MotorSage

Lessons from the Laundry

2012-01-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hear the Word of the Lord according to Jonah...

Our thanks goes to Barbara, who lets me invade her sacred space!

Just When I Thought...

2011-12-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought that the hue and cry concerning sexuality matters were lessening within Lutheranism, I find that my restiveness too quickly grows. The evidence comes from a letter to the Catholic Bishops of Minnesota from former Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) Bp. Herb Chilstrom, dated 12/8/11…

To My Brothers -- The Catholic Bishops of Minnesota:
In 1976 I was elected a Lutheran bishop in Minnesota -- one of seven such Lutheran leaders in the state. Over the next years one of the highlights of my time in office was the annual noon-to-noon retreat with our eight Catholic counterparts in the state.
The bond that developed between us was deep and respectful. We shared our differences; we celebrated our likenesses. My friendship with Archbishop John Roach and Bishop Raymond Lucker, in particular, is a blessing I will treasure as long as I live.
May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota?
First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that, I must tell you that I believe you are making a significant mistake.
Over my 35 years as an active and retired bishop I have come to know hundreds of gay and lesbian persons. I have yet to meet even one who is opposed to the marriage of one man and one woman. After all, they are the daughters and sons of such unions.
What they cannot understand is why church leaders would oppose their fundamental desire and right to be in partnership with someone they love and respect who happens to be of the same gender and sexual orientation. They don't understand why they should not enjoy all the rights and privileges their straight counterparts take for granted.
More than a half century ago Father Francis Gilligan spoke out for equality for African American citizens of Minnesota. Though many argued on the basis of the Bible that these neighbors were inferior to others, Gilligan fought tirelessly for justice for these brothers and sisters.
In our generation homosexual persons are subject to the same discrimination. Their detractors often use the Bible and tradition as weapons of choice.
Is it not time for religious leaders, walking in the footsteps of Father Gilligan, to do the same for another minority, neighbors who are as responsible as our African American sisters and brothers?
I also suggest that you ask yourselves an important question: If the amendment is passed, will it make one particle of difference in our common culture in Minnesota? I don't think so.
Responsible lesbian and gay persons will continue to seek companionship with those they love. This law will only work to drive many of them deeper into closets of anonymity.
Instead, why not welcome them into our communities of faith where they can work side by side with us as equal partners?
Let me put out a challenge to each of you brothers. Invite 15 gay and lesbian persons from your respective areas, one at a time, to spend two hours with you.
Thirty hours are a pittance compared to the time you are investing to promote adoption of the marriage amendment. Use the time, not for confession, but to listen to them describe what it is like to live in our culture in Minnesota.
Hear as they tell you what it means be a child of God and a faithful member of your church, persons who happen to be gay or lesbian through no choice of their own. I can promise you, based on my experience, that your heart will be deeply moved by what you hear.
When you have finished your time with these sisters and brothers in Christ, spend a quiet hour reflecting on a single question: "As I understand the heart of my Savior Jesus, how would he treat these sons and daughters of my church?"
* * *
Herbert W. Chilstrom is former presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Here is a rebuttal of Bp. Chilstrom to the same from..

http://davidbarnhart.blogspot.com

Dear Catholic Bishops of Minnesota,
I am writing in response to an open letter addressed to you by Bishop Herbert Chilstrom, a former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), in which he expressed his support for the homosexual lifestyle and for same-sex marriage, and in which he challenged your stand against the same.
As a Lutheran pastor I want to make clear Bishop Chilstrom’s opinions regarding these matters do not reflect the beliefs of Bible-believing Lutherans, nor does the counsel he gave you reflect the clear teachings of God’s Word. Most of all, I express my profound regret that a former ELCA bishop has advised you under the banner of Lutheranism to set aside the clear teachings of the Scripture and accept, instead, the opinions of men.
In his letter Bishop Chilstrom challenged you to find time for an extended visit with 15 homosexuals, and afterwards spend a quiet hour reflecting on a single question— “As I understand the heart of my Savior Jesus, how would he treat these sons and daughters of my church?” The former bishop seems to believe that if only you spent more time getting to know homosexuals, your opposition to their agenda will fade away.
Regrettably, while Bishop Chilstrom asked you to spend time pondering what homosexuals might say, he did not ask you to spend time with God’s Word or read its unequivocal statements that identify homosexual behavior as sinful. Instead, he asked you to restructure your beliefs according to the misguided reasoning and beliefs of the homosexual community. Extended visits with homosexuals could reap a harvest for God’s kingdom, if both law and gospel were rightly presented to them and if repentance of sin ensued. However, without a true presentation of God’s Word, such visits would be futile.
In his letter Bishop Chilstrom did not offer a single verse of Scripture for your consideration; instead, he asked you to draw conclusions from your own reasoning about “how Jesus would treat these sons and daughters of my church.” The sad fact is this— the ELCA long ago exchanged the authority of Scriptures for the opinions of men. Yet, apart from Scripture it is impossible to know the heart of Christ or discern His will regarding the issues of life.
Because Jesus loves homosexuals and all sinners, He directs us to speak His truth in love and bid them to “go, and sin no more,” just as He said to the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:11). According to Jesus, “Scripture can never be broken” (John 10:35). Thus, we may be certain that the incarnate Son of God would never go against His own divine revelation by accepting the sinful lifestyle of homosexuals or sanctioning same-sex marriages!
God’s Word declares, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10). Nowhere in the Scriptures are we instructed to accept the homosexuals’ chosen life of sin and shame. However, the Bible does direct us to witness both law and gospel to them, calling them to repentance and faith in Christ. Homosexuals, like all of us sinners, must come to Christ, repent, and receive by faith the One who died for them. Those who do so will not only be saved, they will be set free from the bondage of sin and their lives will be forever transformed.
The good news of Christ’s gospel is this—Our Lord is able to change and transform lives, and the Holy Spirit is able to empower them to walk in true obedience to His Word. Paul writes, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
Finally, I applaud your stand against abortion, homosexual acts, same-sex marriage, as well as the adoption of children by same-sex couples. I especially applaud your support of Minnesota’s proposed “Marriage Amendment.” As bishops, it is your duty to uphold the teachings of the Bible on these matters, which is precisely what you are doing. Such a stand is worthy of commendation, not condemnation. I encourage you to hold the blood-bought ground and lift high God’s Word, that people will hear the truth from bishops whose God-given responsibility it is to uphold truth!

Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor David R. Barnhart,
Director, Abiding Word Ministries

And the battle for control of the church thus continues, as governing entities in the ELCA press their distorted and apostate ideas upon society.

Holy Smoke Shifter...

2011-12-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, when the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. "
(Luke 1:76-80)

YEARS AGO I STOOD beneath the light of judgement at a dealership work bench. I had worked that morning with my hands deep within a sinful looking, burned up Chevrolet Turbo 350 transmission case. The oil inside it was turned to a greasy brown sludge when the car had been rocked to get free from mud. I'd pulled the smoked unit from the car in the late evening the night before, and put it on the bench. The replacement high performance clutch discs sat all night in fresh tranny oil. While rebuilding the forward clutch pack the following morning, I thought I'd asked my buddy a normal question for the coming season. I turned to Aaron, the mechanic working next to me, and said... "What are you doing this Christmas?"
I knew that Aaron went to church regularly. And I knew that just as I had planned to go home and put up the tree to celebrate the holiday, Aaron would be knee deep in the religious ceremonies of his church. Aaron was an avid churchgoer and the church where he attended services was noted for its outside, live Christmas Nativity scene. Each year they would faithfully stage the pageant.
I was just trying to pass the time as I worked, but when I asked the question what I did not know was that Aaron was a different sort of Christian. The idea that this mechanic standing next to me, soiled up to his elbows in automobile undercoating. . . was especially gifted by God, somehow had not occurred to me.
His gift was this. . . Aaron was a Pentecostal evangelist. And though my mother sometimes attended what I called a Spirit-filled Pentecostal church in West Virginia, Aaron could do something about which many could only marvel. He could speak in a special spiritual language. Aaron would call it "speaking in tongues."
A mechanic in his early fifties in age, Aaron just smiled knowingly at my light conversational question and said... "I think I'll go to church with my family. . , he smiled, "after all it is the Christmas season." Then he aimed his vehicle undercoating pistol right at me!
"Are you going?" he asked.
I looked at his tar and feathers facial expression and stood there a bit surprised by the query. Because I knew of his special speech abilities, I'd never spoken with him about religion. I'd always avoided the subject because I didn't understand his fervor for church, nor this "speaking in tongues" thing. I had never known anyone who could belt out this strange phenomenon. I'd barely even heard of it.
So I just stammered... "N..N..No, I haven't gone to church in years."
Then Aaron grinned his special grin again. I thought he was toying with me. I thought he was pulling my leg when he asked the next question, leading me into some sort of joke. You see, Aaron loved to play pranks. . , like the time he wired my vise grip handle down through a gap in work bench boards, fastened tightly so I couldn't pick the tool up.
"You are a Christian, aren't you?' he challenged.
I thought for a second, then said, "Yep, I was baptized into the Methodist church when I was just twelve years old."
He looked up from connecting the gun to the air nozzle coupling that he held in his hand. "You should go there to thank God for Jesus then. Wasn't he the child who was born to save you from your sins?"
As he finished speaking, he started to again spray the underside of the Camaro that he stood beneath. He then stopped and continued, "He was born as a child in Bethlehem just so the Spirit could cover up your weakspots, just like I'm doing to this car."
I tried to be tactful, and ward off my feelings of religious inadequacy.
"But, you're a different sort of Christian than I am used to seeing in church." I said, while wiping transmission fluid from my hands using a shop towel.
"You're probably right, but I am a Christian through and through! I'm what my church heritage calls a prophet."
I stood caught off-guard by that announcement. I thought to myself a minute before asking. . , "Is that possible? Aren't the prophets old guys that would run around warning folks before Jesus came along?"
"Yes. . , but at our church we believe there are still prophets of God in the world. Some prophets speak and anyone can hear. However, other times prophets can speak and only some folks can hear. When I speak in tongues the Spirit just brings the message out and I can't tell who it is that the words are meant to reach, and often what I say is in a language I can't even understand. You see.., I just talk the talk. God determines who it is that hears, who can understand, and who will pay attention to the prophecy."
I removed the low/reverse clutch from the transmission case, and thought about what he'd said.
"Wow. . , that is a bit different." I piped quietly.
Then Aaron said something that startled me a bit.

