The Burr in the Burgh

June 21, 2008
Text: Colossians 2: 1-12

When I was a teenager - about 150,000 years ago - I was a pretty big fan of riding roller coasters. The amusement park near where I grew up in Kansas City, MO is called Worlds of Fun. I can remember the first roller coaster that I ever rode that had a loopty loop. It was called the Scream Roller. The first wooden coaster I rode was the Timber Wolf. But my all-time favorite, which now no longer exists, I'm sad to say, was the Orient Express. I could go on and on. And now I have the joy of watching my almost 13-year-old son become entusiastic about theme parks and extreme thrill rides.

Last year, I went with the Academy to Cedar Point and a great time, even though my stomach cannot tolerate the rides like it used to. There is just something about being thrust along at 70 m.p.h., 75 degree angles, 350 foot drops, loops, twirls, corkscrews and having my head jostled around, back and forth, like a bobble-headed doll in an earthquake that just is not as fun as it used to be. It can be disorienting. It makes me feel dizzy and light-headed and yes, maybe even a little bit nauseous.

Like so many things, this can be a metaphor for life. Is your life merely a day at the park? All fun and games? Cotton candy for dinner and ice cream for dessert? Or is it sometimes fun and sometimes confusing, disorienting, dizzying, terrifying or even nauseating?

We have an enemy, the devil, and he is a liar. Jesus said that the devil has been lying from the very beginning. Ever since he told that deadly little fib to our first mother, Eve, in the garden of earthly delights. Jesus said that when the devil lies, he is speaking his native language.

The very best lies, the most effective deceptions, are those which are blended with a dose of the truth. The difficulty is being able to divide the truth from the errors. St. Paul speaks to us today and he says: "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."

This is precisely the reason why I rejoice to God that all of you are here at Christ Academy these two weeks at the end of June. Some of you are here for the very first time and others of you have been here year after year. Frankly, I consider that to be a miracle of God. It is miraculous that you young men, with all the world's temptations displayed lavishly before you, have chosen to be here in humble Fort Wayne, IN in order to study the very words of our great and living God. You are here by God's design. Not your own. And what we give you here are not the philosophies of this age, the empty traditions of men, but rather the truth of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that the truth shall make you free. Well, He is the truth. He is the One who makes us free. Not as a mere theory or abstraction but in reality, in flesh-and-blood, in history, on the earth.

We want you to have fun while you are here as well. And we schedule a number of events and activities that we think you will enjoy like Cedar Point yesterday, the baseball game on monday, a movie night later next week. We want you to enjoy the good things of God's world and to make lasting friendships with one another. But most importantly, Christ Academy exists in order to train young men in the things of the spirit, to deepen the roots of your faith in the soil of Holy Scripture and perhaps even to equip some of you for a later life of formation and pastoral ministry.

One of the most pernicious and persistent lies of this age is the doctrine of naturalism or scientific materialism. This is the belief that all there is to human existence is summed up in what the hand can hold and the eyes can see. Very persuasive entities in our culture maintain that nothing exists except that which can be observed. And although most Americans still profess some kind of belief in God, many are living as if all that really matters is material stuff: money, possessions, bodily enticements, and the feeding of your carnel appetites.

St. Pauls was concerned for the congregation in Colossai that they not be, as he puts it, deluded by plausible arguments. That rebelliousness that resides inside all of us wants to be deluded by plausible arguments. We want to be persuaded that the pursuit of earthly gain is a good thing. We want to believe that everything is ok and we are alright in the sight of God, all on our own, no matter what. A part of you wants to be independent, not just from your parent, teachers and human authority, but from God Himself. And there is nothing natural or good or beneficial in that rebelious wish. In fact, it is destructive, corrosive, poisonous and foul.

In our reading from Colossians chapter 2, St. Paul states: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in him.... "Walk in him" is a common biblical way of saying live your life in Christ, take every step in fellowship with Jesus. He says, "as you recevied Christ Jesus... so walk in Him." In other words, live your life as a Christian in the same manner as you began it. And how did you receive Christ? In what manner did that occur? Certainly, not as a result of your good works. Not by the effect of your will. No, you received Christ Jesus by God's grace. He gave Himself to you at your Baptism. He continues to give Himself to you in preaching, absolution and the sacrament of the altar. God is a giver. It is the very nature of God for Him to offer himself to those whom he loves. That is the definition of love, the giving of oneself to another, with no thought for personal gain. Our Lord has no need of us. There is nothing compelling Him to love us, forgive us or save us. This He does freely, purely out of goodness and mercy, concepts which we can never fully understand. For just as it is the very nature of God to give, it is the very nature of created beings to receive.

You have received Christ and with Christ, you receive all things, forgiveness, righteousness, and abundant life both now and forever. As Christians and as sons of God, we live by faith, not by sight. The Bible says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1)." Contrary to the philosphers of this age who place their ultimate hope in material goods, we see what lies beyond.

