emerging LCMS

Thank You God pt. 2

2008-11-23T15:31:00.003-06:00

The standing rule with pastors, at least ones who wish happy and healthy lives with their congregations, is that you don't make changes in the first year of your pastorate. Now, unless you are an exact clone of the previous pastor, and I know very few pastors who are or would wish to be, this is a pretty tall order. Practically speaking, the real question comes in how you handle the decisions and the changes that need to be made.

First Lutheran Church, like many others, was once a thriving, booming congregation. In the 70s, there were more than 1000 members on the rolls. Now there are around 300, with about 100 worshiping each week. But many churches do not make the necessary changes to function adequately at the size in which they currently function.

For me, there were some changes made before I came that had a significant effect on the ministry of First Lutheran Church. About five years ago, First Lutheran School was closed, leaving only First Lutheran Preschool. In addition to that, the number of boards and committees was reduced to about four. Since I've come, the leadership of First Lutheran Church has decided to hold one worship service (as opposed to two), and the family nights have been discontinued due to lack of volunteers to lead them.

In spite of some of these there have been a number of blessings so far. We've had a few families worshiping regularly with us. We've had inquiries about baptisms. There has been a sense of excitement, and some people, for the first time since the school closed, have begun to think about the future.

Ministry is often something that takes place on a spiritual, supernatural level and it's always dangerous to try to use numbers to validate the effectiveness of what is being done. God calls us not to generate numbers, but to be faithful. Every so often, though, the numbers bespeak hope into the lives of the laborers in the vineyard.

One of the biggest problems at First Lutheran Church was that the church was operating at a deficit of about $1000 per week. We were losing over $50,000 a year. Not bad for some churches, but it was not something we wanted live with. When this is the case, there is a shadow, a pall that looms over everything that the church does. "This church is dying." "No young people come here anymore." "We need to save money."

To get back to the original point, there comes a time when you have to do something. I could wait another year, not make any changes, and effectively lead the church another few steps down the pathway to a slow and unheralded death. Or I could do something. Quick.

So I tried something. After a short discussion with the elders, I got together some of the leaders of the church, and introduced them to Herb Miller's "New Consecration Sunday" program. We divided up the responsibilities, and set things in motion for Consecration Sunday: November 23, 2008.

New Consecration Sunday is, for the lack of a better terminology, a canned program where pretty much everything is set for you. It's easy to follow, and nobody has to ask anyone for money or pledges. And, most importantly for the situation I found myself in, I could do it in six weeks.

In the back of my mind, I thought that it would be good if we could get a 10% increase in pledges for the coming year. This would take out a significant chunk of our shortfall. I hoped that we could maybe muster a 20% increase, which is what our guest leader said happened both times he used it at his church. That would bring us about back to breaking even. But God wanted to get involved in a big way, bigger than I would dare to dream.

After all the plans of men, and the pledges given and tallied, and the luncheon served and enjoyed. The total was announced. The increase in offerings pledged for next year was...

39%!

Thank you folks for coming, and please don't forget to pick your jaws up off the floor before you leave.

In all seriousness, I pray a lot for God to do big things, to bless his people here, and send his Spirit on us. But every so often it's really nice to just see him working, even through a number.

So for today, "Thank You, God."

Thank You God

2008-11-02T00:08:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I'm baptizing Josiah. He finally was born on October 15th (10 days late), and we've been pretty busy with getting ready for that. God willing, tomorrow we'll welcome him into God's family and into First Lutheran Church!

It's been great to have our friends from Corvallis here, and one of the highlights of my day was seeing how much my friend's kids love him and missed him. After being away for almost a week, they both latched on to him with hugs and he carried them around for a good several minutes. It's good to see a dad like that.

It's hard to find good dad role models. Television is notably devoid of good dads that stand by their sons. I really liked Jonathan Kent of Smallville, but he got killed off as one of the required steps for "the hero's journey" is that the father figure must go at some point, usually at a time that seems a little too early. So, therefore, not much time to be a role model.

Another thing came out of the last few weeks. I come from a family of origin where cleanliness is next to godliness. And if you know me (especially if you were one of my roommates in college) you know I am not a person who needs to keep a spotless abode. I have finally come to peace with the fact that the Bible tells me that as a pastor I need to be hospitable, and not necessarily that I need to have the home spotless before I can invite people over. I really did struggle with that the whole time we lived in Orange County, and perhaps even sinned by not opening my home as I should have. Anyway, we're having a good chunk of the congregation over tomorrow after Sy's baptism, so they'll all see our nowhere near perfect or even finished home. And I'm actually relatively peaceful regarding the whole affair. Thank you, God.

Theological Music

2008-10-11T22:21:00.002-05:00

When Anna walked into our room this afternoon she asked what I was doing. I told her that I was listening to Northern California's Christian music and seeing how long I could go before (a) realizing that a song was actually a Christian song and (b) hearing something so overtly theological in a song that I couldn't replace Jesus' name with any other boys name and have the song still seem perfectly normal. "It's a fun game," I said. Anna rolled her eyes at me.

Then later on this evening, I was reading this article, which has this quote:

There is, perhaps, no greater evidence of the theological illiteracy of this Christian generation than the songs we sing and write. Every song is a sermon, and it is critical that the God and the gospel that is proclaimed from the pulpit is the same God and the same gospel preached from the music team.

I've been pretty busy trying to find a music director for the church lately, and I pray that the person we have found will work out for God's will to be done. Even deeper than that, though, is the constant struggle I have in figuring out where to place our resources in order to best edify First Lutheran Church in Concord, California. Part of me wants to have a growing, vibrant church that sticks to a strictly liturgical heritage and style. Part of me believes that I can be musically progressive (read: rock out) while maintaining contact with traditional Lutheran hymnody because Martin Luther and Paul Gerhardt were amazing poets and prophets, and their hymns just need an update in tunes and style to speak to people today.

I don't think that we need to sell out the words we sing in our worship to neo-evangelical pop Christianity. I'm just trying to hold onto the doctrine on which we base our faith, to not let go of that, while figuring out the best way to build up people in that faith.

I keep on thinking of one of the good points made in Thom Rainer's "Breakout Churches,"
that the breakout churches weren't the cutting edge churches, they were the churches who only made changes as they were needed. I get equally annoyed with people from Lutheran Churches who say that we must stick to slowly playing isometric hymns on an organ as I do with people in Lutheran churches who have amazing music and yet they sound just like any non-denominational radio station.

It sure must be hard to get it all together, because I know next to nobody who does. That doesn't mean I can't, though...

Sermon Writing

2008-10-04T22:05:00.002-05:00

This is basically a confession from my sermon for October 5th, a reflection on writing sermons...

It’s like this: if I’m not reading God’s word, I don’t want to preach. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. I don’t want to get up there and talk in front of people. I’m scared that I’m going to embarrass myself. I’m scared that I’m not going to be any good. But in nearly all of my sermons, as I’m preparing, there comes a point where as I’m reading God’s word, as I’m putting things together, a spark ignites and the fire gets going and all of a sudden my attitude changes…I go from dreading having to preach to having something that I can’t wait to share with anyone who will listen. If you ask Anna, she’ll tell you that some weeks I’ll tell her all about the sermon even before Sunday because I’m just so excited about God is saying to me!

What I've noticed lately...

2008-09-26T11:07:00.002-05:00

I've noticed that I post on here about once a month. That's probably not enough, but for times like now when I've got a writing day and I stay home from work, or to work because there's less interruptions like that, I realize that there's been a lot on my mind that I just need to get out.

I've noticed that we (Anna and I) are on the final stretch of Ali's only-child days. Josiah is due a week from Sunday, which basically means any day now he can come.

I've noticed that in general, Americans hate kids. From a distance, they're cute, but when it comes to actually having them or protecting them, we're not so willing to go out of our way on them. And there are many people who care more for their pets than they do children, or who don't want children at all. In many cases, it's probably good that these people don't have children, but in some cases, I wonder if having a child would help their perspective. Perhaps I'll make this a recurring post on the blog...proof Americans hate kids, part XXIX. Roman numerals always make things seem more important than they really are, like the Super Bowl.

I just noticed that my daughter is cute. She just walked into my office, said "Hi Daddy," put her cheek on my arm, and then walked out again. Then she walked in again, said "Hi Daddy," then walked out again and said "See ya," "See you in a bit," "Bye-bye," and something else I couldn't exactly figure out, all of which must be repeated back to her in order for her to not become visibly upset.

I've noticed that I'm starting to get into a groove with work. This week, I started thinking about the Thanksgiving service. Thanksgiving isn't for another couple months. I'm working ahead. This is good.

I've noticed that I've spent much too much time worrying about being cool and having a cool church, and figuring out how to administrate a church and what a stewardship program should look like, and not enough time reading God's word and doing it.

I've noticed that I have to trust in God to take care of my church. I pray a lot for the people God has called me to shepherd, and I've noticed that there are definite signs of growth already.

Love/Hate

2008-08-23T23:06:00.002-05:00

I love being a pastor, and sometimes I hate it. Well, I hate certain parts of it. For the last few weeks, it's seemed pretty manic-depressive, high highs, low lows, and it's been hard to get into a rhythm. I hate the fact that I'm writing sermons long into Saturday night, I hate the fact that I don't see my family as much as I think I should, I hate the fact that this church isn't the way I think it should be yet. I hate the fact that I'm having such a hard time picking hymns that people will know and that I'm spending so much time worrying about it after a couple comments I got. I love the fact that people are excited about church and telling their friends. I love the fact that they're getting the Word of God from my sermons. I love the fact that there's a lot of unity and trust in this church, and even though I get criticism, that people tell me in a spirit of trying to be helpful.

