clair090

No one enjoys reading about the vine being pruned back so that it might bear better and more fruit.  No one is comforted by the idea that some will fall away.  No one is consoled by the prospect of judgment beginning with the household of faith.  No one hopes for a purification by fire -- the way impurities in gold are literally burned off.  No one likes the idea that the Lord is chastening and disciplining those whom He loves.  Indeed, when any of these are read on Sunday morning the statement The Word of the Lord almost ends up being a question -- especially when it is the Gospel for the day.  How can this be good news? In comparison to decades ago when it literally seemed that all you had to do was ring the bell and people showed up or put out the call and seminaries were full, the Church seems to be going through a time of great pruning and purification. When you stand before the great but empty churches of Europe, it is not hard to come to the concl...

Growing up it was common to say that the Episcopal Church was the Republican Party at prayer.   It was also common to say that the Roman Catholic Church was the Democratic Party at prayer.  That is no longer the case as any idiot can say.  Then it was common for people to say the same thing about the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  I am not sure that even the Republicans know who they are now so I would be highly presumptuous in suggesting that the LCMS could resolve that question for them and lead them in prayer.   As far as the Democrats go, I am not sure if they pray or what they pray for (at least the ones who insist they are still Catholic or Christian).  In effect, mainline Protestantism has become a pale echo of whatever liberal (some choose to call them progressive) political and social causes have captured the social media as well as the regular media.  Still in all, it was usually assumed that if political and social causes were a cause...

It has been a long time since Lake Wobegon had any good news and it appears it will be a long time before the prospect of any common sense prevails in the state that once was called the Lutheran Homeland in America.  The University of Minnesota has decided that failing to call people by their preferred pronoun may be an expelling offense.   Failing to refer to a gender-confused student, professor, or staffer by his or her “preferred” pronouns could become a fireable or expulsion-worthy offense at the University of Minnesota, according to proposed guidelines currently under consideration.  The administrative policy document , titled “Equity and Access: Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Names and Pronouns,” claims that individuals’ understanding of their own gender “may include female, male, transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender nonconforming, Two Spirit, intersex, nonbinary, and many others.” It further claims that gender identity “cannot be observed...

The sad news from the sad state of affairs in the Episcopal Church: Episcopal dioceses in the United States which reject the notion of same-sex “marriage” must now allow gay and lesbian couples to “marry” in the church.  The Episcopal Church’s General Convention meeting in Austin, Texas [in July] found a way to expand gay “marriage” rights into all dioceses while seemingly respecting the consciences of local bishops who object on theological grounds.  Praised as a compromise that doesn’t alienate traditionalists, the resolution essentially allows an end-run maneuver around the consciences of the leaders of eight U.S. dioceses who are standing firm against same-sex “marriage.”  Beginning in December, when a gay couple wants to “marry” in a diocese where the same-sex “marriage” is not condoned, the priest who has agreed to conduct the ceremony will be free to bypass his or her bishop and reach out to an Episcopal bishop elsewhere who can step in and provide “pas...

The one thing that the Latin Mass was really good at was prayer.  It was a prayerful setting and it encouraged people to pray through the Mass as priest and choir were occupied with most of the work and the words.  But that was also its weakness.  About the only thing people did was pray (if they were attentive to it).  Otherwise, the people in the Latin Mass were almost irrelevant to what was going on.  Indeed, it was much like a private mass with an audience.  Okay, some will say I am being too hard on it all but I think there is some truth to my words -- more truth that some folks are willing to admit. That said, the weakness of the Novus Ordo and most of the liturgical reforms that have followed its lead (including Lutheran) is that it is hard to find time to pray in the Divine Service.  Indeed, in the typical parish you have light conversation, laughter, and even boisterous words right up until the bell is rung or the organ begins intoning the fir...

Let me say that I do not have a clue if Judge Kavanagh is guilty as charged or not.  Certainly his character seems to challenge the accusations but until the evidence is there, all we have are accusations.  Well, that is not quite true.  We have more than charges and accusations -- we have the power of shame.  Indeed, it seems like some have honed the art of shame politics for certain causes at least.  That is my concern.  The politics of shame is not a very accurate barometer of morality. Why is the power of shame so great in service to the #metoo causes but not so powerful against those who use abortion as a means of birth control?  Why is the power of shame so effective against those who question how gender has become a feeling and choice but not so effective against those who make consent the only barometer of morality?  Why does the power of shame work so well against establishment types but not so much against people who live on the cutting ...

Sermon for Pentecost 18, Proper 20B, preached on Sunday, September 23, 2018.     None of us would be so bold or brash as to argue openly who among us was best or greatest?  We are not so crude as the disciples.  Instead was argue about sports teams or political parties or a thousand other things that mask our egos and cover our arrogance with a smokescreen.  I know.  I do it all the time.  So do you.  We have come a long way and we have learned not to be quite so obvious as the disciples.  But that does not mean we are better.     In fact, we are the ultimate fools, bigger fools than the disciples who argued so openly on the road about who was greatest.  Why?  Because we think we have even fooled God by our suave and smooth moves.  We are like children who protest they have not eaten the candy or the cookies while the evidence is right there on their lips.  Gotcha!     Nothing is as shoc...

