"For prayer, too, is one of the precious holy possessions whereby everything is sanctified."

Read Bishop Obare's installation sermon, today.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B7ercLIFXUqWN2E1ODY5MWYtMjQzNy00OTA4LTllMTMtNWYxYWFjZDllNDBj&hl=en

Also noted the discussion here:

http://abc3miscellany.blogspot.com/2010/09/archbishop-obares-sermon-luther-and.html?spref=fb

I liked this part from Luther in relation to the discussion about "liturgy".

Prayer, Public Praise, and Thanksgiving to God (The Liturgy / Public Worship). Luther writes, "Sixth, the holy Christian people are externally recognized by prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God. Where you see and hear the Lord’s Prayer prayed and taught; or psalms or other spiritual songs sung, in accordance with the word of God and the true faith; also the creed, the Ten Commandments, and the catechism used in public, you may rest assured that a holy Christian people of God are present. For prayer, too, is one of the precious holy possessions whereby everything is sanctified, as St. Paul says [I Tim. 4:5]. The psalms too are nothing but prayers in which we praise, thank, and glorify God. The creed and the Ten Commandments are also God’s word and belong to the holy possession, whereby the Holy Spirit sanctifies the holy people of Christ." (AE 41, 164)

"For prayer, too, is one of the precious holy possessions whereby everything is sanctified." 
I like it a lot!

Christ have Mercy / The Lord's Supper

We are taking our sweet time with this study.  This is alright because it gives time to digest.  There is plenty to think about.

We are in Matthew Harrison's book:  "Christ have Mercy.  How to put your Faith in Action" , now looking at chapter 7.

In planning to write about the Lord's Supper and the Means of Grace in general and how that is all tied together by mercy (chapter 7 and 8), I have got myself reading the entire Part IV of Timothy Lull's "Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings" on The Promise of the Sacraments.

(You think I am insane.  Pages 235 to 404.  I can read Luther all day long.)

The reason I need to read all this is because I do not own an edition of Luther's Works.  Whenever Harrison quotes Luther at the beginning of the chapter it seems a bit deus ex machina to me and the reference is to a book I  have.  I need the context.  I need the document.  Having a little quote plopped down does not work for me.  It reminds me of Germany, where the only Luther I'd ever heard was a short saying somewhere between hymns (aside from the hymns themselves).

(Just to illustrate.)

Let's move on. At the beginning of this chapter 7 in  "Christ have Mercy" we have the title:  "Christ's Body and Blood" with subtitle "With Might and Main For Our Neighbor."  We have our leading Bible verse:

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.  1 Corinthians 10:17

And we have our Luther quote:

O this is a great sacrament... that Christ and the church are one flesh and bone.  Again through this same love, we are to be changed and to make the infirmities of all other Christians our own;  we are to take upon ourselves their form and their necessity..... That is real fellowship, and that is the true significance of this sacrament.  Martin Luther (p. 87)

The reason I gave this long introduction about Luther documents is that this quote does NOT represent something torn out of context and set up as a novelty.  It is not making a major out of a minor.  Luther's writing on the Lord's Supper is woven through  with this thought, that the partaking of the body and blood of the Lord unites us into this one body that rejoices and suffers together through the bond of love.

We may take out our Lull from our Introduction to Luther course.  Or find it on-line.  James Swan probably has them all on his blog.  ("Confession Concerning Christ's Supper".  "The blessed Sacrament of the Holy and True Body and Blood of Christ, and the Brotherhoods".  "The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ--Against the Fanatics.")

Here is just one long quote from one of the documents.  Enjoy.  Chopped up by myself.

The significance or effect of this sacrament is fellowship of all the saints.  From this it derives its common name synaxis [Greek] or communio [Latin], that is, fellowship.  And the Latin communicare, or as we say in German, zum Sakrament gehen [go to the sacrament], means to take part in this fellowship.  Hence it is that Christ and all saints are one spiritual body, just as the inhabitants of a city are one community and body, each citizen being a member of the other and of the entire city.  All the saints, therefore, are members of Christ and of the church, which is a spiritual and eternal city of God.  ...

To receive this sacrament in bread and wine, then, is nothing else than to receive a sure sign of this fellowship and incorporation with Christ and all saints.  It is as if a citizen were given a sign, a document, or some other token to assure him that he is a citizen of the city, a member of that particular community.  St. Paul says this very thing in I Corinthians 10: [:17], "We are all one bread and one body, for we all partake of one bread and of one cup...

Again all sufferings and sins also become common property;  and thus love engenders love in return and unites.

In this sacrament, therefore, man is given through the priest a sure sign from God himself that he is thus united with Christ and his saints and has all things in common [with them], that Christ's sufferings and life are his own, together with the lives and sufferings of all the saints.  therefore whoever does injury to [the believer], does injury to Christ and all the saints, as he says through the prophet [Zech. 2:8], "He who touches you touches the apple of my eye."  On the other hand whoever does him a kindness does it to Christ and all his saints;  as he says in Matthew 25, "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,you did it to me."  Again, man must be willing to share all the burdens and misfortunes of Christ and his saints, the cost as well as the profit.  Let us consider more fully these two [sides of the fellowship].

Now adversity assails us in more than one form.  There is, in the first place, the sin that remains in our flesh after baptism:  the inclination to anger, hatred, pride, unchastity, and so forth.  this sin assails us as long as we live.  Here we not only need the help of the community and of Christ, in order that they might with us fight this sin, but it is also necessary that Christ and his saints intercede for us  before God, so that this sin may not be charged to our account by God's strict judgment.  Therefore in order to strengthen and encourage us against this same sin, God gives us this sacrament, as much as to say, "Look, many kinds of sin are assailing you;  take this sign by which I give you my pledge that this sin is assailing not only you but also my Son, Christ, and all his saints in heaven and on earth.  Therefore take heart and be bold.  You are not fighting alone.  Great help and support are all around you...

Whoever is in despair, distressed by a sin-stricken conscience or terrified by death or carrying some other burden upon his heart if he would be rid of them all, let him go joyfully to the sacrament of the altar and lay down his woe in the midst of the community and seek help from the entire company of the spiritual body...

When you have partaken of this sacrament, therefore, or desire to partake of it, you must in turn share the misfortunes of the fellowship, as has been said.  But what are these?  Christ in heaven and the angels, together with the saints, have no misfortunes, except when injury is done to the truth and to the Word of God.  Indeed, as we have said, every bane and blessing of all the saints on earth affects them.  Here your heart must go out in love and learn that this is a sacrament of love.  As love and support are given you, you in turn must render love and support to Christ in his needy ones.  You must feel with sorrow all the dishonor done to Christ in his holy Word, all the misery of Christendom, all the unjust suffering of the innocent, with which the world is everywhere filled to overflowing.  You must fight, work, pray, and--if you cannot do more--have heartfelt sympathy.  See, this is what it means to bear in your turn the misfortune and adversity of Christ and his saints.  Here the saying of Paul is fulfilled, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" [Gal.6:2].  See, as you uphold all of them, so they all in turn uphold you;  and all things are in common, both good and evil.  Then all things become easy, and the evil spirit cannot stand up against this fellowship.

When Christ instituted the sacrament, he said, "This is my body which is given for you, this is my blood which is poured out for you.  As often as you do this, remember me."  It is as if he were saying, "I am the Head, I will be the first to give himself for you.  I will make your suffering and misfortune my own and will bear it for you, so that you in your turn may do the same for me and for one another, allowing all things to be common property, in me, and with me.  And I leave you this sacrament as a sure token of all this, in order that you may not forget me, but daily call to mind and admonish one another by means of what I did and am still doing for you, in order that you may be strengthened, and also bear one another in the same way."

This is also a reason, indeed the chief reason, why this sacrament is received many times, while baptism is received but once...  There is the devil, the world, and our own flesh and conscience, as I have said.  They never cease to hound us and oppress us.  Therefore we need the strength, support and help of Christ and of his saints.  These are pledged to us here, as in a sure sign, by which we are made one with them--incorporated into them--and all our woe is laid down in the midst of the community...

