What the Incarnation means

So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Savior on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, "O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?"

Athanasius, On the Incarnation

The cute baby Jesus grows up and is the Savior of all mankind. Athanasius so beautifully writes that what else was the Word of God to do? Human beings, whom the Word created, were destroying themselves, the only way to save them/restore them was that the very thing that gave them life in the first place would become one of it, by enjoining Himself to the flesh, to the creation. The Word which gives life in the creation of the universe gives life anew in the restoration of creation.

THAT is what Christmas Season is all about! Blessed Day 3 of Christmas!

Pope Benedict's Christmas Message to the UK

A most appropriate Christmas Message from the Pope to the people of the United Kingdom. The best part may be the (unintended) evangelical proclamation from Richard Dawkins:

Writing for the Guardian Newspaper in protest of the Pope's message being broadcast to the UK he stated,

"Ratzinger has much to confess in his own conduct, as cardinal and pope. But he is also guilty of promoting one of the most repugnant ideas ever to occur to a human mind: "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22)."

Richard Dawkins is obviously looking to point out how foolish and stupid the idea of sacrifice and bloodshed is for a concept of forgiveness. But Dawkins' real problem is his refusal to acknowledge the sin in his own life which needs atoning. He's far from the only one to believe this though, as many people do. But his highlighting of this as "repugnant" ought to bring us to the public square for a profitable conversation.

Read the article yourself and enjoy the Pope's evangelical proclamation this day.

"Let us give thanks to God for his goodness to us, and let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down; he gives us hope, he brings us life."

The "Christian" Hitler

One of the greatest lies of our time is that Adolf Hitler was a Christian. It is usually perpetuated by those who have such a disdain for religion, and Christianity in particular, that what better way to undermine it further than to align Christianity with the most vilified character in recent history (maybe even of all time).

A book released this past April by Eric Metaxas called, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy takes this, as well as many other things, to task. FoxNews (ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) has online in PDF format two chapters for free download/reading. One of these chapters, Chapter 11, is called "Nazi Theology." In it he utterly deconstructs the renowned "fact" that Hitler was a Christian.

In fact he leaves you with convincing evidence that Hitler, rather than being a product of some outdated method of weak minded religious foolishness, was a product of Nietzsche and modernity. Oh what an unsettling claim this is. But I posit the evidence is convincing.

See for yourself

Advent/Christmas Music Part 3

O come O come Emmanuel

If there ever was a hymn that connects Israel with the Church, this is the one. Although any chorale worth its salt can sing this beautifully, I liked the stripped down approach version of recording artist Sufjan Stevens.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

The language of "ransom" and "captive" and "exile" cut to the heart of the problem for humanity. We are held ransom by sin, death, and the devil. We are held captive by all the things which sin, death, and the devil employ. There is seemingly no escape. As Israel mourned in exile from the land, so too the Church as Israel mourns in exile from the land until the Son of God appears.

Yet even in the darkness and cold of the season, there is reason to rejoice. Emmanuel, God with us, is coming. Certainly the hymn brings to mind the image of the Christmas Story of when God became man in the form of the baby Jesus. Yet the true message and beauty of the hymn is in its anticipation for the Emmanuel, God with us, to return once and forevermore. And the Church stands as Israel eagerly awaiting not just the celebration of the Christ's first Advent, but ultimately his second Advent, when all things will be made new.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

We are not left in the dark alone. Look! Jesus is coming!

Advent/Christmas Music Part 2

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

This song nearly makes me cry every time I hear it. It somehow doesn't matter what rendition of it I am hearing, but that refrain gets me every single time. I especially enjoy Casting Crowns version from a recent Christmas Album they put out. But keep in mind this is an old time hymn singing an old time message of Christmas.

As to the lyrics, as I said before that refrain gets me every single time. Here it is:

And the bells they're ringing,

Like a choir they're singing,

In my heart I hear them,

Peace on earth, Goodwill to men

And then the words of the verses seamlessly transition:

And in despair I bowed my head,

There is no peace on earth I said,

For hate is strong and mocks the song,

Of peace on earth, goodwill to men

Yet despite this, the bells are ringing...

I think this song really captures the essence of a theology of the cross. There is something awful about what we see around us, even in this message of Christianity, yet therein lies the beauty. Despite the sin of humanity, despite the brokenness, despite the carnage, despite death itself the bells are ringing...

Then ring the bells more loud and deep,

God is not dead nor does he sleep...

That aspect of the verse is the reversal Gospel message telling the hearer that despite what this world looks like, especially in the cold of the season where poverty and sickness and emptiness highlight the predicament of so many, God is not dead nor does he sleep. That is Israel's refrain about Yahweh, and the Church as Israel claims that as its own.

In Psalm 121 the Psalmist writes, Look! He who keeps Israel does not slumber nor does he sleep (Psalm 121:4) Seems easy enough, seems like a nice line, but the context helps us a great deal. The surrounding pagan religions saw their gods as ones that hibernated, especially in the winter. They do slumber, they do sleep. So Israel boldly proclaims, "Yahweh does not slumber, he does not sleep!" And in the face of society today, "God is not dead!"

Yahweh is your Keeper, even in the chill--the cold of the winter. God is not a god who hibernates, but stays actively involved in this world. Even amidst what seems like a complete mockery of "Peace on earth, goodwill to men," Yahweh is there. He is your Keeper. And God proves that by emptying of himself and becoming man.

God as human. Another ridiculous concept and notion to Israel's neighbors. Another ridiculous concept and notion to our neighbors today.

If/when you hear this song or sing this hymn this season, keep that refrain dear to your longing heart. There is peace on earth and goodwill to humans, the Savior has come, and he is here to restore our lives.

Advent/Christmas Music Part 1

I figure to make a break from the mundane, the ordinary, the cold, the schoolwork, I would investigate wonderful theological messages in our Advent and Christmas Hymns and Songs.

The first hymn/song I am looking at in this amateur series is What Hope! An Eden Prophesied! This cool hymn found its way into the Lutheran Service Book of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Written in 1998 by Stephen P. Starke, it is a hymn that talks about the wonderful life to come prophesied by the great prophet Isaiah, specifically in chapter 11, which was also the Old Testament Lesson for this 2nd Sunday in Advent.

