which is #188 in our Lutheran hymnal (LBW).

So while this was the first St. Patrick’s Day I could celebrate with the assurance I am part Irish (and yes, I did eat some corned beef today – though in keeping with the Germans on my mom’s side, it was with sauerkraut in a Reuben sandwich!), I more importantly I celebrate the assurance I have of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ, whose name and Gospel was proclaimed by a guy named Patrick to the blessing of a nation which remembers him this day – St. Richard’s Day!

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Ephesians 1

We’re now beginning the second full week of Lent, that 40-day period of self-examination, repentance, and preparation for the Church’s public remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is a time to focus on the purpose and cost of Christ’s sacrifice to save us from our sins and their consequences by his taking those sins and their consequences upon himself. In general, Lent is a somber and reflective time.

In general, Lent is a somber and reflective time.

The day before this year’s first Lenten service – Ash Wednesday – I had received word that an old friend had died. His death was not unexpected; in fact he and his wife had asked me to do the service when the time came, and I had met with them twice in preparation for that service. Before those visits, it had been a while since we had met and though he had real difficulty talking due to his illness, the time we spent together was very meaningful to me. I was able to share with him good memories of times we had worked together in several church ministries, and of the impact he had made on me over the years. His death and my memories of him were very much on my mind when I entered the sanctuary to worship on Ash Wednesday.

Worship began with a hymn, followed by silent, public confession of our sins. Then, in keeping with Ash Wednesday traditions around the world, the pastors called us forward to do what gave “Ash Wednesday” its name: they imposed ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. As each one received his or her mark, the pastors proclaimed the words which God spoke in Genesis 3:19, “. . . you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

“. . . you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

As I waited my turn, I watched the pastors impose the ashes and heard them repeat their somber litany. Almost all 300+ people present received the ashes, including infants, toddlers, kids, teens, young adults, and all ages of mature adults up to those in their 90s. As I watched them go forward and heard the pastors pronounce “dustship” (my own word, not a correct Lenten term) on each person, it struck me that every one of them, me included, will one day have his or her own funeral. The passing of my friend and his impending memorial service would not be unique events; the pastors were reminding us that the day will come for all of us when we will return to the dust from which we were formed.

Even though the knowledge of death’s universality was not new to me, and as a pastor I had often preached or read scriptures which proclaimed this fact, on this night it struck me differently. There was something about each person, regardless of age, being reminded of their mortality that was powerful. For an instant I pictured a multitude of funerals, with each person’s life being remembered and grieved over, and I felt overwhelmed with the enormity (look it up) of death and its impact.

It was similar to the feeling I had when I imposed ashes on two previous Ash Wednesdays (once at St. Peter’s in Elk Grove and once at St. George Lutheran in Indiana). On both occasions I found it difficult to get through the ritual: each time it was very moving to stand face-to-face with people who came forward, people of faith, friends and loved ones, and to tell each one, basically, “You’re going to die.” Now, even though this year I didn’t have to say those words, the thought of each person having a funeral was still quite sobering.

Even if I were called upon to conduct funerals for everyone there that night (at least until my own service!) it would be just a fraction of what another Lutheran pastor once actually did. The Rev. Martin Rinkart was pastor in Eilenburg, Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. In 1637 a severe plague struck the town and thousands died. Even though many – including the other pastors – fled to escape the disease, Martin Rinkart stayed behind, ministering to the people in their distress and burying over 4,000 of them, including his own wife and daughter. I can’t imagine his grief or his spiritual strength to endure what he did. Yet in spite of what he went through, he wrote the hymn, “Now thank we all our God”!

How could Pastor Rinkart endure what he did? The same way we can accept the ashes on our foreheads and hear, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s about faith. We can accept the challenge of death because we know there is a lot more to the story.

We can accept the challenge of death because we know there is a lot more to the story.

If Genesis 3 is where death is pronounced on mankind because of our sin, the entire remainder of the Bible is about God’s plan of salvation to redeem us from the curse of the Law and its sentence of death and judgment.

Lent begins with the reality of sin and death, but it doesn’t end there. For after this period of recognizing our sinfulness and mortality, the season ends with God himself doing what only he could do – and sacrifice his own Son on the Cross for our forgiveness and immortality. The Christian faith is not a cult of death; it is a movement that proclaims life – new life, eternal life – as a gift from the God who created us and gave us life in the first place. Through faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice we receive forgiveness and become children of God (John 1:12).

Therefore, no matter what happens to us now, no matter when our own memorial is held or when we return to the dust which we once were, we will live again. On the way to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, Jesus told Lazarus’ sister Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes and me, though he dies, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26) When Jesus arrived at his friend’s grave, he wept briefly, and then called out with authority, “Lazarus, come out!” and out walked the man who had been dead.

The day will come when Jesus will call out the names of those who went forward on Ash Wednesday

The day will come when Jesus will call out the names of those who went forward on Ash Wednesday – me included – along with all who hope in the Lord, and we too will rise from the dead, never more to be dust, fully clothed in immortality. For if we were anointed with ashes to remind us of our deaths, so also at our baptisms we were anointed with the water of life. As you go forward through the coming weeks, may you remember even in your most somber moments, that those who live and believe in Jesus Christ will never truly die, but will have eternal life!

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: John 11:1-44

Language is important. Whether spoken, written, or signed, it is how we understand ourselves and the world around us, and it is what we use to convey meaning to each other. Language is how God communicates with us, as evident in the Holy Scriptures. When God wanted to stop mankind’s building of the Tower of Babel, he confused their language; when he poured out his Spirit on the believers at Pentecost He empowered them to speak other languages. Yes, language is very important; it is an essential part of being human.

In the Church, language is very important, as well. We use language in the Scripture lessons, in our music, in the announcements, and in our sermons (sometimes, we use a lot of language in our sermons!). We also have a number of special words and terms which we traditionally use in the Church to designate concepts and things that are important to the faith. Examples of theological words we use are: grace, faith, works, salvation, propitiation, expiation, vicarious atonement, incarnation, etc. This terminology (sometimes called “Churchese” or “Christianese”) also extends to seasons in the Church year. Whereas the world talks about spring, summer, fall and winter, we speak of different seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.

This special language is good and useful, in that it helps us remember and understand God’s saving work for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the work of His Holy Spirit in sanctifying us (another Church word!). It also provides stability and comfort through the meaning of those terms. But sometimes those terms can confuse or hide the truths to which they refer, especially when they are used without explanation. New Christians may be baffled by our using terms which we know but they have not yet learned, as might people who come from Christian churches and traditions that don’t use such terminology.

