January 2008
January 2
Let’s
compare Christmas and New Year’s Day. Christmas
is dominated by things. Sure, we
strive to keep Christ in Christmas but still the manger of little Lord Jesus is
surrounded by things. New Year’s
Day is not about things but about time. Our
new things have been put away and we celebrate…is that the right word?...time.
No, “celebrate” isn’t right because we’re not at peace with time.
You might have plenty of things but your time is limited.
Nicholas Berdyaev wrote, “The passage of time strikes a man’s heart
with despair, and fills his gaze with sadness.”
(Solitude and Society, p. 134).
Happy New Year???
You thought Christmas is religious and New Year’s secular?
Negative. The Creator put us
into time, and His time is marching on. “Here
we do not have an enduring city….” Into
time the Creator put our Redeemer. “When
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4).
We dominate things but we can’t dominate time.
It terrorizes us…unless we let the Lord dominate our musings about
ever-fleeting time. “Jesus Christ
is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3). “Here
we do not have an enduring city,” begins Hebrews 13:14.
Here’s how it ends: “but we are looking for the city that is to
come.” Happy New Year!
You can make it a profoundly religious time.
January 3
Today
Iowa
, soon
New Hampshire
.
Who will come out ahead, Democrats or Republicans?
A little “bah, humbug,” is OK. One
dictionary defines cynicism as “a general distrust of the integrity or motives
of others.”
Is cynicism about the
political process bad for
America
?
If it leads you to dismiss politics, government and not vote, then yes.
But follow the process with a strong strain of cynicism, and you’ll ask
questions vital to our future. Has
Mitt Romney recast himself to get votes? Can
we afford Hillary? Is it wise to put
a minister in the White House? I’m
not trying to be partisan. I’m
trying to be cynical about the whole lot of candidates.
Healthy cynicism understands that people by nature are selfish, that the word
“politician” is in the same section of the dictionary as “pander,” that
“deceive” and “evil” are close as well, that reasoning together
doesn’t always restrain evil, that government should promote the good and let
us go about our business without fear. By
the way, that list happens to be pretty biblical.
So, follow the political process, be as partisan as you will, but
remember the key plank in the platform of godly cynics: “Unless the Lord
builds the house they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1).
I’m Dale Meyer and I approve this ad.
January 4
Christmas at our house, probably yours too, wasn’t only about opening
presents. It was also about opening
Pandora’s boxes of packing peanuts. If
you want an everyday illustration of sin, packing peanuts are pretty good.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us” (1 John 1:8).
One gift we opened was an antique bird house, a big thing in a big box, built
long ago to resemble a church, and packed with a ton of peanuts.
If packing peanuts can illustrate sin, then that’s what the church
should be about. A church that
avoids talking about the sin that is all around us is a church for the birds.
But “If we confess our sin, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive
our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Those peanuts don’t clean up very easily.
Even now, almost two weeks later, fragments of pesky packing peanuts are
still found, clinging to carpets, couches, clothing. Like static-charged
Styrofoam, sin jumps at you, wants to cling to you.
One of our gifts packaged with peanuts is a new coffee maker.
Wake up, sleeper! Be alert to
the constant presence of sin.
This illustration may be cute, but it’s useless…unless you take for yourself
the spiritual truth within.
January
7
Yesterday was Epiphany and church-goers heard Matthew 2, the star leading the
wise men to the child Jesus. That
star was a minor light in the biblical scheme of things; Jesus is the real
light. “I am the light of the
world” and He says His followers “are the light of the world.”
(John 8:12; Matthew 5:14)
You haven’t seen the light. I
mean, your physical eyes haven’t seen that light, haven’t even seen Jesus
the way the disciples saw him. “You
have not seen Him.” (1 Peter 1:8)
At
select times Jesus let His disciples see His full glory.
“We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came
from the Father.” (John 1:14) But
for us, for now, it’s a mercy that we haven’t physically seen the risen and
glorified Son of God. “No one can
see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20).