The beautiful first verse reads,

What hope! An Eden prophesied Where tame live with the wild;

The lamb and lion side by side, Led by a little child!

See how this corresponds to the beautiful words of the Prophet Isaiah in today's Old Testament text, Isaiah 11:1-10

This is the hope of what we look forward to this season of Advent. We not only look toward Christmas, Jesus' first advent, but with our eyes fixed on his redemptive work we look toward his second Advent, his final coming, when all things will be restored.

Broken Beyond Repair

Over at the NY Times today another provocative Bob Herbert editorial appears. The title, Broken Beyond Repair, deals with the USA's capital punishment system. Herbert uses colorful language to describe it:

The death penalty in the United States has never been anything but an abomination — a grotesque, uncivilized, overwhelmingly racist affront to the very idea of justice.

One of the reasons I read Mr. Herbert is because he is so provocative. Some of the things he says makes you say, "Amen!" and some other things makes you say, "Ah...damn!" I think in this editorial there is both of that. I am one such American who struggles mightily with the death penalty. In a Romans 13 sense I am for it. But it is well known that the way the death penalty is carried out here has its plethora of problems, and we do not need Bob Herbert to point them out for it to be so. With the way it is used, it probably should be abolished. It is an overwhelmingly racist affront to the very idea of justice, to quote Mr. Herbert.

Although I am someone who affirms that no one is "innocent" based upon sin and death in general, certainly in civil society it is for the purposes of good order to establish a system of punishment that is layered and has different levels of severity to it. But the real problem with the death penalty, especially in its racist element(s) is that it de-humanizes people. This is not so much a question of innocence and guilt, as much as that may be the case, as it is about the value of life in a culture of death. To devalue humans is a most egregious offense. And if there is even just a few humans being devalued, let alone the probable millions Herbert talks about, then it should not be tolerated. Not because humans are innocent and sinless and everything is fine and dandy, but because God is the One who rules over life and he creates human life with a purpose, even if a dignity.

Well then, seems like this is an "Amen!" post from Herbert, where is the "Ah...Damn!" part? It comes with what Herbert does not address. There is another overwhelmingly racist affront to the very idea of justice operating in our country as well. The thing about that one though is its masked in "rights" and not as death or killing or even murder, as capital punishment can safely be labeled. No, this overwhelmingly racist affront to the very idea of justice is seen as choice, as empowerment, and the only sensible option in the face of so many who devalue women.

Indeed, I am talking about abortion. Yet this story doesn't get editorials in the NY Times or much play from Bob Herbert. This is seen as an entirely different thing, and it's for the supposed "rights" of women. If the death penalty is racist, and there is sufficient reason to believe it is, then abortion is akin to slavery and genocide. But before you get too bent out of shape, go research the issue for yourself. I speak not as a "white man" making an ignorant or inconsiderate comparison between abortion and slavery and/or genocide, but African Americans and other minorities talk this way. There is plenty of evidence to suggest Planned Parenthood targets African Americans and other minorities in our country. The statistics are horrifying. And this is an educational problem as well. When we neglect our inner cities, and the folks who live there, government OK'd organizations like Planned Parenthood move in for the literal kill. Instead of comprehensive educational and community programs from the government, or anywhere for that matter, we get a killing machine masquerading as a "pro-women's choice" group.

Strong language? Provocative? You bet. So I agree with Herbert, but want it to go further, let's stop both of these racist affronts to the very idea of justice.

you KNOW it's a myth

Reading over at the Belief Blog on CNN.com this morning prompted this post. The usual arguments are lobbed, but this is an interesting billboard that was put up by atheists.org:

CNN-Atheist Billboard

I then went to atheists.org and read up about their cause and watched a video about this billboard and others. You can find the video here: you KNOW it's a myth

You will immediately notice the arrogance displayed by the two men speaking in the video. What's funny is this modern atheist movement, championed by guys like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, really only reacts against American Evangelical Fundamentalism. To be honest, I agree with a couple of the things they have to say about these folks, especially in the above linked video. Christians should not be vandalizing billboards. Instead, we should be engaging the public debate and dismantling the juvenile arguments atheists put forth. Such arguments, like the ones which attack the historicity of Jesus, the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the rest of the New Testament are where we can actively and faithfully engage. What we have to be careful of however is that we never get too far from the Gospel Message, namely proclaiming Christ's life, death, and resurrection for you, including the arrogant atheist.

Also important to do is to pray the psalter. This is nothing new that folks will mock, scoff, and attack God and his people. But leave vengeance to Yahweh. Defacing billboards is childish and gets nowhere. This also is usually headed by those who want to make the Christian God the American god as well. The same folks who claim America is a Christian nation. I really want no part of that debate. It is useless, and historically inaccurate. What I do want is to protect the flock, and defend Christians who are left defenseless because we aren't preparing them the proper way. The fight is not rationalism vs. rationalism. But the hope we have over and against rationalism.

We ought to teach our people the beauty and usefulness of praying the Psalms in times like these, while also giving them reasonable explanations to the historicity of Jesus, the OT, and the NT. Also, notice I place Jesus in front. That is where he belongs. Jesus is before all this as God. And as God-Man he restores us to how we're supposed to be. Dismissive and arrogant arguments presented by atheists.org does not dismantle this truth at all.

I feel it is important to go blow by blow on that website to show specific arguments, but being in school I don't know if I can find the time. In the meantime, one common argument heard is how there is no evidence for Jesus outside the NT, and that the four Gospels are not the only ones, etc., etc.

Below I have provided a quote from Ignatius of Antioch of the 1st and early 2nd century. Ignatius is as apostolic as you can get. And the letter I quote is among those which are widely attributed to have actually been written by him. In this section he talks about the history of Christ defending his life, death, and resurrection. Including his birth by the Virgin, his suffering under Pontius Pilate, his death, and his being raised by the Father. Beyond that it also affirms the resurrection to eternal life for believers because of Christ's own resurrection.

