Registration for the 2006 Confessional Worldview Seminar

Registration has begun for the 2006 Confessional Worldview Seminar! Check it out at the official seminar blog: http://confessionalworldviewseminar.blogspot.com/

Lots of good information has been posted at the blog:

• Registration
• Transportation
• Lodging
• Overview of the 2006 Confessional Worldview Seminar
• Schedule
• Presenters

Feel free to ask me any question. I can email you the brochure, church bulletin or the presenters vitae and abstracts. We are expecting a huge turnout (we already have registrations without an official registration form), so register early. If you are a frequenter of this blog, I will personally shake your hands. No, I'm not a speaker (we're sticking with real theologians - the kind with diplomas), but I will be there helping and coordinating.

If there is enough interest, we will design a meeting just for us!

The Masks of God

The other day I picked up a photo on my pastor's desk. It was of his first son, Hugh, taken just hours before he died last August. Although Hugh's skin tone and the tubes attached to his little body indicated a sick child, the sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his face were full of life and expressed delight and joy.

I was struck by the contrast in the photo: dying child full of life. How could that be? I know if it had been a photo of me as I lay dying, I would have made sure to look sick in the photo! Hugh hadn't learned that trick yet. He was still reveling in the joy of life...of a life soon to change.

I think there is a lesson in that photo. I need to find some scripture to go along with it. God put life into the child and gave him a soul. Baptism brought his soul into faith in Christ. Disease, born of a sinful earth, robbed Hugh of his earthly body, but not the life God gave him.

In honor of the one-year anniversary of Hugh Brooks' arrival at heaven's gate, I am posting something I wrote after attending his funeral. Up to that point in my life, I had never been to the funeral of a pastor's children nor had ever been to the funeral of a child. Here are my reflections of that day...

Masks of God

orginally posted in August of 2005

All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government--to what does it all amount before God except child's play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things. --Martin Luther, "Exposition of Psalm 147" from Masks of God blog

Our pastor and his wife recently buried their young son. During his four short months on this earth, struggling to overcome a heart defect, his parents kept on online journal. One entry, made on a more hopeful day, struck me deeply:

We are so thankful to see God working and to see Him hiding Himself behind the vocations of cardiologist, neurologist, anesthetologist, surgeon and nurse. Doctor is one of the masks God wears.

This young pastor also wears a mask of God, and his wife as well. Even in their deep and utter grief, though they were both emotionally and physically near exhaustion from the death of their sweet firstborn son, God's love could be seen beaming through in their eyes, their smiles and their touch. They were not spiritually exhausted; they were reaching out to all of us, hugging everyone and reminding us of the joy of salvation that sweet Hugh has now obtained through Jesus' death on the cross.

I had never seen a pastor at the funeral of one of his own. I had never been at the funeral of a baby nor a child. Now, I don't base my faith on what my eyes have seen and I can't believe in God just because of how my pastor and his wife gave clear account for the joy that is in their hearts; but seeing them doing so confirmed what I already knew to be true through the witness of the Holy Spirit. God has provided a clear and joyous salvation from this fallen creation - where little boys are born with heart defects- through the atoning sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. He has prepared a place for all who believe this is true. As if that wern't good enough, God has also sent his Holy Spirit to plant the seed of faith in the hearts of all who are washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and to grow and strengthen the faith of all who hear His Word preached and partake of Holy Communion. My pastor taught me this and he didn't run from it when his own little son died. Pastor and wife are one of the masks God wears.


During this last week, I have struggled fruitlessly on my own to defeat the evil plot of a computer programmer who has used his God-given talents for understanding numbers and computer programming to trick people, steal their money and corrupt minds and souls. He or she is faceless and nameless to me, but not to God. He is wasting his talent and rejecting God's urging to come to Him.

Just when I was ready to give up, I was led by my ISP provider to a young man who also has great God-given talents for understanding the same things as his evil counterpart. He uses those talents to continually learn more about viruses and trojans and hackers. He freely gives his time for no pay to companies in exchange for learning more.

To date, he has spent three hours straight on his phone dime, doing the work of a entry-level computer support person while also searching for an elusive hidden trojan virus. Sure, he is compensated in others ways and hopes to one day invent a little device to clean your machine in five minutes! But, he's got a long way to go and on his way he has helped countless numbers of people rid their machines of trouble and get back to work. Computer programmer,"geek", forensic network specialist are also masks God wears.

