Zion 2020

“It is a fearful thing to make a rent and a hole in Christ’s mystical body because there is a spot in it.” --Samuel Rutherford, Puritan

By the time you have set eyes upon these words, the world will most likely have tipped into the New Year—that time on the calendar when the majority of us resolve to do better in some area of our lives. Personally, there’s something not right with the thought of making a promise to myself that I probably can’t keep, but there is strength in numbers…so I am offering up this New Year’s resolution challenge to you, my Zion Lutheran Church family: Let’s resolve to add “inreach” to our growing list of those things we do best as a place of worship, spiritual growth, fellowship, and Christian love.

I think of the Magi visiting the Newborn King, about their three gifts and how we, too, have three gifts to offer our Savior (on bended knee), not only at Christmas, but throughout the rest of the year: time, talents, and treasure. We consider much of what we give at church to be a form of outreach—we support this mission, that project, this ministry, that program. In fact, I would venture to say that there is no more visible proof of the Holy Spirit at work than Christian altruism, turning one’s gifts outward for the good of God’s family. And just as outreach means turning outward, helping those on the outside (of the church doors), inreach is the opposite. Successful inreach helps families stay intact and helps outreach to flourish.

If I were to try to define inreach, I would say that it is the maintenance of all (not some) members in their Christian growth and their capacity to contribute to the well-being of the family as a whole. No one person is responsible for the successes (or perceived failures) within. But there are those unique individuals that can drive the family’s direction, for better or for worse.

There are times in every family when the relationships become strained. There are times when not everyone agrees with a decision. There are times when not everyone gets along.  There are times, sadly, when the only option seems to be separation. And congregations are families…

I read somewhere recently that healthy congregations are those that are 1) enriched (not imprisoned) by the past, and open to possibility, 2) committed to growth, realizing that growth brings change, and 3) able to face and deal constructively with conflict. In a perfect congregation every gift and every ministry of every member has been identified, developed, and fully employed. The problem is, there ARE no perfect congregations.

Our congregation has seen the face of and in the church change over the past century. But our core remains the same—neither the pastor, nor the Board of Elders, nor the Church Council, nor the Winter Texans is the reason why our doors are open every Sunday. We are a loving church family that God has constructed and every member has a part in His plan. We rejoice as a family, we grieve as a family, we stand strong as a family, and we pray as a family...but we’re not perfect. And we don’t always have to agree.

So, consider my New Year’s resolution challenge. Our inreach ministry needs you!  I’m asking you to resolve to help your family—your congregation—to see the many opportunities God has placed before us, so we may continue to move forward enriched by our past. In God’s Kingdom, the possibilities really are endless!

May the peace of the Lord be with each and every one of you in the coming year!

With much love,

Pastor E.B.

P.S. Trivial Pursuit? answers from Pastor-gram #30 (12/30/19): 

A1 Exegesis is drawing out a text's meaning in accordance with the Biblical author's intended context and meaning; eisegesis is when a reader imposes his/her own interpretation of the text. (Thus exegesis tends to be objective; and eisegesis, highly subjective.)

A2 A hapax legomenon ("a word said only once" in Greek; often abbreviated just to hapax) is a word which appears only once in a language, a single written work, or the entire body of work of a given author. The words "inspiration" and "ladder" appear only in 2 Timothy 3:16 and Genesis 28:12, respectively.

A3 God bestowed the gift of free will upon both angels and humans; this inevitably raises questions about how and when Satan turned against God (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6), or whether angels still can, at some future time, rebel. There is no scriptural indication in either the Old or New Testament that the ability to rebel against God’s authority was “turned off” at any time; the angels who faithfully serve God are referred to in Scripture as “holy angels.” (Incidentally, the phrase "fallen angel" never appears in the Bible.)

I don’t live there anymore.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1 ESV)

U.S. Navy, 18 years old at
Defense Language Institute, 1981
Presidio of Monterey, CA 

[Note: I posted this to a blog on December 29, 2016, about six months after arriving at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.]

I remember when I left my parents' house in Grand Prairie, Texas, on my father's birthday in 1981 (only 2 months after my 18th), for U.S. Navy boot camp. He drove me to the recruiting station on Main St. and then, he confessed to me later, pulled around the corner, parked the car and cried. I was on my way...

I surprised my mother in the kitchen when I showed up unexpectedly two months later in my Navy uniform; a friend picked me up and drove me home to begin a short leave before my Basic Russian course began at the Defense Language Institute in California. I remember how familiar everything looked, smelled, sounded-- it seemed then that I was the only change in the tableau. By the time I was ready to head back to my new life as a sailor, I realized that I was no longer part of the world I had left that morning my father drove me downtown. And arriving back at my school in California, it struck me that I wasn't entirely a part of that world, either—in fact, I was more than a little intimidated by some of the other sailors I met there. Some already had college behind them, most seemed incredibly smart, and on the first day of class I became certain that my presence there was the result not of my aptitude, intelligence, or gift for languages, but of a Navy clerical error. But I made new friends and, in retrospect, got through Russian by the grace of God. A year after leaving home I was entrenched in Navy life and on subsequent visits to see family, Texas would seem less and less like home, like the place where I belonged.