We are now in the Church season of Lent, a season that is full of such special language. While I enjoy hearing and using those old, familiar terms, I realize that not everyone is familiar with them. Several people have asked what certain words mean, so I decided it might be good to use my first blog article in this year’s Lenten season to explain some terms:

Lent: The season of the Church year which begins 46 days before Easter. It consists of 40 days of Lent and the six Sundays during that period. Technically, the Sundays are not part of Lent. The 40 days mirror the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by Satan. For Christians, this is a season for self-examination, repentance (see below), and prayer as we consider Christ’s death for our sins. The name, “Lent,” comes from the word, “lengthen,” which refers to this time of year when we move from winter to spring. The daylight portion of our days “lengthens” and the darkness retreats, which is also symbolic of Christ whose light has come into the world. As Scripture says about Christ’s coming, “The people living in darkness have seen a great light.” (Matthew 4:16 quoting Isaiah 9:2) and Jesus said about himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Fasting: To give up or go without something for a period of time as a spiritual discipline. This also reflects what Jesus did in the wilderness when he went without eating or drinking for those 40 days. Common things people fast from include: smoking, drinking, chocolate, other foods, watching TV, etc. Things not to fast from include work, school, going to church, bathing, etc. I considered fasting from my blog during Lent, but there are just too many things to write about!

Repentance: A change in attitude and behavior in which one turns from sin and turns to God. This deserves further comment another time.

Ash Wednesday: The first day of Lent, which this year was March 1st, is traditionally observed by the “imposition” (putting on) of ashes on worshipers’ foreheads as a sign of sorrow and penitence for one’s sins. The pastor says to the people as they receive the ashes, “Dust you are and to dust you will return,” (Genesis 3:19) as a reminder of their mortality. “Stay tuned” for more about this year’s Ash Wednesday in my next post.

Maundy Thursday: (Not Monday-Thursday!) Maundy comes from the Latin word, “Mandatum” which means “commandment,” in honor of Jesus saying at the Last Supper, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.” This is the Thursday just before Easter and commemorates Christ’s final meal with his disciples before he was crucified. It was at this supper that Jesus instituted Holy Communion.

Good Friday: This was the day Jesus Christ “was crucified, died, and was buried” for our sake, taking our sins upon himself that we might be forgiven.  By his death, Christ won the victory over sin, death, and the devil and won for us eternal life. This was what made it “Good” Friday: it was good for us.

The Lenten Sentence: Throughout most of the year, we sing the “Alleluia” just before the reading of the Gospel. During Lent we sing the “Lenten Sentence,” which quotes Joel 2:13, “Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

I hope this helps clarify some of the language of Lent for you. But above all, remember that the true language of Lent is love;

Remember that the true language of Lent is love.

it is God’s great love for you and me that provided us with a Savior in the person of his own Son. May you be blessed by God’s love in your Lenten journey!

May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, may the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 4:1-11

The doctor looked up from the printed test results, and with a somber but kindly visage spoke those dreaded words: “I’m sorry to have to tell you, but it is cancer. I would suggest getting your affairs in order, just in case.”

As I sat in the doctor’s waiting room, those were the words I was afraid I might be hearing when I finally got in to see him. Those were the words that had been playing in my head over the entire previous week, ever since I had made the appointment to see him about The Lump.

It had all begun about two weeks earlier when a feral kitten showed up at our porch’s sliding door. It was soooo cute, but it wanted nothing to do with us. Not to be deterred, I began to “chum” the cat with offerings of food, which I placed closer and closer to the door as the kitten got bolder and bolder. Exulting in my cleverness (over a cat) I opened the sliding door and laid a food trail into the house. It took a few tries, but finally my plan worked: the kitten was in the house! I quickly slid the door shut to trap it, but it freaked out and after slamming itself against the glass slider two or three times, it tore off through the house and into the attached garage.

I went into the garage and searched for where the kitten had hidden itself. I finally found it in a large, upright and open-topped cardboard box which held a few tools and sticks. Now I had it! At which point I did the second most stupid thing I have ever done, which was to reach down into the box and pick up the little cutie (i.e., a feral carnivore with razor-sharp teeth and claws) with my bare left hand. The feral carnivore latched onto my hand and proceeded to shred everything below my wrist that was capable of bleeding. Within seconds, I had thirty wounds dripping blood as the little beast continued to bite and claw. That was when I did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

That was when I did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

Even though I now knew what the little feral carnivore could do, I grabbed it with my unprotected, bare right hand to pull it off my bleeding left hand. Of course, now the cute little kitten latched onto my right hand and did the same to it (though you think it would have been full after feasting on the first hand!). Now I had two bleeding hands. Showing great moral restraint I restrained from “euthenizing” either the kitten (or myself) and tossed it back into the cardboard box.

A few minutes later, Animal Control arrived. The officer saw my hands and smiled (yes, she smiled!), put on heavy leather gloves, and pulled the feral monster out of the box without further incident.

Within a week of that traumatic event, I noticed I had a Lump in my left arm, above the elbow and fairly deep. The Lump grew some, and after several days of ignoring it and hoping it would just go away (which are good, manly things to do) I began to get worried. I called the doctor, but the earliest time he had free was a full week later. I made the appointment and went about my normal schedule.

Only, I couldn’t stop thinking, or worrying, about The Lump. I convinced myself it must be cancer. (I grew up watching TV ads from the American Cancer Society – “The Seven Warning Signs of Cancer” – and had just about memorized the list: difficulty in swallowing – right now, just try to swallow three times without any food or drink! – , a sore that does not heal, a persistent cough, a Lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere, etc.) Notice the Lump. I imagined the doctor telling me I had only so long to live, and thought through what that would mean in the time I had left.

What would I have to give up right away? What would I do as long as I could? What would they have to pry my cold dead fingers from? In my last blog post, I talked about giving up books and other physical stuff; but as I considered my mortality, I began to prioritize my activities.

You see, at that time I had a lot less stuff and a lot more activities. Besides my work as executive director of a youth-serving multi-agency which required monthly meetings with four boards of directors, I worked with the local United Way which funded our organization, was an active member of a local service club, was president of a statewide mineral chapter, served as Sunday school superintendent, led group discussions for Bible Study Fellowship, represented work at community events, and was taking seminary courses part-time in extension. Oh yeah, and I was (and am still) married. There was more, but you get the idea. I was swamped with things I wanted to do, and with things I was obligated to do for work. What would I do if I got the death sentence?

What would I do if I got the death sentence?

