The flesh should also become Word: Luther on theosis

There has been a little discussion about theosis in the comments of a previous post.

The definitve book on Luther and theosis is Christ Present in Faith by Mannermaa. I have posted about that book before. The book is excellent but must be tempered by realizing that this is one strain in Luther not the only one nor the dominant one.

Luther's theosis is "by faith" and is driven by a divine descent motif not an a human ascent struggle motif.

Anyway here are some selections from Luther. These are from this article by Marquart.

As the Word became flesh, so it is certainly necessary that the flesh
should also become Word. For just for this reason does the Word
become flesh, in order that the flesh might become Word. In other
words: God becomes man, in order that man should become God.
Thus strength becomes weak in order that weakness might become
strong. The Logos puts on our form and figure and image and
likeness, in order that He might clothe us with His image, form,
likeness. Thus wisdom becomes foolish, in order that foolishness
might become wisdom, and so in all other things which are in God
and us, in all of which He assumes ours in order to confer upon us
His [things.

We who are flesh are made Word not by being substantially changed
into the Word, but by taking it on [assumimus] and uniting it to
ourselves by faith, on account of which union we are said not only
to have but even to be the Word."


And,


And that we are so filled with "all the fulness of God," that is said in
the Hebrew manner, meaning that we are filled in every way in
which He fills, and become full of God, showered with all gifts and
grace and filled with His Spirit, Who is to make us bold, and
enlighten us with His light, and live His life in us, that His bliss
make us blest, His love awaken love in us. In short, that everything
that He is and can do, be fully in us and mightily work, that we be
completely deified [vergottet], not that we have a particle or only
some pieces of God, but all fulness. Much has been written about
how man should be deified; there they made ladders, on which one
should climb into heaven, and much of that sort of thing. Yet it is
sheer piecemeal effort; but here [in faith] the right and closest way
to get there is indicated, that you become full of God, that you lack
in no thing, but have everything in one heap, that everything thatyou speak, think, walk, in sum, your whole life be completely divine.

Some Good Advice for theologians

Some good advice for theologians from Cyril of Jerusalem. He is speaking about the Holy Spirit but his words are valid for all topics of theology.


It must therefore belong to Jesus Christ's grace itself to grant both to us to speak without deficiency, and to you to hear with discretion; for discretion is needful not to them only who speak, but also to them that hear, lest they hear one thing, and misconceive another in their mind.

Let us then speak concerning the Holy Ghost nothing but what is written; and whatsoever is not written, let us not busy ourselves about it. The Holy Ghost Himself spoke the Scriptures; He has also spoken concerning Himself as much as He pleased, or as much as we could receive. Let us therefore speak those things which He has said; for whatsoever He has not said, we dare not say. (emphasis added)

Catechectical Lectures 16,2

Frolicing with the Devil

From Wikipedia, so one never knows but a nice quote from Peter Chrysologus:

Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ.

Ancient Psalm Book Found

This is a cool story.

An ancient Irish psalm book ( 800-1000 a.d.) found in a bog.

I have no idea what to say

Try rightly dividing law and gospel when you are dealing with a living and breathing soul right in front of you, and I tell you that you do not feel so brilliant anymore. At least I don't. In fact, it is the one thing that disappoints me most about myself, that when I am talking to someone, I have no idea what to say. I don't know the right questions to ask.

One of the nice things about blogging and reading blogs are posts like the one I just read, an excerpt is above. Pastor Beisel expresses truth about being in the office. A nice post. I have felt what he writes about.

The life of God in the parish

Pastor Weedon posted this very nice paragraph from Piepkorn in the comments section of my blog and on his own blog. Thank you, Pastor Weedon! I am sure he won't mind me also posting it here.


"The life of God in the parish implies an end of commericialism in the financial affairs of the parish. If we cook, it will be for the hungry; if we sew, it will be for the needy; if we collect clothes, it will be for the ill-clad; if we eat, it will be for the joy of being together as children of God and not to raise funds for Him who is the Creator and Owner of the world's wealth. The kingdom of God is not buying one another's pies, but in being faithful stewards of the gifts with which God has bountifully endowed even the poorest. The problem of parish finance is not getting into people's purses, but getting God into people's hearts." - A.C. Piepkorn, *The Life of God in the Life of the Parish* - in THE CHURCH p. 117, 118

We must be calm

In the church whenever there is a problem people think straight ahead. Money … lets do stewardship. Declining numbers … lets do evangelism. Conflict … lets learn peace maker strategies.

All of this is well intentioned and may work on some level for some amount of time. We ought to confront problems and not avoid them. But at a more basic level, there is something off about large scale, evangelism or stewardship or conflict resolution emphases.

