Emergency Rooms And Joel Osteen.

Boy I hate emergency rooms. I know they aren’t supposed to anyone’s favorite place. But, they are necessary because without them, God’s gifts, used in a variety of vocations, end up helping people. Right now they are helping my wife. She is very sick with an infection that has caused the left side of her face to swell up to three times its normal size. Clearly all of this is her fault. If only she had the kind of faith to believe that God wants her to get better. Actually I wish she had the kind of faith to never wind up here. I mean, all she seems to be thinking about is how much morphine she is going to get. All she seems to be thinking about is herself. For her right now, it’s all about me, me, me. Selfish, isn’t she.

What am I rambling on about? Well, this morning for my Sunday school class we went over a great article written by Rev. Todd Wilken in the latest issue of Higher Things. This time of year is a good time for “filler” as most of the high school age ragamuffins I teach are with their families visiting other relatives. But I really shouldn’t call the Higher Things magazine "filler". The magazine has more good theological content than do our official synodical magazines. What is supposed to be a “for kids” is something that I look forward to every time it comes to my door. It’s a great magazine, issue after issue, and I strongly recommend it to all. This morning, Rev. Wilken’s article led to a lively discussion on what is saving faith and what is the role of good works for the Christian.

Rev. Wilken, in this latest issue, tackles one of the most popular TV “evangelist” in America today, Joel Osteen, with an article entitled “Nice isn’t enough”. Joel Osteen has made his mark by promising to all who listen that God want all of us to have our best life now. In fact he wrote a book, (can you guess what the title is?)…… “Your best life now.” It is one of the all time best sellers that can be found in just about any store that carry “religious” books on its shelf. Joel states in his book that God wants to shower us with His blessings and all we have to do is believe. Our Lord wants us to get that choice parking spot at the mall. He wants us to go into the mall and find that tie we want on sale. He wants us to have the faith to believe that we will be upgraded, at no charge, from coach to first class on that flight to see our Aunt Lucy.

Rev. Wilken tackles the fact that Joel’s god is a nice god, I mean a very, very nice god. Joel’s god is so nice that he is willing to overlook the fact that we are sinful. Joel’s god overlooks sin and showers all who believe with the blessings that are due them… if they have the faith to believe.

Not covered in the Higher Things article was the story that Joel Osteen even went so far last week as to say on his televised TV show that if we all had the faith to believe, we could be assured that we would not be diagnosed with Alzeiheimers. He said that heart disease ran in his family and that he believed, no, he knew that the Lord of heaven and earth would not bother him with this little affliction.

Apparently Saint Paul didn’t read Joel’s book. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Paul writes "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I amstrong." So the apostle Paul asked three times and still the Lord thought it was a good thing that this thorn, whatever it was, was good?

And when Jesus became sin for us on the cross, did God overlook our High Priest offering himself up as propitiation? Who was Jesus talking to when he cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” I guess Jesus didn’t read the book either. The “nice” God allowed His Son to be sacrificed. That ain’t nice if you ask me.

There are many names for this kind of screwed up theology. Some people call it “name it and claim it” or “blab it and grab it”. But Lutherans like to call it the theology of glory. The theology of glory tries to make God nice. The theology of glory tries to tie our own works and thoughts and deeds to our well being or bank account. The more faith we have says the theologian of glory, the better off we will be. The theologian of glory winds up calling good evil and evil good.

But the theologian of the cross, in direct contrast, calls a thing what it is. He recognizes that what happens to us on this side of eternity is a result of us poor sinful creatures living in a sinful world. Our faith and our bank account or parking spots have nothing to do with one another. Our own works and our own faith in the end will only wind up damning us.

Our Lord does bless us and always will bless us through His Church. Through Word and Sacrament, we enjoy a foretaste of that heavenly banquet that is promised to us. Our Lord says he will bless us and he does, just not the way the world around us can recognize without the eyes of faith.

The Lord is blessing me this evening as I sit in room ER19 with my wife. Through vocation, whether they are believers or unbelievers, God’s gifts being utilized through the doctors and especially through our nurse Alicia, are administering aid to my wife. It is through their care that eventually we will be able to go home.

My wife’s faith is fine. She understands that on this side of eternity, bad things can and will happen, even to the faithful. She prays every day and she reads her Bible every day. She has confessed Christ so I know that by grace she is one of the elect. And thankfully, she doesn’t read or watch Joel Osteen. Because if she did, I sure her heart rate would be even higher than it is now.

Update:
Well, the missus is home from the hospital now. Basically she was diagnosed with parotitis, leukocytosis, and fever. To put that in layman’s terms, she had a massive infection of her left saliva gland. Right now she is pretty doped up and sleeping a lot. Mucho thanks to the family “A” for letting me crash their New Years Eve extravaganza for a bite to eat. At their next party the sushi is on me.

The Infant Priest Was Holy Born

I’m going to miss Advent. Advent is the time of year that the historic Church has focused on eschatological matters. Eschatology as I’ve stated in previous posts is the study of last things or rather the look at the end times. Sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? I mean, shouldn’t we have been focusing on Christmas? Isn’t Jesus “the reason for the season”? Jesus must be the reason for the season because every other church sign I passed during Advent seemed to have a variation of that phrase posted for the entire world to see. And to be clear, I certainly don’t dispute the logic of said signage.

But Advent wasn’t just an opportunity to look back at the Christ child lying in the manger. Advent was also an opportunity for the Church catholic to look forward for Christ’s return. I notice more and more that many churches seem to treat the miracle at Bethlehem as only a historical event. It was historical and it did happen in a real town, in a real province, during a real census decreed by Caesar Augustus. But to treat the event of God becoming man as history only, takes away from this inaugural eschatological event. This momentous and blessed event fixes the world that we ourselves broke. Did you notice I said fixes, not fixed? To treat the birth of Christ, as only history is to say that what happened, happed long, long ago in a place far, far away. But that is just not the case for us. The events of two thousand years ago are not in the before times, in the long, long ago. The event that we celebrate is here, and it is now. And no, I’m not speaking metaphorically.

To help explain myself, I’m going to look at one of my favorite hymns, The Infant Priest Was Holy Born written in 1997 by Chad L. Bird. Mr. Bird is proof that you don’t have to be dead five or six hundred years for me to like your hymns. Mr. Bird’s hymn is found in the section of hymns that focus on the Lord’s Supper, not in the Advent section, in both the Hymnal Supplement 98 as well as the Lutheran Service Book; our newest hymnal. The hymn certainly belongs in the section that focuses on the Eucharist, but I believe it could just as easily be sung with our usual Advent hymns. Through the use of beautiful words, Mr. Bird rightfully takes us from the manger to the cross and onto the Holy Supper, because they are inseparable. Lying in the manger, wrapped in human flesh, is our High Priest who gives up His own life as sacrifice for our sins. But our Lord doesn’t stop there; He feeds us with His body and blood at the Eucharist. And He promises to continue to feed us with His body and blood to His promised return. And there we are, full circle, looking at the Word taking on human flesh for sinful man and looking to His return during the Advent season. We looked not to the before times, in the long, long ago, but rather at the manger, in light of the cross, with the promise of Christ’s return.

As I’ve said, I will miss Advent. But through the proper preaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments, those things I enjoyed during Advent, carry on throughout the Church year. Christ’s gifts, administered by His called servants, are in the now, promised for all eternity until His return. I do hope everyone had a joyful Advent and a merry Christmas. I’ll end this post with Mr. Bird’s beautiful hymn.

1. The infant priest was holy born, For us unholy and forlorn From fleshly temple forth came he, Anointed from eternity
2. This great High Priest in human flesh Was icon of God’s righteousness. His hallowed torch brought sanctity; His hand removed impurity
3. The holy Lamb undaunted came To God’s own altar lit with flame While weeping angles hid their eyes, This Priest became a sacrifice
4. But death would not the victor be Of Him who hung upon the tree He leads us to the Holy Place Within the veil before god’s face
5. The veil is torn, our Priest we see, As at the rail on bended knee Our hungry mouths from Him receive, The bread of immortality
6. The body of God’s Lamb we eat A priestly food and priestly meat; On sin parched lips the chalice pours His quenching blood that life restores.
7. With cherubim and seraphim Our voices join the endless hymn And “Holy, holy, holy” sing To Christ, God’s Lamb, our Priest and King

The Best Idea Since...

