tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-209422272024-03-07T02:41:15.231-06:00NachfolgeFollowing Christ in the Real WorldScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.comBlogger1249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-80492340715716538832023-12-24T23:52:00.010-06:002024-01-01T10:48:57.227-06:00A Sermon for Christmas Eve 2023 - "In the Mess"I’ve been a pastor for 20 years, and over all of those years, Christmas Eve services have been and remain some of my favorite worship experiences. Sanctuaries tend to be full, people tend to dress their best (in my case, that only brings so much improvement, but you all look great tonight), and of course, there’s the Christmas hymns that mean the most on this night. <div><br /></div><div>Sometime during my first few years as a pastor, I came across the option to include a proclamation of the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I started inserting it at the end of “Silent Night” for those services. I thought about asking Amy if we could do that here at First this year (because when you’re the bishop you can ask for those kind of favors), but when I read through the text this year, I got stuck in one place. See if you get stuck, too. </div><div><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>The Proclamation of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ </i></div><div>The Twenty-fifth Day of December, </div><div>when ages beyond number had run their course from the creation of the world, </div><div>when God in the beginning created heaven and earth,
and formed humanity in God’s own likeness; </div><div>when century upon century had passed since the Almighty set a bow in the clouds after the Great Flood as a sign of covenant and peace; </div><div>in the twenty-first century since Abraham and Sara, our parents in faith, came out of Ur of the Chaldees; </div><div>in the thirteenth century since the People of Israel were led by Moses in the Exodus from Egypt;
<br />around the thousandth year since David was anointed King;</div><div>in the sixty-fifth week of the prophecy of Daniel; </div><div>in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; </div><div>in the seven hundred and fifty-second year since the foundation of the City of Rome; </div><div>in the forty-second year of the reign of Caesar Octavian Augustus,
the whole world being at peace, </div><div>JESUS CHRIST, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, </div><div>desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence,
was conceived by the Holy Spirit, </div><div>and when nine months had passed since his conception, </div><div>was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah,
and was made human. </div><div>This is the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.</div></blockquote><div>It’s beautiful, right? Poetic? Sounds a lot like scripture itself? So - where do you think I got stuck? Some of you probably got stuck here, too: “The whole world being at peace.”
Tonight, war continues to rage in Ukraine, Sudan, Israel/Palestine, and other places. Closer to home, our political leaders squabble and accomplish next to nothing of substance while an endless cycle of violence, blame, and arguments repeats, over and over. I’m 49 years old and I don’t think I’ve ever been more anxious about the state of things in our church, our communities, and our world. We are definitely not a world at peace. </div><div><br /></div><div>Line all of that up against this proclamation of the birth of Christ, and what appear to be the cultural expectations of the Christmas holiday, and things get anxious. We strive to give the perfect gift, to enjoy the perfect Christmas meal. Christmas carols started on the radio the day after Halloween in some places, and if I’m honest they sort of sound like a nightmare after two months of solid airplay over and over again, particularly in a year like this year when the weather has been unseasonably warm and not the least bit frightful. It would be incredibly easy to lose hope with so much cognitive dissonance and so many failed expectations. Yet, even in this present anxiety, tonight we gather to celebrate a light that continues to shine. </div><div><br /></div><div>Your theme here at First this Advent has been “The Light of Grace,” celebrating the 250th anniversary of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” This is one of our most beloved hymns, for many reasons, but one thing you’ve not discussed much is the origin of the hymn itself. Here’s the story: John Newton was a captain of a slaving ship who got caught in a storm at sea, and after some of his crew were washed over the side, he prayed to God for salvation. After steering the ship through the storm all night, morning found Newton and the rest of his crew safe and saved (to say nothing of the "cargo" of course). It wasn' the last time Newton captained a slaving ship, but it did mark a moment of spiritual conversion for Newton, and in time he became an ardent abolitionist. The story doesn’t excuse who he was or what he did for a living, however. John Newton was a person who had made a living from the capture, transportation, and sale of God‘s children. This is not the story of a simple prayer recited out loud in a revival meeting by a person, feeling guilty about cheating on a test or getting caught speeding. Newton was exactly what the first verse says he was: a wretch. ’Twas grace that redeemed Newton because that’s how grace works. Grace doesn’t apply to the deserving or the perfect. Grace is for those who truly need it. Grace shines best when it shines into the what we most want to hide from the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>Just this past Wednesday night, many of us gathered in the mission center for a celebration that included a living nativity, and a prayer service here in the sanctuary. It was lovely. There was something of a petting zoo here as well - a camel as well as some sheep, goats, and other animals - and I couldn’t help noticing that they stayed outside. If we really wanted a living nativity that would re-create what it was like when God came to us in the flesh, we would’ve brought the camel and the sheep and the goats and the llamas and the pigs right into the mission center with us. Now, I’m not actually suggesting we do that, mostly because I’m pretty sure your deacon for faith formation (<i>My wife Kristin)</i> would require me to be the one who shovels out the mess afterwards. But I mention it because there are parts of that story of Jesus’ birth that we don’t acknowledge, because they’re messy. They’re inconvenient. To put it bluntly, they smell. We often tell a sanitized version of the story of Jesus’ birth, and the picture it presents is one of perfection: beatific Holy Child Jesus in the manger (which is filled with sweet, clean hay), beaming Mary resting in peace in beautiful, simple clothing which shows no sign of having just delivered her first child, Joesph silently…being there, stars in the sky, humble shepherds coming to worship (and not losing a one of the sheep entrusted to their care in doing so). There is an entire industry centered around this ideal, this perfection of Christmas peace. The unhealthy danger of this is the anxiety it amplifies in us when things are not perfect in our own Christmas celebrations. What do we do when the gifts are a mess, or when there aren’t any gifts at all because it’s been a hard year? What do we do when family is as much a burden as a blessing, or when we’d give anything for that burden of family because we’re alone? When it comes to Christmas, all too often we are most definitely not a world at peace. </div><div><br /></div><div>God did not wait until the world was properly, perfectly prepared to become incarnate. God entered the world as it was, into all the mess, in a scene that in its actual happening would not be the sort of thing that fits ever so beautifully onto a Christmas card. If the world was at peace on that night, 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, just a short walk from Jerusalem, it was a peace that had been imposed on the population by Rome, an occupying power from a foreign land. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because the political power of his time told his parents they needed to go to a different city so they could be taxed. Joseph and Mary were refugees in their own homeland; roaming in search of shelter while the world around them was gripped by anxiety and violence. </div><div>This was the world into which Jesus was born on that long ago night in Bethlehem. </div><div>In a stable that smelled of sheep and goats, of hay and dung. </div><div>In the mess. </div><div>Among the wretches. </div><div>In a world that was definitely not at peace. </div><div><br /></div><div>Years from now, when I think about Christmas 2023, the image that will live seared into my brain will be this, the nativity at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bethlehem.</div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0o7GSgM_qjfoqRGolKUpgbgt2ZYukjAFr3LR84M-5CcYZd6xx8wrD68qUA9oOzo3xIZwnezN-M2bNIGZZYZBbwX3-iKLFhvvb2gFQ4oArO3uWmtQyRi0odLAw0XXtpZ0yyixc2X0RSHJHvaDAO1uVtZpQp4Hoe2Axr69RTgbsLkTl1xsBykX9SQ/s533/IMG_1395.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0o7GSgM_qjfoqRGolKUpgbgt2ZYukjAFr3LR84M-5CcYZd6xx8wrD68qUA9oOzo3xIZwnezN-M2bNIGZZYZBbwX3-iKLFhvvb2gFQ4oArO3uWmtQyRi0odLAw0XXtpZ0yyixc2X0RSHJHvaDAO1uVtZpQp4Hoe2Axr69RTgbsLkTl1xsBykX9SQ/w240-h320/IMG_1395.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div>
Yes, this is a statement about the current state of things in Israel/Palestine. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizQFhCWBrL7yxs_OTEBmAuNw1h88ynm84yXfxRjmBj1FoQ4KvsmAn9BzDiOmOYGpOr5kcdbwakk-naUunj6FJesLytzJRUZCrAdpo09fwwreqPPCkc9y5egzFMF47KFIMX5dys6k8e7Gi1Mi_mbIwUM6sVrfwvpgpH8umtla4emIMiwJvJVGyhQ/s533/IMG_1394.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizQFhCWBrL7yxs_OTEBmAuNw1h88ynm84yXfxRjmBj1FoQ4KvsmAn9BzDiOmOYGpOr5kcdbwakk-naUunj6FJesLytzJRUZCrAdpo09fwwreqPPCkc9y5egzFMF47KFIMX5dys6k8e7Gi1Mi_mbIwUM6sVrfwvpgpH8umtla4emIMiwJvJVGyhQ/s320/IMG_1394.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Yes, that is meant to be rubble of buildings destroyed by rockets and bombs fired by both sides of this horrible conflict. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzUiya3o2bDIx5y9xoajAt2nCBEcG-H81vZG_crWymqK7mtid23XjDuAxr_jN3iRRnYfP0jUbQK5hiVGZQW55_dBeveSChhUYfE2iryct-Yp9LG81ZcL8HRcQkQGKnLLypEamRGbs99Rj3wa5-Me8ja9rg8w_T2Dl2Oi67WM61iYq_njg47m_FA/s275/IMG_1396.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzUiya3o2bDIx5y9xoajAt2nCBEcG-H81vZG_crWymqK7mtid23XjDuAxr_jN3iRRnYfP0jUbQK5hiVGZQW55_dBeveSChhUYfE2iryct-Yp9LG81ZcL8HRcQkQGKnLLypEamRGbs99Rj3wa5-Me8ja9rg8w_T2Dl2Oi67WM61iYq_njg47m_FA/s1600/IMG_1396.jpeg" width="275" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Yes, that is the baby Jesus there in the midst of the rubble. </div><div>In the mess. </div><div>Among the wrenches. </div><div>Born into a world that is most definitely not at peace. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a minute we’re going to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” It’s one of my most beloved Christmas hymns because of one line: “…the hopes <i><u>and fears</u></i> of all the years are met in thee tonight.” Christmas has never been about a perfect Christmas peace. </div><div>Jesus <u>means</u> to meet us in the rubble. </div><div>In the mess. </div><div>In our wretched anxiety. </div><div> </div><div>Jesus knows we live in a world that is not at peace, and to be honest, rarely has been.
