“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem.” The term we is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
It’s like when a sportsball fan says, “We won the game.” The guy saying it didn’t win anything. The team he roots for did. But he associates himself with the team. When the team wins, he wins….
Read More“If you do not like sentiment and symbolism, you do not like Christmas; go away and celebrate something else.” G.K. Chesterton wrote this in his 1908 essay Christmas. “If you do not like sentiment and symbolism, you do not like Christmas; go away and celebrate something else.”
Chesterton was responding to early twentieth-century rationalists, who wanted to celebrate a holiday without all the old “superstitions” of a virgin birth, angels, and wise men. I’ll admit, Christmas is something I’ve struggled with…
Read MoreChristianity “is not without good works” and “proves itself with good fruits” [LW 57: 191]. Luther said that in a sermon on this day in 1535. Faith alone is how we are saved; but faith is never alone. Luther continues in his introduction to that sermon, “the one who wishes to be a Christian must be serious about it and not hypocritical.”
Are you serious about it? That’s the question we each must ask: are we serious about being a disciple of Jesus?
Read MoreRust ruins metal. Stomach acid burns through your esophagus. Vices do the same to your soul.
Vices are not simply bad habits. Vices signify a state of mind….
Read MoreChristianity rests entirely on certain objective persons and events. It they didn’t happen, then it’s not true.
A man named Jesus, born of a virgin, suffering under a Roman governor named Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, buried, rising again on the third day, all seen by hundreds of eye-witnesses: did that happen? That question matters. If it’s not true, then the opening of Ecclesiastes is the only truth: Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.
Today’s Epistle lesson addresses that fundamental question: “Is it true?”
Read MoreTribulation is a gift. It doesn’t feel like it at the time. Nevertheless, tribulation is a gift. It is a gift because it prepares us for the Gospel.
The journey of the Magi (“wise men”) to the Christ shows this to us. The Magi don’t find Jesus where they are looking (Jerusalem). Instead they meet a fiendish and duplicitous Herod. Led by the Holy Spirit, the path to Christ went through anxiety and need….
Read MoreIf we charted the history of the age for admission to communion, you would see it be very low for well over a thousand years, then rise sharply in the ages of rationalism and pietism, until the mid-to-late twentieth century when it begins to come back down. There are a number of factors involved in this, but underlying it all is this question: what makes a person ready to receive the Eucharist? …
Read MoreOnce they walk, we don’t carry our children anymore. Until they’re sick, or something is wrong; then we revert to treating them like babies, carrying them, wishing we could take all their burdens unto ourselves.
But we can’t. This father knows that. That’s why he says to Jesus, “I carried my son to you.”
How many times had he made similar journeys, carrying his son to physicians, priests, anyone who might be able to help?
His boy seems to have two problems: he’s alalon - what we would today call “non-verbal” - and he has seizures. They cause him to writhe on the ground, foam at the mouth, grind his teeth, and then be non-responsive.
The father attributes all this to demonic activity.
It’s quite natural to say, “Well, today we know better. We have sciency words for it: autism, and seizures.”…
Read MoreAmbition is a vice cloaked in virtue. At the core of ambition is pride. Our first father sought to be as God; we in turn seek to be regarded as gods among men. Politics, sports, music, movies, the market, the military – all elevate the ambitious, who cravenly connive for advancement.
Such is the case in the church as well. Connections are exploited, elections are partisan, the ambitious prosper. You can see this evil spirit right in today’s Gospel reading: “Teacher,” they say to Jesus, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want?” He replies. ”Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” Anticipating a political change, with Jesus enthroned as King, James and John request chief places in His administration.
Read MoreWe think report cards really matter. But in the end, not as much as you think.
Grades count for something when you’re applying for high school or college. But if you graduate from the most prestigious school, what will it gain you? What really counts?
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