So, how do you “see” the light of Christ?
Jesus says, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My
disciples…. Whoever belongs to God
hears what God says.” (John 8:31,
47) I suggest a new symbol of
Epiphany, the otoscope, that light the doctor uses to examine your ear.
For the time being it’s through your ear the Great Physician shines His
light into your soul. We’re
promised that someday our eyes will see the glory.
January
8
Hi, Christian here! Love.
I will do anything to get love.
I was at day care.
I was up on the table. Carmen
was changing my diaper. I was not
embarrassed…but I got jealous. Mommy
came to get me. Mommy loves
wonderful me. Who wouldn’t?
While I was up on the table,
Jackson
walked up to Mommy.
Jackson
hugged Mommy, my Mommy!
I saw it happen, that
Jackson
muzzling in on my love! Carmen,
finish this diaper job! I’ve got
to get down there. I’ve got to pry
that twerp away from my Mommy. I
showed him. Carmen put me down.
I toddled over. I pushed
Jackson
away.
See? I will do anything so I
get love.
You big people, isn’t that how love works?
Get all you can. Don’t
share love. If you share love, you
will have less love for wonderful you. Opa
says, “Christian, Christian. With
your name, you must learn that love is for giving more than getting.
When Christians give love, love isn’t less; love grows.”
Opa says, “Christian, what if you got a brother?
Would Mommy and Daddy’s love be divided…or would it multiply?”
I don’t know what you’re talking about Opa, but Mommy sure is getting big.
January
9
Knowing
the correct password doesn't guarantee success.
Coming out of the
Iowa
caucuses, the password was
“change.” Every candidate
claimed to be a change agent, some who don’t know enough about D.C. to find a
restroom and others who’ve been sitting there for decades.
Yesterday
New Hampshire
voters decided which
candidates said “change” correctly.
Judges chapter 12 reports the Gileadites defeated the Ephraimites in battle.
“The Gileadites captured the fords of the
Jordan
leading to Ephraim, and
whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, ‘Let me cross over,’ the men of
Gilead
asked him, ‘Are you an
Ephraimite?’ If he said, “no,”
they said, ‘All right, say “Shibboleth.”’
If he said, ‘Sibboleth’ because he could not pronounce the word
correctly, they seized him and killed him.” Don’t
get the password right, you’re dead.
In January, 41, wicked Emperor Caligula gave the day’s password to the Roman
version of the Secret Service. Caligula
picked a password that made fun of the effeminate leader of his guard, a man
named Cassius Chaerea. That was the
last straw for Cassius. Instead of
protecting the emperor, he and the guard assassinated Caligula.
Passwords can kill you.
Back to the word “change.” Who
knows what is to come? So here’s
the best password I know: “Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me!”
January
10
I never
thought about it, but there are businesses that sell ring tones for cell phones
and those sales are big business. Or
were. Not long ago analysts
predicted that the sale of ring tones would hit $11 billion by 2010 but it’s
not going to happen. Sales have been
declining steadily, down now to 9.3% of people who use cell phones.
Good, I thought. I like silence,
like Henry Higgins said, “silence like an undiscovered tomb.”
Quite biblical: “The prudent hold their tongues,”
(Proverbs
10:19
).
“The prudent keep quiet in such times,” (Amos
5:13
).
“Be still and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10).
And Jesus was no babbler. Of
His suffering, it was predicted, “He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Along
that line and against declining sales, one ring tone selling well is a voice
blurting out, “Why don’t you just shut up?”
Alas, the reason sales are down is only because there are other ways to get ring
tones, like making your own tone on your computer.
So the world isn’t going to provide silence for you or me.
We’ve got to seek it out ourselves.
When I wondered about the attentiveness of a co-worker, he said, “I
chose not to listen.” Sometimes
you’ve got to do that. “In
quietness…is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
January
11
“The
Bucket List,” opens today throughout the country.