It reminds me a little bit of those police television shows where the detectives are interrogating their prisoners in the poorly lit room with no windows. There is only a single long mirror on the wall. But of course, we the viewers all know that it is not really a mirror, but a two way glass and that there are other detectives on the other sides observing all that takes place.

Like the suspect in the interrogation chamber, the people of this world look and all that they see is a reflection of themselves. We are on the other side of the wall and because of illumination we have in Christ, we can see through the glass, not at ourselves, but at reality as it truly exists.

You know the truth about yourselves, about this world and its passing fantasies. You know the truth about your Creator and your eternal destiny in Him. For Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the deity in bodily form, He has suffered and died on your behalf, in your place, in the place of sinners, so that we who were once captivated by the lies of Satan, in bondage not with shackles of iron but with the brittle chains of false promises. And you have been liberated from your bondage, set free from captivity, unleashed by the pronouncement of God. In Jesus' name. Amen.

It's not very politically correct, and in some quarters is not even safe, to say that Islam is a problem. A couple of years ago, I spent several days in the Kenya/Sudan border town of Lokichoggio in the Turkana district of Kenya. If you've seen the movie Constant Gardener, Loki factors into that plot. Getting to know one of the Christian men there, I noticed that he kept referring to a lot of the locals simply as al Quaeda. Here in the U.S., of course, one think of that term to refer to a very specific group of Islamic terrorists. I asked my new friend about this and he simply said that that is how they refer to all Muslims there.

My point is that the soft and ignorant Westerners tend to want to assume the best of everyone. All Muslims are nice until proven otherwise, we are prone to think. I'm just not so sure. People in other parts of the world, such as Africa, seem to perceive Islam a bit differently.

I'm delighted to report that our seminary is hosting a conference on the challenge of Islam led by Dr. Adam S. Francisco, of our CTS faculty. Click here for the brochure.

Below is the homily I delivered this morning in chapel.


Kramer Chapel
February 4, 2008
Text: Luke 9:23-27

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."

In a fundamental sense, your salvation is something that happens out side of you, extra nos. We speak in our circles of objective justification. By this, we mean that your redemption was accomplished as a real historical event when the Son of God bled and died as a sacrificial lamb upon the altar of the cross. At that moment, God’s just anger toward sin was quenched and satisfied forever. And that is not a thing which happens in your heart or as a result of your actions or by any movement of your will.

Another Christian once asked me, “Are you saved?” And I said, “Yes.” The person then asked me, when were you saved? And I said: “I was saved when Jesus died on the cross for me. Why? When were you saved?”

Your salvation is an objective fact, a reality that occurs outside of you. Christianity then at its very heart is not about you. It is about Jesus. From our perspective, it is never about us.

But from the perspective of God, it is always about you. It is you specifically that our Lord had in mind when he He told Nicodemus that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. Jesus said that God loved the world. Who is meant by that phrase, “the world?” The world is not just some abstraction, some generic concept, not a platonic idea. The world refers to you! Whom does God love? The world. That is to say, He loves you.

Love is never a hypothetical. Cartoonist Charles Schulz once said, “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.” Its corollary for the church, I suppose, would be, “I love the church. It’s the individual members I can’t stand.” That line is humorous to us because it’s so obviously ridiculous but it’s also how most of us feel at least part of the time. But the truth of the matter is that you cannot love in the abstract. Nor does God. The world which God loves and for whom He sent his only-begotten Son is you and it is me.

Likewise, when John the Baptist hollered from banks of the Jordan, “Behold, there goes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” There is a part of you that finds it easier to believe that God loves the world than that he loves you. And that same part finds it easier to believe that the Lamb of God paid for the sins of the world than to consider that He has atoned for your sins. This is manifest in every Christian, particularly every preacher, who confidently declares to others the mercies of God in Christ, but who continues to languish in guilt of his own.

I started this homily pointing out that there is something objective and external about the justification of sinners. But that coin naturally has another side to it for whoever heard of a one-sided coin? On one side, your salvation is objective, occurring outside of yourself, taking place through historical events and residing in the heart of God. Jesus Christ died for you. His death is the once for all, all-sufficient sacrifice to pay for our disobedience: thought, word and deed. But you also must undergo death and resurrection in Him. Salvation is founded extra nos, outside of us, but it does not remain extra nos.

See how naturally Jesus goes from speaking of his own cross to speaking of ours:

22And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Crucifixion was a demeaning form of execution. It is an absurdity. It is an obscenity. The cross means one thing: death by torture. To die in Jesus Christ is the painful death of the old nature. German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote in his most famous book, “When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die.” Sounds very appealing does it not? Not too many evangelism programs will be adopting that line as their motto. And if every Christian is called to suffer and die in Christ, then that cross is all the heavier for those called into the Office of the Holy Ministry. Here is what Martin Luther said in one of his house postils: "To the devil with this position! I'm ready to chuck it. That's what it means to have an office. To be on top is no frolic or bunny dance. It entails work and stress, so that no one in his right mind would actively seek it." No one in his right mind, Luther said, would actively seek to hold an office in the church.

