The Burr in the Burgh

Kudos to John Leo for a balanced editorial in the Wall Street Journal. He tackles the thesis of a new book which asserts that today's adults are basically still adolescents who never grew up . . . and that's a bad thing.

At first, I thought I was going to agree with the book and that his essay was a puff piece. But, I think he makes a fair argument that this may not be your grandfather's America - and that's not all bad.

First this very important story out of Norway about the crisis of moose farts. Meanwhile, when was the last time you read an article about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur?

Comment on ELCA’s Action by Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, President
Concordia Theological Seminary

Sacred Scripture is the living voice of Jesus. Here the Risen and Ascended Lord speaks to us through His prophets and apostles. His voice is pure, holy, and healing. He names those evils that consume human lives. He offers Himself as the atoning sacrifice that brings forgiveness and new life.

It is, therefore, simply tragic that the majority at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, Saturday, August 11, 2007, has refused to discipline those willfully engaged in that which Sacred Scripture identifies as “intrinsically sinful”, namely, homosexual behavior. Such a step is a radical departure from two thousand years of Christian teaching across churches and denominations. A physician can only assist a patient by naming the disease. By denying its existence the physician harms the patient.

Concordia Theological Seminary prepares pastors faithful to Jesus’ living voice in Sacred Scriptures. Pastors who will name the evils and sins that destroy human beings and then present the healing, forgiving, life-giving words of the great, good physician Jesus.

We are grateful for the clear witness of President Gerald B. Kieschnick and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in support of Sacred Scripture. It is a privilege to prepare pastors for such a church even as we pray that all may return to, and hear, the pure voice of Jesus and be healed by His presence.

Here we demonstrate the inherent narcissism of blogging, the assumption that anyone "out there" would be interested in my little ol' life and interests.

These are the books I brought with me for vacation to the mountains.

• Your Movie Sucks by Roger Ebert (finished). A compilation of the famed movie critic's most scathing reviews. I don't always agree with Ebert's evaluation, but I always find him interesting. His knowledge of film history is vast. Quite to my surprise, he doesn't hesitate to point out the hypocrisies of those who infuse their films with political correctness.


• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind. My hat is off to John E. Woods for his hypnotic translation. Here is a story about obsession (the psychological state, not the fragrance). Parallels Tolkien's Ring of Power, which obviously parallels the state of original sin. I'm only about 60 pages into it and though beautifully written, I'm actually coming to the opinion that the recent film adaptation may have had more theological complexity and subtlety. But that would have to be credited to the wonderfully expressive face of the chief actor.


• Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman. This guy is a great read for those intrigued by all aspects of pop culture. The first hundred or so pages have been mostly music criticism, specifically Heavy Metal. Not my chief area of interest, to be sure, but Klosterman is entertaining. I think the rest of the essays branch away from just music, but so far I'd rather be re-reading his Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto, a book I read while relaxing on a three day train ride across Siberia last summer.


• Through a Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet. I've been enjoying Jeffrey's blog on popular culture for several years so I'm looking forward to his first book on religion and movies. His book is subtitled: Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth, and Evil in the Movies.


• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. Up to now, the only thing I've read by this pope are homilies and the occasional statement in the press. I am looking forward to this juicy biblical Christology. His opening pages on the values and limitations of the higher critical method of biblical research, particularly how this has impacted the search for the historical Jesus, seem well reasoned and balanced.


• Sophie's Choice by William Styron. Loved the film. Bought the novel on the strong recommendation of a friend.


• Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle. Trying to get in touch with my roots.
  

Here is my seminary chapel homily from this morning:

Kramer Chapel Homily
August 2, 2007
Text: Acts 26: 1-23

St. Paul was called before kings and governors to explain himself and defend his apostolic ministry. In so doing, he gives us a very nice summary of what a minister in God’s church is to be about.

He says that God sent him: “To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. So that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

God-willing, many of you will one day receive a divine call to serve as a pastor to a congregation. In many respects, that is the most gratifying work you will ever do. Not a day passes when I don’t miss some aspect of my parish ministry in Pittsburgh.

You will have your ups and downs, hopefully more ups than downs. The devil, the world and your flesh will try to confuse you. You will come to the point where you enjoy it when people pat you on the back and say, “that sure was a nice sermon pastor,” or “that sure was an interesting bible class pastor.” You will begin to crave their compliments. You will be tempted to insert stories and jokes into your sermons – not because they serve as useful illustrations – but because you know the people will like them. You will seek the approval of men. You will do this because you are sinful and you love it when all people speak well of you.

Over the course of time, you will read books and go to conferences promising to enlighten you with techniques and methods for growing the church, improving stewardship and reaching the lost. The latest ecclesiastical fads will tempt you with promises of success.

