Sunday and Roe v. Wade

by Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb

Executive Director, Lutherans for Life

God and abortion come face to face this year with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January 22, 1973, falling on a Sunday. People will gather to worship the Lord and Author of Life on the day when, thirty-nine years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively took the right to life away from the defenseless unborn and declared the right to murder them constitutional.

Since then, over 54,000,000 little lives have been slaughtered under the death cry of “the right to choose.”

Many would say I exaggerate the importance of the convergence of Roe v. Wade and Sunday. They maintain there is no connection. Their oft repeated mantra: “Abortion is political and the Church exists to proclaim the Gospel not to be ensnared in politics.” This flawed and deadly reasoning is precisely why the carnage of abortion continues.

The killing of little boys and little girls at any stage of development for any reason is a travesty. Killing little boys and little girls created and gifted by God, purchased by the blood of Jesus, and children God desires to call into an eternal relationship with Him is a travesty against our Triune God.

Therein lies the connection. Abortion is not just a choice that destroys life. It destroys life precious to God.

Add to this the immeasurable guilt and regret an abortion choice eventually brings to the hearts of those involved in that choice and you have a set of circumstances that compels the Church of Jesus Christ to speak and act. You have a mission field tailor made for the proclamation of God’s law and especially the proclamation of His life-changing Gospel.

For the Christian, abortion is at its core idolatry, a failure to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” We choose the death of the helpless to deliver us from a difficult situation rather than trust in God “my help and my deliverer” (Psalm 40:17).

But the Church dare not merely pound her pulpits and demand, “Trust God, choose life” as if trust in God is something we can conjure up if we just try hard enough. Time and time again the Scripture associates help from God with salvation from God. “Help us, O God of our salvation” (Psalm 79:9). Those who profess Jesus Christ as the source of their salvation must be led to see and trust that the God who saved them from sin is the source of their help and will never abandon them.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32 ESV)

Because God’s love for us was demonstrated on the cross, we can confidently trust that nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39b ESV). Christ’s Church has a responsibility to help her people connect this wonderful promise to the life issues.

Our prayer at LFL, is that the Church will make this connection, not just this Sunday, but frequently Sunday after Sunday. We stand ready to help and equip the Church to connect and apply what she is already proclaiming, the Gospel, to these issues of life and death. It is the Gospel that truly changes hearts and lives.

You may find this useful as you peruse the Internet or for life in general…I present:

The Drama Button

“God intends that the one He has declared righteous by grace through faith may enjoy freedom in his conscience and that the righteous man may, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, bear the fruit of the Spirit to the praise of God’s surpassing grace.  In view of this, Luther taught that God’s people may daily take up the commandments of God’s Law, sing them on the way to their work, and actually use them to the benefit of their neighbors.”

Quote from: Friends of the Law. Order a copy here.

This was how a recent unsolicited review of Rev. Edward Engelbrecht’s spectacular book concluded on the  with Angels and Archangels blog. Here is the rest of the review.

Engelbrecht does an amazing job of putting Luther’s 3rd use of the law in context, yea imagine that… a Lutheran concerned about context!  Engelbrecht does a great job of succinctly illustrating for the reader how the Fathers talked about the Law.  He puts the Father’s thoughts in chronological order leading up to Luther and then shows how Luther built off what they had already laid down.  It is really quite simple & beautiful.

When he finally gets to Luther’s writings he makes a rather brilliant move.  He looks at ALL the different writings of Luther.  Engelbrecht doesn’t just look in the doctrinal writings of Luther but he also looks at Luther’s sermons.  He looked to Luther’s proclamation!  What a logical place to look.  Hmmmm, is Luther preaching 3rd use? Yes… but he doesn’t believe in it!?! Anyways, Engelbrecht also points out that these postils were actually some of the most widely used of all the writings of Luther.

As Engelbrecht critics other scholars he is fair but also willing to call a thing what it is.  I am not a researcher or professor but it seemed to me like these other researchers simply did a word search for “third use” and based their conclusions on those results.  Engelbrecht also took into account when Luther was “doing” the third use to his readers while not using the exact terminology, which also tended to fluctuate within Luther’s writings.

In my humble opinion, this book belongs in the library of every Lutheran Pastor.  This book is meant for PROCLAMATION.  Every. Sunday.