Fast forward 35 years, past two "careers" (20 years in the Navy, followed by 15 years as a high school teacher), at least a dozen different places to call home, and here I am at home again, clacking away on a keyboard in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, having returned yesterday from a very nice one-week visit to Texas for Christmas—we got to spend quality time with my mom and daughters, worship at our home congregation, and catch up with friends. We were back in the same city from which we left in June for the seminary, back in the same area where our daughters graduated from high school, where we moved from one house to another in the span of a dozen years, where our family has roots...

The face of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area is changing (as it always has been). It's crowded and there is construction everywhere—especially highway (we rented a car at Dallas Love Airport and needed GPS from I-35 to I-30, an area I've driven since I was old enough to drive). I resisted the urge to drive by the house we left behind while in the neighborhood to see the doctor and pick up a prescription. Only six months ago it was home.

Installed as pastor of  Zion Lutheran
Church in Alamo, TX - 9/6/19

We left my mother's house yesterday morning and on the drive back to the airport in Dallas, I had the overwhelming sensation, again, of no longer belonging to that place I left in 1981. As I moved through the familiarity of people and places, I felt like a...ghost. I wish I could explain it better... I don't think either of us could legitimately call where we are right now home. I sort of feel like I did when I returned to California to start Russian after that first leave, that "in-between" feeling (maybe this is what purgatory is like?). We're at home, but not home... And in an eerily similar coincidence, upon arrival here at the seminary I've been more than a little intimidated by the professors and some of the other guys I've met here. Some are way over-educated, most seem incredibly smart, and on the first day of Greek class I was sure that my presence there was the result not of my aptitude, intelligence, or gift for languages, but of Providence. We've made new friends and will finish up here next summer entirely by the grace of God.

[As I write this near the end of 2019, I’m at home here in the Rio Grande Valley, pastor of a congregation serving Christ. And not just at home, I am home…entirely by the grace of God!]

That’s it until next month… I wish all of you a warm, family- and Christ-filled Christmas, and may God continue to pour out His blessings upon you in the coming year!

May God lead you home,

Pastor E.B.

“What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.”

Of the myriad cases of conscience clergy must deal with in today's world, divorce has to be among the most common. And the LCMS admits that there can be extenuating circumstances; however, we believe and teach that divorce is contrary to God's original design and intention for marriage.

A couple of years ago, a lawyer in California authored an interesting article on divorce in America that showed up on the Communities Digital News website. She notes that Millennials are responsible for a decline in marriages (they are marrying later in life) and, consequently, a decline in divorces; however, the average divorce occurs at year 12 and Millennials don't quite fit the stat...yet. Encouraging as these declines may be, there's a more disturbing statistic—among Baby Boomers, of which I'm one, divorce has been on the serious incline since 1990, nearly doubling for 50+ and tripling for 65+.

According to Pew Research Center data, in 2017 nearly 8 in 10 Millennials with low levels of religious commitment describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.” My guess is that as these Millennials get to the 12-year average their divorce rate will spike—and I'm certain that church, or lack thereof, in their lives will play an integral role. To understand divorce, one must first understand marriage (as a covenant made between a man, a woman, and God, not a biological mating ritual).

Sadly, many folks, both in and out of church, view marriage as a contract (maybe not necessarily made to be broken, but surely not ironclad). In a Pastoral Theology class in seminary, the students were presented a list of case scenarios to choose from and then formulate a pastoral response. I chose the following...

Case Scenario: A female member in your parish tells you that she is seeking a divorce from her husband because he (an unbeliever, not a member of your congregation or any other that you know of) has “abandoned the marriage” by his refusal to get a job and support her and their children. What should be done?

Such a case study scenario, as the one above, seems all too real in a fallen world in which just about everything is disposable, including marriage—divorce is rampant in America (876,000 per year). From my point of view, it seems all too easy to simply corral a contentious couple intent on dissolving their marriage and, before suggesting marital counseling, invoke these words from the wedding ceremony, “What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.” However, since the time of the Reformation, troubled marriages have plagued the consciences of even the most well-intentioned of pastors. As the wife in this scenario argues for divorce, so God must certainly argue for reconciliation. As for the question at hand (What should be done?), there is no one-size-fits-all, easy answer.

As Lutheran reformers attempted to refocus marriage practices within the framework of God’s intention, it became more evident that the destructive force of sin upon human relationships complicates what constitutes the legitimate need for divorce to be considered; our church relies upon only two verses as the criteria (Matthew 19:18—adultery, 1 Corinthians 7:15—abandonment or desertion) against which to validate the decision to dissolve that which God Himself created.

