Xαρις και Eιρηνη is a blog written from the perspective of a Lutheran student studying for the pastoral ministry. It's title means Grace and Peace, a common greeting in St. Paul's letters and I think, a two-word summary of what Jesus Christ has won for me.
Ephesians 2:4-5
Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Romans 5:1-3
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Colossians 4:5-6
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art.XV, 21
The Fathers had these reasons for maintaining the rites, and for these reasons we also judge it to be right that traditions [good customs] be maintained. And we [Lutherans] are greatly surprised that our adversaries, contrary to the entire Scriptures of the Apostles, contrary to the Old and New Testaments contend for another design of traditions, namely, that they may merit the remission of sins, grace, or justification.
12.13.2007
Van Gogh v. Reality
Vincent Van Gogh lived his life in a perpetual battle against reality. The man was simply a genius, and he apparently knew it, but nobody else did. At least, not until years later. He never sold a painting in his life, despite his best efforts. Eventually he was overtaken by the crazies. Anyway, I feel inspired by an art test tomorrow that all the teacher-trackers are talking about. I offer you these pictures of the insane asylum at Saint Rémy contrasted with Van Gogh's depictions.
Funny story: While I was getting these photos out of a distant folder in my hard drive, a friend walked by and asked, "Wow, did you make that? That's pretty awesome." Oddly enough, it's not the first time someone has asked me if I made a Van Gogh. I used to have some print-offs hanging in my dorm room and I'd get that fairly often. I try to think of it as a compliment...
Our semester test for Arab-Israeli Conflict history course this semester is to come up with our own peace plan for the area. Realizing that the objective is absolutely impossible, Prof. Sellnow nonetheless assigned it to us so that we weigh the issues, consider the consequences, etc., and generally show that we have a sense of everything this conflict involves.
I love a good joke. I so do not have time for this. But I know it will be taken well, and it'll get a good grade, so I'm gonna do it anyway:
Last year I was accidentally served Communion at St. John's Ev. Lutheran Chuch "in the Catholic manner." That is, I took the bread and was skipped over by the wine. You would be surprised how an innocent thing like that can weigh on a person's conscience for a while. It sounds silly, but I really fretted over it; asking numerous people whether or not I had communed, whether I had somehow sinned against the sacrament. Today I found a quote by Dr. Luther expressing his opinion on the matter:
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"Thus I again confess here before God and all the world that I believe and do not doubt, and shall also with the help and grace of my dear Lord Jesus Christ adhere to this confession until the last day, that where mass is celebrated according to Christ’s ordinance, be it among us Lutherans or under the papacy or in Greece or in India, even if it is also only under one kind – which is nonetheless wrong and an abuse – as is the case under the papacy at Easter and otherwise during the year when they provide the sacrament for the people, nevertheless, under the form of bread, the true body of Christ, given for us on the cross, and under the form of wine, the true blood of Christ, shed for us, are present; furthermore, it is not a spiritual or imagined body and blood but the genuine natural body and blood derived from the holy, virginal, true, human body of Mary, conceived without a human body by the Holy Spirit alone. This body and blood of Christ are even now sitting at the right hand of God in majesty, in the divine person called Jesus Christ, who is a genuine, true, eternal God with the Father of whom he was born from eternity, etc. This body and this blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, not only the holy and worthy but also sinners and the unworthy truly administer and receive bodily, although invisibly, with their hands, their mouths, the chalice, paten, corporal, and whatever they use for this purpose when it is administered and received in the mass. This is my faith; this I know, and no one shall wrest it from me. ...God’s word and work cannot be hindered or altered at all by our abuse or sin, if only his ordinance is kept. But where his ordinance is altered, that is of course a different matter. ...the papists, if they adhere to the ordinance of Christ, undoubtedly have in the sacrament the true and real body and blood of Christ. If it is under one kind, then it is the body of Christ. If it is under both kinds, then it is both body and blood according to the utterance and ordinance of the words of Christ. Now if they (without impairing the ordinance of Christ) sell, present, abuse, or administer or receive it unworthily, this neither adds nor takes away anything from the sacrament. God remains God even in hell. Christ remains godly even among those who crucified him. A gulden remains a gulden even in the hand of a thief and robber, if only it is itself a true gulden struck according to the king’s or prince’s mint regulations."