Jesus meets us there because that’s how you make this wretched world holy: you start in the rubble. In the mess. You shine the light of grace where it is most needed, and the redemption of the world begins. </div><div><br /></div><div>Christmas is wherever Jesus meets us, and in meeting Jesus, we meet peace, wherever he finds us. Merry Christmas, friends. May all your hopes and fears be met in Jesus, tonight and always. Amen.</div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0Fremont, NE 68025, USA41.4333909 -96.498146699999992-31.950115540294711 122.8768533 90 44.126853300000008tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-85222717740156132492022-12-11T10:00:00.012-06:002022-12-11T10:00:00.167-06:00Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent: "Hard to Get"<p>The gospel according to Matthew.<span> </span><b>Glory to you, O Lord.</b></p><p><span> </span>When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”</p><p><span> </span>As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."</p><p>The gospel of the Lord.<span> </span><b>Praise to you, O Christ.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hnOPu0_YWhw" width="320" youtube-src-id="hnOPu0_YWhw"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span></span></p><blockquote><p><span> "</span>He emerged from the metro at the L’Enfant Plaza Station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. </p><p><span> </span>It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant….</p><p>…No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made.” <a href="https://tinyurl.com/24h3t3za" target="_blank">“Pearls Before Breakfast” Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 April 2007.</a></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://tinyurl.com/24h3t3za" target="_blank"></a></p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>The name of the violinist was Joshua Bell. The violin he played was a 1713 Stradivarius, for which Bell paid a reported $3.5 million. He played in that subway station for 43 minutes, during which he made $32.17. Only two or three people stopped to listen for more than a minute, and only one person recognized him as anything more than a particularly talented street musician. <p></p><p>Can I make a confession to you? There have been times when I might have been one of the people who walked right by Mr. Bell. There comes a point when you just don’t know what God is up to, and how you fit into it all, and you hunker down and keep your hopes low so that you won’t be too terribly hurt by the next bit of bad news coming down the chute. Life begins to grind you up until you’re just glad to have gotten through another day without too much bad news. Instead of hoping for things to change, you begin to be scared of what might change, because it’s easier to stay in survivable apathy than to be betrayed by change that always hangs tantalizingly out of reach.</p><p>Do you feel like this sometimes? More worried about your life than confident God is at work in the midst of it? If so, now’s the time to stop and listen, because change is coming. If not, now’s the time to stop and listen, because change is coming. Whether you’re riding high or crawling low, this too shall pass – the question is, can you get outside your expectations enough to see God’s presence and know you are standing on holy ground?</p><p>Mary Hinkle Shore once wrote, </p><p></p><blockquote>“My crowd's problem is not that we, like John, think the Messiah will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Our problem is that we do not expect much of anything to change with the Messiah's advent… …Our problem is that we think the best the Messiah can do is take the edge off. Jesus says to John's messengers, "Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." Instead of hoping for, watching, expecting such things as these, we look for a little analgesic. Jesus, could we just have something for the pain?" (formerly available at <span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Garamond; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2004/12/are_you_the_one.html">http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2004/12/are_you_the_one.html</a>)</span> </blockquote><p></p><p>I imagine this is why it was so hard for people to hear John the Baptist preach. John wasn’t interested in just helping people get through the day. John had no truck with people who fought change because “it’s always been this way.” John preached that the Messiah was coming, the one who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and fire, the one who would gather all the grain into the grain bin and burn up all the chaff. John preached change. John preached power. John preached holiness. John preached hope to a people who had lived with unfulfilled hopes for almost a thousand years. Yet even John, with all his certainty and passion, all his wildness and prophetic preaching, questioned whether or not Jesus was really the Messiah, God’s promised Son. Jesus didn’t fulfill John’s expectations – and should we be so surprised, then, to realize that sometimes we might not see Jesus at work either?</p><p>Rich Mullins wrote a song titled “Hard to Get.” The last verse ends, </p><p></p><blockquote><p>“I can’t see how you’re leading me / unless you’ve led me here / </p><p>to where I’m lost enough to let myself be led / </p><p>and so you’ve been here all along I guess / </p><p>it’s just your way, and you are just plain hard to get.” </p></blockquote><p></p><p>I think Jesus purposely finds ways to surprise, shock and confound us, to keep us guessing, to keep us firmly grounded in faith and not in expectation, assumption or, dare I say it, condescension. </p><p>Jesus plays hard to get so that you and I will have to trust that God really is in charge of the insanity that we call life. </p><p>Jesus plays hard to get so that you and I will never forget that all our plans and all our hopes and all our fears and all our dreams mean nothing if they are not centered on and grounded in a living faith in the One who created us as people who plan and hope and fear and dream. </p><p>Jesus plays hard to get so that you and I will stop trying to tell Him what is good and righteous and pure – so that you and I will start looking to Him to discover what is good and righteous and pure.</p><p>“Are you the One who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” There is so much of our existence in that question:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>“Jesus, I was told to expect a Savior, but I didn’t expect Messiah to look and talk and act like you. Are you really the Messiah?”</li><li>“Jesus, I was thinking that the Messiah would be more interested in helping me out. Now you’re telling me to be interested in helping others out. Are you really the One?</li><li>“Jesus, I wanted to find a church that would never change, where I’d always be the same person and everyone knew how to act. Now you’re telling me that faith changes people, that no one can ever be the same, and we won’t always know how to act. Is this really what it means to be a person of faith?”</li><li>“Jesus, all I want is to be told I’m a good person so I can live without being afraid of my mistakes. Now you’re telling me that I’m a sinner, but that you came for sinners like me, and I don’t need to be afraid because you won’t ever abandon or forsake me. Is that really how salvation works?”</li></ul>There comes a time when we have to ask John’s question for ourselves if we are going to continue in the way of following Christ. <p></p><p>When faith becomes more than just words on Sunday morning, but the sort of thing that keeps popping up where you least expect it, take heart: Jesus is playing hard to get. </p><p>When grace and mercy keep invading your anger and all the grudges you’ve held for so long, take heart: Jesus is playing hard to get. </p><p>When you begin to question every assumption you’ve ever held and every prejudice you’ve ever carefully maintained, take heart: Jesus is playing hard to get. W</p><p>hen your church becomes a place that feels scary and frightening because it’s not the same old boring songs and readings every week, take heart: Jesus is playing hard to get. </p><p>When you feel like screaming because you know that God is up to something in your life, but you can’t figure out what it is and it’s driving you nuts, take heart: Jesus is playing hard to get. </p><p>He does it because it’s the only way we come to faith – being led down the path to the point where all of our attempts to get to God perish, and we allow God to come to us in mercy and forgiveness and love.</p><p>Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them, and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” It doesn’t matter how, when or where Jesus comes: what matters is that we have eyes to see it and hearts to believe. Hear again the promise God makes to all of us: God is here, among you, for you, in Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit within you all will keep you in Jesus, now and forever. This is Advent, the coming of the Lord, and we rejoice in song and praise. Amen.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VJo1usyisrQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="VJo1usyisrQ"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com010785 280th St, Columbus, NE 68601, USA41.5119247 -97.262901313.201690863821156 -132.4191513 69.822158536178847 -62.106651299999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-4374774090945254902022-12-10T20:36:00.003-06:002022-12-10T20:37:24.296-06:002022 Books: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40864002-a-psalm-for-the-wild-built" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600789291l/40864002._SX98_.jpg" /></a>My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4463378753">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I was...not in a great place when I read <i>A Psalm for the Wild-Built</i>. It is now my best read of 2022 for one reason: by the time I finished it, my heart and soul and mind were more at peace than I'd been in months. <br /><br />I've been recommending this little novella and its successor, <i>A Prayer for the Crown-Shy</i>, for months now. They pack a surprising wallop of laughter, joy, humility, simplicity, and peace for such little volumes. I've very much enjoyed Becky Chambers' other novels, but <i>A Psalm for the Wild-Built</i> is a volume I know I'll revisit on multiple occasions in the years to come. <br /><br />Good books have an impact, so I'll give <i>A Psalm for the Wild-Built</i> my Book of the Year award for this reason: it had, by far, the greatest impact of any book I've read this year.
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-53316843465232843042021-07-07T09:43:00.003-05:002021-07-07T09:43:29.120-05:002021 Books: Walk the Wire by David Baldacci<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52838845-walk-the-wire" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Walk the Wire (Amos Decker, #6)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579012170l/52838845._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52838845-walk-the-wire">Walk the Wire</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9291.David_Baldacci">David Baldacci</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4080887627">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I've enjoyed the previous novels in this series much more than I did <i>Walk the Wire</i>. The main character, Amos Decker, remains as sharply written as ever, continuing to struggle with the mental and emotional issues that have marked his story thus far. The pacing of <i>Walk the Wire</i> is ramped up, however, to a frenetic pitch, and the addition of a second plot just leads to jumps in logic and action that feel unjustified and far too rushed. <br /><br />The second plot is a crossover of characters from another Baldacci series. While other authors have pulled this off well (I'm thinking particularly of <i>Without Remorse</i>, Tom Clancy's masterpiece that details John Clark's origin story), <i>Walk the Wire</i> doesn't hit home with the same impact. Some pieces are in place to make this an excellent story, but it's just too rushed, too busy, too slipshod to work as well as previous entries in this series have done. <br /><br />All that said, I <u>did</u> devour this one pretty quickly on a brief summer getaway to Minnesota, which can be a lot of fun in its own right. It's not a terrible novel - I've read plenty of those along the way. This one just could have been better, and it's a shame it wasn't. I'll look forward to the next Amos Decker book in the hopes that it'll be more like its excellent predecessors than <i>Walk the Wire</i> turned out to be.