You will return to your congregation refreshed and excited and enthusiastic to try out the new things you’ve learned. But for most of you, most of time, there will be very little noticeable long-term effect. Nothing will ever seem to change. Your words will still appear to fall on deaf ears, hence the temptation to liven things up with more cute stories under the pretense that they are useful illustrations.

Very little that is written and said today in the contemporary church scene, very little that is written and said to supposedly help pastors do a better job has anything to do with religion. A lot of it is really, when you boil it down, just management and leadership techniques or applied sociology, psychology or some other social science.

But don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of useful stuff to be learned from the business world and the social sciences. You might gain the ability to use your time more wisely or communicate more effectively and that would be good. But somewhere in the midst of the programs and the movements and the trends, the gospel itself is often obscured or forgotten.

We do what we do because lives depend on it. Faith comes by hearing and how shall they hear without a preacher? We do what we do because people receive the forgiveness of their sins via preaching and sacraments. We do what we do because lives depend on it.

There were times when Jesus was well-liked and popular with the crowds. And there were times when he was not. In is a common sinful reaction to shoot the messenger when the message is unwelcome. I have experienced this and you probably have too.

Did you ever quit a church because the pastor rubbed you the wrong way? Most likely, you sinned for doing so. Pastors are fallible and sinful but their job is to rub you the wrong way. In fact, I am doing my level best up here in the pulpit this morning to offend you. I have to make an effort of this because – as I have often been told – I am a nice person. I’m a nice person and I want you to like me. I don’t like conflict.

But the preacher is not called to be nice. And by nice, I mean someone who is considered harmless or palatable to all people on every occasion. These kind of nice people are palatable, but they are seldom noticeable.

The preacher must never be harmless. God is not harmless. God Word is dangerous. It will hurt you and it will even kill you. It had better. Your preaching had better hurt people from time to time and it had better kill people every time.

This is not an excuse to be a jerk to your people. Don’t leave here saying Stiegemeyer told us to be abrasive jerks. Maybe you are a nice person, harmless. But it’s just as likely that you are already an abrasive jerk. Most likely, you are a little bit of both. You are a sinner, after all. And so am I. Most of you need to sand off your rough edges before you will be fit to serve in the pastoral office. And for all of you, self mortification will be a life-long enterprise.

But if you are not willing to offend people by hammering them with God’s law, then you are in the wrong place today. If you are not willing to lose your friends, to be lonely, to be rejected, to possibly even alienate members of your own family, for the sake of Christ, you should not be a student at this seminary.

In the church, as in the world, the people who control the money often have the most influence. But not over you. Whether it is practical or not, whether it is cost-effective or not, in season and out of season, you speak the message of Jesus Christ. You open the eyes of the blind. You bring people out of darkness into the light. You snatch people from the power of Satan to God.

And you will find that many people, even many every-Sunday-church people, prefer the darkness to the light. They don’t think of it this way, but they prefer to be under the power of Satan than under the power of God. And that’s because Satan markets himself as your best and truest friend. Satan never asks you to do anything that you don’t want to do. He never places unreasonable demands on you or tells you to do things that are hard. He only wants you to be comfortable and happy. “Hey Jesus, you’re hungry. Turn these stones to bread. I’m just looking out for you.” Satan will tell you things you want to hear. He will make you laugh. He will make you happy. He will promise you the world. And unlike God with his impossible demands, Satan will accept you just the way you are…. Or so goes the illusion.

Be like St. Paul, who in turn, was like the Lord Jesus. Go out there and hurt people. Bend them; break them; pommel them with the hammer of God’s Law. But only after beating yourself to a pulp beforehand. You must hurt them in order to heal them. You must kill them in order for the power of God to move through your ministry to raise them back to life again.

I am here to tell you that not one of us deserves to be called a pastor in God’s church. And I will go even one step further. Not one of us is fit to be called a child of God.

But I am also here to say that you have been died for. God is reconciled to sinners by the blood of Jesus. And that is true of me, of you and every man, woman and child you will ever be privileged to meet. Don’t try to impress people with your skills. Don’t try to win them over with your fabulous personalities. Tell them that they have been liberated from the bondage which keeps them from being truly human. Tell them that they have been emancipated from their sins. Tell them that they will rise from the dead by the power of Christ.

We do what we do – not for the glory and the money and the chicks. We do what we do because lives depend on it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

300 came out on DVD today, the new film based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. It's a pretty riveting action film inspired by the ancient battle between 300 Spartans and about 80 zillion Persians.

As much as I enjoy the film with it's stylish action sequences, a better rendition of the story is the novel by Steven Pressfield: Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Nonetheless, one of the things that amazes me with the film is the striking portrayal of bad king Xerxes. Has there ever been a more Satanic character in two dimensions?

Just like Ol' Scratch himself, Xerxes sets himself forward as your greatest friend. He just wants you to be happy, to experience the pleasures forbidden by your cruel vindictive god. To Leonides, you can be king; you can rule the world; you can have terrific wealth. Only bow down to me.