The ultimate answer to such things in the church is to continue being the church. Really the answer is Jesus. I decided to know among you but Christ and him crucified. The church cannot live like a corporation or a business responding to market pressure or consumer swings. The church has a foot in heaven, a hidden dimension, which ought to keep her on an even keel. We must always look to her reason for being which is not stewardship, growth in numbers or peace. It is Jesus.

The answer to money problems is not to talk more about money or stewardship it is to forgive to baptize to have the Eucharist. Conflict in the church ought to draw forth a deepening resolve to study, pray and worship. Declining numbers should propel the church to be faithful to her calling, to her Scriptures, to her confession.

I know it sounds simple minded and I am not advocating head in the sand, know nothing--ism . But, in the end, we must be calm. We must say this is who we are, this what we do and we will keep doing this. To be nervous, to dash about as if the sky were falling is only to surrender the only thing we have : faith in the Jesus present for us in promise, proclamation and sacraments.

A couple of quotes ...

... from Ken Burn's documentary on the Civil War which I have been watching again.


A private is being brought to General Robert E Lee for some infraction of the rules. He is terrified, shaking and trembling. Lee looks at him and says, "Now, son, you do not have to be afraid, you'll get justice here." And the private responds, "That is exactly what I am afraid of, sir."


He stood by me when I was crazy and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now sir, we stand by each other always. William Sherman speaking of US Grant

Even the gates of hell ...

Fenton has posted a quote from Basil about the state of the church in the fourth century. Good stuff.

Here is just a bit:


What storm at sea was ever so savage as this tempest of the Churches? It has moved every boundary established by the Fathers; every foundation, every established bulwark of doctrine has been shaken. Everything still remaining afloat is shaken by unsound teaching and thrown back into the abyss.

We attack one another; we are overthrown by one another. If the enemy does not strike us first we are wounded by our comrade; if he is wounded and falls, he is trampled by his fellow soldier. Although we are united in our hatred of common foes, no sooner do they retreat, and we find enemies in each other. Who could even list all the casualties? Some have fallen in battle with the enemy; some have been treacherously betrayed by their allies; others are the victims of their leaders' incompetence. Entire churches are dashed and shattered on the sunken reefs of subtle heresy, while other enemies of the Spirit of salvation have seized the helm and made shipwreck of the faith. ...

Guide to Proper church attire

Guide to Proper church Attire

Guide to Proper church attire

Guide to Proper church Attire

To suffer one's place

Alot of wisdom here in this little paragraph:


It is the idea that to suffer one’s place and one’s people in the particularity of its and their needs is the only true basis for finding love, friendship, and an authentic, meaningful life. This is nothing less than the key to the pursuit of Christian holiness, which is the whole of the Christian adventure: live in love with the frailty and limits of one’s existence, suffering the places, customs, rites, joys, and sorrows of the people who are in close relation to you by family, friendship, and community–all in service of the truth, goodness, and beauty that is best experienced directly.

The discipline of place teaches that it is more than enough to care skillfully and lovingly for one’s own little circle, and this is the model for the good life, not the limitless jurisdiction of the ego, granted by a doctrine of choice, that is ever seeking its own fulfillment, pleasure, and satiation. The Puritan heritage of America has long chafed against this discipline as it necessarily limits one to a small field of action in a world with seemingly little hope for eschatological fulfillment.

Now that's living under the law

"I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him".

--"From the Movie "The Usual Suspects" ... (does it come from somewhere else?)

Yo Yo

Here is a new one to me, Yoism, open source, do it yourself evolving religion on the web. The ultimate American, post modern, technological, "me" as religion.

LA Times has an article on it.

Here are some paragraphs:

Behold, brethren. The "open source" movement, long championed by computer whizzes as a way to solve problems using the input of all, is increasingly being applied to other disciplines including literature, scientific research and religion.

Yes, religion. Yoism — a faith invented by a Massachusetts psychologist — shuns godly wisdom passed down by high priests. Instead, its holy text evolves online, written by the multitude of followers — much the same way volunteer programmers create open-source computer software by each contributing lines of code.

Here is the website.

Some excerpts:

Welcome to The Way of Yo

The World's First Open Source Religion: A community of individuals united
by a shared vision of human possibility. Together, we can create Heaven on Earth.


Here are the 7 main principles:

Yo - Yo is the name we give to the Divine Mystery that manifests as our world of experience. The Way of Yo is based on a theology that is consistent with the world as it is directly experienced today by people everywhere.

Empiricism - Personal experience and intersubjective verification provide the foundation for belief. We reject truth based solely on authority. This is the basis for our faith in the Open Source Truth Process.