“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lamp stands. . .” (Rev 1:12)

"I'm now going to speak prophetically to you right now. I say you will be in God's church this Christmas Eve, and you will never leave. In the coming years, people will not treat you the same way. Some will say that you've been out in the water too long, and have gone off the deep end. But you will be a new creation."
I put the transmission center-support and its snap ring back in place. Then I looked up from the transmission case at him, not quite knowing whether he was kidding me or not. "I've never heard of such a thing." I said.
"I'll tell you what. If you don't believe me. . , I’ll give you this challenge. Why don't you folks come to church with my family on Christmas Eve. It's not far from here. You'll meet my wife and kids."
I returned, "I've not been in church in years."
"That's no excuse, brother," he said. "Remember. . . some will hear, some will understand, and some will pay attention. But decide the truth of what I say by coming to church with me."
So I thought about it a bit and I then planned to go to church with Aaron, maybe a little out of curiosity. And afterward, being touched in my depths by the good Christmas news that I heard there, I began to talk about my lapsed faith with friends and family. Some of them reacted oddly, and began to avoid conversations. . . and failed to stay in close company.
Eventually, I found I couldn't even work a full day without wondering about what God wanted me to do with this new grant on life. It was like getting a blank shop work order, and you'd been paid handsomely even before the work started!
Aaron worked beside me through this personal faith walk. One morning he just said, "I'm sorry that you may feel like your losing your pressure regulator spring tension sometimes. But now you know the truth." He snickered a bit then, like he knew a secret, just as he did when he'd jokingly sent me to the parts department to get an exhaust smoke shifter.
Then he looked at me with serious note. "Don't waste the power of your baptism by looking back. God has set you aside as his own."
I remember that on a morning soon to follow he wiped his wrenches with a shop towel, and said. "I'm ready for the next wheel alignment victim, but I think I can help you out first. We can go to the deli for lunch and I can set you straight. . . and talk about Jesus. We can talk about what Christmas really means."
Now, many years of ministry have passed since those lunchtime deli conversations occurred between us, but I still think about that prophet and his message. I think about the message meant especially for me and how God brought me back to his house. I think now that Aaron's message was simple. . , "At the first Christmas, God gave his only Son to save us. . , and we should celebrate this special gift by telling others."
I pray that I will once again be in church on Christmas Eve, and I ask you, "Will you go to church to celebrate our Lord's Christmas gift?" And even more so I ask, "Who will you invite to go along with you?" Just maybe you can be a little bit prophetic, and ask the person that works right next to you.

Read stories of faith in the modern world at:

http://www.motorsage.com

A Light Shines in the Darkness...

2011-11-30T19:03:00.000-08:00

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.
(Psalm 23:1-3)

COLD, DARK clouds skidded across the sky over the garage as I pulled up on Sunday afternoon. I’d deliberately picked a great time to visit. Well… almost. By leaving home I’d avoided a TV hand controller fight with my wife. She had insisted on watching her TV shows… so I did the wisest thing. I went to visit Mike in his garage.
Mike’s garage is a warm and welcome place. Located in the back yard of his house, the garage used to be a barn that housed a small dairy herd. Mike inherited the farm, and the tasks of his dairy farming father. The trouble was… though he loved the farm, Mike didn’t like cows. So he sold the cows, raised hay and started a business selling car parts and tools. And, as the years went by, he collected and sold car parts for old cars… hence the passion struck him. It came on fully when he retired and bought the old Packard.
A “light in the darkness” so to speak, the Packard resides in the barn. The car is warmed by a wood stove, attended to by an ample tool bench, and those gathering are comforted by neighboring bar stools. A visitor can settle in the barn alongside the Packard, for a sweet afternoon.
After entering the shop, I saw that a couple of safety stands held the old car’s rear axle up high enough so that Mike could crawl under the right running board. I peered back into the garage from the doorway and could see two work boots pointed heavenward.
I said, “Mike, is that you under there?”.
I waited for an answer coming from beneath the old car. I waited… and no words came. I took a couple more steps up alongside the graceful fender, noting the detailed paint accent on the edge of the slope down to the spare tire well. From there I peered down at the well-worn workman’s boots.
“Mike, are you okay?”
I listened quietly; then I heard the sound. The low rumble echoed out like a Harley V-twin backing down the long hill into the valley, next a few snorts occurred like the bike had the muffler baffles blown out.
I got down on my knees and peeked beneath the car’s running board. The shop light was on. It glowed a yellowish tinge that only heavy duty bulbs can emit. The creeper headrest was up. And Mike was laying there… sound asleep.
He looked restful there, snoring with his reading glasses perched between his nose and his white mustache. He had a hand-written wiring diagram on his chest. In his right hand there was an electrical test light, with its probe end hung around a black wire that routed toward the rear of the old car. It was like he’d naturally fell asleep amid a voltage test. His arm rested gently on a bracket and his finger was on the trigger ready to insert the tip and probe the wire, but he’d not pulled the tester’s trigger. So here they were resting together.., an old white car and its wizened caretaker, born in the same year of Our Lord.
I thought about kicking his boot sole to wake him, but decided against it. That’d been done to him before, and he’d gotten a band-aid on the top of his bald head each time that he’d snorted awake.
So I nosed quietly around the shop… waiting for him to awaken. I checked out the new wide whitewall tires he’d had shipped in from Corky’s warehouse in Tennessee. He’d been waiting for them so he’d be ready for the upcoming car show.
Mike sputtered slightly from beneath the Packard, but he was still backing the bike down the hill, so I thought I’d just leave and come back another time. I walked out to my car and saw that the approaching darkness brought the onset of cold and snow. A few flakes rested on the hood of my old Chevy. Then I smelled them.
I knew what they were. There was no mistaking the smell… Welsh cookies!
Mike’s wife Betty was in the kitchen making my favorite dessert of all time! Having less shame than a street rodder caught in a classics car show, I went to the back porch of the house and looked into the kitchen.
Betty stood over a hot griddle on the stove. In the soft light shed from over the old sink, this tall and graceful woman held a spatula up alongside her gray hair. She was singing a long forgotten hymn that I thought had died with my grandmother. “I walk in the garden alone…” went the tune. Betty held the key much better than my grandmother, but I knew their recipe for Welsh cookies was identical… at least they tasted as much.
Unashamedly, I knocked on the door… though I had been often told that a knock wasn’t needed.
“Come on in!” she piped between stanzas. “And he walks with me and he talks with me, and tells me I am his own.” she continued.
I came in and she smiled and without missing a note, then flipped some cookies on the griddle.
“How’ve ya been?” she asked after stopping her song.
“Good”, I returned. “I was just out in the shop and smelled the cookies.”
“Mike is snoozing, ain’t he?” she chuckled.
“Yes, he is.” I said.
She smiled a little, and said… “He’ll be coming in shortly, it’s almost four o’clock and the last cookies are just about done.”
A rumble of a Mercury and its side lake pipes rattled the window above the sink. I heard the car pull up outside. Betty peered out the window, saying… “That’s Jessie, she brought that Mercury home before any snow gets on the road. It’s a bit too low for country roads, let alone any snowfall. Why Mike dropped the convertible down that low for her, I’ll never figure.”
Jessie pulled her car up to the barn door bay next to the old Packard, waking Mike with a cold blast of air when the door lifted in answer to her push button control. Soon, with tools put away and lights put out, the two… both father and daughter came through the darkening light to the kitchen door.
“Take those greasy coveralls off!” Betty barked curtly.
Mike complied, as I would… given the reward of Welsh cookies hanging sweetly in the air.
Betty sat us down at the table, and dished out some home-made chicken soup. She said to me, “If ya wants the cookies.., eat the soup.”
We said thanks to God, and ate. Each spoonful of soup, though tasty indeed… was torture. Home-made chicken soup was only given at our house when we had a cold. I thought... “I really stopped in for the cookies.” It was like I had to think about the foretaste, before the good was offered up.
Finally they came. A small porcelain plate with a picture of a church in the center, held the near perfect Welsh cookies.., near perfect because instead of lard, margarine and butter made them a bit healthier as they cooked with the right kind of currants. Three cookies were given to each person. They were done just the way I liked them. We ate, and drank coffee that you could cut with a knife. We laughed.., and we talked cars. I worried a bit about the strong drip coffee I’d just used to wash the cookies down. “Would it keep me awake all night?” I thought. “Was it decaf?” Somehow it didn’t matter.
Betty left.., then reappeared in the kitchen with her coat and hat secured. She said, “Let’s go, we’re going to be late.”
Mike looked at me. “You’re comin, right?”
“Where?” I asked.
“To the hymn sing, silly.” Jessie said. “Mom is leading the gospel choir tonight.”
It’s amazing what good friends and good cookies will cause. A change of plans formed in my mind. We loaded into Mike’s Nomad and motored over to the Christ Chapel. We sat in the glow of the flame shaped bulbs nestled in candleabras. Then beneath those trinity lights in the chapel we heard stories from the bible about Jesus telling of the light of God’s love. And we sang music that rooted me to the pace of a foot pedal organ and some old time religion. I listened intently to the sweet voices of the small choir accompanied by the organ, a flute, and a flattop Gibson guitar.

I remembered those words that Betty sang with the choir as I drove my old Chevy home. I caught myself humming them over the rhythm of the small block V-8. I’d heard them before from my beloved Grandma Jacobs as she washed dishes. With a faded soprano she’d sing… “And the joy we shared, as we tarried there, none other... has ever... known.” For some reason which I’ve just begun to understand, she’d then wipe tears from her eyes using her apron.
The words came as those of Mary Magdalene meeting Jesus in the garden after his Resurrection. As I think of it now in my mind’s eye, I can see Mary standing there confused, for Jesus said “Do not hold onto me”. She was alone, like Grandma after Gramps had died, looking for a sure and certain hope, when she finally saw Jesus. She didn’t recognize him at first… for no one had died and ever came back. But there Jesus stood. Even though not understanding, she surely felt shocked, loved... and reassured. She must have felt grateful, just as I did when after the dishes were done and I’d helped Grandma put them away, Gram would say... “Child, it’s time to read scripture before bedtime. Would you like some Welsh cookies and milk?”
You know, when I consider the taste.., I guess those cookies were a heavenly communion of sorts.

Healing Slices From A Cut Deck

2011-11-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a slice of the past comes to us and strikes hard, cutting like the edge of a worn ace dealt from an old pinocle deck. These times remembered can open us up and heal us… the effect depending on the giver, the recipient and the grace of God. Such graceful slicing renders my heart this day as I pour over family photos recently received from my cousin. They trace my history by showing pictures of my family that go back over a century, even to the days just after the American Civil War.
First noticed among them, however, is a picture taken at the beginning of this century. It is one where I stand tall, elderly and bearded, amid other family members when we gathered at the burial of a favorite uncle. I will always remember Uncle Joe Briar. I remember him for his playing of pinocle. I think of his home-made ice cream, and his laughing chuckle belted from a hairy chest clothed in carpenter’s overalls. And fondly, I remember him for his wrestling with my cousin and myself in the backyard of my great grandparent’s home after we had respectfully buried my great grandfather. For we had buried the dear and departed William Burton Beam, and Uncle Joe’s family-style bear hugs changed that somber day into an afternoon filled with childish revelry and family warmth. Though beloved grandpa had gone to heaven, you see.., Uncle Joe had taught that we would be okay.

Standing beside me in the more recent picture I see my sister Cynthia. She has now died as well, and I struggle in my aging humanity to keep her from becoming just one single card placed in the shuffling of a multiple-deck pinocle life. Yet there is no Uncle Joe to cradle us now, and I just wrestle in my spirit with God. For you see, these all rest with William Burton Beam, and are remembered by my faltering finitude. As the years pass I find myself rejoicing that though I and my memories may fade, God shall not forget. That is his promise, and I cling to it for I love them all deeply.
But now as I write these words, sweet memories begin to emerge, for I see Cindy vividly in my mind’s eye. She stood as a child, this loving sister, in a late evening’s cellar stairwell. She stood down there low on the steps holding my supper out to me, for I had been banished from the house and kitchen. I had come home too late from playing back lot basketball. The memory of mom’s anger and Cindy’s care is likened to God’s strong Law which properly condemns, and the gracious Gospel’s forgiveness flowing. All this is personified through the sweet sisterly face remembered.
Amid the pictures I also find my parents, Muriel and Clyde. The picture was taken early in their married years. It was during WW2 (c.1943), just a year or so after my birth. I know the approximate date not by my mother’s youthful beauty nor by my father’s Navy uniform, but because of family stories told about her toiling in the Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine factory in Hartford, CT. I know of the time you see, for the picture you see clearly shows her work uniform worn proudly like the historical “Rosey the Riveter”. Mom's beauty while at work is thus emblazoned in my remembrance now, lovingly turned face up by any machinery that mimics the hum of a Westinghouse wringer washer lulling me to sleep as I lay beneath her feet as she did our laundry in Scranton, PA. Yes, now I remember… now it has become clear. Thank you blessed cousin for you have given me tears and treasures of days gone by. And especially thank you Almighty God, for through these thinly sliced moments dealt to me in time, you have shown me to be richly wrapped like your Son, in the warmth of swaddling clothes.