The LCMS site is reporting the following:

Kieschnicks to ride LHM float in Rose Parade

LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick and his wife, Terry, will ride “The Lutheran Hour” float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.
“The Lutheran Hour” float, the only religious float in the parade, is sponsored by the Southern California District of the International Lutheran Laymen's League, an LCMS auxiliary.
The 2007 float's theme is “God's Great Nature.” The float will be decorated by volunteers called “Petal Pushers,” who range in age from teenagers to 80-plus and come to Pasadena each year from across the country. The Petal Pushers decorate “The Lutheran Hour” float and several commercial sponsors' floats for the Rose Parade.
The Kieschnicks also will be guests of honor at a “Behind the Scenes” party in Pasadena on Dec. 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. Those who attend will have an opportunity to view the finished floats on the last night of decorating week. Admission is $25 per person or $50 per family and includes a buffet dinner and souvenir photo.
President Kieschnick will deliver a special message during a Petal Pushers worship service at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 31 at the float. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The Petal Pushers also sponsor an annual tour of Southern California in conjunction with the parade. This year's tour runs from Dec. 27 to Jan. 1 and includes float decorating and visits to the Crystal Cathedral, the Getty Museum, and Beverly Hills/Hollywood.
Most TV networks carry the Rose Parade, but individual floats are not guaranteed coverage due to commercials and other television commitments. Home and Garden Television (HGTV), a cable network, plans to show the parade without interruption, and “The Lutheran Hour” float is expected to appear on camera at approximately 9:50 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Live coverage of the parade begins at 8 a.m. PST (11 a.m. Eastern). Check local listings for time and channel information in your area.
“The Lutheran Hour” float will appear in the back third of the 5.5-mile parade lineup. The parade will include 45 floral floats, 23 equestrian units, and 21 marching bands. Grand marshal will be filmmaker George Lucas.
“The Lutheran Hour” float also is one of five floats featured on the HGTV Web site where visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite. To see the floats and vote, go to www.hgtv.com and click on “Rose Parade.”
Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) has been proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Tournament of Roses Parade for the past 57 years. To learn more about LHM, go to www.lhm.org or call (800) 944-3450.
For more information about the Petal Pushers tour and parade events, visit the group's Web site at www.petalpushers.org.

It's really a shame that the ones Christ sent, way back in the first century, didn't have a float to get out the good news. I mean, all they had was that Word and Sacrament stuff, which doesn't lend itself to flower covered floats all too well.

I'm really not sure that my congregation with it's limited resources can afford the extra pews to accommodate the masses expected to be beating down our doors after watching the Rose Parade. It will be an interesting council meeting in January to be sure.

Benedict XVI Is Now Training His First Apprentice

The Vatican news agency, Zenit, just released a new photo of the Bishop of Rome taking on a new apprentice.

His holiness Pope Benedict XVI is quoted as saying to the young lad "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now mine."

Zenit also reports this was a greatly anticipated event as the Holy Father only trains one apprentice at a time. The name of the apprentice was unavailable and Vatican officials declined further requests for information.

I Know I Shouldn't, But...

I know I shouldn’t but…

I was surfing the LCMS site yesterday looking for “critical event” stuff and found two news stories on the front page.

The first story touts my beloved synod’s “Fan Into Flame” fundraising efforts. (Of course Ablaze! isn’t a fundraising campaign per se…it’s a movement!) Apparently, this new, unlike any other, campaign is doing worlds of good in the Texas and Southern Wisconsin districts. So maybe I was wrong. Maybe fire is a good thing. Maybe.

The second story shows that fire can indeed take out an entire retirement home. I wonder if anybody had the desire to run back into the burning building and sing a verse or two of “Come Lord Jesus, walk with me!” I somehow doubt it. So maybe I was right about fire being bad… hmm.

This is as bad as when the Discovery Channel placed a show entitled “The Big Sting” right after an episode of the “Crocodile Hunter” just two weeks after Steve Irwin’s untimely death at the sharp end of a stingray.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

A Christmas Card

A joyful Advent to everyone! My apologies to all for the lack of posts during the Advent season. My vocation has kept me busy during one of my favorite times of the Church year. I really had intended to do at least a couple of posts on the beautiful hymnody sung, and thereby confessed, during Advent. But vocation being what it is, got in the way of my working on posts. Again, my apologies.

So, instead of a serious post on hymnody, I’ll end the Advent season with a Christmas card. And not just any Christmas card, a Christmas card from my beloved district to yours truly.
I received the card on Monday that read:

The heavens are ablaze as a great company of the heavenly host appear praising God and saying. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all”
This heavenly announcement sent the shepherds off to see and worship the Savior. And then…they returned to share the Good News.
It is our prayer that as you celebrate these days of God’s coming, you will be blessed with opportunities for worship and sharing. Praise God that He comes to us.
Blessed Christmas,
The Staff

Yes, this little card made my day. The above text is exactly what I received, no edits and no deletions, save my removing which district actually sent it. Notice anything odd?

Lutheran Carnival XXXIX

Lutheran Carnival XXXIX is up and running at Ask The Pastor. It turns out that my one submission to the Carnival was not enough. Pastor Walter Snyder added a few more of his favorites along with some very kind words.

Make sure to stop by and thank Pastor Snyder for doing such a great job hosting.

The COP And A New Alternate Route To The Pulpit

First, here’s the story from LCMS news;

December 8, 2006 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 82
COP eyes 'harmony and trust,' OKs proposed alternate-route
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The LCMS Council of Presidents (COP) focused on "restoring harmony and trust in the ... Synod for the sake of Christ's mission" at its Nov. 12-14 meeting here. The council also "approved in principle" a proposed alternate-route program leading to ordination in the Synod and reviewed final details for its Feb. 8-10 fiscal conference. The vote on the direction of a working draft laying out the proposed alternate-route program -- currently known as "Pastor-Specific" Ministry -- came after members discussed in detail the proposal and the need for fine-tuning the wording of that proposal. Discussion continued the council's consideration of the proposal at its September meeting, when the proposed alternate-route program was termed "Pastor Supervised."Basically, the concept of the proposed program would include a special curriculum that would take four years to complete. It would be separated into pre-ordination and post-ordination curricula.The concept grew out of the Pastoral Formation Leadership Summit held earlier this year, and is being proposed by the oversight committee for Distance Education Leading to Ordination (DELTO).One of the DELTO representatives -- California-Nevada-Hawaii District President Robert Newton -- told the COP that such a program is needed because of the "huge, huge need [to fill pastoral] vacancies in areas where Christ is not named." Newton said that there is especially "need for training in the language and culture of the unchurched." (Emphasis mine) The DELTO committee, working with the COP and seminary faculties, will continue to fine-tune the Pastor-Specific Ministry proposal, which would need to be adopted by a Synod convention to go into effect. Plans for the COP's fiscal conference unfolded as Synod Fifth Vice President David Buegler recommended that the conference should include each district's president, "an additional person ... with significant understanding of the district's unrestricted budget," and a parish pastor of a "district congregation that is a leading contributor." Buegler is chairman of the Synod's Blue Ribbon Task Force for Funding the Mission, which issued its report earlier this year. "With God-pleasing sharing of mission and ministry challenges," Buegler said, "this fiscal conference should be expected to adjourn with a Synod/district agreement that will strive to do the following:1. Determine the annual total amount of unrestricted dollars to be submitted to the national budget by the 35 districts.2. Decide the fair share of each district toward the fulfillment of the commitment from step number 1.3. Plan ahead three years in advance to aid in district/Synod planning.4. Gradually increase the total amount submitted to a level of at least $25 million by 2017."With a total of about 100 participants, the conference will take place in St. Louis, with costs to be covered by the districts. The COP's look at restoring harmony and trust in the Synod during the November meeting is part of its overall theme of "Leading Together ... for the Sake of Christ's Mission." Two guest speakers -- Rev. Wally Arp and Dr. Wayne Wilke -- addressed harmony and trust in their presentations to the council. Arp, senior pastor of St. Luke Lutheran Church, Oviedo, Fla., told the council in his Bible study that harmony and trust in the church begin with baptism in Christ. "It's God's time machine," Arp said of baptism. "It takes us to Jesus on the cross, and provides a daily remembrance of His death and resurrection." Arp suggested that Christians consider that remembrance when they take their morning showers. As the water falls from the shower head, he said, "think of the day to come as the first day of the rest of your life of faith in Christ." "We have hope because of Who we have hope in," Wilke told the council in his remarks. Wilke, a member of the LCMS Florida-Georgia District staff, is executive director of the Concordia House of Studies. "We are raised again to a new life in our baptism not to achieve the idealized past of our beloved Missouri Synod," Wilke said, "but to claim His promised future of participating in His extension of the Church to the uttermost ends of the world." Wilke reminded the COP that Martin Luther's explanation of the Eighth Commandment "reminds us not only to avoid the negative, but also to practice the positive."Also during the November meeting, the council -- comprised of the 35 district presidents and members of the Synod's praesidium -- elected members to committees and as representatives to a number of other LCMS groups. District presidents reported a total of 814 pastoral vacancies in LCMS congregations. Of those, 371 are in congregations that are not calling men to fill those vacancies, and 443 are in congregations that are calling. The category breakdown for the calling congregations is for 328 sole pastors, 54 senior pastors, and 61 associate or assistant pastors. In addition to meeting with the Synod Board of Directors, the COP also participated in a worship service with Synod mission partners meeting at the same Orlando convention facility.The next meeting of the COP will be held in tandem with its fiscal conference.