In his conclusion Engelbrecht states:

+soli deo gloria+

Today we commemorate and thank God for Sarah. She was the wife (and half-sister) of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham (Gen. 11:29; 20:12). In obedience to divine command (Gen. 12:1), she made the long and arduous journey west, along with her husband and his relatives, from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran and then finally to the land of Canaan. She remained childless until old age. Then, in keeping with God’s long-standing promise, she gave birth to a son and heir of the covenant (Gen. 21: 1-3). She is remembered and honored as the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac, the second of the three patriarchs. She is also favorably noted for her hospitality to strangers (Gen. 18:1-8). Following her death at the age of 127, she was laid to rest in the Cave of Machpelah (Gen. 49:13), where her husband was later buried.

And thus, today we pray:

Lord and Father of us all, You looked with favor upon Sarah in her advanced years, putting on her a new name, Sarah, and with it the promise of many blessings from her aged womb. Give us a youthful hope in the joy of our own new name, being baptized into the promised Messiah, that we, too, might be fruitful in Your kingdom, abounding in the works of Your Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Just show them this and sit back and with a satisfied smile tell them, “See? You are wrong.”

Mr. Norman Teigen has written to me expressing his concern with a comment I made in response to a comment he posted on my blog. He believes that I have defamed him and publicly slandered him. I have therefore retracted my comment and offer this public apology to him. Always happy to be corrected. Sorry, Norm, for misreading your comment.

Your humble blogger is featured in this video, offering a brief explanation of Lent. Feel free to share/post/distribute…

Petros, Peter, which means “rock” made a rock-solid confession, when asked by Christ whom men say that he is, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” This is divine revelation, not given to us by flesh and blood, but by God the Holy Spirit. And our Lord said to Peter, “Upon this rock [petra], I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” [Matt. 16]. But shortly thereafter Christ was rebuking the rock-man when he wanted to resist, with all good intentions, the very rock upon which the church is built: Christ and Him crucified! It is an interesting paradox here portrayed for us in Matt. 16, a very wholesome and worthy lesson for us all. The rock of offense, is the rock upon which the church is built: a bloody, suffering and dying Jesus, scorned and rejected, cross and suffering, not some glorious triumph, at least not in the eyes of the world. Through the deepest and lowliest and most disdainful shame and suffering is how our Lord builds His church. And He uses weak, human vessels, like St. Peter, and the words of His confession. Upon the preaching of the confession of Peter, our Lord continues to call, gather, enlighten and sanctify the whole Christian Church on earth, and He promises, to the very end, to keep it with Jesus Christ, our head and master, in the one true faith. Praise God for the confession of St. Peter! Glory to Christ for the rock upon which the church is built and for the “rock-men” and “rock-women” who proclaim and share and teach and spread the Word abroad into all the world, in all the wonderful and various vocations given among us! Praise be to God for the confession of St. Peter, the confession of the church throughout all the world.

The readings appointed for today are:
First lesson: Acts 4:8-13
Epistle: 2 Pet. 1:1-15
Gospel: Mark 8:27-9:1

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, You revealed to the apostle Peter the blessed truth that Your Son Jesus is the Christ. Strengthen us by the proclamation of this truth that we too may joyfully confess that there is salvation in no one else; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Today we remember and give thanks to God for the blessed confession of St. Peter. I can think of no better commentary on what Peter’s immortal words, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God” mean than those offered in the Lutheran Confessions, specifically, in the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope.

“The ministry of the New Testament is not bound to places and persons as the Levitical ministry, but it is dispersed throughout the whole world, and is there where God gives His gifts, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers; neither does this ministry avail on account of the authority of any person, but on account of the Word given by Christ. [Nor does the person of a teacher add anything to this word and office; it matters not who is preaching and teaching it; if there are hearts who receive and cling to it, to them it is done as they hear and believe.] And in this way, not as referring to the person of Peter, most of the holy Fathers, as Origen, Cyprian, Augustine, Hilary, and Bede, interpret this passage: Upon this rock. Chrysostom says thus: “Upon this rock,” not upon Peter. For He built His Church not upon man, but upon the faith of Peter. But what was his faith? “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Hilary says: To Peter the Father revealed that he should say, “Thou art the Son of the living God.” Therefore the building of the Church is upon this rock of confession; this faith is the foundation of the Church.” Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, par. 26-29.

And so, today we pray:

Heavenly Father, You revealed to the Apostle St. Peter the blessed truth that Your Son Jesus is the Christ. Strengthen us by the proclamation of this truth that we too may joyfully confess that there is salvation in no one else; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

My friend, Rev. William Weedon, prepares an annual report for his congregation, given to them early in the new year. He has produced yet another one and I thought to myself, as I always do when I read them, “What a great way to give people who may otherwise have not a clue what goes on in a fairly typical congregation an idea of life as a pastor serving a Lutheran congregation.” Enjoy. Here is the report:

The year 2011 was the 155th year that the Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit gathered together a family of Lutheran Christians at St. Paul’s, New Gehlenbeck. A community that delighted to sing praises to our heavenly Father and receive all the good gifts that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have to give to us (and through us!) as we share in their unending life.

