The Burr in the Burgh

Tonight, my family attended the annual Boar's Head Festival at Julie and my alma mater, Concordia University in Ann Arbor, MI. Back in the olden days, when we were students, Julie sang in the choir and I wore stockings and carried a spear. Neither of us had been to the Boar's Head Festival since we graduated 16 years ago. What a joy it was to be back!

Pictured to the left is Dr. Neil Skov who has been playing the part of King Wenceslaus at least since, oh... around the invention of dirt. Not really. But for a long time. And he OWNS that part baby!

One of my all-time favorite carols is Good King Wenceslaus. And I blame Skov. I'm not embarrassed to say that I tear up everytime. E-v-e-r-y T-i-m-e!! It moves me and this is because of those years participating in the B's Head Fest.

If you don't know the song, it's about a king who looks out on a bitter wintry day and spies a peasant collecting twigs in the weather. He takes pity on the poor soul and directs his young page to "Bring me flesh and bring me wine!" And he determines to take food and kindling out into the snow to the unfortunate subject.

Following custom, the little servant walks in front of the king. The more important person always walks behind the less important. But the snow is deep and wind is battering the little page so he can hardly make another move. The good king tells the boy to walk behind him and step in the footprints he makes. The king then blocks the wind and moves the snow so the boy can keep up, all so that they can bring charity to a poor, weak subject.

The reason this always gets me - other than Skov's powerful portrayal - is that it is deeply moving to see a strong, powerful person stooping to help someone much weaker than himself. In fact, I cannot think of any greater sign of strength than humbling oneself to serve another.

We are the cold, naked, famished peasant reaching for twigs in the snow. God is the king who has compassion on us. And God reaches into our suffering, in Christ, to bring us relief. What a beautiful image of the gospel.

So who can answer why Good King Wenceslaus is a Christmas carol when it never mentions jesus and has no reference to the nativity story?

My internet browser of choice is Mozilla Firefox. Here are three new (to me) add-ons I like.

• IE Tab. Sometimes I like to check out what my blog looks like on Internet Explorer. And sometimes other websites don't function properly in Firefox. This nifty little button lets me open a tab with an IE view w/o having to fire up the other browser.

• Flashblock. Load pages much faster. Shuts down all those annoying flash ads. If the site you are viewing has flash features that you want to see, you just click and it plays. But what a relief to the eyeballs.
  

• PDF Download. Sweet feature that lets you choose how you want PDFs to open while you're browsing. In a tab? A window? Straight to download? With an external viewer?

Sem Wives Retreat
Evening Suffrages
November 16, 2007
Text: Jeremiah 31:1-34

v. 33 “I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Martin Luther used to have a saying: “Let God be God.” It sounds pretty obvious. Of course God is God. Who else would He be? Certainly it is true that God is the Great King Almighty whether we know or not, whether we like it or not. God does not require our permission to be the sovereign of the universe.

I think that we all basically understand that at an intellectual level. If someone were to stop you in the street taking a survey and ask you, “Who is the ruler of the universe?” you would probably say, “Well, God is the ruler of the universe.” And if they further asked you, “Who is this God?” you might respond with something like, “He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

But as is so often the case, knowing something in your head is not the same thing and knowing something in your heart. Sometimes the greatest distance for an idea to travel is the 18 inches between your mind and your heart.

Erma Bombeck once wrote a book with the title: If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? The reality is that life is not a bowl of cherries. Sometimes it is the pits. We live in a badly damaged creation, warped and corrupted by sin and the power of death. The original purity and goodness of humanity has been soiled with a stain no human effort can remove.

Bad things happen to good people. And good things happen to bad people. And we are left scratching our heads wondering why life always seems so unfair. And in those moments of crisis when the pillars of the earth seem to be crumbling around our ears, we try to take charge of our situations and regain some sense of order.

One of the most uncomfortable feelings anyone can have is the feeling of being out of control and people will almost do anything to maintain a sense of control, the feeling of being in charge of your life. You see, it is easy for people to say that they believe in God or that they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord. But when push comes to shove, when the going gets rough, when life is not a cheerful bowl of cherries, then we get the feeling that God may be the Lord, but He must be asleep at the wheel because He’s not doing such a terrific job. When God fails to live up to our expectations, we politely nudge Him aside, say thank you very much, and grab hold of the controls. How often do you say you believe that God is in charge but live as if He didn’t exist at all? How often do we say we trust in God, but then we continue to wring our hands in worry?

There is verse in Psalm 46 that says: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

And another similar passage nine psalms earlier which says: Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Do you find yourself filled with concern and worry because things are not coming together as you planned? Do you find yourself frequently questioning God asking “why me?” Be brutally honest with yourself right now, and ask yourself, truthfully, don’t you really believe that YOU could do a better job managing creation than the job God is doing today? You do and that’s why you complain. That’s why we grumble and murmur and gossip and nitpick. Because we basically think we are smarter than everyone else… including God. Let God be God.

