Thoughts on Mystery

Last night I led our mid-week Evening Prayer service, filling in for my pastor who was proctoring a final at USD. This is my favorite service in the Lutheran Service Book, musically speaking. The music is joyful and the words, which are largely taken from the Psalms, are pregnant with meaning as the sun is setting. Typically, the service ends with Communion when the pastor is there, but when I lead it is only a prayer service.

There is, however, a section in the litugy that allows for a homily or catechetical reflection, so I took opportunity to ad-lib a devotional on the nature of mystery. We are about to celelbrate/remember Christ's ascension this Sunday. We follow the church calendar and so these key events in the life of Christ and the church are brought to our attention year after year. For some, these events become boring and routine. But for me personally, the significant events of Scripture never seem to lose their luster.

Here's the deal. In any other story, knowing the end before you start a book, movie, or program would ruin it. The mystery would be lost. The tension would give way because you know how it's all going to end. My mother and oldest daughter watch all the reality shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. These shows are not my thing, but I will often fast-forward the recordings on the DVR to the end just to see who won or was kicked off. I realize this takes all the supposed fun out of the show, but I don't really care about these shows so it does't matter much. But heilgeschichte (salvation history) is never boring nor less mysterious despite knowing how it all is going to pan out. We know as the creed states that Jesus is coming back to "judge the living and the dead." So where's the mystery, you ask?

On the cross, Jesus took upon himself our judgment. We gave him what is ours - sin and death - and he gave us what is rightfully his - righteousness and life. I know this. I trust my very soul in faith to this "marvelous exchange," as Luther called it. But it is nonetheless an incredible mystery. Why would God do such a thing? This peace passes my understanding and keeps me continually refreshed, renewed, and interested in this on-going story. I guess we could simply call this hope.

But think about the ascension and the kind of emotional roller coaster it must have been for the disciples. He's dead! He's alive! He's giving some incredible Bible studies, come listen! What? You're going away? Already? Imagine the admixture of loss, sadness, joy, confusion, and...hope.

What benefit do we recieve from Christ's ascension? The expanded edition of Luther's small catechism speaks of the benefits as it relates to Christ's Triplex Mundi (three-fold office):

1. As a Prophet, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and empowers/equips pastors and teachers to bring His life giving Word.

2. As our High Priest, Christ intercedes at the right hand of the Father for us (1 John 2:1)

3. As our Heavenly King, he sits enthroned on high making his enemies his footstool. In other words, we share in his victory over the powers of sin, the devil, and death. O death, where is thy sting?

May the richness and flavor of this beatiful story never lose its savor. Amen

My First Baptism...

I had the extreme privilege of baptizing Ava Grace Soto into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit yesterday. This was my first baptism and it was an honor bestowed on me by both the parents and my pastor, since vicars do not normally preside over baptisms. The older I get the more resolved I am in the way Lutherans treat the sacraments. The objective nature of knowing God's word/promise attached to the waters of baptism brings great comfort of knowing I am not saved by my doing or particular feelings for any given day.

A lot of my friends (and readers) are not Lutheran, and often confused by what seems like a Roman Catholic view of the sacraments. One of my favorite NT theologians, A. Andrew Das, delivered an excellent paper a while back on Baptism in the NT that I think would help my non-Lutheran friends grasp where we are coming from on this doctrine. It is a bit long as it attempts to sweep through the entire NT on the subject but completely worthwhile, in my opinion (especially his sections on Acts). Here is the link.

For those who contribute nothing but their own self-interest...

Church is a place full of sinners. That statement should be a no-brainer to anyone with a modicum understanding of the Christian faith. "There is no one righteous - no not one," says St. Paul. But the church is also full of saints - those set apart by the work of Jesus Christ through faith on account of Jesus' atoning death and victorious resurrection. Thus, Lutherans believe in Simil Justus et Peccator - simultaneously justified and sinful.

I mention this because I am slowly realizing just how much wasted time of pastoral ministry is spent dealing with long-time Christians who are completely self-absorbed. The church for this type of person is all about - yep you guessed it - them. While I lament this fact, it is simply a matter of understanding my first point; the church is full of sinners.

I was on a business blog earlier today where the writer was dealing with Seneca's philosophy and I came across this quote: "Too often, we spend time focusing on the trivial with people who contribute nothing but their own self-interest." Fantastic sentence! And right to the point.