I went on a sermon planning retreat earlier this week. It was an awesome opportunity for the pastors in my circuit. I got to hang out with 2 retired and 2 current pastors in a cabin overlooking Lake Tahoe for a few days. It was everything I had hoped...an opportunity to spend hours uninterrupted in planning, an opportunity to pick at the minds of some men who had served long term pastorates (one for 35 years, one for 42!).

Big conviction of the retreat: I spend a lot of time telling people to do evangelism, but I don't spend a lot of time teaching them how to share the gospel. If that's really what we're all about, I need to lead people to learn how to be all about evangelism. It's easy to say "Just Do It," it's pretty hard to try to explain how.

It's hard work to love people. But it's good work.

Books and Stuff

2008-08-11T22:50:00.003-05:00

I've been on kind of a tear as far as reading some books lately...in the last few weeks I've finished Jack Welch's "Winning" and Thom Rainer's "Breakout Churches." Let me just share with you some of the stuff that stood out to me.

Apparently I was reading "Winning" a lot in front of Ali because when we went to Barnes and Noble with Anna last week Ali picked up Winning and gave it to me, saying "Daddy's book?" I got my copy for $3 at Half Price Books, though. One of the things that stuck out to me was his chapter on starting something new, where he said that if you are starting something new, you want to give it every chance to succeed. As I'm thinking about worship services and how we want to approach evangelism for the preschool parents we believe God wants us to reach, it's important to realize that if part of this is going to be a different style of worship service, we're going to have to be fully committed to it. I also found his approach to budgeting interesting, focusing on an "operating plan" instead of setting numbers in concrete...that may take a while to explain to the board.

The other one I read was Breakout Churches. This is the second Thom Rainer book I've read, the first being High Expectations which told me that a Sunday School that works like small groups is the answer to most of my problems. Breakout Churches is a bit more current, and it basically applies Jim Collins' Good to Great principles to churches which have had a period of stagnation/decline and then have "broken out" to achieve significant growth. The book made me want to read Good to Great (so that's on my list now too). The biggest thing that convicted me was something that I knew before but constantly need to be reminded of...all the pastors of the breakthrough churches spend around 20 hours/week preparing their sermons. I've not been close to that, and when I have, it's been time on Saturday afternoon ignoring my family because I haven't put in the effort or time earlier in the week. I can preach a lot better, but I need to structure my time better. I know it's a struggle for everybody. But I've also noticed that some people seem to want me to feel better about not spending this much time on sermons. I'm very wary of these people.

Also, I'm been dabbling again in Mueller's Christian Dogmatics, especially on the area of Church Fellowship. I'm anticipating a possible issue coming up in my church in a few weeks regarding this, so please keep that in your prayers. I start to wonder what percentage of LCMS Lutherans could actually articulate our Synod's stance on the boundaries of fellowship. I wonder how many clergy actually care. Sometimes it's lonely out here.

I've especially been missing the clergy support I had in OC and LA...hopefully this will be remedied a bit next week when I go on our circuit's annual sermon-planning retreat in Lake Tahoe for a few days! I'm looking forward to that.

Installed

2008-07-27T23:05:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago today I got installed at First Lutheran in Concord, and already it seems like a long time ago...well, I've been pretty busy since then. I've had one graveside committal and two memorial services, as well as numerous meetings with people, hospital visits, and lunches.

The installation went well, and there was a thorough report of it in the CNH District newsletter, but there was one moment that really stuck out to me. To be totally honest, I knew that it was coming, but I wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel.

In the service, one of the members who has an absolutely amazing voice started singing "Make Me a Servant." In and of itself, it was a nice gesture from the congregation. But that was just the beginning...after she finished with one verse or so, the rest of the church stood up and started singing "Make Me a Servant" too. Granted, I intellectually knew that it was coming but the gesture so moved me that I was pretty much in tears by the time that they finished! It was pretty humbling...and I'm usually kinda jaded about these types of things.

Since then, I've just been talking with people trying to put together a picture of what is happening and what needs to happen in the church. I've realized how impatient I am...after having been here for only a week and a half, I'm already wondering why things haven't improved yet. I wonder if I can change things, or if anyone could. I wonder if my ideas are going to work, or even if they're what God wants to happen here.

It's wierd to think of how much this place has grown on me in just the last month since we've moved here. I'm taking a self-imposed couple of days off since I've been at church every day for the last two weeks and my family misses me. I still feel like I want to go to work tomorrow, which speaks well of the people I work with and how I like the challenge of being a pastor here. But I am also called to be a father, and I love my family and will not sacrifice them on the altar of "church."

Honestly, I can't wait to be able to take Ali along on more stuff. I remember when she was still in her bucket and I could take her to Bible study on Saturday mornings, and I know of few two-year-olds who have been to as many strategic ministry planning meetings as she's been to. But the thought of being able to take her along with me for visiting people is something I can't wait for. I still remember some of the times that my father took me along with him for guest preaching at some different churches...it was a great way to spend some time together.

I'm still trying to find the balance, though, between how much change can be handled and what cannot. I'm getting a sense for how I want things to be, but how fast to implement the changes is something that I'm really wondering right now. Lots of time will be spent in prayer.

Welcome to the BAY!

2008-06-26T22:59:00.002-05:00

Hey, It's been so long since I've actually written on here that I really need to get something out and if I don't do anything I'll just have more thoughts dying and never coming back again, so here's the latest on my life.

I've been called to be pastor of First Lutheran Church in Concord, California, so my wife and daughter and I packed up our things from Orange County and moved up here to the East Bay area, Contra Costa County, bought a house, and moved in. We're trying to get settled, which is pretty crazy since we moved from a 2 bed/2 bath apt to a 5 bed/3 bath home with more twice the square footage and are basically picking up and scrubbing and repainting after the teenager who lived in this house alone for the last 6 months. Full Disclosure: Anna's friend Erin is doing the painting. I'm blogging, and Anna's very busy being pregnant and taking care of Ali.

I start at First Lutheran officially in July 1 (my 30th birthday), get installed on the 13th (with my dad preaching), and first preach on the 20th. It's funny that I'm here, actually. My first thought when I got contacted regarding this call was "That's nice...but no." Anna and I know what happens when you say "no" to God: you move to St. Louis, teach third grade, marry a pastor or a teacher, spend a year as a hospital chaplain, then move to California.

So I'm here, in a church that is mostly retired, with like 2 people our age, and a preschool full of unchurched kids and their parents. What am I doing? I don't know, really.

I am a minority here. The city where we live, Pittsburg, has more Latinos than whites, with significant numbers of Asians and African-Americans too. This is very different from Grafton, Wisconsin or Chanute, Kansas. But this is the place God has called us to serve. I think about that lecture of CFW Walther in Law and Gospel (can't remember the exact citation) where he talks about how when a pastor is called that he should consider the place where he is called to be the most blessed place on earth, because that is where he should be.

I really don't like C. Peter Wagner right now. I was reading one of his old school church growth books before I left OC called, "Your Church Can Grow," which stipulates that homogeneity is one of the essential ingredients for a growing church. This doesn't help any evangelism efforts I may make with my neighbors, none of whom are of the same racial background as me. I'll let you know how this works out.

Also, I want to be better about blogging. There's usually at least a few times a week where I feel like writing something down or throwing out an idea running through my head. I'm sure it'll get me in trouble sooner or later. But I'm sure that somebody will start reading this blog who I hope will be helped out hearing the struggles of a young pastor trying to be missional and confessional all at once.

Best thing so far? My 6 mile commute on Bailey through the hills is like a roller coaster and definitely beats the pants off battling traffic on the 5, 55, and 405 for 25 minutes on good days and just under a week on the bad days like I've been doing the last 3 years.

Worst thing so far? I miss my friends. I had a lot of good friends in OC, and it takes time to make new friends. I love my wife and daughter, but I need some testosterone every once in a while.

Second-best thing so far? I wrote up a little bit about my experiences buying our house as a short sake that got taken and made into a blog on redfin.com. Yeah, my life is that pathetic and lonely right now.

Well, ta ta for now.

Confession and Absolution

2007-10-25T17:55:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I'm reasonably sure that since I never update this anymore, no one reads this, but I'll put up my last newsletter article anyway since I think it may benefit someone, sometime. FYI, I've finished my work at Holy Cross since Donald Oldenburg accepted the call there, and I began serving as vacancy pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach last month.

Here's the article:

In Confession and Absolution we begin the Divine Service by acknowledging our standing before God. The nature of our relationship to God is characterized by our brokenness and inability to live up to God’s expectations for us, and God’s mercy on us and His forgiveness toward us. It is a microcosm of the two main doctrines of Christianity, Law and Gospel, applied to our lives.

Confession and Absolution have been an essential part of worship since the 1^st century. We read in the Didache (a book of the teachings of the early Christian church from about 70 AD): “Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life… On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure.”

In our confession, we admit that we break God’s Law through the sins of things we willfully do (sins of commission) and through the sins of things we are supposed to do and don’t (sins of omission). In a couple of the confessions from the Lutheran Service Book, we capture this thought by confessing that “we have sinned…by what we have done and by what we have left undone.”

John tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This forgiveness comes to us in the form of the Absolution. Usually the pastor leading the congregation’s worship will speak the words of the Absolution, saying something like, “As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The pastor uses the first person “I forgive you” because he is called and ordained for the purpose of standing in Christ’s place by the congregation. The Bible tells us that all Christians who are baptized are given the authority to forgive sins. Jesus illustrates this in Matthew 9, where He healed the paralytic and forgave his sins. The most amazing thing to the people there was not that the paralytic stood up and walked, but that God had given the authority to forgive sins to men (Matt. 9:8). Jesus makes it clear that He has given this authority to all men in John 20 when he says, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you… Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (vv. 21-23).