In this section Ignatius quotes Matthew and John, while specifically referring to Matthew as scripture. Dates for Ignatius are ca.30-107 AD. He writes this well within a reasonable timeframe to judge the historicity of Matthew as legitimate and as a Gospel for the Church. Also notice, John having been written probably within a few years of Ignatius writing this is cited as legitimate scripture as well. The implications for this are huge in the face of arguments put forth by folks like the ones over at atheists.org. Aside from the defense that is legitimate and helpful which Ignatius provides, read this little bit devotionally as a powerful witness to the Gospel, which also needs to be primary in everything we do. As Advent is upon us, enjoy this appropriate piece by Ignatius of Antioch. The following chapter, The Reality of Christ's Passion, also isn't half bad.

Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with⁷⁸⁷⁷⁸⁷ Literally, “apart from.”70Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and [truly] died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him, even as after the same manner His Father will so raise up us who believe in Him by Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not possess the true life.

Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with⁷⁸⁸⁷⁸⁸ Literally, “apart from.”Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly begotten of God and of the Virgin, but not after the same manner. For indeed God and man are not the same. He truly assumed a body; for “the Word was made flesh,”⁷⁸⁹⁷⁸⁹ John i. 14. and lived upon earth without sin. For says He, “Which of you convicteth me of sin?”⁷⁹⁰⁷⁹⁰ John viii. 46. He did in reality both eat and drink. He was crucified and died under Pontius Pilate. He really, and not merely in appearance, was crucified, and died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. By those in heaven I mean such as are possessed of incorporeal natures; by those on earth, the Jews and Romans, and such persons as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified; and by those under the earth, the multitude that arose along with the Lord. For says the Scripture, “Many bodies of the saints that slept arose,”⁷⁹¹⁷⁹¹ Matt. xxvii. 52. their graves being opened. He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but He arose accompanied by a multitude; and rent asunder that means⁷⁹²⁷⁹² Literally, “hedge,” or “fence.” of separation which had existed from the beginning of the world, and cast down its partition-wall. He also rose again in three days, the Father raising Him up; and after spending forty days with the apostles, He was received up to the Father, and “sat down at His right hand, expecting till His enemies are placed under His feet.”⁷⁹³⁷⁹³ Heb. x. 12, 13. On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried.⁷⁹⁴⁷⁹⁴ Some read, “He was taken down from the cross, and laid in a new tomb.” During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathæa had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”⁷⁹⁵⁷⁹⁵ Matt. xii. 40. The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Just read this article over at the NY Times by David D. Hall. The article, Peace, Love, and Puritanism, takes a nice (quick) yet interesting look at the history of Thanksgiving, Puritans, and America. I'm not sure that I agree with the whole of the article, but his line at the end really clicked with me. Hall writes,

In our society, liberty has become deeply problematic: more a matter of entitlement than of obligation to the whole. Everywhere, we see power abused, the common good scanted. Getting the Puritans right won’t change what we eat on Thanksgiving, but it might change what we can be thankful for and how we imagine a better America.

How scary true is this? I feel this speaks volumes, loud ones at that, to contemporary America. I also feel this speaks volumes to the current American religious landscape. Hall points out the Puritans had no self indulgent work ethic. The "Protestant Work Ethic" is really the American way. I am Christian. I am American. I am free. Get out of my way.

It brings to mind the parable of the Good Samaritan and how many Americans would cross by on the other side of the road. My real point however, is this: Martin Luther, in the 16th century, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in the 20th century, saw Christian freedom not as freedom from but rather freedom for. You can almost hear the American religious chorus shouting, "Amen!" Until we realize this freedom for means that as a Christian, American or not makes no difference, your freedom is that you are not in condemnation by sin and as such are free for your neighbor. The Christian call is not American gluttony, "Give me my rights!" talk, but rather a sense of humility and service that often gets overlooked, yet you do it because Christ has gone before you to the cross, and also in his resurrection we know we don't live in vain.

So I would ask this Holiday season we do not clamor for our rights and our freedoms from things. Instead, I would ask that we clamor for our neighbor and our freedom for him.

Blessed are the...

Tomorrow we observe All Saint's Day in church. Here are some thoughts that I have concerning tomorrow's Gospel text, Matthew 5:1-12...

The revelation of God is revealed to those who are his disciples. The end times intrusion upon the earth that God has made in Jesus Christ is what makes the disciples “blessed.” They are blessed because of the already reality of the advancement of the reign of heaven, but they also wait in anticipation of the not yet. The not yet is the day of reversal when the wicked ones the Psalmist lament about will be put away forever, including the very wicked one himself the devil, and the righteous will remain. The entire life of the Christian is one in anticipation, in hope, of the things to come. Yet, this does not create a disavowal for what is already here. There is still work to be done for sure, and those who are a part of that working reign of heaven are certainly blessed.

Social justice theories and Evangelical moral laws of conduct do not give this text its due. The purpose of the beatitudes is not to advance left wing political ideology or right wing American theology. The beatitudes are Gospel, pure and simple. The best way to study and read the beatitudes is within the narrative framework that Matthew the Evangelist uses. There is no reason to tear them from their place in the story of salvation. Those beatitudes speak a truth and a reality about those found in Christ. Ours is already now the reign of heaven, even as we wait the day of the not yet. The future promises found in the beatitudes establish the purpose of Jesus’ coming, dying, and rising again. The purpose is restoration. And all of creation groans with the flock of Jesus for that day when all things will be made new. There is no hope outside of Christ. The beatitudes point directly at what that hope is.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Creation and Fall

Just read Bonhoeffer's Creation and Fall and I gotta say the man did an incredible job with the text of Genesis 1-3 (and also first verse of 4). It reads poetically and with a literary prowess unrivaled by much of anything that I have read. Bonhoeffer will get criticism because of his higher critical tendencies, but find me someone who in dealing with the actual text does a better job.

This excerpt I give to you is from his final chapter, about page and a half, when after having gone through Genesis 1-3 he sets up the next movement of the biblical narrative, and its Christological implications. He starts off by wrapping everything together under the theme of humans becoming "like God" getting what they wished for in falling for that very temptation by the serpent. And yet not fully understanding the consequences and heavy implications that come with being "like God." We are now our own creators, we live off of our own resources. In our delusion we grasp at the tree of life more and more because it was banished from us, but we cannot eat of its fruit because it is out of our reach. The only thing we can really grasp in our obsession to live is death. So humanity marches on and Cain is born. And we know the story that Cain strangles life out of his own brother. Bonhoeffer writes that Adam, the one who is preserved for death and consumed with thirst for life, begets Cain, the murderer (Bonhoeffer, 145).