So I have resolved to call people on the carpet when they attempt to waste my time by contributing nothing but their self-interest by asking, "And what does this have to do with the mission of Jesus?"

Preaching to the homeless...

Ring. ring. [my cell - 9:30pm on Saturday night - location: Irish Pub]

Me - Hello.

Pastor - Hi Vicar. The pastor that was supposed to preach tomorrow afternoon at Rev. Lee's homeless mission can't make it. I have family in town, so...

Me - [said reluctantly] Sure. I'll do it.

Pastor - Great! Now make sure you are very "real" with them. And they're hungry and cannot eat until you're done with the sermon, so don't go too long - like no more than 10 minutes. Where are you? It sounds like a party or a bar?

We support a missionary pastor, Rev. Lee, who works with a homeless mission in downtown San Diego. Rev. Lee is a Korean Lutheran pastor that must be somewhere around 80 years old. He's faithful and hard working, and this ministry is hard. The area of the mission is a place where you typically will take the extra time to drive around rather than through to get to your destination, if you know what I mean. It is filled with tents and sleeping bags, smells of piss and feces, and needles are strewn about in the gutters. When I parked my car, there was about 150 people lined up around the building for their free meal. They have to sit through a worship service before they can eat, so you have a captive audience.

And the audience is every preachers worst nightmare. They've heard it all before. Some are on drugs; some are deranged; old and handicapped; young, strung out businessmen; hookers and pimps; and dealers, of courses. Some have been eating this free meal for years and seen preachers come and go like the seasons.

It was fitting that before I preached, we sang "Onward, Christian Soldiers" because I felt like I was marching on to war as I took the pulpit. I kept it real and I only spoke for 12 minutes using the John 2 account of Jesus cleansing the temple, emphasizing the fact that in this story Jesus defies our expectations of what our Savior looks and acts like, showing how often we domesticate him for our own personal desires. I ended as the passage does with the death and resurrection of Jesus calling them to believe in Jesus' word as his disciples did in the story.

There was a hearty amen afterwards, but I'm pretty sure that was to display how happy they were that they could get on with the meal, and not so much for my sermonizing. An elderly black man came up to me as I was leaving and said, "Nice talk, young man." Nice talk? Well, it is better than some things I've heard in church, so I'll take it. I have a new-found respect for those that minister to the homeless. To be frank, I didn't want to go. To be more frank, I don't really want to go back. It is scary and it smells. But I do believe that this is the type of place that Jesus would preach, and these are the type of people Jesus would sit and eat with, so I'll keep going as long as they'll have me. Why? Because these are the people that Jesus died for, too.

An Answer to Prayer?

As part of my vicarage I wear a clerical shirt/collar when I am acting in a ministerial capacity at church or on visitations. It's taken a bit to get used to, especially when you are out and about. But I generally support the idea of a pastoral uniform for a number of reasons I won't go into here. But this past week's experience has solidified it even more.

One of our elders had a minor heart problem on Sunday morning and I went with my pastor and another parishoner after worship to visit him in the hospital and pray with him. This is a fairly normal occurence for us, because our church is 100 years old and we have a lot of elderly folks we care for at Grace Lutheran. While I was waiting in the emergency room lobby to leave a woman in tears approached me and asked me if I had time to go see her dying mother and the family members by her bedside. She said that they had not yet explained to her mom that she would likely die (and very soon at that), but thought that I could speak with her and pray with her. They had attempted to make contact with her pastor, but he had not returned the call yet, and time was not on her side.

What else could I say but yes? But I must admit that as I walked back into the emergency room I became extremely nervous. I have very little experience in such matters. The hospital bedside is not my normal idea of a pulpit, but it became one nonetheless, inexperience aside. I went through the curtain and found the room full of old and young family members with lowered heads and downcast eyes; all expecting me to bring comfort and encouragment. I softly held the elderly woman's hand and reminded her that God in his goodness sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world and rose again three days later to defeat sin, Satan, and death for all who believe. I asked her if she believed this? She did! I then prayed, thanking God for this woman's faith and asked him to bring her and the family the comfort of knowing this good message and to strengthen their faith in the same.