Community - Healthy communities are the foundation for emotional well being and spiritual fulfillment.

Evolution - We turn to the theory of evolution, our only "scientific theory of creation," in order to develop a valid understanding of the forces that brought the human species into being, that "shaped" us into what we are. This enables us to see ourselves more clearly and to take actions that are consistent with the realities about who we are.

Democracy - Until a more effective and just model for organizing human affairs is demonstrated, Yoans participate in the attempt to develop democracy's untapped potential.

Environmentalism - As traveling companions—hurtling through space inside a limited, closed ecosystem—we are all inter-dependent keepers of what Buckminster Fuller called "Spaceship Earth."

Growth - We must all work to continually introduce others to these values and beliefs by engaging their minds and by building welcoming communities that truly transform our relationships and inspire others to do the same.

Doctrine: Its a piece of cake

In a discussion of the doctrine of election, the elder Dr. Scaer has this nice picture of Christian doctrine and how all parts must be related organically to each other.


The discussion of any one doctrine is always done in conjunction with other doctrines comprising the Christian doctrinal corpus. Doctrines never have autonomous existences strung out like beads on a necklace, lying side by side in Nestorian isolation, whose only unifying theme is the string that runs through their center holding them together.

Christian doctrines are more like pieces of cake, all made and baked from the same dough, though their places on the circumference of the plate are different and distinct.

Stats and facts

I read this article, I feel good.

"U.S. teens tuned in to Bible, study says". More than half of the country's teens do at least some Bible reading, and 6 percent read the Bible daily. About 52 percent of all teenage girls in the country turn to the Bible when depressed, compared with 44 percent of teenage boys.

About one in five teens turn to the Bible for education in sexual matters, the survey found.

Then I read these stats and I feel bad. I guess all those teens reading the Bible advice on sex have a bad translation.

Everyday 8,000 teenagers in the United States become infected with an STD.
This year more than 3 million teenagers will become infected with an STD.
73% of teen girls wish they had waited longer before beginning sexual activity.
55% of teen boys wish they had waited longer before beginning sexual activity


And ...

Kudos to the folks over at Get Religion who are trying to get folks like the Washington Post and CNN to get facts straight on things like where Jesus born (!!!!) and basic facts about the Crusades.

How it is possible?

"You perhaps say: 'My bread is usual.' But the bread is bread before the words of the sacraments; when consecration has been added, from bread it becomes the flesh of Christ.

So let us confirm this, how it is possible that what is bread is the body of Christ. By what words, then, is the consecration and by whose expressions? By those of the Lord Jesus.

For all the rest that are said in the preceding are said by the priest: praise to God, prayer is offered, there is a petition for the people, for kings, for the rest. When it comes to performing a venerable sacrament, then the priest uses not his own expressions, but he uses the expressions of Christ.

Thus the expression of Christ performs this sacrament."

Ambrose - "The Sacraments" Book 4, Ch.4:14.

I don't think you can get smart watching movies.

I don't think you can get smart watching movies.

My family is gone for a week and a half and I am watching alot of movies to pass the time.

I am not getting smarter. I am being entertained. I am seeing alot of hilarious and thoughtful images which I enjoy. I am hearing alot of thoughtful words even profanity being ironically and truthfully delivered.

But there is a distance in moving images that distances itself from truth. We talk as created beings. We make words. We know God in "the" Word. We do not make images of ourselves as part of who we are as people created by God. There is a David Letterman quality to all movies, to all television. A sense of watching ourselves, of being aware of being aware of ourselves being watched. Irony. Sarcasm.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled

Here is a great line to end a movie :

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist"

-- from "The Usual Suspects".

Les Jones, whoever that is, says the line comes from Charles Baudelaire, whoever that is. All I know of him is that Dylan mentioned him in some song I cant recall. Memory is a foolish thing. Someone else can do the Google work on the Dylan thing. I think it was from Blood on the Tracks.

Pretty good movie. Lotsa profanity. Beware.

Heresy, gospel freedom and borders

The recently Reverend Ryan Fouts over at Little Loci has some good words here about theology and theological systems. Not his main point but he writes about how topics such as Law and Gospel do not stand alone ( as the elder Dr. Scaer used to say " as pebbles in chicken manure" ) but operate within a system. They are related to all other topics in the faith. Things get out of balance when we present or deal with topics as is they stood alone.

I read his essay quickly but it sparked a few mostly obvious thoughts ( maybe repeating what Pastor Fouts himself said)

1. Heresy is often, mostly even, a matter of over emphasizing one aspect of the faith or rearranging the parts so they connect differently than the pattern of right confession has given us. Heretics did not wake up in the morning and say "I am going to contradict the Bible today" and wreck the faith. Mostly they took one valid aspect of the faith ( the unknowability of God , say) and moved it to such a place of prominence and emphasis that it threw the entire system off balance.

