Not saying Alleluia during Lent is stupid!

There I said it, and I’m glad I did. While pastors might think that we in the pews view the fact that we don’t say Alleluia with any degree of attention or interest, they are wrong. It is stupid, silly, ridiculous and entirely fabricated out of whole cloth. But I am not the only one who thought it silly, so did Martin Luther. It’s a shame those obsessed with liturgical-trivia were able to foist the “no alleluia” rule on the Lutheran church.

Dr. Luther, in an Invocavit sermon in his House Postil wrote:

“The general duties and works of love need no new command; they are already laid down and ordered in the Ten Commandments.  We are all enjoined of God to hear His Word, to love Him, to pray to Him, to be obedient to our parents, to love our neighbor, to shun all lasciviousness and to hold matrimony in high esteem.  All this is God’s will and institution; therefore no especial call of the Holy Spirit to enter matrimony, to become father or mother, is needed.  Such matters have all been arranged and commanded of God.  But we nowhere find a command or word of God, which would demand of us to run into cloisters for the purpose of serving God, or to avoid eating meat, eggs or butter during the Lenten season, or to sing no Hallelujah in that time; and therefore all such observances are no true service of God.”

He expresses the same thought in Formula Missae (AE 53:24):

“For the alleluia is the perpetual voice of the Church, just as the memorial of His passion and victory is perpetual.”

My good friend Pastor Weedon feels strongly there is deep meaning in all the liturgical trimming during Lent. He takes his cue from O.P. Kretzmann who, in my view, indulges in rhetorical and romanticized puffery, not substance. I can’t agree, but he makes his point well.

OK, now that I have a few people thoroughly exercised, please note that I am not saying we should ignore this rubric and that we should not follow it, I’m simply saying why I think it is stupid. But since it is adiaphora, I am happy to give up a bit of my freedom and personal opinion for the sake of unity. We’d all be better off if we did that.

For instance, some might think throwing themselves on the chancel floor is a great way to observe Good Friday, but we don’t do it, that is, if we care about unity. Some think putting the Lord’s Supper away in a Tabernacle on the altar and claiming it is perpetually the Lord’s body and blood and adoring it is a good thing, but we don’t do that. We know better. Some think that ignoring the rubrics and the liturgy and swapping out for it something that looks like the local non-denominational church is ok, but it is not. As much as possible, we must all give up our freedom and our right to exercise that freedom, for the sake of unity. The wisdom of the adage “Say the black, do the red” is still very much holds, and I wish it were everywhere observed.

So, you are free to disagree with a rubric, but in love, you follow it. If we follow rubrics for the sake of rubrics, then that is a problem. When doing the liturgy “just so” becomes an end in itself, we have a problem. Rubrics are a means, to an end, not the end itself. There’s something more important here than rubrics. And this is precisely why we follow them!

Now you know the point of this blog post.

Concordia Publishing House (CPH) announces the availability of the newest Concordia Commentary—Proverbs by Dr. Andrew E. Steinmann. The latest title to the popular series is available at cph.org or by calling 1.800.325.3040. You can download a sample from the book at the CPH web site.

“Proverbs is often seen as a set of guidelines for ways to succeed in life,” says Dr. Christopher Mitchell, CPH commentary editor. “However, this commentary shows that it is, first of all, a book about Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He has accomplished the victory for us by His death and resurrection. Through faith in Him, God endows us with wisdom and guidance on the path of everlasting salvation.”

Mitchell continues, “Proverbs teach prudence and discretion for the life of faith, which is contrasted to the ways of the world.” Some sections of Proverbs are connected thematically while others feature short, pithy aphorisms that challenge the interpreter. This commentary explains both the larger features of the book and the individual proverbs that comprise this treasury of divine wisdom.

“This is a favorite book of Scripture for preaching the legalistic gospel of self-help, synergism, and a theology of glory. From it you can easily glean ten easy steps for achievement. In contrast, this commentary demonstrates that Proverbs is about the hypostasized Wisdom of God who became incarnate in Jesus Christ. He speaks through Proverbs to grant prudence and discretion for the life of faith under the cross.”

The Concordia Commentary series supports pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with insight and clarity. Concordia Commentaries affirm the inspiration and authority of Scripture and offer a literal translation, textual notes, and theological exposition to present the distinctive themes of Holy Scripture.

