In His Stead

You can read my latest Touchstone article here. You should subscribe then, of course. There is much more to the magazine than my few words.

Due honor ought to be attributed to Christ

But renewal, sanctification, and good works of the reborn are also
works of God; why, then, are they excluded from the circle of justification
(as Luther says)?

Reasons for this exclusion are very weighty and compelling. For renewal in this life is only begun by us, and it is not complete or perfect, 2 Co 4: 16. For, because of sin dwelling in the flesh, good works also of the reborn in this life are not perfect, but contaminated and impure in many ways. Ro 7:21; Is 64:6. In order, then, that the promise of righteousness, salvation, and life eternal might be firm and sure, and due honor be attributed to Christ, our whole justification-beginning, middle, and end-must consist solely in the free grace of God promised for the sake of Christ alone and apprehended by faith alone, Ro 4: 16.

Chemnitz, Enchiridion, 129.

Shameless self promotion department

I have an article in the latest Touchstone magazine. A fine journal that is nice enough to occasionally publish stuff from me. You cannot read my article online right now to do that you have to subscribe. You can read a couple of other articles and a bunch from past issues.

The article is entitled "In His Stead, on Being Paid to Act Like Jesus" and has to do with the office of the pastor in the congregation.

Chrysostom on Pentecost

Great indeed, and beyond the power of man's tongue to describe, are the gifts this day bestowed on us by a most loving God. And because of this we all rejoice together, and rejoicing give praise to the Lord. For today we celebrate a great public festival as well as a feast day.

For as in the course of the year the seasons and the solstices succeed each other, so in the Church one feast succeeds another, and brings us all together. But recently we celebrated the feast of the Cross, the Passion, the Resurrection, then the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to heaven. Today we have reached the very summit, the capital (metropolis) itself of the feasts, to the very maturing of the promise of the Lord: If I go not, He said, the Paraclete will not come to you ; but if I go I will send him to you.

Behold His solicitude for us. Consider His unspeakable kindness. Previous to these present days He had ascended into heaven, taking possession of His royal throne, and receiving back His place at the right hand of the Father. Today He bestows on us this Descent of the Holy Spirit, and through Him imparts to us a thousand other gifts of heaven. For of all the gifts which contain within them our soul's salvation, which of them has not been given us by the ministry of the Spirit?

Through Him we are freed from slavery, called to freedom, made children of God through His adoption, and above all we have been, if I may say so, remade, putting off the heavy and fetid burden of our sins. Through Him we see before us the choirs of priests, through Him we have the help of our schools of instructors … Through Him we obtain forgiveness of sin; through Him are we made clean of every stain.

Sunday Sermons of thw Great Fathers. vol. 3, 17.

The Holy Church: Mother, Virgin, Bride, Ship, Vine ...

The holy Church of God sustains the relations of mother, virgin, bride.

She is as a mother because she daily bears spiritual sons to God.

She is as a chaste virgin, because she keeps herself pure from all unholy alliances with the devil and the world.

She is a bride, because Christ hath betrothed her to Himself by an eternal covenant, and hath given to her the pledge of the Spirit.

The Church is that ship which carries Christ and His disciples (Matt. 8.23), and which will bear us finally into the haven of eternal blessedness; the Church thus sails in a blessed course over the sea of this world, furnished with faith as a rudder, having God for her pilot, angels for her oarsmen, and all the company of the godly for her passengers; on her deck is erected the cross of our salvation as her mast, upon which are suspended the sails of evangelical faith, and with these filled with the breezes of the Holy Spirit she is conducted to the haven of eternal rest.

The Church is that vine which God hath planted in the field of this world, (Matt. 21.33; Is. 5.2); which He hath watered with His own blood, which he hath hedged round about with the protecting influences of holy angels, in which He hath digged the wine-press of His own bitter passion, from which He hath removed the stones (Is. 5.2) and whatsoever might offend.

The Church is that woman clothed with the sun (Rev. 12.1), because she is arrayed in the righteousness of Christ; she treads the moon under her feet, because she looks down upon earthly things as subject to various change and decay.

SACRED MEDITATIONS BY JOHANN GERHARD, 23

Meanwhile, I was still thinkin...

Here is an interesting post about lectio divina in the rule of St. Benedict.

It may appear obscure but the practice outlined is quite practical. Although it sounds a bit like what my pietist almost charismatic high school youth group leader called "quiet time", I think the pratice of quietly and reverently meditating (reflecting, pondering, whatever) on the Word of God and the faith is very salutary.

One of the greatest evils of our time is hurry. Especially in the pastoral ministry the recasting of the role of shepherd in business/leadership/productive terms does great harm to the preacher and to the people. Rather than see himself as one who leads people to green pastures of God's presence, the preacher inevitably sees himself as the one who must make things happen. The practice of doing "nothing" (reading and then sitting) is foolishness to the world of profits and results, but for one who whose main "job" is to speak God's word it makes perfect sense. It is a struggle to rest and sit and read and pray. The old Adam is a CEO and wants to be restless and at work always.

Thinking is one of the central tasks a parish pastor can do. Thinking on the Word of God and the truths of the faith, to be sure, but also thinking and pondering with the Word of God on the people in his care, the issues facing the congregation, the personality clashes that are inevitable and everything else that comes with church life. This kind of "thinking" leads to and is in fact a form of prayer as the post points out. The rush to do things, to be active, to have many programs, to produce things that are countable destroys the soul of a preacher and the soul of a congregation. A pastor models the Christian life to his congregation whether he likes or it not and hwo the pastor seeks to lead his life and ministry is the cue for those committed to his care.

(BTW, a "hooray" to anyone who can identify the rock and roll reference in the subject line of this post.)

(Hat tip to Western Orthodoxy.)

Women lay ministers in the RCC

Here is a very interesting article about women lay ministers in the Catholic church.

The Dallas Morning News has excellent religion reporting, btw.

Here is an excerpt:

In the United States, the number of lay parish ministers went from tiny in the 1960s to 22,000 in 1990. There are now almost 31,000. For the last few years, lay parish ministers have narrowly outnumbered diocesan priests.

"Most Catholics over 40 can remember when parish ministry was primarily the realm of the priesthood, but within a generation we've seen a dramatic shift," said David DeLambo, associate director of pastoral planning for the Diocese of Cleveland.

About 80 percent of lay parish ministers are women, according to a study by Dr. DeLambo for the National Pastoral Life Center in New York City.

Faith : the mother of all virtues

But faith is not a mere opinion or empty profession; it is a living and efficacious apprehension of Christ as He is set forth in the gospel. It is a most hearty conviction of God's grace to us, a confident tranquility of heart, and an undisturbed peace of conscience relying upon the merit of Christ. Such a faith springs from the seed of the divine word; for faith and the Spirit are one, but the word is that by means of which the Holy Spirit is conveyed into our souls. The fruit is of the same nature as the seed. Faith is a divine fruit; therefore the divine seed, that is, God's word, must always be present. Just as at the creation, light appeared at the word of God, for God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Gen. 1.3); so the light of faith arises from the light of the divine word. "In Thy light shall we see light," says the Psalmist (Ps. 36.9).

