Bethany and Concordia

Gene Edward Veith notes an article about the decline of youth work in churches these days. Apparently, it’s hard to get the interest of teens and keep them engaged at church, and getting harder. Maybe our own teens have something to say about that. (Read Veith’s article first, then leave a comment here or on our Facebook page.) He makes the case that a more rigorous faith — including genuine mysteries, and a good deal of ongoing, practical effort from participants — may fare better. Meanwhile, youth programs that focus on fun more than on the serious and somewhat radical business of salvation just blend into all the other “fun” alternatives in a teen’s life.

It sounds to me as though some teens (or “youth”) are simply more interested in being treated like adults than like children. That’s why I consider our Divine Service, Bible classes, and other activities to be for our youth just as much as for independent adults. I’m not opposed to doing fun things together, but our expertise and focus at Bethany and Concordia are in God’s Word, the certainty of salvation, and living as Christians in a fallen world. That’s where we’re different from 99% of the other things our youth could do. That should be important to us all. But is it enough to engage us at church? Youth too?

What do you think? By the way, the comments on Veith’s blog posts are usually worth reading too.

In our catechism we talk about the three ways that God uses His moral Law by using three metaphors or comparisons. Most importantly, He uses His Law as a mirror, which shows us our sinfulness and need for a savior. Also of great importance, He uses His law as a curb upon the evil in the whole world, since it is written upon the hearts of everyone to a limited degree. Finally, God guides Christians with His Law in the ways we are to live as His redeemed children. This is necessary because Christians still have the sinful flesh as long as we live, which obscures and confuses our knowledge of God’s will.

Strictly speaking, the Ten Commandments as found in the Bible were given to the children of Israel, and not to us. However, Jesus confirmed that they describe the way God would have us live, with the exception that the Third Commandment no longer requires a specific day of the week as the Sabbath. Seventh-day Adventists object to this, wishing to retain the meaning of the Third Commandment as it applied to the Israelites. They fail to understand that this aspect of the Third Commandment is not part of God’s universal will for all people (moral law), but His instructions for the worship life of the Jews (ceremonial law), and as such it is fulfilled for us all by Jesus Christ and superceded by faith in Him (Colossians 2:16-17). That does not make it wrong to observe the Sabbath on Saturdays, but it is wrong to insist that every Christian do so.

So in the distinction between the ceremonial and moral law, we can see a difference between God’s will for the behavior of Israelites and for Gentiles. Still, a similar difference also exists in connection with the Ten Commandments. Since Jesus has fulfilled all of them in our place, our righteousness before God is found entirely in Him. Since He gave His life to suffering and death in payment for our disobedience, the Ten Commandments have no more power to condemn those who trust in the Gospel. So Jesus has not only separated us from the ceremonial law, but also from the moral law, though in a different way. It means that Christians can understand and use the Ten Commandments without fear of punishment or condemnation. In Jesus, we no longer have any guilt. He has freed us to live without the intolerable burden of God’s conditional favor: “If you obey My commandments, I will consider you to be righteous.” Now, we are already righteous, entirely through the obedience of Jesus.

With the freedom we have from the Law, we now have a different relationship to the Ten Commandments. They become more precious, because they describe the will of a gracious and loving God. We can approach them with a confidence that as long as we remain in our baptismal grace, they cannot condemn us. So when God says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” we can see more clearly, and more readily admit those times when our personal behavior has not met His righteous expectations.

In Jesus Christ, we can say, “Yes, I have taken God’s name in vain today. I have cursed another in my heart and used His name to decieve another person. Moreover, I have relied upon my own strength in time of trouble, failing to call upon His name, and I have thanklessly taken the credit for my deliverance from trouble. For these things I need God’s forgiveness.” Such an admission is what we call repentance. It’s possible for Christians only because we know that Jesus has obtained forgiveness for us, and God is ready to pronounce that forgiveness upon us at any time we need it.