Pastor Snyder recently posted about the new Lutheran Carnival and the confessional Lutheran blogosphere: Ask the Pastor: Lutheran Carnival III and Beyond. He wrote:

"Lutherans are among those rare few who realize that even when we talk of “ships and sails and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings,” we also are talking theology. While I’m pretty sure that there will be plenty of theologizing from blogging pastors I’d be interested not only in lay theological perspectives about jobs, careers, marriage, and other vocational areas, but also reading some of the “daily grind.” Many of the bloggers I read, including Love and Blunder, Kiihnworld, and Pastor Steve Billings let me see much of their hearts and their theology through windows opened into the “ordinary” in their lives."

Yes, Pastor Snyder mentioned me in his last sentence and it really touched my heart, but that is NOT why I am mentioning his post. Blogs have been taking a bad rap lately, especially among our own. That deeply saddens me because blog-keeper is also a very honorable vocation. I began writing not thinking that anyone would ever read. I wrote to make sense of my life and faith.

About two months after starting my blog, I did a random search for confessional lutheran blog, thinking I would find nothing. With great surprise and delight I clicked on The Random Thoughts of a Confessional Lutheran and my world changed. From that blog, I discovered so many others, Confessing Evangelical and Bunnie Diehl were among the firsts and are still my favorites, although I've met so many more fellow saints since then. For the first time in months I realized that I wasn't alone in coming to the Lutheran confessions. Now how else would I have found other confessional Lutherans to strengthen my faith - mutual consolation of the saints, as the wise Wildboar once wrote.

Writing about my very ordinary life through the lens of my faith in God has helped me to be able to be able to more easily give account for the joy that God placed in my heart. And I'm not talking about blogging, I'm talking about my everyday REAL life. Writing about my faith is helping me to be open about my faith to others. I used to save my "Christian comments" for fellow Christians; now I can more easily leave God in His rightful and natural place in the world and include Him in my conversations with people. I attribute my ability to account for the joy to God; His Holy Spirit has planted it in my heart. I do believe that He also expects me to find and know good preaching, so that I learn more and practice saying and writing it down.

To you, dear reader, and to all the established, burgeoning or just-learning writers who decide to keep a blog, I thank you. Blog-keepers also wear a mask of God. I can't possibly begin to name those of you that have blessed my faith and my life, but I will try: Pastor Snyder, Rob and Devona, John, Bunnie, Scottius Maximus, Daniel, Elle, Dan, Glen, Bob, David, Jason, Floyd, Mutti, Brian and Matt, Pastor Steigemeyer, Chris W., Prof. Chris, Terrie, Vicar Lehmann, Michael and Timotheos, Pastor Brandos, Pastor McCain, Rev. Klages, Ron and Erica, Twylah, Josh S., Wildboar (wherever you are), Suzi and Tim, Monergon and Theophorus, Worthy Woman, Rick, Michael S., Rev. Chryst, Minister2B, Maria, Webcritter and Mr. Critter, and the many others that I've probably missed (probably because you don't have an RSS feed. If your name isn't here, email me and I'll ADD it! I've thanked you before and I'll thank you again for sharing your life and vocation through your blogs. It is a blessing to me. God be with you today and always!
.

Contempory Praise and Worship Music: A call to arms or a chance to teach?

My Drama:

An ugly shadow has reared its head outside the door of my castle...of my refuge and the place I hope to live out my days on this fallen earth. The knights of the roundtable of my castle are merely discussing whether or not to let the shadow in the door, but I know that harm has already come if such a thing is being discussed.

The shadow is a chameleon known to convince Christians that it is really an innocuous and pleasant diversion...a "modern" version of the same. The shadow disguises itself as light and calls to people. It tricks them into thinking that more people will come if it is used. It has been described as the smell of sulphur by one respected man. It has also been called the "stick of dynamite in the deconstruction of evangelicalism" by another. Yet another voice urges,

"...rather than spring into the usual defensive posture, what we really ought to do is become leaders in the area of sanctification. We need to take the initiative- not just showing the truth of Lutheran teaching, but also its great practicality, to say nothing of its evangelical heart! Out of love for our Lord and his church, it's high time we put our rich heritage into action."

I know I've irritated some by claiming this would never happen in my refuge. Those of you who were irritated may now rejoice that I was wrong. Or you can help. Pray for my castle. Submit links to aid in the educational opportunity. Or just consider this a fun guessing game and take a stab at my riddle. What is the shadow whispering at the door of my refuge and my castle?