This authority to forgive and retain sins is given to all who are baptized, but in a church the pastor is called to by serve the congregation as its shepherd, to lead them and care for them. This care includes giving forgiveness of sins in public, corporate worship and privately to individuals so that people may experience God’s mercy and grace breaking into our world from the spiritual realm. That is the way God works in the world, taking lowly and common things and making them the instruments of salvation. Our Lutheran Confessions help us to understand this: “It is not the voice or word of the man who speaks it, but it is the Word of God, who forgives sin, for it is spoken in God’s stead and by God’s command” (Augsburg Confession XXV.3).

Once that relationship between God and us is made right, we are ready to worship God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. We are freed from sin! Our souls are freed from death and the devil, sin has no more power over us! This is the heart of the message of the gospel, which we are called to share with all people.

We cannot give the Holy Spirit and faith to others, but we can declare them to anyone who is distressed on account of sin. If anyone believes, they have faith and forgiveness, which brings new life and salvation. This is how the kingdom of God spreads. May this word of forgiveness remain not only in our ears and on our tongues, but come into our hearts and break forth fresh as we share this forgiveness with others!

Why the ESV?

2007-02-09T00:10:00.000-06:00

Here's a copy of my latest newsletter article from Holy Cross explaining why I like the change to the ESV.

A couple of months ago as Advent started our new church year, you may have noticed that the translation of the Bible which we read in worship and which is printed on the backs of the bulletins has changed. This is an excellent change which was made by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s “Lutheran Hymnal Project.” Those involved in this project pointed out that “integral to doctrinal precision is linguistic accuracy. When the words we use to proclaim the Gospel in our worship become unclear or ambiguous, doctrinal clarity and confession immediately suffer. Words—the very specific words delivered to us in Word and Sacrament—are the way our Lord has chosen to work in our lives.”

While no translation of the Bible is perfect and has ever been endorsed as “the official translation” of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, there are two that rise to the top in terms of theological and linguistic accuracy, text-critical grounds, and readability. Those are the New American Standard Version and the English Standard Version, with the ESV taking a slight edge in readability.

In 2001, the English Standard Version was published and revealed as a modern, conservative, evangelical version of the Bible. It is what is called a “form-equivalent translation” of scripture, meaning that the words of scripture are translated on more of a word-for-word basis than other translations which may be translated on a thought-for-thought basis (like the New International Version, Contemporary English Version, or Good News Bible) or even a paraphrase (like The Message or The Living Bible). Some translations are outright corruptions of Scripture, like the New World Bible used by Jehovah’s Witnesses, which was written to portray Jesus as a man and not God. Three professors from Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, two professors from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and the theological editor of Concordia Publishing House were active “Translation Review Scholars” for the ESV.

This new translation is a good and welcome change for several reasons. First, it is important to retain the words of God and not just the thoughts of God because precision that is lost when the words are not retained. In order for our worship to remain centered on Jesus Christ and His Word, it is helpful to use theological words because they are more exact and help avoid theological confusion when they are properly explained.

Second, we strengthen the trustworthiness of Scripture. When I, as pastor, have to stop and say “what the Bible really means is this,” this can eventually break down people’s trust in the translations of Scripture and undermine their confidence in the ability of the Holy Spirit to lead them in understanding. It helps people to understand Scripture and to trust in the accuracy of the Word of God more when we say “this is what this word means” instead of “this is what the Greek text really means.”

Third, it is essential to remain true to the Biblical proclamation that while Scripture is meant for all people, it cannot be communicated in such a way that all people will receive it. This view is politically incorrect and offensive, yet on numerous occasions God points out that human nature does not always lead to understanding. Jesus’ own disciples did not know how to handle the “hard sayings” of Jesus (John 6:60). Mark Twain said it well: “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand; but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” God’s thoughts are so superior to ours that we will never be able to fully comprehend his ways (Isaiah 55:9) even as he reveals them in the Bible, and we should not try to twist them so that we can make sense of them because we would do this to our own peril (2 Peter 3:15-16).

At Holy Cross, we exist to teach people what they would not otherwise know, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do this through the ministry of Word and Sacrament, shared through people in the community through the words of Scripture working in the members of the Body of Christ. In another few decades, another translation will come along and be utilized by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, but each time we change, we strive to remain true to the calling and mission God has given to us.

Holy Cross

2006-10-08T23:08:00.000-05:00

By now, I know that some of the people from Holy Cross have found my blog, so, um, Hi! For those of you who don't know, I am serving as vacancy pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Los Alamitos, which is actually in Cypress, California. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks so far, getting into meeting tons of people (sorry if I don't know your name yet!)

I must admit, though, that it is awesome to be with people of God who are starting to believe that they can turn around the big ship of this church body so that it can again be made a force in the community to share Christ's love. It's been great to see people in the congregation, young and old, who consider Holy Cross to be their church and who want to fight for this church, for its existence, for its integrity, for its tradition, but also for it to become a great church.

It's a hard thing to step into a church where there has been constant decline in worship attenders for the last 30 years, but I think that God's people at Holy Cross are ready for a change...and there is more than enough that needs to be done. One of the first steps, as I mentioned in my sermon today, is to figure out ways we can become more "family-friendly." If you have an idea, please let me know by contacting at church or at the e-mail address printed in the bulletin, or talk to one of our elders.

As usual, I covet your prayers as we work to do Christ's work in our community.

In Christ,
Pastor Maschke

Baby, Baptism, and Burgeoning Liturgical Blogging

2006-09-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

First of all, I’m sure I’ve disappointed many people with my lack of updates to this blog. If you keep up with my other stuff, you’ve probably noted from the my family’s boxesofbooks blog that my wife, who is my new hero, had a baby last week. To make a long story short, Anna (my wife) pushed out Alaethea Ruth (my daughter) without any sort of medication or painkillers. She’s hardcore.

So today I was privileged to baptize Alaethea in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, effectively welcoming her into God’s kingdom and bestowing on her all the rights and privileges afforded to citizenship in said kingdom, as well as receiving the gifts and promises of her inheritance as a child of God.

Speaking of children, our church does a very cool thing for baptism. We invited all the kids in worship forward for the baptism so they could see, front and center, what was happening! How cool is that, being welcomed into God’s family by your own brothers and sisters, and giving them a chance to welcome their new sister into God’s family! I really appreciated that, even if there were some adults a little ticked off because the kids stood in the way of the nice picture they were going to take. But seriously, we took enough pictures after the service to last quite some time.

Next Sunday I start my temporary calling as vacancy pastor of Holy Cross in Cypress. It seems like a good fit for me: theologically conservative but eager to grow. Please both keep that in your prayers, as well as for wherever I will receive my next official call. I’m excited to serve the people of God in this place, but as usual I can’t do it without the help of the Holy Spirit and I do covet your prayers. I’m sure I will have some interesting experiences, and I will try to let you faithful readers (anyone still here after I haven’t written for 4 months is pretty hopeful) in on the goings-on, as much as I can tactfully share.

I also want to start writing up some of my thoughts on liturgy, as I’ve been reading up on that in “The Lutheran Liturgy” by Luther Reed and “Gathered Guests” by some other Lutheran guy…so expect a post on that soon. Anyway, now that I’ve written that I need to actually write something. Expect it by the end of the month! There, now I need to do it next week.

God’s blessings to you all!

Restating our Name

2006-05-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

Several months ago Vicar N8 Peregoy asked me to clarify what I meant by this website, by the term “Emerging LCMS,” and what I was doing blogging and having others blog altogether. At that point, the blog had slowly slipped on my list of priorities, but due to recent events in my life (mostly the fact that I am now open to a call), I now have some free time on my hands and hope to revive the blog, and finally do some of the things I was thinking about doing earlier.

First, I want to address N8’s concerns. He asked three very pertinent questions:

Does this mean we associate and align ourselves with the emergent church movement (denomination)?
Does this mean that we aim to point out the “emergent” features of Lutheranism?
Or is it a time reference, noting the newest generation of Lutherans who are leading the church into the heart of the 21^st century?

The simple answers to these questions are No, Sometimes, and Yes. But let me explain…

I fear that some people stumble onto this site, take one look at the name, and think that I have completely taken the side of Erwin McManus, Brian McLaren, and Dan Kimball and this is my pitiful attempt to lead the LCMS along that direction. That is NOT my intention at all. First and foremost that I do not intend to rethink or reshape the theology or doctrine of the LCMS, I do not want to throw out the liturgy, I do not want to turn the world upside down.

My main intention for this website is to explore some of the freedom we have by taking a closer look at the Bible and Book of Concord, and reshaping our understanding of theology in a manner that speaks the truth of Christ clearly and uncompromisingly to our world today. There are some ideas which are bubbling to the surface in the Emergent movement which I would like to pull out of their theological underpinnings and which I think fit very well with what Lutherans have been saying for years (approximately 500 years, in some cases.) I think it is high time we highlight some different aspects of our faith that have been lost over the years to the non-sacramental influences of most American Protestantism, and the emergent church movement has been doing some of that work for us.

In my previous article, “New Translations,” I suggested that we need to rethink the way we communicate our faith. I suggested that the message of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is not represented as clearly as it could be, and that it is the mission of the church to do so. I noticed yesterday that by the mailboxes of my apartment was a flyer of a missionary from Nigeria who is leading a revival right here in Orange County. I find it shocking that our “Christian” nation is in such need of other foreign missionaries.

I think it should be obvious by the fact that our Lutheran churches are, in many cases, becoming more vacant, that there are things we can do better. The end goal, I believe, is the same for us as it is for all Lutherans: to share the gospel with people by the means of God’s word and sacraments, and without compromising the integrity of scripture. I think that there are ways we can be savvy to the means of communication used in the world today, especially in the uses of media, images, and narrative in the way we share our message. We could even use guitars in worship! (Insert collective gasp, rumblings of heresy here, then look up Psalm 150:4 and the other seven Psalms which are introduced as “with stringed instruments.”)

