I once was a guest at a social gathering and found myself standing with a group of people who were discussing God. Opinions were all over the map. Some were agnostics – not sure. Others took the atheist route. Still others had vague notions of a god in nature or spirituality.  The discussion was lively and friendly until someone asked me what I thought. ‘God is the One who raised Jesus from the dead’, was my reply.   Suddenly things got quiet for a moment. Then the objections began. I have known other Christians who have had similar encounters.

 Christian faith ceases to be Christian if Jesus drops out of the proclamation, the sharing of that faith. We do not witness to a generic god that can be molded and shape to fit our opinions – a god that is simply derived from our gray matter.

 The Easter faith bears witness to the God who, through the cross and resurrection, has planted Himself in history.  In Jesus we are reconciled to the person of God, not an idea about God. 

 The witness to the resurrectrion will always raise eyebrows and prompt objections. That is to be expected in a creature that is, by nature, hostile to it’s Creator. A the same time it is through this very same witness to the cross and resurrection of Jesus that God has chosen to create faith, to bring us to confess Jesus, to bring us – and hold us – in a living relationship. And when vague notions about God, or belief in no God at all, give way to this confession of Jesus as Lord, the power of the resurrection has done it’s work! Sinners are forgiven and set free and join the joyous chorus of confession, ‘God is the One who raised Jesus from the dead!

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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and    minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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In April of 1521 Martin Luther made his famous stand for the Gospel before the Imperial Diet in Worms, Germany. In the wake of his appearance, Luther was’ kidnapped’ by his prince and protector, Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, and spirited away to the Wartbug Castle deep in the Thuringian forest. Luther spent many months there, recovering from the stress of the conflict with Rome and translating the New testament into German. He also kept up a lively correspondence, most of it written in the room pictured above.

 Among the letters he sent to friends and supporters was one to his teaching colleague at Wittenberg, Philip Melancthon. One comment in this letter has been the subject of much controversy. That comment was, “let your sins be strong”, or as it is often translated, “Sin boldly.” Here is the pertinent portion of Luther’s letter.

    “If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but 
    the true mercy.  If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the 
    true, not an imaginary sin.  God does not save those who are only 
    imaginary sinners.  Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong , but let 
    your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the 
    victor over sin, death, and the world.  We will commit sins while we 
    are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.  We, 
    however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new 
    heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.  It suffices that 
    through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the 
    sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to 
    kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day.  Do you think 
    such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager 
    sacrifice for our sins?  Pray hard for you are quite a sinner!”  
    

 While waiting for a flight connection  a year or so ago, I struck up a conversation with a young Roman Catholic priest. After a few minutes of conversation, upon learning that  I was a Lutheran pastor, he asked me about Luther’s quote, “Sin boldly.” I filled him in on the remainder of Luther’s comments and his reply was. “Oh, I hadn’t heard about that part.”

 On the surface, and taken out of context, Luther’s comment sounds like a blank check for the old sinner in us to go nuts! But this is hardly what Luther intended. 

 Preoccupation with our sinfulness leads us away from the assurance we have in God’s forgiveness. Luther knew this as well as anyone. So, his comment is really a way of saying, live your life in Christ in the confidence of faith! Of course we will sin. It is inevitable because as long as we are in this mortal body sin remains with us. Don’t be so preoccupied with yourself. Rather, be preoccupied with how great Christ is! He has forgiven your sins, past, present and future. That is the gospel of freedom in which Luther rejoiced…and you can too! 

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

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During the late 1950’s our family lived in Hawaii where my father was stationed as an Air Force chaplain. We lived in a beautful setting in the mountains above Pearl Harbor. My friends and I spent hours exploring the sugar cane fields and tropical forest. It was all great fun until one day two of us wandered into an area that was far beyond where we had ever gone. At first it was exciting as we searched for something familiar. But before long our excitement turned to fear and panick. We were lost. We were alone. I can still remember how it felt.

 The sense of being lost is part of life in this broken, sinful world and it comes in many forms. There are people who are truly alone and cutoff from others, living lives of isolation. Many others live in the midst of family, friends and co-workers yet still feel lost and alone, adrift. Excitement and vitality in living has given way to an inner sense of isolation. 