An Explanation

This is fun! I can't remember the last time I had several comments. Of course, now that I've confused my own fellow church member, Norman, I probably should explain.

As a post-evangelical, I admit I have an adverse reaction to Contemporary Praise and Worship music. My faith once depended on it, or so I thought, as part of an overall Christian lifestyle. When my foundation of sand began to quickly fall apart a few short years ago, I started to notice the lack of doctrinal soundness in many of the P&W choruses. Yet it's influence on me was so great that the very first thing I asked my pastor-to-be on my first visit to him was borderline insane:

"If I become a confessional Lutheran, can I still listen to the local Christian radio station?

To this day, I don't know how he didn't burst into laughter. Instead he replied that I would find the station on in his home from time to time. With that major concern out of the way, I was able to go on with the minor matter of adult catechism. During that wonderful summer of learning, I was able to leave behind my dependence on contemporary praise and worship music. I learned that faith is given to me by God and sustained by God alone through His Word.

The first time I worshiped as a prospective member at my new church, I was underwhelmed by the music offered to me. My thought went something like, "How will I be able to tolerate this for the rest of my life?" No wonder I thought that, considering that I was used to clapping, drums, singers raising their hands and waving, etc. Over the course of a few weeks, the rich scripturally based liturgy and the timelessly-true hymns of praise and worship taught me and my family. I soon fell in love with the rich heritage of worship and song that confessional Lutherans have passed on from generation to generation dating back to ancient days. Not surprisingly, I am one of the more enthusiastic defenders of traditional liturgical worship.

So, when the idea of a modern modern liturgy or a few contemporary praise songs harmlessly added to a weeknight service gets brought up by a few very well-meaning members, I hit the panic button. Don't they understand the harm that music can bring? Or is it just me? Am I just being unreasonable based on my own past mistakes of how faith is created and sustained? Will my objections cause harm to the faith of those who ask the question of why not? How do I communicate my concerns without insulting or offending? These are my questions.

The drum roll begins...

An exciting development...posting by email on this blog, too. 

Uneasy, but secure and happy

Photo found on Google from an open Flickr account by a man named Paul

"So how does it feel to always be helpless and hopeless without the Cross of Christ? Very uneasy because it makes you always dependent on Christ, there is none of you that you can bring on God's table...Uneasy? Maybe, but secure and happy."

~ L.P. Cruz

L.P. Cruz of Extra Nos has just described, in The Basis, the monumental mindset change that God worked in me a couple of years ago. And yet, how wonderfully ironic is it that the uneasy feeling drives you to the cross? Driven not so much out of fear as much as joy and thankfulness for the one who now saves you!

His account is the one "universal" truth I've seen written about by all who ascribe to Luther's story of spiritual conversion. We all have that same story of God convicting us of our sin while simultaneously showing us the fantastic news that we are saved, all through work not of our own. We suddenly realize that that is the gospel: to be in debt and saved all in one swoop. Accomplished through the proclamation of God's Word and not through any action of our own. Even the very seed of faith is planted by God himself. No man can boast that he chose God or chose his own salvation in Christ. It is not possible.

This post really encouraged me this morning!

Holiness and sinfulness, coexisting together, though not peacefully

I love it when I read a post about total depravity and a post about holiness and see total harmony. For confessional Lutherans, any blog post on holiness will draw attacks reminding the blogger of our sinful nature and vice versa. I had to laugh when John at Confessing Evangelical added this disclaimer to the bottom of his recent post on holines, A Chappo's Guide to Holiness:

Note: For anyone tempted to make rude comments about a Lutheran blog posting on holiness (shock! horror!), do please go away first and read Article 6 of the Augsburg Confession (though also do read Articles 4 and 5 - especially Article 5 for any Sydney Anglicans that might read this. Craig excepted - he already knows this stuff.

For anyone tempted to make rude comments about this Lutheran daring to post on the subject of holiness: fair point.

Just last week I was tempted to write about Theology Geek's post, Where Theology meets Life, on sinful nature and actually decided not to write it because I didn't feel like combatting reminders of commands of holiness. Jason writes, "Calvinists and Lutherans have a basic doctrine that I don't believe is held by any other major world religion. That doctrine is total depravity. The "total" doesn't mean that humanity is as evil as it can be at all times like some silly comic book villain. It means that we are corrupted from head to toe. Though we can do good deeds for each other, they are generally for our own self-interest. It also means that we are born this way. We aren't born perfect with a morally clean slate and are turned bad through our environments, instead we are born corrupt with a natural tendancy towards selfishness. " Read on...