First of all, I’d be very curious to know what a “bunny dance” is exactly. But I think I get the gist of it. Do you love this world? Do you desire comfort and pleasure? Then you should not be a student here. I say this with every ounce of sincerity I am able to muster, the pastoral ministry is filled with moments of tremendous joy. I, Scott Stiegemeyer, am very pleased to work at this institution, but I would be able to return to parish ministry without a blink of hesitation. To paraphrase slightly one of the characters in The Hammer of God, I can think of nothing more wonderful than to be a pastor in God’s church. But a “bunny dance,” my friends, it is not.

Here we are, on the brink of lent. Tomorrow is fat Tuesday, one last huzzah before seven weeks of stricken, smitten and afflicted. While Rick Warren talks about his 40 Days of Purpose, we begin our 40 Days of Purple. And when, not if, but when you fast and practice self-denial, it is likely that the words of Luke 9:23-27 and similar passages will underlie your observance and rightly so.

But we do dis-service to these words of Jesus if we make them nothing more than an injunction to being a more committed Christian, as it were. These harsh and hard words are not merely law. They are also promise. To die with Christ is also to rise with him.

You are made participants in the death and resurrection of Jesus by God’s Word as it is applied to you especially in baptism and as your once-in-time baptism continues to unfold its power in you in daily repentance and faith. Matthew and Mark record this passage nearly identically. But it is Luke’s sources that add the word “daily.” The Christian life is a daily dying and rising in Christ. A work both completed at Calvary and ongoing in your heart.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The seminary admission office is delighted to announce a new monthly electronic newsletter called ePilgrimage. This is our latest project to help us stay in touch with inquirers, friends and supporters. It is a supplement to the quarterly printed and mailed version called simply Pilgrimage and that will not change.

Who is ePilgrimage for? It’s written for Lutheran pastors, prospective students, teachers, family members, alumni and everyone interested in staying up-to-date with the happenings and opportunities at Concordia Theological Seminary.

Go to this link to sign up:

http://seminaryblog.com/sign-up-for-a-monthly-email-newsletter/

St. Louis songstress, Erin Bode, was a huge hit at the banquet this evening at the Grand Wayne Center here in Fort Wayne. Every year, Concordia Theological Seminary hosts its annual Exegetical and Confessional Symposia. This year the topic was on the Atonement. And every year, the Thursday night of Symposia week is the night of the banquet. Traditionally, attendees were treated to speakers, intros, jokes, etc. This year, to the relief and delight of some and most likely the chagrin of others, the faculty roasts and inside jokes were put aside and the packed banquet hall was filled with the sounds of jazz music. Bode was quite the hit receiving a lengthy standing ovation at the end. Go here to read information about her inspiring work with the Themba school in South Africa.

As you may know, we've launched a new blog from the Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary. It's called Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. Cute, eh? We're trying hard to use that new blog to bring attention to our school and to hopefully inspire prospective students to inquire.

If you have 2 minutes, you could help us tremendously. Go to the seminary blog and look at the left hand column. Down a bit, you'll see a notice that Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary is in the running for best religion blog. If you think our efforts have merit and want to help us generate higher traffic, please click that button and vote for us.

Thanks for your support.

The CTS Kantorei, a 16 voice choir, is making stops in WY, MT, and CO this week. Check their schedule here and if any of those locations are near to, they'd love to have you come.

Hey, check this out! The Admission Department of Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, IN now has a blog. Here it is. It's called Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. Cute, eh? Please come by and say howdy to me and the gang. And check back often too because we plan to post daily.

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.

Friends, the past two weeks have seen the 9th annual successful Christ Academy for high school men considering the pastoral ministry. It's been a crazy busy two weeks.

One of the neatest things about living on our beautiful 190 acre seminary campus is the waterfowl. Squads of ducks and geese call our little lake home, at least for part of the year. Watching them nest and rear their young gives me a genuine Tony Soprano moment.

One of the most delightful customs in our beloved Lutheran church body is what takes place at the seminaries each spring. In April, our students receive their vicarage (internship) assignments and the graduates receive their call placements.

How wonderful it was to watch these highly dedicated men being sent to serve God's people in places such as Capistrano Beach, CA; Boulder, CO; Snohomish, WA; Wheaton, IL; Greensboro, NC; Midland, MI; Yuma, AZ; Kibera, Kenya; Plano, TX; Topeka, KS and many others.

If you're interested, you can see the list of names and places for our vicars, our deaconess interns, and our candidates.

Those who knew Prof. Kurt Marquart know that in addition to being a brilliant scholar and teacher, he also had a burning zeal for mission work. Of particular interest to him was Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

In his honor, the graduating CTS class of 07 have established a fund for pastoral education in the Lutheran church of Haiti. Go here to help.