(A Letter of Dr. Martin Luther concerning his Book on the Private Mass, Luther’s Works, Vol. 38 [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971], pp. 224-25)
This week's Music Monday video comes from the band Cake. The song is called "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" and is about someone's dream girl. Cake is a long-time resident of the alternative rock scene, and with six or seven albums, they're a respectably talented band. But, like all well-to-do bands, I wouldn't put much stock in their philosophy.
The reasons that I like this video are all the personalities involved. To anyone who has ever sat down in a public place to do some people-watching, Cake has put together a treasure-trove. Here are my favorite parts:
(1) Robert Clark: "Yeah, but that it? Well you guys – Oh, there you go."
(2) Steve Boeckels, professional and fun-loving.
(3) The fact that Kurt Skelton is a head chef.
(4) Ralph Walbridge proves that all poets are insane.
(5) Brooke Wilson’s dialect is amazing, or is that just me?
(6) How B.N. Duncan personifies the crazy old man I would like to be when I’m old and crazy.
(7)Robert Carpenter is unemployed, and nobody wonders why.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" - Romans 5:7-10
A little while ago I wrote about the new confession used in the Christian Worship hymnal supplement, and how its responsively-spoken form reflects the Lutheran understanding of the doctrine of the Keys and Confession. That doctrine ties in closely with our understanding of the Universal Priesthood of believers - the idea that each and every Christian has the ability to effectively preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments. (In some denominations, notably Roman Catholic and Episcopalian, a person must be an ordained priest for the sacraments to be considered effective or beneficial.) Here are some quotes from Charles Porterfield Krauth's book, The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology (an old Lutheran standard).
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"Many embarrassing circumstances prevented the Lutheran Church from developing her life as perfectly in her church constitution as in her doctrines and worship. The idea of the universal priesthood of all believers at once overthrew the doctrine of a distinction of essence between clergy and laity. The ministry is not an order, but it is a divinely appointed office, to which men must be rightly called. No imparity exists by divine right; an hierarchical organization is unchristian, but a gradation (bishops, superintendents, provosts) may be observed, as a thing of human right only. The government by consistories has been very general. In Denmark, Evangelical bishops took the place of the Roman Catholic prelates who were deposed. In Sweden the bishops embraced the Reformation, and thus secured in that country an "apostolic succession" in the high-church sense; though, on the principles of the Lutheran Church, alike where she has as where she has not such a succession, it is not regarded as essential even to the order of the Church. The ultimate source of power is in the congregations, that is, in the pastor and other officers and the people of the single communions. The right to choose a pastor belongs to the people, who may exercise it by direct vote, or delegate it to their representatives." (p. 152)
"In the true Christian minister, the priesthood, which he holds in common with all believers, intensifies itself by his representative character. He is a priest, whose lips keep knowledge, at whose mouth they should seek the law, for he is the “messenger of the Lord of hosts" (p. 177)
The Lutheran Difference is an article by Mark A. Noll, a professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. Wheaton is an Evangelical college in the American sense, not the Lutheran sense. While I don't necessarily agree with some of his comments, I found the article a very interesting and easy read once upon a time. Just glancing over the article quickly to refresh my memory, I think Prof. Noll depicts American Lutheranism too much as an immigrant group longing for the old country. I believe that he concedes later in the article that the perception stems from our familiarity with our heritage - something many denominations lack - which he also considers one of our strong points. I thought I would post it today since I've been busy. Here is an assessment of the legacy of Lutheranism in the USA, as though it all were under one umbrella, necessarily written from a different perspective. Enjoy!
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"Lutherans are in a position to teach a much sounder view of the past. The very structure of Lutheran observance draws attention to the enduring realities of divine providence. American evangelicals, who waste away with panting for the supernatural quick fix, and American liberals, who want to fix things by themselves and right away, both need to learn from Lutherans that God’s concern extends over decades and centuries as well as over days, weeks, and months. Lutherans, who know something about the long view of history, should be insulated against the instability of innovation and the overconfidence of ignorance. Many of America’s most energetic Christian leaders have cried with virtually the same words: "I have found something new. You must accept it or be lost." Against this lust for novelty, the Lutheran sense of history stands as a sober witness. Its wisdom lies in the realization of how regular are the follies of humanity, how constant the grace of God. Lutherans should not be so filled with hubris as to deny the reality of historical change. But they are in a position to show that the accumulated testimony of the past is far more likely to plumb the depths of God’s character and the vicissitudes of human nature than the idiosyncratic voice of the present."