VBS 101

VBS 101 - don't water anything down, don't make it cheesy...

Read Love and Blunder: Pax Domini

ELS Convention update: Pastor John Moldstad has been re-elected!

Note: In the middle row of this photo the man with the white hair and beard is Pastor Kincaid Smith, author of "What's Going On Among the Lutherans", and his son-in-law(and our newest pastor), Pastor Rodney Flohrs, is sitting to his right.

Photos are from the Mankato Free Press website.
Click here to read a general article about the convention.

In honor of the re-election of Pastor John Moldstad, Jr. as President of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod, I am re-posting the service and sermon highlights from his visit to the 25th Anniversary of King of Grace School in Golden Valley, Minnesota. It was also the the 17th Sunday after Pentecost. The opening hymn was My Soul, Now Praise Your Maker (paraphrase of Psalm 103).

It was a very special service to me; using a children's choir for the service gave testament to why the school exists. To hear their voices sing out the scritural truths they are taught each day was very moving. It was then that I realized why we teach things, even difficult concepts, to our children: they CAN learn them and they are able to repeat it back to us.

Pastor Moldstad's sermon was based on Timothy 2. It was upon hearing this sermon that I decided to create a blog to keep my religion posts and that very day I named it Be Strong in the Grace. I will write to Pastor Moldstad and see if he kept his sermon notes from that day. It would be great to post it here!

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Rest of the service...

Versicles:
Pastor: O Lord, open my lips.
Congregation: (sung) And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
Pastor: Make haste, O God, to deliver me.
Congregation: (sung) Make haste to help me, O Lord. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was is the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: forevermore. Amen. Alleluia!

Invitatory:
Pastor: O come, let us worship the Lord.

Hymn of Praise: Sing Joyful Praise! (based on Psalm 117)

The Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Anthem: The First Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 12:2-6)

The Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Hymn: I Pray Thee, Dear Lord Jesus

Sermon:
Theme: Be Strong in the Grace
Text: 2 Timothy 2:1
By: Reverend John Moldstad, Jr.
President of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Offering: On Eagle's Wings

Offeratory Prayer: On My Heart Imprint Thine Image (sung)
On my heart imprint thine image
Blessed Jesus, King of grace
That life's riches, care and pleasures,
Have no pow'r Thee to efface.
This the superscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me,
Is my life, my hope's foundation,
And my glory and salvation. Amen.

Canticle: Te Deum Laudamus

Pastor: You are God; we praise You. You are the Lord; we acclaim You. You are the eternal Father; all creation worships You.

Congregation: (sung)
From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Let the Redeemer's name be sung
Through ev'ry land, by ev'ry tongue.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Pastor: To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, cherubim and seraphim, sing in endless praise: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might; heaven and earth are full of Your glory.

Congregation: (sung)

I would like to thank all who keep the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in their prayers. She needs God's blessings, as do all synods and church bodies.

"Mom, why aren't you yelling at me?" - the beauty of private confession and absolution

Luther writes in the Large Catechism:

"Christ himself has entrusted absolution to his Christian church and commanded us to absolve one another from sins. So if there is a heart that feels its sin and desires consolation, it has here a sure refuge when it hears in God's Word that through a fellow human being, God absolves a person from sin."


My teenager blew it the other day. In a very big way. One of those bad moves that come back to haunt now and then for years. Typical teenage stunt, maybe, but not acceptable. For better and for worse, the parent of the offended party called to yell at the both of us! Gotta love those phone calls, late at night, right in the middle of a sleepover.

Sleepover was over! I drove everyone home at 11pm. On the way back home, a simple question was asked by my teenager: "Mom, why aren't you yelling at me?" The simple truth was that this wasn't one of those "Mom is freaking out!" times. No, this time I knew my child would be answering to friends, classmates and others for weeks (or maybe a couple of years). What good would screaming do? I could see that my child was very sorry, very ashamed and very worried about the consequences.

Another reason I wasn't yelling was that I sensed a real opportunity to proclaim the gospel. The sin had been sudden and emotion-based. At the realization of the pain caused to another, hopelessness was setting in. We are all tempted by such things and how, if we do not cling to the cross daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, we will eventually fall to our sin nature from time to time. I cannot be the judge of anyone's heart, but it seemed to me that my child was seeing sin nature clearly and with great fear.