We too must be on our guard against such things. There are good words and concepts that can be overused or placed at the center of theology such that our theology itself is distorted. Concepts such as "gift" or "freedom" or even "Law and Gospel" can become filters through which we interpret all other aspects of the faith. Orthodoxy involves speaking the right words and speaking them in the right way, putting the pieces together as the Scripture pattern directs.

The old analogy is of a jigsaw puzzle or a mosaic where you may have all the right pieces but unless you put them together the way the pattern suggests all you have is a bunch of disconnected bits of stuff or another picture altogether!

2. Theology must have borders. That is, we must be able to say this is what we confess and this we do not. We talk this way and not that way, we put the pieces together this way and not that way. This border making, this insistence on drawing lines and marking where the truth is, is something many Christian church bodies are increasingly unwilling to do. They will cry Jesus, Jesus, Jesus but will not say the community of Jesus says this and practices this and not that and if you say this or that you are not in the community.

It is ironic that with such talk of community, the refusal to mark lines and borders make community impossible. To say we just gather around Jesus is not to make a community, it is to draw a single point, Jesus. To make a community you must make a circle, a circumference with a dot in the center. (Thomas Oden said this better somewhere but I cannot remember where.)

3. Finally we Lutherans must be careful that in our rightful insistence on the Gospel and on the gift character of the Gospel that we do not lose sight of theology itself and the theological task.

Gospel freedom is not freedom from the Gospel. To insist that the Gospel be confessed precisely and accurately is not an infringement upon the Gospel. It is not somehow "Law" and to be avoided as if we are free from this task. It is the task of theology and of confession and of the church to safeguard while it proclaims; to promise while it also protects.

Sons of God, hear his holy Word redux

OK, maybe this will freak out some of you (you know who you are) but I keep getting referrals to this site from folks who are looking for lyrics to "Sons of God, hear his holy Word" ( ... gather round the table of the Lord ... )

You know the one. I posted about this song some time ago but I am really curious as to why people are still looking for these lyrics. I mean, are they on a nostalgia trip looking to re-create the mid '70's (God forbid .. get out your leisure suits and put on your Captain and Tennille vinyl) or are there churches out there still singing this thing? You think? Still? Oooh, thats problematic.

Anyway, here are the lyrics, put on some Doobie Brothers and have fun.



R- Sons of God: Hear His Holy word,

Gather around the table of the Lord

Eat His Body, drink His Blood

And we'll sing a song of love

Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluia.


1- Brothers, sister we are one,

And our life has just begun,

In the spirit we are young,

We can live forever.


2- Shout together to the Lord

Who has promised our reward,

Happiness a hundred fold

And we'll live forever.


3- Jesus gave a new command:

That we love our fellow man,

Till we reach the promised land

Where we'll live forever.


4- If we want to live with Him,

We must also die with Him,

Die to selfishness and sin

And we'll live forever.


5- Make the world a unity,

Make all men one family,

Till we meet The Trinity

And we'll live forever

Gregory the Great on Confessing Sin

Saint Gregory the Great (around 540 - 604), Pope, Doctor of the Church
Presentation on the seven penitential Psalms

Let us cry out with David; let us hear him weep and let us shed tears with him. Let us see how he rises up again and let us rejoice with him: "Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness." (Ps 51:3)

Let us place before the eyes of our soul a man who is seriously injured, almost on the point of breathing his last breath, and who is lying naked in the dust. In his desire to see a doctor arrive, he is moaning and begging the person who understands his condition to have pity. Now sin is a wound to the soul. You who are this wounded person, learn that your doctor is within you, and show him the wounds of your sins. May he to whom every secret thought is known hear the moaning of your heart. May your tears move him, and if you have to seek him with some insistence, let deep sighs rise up to him from the bottom of your heart. May your pain come to him and may you also be told, like David: "The Lord. has forgiven your sin." (2 Sam 12:13).

"Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness." The people who belittle their fault because they do not know this great tenderness, only draw a little tenderness to themselves. As for me, I fell far, I sinned with full knowledge. But you, almighty doctor, correct those who scorn you; you teach those who do not know their fault, and you forgive those who admit it to you.

From the Daily Gospel

Party Shuffle

Working on putting all my Cd's on the computer (I-Tunes). Here are the 15 songs that popped up just now on Party Shuffle. I feel so technologically current. Just like my kids. Wow. If only I could put all my crappy tapes and albums on the computer.