If you have been around teenagers playing video games, you may have heard them say, “I was pwned” which, being translated into English, means, “I was utterly defeated by my opponent.” So, when Rod Dreher used this term in his recent post, you can only but agree.

The infamous militant publicity-hound/opportunistic atheist totally pwned a liberal Christian when he said recently:

[Unitarian;] The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make and distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

[Hitch]: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

He was, and is, quite entirely correct. Let’s simply face facts and insist on even the most minimal amount of integrity here when we are dealing with liberal mainline theologians who claim to be Christian, or anyone for that matter. I am quite willing to give a person the benefit of the doubt and assume the best, when it is clear that lack of knowledge or ignorance is behind errors in confession of the Faith. But a willful and knowing rejection of the basic facts of the Faith, as beautifully summarized in the Apostles’ Creed, for example, marks that person as a non-Christian. Period. End of story. Then such a person must be treated as such and prayed for and witnessed to as one who needs to come to a saving knowledge of who and what Christ is.

From my colleague Rev. Scot Kinnaman, comes this helpful note: Users of Treasury of Daily Prayer will need to make the Great Skip in preparation for devotions on February 17th, Ash Wednesday. With the beginning of Lent, the Daily Lectionary changes from using calendar dates to using liturgical days. This handily accommodates the changeable dates of the festival half of the Church Year, which are all based on the date of Easter. So, long story short: February 17th, move your bookmark from the back of Treasury to page 24 in the front. And then carry on. (There is another Lesser Skip that happens at the conclusion of the Season after Easter, but well remind you about that in May.)

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His book is available here for pre-order.

Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Vatican official has floated the idea of a shared “ecumenical catechism” as one of the potential fruits of 40 years of dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and members of the Reformed churches.

“We have affirmed our common foundation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity as expressed in our common creed and in the doctrine of the first ecumenical councils,” Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told representatives of the churches.

Opening a three-day symposium at the Vatican to brainstorm on the future of ecumenism, Cardinal Kasper said it is essential “to keep alive the memory of our achievements” in dialogue, educate the faithful about how much has been accomplished and prepare a new generation to carry on the work.

He said the members of his council “proposed an ecumenical catechism that would be written in consultation with our partners,” but “we do not yet have any idea how such a catechism could be structured and written.”

One thing for sure, he said, is that there is a need for “an ecumenism of basics that identifies, reinforces and deepens the common foundation” of faith in Christ and belief in the tenets of the creed. The churches may hold those positions officially, but if their members do not hold firmly to the basics of Christian faith, the dialogue cannot move forward, the cardinal said.

Cardinal Kasper, a theologian who will be 77 in March and has led the council for nine years, also said that ecumenical dialogue “is perhaps in danger of becoming a matter for specialists and thus of moving away from the grassroots.”

He called for “a people-centered ecumenism” that would support and give new energy to the theological dialogues.

The symposium was a follow-up to the publication in October of “Harvesting the Fruits,” a book complied by Cardinal Kasper and his staff summarizing the results of 40 years of official Catholic dialogue with the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Methodist Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

As for questions that still must be tackled in order for Christians to reach full unity and be able to share the Eucharist, the cardinal identified two basic areas: a common understanding of the church and its structure; and a common approach to applying the Gospel to modern social and moral concerns without falling into relativism.

Ethical issues, such as homosexuality and women’s equality, not only divide churches, he said, they raise more fundamental questions for modern and post-modern society, such as, “What is man, and what does it mean to be a man or woman in God’s plan?”

In the area of church structure and ministry, he said, the dialogues have seen progress toward a common agreement on the sacramental nature of ordination and on apostolic succession in the ministry of bishops, and have taken initial steps toward discussing the primacy of the bishop of Rome, the pope.

But on a more basic level, the dialogues must get into “not only what is the church, but where is the church? Has God given his church a specific structure or has he left the church to find its own structure, in such a way that a pluralism of structures is possible?” Cardinal Kasper asked.

The cardinal said the Vatican needs to better explain to its dialogue partners the Catholic conviction that “the Catholic Church is the church of Christ and that the Catholic Church is the true church,” even while “there exist many and important elements of the church of Christ outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church.”

The Catholic Church does believe “there are deficits in the other churches,” he said. “Yet on another level there are deficits, or rather wounds stemming from division and wounds deriving from sin, also in the Catholic Church.”