Do you know someone who is just so darn happy to go to church each Sunday? Chances are that person is so thankful because of the knowledge of their sin nature, the certainty of eternal punishment for sin and their thankfulness that God provided substitution for their death because of sin. It is not the "perfect" appearing people who are so thankful for their salvation, but the sinners.

I shared that God had provided for our family a pastor and that he could lead anyone in private confession and absolution. My child's face brightened! I had expected a resounding, "No!", but instead the opportunity born of scripture was welcomed. The next evening, we headed to church for a short reconcilliation with the involved parties, mediated by our pastor, and then I waited in the lobby while my child received something I've never received before: private confession and absolution. The peace in my child's heart afterward was self-evident. Here is the suggested script for this act of love through Jesus...

The following order from Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal may be used when someone seeks the ministry of a pastor or other fellow Christian to make personal confession.

Minister:

In the name of our God, to whom all hearts are open and from whom no secrets are hidden. Amen.

Minister and Penitent:

O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy, and in your faithfulness, come to my relief. Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I life up my soul Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.

Penitent:

Almightly God, merciful Father, I, a troubled and repentant sinner, confess that I have sinned against you in my thoughts, my words and my actions. I have not loved you with my whole heart. I have not loved others as I should. I am distressed by the sins that trouble me and am deeply sorry for them. (here the penitent may confess specific sins)

Minister:

Jesus says to his people, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." His death paid for the guilt of your sins and the sins of the whole world. Do you believe this?

Penitent:

Yes, I believe.

Minister:

Because of the promise of our Savior Jesus, I forgive you all your sins. Be assured that you are a dear child of God and an heir of eternal life.

Minister and Penitent:

O Lord, my God, I called to you for help, and you answered me. I thank you for the love you have shown me in Jesus Christ, my Savior. Through him you have rescued me from the guilt of my sin and given me the peace of forgiveness. Help me fight against temptation, correct whatever wrongs I can, and serve you and those around me with love and good works. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Minister:

Go in peace. The Lord be with you.

2006 Confessional Worldview Seminar: exciting news expected this week

I learned at church yesterday that the 2006 Confessional Worldview Seminar is still slated to happen this year! More exciting than that is the main speaker who is expected to sign on-board this week.

Start making your plans: October in Minneapolis. Very cool! Stay tuned!

A gift for my son's first communion

DaVinci's Last Supper

Recently, the confessional Lutheran blogosphere has been debating the value of pastor-led confirmation programs. There have been side arguments of the appropriate age of confirmands and the usefulness of confirming all kids at the same time. These arguments have intrigued, yet irritated me. Probably because our household has been steeped in confirmation for the past three years.

For the past month or two, I've been busy preparing for our son's confirmation. We cleaned our house out and up, remodeled the bathroom, and prepared to feed a crowd of 40. We enjoyed very warm fellowship with family and friends, several of whom drove a couple of hundred miles to join us. For my son's part, he spent the past two years memorizing verses and doctrine. Two Sundays ago, he sat in front of the congregation with his 21 classmates and answered questions from our pastor. He was declared ready to become a member of our church. Last Sunday, he donned the white gown, red carnation and kneeled at the altar. He attested that he'd like to become a member, stated the reason for the joy that is in his heart and was received into our congregation with a blessing. This coming Sunday, a very special but much more subdued event will take place. My son will join the rest of his family at the communion rail.

As a communicant member of our congregation, my son will partake in the Lord's Supper, drinking the blood and eating the body of Christ as Christ himself commanded. He will then receive the forgiveness and strengthening given to him by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This opportunity for forgiveness and strengthening means more to me than the actual confirmation service.

Being 14 years old seems to be difficult for all kids and as a parent there is only so much I can do to help. Our pastor has encouraged us to proclaim God's Word to him, faithfully bring him to God's house to hear the Word preached and to not neglect our responsibilties as parents. There are many times in the past year or so that I have wished that my son could partake of the Lord's Supper. However, as parents we are not called to commune our own children and it is our synod's tradition for the first communion to happen after the confirmation of the child. So, this Sunday will be a particularly joyous day.

Truth be told, the preparation began three years ago when we switched Lutheran synods to give our children (and ourselves) a formal Christian catechism. Our former church had abandoned any formal catechism years ago, based on parents' complaints that their children were bored. The program was replaced with "Wednesday Night Live!". How sad for those kids. The year we left was the first year they confirmed a class of kids who had never had formal instruction in Luther's Small Catechism. Our timing was purposeful. Both our children, along with ourselves, had two years of rigorous Christian education taught by our pastor. While we still remain sinners, I am confident that the truth has been taught and that future decisions and behavior are much more likely to be based on scripture.