Sometimes, we may feel the terror of God’s condemnation upon our guilt, but repentance is not necessarily like that. Often, the terror of our guilt is still far away because we still know that Jesus is our savior from sin and death, and the accusations of the devil cannot penetrate our faith in that fact. It may seem unnecessary, in that case, to acknowledge our faults and repent of them, but repentance is always necessary. Faith in Jesus exists only inasmuch as we trust that He is our savior from sin — from the guilt of our own sins. That’s the essence of the Gospel. So in order to have faith in Jesus, to be a Christian, we need to repent. In order to repent, we must have some guilt to acknowledge. God builds our faith with the Gospel, which can only be received through repentance, which in turn can only exist where there is guilt. Understanding this, we can be confident that Jesus has delivered us from God’s wrath, while simultaneously and freely repenting of our many sins that should have incurred that wrath.

When we fail to acknowledge our sins before God, claiming or thinking that we have actually kept one or more of God’s commandments, then we have not rightly understood the demands of His Law in relation to our thoughts, words, and deeds. In that case, we become self-righteous, and that excludes faith. We become unbelievers again, and are in peril of eternal punishment if we should die during that time. An important duty of a pastor is to remind his congregants of their sins, and even to confront those who may have become impenitent with the real danger of God’s punishment in hell. Naturally, we don’t enjoy hearing such a message, but only through that message can we recall our utter need for a Savior.

Beside the spiritual application of the Ten Commandments, Christians also find that they describe a blessed life on earth. Though we can’t keep any of the Commandments as perfectly as they demand, many people (even unbelievers) can live righteous lives outwardly to some degree. Those who do become a blessing to other people, and are themselves blessed in many ways. Those blessings do not equate to “the easy life,” because Christians always live under the shadow of Jesus’ cross, bearing crosses of their own. However, it becomes clear that those who disregard God’s commandments create much more trouble and suffering for themselves and others. So the Ten Commandments, as a summary of the way God would have people live, describe an excellent foundation for a civil society. One does not have to be a Christian or a Jew to see this, or to benefit from it, because God has hidden an echo of His Law in the heart of every human being.

To help you continue to grow in faith, I recommend that you read the Large Catechism on the Ten Commandments, where Dr. Luther explains in detail what each commandment means. You might read about only one commandment each day, and meditate upon Jesus’ fulfillment of that commandment for you, and the ways in which your life continues to make His work necessary for your salvation. You might also wish to think about the way each commandment might be a blessing upon civil society on earth when its members endeavor to live outwardly moral lives, according to God’s will.

As we prepare to enter the season of Lent for 2010, there is much planning to do in our little parish. We are blessed in many ways, not least in having Vicar Gullixson and his family among us. Lord willing, that will continue at least until June. After their stay with us, we will have to readjust to a parish life without a vicar.

In the meantime, we expect to celebrate the confirmation of some of our Jr. Members at both churches on Palm Sunday. We anticipate joint mid-week Lent services, beginning on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) at 6:30 PM, at Bethany, and then alternating weekly between the two churches until Palm Sunday. After Ash Wednesday, we’ll have a “Soup & Sandwich Supper” at 6:20, followed by a Lent service at 7. Candidates for confirmation will have a public examination in those services.

After Easter, everyone is invited to the Emmaus Conference, held at Parkland Lutheran Church in Tacoma. This will be its third year. The Jacobsens are planning to take some vacation time after April 11, while Vicar Gullixson will be here to “watch the shop.”

In May, Bethany is planning to celebrate its 25th year with a special service. We hope that Pastor Frank Fiedler will be able to attend and preach. Well before that happens, Bethany’s narthex project should be finished, so that we can dedicate it to the glory of God, with thanksgiving for His merciful goodness. (At present, the only essential thing remaining is some fine-tuning of the new outer doors.) As the Summer season approaches, we can be thankful again that God provided the means to replace our air conditioner in 2009.

2010 is already a banner year for Concordia, since we have adopted a revised constitution that we can fully uphold in practice. It will be submitted to the synod this year for review. At our annual meeting, we elected office-holders with a one-year term, since our constitution calls for an election in every odd-numbered year. Also, the narthex renovations at Concordia seem nearly complete, with a beautiful, new, level floor and a fine, custom railing made from local materials. Our guests should already find a welcoming, pleasant atmosphere as they enter the building, and we hope to improve it further as we finish the project. Our maintenance budget this year will be reduced somewhat due to an emergency furnace expenditure, but we can be reasonably certain now that the new furnace blower will be reliable.