There are those, indeed, who would gladly share in the profits but not in the costs.  That is, they like to hear that in this sacrament the help, fellowship, and support of all the saints are promised and given to them.  But they are unwilling in their turn to belong also to this fellowship.  They will not help the poor, put up with sinners, care for the sorrowing, suffer with the suffering, intercede for others, defend the truth, and at the risk of life, property, and honor seek the betterment of the church and of all Christians.  They are unwilling because they fear the world...

For this reason slanderers and those who wickedly judge and despise others cannot but receive death in the sacrament, as St. Paul writes in I Corinthians 11 [:29].  for they do not do unto their neighbor what they seek from Christ, and what the sacrament indicates.  They begrudge others anything good;  they have no sympathy for them;  they do not care for others as they themselves desire to be cared for by Christ.  And then they fall into such blindness that they do not know what else to do in this sacrament except to fear and honor Christ there present with their own prayers and devotion....

And Christ values his spiritual body, which is the fellowship of his saints, more than his own natural body.  To him it is more important, especially in this sacrament, that faith in the fellowship with him and with the saints may be properly exercised and become strong in it;  and that we, in keeping with it, may properly exercise our fellowship with one another.  This purpose of Christ the blind worshipers do not perceive.... 

In conclusion, the blessing of this sacrament is fellowship and love, by which we are strengthened against death and all evil.  This fellowship is twofold:  on the one hand we partake of Christ and all saints;  on the other hand we permit all Christians to be partakers of us, in whatever way they and we are able.  Thus by means of this which seeks the common good of all;  and through the change wrought by love there is one bread, one drink one body, one community. This is the true unity of Christian brethren.

(Lull, p. 243- 260.  Sacrament of the Body and Blood of  Christ.)

There is so much more. And already this is so much to think about.  Again, this quote I dug out and chose myself.  It is not from "Christ have Mercy", so as not to misrepresent the book.

Stressing this point is also not doing justice to chapter 7.  However, this is something Harrison does want to bring out.  Chapter 7 is actually a very nice overview on the teaching of the Lord's Supper and I would recommend it as an excellent introduction.

I'll quit here for now.  There is only so much one can blog about at a time.  My husband will want some supper.

I like this picture.  I sent it to my nephew.  He will start confirmation next year.  I am praying his father will go with him.

Christ have Mercy/ Forgiveness

Let me try once more to go through the book.  Meanwhile I'm reading it with my husband, but blogging is worthwhile.  I'll try not to get sidetracked again.  Let's go back to Chapter 6.

We have here two powerful stories employed to convey what it is like to ask for and receive forgiveness from the people you associate with.  And to give it also.  These moments in life are very powerful, if we allow them to happen with us.  It brings me back to the gut-feeling of mercy.  These forgiving moments are also often deeply felt and treasured.  Harrison says:  "I will always treasure that moment.  Both of us will treasure it together in eternity.  My son knows something of being spoken free and living mercifully."  (p. 77)

I like also the part about treasuring this in eternity.  I think of life this way, too.  Why this life?  What the pain, the drama, the resolve, the happiness, the gifts?  Why anything at all?  It matters in the eternal frame.  We know what we are waiting for.  The trials sharpen the hope. The tears are counted.  The death is precious. The gifts have a giver.  The forgiveness cleanses us and binds us into an unspeakable care.  It matters somehow and it prepares us.

We have a section that explains the effectiveness of the divine word of forgiveness, the office of the keys.

And again Harrison brings it around to the "mutual conversation and consolation of bretheren".  "To forgive is the vocation of all Christians."   (p. 79)

Does this mean only pastors forgive sins? No!  Every Christian is able to speak forgiveness when sin besets us in our unique vocations and stations of life.  According to Luther not only can every Christian do this, but every Christian should do this.  There is never a shortage of sin!  But a word of Gospel, a word of forgiveness--even spoken by the humblest child ("Yes, I forgive you, dad"--is divine and effective).  The Lutheran Confessions call such words "mutual conversation and consolation of brethren."  Luther calls this lay absolution "confidential." p. 79

Then he tells something I find interesting about counselling couples.

Growing up, I had never experienced or even contemplated private confession to a clergyman.  But during my first years in the parish, I began to comprehend the importance of private confession and absolution.  Like every other pastor, I worked with those experiencing trouble in their marriage, broken families, individuals caught in unspeakable sins those in mourning and numerous other challenging situations.  I was struggling o provide the needed care until I overheard an older pastor say that once he began using private confession and absolution in his pastoral care of married couples, the number of repeat visits diminished markedly.  Having the conflict and the sin named, confessed, and forgiven was extremely salutary in distressed lives.  It also helped the pastor to apply appropriate portions of God's Word as advice and salve in that situation.... Like every pastor, after a decade in the parish, I had heard it all.  Yet I bear absolutely no burden, because Christ bore everyone's burden on the cross.  All is forgiven.  Moreover, hearing those saints confess and receive absolution gave me courage to name and confess my own sins.  (p. 80)

This reminds me of something I read in the Christless Christianity (Michael Horton) over the weekend:

It is just as easy to lose Christ by distraction as it is by denial.  We keep expecting the ball to be fumbled by the liberals, when conservative churches are often as likely to be interested in someone or something other than Christ crucified this week.  A woman who was struggling in her marriage told a pastor friend of mine that she decided to visit his church because her home church was going through a series on "How to Have a Better Marriage."  "What I need to hear most right now is who God is and what Christ has done for me even though I'm a wreck.  My marriage needs a lot of things, but that more than anything else."  She was right.  (p. 144)

I think Michael Horton is Reformed, so I don't know for sure what he could say about absolution.  He is talking about a general presentation of the gospel, where Harrison talks about actual delivery of it through persons.  The latter is more powerful because more direct and pointed.

It also reminds me of my own grief and how I am not interested in grief groups.  Please, just give me the sacrament.  I don't want to cry.  I don't need to talk about how to cope with every little thing.  One step at a time. The hole in life will be there.  Other gifts will be given. You have to live with it and try to make the best of it, indeed, but the rainbow is up above.  You have to look somewhere else.

Anyhow, the observation about confession and absolution is probably most astute.

And hearts are only changed and healed through the Gospel, anyways, come to think of that, together with the attendant humility and generosity.

Then we get an admonition. It makes me think of Bonhoeffer, too.  "Forgiveness without confession" is cheap grace, if we shan't shy away from that term.  We need to practice speaking both.

"As much as we Lutherans harp on the importance of forgiveness, it forever amazes me that we can be so inept, so silent, so unable to speak absolution to one another.  We daily live the parable of the unforgiving servant.  Our innumerable sins (even those of which we are unaware) are forgiven in Christ. We obsess, we stew, we fret, and we grind our axes, over one sin committed against us.  After one untoward word from a  brother or sister in Christ or one off-the-cuff remark from  a family member, we are shouting, "Pay what you owe!"

Sad indeed.   Lord give us the needed courage and humility.  I find since the Treasury of Daily Prayer came out and we sometimes have a Compline at night, which includes a general confession and absolution, it at least opens the heart and the avenue.

The chapter ends with a section called "Freed for a Purpose."  Again, we get the idea, that this forgivness is not just for ourselves in isolation.  The freedom achieved through forgiveness is a "freedom toward community."  This makes sense to me, as without the community, forgiveness hardly matters. Again we are admonished:

God freely gives out His grace, so we also serve Him freely.  According to David Yeago, throughout the Lutheran world today freedom has come to mean something quite different from what Luther understood it to be.  Yeago wrote that "the notion of freedom is essentially negative:  release from pressure, the lifting of the burden of an unendurable expectation."  However, Luther places a unique emphasis on that fact that freedom in Christ is toward something, not only away from something.  Freedom in Christ has an object, as result.  During confirmation instruction, most Lutherans learned these words form Luther's explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed:  "He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil."  But Luther does not stop there.  Instead, he continues:  "That I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness."  Luther adapted the long-standing Augustinian tradition of defining the self in terms of love and the "innate directedness toward the good..  By contrast, modernity finds the dignity of the self in terms of power and free will, including "the power to impose its will on the world, or to realize is own authentic uniqueness despite the world."  The will of God came to be viewed as something fundamentally limiting--and post- modernity concurs with this view.  For "we are free insofar as we can do what we want, insofar as our power is unchecked, unhindered by expectations or prohibitions imposed form outside ourselves."  How completely different is our freedom spoken in Christ.