My son recently asked me if he gets a gift for his first communion. I think that his sincere, but immature question was a pretty clear illustration of why we wait until after puberty to confirm and commune our kids. Lots of kids younger than 14 are very smart and can answer catechism questions with the best of adults, but do they really understand how doctrine applies to their own lives? I happen to agree with our synod's practice of waiting until an age when most kids can understand difficult concepts at an adult level.

I also believe that, in general, confirmation should be taught by the pastor. Parents should be learning along with the confirmands, but it is the pastor who is the most educated in the many areas of Christian teachings. Also, I think that since our pastor is the one called to shepherd the congregation, he should take the lead in seeing that scripture is taught by parents to the children. Confirmation is one good way to accomplish this. Will all parents comply? No, but it will be very clear to the pastor which families are in need of loving counsel, exhortation and/or instruction. In a perfect world, each father would teach these things to his children. I hope that happens in many families. However, in many families the leadership of the pastor is needed. In our family, making the move to a confessional Lutheran church right as our children were entering confirmation ages demanded that my husband and I needed to have instruction alongside our children. I'm not going to waste valuable time feeling guilty that my husband didn't instruct our children himself. We have become a well-catechized family.

And about my son's request for a gift for his first communion - I was able to remind him that he would be receiving a far better gift than any human could ever give him. To receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by His own command, is to receive forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. What a gift! My son's answer was, "I already know that, Mom." Of course he does!

Random Musings: I'm all for purity, but...

Random Musings features a post, I'm all for purity, but..., on Father/Daughter Purity Balls, a trend that I missed out on and (thankfully) so has my own 16 year old daughter.

Rebecca writes:

Surely those of us with Biblical standards concerning sexual morality want to teach these standards to our children. We want them, boys and girls, to present their bodies as living sacrifices to God, and to live lives of physical, mental, and spiritual purity. We do not want them to regard sexuality as something to be exploited, as something that is less than the beautiful thing that God intended it to be.

But, well-meaning as the "Father-Daughter Purity Ball" movement may seem to be, it just doesn't sit right with me. In fact, to put it mildly, it seems disturbing.

Lutheran Carnival XXII

Peter 2: 1-3 (NIV)

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

My temporary American Idol insanity too often keeps me from reading blogs of substance, like Dr. Veith's Cranach blog or the latest Lutheran Carnival (let alone submitting posts to it). On Monday of this week, Dr. Veith wrote:

"I hope you had a happy Quasimodogeniti yesterday. I couldn't find any Quasimodogeniti cards at the Hallmark store, nor did I do any Quasimodogeniti shopping. Sorry--I just love that word, which refers to the first Sunday after Easter. It's not named after the Hunchback of Notre Dame; rather, that unfortunate fellow was named after the day. Nor is it a holiday, as such. The word comes from the first words in the Introit that begins the service in the classic liturgy for that day. In Latin, they are "Quasi modo geniti," which in English comes to "Like new born." The entire sentence is "Like newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word." Like much of the liturgy, it's words from the Bible, in this case 1 Peter 2:2. That's good advice for the whole year. We need to turn this into a bona fide holiday. I suppose we could observe Quasimodogeniti by drinking milk. We could get the Wisconsin Dairy Council to help promote it. But for the true meaning of the day, we should also do some serious Bible reading." ~Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Jr.

Consider this an appropriate introduction to the most recent edition of the Lutheran Carnival, which I have also neglected during the American Idol season. There are some new faces in this 22nd edition of the carnival and a nice tie-in to Quasimodogeniti. Pastor Snyder at Ask the Pastor is the host and he opens the carnival with this:

Quasimodogeniti, the Second Sunday of Easter’s “week of weeks” brings the twenty-second installment of the Lutheran Carnival to light. Pastor David Petersen provides a quick summary of “Hunchback Sunday” at CyberStones (and don’t forget to read the comment cum literary critique).
The antiphon of today’s introit comes from 1 Peter 2:2-3. “Like newborn babes,” saith the King James Version, upon which many of us were nourished in our youth — that certainly provides a carnival theme with promise. Yet what if some readers aren’t thrilled with babies? Or, if they’ve been drinking the “pure spiritual milk,” perhaps they’re ready for some meat (see Hebrews 5:12-14) — or not (see 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Well, I then thought, since this is Carnival-22, how about a Joseph Heller theme, reminiscent of his classic novel Catch-22? I gave it some thought, but decided to pass. Certainly Heller understood paradox and irony, two major literary types used in Holy Scripture. However, Catch-22 never comes to a resolution. Certainly our ongoing celebration of Easter provides ample reminder that Christ provided complete resolution of our alienation from God in His suffering, death, and glorious resurrection.