I took out a sheet (a large sheet) of paper and made several columns with headings like, “Give up in a heartbeat”,”Phase out soon”,”Do as long as I can”, and “Pry my dead fingers from.” (Okay, maybe the words were a little different, but you get the idea.) Then, down the side I listed all the things I was doing or was involved in – everything that was part of my life including daily work, church attendance, sports (tennis and swimming), and even my marriage. Then I proceeded to make a check mark in the appropriate column for each activity or involvement. The result was a prioritized list of what I would give up should I get a bad diagnosis, and what would be the last things to go, and then only at my death.

When I finished prioritizing the list, I sat back and examined it. What I realized was that there were only two real priorities: my wife and my Lord, Jesus Christ. The only things I would continue until the end (beside my marriage) were those that had to do with my faith: church, Bible study, and seminary classes. That was it. Everything else would go. This exercise was an eye-opener to me, because most of my time and energy was taken up by all those other things that I would have given up long before what mattered the most.

Those prioritizing results – and the expected news that would start the winnowing process in motion – were going through my head as I sat in the doctor’s waiting room. Finally, they called me into the exam room. When the doctor finally came in, I told him my concern. He looked serious as he felt The Lump. Then he grabbed my left hand and began examining it. I asked why, since The Lump was further up the arm, and he said he was looking for a sore on my hand. I showed him there was one small sore not yet healed from my feral, monster cat death-match. He smiled (yes, he smiled, too) and said that answered what he needed to know. The Lump, he said, was a swollen lymph gland fighting the infection, which since it was caused by the cat, was Cat-Scratch Fever (not the song, but a real disease). He prescribed an antibiotic, and before long, the sore healed and The Lump disappeared.

All that worry for nothing! Well, not for nothing. The infection did have to be treated, but even more than that, God used the incident to help me focus on what was important in my life and therefore what should be important in my living. Because now the question that came to me was, “If I would drop all these items from my life if I were terminal, why am I doing them all now, when I’m not?” Or, more correctly, since we are all terminal, but just don’t know when that date may be, “Why am I doing all those things, knowing my time on earth is finite?”

“Why am I doing all those things, knowing my time on earth is finite?”

Good question. I did begin to back off certain activities and involvements, freeing up time for the more important things and reducing stress from unneeded obligations. And more importantly, God used this crisis to confirm my future path into full-time seminary and ministry. You know,  I never really missed any of the things I gave up, and I can tell you that even today, my priorities remain what they were when I had The Lump, for I know what in my life would be the last things to go.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be grace to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

 

 

 

 

Back in the early 1970’s when I was doing my undergraduate degree in Applied Behavioral Science, one of the popular approaches to working with people was called “values clarification.” This technique was intended to help people think through what was important to them – in other words, to “clarify their values” – by giving them scenarios which required them to make hard choices. Those decisions would reveal their values, ethics, morals, etc. One example of such a “forced-decision” problem was the lifeboat which would hold only so many people, and there is one person too many needing to be rescued; who has to be left behind, and why? Another less brutal example was which vehicle would you buy: a sports car, a pickup truck, a station wagon (yes, we had station wagons back then), or a cheap gas-miser? And then, explain why you chose what you did.

Well, this past week we saw a forced-choice exercise played out for real here in Northern California, when an overflowing Oroville reservoir began to seriously erode the integrity of the dam’s main and auxiliary spillways. Fearing an imminent and catastrophic failure of the auxiliary spillway – and a resulting 30-foot wall of water – the sheriffs in the threatened downstream counties ordered mandatory evacuations. Suddenly, over 100,000 people had to grab what they could and “get out of Dodge” right away. So what did they grab? What was vital, valuable, or irreplaceable? What could be abandoned to the flood waters or maybe looters? What would they hold onto tightly, and what would they not even miss? But even a tougher question is this: which of two important, valued items would they take if they could only take one? And all those questions had to be answered right now!

In a way, I am going through that same exercise myself, though as far as I know I have a little more time to answer such questions, and far more latitude as far as what I can keep. The situation my wife and I are facing can be summed up in one 3-word phrase:

“too much stuff.”

First, there is the accumulation of the usual things people gather over 42 years of marriage: furniture, appliances, clothes, tools, etc. Then there’s my rock collection which we moved here from the Midwest 22 years ago (Overheard from the people who helped us unload the truck when we arrived: “What do you have in these boxes, rocks?” To which we answered, “Yes.”). There’s camping equipment. There’s my wife’s babysitting toys and Christmas ornament collection. And then, there’s my books.

Ah yes, my books. Hundreds – no, thousands – of books. I own enough books, non-fiction mainly, in enough categories of knowledge that should civilization collapse and the power grid go permanently down, mankind could recreate civilization from my library alone. (I once saw an episode of “Hoarders” where one of the hoarders claimed the same civilization-preserving value for his massive hoard of books. I actually got nervous watching him . . . he sounded a little too much like me!) History, geology, mineralogy, paleontology, zoology, herpetology, math, languages (ancient and modern), religion, and classic literature – you name it, and I probably have a book about it.

Even so, my library might have been manageable in our 13 bookcases and 8′ X 10′ floor-to-ceiling shelves covering an entire wall, except for two significant events: first, my retirement which meant bringing home my theology books and Bible commentaries from my church office (7 bookcases worth) and second, a roof leak which destroyed the wall behind the floor-to-ceiling shelves and required that they be torn out. Suddenly, we are buried in stacks and boxes of books in every room of the house.

About which my wife has been extremely patient (the archaic word for it, “long-suffering,” somehow comes to mind). She long ago gave up any claim on our bookshelves for her books, and switched to reading on her Kindle instead. Love does that.

Love also confronts us with reality,

and so it was that Karen raised the question while watching the Oroville evacuations on TV: “What if the levees protecting our area broke and we had to evacuate immediately? What would we save?” That was a tough question, and a situation I hope we never have to face, but it’s one that we need to answer . . . before the call to evacuate comes.

A full discussion of what to grab could get into issues of “prepping,” go-bags, and zombie apocalypses, all of which are beyond the scope of this article (though I probably have books about them). For me right now, just focusing on the question of which books I would save is enough. What would I do?

I think I would try to save the books that to me are irreplaceable: really old books (some are 150-200 years old), books signed by the authors, gift books from friends, a few special books I really like, and a Bible. Most other books are replaceable, though if I lost them I wouldn’t necessarily spend money to replace them, since I got them for free or almost free.

But as soon as I make that list of books-to-save, the question then arises: “If I am willing to lose the other books in an emergency, then why am I holding on to them now, when there isn’t?”

As I thought about the book-saving dilemma, it occurred to me that it is a metaphor for much of life: we are all holding onto things – material, behavioral, and relational – that take up room, time, energy, and financial resources. Can we really afford the cost? What do we have to give up in order to hold onto them? Why are we holding onto those things? Are they good and helpful things, or do they corrupt and bring us down? Are we only keeping those things out of habit and not out of choice? What would our life be like if we could sit down and plan what we want it to be?