Since faith unites us so closely to Christ, it is really the mother of all virtues in us. Where faith is, there Christ is; where Christ is, there is a holy life, namely true humility, true gentleness, true love. Christ and the Holy Spirit are never separated; and when the Holy Spirit is present in a soul there is true holiness. Therefore, where the life is not holy, the sanctifying Spirit must be absent; and if the Holy Spirit be absent, Christ cannot be there; and if Christ is not there, then neither is true faith there. Any branch that draws not its life and succor from the vine cannot be considered as united with the vine (John 15.4); so we are not united to Christ by faith unless we derive all our spiritual life and strength from Him.


SACRED MEDITATIONS BY JOHANN GERHARD, 12.

How Pat Robertson Leg Pressed 2,000 Pounds

This article made me laugh out loud. Robertson is selling amazing vitamin shakes which enabled him to leg press 2,000 pounds.

Oh, my, too funny. Whta can one possibly say to comment about it? It reads like something out of the Onion.

Why pastors swear not to reveal any sins confessed.

This is one reason why pastors swear not to reveal any sins confessed.

Pair fights church on sharing confessions

By MICHAEL GRABELL and JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News


Does a church have the right to publicly reveal a person's private sins? A Dallas court is being asked to decide whether Watermark Community Church can do exactly that to a man and a woman identified in court records as "John Doe" and "Jane Roe."

Their attorney says that the pair thought they had revealed their sins to Watermark's pastor confidentially and that their behavior should not be made public.

Church officials say they are only following a process of church discipline outlined in the Gospel of Matthew and written into the church's bylaws.

"Basically, we're being sued because we're seeking to love 'John Doe' in accordance with the principles outlined by God's word," said the pastor, the Rev. Todd Wagner.

Neither church officials nor the pair's attorney would specify the behavior involved.

Leaders of the northeast Dallas church said they recently became aware that "John Doe," who joined the church more than a year ago, was "having some struggles in his walk with Christ," Mr. Wagner said.

Church elders began the process of "care and correction" described in Matthew: Confront the person one to one, then with several others, then "tell it to the church." At every step, the person is asked to stop the offending behavior.

In this case, the man refused the private interventions and said he was quitting the church, church officials said. But Watermark's bylaws say a member "may not resign from membership in an attempt to avoid such care and correction."

Watermark's next step would have been to send more than a dozen letters to people who know "John Doe" – half to Watermark members and half to members of other churches who know and have worked with him.

That's when the lawsuit was filed.

"The basis of the lawsuit was the church wanted to go outside of the church and the community at large, including potentially even their employers," said Jeff Tillotson, attorney for the man and woman.

They obtained a temporary restraining order April 28, preventing the church from releasing information about them.

But the order was dismissed May 5 by Associate Judge Sheryl McFarlin after Watermark's lawyers argued that it violated the church's right to freely exercise its religion.

The case is winding its way through appeals.

Mr. Tillotson said the case holds major implications for church members in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"The typical notion of a Dallasite is that if you don't like a church, you can just leave, and that's that is apparently not shared by some of these churches," he said. "And then when you say I want to get off this merry-go-round, their response is you can't quit to avoid discipline."

We are actually entering into the heavenly mansions

Leo the Great on the Ascension


Therefore, dearly beloved, let us also rejoice with fitting joy. For the Ascension of Christ is exaltation for us. And whither the glory of the Head of the Church is passed in, thither is the hope of the body of the Church called on to follow. Let us rejoice with exceeding great joy, and give God glad thanks.

This day is not only the possession of paradise made sure unto us, but in Christ our Head we are actually entering into the heavenly mansions above. Through the unspeakable goodness of Christ we have gained more than ever we lost by the envy of the devil. For those whom our venomous enemy cast down from the happiness of their first estate, those same hath the Son of God made to be of one body with himself, and hath given them a place at the right hand of the Father.

In that Flesh our God doth reign

Ascension Hymn (Æterne Rex altíssime) from the Roman Breviary


Eternal Monarch, King most high,
Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of Death was wrought,
And conquering grace to man was brought :

Ascending to the throne of might,
And seated at the Father's right,
All power, O Jesu, is thine own
That here thy Manhood had not known.

To thee the whole creation now
Doth in its three-fold order bow,
Of things on earth, and things on high,
And things that underneath do lie.

With awe the Angels contemplate
The wondrous change of man's estate;
Though flesh hath sinned, Flesh purged the stain,
And in that Flesh our God doth reign.

Be thou our joy, O mighty Lord,
As thou wilt be our great reward;
Earth's joys to thee are nothing worth,
Thou joy and crown of heaven and earth.

We therefore beg, dear Lord, of thee
To pardon our iniquity;
Yea, of thine own supernal grace
Uplift our hearts to seek thy face :

That when in clouds, O Judge of doom,
Thy glory shall this earth illume,
Thou mayst remit our debt of pain,
And grant our long-lost crowns again.

Proper Doxology
All praise from every heart and tongue
To thee, ascended Lord, be sung;
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore. Amen.



Æterne Rex altíssime,
Redémptor et fidélium,
Cui mors perempta detulit
Summæ triumphum glóriæ :

Ascéndis orbes siderum,
Quo te vocábat cælitus
Collata, non humanitus,
Rerum potéstas ómnium :

Ut trina rerum machina,
Cælestium, terrestrium,
Et inferórum condita,
Flectat genu jam subdita.

Tremunt vidéntes Angeli
Versam vicem mortalium :
Peccat caro, mundat caro,
Regnat Deus Dei caro.

Sis ipse nostrum gáudium,
Manens olympo præmium,
Mundi regis qui fabricam,
Mundana vincens gaudia.

Hinc te precántes quæsumus,
Ignosce culpis ómnibus,
Et corda sursum subleva
Ad te superna grátia.

Ut, cum repénte cœperis
Clarere nube júdicis,
Pœnas repéllas debitas,
Reddas corónas perditas.

Jesu, tibi sit glória,
Qui victor in cælum redis,
Cum Patre, et almo Spíritu,
In sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

The Reformation caused my acne

That same blog which posted that article on the liturgy posted this diatribe blaming the Reformation for every societal and theological ill since 1500. Nothing like a-historical hysterics. The RC's are to blame for exactly .... nothing. Gotcha.

The list for which the Reformation ought to apologize includes:

Encouraging Individualism
It broke the Unity of the Western Church
Wars
Unbelief and Secularism
looting of churches for private gain
the moral excesses of the Anabaptists
Growth of disbelief
losing the need for holiness
Destruction of Culture
Cultural holocaust
Destruction of libraries
Bigotry

And more.

How to Fix the LIturgy

is an article posted here by Alvin Kimel who has a blog here.

Interesting thoughts from a Roman Catholic/Anglican context.

Some excerpts:

Restore the versus apsidem. Celebrant and congregation should together “face the Lord” in prayer. Putting the celebrant on the other side of the altar so he and the congregation could enjoy intimate community together was the single worst idea of the 20th century liturgical movement. It’s an innovation that violates the fundamental grammar of Eucharist.

Get rid of the guitars and the sentimental, trite praise songs.
By themselves, guitars are a terrible solo instrument for congregational singing. To work well, they need to integrated into a praise band (guitar, keyboard, drums, brass, bass, percussion, etc.), assisted by an expensive sound system. But I have a real problem with praise bands. I know they are popular and they pull in the young folks; but isn’t it time for us to ask if this is a proper medium for the praise and worship of the ineffable, holy God. Are we not selling our eucharistic souls in order to create a cheap form of ecstasy?