This is really important for us to realize.  This also comes up often in conversation with other Christians.  Sometimes one wants to talk about justification with someone and we are in the second article of the creed and it is so profoundly wonderful about redemption with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death;  and then it finished off, like tacked on, but it is not tacked on:  that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom...  (Small Catechism)

Some people really want to emphasize this living and working in the kingdom, like Bishop N.T. Wright and because of that they don't understand Lutheran (Christian) justification.  The point is:  we want to get both right.  Justification through the atonement, forgiveness of sins, all for the purpose of coming into Christ's kingdom AND living under Him.  If we understand everything correctly, there is no dichotomy. 

You have done it to ME/ Christ have Mercy

Ok, now, I think the antinomian controversy is settled.

We shall continue to preach the law to Christians.  As far as Christ is not raised in them, they still need to hear it.

We also deepened the concept of sin.  As Adam and Eve fell, they sinned against the first commandment.  When we fail to show mercy, or sin against the second table, we also sin against the first commandment.  (Thanks to Larry for this.)  This is what is means to deny God when you refuse to show mercy.  There are many layers to this.

I am sort of glad to give the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25)  a little different reading or emphasis from what is usually expounded in our circles.  Read Jesus words for what they are there.  What a relief.  Let's not beat around the bush.

Jesus is not emphasizing the fact that the sheep did all their merciful acts spontaneously because they have been justified by faith, (though this is also true).  He is emphasizing that when you do this for your needy neighbor, you are serving HIM in THEM.  And THESE are the KINDS of works to be doing, not, as Luther militated against, the pilgrimages, the venerating of relics, the asceticism.  Do not ever invent your own type of worship or works.

I personally think that I'm quite aware of what I am doing.  I may do some good spontaneously, i.e. freely, gladly, but nobody is going to say, "You went to see such and such in the hospital"  to me and I'm going to say "When did I do that?"  As long as I have a memory, I will know that I went to see such and such in the hospital. (just an example, not praising myself).  Jesus point is, if you want to do what I want you to do, then you  do these things.  And this is very serious.  You shall see ME in this needy person.  You deny them mercy, you deny me who has been merciful to you.

And, yet, all this without coercion because of the Gospel.

I get from this, too, that good deeds can be "planned", that while the primary "program" of the church is forgiveness, it can also have a "program" of mercy;  it need not be haphazard.

Another corollary is that we are also dignified in our suffering, which will surely come to us.

Chapter 6/ Christ have Mercy

Chapter 6.  "Spoken free and living mercifully" is the title.  We have now a chapter on receiving and giving forgiveness in various settings.  The baptismal life, which we learned about in the last chapter, which both frees and obligates to living in mercy, is about constant forgiveness.  There is some law here.  We could be so much more forgiving and merciful with each other. But much more we have the freedom to do something constructive with this forgiveness.

And seizing [his fellow servant], he began to choke him, saying, "Pay what you owe."  Matthew 18:28.

After [confession and absolution]  we can do a lot of good [works] -- to the glory of God alone and to the benefit of our fellow-men.... for God give us his grace freely and without cost;  so we should also serve him freely and without cost.  Martin Luther. (p.75)

As an aside, there are people who do not want to hear any "should's", "ought's" and "must's" in the Christian life.   Christ's words could not be clearer.   We "should" forgive.  I am going to use the word "should".   The Luther quote says we "should" do it "freely".  It does sound like a guilt trip still, to say you "should freely", but how else are you going to say it?  We know the ability to do freely is only as far as the Lord's own love has it's way with us and our nature does not get in the way.  Sometimes I do freely, sometimes I do not, sometimes half-way.  I still "should" do it "freely".

HOWEVER, in this chapter we have no heavy handed treatment, whatsoever.  We can see clearly that forgiveness is the most wonderful thing of all.  We desire it.  We get it.  We give it.  We have moments in time which we will treasure together for eternity.  I like it.  It is the most natural thing for the Christian.

Yet, we also can be stingy with it.  And here the "should" comes in.  We do fail and we are harsh.  And we stand admonished.  And Jesus himself is the harshest of all, when it comes to someone not wanting to live mercifully.  We are not going to get around him.

The law is still the law and that's why forgiveness is so wonderful.  And this forgiveness is also there to serve the neighbor with.

So much for tonight.

Christ have mercy 9/ Does this jive?

6. Naught, naught, can now condemn me
        Nor set my hope aside;
        Now hell no more can claim me,
        Its fury I deride.
        No sentence e'er reproves me,
        No ill destroys my peace;
        For Christ, my Savior, loves me
        And shields me with His grace.

"To deny mercy--even worse, to reject the demonstration of mercy and care to those in need--is more than breaking God's Law.  Denying mercy denies and rejects the Gospel of Holy Baptism.  It denies the mercy of God in Baptism.  It denies the triune God, who is named in Baptism.  It denies the gracious word of the Father ("this is My beloved son, "  Matthew 3:17).  It denies the Son who undergoes and opens Baptism to us.  It denies the Spirit, who descends also upon us in Baptism.  It denies the gifts of that same Spirit, among which are charity, mercy, humility, and love.  Denial of mercy to the unbaptized fails to recognize that we, too, were once outside the church, outside of Christ.  We, too, were brought in the body of Christ through mercy, despite ourselves."

What do with think of this juxtaposition?  Does this fit together?  These quotes come from the last two posts.  I've debated this a bit somewhere else the last couple of days and in my head.   And what is the best way to talk about it?  I've convinced myself through this discussion that the second quote is also true, and from thinking about what Jesus said and what Paul said and what Luther said.

The thing is, God is not mocked and the law still applies.  There are ways to nullify the gift.  And Jesus is not joking when he says some things.  Everything about faith is a serious business.  Joyful, but serious.

We are back to the old discussion about the "necessity" of  love and good works.  We should refer to our confessions.

Baptism/ Christ have Mercy 8/ The rubber hits the road.

Chapter 5 is titled:  "Baptized for This Moment".

It is a smart title.  The chapter deals with the Sacrament of Baptism, what it means, what it means within the community and how it bears us up in all manner of crises and demands AND how this is becoming part of a body that works together and helps each other.

The chapter reminds me again of Stefan's death.  When the accident happened and the pastors were wondering how we were doing, my husband always told them, that he had been going to church for exactly a moment like this.  They thought it was the best answer they had ever heard.  It's a similar situation.-- The rubber hits the road.

We hear in this chapter the story of the relief effort in the New Orleans disaster.  There are some thoughtful and sensitive accounts.  I appreciated the way the needs of the traumatized are recognized and addressed.  DP Schulz asked to be prayed with and this was the prayer:  "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.  Grant Your servant Kurt, O Lord,  the strength to bear up under this challenge in the name of Christ." 

Well, yes, Amen.  Nice and short and to the point and there is not much else to pray.  Strength is really what it is about in a disaster.  I found that when people insisted I deal with my grief properly and attend grief sessions, that that was not giving me strength.  It made me really sad and zapped my energy.  I stopped going.  I was better without it, but that may just be me.  I had lots of real people in my life to stand by me, I did not need a specially formed group to dig everything up.  I also had a blog.  And there was really not that much else to say.

To bless the Lord in such a situation is also a special grace and something to experience when it happens to you.  We obviously don't look for this or ask for this.  But you can just simply say what Job said.  It works.  We know from the Bible that it's a good prayer and it's ready for you and God pleasing.  So just have it.

Then we have in the chapter various actions to save people in New Orleans, and we have the congregation at worship and volunteering to help other, etc.  We see how Word and Sacrament strengthens people to reach out again.