Be Transformed!

2011-10-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

As attested by St. Paul to the early church at Rome, each Christian is set apart from the world. We read…
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.” (Romans 12:1-3 RSV)
The statement seems one concerning Christian responsibility. We of the Christian faith are set apart from the world, and called to sober judgment about ourselves and the time in which we live. Take this to heart, for we are viewed as threat by principalities and powers within an age now focused on human and socialistic universality. What’s more, I truly believe the church found in the American realm is slowly and somewhat unknowingly being diminished in power and number.
The evidence of this societal world course was recently highlighted in a newscast about the tensions rising in Scandinavian nations. The tension is claimed as due to rising numbers of Muslim population growth. This growth is now creating tensions as religious intolerance trends emerge. Though the political call there is for increased tolerance, the tensions present are not confined, and violence is breaking forth in these nations now in the news. As well, recent societal racial and religious unrest is also noted among other European nations and our own continent. I believe the instability is symptomatic of a general decline in our Christian influence in the post-modern world.
Am I paranoid? Possibly. But I do think we of the American church should thus note the causes and live prophetically in coming decades. Let us be aware of the forces in the world that are poised over against the spread of the gospel and growth of the church.
To make my case, first consider trends in church birthrate and the act of abortion. Many mainline, and mostly Protestant Christian church denominations, now have diminished negative conversation concerning the taking of human embryonic life. Often touting human overcrowding and family financial limitations as justification, we in American expressions of the mainline Christian church have reduced our birthrate below the normative worldwide rate. Our baptismal numbers are thus abysmal. Catechism classes wane, and church populations are in decline across the congregational spectrum. These factors persist, yet denominations such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American (ELCA) freely fund abortions through insurance carriers as elective medical procedures. In this subtle way leaders and clergy support pro-choice political agendas, and seem to make their denominations a sacrifice on an altar more acceptable to modern societal standards.
The church is satanically and sinfully being de-populated by these trends! Like a frog being boiled, the water in the font is therefore heated slowly and we are too self-absorbed and ecclesially comfortable in navel gazing to be prophetic and notice the changes.
As of late, many of our mainline Christian denominations also now embrace alternate lifestyle unions in clergy positions, and claim that these relationships are without sin. Thus we ignore an ancient ban within the faith passed on by ancient Hebraic society which furthered growth within the tribal systems of the chosen people. We ignore biblical mandates against homosexuality, thereby allowing the example of a self-centered humanism mired in non-reproduction to impress the church and affect the ranks of laity. What is more abrasive, is that we then have the boldness to raise complaint before God about dwindling church populations!
Because we are thus considered now as “alien residents” wending our way through a gospel resistive American culture, we also take note of rather nominal reception to proclamation in modernistic society. Rampant and resistant agnosticism feeds the non-procreative thrust until our youth consider marriage as passe’, child-bearing as financially lame, and church membership viewed as party to an archaic lifestyle. This slide into personal agnosticism and atheism is forwarded by many public education systems that challenge the traditional sexual norms, family cultivation, and the religious anchors of a faith community. If we factor in other modern geographic challenges posed to the maintenance of family connections, as our children mature and go into society, we find ourselves having communications with them only through electronic social media, wherein we see the numerical growth of real church community and family structure under great peril.
Prophetically, I say let us therefore join together in Christian community and pray to the Holy Spirit for forgiveness of sins, for the growth of the church, and the future of our witness.
Would the granting of these things put us in world-space competition with other populations and religious expressions… surely! But allow the scriptural record to teach us that in spite of persecution, peril, and more, God shall preserve the faithful church even though it becomes remnant. Remember truly that God rejoices in our abundance! Let the historical record of the people of God provide witness as we break away from destructive societal influences within our number, and remain faithful to our calling from Christ to proclaim the gospel. Thereby through divine power and guidance the church shall indeed be transformed to emerge triumphant though seas boil from the subtle activities of the satanic realm. Lord.., we pray, let it be so.

Preparing, Planting and Promise...

2011-10-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

ARE WE planting the gospel? I’ve recently come to the stark realization that our little NALC church in rural Pennsylvania isn’t growing very much... not yet! Since our organization in January, we’ve only grown but slightly. I thus ask, “Are we a gospel proclaiming people?” And further, if so, why aren't those who have heard our words showing up on Sunday morning? Possibly some of us have shared.., but it seems that either we are not a very inviting people, or the people we invite do not respond to the call of the Spirit and we need to examine our method or plant other fields. Additionally, it seems that in our little faith community, though we sometimes share words with other local Christians, we exist as rather insular to the general population.

Is this isolation a phenomenon in the NALC, within Lutheranism, in American Christianity, and Christianity across the globe? I fear that this is so at least locally. Statistics show that the American church population is dwindling. Why? Are we Christians here so insular from this world about us that few hear the gospel. In all this I ask, “Have we therefore lost the Master’s touch in planting the kingdom?” If the answer to this last question is in the affirmative, I think it is far past time to re-examine our methods according to Jesus’ lessons. We read a parable told to the disciples by Jesus, as passed along by the Matthean community…

“And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13:3-9)

As we consider his words, we first notice that many persons who receive the gospel will not respond. And we also note from some other scriptural records that tell that some people may trample upon the sower. Are these why we we do not go or grow? If so, we have a problem. You see, scripture reveals that the earth, though distorted by sin, is not infertile. If we Christians fail to plant wheat, we will get weeds. Something will grow. Weeds just sprout… and these weeds usually do not respond to the call of the church, especially if there has been no invitation.
As a farmer in my early years, it seems to me that it is in this first step of planning is where we falter. As persons called to the planting, even during the glow of Easter, we tend to fail in walking out from the church door to begin evangelical efforts. Yes, we receive the Word and Sacrament ourselves and usually claim that thanksgiving is in our hearts, but we selfishly do not “go out to sow”. Thus we show how shallow is our commitment. We do not approach fertile ground nor prepare the soil. We thus fail to even scratch red dirt! (“adamah” in the Hebrew). Thus sinful Adam remains in peril. Our sloth and selfishness leaves persons, known and unknown by us, standing outside of God’s garden of grace.

For this reason, for the sake of the lost, let us own our reluctance to do our Master’s bidding and ask forgiveness through and for the work of Christ. Being forgiven we can then be empowered by the Spirit to plant. We may then scatter to scratch this evil world in fertile methods of proclamation.

First let us prayerfully ask the Spirit to direct our steps. Each one of us needs to pick at least one field of endeavor, realizing though that we may later be guided by the Spirit to another site. First, consider asking God, “Where in my every day, or weekly travels can I effectively have a faith dialog with others?” At work? At school? While golfing? When hunting or fishing, While eating or serving?

How can the setting offer a witness opportunity? Consider the statement made simply by folded hands and a prayer spoken while having lunch with a co-worker or co-workers at a fast food restaurant? Might it be that the action could evoke an inquiry? At least the respectful action lets others know of your faith! Or possibly, heaven forbid, you believe that their salvation is not worth the risk of offending them with prayers in public? If the latter, do not call yourself faithful to Christ in practice! Remember that our Lord’s commission to do the task of evangelism was more than request. It remains even now as a privilege and command. We are called first to be an evangelical people. So it is that you should now list the places where an evangelical witness may be offered. And remember, don't be afraid to break new ground... with God all things are possible. So it is that evangelism begins.

PRAYERFUL choosing of a field for your evangelical work is of great importance. Pray before beginning the groundwork, then pray during the seeding, and pray finally for the growth of faith. As a child of twelve, I remember that my mother told me that when I was old enough to plant and grow something in the yard behind our home, I could go to work on the farm managed by my favorite uncle. So, with an unspoken desire buried deep within my skinny body, and a goal my mind, I began to plan. Long before planting time came, I went to the school library and studied gardening and farming methods. Afterward, I very carefully picked the garden site, choosing fertile ground with good sun exposure. And finally, after having to invest my lawn mowing allowance for my spade and fork, I began to dig.

Digging the garden was work in the hot spring day, but there was no turning back. I had been invested in the spirit of growth. Giving thanks for my mother’s wisdom, I now realize that I have been, either literally or symbolically digging the dirt of God’s sweet earth ever since.
I now see that doing evangelical planting is very much the same as gardening or farming. It’s both complicated and easy! That is why prayer for a bountiful harvest is so very important. Prayer, study, and planning are just the initial steps. You must develop prayerful resolve. This type of resolve only can be obtained from the Spirit of God, on each and every day of the planting. Once begun, there can be no looking back nor hesitation about the rightness of the task.

Note the words of Jesus to an impetuous young man. The young man said:

"I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home."Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:61-62)

At a recent clergy gathering I noticed the guest speaker, Dr. Gemechis Buba, standing in front of the gathering with the scriptures in his hand… his first tool of the planting. And I noted his quoting of certain key texts without opening the beautiful floppy book. And so should our planting be. Each thrust into deep the soil of sinful earth should be of the force found only in biblical strength.

Yes.., roll up those protective garden gloves, set them aside, and open your bibles. Memorize key passages you should use during witness. Attend bible studies. Over the years I have grown my own list… a veritable garden salad of Romans 6:23 and 3:23-24, and 28 followed by the tall stand of the golden wheat found in John 3:16.

Memorization is difficult you say? I counter with the words of the Master of the Vineyard…

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:29-30)

After prayerful planning and studying for the field of endeavor, whether your find fertile ground in the workplace, badminton courts, square dance club, or county fair planning committee… know that digging is not easy work. As you dig, know that you’re going to find worms! Your work will sometimes expose big, fat, ugly slimy night crawlers that will try to hide from the light, Do not faint at their attempt to reject your efforts. For example, those persons who stubbornly claim atheism or agnosticm may try to preserve the darkness that keeps them spiritually hidden. And know this…. like the big night crawlers that turned up by my youthful digging, these persons who are exposed and reject the Word you offer have deeply felt the vibrations of the Spirit’s work. Yet, though disturbed by the Spirit's footfall, they still try to cling to their earthly gods, they cannot see, or hear… simply pray for them and let them go their way. Our God is not finished with them yet.
Once the ground has been carefully prepared, step by step planting begins. This is stinky work! When a gospel seed is planted by your time spent with an acquaintance or friend, manure and fertilizers must attend.