Rediscover the sublimity and grace of Gregorian and Anglican chant.

Fire the solo song leader.
Now this is not a problem for most Episcopal churches, but it appears to be a problem for Catholic parishes. The solo music leader stands in the front of the church, seeking to direct the congregation in the singing of hymns and responses. Of course, he doesn’t succeed.

The celebrant should restrict himself to the words of the liturgy.

Good liturgists do not begin the liturgy with “Hello,” “Good morning,” or “Welcome.” ... Liturgy creates an enchanted world. Every time the celebrant steps out of the ritual world to give instruction or to emotionally connect with his “audience,” he breaks the spell.


Restore a sense of sacred formality.
Nothing kills good liturgy faster than informality.


Stop worshipping on the cheap.
This is, I suspect, a much bigger problem for Catholic than for Episcopal churches. Vestments, appointments, vessels, paintings, stained glass windows, and icons–all should be the best the human imagination can create and money can buy.


Start building more beautiful churches.


Improve the quality of liturgical texts.

Fortunately, Catholics are already working on this. In a few years, English-speaking Catholics can look forward to the replacement of the banal “And also with you” by the classic, and certainly more evocative, “And with your spirit.”

The first five albums I ever bought

I can remember the first five albums I ever bought.

Dont tell my wife as I cannot remember what dress she was wearing at our rehearsal dinner or the name of the restaurant where we ate on our honeymoon nor can I consistently recite the birthdates of our children. All of which she apparently thinks is important.

But here they are :

The Knack ( M-M-M-M-M-My Sharona)

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (Didnt really like this one too much at the time ... thought it was all about living in NYC. What did I know. )

The Who - Who are You ( Not their best album but I liked it. Seemed that all the songs were about writing songs.)

Billy Joel - The Stranger ( !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The Beatles - 1967-1970 ( The blue one with the photo of the boys with long hippie hair looking down from some apartment balcony. I thought for along time that the later Beatles were so much better, more serious, than the early teeny bopper Beatles. I got that completely wrong. Please Please me is much superior to Seargent Pepper. )

Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits (Everybody must get stoned....)

I know it is six. My memory is working hard today.

Luther on the Ascension

Hence, these are majestic and powerful words. They afford the heart great comfort, so that they who believe this are filled with joy and courage and defiantly say: My Lord Jesus Christ is Lord over death, Satan, sin, righteousness, body, life, foes and friends. What shall I fear?

For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is ascended into heaven and become Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm. I challenge them to raise a finger against me or to injure a hair of my head against the will of my Lord Jesus Christ. When faith grasps and stands upon this article, it stands firm and waxes bold and defiant, so as even to say: If my Lord so wills that they, mine enemies, slay me, blessed am I; I gladly depart. Thus you will see that he is ascended into heaven, not to remain in indifference, but to exercise dominion; and all for our good, to afford us comfort and joy.

Luther on the Ascension

He exercises Lordship over necessity itself

On the day Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, He also miraculously appeared to His disciples in the upper room, though all doors were shut. In so doing, He again reveals His divine ability to overcome nature when He deems it necessary for our sake. Let us not ask, then, "How?" but rather reflect on Him, Who, in body and soul, is enthroned with the Father and exercises Lordship over necessity itself, using means appropriate to His purpose. Thus let us not erroneously decide Christ rose without His human body, nor believe he set it aside, as if lacking importance, thereby severing Himself from the Temple He took at His Incarnation. Such false notions shake the very foundation of our faith and trust - His majestic Resurrection ...

... What, indeed, can be raised up except that which is fallen? How shall we expect to rise again, if Christ did not raise up His own Temple, making Himself, for us, the Firstfruits of those who are asleep and the Firstborn from the dead? Or, how will this mortal put on immortality (cf. 1 Cor. 15:53) if, as some think, it is lost in total annihilation? How does it escape this fate if it has no hope of a new life? So let us not then swerve from orthodoxy in the faith because a miracle was accomplished. Let us instead be wise and add this to the other marvelous works done by Christ.

Note how, by unexpectedly entering when the doors were shut, Christ once more showed He was God by Nature, and it was no other than He Who had dwelt among them. Further, by laying bare His wounded side and showing the print of the nails, He gave us absolute assurance that He had raised the Temple of His Body -- which had hung upon the Cross. To this, His Body, then, He had restored life, conquering death, which comes to all flesh, for He was by Nature both Life and God.

If as some irrationally believe, He did not rise again with His body, what need was there for Him to show them His hands and side? And, if He did not want His disciples to believe He had risen again in His own Body, why did He not appear in some other form -- thus, by rejecting the likeness of flesh, stirring up other thoughts in their minds? As is the truth, however, He thought it of such great importance that they should be convinced of the Resurrection of His Body, that when the time even seemed to call Him to change His Body into some form of indescribable and surpassing Majesty, He made it a point, in His Providence, to appear once more just has He had been when He walked among them -- so that He might not be thought to be wearing any other form than that in which He had also suffered crucifixion.

If His Body had not risen again after death, what sort of death would have been defeated and in what way was the power of corruption weakened? That defeat could not have been accomplished by the death of a single rational being or soul or angel -- only by the very Word of God. It is when the power of death affects only that which is doomed, by nature, to corruption, is the power of the Resurrection concerned with this, and with this alone, so that the dominion of the lord, of this world, might be done away with.


St. Cyril of Alexandria, Comentary on John

We shall be where Christ is now as head of the whole body

If it was for us that the Word of God in His incarnation descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended above all the heavens; while being Himself perfectly unmoved, he underwent in Himself through the incarnation as man our future destiny. Let the one who is moved by a love of knowledge mystically rejoice in learning of the great destiny which He has promised to those who love the Lord.

If the Word of God and God the Son of the Father became son of man and man Himself for this reason, to make men gods and sons of God, then we must believe that we shall be where Christ is now as head of the whole body having become in His human nature a forerunner to the Father on our behalf. For God will be in the 'assembly of the gods' (Ps 82.1), that is, of those who are saved, standing in their midst and apportioning there the ranks of blessedness without any spatial distance separating Him from the elect.

St Maximus the Confessor, Selections on Knowledge, 24-25

Christ has led your captivity captive

If we consider the ascension of Christ in this way, oh, what a firm basis for a joyful faith we then have! Far be it that Christ should have withdrawn himself from his congregation; he has rather come real close to us. We need not first go to Judea to seek him. No, shortly before his ascension he promised, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Mt 28:20.

Through his visible entrance into his invisible glory he confirmed and brought this a­bout. In all places he as God and man is now near us with his grace, with his help, with his protection. If during his sojourn on earth Christ dealt with his Father chiefly for us, now his own attention is continually directed toward us, his redeemed, to bring us to faith in him, to preserve us in it, and to carry out the good work in us until that day when we shall see him as he is.