I realized at that moment how I had underestimated the body of Christ there, at the point of duress.  They confidently chose to act in mercy for their neighbors.  God baptized and preached them into one body through Pastors Schmieling and David Buss and countless others.  They responded as "one body" because they had "one Lord, one faith, one baptism"  (Ephesians 4:5).  Truly, they "were baptized for this moment." (p. 65)

The rubber hits the road again.  We learn in this section what Baptism is, what it means, how it is commanded, and yet a gift and God's doing.  We begin to see how the book is a lovely primer on theology and everything flows from word and sacrament.  One can really give this book to anyone to understand all the basics and more.

Then in another rubber-hits-the-road moment we learn how all this goes together:

When Christians are baptized, they give ear to the Gospel, read Holy Scripture, partake of Holy Communion, and love their neighbor. Luther. (p.68)

This is also one of the heading quotes for the chapter.  And of course scripture's witness:

How can we [plural] who died to sin still live in it?  Do you not know that all of us [plural] who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  In order that... we [plural] too might walk in newness of life.  If we [plural] have been united with Him in a death like His, we [plural] shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.  We [plural] know that our [plural] old self was crucified with Him.  Now if we [plural] have died with Christ, we  [plural] believe that we [plural] will also live with Him.  Romans 6:2-8.  (p. 68,69)

Apparently, the "plurals" in Romans 6 "jump off the page."  The verbs, too, are something to think about.  Such as "ebptistheemen" which is "were-baptized-together-in" Christ.  The other verbs are like this.   Seems like an interesting verb construction in Greek.  But I don't know any Greek.  Anyhow, it looks like we are missing some things from not knowing Greek.

From this we get a little dissertation which strikes me as one of the key points of this theology.

This is not symbolic language.  the Church really and truly is the body of Christ.  Baptized into Christ and made members of His Body, because we are in Him, we become ever more what he is--merciful one to another.  Luther writes:  "Thus we Christians, through our rebirth in baptism, become children of God.  and if we pattern ourselves after our Father and all his ways, all his goods and names are likewise our inheritance forever.  Now, our Father is and is called merciful and good, as Christ says, 'Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful' [Luke 6:36]."

To deny mercy--even worse, to reject the demonstration of mercy and care to those in need--is more than breaking god's Law.  denying mercy denies and rejects the gospel of Holy Baptism.  It denies the mercy of God in Baptism.  It denies the triune God, who is named in Baptism.  It denies the gracious word of the Father ("this is My beloved son, "  Matthew 3:17).  It denies the Son who undergoes and opens Baptism to us.  It denies the Spirit, who descends also upon us in Baptism.  It denies the gifts of that same Spirit, among which are charity, mercy, humility, and love.  Denial of mercy to the unbaptized fails to recognize that we, too were once outside the church, outside of Christ.  We, too, were brought in the body of Christ through mercy, despite ourselves.

Infant baptism beautifully demonstrates this.  Born into the flesh, we are children of the flesh, "dead in our trespasses"  (Ephesians 2;5). God's mercy seeks and creates the object of its love--though that object is quite unlovable!  Denial of mercy to needy Christians in particular is a denial of Christ's Body, the church.  It is a denial of Christ in my neighbor, as we read in Scripture:  "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ"  (Galatians 3:27) or "As you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me"  (Matthew 25:40).  So Luther can say that Baptism (like the Lord's Supper) makes us all, with Christ, "one loaf".  Denial of mercy, even to non-Christians, is a denial of the way the Lord has sought and claimed us who were unlovable and condemned sinners.  Baptism is mercy. 

 There is a little bit more about this and then we talk about being "daring", daring to believe that "because of Jesus we are wholly pleasing and acceptable to God.  And it becomes daring to live life outside ourselves and in and for others:  "'The Father of infinite mercies has by the gospel made us daring lords.'" (p. 70).   We nevertheless bear crosses but are comforted by the promises of baptism.  And once more the exhortation to love:

I [Christ] have imposed the Gospel, Baptism, and the Sacrament on you.  And... it is your treasure, which I have given you gratis.... but now, since you have all received the treasure that you should have, do just this one thing:  be joined together in the bonds of love. (Luther)  (p. 71)

About this daring action, joyfully based on the joyful knowledge of God's grace and favor, I read an interesting thing on confessingevangelical, the other day.   "What would it be fun to present the Master with upon his return?"

It's just that maybe "fun" is not quite the right word, or maybe it is,  and it's not for the Master per se,  it is for the neighbor, in whom we find the Master, remember. That would be being merciful like him.

Justification/ Christ have Mercy 7

We are in "Christ have Mercy.  How to put your Faith in Action".  Chapter 4, the second half.

The question, in light of liberal "Christianity"  (I put it in quotation marks, because largely it seems to put itself right outside of Christianity; see the "curriculum" mentioned a couple of posts ago), is:  "Can Justification mean anything today?" (p.54)

In liberal theology, the "focus changes from Christ to the needs of man, which are not seen in the context of sin and grace.  Thus mainline denominations are dying and dying quickly", writes Harrison  (p,55)  The Gospel is recast into different context and loses Christ.  

Harrison quotes Amos:

 "Behold, the days are coming,"  declares the Lord God, "when I will send a famine on the land--not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east;  they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12.

What a famine this is.  From here we get some interesting illustrations.

Traveling the world, I have seen the best and the worst of humanity.  I have seen the oppressed and the oppressor.  I have met Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Animists, and tribe after indigenous tribe.  There is no more fundamental desire of the human race than justification, that is, to justify one's being and existence.  It is a human universal.  I justify my wealth.  I justify the time spent working away from family.  I justify the approach I have taken toward my children.  I justify the treatment of my wife.  I justify my value to my employer.  I justify my right to pennies from a wealthier man.  I justify my right to your money.  I justify my plea for various commodities of humanitarian aid.  I justify  lethargy.  I justify my thievery by lying to others and believing the lies myself.  I justify my tribe's hatred of "those people."  Universally practiced and understood, the language of "justification" is a fundamental phenomenon of life in society.

Ouch.

There are other ways at looking at justification as a universal need/famine. Harrison supplies a quote from Oswald Bayer, who according to the footnote is a retired professor of systematic theology from Tuebingen.  The book is  Living by Faith:  Justification and Sanctification.

There is no escaping the questions and evaluations of others.  If one accepts and welcomes the other or not, if one greets the other or not, if one acknowledged the other--either through praise or reproach, affirmation or negation--or if one does not acknowledge the other and regards the others as worthless, a decision is made concerning our being or non-being.  Only a being that is recognized and acknowledged is a being that is alive.  If no one were to call and greet me by name, if no one were ready to speak to me and look at me, then I would be socially nonexistent.

In this sense we are all beggars.  Without the acknowledgment of others we don't really exist socially.  We deal with this in many ways and Harrison gives a number of examples, which I've had to think about.  You should get the book.  I can't put it all here.

The chapter finishes with God's answer to these universal problems.  We receive the proper teaching of justification.  "By nature, every person knows something of God's Law (Romans 2:14) and each person knows just enough to think he can justify himself.  However, justification and the peace it brings is a gift." ( p. 58).

We learn about the wrong path of self-justification and  find the beautiful Bible passages, teaching grace through faith, the undeserved gift from God himself.

"But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died through one man's trespass.  For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many... If because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ"  (Romans 5:15, 17, emphasis added by Harrison).  (p.59)

One more important paragraph deals with mankind's customary ways of justifying itself.  This also needs to be recognized:

We are justified not because of something that has changed within us.  Adoplf  Koeberle's book the Quest for Holiness demonstrated how perpetual attempts at self-justification occur along three persistent paths;  attempts at perfecting the mind, the will, and the emotions.  In real life, it works out this way:  The intellectual seeks to comprehend and define the divine.  The moralist strives to possess pure moral thought and action.  The mystic seeks to empty himself of everything that is not "god" and seeks to feel god by his ecstatic presence.  All three of these are fruits from the same tree.