Crying Waiting Hoping
The Beatles

Who Sucked Out the Feeling
Superdrag

Dont Talk Put Your Head on My Shoulder
Beach Boys

Cattle Call
Don Walser

You are the Everything
REM

Little Criminals
Randy Newman

Movie Magg
Carl Perkins

You Curse at Girls
Fountains of Wayne

Cant Cut Through
Ugly Beats

Feel Too Good
The Move

Dear Abby
John Prine

Automatic
Radio Reelers

I Dont Care if the Sun Dont Shine
Elvis

Pay Me My Money Down
Bruce Springsteen

Dose of Thunder (Bootleg Minneapolis 1985)
The Replacements

Psychopathic, debauched, wife-beating matricide #2

Who was the "psychopathic, debauched, wife-beating matricide" I asked yesterday. Well, we have a winner!

Mark Meyer came up with Nero. Right you are.

I read the description here at the Way of the Fathers blog. From the London Observer, I guess. A great phrase. If you are going to be evil, you might as well do it well.

The "box" of systematics

Stan Lemon has been discussing systematics and categories. Very interesting reading. Here is a version of some comments I posted on his site.


Systematics is not a box we build to put God in. He doesn't fit in our boxes.

Systematics is a box we build to put ourselves in.

We build the box with the Lord's own words and Scripture truth, arranged in a system that we can understand and communicate with. Systematics is not the end all and be all of Christian speech. But it serves as the guardian of Christian speech and boundary maker for the church's confession in that it sets limits as to what we as the church agree is the truth that God has revealed. You cannot say A because it would contradict B which is true so we must say C and so on. Or in positive way of speech we must joyfully confess A as gift because of B and C .

There is a danger in saying that we can step over the boundaries of systematics. It cna be like stepping beyond what God has revealed. God is not in our box but we are in our box, the box of Biblical and confessional truth.

There are surely other ways of speaking in the church. Sermons, poetry, hymns, the liturgy, prayers do not use systematic language. Systematics is one form of language, an "official" sort of language that undergirds and protects all our confessing.

a psychopathic, debauched, wife-beating matricide

Guess who was described thusly.

Answer to come.

Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins ...

... is the name of a nice op ed piece in the LA Times. Read it here. Charlotte Allen does a good job in tracing the serious decline of the mainline churches to their refusal to uphold the tenets of the faith.

A little gem

We go to the Lord’s Supper as though going to our death, so that we may go to our death as though going to the Lord’s Supper. -- Dr. Ken Korby

From Pastor Cwirla

Patience ...

... is the gift of faith. It is not simple waiting in its Christian use. As this excerpt from Clement shows, it is endurance, waiting on the Lord for vindication. Christians have all things by faith and nothing by sight. So they wait. The Holy Spirit gives patience.

Whatever indignities befall his children, God's saints wait on the Lord in faith. He will deliver and vindicate them as he did his Son, Jesus.

Clement of Rome's First Epistle:

Let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes.

Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death.

Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.

Who causes the suffering of the church?

More from the same article. Interesting stuff. In Luther, the answer to who causes the suffering depends on your perspective.



When looking at the phenomenon of the suffering and persecution
of the church from the perspective of the theologia crucis, the cause
is God.

It is God who has ''appointed that we should not only believe
in the crucified Christ, but also be crucified with him. .." It is God
who allows the godly to become powerless and suferr. It is God who
imposes death on the church and lays the cross of Christ upon it.
It is God who covers Christ's holy people with "slander, bitter hatred,
persecution, and blasphemy" from its enemies and "ontempt and
ingratitude" from its so-called followers. rom the perspective of
the theology of the cross, God wants the church to suffer so that the
people of Christ can be identified as Christ's and God causes persecution
to come as a gift of His grace so that His Word is revealed according
to the paradigm of the cross.

Looking at the phenomenon of the persecution and suffering of
Christ's people from the perspective of the distinction of two kingdoms
gives a very different picture. From this perspective the cause of
the church's suffering is Satan, the world, and all those forces that
oppose the Gospel. When the Kingdom of Christ enters the kingdom of the world, it exposes the inherent contradictions in the creature's
claim to lordship, and so Satan fights against the Gospel with all his
might. Since the true church is the body Christ has created to preach
the Gospel and destroy the power of Satan, sin, death, and the law,
the church takes the brunt of his opposition.

Suffering : A holy possession

Here is bit of an interesting article on Luther's thinking on the church and suffering.