Tonight at Advent service, St. John's used the new Compline service setting from the Christian Worship hymnal supplement. We've used it a few times here at school. One of the things that you'll find different from other settings in the hymnal is the option of using a new confession. I'm trying to find out what era this confession dates from - whether or not it is "traditional" in the Lutheran Church. It is traditional inChristendom at least, since I recently recognized it as an adaptation of the Mea Culpa, which is still the standard confession in the Roman Catholic Mass. (Heresy removed, of course.) Without dwelling on this point too much, it's noteworthy that using adaptations of spiritual tools and traditions is, in itself, a long-standing Lutheran tradition. Since liturgy is helpful but not inspired, we can occasionally feel free to tinker with it.
What I like about the new confession is that the pastor and the congregation take turns forgiving each other in Jesus' name. To me, it reflects more accurately our Lutheran theology of the Keys and Confession. Namely, that all Christians have the right or ability to pronounce forgiveness to penitent sinners. Some denominations have condemned formal confession and absolution because they say, "Only God can forgive sins." While that's true, we also recognize that God doesn't refuse forgiveness to anyone who truly acknowledges their need for it, and for that reason he has sent us out to preach it.
Here is an excellent article about public confession. At the bottom, you can read the confession yourself as it appears in the CW supplement. (Apparently, the Luth. Church - Miss. Synod has also adopted this confession in their Compline service.) There are also some good quotes from Dr. Luther regarding public confession and absolution.
This always happens to me when I set out to do research or browse a forum. I run into an interesting question, wonder how someone else answered it, and then find a series of bad answers. So naturally, I must reply - and that pushes my homework so much later. But to all Bible-believing, creed-saying, hymn-singing Confessional Lutherans out there, I give you a charge: Witness online. Jesus gave his disciples this command: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation..." In this modern age, that still applies. It is as much a privilege, challenge and responsibility today as it was back then. The only difference is that today, in her most urgent need, God has brought the world to us.
Anyway, here's an answer I wrote to someone who asked what conflicts were involved in the Reformation. The post is more historical than theological, but you might find it informative nonetheless.
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The Reformation itself is often viewed as one big conflict. However, under its umbrella were a number of other conflicts, which different parties would rate as being more or less important. Prominent Lutheran/Catholic conflicts included: The role that active works (or charity) play in salvation, the role of the papacy (and other clergy) in the church, the nature of sin, the state of the human will, the role of tradition in Christianity, the number of sacraments, the nature of the Lord's Supper (or Eucharist), etc. Prominent Lutheran/Reformed conflicts included: The nature of the Lord's Supper, the relationship of church and state, (to varying degrees) the nature of the person of Christ, (to varying degrees) how to treat traditions in the church, and (to varying degrees) the nature of sin and the role of human will in conversion. Prominent Catholic/Reformed conflicts included all of the conflicts mentioned above.
It is notable that the Reformation still carries some very different interpretations on all sides. Catholics tend to blend the Lutheran and Reformed parties into one category, "Protestants," and often blame Martin Luther for unleashing the plague of Christian denominations that can be seen throughout the world today. This is undoubtedly a simplified, somewhat biased view. Martin Luther himself called the various Reformed parties "scharmerei," literally swarmers, because he felt that they came up like an unexpected swarm of bees, going too far with and taking advantage of his reforms.
Reformed Christians today, at least those I am familiar with, tend to disagree with Luther as far as the letter, but claim commonality with him in spirit. That is, Luther has become a kind of icon to them, despite his vehement condemnation of some Reformed doctrines, and they often fail to make a obvious distinction between Lutheran reformers and their own.
Lutherans on the other hand, have historically understood the Reformation as a three-party conflict, with themselves playing the part of the concerned, investigative Christians motivated by love for the church, the Catholics being the uninformed or weak-willed traditionalists at best (and/or power-hungry tyrants at worst), and the Reformed playing the part of the kids who took it too far.
Last week, Professor Nass gave a sermon about the parable of the talents. He talked about how different people are blessed with different gifts, and to varying degrees, but it's our responsibility to use them as best we can.
Just a thought: If your personal talent is beat-boxing, you may want to practice it in the closet until you're as good as this guy. I can't help thinking that his roommates wondered a little about his state-of-mind until he pulled this out.