Was this enough? It didn't seem like it. But then I remembered that on his death bed, Karl Barth said that the most profound thing he had ever learned in his life was, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." I did get this across, so maybe it was enough, even for a lowly inexpereienced Lutheran vicar. As I left, the daughter hugged me and expressed her thanks through tear-stained cheeks. She said that she had been praying for something or someone to bring some releif to her mother and family. And here's where I got teary-eye'd. "I knew when I saw you in the lobby - you were the answer to my prayer."

How can you respond to such a statement, but to thank God? I mention this story because the only reason I had this opportunity in the first place was because I was wearing the collar. May God grant this family comfort amidst their trials and may my bedside preaching only get better with time. Amen.

Bibliophiles True Confession MEME

Paul McCain (AKA Cyberbrethren) tagged his blog readers with this MEME for booklovers. Here's my response. Consider yourself tagged...

1. To mark your page you: use a bookmark, bend the page corner, leave the book open face down?

I almost always use a bookmark. I have a collection of them that my wife made for me that I rotate. But my favorite bookmark was hand-sewn in Croatia by this little old lady I met in a village while travelling. I'm against page bending!

2. Do you lend your books?

Ugh! Yes, but I must admit that I don't like to. I now have a list in my library so I can keep track, because I've lost my fair share throughout the years.

3. You find an interesting passage: you writing your books or no writing!

I write all over. Lately, I've been using the highlighter that comes with post-it flags. In bigger works that I'm sourcing for a paper or future manuscript I use a color code of flags.

4. Dust jackets - leave it on or take it off.

I usually will take them off while reading, but I put them back on after they're back on the shelf. I purchase a lot of old books and they just preserve longer with the jacket.

5. Hard cover, paperback, skip it and get the audio book?

For anything over 300 pages, a non-fiction work that I will use again and again, or an older work I prefer hardback. For fiction or a once only read I prefer softback. I've never listened to an audio book, but my mother absolutely loves them.

6. Do you shelve your books by suject, author, or size and color of the book?

I shelve by suject, and if I have several by the same author, I will keep their works together. If I run out of shelf space, which I have with my theology and history sections, I stack them on top or wherever I can find room.

7. Buy it or borrow it from the library later?

BUY!!!! Unless I'm just citing it for a paper I almost always want to purchase it. I usually start with Advanced Book Exchange where the shipping usually costs more than the book price, then I look at Amazon used before looking at the new price. Additionally, I spend a lot of time perusing used book stores. We have a couple jems in San Diego and you never know what you might find.

8. Do you put your name on your books - scribble, stamp, or book plate?

I have a "Thomas Library" stamp I've had for about 15 years.

9. Most of the books your own are rare and out of print or recent publications?

50/50. I try to stay current in NT studies, Biblical Theology, and Dogmatics but who has the time or money at the rate of publishing these days? But most of my interest lays in the areas of early Christian doctrinal development (history), Lutheran Dogmatics, and the history of preaching so much of my library is out of print.

10. Page edges - deckled or straight?

STRAIGHT! I can't stand it otherwise.

11. How many books do you read at one time?

This is a tough one. If I wasn't in a grad program right now I would probably have 4-5 going. I'm a little ADD so I like variety and typically have a theological book, biography or historical book, current biblical studies work, something related to church or missions and at least one novel going at a time. But since I'm in school right now I'm probably working on about 10-12 at a time, but I must admit I'm glossing a few of them rather than fully digesting them.

12. Be honest, ever tear a page from a book?

Heavens no! That's sacrilege.

Beginning of the Lenten Season

Today marks the beginning of Lent - the season of penitence leading to Holy Week, which culminates in the majectic victory of Easter. And so begins another year celebrating the liturgical rhythm of the church, keeping the focus on Christ and him crucified.

The liturgical colors have changed to a royal purple in my parish and a black cloth will hang over our crucifix for the season . I took down the palm to burn last night so my pastor could mix the ashes with a bit of oil for today's Ash Wednesday service. Tonight I will help lead the service administering the ashes with the sober words, "Remember that you are from dust, and to dust you shall return."

One of the blessings of following the church calendar is that you get a full spectrum of emotions by following the life and ministry of Jesus that you do not normally find in broad evangelical circles which are just... tepid. Like life itself, there are ups and downs, laughter and tears, joy and suffering. This kind of worship just seems...well...real, earthy, and more importantly, true.