Christ has not ceased completing his work in sinners; he does not rest in the enjoyment of salvation, resting from his labors as those do who fall asleep in him; but he has appeared for us before God in the Holy of Holies; as Aaron bore the names of the tribes of Israel on his breastplate when he entered into the Holy of Holies, so also Christ carries the names of all believers on his heart when he appears before God as the true High Priest. There he unceasingly intercedes for his own, rules them, provides for them, and protects them, that the gates of hell cannot overpower them.

Oh, then, let everyone today be awakened to faith in Christ and be strengthened in it through his glorious ascension. Let no one say: How does this concern me? If you are a prisoner of sin, the Law, and death, as you can not deny, then Christ’s ascension concerns you most intimately; through his as­cension Christ has led your captivity captive. If you at your death do not want to descend into the eternal prison, then in faith cling to the Ascended. You are then free even here, and some day you will follow him into his glory. He thought of you when before his ascension he gave the command, “Preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mk 16:15,16.

CFW Walther on the Ascension of Jesus

They hurried of themselves to their death

It is easy to forget that one reason the early Christian martyrs were so revered was that they were unique. Many, many Christians lapsed, denied their Lord. Cyprian portrays the Christians hurrying to deny Jesus. His words are a grim reminder of the weakness of our flesh and the fact that our only hope is Christ.



At the first threatening words of the Enemy, an all too large number of the brethren betrayed their faith; they were not felled by the violence of the persecution, but fell of their own free will. Was it something unheard-of that had happened, something beyond expectation, that made men recklessly break their oath to Christ, as if a situation had arisen which they had not bargained for ? Was it not foretold by the prophets before He came, and by His Apostles since ? Were they not inspired by the Holy Spirit to predict that the just would always be oppressed and ill-treated by the gentiles?

They did not even wait to be arrested before going up [to offer sacrifice]; they did not wait to be questioned before they denied their faith. Many were defeated before the battle was joined, They collapsed without any encounter, thus even depriving themselves of the plea that they had sacrif1ced to the idols against their will.

Without any compulsion they hastened to the forum, they hurried of themselves to their death, as if this was what they had long been waiting for, as if they were embracing the opportunity to realize the object of their desires. How many, as night fell, had to be put off till later , and how many even begged the magistrates not to postpone their doom! What pretext of pressure can such men allege to excuse their crime, when it was rather they who pressed for their own destruction ?

Could a servant of God stand there and speak-and renounce Christ, whereas it was the world and the devil he had renounced before ? Was not that altar, where he was going to his death, in fact his funeral pyre ? When he saw that altar of the devil, smoking and reeking with its foul stench, should he not have fled in terror, as from the place where his soul must burn? Poor fellow, why bring any other offering or victim for the sacrif1ce ? You yourself are the offering and the victim come to the altar ; there you have slain your hope of salvation, there in those fatal fires you have reduced your faith to ashes.

Cyprian, On the Lapsed, 7-8, ACW, Vol. 25.

Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backward

Yeah, and it is a very popular baby name. 70th most popular. It did not exist a few years ago.

Where did it come from? An upsurge in faith and piety? Nope, MTV.

"The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. "Heaven spelled backwards," he said."

NRBQ

Anybody else out there like NRBQ? I only have a couple of CD's but it is good stuff. Nothing heavy nothing serious just nice poppy rock and roll.

I have less and less patience for rock that takes itself serious. So much of indie rock is so heavy and pretentiously important I cannot stand it.

Just play and let us dance and hum along.

By the way Jonathan Richman is also very good. Yes I am dating myself : 70's and 80's that's me.

When the church says "No"

A typically well stated post from S.M. Hutchens

"God save us from the people our Lord described as “hirelings,” and bless the pastors who say No when they should."

The saints are the teeth of the church

Augustine ...

... on the use of "figures" in speaking of Christian truth

... and what the saints are to be compared to:



For why is it, I ask, that if any one says that there are holy and just men whose life and conversation the Church of Christ uses as a means of redeeming those who come to it from all kinds of superstitions, and making them through their imitation of good men members of its own body;

men who, as good and true servants of God, have come to the baptismal font laying down the burdens of the world, and who rising thence do, through the implanting of the Holy Spirit, yield the fruit of a two-fold love, a love, that is, of God and their neighbor;--

how is it, I say, that if a man says this, he does not please his hearer so much as when he draws the same meaning from that passage in Canticles, where it is said of the Church, when it is being praised under the figure of a beautiful woman, "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn which came up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and none is barren among them?" (Song of Solomon)

Does the hearer learn anything more than when he listens to the same thought expressed in the plainest language, without the help of this figure? And yet, I don't know why, I feel greater pleasure in contemplating holy men, when I view them as the teeth of the Church, tearing men away from their errors, and bringing them into the Church's body, with all their harshness softened down, just as if they had been torn off and masticated by the teeth.

It is with the greatest pleasure, too, that I recognize them under the figure of sheep that have been shorn, laying down the burdens of the world like fleeces, and coming up from the washing, i.e., from baptism, and all bearing twins, i.e., the twin commandments of love, and none among them barren in that holy fruit.

On Christian Doctrine 2.6.7

John 15:9-10

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. John 15: 9-10 NIV

These verses have the potential to be mind blowing, Gospel, church, sacramental, Trinitarian verses but the NIV translation seriously obscures their meaning . The NIV translation of v. 10 with “obey” is seriously bad. The word is, in Greek, "keep". What strikes the ear in the NIV is that if we are good, if we do what our Lord tells us then we get his love. We do the obeying so that he does the loving.

But the verse means nothing of the sort. A quick, literal translation might be... "if my commandments you keep, you remain in my love as I kept the Father's commandments and remain in his love."

The basis of our remaining in the love of Christ is, first the Trinitarian life of Father and Son. The Son remains in the Father’s love. The second foundation is the mission of the Son : the "redemption of the world" commandments he kept from the Father. Then comes our keeping his commandments.

But what are these commandments? The Ten Commandments? The moral law? No .. they are the gospel "commandments" of Lord’s Supper (which is the context in which Jesus speaks in John), baptism, preaching and absolution. If, Jesus says to his apostles and church, you keep these things, if you keep them and practice them, if you baptize, preach the gospel, hand over the Supper then you remain in my love as I remain in my Father’s love. If you keep these things you have me and my love for these things are my love and myself.

Our abiding in Christ is matter of keeping his means of grace, a matter rooted not in our obedience but in the Trinitarian love of Father to Son and the love of the Son's obedience led him to shed his blood for the life of the world.

The sacred feminine

I continue to slog my way through the DA Vinci Code. It is frustrating reading.


Frustrating since the book completely gets the history of everything wrong. It is one giant wacky conspiracy theory which simply makes things up. The dodge that it is a work of fiction does not really apply as the book does not only have fictional characters or situations but long stretches of dialogue which set forth an error riddled faulty history of the last 2000 years. It is as if one made up a "novel" where the characters sit around and spew forth hateful conspiracies about how the Holocaust never happened and it is all a plot of the Zionist elders. I cannot imagine that the authors would get a free pass saying its only fiction. It would be rightly labeled as an attack on the historicity of the Holocaust. So the Da Vinci code is not “just a novel” ; it is a scurrilous attack on the divinity of Jesus, the Holy bible and the church itself.