Ecumenical dialogue is the place where all Christians “learn to grow and mature in their faithfulness to Christ,” he said, and as each moves closer to Christ, they naturally will move closer to each other.

END

On Monday February 15, Colonel Jeffrey Williams will be featured on CBS Evening News as part of the Everyone in the World Has a Story series from journalist Steve Hartman. Over the past months as part of the series, Williams and other astronauts at the International Space Station have spun an inflatable globe to help select the locations where Hartman travels to find his stories. Monday’s feature focuses more specifically on Williams. Jeff has spent more time in space than any other person. Jeff is a committed Christian, and his forthcoming book The Work of His Hands: A View of God’s Creation from Space is a powerful and beautiful story of the joy of discovery, the intense challenges of living and working in space, and a profound confession of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. You are really going to love this book. It is filled with photographs, most of which were taken by Jeff himself while on board the International Space Station. The photos and views of our planet in this book are simply stunning. But what most impressed me about Jeff’s story are his comments about what all these adventures have mean to him and how it has impacted his faith. Read his remarks for yourself:

“The whole of creation is manifest with beauty and wonder, and with evidence of the Creator. But the creation provides but a glimpse—that “small whisper” described in Job 26—of God, who is the Creator. When people see Earth from the perspective of orbit, whether firsthand or through the descriptions of those who have been there, their thoughts often turn to God, or at least the question of God. I often get asked questions such as: “Do you feel closer to God up there?” or “Has the experience changed your faith or belief in God?” It may come as a surprise that I answer the questions no—with a caveat. Anna-Marie and I have a strong Christian faith that had its beginning in the late 1980s, and we labor to live accordingly. Over the years of studying the Bible, I have grown both in awe of it and in complete trust in it as the source of the truth of reality, wisdom, and all things necessary for life. I have also come to realize we can only know about God by viewing creation, irrespective of our vantage point. It is only through the revelation of God in the Scriptures that we can actually become close to Him in relationship and actually know Him. This is God’s most profound gracious provision to us.

“No, my experiences as an astronaut did not bring me closer to God or change my beliefs about His existence. My relationship with God does not hinge on my looking at Earth from orbit and experiencing that “small whisper” that is so evident in creation. True, life-transforming faith in God and relationship with Him is based not on a whisper, but a shout—the shout of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His work on the cross as revealed in the supernatural revelation of the Bible. So my closeness to God in relationship with Him is through faith in the person and work of Christ. With that said, the experience did have an impact. My faith was already established through the objective means of His written Word and its Gospel message. The experience of being on the Space Station only intensified the content of the Word and my response to it as I viewed the work of His fingers (Psalm Eight) through the lens of the Bible in a special way. That response occurred in ways I will attempt to explain.

“I was able to reflect on God as Creator in a fresh way. The wonder and awe of viewing all of the elements of Earth from orbit was overpowering. Some have heard me speak of the beauty of the blue planet, of the vastness of the oceans and varied landforms, the magnificent cloud formations and water currents, the wonder of lightning storms stretching over a thousand miles, and the dazzling light display of the aurora over the poles. The relative thinness of the atmosphere that provides for life, the day-night cycles, and the beauty of the atmosphere during sunrises or sunsets are also vivid memories. Viewing all of those things intensified for me the meaning of passages such as Job 26:7, 10: “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. . . . He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.” Psalm 8:3–4 speaks of the humility that comes when one considers creation: “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers . . . .” The view from orbit was humbling in ways well beyond previous experience. And Psalm 19 is among my favorites because it speaks of how creation reveals God’s existence but how He is only fully revealed in His Word. The experience on the Space Station also intensified my faith by helping me consider God’s providence and governing of His creation—that is, God as the Sustainer and Provider.

“Providence is a term not used much in modern times, but I love the richness of it. The reality of God’s providence transcended the entire experience of Expedition 13. Psalm 139 speaks to providence and the manifestation of God’s ever-present care, and verses 9–10 took on special meaning: “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” In Colossians 1:16–17, Christ is acknowledged as the Creator and also the one who sustains—that is upholds and governs—His creation. While in orbit for six months, I grew in appreciation of being sustained and upheld day by day. Of course, the special revelation found in the Scriptures climaxes in the redemption of sinners—that is, God as Redeemer. And that redeeming work is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ—the good news of the Gospel. That reality of God as Redeemer also became more vivid from the spaceflight experience as a direct result of the deepened perspectives of God as Creator, Sustainer, and Provider.