All of this is the antithesis of grace.  "For Christ's sake" we are just. The definitive work in justification is outside us, not inside us.  This work was performed by Jesus Christ, not us, and it occurred on Golgotha more than two thousand years ago.  "It is finished!"  Jesus cried out from the cross (John 19:30).  The apostle Paul explains:  In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself"  (2 corinthians5:19).  This act transcends all of history.  It was justification for me and for everyone who ever lived before and after Jesus.  Peter testifies"  there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved".  (Acts 4:12)

In reflecting on this entire section, I think we find here  a little apologetic written for liberals and for moralists alike, to explain how and why justification is the heart of the heart of our lives and of merciful action for neighbors.  Without forgiveness of sins of sinners, without the atonement, the shedding of blood, the death of God to salvage us--we have nothing to work with, hope for, live for, nothing to be justified by, nothing our neighbor is justified by.  In your quest for unity, do not jettison the thing that really matters, that really unites us.  Please, think it over.  We also find the Gospel proclaimed to us here.  It is a chance for all of us to hear it again and to ponder it.  What struck me today was the "how much more" in the Romans 5:15-17 passage.  If we think that our sins is so great, we should know that God's free gift and righteousness is even greater.  It is all encompassing.


One could really go launching into a lot of things here, but I'll stop myself, except to say that where we have this proper confession of Christ as Lord, God, and Savior, we also have a love that is quite unfathomable.  Pastor Bror Erickson wrote about it beautifully, the other morning.

Where I meet another blood-bought brother or sister, there is what Paul said to the Galatians:  "For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them for me." 

Christ have Mercy 6

Let's go with the full title of the book:  "Christ have Mercy.  How to Put Your Faith in Action".

Now that I've typed it, I notice is says "in Action" not "into Action".  That could mean several things.  One that faith is not something that we "try" to put "into" action, but it is faith that is ready to propel action, just like "splanchnon" causes action.  Or else it could mean that  our systematic theology will also have something to do with action.

We have had several caveats in laying the groundwork for this theology.  One was that we are not prescribing an ethic, another that the action should be supplied in conjunction with the local congregation and its proper Gospel ministry of word and sacrament.  The example was the Lutheran congregation in Othoro, where the housemother and the pastor care for the orphans who also belong to the church.

In chapter 4, we have other caveats.  The chapter is entitled:  "The Heart of Mercy's Heart. Justification."  Two quotes set the theme.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing;  it is the gift of God.... For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  Ephesians 2, 8-9.

You are white as snow [Isa. 1:18], pure from all sins.  But you must wear this red dress and color now, and remember to love your neighbor.  Moreover it should be a fervent love, not a pale red love.... For this is the way sins are covered, even a multitude, a heap, a sea, a forest of sins.  Martin Luther. (p.51)

What will be discussed is that  we are not on one hand denying anything of the historic Christian faith and its heart of actual justification through Christ, who actually is faithfully witnessed to by scripture and its eye-witnesses.  On the contrary, this justification by God's grace and "mercy" is via the "faith" that puts itself into action.  This justification is the heart of the heart.

In the beginning of the chapter we get a run down of what "enlightenment", "modernism" and "post-modernism" has done with our faith by trying to divorce it from history, and making it a mere "mythology".

We know a good deal of this sad story and I have recently had a conversation with someone from the "United Church of Canada", who could not say anything about faith and religion without using the word "myth".   He liked the "god-myth" of the Christian story, the best, but now he is trying other ones.  Blabla.  All the United Church people talk something like this:  the Bible is not reliable, the Bible is not reliable.  It is like a mantra throughout all the ranks.

Matt Harrison has this little illustration on page 51.

"And I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was
not conceived by the Holy Spirit,
not born of the virgin Mary,
probably suffered under Pontius Pilate,
perhaps was crucified, died and buried,
but certainly did not descend into hell,
did not rise again on the third day,
did not ascend into heaven, and
will by no means come again to judge the living and the dead." (p. 51)

If it were not a travesty, it would be quite funny.

And another very sad one:

Deconstructionists pull trigger after trigger in a game of Russian roulette with Western Christian culture. (p.53)

Anyhow, we are not like this.  We believe what we confess as a Church, and justification is at the heart of everything.  Social gospel is not enough; deconstruction is hugely damaging; we're not about ethics.

From then on we get into subheadings:  "Can justification mean anything today" and "the universal need for self-justification."  and "by grace for Christ's sake through faith".

I don't have anything underlined there, yet.  So I'll quit for now.

I'll just say, in terms of this deconstruction and the other threats from Islam, etc, which are mentioned, I think one way to put your faith in action is to say something about all this.  Luther describes good works in quite a wide way;  he includes things like admonishing, teaching, praying, etc. (though this is not "action" per se.)  I think those of us who spend time thinking of an apologetic for a historic faith and engaging in conversation are also doing good work.  There is really no dichotomy between all these things.  The historic faith is to be preached, also defended in the trenches, and received and lived in mercy.  This all goes hand in hand and that's what's being said.

Once, I attended a talk by the well known apologist Scott Klusendorff.  He bemoaned the fact that Christians don't think enough.  "Why are we sending Christian kids to build houses in Mexico?  They should learn how to think and argue the faith, pro-life stance, defend the unborn, the elderly in the public sphere, media, etc."

Well, yes, we are not the most intellectual society these days.  We can use good Christian apologetics.  But we noticed already that a merciful act requires only that you know God's mercy and you can pass on the love of Jesus in very simple, humble and not necessarily intellectual ways.  This is good.  We all have something to do and everyone has different roles in the same mission.  That really is one of the beauties of it.

Christ have Mercy 5

OK, let's do a little more.  I wish now it was not so off the cuff, but this morning I woke up panicking about my daughter's upcoming wedding shower, (which panic I will utilize into getting something practical done, as soon as this is finished for today) unlike Sunday morning when I woke up thinking wonderful, lofty things about how the Holy Spirit is "comforter", also sent to us in our pitiable estate.  The Spirit also shows mercy, in fact through him we have the forgiveness of sins in the church.  We can just be glad and glad and glad for all that.

Chapter 3 is mostly about "splanchnon"  this stirring pity, compassion, which is for us like a deep feeling in the gut or the heart, or the internal organs, something "visceral".  I seem to remember that the Greeks or some other ancients had seats for different things, such as emotions.  Was not the liver the place for something and other organs for other things?   So "splanchnon" is for Harrison, "one of the all time great Greek words".

Splanchnon has to be one of the all-time great Greek words in the new Testament.  You will not find more incarnation, enfleshed talk about Christ than in this word.  I am convinced the word is an onomatopoeia, that is, a word that sounds like what it denotes.  Repeat splanchnon a few times at a low decibel, smile inverted, and lips pursed, and you will know what it means even without Greek 101.  As you repeat the word, you can almost imagine a pagan priest removing these organs from a sacrificial animal and carting them on a surface to be "divined" to predict the future.  Say the word and you are back in Old Testament times, watching the priest removing the bowels of the sacrificial animal and casting them aside-splat! to be burned or hauled out of the city.  Splanchnon sounds like a verbal splat!  You can all but hear the word used in this most base and concrete meaning in Acts 1:18 "... falling headlong [Judas] burst open in the middle and all his bowels [splanchnon] gushed out"

In ancient pre-Christian usage, the Greek word splanchnon denoted the "inward parts" of a sacrifice, such as the "liver, lungs and spleen".  It also denoted the lower half of the body--the womb or the loins.  In more figurative usage, and for obvious reasons, the word meant "the seat of 'impulsive passions.'"  In pre-Christian use, splanchnon is never used for mercy.  In the Septuagint, the Greek edition of the Old Testament, splanchnon began its journey toward is significant and sacred use in the gospels, particularly in association with Jesus and His actions. (p. 40.)

That is hugely interesting, yet, we easily know this emotion from our very own innards.  Yes, yes, all emotions are mediated via hormones, etc.  They still seem to be located in the chest and solar plexus.   Sometimes the feeling is so strong we remember it years afterward and we remember whom we had it toward and why.  Unfortunately, I have to say I have it also toward myself, the selfish beast, maybe more often than anyone else.  And then we cry some about our lot in life and God even hears and cares about that.  Anyhow, we know very well what is meant and the excursion into the Greek is very understandable and great illustration.