In January of last year, Pr. Gleason completed the windows in the doors between the Narthex and the Nave of the Church. Looking outside in, sort of hard to tell what’s what. Looking from within the Church out, though, we see the door devoted to God the Father – gold trimmed and shining white. We see the doors devoted to God the Son, the Lamb of God, blood red and glowing. We see the door devoted to God the Holy Spirit, blue as the sky above from which the dove descended and as the waters over which He brings the church to new life – Baptism. Dave Heidbrink has been protesting since we took down the symbols of the Trinity on the front wall that our nave had removed all reference to the Trinity – and he was among the very first to note that this has now been more than remedied. Janet Engelke and several other folk noted how natural the new art was – looked like it had been here since the building was built. Truly, Pr. Gleason is a master craftsman. But mightier than he, is the Lord Himself who crafted Himself a home, an abode of the blessed Trinity, within little August Paul Schumacher on the very feast day of our Lord’s Baptism. Where the Baptismal waters flow, there the Blessed Trinity continues to build His Church and give life.

Read more…

It is time once again for me to make my annual comments about Martin Luther King day. Sadly, every year when I do this I get the same sort of responses, no matter how hard I try to be clear on why this day is so important to so many of our African-American brothers and sisters, and, why it is so important for all of us in this nation.

Sure enough there are those quite happy to entirely ignore the point of my post and gas on about how Martin Luther King was this, that, or another thing, about how his theology was bad, or how he was a liberal or immoral, and on and on. And indeed, he was, in several respects. I’m not denying that, but the lengths to whcih some people choose to go simply to stick their head in the sand and not appreciate what Dr. King did for this nation, boggles my mind. I am ashamed to say at least a few Lutheran pastors use this day to go into their whole silly “The Civil War” was not about slavery routine. Unbelievable insensitivity knows of no bounds.

I will again however say that such comments display an astounding lack of sensitivity toward, and concern about, the feelings of our fellow Americans who look to Martin Luther King as a significant figure in advancing civil rights in this nation. And there is no question that he did. And please do not, please, do not say, “Some of my best friends are Black.” Oh, really? Do you realize how this makes you sound? Let me put it this way: Some of my best friends are left-handed. I even married a left-handed person. See how hollow that sounds?

I do wonder how many of us who have less melanin in our skin have ever shared a meal with a Black person, in our home, actually have spoken at length with them as people, not as “Blacks.” Similarly, how many Blacks have had Whites into their homes and hosted them for a meal and spoke to them as people, not White? I know the problem cuts both directions, but on MLK day, this is not the appropriate time for White folk to go on and one about their gripes with Black folks.

And then, I hear from people telling me how terrible the civil rights movement has been for African-Americans, and how it has only led to what is now a permanent underclass in this country, etc. etc. There is plenty to talk about here. But that the Civil Rights movement was a good thing in many ways is undeniable.

Would you have preferred the continuation of Jim Crow laws, lynchings and telling people they can’t drink from certain water fountains, use certain bathrooms or ride only in the back of the bus or not be served a meal just because their skin is dark? Would you feel the same if the laws were in reverse and it was the white-skinned who could not do these things? “Good Christians” are not immune are they? I still have a vivid memory of angst being expressed by some members of my home congregation when Black folks showed up once for Holy Communion, from the common cup! And that was only in the late 1960s, not that too far long ago.

After the Civil War and well into the 1960s many, many African-Americans were still treated nearly like slaves in so many places. Despite the Civil War, many states made it impossible for blacks to vote and via indentured servanthood [aka sharecropping] created a serfdom across the South. Can we be a bit sensitive to the bitter, hard and long struggle of a people brought to this country as slaves?” [Yes, yes, I know blacks sold other blacks into slavery in Africa...and yes, African-Americans can be as prejudiced against others because of race as anyone else].

So, I apologize for what appears to be a gloomy post, but it is always sad that whenever anyone tries to say anything about Civil Rights, particularly on MLK day, we have to have a litany from white folks criticizing, whining and complaining, thus quite entirely missing the point of MLK and his meaning for our nation and for so many of our fellow citizens.