In addressing the case scenario, several facts are obvious: a) adultery is not the catalyst for the wife’s desire for divorce, b) God, from His Word, intends for the faithful to remain married and that marriage is not contractual, but a covenant between a man, woman, and God, c) God’s will is for believers to marry believers, d) divorce is permitted, but only as a result of death. One inference bubbling to the surface is whether the wife—a church member—is looking for a way out of the marriage, convinced in faith that this is the only way to honor God; however, this motive is doubtful, given the available facts. More likely this is not so much a faith issue, per se, as one of spousal frustration.

There are not enough details to make the case scenario a textbook case for why Christians should only marry other Christians, but it makes for a good lesson to that effect. And sadly, the fact that wife is a member (active? new? remarried?) and her husband an unbeliever is the root of their troubles and will continue to be a draft on the pilot light of their marriage. 

As I finish off this newsletter article, it occurs to me just how little my wife and knew about marriage (I was 22, she was 21—so young!). And while it hasn't always been perfect over the last 34 years, our marriage has become better and stronger when we acknowledge that its designer, God, is the glue that holds it together. 

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

Of Spooks and Spirits

October is the season for spooks, spirits, and cemeteries as Halloween and Día de Muertos approach. While I’m not necessarily a fan of Halloween (because of the commercialization and inconvenience, mostly), and I respect another culture’s annual commemoration of the dearly departed, I figure this is the perfect time to address the supernatural—many folks find answers to the question “Are there such things as ghosts?” in church, but so many others get their theology from the media.

A few years ago, I happened across an episode of “The Demon Files” on tv. This ghost-busting ex-NYC police officer was shouting obscenities into the air (meant for an evil spirit or demon or spook or something) while brandishing a crucifix, all in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh yeah, and it was after dark, naturally. At first I was mildly amused, then I began to think about the people that buy into this Exorcist syndrome (yes, upper-case E from the very good 1971 film that briefly made movie-goers Roman Catholic and afraid of the dark).

Evil really does exist and masks itself in the vanity, conceit, self-centeredness, and violent behavior we subject ourselves to daily in stark opposition to the pure goodness of God, and the only defense against a foe that hates his Creator and considers Man an intellectual, emotional, psychological (especially!), and spiritual weakling is a sincere repentance and faith in God's sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Holy water, invocations in Latin, profanity, and a crucifix wielded like a baseball bat are the symptoms of good intentions turned into desperation. We mortals are so, so vain. It almost cracks me up to think of this macho ex-cop trying to pick a fight with a force that could kill him as soon as look at him…but won't. Man is more valuable to Satan alive than dead. The much scarier devil is in the details, as they say—in the details of Scripture. Temptation. Why would Satan need all the pyrotechnics and showmanship to lure the unsuspecting away from God? No one understands the proverb "pride goes before a fall" (more specifically Proverbs 16:18) more than one whose own pride brought him down.

There's this other guy who shows up on some paranormal investigation tv shows in priestly garb with a censer, cross, and book of incantations, but few credentials, yet the folks infested with demons and evil spirits sigh with relief when he shows up on their doorstep like some sort of spiritual Orkin guy. And, sadly, these types of shockumentaries are such a poor source of theology for the unchurched.

Movies like “The Exorcist” and “The Conjuring” keep the unchurched, unfaithful, and uninformed in the dark, where levitating, pea-green-soup-barfing possessed teenage girls with animal eyes give even the most devout of Roman Catholic priests more than they bargained for. (However, both films are based on real events; “The Exorcist” has its roots in a Lutheran family's issues with their teenaged son's erratic behavior in the late 1940s and the “The Conjuring” chronicles the notoriety of 1970s-era husband-and-wife demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, he also an ex-cop, she a self-proclaimed medium).

The Bible supports the existence of spirits, to be sure. That they are wandering souls of humans is a fallacy; Martin Luther once said, “Wherever we go, wherever we stand, we are between angels and demons.” And the latter are to be handled with God’s Word and faith. The simple way to get rid of spooks is by changing the channel or, without meaning to sound un-American, not answering the door on Halloween. No need for a priest.

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

God Doesn’t Need Your Money (it’s not yours, anyway)

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.” (Martin Luther)

September 17 will mark the start of my 3^rd year here at Zion Lutheran Church. In two years I have never written about or preached on giving. As move into fall and toward the end of the church year, I thought this might be a good time to offer a few words about how we are to respond to God’s blessings. So here goes…

For one thing, God doesn’t need our money; however, He has given believers in Christ certain commands about how to use finances for the work of the Church. In the New Testament God invites us to give each week in accordance with how we have prospered.