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-58489553481950116952021-06-08T11:34:00.000-05:002021-06-08T11:34:04.835-05:002021 Books: Cross Sections by Matt Schur<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58099046-cross-sections" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Cross Sections" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1621461214l/58099046._SX98_.jpg" /></a>My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4012146961">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
<i>Cross Sections</i> is a thought-provoking, passionate collection of poetry aimed squarely at American Protestant Christianity in the early 21st century. This century has been a target-rich environment for critics of the American church, but what makes this volume particularly poignant is that the author offers his critique from within the institution itself, with an eye toward redemption and healing rather than destruction.<br /><br />Writing in the vein of authors like Anne Lamott, Martin Bell, and Annie Dillard, these poems are filled with humor, rage, anguish, regret, hope, dismay, reflection, and a thematic underpinning that whatever this age is, it is <u>not</u> the beacon on the hill that large parts of the American Christian community believe it is, nor has it ever been. These poems ask big questions, take big swings, and sometimes make for incredibly uncomfortable reading - the kind of reading that shows you the cracks in the foundations of your thinking and makes you consider whether you've assumed too many things were true that just don't have to be, and maybe shouldn't.<br /><br />If you're uncomfortable with the way things are, <i>Cross Sections</i> might be a collection of poetry that shows you you're not alone, and gives you hope that the moral arc of the universe is still bending toward justice. If you're comfortable with the way things are, this collection might move you into that uncomfortable place, and <u>then</u> show you you're not alone and give you hope as well. Highly recommended for Christian and non-Christian readers alike.<br /><br />DISCLAIMER: Matt Schur and I have been good friends for almost 30 years, and I was an advance reader who offered some editorial suggestions for <i>Cross Sections</i> prior to publication. That having been said, I wouldn't post a review if it wasn't genuine, not even for a friend, and I did not request or receive any compensation for this review.
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-68547244315299277802021-06-08T10:49:00.004-05:002021-06-08T10:49:28.055-05:00<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55206208-the-bird-that-sang-in-color" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Bird that Sang in Color" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1598989216l/55206208._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55206208-the-bird-that-sang-in-color">The Bird that Sang in Color</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828174.Grace_Mattioli">Grace Mattioli</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3984387731">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
I accepted a free electronic copy of <i>The Bird That Sang In Color</i> with a promise to post a review when I had finished. I am somewhat regretting that decision because I don't like giving less-than-favorable reviews, save for authors who are either a) dead or b) well-established enough that a lousy review isn't going to harm their livelihood. But I did promise, so here we are.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Bird That Sang In Color</i> isn't a bad story - I should be clear about that from the start. It's a family tale, one of several in a series told from the viewpoint of several family members. Donna Tucci is the first person narrator of this volume, and it largely deals with her relationship with her brother Vincent. Donna tells her version of the Tucci story, moving through childhood in the 1970s to adulthood in the present day, and there's a lot to tell.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think the reason I couldn't be more positive about this book is the narration itself. From the first few chapters to the very end, Donna's voice felt scattered and flighty, jumping from one paragraph to another without any real sense of a unifying theme or a clear vision of why this story matters. It felt like a first draft of an autobiography or memoir by someone who isn't actually a very good writer. Entire years get jumped with little warning, it's difficult to keep characters sorted except for Vincent and Donna, and the title seems unconnected to the one element which does move through the entire book, identified in the final chapters. The thought did occur to me that perhaps the disjointed narration is a compositional choice by the author, given that other family members are narrating many of the same events in their own volumes of this series; if so, it's a choice that didn't work for me as a reader. I asked myself "Why?" quite often in reading this book, and didn't get nearly enough answers to that question in the end.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other reviewers had a far more positive experience, and I'm glad for that, because it means that Grace Mattioli connects with other readers in ways <i>The Bird That Sang In Color</i> didn't connect with me. I'm grateful for the chance to read and review a new author, even if it didn't wind up being what every author would like to hear about their work, and I'd encourage people who've read this far to try the book for yourselves and see what you think. At the very least, the story of Donna Tucci would tell you that happiness doesn't come the same way for every person, and if other readers find happiness reading <i>The Bird That Sang In Color</i>, I'm happy as well.
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8144158-scott-alan"><span style="font-family: inherit;">V</span>iew all my reviews</a></p><p></p>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-82972648950089259072021-04-07T14:33:00.003-05:002021-04-07T14:33:41.783-05:002021 Books: Tales by H.P. Lovecraft<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36313.Tales" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Tales" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309283259l/36313._SX98_.jpg" /></a>My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3889574964">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Well, consider me... whelmed.<br /><br />I know Lovecraft is a huge influence on Stephen King and many other folks. I can see what so many of them have come to love - when he was on his game, he was fantastic, particularly for his time. But perhaps I should have just stuck with a smaller compendium with <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i> and some of the best short stories, because by the end I was checking out every single time I read the following words: "the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred..."<br /><br />High points: <i>The Call of Cthulhu</i>, definitely. <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i> and <i>The Case of Charles Dexter Ward</i> were both very good, and I'd never even heard of the latter. It was the longest of the stories, incorporating several different generations and an interesting, very sympathetic main character. <i>The Dunwich Horror</i>, <i>The Colour Out of Space</i>, and <i>The Thing on the Doorstep</i> were also new to me, and I'm very much looking forward to watching the movie version of <i>The Colour Out of Space</i> when I've got some free time. But page after page of 1st person narratives s-l-o-w-l-y developing from odd suspicions into full-on terror just starts to sound the same after a while. <br /><br />It could be that if I actually owned this volume, I could pick it up every now and again to try a story on its own as some sort of palate cleanser, but trying to read it straight through turned into quite a slog before all was said and done.<br /><br />My recommendation: look for a "best of" version or read Lovecraft one story at a time. Don't be a shoggoth and try to devour it whole - there may be unpleasant consequences for those who do.
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</p>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-69880517248477574152020-04-22T06:00:00.000-05:002020-04-22T06:00:03.619-05:00Book Review: Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335696-persepolis-rising" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481562381l/28335696._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335696-persepolis-rising">Persepolis Rising</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4192148.James_S_A_Corey">James S.A. Corey</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2345007371">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Extra time for reading in these days of pandemic lockdown has found me galloping through <i>The Expanse</i>, the excellent sci-fi series from James S.A. Corey. If you haven't read the series but you think it sounds familiar, you may be thinking of the also-excellent television series based on the novels, originally aired by SyFy but picked up by Amazon a few years ago. This is one of those few instances where the book and the movie/show are both excellent and worthy of all the time you can invest in either or (preferably) both.<br /><br /><i>Persepolis Rising</i> moves the story considerably into the future of the <i>Expanse</i> universe. The crew of the <i>Rocinante</i> are dealing with aging bodies and a desire for changed lives, but as is often the case in this series, circumstances disrupt these plans and the final act of the larger narrative begins in earnest. To say anything more detailed would involve all kinds of spoilers, so I'll just leave the synopsis there and advise you to start all the way back at <i>Leviathan's Wake</i> so you can truly appreciate the story when you get to <i>Persepolis Rising</i>.<br /><br />What I genuinely appreciate about <i>The Expanse</i> as a whole is the way its authors (James S.A. Corey is the nom de plume for Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham) are determined to build a world in which the science isn't actually fictional. There are no wings on the <i>Rocinante</i>- it flies with a theoretically possible fusion drive and maneuvering thrusters. In space, no one can walk on the floor of a ship without thrust or spin gravity. Speed is governed by how many G forces the human body can endure, not by hyperdrives or warp speeds. I love Star Trek, Star Wars, and all kinds of other space operas, but <i>The Expanse</i> universe is filled with plausible science AND compelling narrative AND deeply developed characters you come to love and despise and pity and cherish. There's so much here that even on this third time reading this novel, I'm discovering new plot points and being delighted by stuff I've forgotten is in there. <br /><br />The plan is for this series to end after 9 books, and I'm somewhat dreading that final page turn, because I haven't enjoyed a series this much in years - it might rank right up there with <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> in terms of holding the excellence all the way to the end (looking at you, <i>Wheel of Time</i> & <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i>). Embarking on this series is a big undertaking, but trust me - the journey will be worth it in the end.<br />
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-9905155928188371652020-04-21T11:00:00.000-05:002020-04-21T11:00:09.691-05:00Daily Online Chapel - PowersOnce Midland University made the move to remote classes, I started doing a series of Daily Online Chapel services. Here's today's version:<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5YQpYDPAJz0" width="560"></iframe>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-11439412773366236352020-04-20T15:49:00.000-05:002020-04-21T10:29:37.795-05:00Living with Grace in Anxious TimesWhile scrolling through social media recently, I saw a colleague I really respect get blasted by someone in their community. Publicly. That's just one example of some alarming abuse that's been happening lately. Here are some others:<br />
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<li>A pastor receives the agenda for an upcoming Council meeting and "Accomodating Pastor's children in worship" is an agenda item. </li>
<li>Online video worship services being critiqued for not being professional enough.</li>
<li>Pastors observing recommended social distancing & strict visitation policies at local hospitals being criticized for not visiting members in person in the midst of a pandemic.</li>
<li>Furloughed ministers being asked to continue providing pastoral care for the communities which are no longer paying for that care. </li>
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These are times of high anxiety, fear, and grief. Anxious, scared, and grieving people are rarely capable of exhibiting their best behavior. Even when accounting for the current environment, however, it's disturbing to hear these stories of abuse from colleagues I know are doing everything they can to provide pastoral care to the communities to which God has called them.</div>
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In this time of uncertainty, change, and fear, we can present a counter-narrative of faith, endurance, and love. In fact, we already are. The situations I described above are all true, but they are the unfortunate exceptions. I've seen congregations shift to video worship services and graciously laugh about our lack of sophistication & polish. Several congregations have scheduled parades of members, driving past the houses where their ministers live and honking, waving, singing, doing something fun to tell their pastors and deacons they are loved and appreciated. Phone trees have been set up so that every member of a congregation gets a call from a fellow member at least once a week. How many of us have hosted a Zoom Bible Study or caught up with friends at a distance?</div>
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Learning one new skill requires a period of trial and error, of failing a little bit less each time until we build up the competency desired. Most of us will never be Tour de France-level bicyclists, but almost all of us learned to ride a bike at some point in our childhood, right? We learned how to ride by falling down until we didn't, until that crazy balance clicked in our minds and bodies. We developed that competency over time, usually in private, and eventually we were able to not even think about how to ride a bike - we just hopped on the seat and took off.</div>