The Heavenly Father who goes through the trouble of numbering the very hairs of your head will not let you fall into the clutches of the enemy. The merciful God who sent His eternally begotten Son into the world is never going to leave you, forget you, abuse you, neglect you, reject you or betray you. You are precious to Him. Those of you who have children, you love your children. But the love you feel for those dear babies who are so helpless and dependent is nothing compared to the love which God, your Father, has for you. And just as you would never do anything to harm your babies, God, your Father, will never harm you. Oh, sometimes circumstances get so mixed up that you might have to hurt your child in order to help her, but everything you do – even if the child does not understand your reasons – everything you do is for their benefit. And if you who are weak and sinful can love your children that completely, imagine the overwhelming powerful compassion the great King of Heaven, your Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has for you. For I am telling you that He spared no expense to save you. He spared not His only Son, the eternal Son. But instead sent Him with a mission to rescue us from ourselves, our bad choices, our foolish mistakes, our stubborn rebellions, not because we deserved it, but because He wanted to. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

People say that the two topics you should never bring up in polite conversation are politics and religion because those are two topics about which most people have strong opinions. With another presidential election around the corner, Americans are becoming more and more passionate about the issues which are important to them.

Whether you are a Democan or a Republicrat, when you pull the lever on election day, you do so hoping that your guy or your gal will win the election and fix the problems of our great but ailing nation.

And quite understandably, during this time, people will wonder what relationship exists between what they believe in matters of religion and what positions they should take politically. We should make a distinction between church and state but we must also recognize that the concerns of the church and the concerns of the state often overlap. And that’s because religion is not just about what happens to you when you die but it’s about how we should live today.

Being a citizen of a nation is an important responsibility and has weighty implications. I have a friend who was born in a foreign country but has lived most of his life in the United States. According to our government, he is a full-fledged U.S. citizen. But according to the country of his birth, he is also a citizen of that nation. So which is it? Is he an American or a Swede? The U.S. government says that he is 100% American and nothing more. But the Swedish government recognizes both scenarios and says that he has DUAL citizenship. So my friend actually has two perfectly valid and legitimate passports. When he travels abroad, which he does frequently, he uses his U.S. passport, but he keep his Swedish passport up to date in case he ever wants to go somewhere like Cuba where U.S. citizens have difficulty. I sometimes kid my friend and ask, “What will you do if the United States ever goes to war against Sweden? Whose side will you be on?” While it seems unlikely that our United States will declare war with Sweden in our lifetimes, one can never be certain of such things. It is possible that my friend will have to decide where his true loyalties lie if the priorities of the two governments ever come into conflict with each other. His dual citizenship could cause a whole smorgasbord of problems.

As Christians, all of us have dual citizenship. We were born into this world as citizens of this present order of things. All living human beings share this citizenship and are our compatriots. But we who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were adopted into the family of God which makes also citizens of heaven. So like my friend, only on a much grander scale, all of us possess DUAL citizenship.

For there are two kingdoms in the universe or two realms. That’s what Jesus is teaching us when he says to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and render unto God the things which are God’s. There are two kingdoms: the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of heaven. But that is not to say that of the two kingdoms, one of them is good and the other one is evil. There are two kingdoms and both of them are good. That’s because both of them are established and governed by God.

There are two kingdoms. And they do not have identical purposes. They have different functions. Hopefully, they do not work against each other. That would not be pleasing to God. They have different purposes but their purposes complement one another for the ultimate purposes and the often hidden purposes of God.

God has ordained the Church and the State to accomplish his will, but they operate in quite different ways. God has ordained the Church to reconcile sinners to Himself by preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments. God has ordained the state to protect human beings from harm, to administer his wrath and justice against wrongdoers, and to generally provide for the temporal well-being of human beings.

Let me add that God did not establish civil government merely for the purpose of maintaining law and order but ALSO to perform works of mercy for the comfort, provision and assistance of human need. Moses writes very explicitly that it was God Himself who brought Joseph to become Pharaoh’s second-in-command for the express purpose of administering and distributing food during a widespread famine, a social service project which, as a matter of fact, saved Jacob’s other sons from dying of starvation, one of whom was named Judah who became the great-great-great-great grandfather of Jesus. So you could say that the governmental social program of distributing food run by Joseph, by God’s own design, served to insure that the savior would be born. God is even still, daily, working to preserve His creation through civil government.

The civil government is God’s instrument which he holds in His left hand to care for you and me. Thank God for civil government. Pray for our rulers because whether you like them or not, whether you voted for them or not, they are God’s agents established in their offices, not for selfish gain, but to serve you in His name. Like all human beings however, our rulers are flawed instruments, so we can’t blame God for their mis-steps. Even a virtuoso musician will sound bad if his instrument is out of tune. Even so, our rulers are God’s men and women, doing His work, even if they fail to recognize this themselves. And that is why St. Paul urges the believers at the church in Rome to obey Caesar, to pray for him, and to submit to earthly authorities as they would submit to God.