 A few years ago one of the most popular programs on television was  entitiled, ‘Lost.’ It told the stories of a group of people who had survived a crash landing on a tropical island. I think the great popularity of the program had a lot to do with the root concept of lostness. There is a deep sense of lostness in millions of people today.  Many feel adrift in uncharted waters. Maybe you feel that way, too.

 God knows that simply being born into this world does not mean we will feel at home, in the deepest sense. For being lost and adrift is the basic spiritual condition of man and woman.  Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save the lost.”  In a real sense, this is God’s mission statement, this is why Jesus came.  You may feel lost and adrift these days for any number of reasons. But know this. The One who died on the cross for you and was raised for you always has you on His radar.  This does not mean you will never know the struggle or feel the isolation and aloneness that comes with life in a sinful world. But it does mean that through all the circumstances of living you are being held in the grip of God’s grace. You are not alone. 

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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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The Monday after Easter sees us back to business as usual. Our  jobs summon us to prove our value, family obligations do not let up, all the various pressures, possibilities, and uncertainties of life continue.  Life moves on, as it always does, but where is it going?  This is where the Resurrection perspective enters in.

 Churches tend to be full on Easter Sunday. Not like the old days, to be sure, but more people manage to find a church door on Easter than at any other time of the church year, including Christmas. Why? Some criticize those who find the church door only at Easter for their casual treatment of worship. But I think hope has a lot to do with it. In fact, I think it has everything to do with it. And why shouldn’t it? If there is one commodity in short supply in our bald, techno-mad, secular age it is any reason to have authentic hope.  

 Thinking God’s thoughts after Him has become the cornerstone of modern life. In fact, the voices of cold reason proclaim that this is all there is.  Nothing is higher than man’s reason. We are the masters of our own future. Hope is in us.

 The voices of cold reason have also given rise to an agressive atheism which continually attempts to debunk religious faith, and instead wants to tie the human future to, well, who knows? Scientific progress? Evolution? Medical advances?  Interplanetary colonizatrion? Don’t worry about it though. By the time the evolutionary, utopian future finally gets here you and I will be dead and will have no share in it. Now, there’s a hopeful thought!

 Reason and curiosity about life has given humanity something to do from the very beginning. I suspect  this is what God had in mind for us all along. Other creatures pretty much follow their unerring instincts. God gave us the capacity to do more. We uncover, explore, examine, investigate, test and theorize. The benefits – and risks –  are enormous. The human gift of reason with all it’s marvelous capabilities, untethered from the awareness that such reason is a gift of God, however, becomes a mechanism for evil with all the terrible consequences. But none are more terrible than to strip the human heart of it’s trust in God.

 So, I for one am not going to cast criticism at those who managed to find a church door on Easter Sunday, even against these relentless pressures of arrogance and godlessness that are all around – and within us. For in the hearing of the message of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus authentic hope is released and may take hold of the heart. God is not impressed with the exertions of human reason. He is not going to play that game. He owes us no explanation. This foolish wisdom of  God, as St. Paul termed it,  gives real to hope to you and to me. The resurrection of Jesus has opened a real future. Life is going somewhere, and that somewhere is to God Himself.  

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 “May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Saturday of Holy Week

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How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

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“This is my body,…this is my blood, given for you.”

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April 5, 2012

Thursday of Holy Week

On this day Christ Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. In this meal He has bequeathed to His Church the new testament of His body and blood. And like baptism, the gifts given here are not generalized expressions of faith or goodwill. They are, in the Lord’s own words “for you”.  Something is given here. Everything depends on this.

 Martin Luther once wrote, “The Lord is, indeed, everywhere; but is He there for you?” 

 Years ago,while on a road trip with my boys, we came upon a horrific accident in the mountains of Colorado. A tour bus which had been zipping along on a beautiful summer day was suddenly ripped into a bloody wreck by a huge boulder that had dislodged from the hillside just above the roadway.  Given the realities of life in this world, whenever I hear someone talking of communing with God in nature because God is everywhere I shudder.

 So, our Lord Jesus, who is, indeed everywhere, has given us something in which we may receive, in confidence, a gracious God. Like the water of baptism, the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper are material substances from the natural world. Apart  from God’s promise that is all they are. But because Christ Jesus has attached Himself to these earthly elements, commanding that they be given, they become means by which His grace is given – “for you”.