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

In the New Testament we are told to “excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7). Our Lord tells us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

We do not make God poor when we fail to give money to Him properly, but we do make ourselves poor if we do not give according to the standards He sets for us in His Word, the Bible. Giving must be done voluntarily, not under compulsion, and cheerfully, not grudgingly:

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

Giving should be from the firstfruits of our labor. Our giving is what we do on the first day of the week before our other expenses come due. The word “tithing” comes from the Old English word for “tenth.” To tithe means to give one-tenth of one’s income, or 10 percent. Tithing was a part of the Old Testament law for Israel (along with the entire law for the nation, including the dietary laws, which stated that one should not eat pork, shellfish, etc.). As such, God promised to bless Israel’s faithfulness to this and all other Old Testament laws:

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” ​(Malachi 3:10)

To say that God will necessarily bless us financially if we tithe or do any other good work is to make God beholden to us and to deny the cross of Christ. All things being equal, of course, a life lived in accordance with God’s commands is more blessed that a life lived in disobedience. If we are faithful, God will bless us, but we must realize that God will bless us in the shade of the cross. God graciously promises to give us all that we need for this body and life. We should give in faith, trusting that God will provide for all our needs, though not necessarily our wants! After all, if we can trust God with our eternal salvation, can we not trust Him to provide our daily bread?​​

"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35)

God’s Word encourages us to cheerfully give faithfully—and generously—not just of our treasures, but of our time and talents also, to God’s work in the Church. It’s no easy task to be a pastor and talk about giving, so I leave you with the following quote about it from C.S. Lewis:

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

What’s in a Name?

God IS gracious! A blessing we take for granted is language, which has connected us to one another from the time of the Garden of Eden. Humans are designed to be relational beings and our biblical roots are deep, though not always obvious.

Perhaps you’ve heard the old yarn about Bruce and the Spider and never giving up. Once upon a time, at the tip of the 14^th century, King of Scotland “Robert the Bruce” is said to have hidden in a cave for three months after being defeated in battle. While passing the time, he watched as a spider tried over and over again to build a web before eventually succeeding. Inspired by the spider’s determination, legend has it, the king came out of hiding to lead Scotland to victory the first war for independence from England. He's a national hero still today in Scotland. This Robert the Bruce of legend was actually the 8^th to bear the name and is connected to Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” story. My story, however, really begins with the 1^st Robert the Bruce of the 12^th century…

Way back in the 1100s, there was this other guy who’s gone down in history as the first to bear the surname Johnestoun (or Johnstone), the now anglicized Johnston (with or without the "t"), one John Johnston, the (pardon the pun) John(ny) Appleseed of the Scots Clan Johnston, from which I purport myself to be descended (dangling precariously by one gene strand from at least 35 generations up). Robert the Bruce (the 1^st), the First Lord of Annandale, personally rewarded John for fighting bravely alongside him during the Norman Conquest. John was granted the whole 800-some-odd-square-mile strath (valley area) of Annandale to govern as lord.

John was of the Norman lords arriving in Scotland in the 1100. At that time surnames weren’t being used. They didn’t appear until about 1,000 AD. The first people in Scotland to acquire surnames were the Norman Nobeles, who came from France with William the Conqueror and were of Viking ancestry. John was known simply as "John," the only name he had. Those lands became known as "Johnstun" or "John's town" ("tun" from the Celtic language translates to "town" or "lands").

The Johnston Clan of Annandale held a chunk of turf on the southern edge of the Scottish Lowlands, on the English border, about the size of Dallas County. And they feuded a lot with their neighbors, most notably the Maxwell Clan to the west. They must have made peace in the late 16th century, because a Johnston son married a Maxwell daughter and they became my 11th great-grandparents.

Around 1630, there's a fork in my Johnston line that bows out a ways and then, according to my hypothesis, reunites somewhere in the ancestors that follow a guy named Gowain Johnestoun (aka Gavin Johnston) born in the mid-1400s. He’s very likely directly related to the John that started it all, as were practically all the Johnstons of his day. I just cannot find corroborative proof of his father's name, which is a bummer since it puts my direct descendancy to King Crimthann (who was the King of Ireland when Jesus was born) and, I suppose, my kilt on hold for the time being...

Johnston is my great-grandmother’s maiden name and it’s among the twenty most common names in Ireland. Its roots are biblical, from the Hebrew name Jehohanan (“Yahweh is gracious”), which consists of two elements, the first being Yehu, an abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton YHWH (or Yahweh/God). The second (-hanan) comes from the verb meaning “to be gracious.” There are 10 different men in the Old Testament with that name, adopted into the Latin via Greek as Johannes, later shortened to the anglicized form John, such a common name, such a powerful message! God IS gracious!

As a postscript, I must tell you of the Devil's Beef Tub. The 53-mile Annandale Way, "a walk which gets under the skin of the landscape, offering the walker glimpses into the history and hidden secrets of this quiet and tranquil part of Scotland, parts of which have remained undisturbed for centuries," circumnavigates it. A pilgrimage to the Devil's Beef Tub (in my Clan Johnston kilt, of course) is now on my bucket list.

That’s it until next month…

Peace be with you,

Pastor E.B.