So, according to District President Robert Newton we have, outside of the seminary environment, a “need for training in the language and culture of the unchurched.” Does this now mean we consider the seminaries to be training our pastors to be and talk too Christian? Maybe the unchurched need to be, oh I don't know, properly catechized by properly trained pastors. This sounds almost like we're trying to out-Joel Osteen, Joel Osteen. Doesn't it?

I agree with Wilke who reminded the COP that Martin Luther's explanation of the Eighth Commandment "reminds us not only to avoid the negative, but also to practice the positive.” But in this case, where the heck is the positive? Why do we need to emulate the culture of sin to be effective communicators of God’s grace?

I do understand that the men training in this program would be supervised. But let’s be serious here, will they really be just as equipped to take care of the sheep they’ve entrusted with as they would by attending one of the seminaries? Would these same men be able to pass the basic entrance exam to be admitted to one of our seminaries? If we want more pastors, shouldn’t we try funding the seminaries a little better than we are first?

This program reeks of the late sixties, early seventies “tribe apart” mentality used with youth groups to this day. That thinking says "just go off by yourself or with your friends, “find Jesus”, strum your guitar and sing a few stanza’s of This is the Day, and just forget how, historically, the Church has always done things." Remember kids, Christianity started the day you where confirmed.

I heard one district president say that we won’t be able to plant 2000 new churches in his district unless we do things differently. The question I have is; what kind of churches do we want to plant? Do we want churches (or using the language of the culture, big multi functional buildings, daycare centers, or meeting halls where we go to network with the other unchurched) filled to the brim with the unchurched hearing the language of the culture? Isn’t that what the local optimist club is for? I just don’t get it!

But I guess I’m just not putting the best construction on this. Maybe how we train our future pastors is just as outdated as our confessions seem to be when talking about missions. Who knows, maybe a slack jawed yokel like me can be a pastor. Clearly we have lowered the bar for that to be possible.

Note: this is my second try at addressing this story. After rereading the first attempt I determined that it was probably the worst thing I’ve ever posted. It started out with me telling a story about my grandmother saying “Frankie, why don’t you just start your own church? Why bother with all that school. Lots of people just start up their own church and make lots of money doing it.” From there I went into a little bit of why we train our pastors the way we do. While covering many of the same issues addressed above, I thought the piece meandered and tried to cover too may points for such a short post. I know you folks expect better and for that reason I deleted it. I guess I can cover the left over issues in another post.

"The Stuff You Write Isn't Even In English!"

I had a complaint a little bit ago and I apologize for not addressing this sooner. I was chatting with someone who said, “We can’t understand half the things you write. The stuff you write isn’t even in English!” What brought this up was my use of the word eschatology in addressing the Lutheran view of the Eucharist in my What’s Wrong With Ablaze! series of posts.

No, I don’t make up words intentionally. It’s true that a few misspelled words do slip by spellchecker because of my inability to type. Often I’m thinking a few sentences ahead and sometimes what comes out is a jumbled mess. I always look over what I write, but rarely is that helpful. I know what I mean to say but it usually takes my wife or my quality manager MorningGlory2 at work, to bring my mistakes to light.

I do try to choose my words carefully because often when talking theology, the some words will numerous meanings. For example; several years ago I was visiting a friend of mine up north. This very dear friend of mine “A” was concerned that I was going to the wrong “kind” of church, specifically a Lutheran church. She had every right to be concerned for me because of her background.

She and I were both members of the same Lutheran church just down the street where the Gospel was not preached purely and the Sacraments were not administered rightly. The only sermon that I can recall preached there was one on how good the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark was because it had Hollywood proving the Bible must exist because Spielberg and Lucas used the ark as a prop. Oh yeah, lots of Gospel in that one. Anyhoo, getting back to my point…

“A” was concerned that because I had wound up going back to a Lutheran church after a loooong absence, I was not going to get that spiritual food which faith requires. So for six years, every time I went up north to visit family, I would visit “A” and get grilled on how I “worshiped.” That’s all “A” seemed to want to know, “how do you worship?” And every time I would tell her the basic and general structure of the Divine Service. And each time I explained to her how the Divine Service is God serving us through Word and Sacrament and then us responding to the same. And each and every time I was told that what I was doing was not good enough.

The problem was that the word “worship” meant two very different things to “A” and I. For “A”, worship meant reading her Bible every day, memorizing verses, praying and fasting. For her worship meant living a pious life. I thought she wanted to know what I did on a Sunday morning. But because we kept talking past one another we kept failing to communicate.

Eventually we had a breakthrough and realized that not only weren’t we on the same sheet of music, we aren’t even in the same symphony. With that we made some headway and she was able to explain some of the reformed theology she subscribes to in a way that I could understand. I believe she’s wrong in couple of doctrinal areas and she knows what I think of her subscription to reformed theological points. (And she certainly thinks I'm wrong on a great many things to be sure!) But I love her dearly and I count her among the elect. By her confession that Jesus is the Christ I have no choice but to count her among the faithful. By her confession she is part of my family and I hers.

So what does all of this have to do with a little word like eschatology? No matter what I write, I try to convey exactly what it is that I mean. I would venture to say most of us do this whether we write or make a point in general conversation.

When it comes to theology, sometimes it’s not good enough to just say I believe in Jesus. Mormons say they believe in Jesus, but they say he was a reincarnated Adam, a created creature, who became a god. Muslims say they believe in Jesus, but they say he was only a prophet and the idea that He is one with the Father is so offensive it’ll get your head cut off in certain parts of the world should you mention it.

I use the word eschatological because it’s exactly what I mean. It the part of dogmatics that means having to do with the “last things.” It’s not a word that I just made up, I promise! The root word is the Greek word eschaton. (I wish I could figure out how to properly spell the word in Greek with my available fonts, but I’ve tried and I can’t) Again, it’s a real word that I thought fit the discussion on the Eucharist.

If you have a question, ask. If you think I’m making up words, call me on it. If you think you need to, you may do it anonymously, my blog has that option.

Anytime anyone wants to ask me a question, feel free to do so and ask away! I do take questions. For crying out loud, I wrote a 9700 word piece answering a question from a reader on what I thought was wrong with my synods Ablaze! program. (do you remember me saying I don’t type?)

While I do use theological terminology on occasion, I do write in english. Sehr gut?

Monet and Missions

Last week my wife and I took a break from our normal Saturday activities and traveled to the North Carolina Museum of Art. Right now until middle of January there is a special exhibit entitled “Monet in Normandy.” There are in this exhibit over 140 paintings that highlight Monet’s evolving skills as the initiator and leader of the Impressionist movement while living on the Normandy coast in France.

It was an enjoyable, afternoon to be sure. The wife and I got to see a few paintings that had never been in America before. It was neat seeing all the different museums that where credited with loaning their paintings for the exhibit, some as far away as Japan. Yep, it was a fun afternoon. The way I look at, it’s not that often that a slack jawed yokel like myself will ever be able to travel the world to see so many paintings of any artist much less the one in particular credited with founding a “movement.”

But Monet is just not my cup of tea. While I recognize his talent and contributions to the art world, I just can’t get exited over this guy. I know the guy is more talented that I would ever hope to be. I know I could never paint anything remotely recognizable as a landscape. Heck, I have trouble painting a wall in my house properly. For me it’s just a matter of personal taste. I just don’t like Monet, and no it’s not because he’s French. Auguste Rodin was French and I think he was the last great artist, not only of his generation but also of all generations that have followed, period. But when it comes to Monet though, I just don’t get it.

