Trinity 16, 2023

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In the Bill & Hillary Clinton Airpot in Little Rock, Arkansas, a large sign advertises a local church, with the slogan Expect an Experience. That captures perfectly the American religion: Emotivism. Faith means experiencing happiness. Big Evangelicalism equates faith with success, prosperity, health. If you lead a good life, good things will come to you. One slogan puts it this way: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” The first part is true. But God’s plan for the disciples of Jesus might not be what the world calls “wonderful.” Bonhoeffer’s famous saying is more accurate: “When God calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Faith will not eliminate tribulations in your life. Afflictions come to the faithful to strengthen their faith further. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens….

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Holy Thursday 2023

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Jesus, the enfleshed God, stoops down into our filth. The emperor becomes a servant. The earth is a graveyard filled with innumerable rotted corpses. Their dust clings to the soles of our feet. The ancient sin corrupts our hearts. But Jesus, the enfleshed God, cleans us and feeds us, as a father cares for his children. This is love. Not mere sentiment, but bold action. Action that costs….

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The Dogmas of Emperors

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World power makes audacious claims. The power to tax and make war.

“A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered,” which is to say, taxed. The word for decree here is δόγμα – a dogma went out from the Emperor who styled himself Augustus, “the exalted one.” These are the audacious claims of world power. The exalted ones issue dogmas, and the little ones obey.

The dogmas of today have us racing, chasing tinsel as worthless as FTX crypto. The dogmas of world power demand we find satisfaction in a moment of purchase, pleasure in a hit of Soma or a night at the Feelies. The dogmas of world power declare blue is pink and always has been….

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The Second Sunday after Christmas 2022

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“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.” It’s not an example. Many of our dreams are the fruits of anxiety or indigestion. I once had a dream that Fritz Pauling and I were in Italy stealing a pipe organ. I don’t plan to do what I dreamed. (Although it might make a pretty good buddy caper movie.) The kind of dream Joseph has is extremely rare. But it should remind us of another Joseph: the son of Jacob who had that amazing technicolor dreamcoat. His dreams got him thrown into a pit, then sold into slavery. To where? Egypt. See the similarities? With this new Joseph, and the Mother and Child, God is going to redo the Exodus.

So the “Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying.…” Angel means messenger. An angel speaks; that is his purpose: he brings God’s Word to particular people. What’s the message?

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Quinquagesima 2021

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If you want to understand how medieval Roman theology became so corrupted, look at how it became captive to philosophy. Luther was a law student who became a monk, then a doctoral student, and finally a university professor. He knew the system inherited from Aristotle and Aquinas inside and out. And here was his conclusion: “He who without danger wants to be a philosopher in Aristotle ought to have become first a good fool in Christ.”

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