My goal for this blog is to explore the way we can do this and the way people are doing this already, so this site can be a resource for people who want to reach the next generation and share the gospel. Just like the church had to change from Hebrew to Greek, and my German Lutheran immigrant ancestors had to eventually assimilate to an English-speaking culture, there are ways we can translate the truth of the Gospel for this next generation without compromising its integrity. Whether or not we feel like we have been called to lead our church into the future, there are people depending on us to show them the way, the truth, and the life.

Are we really all that different?

2006-04-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

No, this isn't a Gen-X/Millennial vs. Modernism rant today. It's a new thought to my head brought on by an "evangelical" student I teach. Her comment today was that the Old Testament covenant is different from the New Covenant under Jesus, which to her amounted to a God who demanded sacrifices and behaviors under the Old Covenant, versus a God who wants simply to be in relationship with us under the New Covenant.

I'm still working this out in my head, but my oppositional and Lutheran sides are working together and they think that her Jesus is warm and fluffy and has all the substance (and sustenance) of a mini-marshmallow. Ok, that's probably a little bit harsh, but I think there is more to God than the idea that he is like that desperate kid who wants nothing more than to have a friend, but is to much of a pushover to be respected for anything. Ah, the Christian God of high school.

I've always been under the impression that God didn't really change all too much between the covenants, and that it wasn't the works of the Israelites that saved them, but their faith...whoever wrote Hebrews 11 has a whole chapter's worth of something to say about that.

Of course God is still demanding in that he wants his children to bear fruits of the Spirit, but he also is generous and gives us ample opportunity to do so. God wants us to know him, to love him, but he is also God and is not just a friend but a judge, our Lord, our Savior, and worthy of respect, honor, obedience so much more than we would think of as being in our normal everyday relationships.

I think that's why I have so much difficulty with using non-scriptural language to describe a relationship with God: it is a relationship that is based in scripture and sacraments, not in how we feel or in anything that is from us. Our relationship is based in faith which is solely a gift from God...there's nothing we can do about it except going with the gifts we've been given.

And that faith is something Christians and those chosen by God have had since the beginning of time, whether in the Old Testament or under the New Covenant.

Emergent No: Phil Johnson: A critical look at the emerging church movement

2006-03-07T23:32:00.000-06:00

Emergent No: Phil Johnson: A critical look at the emerging church movement

Thought this might be worth a read. I love a lot of what he has to say, especially the conclusion. Quite long though...

Our very own Rip Van Winkle

2006-03-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm finally taking advantage of the opportunity Jed has given me to post on this Emerging LCMS site. My name has been on the right side of the page for months now, and tpnight is as good of a time as any to start thinking outloud for everyone to hear.

A few months ago, Jed e-mailed me asking me to put up some thoughts about the emergent movement because he said I'm experiencing it firsthand. I lead worship at Christ in the City here in St. Louis, MO. We have a coffeehouse in our 140 year old sanctuary with orange walls and a purple ceiling. Crave coffeehouse, as it's officially called, is like any other coffeeshop you'll see around the country, selling any kind of drink you want during hours that are more or less similar to coffeeshops around the city. But the difference between us and coffeeshops surrounding us is that we have the secret to life and we plan on sharing Him to everyone who wants to listen. Oh, and by the way, we're LCMS.

I've been leading worship here for about a year now, and before Jed headed out to California he stopped by a couple times. I'm still learning how this whole worship leading thing works and how to put together a service that doesn't get in the way of the Spirit moving (I'm specifically referring to liturgy that has become meaningless in the minds of Lutherans and so many other churches with a traditional liturgy). And it wasn't until I started reading about the emerging church last semester that I really started to understand why Jed invited me to be a part of this blog site. The more I read, the more I saw that Christ in the City has quite an emerging feel to it. However, as I continued to read even more, I saw that although we're emerging in nature, we still have a lot of room for improvement.

I was just talking to our DCO intern, Abby, today about what these services look like every week. There is a beauty and intimacy that the emerging church has brought back to worshipping the God of the universe. A focus away from the band and back on Christ. A longing to go deeper into liturgy and not just say the words. An overwhelming desire to worship Christ and know Him more than ever before. This generation (myself included) tends to feel so confined by monotony. With all that in mind, the Lutheran tradition has a lot to teach and also a lot to learn. If we, holding onto the deep truths of Scripture, humble ourselves to what the emerging church has to offer, I think I can be bold enough to say that the world would never be the same.

I was talking to a singer/songwriter from Cleveland that I met in Cincinnati this past summer, and we had some amazing talks about the Church and where we're headed. I mentioned what was happening here in St. Louis with the Lutheran Church, and he was floored. He commented something along the lines of: "Well, it's about time I've heard something about what the Lutherans are doing." Now, this was said with joy, not scorn. And I myself will echo his comment. It is about time. I'm very hesitant to put hype under any movement, but I think that there is a push similar to the Reformation happening in America. There's a desire to go back to the roots of Christianity, and liturgical denominations like the Lutherans have much to offer (along with much to learn).

The question is whether or not the Lutherans, as only part of the body of Christ, will wake up and contribute what they can offer. It's time for Rip Van Winkle to wake up.

Movements & Institutions, Part 2

2006-01-03T09:18:00.000-06:00

[Ed. note: For part one, check out the post and comments from 12/19. There's been some great discussion. Feel free to join the conversation. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and writing.]

“I think the church should be a movement.”

“Describe what that looks like...”
******************************

“Well... you know, a movement. Not an institution. A movement of God’s people.”

“Okayyyy…?”

“Well, it’s just that if the church is an institution, it won’t ever change. And why would anyone want to come to a church like that. I want a church that knows what I’m going through. And if the church is going to stick to what it always believes, says, does, and practices it will die.”

“Well, just like some people are afraid of change, it sounds like you might be afraid of not changing, and that you associate it with the death of the church. Initially, this might be a big jump. It's important to realize that the church will never die, whether you call it an institution or a movement or whatever. If the church is God’s people, the living saints who are in Christ and gathered around his Word and Sacraments, as well as the dead saints waiting to be raised, it will never end until Christ comes again. Individual congregations may close, but not the church universal. It sounds like you’re mixing your definitions. Maybe it’s important to distinguish between the church (singular) and congregations, (plural).

“Well, whatever you call them, change has to take place. People change. Times change. The church has to change or congregations will close.”

“I agree in part. There some things in the church, in fact most of it, that doesn’t change. What we believe, our body of teaching, our emphasis on what is primary in worship, God coming to us through his Word and Sacraments doesn’t change. Neither does what we have confessed for centuries. However, I would agree, just like we updated the King James Bible, there is room for change in the language we use to express of these beliefs and the methods we use to tangibly carry them out.

"So you would agree that change ought to take place, but more in what we say?"

"Yeah, especially as we take Scripture, as we take our teachings and apply them to our lives today. But I don't think that necessarily calls for a radical overhaul of everything the church has ever done. When you read Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis, he cites the Reformation as grounds for a neo-reformation in the church today. That's because he saw it as new teachings that emerged in the church. But the truth is, the Reformation of the 16th century wasn't something new, but a return to what Scripture had been saying all along, but framed in such a way as to meet the theological needs of the day/church/hearers.”

"But don't we need a new movement to emerge in today's church?"

"A new movement? You bet we do. We need God to move everyday, and every week. We need him to come to us, to forgive us, to shape us and change us into his image. As he always has, still does today, and will continue until the end of time when he makes the final movement, emerging from heaven and coming down to raise the dead, judge mankind, and take those who are in Christ to be with him forever. That's the true emerging movement."

"Amen!"

Movements & Institutions, Part 1

2005-12-19T11:48:00.000-06:00

[Ed. Note: this post was intended to be a sidebar comment at The Last Sheep, but I couldn’t cram all my thoughts into 3 sentences. Here’s part one of the expanded version laid out as a dialogue between two friends over a couple of beers].

“I don’t think church should be limited to a building. It’s not a four walled institution.”

“You know, I agree. God’s people are his church, living stones built into a spiritual house, (1 Pe. 2:5), not a building made of human hands.”

“In that case, maybe we should worship in homes. After all, that’s what they did in Acts.”

“Well, Acts isn’t laid out as a blueprint or model. It’s more like a narrative description of what happened and less like a divine command. Paul isn’t saying, “The church shalt worship in homes.”

“Yeah, but why do I even need a church to worship in the first place?

“Well, I think we should start with the opposite question: Why wouldn’t you want to worship at a church? As Christians, members of a corporate body, we come to hear and celebrate what God is doing together, as a group. The desire to worship on your own or in a smaller group apart from the larger whole sounds like an ‘island mentality.’ We don’t go into separate rooms to take the Lord’s Supper, we receive it together at the same table. So also we shouldn’t divide into groups to worship God either. ‘Island syndrome’ at the core, is selfish.”

“Okay, I agree with that. Worship is a community event. We do it together. But you’re still not answering my question. Why a church? Why a building?”

“You’re right. We could worship anywhere we wanted. After all, Jesus says that where ever two or more or gathered, he promises to be there, too. But I think there’s a better reason for worshipping together, in a church, than because “we’ve always done it that way.”

“And what would that be?”

“Because that’s where God promises to show up. In his Word. And in his Sacraments.”

“Yeah, but I can read his Word wherever I go.”

“Right. Me, too. Isn’t that a blessing? But at church, where we agree to come together, is the only place we can have it spoken to us. You can worship at the beach, or in your house. But where else can you have someone else forgive your sins, and say ‘Christ died for you.’ Where else can you receive his sacrament? This happens at church, where these things come to us. There is great value in having his Word spoken to us, from the outside. Just like you can try to convince yourself that your crappy day will get better, but ultimately it’s not as comforting as someone else sitting next to you and hearing them say, “you know what, there’s hope in a better day that it coming to you. There’s someone who loves you and is going to change all this someday.’”