No, don’t crinkle your nose! So it is... now, and so it was when our Lord began his work. We know, for Jesus told this parable…

"A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?'And he answered him, 'Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:5-9)

Anyone who is experienced at the planting of crops knows that you do not spread seed on hard ground. The soil must be overturned and broken apart for aeration. But turning a persons's world upside down can be disturbing. Yet a thorough, and often painful, aeration by the Spirit’s power is called for… and you must know how this is done! You, the sower of the seed, must show the dirt under your own fingernails. You need to aerate your story. Tell about how God has worked in your life. Relate how the Spirit lifted you up in spite of the manure on your boots, your clothes, and your soul. Oh yes, it can be a risky and stinky job to do this over and over again for each new crop. But it is necessary! Let them know how the divine gift of Christ empowered God’s Spirit to tie your wandering tendrils safely. Tell them how God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, has led you and taught you toward your bearing of the fruit of the kingdom. This mixture of digging together in the dirt, for two human beings sitting over a coffee break and working through the fertilizer found in your life, is very important for identifying the sinful commonality of all that is human. Let not satanic pride ruin the harvest and trample the crop. Do not be haughty, for we are all sinful and rest on the graceful love of God. Without God’s precious gift we would wither and die. Only the precious sweat and drops of blood shed beneath the cross of Christ has been the watery baptismal gift that leads to eternal life. So plan now, memorize scripture, and get ready to turn the earth and plant the seeds of eternal life.

WORKERS IN God’s garden, now know this! Here is the most difficult part for those who till the earth for disciples in the Spirit! Once the seeds of faith are planted and you have watered them with your prayers to God, keep your hands off the growing. Know that faith must germinate within them!

“How long will the sprouting take?” you may ask. “When will you see signs of new life?” you may wonder. I say to you that the Spirit does not always reveal. Some persons respond to the loving waters of your words quickly, to emerge as the stones roll away from their earthen tomb in just a few days. Others are like the seeds of a bristlecone pine, seemingly cold dead in faith, waiting for eons to be triggered only by the heated fires of the Spirit.

Remember! You are called to put aside your control issues and bend your knees daily in prayer to the “Lord of the Harvest”. In the Lord’s own time, the “agogic” merging together moment shall come. Remember that your Lord has said..,
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)
In the Lord’s own time, therefore, the faith that has been planted shall germinate and growth will begin. Be assured that this holy growth may at first be unseen. Then, though possibly becoming antsy like myself as gardener, in coming days warmed by the Son, you shall kneel for prayer and the planting begins to emerge triumphantly. In my planting of the gospel, I’ve seen youthful men, sprout suddenly, onion-like to become the first tall, sweet leaders within household and church. I have witnessed red-haired radishes come up in catechism to relish the taste of the youth group. Even lettuce-like leafy people, seemingly tossed by every faint breeze, stay though easy to wilt. These last, when rooted in scripture, shall be nourished by the rich life of a gospel people. And finally, there are the “rutabagas”. Those are like the tasteless clumps that filled my mother’s family pot when times were tough. Hard to digest sometimes, these persons seemingly nourish us like vital spinach and keep the church going when times are tough. As the words say, these all come up “there in God’s garden.”
When all these wondrous persons first emerge tender in the faith.., that is when you are called to remain beside them on your prayer bones to cultivate. Bring them to your bible study group. Invite them to worship. Empower them to contribute shade to others who are tender in the brightness of God’s love. Nurture them, weed them and care for them, even gently tying wandering tendrils so that they may grow straight and true. Invite them to the waters of baptism wherein the Spirit nurtures and they may be fed greater strength. And above all.., let them know they are not growing alone, for the Spirit of God is in them and with them. Soon they shall be pruned and strengthened by both law and gospel, bearing fruit and gleaned to be a source of seed for the next, and the next. Know the Lord Jesus has said,
"The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32)
Indeed, though some will be lowly melons, they may add a sweet base to the church choir. Others will be tall feed corn in due season, rising high to feed and lead before falling to earth in the autumn of their lives. And still others will be like a staunch growth of sunflowers that raise their faces in praise to the Son. Of such people is church growth in the preparing, planting, and promise… thanks be to God, Let us work heartily in the garden of the Almighty!

A Very Special Letter...

2011-09-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is a letter from Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani written from prison in Iran to his church earlier this year. Pastor Youcef currently faces the death sentence for apostasy – conversion from Islam to Christianity – and is waiting for the court’s final verdict. Please continue to pray.

This message has been translated from Farsi to English.

Dear brothers and sisters, Salam
In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am continuously seeking grace and mercy to you, that you remember me and those who are bearing efforts for his name in your prayers. Your loyalty to God is the cause of my strength and encouragement.For I know well that you will be rewarded; as it’s stated: blessed is the one who has faith, for what has been said to him by God, will be carried out. As we believe, heaven and earth will fade but his word will still remain.
Dear beloved ones, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few verses, although you might know them, So that in everything, you give more effort than the past, both to prove your election, and for the sake of Gospel that is to be preached to the entire world as well.
I know that not all of us are granted to keep this word, but to those who are granted this power and this revelation, I announce the same as Jude, earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.
We are passing by special and sensitive days.They are days that for an alert and awake believer can be days of spiritual growth and progress. Because for him, more than any other time there is the possibility to compare his faith with the word of God, have God’s promises in mind, and survey his faith.
Therefore he (the true believer) does not need to wonder for the fiery trial that has been set on for him as though it were something unusual, but it pleases him to participate in Christ’s suffering. Because the believer knows he will rejoice in his glory.
Dears, the “ judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Therefore those who are enduring burdens by the will of God, commit their souls to the faithful Creator. Promises that he has given us, are unique and precious. As we’ve heard he has said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you”
How can it be possible for a believer to understand these words?Not only when he is focusing on Jesus Christ with adapting his life according to the life Jesus lived when he was on earth? As it is said ” O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
Have we not read and heard: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Many attempt to flee from their spiritual tests, and they have to face those same tests in a more difficult manner, because no one will be victorious by escaping from them, but with patience and humility he will be able to overcome all the tests, and gain victory.
Therefore in the place of Christ’s followers, we must not feel desperate, but we have to pray to God in supplication with more passion to help us with any assistance we may need.
According to what Paul has said: In every temptation, God himself will make a way for us to tolerate it.
O beloved ones, difficulties do not weaken mankind, but they reveal the true human nature.
It will be good for us to occasionally face persecutions and abnormalities, since these abnormalities will persuade us to search our hearts, and to survey ourselves. So as a result, we conclude that troubles are difficult, but usually good and useful to build us.
Dear brothers and sisters, we must be more careful than any other time. Because in these days, the hearts and thoughts of many are revealed, so that the faith is tested. May your treasure be where there is no moth and rust.
I would like to remind you of some verses that we nearly discuss everyday, (Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.) but as long as our human will has priority over God’s will, his will will not be done.
As we have learned from him in Gethsemane, he surrendered his will to the father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
What we are bearing today, is a difficult but not unbearable situation, because neither he has tested us more than our faith and our endurance, nor does he do as such. And as we have known from before, we must beware not to fail, but to advance in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, And consider these bumps and prisons as opportunities to testify to his name. He said: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
As a small servant, necessarily in prison to carry out what I must do, I say with faith in the word of God that he will come soon.”However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Discipline yourself with faith in the word of God. Retain your souls with patience. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.May you are granted grace and blessings increasingly in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.

Yusef NadarkhaniLakan Prison in Rasht2/June/2010

(As writer of this blog, and a pastor of the church, I ask you to please offer your prayers to God for the release of this saint.)

Fixing the Rot!

2011-09-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just a few months ago, I discovered a minor flaw in the driver’s door of my Chevy pickup truck. When first viewed, it was just a minor spot. Some persons may even look now and say that it is yet minor, for there have been other trucks of the same vintage that are seen in far worse condition. But this truck is mine, and with my automotive skills I know better.
You see, I know that the rust must be completely removed and competent repairs made. To leave the condition uncorrected is to give ground for further malady, until the vehicle is deemed unserviceable. Thus I have scheduled body repair. The truck goes to the shop this coming Wednesday morning.
At the shop the litany is predictable. The body man will give the task his due. Like any good Christian tradesman, he will grind away paint, cut away the dirt and rust, and clean until there is nothing remaining to infect his restoration job. Then he will baptize the surfaces with a protective coating and build anew using wise training methods, proper tools, and quality coatings of repair products. Knowing his methodology I find that I am confident in his work. He promises to do a great job, and will also inspect the vehicle for further hotspots so to prevent occurrences elsewhere.
My thoughts about these future repair procedures, however, have now reminded how similar steps are needed in repairing decay in the church. You see, the church has its own decay progressively eating away at its body. The recent turmoil within my own Lutheran denomination speaks of how contamination by a progressive, poorly devised theological coating has slicked its way into the foundations of the church, thus eating at its firmness in ecclesial matters.
The body man furtively works to grind away rust injury. Therefore it behooves us in the church to also root out deviations from scriptural purity and condemn these to the trash heap of apostasy. Using the time-proven traditions of God’s law and gospel, we must first identify and grindingly remove the cruddy build of corruption. But know, however… like the working agenda of my body shop friend, this first step is intrusive and sparks will fly. They always do. But good works occur through both conflict and consensus. Faithful workers are thus called to do this fiery task, yet the workers are few. At present I remain very judgmental concerning members of several local Christian ministerium groups which thus far have failed to apply known biblically-grounded standards, and thus remain mute in public forum or pulpit about the issues of fidelity to such things as the proper naming of God, and the bubbling forth of garishly painted non-celibate homosexual clergy. My disappointment in their lack of clarity and reluctance to do the work they are called to perform, reminds me of persons who ignore automotive rust, or would repair a car’s rust spot with an aftermarket hand spray can of matching color paint. Their hiding in plain sight will not last. At present I consider which rust pick tool in my theological box to use for excising the local rot. Possibly these organizations are so much in disrepair that they should be scrapped. I shudder to recall that one ministerium works in the organization of community VBS (Vacation Bible School) programs. As St. Paul says… Me Genoito!
Indeed, the church must hear the Word in both law which condemns and cleans to the core, and then willing workers must administer plenteous applications of the gospel which justifies through Christ alone. Within this repair shall then be a catalyst of the Spirit that binds the materials together to offend the satanic, decaying powers from our church environment. Only in this way can the church be restored to its proper role, pointing beyond itself like the paint reflection on my repaired truck. I remind... in service we are called to reflect Christ! We can only do so with a secure foundation in scripture that both guides our growth and protects the baptized. We can then be found like a trusty truck preserved for long mileage, equipped to carry the Word into the future with the sparkle and shine of the One who was and is the Light of the world.

Bridge or Blockade?