So far this movie has been seen only in selected cities, but today it
opens in all the boonies. From the
commercials I’ve seen on TV, it’s about two older men who are diagnosed with
terminal illnesses. They decide that
before they “kick the bucket” they’re going to do all the things that
they’ve been putting off, “the Bucket List.”
How does their approach compare to a Christian approach to life and death?
The men parachute out of a plane, and Christians do fun things too.
But is a believer in Christ, are you, trying to squeeze fun times in
because death is the end? Even
deeper: Is your attitude to get your thrills throughout your life, even before
you’re diagnosed, or is your attitude to find joy in serving others?
Christians shouldn’t be a dour group but our real satisfaction should
be lifelong service to others as God in Jesus Christ has served us.
Here’s what J.S. Bach says about it in his cantata 166.
“I think about going to heaven and about not giving my inmost self over
the vanities of this world. If I go
there or remain here, this question sticks ever in mind: Man, O Man!
Where are you headed?” (BWV 166)
Remember, we all have a terminal illness.
January
14
The generation that conceived and built the Chapel of St. Timothy and
St.
Titus on the campus of
Concordia Seminary did well. It is a
large space, large enough to remind us of our smallness in the great scheme of
things eternal, and high enough to remind us that the God of heaven looks down
with mercy. To enter the chapel you
pass by the baptismal font, placed in the vestibule to symbolize that baptism is
the sacrament of entrance into the church. A
feature of this font is its constantly circulating water.
That too is a symbol, the newness of baptized life in Christ.
“We were buried…with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4).
Last week something
happened and the water stopped circulating.
A maintenance man was summoned, couldn’t get the water moving again,
and so he attached a sign to the font, “Out of Order.”
Sometimes our faith lives stop functioning the way God intends.
When “Out of Order” describes your faith life, no need to be
rebaptized. Just fix it.
Go into the sanctuary with repentance and be open for the forgiveness and
help that will come down from on
high.
January
15
W.
Frank Scott tells a story about John, the disciple of Jesus.
A
hunter once found John playing with a pet partridge. The hunter asked John
why he was busying himself with such a trivial thing. John asked,
"What's in your hand?" "A bow," was the answer.
John asked, "Why don't you carry it bent, ready to shoot?" The
hunter replied, "If I did that, the bow would lose its strength. The
continual strain of being bent would make the bow useless." Now John
made his point. "Don't be perplexed by my simple and brief
relaxation. Without it, the spirit would flag from the constant strain and
fall when the call of duty comes." (In "For All the
Saints," III, 146)
We're
under almost constant strain. Jesus once told John, and I believe he is
telling us today, "Come with Me to a quiet place and get some
rest." (Mark 6:31) He's in this world and knows your pressures
but at the same time His kingdom is not of this world. With Him there's
forgiveness, assurance, peace. Isn't that the place you want to be?
January
16 "I
have scarcely ever read a letter that displeased me more than your last. I
have not only put off my reply, but I had determined not to answer you at
all." How
would you feel reading something like that? In this day and age an honest
exchange of feelings would end many a relationship. We just don't handle
diverging opinions too well in our self-obsessed society. What
I read comes from a letter that Martin Luther wrote in 1521 to a man named
George Spalatin (This is Martin Luther, p. 236). Spalatin die on January
15th in 1545. In
our busy, over-committed lives it takes an effort to develop an open, lasting,
and honest relationship with someone, even in marriage, perhaps especially in
marriage. Luther had that open, soul-satisfying relationship with Spalatin.