“Why do we need to have a pastor forgive us? I can forgive your sins right now.”

“You’re right, that’s one of the privileges of being a part of the royal priesthood. We can forgive each other’s sins. But what about the sins we commit against God? Although our sin breaks down our relationships with people here on earth, ultimately all sin is sin against God. We need hear someone forgive us on God’s behalf. That’s why we have pastors. We, as members of this corporate body called the church, recognize that God has appointed and given us these men to speak to us on his behalf. So although there is some comfort that our horizontal relationships can be restored by forgiving each other, there is no comfort like the assurance that God has forgiven our sins and loves us. After all, there are going to be people here on Earth who won’t forgive our sins at all. But if we are repentant, God promises to forgive us. There is great comfort in that.”

“I just don’t think that the church should be an institution.”

“What would you suggest instead?”

“I think the church should be a movement.”

“Describe what that looks like...”

"Well..."

Are you going to church for Christmas?

2005-12-17T08:44:00.000-06:00

This makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I've heard many things about the "conspiracy" this year between major megachurches (Willow Creek, Mars Hill) not having Christmas services. I would also like to point out that Saddleback is still having a Christmas service with "New message just for Christmas Day!" The major theme here seems to be that these churches are trying to be "family friendly" by letting you celebrate Christmas with your family.

Much has been made about how little this makes sense but I would like to point out one of the reasons given for this decision. Gene Appel, a teaching pastor at Willow Creek, said "The best way to honor the birth of Jesus is for families to have a more personal experience on that day."

I do not know of a better way to have a more personal, intimate experience with Jesus Christ than to be able to read and hear the Word Himself and to be able to taste his own body and blood at communion. It breaks my heart that so many "Christians" seem to have lost that.

And hey, you can even take your family!

The Golden Hangers

2005-11-15T09:04:00.000-06:00

I’m not one for lots of shopping, but when I buy clothes I spend a few minutes in the changing room making sure the new thing is the right fit, the right color and style for me. If you're in a cool place you hang it over the door and they get you another size. (Wouldn’t it be boring to stand there and fold clothes and open those doors all day?) I make sure I look good in it. After all, I’m dropping my own money on something and I don’t want to waste it. I want to make sure I’ve got it right. Sometimes if its not right I’ll try a different size or color or whatever until I'm happy with what I’ve got and I’m excited to wear it sometime.

We’ve all done the same thing. It’s a normal part of shopping, no matter if you're a guy or girl. I think adolescence is a lot like trying on clothes. We’re constantly going through new outfits trying to find the one that fits us best. The relationship, the career, the personality, the sense of humor, the friends, even the clothes. Some are too tight, we feel pressured and out of place. Some clothes are too baggy and we feel lost in the space between here and there, an endless gap too large to grow into. and nothing ever seems to fit right.

Goldilocks had it easy. 3 choices. Too hot. Too cold. Just right. Maybe it wasn't just right. Maybe it was somewhere in the middle so she just went with it because it was better than the other 2 lame options.

If only it were that simple. It’d be great if God laid everything out on our bed with golden hangers so we'd know. This shirt is for your job. These jeans are for your spouse. These kicks are your personality. This hat is for your passions. And we'd know right then. We wouldn't have to walk through life searching ourselves. He’d just tell us. And it'd all be a perfect fit, just as he designed and crafted us.

But he doesn't. I guess the moral is that we get to figure it out for ourselves, to choose our path in life. Sure sure. I guess. But sometimes it'd be nice to just know. It’s weird how I used to think in high school that by the time I was out of college I’d be all grown up and have my life all set. Funny how that's not the case.

The Church of 20 Years from Now

2005-11-05T20:42:00.000-06:00

Today, 70% of the population relies on local churches as their dominant means of experiencing and expressing faith, according to researcher George Barna, whose new book, "Revolution," draws on several Barna Group national surveys conducted over the past 12 months to describe a sweeping change across the religious landscape. By 2025, that will fall to 30% to 35%, with an equal percentage using alternative forms, Barna said in an interview.

Hey, that's interesting. There was an article in the Milwaukee Journal this week that tried to "profile" the emerging church. It centered mainly on one "church" (they are one, in the ekklesia/gathering sense, whether they like it or not) called Connect which meets in a Cafe on Fond du Lac, and detailed how it is a place that is reaching out to 20somethings by emphasizing group discussion, prayer, and service. I guess the thing I found most interesting was that the article insinuated that half of all churchgoers would be involved in "emerging churches" in 20 years.

I don't know quite where to fall on this, whether to take Barna's word (or the article's word, I can't tell exactly where it is coming from.) On one hand, I'd like to remain skeptical of this and say that good liturgy is all you need. On the other hand, most Lutheran churches are not equipped for this, and we could end up continuing to lose ground on this, and on our foothold in humanity.

I was part of the Pacific Southwest District's new pastor orientation this past week, and while it was mostly church growth stuff with Alan Klaas and a few Bible studies scattered throughout it, one of the things I took from that which continues to break my heart is how we continue to lose ground in sharing the gospel and making disciples. I'm sitting in the middle of some of the fastest-growing areas in the United States, and still the church here is not reaching out to the unchurched. I heard one pastor say he was very proud of the transfer growth he was experiencing with all the people who moved in, but I wondered, with all those people who are experiencing this time of transition, shouldn't they be able to reach others who haven't been churchgoers?

There I go again, letting lose with my passion for the lost. I guess the point of this rant is how we keep losing ground, how the percentage of people who know the truth as it is experienced in Lutheran churches through word and sacrament is slowly dwindling. It sucks. So this is the point of my little blog here, to get the word out a little more, to be a touchstone for the future of the church, to improve the way we communicate the gospel to this emerging generation.

So here are some ideas...
I would like to interview pastors and leaders of "emerging" and "alternative" and Gen X and Y focused worship, so I need two things from you who read this. First of all, are you or someone you know involved in this focus of ministry? Second, what would you like to know from these people? What questions would you ask them? I've got a few people in mind that I want to contact, so watch this site in the future for updates and interviews, and of course more articles.

May God bless you, as you have been a blessing to me.

Teaching and Experiencing God's Word

2005-11-03T20:02:00.000-06:00

I'm working on rereading Walther's Law and Gospel (the fact that I need to teach on Law and Gospel tomorrow is a bit of an impetus for my scholarly drive). I wanted to point out a couple of things that struck me from the itty bitty letters written by Jaroslav Pelikan in the foreward.

First of all, Walther referred to systematic theology as "didactic" theology. Teaching theology. I really like that not just because I am called to be a teacher, but because it communicates systematic theology as something in the realm of being practical, as opposed to the systematicians who sit in their ivory towers and try to rationalize how each Bible verse fits together. We all at the seminary read Forde's "Theology is for Proclamation," but I think we overlooked the fact that a lot of what needs to be done is teaching, and "teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" is half the great commission.

The second thing that jumped out at me is Pelikan's highlighting of Walther's appeal to his own experience. I hear people talking a lot about how they "experience" faith or life or whatever, and then here is Walther saying that "it is only in the school of the Holy Spirit and of genuine Christian experience that the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is learned." Walther apparently was only agreeing with Luther's words "es muss erfahren werden (it must be experienced)."

So there you go. It's okay to talk about experiences, at least as long as they are used to support and teach God's word.

How Emergent is Lutheranism?

2005-10-28T17:48:00.000-05:00

Today, Skye Jethani wrote a little piece in the Leadership Journal Blog about the steps or "layers" to becoming emergent. I just wanted to use this to point out how Lutheranism is already there in some ways, just so some of you can start to see where my rants are coming from.

Layer 4: Mission
The emergence of Postmodernism causes Seeker Community Church to reevaluate the effectiveness of their mission strategy. Altar calls and gospel tracks are left behind in favor of community groups and relationships. Conversion is accepted as a journey and not merely a point of decision.

Yay. Lutheran were never much for altar calls anyway, but we've always been into the community groups, especially when there is coffee or beer involved. Conversion is a journey, and we're basically quadriplegics being taken on the Holy Spirit short bus. (I apologize in advance for any quadriplegics out there who are offended by this.)

Layer 5: Church
Seeker Community Church begins to wonder if a multi million-dollar building housing a theatrical production every weekend is the only way to do church. Drawing from new and ancient forms of church, they launch alternative communities—one meets in a bar on Sunday night, and the other is a liturgical gathering. The church also partners with an inner city monastic group to reach street kids.

Liturgical gathering? Did I just read that right? That basically describes most Lutheran churches I've been to...Woo Hoo, liturgy is cool once again! And even when it's not cool, we're still going to do that because, dangit, we're Lutherans and we don't change.

OK, so seriously, there is a lot to liturgy that most people don't even realize because they've never gotten to understand and appreciate it. I just hope that churches don't start doing it because it's cool, but instead start doing the Liturgy thing because it's GOD'S WORD. That that's cooler than being cool. That's Ice Cold.

Layer 6: Gospel
The leadership of Seeker Community Church is stunned when the senior pastor confesses, “I’m not sure I’ve really understood the gospel.” He begins to wonder why Jesus never said God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? And why Paul never asked anyone to invite Jesus into your heart? He starts to realize that the Good News is much more than he’d ever imagined.

I've been wondering when those evangelicals were going to stop repeating the stuff they were making up, like all that wonderful plan stuff and the crap about inviting Jesus into your heart. That's not in my Bible. So why do we insist on putting it into our hearts? And yet Jesus is so much more than we could have ever imagined. Even as I teach the New Testament and have been reading over the gospels, I'm finding there is so much more to Jesus than I ever remember Him being about. Ice cold.

Layer 7: World
Maybe the mission of the church isn’t simply to become a bigger church? Maybe, like Jesus, the church is to engage the larger world to reveal that the kingdom of God has drawn near? To their amazement, Seeker Community Church discovers significant swaths of the Bible (such as the Pentateuch, prophets, gospels, and epistles) talk about justice, poverty, and compassion. The church begins to speak about social issues and participates in efforts to combat poverty, AIDS, and global injustice.