2011-08-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

IN RECENT days an incident occurred wherein a parishioner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) congregation that I had left behind to become a North American Lutheran Church (NALC) pastor, called me aside and said for a second time… “I agree with your positions pastor, but I have decided to stay with my ELCA congregation.” Whether she wanted absolution or understanding, or both, I cannot define. In hindsight I may have been rather terse. I stated shortly, “Some people worship buildings, and some worship God.” This response came out only slightly changed from the criticism that I leveled at my previous ELCA bishop. That ELCA leader gave the “exact” same reasoning in front of my congregations, after I had already chosen my present NALC rostering, By doing so, he thus confirmed my stance, yet made room for himself and the congregations to remain in the ELCA.
While I fear that my response to both persons may be harsh, my ire has been building by the multiplicity of persons who have offered similar words. As I realize the personal cost paid daily by myself and many others, in financial security and collegiality, now similar chaffing exists amid conversations held within a favorite Facebook group. The group is the “Lutheran CORE” which is composed of persons from the NALC, ELCA, and other Lutheran entities. All are welcomed forthrightly to comment under the group’s titling of “Lutheran CORE”. I am a member of the group and longtime member of the association.
My unrest arose after a respected member and leader of CORE stated that he had become heated because of dialog which still castigated the ELCA and its past actions. Clearly, while it is apparent that those ELCA members who are a part of the group are struggling to remain faithful to gospel ministry in situations where they are now residing, one of the participants called for those who had left the ELCA to tone down the anti-ELCA rhetoric. Within subsequent conversation, it was offered that all are called to move forward and not dwell on the past.
While this latter action is laudible, it is extremely difficult, for I view that the ELCA meanders up a hellish slippery slope in that it raises itself above scriptural mandates. I believe that it is both scriptural and responsible to keep the apostasy of that branch of Lutheranism in view and mind as we move into the future, and yet not let it mar the future expression of the faith..
While within me exists a pastoral leaning that wants to say to persons… “That’s okay, stay ELCA”, I fear that I have great difficulty. It is my opinion that those who participate in the ELCA as leaders or members contribute to its ongoing errancy, by providing tithes, trading in their publishing houses, doing quality ministries as ELCA participants, and serving in the various ELCA mission endeavors. I hear the hopes that these who are forced into an “exile” of sorts may yet turn the rudder of the wayward boat, yet I fear the strife is futile in the face of muddied theological moorings and their energy would be better spent. Yes, I do realize that all these fit rightly beneath the beneficial cloak of proper Christian ministry and outreach, but they are distorted by a warped church posture which does not faithfully follow the Word. In this I stand reading scripture that offers a historical and scriptural example of this muddled thinking. I refer to…
"And to the angel of the church in La-odicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:14-19)
Are characteristics the same? Hear the commentary by a biblical scholar, Richard L Jeske, who wrote in “Revelation For Today, Images of Hope” (Fortress Press, 1983)…,
“The church in Laodicia had tried neutrality but in the process had lost its ability to heal. Neither cold nor hot, it could neither invigorate nor soothe. Casually blending into its environment, the congregation was a show church, wealthy and prosperous, on the surface in need of nothing. Such a condition had resulted, however, in a smugly self-satisfied church whose witness had become basically impotent.”
It is my belief that the people at CORE serve as a worthy, covered conversational bridge between those in various denominations, and should do so into the future. However, to follow the analogy, a bridge remains as a span to be crossed, and fished from, yet we dare not live there. Understanding and decision cannot be accomplished without the toil and trouble of honest discourse. To dampen the voice of those harmed by the ELCA turmoil is a path not pleasing to my sense of open conversation. Unless we apply these healing waters, both hot and cold, we may do harm to the future road of our gospel proclamation.
I believe those persons who have remained in place within the ELCA are then called to develop the sensibility to hear the need of often explaining patiently again and again, to persons anew, the reasons behind their continued ecclesial position. As a pastor who must daily claim the healing waters of baptism poured upon my head, hearing the painful “We’ve decided to stay because…” from beloved Christians who are now separated from me because of the past ELCA theological error and arrogance, I wish to bath in the healing hot and cold waters of honest and open conversation. And may the waters of our baptism into Christ bring us safely home, to behold the throne of our Lord.

Red Flag Racing...

2011-08-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

ANYONE who has attended a drag race can tell you, "If there is no traction there is no race." Yet some in the church are trying to cling to a false gospel using claims and documentation other than the Word of God. A fitting answer to this slippery slide comes from Jaynan L. Clark, a woman that I name as a friend and sister in Christ. Read her words as she comments on false reasonings that attempt to justify the position and ersatz constitutional politics of the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...

"Constitutions are just that. .. . constitutions. In the circumstances that a high priest, elder or scribe was using a constitution to bend, sway, demean and confuse people into slavery to an institution which needs parochial reports that read as something other than obituaries and are in violation of their own so called constitution as they do not regard the Word of God as the source and norm for all of faith and life --well then. . . what would Jesus say? What DOES Jesus say? This is straight forward contemporary, real life Bible study. The Living Word dwells among you there... Jesus Himself is asking, "Who has brought this confusion among you?" The "woes to you!" shall certainly follow as hirelings and religious unbelievers cannot hide from Him. All who want to play organized institutionalized religion have to answer to the One who questioned it then in the streets of Jerusalem, on the roads through Germany, everywhere---everytime including now. This is Jesus we are talking about and He is not tolerant, accepting and fair---He is not reasonable or rational. He is the great I AM and He is sick and tired of those who play games and hide behind His name and run over His Word--instilling the doubt that "It is written" is no longer relevant or authoritative let alone life giving. To obey them--to even listen to them as authoritative in any way over life and faith in The Crucified One is to practice idolatry. Hand (them) a Bible and in the other hand a copy of the Augsburg Confession--Article 28 and ask (them) to explain in a public setting by what authority (they) do these things. The sheep have been scattered and the one and only Good Shepherd is not coming into this situation singing a lukewarm campsong that seeks a "peace" that the world understands but rather with a Word that is sharp and promises denial of the self and life in Him alone. This is not about courage or leadership or anything else-- this is about being beggars and strayed followers who pray in unison to be put back on "The Way"."

Our thanks to Jaynan and echo the call for prophets of the Most High to give similar voice. "Roberts Rules of Order" may be a guide for an orderly meeting, but precedence is called for by the One who led Israel by a pillar of fire... "I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Exodus 20:2)

Wheeled Parable...

2011-07-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

OUR Lord used parables to illustrate the kingdom of God to the disciples and others who would listen. But I've noted that these treasures are dated and difficult for those not acquainted with farms, forests and such as they were delivered in an ancient society. I wondered what this medium of communication would sound like if told today. Maybe like this...
The kingdom of God is like a woman who delivers meals to the homebound each day. One late hour she heard a thump, thump, thump as she drove. She stopped, and soon found that she had run over some devilish item on the road, for a left rear tire was flat. Being industrious, and knowing the task for her father had taught her duly, she began to change the tire. Just as she removed the wheel, a large black truck roared past and she stepped to avoid being struck. The hubcap holding the lugnuts flipped beneath her foot and the fasteners rolled into the storm drain and were soon gone. She heard them plop downward one by one, away into the cavern below.
Beside herself, she stared at the drain, cursed the truck, and knelt with her head against the fender. Then she looked heavenward for help. Just as she began to utter the words of her prayer, a tiny bell rang out. It was a bell on the handlebars of a tricycle ridden by a young child watching the scene.
"Can you go for help" she asked, even while knowing the neighborhood was less than desired."
"No..," the child said, "...you can fix it yourself. Just learn more to share."
The young woman smiled at the apparent impertinance.
"Oh really... how?"
Take one nut from the other three wheels to fasten the fourth, and go on your way. "Go slow and pray, but be on your way."
Let those who can hear listen to the child, for of such is the good news in the kingdom of God.

Dreaming Dreams?

2011-06-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. "And I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” (Joel 2:28-32)

I find myself now classified officially as “old man”, for I have dreamed a dream. It was so vivid that upon waking, it was as if I had lived it. I tried in recent hours to attribute the occurrence to a medicinal fog brought on by a Tylenol taken, as I had tried to shake the remnants of a cold. But it seemed more. . . so very real. It was memorable. I seldom remember dreams.
The dream began that I was sitting at the home of a sister in Christ. My wife and I had eaten there as was our occasional holiday custom. For some reason I began to leave alone. But instead of driving my Chevy pickup, I backed my friend’s Ford pickup out of the driveway. At the bottom of the driveway the truck would not stop. It kept backing down the highway. I jammed on the brakes. I shifted gears. I tried to engage 4WD. But all efforts were fruitless. I was left only able to keep the vehicle on the road as it continued to slide backward. Eventually the vehicle stopped miles away, in the parking lot of a large white factory, one that truly does not exist in the country town of my real world..
Fearing driving the vehicle back up the hill, I dreamt that I went into the building and was told the phone was on the top floor. I went up the spiral stairway and asked to use the phone to call and tell everyone that all was okay.
After attempting to call, and failing, I returned to the desk and the secretary said the charge was $8 for the call. I complained belligerently, and said that I would be telling my Lutheran congregation of the rip off. I paid the money from the $22 dollars in my pocket, out of all the remnant that I had.
Then I turned and saw a myriad of my possessions in boxes on the floor. The place was a thrift store! And in the boxes was my stuff!
I paid to retrieve two coats, which I had to put on so that I could carry my old 35mm Canon camera, and a bunch of other outdated keepsakes. Spending all, yes all of my money, I found that I now could not carry the booty. A middle-aged couple volunteered to help.
So there we were, loaded up and headed toward an elevator. I arrived at the elevator door and it was jammed, so I turned to tell my helpers… and they were gone… and so was my precious stuff. I whispered to myself to just wait. I was then informed that the elevator was totally out of order, but I could take another at the other end of the building.
I trekked through a long hall past many doors, that were entryways to movie theatres. But I had not the money to attend. Finally, I found that I could not squeeze though the narrow doorway to the elevator with my packages. I got through carrying nothing but my two coats, which I wore victoriously.
As I entered, I jammed in alongside workers leaving for the day. Some wore hardhats. Others wore uniforms. One older man in machinist’s coveralls said, “Man, you’re a big guy.” I took off one of the coats and said, “Look, it’s a XXXLT” and very hard to come by.” He smiled and just shook his head chuckling. "
Then I noticed a younger man who stood in front of me, facing me from the center of the elevator. He wore the clothes of a coal miner. He was caked in black dust but his eyes shone clear. I noted that the bright light on his helmet still gleamed in the dim. He smiled, and seemed like a younger, slimmer version of my first cousin’s husband. Somehow with his smile so inviting it seemed that we were related… and we knew each other well. I nodded and smiled a bit back at him, and asked, “How’s your father? He looked gently at me for a moment, then smiled broadly. He softly said, “He’s great. Thanks for asking.”
And then... I woke up.
After thinking a bit this evening about the dream, I asked myself whether it was just an old man’s dream? A medicinal fog? Or was it a revelation? Who was that young man emitting a guiding light, who still works deep within the dim of this everyday world. . . and befriends a man who can’t help but think in two coats that are XXXLT. Vaguely.., I think I know.

Out of the Catacombs...

2011-05-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

WE Lutherans usually suffer from a diminished evangelistic skill within American society. Many would-be prophets give reason, saying that our voices now express the gospel within a post-Christian world in America. Thus our efforts seem relegated to doing worthy social ministry. In this scenario, a devout evangelistic Christian is portrayed as a person offering an out-dated belief system, one that does not address the realistic needs of the modern populace. To these pundits we answer… the message of Christ is a herald call that overarches all geography, social strata, and historical reference.

It is not that our message is irrelevant in modern society, for sin is still sin; and salvation in Christ is still eternal salvation.
Our denominational shortcoming comes from a church history basked in the numerical brightness of American immigration for several centuries, so that we no longer readily attempt the evangelical task. We have forgotten how to do evangelism and we have been far too content to stay in our church circles until numerical depopulation or budgetary concerns arise. But in reaction we often link growth and prosperity with successful evangelism programs. If the first two items occur, we pronounce ourselves successful in the latter.

However, church growth may often be attributed to a population spurt within a geographic area and not fully the result of evangelical fervor. Though population changes may influence the measure of evangelical success, we should ask how many more persons may be reached by a fervent evangelical effort within the same locale.