My wife had the same thought viewing Monet’s landscapes. In fact, she hit the nail on the head when she said, “the only way you can enjoy the paintings is to stand really far back.” She went so far as to call the paintings “blurry.” The reason for this observation is Monet’s short brush strokes and dabs of color that build up his paintings. There are no clear lines in Impressionism, only dematerialized outlines of color that give the viewer an impression of the scene, hence the title of the movement. If one stands too close to a Monet painting, the view is one of a jumbled mess of harmonized colors that say nothing to the viewer.

Now contrast a Monet with a Cranach or one of his Italian counterparts. The closer you get to a Renaissance era painting the more detailed the painting becomes. Cranach painted with the skill that allowed a painting to not only be work of beautiful art but also an instrument of education. (That is another whole post that I won’t go into here.)

So what does this have to do with missions? The more I’m involved with missions the more I think all we (laity and our willing accomplices in the priestly caste) want missions that resemble those blurry Monet paintings.

I sit on a mission board and recently was presented with the following statement:
In response to the opportunity presented by this densely populated area, the XYZ Area
Mission would:
a. Be committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with unchurched
b. Focus on reaching the unchurched, providing a welcoming community where formerly
churched persons may return to active participation.
c. Offer a dynamic church home for new Christians and other residents who are newcomers to the area.

I responded with an email to the head and a copy to all members of the committee that stated; I would really prefer the first mission statement in the letter read “a. Be committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Divine gifts of Word and Sacrament.”

I gave two reasons why we should use my proposed change by stating we should highlight what makes us distinctive and backed up those reasons using our confessions. I swear that you would think from the reaction to my proposal that I had just suggested that we elect Baal our new lord.

The more I hear and see how we as a synod do mission work, the more I think we strive for that fuzzy Monet like theology that is no different than the PresbyBaptaMethaCostal neo emergent church in every run down strip mall that rents for three dollars a square foot. Why do we hide what we supposedly confess to believe? For the life of me I can’t understand why we think that the Lutheran Confessions and all the doctrine that makes us distinctive is just some old Germanic or cultural bygone that no longer applies in today’s all too complicated society. To subscribe to that line of thinking is to say St. Paul was only talking to the people of his day when he said in 2 Timothy 3:16; all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

Paul was not only talking to Timothy but to us today as well. We should plant missions with the same doctrinal clarity that a Cranach woodcut clearly conveys. If we do otherwise, we only wind up with fuzzy globs of paint that force the viewer to take several steps back to get an understanding of what impression we’re trying to pass off as Church.

Asparagus And Jelly Donuts, Part 2

After rightfully saying there was nothing in Amazing Grace that a Buddhist couldn’t sing in last weeks Sunday school class, my pastor drew up twelve criteria that should be used to judge the hymnody with a short introduction;

Here’s the basic criteria I use in evaluating and selecting hymns for the Divine service: the more questions you can answer with “yes”, the better the hymn. The fewer yes” answers, the weaker the hymn is, and if there is not one, single “yes” to any of these questions, it’s really not a hymn we need to sing…

1) Is the Crucified and Risen Christ Jesus the indispensable center of the hymn?
2) Does the hymn clearly proclaim Christ’s vicarious satisfaction as the sinner’s salvation?
3) Is the hymn grounded on a clear, Scriptural text?
4) Does the hymn point us clearly to the Church’s ministry of word and Sacrament as the place where we surely receive Christ’s gifts?
5) Does the hymn make clear that it is entirely Christ’s work alone that saves us without works, responses, or proper feelings of our own?
6) Does the hymn make clear that the faith which alone justifies is not a human work, but a free gift given by God’s choosing of us (not our choosing of Him), in Christ Jesus, through Word and Sacrament?
7) If the hymn speaks of the Christians response to Christ’s gifts, does it make clear that it is what Christ does for us and not what we do for Him that is the center of the Church’s life and mission? Does it make clear that sanctification is as much by faith alone as is justification?
8) Has the hymn been properly tested and tried by the Lutheran Church?
9) Does the hymn inspire in us a hunger and thirst for the things of Christ Jesus and His Kingdom that is coming?
10) Does the hymn drive you clearly, unerringly to the sound doctrine of Christ Jesus rather than merely let you free associate it’s words with sound teaching?
11) Does the tune bear repeated singing? That is, could you sing it twenty times in a row and not feel sick to your stomach?
12) Is it a hymn that the congregation knows or can sing with some choir support?

I have the distinct feeling that my favorite Latin hymn; In A Gadda Da Vida by I. Ron Butterfly will probably not pass muster using my pastor’s stringent criteria listed above. I will also go out on a limb and say my favorite contemporary Christian music band Faith + 1 also won’t be played during the Divine Service either. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to “settle” for Paul Gerhardt or Philipp Nicholai.

Asparagus And Jelly Donuts

Preparing to look at the synods new hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, my pastor for the past few weeks has been going over the history of the Divine Service as it has evolved from the very beginnings of Christianity. I’m sure that some folks were genuinely shocked to find out that Jesus did not use page 15 from the Lutheran Hymnal. Sure there was laughter at the comment, but I know that the statement offended a few. These are the same people that say that if the King James Bible was good enough for Jesus… well, it should be good enough for us.

What had me ready to jump up and down for joy was an even more offensive statement; “Amazing Grace is not a good hymn.” Yep, my pastor actually said it. I really, really didn’t think he was going out on that limb. But to his credit, with the aged bronze squirming in their seats, he laid out why some “beloved” hymns are the theological equivalent of jelly donuts.

As the point was made in the class, most of us like donuts. While I don’t like jelly donuts, a good cake donut is really hard to beat. But is there any real nutritional value to donuts? No! And what kind parent will actually let their child make a meal of four or five donuts? A bad mommy and daddy, that’s who.

Now, a good parent will not let their little ragamuffins away from the table without eating all their vegetables. The children may not like asparagus, but it is good for them and they do need all the vitamins contained therein to grow up big and strong. It is an example of bad parenting to let the children hide their veggies in a napkin, under their plates, or worse yet, inside of Snowball the family beagle.

If we can all agree that veggies are a necessity for health, and that donuts, while they are good, are nothing more than a desert, why do we expect less out our spiritual foods.

The song “Amazing Grace” didn’t even make it into our Lutheran hymnals until 1982 when Lutheran Worship came out. That’s right folks; it wasn’t in the Lutheran Hymnal! Truth be told, it didn't even make it into the hymnal suppliment for the Lutheran Hymnal. The old Lutherans looked at songs like Amazing Grace and declared them the theological equivalent of jelly donuts. There was no mention of Christ anywhere! There is no mention of the means of grace, that is to say Word and Sacrament. There is nothing in Amazing Grace that a Buddhist couldn’t sing. “Amazing Grace” is one big jelly donut.

We, and I’ve said this before, should sing hymns that teach and confess our faith. We should sing back to the Lord a sung confession. We should sing the very doctrines the Holy Scriptures have given us. We should sing those hard to sing, Greek, Latin, and reformation era hymns that define what it means to declared justified by faith alone in Christ. We need to sing asparagus.

Lutheran Carnival XXXVIII

Lutheran Carnival XXXVII is now up and running at What Did Jesus Do. Stop by, say howdy, and thank Ryan for his time. The next Carnival will be hosted by Living Sermons. Posts are due on December 1st and the carnival will be up on December 3rd.

LSB Agenda And The Time Honored Rite Of Snake Handling

Last Saturday was my circuit's turn to host the introduction to the Lutheran Service Book. I went, got my copy of the LSB and am busy going through it. My initial thoughts are that it is a very good hymnal that hopefully my congregation will adopt. I only wish that the Litany had it’s musical setting included in the LSB. The good news is that it’s all there in the Agenda.

The introduction really wasn’t designed to spend a whole lot of time on the Agenda. That’s a shame really, but I’ll see it soon enough.

The reason I’m thinking about this is that a friend called me this morning to alert me to a news story in the local paper. Here’s how the AP story ran;

Snake Bite In Church Kills Woman
LONDON, Ky. -- The identity of a southeastern Kentucky woman who was bitten by a snake during a church service and later died has been released. Linda Long, 48, of London died Sunday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, the Laurel County Sheriff's Office reported.
Det. Brad Mitchell said Long died about four hours after the bite was reported. Handling reptiles as part of religious services is illegal in Kentucky. Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine of $50 to $100. Police said they had not received reports about snake handling at the church. Snake handling is based on a passage in the Bible, in the Gospel of Mark, that says a sign of a true believer is the power to "take up serpents" without being harmed.
Church officials could not be reached for comment.