But even as the book is all those things its obsession with the idea of the "sacred feminine" is fascinating even if the book uses the concept to bludgeon the truth and the Gospel. The images, ideas and symbolism and beauty which the novel points out in the “sacred feminine” have an element of truth! Only thing is this sacred feminine is raised to the level of a religion (paganism, really, nature religion, fertility cult, Wicca, Baal). It is not true that the church has tried to obliterate such symbolism or ideas. It has sought to eradicate paganism and nature worship but not the idea of the holy feminine. Rather the Bible and the church have put forth the true vision of the holy feminine, the true nature of the female (and the male!).

St. Paul in Ephesians 5 sets out a most sublime image which connects the divinity and salvific role of Christ with the "sacred feminine" of the church. In the Scriptural vision of things, the church is the receiver, the bride, the holy womb which receives the life giving (seed)Word and is fruitful. All the images, stories pictures of virgin, woman, wife, mother, feminine, fruitfulness, mother earth etc. have their place in the Christian theology. They line up with Mary, church, new birth, baptism, bride, union, Communion.

These are not vestiges of an ancient pagan past the church has failed to purge Rather they are part and parcel of the world God created, the world Christ saved through his blood. The seasons, the fruitfulness of the earth, sex and roses and fertility and birth and marriage : all these belong to Christians for Christians belong to the creator God, the God who sent His Son, the bridegroom, our Savior.

From Her womb we are born

Cyprian on the church.


The Church also is one, which is spread abroad far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of the sun, but one light; and many branches of a tree, but one strength based in its tenacious root; and since from one spring flow many streams, although the multiplicity seems diffused in the liberality of an overflowing abundance, yet the unity is still preserved in the source.

Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,-when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up.

Thus also the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spreads her branches over the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animated.


On the Unity of the Church, I,5.

Veith and the trouble at Patrick Henry

Well known Lutheran writer, academic and blogger, Dr. Gene Veith, will be the new academic dean at Patrick Henry college.

Here is an article from the LA Times on Patrick Henry and the recent exodus of some on the faculty. They say the school's approach is "too doctrinaire to prepare students for the realities of American politics." Seems the clash is over how much learning can be done from the classics without an explicit Sscriptural take. And the usual mish-mash over academic freedom.

I am sure Veith knows what he is getting into.

Cyril of Jerusalem on John 15

Thou art receiving not a perishable but a spiritual shield. Henceforth thou art planted in the invisible Paradise. Thou receivest a new name, which thou hadst not before. Heretofore thou wast a Catechumen, but now thou wilt be called a Believer.

Thou art transplanted henceforth among the spiritual olive-trees, being grafted from the wild into the good olive-tree, from sins into righteousness, from pollutions into purity. Thou art made partaker of the Holy Vine. Well then, if thou abide in the Vine, thou growest as a fruitful branch; but if thou abide not, thou wilt be consumed by the fire.

Let us therefore bear fruit worthily. God forbid that in us should be done what befell that barren fig-tree. that Jesus come not even now and curse us for our barrenness. But may all be able to use that other saying, But I am like a fruitful olive-tree in the house of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God for ever,--an olive-tree not to be perceived by sense, but by the mind, and full of light.

As then it is His part to plant and to water, so it is thine to bear fruit: it is God's to grant grace, but thine to receive and guard it. Despise not the grace because it is freely given, but receive and treasure it devoutly.

Cyril of Jeruslaem, 1st Cat. Lecture, 4.



A garden was the place of His Burial, and a vine that which was planted there: and He hath said, I am the vine! He was planted therefore in the earth in order that the curse which came because of Adam might be rooted out. The earth was condemned to thorns and thistles: the true Vine sprang up out of the earth, that the saying might be fulfilled, Truth sprang up out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven.

Cyril of Jeruslaem, 14th Cat. Lecture, 11.

Cassian on John 15

And so we can escape the snare of this most evil spirit (pride), if in the case of every virtue in which we feel that we make progress, we say these words of the Apostle: "Not I, but the grace of God with me," and "by the grace of God I am what I am;" and "it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." As the author of our salvation Himself also says: "If a man abide in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." And "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." And "Vain is it for you to rise up before light." For "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy."

Cassian, Institutes, Book 12, 9.


But so thoroughly did the Apostles realize that everything which concerns salvation was given them by the Lord, that they even asked that faith itself should be granted from the Lord, saying: "Add to us faith"[184] as they did not imagine that it could be gained by free will, but believed that it would be bestowed by the free gift of God.

Lastly the Author of man's salvation teaches us how feeble and weak and insufficient our faith would be unless it were strengthened by the aid of the Lord, when He says to Peter "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed to my Father that thy faith fail not." And another finding that this was happening in his own case, and seeing that his faith was being driven by the waves of unbelief on the rocks which would cause a fearful shipwreck, asks of the same Lord an aid to his faith, saying "Lord, help mine unbelief."

So thoroughly then did those Apostles and men in the gospel realize that everything which is good is brought to perfection by the aid of the Lord, and not imagine that they could preserve their faith unharmed by their own strength or free will that they prayed that it might be helped or granted to them by the Lord. And if in Peter's case there was need of the Lord's help that it might not fail, who will be so presumptuous and blind as to fancy that he has no need of daily assistance from the Lord in order to preserve it? Especially as the Lord Himself has made this clear in the gospel, saying: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so no more can ye, except ye abide in me."

Cassian, Conferences, Paphnutius, XVI

God's manure

This SUnday many churches will hear John 15, "I am the Vine". Here is part of Luther's delightful comments on the first few verses. I know it is long but it is not hard to read and is so good : Luther's plain earthy language, the identification of Christ and the church, the place of suffering in the Christian's life.


He continues to speak of the consolation that will not only be theirs after His resurrection, when they will see Him again, but will continue after His ascension into heaven and their dispersion throughout the world, where they, too, will suffer and be persecuted. He foresees how His disciples and the Christians will fare, and at the same time He takes into view both His own suffering, which is now at hand, and the suffering that will befall the disciples.


In an exceedingly fine parable and picture He says, as it were: "Why should I say a great deal to you? I am leaving, and I shall have to suffer and die. Later you will have to do the same thing. This suggests a vine and a vinedresser to Me, for our lot will be that of a vine and its branches."


This is a very comforting picture and an excellent, delightful personification. Here Christ does not present a useless, unfruitful tree to our view. No, He presents the precious vine, which bears much fruit and produces the sweetest and most delicious juice, even though it does not delight the eye. He interprets all the suffering which both He and they are to experience as nothing else than the diligent work and care which a vinedresser expends on his vines and their branches to make them grow and bear abundantly. With these words Christ wants to teach us to have a view of the affliction and suffering of Christians that is far different from what appears on the surface and before the world.


He says that Christians are not afflicted without God's counsel and will; that when this does happen, it is a sign of grace and fatherly love, not of wrath and punishment, and must serve our welfare. This requires the art of believing and being sure that whatever hurts and distresses us does not happen to hurt or harm us but for our good and profit. We must compare this to the work of a vinedresser who hoes and cultivates his vine.


If the vine were able to be aware of this, could talk, and saw the vinedresser coming along and chopping about its roots with his mattock or his hoe and cutting the wood from its branches with his clipper or his pruning hook, it would be prompted by what it saw and felt to say: "Ah, what are you doing? Now I must wither and decay, for you are removing the soil from my roots and are belaboring my branches with those iron teeth. You are tearing and pinching me everywhere, and I will have to stand in the ground bare and seared. You are treating me more cruelly than one treats any tree or plant."


