Archive for February, 2010

Singing and sadness

Posted on February 27th, 2010

I was looking for this Luther quote the other day and couldn’t find it. Entirely unrelated, I was just reading in The Lutheran Study Bible on Job 36 and Serendipity! When sadness comes to you and threatens to gain the upper hand, then say: Come, I must play our Lord Christ a song on the organ (be it the Te Deum laudamus or the Benedictus); for Scripture teaches me that He loves to hear joyful song and stringed instruments. and strike the keys with a will, and sing out until the thoughts disappear, as David and Elisha did. If the devil returns and suggests cares or sad thoughts, then defend yourself with a will and say: Get out, devil, I must now sing and…

Categories: Music, Theology

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Rethinking work

Posted on February 26th, 2010

I’ve long struggled with how to manage the things I consider important which often get relegated to the side (praying, studying, spending significant time preparing for preaching and teaching) for more “urgent” tasks (wave after wave of email, paper, unnecessary meetings, interruptions for things that don’t actually require a pastor). When I first became a pastor, I tried doing the method I’d developed during college and seminary: block out my day hour by hour, and assign myself working times around my classes and work schedule. Only, by then I was married, the phone rang a lot, and people were coming by that I hadn’t planned for. I’m sure I was rude to a lot of people because I saw them as interruptions to my…

Categories: Theology

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The value of verse

Posted on February 25th, 2010

I was reading about Samuel Crossman, the author of the text to the popular Lenten hymn “My Song Is Love Unknown,” and I came across this gem about the value of poetry and hymnody as conveyors of the Faith: A verse may find him whom a sermon flies. -Lutheran Worship: Hymnal Companion, p99

Categories: Theology

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St. Matthias, Apostle

Posted on February 24th, 2010

Dearly beloved, we have entered the season of Lent, a time for solemnity, fasting, lamenting our sins, and meditating on the sufferings of our Lord Jesus. Yet today is the festival of St. Matthias, thus no weeping is allowed on this day, for it is a day of joy and gladness, when we remember the number of the Apostles being filled. The Acts of the Apostles which we heard read tells us that “The company of persons was in all about 120.” 12 x 10. Twelve, the number of the tribes of Israel, multiplied by ten, a number of completeness. These 120 were new Israel. Yet they were incomplete. Only eleven of the original twelve chosen disciples remained. Judas, the son of perdition, was…

Categories: Sermons

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"One of the men"

Posted on February 24th, 2010

Happy St. Matthias day, dear reader. I’ve been looking over the second reading for this feast, from the Acts of the Apostles, 1:18-26. I was particularly struck by one very explicit reference to the parameters for choosing the successor to Judas: He is to be a witness to the resurrection, he is to have been with the greater company of disciples from the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist to the Ascension, and he is to be a “he.” “So one of the men who have accompanied us…” reads the ESV of 1:21. Looking at the Greek, it is the form of  ἀνήρ (I’d transliterate, except I’ve never learned how to do the macron on my computer) and not the generic anthropos (man, person,…

Categories: Theology

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Inexplicable banging

Posted on February 12th, 2010

I’ve been trying to be less of a musical snob and learn to enjoy the piano stylings of George Winston. Some of his music isn’t bad, but can anybody explain to me why he insists on *banging* every blasted note of his melodies? Honestly.

Categories: Uncategorized

Sexagesima Snowpocalypse

Posted on February 7th, 2010

Isaiah 55:10-13; 2 Corinthians 11:19—12:9; St. Luke 8:4-15 It is a happy coincidence that today’s OT reading begins by mentioning the snow that comes down from heaven. When we have a heavy snowfall like this, it forces everything to slow down, and makes the world quiet for a time. A prayer for the end of the day makes reference to the end of our life, when the fever of life is over and the busy world is hushed. When everything (except Divine Service, of course!) is cancelled, it gives us a taste of that hushing of the busy world. When that final hushing comes, only one thing will matter, holding on to the Word. And only one division will be made: those who put…

Categories: Sermons

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Comfort for those who are suffering

Posted on February 6th, 2010

From tomorrow’s (Sexagesima) Epistle, 2 Cor. 11:19—12:9 A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Categories: Theology

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Fabricating flaws

Posted on February 6th, 2010

I love this line from Megan McArdle: I have many flaws.  There is no need to go fabricating imaginary ones. Originally posted here.

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