Ok, so in this chapter on Luther there are a lot of heady pieces. It seems like any time you start dealing with the Trinity things get a little intense. Maybe that’s why a lot of people just kind of shove it to the side as fancy theo-speak or outdated dogma. I’ve read a lot about the Trinity, but this chapter pushed me on a point that I think is kind of interesting. Here’s a quote.
“But the triune nature of God can be comprehended only as an unfolding of the pure gospel…”
This is good stuff. Think about it. God reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He always has been these three persons in one God and he always will be. But the fact that he always has, is now, and always will be these three-in-one says something really important.
It says that from the very beginning the Gospel was written into God. He created out of grace, that’s the nature of God. While Son and Spirit are huge in creation, we still speak about it centrally as the work fo the Father. Yet there are two other persons. And what’s the “central” work of the Son- redemption. So in the fact that Jesus exists as part of the trinity, that means that from the beginning, from the very nature of God, we can assume grace and redemption. It’s not just a plan God comes up with after he creates humans, it’s something that is part of his very nature. You can continue that thought with the Holy Spirit. His “central” work is that of sanctification. Again, this is about bringing us to faith today, but also about the consummation and completion of our holiness on the last day. The work of the Trinity is about Gospel from creation, to redemption, to the end of this age.
Isn’t that kind of cool? . . . To think that from before creation- Gospel, creation, redemption, sanctification, and the end/new creation is written into the nature of God. That’s who he is by definition. That’s what Trinity is.
Well, I thought this was interesting. I hope it does something for some of you as well.
Celebrate! Today’s a big day right!
Today is Ascension Day after all, which within the calendar is supposed to be a major church festival. Of course, I had to admit that it wasn’t quite on my mind this morning as were Christmas and Easter. Let’s be honest, Ascension Day probably doesn’t even grab our attention as much as the upcoming Pentecost. At least some people still wear red that day right?
So the question is- why did the church seem to think the ascension was so important that it deserved a festival day?
Well, I’ve seen quite a few different posts on this subject by pastors who wax eleoquent about the day for pages. I could try to do so, but I’m not. I want to point you to the picture above (by artist Catherine Andrews) and say two simple things. First,”Look!”
Look- that’s what the disciples are doing as Jesus rose into the clouds. “Why are you looking?” That’s what the angels asked the disciples after Jesus disappeared. Well, duh, they were looking because Jesus had risen from the dead, they’d just gotten used to that fact, and now he was gone, and he was saying things were only going to get even bigger. Wouldn’t you probably be looking too (or maybe looking away like one of the probably distraught women on the left hand side of this image.) The Ascension that forever changed the disciples. Jesus was in heaven and now they were sent. That was confusing. What now? We know we’re sent, but how do we do this? . . .
With power. That’s the other thing I like about this image. Maybe there wasn’t a big ball of light radiating around Jesus at the ascension, but I think the presence of that light pulsing in this picture conveys the idea of power. When Jesus ascends into heaven, he shows how powerful he is. Not just an iternarant preacher or even another miracle worker. He’s God and he’s taking his place. So he’s got power, but-
He also gives us power. The guy at the right hand, well he’s on our side. And as he sends us out. As we’re looking around, trying to figure out how to do this great big mission he gives us, we realize we’ve got the power to do it. After all, there is nothing impossible for the man at the right hand. So if he says we’re going to do it, well then, I guess we can.
So take a moment to look at this image, and then think about the power that we get as we celebrate this day, the Ascension of our Lord.
Have you been struggling thinking through the immigration debate, especially in light of the recent passing of a comprehensive immigration law in Arizona?
I’ve been thinking on the issue and was excited to come across this article on the Concordia Seminary St. Louis theology page. Leopoldo Sanchez does a great job reflecting on some of the Lutheran distinctives that guide us theologically on this issue. Especially the ideas of vocation, of the two kingdoms (spiritual and civic), and the idea of neighbor. He even points out that the Arizona governor is an active LCMS member and in her speech you see that these teachings have impacted her thinking on the issue.
The article doesn’t claim to answer definitely what is right and wrong, but helps set up a context for discussion. What do you think?
As we approach Mother’s Day I was thinking about the relationship between Jesus and his mother. Most of the images of Madonna and child are kind of austere. There’s the blank faced Mary staring out at us and the holy Jesus with halo. Sometimes Mary at least looks vaguely happy and is cuddling Jesus a little or looking down at him. Some of these images are kind of interesting in their way too, but I really liked this image on the left.
This captures some of the essence of that mother and child relationship. After all, Mary was a real mother, one who I’m sure was overcome with adoration and love for her little baby boy. And Jesus was a real child who I’m sure was fascinated by his mother’s face, her lips, her touch. I’m sure Jesus loved reaching out to his mother, and I’m sure Mary loved giving her baby kisses.