I’m actually seeing signs that the times they are a changing. When I was a child it was inevitable that we would refer to African-American children as “that black kid” and no doubt they would refer to us “as that white kid.” My own children have delighted me in that they have spoken of friends by name and never once have referred to them as “that black kid” or “you know, my Chinese friend.” They’ve had friends over to the house that we have heard about from school for weeks and I’ve been delighted to find they are African or Chinese, and not once did our kids refer to them by race, but by their qualities as persons. A good sign indeed and this is where we need to be. No, it is unrealistic to believe we will ever be “color blind.” That’s not what I’m suggesting, but it would be great if we would not always jump to race as the first way to describe a person.

Recently in an interview on 60 minutes one of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman, laid it out in a blunt way. He just wants to be referred to as a person, not a black man, but as a man. And he thought the notion of a “black history” month to be absurd, and even insulting, trying to suggest his “history” could be reduced to a month on the calendar.

I believe it is a necessary and good thing in the kingdom of the left, to work for that day when across this great nation people will be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. And I suspect that if people’s skin tone was a bit more dark than it may be now they might have some better sense of why this is a dream worthy of our full support, and sympathy. So, I say, “Happy MLK day.”

I’ve been reading a really interesting book on the history and development of the Glock pistol and popular it has become across the United States, particular as the weapon of choice of police departments around the country. The Glock pistol is used by over 65% of all police and law enforcement agencies in the country. Even if you have absolutely no interest in firearms or shooting, this book is interesting because it examines America’s gun culture and the various issues that continue to swirl around the use of firearms and the Second Amendment. I highly recommend the book. Here is a link to where you can buy it.

Here’s a little video I put together about the Glock for those who have no knowledge of them.

The Divine Glory Is Manifested in the Signs of Christ

When Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana, it was “the first of His signs,” by which He “manifested His glory” (John 2:11). It pointed to His coming “hour,” when He was lifted up on the Cross for the forgiveness of sins and the life of the world (John 2:4; 12:23–32). The glory of the cross is incomprehensible apart from the Word and Spirit of God, but disciples of Jesus recognize that glory in the signs of His Gospel, and so they believe in Him. Jesus does not wait for His disciples to discover Him on their own, but He seeks out the forsaken and the desolate and unites them to Himself. He adorns them with His own beautiful righteousness and delights in them “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride” (Is. 62:4–5). Purified by the washing of water with His Word in Holy Baptism, His disciples confess that “Jesus is Lord,” and they return thanks to Him “in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3), as they drink the good wine that He pours out for them, which is the new testament in His blood.

Readings Appointed for Today

Introit: Ps. 66:1–5, 20; antiphon: Ps. 66:4, 92:1
Old Testament: Ex. 33:12–23 or Amos 9:11-15
Psalmody: Psalm 67 (antiphon: v. 1) or Psalm 111 (antiphon: v. 9)
Epistle: Ephesians 5:22-33 or Romans 12:6-16
Gradual: Psalm 107:20-21
Verse: Psalm 148:2
Gospel: John 2:1-11

From Luther’s Church Postil on the Gospel for Today

“Hence the highest thought in this Gospel lesson, and it must ever be kept in mind, is, that we honor God as being good and gracious, even if he acts and speaks otherwise, and all our understanding and feeling be otherwise. For in this way feeling is killed, and the old man perishes, so that nothing but faith in God’s goodness remains, and no feeling. For here you see how his mother retains a free faith and holds it forth as an example to us. She is certain that he will be gracious, although she does not feel it. She is certain also that she feels otherwise than she believes. Therefore she freely leaves and commends all to his goodness, and fixes for him neither time nor place, neither manner nor measure, neither person nor name. He is to act when it pleases him. If not in the midst of the feast, then at the end of it, or after the feast. My defeat I will swallow, his scorning me, letting me stand in disgrace before all the guests, speaking so unkindly to me, causing us all to blush for shame. He acts tart, but he is sweet I know. Let us proceed in the same way, then we are true Christians. … Observe, God and men proceed in contrary ways. Men set on first that which is best, afterward that which is worse. God first gives the cross and affliction, then honor and blessedness. This is because men seek to preserve the old man; on which account they instruct us to keep the Law by works, and offer promises great and sweet. But the outcome is stale, the result has a vile taste; for the longer it goes on the worse is the condition of conscience, although, being intoxicated with great promises, it does not feel its wretchedness; yet at last when the wine is digested, and the false promises gone, the wretchedness appears. But God first of all terrifies the conscience, sets on miserable wine, in fact nothing but water; then, however, he consoles us with the promises of the Gospel which endure forever.” Source.

Read more…

This is a briliant piece of satire that is so funny, because it is so true. HT: GE Veith, via Joanna Veith.