He wrote him more than 400 letters, often opening his soul to his friend. "Jonathon
became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself" (1 Samuel
18:1). Anyone
can be friendly but it's far more difficult to be a friend. The
commandments instruct us how to love others and there's no better an avenue for
eternal love to touch a life here and now than through true friendship. January
17 The
lack of civility in politics is all over the place, said one congressman,
"I think we've hit an all time low." It
reminded me of a conversation several years ago. I was standing with a
veteran Republican activist who was talking with the lawyer who defended
President Clinton during his impeachment trial. They spoke about just this
subject, lamenting how things had become more divisively partisan. Their
conversation was sincere, demonstrating a tie that binds us together as humans
and Americans, something greater than the partisan disputes that divide us. There
is civility in Washington but it doesn't sell newspapers or deliver customers to
TV news sponsors. In today's abundance of political news, the Iowa
caucuses, the State of the Union, New Hampshire, the media flitter to the
divisive like moths to light. We may have to suffer with it, but we don't
have to mimic it. Your
smoldering grudges, your bitter disagreement with a family member, your anger at
a business associate or competitor...Isn't there a tie that binds? God
made each person just as He made you. God loves that person just as He
loves you. "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).
"Upon thy lips then lay thy hand." (John Kelly) January
18 "Back
in Jesus' day..." That's a common way to refer to Bible times,
"back in Jesus' day," back in the first century. When I once
used that expression in a radio broadcast, a listener wrote and gently reminded
me that every day is Jesus' day. "I am with you always," says
Jesus who is not dead but alive, alive now. Today is Jesus' day as much as
back in Bible times. Today
we honor Dr. Martin Luther King. By one estimate almost 10 million slaves
were brought to the Americas between 1451 and 1870. How did they
cope? For many slaves the Bible wasn't just history. They saw
themselves in the story of Israel's patient suffering and hope. "Go
down, Moses 'Way
down in Egypt land, Tell
ole Pharaoh, Let
my people go." "Dey
crucified my Lord, An'
He never said a mumbling word. Dey
crucified my Lord, An'
He never said a mumbling word, Not
a word-not a word-not a word." (American
Bible Society, "The African American Jubilee Edition;" p. 10,22) Jesus'
day was their today. Is Jesus' day your today? "This is the day
the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24). January
21
Catherine
Hochmuth and her husband have not been able to have a baby.
“Some of my friends post sonogram images of their thumb-sucking fetuses
on their refrigerators,” she wrote. “We
have sonogram photos, too, years worth, but there are no tiny hands or perfectly
shaped noses in ours. The sonogram
image that’s furthest along features two promising little marbles that stopped
growing at seven weeks…. The most recent is of a blank, black space with the
caption: ‘Empty Uterus.’” (New
York Times, January 6; Styles, p. 6)
Yesterday our pastor preached a shut-your-mouth, let’s get serious sermon.
Rev. William Engfehr reminded us about what we’ve heard but forgotten,
that 3,000 unborn children are aborted every day in the
United States
.
More children have been aborted in the last ten years than all the war
deaths of American military in history. There
are biblical reasons why abortion is wrong and he shared them, but he also
offered compelling rational arguments why abortion is so, so wrong.
Over the whole sinful mess is compassion.
Jesus Christ has compassion on the unwanted and has forgiveness for those
who have caused an abortion. Thanks,
Pastor!
Mr. and Mrs. Hochmuth yearn for a baby… but we have killed more of our
children in ten years than all American military personnel who have died in our
wars.
January
22
I confess, I’m not sure I
get it.
I serve on a church board that met last week at
Concordia
College
in
Selma
,
Alabama
. This college is old, going back to
the early 1900s. It’s small, about
400 students. It’s predominately
African-American. And it’s
struggling, college economics not being an easy thing these days, especially for
a small, minority college. But here
I am, the president of a school that could be judged successful in the eyes of
the world, a school that talks about mission and helping people…but maybe
that’s all it is, talk. In the
mission of Christ, Concordia College
Selma
IS the real thing.
I stayed at the
St.
James
Hotel
, a grand place that goes back to the 1800’s.