“In hindsight, I have come to realize anew that viewing and living out life through that lens intensifies the trust, confidence, and sense of contentment that come in living out our faith in even the most challenging times. That perspective also invokes an intense humility and grows gratitude. It causes one to slow a bit and contemplate life issues in a new way. Additionally, it magnifies the sense of responsibility and stewardship that comes with getting such an experience. I have an obligation to share the experience and bring it back to those on Earth. With all of that in mind, among my favorite portions of the Earth to observe was the Middle East. The significance of redemptive history recorded in the Bible was brought to mind when I could see, in a single panorama, the entire area in which it took place. All of that history—from Abraham to Moses to David, the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the subsequent journeys and work of the apostles in the spreading of the Gospel—was, in a sense, made visible in a fresh, tangible way when the biblical lands were in view out the window. I know I will never look at the maps in the back of my Bible the same way.”

— Colonel Jeffrey N. Williams, The Work of His Hands, p. 149-153.

Did you know that our Lord Jesus Christ assumed that His disciples would fast, just as He assumed they would pray? Jesus commended fasting as a private act of humility and devotion to God (see Matthew 6:16-18). Note particularly that he says, “When you fast…” not “If you fast…” Take a look at Matthew 9:14-15. The first Christians fasted (Acts 13:2-3; 14:23). Why shouldn’t a twenty-first century Christian do likewise? Why?

Because we are, as a culture and society, gluttons. After all, we are a “consumer” society. We consume, consume and consume some more. We eat to the point that our bellies are too large, we weigh too much, and we inflict chronic illness on ourselves brought on by poor diet and exercise habits. I’m as guilty as anyone in this regard. We do not fast to earn brownie points with God, but that fact has become our excuse for not fasting, for not attending to self-disipline and self-mortification. We excuse our laziness and gluttony by appealing to our freedom in Christ as forgiven children. We let ourselves off the hook all the while comforting ourselves that we are free not to get caught up in “legalistic” requirements such as fasting. We look at the required fasts in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy and rightly criticize the imposition of such rules as contrary to the Gospel freedom we have, but then we again use this an excuse not to fast. We’ll show those legalists, as we continue stuffing our faces and filling our bellies with the food that perishes.

As we now approach the beginning of Lent, it is good to recall that Lent has been, historically, throughout the Church’s history, a time that involves fasting. The German name for Lent used historically in Luthernaism is Fastenzeit,  “Fast time.” The spiritual discipline of fasting was always part of historic Lutheranism, but as in so many other areas of our church life, the desire to “fit in” with the rest of American Protestantism, led this practice to fall into disuse among us. Luther assumes that fasting will be part of Lutherans’ practice when they prepare to receive the Supper, for in the Catechism he writes, “Fasting is indeed fine outward bodily preparation…” What he goes on to say about the proper preparation being faith and trust in Christ was never intended to be an excuse not to fast. In The Lutheran Study Bible there is a great article on fasting and I thought you might find it useful as you consider how you will be observing Lent.

Afflicting One’s Soul

The modern Jewish calendar has 28 fasting days, but in the Old Testament, God commanded only one annual fast. In Lv 16:29–31, Moses gave God’s dictum to “afflict [deny] yourselves” on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). In response to the atonement for Israel’s corporate sin, devout Israelites would fast from morning until evening on the tenth day of the seventh month. Before the exile to Babylon, Israelites fasted during times of impending danger, mourning, sickness, threat of war, distress, and sorrow. For example, Hannah did not eat because of the great stress brought about by her barrenness (1Sm 1:7), and David fasted after learning of Abner’s death (2Sm 3:35). Religious leaders also mandated periods of fasting at times of great national crisis (cf Jgs 20:26; 2Ch 20:3; Jer 36:9). These examples show that fasting was an expression of sorrow and, most important, an expression of repentance.

