Election Day Worries?

A good read for you today . . .

God's Not Worried About the Election

1:30 pm update - I did not vote early. I am kind of an old fashioned guy who still votes on election day. Went to my polling place right after Noontime prayer and walked right in. No line whatsoever. 5 minutes tops. Thank you to everyone who voted early and waited in lines for hours to make my life easy today! ;-)

Does God Answer Prayer?

What a question for a pastor to ask! Does God answer prayer? Of course the answer is yes. He has said so in His word. That settles it.

So . . . why this blog post?

Well, because I included some prayers in the Thanksgiving sermon I preached this year. [Click here to read that sermon - the prayers are the second half.] After I did, I had a parishioner say to me: "I wouldn't pray those prayers!" Well, God seems to be answering those prayers. I've been struggling a bit of late. Things too big for me, humbling me. Sadness, anxiety. God seems to be answering my prayers to strength my faith and work me in. It's been tough. But I know it is also good.

O King of the Nations

The Great "O" Antiphons of Advent are historic liturgical passages used the final seven days of the Advent season, dating back to probably around the 10th century. There were a number of these written, but finally seven coalesced in use and became the tradition.

I mention all this because today's seemed particularly apt in the midst of the political campaign season and the eve of the primaries that will begin early next year. It read:

O King of the nations, the ruler they long for, the cornerstone uniting all people, Come and save us all, whom You formed out of clay.

Yes, He is the ruler we long for, and the one who can unite all people.

It also reminds me of Psalm 146:

Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God (vs. 3, 5).

That hope is fulfilled for us and the ruler we long for come in the birth of Jesus. Yes, a cause for great rejoicing . . . as well as faith and hope, no matter who is elected.  :-)

Regression into Paganism

St. Augustine asked what pagans did when they did not succeed at resisting vices (or even try to). Very simply, they attributed them to God! And so they made a god for lust, Venus, a god for violence, Mars, and so on, feeling themselves justified in practicing these vices. The same thing is happening today with regard to Christ, and it is one of the most disturbing signs of regression into paganism. There is no weakness or obsession in modern culture that is not somehow attributed to Jesus in a way that makes people feel justified in cultivating it.

~ Raniero Cantalamessa 

in Remember Jesus Christ: Responding to the Challenges of Faith in Our Time, 14

Faith and Confession Go Together

"As 'faith without works is dead,' so it may also be said that faith without confession is dead."

The Confessional Principle and The Confessions of the Lutheran Church, 

p. 96.

A Calvinistic View of Prayer?

Have you ever heard someone say: "Why pray? God doesn't change, so we can't change His mind, so why pray for things? God already knows what He's going to do."

Bummer. Wonder why people don't pray more?

But it seems to me this is kind of a "calvinistic" way of looking at prayer in that it is quite like the doctrine of double predestination: God elected some to salvation and some to damnation. There's nothing you can do about it.

The problem with both of these things is that they begin with God in eternity. They start with the hidden God that we do not know and can only speculate about. And that's always going to lead us down the wrong path and into wrong and destructive teaching, as shown above.

The Lutheran way of things is to start with God as He has revealed Himself to us. We do not start by trying to figure out God in eternity, but with God in His Word, God as He has given Himself to us, God in Christ Jesus. And with that starting point, we find quite a different picture of God! For example, Moses prays for the people of Israel. A LOT. They're constantly grumbling and complaining against Moses and against God. But Moses prays for them and we read: "And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people" (Exodus 32:14).

How do we understand this? If we start with the calvinistic precondition, we will say: Well, God knew He wouldn't do it - He just wanted Moses to pray. Really? How about instead: Moses' prayer made a difference! But, how can an unchangeable God change His mind? I don't know. He hasn't told us that. But how He has revealed Himself to us is as a God who listens to and answers our prayers, and that our prayers make a difference. So I will pray!

Jesus prays, too. If it is pointless to pray, why does Jesus do so? Or how about the story in Mark 9 when Jesus comes down from His transfiguration and there is a demon the disciples could not drive out. What does Jesus say? When the disciples ask Him afterward: "Why could we not cast it out?" He said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer" (Mark 9:28-29). Or how about the passage in James (5:16-18) which reads:

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

So let's stop the "crypto-calvinistic" view of prayer that has crept in among us, and stick to the Lutheran view. This is how God has revealed Himself to us. I will not try to figure out how it can be so, but will trust and believe . . . and pray.

A God Who Bleeds

A sermon from LCMS Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller of Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado, whose church is not far from the sight of Friday’s movie theater massacre.

John 10

“A God Who Bleeds”

Dear Saints,

The devil comes to kill and steal and destroy. He delights in every drop of blood split, in every tear, in every heart broken, family torn in two, every last breath. The devil loves death, he loves violence, he loves darkness; he loves this tragedy that has unfolded in our neighborhood this week.