Checking into my room, I looked out the window and saw a bridge, not any
bridge, the
Edmund
Pettus
Bridge
. On
March 7, 1965
, Martin Luther King with 600 marchers approached that bridge demonstrating
peacefully for voting rights. State
troopers blocked them, horsemen and tear gas attacked them, and over 60 people
needed hospital treatment. And I’m
looking at this out of my comfy room while I’m on a comfy trip to talk, talk
about church things.
I’m not sure that I get it.
How many of us comfortable Americans aren’t even trying to get it?
January
23
Things
can get pretty intense in January. Take
house cleaning, for example. It’s
not just tidying up after all the clutter of Christmas, but it’s cleaning with
determination. There’s a place for
everything and by golly we’re going to get everything in its place.
Another example is family finances. We
start putting in order all the financial records for the past year and are
doggedly determined this new year will be better.
January can be intense. Sometimes
our relationships with one another take on an edge, angry at the world and flare
ups of anger at one another. Why all
this intensity in January? Sometimes
it’s fear, fear that our financial house is on the brink of collapse.
Jesus told a parable
about a man who had done well and had no financial fears but the poor guy died
suddenly. “This is how it will be with those who store up things for
themselves but are not rich toward
God” (Luke
12:21
). Notice
that Jesus doesn’t have a problem with things, nothing wrong with your dogged
determination to get your physical and financial house in better shape.
Just do it “toward God.” Does
the weight of the world have you intense? Pray
that God take your fear-inspired intensity into His intense grace that will
serve others lovingly through you.
January
24
Lee
Zeldin is running for Congress from
New York
.
“Because of my love for my family, my pride in my nation, and a call to
service, I am compelled to make this run for Congress.”
(Roll Call, January 16; p. 10)
From John McCain: “It is pretty clear that (my opponents) view me as their
most formidable opponent and I agree with them.”
From Mitt Romney: “When things like this occur (turmoil in the stock market),
I’d point out how important it is to have a president who has had a job in the
private sector: I have been in the private sector for 25 years.”
From Barack Obama: “We need a president who knows that being ready on Day 1
means getting it right from Day 1.” I
wonder who he’s referring to?! (New
York Times, January 23; A18-19)
Because we’ve gotten used to such confidence, it’s hard to imagine how
someone could get elected without self-promotion.
One special service you and I can render our country is to pray to the
Almighty that these candidates don’t fully believe their own press.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
(1 Peter 5:5)
On this date in 1808
James Monroe wrote that he would not promote his own candidacy for president.
He wasn’t elected.
January
25
Being in a public position, I get my
share of criticism. What strikes me
is that critics, both the kind and the mean-spirited, don’t have a clue.
I know more against myself than they can imagine!
Today the church calendar remembers
the conversion of
St. Paul
. You can read about his
Damascus Road
experience in Acts 9. Despite his
conversion, some people kept doubting him or reproaching him for the rest of his
life because he had persecuted the church. But
Paul’s conscience was cleaned, not by the opinion of people but by God’s
forgiveness in Jesus Christ. “I
was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display
His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and
receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:16)
Martin Luther: “Even the holiest of
saints must confess: I have done what I could, perhaps, but I have failed far
oftener than I know. So our
conscience stands against us all, accusing us and declaring us unclean, even
though we have passed with the highest honors before the world or even now are
passing.” (“On the Sum of the
Christ Life,” p. 276)
So when critics pound you, hang your
conscience on God’s promise of forgiveness.
Hang on, just like Jesus hung onto the cross to make your conscience
clean.
January
28
Have you
seen the initials “d.b.a.”? They
stand for “doing business as.” For
example, I work for Concordia Seminary but that’s a d.b.a.
Our legal name goes back to 1853 when the State of
Missouri
chartered the “‘
Concordia
College
’ of the German Evangelical
Synod of Missouri,
Ohio
, and Other States.”
That insignificant tidbit sets up a significant question.
What’s your d.b.a. as you go to work Monday morning?