Overindulgence

Where faith is strongest, Satan works hardest. While God esteems those who are “humble and contrite in spirit” (Is 66:2), Satan vigorously attacks them with temptations to overindulge. Thankfully, God did not leave His people powerless in their sin. In answer to prayer, God sent Isaiah to call passionately for their repentance and help them understand the true character of fasting as an expression of sorrow over sin and an opportunity to have mercy on the hungry (Is 58:3–8). Unfortunately, instead of heeding God’s call, the people continued in their self-centeredness and thus brought about the Babylonian exile. For God’s people, the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar (587 BC) was a turning point in history rivaled only by the Roman destruction of Herod’s temple (AD 70). As a result of the exile, four new fasts were added to the Jewish calendar, each marking key historical dates leading up to and including the exile (Zec 8:18–19). For instance, a fast in the fourth month laments the breach of Jerusalem’s outer wall by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 52:6–7). A fast in the fifth month commemorates the burning of God’s holy temple and other buildings (2Ki 25:8–9), while a fast in the seventh month marks the assassination of Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had placed as governor over Judah (Zec 7:5). Finally, a fast during the tenth month is held in memory of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem (2Ki 25:1). These fasts served a holy purpose: they reminded the Israelites of the sorrows brought by neglecting God’s Word. However, over time fasting became another way the Israelites abused God’s Word. In the hope of preventing any further captivity, Jewish scholars pored over the writings of Moses, frantically searching for a reason why God exiled them. They determined to apply the Law more vigorously. What followed was a fundamental shift in their belief system. To this day, many Jewish people still believe that if they keep all the laws perfectly, they will gain salvation. Fasting changed from an expression of repentance to compulsory appeasement of a legalistic code. This deception led many astray to spend eternity apart from the Lord, who desires to save all people (1Tm 2:3–4).

The Appearing of Christ

Before the birth of Jesus, the Pharisees mandated twice-weekly fasting (Lk 18:9–12). The Essenes, a splinter group that may have lived at Qumran, centered much of their lives on fasting. For the unfaithful, fasting was something done to curry God’s favor—a duty, a work, a law. But for the faithful, fasting continued as an expression of repentance and reverence for the Lord, who created them and promised to redeem them. After Jesus’ Baptism, He went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights (Mt 4:2). This recalled the devotion of Moses (Ex 24:18), the great prophet Elijah (1Ki 19:8), and the 40 years of wilderness wandering for Israel. During this fast, Satan repeatedly tempted Jesus, but He used God’s precious Word to defend Himself.

Fasting for You

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke against fasting as a means of salvation. Instead, He commended fasting as a private, voluntary act of humility before God (Mt 6:16–18). Take a few moments now to read His words and reflect on your own devotion. If you are like most people, you have thought more about dieting than fasting. It is hard to imagine a daylong fast. No doubt fasting for 40 days like Jesus did after His Baptism is out of the question. Yet our Lord’s words clearly reveal that fasting should be part of a Christian’s life: He said, “When you fast” (Mt 6:16), not “If you fast” (cf Mt 9:14–15). The early Christians fasted (Ac 13:2–3; 14:23). Why shouldn’t a twenty-first-century Christian do likewise? As you fast, let the feelings of hunger you experience remind you to pray. Spend the time you would normally spend eating by reading God’s Word and meditating on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through His Word, the Lord will bless and nourish you. “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am’ ” (Is 58:8–9).

How You Might Fast

Consider fasting for a meal or two before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Spend your extra time studying God’s Word and singing Communion hymns. Fasting during Lent can be a wonderful way to remember the perfect obedience of Christ and His sacrifice for your salvation. Money not spent on food may be donated for the poor. You might follow this routine for a daylong fast: (1) rise before dawn and eat breakfast; (2) examine yourself as you would prior to partaking of the Lord’s Supper; (3) offer your life to God in penitent prayer; (4) go about your day, breaking your fast at evening. If you are diabetic, fasting could be hazardous. Check with your doctor. Do not consider fasting as a dieting program. If abstaining from food is not possible, consider abstaining from something else. For example, turn off your television and spend time in prayer and study of God’s Word.

Source: The Lutheran Study Bible, page 189.