Along with linking the church with its Lord Christ and the Gospel,
suffering and persecution bring other blessings as well, Luther calls
suffering a "holy possession" which the Spirit uses to sanctify and
bless the people of Christ.' A church that suffers has the blessing
of assurance; it knows that it is part of the true church because it
experiences the same suffering as the ancient saints. The church
flourishes, grows, and is healthy when it is persecuted, even though
the outward signs of success are lacking. The Gospel itself, rather
than institutional (human) achievement, is emphasized and
demonstrated through suffering. Luther can even say that suffering
is one of the "elements that go to make a Christian perfect." The
connection is so strong that he says that a person who has not suffered
persecution for the sake of the Gospel is not yet fully a Christian,
at least not yet a proven and tested Christian.

The whole article in a PDF file is here.

Cyprian on the baptism of infants

Cyprian on the baptism of infants:

Moreover, belief in divine Scripture declares to us, that among all, whether infants or those who are older, there is the same equality of the divine gift.

Elisha, beseeching God, so laid himself upon the infant son of the widow, who was lying dead, that his head was applied to his head, and his face to his face, and the limbs of Elisha were spread over and joined to each of the limbs of the child, and his feet to his feet. If this thing be considered with respect to the inequality of our birth and our body, an infant could not be made equal with a person grown up and mature, nor could its little limbs fit anti be equal to the larger limbs of a man.

But in that is expressed the divine and spiritual equality, that all men are like and equal, since they have once been made by God; and our age may have a difference in the increase of our bodies, according to the world, but not according to God; unless that very grace also which is given to the baptized is given either less or more, according to the age of the receivers, whereas the Holy Spirit is not given with measure, but by the love and mercy of the Father alike to all. For God, as He does not accept the person, so does not accept the age; since He shows Himself Father to all with well-weighed equality for the attainment of heavenly grace.

Cyprian Epistle 58

Faith, baptism and suffering

In my care of my congregation I have noticed one undeniable fact:

being a Christian does not make your life better.

I know this sounds gloomy and pessimistic and yet when one sheds the cliches and the phrases that we repeat to one another without thinking, the fact is the people I care for are not better off (or worse) than any pagan, in any measure of happiness, joy, fulfillment or adjustment. They have cancer in the same rates, depression, unemployment, unhappiness, nervousness and “down in the dumps" ... you name it. I often wish I could make my parishioners life better, spare them the hurts. But I cannot because God does not.

Being a Christian, being baptized, does not make your life better. The New Testament never promises such. In fact baptism is associated with suffering in the New Testament not with release or escape or happiness or fulfillment or anything else we tend to associate with a "good life". "Can you drink the cup I am about to drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized." We are baptized into the cross not out of it. Our baptism plunges us into the swirling mad waters of the fight against the devil and sin and death. We are baptized into the Christ who suffered in this life and fought with blood and death against the torment and evil that had infiltrated his world. It is no accident that one of the surest passages on baptismal regeneration in 1 Peter 3 is sandwiched in an exhortation from the Apostle to suffer for righteousness sake. Nor is it an accident that the baptismal creed has a section on the baptismal life (the second article) into which we are plunged which mentions birth, suffering, death and resurrection as the content.

Baptism is the gift of eternal life. It is victory over death, sin and all suffering. We have these things now not only in the future. Yet we have them by faith not sight. Not less real, not pushed off into some fantastic future but now, mine, never to be taken away. Yet these real gifts are to us now only available by faith. These gifts are hidden to the saints in their daily experience, known only by the Word, only as a promise.

Which is why, I think, the New Testament speaks of baptism in terms of struggle, crucifixion, death, suffering. For this is the common life of all those who pilgrim in this world. The joys we have, the happiness are gifts of God, yes. But the sufferings we endure the pain, yes, and even our death are especial marks of baptism since we struggle against these very things which afflict us. In our suffering, in our pain and death we look like Jesus and have been gifted to battle with Christ as his suffering body in the struggle against death and sin whose end is assured. This is why the martyrs were revered in the early church. They, by the grace of God, partook in the sufferings of Christ.

Faith is this: “I believe O Lord that I shall not die even as every sense, every evidence, every instrument confirms I am dying.” That is the mark of baptism, the struggle of faith. Our faith believes in what it cannot see, know or feel. Our faith believes in the God who gives "eyes, ears and all my members", "food and clothing” even when we are born without legs or blind, even when Christians starve to death, apparently forgotten by God.

That is the baptismal life : to affirm the gifts of God which are experienced only as a promise. That is faith : to stand in the darkness and believe in the Light that comes into the world. To believe in the goodness of God in the midst of evil. That is to wear the cross.

Lutheranism and Positive thinking #2

(In my previous post, I discussed a quote from William James that compared Lutherans to Christian Scientists.)

Why is William James wrong about Lutherans?