All of this to set up for a breathtaking finale in which Bonhoeffer writes,

The end of Cain's history, and so the end of all history, is Christ on the cross, the murdered Son of God. That is the last desperate assault on the gate of paradise. And under the whirling sword, under the cross, the human race dies. But Christ lives. The trunk of the cross becomes the wood of life, and now in the midst of the world, on the accursed ground itself, life is raised up anew. In the center of the world, from the wood of the cross, the fountain of life springs up. All who thirst for life are called to drink from this water, and whoever has eaten from the wood of this life shall never again hunger and thirst. What a strange paradise is this hill of Golgotha, this cross, this blood, this broken body. What a strange tree of life, this trunk on which the very God had to suffer and die. Yet it is the very kingdom of life and of the resurrection, which by grace God grants us again. It is the gate of the imperishable hope now opened, the gate of waiting and of patience. The tree of life, the cross of Christ, the center of God's world that is fallen but upheld and preserved – that is what the end of the story about paradise is for us (Bonhoeffer, 145-6).

Like I said...breathtaking!

"Vindicate Me From My Adversary!"

Sermon, October 16-17, 2010

Text: Psalm 121, Luke 18:1-8 (appointed Psalm and Gospel)

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dear Christian friends,

In our Gospel text for today Jesus tells a parable. You may know this parable as “The Parable of the Persistent Widow.” The narrative begins with letting the hearer know that the parable is about the necessity of prayer. Not only prayer, but persistent prayer. The parable is set up with an absurd parallel. And notice this is how most of Jesus’ parables go. They have absurd aspects to the story. Whether it’s the incredible amount of money one is in debt over and has forgiven to them, or whether the son blows his inheritance in seemingly no time, Jesus’ parables are a teaching point, usually to show the extent of grace, or how great the reign of God is. So it is with this parable today. St. Luke tells us that Jesus told a story of a judge who did not fear God and, I love this, had no regard for man. This was a person out for himself and nobody else.

So you see the absurdity that the comparison is drawn with God! The parallel being drawn is simply not compatible. God and this, fearless toward God and no regard for man, judge bracket this story of the widow. And as such they are both important for telling the story of the widow. We know from Israel’s history that God’s Torah requires justice and vindication for widows. We even see this in early church history in Luke’s second volume, the Book of Acts, that concern for the welfare of widows was and is a top priority for God’s people. Yet this judge wouldn’t have anything of it. The judge heard her complaints for justice from her adversary numerous times to no avail. But then the story takes a turn and we see that for fear of being worn out, or as the Greek suggests, for fear of acquiring a black eye due to this widow’s persistence, the judge granted her justice in this life. What a strange story.

And then if that wasn’t strange enough, it gets even stranger! The last 2 verses provide the “punch line,” if you will, to the parable (read vv.7-8). The contrast is drawn between this judge without a care in the world and the God who cares very much about the world. We want a clear-cut answer for what this parable is about. If, as what is stated above is true, that parables provide valuable moments for teaching, and in return, learning, well just what is being taught and what am I to learn here? It seems at first that the parable is about a way to receive vindication or justice in this life from judges, or even how to wear God out into giving in to us. But then we see that Jesus suggests this parable is about way more than that. In drawing the comparison Jesus pulls the rug from out underneath us and points us to another direction in this parable.

So now we’re left wondering, is this about prayer, persistent prayer even, or is this about Jesus returning? Our way of thinking may push us in one direction or the other so we can get a better grasp on the entire situation, but I’m not so sure the narrative allows for that. In fact, I am convinced that this is about both aspects. And in our running around looking for a clean resolution to the story we lose track of one of its main characters, the widow. This nameless, faceless widow. Who is she? Where does she come from? How has she been wronged? The way she is identified in our story tells us how she has been wronged in at least one way. Her husband has been taken from her, she is known to us only as widow. And her crying out to the judge who is fearless toward God and who has no regard for men seems to ring hollow.

How often do we feel that in our lives? How often do we hear our cries for justice, our cries for vindication, ring hollow? Too often, I would say. Perhaps we’re not all widows or widowers, but some of us are. And there’s something not quite right about that. We have all kinds of hardships and failings, and struggles that we deal with in this life. The economy seems like it will just forever be an issue and a struggle. And we feel that struggle daily, don’t we? And of course a bad economy leads into things that affect us even deeper than just a paying salary of some sort when our possessions are beginning to be taken from us. And if all that wasn’t enough, there are always health issues. So I think we all just may identify with this widow more than we would like to. We all want justice to be brought forth in some way. We become invested in news stories that seem to have a lack of justice, we feel that lack of justice in our neighbor’s lives, in our friends lives, in our family’s lives, and in our own lives as well. And if we’re not yearning or crying out for justice, it may be because we’re just too beaten down. Perhaps we’re cynical toward the judicial system, perhaps we know too many judges like this one in today’s story. So we get stuck in that part of the story where the woman cries out that she be vindicated from her adversary, whoever that is, and the judge, for a time, won’t be moved. And we get stuck there because that’s the place where we are too, crying out to anyone who will hear us to vindicate us from our adversaries (Pause).

Who does hear us? When we cry out, are they empty, hollow words? I know this isn’t necessarily part of the week in/week out tradition at Zion to speak or chant the appointed psalm for any given Sunday, but I think today’s psalm appointed for this 21^st Sunday after Pentecost is especially helpful for our discussion here this morning. Psalm 121, a song of ascent, in the section of the psalms from 120-134 that are called “songs of ascent” (Read Psalm 121). From where does our help come? Our help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. Yahweh our personal God, our creator, our redeemer, is also our deliverer, and our restorer. Cry out to Yahweh God for justice against your adversary, because as he has claimed you as his own, he will deliver you from your adversary the devil, and his friends, sin and death!