We do not ever have the right to rebel against our leaders or disrespect our leader or to disobey them with only one exception. And that exception is any time the civil government makes laws that interfere or contradict the Word of the Lord. For as the disciples said when they were being beaten for preaching Christ, “We must obey God rather than men.” At such times, we are obligated to disobey our earthly rulers even if it means our persecution or death. We must be ready to die for Christ just as He died for us if push ever comes to shove. Not only do individuals have a duty to obey God, but so do governments. And just because a thing is legal, that does not make it right. Nor does making something illegal necessarily make it wrong. Not only do individuals have a duty to obey God, but so do governments.

Over the centuries, there have been many different forms of government but all are of God. The Scriptures give us no prescription for what type of government we should employ. Americans tend to be a bit idolatrous on this point in that we tend to think that a democracy or a democratic republic is inherently Christian. If anything, one would deduce that the Bible favors having a monarchy because there is simply no other arrangement ever described in either the Old or the New Testament than that. I personally happen to believe that there are great advantages to our American way but that is debatable. The kingdoms of men come and go. Our way of life is not uniquely divine. And if the Lord does not return in between, the odds are that there will come a day when the nation of America will cease to exist. Thus our first love and loyalty is not to any particular earthly ruler or party or form of rule, but to the kingdom of heaven and the King who sits upon its sapphire throne.

There is no such thing as an illegal government for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Even though the Romans had invaded and conquered Israel, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate: "You would have no authority over Me if it had not been given to you from above." The Lord acknowledged not only that Pilate had legitimate authority over him, but he says that it had been given to him by God.

Some disciples of the Pharisees went along with a group of Herodians to ask Jesus a question. The Pharisees were highly religious men who strongly opposed the occupying government of Rome. The Herodians were the exact opposite. They were a party loyal to Herod, Rome’s puppet king in Galilee. Pharisees and Herodians had nothing in common, except apparently their opposition to Jesus.

The coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image and carries his inscription. And we belong to God because we were created in His image and were inscribed with His promises at Holy Baptism. The Christian Church on earth is the instrument God wields in His right hand for it is the agency by which He calls all men to Himself. It is the agency by which His message of peace is made known. The church is God’s rule of grace and mercy whereby He declares sinners to be righteous on account of the blood of His Son. The church does not exist to make and administer laws, not to raise armies and levy taxes, but to conquer men’s hearts with words of hope and acts of compassion.

It can be difficult and confusing to live as citizens of two realms. But Jesus Christ is the link which bridges heaven and earth. He is Jacob’s ladder, the path to heaven. And He descended from the realm of the angels to subject himself to earthly rule, to suffering and deprivation and hardship and even death, not because of anything wrong which he had done, but to become the substitute for us. He became the sacrificial lamb, the scapegoat, the fall guy who paid the penalty of sin for us so that when our days on this earth are ended, we will enjoy being in the presence of the King of kings forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you haven't figured out the significance of the whole internet social networking phenomenon, here's an article from TIME mag that will help.

Why Facebook Is the Future - TIME

Many of you have seen the spectacular preview for the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass, which is based upon the novel by Philip Pullman of the same name.

The Golden Compass is the first volume of the well-known and rightfully controversial His Dark Materials Trilogy. I've read the books and expect the movies to be fabulously popular. The trouble is that Pullman is the reverse image of C.S. Lewis. While the author of The Chronicles of Narnia wrote in order to express Christian doctrine in the form of a gripping mythology, Pullman want to unravel Christian faith. If you've read the books, you know what I mean. The question, of course, is whether the films will delete the most egregiously anti-Christian elements in order to be marketable.

According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, religious groups are calling for a boycott. Writer Missy Schwartz cites the fact that The Da Vinci Code made over $200 million at the box office in the midst of a boycott as evidence that such things don't hurt Hollywood in the wallet, where it counts. The Last Temptation of Christ episode would seem to prove otherwise. Admittedly, that was twenty years ago.

One of my goals for 2007 was to re-read the Pullman trilogy and prepare some response material. Alas, I have not met that particular goal. Does anyone know of any substantial, book-length response to Pullman?

Check out Pandora Radio. I'd tried it out once before but quickly forgot all about it.

It's commercial free internet radio where you get to customize the playlist.

I've long fantasized about being a writer of fiction. It's been a dream of mine that I always felt too intimidated to pursue and too embarrassed to talk about. I've tried to start the great American novel on a couple of different occasions. I have folders on my hard drive with sketches, notes, outlines, character studies and assorted chapters of a couple of fairly serious attempts. I just don't have the personal discipline or the passion or the drive to keep up with it. Until recently.

In the last six months or so, a new fire has been lit in my bones, the burning need to be creative. I still don't have anything anywhere near a finished product. But I do have a few really decent short stories in the hopper. And my magnum opus, a fantasy novel with five or six chapters written and another five or six conceptualized. The resident 12 year old boy has given me mediocre reviews. It was cool when he read an unfinished chapter and looked up at me and said, "Uh, what happens next?!"