Growth may also occur as churches offer various methods of entertainment to woo attendees. While modern worship settings do offer identification benefits, we note that care must be taken. We dare claim that the temporary successes of praise-only based, feel-good evangelism may not proclaim a true law-gospel relationship between our Creator and his people. Thus growth and evangelical fervor are not necessarily linked.

Evangelism is an important responsibility of the church and its people regardless of church attendance figures. Evangelism is not a task undertaken simply to fill the seats of a promising or waning church. To do so intentionally is a self-serving, sinful distortion of intent, viewing the hearing public as malleable pawns within the strategic growth aims of a church or denomination.
Instead, we are called to plainly and freely declare the good news of salvation in Christ. In the gospel we read…
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.“ (Matt 28:18-20)
Based upon this text we may safely say that proclamation by the early church was indeed a great priority. Evangelism was not placed as an adjunct province of a synodical or district supervisory committee, nor relegated as minor duties of the priest, pastor, or practiced evangelist. Evangelical mission was given to the entire early church by our Lord, and placed as every disciple’s primary task. We are called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in order that this sin-ridden world may embrace Christ and face a brighter tomorrow. Once having heard the gospel, persons may walk with us into the future knowing the grace of forgiveness and God’s eternal companionship. This is the loving heart of Christian evangelism!

Be Apostolic!
I believe WE must return to apostolic methods for the evangelical task. Though we consider ourselves more highly evolved in modern society than the days of ancient Rome, we are not proven to be such in human character. The words spoken by the apostles and other followers of Jesus still possess the eternal power of the Spirit to reach out and touch the souls of those who hear. Though the modern world has deepened the mire of distractions an evangelist must wade through to stir the soul, the distraction cannot block the message unless we remain silent. People can yet embrace the Word, but the Lutheran church has lessened its proclaiming of the good news in the world about us. And, if we leave the American podium vacant, other ersatz powers will claim the podium.
The Lutheran church has taught to define God’s Word into two categories… law and gospel. . This bad news/good news language of the church, however, does not always translate well into modern American society. If we take a scriptural view of the possible responses of a person to whom evangelical efforts are given, we can cite the story Jesus told about sowing the seed. (Matt 13:1-9) As we read, we see that some gospel seed will be devoured or fall on hard ground.

Hard Ground
A modern person may attempt to deny the existence of the Divine lawgiver, and thus try to negate edicts of the law. Sadly, this stance may hold one in good material comfort in today’s world even though the soul may erode. Modern demonic powers lure many into a restive and self-centered atheism. Thus the attractiveness of an atheistic stance is great.
However, if a person who is the reciever of our evangelical effort recognizes God’s existence, then you are called to participate in the near Jacobean wrestling match. Know that individuals may attempt to keep God out of the arena of everyday life by denying or ignoring the Creator. They replace the law of God with the laws of the government or society, thus falling victim to legal subjectivism and the court of popular opinion.
How do we, the Lutheran church, therefore deal with this faith denial? First, know that we can do nothing without prayer. An atheistic stance, whether permanent or temporary, rightly and prayerfully place the person or persons within the province of the Holy Spirit. After such prayers spoken, we are called to declare the salvation of God in the face of unbelief. If rejected due to a modernistic atheistic stance, then we are instructed to shake the dust off our feet as we continue to declare the Word to others. We know that truly that we have done our task. God will be God and the Holy Spirit may work. That God is all-knowing and caring is our reward. To attempt more, becomes a prideful control issue with which we must deal as disciples.

Shallow Ground
Of concern are those persons within our society who relegate the Creator to the realm of “the man upstairs”. These casual believers declare the occupant of the apartment upstairs as “out to lunch”, until these have need to take a prod and tap the ceiling when tall buildings fall and the uncontrollable intrudes into modern living spaces. By the posture adopted, they open themselves to evangelistic efforts when the event occurs. During this time, by their recognition of a “higher power”, they can be engaged in holy conversation. However, we must take note of their driving force. Like the seed strewn among the rocks, they seek a temporary “healing” of sorts, as did many who surrounded Jesus during his earthly ministry.

But we must know that after the balm of healing assurance is applied, the sores cultivated by modern distractions often return. These persons may fade back into the compartmental dungeons of modern life. But finally, and most promising, know that some of our words will fall on fertile hearts prepared by the Spirit, and these may be incorporated by your efforts into a faith community that becomes part of their very being. Yes, the words that lead them through the first planting are tentively cast, but to cast them is our calling. It is about this “planting of the seed” process that this article speaks.

Forgiven Sinners Reaching Sinners!
ANY evangelical conversation begins with a prayer of thanksgiving for our own salvation. Know this! We of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), for God’s own reasons, are chosen to deliver a message of both law and gospel. Additionally, we must realize that the message is carried into society by persons that are saved by grace, and not by any attribute of deserving. We are yet sinners before God’s law, who have been freed and chosen to accomplish a given task. And in our conversation with other sinners, we may thus claim common ground.
As Paul states in his letter to Rome…,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Thus is the imperative that we bring persons with whom we speak to the realization that we are collectively and individually sinful, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This gift is freely given to us by God though we rightly should stand as condemned.
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
We of the NALC must, with Christians of other denominational ties, stress the “ALL” in the former statement. As Lutherans we need to come evangelistically to the world as citizens working in a sinful world, knowing the freeing edict of scripture.

Approach the Loosely Churched and the Un-churched
As participants in a pluralistic society in North America, we have been given faint and firm boundaries within the realm of the modern. We are told both overtly and covertly that there are certain arenas where evangelical speech is not appropriate. Prayers are formerly banned in many public sites. In many modern corporations the bubblings of religious fervor are soon popped by the power brokers of commercial endeavor. Any religious discourse that would possibly offend any worker, or the consumer, is banned from the workplace. Thus an evangelically-minded Lutheran who pursues such course in the public arena may be quickly labeled “bible thumper!”, to be punished by various methods… ridicule, ostracism, an official statement of “cease and desist”, or termination of the held position. The only exception seemingly exists when being “pro” evangelical is deemed as profitable. This latter is often detected when the evangelistic church is being courted by the surrounding society.

For example, our federal government was recently challenged to respond quickly to natural disasters that afflicted the southern U.S. Since the malady befell the region, many in public leadership now hold that the church evangelical may step forward in recovery ministries. “Do your good works thing!” was expressed in the church ear. We often find it is incredible that the law limits the arena for gospel proclamation, but the same lawmaking entities find it good and proper for the church to do relief tasks in puddles that the government finds clouded.

How to Approach?
If we examine our predecessors in faith within scripture, we find that Christianity grew in a society that was often “over-against” the church and its proclamation. How then did the gospel message succeed? Again we turn to scriptural source as St Paul wrote…
“That in my preaching I may make gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free of all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more… to the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all persons, that I might by all means save some. (1 Cor 9, paraphrased)

We know the early church accomplished proclamation of salvation though Christ, but it did not emerge easily. Yet, during the persecutions of the early church, the Spirit assured that the gospel message did survive and the church did grow. While we do not suffer open persecution of this sort at present, we do find ourselves socially restrained. But we in the Lutheran church contend that conversation can be initiated to the loosely churched and unchurched in a myriad of subtle and open methods. Our first tool is to tap the innate human curiosity of the free American society. For example of this, I offer this actual evangelical stage…

A working man came to his place of employment dressed in usual hardhat and donned his orange safety vest. He worked alongside many others on the construction job, including those with whom he would eat lunch. When lunch time came, he took off his vest and revealed a “T-shirt” (a very common media for all sorts of sayings and advertisement). His shirt had the letters R-U-AH across the front pectorial area, and the letters possessed an “ICTHUS” fish symbol beneath them. On his back was a picture of his church and its name.
The man, when finally questioned by a co-worker about the cryptic logo, began to explain its source in meaning, its Christian history… and made his faith profession using the Apostles Creed. He related sinfulness and salvation, and concluded with an invitation for anyone who would come to worship services with him. He thus opened a subtle avenue for holy conversation with those around him.

Recently it was said by a teacher that she was afraid to be evangelical because of her position within a public school. Knowing that the realm often does not tolerate open evangelical dialogue, when queried by a curious student as to her plans for the evening, she simply said… “I’m going to a bible study. You can come if you’d like.” Without compulsion to the student, she therefore witnessed to the faith by which she guides her life. Would the student inquire further, or go to the bible study, or to church? Will the student go to her own church? The subtle guidance and the student’s reaction to the Spirit, determines the response. But know this.., the beginnings of Christian witness did occur.

We witnessed a “bed & breakfast” evangelical effort spilling forth. While lodging at a small town establishment, a visitor found a delicious breakfast laid out on the morning after her arrival. Alongside her dish she found a small, flowered bi-fold card. When opened, the card revealed a single biblical wisdom saying for the day, complete with the source chapter and verse. In the time that it took to serve the remainder of the meal, a Christian witness unfolded. On that same Sunday morning the visitor at the inn stood at the entry way of the hostel owner’s church.

Another person, who came to the Lutheran denomination from an upbringing within Roman Catholicism, has retained the custom of placing her rosary beads in her pocket at the beginning of each day. As she digs for change at the store, the gas station, the ice cream stand… or virtually any opportunity… she hauls out both her change and her beads. They have become a sign of her identity, in the same way that her ancient forebears in Roman days wore a locket having a fish or cross symbol inscribed. The woman was heard saying “Oh, there’s my beads!” If the bait is taken, even in a vague smile… she finds delight in playfully telling any interested onlooker about the practice of her faithful oddity.., gradually relating sinfulness, salvation and invitation in practiced style. With very little prompting she tells about how the beads helped guide her prayers through a daughter’s perilous accident. In true “fisherman” legacy she places the bait and sets a Christian hook. Thus some onlooker may show up on our Lord’s boat from a stormy sea.

Preparing for the Task
The potential for evangelistic success is high in American society. As our Lord has pointed out, “the harvest is ready, but workers are few”. But in the fast-paced modern world, we strive to do this task in a consistent method. First prepare yourself. Ask any avid fisherman.., just getting prepared can be rewarding.

Consider memorizing a few verses. The first verses we mentioned from St. Paul serves to establish commonality with the hearer… ALL are sinful! But then, we point out that we are delivered by God’s grace.
“… justified (made right by God) by grace through faith given (again, it’s free!), through the redemption (payment) which is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24)

What does faith do? It justifies us before God…

“For we hold (understand) that a person is justified by faith, apart from the law (which condemns)” Romans 3:28

Stating this clearly, and emphasizing that though we cannot work or earn our way to the heavenly realm, the final result is that we are justified in a gift. But why would God do such a outrageous act? Only one reason is given…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that who ever believes in him should have eternal life”. (John 3:16)

Ahh… there it is, God’s love poured out.

At this point we stress that the gift given is ours irregardless of any earthly power. We no longer have to worry about our own lot. Eternal life guarantee begins from the time of baptism, and continues until the “end” of the age. And, since Jesus Christ has told us that he is the beginning and the end of all things... we are thus safely secured by the love of God. Now, consider what this will do for those to whom you witness. They are freed from this world’s tyranny and become freed of its measures. They have become God’s servant. The person who receives your witness can now join you to work in Christ betterment of all.