 We may attend to these gifts in confidence, knowing that to receive the bread and the wine is to receive all the gifts that Christ’s death and resurrecton have won for us; forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

 God is, indeed, everywhere. If we leave it at that, however, we might as well say God is nowhere.  But in the Supper Christ Jesus Himself says he is there “for you”. It’s a promise. You can count on it.

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“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?”

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 April 4, 2012

 Wednesday of Holy Week

The Gospels are silent on what Jesus may have done on this day of Holy Week. After the turmoil at the beginning of the week He may have retired to a quiet place for solitude and reflection. Such a place, perhaps, as the Garden of Gethsemane pictured above, with it’s view of the Temple Mount in the distance.

 When Linda and I stood there among the olive trees a few years ago, we were struck by how little the scene had changed in twenty centuries. We recalled the account of our Lord’s bitter tears in this place as He looked ahead to the suffering that awaited Him. Another story also came to mind, when Jesus sat on this hillside looking across at the great temple, reflecting on the faithlessness of the people. The Bible tells us all he could do was weep.

 I am old enough to remember a day when God’s people made time for Holy Week. Most businesses closed between noon and 3PM on Good Friday ( the traditional time of Jesus crucifixion) so people could attend worship, and many churches were full. During the week, sanctuaries were open for prayer and meditation. People stopped in at all times of the day to pray, to think, to reflect, to be with Jesus, to contemplate His passion, to give thanks, to bear witness to their faith.

 Our sanctuary is open during Holy Week from 7AM to 7PM. Candles are lit and organ music, reflecting the solemnity of the week, plays quietly. The large wooden cross stands in mute testimony to the love that was poured out for sinners.  Over the years I have routinely seen one or two people make their way into the church during the week. A few more may make the pilgrimage that I do not see, but you get the idea. Today, this is a common story often told across our land.

 It would be easy to complain about this but all I can do is feel saddened; saddened to see Christian people whose hearts and minds are so conformed to the works and ways of the world that their response to the Great and Holy Week of our faith is studied indifference. This observation does not need to be defended. It simply needs to be said. Perhaps you, Christian, need to hear it.

 Seen in the light of such casual neglect, the wonder of God’s grace seems even more amazing. But has it not always been so?  We do not deserve the blessed Jesus. We do not belong in the same world with Him. But deserving has no place in the equation of grace.

 So, our dear Lord Jesus struggled through His tears on that hillside outside Jerusalem twenty centuries ago, got to His feet and shouldered the terrible cross for the faithless, undeserving  ones –  for you and me.   Amazing.

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“And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 

 April 3, 2012

Tuesday of Holy Week

One of the slogans I recall from the late1960’s was ‘Question Authority’. Young people were encouraged to be skeptical of all forms of governance, all forms of authority. How much of this was sheer wilfulness or genuine concern for the public welfare is a matter that can be debated. But there can be no doubt that authority matters because those in whom authority is invested have power. In fact, much of the story of human history is the story of the struggle to establish authority and therefore the right to wield power, for good or for ill.

 According to the gospel accounts, Jesus spent this day of Holy Week teaching in the Jerusalem temple. The issue became one of authority. His triumphal entry into the city together with His driving the moneychangers out of the temple created a tense atmosphere. The religous leaders, who had been aware of Jesus for some time, were running out of patience.  As Jesus is teaching they confront Him, questioning the basis of His words and actions. 

 At the end of the day the question of Jesus authority to do what he did and say what he said is of the utmost importance. If Jesus was just another religious figure, teaching principles and godly wisdom, then He simply becomes one more subject for the school of religion; equivalent to the Buddah, Mohammed or any number of religious practitioners. 

 But if the authority of Jesus is rooted uniquely in the Living God, then what He said and did have ultimate authority, in the cosmos and in your life, whether you acknowledge it or not. This is what the Scriptures proclaim and this is what Christians have believed and confessed about Him from the very beginning.

 As the events of Holy Week continue to unfold, this One who could have exploited His equality with God, humbled Himelf even unto death on the cross (see Philippans 2). And this gives us ample reason to confess His name to be above every name. Why? Because the divine, ultimate power Jesus holds in His hands is not used to dominate, intimidate or control; it is employed, in love, on your behalf. By His authority, the Holy Sprit works through Word and sacrament, to keep you in the grip of His grace and forgiveness and align you continualy toward the eternal future He has prepared for His people. We may need, from time to time, to question earthly authority. We never need question His.

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