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This global pandemic has stripped away most of our former competencies and left us all juggling job and family requirements that were unthinkable less than six months ago. In a sense, we've all been told we can no longer walk, or even ride a bike: everything is on a unicycle now, everyone has to do it, and it all has to be done where everyone can see. We're building new competencies in every aspect of our life and work, all at once. We are falling down - regularly, often, and publicly. It's a painful time to be a person.</div>
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This is a time for grace if ever the was one. This should be our primary language in the church, but we've adapted so well to the cultural language of performance and production that grace is an unfamiliar dialect - it sounds familiar, but it'll take some time to be fluent in it again. This is a time for grace with ourselves. This is a time for grace with the limitations imposed on us by this pandemic we cannot control. This is a time for grace with our families and housemates who grow every more wearying and annoying with each passing interminable day of social distancing. This is a time for grace with co-workers who still don't know how to mute video conference calls or don't have a private spot where kids or spouses won't pop into the background. This is a time for grace with Council members who are insensitive or even absent because they're worried about losing their jobs. This is a time for grace with all of this and more. </div>
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We once believed grace was easy, right? Here in the American midwest we are particularly good at the sort of grace that left room for grudges while presenting an outwardly peaceful countenance - the sort of thing Dietrich Bonhoeffer called 'cheap grace.' Now we're discovering how difficult the actual practice of grace can be, and also how essential it will be moving forward in a world which will long remember how we responded in this hour of pandemic. Faith, endurance, and love - this is how we live with grace in anxious times. May God's Holy Spirit fill you with this grace, and may it flow through you into the world around you, now and always.</div>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-31906941594757997502020-01-31T10:57:00.000-06:002020-01-31T10:57:06.460-06:00Book Review: The Last Wish by Andrew Sapkowski<span style="font-family: inherit;">I came to <i>The Witcher</i> from the Netflix series, and in researching the books online the PCGamer website recommended starting with <i>The Last Wish</i> as it establishes Geralt of Rivia and does a fair amount of establishing the universe of these stories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529591917l/40603587._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1529591917l/40603587._SX318_.jpg" width="216" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the one hand, I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. This book is basically half of the first season of the Netflix series, and from what I've learned, I expect <i>Sword of Destiny</i> to fill out the rest of that season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you liked the Netflix series, you'll like this book. It's obvious the series creators wanted to strike the same tone of moral ambiguity in their show that they found in the books. If anything, the showrunners amped up that ambiguity - Sapkowski paints a kinder picture of Geralt and the world he inhabits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, it's odd beginning a series with a collection of short stories, particularly one which is framed as something like a flashback episode. The framing story involves characters who haven't appeared in the series as of yet, but you get dropped into the story with very little exposition all the same. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to connect with the story if you began with this book having not seen the series.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I think I'll try the first published novel, <i>Blood of Elves</i>, next, rather than follow PCGamer's advice and continue with the next story collection. Perhaps that will seat me in the story a bit more firmly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On the whole, if you enjoyed any of <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i> you'll enjoy <i>The Witcher</i>, particularly if you're more a fan of fantasy than you are of political intrigue.</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-62231115205369783522020-01-23T16:17:00.000-06:002020-01-23T16:17:25.536-06:00Book Review: Dear Church by Lenny Duncan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"Christianity at its core is subversive. But radical evil wants complacency, not subversion...Radical evil wants walls up around our hearts, around our congregation's life, and around this country. Division is how evil operates. We have all become intractable...</i> </blockquote>
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<i>To walk away from a theological commitment to the least of these is to leave Christ on the cross and ignore what happens three days later. To pretend that this isn't our time to stand up and speak a good word over this world is gross misconduct. If I don't accept this call now, I should be defrocked. If the church doesn't accept this call now, it deserves to die."</i></blockquote>
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<a name='more'></a>This is just a slice of the powerful writing in Lenny Duncan's book <a href="https://fortresspress.com/DearChurch" target="_blank"><i>Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in America</i>.</a> I knew it was going to be a challenging read from the outset. What I didn't expect was that by the end, the proclamation would be far more effective than the challenge. I have to admit that I didn't pay enough credence to the title. I believed I was in for a lecture - I did not believe, evidence to the contrary, that I would indeed be reading a love letter.<br />
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That's not to say this is a book of sunshine, roses, and unicorns. It isn't, not by any means. This is tough love, honest love, forthright speech that confronts evil the author has experienced firsthand in my denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/27/the-most-and-least-racially-diverse-u-s-religious-groups/" target="_blank">which is indeed the whitest denomination in American Christianity</a>. What I didn't expect was Duncan's deep, abiding refusal to step outside his own membership in our church. Every time he raises a challenge or confronts us with the brutal facts related to our own racism, sexism, gender inequality, and a host of other failings, he solidly places himself within the tradition and refuses to wash his hands of us - a course of action many people reading this book would have justifiably chosen long ago.<br />
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Here are a few examples of those experiences:<br />
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<i>"I have friends who have waited years for calls in this church, who have been told to stop talking about racism from the pulpit, who have had gorilla dolls given to them as gifts by the people they serve, who have been told by seminary presidents that they may want to go back to Egypt because the watermelon tastes better."</i></blockquote>
See? Just one of those experiences might have been enough for many of us to walk away for good. Now imagine years of them - comforting friends after they've experienced the same - being told that things will change over time (but they never do) - I would have walked away long ago. For the sake of this church that I love, I'm grateful Lenny Duncan didn't.<br />
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I'll echo the blurb from Nadia Bolz-Weber from the front cover: "I dare you to read this book." I particularly dare you to do so if you're a white, straight, American male in the ELCA. You need to sit down, read, and listen. You need to know that your privilege is real, that there are things you don't encounter simply because your skin color and your sexual preference fall a certain way. You need to hear from someone like Lenny, who loves this church way more than you do, because Lenny stayed faithful when you would have bailed long ago. You need to hear his deep love for this church and ask yourself: what can I do in order to return this deep, abiding love God and Lenny have for this church? I dare you to open yourself up that much, and see what happens.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-12314685137131171622020-01-03T00:49:00.000-06:002020-01-03T00:51:17.972-06:00Book Review: From a Certain Point of View<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34817927-from-a-certain-point-of-view" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="From a Certain Point of View (Star Wars)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1501271454l/34817927._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34817927-from-a-certain-point-of-view">From a Certain Point of View</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7877552.Elizabeth_Schaefer">Elizabeth Schaefer</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3109723659">3 of 5 stars</a><br />
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This is a fun idea: collect a bunch of authors and have them write a tribute album of sorts to <i>Star Wars: A New Hope</i> wherein the stories are told via the eyes of non-central characters. Like most of these volumes, the results are mixed. Some of the stories are daring, original, and well-told. Some, well, aren't. Of particular note for me was Glen Weldon's story of the mouse droid who encountered Chewbacca in the hallways of the Death Star, as much because I enjoy Weldon on NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour" podcast as the story itself. <br />
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It was certainly a quick, entertaining read during vacation, which is great because no one wants to be laboring away at tough reading on vacation, right?<br />
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-78083525163653410262019-10-20T19:14:00.002-05:002019-10-20T19:14:43.217-05:00Distinguishing Despair and DepressionHi. Been a while.<br />
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Had an interesting moment after the sermon this morning. I feel pretty good about the sermon - on point, wouldn't take back anything that I wrote or said. But sometimes you get done and you realize that while your first and main point in a sermon is sound and on target, there's the potential for extrapolations from what you've said to lead down some roads you never intended it to take. So I thought I'd take a minute tonight to expand a bit on what I said for the sake of understanding a crucial distinction that wasn't on anyone's radar 500 years ago.<br />
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The preaching text this morning was Luke 18.1-8, the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=438613764" target="_blank">Follow this link if you'd like to read the passage</a>. The title of my sermon today was "Struggle and Prayer" - I talked about faith being connected to persistent struggle and even more steadfast belief that God listens to prayer even more lovingly than we can imagine. I also talked about Luther's belief that despair was one of the most powerful and dangerous embodiments of sin, evil, and brokenness. The word Luther used was <i>anfechtung</i>, which doesn't have a direct English equivalent, but is essentially the sum total of every doubt, fear, regret, and guilt landing on your head and heart.<br />
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I also quoted Luther twice. First, I quoted him describing <i>anfechtung</i> as he had experienced it:<br />
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<i>At such a time, God seems terribly angry, and with him the whole creation. At such a time there is no flight, no comfort, within or without, but all things accuse. At such a time as that the Psalmist mourns, “I am cut off from thy sight” ...In this moment (strange to say) the soul cannot believe that it can ever be redeemed other than that the punishment is not yet completely felt...All that remains is the stark-naked desire for help and a terrible groaning, but it does not know where to turn for help.</i></blockquote>
Next, I quoted a letter Luther had written to a friend who was undergoing some severe trials and had written to Luther seeking some word of comfort and hope:<br />
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<i>...Excellent Jerome, rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you.<br />You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy.<br />I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.<br />Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way.<br />Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil.<br />Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking.<br />By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him...<br />When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus:<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Where he is, there I shall be also.”<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yours, Martin Luther</i></blockquote>
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What started troubling me this afternoon was this: Martin Luther lived in a different time with a vastly differing understanding of how the human brain works. My fear, as I pondered my sermon in retrospect, is that I didn't give sufficient attention to the difference between spiritual despair, which is as real today as it was in Luther's time, and depression. Today, depression is a diagnosable medical condition, best addressed by some combination of treatment prescribed by medical and mental health professionals. In Luther's time, however, no one could distinguish between depression and despair/<i>anfechtung</i>, and so any troubled conscience would have been told that they were undergoing some attack of the devil and that the key was to resist that attack with the tools of faith. As a person diagnosed with and taking medication to address depression, I'm as thankful to live in an age where we are beginning to understand brain chemistry as I am many other medical advances.</div>
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It is crucial that the church understands and proclaims a word of hope based in its present circumstances. Where I missed the mark this morning was not distinguishing between despair and depression. A conscience troubled by sin and broken faith may certainly be comforted by the sort of spiritual care that I or another religious counselor can offer, and this is what I was addressing today. A soul troubled by deeper, darker torments, however, may be suffering from depression; in such a case, the church should be honor-bound to refer this beloved child of God to a professional who can properly diagnose and treat those conditions. Treating a mental health condition with prayer alone is no more effective than treating a broken leg with aspirin would be. It's both spiritual and medical malpractice to do so. </div>