In order to do evangelism to persons within society, however, we must break out into the world from the catacombs of modern religious molds. Each person must interact with others where they live and within society. Each time we strike up conversation with a child of God who has been distanced from our Lord by the world, we evangelically intrude upon evil. Opportunities exist to witness in places of employment, social clubs, bowling leagues, at football games, and other events. The tone can be either humorous or heavy laden. A witness can be made on a ride to an amusement park, while waiting in a traffic jam, or in the armchairs of a one-day surgery waiting room of a hospital. The approach and conversation entry point can be as varied as the humanity that is doing the task. I simply say to you… be evangelically-minded! Start now. If you put off the task, it may not get done. Remember, our Lord said… GO therefore into all nations… and we are bold enough to add “NOW”.

Each evangelist has a skill, interest or trade which causes them to interact with others. You may have heard the adage that “no one is an island unto themselves”. Then add to this, that our society is not too different from that of the first disciples. Ask yourself what key symbols or words used within the common endeavor are examples of biblical lessons. In example, I often have wished that I could master the art of gardening or trimming those wondrous tiny Japanese trees. What marvelous and fertile ground for witness! The introduction could go like this…

Mr. Evangel… “Wow, this little bonsai tree is beginning to shape up, I’ve been working on it for about a month.”
Mrs. Mackerel… “Uh huh…”

Mr. Evangel… “I wonder how Jesus did it. (the bait is cast)
Mrs Mackerel… “Did what?” (Gotcha!)

Mr. Evangel… “Oh.., he taught about trimming branches. I think he knew a lot about gardening.”

Mrs. Mackerel… Really? You’re kidding right?
Mr. Evangel… “No.., he really did teach us using plants…” (And now witnessing occurs in grand fashion using the story of the vineyard)
The biblical stories move from scripture to everyday life and your witnessing will progress from there. Use memorized verses, such as those we’ve previous offered, or possibly use a known prayer or creed. Realize that such items as the Apostles Creed are witness tools! The task is much like fishing.., you know the habitat of your prize and you use appropriate metaphor or stories to cast into conversation. But like fishing, it takes practice to get the basket full. Try practicing your cast with a member of your church. In fly fishing, it takes practice before confidence allows ever going to the stream. But, eventually we must wade into the mainstream.

For example, a holy conversation may begin with when baking a pie with a family member. It can begin with a simple… “Do you know the biblical story of leaven?”
First know the central applicable statement of Jesus concerning leavening, then look for ways to use that in evangelical conversation. Then the story sequence of sin, the sacrifice of Christ, forgiveness, and deliverance follows.
If you knit in a quilting club… use wool, lost sheep, worn out comforter blankets.., etc. The possibilities are endless!

In the technical world this can also be accomplished. For example, if you work in a metallurgical lab, ask yourself what the connections are between scripture and hardening the metal by fire? Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. For example, ask yourself how metal items are case hardened? They are buried in carbon, like in the dirt of sin! How does softening or annealing happen? Using a sustained application of heat, a brittle hard metal may be annealed, softened to a malleable entity… this sounds like images of hellfire to me! And we suffer conviction… softened by being put in the oven! Then we, like iron, are made into a hardened workable tool by the heat of the divine Holy Spirit… tough and ready for holy service.

If you work around water, such as a dishwasher in a restaurant, what biblical symbols fit? How can this symbol lead us conversationally to the idea of baptism? Yes, to quote a childhood poem, whether “butcher, baker or candlestick maker”, we can do the task for the future of the church in gospel proclamation.

Does this seem far fetched? No, we think not… we have simply lost the art of spiritual imagination. Pray.., imagine, and pray again for guidance. Then step out in witness… that is the starting point of evangelism! Start with what you know… and move toward the divine knowledge that the Spirit will give. On this the church of Christ across the ages has endured and grown.
A last note about witness was told to me about a man who carpooled. He simply said to his driver… “I went to church over the weekend, and it was a little confusing. We say the Creed.., you know. It starts, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. How long do you think it took him? I mean was it seven days or seven billion years?”
The result was a conversation about creation that continued in stages for a period of weeks, and the passenger was invited and soon moved by the Spirit toward becoming a member of the church.

To my sisters and brothers in Christ, I say... just DO IT!

Plausible Racy Pun?

2011-05-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Friends relate that the Garden of Iniquity Lutheran Church has filed protest to the local Dirty Track Racing Association. Its pit crew, formerly of car No. 66.7 as sponsored by the Bible Study Group, has called for every other race to go in the opposite, clockwise direction. Claiming that its driver is Presbyterian clergy, he can go both ways. This news denotes the degradation and misdirection that the sport has suffered since August '08. Though these developments leave us going in circles, we shall attempt to keep our readers informed.

Fuelish Visions...

2011-04-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

As I scrounge through my financial archives, looking in the darkness for sufficient funds to afford a fill for my Chevy truck, I wonder how long we will tolerate this fuelish deception. For truly the present price of gasoline is the result of deception and market manipulation. For I posit that our society has sufficient fuel even now for today, tomorrow and on into the foreseeable future.
I ask why vested interests are allowed to perpetuate our thirst for foreign fuels, while great reservoirs of liquid and gaseous fossil fuels exist within our own boundaries. These fuels are poised to be carefully extracted in order to fill the tanks of modern industry and domestic usage. Are energy czars hoarding so to wait for a time when these domestic vats of hydrocarbon wealth are of greater financial or strategic import? Possibly!
Or, is the present United States administration attempting to massage and milk the depths of Middle East oil wells, and the shores of nations such as Brazil, until these nations deplete this major source of prosperity. In such way, does this nation hope to command greater influence and position on the future world fuel stage? Less likely... but possibly!
But, in all this stands a yet greater deceptive slight of hand. Touting their efficiency, our present government pushes the cause of the electric car, while ignoring that the primary source for our electricity is yet found in fossil fuels. A short stopgap is surely offered by this profoundly efficient vehicular technology, but it will work only if the fleet can be maintained and electricity is cheap. Given the drive for clean coal and recent nervousness about nuclear power sources, a cheapening of electricity in not within my energy forecast.
The arrival of sure fuel independence is not to be found in fossil fuels or electric vehicles. I yet maintain that the secure energy for our future lies in the development of hydrogen-burning combustion engines for our vehicles. Though when developed, our present, domestic, vast reservoirs of shale oil and natural gas can sustain us through the near future, we must not lose long term impetus for the development of economical hydrogen production, transport, and storage. I pray that the eyes of energy czars soon focus on this future fuel, at least before I reach the bottom of my senior citizen coin purse.

R U A Christian?

2011-04-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Baptized and fed the Body of Christ, a true Christian is like a man who trips the rev limiter driving "Dead Man's Curve", while singing loudly "Jesus Take the Wheel..."

Bucket Empty?

2011-03-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we just need to stop along the roadside and drink in words of wisdom. Such was the experience of the woman at the well. Read about her encounter at...

http://hopelutheransmethport.blogspot.com/

See ya in church?

Transfiguration!

2011-03-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Please be invited to read through our message for Transfiguration Sunday. You can find it on...

http://hopelutheransmethport.blogspot.com/

Come truckin back when you finish though, ya hear?

Blessings!

A New Lutheran Church Forms

2011-02-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, February 20, 2011, a new Lutheran congregation was established in Smethport, PA. Named as Hope Lutheran Church, the group met in the facility of the Free Evangelical Christian Church on Pine Street in Smethport, at 9AM on Sunday morning. The congregation formally conducted worship and an organizational meeting during the gathering led by Rev. Thomas J. Beam of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). Pastor Beam, also of Smethport, relates that the formation of the new congregation came about as a result of doctrinal differences with another Lutheran church body. Many members were previously allied with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In August 2009, the ELCA approved the ordination and ministry of same sex partners who participate in a monogamous, long term, unmarried homosexual relationship. The members of Hope Lutheran stand firmly against this new policy and find other recent actions of the ELCA violate beyond the bounds of traditional biblical standards. At present, the congregation is planning to formally align with the NALC. The people of Hope Lutheran shall continue to meet on Sunday mornings for worship at 9AM, and shall also offer Wednesday night services during the upcoming season of Lent. The new congregation welcomes inquiries by those interested in joining their ranks.

2011-02-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Beloved of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; please know that on Sunday, February 20th, at 9AM, many people of God in Christ will gather together with me for an inaugural Lutheran service in the sanctuary of the Free Evangelical Church on Pine Street in Smethport, PA. Together we will worship, hear the Word proclaimed, conduct an organizational meeting, and receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. By the power of the Holy Spirit, please feel welcomed and invited to join us. At present we have the blessings of numerous persons who have stated that they will attend. I hope that you too will come. After the new congregation is formed, it will be our distinct pleasure to petition for joining the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). Please pray for our journey together in Christ.

Thrown Out of Better Places...

2011-02-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

EARLIER this week I received notice from the presiding Bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod (NWPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), asking for my resignation from the ELCA roster of ministers. Failing that action coming forth from me, the letter states that I shall be removed from the roster by the NWPA Synod Council on February 12, 2011. The letter clearly states factual evidence; that I have joined another Lutheran denomination (North American Lutheran Church) in violation of the ELCA constitutional policy #8.72.15d, which reads, "Roster status in more than one church body is precluded in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America". Hence my dilemma. . . should I go quietly, or call them to advance scriptural fidelity. The choice is freely mine, for you see, I have been thrown out of better places.

First, know that I differ in theological opinion concerning the ELCA's allowance , and endorsement by some bishops, in praying to God by addressing his Trinitarian person as "Mother, Sister, and Friend." Clearly scripture has shown that his holy name is and will always be, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19-20). Should we deign to be gods over God and change the scriptural record?

Secondly, as stated on an earlier day in this blog, I strenuously differ with the ELCA decision to allow persons participating in a lifelong, committed, monogamous homosexual relationship to be rostered as clergy with the Lutheran church. This action grossly distorts the biblical message which holds heterosexual marriage as the only accepted sexual norm for human beings. I believe that this ELCA decision pollutes the witness of law and gospel rightly proclaimed for a world in dire need of scriptural clarity.

Therefore I fear that in a quest for populist diversity, the ELCA has muddied scriptural interpretation to become apostate, wandering beyond the light of proper scriptural illumination. I stand firm and accuse my bishop and the NWPA council of advancing theological confusion by their collective failure to firmly uphold clear standards in the Christian faith. Hear now as I echo what my Lord said to Judas, "What you are going to do, do quickly." I have been thrown out of better places.

"Laying Seige to the Very Gates of Hell With Wadded Up Kleenex?"

2011-01-29T07:55:00.000-08:00

Very often Jesus words show us a path into contention with the rulers of this world...

“‎Jesus promised us that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the Church. It is not often noted that the gates of Hades are not an offensive weapon. Hades is being besieged by the Church; it is not the other way around. We need to learn to see that biblical worship of God is a powerful battering ram, and each Lord’s Day we have the privilege of taking another swing. Or, if we prefer, we might still want to continue gathering around with our insipid songs, dopey skits, and inspirational chats in order to pelt the gates of Hades with our wadded up kleenex.” (Douglas Wilson)

Anti-Christian Anew?

2011-01-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

TO BE REALLY paranoid for a time, noting the ELCA acceptance of those in monogamous GLBT relationships in ministry, has it become an unwitting shill for an anti-Christian population movement in the world? Be reminded, in Genesis, our ancestors were told "be fruitful and multiply". We ask then, how does the promotion of non-procreational relationships in the leadership hierarchy of the church hinder the growth of Christianity, over against the birth rates of other faith expressions? Finally, how does the acceptance of elective abortions as a treatment financially covered by such as the ELCA health insurance program, also influence this supposed hidden agenda? Balance then the sociological call in developed nations, many which are heavily Christian populated, to lower world birthrates so not to overtax the world's resources, all while birthrates in many Third World, and many non-Christian nations remain high. Food for thought? Just askin?