Being good at preaching and being a good preacher are not the same.  There are many who are exemplary orators and speakers in the pulpit.  I can think of many folks who have the ability to turn a phrase and to deliver a line well.  Nadia Bolz-Weber is certainly good at preaching if that is all preaching is.  She keeps your attention, that is true (partially by being shocking).  She tells a good story; I'll give her that.  But being a good preacher is less about the art than about the content.  Now to be sure, I am NOT suggesting that preachers should be lazy in the pulpit or fail in their pursuit of excellence in the craft.  I am not saying that at all.  But success in the pulpit is less about the art of keeping people's attention, keeping them awake, or leaving them with a catch phrase than it is imparting to them the Word of life, being faithful voices of the Christ who speaks through the pastor by the power of the Holy Spirit. The truth is...

A few years ago in a blog post entitled, “I Don’t Worship God By Singing. I Connect With Him Elsewhere,” Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, asserted that he doesn’t feel intimacy with God through singing, he rarely attends church, and most of the most godly and influential Christians he knows don’t regularly attend, either.  This is an individual who championed the church of the god of preference in which worship style and musical taste was offered to fit as many desires as possible.  This is a guy who inspired the worship style in which music was almost sacramental -- the spot at which we most connect and feel the intimacy of God's presence -- and now he admits to not attending any of those services!  He and “most of the godly and influential Christians he knows.”  Surprised?  You should not be.  When faith is me 'n Jesus, worship is an option at best and, if you don't need it, you don't have to have it at all.  For without sacraments or a...

So often we are confounded by those who have long ago abandoned the doctrine and practice of faithful Christianity but who persist in calling themselves Christian.  You have heard those who insist that this or that in Scripture cannot be taken literally but must be meant metaphorically -- all because what Scripture says and the Church has believed does not now fit the individual's own preferences and biases.  Or those who insist that it does not matter if it is all mythology (which they are pretty sure it is), if that mythology leads people to being better people, then it is all good (never mind that better people here means those liberated from antiquated and controlling views of sex, abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, gender identity, and the usual environmental stuff).  It is so very nice that so many who have long ago surrendered both heart and mind to forces against the solid witness of Scripture and tradition still ache to call themselves true Christians, true...

It is not the first by any means but the story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune chronicles the closing of a few congregations, typical of many churches shutting their doors across the prairie states and, in this case, Minnesota.  For 100 years, Lutherans in this farming community on the Minnesota prairie have come to one church to share life’s milestones. They have been baptized, confirmed and married at La Salle Lutheran. Their grandparents, parents and siblings lie in the church cemetery next door. But the old friends who gathered here early o...

In the wake of the liturgical changes that followed Vatican II (it is unfair to blame the Council for those changes since little was actually directed by the Council itself), Roman Catholics complained that they did not know their church anymore.  Non-Roman Catholics wondered if the Reformation was over because Rome had given up and given in.  Rome still fights the same battles over those liturgical changes and Protestantism has pretty much been won over by Rome's leadership of both missal and lectionary.  According to recent evidence, perhaps even Paul VI was surprised by what went forth in his name (but from the actual pen of others). Lutherans, in particular, followed Rome's example and this has remained an area of some concern for them as well. The first issue is one of rupture.  Nearly all liturgical change prior to the post-Vatican II reforms was incremental.  It was a small step.  Yes, things changed but the changes were not dramatic nor were they d...

Among Protestants surveyed by LifeWay , a change in teaching is probably the most significant trigger to people walking out the door or considering taking a walk.  That said, the graph tells us what we already knew in that when people change addresses, they often change churches (denominations).  Surprising and yet somewhat predictable is the change in preaching style as a reason for considering a change (since preaching style and doctrine are often connected). I suspect that people are not being entirely honest when it comes to music style changing.  According to LifeWay the number who mark this change as a reason for walking is surprisingly low -- 5% -- but we know that there is, in reality, a significant turnover when just such a shift comes (usually from traditional church music for that denomination to contemporary).  Of course, this is often accompanied by a change in preaching style and theological identity as well so it is not often isolated as the only fac...

               How often do we feel like we’re walking through life and there’s no light?   How often do we feel like we’re all alone, like God is far off, that He’s listening to other people’s prayers, that He’s taking care of them and has forgotten about us?   We know this isn’t the true.   With head knowledge we know God’s promises; we know that we’re His blessed, chosen generation, that we’re His people and He’ll never abandoned us, and yet, there are times in life when it feels like He has.   During these times, when it seems like all hope is lost, it’s good for us to follow the example of the father in the Gospel; praying, “I believe! Help my unbelief.” (Mk 9:24)                  If anyone ever knew the darkness of despair, it was the father in our Gospel reading.   This man’s son was possessed by a spirit that m...