A Sermon Unpreached: The Definition of a True Christian

During my vicarage some years ago, as I was wrapping up a Russian language Bible study lesson on the Ten Commandments, a woman raised her hand with a question.  She asked why, since God sent Christ to die for us and we cannot possibly keep even one of “those Commandments,” do we even bother to talk about them anymore in church?  At hearing this question, it was immediately clear to me that she, unlike the vast majority of Russian speakers still under the spell of Orthodox Church, had a full grasp on the concept of justification by faith; that is, all is right between you and God and me and God because we believe. 

My answer to her question initially recapped what the Bible study materials had already pointed out, that the Ten Commandments—that is to say, the Law of Moses in the Old Testament—like a mirror, show us our sin; like the reins on a horse, keep us “reined in”; and, like a compass, point to moral north. But as others joined the discussion, another thing remained clear to me: Russians by tradition, cultural or church, are innately programmed to believe that God exists in the good all around them, and being good, naturally, brings them closer to Him. To put it bluntly, Christ’s work on the Cross is a hard sell—to get something for nothing goes against not just a Russian’s mindset, but the mindset of most folks in this you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours world we live in.

Most Christians know that the believer in Christ must also be the follower in Christ.  After all, Christ Himself tells us by way of the Gospel accounts of Mark (8:34) and Matthew (10:38) to drop everything we have, everything we own, everything we are doing, pick up a cross, and follow Him. We are called on, as the Christians we profess to be, to live a Christ-like life. To be like Christ. Many, sadly, see this as a paradox because we are told that, since no man can keep the Law, God sent Christ so that the only “law” in effect now is to be like Christ. We couldn’t keep the first Law (the Ten Commandments) and we surely can’t be expected to live poor, homeless, and, even worse, sinless!

First and foremost, I told them, is that, yes, Christ came to Earth to take away the sins of the world on the cross; we, I emphasized, are “saved,” that is, justified, reconciled with God, regardless of our past transgressions by believing that Christ’s work for us on the cross really happened. There is absolutely nothing we can do to gain favor with God or secure a place in heaven outside of faith. As for the Law, Christ freed us from it, so that by faith in Him, we are freed to love our neighbors as God loves us. Love, Jesus teaches us (John 15:12), is the new Law in town. Love is the “Law of Christ,” through which all other Laws can be ascribed.  Love is a “fruit of the spirit,” along with the joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that the Apostle Paul writes about in Galatians 5. We are called to live a Christ-like life, not to try and be right with God by driving the speed limit, remaining faithful to a spouse, being honest on income tax returns, and giving money to the church each week, but to be right with God through faith.

After a little more discussion, when I felt certain that the others were on board, I posed what I thought to be a simple enough question to them: What, then, would be the definition of the “true” Christian? They agreed that the “true” Christian has faith in Christ, and that by this faith, he or she is no longer a slave, shackled by sin. That this freedom in Christ from the Old Testament Law makes possible those “fruits of the Spirit” Paul talks about. I was smiling inside and out.

But I couldn’t stop myself. I had to ask one more time about the Law.  Does a “true” Christian have to live by any Law or laws? No, one person said. As long as the “true” Christian knows the Law is there…maybe that’s why we learn about the Ten Commandments in church, another added…Yes, still another said, the “true” Christian has to live the Law of Christ, the one Commandment that covers all the others: love. We revisited Paul’s advice (Galatians 5:25), that if the “true” Christian lives by the Spirit, he should also walk by the Spirit. Then to drive the point home, I read Luther’s poetic definition of the “true” Christian…and just about every one of the dozen or so of them wrote it down: “A true Christian conducts himself in such a way that he does not need any law to warn or to restrain him.” 

Boy, we had come along way! From ending a study on the Ten Commandments to defining a “true” Christian—that was the cherry on top of the sundae. Ours is a world in which the definition of just about anything, including a Christian, is in the eye of the beholder.

It occurred to me then that the problem for the Church is not that so many non-Christians do not know the definition of a true Christian, but that so many Christians themselves do not. Thankfully, we have a Savior who does.

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

What is Truth?

On Good Friday morning, Jewish chief priests delivered Jesus of Nazareth over to Roman governor Pontius Pilate as an “evildoer” with a death sentence. That word “evildoer” likely had only one meaning for Pilate in the context of Roman law, under which this Jesus had been charged. That’s how his accusers intended Pilate to understand it; however, Jesus had not broken any Roman law, but rather had called himself the Son of God in the presence of the Jewish religious elite. In other words, Jesus was guilty of blasphemy.

The conversation between Jesus and Pilate contained this exchange (John 18:37-38):

“So you are a king?”

“You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

“What is truth?”

What is truth? is a rhetorical question posed by a pagan skeptic, an educated Roman in an immoral world with little or no faith in his own gods, of which there were many in Jesus’ day. As I look around, I see more than a few 21^st-century Pilates here in my day.

A 2016 nationwide poll conducted by the research organization Barna Group, “reveals growing concern about the moral condition of the nation, even as many American adults admit they are uncertain about how to determine right from wrong. So what do Americans believe? Is truth relative or absolute?” Results show that two-thirds say truth is relative and about a third say absolute.