But the vinedresser would reply: "You are a fool and do not understand. For even if I do cut a branch from you, it is a totally useless branch; it takes away your strength and your sap. Then the other branches, which should bear fruit, must suffer. Therefore away with it! This is for your own good." You say: "But I do not understand it, and I have a different feeling about it." The vinedresser declares: "But I understand it well. I am doing this for your welfare, to keep the foreign and wild branches from sucking out the strength and the sap of the others. Now you will be able to yield more and better fruit and to produce good wine."


The same thing is true when the vinedresser applies manure to the stock of the vine; this, too, he does for the benefit of the vine even though the vine might complain again and say: "What, pray, is this for? Is it not enough that you are hacking and cutting me to pieces? Now with this filthy cow manure, which is intolerable in the barn and elsewhere, you are defiling my tender branches, which yield such delicious juice! Must I stand for this too?"


That is how Christ interprets the suffering which He and His Christians are to endure on earth. This is to be a benefaction and a help rather than affliction and harm. Its purpose is to enable them to bear all the better fruit and all the more, in order that we may learn to impress this on ourselves as He impresses it on Himself. As though He were saying: "After all, this is the truth, and I cannot interpret it otherwise. I share the fate of the vine in every respect. The Jews will throw manure at Me and will hack away at Me. They will shamefully revile and blaspheme Me, will torture, scourge, crucify, and kill Me in the most disgraceful manner, so that all the world will suppose that I must finally perish and be destroyed. But the fertilizing and pruning I suffer will yield a richer fruit: that is, through My cross and death I shall come to My glory, begin My reign, and be acknowledged and believed throughout the world. Later on you will have the same experience.


You, too, must be fertilized and cultivated in this way. The Father, who makes Me the Vine and you the branches, will not permit this Vine to lie unfertilized and unpruned. Otherwise it would degenerate into a wild and unfruitful vine which would finally perish entirely. But when it is well cultivated, fertilized, pruned, and stripped of its superfluous leaves, it develops its full strength and yields wine that is not only abundant but also good and delicious."


This is indeed a fine and comforting picture. Happy is the Christian who can interpret it thus and apply it in hours of distress and trial, when death upsets him, when the devil assails and torments him, when the world reviles and defames him as an apostle of the devil. Then he can say: "See, I am being fertilized and cultivated as a branch on the vine. All right, dear hoe and clipper, go ahead. Chop, prune, and remove the unnecessary leaves. I will gladly suffer it, for these are God's hoes and clippers. They are applied for my good and welfare."


Christ is surely a master commentator here. This is how He pictures it to Himself: "I am being fertilized, hoed, pruned, and stripped of superfluous leaves; but I know the purpose well. The world is mistaken in its assumption that I shall die and perish. No, this is the work of My dear Father, who is cultivating His vine that it may grow well and have a good yield." He who is able to learn, therefore, let him learn, in order that when afflicted and assailed everyone may conclude that the world, the devil, death, and all misfortune are only God's hoe and clipper; that all the revilement and disgrace the Christian experiences is God's way of fertilizing him. Then let him say: "Praise God, who can use the devil and his malice to serve our good!" Otherwise -if his evil will had a free hand he would soon kill us with his knife, and stifle and suffocate us with his stench. But now God takes him in hand and says: "Devil, you are indeed a murderer and an evildoer; but I will use you for My purpose. You shall be My hoe; the world and your following shall be My manure for the fertilization of My vineyard." We must surely acknowledge him a great Master, who knows how to employ the devil's and all the world's wickedness for the vine's good and not to stop.

AE, Vol. 24.

Articles that make you say, "Oh, crap"

1. Oprah is America's pastor and spiritual leader.

2. In England, ... "we dont do God"

... only 8 percent go to church while 72 percent identify themselves as Christian.

... The Church of England is "is regarded by many as a kind of benign national joke."

... "Britain is showing the world how religion as we have known it can die,"

3. Not going to college here where there is a 65-year-old ban on smoking, drinking and gambling.

Tough being a doctor to the evil emperor

Eusebius on the death Galerius, Caesar 293-311, who, days before he died, issued an edict of toleration for Christians after persecuting them severely.


(Note: I tried to read this passage to my family for their edification but they would not let me get beyond "worms". Wimps :>)


Therefore punishment from God came upon him, beginning with his flesh, and proceeding to his soul. For an abscess suddenly appeared in the midst of the secret parts of his body, and from it a deeply perforated sore, which spread irresistibly into his inmost bowels. An indescribable multitude of worms sprang from them, and a deathly odor arose, as the entire bulk of his body had, through his gluttony, been changed, before his sickness, into an excessive mass of soft fat, which became putrid, and thus presented an awful and intolerable sight to those who came near. Some of the physicians, being wholly unable to endure the exceeding offensiveness of the odor, were slain; others, as the entire mass had swollen and passed beyond hope of restoration, and they were unable to render any help, were put to death without mercy.

Not All Catholics loved JPII ...

... of course, but this site pulls no punches. Seems a little wacky but really nails JPII for praying with pagans. Check out the comments they are out there .. into RC stuff I am not familiar with.

What the heck is a "Sedevacantist". The Latin suggests "the seat is vacant". One comment says something like they hold that the last 5 popes are not valid? Why? Vatican II?

A new, clean heart

This bit from the Smalcald Articles helps to point out that for Lutherans justification by faith is not some dry foresenic act whereby God sinply decides to call us soemthing different, as the accusation is sometimes put.

Rather, faith is seen as the locus of great work of God's redemption, a work whereby sins are covered and righteousness is exterior (since works are never perfect) and an object of faith. Faith always turns not to itself but to the Christ who blots out sin. This same Christ really becomes the property of the Christian and this means a new heart, thus, a lew life, new works and a new person.



Through faith, we receive a different, new, clean heart and, for the sake of Christ our mediator, God will and does regard us as completely righteous and holy. Although sin in the flesh is still not completely gone or dead, God will nevertheless not count it or consider it.

Good works follow such faith, renewal, and forgiveness of sin, and whatever in these works is still sinful or imperfect should not even be counted as sin or imperfection, precisely for the sake of this same Christ.

Instead, the human creature should be called and should be completely righteous and holy according to both the person and his or her works-by the pure grace and mercy that have been poured and spread over us in Christ.

Smalcald Articles III, 13.

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Speaking up for old immigrant congregations

Here is a thoughtful post on the state of congregations in Eastern Orthodoxy in America today. The author points out the tension between the new mission, convert based parishes and the older ethnic congregations.

Obscured by the dust of the collapsing cultural country club communities and the smoke and mirrors associated with the convert parishes is the silent majority of American Orthodoxy's mainstream churches.

He speaks up for the mainstream ethnic congregations and does a good job. Some of what he says can be applied to Lutherans of German background though we are further along in acclimating to America.

Here is another bit :

It's easy to second guess the genesis of the communities founded by our grandparents: their ethnocentricity; the lack of jurisdictional unity; their adoption of a quasi-congregational ecclesiology. But these criticisms are ahistorical and intellectually dishonest. They were people of their time, doing the best that they could ... But here's the reality. The overwhelming majority of American parishes are the spiritual benefactors of the unsung heroes who crossed the pond in the early twentieth century.

