Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane (7/11/15)

Remember when Saturday mornings used to be so much fun when you were a kid?

For me, I'd usually stay up as late as I could the night before (after what I thought was such a "hard" and "long" week at school), and then sleep in as late as I wanted to on Saturday morning.

The best part? Whether Dad would make us breakfast or not (his French Toast!), the even better part of my Saturday mornings growing up was plopping myself down in front of our TV to watch cartoon after cartoon! You know, the kind that were only on once-a-week and not available in an instant through YouTube and/or Netflix?

I thought about that recently and decided it might be cool to come up with a new weekly tradition of sorts for us adults to enjoy each and every Saturday morning now that we're all grown up (ok, at least some of us more than others anyway). I mean, isn't it time for us to look forward to Saturday mornings again?

Besides, it will be good for us to recall that childlike faith in fun and laughter if only for a few moments each week. You'll remember that laughter was, for Luther, a sign of divine grace and also an antidote against the devil too.

From the very beginning, humor had been a theological topic for Martin Luther, embracing the dramatic scope of his whole world view. He himself explained: "When I was unable to chase away the devil with serious words of with the Scripture, I often expelled him with pranks." And so this unique concept is born! Ok, so it's really not all that "cool" or "original" or "fun" to be sure, but it will be our new tradition here, and I'll try to make it worthwhile too. So who's with me then?

Please keep in mind, it won't be flashy, and it will hardly grab and hold your attention like a classic episode of the Care Bears, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, or Voltron would, but these "Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane" should satisfy the Confessional Lutheran's appetite for a balanced breakfast that includes your VDMA Vitamins which include Vitamin A (Amusement), Vitamin B (Best of the Blogs), Vitamin C (Confessional), Vitamin D (Doctrine), and Vitamin E (Everything Else).

Each Saturday morning, God willing, I'll do my best to share some of the things I remember coming across in my unpredictable journey through Cyberspace during the week (hence, the "Along Memory Lane" part). For the most part, these will be things I either bookmarked, read, wrote down, and/or simply couldn't get to myself during the week. Of course, this is also where the things you send me via email (if any) will show up too.

Ok, enough with all the "commercials" when all we want is some "cartoons," right? Let's get the show started already, shall we?

8:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN A (AMUSEMENT): In case you've been wondering, Lutheran Satire shows us "How To Be An Arrogant Lutheran" for those who haven't been given that title yet.

8:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN B (BEST OF THE BLOGS): The commentary began with the words, "I'm not crazy about the phrase 'witnesses for Christ,' as I think it's often unclear what is meant by it. In the same curmudgeonly fashion, I am irked by prayer petitions/bids which run, 'Lord we (just wanna) ask/thank You you for the opportunity to be your witnesses.'" I'm not crazy about that either! Perhaps that's why I really enjoyed reading "In What Sense Am I A 'Witness For Christ'?" by Charm City Vicars and I think you will enjoy it too. It really cuts through all the "Missional" bull that we're bombarded with today and asks, "Is my scrounging for an opportunity better than God’s vocation?"

9:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN C (CONFESSIONAL): This quote from Martin Chemnitz is taken from the chapter on adiaphora in Chemnitz's Iudicium (1561). Chemnitz wrote this in the midst of the Adiaphoristic Controversy (1548-1577). "But let us acknowledge our weaknesses and failures, let us seek forgiveness, and let us give thanks to God, who does not deal with us according to our iniquities, but with unfathomable mercy for the sake of the glory of his name, and by the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ he corrected our failures and he impeded and crushed the efforts of the adversaries. And let us pray for all who teach and learn by his Holy Spirit in the future, so that also in a tranquil time we may teach and learn in peace those things which are true and useful; and that we would be able to withstand persecution with its violent attacks by that good commandment in constant confession of the truth. To glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is by his grace to preserve purity of doctrine and to pass it on to posterity. In this way concord is brought about by the grace of God, useful to the church and salutary to posterity."

9:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN D (DOCTRINE): Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) "1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." My Lutheran Study Bible has this to say about these verses: "The many saints (Hebrews 11) show that we are not alone in the struggle to confess Christ. Like a cloud, the saints' examples are visible, though we cannot touch those who went before us. Believers here still have sin clinging closely. Though justified, we are also sinners until we reach heaven. The Christian life, as a long-distance race, demands staying on the path and finishing. Jesus opened the way to salvation, and His new covenant will never be superseded. He creates our faith through the Gospel and Sacraments, and His Spirit brings us to the consummation of our salvation. The Christian life is an endurance race, run with remembrance of the saints who have already finished. But most of all, we look to Jesus and His cross. In Him, our race is already won. Lord Jesus, save me from my sin, which clings so closely and give me endurance to do Your will. Amen."

10:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN E (EVERYTHING ELSE): What is the importance of the silent working of the Holy Spirit? Charismatic, Pentecostal. Name-It-Claim-It, Miracles-Signs-And-Wonders types should prayerfully consider that, "Just as the Biblical concepts of resurrection and eternity are hardly any longer understood in modern Christianity, so also the understanding of the Holy Spirit has more and more disappeared. One does not yet know who the Holy Spirit is if one knows the workings of the Spirit or of spirits as reported in the epistles of Paul. He tells of speaking in tongues, of prophecy, of visions, of things heard, of gifts of healing, of the power to do miracles, and all sorts of gifts. Most of these phenomena do not belong only to Christianity but are found in many a religion. They are native to ecstatic religion, which is found all over the world. Here a person thinks of his powers and capacities as intensified into the supernatural because divinity is at work in him. Such primitive expressions of ecstatic religion were much prized in Corinth as evidence of possessing the Holy Spirit. Paul himself had experience of them, and yet he ranks them less than the silent working of the Spirit of Christ. In making this distinction, he does the same as the prophets of the Old Testament. They had such experiences too, and yet they decisively marked themselves off from the ecstatic seers and professional prophets. What is the significance of this distinction? It is connected with the distinction between true and false prophets and so also the scrupulous distinction between God and man – between what is truly God’s doing and what is not." from Hermann Sasse, "Jesus Christ Is Lord, The Church's Original Confession," in We Confess Jesus Christ (Concordia, 1984), p.29 [trans by Norman Nagel.

 

Sorry, but that's all I have for you this week.

In a Lutheran Layman's terms, you've been fed a balanced spiritual diet this morning so I hope you're full and wide awake and ready to face the day in your God-given vocations.


Grace and peace to you and yours!



NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just a regular Christian, Candy-Making, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm also a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism almost 2 years ago now. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Also, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran basics was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical, because we now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean! haha!). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm experiencing and/or studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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