The point of the parable is not to focus on how the woman persisted and the judge gave in to avoid a black eye. No, the point of the parable is that the woman persisted in faith knowing GOD would give her vindication. Whether she received it that day or on the last day, she knew her vindication was coming. And it’s true that she did receive justice in this life but she also knew of the justice to come. And this is where we might focus our attention, because we don’t always get justice in this life. In fact sometimes it seems as though life is downright cruel. Yet, in faith, when we lift our eyes up to the hills and wonder “where does my help come from?” We can respond confidently, because of God’s faithfulness, “My help comes from Yahweh, my God, who made heaven and earth.”

You see, Yahweh has not forgotten his creation. Our God has not neglected justice for his creatures. He delivers it in due time. And how does he do that? In the person of Jesus Christ, who tells this parable. Most translations render the rhetorical question, “Will God not give justice to the elect who cry out to him day and night?” But the text allows us to look at the question as saying, “Will God not do justice to his elect…?” Perhaps it is a subtle, seemingly inconsequential difference, but I think it makes a difference in how we see God’s actions. Is God granting us justice on the basis of our persistence and/or goodness? Or is God’s character such that that he does justice to us because He has said he will? In a world full of widows, and widowers, and injustices at every corner there is Jesus not to disavow the hurt and the pain that we go through but to take it all to the cross and crucify it with himself. Jesus’ work on the cross upsets the balance of history. God rolls back the tide and justice flows as a rushing river. This is a world here where the unrighteous, fearless toward God, and no regard for man judge gets his way and stays at the top. But in Jesus God overthrows such judges and establishes his rule over all creation.

The entire life, death, and resurrection of Christ reverses the order of the world that we experience and know which places the haughty and proud at the top and the lowly and meek at the bottom. In Jesus’ reality, the widow gets her vindication. In Jesus’ reality the poor are made to be rich, in his reality the unrighteous judges in the world get their due, and in his reality the dead are raised to life. At first it seems backwards, until you realize that when we look at the world that has injustices everywhere, a world where widows are neglected, the poor cast aside, where unrighteous judges rule, and people die and declare that to be forward, that we can see God’s great reversal is not backwards, but this life is backwards, and God’s redemptive work through Jesus Christ sets it straight again. That is the hope that we have even in this backward life.

So, when the Son of Man returns will he find faith on earth? Wherever the church is, full of people crying out by day and night to their Creator for justice against their adversaries, yes, he will find it. And he will vindicate it. Amen.

Kyrie Eleison

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy

Definitely youtube a nice chanted/sung version of the kyrie. Not much more beauty in fewer words!

Wake Up!

Looking for a good record to listen to? John Legend and The Roots just released this gem. Eleven covers taken from the 60's and 70's assembled this "one of a kind collaboration" as Spike Lee calls it. Also, for the theologically minded, listen closely to the lyrics. Human angst and suffering crying out for hope.

Wake Up!

Together With All Creatures

I've been yapping about it for a long time now and with my cup of excitement runnething over, here it is: Together With All Creatures

All ~150 pages of it. Abbreviated version that was given out at the LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans this past July is a great read as well. But if you care about environmental issues, and if you're a Christian, you have to read this document. Now.

Why People Think Church Sucks

Provocative title, no?

Contrary to what some may think, this is not about to be a diatribe about how the church needs to be hip and cool in order to reach out and connect with the masses. The church does not need to cater, but it does need to be real, and relevant.

How is that not catering? Because Christian theology, when its doing what it's supposed to, is real and relevant.

A common refrain from this primary season with politics is that the common man, the Republican, or the Tea Party Activist, is "mad as hell." We heard this sentiment last night when Carl Paladino, a billionaire from Buffalo, upset Rick Lazio in New York's Gubernatorial Primary. Paladino re-iterated , "We're mad as hell!"

The other night I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon that late night show with Jay Leno, you know, the one he gave up but took back from the guy who was actually funny? (Yes I am Team Coco)...

...Anyway, Jay had everyone's favorite funny man atheist Bill Maher on. Leno, ever the provocative interviewer, asked Maher to way in on the Islamic Community Center/Mosque at Ground Zero. Maher began by saying he doesn't support it. That drew a rather nice applause from the studio audience. But he continued on saying, "Let me finish..." He went on to say how he doesn't support any houses of worship being built because (insert his arguments against organized religion). He then went to the favorite line of guys like himself, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens and began referring to religion as a fairy tale. He wound up saying because our Constitution allows people to believe in fairy tales we have to allow this mosque to be built at Ground Zero. The crowd roared its approval at the profoundness of Maher's answer.

So I realized sitting there the other night, that I am indeed "mad as hell." Not so much at Maher, I don't really find him worth my time, but unfortunately people in our culture are enamored with him. This is something that extends way beyond Bill Maher, my being mad as hell, and granted this is more of an exaggeration to make a point, is more at Christianity for allowing caricatures of it to prevail. Most Christians walk around with a "get outta jail free" card attitude. "I've got my ticket punched to go to heaven, let this world go to hell." Again, an exaggeration, but point still stands. Christians, by and large, don't really care about the real and the relevant. All throughout the Old Testament, and yes into the New Testament, we see a consistent message in the salvation history narrative that restoration of everything is what we're marching toward (Again, Matt? We know, this is all you talk about).

But the implications for this are massive. Maher and folks like him constantly argue against a caricature of Christianity and Christians fall hook line and sinker for it! The Maher's, Dawkins', and Hitchens' of the world constantly refer to God as some old angry bearded white guy in the sky who tells us what to do. And they constantly bash the disregard for the real and relevant for this spiritual sense of who we are. And guess what, on those points, they are right!

People think church sucks because Christians give off this concept of God being an angry old white guy in the sky and that all Christians want to do is divide the world up as people going to heaven and people going to hell. Heaven is temporary. Heaven is not my home. EARTH is my home. The Nicene Creed shows us that the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, took on humanity to bear our sin and be our savior. But the implications for that run much further. Because humans are the source of the great cosmic mess up into sin, decay, destruction, and death, God incarnated meets creation at that source to renew and restore everything.