"Ethnic ghettos" -- the favorite epithet used at almost every opportunity to describe Orthodox parishes with Old World roots -- needs to be put in perspective. The parishes of the early twentieth century were cultural enclaves. They had to be. Come to my neck of the woods if you need a refresher course in religious bigotry.

There remain some parishes that are ethnically exclusive. In some locales this is a natural consequence of the congregation's cultural homogeneity. What else could we expect? In other places, an anachronistic cultural chauvinism finds some parishes dying slowly. Without a shift in mindset, these churches might one day have to close their doors -- maybe they deserve their fate.

Some thoughts on "missions"

Missions (being sent ... missio ) belongs to the heart of the church. It is bound up with the preaching office, the sacraments, the relationship between the church and the world and even the interplay between the old and the new Adam. It is near the center of the Christian responsibility of vocation and Christian life. It has its roots in the very nature of God as Trinity. The Father sends the Son as the Son sends the church in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yet much current talk of missions is sadly shallow. Numbers, emotion and manipulation often replace serious substantive reflection on the mission of the church, congregations and individuals. Often mission is used as the only acceptable topic for theological discourse on a church wide basis. Theology (and sermons and worship and Bible studies and meetings etc etc) must be missional to be on the table at all. If there are divisions or disagreements in the church they are to be ignored or swept to the side for the sake of "missions". Mission is used not as a thread which winds its way through the church's life but as a bulldozer demolishing the very structure of Christian theology (and mission!) itself.

"Missions" (outreach, growth ) becomes an end to itself, a reason for being, much like a ponzi scheme where the essence of the enterprise is to become larger. Missions is a potent rhetorical and strategic tool for church politicians to use because it is positive ( who can be against it?), biblical sounding and very prone to emotional appeals which fire up convention goers and makes them feel worthwhile and gives them the sense that they have something to do when they get home.

It is sad that that "mission" which is such an important aspect of the church's sense of self is so often degraded and theologically vacant. One wonders if the word can even be rescued. Perhaps we need a different word to capture the biblical and theological meaning of being sent. I know a familiar one : "apostolic" , changing Latin for Greek. Yes, that word has the connotations we need : "sent-ness" but also wholeness, churchly but also with the energy of the Gospel. To be apostolic is to be missional in all the right ways: pastoral office, sacramental, rooted in the church's tradition and Scriptures.

Ok, ok, ok ... DaVinci Code

I am probably the last person in the religious community in the US to read this silly book. I hate media storms based on stupidity and money making. And this is certainly that.

But I am reading it now. I am only maybe 1/3 into it but I am already ready to vomit every time I have to read about the "sacred feminine". Don't get me wrong I believe in the sacred feminine. Oh, yes, I do. God has provided me with the sacred feminine:

1. The holy church. my mother.
2. The Blessed Virign, Mother of God, picture(icon, if you will) of that church and of faith.
3. My wife.

Here is an article about how Brown got his facts wrong.

Here is a great sentence from the article:

Religion scholars have been whacking The Da Vinci Code like a low-hanging piñata.

About preaching

From Paul Williams on the Lutheran Orthodox Dialogue Yahoo Group. He got them from John Pless.

"An evangelical church which looks upon the doctrine of justification by faith as a self-evident banality one no longer needs to dwell upon because other problems are more pressing has robbed itself of the possibility of arriving at solutions to such problems. It will only tear itself further apart. If the article of justification is removed from the center we will very soon no longer know why we are and must remain evangelical Christians. Then we will strive for the unity of the church and sacrifice the purity of the gospel; we will expect more from church order and government, from the reform of ecclesiastical office and church discipline, than these can deliver. One will flatter piety and despise doctrine; one will run the risk of becoming tolerant where one should be radical and radical where one should be tolerant - in short, the standards will be skewed and therewith also what is necessary and right in all reforms for which we struggle today will no longer be comprehensible"
-- Hans Joachim Iwand


"As a witness to Christ, every sermon is a struggle with demons. Every sermon must overcome Satan. Every sermon fights a battle. But this does not occur through the dramatic efforts of the preacher. It happens only through the proclamation of the One who has trodden upon the head of the devil. We usually do not recognize Satan anyway. We do not find him; Christ finds him. The devil departs from him. Satan waits nowhere for his prey as where the congregation gathers itself. Nothing is more important for him than to hinder Christ's coming to the congregation. Therefore Christ must be preached"
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer


"A preacher's exegesis ought to be like his underwear. He should always have it on but never let it show"
--Helmut Thielicke

I want more parishioners like this guy

"The principle of Uniformity has received its best explanation at the hands of Sir John Nicholl, one of the greatest of Anglican ecclesiastical lawyers, in the case of Newbury v. Goodwin, which came before the Court of Arches in 1811. Goodwin was the incumbent of Heathfield, a village in Sussex, and in reading the First Lesson on a Sunday morning he omitted certain verses of which he disapproved. The suit was promoted by an aggrieved parishioner who liked his Prayer Book service in its entirety."


This is an interesting quote from an essay which I have not finished reading. Here is the rest of the paragraph.


"In giving judgement Sir John Nicholl said: ‘The law directs that a clergyman is not to diminish in any respect, or add to the prescribed form of worship; – uniformity in this respect is one of the leading and distinguishing principles of the Church of England – nothing is left to the discretion and fancy of the individual.’"

Addleshaw( whoever he is! ... some Anglican),"The High Church Tradition.

Ivan Ilych saw that he was dying ...

I went through a deep Leo Tolstoy period in college. Yeah, I was weird.

I just picked up for the first time since then a collection of his short novels. Here is a selection from "The Death of Ivan Ilyich". The precise rendering of the workings of the human psyche are wonderful and the focus on death is ... salutary.

This sentence is especially comic and accurate and sad:

The syllogism he had learnt from Kiesewetter's Logic: "Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal," had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself.


This is from what is, online, numbered chapter six.


Ivan Ilych saw that he was dying, and he was in continual despair.

In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he not accustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it.

The syllogism he had learnt from Kiesewetter's Logic: "Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal," had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself. That Caius — man in the abstract — was mortal, was perfectly correct, but he was not Caius, not an abstract man, but a creature quite, quite separate from all others. He had been little Vanya, with a mamma and a papa, with Mitya and Volodya, with the toys, a coachman and a nurse, afterwards with Katenka and will all the joys, griefs, and delights of childhood, boyhood, and youth.

What did Caius know of the smell of that striped leather ball Vanya had been so fond of? Had Caius kissed his mother's hand like that, and did the silk of her dress rustle so for Caius? Had he rioted like that at school when the pastry was bad? Had Caius been in love like that? Could Caius preside at a session as he did? "Caius really was mortal, and it was right for him to die; but for me, little Vanya, Ivan Ilych, with all my thoughts and emotions, it's altogether a different matter. It cannot be that I ought to die. That would be too terrible."

Such was his feeling.

"If I had to die like Caius I would have known it was so. An inner voice would have told me so, but there was nothing of the sort in me and I and all my friends felt that our case was quite different from that of Caius. and now here it is!" he said to himself. "It can't be. It's impossible! But here it is. How is this? How is one to understand it?"