My question is this; does anyone know if the ancient liturgical Rite of Snake Handling is in the LSB Agenda? Gosh, I hope it is! What a tremendous outreach opportunity this is for the LCMS. Can’t you just imagine the Council of Presidents demonstrating the gift of snake handling? I know I can!

If the ancient liturgical Rite of Snake Handling isn’t in the LSB Agenda, then already we need another hymnal supplement. Gosh I hope it's in the Agenda!

Synodical Handbook News Conference

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Concordia Junior College - New Berlin

Professor G. P. Sault of the Pre-Textual Studies Department at Concordia Junior College - New Berlin (New Berlin, Illinois) announced a startling discovery at a hastily called press conference last Wednesday (October 25, 2006). At the sparsely attended conference, he presented evidence that suggests that the 2004 Handbook of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, presently used as a “covenant of love” to govern the diverse and stagnant church body, owes its origins to a night of drinking, music, and performance art at the Blue Note (New York City) in 1953.
To quote Professor Sault: “It is simply stunning to discover that an organization like the Missouri Synod has been using what is essentially beat poetry to try and govern itself for years. It is no wonder that they have had increasingly more difficulty in resolving disputes, achieving consensus in doctrine and practice, or even getting along with one another civilly, as they have used the Handbook - for it was never intended as anything other than a clever send-up of American corporate culture in the early 50's....”
Professor Sault began his research into the origins of the Handbook after the conclusion to the 2004 Synodical Convention of the Missouri Synod. He claims that two factors led to his curiosity. One factor was what he describes as the “absolutely opaque” verbiage used in section 1.10, "Dispute Resolution of the Synod." It is his claim that this “couldn't possibly be intended to ‘resolve’ anything, as its very structure creates a process that mitigates the effects of disputes and regularizes their existence, so that what is produced by following the letter of the Handbook is a state in which mutually exclusive positions are supposed to achieve peaceful co-existence.” So he claims to have asked himself “what kind of literature says one thing while meaning something that is completely different?”
The other factor that set his mind to inquiry was a pure accident. At the press conference he claimed that as he was listening to a vintage recording of Thelonius Monk and reading Article III of the Missouri Synod’s Constitution, "Objectives," he noticed a similarity in the rhythms of the spoken word and tempos Monk was using, “if” Professor Sault said, “you could provide missing words to make the scan work.”The words he eventually found to “make the scan work” were such stock Beat phrases and words as man, daddy-o, dig it, pow, righteous, heavy, copasetic, and a previously unknown Beat expression, weasel.When these words were supplied to the text of the Handbook at proper intervals, Professor Sault claims that what emerges from the page is not the constitution and by-laws of a corporate entity, but a “very clever” beat poem. He further asserts that by using formgeschite on the reconstructed text, one cannot escape the conclusion that one is in the presence of a poem rather than a set of guidelines for governing a voluntary organization of independent congregations.
However, at his press-conference, he was not content to simply report the initial conclusions of his research. Having recognized that discovering the actual “form” of the Handbook was only a first step in properly understanding it, Professor Sault then took the small audience through his inquiries into the Handbook’s original sitz in leben. Since listening to Thelonius Monk had been one of his first clues as to what the Handbook really was, he decided to look into the literary culture of New York in the early 50's (the period in which the Monk recording had been made). His discoveries shocked him to the core. He claims that among the beat poets, he found a culture dedicated to improvisation, “performance art,” and the clever lampooning of what they considered to be “self-important bureaucratic types.” Where else would a poem be composed that appeared to be a constitution and by-laws, but was really a recipe for self-delusion and self-destruction? Sault was convinced that he was on to something.
As he researched the various venues where the Beat poets met and regaled each other with their wit and bravado, he was led to the infamous cafe/bar/jazz club called the Blue Note. Furthermore, as he looked into the personal correspondence and memoirs of a group of Beat poets he refuses to identify, beyond calling them “the Five,” he claims to have been able to place them all at the Blue Note on the evening of April 23, 1953.While Sault promises that he will bring adequate documentation forward to substantiate his research, he currently refuses to name the central participants in this evening of genius and “tomfoolery.” Rather, Sault notes that in the personal writings of all the central figures, there are voluminous references to being “totally wasted, high, altered, ‘jazzin,’ ‘jizzin,’ screaming drunk, ‘groovin,’ ‘funkin,’and ‘tripping the light fantastic with a weasel’” on that specific night, and at that particular club. Why they were all there, and whether they intended from the beginning to create what Sault calls the “ur-Handbook,” is an issue that Sault claims is “beyond the scope of reasonable academic research.”
So, what did happen at the Blue Note on the night of April 23, 1953? Sault believes it began innocently enough with “the Five” listening to Monk and his combo as they laid down one “cool” breeze after another, pausing only long enough in their informal jam session to make sure that they maintained a good mix of “pharmaceuticals” in their systems. As they played, conversation among “the Five” apparently turned to their usual contempt for corporate America, and how the “buttoned-down mind set” would eventually take over every aspect of North American culture. One of them, unidentified by Sault, then giggled as she suggested that even Christian churches would succumb to this malady. All of “the Five” immediately fell into paroxysms of laughter at her bon mot. But it didn't end there.
In Sault’s hypothetical reconstruction of the evening, the trouble began to brew when Monk and his crew took their next break to do, “who knows what.” In that interval, one of “the Five” took the stage at the Blue Note, and began with these words:

Preamble - man
Reason for the Forming of a Synodical Union - pow, daddio
1. The example of the apostolic church. Acts 15:1-31 - cool, man, cool
2. Our Lord’s will - zee bop
that the diversities - dig it
of gifts - weasel boyo
should be - heavy righteous man
for the common - dig it, really
profit - for that is our god, man
1 Cor. 12: 4-31

Supposedly the room fell dead silent as those who heard the words tried to make sense of them. But then another one of “the Five” took the stage and continued in the same vein, and then another joined them, and so on. All of “the Five” were finally together, reciting clauses, by-laws, and creating sub-paragraphs in a frenzy akin to modern “poetry slams.” When Monk and his crew returned and saw “the Five” on the stage, he simply brought the musicians back up, let the drummer find a rhythm that complimented the poets, and began to play behind them. Apparently this went on for hours until all the principals were either too tired or too intoxicated to continue. Sault claims that in their personal papers, those who sobered up the next day, reported head-splitting hang-overs.
The question was asked of Sault, granting that his theory of the Handbook’s origin was true, “how did it become a governing document for the Missouri Synod?” Sault paused, mused for a moment, and then - in a tone that could only be described as puzzled - answered: “I don't really know - I mean - it must have been an accident - no one could have seriously thought that the ur-Handbook was a church constitution - in fact, I don't even know that there were any recordings or transcripts of the poem made that night - I haven't seen any references to that in the papers of ‘the Five’.....”
What one is left with as an explanation, according to Sault, are two possibilities. Either, by random chance, through triennial meetings and resolutions, the Missouri Synod “just happened” to organize itself so that it developed a structure that eventually mimicked the ur-Handbook perfectly; or, and Sault lowed his voice as he spoke these words, “someone who was there, who knew the poem, has been working, unseen, to guide the Missouri Synod to this juncture.”
Sault allowed one more question before ending the press conference. The question was: “so what should the Missouri Synod do?” Sault became quite grave at this point, and said, “Again, I just don't know....certainly there is more research to be done...but how on earth does an entity like the Missouri Synod wake up one day to discover it has been the subject of a rather cruel joke?”The administration at Concordia Junior College was contacted in order to find out how the press conference was received. Their only reply to our inquires was that they could find no evidence of anyone actually attending.
So the mystery deepens.

10/27/06 Staff writer - Religious News Today!

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Thank You Amy!

Amy,
I just heard from V's parents that you think highly of the blog. Thank you very much for the kind words! I can tell by your impeccable taste that you come from a very good pedigree. Heck, I bet I would even get along just fine with your folks. Hmm.
Pax,
Frank

Cool New Blog

When I finally got to work on Friday, the first thing that popped up in my email, from a buddy of mine who’s out on vicarage, was a link to a new blog and the one sentence that said “If you haven't seen this site yet, you should”. When I arrived to the shop on Saturday to catch up on a promotional project I’ve been working on, I opened up my email to find yet another email, this time from a member of the priestly caste, highlighting the same blog and calling it “screamingly funny.”

The Rev. Brig. Gen. C.F.W. Scuttlebutt’s blog is the self titled generalscuttlebutt. Humor is not the easiest thing to do, especially when it comes to theological issues. But the General really hits the mark with his earthy military lingo. If you haven’t been to his site yet, fall into formation and double time over there right now. You be glad you did.