Jesus has a lot of "splanchnon" in the Gospels.  And Jesus shows us what the Father is like in his love and compassion.  "Abba Father", indeed.  We get it.

In Chapter 3, we now have 12 passages from the gospels printed out where "splanchnon" is employed.  Jesus has a lot of it for the crowds and for individuals whom he heals.  The point is that "splanchnon" moves to action.  You don't have it and then simply go away.  It's not a TV soap opera for indulging in feelings.  People need help and they receive it.  Something gets done.

There are also the parables.  The "Good Samaritan" had it and he actually did something.  In German we say: "Der barmherzige Samariter."  So we use the "splanchnon" word in the title not the generic "good."

This makes me think about "the good tree" that we are supposed to be.  We know that is not something that can be simply commanded.  The Law has never produced the right kind of tree.  But "splanchnon" has, God's merciful action in saving us in Christ, does.  So this "good" tree, maybe is like the Samaritan not just simply "good" but more specifically "merciful" ("barmherzig").  I like this because often when there are good deeds, the focus seems to be on people trying to do something to justify themselves, or designing good works that do not fit the need of the recipient.  Nothing is more annoying than that kind of "good."  In fact, sometimes, it seems rather detestable and distancing. In contrast, a merciful work, moved by the need of the needy, will be truly good.

This is what Jesus did, anyhow.  He fixed the sight of those who wanted and needed it fixed.  The Samaritan saved the man who lay bleeding from assault.

I notice that none of the examples are from John.  He seems to deal  in "agape".  Paul uses "agape" in 1. Corinthians 13, but "splagchnon" in a few other places, as well.  They don't mean exactly the same thing it seems.  Maybe agape is a little more clean word,  it sounds so soft and lovely.  "Splanchnon" is this from the gut, almost convulsing, maybe a little down and dirtier (enfleshed), word-- stronger, more masculine even, perhaps.  More adrenaline, more urgent action. (I am gathering.)

I marvel that the evangelists would always add this in about Jesus' "splanchnon".  They could just have said:  "There were these blind people and Jesus healed them."  And we would have realized Jesus saw them, loved them and did something for them.  But, no,  we are told very specifically that he had this feeling.  Now, that I think about it, I am glad they mention it.  For some reason it is God's most urgent agenda to save us at all costs.   


Now the author of the book wants to be very clear that here we do not have a call for "ethics" for "law" or a protocol for how to act or care for the needy.  Ethics can be found in other religions, too.  He says:  "The attempt to follow the example of Jesus as a means to gain God's favor merits nothing but hell" (p.44).

Instead we should realize this:

The coming of God into the flesh is Gospel.  It is God's gracious act to accomplish our salvation.  Luther writes that Jesus "became incarnate to comfort."  Jesus is mercy incarnate.  Christ's life is filled with compassion and compassionate action for those in need.  Christ's life is more than an example for our living.  The incarnation of Christ is the strongest and most powerful gospel gift.  He was the sacrifice that earned salvation for us.  In Word and Sacrament, the church delivers what Christ obtained on Calvary--forgiveness of sin.  In newness of Life (Romans 6), the believer demonstrates compassion for those in need, the lowly, the suffering, the orphan, etc.  However, God Himself, God accepts our daily acts of compassion as our daily and holy worship because of Christ.  Philippians 2: 5-8, the great Pauline hymn of the incarnation, teaches us the key motivation for divinely wrought mercy...

We are baptized by Christ into merciful compassion for those in need around us.  In this way we indeed become "incarnate" to our neighbor. Luther nailed it when he wrote:

Therefore, if we recognize the great and precious things which re given us, as Paul says [Rom.5:5], our hearts will be filled by the Holy Spirit with the love which makes us free, joyful, almighty workers and conquerors over all tribulations, servants of our neighbors, and yet lords of all.  For those who do not recognize the gifts bestowed upon them through Christ, however, Christ has been born in vain... Just as our neighbor is in need and lacks that in which we abound, so we were in need before God and lacked his mercy.  Hence, as our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Christ to one another and Christ may be the same in all, that is that we may be truly Christians.

Because of Christ's incarnation, we are freed and sent by God as "incarnate" christs to one another.  As Luther said, we "clothe ourselves in our neighbor's flesh"  We have compassion (splanchnon) enlivened in Christ, and that compassion takes action.  To refuse to "have the mind in you" is to refuse mercy.  It is worse than a mere transgression of the Law;  it is a denial of the very incarnation of Jesus Christ in the flesh.  Thus John the apostle could write:

By this we know love, that he laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart [splanchnon!] against him, how does god's love abide in him?  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.  1 John 3: 16-18.  (pp. 45-47)

On the internet, here, we sometimes debate, if Christians are any better than atheist, on average.  Does it make any sense to talk this way?  How does one talk with atheists?  There is nothing worse than the self-righteously arrogant.

Still, last months' McClean's Magazine had a story about how much more Christians give to charity than uncommitted people.  It seemed to be a reason, not to try and get rid of all the churches.  What will we do when all the churches close down?  Who will be doing the volunteer work and give to charity?

That was interesting.

All I can say is, we do have this in the church.  We have God's mercy and we have it for each other.  Maybe there could be much, much more and we can work on that, and organize it better, etc.  And the last thing one would want to do is brag about being better.  If we keep our eyes on Christ and his "splanchon" we'll be alright.  "Christ have mercy" never goes away.  It is the daily cry.

BUT, it is true;  we have this.  We have mercy and freedom and love and joy and I don't even know how other people go through life without  this "comfort".   This is why they seek it in all the wrong places and in the wrong ways and we witness what we witness, although, often enough this happens to Christians, too.  This is why it is our  job to tell everybody about him and paint him before their eyes, as we received in this chapter.  He has "splanchnon" for us all, and this all the time, and again and again.  And we are seriously reminded, you dare not neglect to help your neighbor in need, in view of this mercy.  This is what shapes the great and harmonious community which we desire.  It can't spring from any other source than God's love, his actual doing in the body for all.

The atheists we talk to on-line are very angry that the messages contains condemnation. People who do not believe in Christ will not be saved.  They hear in their mind a harsh message.  The fact is that without Christ we truly are and have nothing.  You are already lost whether you know it or not.  You are already dead, condemned, lost, blind, deaf until Christ's mercy opens your eyes and ears.

Mercy and Me and You/ Christ have Mercy 4

This morning we have received several mercies.  One of them being  Rev. Harrison mentioning this little effort on his blog and sending people to read it.  (Now it better be good! :) )  Thank you and hello, in any case!  I'll take from that permission to keep quoting the book. 

The other thing that happened this morning:  I got up and did what Luther said. (This is code for Lutherans;  the others have to read the small catechism.  :)  ).  (Do it.)

When we call upon the name of our triune God, we say that we remember our Baptism, the beginning God made with us.  Now, when I grew in very Christian circumstances in Germany, nobody told me to make an invocation, make a sign of the cross or remember my baptism.  (Nobody went through the catechism, either).  So it was quite a gift to learn that here we are to take complete comfort and reassurance of God's grace distributed to me and all others in the Sacrament.

But now that I'm hovering between chapter 2 and 3, and am thinking about the great mercy of the great God, and being told that "splagchnon" is a deep feeling from the gut (we've all felt that), and thinking that in German "Barm" is something like "Darm" (also "gut"),-- today, I remembered that when we reassure ourselves of God's grace in baptism, we are reminding ourselves of his great "splagchnon", his very deep affection and compassion.  In remembering Baptism we reminded of this fatherly feeling and motivation for providing this salvation in Christ! 

This is what:  "We worship your name for ever and ever"  means (Matins).  We receive from this name and this God everything through Grace.  But Grace is not just a word, a formulation, a doctrine to be received, a method, not something infused, etc.  It is as we heard in Chapter 2, it is the very nature of the living God, the dear Father in heaven, to have this disposition towards each one--to me and to all.  Call upon the name of the Lord because he is so gracious and compassionate.  And he wants us to know it.  And he wants us to know it by telling each other.

