Who Caused the Schism?

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The catholics who presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V were very troubled by the possibility of further schism in the church. What did the confessors at Augsburg ask? Allow the Gospel to be purely presented, and relax certain onerous traditions:

It is not our intention to take oversight away from the bishops. We ask only this one thing, that they allow the Gospel to be taught purely, and that they relax a few observances that they claim it is sinful to change. If they will not give anything up, it is for them to decide how they will give an account to God for causing schism by their stubbornness. (AC XXVIII.77-78)

We pray someday the schism can be healed.

Commemoration of Charles James Kirk and Vigil for Our Nation

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Why does it hurt? I found myself strangely transfixed by the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I would occasionally watch clips of him talking with college students. I admired his courage and charity, and his ability to confess the Gospel with great clarity. But I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about him or his work. I wasn’t his target audience.

So why did his assassination seem to matter so much? It’s more than a young man with so much promise being cut down, leaving behind a wife and two very little children. His murder is the outgrowth of a deep spiritual battle that has been raging. It signifies the descent into a new kind of darkness, where a man who simply wanted to have a conversation, and talk about freedom, and the crisis of fatherlessness, and his faith in Jesus – when a man like that can be so hated, and slandered, and vilified, that his murder is celebrated across the nation – then something has deeply changed.

His willingness to speak the truth was met with violence and lies. It makes it feel like the light is dying. So it hurts. Because it’s about more than a man. It feels like the idea of America is dying. And worse, it feels like the Gospel is losing. These are dark days.

But we cannot stay there. For Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome….

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Good Friday Chief Service 2024

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Our self-image is always wrong. In times of prosperity, we perceive ourselves with pride. In times of adversity, we may rage and demand better; or, sink into self-loathing. But it’s all wrong, the self-love and the self-hatred. The only right image is to view ourselves cross-eyed; which is to say, we see who we are by looking at Christ’s cross. There we find that our pride is damned, but there is no cause for self-loathing, for the stretched-wide arms of Jesus proclaim the Father’s forgiveness. The cross is the Gospel. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the story of our identity. Our self-image is wrong, but the cross-eyed view is the truth. On Good Friday, we discover God has taken who you are out of your hands.

The gospel is “the eternal statement of who you are” (Russell Moore). The Triduum—the three holy days—give us the Supper of Jesus, the cross of Jesus, the baptism into Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. These Holy Days give us the gospel, the good news that God in Christ loves us, absolves us, embraces us, welcomes us, accepts us, and will tear open the graves of those who fall asleep in Him….

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