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The church has a terrible record when it comes to acknowledging and embracing those of us with mental health disorders, precisely because we often don't do the admittedly difficult work of distinguishing despair and depression. I wish I'd done that better in my sermon today, but hopefully this little bit of retroactive reflection might encourage others to do better in the future.</div>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-86528223091243909982019-05-26T13:17:00.000-05:002019-05-26T13:17:01.284-05:00June Newsletter Article - Church Members and Cattle Prods<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And <u><b>l</b></u><b><u>et us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds</u></b>, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” - Hebrews 10:24-25</i></blockquote>
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<a name='more'></a>I never much liked chasing pigs when I was a kid growing up on our family farm. It’s a dirty, smelly, frustrating job, much more difficult than herding cattle or sheep. Cattle & sheep aren’t particularly intelligent or curious animals; they tend to go where you want them to go if you spread out your arms, herd them toward your intended gate, and give them space to move slowly and without panic.<br />
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This is not what happens when you chase pigs. Pigs are smart, curious, and highly excitable. They do not like being herded, they’re tough, and most of the pigs you chase are fast. The only pigs who aren’t fast are the boars and sows you’re not sending to market in the first place, though a sow can move pretty quick if she decides she’s got the proper motivation (usually plucking a fresh-born piglet out of the nest she’s made in a farrowing yard will do the trick). In the years my dad farrowed hogs while I was growing up, I spent more hours moving pigs through sorting gates and into hog yards with fences held together by baling wire than I care to remember, although I did learn some interesting words on those hot summer afternoons when one pig or two decided they didn’t want to stay in the trailer at the top of the loading ramp before one of us could get the gate shut.<br />
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Usually we used sticks or even whips to extend our reach and keep the pigs as much in line as we could, but there were a few times when Dad would try to use a cattle prod in close quarters to get things moving in the right direction. A cattle prod is essentially a lightweight rod with two metal prongs at one end and a battery with a button switch at the other. The battery gives an electric charge to whatever you poke with the prongs - not nearly enough to do permanent harm, but uncomfortable enough to get a large farm animal moving away from it. Prods can work great on cattle. Not so much on pigs, though. Pigs get spooked and jumpy and usually just getting everyone around them worked up, and pretty soon your prod gets the whole bunch screaming and running in every direction except into the gate where you want them to go. Like I said, I never much liked chasing pigs.<br />
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Imagine my amusement many years later when one of my seminary professors told us that the word <b><u>to provoke</u></b> in the verse above is also used to describe what a shepherd or farmer does to prod their charges forward. The professor referred to it as an “ox goad,” but I know that means “cattle prod” and boy, do I want to be careful when I talk about “prodding” fellow believers to not neglect meeting together as the body of Christ. Some of you are going to take that the wrong way and pretty soon you’ll get spooked and jumpy and there’ll be screaming and running in every direction and…<br />
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You can probably sense where this is going. June will mark the beginning of summer, which brings changes in schedules, family vacations, summer sports, and all the wonderful things summer has to offer. It also means Sunday morning attendance drops a bit due to travel and other summer activities. So let this be the one time I will encourage you to not forget about your St. Petri family altogether as the days lengthen, the temperatures rise, and the golf course/ball diamond/lake/campground beckons. We’ll be here every Sunday morning, of course, but there are many other ways to love and do good deeds with us this summer. You’ll read about them in this newsletter and hear about them from Kristin and myself all summer long.<br />
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I much prefer this present herd that’s been entrusted to me over the ones I tended as a Nebraska farm boy. You all smell better, for starters, and most of the time I get to work in air conditioning. Consider this your prodding for the summer from me. Make time to come and rest in the loving embrace of God’s mercy for you and I bet you’ll find yourself less anxious and more able to enjoy all the rest of summer as well.<br />
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Yours in Christ’s peace,<br />
Pastor ScottScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-45684367296707919932019-04-23T11:55:00.001-05:002019-04-23T11:55:44.162-05:00May Newsletter Article - Worship Matters<span style="font-family: inherit;">Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Beloved in Christ, in this time of celebration I want to say a word of thanks to all of you. As I reflect on our time together this past Lenten season, I am grateful for the time and attention many of you gave to breaking bread together and gathering in worship. Lent has always had a special place in my heart because it is a time when the Holy Spirit can bring about change and growth in all of us through the extra time and attention we give to the gospel and to receiving it together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As we move into the celebratory season of Easter I want to draw your attention to a series of workshops held at St. Petri in upcoming months for those of you involved in worship leadership at St. Petri. <i>Worship Matters</i> workshops will help all of us learn more about the different roles we have in worship, where those roles originated, and how to carry them out with great effectiveness and joy. We’ll meet & pray, learn a bit about each of the different elements of worship leadership in our congregation, spend some time considering the “how-to” aspects of those elements, and I’ll do my best to answer any questions or concerns that might arise during each session. We’ll rotate through the different parts of worship leadership as many times as we feel is necessary, so those of you who miss a session will have chances to attend when we work around to it again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My tentative schedule for upcoming months is as follows:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">April 27 - Assisting Ministers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">May 25 - Lectors</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">June 29 - Audio/Video Tech</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">July 27 - No meeting (I have a prior commitment)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">August 31 - Ushers/Greeters</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">September 28 - Altar Guild</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">October 26 - Acolytes</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If we identify other things we’d like to be doing in worship leadership, they can be added to the schedule as needed. Otherwise, I’ll begin the schedule again in November or December with Communion Ministers, since the first of the <i>Worship Matters</i> workshops was held in March with them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you’d like more information about any of these worship leadership roles, please let me know. One thing I do want to make clear is that these sessions are for those who want to be added to the roster of worship leaders <u><b>and for those who are already actively leading in these roles</b></u>. We can all learn more about leading worship - even a seasoned pro like myself needs to do some continuing education to grow and learn!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I look forward to seeing you at these workshops this year. For all the difficulties of modern schedules and activities, our weekly worship services are still the time when the largest percentage of members and guests gather in one place to receive the proclamation of the gospel. Worship still matters, in other words, and so we pay attention to <i>Worship Matters</i> (see what I did there?). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">May the joy of the risen Christ sustain your own joy this Easter season.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yours in Christ,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pastor Scott</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-69142752642223537352019-03-11T17:02:00.000-05:002019-03-11T17:03:16.421-05:00Text Study - Notes for Lent 2C<span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><b>Prayer of the Day</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross you promise everlasting life to the world. gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy, that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. </span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amen.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><b>Gospel Reading: Luke 13:1-13, 31-35</b></u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">6Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' 8He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">_________________________________________________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><u>TEXT NOTES</u></b></span><br />
<ul>
<li><u style="font-family: inherit;">Glossary Items</u></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Blood mixed with sacrifices”: no other ancient source mentions a specific instance like what Jesus describes here, but “such bloodshed was not uncommon: Pilate’s troops killed a group of Samaritans climbing Mt. Gerizim; Pilate introduced Roman effigies into Jerusalem, causing a riot and a march on Caesarea; Pilate seized Temple treasury funds in order to build an aqueduct.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Siloam: whatever this disaster was, it is only mentioned in the gospel of Luke. There is no mention of a Tower of Siloam anywhere in the Old Testament.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Are there other terms/characters/words you don’t understand?</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><u style="font-family: inherit;">The Lutheran “Both/And”</u></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lutherans tend to view theological matters from a place of tension between two viewpoints that can be understood to be mutually exclusive. This story indicates one such tension in Jesus’ ministry:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the one hand, Jesus preached an urgent need for personal repentance/reconciliation because of judgment being imminent (v. 1-5 here).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, Jesus clearly regarded his own ministry as a postponement of this judgment, a sign of God’s mercy allowing further time for repentance (v. 6-9 here).</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>When Bad Things Happen To Good People</u></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The title of Rabbi Kushner’s famous book above shows a central belief that was common in Jesus’ time: calamity was a sign of sin or some sort of unfaithfulness, while success was a sign of righteousness and purity.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus doesn’t explicitly name Job as a resource, but his argument appears based on the same point made by the book of Job: life is uncertain, and success and misfortune cannot be reliably assigned to sin or righteousness.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Such a theology is always better in theory than it is in dealing with the tragedies and calamities of life. Nevertheless, these deaths serve as a graphic warning of the coming judgment. Just as these Galileans and Jerusalemites had perished suddenly, so also all of those who heard Jesus would also perish if they did not repent.”</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>The Fig Tree</u></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Agricultural imagery was common in the Old Testament - one example was the care expended on the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-2.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leviticus 19:23-25 gives each newly planted tree three years in which its fruit is not to be eaten, and the 4th year is to be left completely to the Lord.</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Helpful Pharisees?</u></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are 2 schools of thought as to the motives of the Pharisees in v. 31-35:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Herod was afraid that Jesus was a religious troublemaker who would destabilize Herod’s kingdom, and this was a threat designed to get him out of Galilee. Herod wouldn’t have actually harmed Jesus because of his growing popularity.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Pharisees were actually trying to protect Jesus from Herod, who had already executed John the Baptist. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus has some other encounters with Pharisees that are not as antagonistic as we expect.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Herod the “Fox”</u></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Hebrew, ‘fox’ has a wider range of meaning than in Greek or English. The craftiness of the fox is a shared definition, but a second common use in Hebrew was the inferiority of the fox to a lion or a larger predator. By calling Herod a “fox” Jesus was saying his work was more important than worrying about an inferior predator.</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>The Hen</u></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">A curious image for protection: the hen can do nothing against a predator but use her body as a shield, even against a fox.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If you have ever loved someone you could not protect, then you understand the depth of Jesus’ lament. All you can do is open your arms. You cannot make anyone walk into them. Meanwhile, this is the most vulnerable posture in the world - wings spread, breast exposed - but if you mean what you say, then this is how you stand…She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body.” Barbara Brown Taylor, in The Christian Century</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><u style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Questions to Ponder</b></u></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The 24-hour news cycle often tells us of tragedies around the world as they are happening. Does this make tragedy less or more tragic? Less or more anxiety-causing?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you had ‘one more year’ like the fig tree to produce ‘fruit’, would you do anything differently?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">What other questions do you have?</span></li>