The Christian Church Year is such a blessing. Many people who are new to the Lutheran Church, or other liturgical churches, coming from general evangelical protestantism, are unfamiliar with the ancient custom of observing a series of festivals, also known as “feasts,” and unique times throughout the year, known as “seasons.” in what is known as the “liturgical year.” While the basic structure and words of the core components of the liturgy do not change from Sunday to Sunday, there are changes in other texts, particularly the various readings from Holy Scripture appointed for every Sunday and festival day, that give the various times in the Church Year their unique emphases and nuances. Pastor Weedon found a beautiful summary of why the Church Year is so important and useful:

As the seasons of the church year make their annual circuit, the preacher has no other task than to unfold the mysterium Christi, the mystery of Christ. He makes it known in all its splendor, with a sense of awe and wonder and with all its meaning for the faltering lives of Christ’s little ones. Source: Ernest Koenker, Worship in Word and Sacrament, p. 46

Are you interested in joining the CPH Team, to research and develop new digital resources? Our Emerging Products group has an opening. Check it out!

Are you interested in joining the CPH Team, to research and develop new digital resources? Our Emerging Products group has an opening. Check it out!About the Job

Concordia Publishing House (CPH), the publishing arm for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, is seeking a Digital Product Specialist to work in its Emerging Products area.  This position is full-time and would be located at the main headquarters in St. Louis.

The Digital Product Specialist will be responsible for research, analysis, design, development, and production of digital products from concept to launch. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to define user needs, design user interfaces, and produce high quality products adhering to best practice workflows.

This position will work closely with cross functional teams to execute a technology integration plan across multiple product lines, and will use online collaboration tools to provide cross-team project-based support.

Other duties include:

·         Researching and analyzing customer needs to identify opportunities for new product innovation and existing product improvements.

·         Educating and consulting with internal stakeholders on technology initiatives and providing feedback/recommendations based on proposed requirements.

·         Translating factual data into product specifications to develop digital prototypes for testing and review purposes.

·         Serving as primary point of contact for day-to-day development activities including milestone review, feedback aggregation, and approvals.

·         Coordinating routine projects update meetings with internal stakeholders and external development partners.

Candidates must possess a bachelor’s degree in education, visual design, instructional technology, IT or related field.  In addition, candidates must have 2-3 years demonstrated knowledge of HTML, CSS, XML, and other rich media formats.  Experience with learning management systems and mobile platforms is a plus.

CPH offers a comprehensive benefits package and competitive pay.

To be considered for this position send your cover letter and resume via e-mail to cphresume@cph.org

For more information on Concordia Publishing House, a 2009 Missouri Quality Award recipient, please visit www.cph.org .

A key understanding and teaching in Christianity is that the Old Testament requires the New Testament to be understood properly, and the New Testament requires the Old Testament to be understood properly. You would think this would be a self-evident truth, but trust me on this, most modern Biblical “scholarship” absolutely denies this and forcefully rejects this belief. Modernist Lutherans have thoroughly swallowed this poison as well. Here is a good insight into what the Church has always taught, everywhere, at all times:

From the beginning “the harmonious agreement of the Law and the Prophets with the Testament delivered by the Lord” was the “rule of the Church” [a quote from St. Clement]. In the conjunction of the two Testaments was woven a single vesture for the Word; together they formed one body, and to rend this body by rejecting the Jewish books was no less a sacrilege than to rend the body of the Church by schism. If indeed the coming of Christ determined the “end of the Law”, [telos], the Law itself bore witness that its end was Christ, [skopos]. … For a Christian to understand the Bible means to understand it in the light of the Gospel. “No one can understand the Old Testament without the teaching of the New, since the spiritual meaning of the Old Testament is nothing else than the New.” … Or, as Origen remarked: “We who belong to the Catholic Church do not despise the Law of Moses, but accept it, so long as it is Jesus who interprets it for us. Only thus shall we understand it aright.”

Lubac: Catholicism, pg. 176-177, 178.

Only the Christian is in a position to judge clearly how basically unsatisfying it is for man, both as an individual and as a social being, to have as his ultimate goal the civilizing and humanizing of the world, because he himself has found his own fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. . . . If it is true however, that man is endowed by his very nature with the capacity to begin the work of making the earth his subject .  .. then only the Christian, and he alone, since he knows God’s involvement for the world in Christ, will be able to direct right man’s strivings in the world and his efforts to attain transcendence. (pp. 69, 70)

Source:

Engagement with God (Ignatius Press, 2008), by Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Everyone knows that the Crusades were horrible miscarriages of justice, and examples of Western Imperialism, right? The Pope called the Crusades to find a “release valve” for the warring knights in Europe and to rob the East of its wealth and to plunder the Arab states in the Holy Land. That’s the common take on the Crusades. The Crusades were assaults on the otherwise peace-loving Islamic nation-states. These and other myths are shattered to little pieces in this fascinating book.