But he is never content. He kills, and he wants more. He destroys, and he wants more. The devil is not sitting back tonight, shaking the dust off his hands, content with the pain already inflicted, he wants more. He wants you wrapped up in the chains of the fear of death. He wants your mind and heart to be draped with despair.

As the dust settles around in Aurora, the devil comes to you to tempt you, to tempt you to anger, to tempt you to fear, to tempt you to despair, perhaps worst of all, to tempt you with the idea that because you are suffering God has deserted you, has left you to yourself, that God is far away.

“Where is God in all this? He must hate you, or worse, He must not care.” That, dear friends, is the devil’s voice, the devil’s temptation, and we’ve heard enough of that voice.

We are gathered here this evening to hear the voice of Jesus, your Jesus, who is not a stranger to suffering. Listen, Jesus is not a stranger to suffering. You do not have a god who sits far off, who is distant, who sits on top of the mountain, or is beyond the clouds, who is looking the other way. No, you have Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the one who doesn’t just watch over the sheep. He lays down His life for the sheep. He takes His life and His righteousness to the cross for you. You, dear friends, have a God who bleeds, who bleeds for you, who suffers with you, who hears of the death of His friends and weeps, weeps over death, and fights against death for you. Jesus stands under the devil’s torment, under God’s wrath, under the condemnation of the law, stands with you, stands in your place, and suffers for you.

And if your Jesus suffers for you, then He will certainly suffer with you. When you suffer it does not mean that God is far away. He finds you in suffering; He saves you by suffering. When your friends and neighbors are suffering it does not mean that God has forsaken them or abandoned them. He can’t. He loves them, He loves you too much.

Jesus cries out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” so that you never would. He prays Psalm 22 so that you can pray Psalm 23, “Yeah though I walk through he valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with with.” In the shadow of death, He is with us. In the shadow of violence, He is with us. In the veil of tears, He is with us. He cannot leave you or forsake you, He has bound Himself to you, written His name on you with His blood, claimed you as His own and promised you life, His life, eternal life.

Jesus is not far away. The One who died for you now lives for you, prays for you, helps you in time of trouble. He sends His Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to comfort you with His presence and His promises, His forgiveness.

And it is His forgiveness, at last, that sets us free, even from the fear of violence, even from the fear of death. For in life and in death you are the Lord’s, your life is His, and because for you to live is Christ, for you to die is gain. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ + +

Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

Great and Holy Friday

I tend to like icons better than other kinds of paintings, though there are exceptions. For icons tell the story without getting overly dramatic or romantic.

I found this modern-day icon (from the Coptic church) that I thought was interesting. It shows the usual things - the three crucified, the women and John at the foot of the cross, angels - but I thought this had more focus on the soldiers than other icons I have seen. The spear is there, the sponge with sour wine given Jesus near the end, and the soldier on horse back who proclaimed "Truly, this was the Son of God!" But the most striking feature is the light coming from Jesus. Here, on the cross, is the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the world. If you want to know God and His love, here it is. You will not see it more brightly and clearly than here!

That, I believe, is the message of this day. Do not feel sorry for poor Jesus on the cross. That is the temptation. See the great price of your sin, yes; but see even more the love of God for you that is greater than you can imagine. The angels were at the ready around Jesus. Like He said in the Garden of Gethsemane: a word from Him and they would be there in full force, fighting for Him and rescuing Him. In this icon they are there . . . but no word from Jesus. He will not. He speaks, but not for Himself. He will stay and pay, He will redeem us and save us. Nothing else is on His mind but you. Your good, your life, your salvation. Not His own. Today He dies so we might live.

Thanks be to God!

From Today's TDP

"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." ~ 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Amen.

Confirmation

Today was the confirmation of my second child and first daughter, Sarah. Whenever you have a confirmation, I highly recommend singing the hymn "God's Own Child I Gladly Say It: I am Baptized into Christ." We sang this as our opening hymn today and it definitely set the emphasis for the day in the right place - not on what Sarah has done, but on what Jesus has done, and continues to do, for her. Click here to read the sermon, in which I used this hymn. (And in case you're wondering . . . no, we do not project stuff on the screen behind us in the Divine Service! We're stuck with that there in the building that we rent.)

Good Quote

John XXIII, when confronted by problems, at a certain point famously said, "Sometimes I just kneel down and say, Lord, it’s your Church, I am going to bed".

HT: Father Z.