The answer must be rooted first of all in the cross, the real experience of the real God/man of real suffering, of real death and real despair. Our faith is not a word game where Law and Gospel operate as their own realities. Our faith is in a real event : the incarnation and cross and resurrection of Christ.

With the reality of the Incarnation must come an acknowledgement of the reality of sin and evil and suffering. We must not glide over these things too quickly to get to the smiles and the laughter.

Faith exists at the intersection of despair and God’s word. The despair is the common experience of all sinners in this life. It is the despair of being alone, of having no connection to God. It is the despair of never being to find God in our own experience. Our experience is the laundry list of every prayer list in every Christian congregation cancer death depression heart attacks divorce abuse and on and on and on. Even the “good” things are ultimately empty to us as sinners.

Faith is the crucial jump which God provides right at the heart of the crosses that we live. Faith latches onto the word of God which says, “You are baptized into the cross of Jesus.” “You are feeding on the One who Suffered” “You are a member of the crucified body of Christ, suffering yes but also risen and victorious.” Faith, God’s gift, latches onto that word as if to the only hope there is.

I would argue that suffering, not freedom, is the dominant image in the New Testament of the Christian life. Suffering, endurance, running the race, wearing the cross. These images are tied to the incarnation and anchor our Christian experience in the experience of Jesus in his suffering. It rescues us from being a “mind cure” sect. What we experience in our flesh is real, as real as the blood of Jesus. Our blood and minds and bodies are precious to God and he will vindicate them.

"Things are wrong": Lutheranism and Positive Thinking

I have been reading here and there in blogdom about the nature of evil in the life of the Christian and the nature of theology and its purpose. Great provocative stuff ( that’s the main reason I blog and read blogs : theology!).

Yesterday I randomly happened to pick up a book from my shelves called “The varieties of Religious Experience” by William James and I looked up "Lutheran" in the index. And I found this surprising passage where James compares Lutherans to Christian Scientists. Crazy, right? Well read the passage below and think about it.

I had never looked at things this way. Does James have a point? Is our doctrine just puffing in the wind, pretending? What of evil, suffering in its mundane and extreme forms? Are they really evil or is God "really" being good and we just think it is evil so the problem is with our thoughts? Are Lutherans when we say "we are righteous by faith" just one more positive thinking sect? Is faith another form of optimistic delusion?

Read James here and I'll try to answer myself in the next post.

But philosophers usually profess to give a quasi-logical explanation of the existence of evil, whereas of the general fact of evil in the world, the existence of the selfish, suffering, timorous finite consciousness, the mind-curers, so far as I am acquainted with them, profess to give no speculative explanation. Evil is empirically there for them as it is for everybody, but the practical point of view predominates, and it would ill agree with the spirit of their system to spend time in worrying over it as a 'mystery' or 'problem,' or in 'laying to heart' the lesson of its experience, after the manner of the Evangelicals.

Christian Science so-called, the sect of Mrs. Eddy, is the most radical branch of mind-cure in its dealings with evil. For it evil is simply a lie, and any one who mentions it is a liar. The optimistic ideal of duty forbids us to pay it the compliment even of explicit attention ..

This system is wholly and exclusively compacted of optimism: 'Pessimism leads to weakness. Optimism leads to power.' … Most mind-curers here bring in a doctrine that thoughts are 'forces,' and that, by virtue of a law that like attracts like, one man's thoughts draw to themselves as allies all the thoughts of the same character that exist the world over. Thus one gets, by one's thinking, reinforcements from elsewhere for the realization of one's desires; and the great point in the conduct of life is to get the heavenly forces on one's side by opening one's own mind to their influx.

On the whole, one is struck by a psychological similarity between the mind-cure movement and the Lutheran and Wesleyan movements. To the believer in moralism and works, with his anxious query, 'What shall I do to be saved?' Luther and Wesley replied: 'You are saved now, if you would but believe it.'

And the mind-curers come with precisely similar words of emancipation. They speak, it is true, to persons for whom the conception of salvation has lost its ancient theological meaning, but who labor nevertheless with the same eternal human difficulty. Things are wrong with them; and 'What shall I do to be clear, right, sound, whole, well?' is the form of their question. And the answer is: 'You are well, sound, and clear already, if you did but know it.' "The whole matter may be summed up in one sentence," says one of the authors whom I have already quoted, "God is well, and so are you. You must awaken to the knowledge of your real being."

Cyberstones ... Another Good One

Petersen does not need my praise. I simply find him one of the most interesting bloggers out there.

Here he poses a real question that people (like me) really think :

What good is Jesus since our prayers go unanswered? What good is Jesus since He doesn't do anything about poverty, disasters, or war? What we need is a real savior, not a dead God on a tree who even if He rose from the dead has snuck off to heaven and left us here with nothing more than men with words that never stop the buildings from falling, put out fires, or stop Tsunamis.