Unlike our values-clarification exercises or my book-choosing dilemma, the life questions of what we would keep and what we would give up are really important, because we all are facing a time-limit on our lives, when all the things we own and do will be swept away in the great spillway break called death. We don’t know when that will come for any of us, but it will come. Before it does,

now is the time to assess how we are spending our time and ask ourselves what we would keep, and what we would give up, if we knew our time here was short.

And so I ask you, are you living as a faithful steward (manager) of what God has given you? Are you using your time, energy, finances, and abilities to help and bless others? Are you working in whatever you do for the Lord, rather than for yourself? Are you praising God and proclaiming Jesus Christ? And is there something you can give up that is standing in your way, keeping you from serving Christ as you know you could? These are questions worth asking, answering, and acting upon!

And as for my books, I need to remember the words of our Lord in Matthew 6:19-21, where he said we are not to lay up treasures on earth where they can be destroyed or stolen, but rather in heaven, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Ecclesiastes 12:12

P.S. Karen just read this and asked, “So, does this mean you’ll actually start getting rid of some of your books now?” We’ll see . . .

 

 

 

Doctrine really does matter.

My only hesitancy to use the word “doctrine” in the title of this article is the fact that the term has fallen out of favor when it comes to describing the Christian faith. To use it in my title may discourage potential readers because the topic of doctrine sounds dry and academic, or even obsolete. (But since you’ve read this far, at least you haven’t been scared off, so stick with me!)

You hear people say things like, “I don’t get hung up on doctrines and creeds; just give me Jesus!” “Doctrines divide but love unites,” and “I have no creed but the Bible.”  Of course, when you ask them who Jesus is, what love is, why being united is a good thing, and what does the Bible teach, their responses are by definition doctrinal. It’s like the postmodern statement that there is no objective truth, which is in itself a statement seeking to proclaim objective truth.

And then there’s the clever but absolutely horrible statement, “My karma ran over your dogma!” a nonsense comment which is meant to put down Western religion (that is, Christianity) which is based on propositional truth (dogma or doctrine) given by a personal God, in favor of eastern religions which are based on feelings and emptiness of self in favor of an impersonal force (karma). I would prefer to say, “My dogma chased your karma!” (Which makes no sense either, but I had to say it.)

So why does doctrine matter? There are several reasons which make doctrine important in our lives (beyond answering for us the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin).

1. Doctrine matters because God has revealed himself to us doctrinally. The Scriptures teach us about God, about ourselves and our need for salvation, and about our Savior, Jesus Christ. There are direct propositional statements such as “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” “God is love,” “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “Jesus came to save sinners,” among many others. The fool says in his heart “There is no God,” (Psalm 53:1) but I think it’s also foolish to believe there is a God but not want to know or believe anything specific  about him.
   

   We cannot read God’s Word without encountering and depending on doctrinal statements to understand what he has said about himself and our salvation.

2. Doctrine matters because it has defined the Church and is the expression of the Church’s faith and beliefs. Without doctrine there is no Church, and conversely, the Church has developed and affirmed doctrines based on what God has spoken through Scripture. The very term “Trinity” and the doctrines around it, for example, were created by the Church to explain and better understand what the Bible teaches about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and their unity as one God. That testimony of believers who have faithfully studied and interpreted the Bible has produced the key doctrines which have been taught by the Church throughout the world.
   

   Without doctrine there is no true Church united in faith – just social groups of friends holding potlucks and weekly sing-a-longs.

3. Doctrine matters because we are saved by grace through faith. Faith plays a huge part in our salvation; what we believe is greater than what we do when it comes to being forgiven and inheriting eternal life. In fact, Christian doctrine affirms what the Scriptures teach, that we are justified before God by our faith and not by our works. Romans 3:28 says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” The faith referred to includes belief in a certain person, Jesus Christ, but also in certain doctrines about who Jesus is and what he has done for us. True saving faith has content: it believes something, specifically that Jesus has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2), that he is Lord and was raised from the dead (Romans 10:9-10), that he and the Father are one (John 10:30), that he was crucified to save us from our sins (Galatians 2:20), and that he is the Christ and the Son of God (Matthew 16:15-18).
   

   Believing that there was a man named Jesus who was a good, moral teacher is not enough. Our doctrine about him matters eternally!

4. Doctrine matters because it affects how we live. Years ago one of my relatives married a man that she had reservations about because she believed that Christ’s return was imminent and that the Lord wanted her (and him) to be married before that happened. Her doctrines of the end times and of marriage led her to make a decision and do something she later regretted: their marriage ended before too many years, and twenty years later Christ has still not returned. There are other examples from history, current events, and our own lives that we can give of doctrine shaping behavior:
   • The Pilgrims sailed to America (even losing almost half their number within a few months of landing) because their doctrines were different from those of the Church of England, which persecuted them for having different doctrines.
   • Today, there are many Islamists who are committing acts of terror because of their doctrines about religious law, life after death, and the Koran. There are also Christians who are suffering persecution and even martyrdom because they believe Jesus is Lord and will not renounce him even at the threat of death.
   • And then there’s us: how we live and the decisions we make are guided or at least influenced by what we believe. Do we believe God condemns cheating on our taxes, messing with the neighbor’s spouse, and gossiping and therefore avoid doing those things? What do we spend our money on, and how much do we give to the Lord’s work in our local church? Do we volunteer to help the poor or the homeless? Do we really believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one goes to the Father except through him (John 14:6) – and does that doctrine move us to tell others about him for their sake? And do we look forward to Christ’s return and heaven because of his atoning death and resurrection? How we answer those and many other similar questions, and how we behave reveal the doctrines we actually hold to be true.

What are your doctrines? What do you believe to be true about God, yourself, and life? Why are you here (I mean on earth, not on my blog site)? What does eternity hold for you, and why? I encourage you to set aside some time to examine your beliefs – your doctrines – to know what you believe and assess whether your actions are consistent with what you say is true.

James (2:18) said, “I will show you my faith by my works.” So what doctrines are you showing by your actions?

Study your Bible and the great creeds and confessions of the Church which explain the Scriptures. Worship where those truths are rigorously upheld and taught. And then live accordingly, knowing that doctrine really matters, for you and for everyone you impact. And may the Holy Spirit enlighten and strengthen you in the true faith through God’s own Word, because . . .

Doctrine really matters!

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: John 20:30-31

 

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, which got me thinking about the part that superstitions play in our “modern” and “enlightened” times. Even though we use the term “superstitious” in a derogatory sense, we still have many superstitions today.