Oh yeah. Any Lutheran worth his catechism knows that it's not about just making a bigger church, but making disciples by, say it with me, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey EVERYTHING I have commanded you! Jesus talked a lot, and it ALL good stuff. There's also some good stuff in the Old Testament too. I guess you can just extend it over all of God's word.

Well, there you go. The emergent people are finally starting to realize what we Lutherans have known all along. It's all about the Bible. Of course, the article does not do justice to what Jesus did for me, but that's a different criticism for another day. In the meantime, I'm proud to be a Lutheran, and I'm proud that Christ decided to make me his own. I mean, how cool is that?

Ice cold.

My Best Life Now

2005-10-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to update on my life...things are pretty busy, I'm the assistant coach for the #1 ranked D4 team in Southern Section of CIF (for those of you outside Cali, each section is basically like a state, so CIF finals is about equivalent to a "normal"/MO/WI state meet.) We probably don't deserve that ranking, but oh well. Teaching is going well, I'm trying to figure out ways to make teaching the New Testament interesting.

Tomorrow Anna and I are going up to Pomona for church with Korey and Kate Maas, and it'll be our first time going somewhere other than Abiding Savior since we've been here. We've come to really love Abiding Savior in the couple months we've been here, and it'll be interesting to check out another church now too, and visiting the Shaltanises.

Aside from that, we've got my first round of parent-teacher conferences next week Thursday and Friday, and then the week after is new pastor orientation with the PSW district and Empire League finals for cross country.

On top of that, I'm finally getting stuff unpacked and put away...

...So there you go, my best life now (with no help from Joel Osteen), although I do wonder whenever I go to Target if Rick Warren sees his book "The Purpose Driven Life" there and what he thinks about it. Speaking of Rick Warren, I had a dream I went to his house last night. It was huge, at least in my dreams.

Well, I'll have to check on that house again now. I've got an early morning tomorrow, so I'm turning in. May God bless all of you who are interested enough in my life to check back here!

Sharing Jesus

2005-09-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

It's been kind of wierd lately, trying to share what I believe with a bunch of high school students, some of whom believe what I believe and some of whom adamantly believe something slightly but totally different. We got into Matthew 25 and the communion stuff there this week with my classes, and I can't really tell if it was a total fiasco or not yet. I'm trying to figure out the correct balance of what to teach and what to leave to the kids to find out for themselves. It's definitely a balance.

So with that as the backdrop, tonight I got to share Jesus in a very tangible way with someone. Anna and I went to the NYTE Life service (the Sunday evening service) at Abiding Savior, and we were doing communion by intinction (dipping the wafer in the wine). Anyway, some girl didn't have her wafer, and I was asked to break my "body" and share it with her. I did.

Right now I'm trying to figure out why that seemed to mean something to me. I got to share Christ's body with someone...yes...is it as simple as that?

Some of it is just the simple humility of being a person God is working through in a setting that seems very strange to me. I still feel very strange working at a Lutheran high school, especially since my high school experience was very much devoid of the Christian religion. Granted, it wasn't something that I ignored or that I didn't have faith or ever talk about it...it's just that my faith wasn't challenged to grow or fed very much during my teenage years, and so I'm kinda new to this whole thing now. I feel kind of like I'm caught up between youth group and high school, but I really believe that what I am doing is important, and so I keep slogging along.

I don't know who exactly is reading this, but I will ask you to pray for me and this calling that I have...that I can give a clear and understandable and honest representation of faith in Christ and let my students be able to leave here knowing Him. I'm already seeing some fruit, but it's still hard to get up and be motivated to go and do it again every day. Right now I'm trusting God to get me through each day, relying on His strength to get me through my weakness.

California in September

2005-09-18T23:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm here in Cali and my life feels like it is on that part of the Shockwave rollercoaster (Six Flags- Great America in Gurnee, Illinois) where you're going downhill really fast and it's about to turn and whip you around.

So I'm being whipped around. My wife can be happy, I'm finally seeing all the work that goes into teaching...and I'm only teaching one class (albeit 6 times). Nobody warned me that assigning work means you have to grade work, and when you have between 24 and 28 people in each class, that's a lot of work to correct.

It's also difficult to be working on the block schedule, in some ways. I can't just say "do this worksheet" and then do a worksheet every day. On that side of things, I'm feeling like God is really humbling me because I *thought* (coming out of vicarage) that teaching was one of my strengths. Well, I'm finding that I have a lot of work to do. Granted, I'm in an awesome place to learn how to be a better teacher with great support (granted, they've got a lot invested in me too...paying a pastor instead of a simple teacher.)

On the upside, I love coaching here, the kids are great, coaching with Jack is wonderful, and I'm finding that we compliment each other well. Abiding Savior is an awesome church, and even in the month that we've been here, Anna and I have been really included and accepted into the church. I really appreciate the Minister of Outreach here and our small group that meets on Tuesdays at his house, and it's great to get away from Lutheran High every once in a while and talk to someone different.

That said, there's a lot of work to be done. I'm being given an opportunity to team-teach my 5th period class with another teacher who's been here for 7 years now, which I'm looking forward to. Just to have someone to be there to help me grow as a teacher is a wonderful blessing, and I think he's excited both to be able to help me learn more of the ins and outs of teaching and I think he's excited to have some help teaching the class too, since he's mostly taught other classes in his time here.

One more note...Freshmen guys won the freshman race at Woodbridge. Sophomore boys would have gotten 2nd to San Diego High by about 12 points in their race had Cameron, Sam, and Matt run in that race instead of the sweepstakes race. We ended up getting 21st out of 22 in the sweepstakes race, and Big Bear beat us. Good. We needed some motivation. Actually, we need to move up a class, but whatever. It was a great day, we had like all but 3 runners PR.

Tomorrow the work continues.

Isaiah 1:18 and Scarring

2005-07-27T13:37:00.000-05:00

Here's the latest conundrum. I was reading Christianity Today's article 3 Fibs and a Truth About Sex today, and I came across Isaiah 1:18 quoted: "though our sins are scarlet, they can be made white as snow."

The context here is in disproving that "premarital sex leaves permanent scars." The article seems to be saying that these scars don't necessarily appear. Is it our sins that are sanctified, or are we sanctified as people and as children of God?

Anyway, I'm a big fan of scars...I've got lots of physical ones as well as more than enough emotional and spiritual scars. I just wish people got over this aversion to scars thing. Jesus had scars...they were what proved it was really Him to Thomas.

I'm a pastor now

2005-07-21T15:39:00.000-05:00

I shudder at that thought. But anyway, I thought you should all know just how this happened, or at least, how it started. In fact, I had forgotten how it happened until I ran into one of the main characters of the story, the former church secretary, on Sunday at my ordination.

So sometime around late middle school, I was suffering from one of my many identity crises (they were like weekly back then), and so I decided to go to camp. It was kind of like Bible camp, except it was a Lutheran camp, so the kids were really there to meet members of the opposite sex. I was no exception.

I started out as the punk kid who wore green cargo pants, a black t-shirt, a backwards Raiders hat, and a silver ring on his pinky. My pitiful attempt at goth/punk. I also went by "J" instead of my actual name, "Jedidiah." And I found people who liked me and talked to me and accepted me in spite of all of this silliness.

But maybe the most influential thing that happened to me was during a q&a session with the camp pastor. Of course the obligatory questions were asked ("How are babies made?") but more interesting to me were questions like "If you could prove the existence of God, wouldn't that negate faith?" Yes, something was brewing underneath my thick skull.

Well, after the session, I was walking up to the next camp activity and the pastor started talking to me. We talked about my question a bit, but then the pastor said something that completely threw me off. He told me I should become a pastor.

I was kind of taken aback by this. I mean, this guy doesn't even know me! However, it stirred something in me so that I prayed OK God, if you really want me to be a pastor, I need another sign from someone else.

Well, not 2 months later, the church secretary (one of the two people in the church that knew everybody's name) came up to me and said "Hey Jed, I think you should become a pastor."

So that was it. I continued to run away from it for several more years, but as you can now tell, I was unsuccessful at my flight (see "Jonah"). But that's a different story for a different day.

In the meantime, I'm signing off, for the first time as...
Rev. Jedidiah T. Maschke

Dear Church of Tomorrow

2005-06-13T10:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Church of Tomorrow,

It’s us, Generation X. While you weren’t looking, we grew up. We lived through our childhoods, being ignored while our parents worked their lives away, and we decided we wanted something different. We want to see and know God.

Now don’t think that that’s such a hideous thing. It’s really not that hard. You see, you’ve got a few things we like that you can share with us.

First, let us experience God. It doesn’t have to be in that wild, speaking in tongues, crazy falling on the floor type of experience. Just something as simple as having some quiet time in prayer, reading scripture, chanting psalms, singing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. Then there’s the sacraments of Baptism and our Lord’s Supper. Those work out just fine for us. Experiencing God through His Word and Sacraments. You know something about that.

Second of all, show us how to do something with our faith. Give us opportunities to be in the world but not of the world. We don’t want to withdraw from culture or shield ourselves from it, but we don’t want to sell out to it either. We need to share Christ with our culture, to have that kingdom of the right intersect with the kingdom of the left. We’re learning that in the sanctified life, the Gospel is the motivation behind the Law. Tell us more about that. Make the Gospel real. Share the joys of the law.

Finally, show us how to work through politics. It’s so easy to get disillusioned with the negativity and games of politics today that it’s a very real temptation to drop out. Many of us grew up feeling like our one vote won’t change the world, and besides, we’re just supposed to do whatever the government tells us to do regardless of utopian dreams and tyrannical schemes. But now we’re learning that’s not it. We can be activists, engaged in the culture. How do we do that without confusing the two kingdoms?