And he honestly faces it:


Our Theology must bridge the gap. It must speak to these questions, to fear, to pain, to anxiety ...

Simply pretending that the gap is not there, that all is good, is of little help when you are alone in the dark. Instead, the Christian's pain and sorrow, his frustration and weariness, his anger over the evil in this world, needs to be acknowledged. It should not be made light of, nor should he be told to believe more or to simply trust. The theologian of the cross calls a thing what it is. He calls evil evil.

In the end our Theology is words about God. Those words do not expose God's hidden will. Our Theology must deal with the gap, with evil, in a way that is honest and true to what God has revealed of Himself. That means we don't have all the answers. We can't say how God will use evil things for good even though we might sometimes guess. What we can and must say is that evil is evil but will not last forever. The good work begun in you will be completed in the Day of Jesus Christ. God keeps His Word.

Here is a good post

Wow. This is a very interesting post from Anthony Sacramone on the First Things blog. It makes you sad, angry and hopeful all in the same article.

The first prargraph:

Yesterday was the 476th anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession—an explanation of the proposed Lutheran reforms of the Church, written by Philip Melancthon and approved by Martin Luther—to Holy Roman emperor Charles V, who, facing attack from without, was eager for unity within. This is the true birthday of the Lutheran Reformation. That this should be of little interest to non-Lutherans is perhaps understandable. That it should be of little interest to so many Lutherans is what threatens to reduce a denomination like the one I was raised in—the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod—to irrelevancy.

The author goes onto sketch his upbringing in the LCMS, his drift into a type of atheism, his stint in a Reformed mega-church and his coming back to the Missouri Synod.

Here is part of his wish list for the LCMS:


What we need is our Reformation heritage.

Let loose the old, unexpurgated liturgy—from Confession to Benediction, it has proved to be a well-trodden path that is our spiritual pilgrimage in microcosm.

Preach the Law and its insatiable, non-negotiable demands.

Then preach the Gospel—which is to say, preach Christ, our justification and our sanctification, who alone fulfilled the Law and banished its threats.

Administer Holy Communion with reverence for the Real Presence and baptize acknowledging that it is the laver of regeneration.

And finally, let the Holy Spirit take care of church growth. In the American religious estate are many mansions, including rooms for free-form, pastor-driven seeker and emerging assemblies. They have a role in bringing the unchurched and the anti-church back to some semblance of corporate worship.

But we are not them.

We are not the center of the world

Weedon posted this nice bit from Luther:

If you are a pastor engaged in preaching and teaching your people, and the response hasn't been all that great, don't be dismayed and diverted. Say to yourself: God has ordered me to proclaim his Word, and that's what I'll continue to do. If it doesn't always proper, God knows why; if my work does thrive, it pleases both him and me. The same attitude should prevail in any other of life's callings. - Martin Luther, House Postil, II:288,289 (Trinity V)

So true. All we have in the end is the Word, the promise whether pastors or plumbers, all that stands between us and sheer and complete despair and ruin in the promise of Christ. That is faith, clinging holding onto the Gospel as if it were the only thing between you and utter hell.

After all, it is true. The "as if" is not rhetorical.

The thing is , all this does not lead to morbidity or sour faces but joy. All the sadness and heartbreak in thr world yet I have Christ and with him all things. The end of my story is assured, the dark curve round which I am traveling will open into bright sunshine. The "how long" of the martyrs under the altar will one day cease in alleluias.

So we work at our callings with calm confidence, free to enjoy the many pleasures of life for the end is clear: Christ and his victory. So rejoice, smile when it is given. Do your work ... God is the Alpha and the Omega not us, our problems, nor our failings nor our successes.

We are not the center of the world ... thanks be to God!

As Eve ... so Mary

Here is a common patristic analogy, well put by Tertullian.



For it was while Eve was yet a virgin, that the ensnaring word had crept into her ear which was to build the edifice of death. Into a virgin's soul, in like manner, must be introduced that Word of God which was to raise the fabric of life; so that what had been reduced to ruin by this sex, might by the selfsame sex be recovered to salvation. As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. The delinquency which the one occasioned by believing, the other by believing effaced.

But (it will be said) Eve did not at the devil's word conceive in her womb. Well, she at all events conceived; for the devil's word afterwards became as seed to her that she should conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. Indeed she gave birth to a fratricidal devil; whilst Mary, on the contrary, bare one who was one day to secure salvation to Israel, His own brother after the flesh, and the murderer of Himself. God therefore sent down into the virgin's womb His Word, as the good Brother, who should blot out the memory of the evil brother.

Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