As we continue our outreach Bible classes in Klickitat, it has become apparent that we should use a basic introduction to the Bible and to our faith. Meanwhile, our members who are more experienced students of the Bible would also benefit from a fresh approach to a more in-depth study of holy scripture. While I intend to continue using the Gottesdienst class as an overview of Christian teaching and worship, I have found a more comprehensive program for presenting the critically-important elements of Bible study. This program not only introduces the Bible to those less familiar, but provides the tools and skills needed for every disciple of Jesus to continue growing in God’s Word. The course covers many topics, from Bible interpretation through parts of the Old Testament, and also the New Testament. Every member of Bethany and Concordia would find it greatly beneficial, from about 10 years old and older. Our challenge will be to arrange it so that our members and guests will be less likely to miss any classes and fall behind. Your advice is welcome.

At the moment, I am considering a schedule where three presentations of the same class session will be held weekly: one at Bethany, one at Concordia, and one at Klickitat. That way, if a student in one place has a schedule conflict, he can plan to attend the same class at one of the other places that week. As long as the church schedule allows it, I would present all classes in each unit, then take a month or two off before the next unit begins. I could begin teaching the first unit (10 lessons) in May. Again, your advice is welcome.

Let us thank God for His many blessings upon us, and pray for His continued providence — especially the providing of His pure Word and Sacraments, wherein we find and receive the forgiveness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Gene Edward Veith quotes Anthony Sacramone, describing the way the Christian Church responds to a hostile culture. For a long time now, many have assumed that the American culture we live in somehow promotes, or at least allows Christian values. It has become evident over the years that this is not only untrue, but that our culture has been actively undermining and deconstructing Christian values. The goal of this strategy is the destruction of the Church, even here in the United States. Understand that when I write “Church,” I mean genuine believers everywhere who gather around God’s Word and Sacraments, not the visible institutions of this world that we call “churches.” It is the Church of Jesus Christ to which our culture is hostile, and this is evident in those congregations and church bodies that have abdicated the pure teaching of holy scripture. Those are the ones that our culture affirms, while faithful congregations and church bodies are condemned as “haters” and “intolerant.”

So it has ever been in this fallen world, and the sooner we accept the reality, the better prepared we Christians will be. In the article that Veith quotes, Sacramone points to the ways various denominations have established a foothold in the hostile culture. For Lutherans, he mentions Christian day schools, while for Roman Catholics and others, he mentions hospitals. He points out that socialized medicine may eliminate the most important characteristics of Christian hospitals, but our hostile culture has long attempted to compromise the foothold of Christian schools, too. In this phase of the struggle, things may be going better for our schools than for hospitals, but the next phase may bring something else. An evaluation of the current public school curriculum reveals an active agenda there that is hostile toward Christianity, and bent upon programming students with a secular worldview. This presents serious challenges to Christian parents, who are often at a disadvantage in the time they have available to spend with their children. At the moment, I am thankful that my own family is able to provide a Christian school at home, and I am happy to offer materials like this for families and schools that can make some use of it.

The hostility of culture toward our faith is worth much meditation and prayer. Maybe there are other ways for us to establish a foothold for our faith, or to raise our children to be the future of the Church. But finally, we must concede that our own strength is not enough. The Church is founded upon the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, and only upon that foundation will she stand through the End.

We just had a long-needed evangelism meeting at Bethany two days before I’m writing this. One of the things we talked about was improving the first impression that we give to our visitors. Over at the Blog of Veith that I mentioned in the previous post, there is a short article and discussion about the way people tend to pick a church. Since the blog entry is short, I’ll quote the whole thing below.

This weekend I talked with someone whom I think highly of who told me all of the different churches he has been a member of. At various times, depending on where he has lived, he has attended Presbyterian, Anglican, Bible, Evangelical Covenant, Campbellite, Christian Missionary Alliance, non-denominational, and house churches.

Whereas for me (even before I became a Lutheran), the criteria for which church I joined had to do with what it believed. For him–and I suspect there are a great many like him, possibly a majority of evangelicals–the criteria has to do with the people in the different congregations, the kind of “fellowship” they experience and whether they like the pastor. Theology is something held by the individual, with these different churches being more or less OK with whatever the individual member believes, within a few parameters, so that these churches today assert few theological distinctives for themselves.

According to the Lutheran mindset, the heart of a church body, the basis of fellowship, and the definition of unity must be its confession. Whereas for much of American Christianity, fellowship and unity are the heart of a church body, which allows for diverse confessions.