A Good Post Over At All The Fulness

Christopher Jones over at All The Fulness has a excellent post on Paedoconfirmation and Paedocommunion. Paedocommunion is something that I’ve long advocated in spite of the screeching cries of “heretic” from many of those around me.

What's Wrong With Ablaze!: Part 7

This post will conclude my answering “B’s” question "You may have done this in the past but could you please post your reasons for being so hostile against Ablaze! Do you have theological issues and can you back them up with scripture and the Lutheran confessions. I hear so much negative talk but no one to my knowledge has ever backed it up with scripture.”
Last post I wrote that Ablaze! says that it’s not an answer but an invitation. Now I know there are those who say whether its called a program or a movement is unimportant, as long as we get the Good News out, that’s what’s important. After all, if Ablaze! gets us excited about spreading the Gospel, we’ll bring more people into the church. The previous issues discussing that faith looks only to where our Lord says He meets us, in Word and Sacrament, aside, what are we inviting people to? When all these “seeds of faith” and “critical events” that we are counting that “lead” people to the local congregation, what are they going to find? Are they going to find the Word preached purely and the Sacrament administered rightly? Let’s start with the official “Start up to Ablaze!” manual. Inside the manual are several featured resources that may or may not be familiar to some. The congregations that are strongly encouraged by their districts to have an Ablaze! educator can choose from programs like Friendship Ablaze!, 50 Days Ablaze!, Groups Ablaze! or Individuals Ablaze!. Lots of stuff about being Ablaze!. One of these days I’ll need to do a post on how much fun fire is in Scripture, but that’s for another time. Friendship Ablaze! promotes itself thusly;

Welcome to Friendship Ablaze!
This resource will help your congregation to celebrate friendship in Jesus Christ, both among the saints of the congregation, as well as new and familiar people in the community. Jesus declared: “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). He expressed that loving friendship perfectly and profoundly on the cross, giving His life as a ransom for all. And now, the friendships which God’s people create and nurture are dynamic opportunities for Christian witness, authentic relationship involvement which provides the opportunity for the Word of Christ to be shared and received.
A group of gifted friends of Jesus gathered to plan and prepare this resource to support and strengthen outreach to friends in your personal life and congregation.
Christian demographers claim that there are more than 150,000,000 unchurched people living in the United States, making this nation the third largest English-speaking mission field in the world. Jesus Christ yearns for them to be His friends in faith and connected to His body, the church. There is a growing need for God’s people to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Peter 3:15)
Through the Ablaze! initiative, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) has called the people of our congregations to share the Good News of Jesus with 50,000,000 unchurched/uncommitted people here in the United States by 2017, and to plant 2,000 new congregations by the same year.
Individual Christians can do that. Congregations can do that. And your congregation can help your people to always be prepared to give that life-changing answer about faith in Jesus Christ. This resource was prepared with the prayer that we will be encouraged and supported in sharing the Good News about Jesus, especially with our friends. This is the reason for gathering these resources under the theme Friendship Ablaze!
Welcome to the fire, the cozy fire of Friendship Ablaze!

Since I spent so much time in the series of posts pointing to Word and Sacrament, I’ll start with the Divine Service and what to expect when gearing up for friendship Sunday. The program starts out with tips on greeting people. Now in this area, let’s be honest, all our churches could use a little work with a few exceptions. The program suggests things like wearing name tags, having ushers that know how to greet people properly, welcome cards in the pews, and good signage inside and outside of the building. Good suggestions all!

Then things take a strange turn. The program suggests that a gift be given to each guest; often a congregational coffee mug, (how Lutheran!)? and parking attendants with brightly colored umbrellas for rainy days.? All of these are innocent by themselves, but what happens when you add the dreaded “Four Touch Rule”? What is that you ask? See here;

The “Four Touch Rule.”
This “rule” says guests should have at least four experiences of someone smiling at them, shaking their hand and welcoming them. The four touches are:
A host/greeter smiles, shakes their hand and welcomes them.
An usher smiles, welcomes them, offers a bulletin and assistance in finding a place to sit.
At a time of greeting at the beginning of the service, a fellow worshiper smiles at them, shakes their hand, welcomes them and introduces him/herself to the guest.
At the end of the service, the pastor greets and welcomes them as he greets all worshipers at the door.
Some congregations add a fifth “touch.” They have hosts greet guests in the parking lot (assumes a dedicated guest parking area), welcoming them and giving them directions to the sanctuary.
Does your congregation observe The Four Touch Rule?
What fifth or sixth “touch” could you add?

That’s just plain creepy if you ask me. Actually what it is, is more business model lingo creeping into our churches. How can we close the deal if we don’t touch the client four or five times? Newsflash, someone tries to make sure they touch me four times is in serious trouble! All of this can be explained away with just very enthusiastic people trying to do their best at putting on a good face. But what happens when the visitor goes into the sanctuary? Let’s look at what to expect from the Friendship Ablaze! folks:

Week One
Goal: introduce the theme during worship, children’s message, and Sunday School. We cast the goal of at least 100 “friends” in worship on May 1. Our average attendance is 300.
Bumper music for greeting/handshake time: “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts (theme from TV show “Friends”)
Week Two
Goal: by the end of the sermon, each hearer will identify 3 individuals that they will invite to Friendship Sunday on May 1. The sermon included teaching on receptivity. Children’s message included this focus. Makes use of a baseball theme.
Bumper Music for greeting/handshake time: “Centerfield” by John Fogerty (“Put me in, Coach”)
Gave out “Impact/Invitation Cards” for individuals to “target mail” with their signature and personal postage stamp.
Sunday School students received child-focused invitations to give away to their friends.
Enlisted additional greeters, Welcome Center workers, and people to staff the name tag tables.
Enlisted people and distributed phone call lists with “talk sheets” to invite people from our attender and pre-attender data base.
Enlisted people to make follow-up phone calls within 2 days of Friendship Sunday.
Week Three
Goal: teach the congregation how to “do the ask” – extending the invitation through both indirect and direct methods. Instructed the congregation how the next Sunday would work, the things we needed them to do to welcome people, the challenge to park away from the choice parking spots, and the importance of personal follow-up.
Bumper music for greeting/handshake time: “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman (Song from “Toy Story”)
Gave out additional “Impact/Invitation Cards” for individual mailings. Sunday School received additional child-focused invitations.
In the week prior to May 1, Milpitas Post Newspaper carried an ad about Friendship Sunday on May 1 which included the promotion of special guest musical performance by Manuel Romero (Latin Grammy Nominated Recording Artist and member of our church). Manuel sang two Chris Tomlin songs, “Unfailing Love” and “How Great is our God,” accompanied by our worship band.
All the guests in the database received phone call invitations and also an “Impact/Invitation Card” in the mail prior to May 1.
Week Four – Friendship Sunday
Goal: invite our friends to personally know our friend, Jesus.
A substantial “coffee bar” with a wide variety of juice, coffees, flavor additives, creamers, fresh scones, and juices was available before and after each of the 3 services.
Name tag tables in place; greeters to welcome every person who attended
Welcome Center staffed all morning, even during worship
Special welcome of guests to Sunday School
People introduced their friends and family to others. Those that invited friends walked them to the Welcome Center after worship to get their gift and turn in the Welcome Card (registration).
Awesome morning of worship! We had 120 more people in worship on May 1 than we had on April 24!
Special Production Pieces within worship
“Jay Walking” – man on the street interview video - “What’s a Friend?”
“Friendship” by Cole Porter performed in character by two drama team members to a recorded accompaniment track

What in the world is a visitor going to think when he hears those great Christian hymns “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts, “Centerfield” by John Fogerty, or “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman? Are they going be reminded of the sacred or the divine? Let look at things realistically, even Twila Paris would look that those songs and say “what the hell?” Chances are, the “unchurched” visitor is going to think they just walked into the local optimist club gathering.

The service does to its credit focus on making the visitor welcome. But that is the problem, the focus is the visitor. And what should the focus be? The Marks of the Church, Word and Sacrament, that is how a Christian Church is to be identified. So where are the Marks of the Church? Where was Jesus in all of this? Well, he was mentioned once in week 4. I guess he had to be brought up sooner or later.

Seriously, the parish that followed the Friendship Sunday Worship series was not focusing on Christ and His gifts at all. What they were focused on was what they were going to do for Jesus. The service was all about satisfying and validating the stupid idea that God just can’t get by without our help. True faith looks to Christ and what he did for us and continues to do for us on the cross. A Christian by faith hears his or her Lord in the faithful preaching of the Word. The faithful believer experiences a foretaste of the eternal feast in the right administration of the Sacrament.