Is your d.b.a. that of a corporate climber, cutting any corner, stepping
on anyone, always ready for intrigue…anything to raise your profile?
Or is your d.b.a. that of a slacker, doing just enough to get by, not going out
of your way for the corporate good, punctually out of the office at quitting
time?
Is your d.b.a. that of an office affair? Too
little time at home and too much time at work has you falling emotionally into
the arms of another?
Is your d.b.a. that of a person whose religious convictions are unknown, never
bringing a moral perspective to work situations, never demonstrating the loving
kindness of God, offering the excuse that you’re in a business environment?
The truth is you are chartered to follow the One who loves you and gave Himself
for you. “Be holy in all you
do.” (1 Peter 1:16)
January 29
“Our
deeds do not perform what our words promise.”
That line from a prayer certainly is demonstrated by politics.
President Bush said much in his final “State of the
Union
” last night but will his
words become reality? And of
the candidates running for President, most of us are resigned to believing their
deeds will not perform what they are now promising.
Are we like that,
Sunday professions falling short during the week?
“Although we know that we are weak and our deeds do not perform what
our words promise,” the prayer adds, “Give us faith’s courage and hope to
try anew.” (“Die Losungen,”
February 18, 2008
)
Confessing the gap between Sunday promises and weekday actions is forgiven by
God for Christ’s sake. That’s
forgiveness but that’s not full repentance.
Repentance becomes full when you change your behavior.
For that amendment of life, since “we are weak and our deeds do not
perform what our words promise,” we put biblical words of life direction in
our heads and hearts and ask the Spirit of God to enable us to live by them.
When the Ten
Commandments had been given, the people of
Israel
said, “We will do
everything the Lord has said; we will obey” (Exodus 24:7).
That expresses a spiritually healthy state of the union.
January 30
When people ask if I’m
enjoying my job, I say, “No,” or on a good day, “Not yet.”
They’re almost always surprised and sometimes do the “joy in Jesus”
number on me. Do Christian writers
and speakers – and for that matter, bubbly common Christians – people who
reduce everything to a smiley face, leave you feeling that’s not the way life
really, really is?
That’s on my mind because
Professor Eric Wilson has written a new book, “Against Happiness: In Praise of
Melancholy.”
Wilson
sees great value in melancholy, in a sadness of heart that tells us all is not
right. So you know, he’s not
talking about clinical depression and he’s not against joy, but he just
can’t believe a survey that 85% of Americans are “very happy or at least
pretty happy.” About our obsession
with happiness, he says, “Why are we pushing toward such a hellish condition?
Fear. Most hide behind a
smile because they are afraid of facing the world’s complexity.”
Yes, joy is in Jesus, but it’s best known by acknowledging the brutal
brokenness of our sinful life. His
joy is not the opposite of sadness as much as the hope of resurrection that
springs up amidst all the weeds.
Wilson
: “The porcelain rose is not as pretty as the one that decays.’
Which face on you is more authentic?
(“The Chronicle Review,” January 18; B11-14)
January 31
Have you
noticed how much we speak about God, rather than to God? Sermons, bible
studies, testimonies of believers...all about what God has done. To put it
grammatically, we talk about God in the third person, the same impersonal way we
talk about the weather, taxes, what have you.
So I found it
strange years ago when I began reading St. Augustine's "Confessions"
for the very first time. "Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be
praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom infinite. And man wants to
praise You, man who is only a small portion of what You have created..."
and on and on Augustine goes, second person, talking directly to God.
I'm not
writing here about prayer, about intentional times of talking to God, but rather
about those times when we're thinking of whatever we happen to be
thinking. I've put myself under the mild discipline of phrasing those
quiet, usually hum-drum thoughts in the second person, directly to God.
The result of that little grammatical recasting of my mundane thoughts has been
a tremendous advance in my spiritual life. I know His presence more than
when I put Him off in the third person. Try it; He'll like it!
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