This difference between the two different ways of evaluating a church is something we probably have known about before, but we should also take it into account when we think about evangelism.
The primary goal of evangelism is to tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not believe it, but we also have the further goal of leading those souls to an orthodox Christian Church where they will be fed the bread of life regularly in the Divine Service. We naturally believe that our own congregation is the most qualified for that, to God’s credit alone, but what if these evangelism prospects finally visit our church only to find themselves uncomfortable with the “fellowship” of our members or the “likability” of the pastor (things Veith mentioned above)? Might we get the doctrine and the Divine Service right, only to fail in the way we treat each other and our guests?

This reminds me strongly of 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter,” which is often used at weddings. Read the first three verses of that chapter and see how they apply. You will probably also want to head over to Veith’s blog at the link above, and read the comments left by his readers.

One comment I found particularly interesting described a couple’s experience visiting two different churches. Among other things, the writer said, “after four weeks we’d only had 3 couples actually put forth effort to welcome us (passing smiles, handwaves, and ‘Hi’s’ don’t count).” She contrasted that with the other church, where “I think there were two adults who did not talk to us – one hand waved – one didn’t talk at all.” I’ve always thought that two or three warm greetings from the members is sufficient welcome for our guests, but here is a couple who were more impressed when nearly the entire congregation made an effort to speak to them. It shows how every one of our members can have a real influence on the ongoing work of evangelism, simply through the way we respond when guests visit on Sunday.

When you awaken in the morning, you may already know why you should get up. Then again, you may not know why. The warmth of your blankets is comfortable. Sleep is pleasant. Do you have a purpose today that would draw you out of bed, get you dressed, breakfasted, and ready for action? Not everyone is the same.

Some days you may wonder what is the point of living, of caring, of finishing your work. It seems that at a certain age between 13 and 20, we begin to ask this question, sometimes with a bitter or sarcastic spirit: “What is my purpose?”

If you have asked this question, it may be some comfort to know that you are not the first. The holy Bible was written by the hands of many men, but all of those writings were intended by God to teach us, even now. One of the writers was a powerful King, who had many flaws of his own. You may know Solomon as the king who settled a dispute between two women over a baby. Solomon ordered the baby cut in half for them, and the woman who was not its mother was willing to let this happen.

King Solomon also applied his wisdom to our question of purpose. The result is the Bible’s book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon considered all the things in the world that are precious in the sight of human beings: property, family, friends, the natural world, society, amusements, work, and so forth. His conclusion: all of it is mere vanity in the end, filled with no enduring value, like a puff of wind. Though we may enjoy some things for a while, they will soon fade away, and even the memory will be forgotten.

We want to have some meaningful purpose in our lives. Yet Solomon wrote that the best we can do is to find pleasure in our work, knowing that it will not endure beyond the grave. Maybe that’s enough to get you up and going each day, and maybe it isn’t.

What we really need is to know that our lives can have value beyond the pleasure of the moment. Can they? Yes, they can. While our own efforts and pleasures always lead to nothing in the end, God’s works always endure, despite appearances. For example, the Christian Church has survived thousands of years, outlasting mighty empires, though most of the time it seemed on the brink of collapse. It will outlast this world. So if we want meaningful purpose and value, we will find it in the purpose and will of God.

The Bible’s chief message is twofold. First, it shows us human beings that we have been born into a great rebellion against God. It’s not hard to see when we honestly consider our own hearts. Do we always submit to the will of God, or do we sometimes prefer our own ways? I find that my own heart always prefers its own ways, resulting in many other inward and outward sins. Already in Genesis 6:5, God perceived this condition in mankind.

The other part of the Bible’s chief message is the main point of the whole Bible. God has reconciled rebellious mankind with Himself through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. His demanding justice was met, and all our guilt was punished. We are restored to Him, and will live eternally. You and I have been freed from the power of death, and are invited to participate in God’s work even here on earth. His work is meaningful, and His purpose is to bring the blessings of Christ to our neighbors on earth.

God calls us to many vocations: in the family, in society outside the home, at our churches, and elsewhere. Those callings — as long as they are godly callings and don’t contradict His Word — are the purpose of our lives here on earth, and our life in heaven is the conclusion.

You can see how rich are the gifts that come from the cross of Jesus Christ. Because of Him, we have a reason to get up each day. Because of Him, we can lie down each night, content that we have done something meaningful. Thanks be to God.