He could not understand it, and tried to drive this false, incorrect, morbid thought away and to replace it by other proper and healthy thoughts. But that thought, and not the thought only but the reality itself, seemed to come and confront him.

Most Hated Theology Cliches that are actually true

Cliches come in several varieties.

Those that are obvious and need not be repeated (It sure is hot out here.)

Those that are not true but people repeat to make themselves feel good. (At a funeral : she was a good person.)

Then there are :

The Most Hated Theology Cliches That Are Actually True!

These are shorthand phrases that people use to write sermons or teach or assure themselves they are correct without actually thinking through what they are saying or communicating it in a way that is understood.

1. Law and Gospel.
2. Word and Sacrament.
3. Forgiveness of sins.
4. Jesus loves you.



Others?

The righteousness of Christ must be our cover

One "problem" Christian theology has dealt with repeatedly over the centuries is the persistent fact of post baptismal sin. Some have solved the problem of this sin by denying its existence. Others have emptied bapitsm of its salvific power.

But if one maintains both baptismal regeneration and the reality of sin in the Christian life, there is a bit of theology to "do". Here is Luther's take on this.



After baptism and repentance, all sins are forgiven, but sin remains present until death. But because of God's forgiveness, this sin does not impair our salvation, provided we fight against it and do not surrender.

For this is the abundant grace of the New Testament and the surpassing mercy of the Heavenly Father that, through baptism and repentance, we begin to become godly and pure. God does not hold against us whatever sin is still to be driven out, because of the beginning that we have made in godliness and because of our steady battle against sin which we continue to expel.

He chooses not to charge this sin against us, though, until we become perfectly pure, he might justly do so. For this reason, he has given us a bishop, namely Christ, who is without sin and who is to be our representative until we too become entirely pure like him [Heb. 7:26; Rom. 8:34].

Meanwhile, the righteousness of Christ must be our cover. His perfect godliness must be our shield and defense. For his sake, the sin that remains in those who believe in him, may not be charged against them, as St. Paul so masterfully describes it in Rom. 3:24-26.

Defense and Explanation of All the Articles, AE Vol. 32, p. 28.

Athanasius on liturgy, heaven and Eucharist

Today is the day to remember Athanasius. Here is a little quote I stumbled across on the Web. Don't have references so its accuracy I do not vouch for.


Through Christ, we who were once separated from God have now become one with him especially in our participation in the Holy Liturgy. The Liturgy or Mass that we celebrate today is a participation in the Divine Liturgy of Heaven where we will continuously offer praise and glory to the God who has saved us. Therefore, our Easter celebration is a liturgical celebration through which we discover the Risen Lord in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.

Unholy ... in a good way

Mercy Seat Lutheran Church, a new ELCA congregation offers jazz services.

Ho hum, another liturgical travesty.

But the words the pastors use to decribe the congregation are fascinating. they maintin the theology is Trintiarian, Orhtodox Lutheran etc but ...

"We're trying to get at something uncanny _ the thing that makes goose bumps appear," he said, the sort of "terrible beauty" found in great poetry and art _ and in Christianity.

"The Bible is not a little book of rules," he said. "It's dark and disturbing. It is profound and wild and unholy."

Unholy? He means that in a good way: "It's full of paradox and complexity."

One Saturday, Evensen's opening reading was a funky, funny 1957 stewardess-training-film script called "Angels in the Aisle."


Stenberg offered a prayer that began, "Holy Christ, draw us into your odd and dislocated narrative. ... Help us humbly acknowledge the ways we get your story wrong. ..."

Stop blackening the glory of God

Luther teaches here that good works are themselves sinful thus cannot be a part of the justification equation (so to speak). The refusal to mix the life of good works and the life of righteusness before God is a hallmark of Luther's theology.

His theosis language is real and rightly emphasized. But it is a theosis by faith which is accomplished always through faith reaching outside of oneself and works to grasp the living Christ.

This passage is one example of that. Our works though real are useless for righteousness coram deo. Faith reaches to the sure Word.


God cares admirably for us by making us certain of two things. First, he teaches in Gal. 5 [:22] what good works are manifest. "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace," etc.; and, in Matt. 7 [:20], "you will know them by their fruits." the other hand,] He has made us certain that they [the good works] are not sinless and faultless (so that our trust is not in them), with the result that we can acknowledge in a confession without doubt or falsity that we are sinners in all our works and are men whom mercy has found.

Further, in order that we may have unfailing peace, he has given us his Word in Christ, on which we rely with confidence, secure from all evil. The gates of hell, together with all sins, do not prevail against that Word. This is our rock of refuge where we, with Jacob, can wrestle against God [Gen. 32:28] and, so to speak, dare to press hard upon him with his promises, his truth, and his own Word.

Who will judge God and his Word? Who will accuse or condemn faith in his Word? Let people like Latomus stop blackening the glory of God, muzzle their blaspheming mouths, and no longer raise up idols for us out of our dubious and unbelieving works, so that we may not change our glory into the likeness of a calf which eats hay.

Against Latomus, AE, vol. 32, p. 193

Show your wounds .. get the medicine

More great Syrian patristic stuff. Some nice advice here for pastors.


So also, my beloved, we must give them who in our fight have been over­come and wounded by the enemy, the remedy of penance, -‑ provided indeed that the wounded one feels sincere contrition. . . . So also the man whom the devil has wounded must not be ashamed to confess his sin, to leave it, and to ask for the remedy of penance. . . .

Thus also there is a salvation and cure for one overcome in our fight, through this that one says, "I have sinned," and demands the penance. But he who is ashamed can not be healed, because he will not show his wounds to the physician who has received the two denarii wherewith he cures all the wounded.

But it is fitting also that you physicians, disciples of Him our most holy Healer, do not refuse the medicine to those who need it. To whosoever shows you his wound grant the remedy of penance; and whosoever is ashamed to show his illness, warn that he conceal it not from you!

But, you wounded, I exhort that you be not ashamed to say: "We have been overcome in the battle!" But rather receive the medicine which is given to you gratis.

Bishop Jacob Aphraates, Treatise on Penance.

Selection is in a paper online here.

A feast he prepared for his Bride

What a great quote this is!


The true paschal lamb speaks joyfully to those who will eat him, and the First-Born announced the Pascha in the dining room to his disciples. Our Savior invited himself to his immolation and bloodshedding.

His lifegiving bread was nutritious and well prepared, and his sheaf of ears came home full. The matter of his body was permeated with the yeast of his divinity. His mercy welled up and his love overflowed, so that he might become food for his own. He took the "heap of wheat"(Cant 7:2) away from Zion and gave it to the Church in holiness. He had prepared a new banquet, and now he invited his companions to it and called them to come.

A feast he prepared for his Bride, to allay her hunger. Our Lord slew his own body, and (only) then did mortals slay it. He pressed it out into the cup of salvation and (only) then did the People also press it out on the cross. As priest he offered himself ahead of time, so that strangers might not exercise the priestly office. ...

Cyrillonas, First Homily on the Pascha (Cyrillonas is an obscure, to me, Syrian writer from the late 4th century)

from Easter in the Early Church by Cantalamessa which is a wonderful book.