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Presidential Elections, Culture and the Church
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
Devotional & Discussion thought of the day:
1 I mean that as long as the heir is not of age,* he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. 3 aIn the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world.* 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,b 5 to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.c 6 As proof that you are children,* God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”d 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. New American Bible. Revised Edition. Galatians 4:1-7
The history into which Jesus enters is a quite ordinary history, marked by all the scandals and ignominy that are inherent in humanity, all the advances and good beginnings, but also all the sinfulness and baseness—a totally human history!… We may ask: Is this the context into which the Son of God could be born? Holy Scripture answers: Yes. But all this is meant as a sign for us. The Incarnation of God does not result from an ascent on the part of the human race but from a descent on the part of God. The ascent of mankind: the attempt to bring God forth by one’s own efforts and to attain the status of superman—long ago in paradise this attempt failed utterly. One who wants to become God by his own efforts, who reaches arbitrarily for the stars, always ends by destroying himself.…
58. There are many ties between the message of salvation and human culture. For God, revealing Himself to His people to the extent of a full manifestation of Himself in His Incarnate Son, has spoken according to the culture proper to each epoch.
Likewise the Church, living in various circumstances in the course of time, has used the discoveries of different cultures so that in her preaching she might spread and explain the message of Christ to all nations, that she might examine it and more deeply understand it, that she might give it better expression in liturgical celebration and in the varied life of the community of the faithful.
In writing this post, perhaps I go where angels fear to tread.
Entering the place where politics, religion and culture interact, in that place we called life.
There is a part of me that wants to flee from any political conversation; there is another part of me that wants to call out those who are acting contrary to their relationship with God, as they criticize that candidate, or defend this candidate. For what good is it if “our” party gains the majority in Congress or the Presidency, but in the process we lose our soul, we neglect salvation, we turn our back on God?
In my devotional reading today, three times I come across the same answer.
Jesus comes to us, as we are, in our brokenness, in our broken world. As when He was born of Mary, the leadership of the world isn’t righteous, and our culture is challenged. Our nation is so immersed in immorality that we don’t even see it affecting our lives.
Instead of struggling like a man drowning, I need to see Christ here, descending to us, coming to rescue us who try to reach for the stars, or think we’ve arrived among them.
This Christ, who descended once to be crucified, is still here, (see Matt 28:20) reaching out to us who are drowning, reaching the world through the people among whom He dwells. Reaching out in every cultural context, reaching out to those paralyzed by anxiety, by doubt, by a distinct lack of hope.
Ultimately the answer is not going to be found in November, but in what we know and celebrate in Advent, as we look for hope, as we anticipate what God has promised, that we will dwell with Him, that we do dwell with Him, that we can cry out Abba!
And here His voice calm us, give us hope, and freedom as He softly says, “I am here! Do not be anxious… I with you.
AMEN!
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Catholic Church. “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium Et Spes.” Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011. Print.
Life’s Not Fair, Could That Be Ok?
Life’s not Fair
Could that Be OK?
Luke 16:1-9
† I.H.S †
May God’s gifts of love and mercy so fill your life, that you are assured you will live tomorrow and forever in His incredible, unsurpassable, unexplainable peace!
Life’s Not Fair!
That gospel reading this morning was strange, wasn’t it!
So strange most pastors don’t ever want to preach on it, but in a world that doesn’t always make sense, heck this world rarely makes sense. So this passage seems appropriate.
I mean I don’t understand why this guy is talked about positively in Scripture.
He doesn’t do his job.
When he does, he does it unethically, not doing what he’s given authority to accomplish, but what works in his favor.
Then, as he’s given notice to clean out his desk, what does he do? He uses the authority he’s been given to create a bunch of favors people will owe him – favors he will cash in on so that he isn’t bankrupt!
And here is what is strange, according to scripture, his boss, the owner of the company admires him! Other translations say he praises him – and the words are synonymous.
This just doesn’t make sense. It isn’t fair, so how in the world could the Bible teach that the dishonest rascal was admired?
I mean it’s not far, how could it be okay?
Admiration and Praise?
I think we need to hear again why the rich man admired the rascal. After being told to get his things in order, and that he was being terminated, the rascal said,
4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
Jesus would go on to say
And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
While neither praising the ethics or actions of the dishonest man, Jesus notes that he is thinking more than about the present moment. That his concern is for the time when he is not able to care for himself, for a time after he is judged, and found to fail, to fail because of actions he took.
Most of us don’t plan for five years from now, never mind 25 years from now or eternity. We don’t use our knowledge, what we’ve been entrusted with, what we’ve been given the future, never mind what is waiting for us eternally. We don’t often think about this given our lives, and we need to consider it about our lives, and those of these children we have been blessed with!
If we did, how would we live? What would change in our lives, in how we treat people? What priorities would change in your life, if you were thinking of judgment and eternal life? What would we want for our children?
How do we live life, thinking of eternity?
It starts there – with using your possessions to benefit others, To invest your time and strength in making friends and caring for them.
Not unethically, but realizing people are more than possessions. That relationships matter more than accomplishments, more than personal wealth, more than a secure retirement. T love and care for them, as you would want them to love and care for you!
And there is one relationship that demonstrates this, there is one where the relationships were so important, the future so important that one man died, to completely forgive the debts own to his Father.
Get that settled!
Jesus wasn’t just given notice, nor was he told that he was not doing His job well. Still, He knew He was about to be terminated with prejudiced. And as He had planned, along with the Father, He used his legitimate authority to make himself friends.
He wasn’t unethical, He wasn’t using His authority to benefit himself, He simply loved others, and by His death turned those that didn’t love Him, who abandoned Him, who cried out for Him to be crucified.