In Part One of my musings on that topic, I wrote that there are, generally speaking, two kinds of superstitions. The first, which I called “omens,” are those things we believe will give us special knowledge that is otherwise unknowable; such methods seem to inform us through some occult or supernatural activity. I suggested that believing a groundhog (especially one in Punxatawney, Pennsylvania) can forecast the next six weeks of weather for us is a mild example of an “omen.” I also wrote that seeking hidden knowledge through Ouija boards and seances is a much more dangerous – and biblically forbidden – activity. (The Ouija board was popular during World War I, as families sought to learn how their soldier sons and husbands were doing in far-away France. The name was invented by combining the French and German words for “yes” – oui and ja. It was believed that spirits would relay the information – definitely forbidden by God!)

But besides the superstitions that people have which purport to give them information which they can then use in some normal manner, there are also those superstitions which claim to control or exert some influence upon reality. It is this second category of superstition to which we will now turn our attention.

2. The second  type of superstition  is what I would call, the “magic” type. Of course, by “magic” I don’t mean the amazing illusions or tricks you see “magicians” perform. I mean more like the, “If you step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back” kind of superstition my grade-school friends and I repeated aloud while we stepped from one sidewalk section to the next. Somehow, we were afraid that our action would actually cause our moms some harm; or at least, we weren’t taking any chances!

Magic superstitions can be intended to protect someone, such as by avoiding stepping on cracks, or intended to cause harm,  such as by sticking pins in voodoo dolls. But mostly, people follow them in order to gain some benefit or advantage for themselves. Gamblers blow on their dice and recite a certain “good luck” phrase before casting them, believing it will cause the right number to come up; a high school friend of mine swore you could get rid of warts by cutting a potato in half and burying it during a full moon; and even I sometimes think I can keep it from raining by carrying my umbrella with me (though there may be some truth to this last example . . .)

But the “Super Bowl” of people following magic superstitions can be found surrounding, well, the Super Bowl. By this Sunday, I predict great numbers of Americans will have pulled out all the stops when it comes to acting superstitiously. They will: wear special victory clothing such as team shirts and caps; they will sit in their favorite chair for reasons other than comfort or handy cup-holders; they will invite over certain good luck friends and avoid the others; they will eat certain foods and drinks in a certain order; they will try to avoid jinxing their team by saying things like, “We’ve got this won!”; and they will either clutch their Tom Brady bobble-head to their bosom, or rip its head off. All done to somehow actually influence the course of the game. As I asked yesterday, do opposing superstitions cancel each other out? If the fans of both teams do or avoid the same things, then who wins?

Logical paradoxes are not the worst thing about magic superstitions. The worst thing is that they are attempts to play God, or to force God to do what we want him to do. This was the religion of the Baal worshipers in ancient Israel (and actually of all pagans). They sought to influence the “gods” of nature by their actions, doing things like what they wanted to make happen, as if by doing them their gods would have to use their powers to effect a good outcome. Fertility cults existed to increase crops, livestock, and children; war gods like Mars were worshiped by purifying soldiers’ weapons and trumpets; and children were offered in sacrifices as “seeds” for Molech to give more children in return. In magic, people sought – and still seek – to be God, giving in again to the first temptation made by the devil to our first ancestors in the Garden.

The biblical faith, the faith which the true God desires from us, is a submission to him and to his will. It is about trusting God alone for all our provision and for all good things. While he does invite us to pray to him and bring our needs to him, we recognize that he is not some genie in a lamp that we can command to obey us, but rather the all- powerful and sovereign God of the universe who has all authority. He is not bound by our superstitious actions, nor by the eloquence of our prayers. He does not have to grant our wishes because we make the sign of the cross when we ask him. He gives us good things because he loves us and desires good for us. Jesus himself taught us about our heavenly Father, saying,

“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11)

Martin Luther addressed this in his Large Catechism when he explained the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Luther wrote that we must recognize that all good things come from God, and that to attribute them to anyone or anything else is to break that commandment. This accords with James 1:7, which says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Ultimately, the greatest gift which God has given us is his own Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we receive forgiveness of our sins and eternal life.

What does this all mean for a Christian? It means we look to God alone for what we need to know. He has given us the mental abilities to understand and appreciate much of the world he created, and in his Word he has revealed to us many precious things about himself and his plan for our salvation. But some things are hidden, mostly for our own good. In those areas, such as the future, we must just trust God and not seek to supplement what he has revealed by seeking other forbidden sources for answers. It also means that we recognize that he is God and we are not. We are not to play God by trying to manipulate reality by magical means. Instead, we pray to God repeatedly in every circumstance, but then we have to trust him and say, as our Lord said in Gethsemane,

“Not my will, but yours be done.” (Matthew 26:39)

So when it comes to Sunday’s Super Bowl, will I go through some magical ritual to help one team win? No. Will I pray about the game? Yes – but only that no one is injured. (After all, my team didn’t make it!)

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 7:1-11

Happy Groundhog Day . . . or not . . . depending on how much credence you give to Punxatawney Phil, the famous groundhog who did indeed see his shadow this morning. As happens every year, crowds gather on Gobbler’s Knob in the town of Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, to watch the rodent come out of his burrow. And, as the tradition goes, if he sees his shadow on February 2nd, it means we’re in for another six weeks of winter. Or at least, Punxatawney, Pennsylvania is. How accurate is he? According to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (seriously?) he’s been right only 21% of the time. Not that good for an enduring superstition, considering the odds are 50/50.

But Phil is not the only superstition that people are dealing with right now; it is after all, Super Bowl week. Talk about superstitions! It seems everyone has a certain ritual to perform, a certain shirt or outfit to wear, certain foods to eat or a special chair to sit upon to ensure their team wins. They’re afraid to say certain things that might “jinx” their team. And that’s just the players we’re talking about! When it comes to fans watching the game (or not, if watching might jinx your team) the rituals and traditions are all over the place. Of course, I always wonder how it works: if all the superstitions are true, who wins, given that fans and players on both sides are doing them?

I’m glad to say I’m above such things (though I may have jinxed the Packers by loaning my cheesehead to a fellow Packers fan at church just before the NFC playoff).

In some cases, such superstitions are harmless fun. In Punxatawney, for example, it’s a tourist draw and a matter of civic pride for which the leaders play dress-up with top hats and long coats. I think hardly anyone actually believes the groundhog is a real prognosticator. But, unfortunately, many people are caught up in other superstitions which affect their lives, their decision-making, their finances, their families, and even their relationship with God.

This is especially surprising to see in today’s Western world, which supposedly left its superstitious beliefs back in the Dark Ages. People refuse to believe in God because “it isn’t scientific” to put faith in what we cannot see, yet they buy lottery tickets or read horoscopes or give offerings to “earth spirits.”