How does this world look different through Lutheran eyes? How do we see Christ in the world around us? These are the questions of the next generations of Christians. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod of tomorrow is asking for your leadership. Will you step up and be strong and courageous witnesses?

The Lord be with you.

Gen X

(This was originally published in Around the Tower, Concordia Seminary - St. Louis's student newspaper.)

Truth? Come Get Some

2005-05-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

One of the complaints I hear from time to time is that “those young people aren’t interested in church,” sometimes followed by “like we were.” I’d like to shed some insight into that, at least from my perspective.

There are many mainline protestant denominations nowadays which tend to shy away from believing in the Bible as being literally true. “It’s a nice book of poetry,” some say, or “I think that we can learn a lot about treating each other with respect from Jesus.” Frankly, it doesn’t surprise me that among those Gen Xers I know, our BS detectors are wildly going off. “Bible, poetry?” I find myself asking. These weren’t some great Greek orators, these people were a doctor, a tax collector, a fisherman amongst others. And they wrote like it! Thank God we’ve finally rid most of the KJV from daily life.

One reason we don’t like the uncertainty espoused by these progressive, humanist clergy is that it doesn’t really give us anything to fall back on. We do believe in truth, and we believe that each person has to find it for him or herself. We get led to the truth by the Holy Spirit. If you’ve got nothing of the sort and freely admit that, well, that’s not much to offer. Switchfoot speaks for us all when they sing “We were meant to live for so much more.”

That something which will resonate is when we share the gospel in its truth and purity, living out our faith in actions, in love for others, and sharing the reason we have that love…”We love because He first loved us.” Whoa! We stand for something. That’s cool! We all know that if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. I’m tired of sitting on the ground. Arise! Jesus said "I am the truth...and the truth will set you free."

Telling Me Where to Go

2005-04-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

For over a month now, I’ve been looking forward to the day when I will walk to the front of the Concordia Seminary chapel and, in front of my friends and family and fellow seminarians, and I will hear the announcement of what was as close to my dream job as I had ever been offered:

“Jedidiah Maschke
Pacific Southwest District
Lutheran High School of Orange County
Orange, California”

Well, the day had come. As I was standing around with all the other candidates and realizing that I was much more nervous than I thought I would be. What if they had given me some sort of call to somewhere I would never have thought of going? I guess that would be OK, wherever I go that’s where God wants me to be. So why are my hands shaking and my chest heavy?

I managed to survive the opening hymn and the Bible verses and even the sermon wasn’t too long, and before long I was standing there ready to hear those words I had so longed to hear. In the back of the chapel, Anna raised the camera to catch my reaction. I heard my name announced:

“Jedidiah Maschke
Michigan—“

The camera dropped, as did my jaw, and in that very instant the thought ran through my head: “Well, if it’s Michigan, I guess it’s got to be something special, a nice little church there…wait. Me? In a nice little church?” But before I could think any thing else, the voice continued:

“--Southwest District
Lutheran High School of Orange County
Orange, California”

I was so in shock that I didn’t know what to do, besides go and shake the hands, get my call packet, and stumble back to my seat with a very confused look on my face. I hadn’t misheard. People as far away as Texas heard “Michigan.” (Ok, they were listening on the live webcast.) I realized that I had received the call I had wanted and prayed for. I also realized that I was the first person ever to get a call to the “new” Michigan Southwest District, and I had to be pretty special for them to create a district just for me. I got my pictures taken with the Pacific Southwest District people, but just to make it official, I am declaring myself the president of the Michigan Southwest District. Just so you know.

Anna has her second interview, with Abiding Savior in Lake Forest, coming up later tonight. She’s already interviewed at Hephatha Lutheran School in Anaheim (Hills), and she’s been contacted by Immanuel in Orange also. We’re praying that the right decision be made regarding her job now, and also for a smooth transition for me. Any prayers you would offer would also be much appreciated.

Right now, it looks like I’ll be taking off after my summer CPE unit, so I’ll be working the chaplain job until mid-August. Trips to Wisconsin will be frequent but brief…I’ll be up for Nate’s graduation and the State track meet, sometime in July probably for my ordination, and then the first weekend in August for Ben’s and Jen’s wedding. Then it’s out west! Things will be pretty busy for a while now, but I thought you all should know what’s happening.

Twas the night before Call Day

2005-04-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

Twas the night before call day
and all through the apartment
there was all sorts of stirring
wondering where we’d all be sent

Tomorrow is the big day…for me at least. Anna just got another message today about another school that wants to interview her…well, now she’s had as many places calling to interview her as I had interview me. So if we go to Cali, she’s got some choices to make.

So right now I’m standing at the edge of a precipice, trying to make out what’s in front of us. I have no choice but to trust that the Holy Spirit can work even through fallible call committees and seminaries. For info on where we go, check out www.csl.edu after 9pm CST. I’ll be out celebrating (or lamenting…just kidding…I hope).

Another Chance

2005-04-05T18:55:00.000-05:00

Completely randomly today, I walked into a hospital room where I met a couple of very interesting women. The patient was in the hospital for emphysema and asthma or something related to her breathing and her smoking, and this woman had basically hit rock bottom.

Her: "I don’t really practice any religion."
Me: "I don’t practice religion either. I’m kind of just winging it."

So in the course of conversation, we dug deeper into her beliefs. The other woman in the room was this woman’s mother, who was raised Roman Catholic but decided not to raise her kids with any religion. She immediately pointed out that she thought this was a mistake.
We got onto the subject of prayer...the mother seemed pretty insistent on it. I tried to offer suggestions, talking about who I pray to, Jesus. When she asked why not God, I pointed out that even though I can’t explain it Jesus is God. I mentioned that Jesus knew a bit about suffering, having experienced death on a cross, but he showed us that death wasn’t the end, and that just like Jesus rose from the dead we will also rise to go to heaven. She said that she felt a little more comfortable praying to Jesus than some old guy, a la George Burns.
As I look back at it, I was trying to do this a little different than the other time. Instead of trying to force in the whole story of the gospel, I tried to wait for appropriate moments to respond to this woman’s questions, trying to be responsive to where she was. I may never know what happens to this woman, but I do know that this was another chance for me to sow the seeds of the Gospel...and there will be more.

Candy from Strangers

2005-04-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, there have been some times recently where I've felt about ready to shake the dust off my Skechers and leave town. Granted, I know that I can't yet, I still have another 4 1/2 months left on my contract, and there is some reason God has not smote me yet. Sometimes, God, I just wonder why I can't be somewhere where I can see some RESULTS.
For instance, last week I was talking with some people I know up on the floor, one of them is a social worker who is a fantastic person, very welcoming. I felt the desire to share the basics of my faith with the people there, creation of the world, fall into sin, Jesus coming to save us, etc. So I tried the basic dialogue evangelism stuff. And my friend, who is a non-believer, said I came across as defensive.
It's hard for me to NOT to believe that there's something different I could do to get people to believe. And yet, that's what I'm called to believe as a Christian. If someone comes to faith, it's solely the work of the Holy Spirit. If people don't come to faith, then do I just blame them? Or is there something in me that is getting in the way. Am I being too defensive? Or worse, am I being offensive?
In talking to some friends, I realized that in many situations we are going to need something more than telling people what's "the truth."
So the question arises...how can we lead people to "the truth"? I don't think we can just plop it in front of them and expect them to just swallow it, without knowing where it comes from? I mean, we all learned as children not to take candy from strangers.
I was reading the first chapter of "Why I Am a Lutheran" the other day, and this paragraph stood out to me:
"Truth without grace won't help us. Moses brought truth. Moses brought the Law, and every word of it was true. But it only showed people their sins, their weaknesses, their failings, their lack of love for the God who gave that Law."
It's cliche to speak of "the bitter truth." But that's really the heart of it...the truth hurts. So the challenge is to communicate the sweetness of grace, the sweetness of the love of our Savior, who searched us out to give us sweet life and meaning and purpose, so that we in turn can be not just strangers with candy but friends who share that sweet sweet grace in times of need.

Raised from the Dead

2005-03-10T16:03:00.000-06:00

I just got to see someone get raised from the dead.

It started out with me sitting in the library, reading an article…and the familiar yet dreaded beep introduced the call over the hospital intercom. “STAT-PACU. STAT-PACU. STAT-PACU. STAT-PACU.”

As I reluctantly got up I wondered where exactly the PACU was. I asked our secretary since her office is on the way. Post-Anesthesia Care Unit. Whoever it was was coming out of surgery.

I found my way down to PACU, and lying in the middle of what seemed like 20 or so folks wearing doctor’s white coats or surgeon’s scrubs was that woman. They were repeating the names of drugs, or asking about equipment, and then suddenly the commotion died down. One voice spoke. “Clear.”

There was a deep snap, a jolt of energy through the woman’s body, jerking her limbs…and then the regular beeps that signified a heart pumping blood again.

The commotion started again, more orders for medicines, more commotion, does she have any family here? Where would they be? I felt lost in the midst of this. I’m just the chaplain! I don’t want to get in anyone’s way. I’m just here for whatever they need me for.

There started to well up within me a surge of emotion. I started to realize what had happened. I just got to see someone get raised from the dead! I wondered how the family would react. One of the nurses told me they might need me to go out and tell them. I was curious to see the family…how would this affect them? Would they be happy to hear that their mother was alive? Amazed? Angry?

At that moment, I saw the surgeon going to talk to the family. I got up to go with them.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the chaplain.”

“You’d better not come along. It would scare the heck out of me if I saw someone in a suit coming to talk to me.”