This was all made clear in Chapter 2, but I did not get the connection right away.

The clearest and most direct revelation of the Trinity is in Christian Baptism, which shows God as mercy.  according to Luther, "in Baptism, heaven is wide open and the Trinity is present  to sanctify and save."  The apostle Paul writes:  "He [the Father] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5-6)... In this life we find sin, death, and misery.  In Baptism we find God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the triune God of mercy, life, and love, and we find that, mercifully, "heaven is nothing but windows and doors."  p.33

And then again about the orphans in Othoro.

The promise Christ gave to His disciples holds good in Othoro even as it does for you:  " I will not leave you as orphans;  I will come to you"  (John 14:18).  How wonderful that in one of the only passages in which Jesus speaks of orphans, He has just comforted His disciples with the doctrine of the Trinity.  In Christ you, though once orphaned, have a heavenly Father.  In Christ you have a beloved Brother who has borne your every burden in mercy (Hebrews 2:14).  In the Holy Spirit you have eternal consolation and comfort.  And like the Othoro children, you have a Church as your community of mercy.   p. 36

How very, very good that we are not pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.  If we can remember this mercy towards ourselves --the fullness, the completeness, the depths, the breadth, the eternity, the richness, the sacrifice of it, the feeling of it--by our very own Maker, Father, Brother, Comforter--found in the church, we have enough to ponder.  Let it animate our being.

We need to remember this also in our own suffering.  How is it that this merciful God lets such awful things happen to us?

The Othoro orphans are a gift.  The world and this sinful flesh might view them as a burden.  However, they have become an opportunity for mercy and compassion.

So are we an opportunity for compassion.

I don't like to be very gushy on this blog, but I do want to really give thanks here, like the boy, to God and Jesus Christ, that He and others have seen me as a human being.  My own father and mother have passed on, but there have been other friends, family, neighbors and congregation members and bloggers, who have cared for us in God's name, each in their own way.  I've tried to help them, too, by helping them deal with our distress by drawing their own eyes to his comfort.  So it is all mutual and shared.   All this gut-wrenching stuff is love, grows love, shows love.

Sometimes, it does not happen.  Sometimes, people are revolted, shocked, too grieved to understand, too frightened, too selfish, too haughty...  Sometimes they leave you by the wayside, ignore you, spurn you, reject you.  I can't do anything about that.  If feels quite bad.  But I can rest in God's compassion for me and for them and go in this knowledge.  I can even feel some "splagchnon" for them and pray for them.

Christ have Mercy, 3

The book is easily found at CPH, but also on Amazon, where it is less expensive, it seems. 

Chapter 3:  Father, Son, and Spirit, Who God is and how we will be. 

"Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."  Luke 6:36.


"I must believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and then also love my neighbor.  The Catechism teaches me this.  Yet we minimize the importance of such doctrine today.  How many of us pay heed to it?"   Luther.

"I thank God and Jesus Christ that someone has regarded us as human beings."  Eric, of Othoro Lutheran Rescue Center, Kenya.

I like that Rev. Harrison uses his own stories and pictures.  Sometimes I read some people and if anything said is not directly something Jesus said and did, it's not ok to mention.  If it is not directly Word and Sacrament it's not worth mentioning.-- We must be able to talk about the work that is being done, the experiences that are being had without thinking we are straight in evangelical or pietist land.  We don't have to go there. 


So, in this chapter we learn first of all how mercy is about who God is.

Mercy is about who God is and who we are in Christ.  To deny mercy is more than a mere transgression of particular laws.  Denying mercy is a denial of who God is in Christ, a denial of the holy Trinity.

In this chapter we get the story of Harrison going to Kenya, where the HIV rate is very high.  We get a glimpse of the country where death is decimating families and communities.  The plight of orphans is always particularly pitiful.

My first visit to Othoro brought a "17-percent HIV/AIDS infection rate jolt.  I found a traditional mud-and-stick hut in pathetic disrepair about twenty yards from a modest church building.  I had been in Masai cow-dung dwellings at the far edges of the Serengeti Plain.  I had been in homes of mud construction that were beautifully painted, sporting marvelously troweled cow-dung floors, painted interiors, overstuffed chairs, and even doilies.  However, the Othoro boys lived in squalor when compared to the standards of their own community.  I have rarely beheld such lonely despair.  Inside the little hut, which was not more than ten feet square, there was no furniture, not even a stool or bench.  A scavenged rusted galvanized roof covered a mud floor.  Two or three mats of elephant grass had been rolled and propped in the corner.  Next to the mats were a half dozen worn plastic bowls of various shapes and colors.

As at many, perhaps even most, of the other Lutheran parishes across rural Kenya, the boys of Othoro had suffered the loss of both parents to AIDS.  Without their little Lutheran parish, these children would even now face an unfathomable darkness.  But the small congregation had mustered the mercy and means to provide a housemother to cook and look after them.

I note the dialogue that goes on with this mercy mission.  (A couple in Huston will pay for an orphanage.  $40 K will  do it.)  He asks the children's names, inquires about their circumstances,  discusses their church and church attendance.  He makes plans with them together and with their pastor.

When he returns he meets the children again, now older and taller.  "It's really you.  Show me your new home."  They survey the new home.

Our miles simultaneously broke into tears of joy, and we stood together weeping silently.  Finally, with tears streaming down my face, I broke the silence, "This gift has been given to you because this, the Othoro Lutheran community, loves you, and our Christians in America know about you and love you.  All of this is because of Jesus' love.  In this new home, we share His love with you."  Eric, a twelve-year-old boy whose life has been forged through years of deepest tribulation in the midst of a Christian community, was standing next to me.  I asked him "What do you think?"  Speaking with wisdom and faith well beyond his age, he offered these profound words, "I thank God and Jesus Christ that someone has regarded us as human beings.

Wow.  This is how it is done.  Via the church, via individuals, for individuals because of Christ's love for all of them, because of God's love for human beings.

How simple the dialogue can be.  Not that much biblical knowledge needed.  We know enough.

We have opportunities for such exchanges every day.  We don't have to build orphanages in Kenya.  We can start in our own families.  Where there are people, there is such work.

After this example, we get some more theology under the heading "Who God is and how we will be".  Among other quotes, we get one from Wilhem Loehe:

Out of mercy the Son of God became man;  he lived, died, rose, ascended into heaven, and lives forever to practice great mercy.  The motive and purpose of all His works is mercy, and mercy is what He desires for those who are His.  Because His love and His Father's and the Spirit's love can only be mercy, so our love for the brothers and all men should include nothing but mercy.  The great basic command for our life is:  "Be merciful, just as your Father in heaven is merciful." (Luke 6:36)

It really is quite something.  Lots to think about.  Certainly, I have received much mercy and don't extend enough of it. 

The chapter ends very beautifully pulling together some more words of Jesus, the lives of orphans, the nature of the trinity and the word and sacrament ministry of the local church. 

This chapter also reminds me of the lecture series "The Truth Project" which I attended in my town.  One of the last lectures dealt with mercy.  "You have never met a mere mortal", was the slogan and .  There were many examples given, including dancing with the wall flower at high school grad, etc.  It was quite moving to me and the phrase has stuck in my head.  The young man from the orphanage says something similar when he says:  "You have regarded us as human beings."

I just googled the phrase.  It is so easy to find.  It is from a lovely passage from C.S. Lewis.

quotes from The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis... There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of the kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously--no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinners--no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.


Lewis is pretty good.  This quote works, too.

I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because, by it, I see everything else. 


God loves each one.  That changes things.

Christ have Mercy, 2

Chapter One.  "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy".

Or as we sang in Germany in the service in Greek:  "Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison". And in German:  "Herr erbarm dich ueber uns".  My father liked the word "erbarmen", "to have mercy".  This is how he felt towards his children, he would say.  He could relate to God that way, being a father.