I doubt Pilate meant “What is absolute truth?” by his question to Jesus; I actually think Pilate had the same concept of truth as he did for the number zero (for which there is no Roman numeral). For the Roman governor and Jesus’ Jewish accusers, the truth is held hostage by the zeitgeist—the spirit of the age—in which it’s sought after. Absolute truth never changes. A circle is never a square. A banana is never a cherry. A man is never a woman. The created can never become the Creator.

We think times have changed considerably since Pilate questioned Jesus, but have they? Not so much. The truth is much harder to establish in today’s world. We modern-day Pilates are still asking our gods and goddesses the same question, yet the answer has existed long before the question was ever asked!

In such a dysfunctional and disordered world, where trigger-happy news outlets and social media zealots are so quick to spread the truth as they see it, is it any wonder that the average American has less and less faith in government, news and social media sources, not to mention God? On the day I’m writing this, one purportedly objective news source is reporting the following (you decide, true or false?): A married celebrity is calling for women to go on a “sex strike”…In one state teachers can carry guns…A million plant and animal species are nearing extinction…Helium (the second most abundant element in our galaxy) supplies on Earth are dwindling…The name Donald has dropped in popularity since 2016 and is now at the lowest since Social Security Administration records began in the 1880s (not a typo)…

Jesus—God Himself—said “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” And that voice is Absolute Truth—unchanging, timeless, and dependable, a refuge from the churning sea of moral, ethical, and spiritual promiscuity in which so many are foundering without hope. God’s Word can right the ship and repair the sails, not to mention calm the seas.

Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25)

What is truth?

Well, Pilate was looking Jesus Christ right in the eyes and never saw it. And the same is happening to others all around us. And, though it’s too late for Pilate, it’s not too late for them!

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

The Scrying Game

There is much about Scripture that I don’t fully understand—mostly in the Old Testament. The other day I was reading through Exodus (Moses is my favorite OT character) and halted briefly to consider "the Urim and the Thummim" in this passage:

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the LORD. And in the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the LORD regularly. (Exodus 28:29-30 ESV)

I would guess that most Christians are taught that the Urim and the Thummim are two stones used in the Old Testament by the high priest to somehow divine God’s will. Many a hypothesis has been made about them, from the scholarly (check out this Jewish Encyclopedia article) to the downright absurd (magical crystal-like objects through which Man communicates with his alien gods). And then there is the Mormon scrying connection: “With the records was found a curious instrument which the ancients called ‘Urim and Thummim,’ which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.” (Joseph Smith*, in a letter to John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat newspaper in 1842; incidentally, Mormons teach that God’s place of residence "is a great Urim and Thummim," per Doctrine and Covenants 130:8.)
*Sometime in the early 1820s, Joseph was introduced to seer-stones, a common scrying device in western New York, and he quickly developed a reputation as a talented seer and was known to peer into his stone to direct fellow treasure-seekers in their hunts…more at Mormon Matters

These stones are mentioned in Scripture a total of 6 times (the others are Leviticus 8:8, Deuteronomy 33:8, 1 Samuel 14:41, Ezra 2:63, Nehemiah 7:65). This got me to thinking of why such a mystical means of communication with God was even necessary—after all, God spoke directly to Moses (as a friend, Exodus 33:11), right? And God had angels and prophets (and even a talking donkey) through which to communicate…

The art of scrying, divination through a medium using objects such as stones (or a Ouija board), seems to me to be just too supernatural, too far-fetched—but, then, so are angels (from the standpoint of human reason). I do not for one minute doubt that God could use any means of communication He wants (i.e. burning bush), but the Old Testament use of the Urim and the Thummim somehow troubles me (in nearly the same way as God’s intention to kill Moses for disobedience in Exodus 4:24).

The point?  What I cannot understand in God’s Word, I accept on faith.  And it seems to me that God intentionally paved the road from Creation to the Cross with characters (i.e. Melchizedek, Genesis 14), incidents (i.e. the Witch of Endor’s conjuring of Samuel for Saul, 1 Samuel), objects (i.e. the Urim and the Thummim), and concepts (i.e. that Christ will die on the Cross so that I may be forgiven and rise again so that I may have eternal life—this is the granddaddy of ‘em all, no rational human mind can truly accept this) in order that we MUST take HIM in all THREE PERSONS purely on faith, which is all He really wants from us in the first place. Theories abound, but anyone who says they have all the answers is a false prophet.  Maybe that is the point…

By God’s Grace alone... Through Faith alone… In Christ alone.  Wow.

Guess I can ask about the Urim and the Thummim, among other things (like how Evil got into the Garden in the first place), when I finish my mission in this life; however, by then, I don’t think it will really matter…

That’s it until next month…

Peace by with you,

Pastor E.B.