What Friendship Ablaze! and Ablaze! with it’s counting of “critical events” and “seeds of faith” looks to, is what we do. Ablaze! and all programs like it make us no better than Pharisees who count our own righteousness as worthy.

Perhaps we should follow the example of Paul who in 1 Corinthians 2:2 said “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

When we look to our works instead of Christ we fall short. Ablaze! looks to count human works and declare them divine. Ablaze! falls short by design, and it is therefore wrong.

And that, “B”, is why I seem to be so hostile to our beloved synod’s latest fad. The thing that upsets me most, even though we have the Confessions and Scripture, is the fact that we should know better.

What's Wrong With Ablaze!: Part 6

Let’s take another look at the Ablaze! website’s use of scripture. The “What is Ablaze!?” site uses the following passage and explanation:

“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon’”—Luke 24:32-34.
Ablaze! is not a program or a campaign. It began as a mission vision with the hope of starting a mission movement. Each participating congregation, group, mission society, partner church, individual, etc. is challenged to pray about its own particular situation and the part of the mission endeavor it can impact and to design its own strategy to contribute to reaching 100 million people. LCMS World Mission is asking the church to develop mission models that work and can be shared with others. Ablaze! is not an answer…it’s an invitation!

Hmm, why would I spend any time on a three verses that seem to directly contradict my own argument? Just as I looked at an entire parable last post, I think it just as important here to look at what leads up to the apostles saying what they said. The road to Emmaus account is recorded in Luke 24:13-35

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

I think the key verse for us to look at is not verse 34 “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” but rather verse 25 “ He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” But doesn’t verse 34 make Ablaze!’s argument? No, I don’t believe it does. But I do believe this verse is crucial as to why the confessions seem to not speak to our way of evangelism in America today.

As the apostle start their journey to Emmaus, they are clearly demoralized. The guy they thought was going deliver Israel had just been crucified on a cross and had died. They can’t even mourn him properly as there is no longer a body to sorrow over. For three years they traveled with someone who they thought would be a king only to see him nailed to the cursed tree like the lowest of criminals. They wanted a messiah, and they went looking for the Anointed One at a tomb. I for one do not blame them for losing hope, I’m positive I would have done the same. (truth be told, I would have been one of the Pharisees plotting his arrest. My natural human tendency is to want to follow the Law. But that’s just me.)

Jesus meets them on the road and still they do not recognize him! Why? Because they still are not looking (does anybody blame them?) for Him where he says he will meet them. Jesus even tells them where in Scripture He is and still they do not see him. Just a few nights ago he told them where he could be found, and still they just don’t see him. But when He breaks bread, blesses it and gives it to them, their eyes are opened and they see their Lord and Savior where he said he would be; in the Word and in the Sacrament.

So what are the disciples saying when they proclaim “Did not our heart burn within us”? What was the cause of this holy heartburn? Why is there is no mention of the holy heartburn after Christ reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread? Just think about it and it should not be a surprise.

I would argue that they were looking for Christ outside where He states He’ll continue to serve us to this day. Christ has no other option on the road to Emmaus but to say “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” In these verses we see our Lord frame how His church will come to him until the end of time. The disciples did not believe and for that they were chastised by their Lord. But through the Preaching of the Word and the administration of the blessed Sacrament they met their Lord where we met him, for all time and in all places, just as at Emmaus. Their hearts were burning because they were foolish and unbelieving. After Jesus shows them once again where He meets them (and us as well) the holy heartburn goes away. Emulating the faith of a child is one thing, but emulating the faith of the foolish and slow of heart is something else entirely. We should seek Jesus where he has told us he will be.

Today we sing the Church’s first hymns when we chant the psalms. We read the lessons from the Old Testament where the Prophets spoke of the coming messiah. We hear the apostles, who have been sent by Christ Himself to preach the Word and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, speak to us in the Epistle reading. We hear our Lord himself not only speak to his hearers in ancient Galilee but to us sitting in the pews of our modern churches. In the Emmaus story, Christ gives us a model for all ages to emulate. Word and Sacrament is where he has chosen to meet us. Word and Sacrament is where we are given that saving faith that allows us to see Christ where he wants us to see him.

Now, let’s look at Ablaze!. Just as Julie Martinez stated in her paper “Is Ablaze! Evangelism?” Ablaze! gages itself by the number of critical events reported to a website. This approach is in direct contrast to the Emmaus. Instead of pointing us to the one place where Christ has told us He will be, it has as the “critical event” us and our work. Ablaze! has all the earmarks of making a visible church out of the invisible. How can people be brought to faith outside of the means of grace? As Dr Luther wrote in the large Catachism explaining the third article; “For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create, call and gather the Christian church, apart from which no one can come to call the Lord Christ.” If we want to stop being Lutheran and start being PentaBaptiMethoCostal that would make Ablaze! ok and hunky-dory as well. Actually, nothing makes Ablaze! ok and hunky-dory . The teaching that faith can be obtained or sustained outside of Christ’s Church is wrong when other Christian denominations do it, and it should be clearly and obvious to all it’s wrong when we do it!

We in this country have a problem with very poor catechesis. We seem to think Christianity started the day we were confirmed. Or, for the masses with a more bronze tinge, as soon as the ink was dry on the first copy of TLH. Christianity starts and ends at the cross. To look elsewhere, especially at our own works, is foolishness.

We need to reach the “unchurched” by preaching the Law so that the sinner understand his (or her) sinful nature that has existed since Adam’s fall. Whether or not he wants to hear it (the Law) is irrelevant, he needs to hear it. The second part of the equation is once he understands that he falls under the curse of the Law, he needs to hear the sweet message of God’s saving faith in Christ given to us freely for the sake of and on account of Christ.

Ablaze! points to events outside of the Church as critical. This is why Christ tells the apostles and us today to stop being foolish and look to Scripture for those things concerning himself. (“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”).

Ablaze! is a foolish attempt to appeal to our inner theologians of glory and make us the subject of the verbs. We need to stop being so foolish and make Christ the subject our evangelism. When we run the verbs, we do it wrong!

The confessors rightfully understood that we only find Christ where he says he is; in Word and Sacrament! We should understand that as well!

“But”, you might say, “Ablaze! is about sharing Jesus. And besides, the website says “Ablaze! is not an answer…it’s an invitation!””

We’ll go over what exactly we’re being invited to in the next post.

What's Wrong With Ablaze!: Part 5

Let us now look at the Ablaze! website that asks the question “Why count? Why report"? The site starts like this: "Counting has always been important in the Bible as one of the indications of how things are and what needs to be done. A fine example is the parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15:4-7. When the shepherd gets to 99, and he knows that there should be a hundred sheep, he leaves the 99 to seek and find the one lost sheep. Without counting, human beings often do not have a clear picture of the real state of affairs."

So, according to the Ablaze! program Luke is telling us that Jesus says we are supposed to count to know how well we are doing. Let’s look at the whole parable:

Luke 15:1-7
Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.


So, did you see what was left out in synod’s promotion of Ablaze!? The first two verses introducing the parable are missing! Why is that important? Because, if we don’t know who the parable is addressed to, it can take on a very different meaning as we shall soon see.

The parable is being addressed to the Pharisees and Scribes who count themselves as righteous and object to Jesus welcoming and eating with sinners. The parable is not about counting sheep for the kingdom. As the Rev. Dr. Arthur A. Just Jr. writes in his commentary on Luke in the Concordia Commentary Series;

“the Pharisees know that these parables are directed against them. They know that, in Jesus’ view, all need to repent, so that there is no such thing as people who have no need for repentance. The Pharisees know that they have rejected John’s call for repentance and so have also rejected God’s plan for salvation in John and Jesus (cf. 729-35). As they listen carefully to the parable, they are never told whether the ninety nine are still in the wilderness or have returned to the village. Jesus leaves it up in the air because the parables are his call to them to repentance. Are they going to be rescued by Jesus and rejoice with the tax collectors? If so they should stop grumbling, repent, be brought to the village, and join the feast with Jesus. If not they will be left in the wilderness, in need of a shepherd to find them and bring them to the feast. The remaining ministry of Jesus, and the mission of the church, is to continue to call – and carry the ninety nine in from the wilderness home to the eschatological feast of Jesus.”

Paul E. Kretzmann, Ph. D., D. D., goes further in his "Popular Commentary." "The ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance are evidently people like the Pharisees and scribes, who in their own opinion are not in need of a Savior."