Finally, I decided to fall back on the Lutheran Carnival’s regular feature, the introduction to relatively unknown Lutherans. Therefore, I’d like to take a moment to tell you about a child born upon the Ides of March in the Year of Our Lord 1992. Read on...

Putting Out The Fire: "We only believe in the Bible"

In a post over at Putting Out the Fire, Frank posts We only believe in the Bible. Frank writes:

Here’s an example of how playing a guessing game as to what a particular church’s confession is has personally affected me: I wouldn’t commune at a church in my hometown because the pastor reworded the Nicene Creed. Why is this a big deal you ask? This pastor had so butchered the creed that I no longer tell if this church, which I had visited many times in the past and communed there as well, shared the same confession of faith. And since I didn’t hear said pastor preach Christ crucified in his sermon, it was as if I was in a church that just liked to make it up as they go. There are no words for how angry I was when I left after the service. I was not fed by either Word or Sacrament in the very place that I know I should’ve been fed. Was I making too big of a deal out of a little matter? No I was not! In his epistle to the Romans 10:9,10 St. Paul wrote “That if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” This is why people like me cling to the confessions, because it ensures we are all on the same sheet of music. If you like your music to be of the Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant variety that’s fine, just don’t interrupt my Bach Chorale and tell me we’re listening to the same thing!

In a related post, which Frank used to bolster his point, Pastor Stiegemeyer writes, in Doctrine vs. God's Word:

It matters WHAT you believe, friends. You can't just say, "I love Jesus." Nearly everyone says that from Mormons to Muslims. "Who do men say I am?" WHO is Jesus? WHAT did he do?

If you say that God is not going to judge you according to your doctrine, be careful because it sounds like you are suggesting that your relationship to God is not related to what you believe.

According to St. Paul... (read on)

~ Pastor Stiegemeyer

In my experience, too many evangelicals and fundamentalists do not understand how their ancient Christian forefathers fought false teachings and developed creeds from those battles. Someone who has as their creed, "Just give me Jesus!" or "We only believe in the Bible." might as well be carrying a banner into the future for all the false teachings of the past centuries. At the very least, that person is holding open the door to false teachings in their family's lifetime and for his or her great-grandchildren. Everyone has a creed, spoken or not, written or not. In my youth, I thought it drudgery to state one of the creeds in church; now I see it as hope for the future members of my church.

Beggars All: America's Lowest-Common-Denominator Christianity

Tim the Enchanter over at Beggars All posts on the latest embarrassing study on Christians in America. Once again in this age of "Just give me Jesus!" and as-you-like-it worship, it is CLEARLY ILLUSTRATED why our faith forefathers went to all the time and trouble to develop the various creeds. Satan has used false teachings and neglect of teaching to attempt to harm God's children and draw them away from their father. Next time you are in church and your eyes and ears begin to gloss over at the reading of one of the creeds, close your eyes and imagine yourself chanting the summary of your beliefs all with the millions of Christians throughout the ages. If your church rejects any creeds, ask yourself who is happier about that : you, God or Satan?

Most Americans don't believe they will experience a resurrection of their bodies when they die, putting them at odds with a core teaching of Christianity.

The findings of a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll surprised and dismayed some of the nation's top theologians since it seems to put Americans in conflict with both the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed, ancient statements of faith meant to unify Christian belief.

The Nicene Creed, adopted in 325 at the First Council of Nicea under Roman Emperor Constantine, concludes with the famous words: "We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen."

Similarly, the Apostles' Creed professes a belief in "the resurrection of the body." Read on...

The Last Supper

When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me," 1 Corinthians 11:24,25.

A little treat for the kids

Strange quote of the day: Kirk Cameron

From Laura Ingraham's website...

It was a personal step of faith. 'God, if you're there, show me ... if you did what you did on the cross for me, then make me the man you want me to be, and I'm in.'
-- Actor Kirk Cameron, on his conversion to Evangelical Christianity.

I would like to compile a list of SCRIPTURE verses supporting his point and contradicting his point. Wanna help?