</ul>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-37576774315835603242019-03-05T06:00:00.000-06:002019-03-05T06:00:01.458-06:00Ash Wednesday: Bring Your KidI originally wrote this piece four years ago, but it seemed worth revisiting this year.<br />
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Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. For Christians, the Ash Wednesday service marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a penitential period in which we fast, discipline ourselves, and reflect on the life and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a holy time of anticipation and purpose, and for many it is our "favorite" season of the church.<br />
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But Ash Wednesday begins with a stark reminder of our mortality. Ministers dip their thumbs in a bowl of ashes made from the palm branches waved to honor Jesus on Palm Sunday and mark a cross on the foreheads of all participants, while pronouncing a death sentence on us all: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."<br />
<a href="http://practicingfamiliesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/ash_wednesday_wash-post-296x210.jpg?w=610" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://practicingfamiliesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/ash_wednesday_wash-post-296x210.jpg?w=610" /></a><br />
<a name='more'></a>For the past seven years, this service has had an even deeper impact on me. Every year I have<br />
reached out a trembling thumb and made the sign of the cross on my own child. As my friend David put it, "it gets you right in the feels." I don't know how much my girls understand about that moment. But we bring them every year, and if you have kids, you should bring yours, too.<br />
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Why? Because it's important, even at an early age, to be honest with our kids about our mortality and our captivity to sin. Ash Wednesday is a service that addresses both. We can no more escape our bondage to sin than we can cheat death. Both will have us in the end, and we owe it to ourselves and to our children to be honest about it.<br />
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I know it will be hard. I know you don't want to think about your own death, and you certainly don't want to think about the death of your children. But the only change that comes with hiding from the truth is an inability to deal with the truth when it is finally forced upon us. We have a choice: acknowledge our sin and death now, or be confronted with it in all its ugly power when it lands upon us.<br />
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Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Go to church. Bring your kids.</div>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0Story City, IA 50248, USA42.1871555 -93.59552941.998928500000005 -93.9182525 42.3753825 -93.2728055tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-4475631828247517622019-02-26T13:05:00.000-06:002019-02-26T13:11:48.070-06:00Lectionary Bible Study - Transfiguration Sunday - Luke 9:28-36<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="color: #010000; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gospel Reading: Luke 9.28-45</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>28</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>29</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>30</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>32</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>33</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>34</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>35</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>36</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>37</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>38</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Just then a man from the crowd shouted, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>39</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It throws him into convulsions until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>40</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.’ </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>41</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.’ </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>42</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>43</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">And all were astounded at the greatness of God.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples, </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>44</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">‘Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.’ </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>45</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">TEXT NOTES</span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">This text marks the close of the Epiphany season. Between Jesus’ birth and crucifixion, there is arguably no more astonishing epiphany (from the Greek </span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">epi phanos</i><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> meaning “shining upon/through” or “revelation”) than the Transfiguration - an event that graphically reveals who Jesus is and gives a glorious glimpse of who he will be. Yet for all its drama and power, this transfiguring event appears to play a very limited role in the rest of Jesus’ ministry or in the disciples’ immediate perceptions of Jesus.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Transfiguration has a definite connection with Jesus’ baptism - they are</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">the only times that the “voice of God” is heard audibly in the gospel of Luke.</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Transfiguration also draws a connection to the epiphany experienced by Moses on Mt. Sinai, the Old Testament reading appointed for the day. When Moses descended from Sinai after his long time with God, “the skin of his face was shining” and he had to wear a veil to cover the brightness of his features.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Moses and Elijah represent the great Jewish traditions of the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). Luke is the only gospel to reveal the content of their discussion: Jesus’ impending departure (“exodus”?) from Earth.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition, the verses preceding this story in the gospel of Luke are about Jesus’ identity. When Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain, Peter has just confessed that Jesus is “the Messiah.” Identity is crucial in all that follows: Jesus is redefining who God is and what it means to be Messiah (“anointed of God”).</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Peter’s astonished babbling tells the reader that Moses and Elijah were actually there - no hallucination. His offer of shelter is congruent from the tradition of offering hospitality (usually food and drink) to the traveling stranger, evoking not just the Jews in the wilderness but also Abraham and Sarah and their descendants encountering God as sojourners in Genesis.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">“Why do the disciples not rush down the mountain and share with everyone what they have witnessed?</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hans Conzelmann suggested that secrecy about Jesus’ identity ensures that Jesus will fulfill his divine purpose; if the people knew without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, they would actively save him from the cross, interrupting the divine plan. This also would explain Jesus’ repeated commands during his public ministry to stay silent about his identity (as he does following Peter’s confession in Luke 9:22).</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another explanation would be that secrecy about Jesus’ identity allows for a well-paced fulfillment of an important theme: proclaiming salvation to the “ends of the earth.” Jesus begins as a relatively obscure hometown figure, but then becomes a powerful preacher and healer whose fame spreads rapidly into a wide range of social circles. Not only does Jesus’-news reach greater numbers of people -- Jews and Gentiles alike -- but it also reaches all socioeconomic levels of society, from social outcasts to elite rulers (shepherds in Luke 2.17-18, John the Baptist in prison in Luke 7.18, tax collectors and sinners in Luke 15.1). Higher up on the social pyramid, a centurion requests Jesus’ help (Luke 7:3), and news even reaches the royal court, as Herod hears “about it all” (Luke 9:7-9)” <span style="font-family: inherit;">(</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Michal Beth Dinkler. <span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3005">http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3005</a>)</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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</ul>
<u><span style="font-family: inherit;">Questions to Ponder</span></u><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the gospel of Luke, prayer is involved whenever something significant happens. After his baptism, Jesus was praying when the divine voice spoke. Jesus prayed before appointing his twelve apostles. In this story, Jesus was praying when the divine voice spoke. What does this tell us about how Luke thinks about prayer?</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The disciples were overwhelmed by what they experienced, so they said nothing to anyone about what they had seen. Jesus still talks about suffering and death while in his transfigured glory. What kind of a messiah is this, anyway?</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Peter’s well-known impulse to build 3 chapels on the peak is usually derided by scholars, theologians, and preachers. “We mustn’t linger on the peaks, but return to the valley of service.” “One can’t live in the rarified atmosphere of a mountaintop; we’re meant to live in the valleys of human experience and suffering.” Is this a fair critique? Why or why not?</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Think about one of your “transfiguration” experiences. How did it change the way you view God? Yourself? Your life?</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Questions to Ponder</span></span></div>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-86014570312806374882019-02-18T19:14:00.002-06:002019-02-21T10:40:14.401-06:002019 Books: The Battle for Bonhoeffer by Stephen R. Haynes<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"I developed a scholarly interest in the churches' role during the Nazi era in part so I could help ensure that Christians would never repeat the mistakes they made under Hitler. Similarly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my heroes in part because he was able to resist eh wave of Hitler worship that swept up many German Protestants."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So writes Stephen Haynes in the postscript of </span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Bonhoeffer-Stephen-R-Haynes/dp/0802876013/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JOM9MJDBUA2Z&keywords=battle+for+bonhoeffer&qid=1550538831&s=gateway&sprefix=battle+for+bonho%2Caps%2C213&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump</a></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. This is a sentiment which I share wholeheartedly with Dr. Haynes. I, too, became fascinated with the story of Bonhoeffer and the Church Struggle of the Nazi era, first as a college student beginning to explore the content and questions of my Lutheran faith as a young adult, then later as a seminarian pondering the deeper questions of the Church, faith, the state/government, and personal responsibility and action in circumstances not easily interpreted into categories such as right/wrong or good/evil. I was just beginning a one year seminary internship in Florida when planes were used as weapons of mass destruction on 11 September 2001; from that moment to today, Bonhoeffer has been one of my constant interpretive companions in navigating an age which does not appear to have a peaceful ending in sight. I am one of many who has been comforted, challenged, and confounded by Bonhoeffer in these years. Haynes makes one point abundantly clear: however wide we think the application of Bonhoeffer has been, our estimations haven't been wide enough to encompass the breadth of the political and religious appropriation of Bonhoeffer, justified or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">While Bonhoeffer is the main subject of the book, Haynes has divided his text into two main sections: Bonhoeffer before <i>Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy</i>, the 2010 biography written by Eric Metaxas, and Bonhoeffer after. True, the official table of contents lists three parts, but Metaxas is the prime meridian here, and deservedly so. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Haynes does a serviceable job examining the Bonhoeffer legacy prior to Metaxas. However, those who are unfamiliar with Bonhoeffer's story and the ongoing devotion surrounding him might not appreciate the entire picture if Haynes is their first exposure to the topic. Any Bonhoeffer text which only mentions Eberhard Bethge four times is counting on readers already being familiar with Bonhoeffer and knowing the importance of Bethge and other particulars such as the Barmen Declaration, Finkenwalde, and the Abwehr. This is not a biography, nor does it need to be; omitting these particulars leaves Haynes with more room to discuss his main topic, which he does particularly well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">For the majority of the book, Haynes provides a sharp analysis of Bonhoeffer appropriation, particularly in the post-9/11 years and in the rise of electronic media. This is an exhaustively researched book, though the presentation doesn't belabor points or get lost in what I'm certain are some incredibly deep internet rabbit holes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Once the Metaxas biography arrives on the scene, however, some of the gloves come off. Haynes addresses some of the numerous inaccuracies, misquotes, and problematic interpretations in Metaxas' book, and reviews from reliable Bonhoeffer scholars which pointed out these issues, with a good balance of economy and clarity to prove his point while keeping the text manageable (I can assure you, the list of problems with Metaxas' appropriation of Bonhoeffer could be very long, indeed). In the last chapters, Haynes paints himself as something of an outsider even among Bonhoeffer scholars, acknowledging that he often advocated for conversation with Metaxas among Bonhoeffer scholars prior to the 2016 presidential election. That election, however, was the straw which broke Haynes' willingness to suffer Metaxas gladly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The last two chapters really dig into misappropriations of Bonhoeffer, particularly for evangelicals who joined Metaxas in ascribing support for Donald Trump as something Bonhoeffer would have wholeheartedly endorsed. This argument receives the evisceration it deserves, but Haynes also offers a countering warning to those who misappropriate Bonhoeffer to align themselves against an imagined parallel between Trump and Adolf Hitler. There are similarities, Haynes acknowledges, but our times and contexts do not allow us to simplistically (and lazily) call Trump a Nazi and be done. Perhaps the best argument he presents is a quote from an article written by Victoria J. Barnett in the Washington Post:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"If we can understand Bonhoeffer outside the box - not as saint, not as mythological hero, but as someone who reflected poignantly on evil's consequences for the human conscience and spirit, for an entire culture and country, we may begin to uncover the person behind the mythology: a man who tried to face the darkness of his times. In the process, we may discover someone who can speak more directly to the darknesses and failures of our own."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wish I could leave this review here. However, a postscript is appended in which Haynes writes a letter to "Christians who Love Bonhoeffer but (Still) Support Trump." I didn't find anything disagreeable in the open letter itself, but it seemed an odd bit of editorializing added on to a book which, to this point, had done an admirable job of avoiding it. Perhaps my discomfort arises from my being largely opposed to most of the Trump agenda, because I'm certainly not the intended audience for such a letter. However, I'm not sure anyone who still supports Trump would have picked up Haynes' book in the first place, and I'm fairly certain anyone who did would have abandoned it long before reaching the postscript Haynes apparently </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">really</u><span style="font-family: inherit;"> wanted them to read. But there it is, putting a confusing coda at the end of a good discussion. It doesn't ruin the book, not by any means, but it doesn't measure up to the rest of it, either, and that's a shame. On the whole this is a worthy interpretation of the title: the "battle for Bonhoeffer" is ongoing and needs interpreters like Haynes to help the rest of us navigate a landscape we can't always see clearly.</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-25518456914984886542018-07-01T09:48:00.000-05:002018-07-01T09:48:02.359-05:00July Newsletter Article - Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Summer is here, and that means it’s camp season! <a href="http://riversidelbc.org/" target="_blank">Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp</a> is yet another of the important ministries we support with our benevolences at St. Petri, both as a congregation and as individuals. July is a great time to talk about the wonderful ministry we support just up the road to the north of Story City.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Riverside has been a camping presence in the Story City community for 75 years. “Riverside was established in 1943 thanks to the extraordinary vision of Pastor A.J. Bringle. Ever since then, Riverside has been a place of worship, rest, community, experiencing the Holy Spirit, and growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Tens of thousands of people have been impacted by the ministry here, along the banks of the Skunk River…” In 2017, Riverside welcomed over 2,500 campers, including local kids at day camps throughout the state, and approximately 7,500 people participated in some sort of event, retreat, or camp program hosted by or connected to Riverside throughout the year.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Riverside offers a variety of opportunities for people of all ages and abilities. There will also be a large shift in leadership in 2018 as longtime executive and equestrian directors Dave & Jan McDermott have announced their retirement, effective in October 2018. Riverside has already found its next executive director - Chris Dahl, current program coordinator, will step into that role this fall. Many of you know the years of dedicated service the McDermotts have given to Riverside and the Story City area - I’m sure an extra gift to Riverside in their honor would be appreciated.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As a longtime camper & staff veteran myself, I know firsthand how important camping ministries can be to the life of faith. There is something special about places set apart, like Riverside, where we can be invited to step out of our “boats” and into a new way of thinking or living the faith God has given us. I’m grateful that St. Petri supports Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp, and I look forward to a vibrant future for both our congregation and the camp just outside of town.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yours in Christ,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pastor ScottScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-47325366423530885252018-04-02T11:08:00.000-05:002018-04-02T11:08:04.507-05:00April 2018 Newsletter Article<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia! So goes the shout of the church in this Easter season. With Christ arisen, we, too, live again in the hope of resurrection and in life that extends far beyond the grave. The question before us, now that death no longer holds us captive, addresses a new hope for the future: how shall we live? </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>One of the marks of Christian life after Easter has always been generosity. In the days of the early church, believers often gathered together for communal meals, and some communities actually created a sort of communal society, where all goods were held in common and all shared freely from what God had entrusted to them. Two millennia later, we Christians of the 21st century still practice this generous sharing of what God has entrusted to us. Here at St. Petri, we share a beautiful, historic congregation with its own building and local ministries. We also share as a congregation to support ministries beyond our local community. Over the next few months, I’m going to share the stories of these ministries with you, so that you will be better informed about what happens to every dollar you return to God in thanksgiving for what God has given to you. </div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The largest portion of our giving goes to the Northeastern Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In a newsletter article a few years ago, Pastor Mark Anderson of the NEIA Synod Staff shared a brief glimpse of the many ways the Synod partners with our congregation in the ministry of our church:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is too short a space to review all the synodical ministries or narrate the budget, but here is a summary of what I think readers will care about the most.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharing Jesus and Supporting Congregations</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evangelism</span></i></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use a strong social media presence to proclaim the Word, call the church to prayer, and lift up and encourage congregations’ witness.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consult with congregations who request assistance in renewal, stewardship, and evangelism.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accompany our new worshiping communities in Farley and Parkersburg.</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passing on the Faith from Our Generation to the Next</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Youth, Family, & Young Adult Ministry</span></i></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provide help for parents to teach the faith to their children.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Support youth workers and youth ministry.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Offer Christian leadership training for high school students.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Support campus ministry.</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raising & Supporting Pastoral Leadership for Congregations</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leadership</span></i></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Walk with candidates through the process of becoming pastors and other rostered leaders.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secure funding to support Seminary Education.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Train and coach new pastors.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guide congregations through the call process.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provide continuing education opportunities for rostered leaders.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Help church leaders to prepare to retire.</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharing Daily Bread & Working for Opportunity</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poverty & Justice</span></i></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Domestic Hunger Grants fund community and church gardens to grow food for food shelves, food banks and community meals.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Barnabas Uplift provides job training for the unemployed.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Provide funding to Lutheran Services in Iowa for the care of children, families, the elderly, and people with special needs.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to undesignated “mission support,” (offerings received from congregations) the members of the Northeastern Iowa Synod last year gave:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$177,000 to ELCA World Hunger</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$55,000 to support Lutheran World Relief</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$49,000 to support missionaries</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$48,000 to the ELCA Malaria Campaign</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$15,500 to Domestic Disaster Response</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We give thanks for all those people and congregations who give to support the wider church and for all the ministries these gifts make possible.</span></div>
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This is just a snapshot of the many ways we congregations of the Northeastern Iowa Synod provide support to one another through the offerings we pass on in mission support. Individual congregations could not do this on their own, but together we support and encourage one another, and the sum of what we can do together is much larger than the parts each individual church offers. I join Pastor Anderson in thanking you for your generous support of our ministries, and I encourage you to grow in that generosity in 2018!</div>
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Yours in Christ, </div>
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Pastor Scott</div>
Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-10807738949867855632018-03-26T12:05:00.001-05:002018-03-26T12:05:50.157-05:00Pop Culture Monday: Living Biblically<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Beloved is a fan of a lot of CBS shows: <i>NCIS, Madam Secretary, </i>and <i>Hawaii Five-O</i> being her big favorites. I've trended recently more toward the sci-fi/horror genre since there's been a ton of quality offerings over the past few years: <i>The Walking Dead, The Expanse, Taboo, Into the Badlands, Game of Thrones, American Gods, </i>etc. So we haven't been watching a lot of television together over the past few years. Recently this changed because of two shows: <i>Star Trek: Discovery</i> and <i>Living Biblically</i>. I'm not going to do a review of <i>ST:D</i> until the 2nd season drops, but given that <i>Living Biblically</i> is a recent addition, this seemed a good opportunity to critique something with which I'm familiar: a show about religion.<br />
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<i>Living Biblically</i> is based on/inspired by <i><a href="http://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/" target="_blank">The Year of Living Biblically</a></i> by A.J. Jacobs. I have to admit this book has been on my "To Be Read" list for quite a while, so I'm not able to comment on the show's similarity/difference to its source inspiration. I do know that while Jacobs is a secular Jew, the main character of the TV show, Chip Curry, is a lapsed Roman Catholic, so right off the bat we have a major difference in what we mean when we say "Living <u>Biblically</u>."<br />
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I've seen four episodes thus far, and I have to admit that without the tie-in to my own calling as a pastor, I don't know if I'd be interested in watching further. The show hasn't offered any truly insightful commentary on faith or life thus far. The Hulu comedy <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588221/" target="_blank">Rev</a></i> offered a much funnier take on modern faith (if also incredibly dark), and there are others from years past such as <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108981/" target="_blank">The Vicar of Dibley</a></i> which appear to take faith much more seriously while also being much funnier.<br />