We have, in the book, the story of the car accident to help us understand our need.  It is everybody's nightmare to lose a child.  The whole community is driven to its knees, as in the story.  As you know I've been there and the whole community was with me.  "How could this happen?  How could this happen to you?  Why did it happen?"  600 people at the funeral. 

Several times I told people "Why not?",  "Why should this not happen to us?"  Do you not know we are all up for this one time or another.  Lately, I've heard of several very odd and sudden deaths, dropped over at home at 42.  Weird but not uncommon.  As someone has told me and I keep telling others:  "You only have today."  And as Jesus said to those who wondered why the tower fell on some:  "Repent!".

What people meant was that we were well known and well respected and known to be more "religious" than most and it should not happen to someone like us.  Which is a bit of a compliment, but as we see false.  We are nothing more than anyone else.  And our sack is as empty as anyone else's.  And nothing changed about getting it filled.  You keep going the same place for relief that you have been going all along and in the same manner.  The Word is the only thing/One who keeps you from going to pieces.   Your daily and hourly portion of it.

I cannot overemphasize this.  You must stick with the external word (as mentioned yesterday).  Your spouse and your friends are on their own path of suffering.  They have nothing they can give you that they have not also received from the same source.  Your relationships may also go to pieces if you don't share from this source.

Often you hear the footprints poem or people says "Jesus is with you."  This is too fuzzy.  It leaves me to imagine that Jesus is with me and carrying me.  Better to be involved in real worship with the congregation as described in this chapter.  Which is going with your "empty sack", your litany, your prayer to where it can be filled for you.

"'Dear God, I've got an empty sack!'  That is what the Kyrie confesses.  The place to begin a book on mercy is at the Kyrie, which is an essential element of the Divine Service.  Most people are convinced that the church service is about the Law.  It is about what we give to God.  All week long we give our labor to our employer.  We give time to our children.  We give  charitably ...  Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee with a similar view of worship.  (Luke 18:10-12).  Notice the subject of the verbs in the statements made by the Pharisee--each subject is the word 'I'". (p.21)

Luther sided with the tax collector on the question of what the church service is.  "The tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'"

Yes, a sinner.  Not so special that death should not come to him or her or worse, to one or more of his or her children.  God was no sinner and knew this very same suffering.  He had the right to demand it from Abraham and from Job, even though this so goes against the grain and we scream.  We cannot fit this into our brains and designs.

But God is there to fill the bag, as we hear below.  We shall either be furious with him or come to him for bandaging.   This is what happens in worship.  We have nothing but Himself and what he gives us, all of us together.

"The action was all from man to God.  Luther completely changed the trajectory.  In the hymn Luther composed to teach the Ten Commandments, the Reformation Church sang, 'You shall observe the worship day That peace may fill you home, and, pray, And put aside the work you do, So that God may work in you' Have mercy, Lord!'  The movement is from God to man.  It is Gospel!" (p. 21)

"Luther described the divine Service as a man coming with an empty sack.'  In the Invocation, the name of the triune God, they name place on us in our Baptism, is spoken on us again.  That name is grace, mercy, and forgiveness dropped into our 'sack'.  We add an 'Amen', that is, a 'Yes, it is so!  It is in my bag.'  Then we confess our sins--'Dear God, my sack is empty'--and the pastor "in the stead an by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ' forgive us.  'We say again, 'Amen!  It is in the bag.'"

I do not have the same stab in the chest every time I see a picture, see a video, or listen to his songs.  Except once in a while.  Initially, the pain is also truly physical.  I can see how older people die from this. A man or woman dies months or a year after their spouse.  It is also very hard on your body and your functioning.  On top of that people get tired of you and your grief or the reminders of their own grief and you may suffer more isolation.  This is how people grow apart and couples split up.

I have confessed over and over the truth that it is the Word that welds you together even then.  Bandages are only so much good without the Word.  Being welded together is all we have for now, to be one body, a cluster on the vine, but it is so good, we are grateful.

What I see the author also doing in this chapter of the book, is to not just talk in terms of being a sinner and needing forgiveness.  This is expanded by talking about personal and collective tragedies--God's megaphone (Lewis).  Suffering these blows is another way of being a sinner, because it is the result of sin.  Indeed, "Lord have mercy".

Christ have Mercy 1

The Foreword is by Rev. Ray Wilke.  He is saying that people in the LCMS have been doing all kinds of mercy missions all along, but they need a theological framework.

"Our presentation of the Gospel must be based on good scholarly theology or we cannot function.  We dabble in feelings, but we don't trust them.  We respect authority, but we don't submit to the 'Vicar of Christ'.  We think logically but we are suspect of 'reason'.  What are we to do with all of Jesus' invitations to follow Him into the muddle and misery of people's lives?  If it doesn't fit the formula of Word and Sacrament, we struggle.  Well, perhaps there is more to Word and Sacrament ministry than we thought.  What if the evidence was there all along, lying right there, undiscovered, int eh Word, in the confessions, in the writing of our revered Church Fathers?  What if it could be proven from good sound theology that the urges of our heart to help the ones who have been beaten down sprig from Christ's own heart?  These urges toward acts of human mercy are bound to the cross and to the cup and to the inviolable Word, even to the water poured over to vicariously make us righteous.  The evidence of such things is all there, buried int he writings of Luther, the Confessions, and the church Fathers, waiting to be translated and interpreted and arranged into what has become known as systematic theology."

Nothing new is going to be said, but lets pull some things together to fit into our systematic theology, so it will help us.  These things have always been there, is what is asserted.

Another interesting part of the Foreward is the quote and use of a passage from the Smalcald Articles.

This is what Luther wrote in the Smalcald Articles:  "We will now return to the Gospel, which does not give us counsel and aid against sin in only one way.  God is superabundantly generous in His grace:  First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world (Luke 24).  This is the particular office of the Gospel.  Second, through Baptism.  third,through the holy Sacrament of the Altar.  Fourth, through the Power of the Keys.  Also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren.'  How few Lutheran believers recall that Luther identified this consolation as an extension of the gospel and therefore as a means of grace.  How powerful has become this fireside/riverside/ bedside/field and forest conversation among us, even while not being fully aware that it is truly a God-ordained conversation and consolation that we share.

Indeed, the 'mutual conversation and consolation of brethren' might be overheard by a refugee mother and child who are waiting outside a portable LCMS World Relief and Human Care clinic in Malakal, Sudan.  An Islamic tsunami widow in the east of India may hear with gladness the 'mutual conversation and consolation of brethren' when it is served with bandages, food, and shelter for her fatherless children.

Truly, there is nothing new here and we know exactly what Christ said and did.

Personally, I don't see myself anywhere in a foreign country any time soon, but the message applies to each of us individually and as a congregation corporately.  We are all called to say something to help each other and to bring this into a myriad of situations, and not just to say but also do.  Still, let's not forget to say when doing, whenever the time is right.

In terms of the blogging, I think that's why many of us like it.  There is a mutual consolation found, which is a great gift.  Sometimes, when you don't get a response and everyone is busy, or you don't know what someone is thinking, it does not seem very mutual and it feels like upward slogging all by yourself.  So, for those who read, it is really nice if you say something.  :)   So, it's good to have a statcounter, which tells you that someone at least has been reading, and there is grace in that.

This quote makes me think of another thing.  Sometimes you hear people talk of Bible study as a "pooling of ignorance".  I think that is a destructive comment.  It can occasionally be that.  And there are different kinds of Bible studies.  Some are lecture format and they are good.  Other Bible studies are more discussion oriented and these allow people to express something of their own faith.  This is good practice.  If you can learn to say something about the mercy you know in Jesus Christ, you might actually be ready to say it to someone else outside of the church and maybe even in a hostile setting. 

Personally, I'm very big on these studies.  If there is a conflict and I have to chose between going to divine service and Bible study, I tend to go to the Bible study.  Sadly, I find they are not to be had very many places.  We have let them slide and go by the wayside.  This is a totally destructive trend.  President Bugbee talks a lot about our Biblical illiteracy and he is right. 

So much for today.