So, is this parable from Jesus telling us that we need to count to measure how well we are doing? No! It is about those who believe that they hold the law perfectly enough to count themselves guaranteed a place in heaven while grumbling about the one sinner who is not worthy of table fellowship. The ninety nine look at what they do to count themselves after all, they kept the Law perfectly. The parable is accusatory to those who who count their own work. And yet, this is what Ablaze! holds up as its proof text in justifying the counting of “critical events.”

This is just one place where Ablaze! twists scripture to defend its existence. The good news for the ninety nine is that if they repent, they will enjoy being brought back to the village and eat at the table with Jesus with the rest of us poor miserable sinners who don’t count ourselves worthy.

What's Wrong With Ablaze!: Part 4

So let’s continue answering “B’s” question by asking a question of our own (and answering it of course). What’s wrong with counting? It tells us in the Bible to count ourselves doesn’t it? After all, one of the Ablaze! websites states: “Without counting, human beings often do not have a clear picture of the real state of affairs.” So, we should be counting, shouldn’t we? Let’s take a look at two instances of counting in the Old Testament.

The first chapter of the book of Numbers written by Moses is a report of a census taken by newly liberated nation of Israel encamped at Mount Sinai. Right there in Numbers 1:1 the Lord tells Moses to take a census and count all of Israel before they went to the Promised Land. Moses and Aaron were directed to count all men and their families.

But what Moses and Aaron were not directed to do, is go into foreign lands and proselytize and give the “unchurched” a chance to respond. Under Ablaze!’s rules they could have went back into Egypt and given the Egyptians another chance to respond and that would’ve counted as success. Imagine that scene, “hey remember us, remember all those plagues and stuff, yeah, that was us, well, uh, we’re back and, hmm, we were wondering if you want these seeds of faith that we’re planting. So, ah, whatchya think about that hmm?” Yeah, that would have gone over well. But in the bizzaro Ablaze! world, that incident would be counted because the people of Egypt could have responded. Heck, if the Lord had just directed the census to be taken before they even left Egypt, Pharaoh could have been counted. Even though Pharaoh’s heart was hardened against the Lord, he still had a chance to respond. Like I said, it’s like bizzaro world!

But what made the whole counting thingy ok when Moses and Aaron did it was that it was commanded by the Lord himself. The Lord told Moses and Aaron to count and that’s exactly what they did. Because the Lord commanded it, it is just and right.

But what happens when we decided to count to see how we are doing? What happens when we decided to look not at the Marks of the Church, where the Lord has promised He will be? Is there anything in scripture that points to counting on our own, without being commanded by the Lord, not being such a good idea?

2 Samuel 24:1-17 records an account of what happens when we count just to “have a clear picture of the real state of affairs.” The text is as follows:

Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.” And Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel. And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer. Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,“Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.”’” So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

At the time of David’s decision to call a census, the nation of Israel was at peace. There was no reason nor was there a command from God to count anyone. The reason for the Lord’s anger and wrath is that David started counting just to get his website numbers up. The sin of David was the sin of pride. Even Joab, not the best or nicest kind of guy to have around to begin with, even Joab recognizes that this whole counting thing is going to bring the Lord’s wrath. 1 Chronicles 21 records the same event and tells us to “not help” the counting process along, Joab elected not to include Levi and Benjamin in the census because (recorded in 1 Chronicles 21:6-8) “the king’s command was repulsive to him. This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.” Now how bad off is David’s sin if Joab thinks it’s a bad idea? Apparently bad enough to have God send Gad to deliver three possible punishments to David.

David’s sin of pride is our own sin of pride. What Ablaze! wants to count is what David wanted to count, our own sinful works. This measuring of the “seeds of faith” or “critical events” counts what we think we do for God instead of what God has already done for us in Christ.

Instead of worrying about what we do, we should look to the cross and the Crucified and Risen Lord. We should always (I know I’m sounding like a broken record here, but) look to the Marks of the Church. The church that preaches the Word purely and administers the Sacrament rightly does not have to worry about Gad knocking on her door asking her to choose between three punishments. But the synod that purports to see the hearts of men, when Scripture says it is the Lord’s privilege alone, should not be in such a hurry to answer her door. And the synodical president, or anyone else for that matter, which stands at a podium at every district meeting and snaps their fingers five times slowly saying “in those five seconds, five more people went to hell because we didn’t tell them about Jesus” should not only lock the door, but probably disconnect their phones as well.

What's Wrong With Ablaze!: Part 3

So, where were we? Ah yes, I was answering “B’s” question “why are you so hostile to Ablaze? Do you have theological issues and can you back them up with scripture and the Lutheran confessions. I hear so much negative talk but no one to my knowledge has ever backed it up with scripture?” Let’s wrap up our look at the confessions with a quick look at the Large Catechism’s explanation of the third article of the Apostils Creed, which is one of the three Ecumenical creeds in our confessions.

Dr Luther in his explanation of the third article writes in 40-45

40] Learn, then, to understand this article most clearly. If you are asked: What do you mean by the words: I believe in the Holy Ghost? you can answer: I believe that the Holy Ghost makes me holy, as His name implies. 41] But whereby does He accomplish this, or what are His method and means to this end? Answer: By the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 42] For, in the first place, He has a peculiar congregation in the world, which is the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God, which He reveals and preaches, [and through which] He illumines and enkindles hearts, that they understand, accept it, cling to it, and persevere in it.
43] For where He does not cause it to be preached and made alive in the heart, so that it is understood, it is lost, as was the case under the Papacy, where faith was entirely put under the bench, and no one recognized Christ as his Lord or the Holy Ghost as his Sanctifier, that is, no one believed that Christ is our Lord in the sense that He has acquired this treasure for us, without our works and merit, and made us acceptable to the Father. What, then, was lacking? 44] This, that the Holy Ghost was not there to reveal it and cause it to be preached; but men and evil spirits were there, who taught us to obtain grace and be saved by our works. 45] Therefore it is not a Christian Church either; for where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Ghost who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one can come to Christ the Lord.

Notice how Dr. Luther states that under the papacy, there was no Christian church as there was no right preaching. Rome preached salvation by one’s own works, which does not look to Christ but rather looks inward. Again, “For where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit to create, call and gather the Christian church, apart from which no one can come to call the Lord Christ.” This is why I spent so much time on identifying the Marks of the Church as the only thing we would need to look to in my last posts.

Now contrast what Dr Luther wrote with Ablaze!. How does Ablaze! measure success? By counting what our synod’s President Kieschnick calls “critical events” which is defined as sharing a "shared the hope that is in you, so that another may encounter Christ."

The Ablaze! website entitled “Are We Really Counting” describes the counting process as “When one person gives a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to another person, so that there is an opportunity for that person to respond, this activity “counts” toward the 100 million goal. A person may “respond” by receiving the message, rejecting it or asking for more information.”

Now there are two ways to look at the above statement. First, our synodical leadership now has the ability to see these seeds of faith that they want us to start counting. The problem with that is a pesky little verse in 1 Kings 8:39 which says "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men)" . So, now we really can see into the hearts of men, since that is the only place that Holy Spirit works to bring us to faith? Apparently the writer of the book of Kings wasn’t aware of the Ablaze! program since we now know that a website can measure what was long thought to be immeasurable. Hmm.

The second and more disturbing option (as if the first wasn’t disturbing enough) is that the Ablaze! program just doesn’t care that it doesn’t point to the Marks of the Church. This is why I spent so much time on the last post on what the confessors thought identified the Church.

Remember, the Ablaze! website records not people confessing Christ as Lord nor baptisms where Christ seals the child (or adult) with his cross by the Word of God. All that is required for the website numbers to go up to reach the 100 million “unchurched” is only the opportunity for the people to respond. This is why the LCMS can run a TV program and the numbers jump up by a million in a single month. Anyone watching the LCMS happy clappy hour might have a seed of faith in them. Who knows? Well, apparently we do, so we are counting them as having the opportunity to respond.

All of this Ablaze! stuff looks to own works as a sign of all the good that we do for God instead of what God has already done for us and continues to do for us in Word and Sacrament. 1 Kings 8:39 states that God alone knows what’s in our hearts and that’s good enough for me. We have a responsibility to give a confession of faith anytime we are asked. If the opportunity comes up in our daily vocation we must confess Christ crucified. But counting our work, and taking credit for a work that is very clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, is intolerable.

So, is there anything wrong with counting? We’ll tackle that in the next post.