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.

That I May Be His Own

The practicality of Luther's Small Catechism is something I am increasingly captivated by. Wedged into his explanation of the 2nd Article of the Creed are the words "that I may be His own."

This is the essence of Christ's work on the cross. It flows beautifully from the close of Luther's explanation of the 1st Article as well: "All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him."

We screw up our duty. In fact, because we screw up our duty and despise the gifts of creation which God has given, we need the 2nd Article. The beauty of the 2nd Article is seeing that God meets the problem of a broken creation right at the original source of its brokenness, humanity.

It was HUMANS who were crowned the jewel of creation and it was HUMANS who screwed it up. By sinning, humans introduced sin and death into the world. Surely this death has effects reverberating across species and even to inanimate objects. The earth quakes, mountains spew forth ash and lava, animals kill one another, humans kill animals, humans destroy wildlife in their quest for more power (see BP oil spill).

All of creation groans because of our doing. Yet God does not sit back and watch it happen. Nor does God figure He'll save humans spiritually and then we'll get them out of here and destroy all of creation. No, God has a much more incredible plan. And Luther describes it like this:

"I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil: not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,

just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

This is most certainly true."

Gorgeous writing if I have ever seen any. The whole point of Jesus coming is so that I may be His own. The incredible thing about the incarnation is that it is real. Jesus was born a real human being, born of a real human woman, the Virgin Mary, lived a real human being's life, suffered and died a real human being's death, and yet even more than that, so much more than that, rose to life as a real human being. Jesus the first fruits of creation, the perfect creation, the glorious glimpse of what God has in store for the rest of humanity and the whole of creation.

Jesus did not die for some abstract cause, for pretend sins, or to save us spiritually. Nope, Jesus died so that I may be His own.

Amen.