Times for Joy

I have begun reading Matt Harrison's "A Little Book on Joy." Many other blogs have posted about this book. I am going slowly through it. Last night in chapter 4, I appreciated the following thoughts:

"Joy . . . has its seasons. It should give you the greatest comfort and joy that the Bible is filled not only with evidence of joy, but also times of no joy. And that does not mean the Holy Spirit is absent. For everything there is a season . . . Jesus looked to the Word of God regarding the future, and it sustained him in the joyless present. . . . Moments such as the Transfiguration and his baptism - "This is my beloved Son!" - were joyous past events, were remembered by Jesus (and actually grabbed hold of him!) during the joyless times. And these events are the same for us because in our baptism the Lord speaks the same Word to us: Beloved!" (pp. 29, 31)

Seasons for joy - how true! No one is joyous all the time, though perhaps we think we ought to be. Harrison notes that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5), and then uses the example of an apple tree that - guess what? Doesn't produce apples all year round, but in its season. I never made that connection before. There are times when the tree is bare of leaves and sitting in the cold of winter. There are times when the tree is growing, its leaves are sprouting, and its flowers budding - but no fruit yet. And then there is time for fruiting.

But Harrison doesn't leave the example there, he teaches us how to go through the seasons when the fruit is not being produced. Looking forward to the promises of God, and looking to past joys and promises fulfilled (especially our baptism), we are sustained in the present. And so all is based on the Word and work of God. Joy cannot not manufactured, only grown. It is the work of God in us, and always at the right time.

Great Words

Great words today from Dietrich Bonhoeffer is the Treasury of Daily Prayer (p. 840-1) in speaking of Christ as the one who builds His church:

"It is not we who build. [Christ] builds the church. No man builds the church but Christ alone. Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it; for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must confess - he builds. We must proclaim - He builds. We must pray to him - that he may build.

We do not know his plan. We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down. It may be that the times which by human standards are times of collapse are for him the great times of construction. It may be that the times which from a human point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.

It is a great comfort which Christ gives to his church: you confess, preach, bear witness to me and I alone will build where it pleases me. Do not meddle in what is my province. Do what is given you to do well and you have done enough. But do it well. Pay no heed to views and opinions. Don't ask for judgments. Don't always be calculating what will happen. Don't always be on the lookout for another refuge! Church, stay a church! But church, confess, confess, confess! Christ alone is your Lord; from his grace alone can you live as you are. Christ builds."

What is Prayer?

I received a request to write an explanation of "What is Prayer?" in 50 words. Well, I used a few more words than that, but here is what I wrote:

What is prayer?

Prayer is the voice of faith.

Faith that is created and fed by the Word, cries out to its source - that same Word now made flesh. For faith speaks what it hears. Prayer comes not from ourselves, but from the faith given to us.

And so faith cries out for all that is needed, for all that is needed has been promised by God.
Faith cries out in thanksgiving, for all that is given is given by God.
Faith cries out in sickness and in health, in sorrow and in joy, in good times and in bad, for ourselves and for others, for all things are in His hands.

If our faith falters, so too do our prayers falter.
Then the Word comes with forgiveness to raise our faltering faith and give us life and hope again.
And the voice of faith cries out again.
Never perfect,
until faith is needed no more, when our voices are joined to the choir of angels in the hymn of praise that has no end.

Until then, we live by faith.
And faith speaks in prayer.

Breaking the Silence

Well, I haven't felt inspired to write anything here for a while, but just so y'all know that I'm still alive, here are a couple of good pieces to read, written by brother pastors.

First, from Pastor Weedon.

Second, from Pastor Peterson.

Enjoy!

Thinking Out Loud

I just went through the Greek of the Holy Gospel for this coming Sunday: Mt 15:21-28, the Canaanite woman who cries to Jesus for mercy. I am struck by the connection to the Feeding of the 5,000 - the Holy Gospel two weeks ago! The disciples tell Jesus to send her away, just as they wanted to do with the crowds. Then, she makes reference to the dogs eating the scraps of bread that fall from the master's table. Why did she mention bread? And what scraps is she referring to? Could it be the 12 baskets of leftovers from the miracle? It is commonly said that there were 12 baskets of leftovers for the 12 apostles. Maybe. How about 12 baskets of leftovers for the 12 tribes of the New Israel? The New Israel that the apostles would feed. The New Israel that included this Canaanite woman - not by birth, but by faith!

Things that make you go hmmmmm . . .

Got Patience?

One of the themes of this week's Epistle (James 5:7-11) was patience. Boy is that in short supply! But not only in our world (whether it's Christmastime or not!), but also in the Church. There seems to be a great rush to do many things, instead of a quiet, trusting patience in the Lord. Those in a rush may see patience as laziness or inactivity, but even a quick reading of James shows he is not calling us to those things, but to faith.

Whenever I hear of patience I also think of the well-known passage in 2 Timothy: "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." Too often, it seems, we are quick to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with far too little patience. Perhaps this hits home for me because I know how slow and stupid I am; how long it took me to understand many things . . . and there are many things I am still trying to figure out! So I'm in it for the long haul -- both for myself, and for others. If it takes a long time, that's okay with me. Patience forces me to rely on God. It is the way of faith.