Superstitions come in two broad categories.

1. First, there is what I call, the “omen” type. This includes attempts to discern knowledge in ways beyond our senses and reason, such as with horoscopes, Ouija boards, I Ching sticks, Tarot cards, fortune tellers, seances, and yes, even groundhogs. It’s not that wanting to know things is bad; after all, we study the Bible to learn about God and science to learn about what he has created. The former is commanded by Scripture itself: (Psalm 111:12, Acts 17:11) and the latter reveals God’s power and divine nature through what he has made (Romans 1:20). The problem comes when we seek knowledge in ways which God has forbidden us to use. And God has clearly commanded us to avoid such occult sources: “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

While the things which God forbids sound extreme compared with something seemingly harmless like reading a daily horoscope, the two are actually of a similar nature. In either case, a person is seeking answers and directions for life decisions by putting some other authority above God. He wants us instead to look to him in prayer. Notice that it doesn’t matter if the forbidden source happens to yield information that is true; we are still to avoid seeking knowledge in that way. In fact, it can be especially dangerous when a forbidden source comes through with accurate answers, because then we trust it even more and can put ourselves into its bondage.

There is a classic episode of the Twilight Zone called “Nick of Time” in which a young couple’s car breaks down in a small town. While they wait for it to be repaired, they hang out in the local diner where the booth has a penny-operated “fortune-telling” machine that spits out cards with answers to the couple’s questions. The fact that there was a devil’s head on the machine should have been their first clue not to get involved! But they do, at first for entertainment, but then in growing fear and dependency on the machine as the answers it gives prove to be true, one right after another. Finally they realize the machine was coming to control them and they break away from its bondage and escape the town. On their way out, they pass an elderly couple who are coming into the diner with a handful of pennies, obviously still in such bondage.

Isaiah 8:19 says, “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?”

It’s not that God cannot use various means to make his will known for us. The Bible does tell us that he has done so, such as when the apostles selected a replacement for the deceased Judas Iscariot: they cast lots and prayed for God to reveal his choice between two qualified candidates. We believe God did answer their prayer. But that was before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and before the writing of the New Testament Scriptures; now we seek answers in God’s Word through the guidance of his Spirit.

The second type of superstition is what I would call the “magic” type. It includes all attempts to influence or control the outcome of events and things by rituals that we do. This is the kind of superstition which will be rampant around the Super Bowl, and it is the kind of superstition which I will address tomorrow in my next post, “Of Groundhogs and Other Superstitions: Part Two”.

Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Deuteronomy 13:1-3

 

Our church’s monthly newsletter has a page called, “This ‘n That” which provides the pastors a space to post announcements of upcoming events, give short summaries of recent developments, congratulate people, offer condolences, and list people who need prayers for healing. It is a helpful way to communicate important matters to the members in a succinct manner.

I found it very useful, which is why I’m beginning a similar “page” for my blog. I’m calling it, “Odds & Ends” (to avoid copyright infringement?). I don’t know how often it will appear, but whenever I accumulate a few things to tell you which don’t warrant an entire article, I’ll stick them in “Odds & Ends” and pass them along. I hope you will find these short comments useful and interesting.

1. The Bible translation I am using the most in my blog citations is the English Standard Version (ESV). It follows in the long tradition of the King James Version/ASV/RSV while taking advantage of recent textual discoveries and updated language. Before switching to the ESV I used the NIV because it was very comfortable and understandable, but its tendency to play loose at times with its translations, plus the decision of the copyright holder to forbid public use of the NIV from any editions before 2011, led me to make the switch. (Besides, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want” (ESV), just sounds better than “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (NIV). I know my preference is subjective and not a rigorous scholarly opinion, but it is after all my blog!
2. You may have noticed that except for my first post, I have not been capitalizing the personal pronouns which refer to the Deity. This is not to show any lack of respect or honor for God, but to be consistent with both the modern English translations which I cite (such as the ESV) and the Hebrew and Greek biblical texts from which those translations are made. Pronouns such as he, his, him, and himself are not capitalized in the Greek or the Hebrew texts, so using lower case letters is actually more scripturally accurate.
3. The Bibles pictured in the heading on my blog pages are from my own library. While I was looking online for stock images of books to place in the header and portray my interest in reading, my wife asked me why I didn’t just take a picture of my own books since I had so many to choose from. It was one of those “duh!” moments. She was right of course, so I got out the camera and took the picture you see. We like how it turned out, and besides . . . no royalties! (Unless you want to use it, then let’s talk . . .)
4. Besides writing my blog and trying to assimilate the books from my church office into my home library, I’m also finishing work on my second book, which has the working title of Raising Ebenezers: Recognizing God’s Miracles in Your Life. I was almost done with it until I taught a course on miracles at church and realized there were a few more things to be added to the book. By the way, Ebenezer means “stone of help,” and refers to a stone that Samuel erected to commemorate God’s help in defeating the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:12). Watch for news of publication when it’s done!

Until next time, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.

Read: 1 Samuel 7:5-14

Over the years, long before I headed off to seminary at the age of 40, I found certain passages and books of the Bible to be especially exciting and interesting. While there were too many to list all of them here, they included the Great Flood of Noah’s day, the plagues of Egypt leading to the Exodus, the collapse of Jericho’s walls, Gideon’s victory over the Midianites, David’s killing of Goliath, Elijah’s defeat of the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, and most of the book of Daniel. In the New Testament I enjoyed the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke, Jesus’ miracles, and most of the book of Revelation. You can probably detect a pattern here: God’s power demonstrated in dramatic events which delivered his people and defeated his enemies. The sort of things we would expect from a mighty and holy God!

Those passages and others like them still appeal to me a lot. But since then, largely as a result of my pastoral ministry, study, and life experiences, I have also come to appreciate “quieter” passages, especially those that speak of faith.

Faith – also called belief and trust – is the essential fact and requirement of a Christian’s life. Without it, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6); through it God justifies us (Romans 3:28) and saves us by his grace (Ephesians 2:8). But it’s important to note from the start that biblical faith requires an object of that faith. Unlike what is portrayed in popular movies and television shows, true faith is not some personal spiritual quality which we create or conjure up to give us an optimistic view of the future. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is not a feeling; it is an assurance of something specific. Ultimately, faith is belief in the greatest “unseen” reality, and that is in God himself.