And so as you celebrate Mother’s Day, as you think about the mothers in your life, let’s also direct our attention to this mother and child. Mary the mother who would bear the savior. Jesus whose life and death would bring healing and restoation back into all relatonships, including those of mother and child.
Ok, so maybe this is merely the thoughts of a kid destined to think too much about such things. Maybe it was some Lutheran guilt (though I can’t say I’ve noticed Lutherans overall feeling much more guilt than other denominations). But here’s a story that came to my mind as I was reading my Martin Luther’s Theology text this week.
Have you ever compared yourself to the Sermon on the Mount? I remember really struggling with these texts as I was growing up. In particular for some reason I remember a time in Middle School. The angst of adolesence combined with burgeoning Biblical knowledge. I guess we’d been studying the Sermon on the Mount and concepts like “turn the other cheeck”, “love your enemy”, and “lend without expecting repayment” were floating in my head. What’s that look like for a middle schooler? I remember wondering if that meant I needed to keep giving money to the kid who would always ask in the cafeteria so he could buy another bag of chips? He never paid anyone back, but did I need to keep lending anyway? Would about bullies. As the kid dumped my books, should I be speaking some kind of blessing to him? It seemed I definitely shouldn’t report such incidents.
Those were real struggles for me Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t know if you’ve seen this image or not, but it’s a relatively famous painting and I think an appropriate one to consider as we approach National Day of Prayer. I try not to go over the top, but we need to recognize the importance of our faith in influencing our country and the story I found attached to this image serves such reflection well. What follows is found at the website. http://www.prayeratvalleyforge.com/
Arnold Friberg painted “The Prayer at Valley Forge” to celebrate our country’s bicentennial in 1976. Since then, Arnold Friberg’s now famous painting has become an important part of American history, reminding us of the days our country hung in the balance. Many of you are familiar with Arnold Friberg’s painting, but do you know the story behind the painting?
It was during the cold and long winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge that General George Washington sought God’s help on his knees.
The Eye Witness Testimony of Isaac Potts Read the rest of this entry »
In discussing Luther’s theology of good works and discipleship Bayer comes to a really interesting point. People are always having trouble trying to decide what discipleship and following Jesus is supposed to look like. Is radical discipleship about abandoning everything in the world for more “spiritual” things. Giving away all possessions, leaving family behind, etc. This seems to be the call in Luke 14:26-27- “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
But what about what Jesus said in Mk 7:9-13, specifically, “Honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death.”
So which is the best form of good works? Where is true discipleship to be found? Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve already mentioned this on my Facebook page, but I thought I’d take advantage of this forum as well. Recently a judge in WI declared that National Day of Prayer statute was uncsonstitutional.
We as Christians can respond in many ways. First, I think we should get involved. Sign the petition to express your disagreement. This is a pretty easy step. You can forward this on to other Christian friends as well. Again, a relatively easy step.
The bigger question is, how will you discuss this with nonChristian friends. Obviously, we don’t want to be whacking people with this, but I think this is a great opportunity to engage in dialogue. We can express our desire to pray for our country, our desire that while religion is not imposed, that we would still like to see our nation uphold values and protect the ideal that the sacred and the secular can and should touch. This is a point on which there is great debate. And yet, we need to help others understand there is no way a person can truly divorce their spiritual beliefs utterly from the civic world. There is so much ground where they just will touch. There are some places I don’t go. I don’t want a prayer imposed on school students. But then there are positive places. I do like time of silence for prayer. I do like allowing Christian (or other religious groups) to advertise and meet at school and governmental offices. National Day of Pryaer to me is such a place. It expresses that our government understands there is an important place for the people to pray for the country. It mandates nothing, but opens our hands to so much.
Take advantage of this as a chance to dialogue with Christian and nonChrsitians alike. I think this is a place for us to take some risks and look forward to the conversations.
Last week I was at a theological convocation in Austin talking about a topic called the Two Kinds of Righteousness. I won’t go into all the details of that, though maybe I could post a couple of posts on the topic from the two presenters. Roughly speaking, this theological concept says that we have a vertical relationship with God in which we’re passive. We receive gifts from God. He establishes the relationship.
At the same time, God calls us to horizontal relationships with others and the world. In this realm we’re quite active. As I was preparing for a devotion at the convcation the image and story that came to my mind was Moses at the burning bush.
Why?
Becuase for Moses that bush was the intersection of the horizontal and the vertical. Read the rest of this entry »
This question as to the nature of the “the Church” is as big as it gets in our world today. This is probably one of the most profoundly misunderstood issues within theology and has had an incredible effect on the way faith is practiced.
There was quote by Bayer early on that seemed to do a great job of getting the discussion going in the right direction. “The church is neither as visible as the Republic of Venice nor just “internally” hidden within the individual, which is a widely held misunderstanding in neo Protestantism.”
Again, the Lutheran view here holds the two sides in tension! It’s so much easier to understand it if we go to one extreme or the other, but we have to resist this because it plays out in some very problematic ways. Read the rest of this entry »
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