No doubt Maher would find this absolutely ridiculous as well. But my point is let Christian theology be real and relevant instead of this goofy caricature of itself. Christians ought to be involved in civil society. Jesus' words that the Law is summed up in "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul" AND "the second is just like it, love your neighbor as yourself" has unbelievable ramifications for how we live out our faith and life. This does not mean faith+works=salvation, or that being a good person= salvation. But it does mean Christians are called to be real and relevant. Being just against abortion is not good enough. Be for adoption, be for making adoption more practical. Be for education, especially in areas where education lacks at an embarrassing level. Our governments neglect inner cities. And if you're against abortion, you better be against racism. Most people have no interest in adopting minority babies. It's an absolute disgrace. And being just against gay marriage isn't good enough either. Show the world what a Christian marriage is about, show the world what it means to raise a loving family that is productive and cares about its society just as much as caring about its faith because the two really shouldn't be separated. If God created everything, everything is God's. You can't check into church Sunday a Christian and Monday be a different person. Because Christianity is not about private "me and God" spirituality. Its communal, and as a community it is real and relevant that the God-Man Jesus Christ came into this world to forgive sins, yes, but to restore creation to its created intent: No decay, no destruction, no death.

People think church sucks because it comes off as something goodie two shoes do on Sunday for their ticket to heaven. It comes off as weird, and not because the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but because it is plain weird. This doesn't mean a Christian should be free of a conscious and not be a good person, quite the opposite. But it does mean being real and relevant. How? By giving a witness for the joy that is within you. Not because God prospers Christians if they jump up and down waving their arms and talking about their personal relationship with their Cosmic Lover Christ. But because, as that Jeremiah 29 passage really states, God's plans are to Shalom us, to restore us, to make us whole, and renew creation entirely. For a people and society constantly reeling with bad news, hurt, and death, there is no greater message. Heaven is not a place where good people go. It's where sinners go, for a time, as they await their restoration in the body on earth.

"A Sign Of Comfort For ALL"

Road Trip

I left home to return to St. Louis for year 2 of seminary at Concordia on Friday, September 3rd. My cousin, a comedian from Worcester, MA, made the trip from Long Island with me. On my way home from sem this past May I took a goofy route up toward Chicago up further toward the Detroit area (though safely in a 'burb), then found my way toward I-80 and some little drive by interstate town in PA a few hours from NYC before finishing the journey. It was nice because I got to see friends, but it is not a route I would take again.

This time the trip made all the sense in the world. We set out heading southwest-ish to Bridgewater, VA, an American small town if there ever was one, just outside Harrisonburg (think JMU) off of I-81 S. From there it's a 20-30 minute ride to I-64 which we then took 700 miles or so "straight" to the Clayton Road exit right by the seminary. If I could however, and I can because this is my narcissistic blog, I would like to back up to the stop over in Bridgewater.

Usually this blog serves the purpose of my data dumping from all the things I am experiencing/learning in the context of Lutheran theology. I mentioned upstream that blogs are narcissistic. I firmly believe that. This is mostly a data dump, which in a way is very therapeutic for me, but if I wanted these thoughts private I would have kept a journal, not an easily accessible blog. Regardless of how few readers I have, a blog is what it is. I want people to interact with my thoughts, struggle with them, confirm them, or flat out tell me I'm wrong. I've more or less had all that happen, and I learn a lot from it.

Anyway, back to Bridgewater, VA. I come from an extremely large family on my mothers side. My mom is 1 of 10, I am 1 of 20 something cousins, and now second cousins coming down the road too. So my cousin Shaun and I took advantage of our large family and made a stop over in VA to spend the weekend with one particular part of the clan. This was a really great time. It was less than 48 hours, we arrived around dinner time Friday and left Sunday morning, but it was terrific. With a family so large such as ours usually when we all get together we're being tossed around from place to place on a schedule, which usually revolves around meals, and although we enjoy those occasions greatly, we rarely get a chance to just chill. This past year alone in March we had a Batmitsvah weekend (yes I am related to Jewish folk and I love them dearly), in April a wedding, and in July a wedding. Although the July wedding was more relaxed than the previous two excursions, it still revolved around a schedule and the whole giant heave mass of family was there. So the great and terrific thing about this trip to VA was getting to hang out and do meaningless things. Friday night we had pizza with our Aunt Laurie, Uncle Rick, and our cousins Amy, her husband Dan, and their two awesome little boys Brooks and Brennan, and Kelly and Lindsey. Later, me, Shaun, and Lindsey and Kelly went out to a couple bars in Harrisonburg. Saturday morning we watched College football, went to the highest point in VA, went to a Mennonite market, had dinner at a local Mexican place, then went to a parade to celebrate the towns 175th anniversary. After the parade we saw a local band called "The Hackens Boys" play country music at a fair. We were in Small Town, USA, essentially did nothing, but did much and I loved every minute of it.

Nothing theological about it really, except that in a 1st Article sense God created us to be in communion with one another and family certainly serves that purpose ;), just a wonderful time prior to school re-starting. As I stated upstream Shaun and I left Sunday morning and hit I-64 through the gorgeous mountains of VA, West VA, Kentucky, and then the boring plains of Indiana and Illinois until we found an interstate town called Mount Vernon and posted up for the night. On Labor Day morning we completed the trip to St. Louis. God brought us safely. No doubt for that I am grateful. Shaun flew back east Wednesday morning and that's that story.

Is there a great "moral" or message here? Not really. Just that if you get the chance to do something like that, take full advantage.

Now how was settling back into Concordia Seminary? Separate post. Different vibes.

mosques and tea parties

By now you have all heard of the controversial Islamic Cultural Center/Mosque being built just a couple blocks away from "Ground Zero" in New York City. I personally feel the debate has been a waste of everyone's time. One side argues the Park 51 project has the absolute right, given by the Constitution, to build the Islamic Cultural Center/Mosque at that site, where landing gear from one of the jets that slammed into one of the Twin Tower's nearly 9 years ago went through the roof of the building that was then a Burlington Coat Factory. Another side, those with the loudest voices anyway, see the Park 51 project as a victory mosque that the Muslims are building on the site of "their" attack on America, just like "they" did back in the days of Holy Jihad on Christianity and "other infidels."