…

When Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. –Luke 8:51-58

The Growing Rift between Hope and Expectation

2005-03-06T07:36:00.000-06:00

I guess I never realized how fortunate and blessed I was. But once it did hit me, it really hit me. I was sitting around talking about a presentation given by one of the other chaplains, and in it she had made the general comment that “you can’t depend on your family when you need them.” That comment really stood out to me…I told her that I thought that someone should be able to depend on their family for emotional support. Then my supervisor told me that thinking one could get emotional support from one’s family could only lead to disappointment.

To say the least, I was shocked…I have been very blessed with my family, that I have always felt comfortable going back to them when I needed someone to talk to, when I needed to vent, when I needed to work out a problem. But it really got me on the path of understanding just how it is for many other people.

So many people have divorced parents, and even in married families situations are often rife with strife. For many years the entertainment industry has made a killing on selling to these emotions in teenagers, from the witty contributions of The Fresh Prince’s “Parents Just Don’t Understand” to the latest teen angst pop punk contribution, Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”:

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I hope I’m not the only one who is filled with sadness that so many people today don’t think they can trust others anymore. It breaks my heart when I talk to people whose home is that lonely road and who find themselves walking alone. I don’t think that I’m alone in that sadness. It makes me think about just how far we’ve fallen in our expectations of others, especially our own families.

Here is where the rift between expectation and hope is most apparent. I don’t think that anyone goes into a marriage or carries on a friendly relationship explicitly HOPING to be let down, to be rejected, to be hurt, to be abused. And yet when people are tolerant of relationships where they don't EXPECT emotional and spiritual support, it closes the door on genuine friendship. You can’t allow yourself to be completely open and to experience authentic relationships where you can truly be yourself.

I believe that one of the greatest problems with much of mainstream Christianity and Lutheranism in America is how we’ve lowered our expectations, how we see ourselves, what we expect Christians to look like. How do we look at ourselves as sinners? How do we look at ourselves as Christians? While some churches have gone off the deep end telling people what they need to do have a great life, others are lying face-down in the shallow end of the pool with expectationless gospel.

And once again, we find ourselves standing on ground where being Lutheran provides something solid. We already have in our tradition that balance between Law and Gospel, where we know and acknowledge that we are sinners, but also that we are redeemed and freed to bear good fruit. We are called to lead a life that reflects the love Christ had for us, loving us when we are down, calling us to accountability when we are slipping, but most of all, expecting us to be his body, to bring His kingdom to this world.

Why else would Jesus have told us, “You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth”? Why else would Paul quote, “‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” God has these expectations of us, that we would be witnesses sharing his care for others, helping others experience what it’s like being part of God’s family.

Are these high expectations? Probably.

Is this an unreasonable hope? I expect not.

Part 1: New Translations

2005-02-16T21:00:00.000-06:00

It had to be a surreal experience, to say the least. All of the disciples were together in that house, without their master who had led them for three years. Who knows what they would have been doing…sharing their experiences, talking about what they want to do next, wondering what the future holds? Then suddenly they hear a sound like the wind blowing violently, and it looks like there are tongues of flame coming to each of them, resting on them. Before they knew it, they were speaking in different languages. Now they could share the experiences they had with Jesus with those around them, with the people who were in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiday.

We as Christians have received that same spirit. As Lutherans, we know that we received that same Holy Spirit in our baptism. It’s interesting that the first gift of the Spirit that the disciples received was the gift of translation, to be able to bring Christ to people in a way that they understood. And so now, even though we may not know foreign languages, we each speak a language that reflects our own experiences, our culture, our traditions. And it is crucial that in order to reach those like us, those around us, we must translate God’s words for our culture around us.

I need to make it clear that I am not calling for a new translation of the Bible. God knows that the last thing we need is another marketing blitz for the latest, greatest edition. I am calling for a new translation of our faith. It’s our calling as baptized, Holy Spirit-filled Christians, to bring this faith that we have made our own to the world. We assimilate this ancient faith into our own personal stories, let it pervade us and shape us and mold us into followers of Christ, and then bring that message to the world. We then take the languages of our culture, whether it be through reinterpretation of advertising clichés, visual arts, authentic personal stories or multimedia experiences and captivate them, making them obedient to Christ.

30 cents

2005-02-14T20:04:00.000-06:00

It was a small gesture, in the scope of all things. When national debts reach trillions of dollars, we can watch billionaires on prime time television series, and millionaires seem to be coming (pardon the expression) a dime a dozen, thirty cents isn’t all that much. It was really the situation that made all the difference.

I’ve known Elberta for a little more than five months now, and I am always happy to see her in worship. She’s one of the more lucid residents of the special care unit where I work, a place filled with people who have forgotten who they are because of strokes and alzheimers. They may have forgotten who they are…but, at least for now, some still remember whose they are. Elberta is one of those people who still comes to chapel, and who can read enough of the worship folder to follow along with evening prayer, saying the proper responses.

Elberta and some of the other residents often play bingo in the afternoon for dimes. Their winnings hardly ever surpass a couple of dollars. Elberta had won thirty cents that day. She was happy about her winnings, and she settled down into the ebb and flow of the evening prayer liturgy along with the others.

Afterwards, I thanked her for coming, like I always do. Elberta always returns the thanks, a smiling, “Thank you for coming!” This time, she added, “I want you to have this.” She held out her hand, and between her thumb and forefinger were three dimes, her earnings from the bingo game. “Thank you!” I said, not quite knowing what to do with thirty cents.

It didn’t strike me until later that I realized what this exactly meant. This was all she had. This woman had given me thirty cents. On the surface, I’d be lucky to buy much of anything with it. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like much from her...she has everything taken care of. She gets her food from the cafeteria, she has a bed to sleep in, she has nurses to take care of her. But her gift shows that she appreciates the God who it ultimately comes from, she appreciates the opportunity to worship Him, and so she gives everything she can for Him.

I Survived Ash Wednesday

2005-02-09T21:19:00.000-06:00

I wasn’t looking forward to today. Something about touching the foreheads of lots of old people with ashes just isn’t my idea of a good time. Such is the life of a hospital/nursing home chaplain. But that aside, I’d just like to draw your attention for a second to the multisensory experience of the imposition of ashes. We feel the ashes being smeared on our foreheads, we see it on the foreheads of others, we hear the words of Genesis 3:19 “Dust you are and to dust you shall return.”

For me, though, the big deal isn’t the ashes. It’s the washing of the ashes off. Personally I cannot stand walking around with the ash on my forehead. I feel like I’m trying to draw attention to myself. I feel like the Pharisee who was going around thanking God that he is better than others. So I washed my ashes off after about 10 minutes. Why? Because I am forgiven. I knew, in my heart, that today was not the day that I needed to remind myself of guilt or finitude. God knows there are enough things in my life that remind me how short I fall of living up to His holiness.

I guess it was also hard today for me on at least one other count. This woman I’ve been visiting weekly, she’s 83 and a life-long Lutheran, and has cancer. When I stopped by to say hello, she was lying on her side with one leg half-hanging out of her bed. This is unusual. She’s usually either sitting in bed or sitting up straight and properly. She told me she was very tired, and even though she said she was okay to talk her eyes kept shutting. For the few minutes that I stayed and talked to her about her being tired and feeling sick, I got a very strong reminder that she may be very near to death. It challenged my own feelings of mortality. “Dust you are, and to dust you will return.”

So today I focused on my baptism. July 16, 1978 was when I got saved. And from that point on, it’s like the words of that John Mayer song…”I’m bigger than my body gives me credit for…” I have the spirit of God living in me. I have that life.

I also finished up the day at work by talking to a girl at the reception desk. I ended up finding out that she has only been living in St. Louis for the last 8 months or so, and she’s still not connected with many other people her age. So I decided to invite her to my small group. Time will tell where that goes, but I was excited to have that opportunity. “Dust you are, and to dust you will return.” But there’s a lot we can do before we go back.

So, um, why are we here?

2005-02-07T21:25:00.000-06:00

I still don't know why exactly I'm creating this. It's really a mixture of different ideas. First of all, I have gotten on the emerging bandwagon. I guess it started out like this.

I've been a church-going, Bible-believing Lutheran all my life. I also grew up being hideously bored in church. It really seems to me a miracle that I'm still a Christian at all, sometimes. When I look back at my spiritual development, I see a lack of being challenged to be the Christian that God wants me to be. However, I did grow up having people who loved me. Honestly, I think that love kept me around the church, but it didn't do much to help me grow much in my faith.

Skipping ahead a few chapters, worship was never something that really interested me. It was always something I did, but it was something I just did. I didn't know why I always went, aside from that's just what Christians do, and I'm sure it's in the Bible or something.

So as I grew older, those reasons didn't really make as much sense to me. I wanted more from life, and more from worship. I wanted more than mindless repetitive liturgy, more than spoken words, more than the contemporary worship offered for seekers. I wanted something that engages the whole me, some way I could love and worship the Lord with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind. I never experienced that until I went to my first "emerging" worship service.

I guess that it's really that joy, that experience that I had that I know others are yearning for. Even other Lutherans. I really get the feeling that my generation, the Gen X of the LCMS (and even Gen Y) wants to get beyond the ghosts of seminex, beyond "church politics," beyond the empty fighting and beyond the empty rituals that have marked the past. We want to move into the future, to recognize both where we come from and where we are going, and that we are part of a church that extends beyond Luther and Walther, back to Christ, and around the world to wherever the gospel is taught and the sacraments are administered in their truth and purity. We want to focus on who we ARE, and move beyond who we are NOT. We are children of God, we are the future, we are not only the Christians of tomorrow but the church of today.

We take Pauls words seriously in 1 Timothy 4:12: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Welcome to our journey of faith.

In the beginning

2005-02-04T08:25:00.000-06:00

There's a certain joy one takes in creating...I don't exactly know how to explain it, but there's something of God in us in that feeling we get when we look on something we've created, and say "It is good." I have high hopes for this blog. We'll see where the Spirit moves us, as we pray for His guidance.