The Art of Coveting

An article about a thief caught my eye in a recent issue of The Week magazine. It struck me as a great topic for a Lent devotional, an opportunity to look at God’s Law, how sin pollutes even the kindest of hearts, and God’s solution to our 10-fold problem: We just can’t obey God’s Law, instructions meant for everyone on Earth long before there were Christians. 

In the second book of the Bible, Moses brings the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32:5-16). The first three tell us how we should live in relation to God; the remaining 7 tell us how we should live in relation to our fellow human beings. We Lutherans look at it in the form of the Cross: our vertical relationship with God, then our horizontal relationship with others, distilled down to what’s known as Christ’s Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

From the beginning we’re to have only one God, we’re not to disgrace His name, and we’re to go to church; next come the 7 don’ts—don’t neglect/abuse your parents, murder, cheat on your spouse, steal, say mean or false things about others, nor covet…wait, what? Covet? Yes, covet. If sin were a baseball bat, coveting would be the sweet spot.

According to The Week, Frenchman Stephane Breitwieser “has robbed more than $1.4 billion worth of art from nearly 200 museums and steals like he’s performing a magic trick, without violence or a frantic getaway. When he sees a piece he likes, says Breitwieser, 47, ‘I get smitten. Looking at something beautiful, I can’t help but weep.’ He never sells anything he steals, but simply brings the work home to adore. ‘The pleasure of having,’ he says, ‘is stron­ger than the fear of stealing.’”

Coveting is a stealthy sin that manifests itself in the behaviors of the self-righteous, the self-absorbed, the self-loving and self-gratifying—let’s face it, coveting is the dark art of not just desiring, but getting what we want (what doesn’t belong to us, in most cases). It means obsessing over something, believing we can’t be happy without it, or trying to figure out how to get it. Coveting is dissatisfaction with all God’s given us—believing that we know what we need and what will make us happy better than God.

We covet to fill a need or void, to have something we think we deserve, even if it’s something (money, property, spouse, job, status, etc.) that belongs to someone else. Coveting replaces our God with one or more little gods, and is the catalyst for crime, whether art theft or something more violent, like murder or rape. Coveting breaks up families and infects our relationship with God and others.

This Lenten season, I am trying to focus more on all that God has given me, in spite of my daily transgressions, rather than on what I don’t have. I am trying to focus more on the Cross where Jesus endured the wrath of God for my sin, in my place. I am trying to remember daily that, in Christ Jesus, I have everything I need.

Stephane Breitwieser “is perhaps the most prolific art thief in history.” God, on the other hand, is the most prolific artist in history. When we dabble in the art of coveting, we, too, are art thieves, the likes of which Breitwieser pales in comparison!

Until next month, may the Lord bless you and keep you,

Pastor E.B.

A Bookmark for Acts 5:29 (Part 2 of 2)

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29 ESV)

Last month, in Part 1 of this article, I mentioned 5 men I consider human heroes (in no particular order): President Lincoln, the Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King. These are men who stood up for their Christian convictions in the face of daunting circumstances (and there are many others, I know, men and women).

In each time and place in history, God raises up “heroes,” persons of courage who will forego the path of least resistance in service to God’s Kingdom on Earth. And it seems that with each passing day our world has become more dysfunctional and disordered. To wit:

From a Boston Globe newspaper report last October: True, anger and prejudice live within us. But polling confirms the obvious — more Americans despise other Americans they will never truly know. Extremism proliferates; public figures traffic in rudeness and contempt; loudness and demonization obliterate reason, coarsening our society and poisoning our politics… We feel it around us. Among erstwhile friends, political argument becomes reflexive vituperation. Racial and religious hatred burgeons; violence rises; schoolyard hazing accelerates. And so the face and temper of our country changes.

I could provide more 21^st century issues that challenge the courage of our Christian convictions—abortion, LGBTQIA (this distended acronym is a sign of the times) rights, illegal immigration, increased apathy toward church, and atheism, to name a few—but, really, Christian convictions have been challenged from the git-go. And even from within the Church itself have come enough controversies, scandals, and divisiveness to make Jesus weep.

So what can we do? We the Present-Day Christians enduring a world where the sanctity of life is on the extinction list, where psychotic outbursts—shootings and other violent acts—are on the rise, where even our civil laws have redefined morality?