The Word of God Endures Forever. VDMA

Today is Good Friday. It is not bad Friday, but Good Friday. True, it is a sad Friday for us, who celebrate it, because we are marking the day that the Son of God died. Yet it is still good, because the Son of God died for us, to redeem us from death and to give us eternal life.

If there were no Good Friday, then every day of the week would be bad. We would look forward to everlasting suffering in Hell, because that is what we all deserve, from the mildest child to the most vicious and murderous psychopath. We deserve it, because our hearts are disobedient to God. Though we inherited such a heart from our parents, we are each still accountable for them. That is why every day would be bad without Good Friday.

On Good Friday, God completed a transaction between Himself and every disobedient sinner, of all time. He took our guilt away from us, but because He is just and righteous, He placed it upon His Son Jesus, who willingly received the due punishment for it. God the Father then forsook God the Son as the Son suffered and died upon the cross — a death He (unlike us) did not deserve. That is the other reason this day is sad. When He was ready to die, the Son cried out, “It is Finished.”

If God did not care about right and wrong, then He could give all of us eternal life, regardless of our guilt, and without the death of Christ. Yet if God did not care about right and wrong, He would be evil. If God did not care for us, then He could simply destroy us all, or banish us forever from the possibility of His favor. Yet if God did not care for us, He would be unmerciful.

On Good Friday, God completed the work demanded by His good and merciful nature. On Good Friday, the scripture was fulfilled (Psalm 85:10):

Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.

The result, for us: eternal life. Indeed, it is a Good Friday.

By John Donne

Wilt thou love God as he thee ? then digest,
My soul, this wholesome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by angels waited on
In heaven, doth make His temple in thy breast.
The Father having begot a Son most blest,
And still begetting—for he ne’er begun—
Hath deign’d to choose thee by adoption,
Co-heir to His glory, and Sabbath’ endless rest.
And as a robb’d man, which by search doth find
His stolen stuff sold, must lose or buy it again,
The Sun of glory came down, and was slain,
Us whom He had made, and Satan stole, to unbind.
‘Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.

By John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Lutheran author Gene Edward Veith highlights an article from the Washington Post, noting that many young people have embraced the Latin mass (that is, the centuries-old order of worship conducted in Latin), now that the Pope has authorized its use in a wider context. While we don’t use the Divine Service in Latin, what we use is basically the same service as the Latin Mass. In fact, we still use the Latin/Greek names of many parts of the Divine Service (Kyrie Eleison, Gloria in Excelsis, etc.), as well as the Sundays of the church year. In recent years, many churches have been tempted to abandon the traditional heritage of the Divine Service, with the notion that young people would prefer worship that resembles their popular entertainment. That includes projected still or motion pictures, soft rock or jazz music, and (most tragically) the replacement of teaching that sometimes causes discomfort with messages that come across as “more practical.” For example, “God’s principles for getting out of debt and staying that way.” (I have no problem with God’s principles concerning debt, as long as they really are what the title claims. I would only object to placing this kind of teaching in the Divine Service, where God comes to us for the purpose of giving eternal life, and we respond appropriately.)

Attendance at the Sunday noon Mass at St. John the Beloved in McLean has doubled to 400 people since it began celebrating in Latin. Most of the worshipers are under 40, said the Rev. Franklyn McAfee.

Younger parishioners “are more reflective,” McAfee said. “They want something uplifting when they go to church. They don’t want something they can get outside.”

Some voices in recent years have also criticized the order of worship, hymns, etc. that we use, saying they are not uplifting enough. I would understand this criticism if I found that our worship did not teach the Gospel of forgiveness in Christ, but it does. So I can only imagine that such critics are looking for a different message. Reading the quote that Veith pulls from the Washington Post, I find it interesting that some of the young people who now prefer the Latin mass consider it to be more uplifting. Unfortunately, the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church also replace the Gospel with a message that has no power to save. Those teachings lead the hearers to rely upon their own merits in addition to God’s grace, and this effectively makes salvation uncertain — even impossible. However, most Roman Catholic errors arose in the Middle Ages, and the Latin mass was already written by that time. So if the young people flocking to the Latin mass pay close attention to the words of the Divine Service, then they will certainly be uplifted by the Gospel.