In pondering faith and its meaning and applications, I have found three verses to be especially helpful and motivating. You could call them a “Trifecta of Trust.” They are more than just any three verses from among many that could be chosen; these verses impacted me at different times in my life, and they represent to me ascending levels of trust in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ.  They are as follows:

The first verse is about believing there is a God, specifically the God who revealed himself to us in the Bible. While there are many verses that call on us to believe in God, the one that first impacted me as a teenager was my confirmation verse,

John 1:12, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

This verse speaks specifically about Christ and promises a blessing attached to faith in him and in God. As a young believer, I knew that God was real and I believed in Jesus by name. I also appreciated that he accepted me as his child (though at the time I wrongly saw this adoption as a future event; in my mind, the “right to become” a child of God did not mean I was there yet.)

In its context, this verse contrasts the unbelief and rejection which Christ faced from his own people, to God’s adoption of those who receive his Son. For the reality is that most of the world then and now rejects our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who reject him will in turn be rejected by God, for the promise of salvation in John 3:16 is followed by the warning of John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Paul adds in Romans 1:20 that there is no excuse for such disbelief: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

So the basic requirement of faith is to believe in God. It is the foundation for all that follows, even to eternal life.

The second verse(s) was given to me after I arrived and began my studies at seminary. At that time I was a candidate with a large Lutheran church body, but encountered resistance from the very beginning by that church’s candidacy committee due to my belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. Realizing that I was on the fringe of that denomination and would be constantly at odds with its teachings and leaders, I began to consider alternative Lutheran bodies.

It was a scary time. We had sold our house, quit our jobs, and moved to a different state to attend seminary. I was attending one of the most expensive seminaries in the country, and now on top of that, the idea of leaving a likely placement for an unknown affiliation meant more uncertainty.

After a particularly rough meeting with my candidacy committee, I contacted one of the alternative church bodies I had learned about: The American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC). During a phone conversation with the AALC’s Seminary President, Dr. Norm Lund, we prayed for my discernment. Then Dr. Lund told me to open my Bible to the following verses:

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make straight your paths.”

In that entire Bible which I opened, there was only one passage that was highlighted. I don’t remember highlighting it, nor reading it before that moment. But there it was, standing out from the page in glorious yellow highlight: Proverbs 3:5-6. I knew as I read it that the Lord was making my path straight to where he wanted me: in the AALC. Over the next two years that same passage kept coming to me in books, on a key fob given me by an elderly gentleman usher, and finally on my ordination day banner (and cake!).

It’s one thing to believe there is a God, and even to believe he is your God, but it takes more to follow that God wherever He might lead you. This is especially true when there is no way you can see the situation working out. You accept the promise that the Lord will direct you in the right way, and that the result – his result – will be good.

This is tough to do, because we want to be the masters of our own fate, and to be in charge of where we’re going and what we’re doing. We may turn over some things to God, but everything? Trust in the Lord with all our heart? Seriously? At minimum, we want to understand what is going on and why things are happening to us as they are: “Why me, Lord?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “Why now?”

Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust completely in God, who happens to be the One with all power, all knowledge, and all love, who seeks what is best for us. I think that sounds like a good plan to trust that God knows what he is doing.

Now that I have retired, I have questions about where God will lead. What paths will lie ahead? What all does He want me to do? Those questions are natural, but Karen and I do feel confident that the Lord will make His will for us known, and that we can trust Him for making all our future paths straight. The key to me is two-fold: to trust in God, and to acknowledge Him in everything I do.

Finally, the third verse is one that has become more important to me over time as my ministry has brought me close to people who have remained strong in faith even when horrible things happened to them or their loved ones. They showed a deeper level of faith that trusted God in the worst of times when He did not answer their prayers as they desired. A loved one was not healed; a relationship ended; a job and home were lost. And yet, they still trusted God and worshiped him in spite of their disappointments. The verse which speaks to me about this level of faith – a faith that believes in God when there is no deliverance – is found in the book of Job, and was spoken by Job in the midst of his losses and afflictions. Job questioned why those horrible things had happened to him, who was a righteous man, but he affirmed that his faith did not depend on God’s blessings:

Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him . . .”

Both previous verses contain a promise: John 1:12 promises adoption as God’s children, and Proverbs 3:5-6 promises God’s guidance and assistance. This verse promises nothing to the faithful believer. It requires nothing from God; the believer will trust God no matter what, no matter how badly things turn out. This is an incredibly powerful kind of faith, and the people who show it humble and inspire me.

It was the kind of faith shown by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, who when ordered by King Nebuchadnezzar to bow down before his golden image or face death in a burning fiery furnace, could answer: “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

It was the kind of faith shown in 2015 by the 21 Coptic Christians who were ordered by their Libyan Islamic captors to renounce Christ. They refused, and instead praised Jesus Christ even as they were beheaded. It is the kind of faith being shown by Christians in many places today, who put their faith, and hope, in the true God regardless of their earthly fate.

So where does this leave me? I know I have the first level of faith, that is belief in Jesus Christ. I have learned to trust and rejoice that God directs my paths and I try to trust Him in more and more areas of my life. But of that third level of Job-like trust when there is no deliverance, I’m less confident. I want to have that kind of faith; I just don’t want to face what Job, Shadrach, and the Copts did to prove it. And yet, look at what Jesus went through for me . . .

So where does this leave you . . . ?

 

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Hebrews 11

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, now what do I write about?

That’s what I’ve been asking myself since beginning my blog just four days ago. I felt inspired when I wrote it, am happy with the way it turned out, and appreciate the kind comments of those who first reviewed it. But I understand that a blogger doesn’t stop with just one post; a blogger is supposed to keep writing new posts all the time. So now what do I write about?

This reminds me of when we lived in Indiana. I had begun taking some seminary courses in extension while working at my “day job” as executive director of a large local youth organization. When that job ended in the fall of 1990, my pastor knew I would be available to help out at a local country church, St. George Lutheran in nearby Edinburgh, Indiana, whose pastor had recently died.

I preached for them one Sunday, dressed as Martin Luther and portraying the Reformer and the events by which he helped launch the Protestant Reformation. I guess the message was well received because they invited me back the next week to preach again and lead the service. All right, this was different. Whereas I had written the Luther monologue and had previously presented it at my own church (First Lutheran in Columbus), I hadn’t actually preached a sermon per se.  So I asked myself, “Okay, now what?”

Then I sat down and wrote a sermon. I put into it everything I knew about Jesus Christ and John the Baptist and the Christian faith. I cited numerous scriptures and gave multiple illustrations and the sermon was twice as long as it should have been and it was terrible. When the service ended I felt bad and a bit embarrassed. I said my good-byes, not expecting to see those nice people again.

But then during the week, they called and asked me to come back again. Now I REALLY asked myself, “Okay, now what?” What else could I preach about that I hadn’t already covered the previous Sunday? I was stumped.