Stark marshalls impressive evidence that the common view of the Crusades is far from the truth in this fascinating account of the motivations of the Crusaders and the often overlooked reality of just what was happening in the Holy Land at the hands of Islamic armies bent on spreading Islam by force of arms.

If you have ever wondered if there is more to the story of the Crusades than the received wisdom we were all given in our basic history courses, you will enjoy this book, very much.

Yes, some Lutherans are antinomian. Witness the actions of the ELCA in formally embracing as acceptable and good, what God’s Word has declared to be sin and wrong. Witness the rhetoric we hear among so-called “conservative” and “confessional” Lutherans who make excuses for sin, who shrug it off, who bristle at any talk in a sermon of the way Christians are to live. I have recently had a conversation with a fellow pastor who told me about certain incidents involving fellow Lutheran pastors that shocked me. The excuse made for bad behavior was that they were enjoying the “freedom” of the Gospel. Such “freedom” be cursed to hell where it belongs and from which it comes. It is only the “freedom” pigs have to wallow in mud and their own filfth.

We Lutherans are rightly criticized by other Christians for a certain antinomian tendency among us. And it is not merely a perception based on their faulty theology, it is reality. When we still think it is appropriate to sell and promote T-shirts that say “Weak on sanctification” and make excuses for it, and about it, and when we praise public teachers who like to gas on about how they are “antinomians” and make it a butt of jokes and laughter, when we allow ourselves to grow lazy and indifferent when it comes to holiness of living, we are trifling with the Word of God. The likes of Werner Elert and Gerhard Forde have not been helpful to us on these issues. We have been preaching comfort into the ears of people, and avoiding telling them the consequences of being a Christian. I’ll say it again, and it always irritates people when I do, but the reality is that there are those who have been so “comforted” that they think nothing of engaging in sin and pursuing vile activities, all the while appealing to their Baptism, or being “free in Christ.” I have had pastors tell me we should not quote St. Paul’s letters in our sermons when he talks about good works, because Paul’s letters were never intended as sermons. I’m not making this up!

Such antinomian and anti-holy living attitudes are not Lutheran.

“Not all are Christians who boast of faith. Christ has shed His blood. We are justified by faith alone without works. You say, “I believe this.” The devil, you say! You have learned the words you have heard the same way mockingbirds learn to repeat things. Where are the fruits demonstrating that you truly believe? You remain in sins; you are a usurer and more. Surely Christ did not die and shed His blood for the sins that you are intent on committing continually, but so that He might destroy the works of the devil [1 John 3:8]. If you were formerly a usurer, say, like Zacchaeus: “I will give half of my goods, and if I have defrauded anyone, I will restore it fourfold.” [Luke 19:8]. The blood of Christ kills sin; it does not make it alive, which is the work of the devil, who inflames the desire that makes human beings murderers and adulterers. Christ did not die so that you might remain that kind of sinner, but so that sin, having been slain, might be blotted out, and you might henceforth love God and your neighbor. Faith takes away sins and puts them to death, so that you might not live in them but in righteousness. Therefore, show by your works and your fruits that there is faith in you. If not, the blood of Christ does not help. If you are a usurer, disobedient, neglectful of your station, then look to see whether you believe. For faith is victorious, triumphant, a conqueror of the world [1 John 5:4]. If you truly believe, you would not commit usury or adultery; you would not be disobedient. Let each one think: I have been made a believer; I have been washed in Baptism with the blood of the Son of God, so that my sins might be dead. [I will] not be disobedient and will declare this with my deeds.” Otherwise, give up the boast of being a believer. You know that you are a disobedient son, an adulterer; do not boast of faith and the blood of Christ. You belong to the devil, the way you are going, etc. You are bringing the name of the Lord into shame and yourself to eternal damnation.”

— Martin Luther, Sermon for the First Sunday after Trinity on 1 John 4:16-21, Preached in St. Mary’s Church, Wittenberg, Germany June 7, 1545. Translated by Christopher Boyd Brown. Unpublished translation. Pr 2002; WA 49:80-87. Copyright Concordia Publishing House, 2010.

Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:12-14

I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time, and now it is finally finished: The Bach Project. It is a fascinating series of interviews with various world-class musicians all discussing Bach’s music. Check it out here.