He was thinking of eternity, of life after all is terminated.
Not His life,
Yours.
And so He died on the cross, to make true these words,
15 I shall no longer call you servants because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.
John 15:15 (NJB)
This is why we are here – as a church, as a school, all the ministries that are Concordia. TO make the love of God know, to encourage you to search out the height, the depth, the breadth and the width of God’s love for you.
We find that out in our baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper, as we take and eat His body and drink His blood. As we hear, children sing of His love.
His love, for us.
As we know it, peace comes over us; that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN!
Cooperate to Graduate and other Ethical Dilemnas
Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire—with whatever is good and praiseworthy.
9 Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (NJB)
With a school year fast approaching, one of the challenges for students will be dealing with the temptation to cooperate to graduate. In certain classes, in order to get a high grade, there is the thought that they must deny their own beliefs, their own research, their own thoughts and give the answer the professors have been told to produce. ( Or so they think – that some professors have to toe the department chair’s or Dean’s position)
This kind of thought, this lack is thought to be one of academic independence, but in rather, a lack of room for ethical integrity. Given enough of this, the student will bring this programmed attitude into workplace as well. We reward those who work within the system, even if the cost is one of their betraying their ethics. This also deviates into politics, and even into church politics.
We program people to a form of Machiavellianism- do what it takes to get rewarded, rather than do what is true and honorable and upright and pure. No wonder morality is no longer a standard, but is bound to its situation, and needs and wants of the moment. The good end that Machiavelli justified his unethical actions isn’t even considered anymore.
This again even occurs in the church, as I noted above. Maybe the goal is to avoid confrontation, or to please people who are “important”, or rather than work through issues, we pretend that the morality or the need for confession and absolution isn’t really needed.
Can we change this? How?
The only way is to look to the truth! And scripture defines truth, quite simply – not as something, some someone. It’s a relationship, nor a matter of cloning the right answers, but giving people the time and instruction to give them those answers. It’s about helping them through the struggles, about guiding…and loving.
Its found in walking with Jesus, in looking to Him, in treasuring not just what He’s taught us, but what He has promised to do to and through us. The grace that forgives us, the love that empowers us, the Spirit that guides us. He is our priority, not the grades, not the diploma, not the promotions, or a church which pleases our denomination or the families that have always been in power, or the newcomer who wants to know if something really is sin,
Our priority is Christ, their priority needs to be Christ.
Jesus Christ Crucifix (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
That is what shall make a difference in their lives. That is what makes a difference in ours.
Morality and Adoration
Devotional thought of the day:
As I wander through the updates of Facebook, I see two basic reactions to immorality.
The first encourages and defends it, asserting that no one has the right to interfere with another’s choices. It doesn’t matter what is immoral, whether it be greed, or lust, or envy. Dare you challenge someone on an immoral act, and you will find great opposition, even to the extent that you will be demonized for opposing that which they have every right (incurring free speech) to do. Result, immorality proposers.
The second is an attempt, rather than dealing with immorality on an individual basis, to legislate it, to prohibit and publicly protest it. We see this all the time, as Christians attempt to sincerely make a difference, or at least try to appear like they are making a difference. In trying to legislate the morality of a culture that is patently immoral, we easily become crusaders or compromisors, willing to give up on this issue, to make a stand on that issue, Eventually, we simply make token stands, like the one church leaders made last year – protesting the requirement for mandated coverage for abortion for those whose work is affiliated with religious ministry. ( Don’t we trust our own people enough that they won’t take advantage of such, but they will come to us for assistance in crisis? For that matter, do we doubt the moral fiber of those we shepherd to not get “into trouble” in the first place?)
So what do we do about morality and immorality? What will radically change the behavior of our country? What will help people not only be able to distinguish what it moral and beneficial to themselves and society, but see a desire to live morally, and to seek remedy and assistance when one fails, (as we all do)
There is an easy answer.
Adoration.
Simply put, when we find ourselves in the midst of a Holy, Righteous, Perfect God, who welcomes us, cleanses us, loves us, we find ourselves in awe, and that awe transforms to joy and that joy into adoration and love. And the more we fall in love with the God who loves us, and blesses us, and makes our life a masterpiece, that awe grows. And as that awe grows, the more the moral fabric of our lives changes.
Look at the stories of the “big-time” saints. St. Paul, St Augustine, St Francis, or the great revivals like the Great Awakening, or the Welsh Revival. In each life, in each revivial, the moral fabric changes, even without being addressed. Like Zacchaeus, an encounter with God leaves us wanting to change, and more than that – seeing the changes created inside us, impelling us, transforming us, renewing and re-creating us in all of His glory.
Some theologians will disagree with me, they will point to the natural law, and the “civil use” of the law. I’ll deal with that some other time – the answer is simple – found in Romans 2-8. But you cannot deny, someone madly in love with God, who is responding to God’s love for them being revealed – they will be transformed, and the more they dwell, the more they live in the presence of His love, the more they will be unable to tolerate sin, and immorality. Within themselves, they will rush to forgiveness, to the places it is promised. They will meditate on their Baptism (see Titus 3:2-8), they will feast on the Body brokem and the Blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, they will confess their sins and hear that they are cleansed of them and all unrighteousness. ANd they will see their brother, their neighbor, those those still fighting for freedom to sin, and they will fight to free them from sin, not simply restrict the ability to.
Adoration result in morality, not as a primary result, but simply as a side affect.
But if it is a moral society you really desire… desire instead the presence of the One who accounts us moral, and righteous, and beloved.