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Chip's determination to live "100% 'by the Bible'" is curiously scattershot. Instead of beginning with Genesis 1:1 and getting horribly lost somewhere in Leviticus like most Biblical neophytes (yours truly included, many, many years ago), we never get any idea of just how Chip is ingesting scripture. Episodes have so far focused on the Ten Commandments - "Thou Shalt Not Steal" incorporated an interesting conundrum regarding office supplies and the intersection of morality and office morale - but without reference to their scriptural locus or any sort of formative guidance from Chip's "God Squad" of Father Gene and Rabbi Gil. The advice provided by Gene & Gil is somewhat nuanced in the moment, but there is no overarching theme, pattern, or course of study provided by Chip's mentors. In the pilot episode, when Chip tells Father Gene he's going to live "100% by the Bible," Father Gene does what every minister I know would do: he bursts into laughter. But so far, that's it. Chip appears to be on his own in this spiritual quest, which is absolutely <i>not</i> how most of us in the clergy ranks would leave things. Sure, we'd laugh - but then we'd get to work <i>with</i> Chip to incorporate the larger themes of faithful living in a cohesive, coherent program of learning and prayer. We sure as heck wouldn't just send him out into the world to grasp at daily life with a book he doesn't know as his only guide.<br />
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There are aspects of the show we really enjoy, however. The portrayal of Father Gene & Rabbi Gil as real people, neither smarmy and sanctimonious nor spiritually jaded and empty is refreshing, to say nothing of promoting interfaith friendships as natural and acceptable. The pattern of Chip's religious explorations might be lacking, but his attempts to be a more faithful husband, father-to-be, and friend come off as sincere and empathetic.<br />
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The tension of living faithfully while not alienating friends and coworkers is something we haven't seen much on television anywhere, and I'm interested to see just how deep the show's creators will be willing to go. So far, living "biblically" hasn't cost Chip anything beyond some minor inconveniences; real faith requires much more than giving up Starbucks so your spouse can watch premium cable shows. Will Chip discover that faith is much more nuanced than woodenly following these "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth"? What about LGBTQIA issues and the thorny passages which some interpret as a condemnation? Abortion? Thou Shalt Not Kill/Murder? Coveting? There's a lot of possibilities out there for this show, but the showrunners will need to be bolder to explore them. Making that sort of show would be risky - it would take an act of faith to make it work.Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-40271516500873680532018-01-25T10:19:00.004-06:002018-01-25T10:24:14.501-06:00February 2018 Newsletter Article<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The new year has come and gone and most of us, for better or for worse, have discovered which resolutions we’ll keep and which ones were just wishful thinking (almost all of mine fall in the latter category every year). I’d like to invite you to add a resolution to your list that should be a lot easier to keep than a gym schedule. I invite you to reshape the way you think about the ministry of St. Petri Lutheran Church. Give me a minute to explain what I’m proposing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a congregation, we are really, really good at special offerings, and that’s something to celebrate. When our youth are raising funds to pay for their mission trips, they don’t have to beg and plead. When the Council decided it was time to finally replace that worn out carpet in the Fellowship Hall, the committee in charge of overseeing the project had what we needed in just a few weeks. Even when you determined it was time for a major renovation of the parsonage, a project which required a significant investment of time and resources by a lot of St. Petri members, it was done in plenty of time for us to move in and feel cherished by this congregation (which we do - we’ve told churches around the synod that St. Petri is a model congregation when it comes to maintaining and managing a parsonage). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At the same time, our general operating budget at St. Petri has consistently been a source of concern for the Council over these past five years. In 2017, we’ve been in a deficit at the end of every month, even though our actual spending as a congregation has been below budget, finishing the year just over 96% of what we projected at the annual meeting last January. Financially, St. Petri runs a very tight ship which is well-managed and properly overseen by our Council and through an annual Audit Committee. For 2018, the Property and Trustees Committee is proposing a general budget which is actually lower than 2017, but includes salary raises for staff which are in line with the minimum guidelines established by the Northeastern Iowa Synod every year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My proposal in relation to all this is quite simple: <i><b><u>everything is special</u></b></i>. It’s wonderful to be able to see our special gifts installing new carpet in the Fellowship Hall, but the Bible Study which meets in that Fellowship Hall is also special, right? How about the electricity which allows us to run the lights for social hour after worship every Sunday morning? The heat which keeps the building warm in the winter? The piano tuner who keeps our instruments sounding good all year round? The cleaning supplies our custodians use to keep the building looking nice every week? The copier which prints the weekly bulletin? The internet connection that helps us stay connected in a digital age? All these things are indeed a special part of the ministry of St. Petri Evangelical Lutheran Church, and without your support of the general operating fund, those special parts of who we are and what we do will be limited. Sure, fixing a toilet or making sure all the light fixtures have bulbs that work might not feel as special as sending a kid to Puerto Rico for a mission trip or building a new sign out front of the building, but if it’s part of what we do as a church, you know it’s special and it’s critical that we support it with our prayers and our offerings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So that’s my proposal for a new resolution for you, members of St. Petri Lutheran Church: <i><b><u>everything is special</u></b></i>. I’m asking you to support the special work our church is doing in the Story City area with the sort of generosity you’ve given the other special offerings in the past. I’m asking you to help us move forward as a congregation in 2018 and unleash a bit more of the special potential this congregation has to be a force for God’s kingdom this year. I hope to do more of it myself, and I invite you to join me on that journey. God bless you all in this new year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yours in Christ,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Pastor Scott</span>Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20942227.post-10124704841922312692017-11-15T12:22:00.000-06:002017-11-15T12:22:28.032-06:00Text Study for November 19 - A Child is Born<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">God of light, there can be overwhelming obscurity in this world. But you shine your light and increase joy, and for your brilliance we are grateful. Let the light of your grace, which shone through Isaiah's prophecy, shine through us also, that we might radiate your joy in a darkening world. This we pray in the name of Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. <b>Amen.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></b><i>The prophet Isaiah brought a message of hope to the people of Israel and Judah in a time of great suffering and sorrow. After the fall of Israel in 722 B.C., many of the people of the northern kingdom were taken into exile in the Assyrian Empire. Isaiah prophesied that the tribal territories conquered by Assyria would one day be rebuilt by the power of God.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(204, 0, 0); color: #cc0000;"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></i></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">A reading from Isaiah.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>1</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>2</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;<br />
those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>3</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy;<br />
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>4</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor,<br />
you have broken as on the day of Midian.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>5</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>6</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;<br />
authority rests upon his shoulders;<br />
and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.<br />
</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: grey; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><sup>7</sup></span><span style="font-kerning: none;">His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. <br />
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">COMMENTARY & QUESTIONS</span></b></span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What questions do you have about these readings?</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“…Zebulun and Naphtali” (9.1)</span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the original 12 tribes of Israel, alloted lands north and east of the Sea of Galilee (see map). The territories roughly correspond to areas that were taken by Assyrian king Tilgath-pileser III in 732 B.C. Isaiah’s prophesy of redeemed hope and light for these lands would have been heard as the work of God, since they had already been lost to Assyria at the time of Isaiah’s writings here. </span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“…as on the day of Midian.” (9.4)</span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A direct reference to the victory of Gideon over the gigantic Midianite and Amalekite armies recounted in Judges 7: “…all the people…lay along the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.” Despite these overwhelming odds, the Lord sent only 300 Israelites with Gideon against them, so that the Lord alone could claim the victory.</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The comparison would have been evoked by the similarly long odds of Judah surviving the mighty Neo-Assyrian empire.” (Christopher Hays. <a href="http://bit.ly/2ANBauZ"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">http://bit.ly/2ANBauZ</span></a>)</span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">“Particularly in the light of the history of the interpretation of this text, it is important to clarify the tenses in the poem. Verses 2-5 clearly speak of past events…the verbs in v. 6 are perfects and consecutive imperfects, the normal narrative tense in Hebrew. They must be read as reporting past action or, in view of the passives, possibly as present: ‘A child </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">has been born</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> to us…authority </span><span style="font-kerning: none; text-decoration: underline;">rests</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> upon his shoulders.’…The implications of this analysis are quite clear: the reasons for celebration - release from an oppressor, destruction of battle gear, and the birth of the ‘Prince of Peace’ - are not in the future but in the past. These events form the basis for confidence in the future.” (Gene M. Tucker, <i>The New Interpreter’s Bible, v. 6: Isaiah 1-39.</i> © 1996 Abingdon Press. p. 122. Emphasis mine.)</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The titles listed in v. 6 would have been a common element for the birth proclamation of a crown prince in the Ancient Near East. Egyptian Pharaohs were particularly well-known for the descriptive titles attached to the names of their children who would one day ascend to the throne. </span></span></li>
<ol style="list-style-type: upper-alpha;">
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keeping in mind this is the past tense proclamation of the birth of a prince, these would not be <i>earned</i> descriptors but a kind of hortatory title - the sort of thing one wishes to be, not what one has already demonstrated. Think more along the lines of "Daenerys of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regnant of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons” (though some of these titles from the series <i>A Song of Ice and Fire</i> are earned honorifics) and less “Vlad the Impaler.”</span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few questions to ponder:</span></span></li>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“…he (God) brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and Naphtali…” Does it disturb you to think of God bringing down the fortunes of a kingdom or a people? Does it delight you? What do you imagine this word must do to the people who are presently suffering? </span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most Christians see this passage as a prophetic announcement of the coming of Jesus over 700 years after the earliest time this passage could have been written. However, Biblical scholars are almost unanimous in stating this was not Isaiah’s intent at the time it was written - any messianic connections to Jesus are a later addition to the scriptural tradition. Does this sort of historic analysis of scripture challenge your understanding of the Old Testament? Are you comforted or disturbed by the idea that Isaiah was not talking about Jesus, that it is our interpretation and not his original intent? </span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Can you hear this text without thinking of the Michael W. Smith/Amy Grant Christmas recordings based on it? (Confession: your pastor cannot. </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">😀</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> )</span></span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What brings you hope from this reading? What would you love to see fulfilled, even if it isn’t a direct prophetic utterance predicting a certain future?</span></span></li>
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Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00157331552693781962noreply@blogger.com0