Can God's Word be summarized?

I has an interesting conversation with my 16 year old daughter the other day. She asked me why people always use John 3:16 on signs at stadiums, on bumper stickers, etc. I told her that many think of that verse as a good summary of God's Word. She said, "I know that, but WHY do they do that?" What she was asking was WHY use it? She had seen it on a shopping bag given out by a popular clothing store (I think it was Forever 21).

Her question was a good one and one with a couple of answers. First of all, the owner of any store is free to put any kind of message he wants on his customers' shopping bag. Second, the owner is most likely a Christinan and believes that John 3:16 is a verse that will lead his customers to read God's Word. But what I took away from our conversation is my daughter questioning the purpose of a widely-accepted evangelical practice of stamping John 3:16 on everything.

We didn't end up condemning the use of John 3:16 (the word and numbers, not the actual verse), but since turning to confessional Lutheran practice that verse no longer carries the sole weight that it once did for me as an evangelical. I don't turn to that particular verse to summarize God's Word. To me, a good summary must clearly illustrate the law and the gospel.

John at Confessing Evangelical posts:

In the second of his expository lectures on Romans from 1989 (see previous post), Dick Lucas quotes the Lutheran theologian Anders Nygren on Romans 1:16,17:

The Gospel is not the presentation of an idea, but the operation of a power.

In other words, we need to avoid an intellectualised, "static" view of the Gospel as being nothing more than a set of facts and doctrines that we appraise and then either accept or reject. Instead we need to recognise that, as Nygren continues...

Hat tip to Rob at Love and Blunder

Does revelation continue?

Beefstew-inator posts an excellent review of the book, A Different Jesus: The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, and gives excellent commentary on an important point. He is not the first to comment on the growing similarities between many evangelicals and Mormons. I agree with his assessment that the belief that God is continuing to give new revelations to people is behind their coming together. While no orthodox Christian would dare to be God's spokesman in saying that there are no prophets and no revelations today, the abuse of the two is very apparent to all. In fact, the abuse was a major factor in my leaving Evangelicalism. He makes this excellent point:

If the ...Pope or almost any Evangelical can say "God told me..." and claim that it was from God and then base their church's formal teaching or personal life on it, why can't the Mormons?

More on the "Gospel of Judas"...

More on the "Gospel of Judas" from Rev. Paul T. McCain...

The Gospel of Judas: Yawn! Same-old, same-old Well, here we go again. Somebody finds a Gnostic "Gospel" and suddenly the media jumps on it as if it is the downfall of Christendom. When I used to be a parish pastor, I would visit my dairy farmers on their farms early in the morning sometimes. In the Winter, there would be steam rising from piles of material left behind by cows. Let the reader understand. Well, this is precisely what all this hype over the Gospel of Judas is all about: a big old pile of steaming nonsense. Here is a very well done rebuttal of recent media coverage of this issue, by Dr. James White, It is all over the news today, as predicted (and, obviously, planned, given the date). "The Gospel of Judas Contradicts Christian Belief!" "Judas was Doing Jesus' Will!" "Christianity Shaken!" Blah, blah, blah. When you get your historical and theological information from Katie Couric on the Today Show, well, you'll buy anything. When I was responding to Bart Ehrman's media blitz on his book, Misquoting Jesus, I repeatedly emphasized the need for every-day Christians to start studying these sources so as to be able to provide a meaningful response in an ever more anti-Christian context in Western Society. Well, here's another example. For those who have already realized Bart Ehrman's "if they said Jesus once, they were Christians" mythology makes no sense, this is another second century gnostic writing, like Thomas or Mary. Judas was one of the favorites of the gnostics; this gospel is gnostic to its core; gnosticism is utterly incompatible with anything that can seriously be called "Christian." End of story. Explain to the guy on the bus who just saw the Today interview (which had zero meaningful content). Go on with your daily service to Christ. But, of course, not only are most Christians completely and utterly unaware of gnosticism, Nag Hammadi, aeons, dualism, etc., but they are likewise easily troubled by the culture's invocation of the holy and authoritative phrase, "scholars." Bart Ehrman is having to guzzle Starbucks to survive all the interviews he is doing today, all the while promoting his key argument: early Christianity was a mass of self-contradiction, and what we have today was just one small sliver that somehow managed to survive to predominance. And hence, due to lack of discipline and foundation, many are left wondering about the very foundations of their "faith." Let's set the record straight right off the bat...