I found this quote from nondenominational pastor David Gundersen on The Gospel Coalition website:  “Darkness has never stopped the dawn. So we have every reason to fix our eyes on the far horizon. We have every reason to hope that God ‘will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish’ us. We have every reason to anticipate our ‘eternal glory in Christ.’ Jesus is coming back. So when the night deepens, stay on the trail, and look to the east.” This pastor also posted a list of 10 ways Christians should respond to the world:

1. Don’t Be Surprised - Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)

2. Calm Your Outrage - Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. (1 Peter 3:14)

3. Repent When Needed - But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. (1 Peter 4:15)

4. Keep Loving Each Other - Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. (1 Peter 4:8–10)

5. Love Your Enemies - Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called. (1 Peter 3:9)

6. Trust God and Do Good - Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 Peter 4:19); For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (1 Peter 2:15)

7. Share Your Hope - But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. (1 Peter 3:15)

8. Be Respectful - Yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15)

9. Remember Your Christian Family - Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:9)

10. Look to the East - And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10); Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)

I would add a number 11: Speak up/out when the circumstances warrant - But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

The truth of the matter is that as Christians we are called to remain faithful to Scripture in all we do and say in response to the issues of our day, to stand firm on God’s design for Creation, the sanctity of life, the marriage covenant between a man and a woman and God, to love those who would persecute us, to show mercy and forgiveness, to obey the laws of a just government, to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

God’s Word! It’s where we find the courage of our convictions. It’s where heroes are made!

That’s it until next month…

In the meantime, may the Lord bless you and keep you,

Pastor E.B.

A Bookmark for Acts 5:29 (Part 1 of 2)

Think of the situations that produce heroes, those who by definition are noted for courageous acts or nobility of character. In a world that reveres Robin Hood, Batman, celebrities, and pro athletes, where are the Christian (not necessarily biblical) heroes? Aren’t Christians still called to be heroes in the sense of unfaltering witnesses to—even martyrs for—their faith in this 21^st-century world of Hyphenated-Americans, Right vs. Left, Black vs. White, gender fluidity pronouns, “nones,” and social-media morality?

Once upon a time in the 19^th century, in the days when “American” Lutheranism was taking shape, the Evangelical Lutheran General Synod was a growing church body (the ELCA is an offshoot, and so retains a few strands of its mitochondrial DNA) that would become the third largest Lutheran group in the nation by 1918, a particularly difficult time for German-speaking immigrants because of the first World War involving Germany. In 1862, however, the General Synod (as it came to be known), the first national Lutheran body to be formed in the U.S., was, like the rest of the country, feeling the turbulence of the Civil War—and like the country, it, too, became polarized over the issues of slavery, politics, and war…and split.

The General Synod met in May 1862 for the first time since the beginning of the Civil War and adopted a resolution reflecting the attitude of Northern Lutherans on “the State of the Country” (“…we recognize this unhappy war as a righteous judgment of God, visited upon us because of the individual and national sins, of which we have been guilty…”) for presentation to President Lincoln.

I have few human heroes; I could count them on one hand. I place Lincoln in the company of the Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther King. Men of faith. Men of substance. Men of sacrifice.

President Lincoln responded to the General Synod’s resolution, graciously and eloquently. I cannot even begin to imagine the burden he carried in his heart and soul as the nation was disintegrating all around him, Americans killing each other in hate. His response, unedited (my underlining for emphasis):

“I welcome here the representatives of the Evangelical Lutherans of the United States. I accept with gratitude their assurances of the sympathy and support of that enlightened, influential, and loyal class of my fellow-citizens in an important crisis which involves, in my judgment, not only the civil and religious liberties of our own dear land, but in a large degree the civil and religious liberties of mankind in many countries and through many ages. You well know, gentlemen, and the world knows, how reluctantly I accepted this issue of battle forced upon me, on my advent to this place, by the internal enemies of our country. You all know, the world knows the forces and the resources the public agents have brought into employment to sustain a Government against which there has been brought not one complaint of real injury committed against society, at home or abroad. You all may recollect that in taking up the sword thus forced into our hands this Government appealed to the prayers of the pious and the good, and declared that it placed its whole dependence upon the favor of God. I now humbly and reverently in your presence, reiterate the acknowledgement of that dependence, not doubting that, if it shall please the Divine Being who determines the destinies of nations that this shall remain a united people, they will, humbly seeking the Divine guidance, make their prolonged national existence a source of new benefits to themselves and their successors, and to all classes and conditions of mankind.”

I am writing this on Martin Luther King Jr Day. In August 1963, a century after Lincoln’s response to the General Synod, Dr. King penned a response also, to 8 white Christian and Jewish leaders that had called him out in a newspaper ad. He had been put in jail in Birmingham, Alabama, for leading nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. King writes (again, my underlining):

“There was a time when the church was very powerful. It was during that period that the early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was the thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators.’ But they went on with the conviction that they were ‘a colony of heaven’ and had to obey God rather than man.”

As a Christian—especially as a pastor—I must daily recharge the courage of my convictions through prayer and the promises of God’s Word. The Church by design has no seat in government, making it difficult for Christian men (and women) since the 1^st century to respond, as Peter did to the authorities in Acts 5:29, with “one must obey God rather than men,” all the while knowing that some, like Lincoln, Bonhoeffer, and Dr. King, were killed for their convictions.

Our own Lutheran Confessions (Augsburg Confession, Article 28) remind us that the power of the sword is given to the governing authority; the necessity for obedience ceases when it commands something which can only be done in sin.

More about this next month…

In the meantime, may the Lord bless you and keep you,

Pastor E.B.