Liturgical Schizophrenia

In my area (and I suspect in many areas of the country) people are working longer hours, which makes attending midweek services and Bible studies difficult. The traffic in my area around DC compounds the problem. So the question is: what to do with those festivals of the church year that fall during the week? If they are important festivals I want my people to commemorate, is it better to observe them on the nearest Sunday or stick to my liturgical guns and keep them on a weeknight?

Hi, my name is Pastor Peasant, and I am a "liturgical schizophrenic."

What I mean is that I do both. Some festivals (like Epiphany) I observe on the nearest Sunday, but some (like Ascension) I thus far have resisted moving and continue to celebrate on either Wednesday or Thursday night. As I think about it, I have no set of criteria I use to determine this - just some I do and some I don't. I know churches and pastors of many denominations wrestle with this also. So if you are reading this, what do you think? What should be done? And why? What criteria should be used?

I have spoken to some pastors who will stick to their guns - no. matter. what. A festival is a festival that is to be celebrated on. that. day. and will be - even if no one comes. I am sympathetic to them, but also ask why? Yes, we are teaching our people the importance of the church year and liturgical celebrations and the proper rhythm of Sundays and festivals, but if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it . . .

I am also sympathetic to those who observe festivals on the nearest Sundays. The people are then there to celebrations these, though it does displace the Sunday, which robs the people of those part of the church year.

So what to do? I don't have a good answer and will probably continue in my schizophrenic state. But it is on my mind . . .

The Nativity of Our Lord

A blessed Christmas to you all!

What Does Pastor Do on Christmas Eve?

Well . . . paint the bathroom, of course! Really, I did. Since we moved into our house last year (which needed some work and painting) we've managed to paint and fix many things - all except the master bath. It was painted a really bad orange color and had gaudy and ugly fixtures. So, I've been trying to get it done for Christmas - kind of a gift for my wife. We had the shower re-done, finally got someone to install the new shower door (long story), and now I've been trying to replace the vanity, mirror, light, fixtures, and repair and paint the walls.

Been making slow progress, working around everything else that needs to get done this season. But yesterday, I really wanted to get the new vanity installed and working. So had to finish painting where it goes. Done. But then when I went to install it, the drain on the new sink does not match up with the drain coming out of the wall! UGH! I really don't know why - we bought a very similar vanity and sink combo (shape and size-wise) to the one we're replacing, but the drain's far enough off that I couldn't get it done yesterday. :-(  So I need to wait until tomorrow to go to Home Depot and see if I can get what I need to fix it.

But - good news! - larger than expected attendance at church last night! As I've written here before, my congregation gets smaller at Christmas, not larger. In DC, everyone is from somewhere else, so many of my congregants travel over the holidays. Add to that some nasty illnesses going around, and my expectations were pretty low. But I was wrong! :-)  Still not as high as a usual Sunday, but nice to have as many as we did. Now looking forward to the Divine Service this morning . . . but first, to cook breakfast for my family! Started a new tradition last year of doing this - cooking a really big breakfast for everyone.

So a merry and blessed Christmas to you all!

Stupid Quote of the Day

From the Associated Press:

The Shahada translates as "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger." It is considered the first of Islam's five pillars of faith, and is similar to the Lord's Prayer in Christianity.

First, get the translation right. "No god but God" - really?
Second, similar to the Lord's Prayer? You're kidding me, right?

No.

What Happens at Pastor's . . .

What happens at your pastor's open house? You never know . . .  Here are pictures of one of my confirmands:

Before

After!

Symphony Selfie

Here is a picture of the symphony my daughter plays in - they took a group selfie after their concert a week or so ago.  :-)

Abortion as Moral Good

There is a well known dictum that states that error first seeks only to be tolerated, then to be accepted and given equal footing with the truth, and then to dominate the truth and become the "new normal." Think about the rapid progress that homosexuality has made following this path. Abortion has been much slower but, make no mistake about it, is following the same path.

In case you doubt, there is a new book out, reviewed quite glowingly in the Washington Post this week, which contains the following quote from the book:

It is long past time, [the author] argues, for abortion to be cast as a social good. "We need to see abortion as an urgent practical decision that is just as moral as the decision to have a child - indeed, sometimes more moral," she writes. "Abortion is part of being a mother and of caring for children, because part of caring for children is knowing when it's not a good idea to bring them into the world." (Emphases mine)

Huh? So now the long held pro-choice mantra that we want abortion that is safe, legal, and rare is out the window. Now, abortion is good - in fact, it is sometimes more moral than having a child. Killing your baby is part of mothering and caring. Really? Someone tell the Oxford people because that definition of mothering is not in my dictionary!

So, the evil of abortion is now cast as good, and the good of life is now cast as evil. Does that sound familiar to any of you Lutherans out there? Luther talked this way when defining the theology of the cross versus the theology of glory, saying: A theology of glory calls good evil and evil good; the theology of the cross calls a thing what it is. The theology of glory is you trying to save yourself; you as decider of good and evil; you as your own god. And you'll always get it wrong; you'll think good is evil and evil is good. The theology of cross is to be saved by Christ crucified; He is the decider of good and evil; He is the only true God. And He always gets it right.

Now, having said all that, the author does bring up one good point:

If you really think abortion is murder, how can you carve out exceptions?

Yes! The default political escape clause: "I'm personally against abortion but don't want to impose my beliefs on others," or "I'm against abortion except in cases of rape and incest" are arguments that may sound good, but are correctly seen as weak and capitulating by those who support abortion as a right. If we really believe what we say, we need to stand firm.

Now, I have not read the book - only the review. But from the review, the arguments seem largely anecdotal, from "abortion is 4,000 years old and we didn't always condemn women who sought one" [who's "we"?], to the story of one woman who had to go to Sweden to kill her baby [how inconvenient], to the horror stories of botched abortions [those are sad but hardly justifications], to some religious organizations supporting abortion is some circumstances [sad again, capitulating to the culture], to abortion opponents as political hacks seeking to oppress women. Ah, this last one seems to ring true as the real purpose and agenda for the book.

I feel badly for women who have been deceived to think of abortion as an answer or as a moral good. I feel even worse for those who have had to endure hacks who botched their abortions or have been the victims of rape or incest. These things certainly should not be. But cut through all this clutter and the issue is quite clear: it is not good, moral, or mothering to kill your child, inside the womb or outside of it. Children are precious gifts and the longer we go on thinking they are ours to do with whatever we want, our world and society will continue to slouch toward greater and greater evil all the while whistling a joyful song thinking that we are becoming more and more advanced and great. This book is but the first salvo in that direction. I expect more will be forthcoming.