Then there is another side which affirms the right, according to the Constitution, to build there but, given the circumstances of what took place there, looks for a conversation and dialogue to develop over the wisdom of such an endeavor and how to calm the mass hysteria that seems to have taken over. In the Christian Biblical sense we say that "all things permissible, but not all things are beneficial" (1 Corinthians 10:23). Certainly this project is permissible, but is it beneficial to the community at this time?

The other headline grabbing story of the week is this Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally being held today, the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Beck is holding his rally, which includes former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as a keynote addressor, on the same steps that MLK Jr gave his famous speech. Despite the fact I don't buy into the notion that the tea party movement is racist, one once again wonders if perception and sensitivity were thought of at all. One comes away thinking it wasn't and that this is symptomatic of the American experiment, or the "American Dream."

The 1st Amendment of the Constitution grants us the right(s) to freedom of religion and assembly (among other things). Something I have seemed to notice more and more lately is that in America we become spoiled. Not just by material riches, but also by our freedoms. In essence we are spoiled 1st Amendment brats. In the case of the Park 51 project the side that wins out is the one demanding "their right" to do what they want, whatever they want, however they want, wherever they want. It's the same me-first attitude that lands a country, a people, in trouble by leaving the greater community behind. Those who demand an Islamic Cultural Center/Mosque near Ground Zero have little to no regard for the sensitivity of the issue, for the greater community, regardless of idiots, real or imagined, on the "other side." It isn't even about the fact that it is an Islamic endeavor, it's about how it affects the community, and that point keeps getting lost.

Then down in DC you have a group of patriotic Americans who see it as "divine providence" and/or certainly "their right" to fight for what makes America great. Limited government is probably a good thing, I've never really experienced it so I wouldn't know. But it gets weird and semi creepy when the "American Dream" and the conservative Republican political agenda/platform are then wrapped up into what God wants. I am not too aware of who this "God," or god, is. I say god, because I do not believe the American "god" is the living God, Yahweh. The American god is a me-first (me as in the human individual) god who runs amok economically or socially. It's the same god that demands "my rights" first and foremost above what's actually beneficial for the greater community. It's the same god that violates another 1st, namely the 1st Commandment.

Beck, in his rally, invoked God and how America needed to get back to God. Consider this quote from Yahoo:

"Beck exhorted the crowd to "recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us." He asked his audience to pray more. "I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see," he said."

One might argue this sounds like a good idea. Only problem with that is the speaker is a Mormon, a believer in a false god himself, and in the context of this rally it invokes the false god of America that champions economical disparity, wasteful consumption, and dangerous selfishness. Folks would argue that a right America would correct these things, and we can return to our great heyday when America was tops and God was happy. To be certain, God raises all countries, nations, people, and governments. But God also squashes them. Our "rights" the government grants to us on a piece of paper are very nice, very good for civil society. But if the Christian is not careful, they can become enthralled with the god of America and a me-first always attitude that neglects our neighbor. And not the God who declared the first would be last and the last first, and that the poor in spirit are blessed because theirs is the reign of heaven, and that the meek are blessed because they will inherit the earth, and not the God who went to the cross on our behalf and rose from the grave victorious. In a lot of instances we replace the 1st Commandment with the 1st Amendment declaring, "I can do whatever I want."

Care about the civil realm, care about America, care about what is being built in your neighborhood. But remember, "All things permissible, but not all things beneficial."

LCMS Reporter Interview with President-Elect Harrison

Found this interview, as a supporter of current LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick, to be very very very good. I am excited to see how the Lord is going to use Matt Harrison as the next president of my church body.

http://www.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=17474

Battle Cry of the Faith

"In the present situation the Christian life emerges as a life under the cross. The struggle for faith does not take place prior to conversion as in much of non-Lutheran Protestantism, it commences with the kindling of faith. And so, in the Lord's Prayer, we pray for faith against unfaith. In this way the Lord's Prayer has a way of bringing a deep comfort to people battling with an abiding sense of their own unbelief. In the Lord's Prayer, the Christian prays for faith to receive the blessings enumerated by the Creed and prays against Satan who would undermine faith by depriving the Christian of Christ's blessings."

Arand, That I May Be His Own, p. 165

Ups and Downs

‎"Lutheran spirituality, properly speaking, is not some static state of bliss, but a dynamic oscillation between lows and highs, knowledge of sin and knowledge of forgiveness, repentance, and assurance. The Gospel is to predominate, however, in the words of C.F.W. Walther, so that the Lutheran Christian lives in a state of grace."

-Veith, Spirituality of the Cross, p.38

Dog Days

Hardly. I've been a busy person this summer, which gives sort of an explanation for the absence of writing on this. I have had the opportunity to preach on a few occasions (Brooklyn, Queens, and my home church this weekend in Islip out on Long Island), I have been leading a bible study based on Luther's Small Catechism with our college aged ministry, and our mens morning bible study group, and now during the jr high/high school's "summer in the Son" pool party/bbq series we've been taking a look at, you guessed it, the catechism.

The catechism as a guide to daily living has been really helpful for me to take in and digest. No doubt this is a result of my studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. It's been a blessing, and also somewhat of a burden, to look at everything in terms of the catechism. What I have found is that peering at life through the lens of Luther's Catechism has given me a greater (I think anyway) understanding of the richness, depth, and breadth of scripture. The catechism begins with the 1st Commandment, and that really is the beginning of everything. All of life's problems and blessings hinge on the fact that Yahweh is God. We defy this, yet as the 1st Article shows Yahweh God continues to bless us. We also see the remedy provided for our defiance of that 1st Commandment, and subsequent 9, outlined in the 2nd Article of the Creed. When we see that Christ goes to the cross and redeems us lost and condemned creatures "not with gold or silver, but with his holy and precious blood so that I may be his own" it takes on a personal comfort that could hardly be expressed any better. We then see how this is brought to us directly as the Holy Spirit calls us out of darkness and into that marvelous light as outlined by the 3rd Article of the Creed. And as I am preaching on this weekend, the Lord's Prayer is the beginning of the Christian life. We pray that prayer because we are disciples of Jesus and we pray for his kingdom to come and to come to us directly. Of course the most visible ways we see the reign is in the sacraments and the gathered assembly of believers.