During that week I happened to share my anxiety with my sister who was living with us at the time. I said something like, “I don’t know what else to write about; I’ve told them everything!” To which she replied, “What gives you the audacity to think you have exhausted all the riches of God’s grace in one sermon?”

Ouch! She was right. Now, over 22 years of sermons later, I retire knowing I have barely scratched the surface of the riches of God’s grace.

Which brings me to the title of today’s post: “Okay, now what?” I feel like I did after the sermon at St. George! But, putting on my thinking cap, I have come up with several options for future posts:

• Exegetical exposition of scripture texts such as those found in the lectionaries for each week
• Sermons I have preached or articles I have written
• Insights gleaned from my years of pastoral ministry
• Essays on other topics which interest me, such as mineralogy, paleontology, herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians, not the study of herpes as one person suggested), history, archaeology, creation, and languages
• Travelogues of places I’ve been
• A journal of my retirement
• Reviews of funny cat videos

After drawing up this list, I realize there are plenty of things to write about in this blog. Maybe I’ll get around to some of them. Maybe I’ll end up focusing on one important topic, such as the grace of God. Maybe I’ll take your suggestions. But for today, maybe I won’t write a post, and instead just ask the question, “Okay, now what?”

The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Ephesians 3:20-21

Hi, and welcome to my first ever blog post! My name is Richard Eddy. Also known as the Reverend Richard Eddy, B.S. and M.Div. Also known as Pastor Rich Eddy for the past 22 years at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (AALC) in Elk Grove, California. And, since January 1st, as Rich Eddy, pastor emeritus.

Which term, pastor emeritus (plural, emeriti), gives me some pause. Sure, it is a gracious title and status bestowed by our national church body on those pastors who retire from the active ministry of shepherding congregations. It allows the retiree to remain on the clergy roster and retain his credentials for a possible future call or for conducting pastoral duties in the absence of an actively called and employed pastor. And it is done to recognize the retiree’s former service to the church body with an honorific. I appreciate the recognition.

And yet, the term does come with a couple issues which are rolling around in my head as I take on this new life status.

The first issue has to do with the whole concept of “retiring from ministry.” As more than a few members of my church have pointed out to me, “The Bible does not speak about retiring,” and, “The word ‘retirement’ is not in my Bible!” And don’t forget, “Moses worked until he was 120 years old! And he died in office!” (I assume the member who said that last comment wanted me to stay around another 55 years rather than see me die in office . . .) Of course, they are right. The Bible does not speak of a pastor, let alone one of Christ’s Apostles, reaching a certain age and saying, “Okay, I’m done here.” No, almost every Apostle died a martyr’s death while spreading the Gospel, and the one we believe avoided that fate, John, certainly served the Lord as a witness and a writer of Scripture for the rest of his life, too. The Bible does not speak of retirement, but neither does it speak of vacations, five-day work weeks, or any number of other things we accept as beneficial.

The answer has to do with our concept of “the call,” derived from Scripture and our Lutheran Confessions. As I understand it, there are three different calls which God gives us. The first is when God calls us by the Gospel to faith in Jesus Christ. That call is independent of who we are, where we are, whatever work we do, or what qualities (or lack of them!) we possess. I have had that call since my infancy and childhood; it did not change when I became a pastor at age 43, nor will that call change now that I have retired. We are all called to persevere in our faith to the end, whether that end comes at death or at the glorious return of Christ. That kind of call  never ends.

The second kind of call is summed up in the term, “vocation,” which literally means, “calling.” We believe that any kind of honest work which benefits people (and which provides for those dependent upon us) can be a calling from God. While pastoral ministry is certainly a godly calling, it is no more so than the calling of a farmer who grows crops so people can be fed. As Martin Luther put it, if we were all pastors, we would all starve to death with no one to grow our food. Scripture also speaks of the nature of our call, whatever it may be:  “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24). I received God’s call to become a pastor in 1989 while working fulltime as director of a youth agency in Columbus, Indiana. That call came to me while worshiping one Sunday, though the details of that incredible event are best reserved for a later post. Suffice it to say that I did not have the call to pastoral ministry before that date; I always believed my youth work was a divine calling. Once receiving that new call, I would have been disobedient not to change careers and seek the new ministry to which God was calling me. Likewise, I understand my retirement as not so much retiring from one vocation, as retiring to a different one, a new vocation. This new vocation is also a call from God to serve Him, but in a new way. Just as God’s call to serve him in pastoral ministry was unexpected, I fully “expect the unexpected” in my retirement, but for now I anticipate being called to study and write.

The third kind of call is the commission we all have to spread the Gospel near and far, so that all may hear of the salvation purchased for us by Jesus Christ on the Cross. This topic is worthy of its own future posts, but for now let me just say that the call to evangelize applies to every believer, and I see my new freer schedule as allowing me to reach a larger audience with the Good News through the printed (and digitized) word.

The second issue I have with the term pastor emeritus is caused by the term emeritus itself. It is ironic that the Lutheran Church, especially, which emphasizes correctly the sheer grace of God in bestowing salvation on us apart from any merit we might have, will call some of its pastors, emeriti, which comes from the Latin term meaning “from merit” or “by merit.”

The term comes down to us from the days of ancient Rome, when soldiers who had served faithfully were pensioned off and given land for their years of service. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, “Emeritus, which is the Latin past participle of the verb emereri . . . was originally used to describe soldiers who had completed their duty. (Emereri is from the prefix e-, meaning ‘out,’ and merēre, meaning ‘to earn, deserve, or serve’—also the source of our English word merit.)” So then, by definition, I am a pastor “by my merit” or “by deserving it.”

Which I know of course, is not true. For my call to serve the Lord as a pastor of his Church is nothing I earned or deserved. I did not seek it nor expect it; God came and by his grace called me one day to be a pastor for him. It was a call beyond my ability or merit, and even now as I look back on the past 22 years, I am amazed by what a blessing it was for God to call me to the ministry. I have seen him at work in people’s lives; I have benefitted from my own study of God’s Word to prepare sermons and studies; I have been blessed by my pastoral colleagues’ sermons and discussions; and I have been overwhelmed at times to be surrounded by a congregation of loving and believing servants. As I contemplate all that has happened, I think that God called me in order to build my faith, to teach me to trust in his leading, and to work on my life to conform me more to the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ.

So, will I use the term, pastor emeritus, to describe myself? Sure I will! I think it has a cool ring to it and as I said, I appreciate the recognition given by my denomination for my service. But I will do so, knowing that the merit is that of Jesus Christ himself, who not only called me to serve him, but gave his very life for my sake – and yours. We are saved “emeritus,” by the merit of Christ.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Proverbs 3:5-6