The catechism as daily living is not only helpful, but this summer it is proving to me to be essential. The Christian life is a daily struggle and the catechetical framework affirms this. Yet even over and above that it affirms the One who is the resurrection and the life who overcomes the struggles and crosses we bear. That, to me, is the essential aspect. What we need is Jesus, and living a life struggling and wrestling leads us directly to him.

The Metanarrative in the Postmodern Culture

Modernity and Postmodernity have cleared the landscape for the destruction of religion. For many scholars, amateur scholars, and regular people who find religion to be the crutch of the weak and nothing more than that, this is their time.

Modernity called into question the very legitimacy of scripture. Many Christians, seeking to preserve the religion amidst the modern society, acquiesced to culture and declared many truths of scripture to be invalid. The biggest one being the most important element of the Christian faith, namely the resurrection of Jesus. Admittedly this is a drive-by description of what happened in modernity. There are countless books written by people who have given the research its proper due. My purpose here is just to set the stage for where we are today. It's no secret many who claim to be Christians do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. It is also no secret that many people regardless of being Christian do not believe it. This is a result of modernity.

Yet even amidst the lack of faith in modernity truth was still something sought and to be had. Most people sided with scientific evidence and reasoning as where truth was to be found. For example, evolution, as a product of modernity, stole the show and won the day as "truth" (also admittedly a drive-by description I understand it is more complicated than that). The point is however that a sense of a truth, maybe even an absolute truth, was still viable. Today, that simply isn't true.

In the postmodern culture, truth is whatever feels good to you. And even then, it isn't really truth. Subjective truth is more or less what works for any given individual. Even science is having trouble keeping up with the demands, and doubts, of a postmodern culture. EVERYONE is a skeptic. And to be honest, who could blame them? It seems that all over our culture politicians run amok, big business trashes the little guy, and we have two radical sides of a climate change debate that both seem to miss the mark and what people on the ground are actually saying. To be a skeptic is to look out for yourself and those closest to you. I am a skeptic myself, I am a product of postmodernity.

But back to the top, many people out there in this age see the end of religion in site. It is not needed in this age of answers and science. Yet what these people fail to realize is that the population isn't buying into the absoluteness and totality of those answers offered by the scholarly and scientific. This is not even to call into question science's legitimacy, that would be insanely irresponsible. What it does highlight however are the feelings of everyday people who deal with everyday issues. Are the select few so much better off in wisdom than the mass public? No doubt some would answered that the enlightened few are, I would disagree. So what we have today is a rejection of any and all types of metanarratives. There is no overarching truth.

My dad was umpiring a junior high baseball game the other day and overheard the kids in the dugout from one of the teams talking. Jesus and church was the topic. One kid said, "I've never been to church" in response to a kid who says he goes frequently. The latter kid is a rarity today, the former kid is the reality. The loss of a metanarrative seemingly hurts the church and Christianity. Yet I see it as a welcomed challenge. The days of Christianity being a part of the culture and just what people (see REAL Americans) "do" are going...going...gone.

The reason it is a welcome challenge is because it is time to get back to the basics. For so long in this country the cry has been "No creed but the Bible!" And those crowds have been the loudest and most mobile in our age for the church. Although for any Christian that seems like a well and good thing, it is irresponsible and misunderstands the important place a creed has in teaching and rearing in the faith. To play Bible trivia baseball with people and have them memorize seemingly random verse after random verse is not helpful from what I can gather. Don't misunderstand me, memorizing scriptural passages should be a lifelong goal for any Christian, but when dealing with a postmodern culture without the metanarrative the goal for the short term and long term here should be the reconstruction of the metanarrative in their lives and discipling/catechizing for a life time.

Catechizing and confirmation are not (should not be) a few week thing and then BAM, bring in the relatives and have a party. Those days are going by the wayside. To teach people the faith is to catechize them and to set them up for life. And in a culture which is becoming more oral, and is certainly biblically illiterate if not illiterate in a lot of other ways, Luther's Small Catechism is the thing to get the ball rolling.

When talking about creation the conversation should not be a tireless (or tiring?) effort to "prove" the literal 6 day account in Genesis. As much as I hold that dear and to be very true, that does not reconstruct the metanarrative. The metanarrative begins with the Ten Commandments, specifically #1: "You shall have no other gods before me." This recognizes, even thousands of years ago, that people have other priorities besides the One True God and that they even make gods out of things in their lives. Sports, fashion, drugs, women, money, wealth, power, etc., etc. They all are gods actively competing for the attention of human beings in our society.

To reconstruct the metanarrative is to start there. Then after dealing with the First Commandment, and subsequent nine, to move into the Creed (apostles or nicene) and discuss the implications of the First Article of the Creed. Talking about creation in the lens of the First Article, which I blogged about below this post, sets the stage for the restructuring of the metanarrative that has been lost in this day and age. People see creation through the spectrum of a loving Father God who made all things, declares it good, and still takes care of them. The First Article, relating things physically in a real way to peoples real lives, is the way forward in setting up the narrative. The First Commandment and First Article compliment each other so well to point to the beauty of creation, as well as its brokenness. Anyone can see and feel beauty, and at the same time anyone can see and feel brokenness.

This metanarrative gives the story, the diagnosis, and the remedy. In the post immediately preceding this one I wrote about the Second Article of the Creed. That gives the remedy. It then is vaulted into the Third Article, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacraments, and how a Christian lives in that reality. Trivializing and arguing endlessly does not help to reconstruct the narrative, in fact, it probably helps to further deconstruct it. In a broken world that has been deconstructed enough Christians should not generally be in the deconstruction business, but the reconstruction business. Jesus reconstructs creation through his gracious act on the cross and rises again as the beginning of that new reality. It's that new reality that gives hope in a world full of shams and shame. Our argument is not going to be won in an ivory tower babbling things that real human beings can't comprehend or care not to comprehend.

Our participation in the reign of God is not static, but on the move. And I think the next move ought to be reconstructing the metanarrative.