My Line in the Sand...

2010-12-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes our faith brings us to make difficult decisions. So it has recently been for me. Recently, I sent a message as needed to my congregations and other interested parties. The letter said...

Sisters and Brothers in Christ;

As many of you know, in the past I have been in dialog with you concerning the ongoing actions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). You may be aware that I strenuously differ with the stance the ELCA Churchwide Assembly took in its approval of the "Statement on Human Sexuality". My opinion on this matter has not abated. Further, I must report now that my unrest has increased due to certain revelations and considerations.

As you may remember, I welcome the participation of persons within same-gender relationships within the church as part of collective sinful humanity, As a sinful person, I join with these and all brothers and sisters in Christ called to come to the foot of the cross and ask forgiveness. However, I cannot scripturally endorse same-gender sexual relationship as being an accepted, on-going human relational state before God. I further believe that the ELCA has therefore become apostate through its legislative acts. The ELCA now states that practicing gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-sexual, (GLBT) persons may serve the office of ministry while participating as an active sexual partner in an unmarried lifestyle. During biblical research on this matter, I formed the theological opinion that these actions grossly exceed the mandate of scripture. Persons within these relationships have no biblical foundation for marriage. (see Genesis 1 :27-28 & 2:23-24) Thus by living together in sexual relationship, I believe God's Word reveals that these persons should not serve as representatives of the Christian church in society. I further then refer you to: "Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church, Constitution for the Congregation, Chapter 2, January 23, 2001, Article C2.03." This section reads as follows... "This congregation accepts the canonical scriptures as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life." Know also that the Constitution for Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church reads similarly.

Though this ELCA policy departs from scripture, during initial discussions within our congregations on this matter, I agreed to put aside my objections for the sake of service to this faith community. This may no longer be possible. Since neither of the congregations to which I am called chose to make a written positional statement, my objections over these points have become exceedingly strong when compiled with other recent activities within our denomination.

First, my personal faith expression, and that of my wife as well, causes us further discontent centered around the ELCA' s abdication concerning the sanctity of human life. Noted within the last year is the issue that the ELCA Board of Pensions, to which our congregations contribute mission funds and pastoral healthcare payment, participates in a medical plan that freely subsidizes abortion. Thus I find that our participation in said plan, paid for by congregational giving, is repugnant to my personal beliefs in the sanctity of life as given by our Creator.

Given these deep convictions, and having participated in lengthy discussions with colleagues and mentors over these ecclesial matters, please know that recent decisions for my future ministry were not easily reached. Be here informed that I have been accepted in transfer toward denominational ties which reflect my fervent beliefs and objections. I am, at this writing, approved to the roster of the North America Lutheran Church (NALC). Given this action, it is within the province of our NE Pennsylvania Synod (ELCA) leadership to decide the future of my standing as pastor within these congregations. At this time I dare not venture speculation on the direction of such. Know that it is my knowledge that the ELCA does not share roster privileges with any other Lutheran denomination. This may lead to termination of my call as your pastor. I find it incredible that the ELCA shares pastoral leadership with Episcopal and Presbyterian denominations, but holds anathema to share such with any other, more conservative Lutheran church body. Lastly, please read that my intent remains that this letter not be considered as pastoral resignation, but as a request for your prayers and the guidance of the Holy Spirit for our mutual ministry.

Your servant in Christ…

Thus, as was said in Roman times.., "The die is cast."

Two Company, Now A Crowd?

2010-10-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Spoken prior to last year's actions by the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA, by Michael C.D. McDaniel...
"To put human sexual gratification above the Commandments of God and the clear teaching of Scripture is simply unthinkable; yet, without any ELCA leader to say a clear "no," there is a continuing push for the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual liaisons as if they were marriages. Furthermore, as long as the ELCA health insurance program covers abortions, a percentage of each Sunday's offering presented before the altar of the Lord is going to finance murder."

The Rev. Dr. Michael C. D. McDaniel is Director of the Center for Theology at Lenior-Rhyne College in Hickory, North Carolina and Bishop Emeritus, North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

You may see the fullness of his remarks at:

http://www.ctsfw.net/media/pdfs/mcdanielelcajourneys.pdf

It is good to know that what one has recently said was preveniently spoken by such a knowledgeable and respected leader of the church. Many are seeing that a satanic, apostate darkness has fallen upon the Lutheran denomination as continued liberal progressive motivations modify what scripture has rightly taught for thousands of years.

"Lord.., Have Mercy!"

Right or Merciful?

2010-08-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

MUCH ADO is being made in the media and press over the plans to build a mosque near the 9/11, "Ground Zero" site. TV programming has been alive with coverage of the protests and counter-protests, and the comments of many who may seek political advantage for the upcoming elections. Others claim that the furor detracts from air wave times that should more properly cover upcoming elections.
Many, many questions have risen, such as "How close should a mosque be built?" and "Should we cast aside permit to build this mosque, in this American society, one that was established during the human quest for religious freedom?"
As an American, I must point out the founding Constitutional document, in the same way any Lutheran pastor points to the Lutheran Confessions as a guide for future actions. By doing so, we find the Constitution guarantees religious freedom. Therefore the building of this worship structure on private property, if all local laws and codes are followed, is indeed legal. However, to ask whether it is wise to do so, given the emotional fervor, is of far greater importance.
I offer that love may call any sensitive community of faith to chart a different path, or a more distant timetable. I find as a pastor that, when dealing with personal loss such as the death of a loved one, we may need to put the community's agenda on hold. But this rule is not hardened as well, for at other times a surge forward with plans is called for by those left behind. The factor that determines the effort and when it is accomplished depends solely on an analysis of the grieving person or persons. To do otherwise is unjust for any faith community, including the Christian church, and fails to express the love of God.
Given my stance, and the tumultuous nature of this struggle, I stress that if even one person within any family of the those killed on that horrible day... objects, construction should NOT progress. The greater witness would certainly be made if the mosque community, who serves the merciful Allah, would set aside their "right". I ask them to be selfless and do the merciful. Respectfully.., build elsewhere or wait for the mourning time to pass.

What Goes Round...

2010-08-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Rich or poor, it seems that we sinners often believe ourselves isolated. We think that things we do in our private lives have no echoes into the future. Yet, personal decisions we make in our everyday lives have far-reaching impact. For example, in last Sunday' text was the story of the "Rich Man"

Jesus taught..,
"The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him.., 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
We notice in the reading how many of the rich man's statements begin with the word "I"... for extremely ego-centric is he. If we Christians then follow suit, be warned... God is not mocked. As the adage says, "What goes around comes around."
I remember a conversation I had with a GM executive some 25 years ago. The occasion was the opening of a new Flint, MI manufacturing plant that would produce both Buick and Pontiac automobiles. The executive was the famed, or infamous, Roger Smith. I posed a question... "What is GM doing in light of the emergence of the world car?" Knowing fully the term indicated the emerging trend of many American car makers toward using vehicle componentry manufactured in foreign countries, Roger immediately bristled. He laughed, and said in a rather sarcastic tone... "There's no such things as a "World Car".
His words, and a later attempt to blunt them by the VP of GM, now rattle beneath my balded pate. For you see, GM has recently leaned on the American public for bailouts, and plans are laid to eliminate the Pontiac nameplate from modernity.
We may say... "But this is GM!" Or, "To go offshore is UnAmerican!" Or echo... "This is the US of A!" While patriotism to this great country is commendable, for I truly believe it to be yet the best at human governance, I caution that we must be careful concerning our future. Let us turn from snide sarcasms and selfishness, toward a bailout from God.
Was GM in denial, or its leadership steering toward bigger barns? Or is Roger more influential than a rich farmer, or a poor country mechanic? Author George Steinbeck echoes... "And such are the plans of mice and men."

I say to you, "We all suffer from denial, and selfishly steer toward bigger barns. First keep our eyes fixed upon the cross. Though individually, or corporately successful in our beautiful country, we still need the warning that rings clearly from scripture... , for us to be selfishly ego-centric surely draws the wrath of the Almighty. Let us be in the midst of clearing our own eyes, and then work toward helping others so that they may see the salvation of God.

Sky Falling?

2010-07-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

A FRIEND and colleague today stated on Facebook that recent doomsday rants of commentator Glenn Beck reminds one of Chicken Little. And yes, though I agree it seems that his tirades found on the FOX network do sound quite alarmist, I might give warning from a hunter's viewpoint.
Years ago I strolled on the rolling prairies of North Dakota in an area SE of Minot, near where I lived at the time. As I hunted for prairie chicken there, I came upon an area of heavy cover. Suddenly, before any close approach, the thicket came alive as clucking birds left the scene. They flew past my head as they quickly departed. I twisted quickly, startled as they whirred by. The charge of numerous birds shook me so much, that taking bead on any of the small, but plump, winged creatures was not part of my decision-making process. Then, regaining composure and grossly dissappointed, I turned to find I was again being charged by jack rabbits, running full tilt in my direction. Having closed the gap between myself and the brush thicket before my turning back, the three long-legged, long-eared demons raced by quickly. With ears flattened to their backs, they were moving at a rate that far exceeded the eastern cottontails I'd hunted years before. These moved so quickly that I had not even time to examine fading images for sign of the mythical "jackalope".
No sooner had these crested a nearby coulee, when a pair of coyotes raced from the wide valley beyond the thicket followed by one, lone antelope. Sighting me standing there dumb-founded, all three veered to my left. Having only bird-shot shells loaded in my gun, the predators were safe from any planned blast from me. Besides, my left-handedness hampered any hopes of accuracy toward their flight.
In the mad dash after sighting my silhouette, the antelope quickly passed the skinny coyote pair. I stood for a time and watched all three disappear unabatedly into the distance. After a moment, now more like an eternity in hindsight, I turned to face the thicket once again. Then I saw it for the first time. Smoke rose from the distant field. A prairie fire raced eastward. Possibly started by a hot muffler beneath a car on Highway 83, the flames rose sufficiently to frighten more than Chicken Little!
Only young legs and a fast '57 Ford saved my goose from being cooked.
So it is with this history that I urge caution. Roosters seem to crow earlier in the morning when bad weather comes, and hens get ruffled as the FOX prowls. So it may be with Glenn. At present I would not agree that the sky is falling, but I think that such "progressive" forces with which Glenn contends within both state and church, may set fire to our peaceful prairies.

Paddling in Rough Waters...

2010-06-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Slippery slopes of silence often give way to turbulent waters. Martin Luther often referred to turbulences occurring in scripture that were caused both by God’s immovable foundation in the law, and the powerful waves of our Lord’s astounding good news. In his own time of troubled travel for the ship of church, however, because of froth caused by the tension of both law and gospel thus enmeshed, he eventually steered us straight into a formative maelstrom. The Lutheran denomination emerged from historic turbulence. Now, in a time when the foundations of Lutheranism are challenged by discord, we may look to the anchored position and practices of Luther and the founding documents of Lutheran theology.
We begin with the sounding written in the Formula of Concord, "The Word of God is and should remain the sole rule and norm of all doctrine" (FC SD, Rule and Norm, 9).
It is within this anchored confidence in the Word that we steer the course of church in times of storm. Waves of discontent arose for us recently via the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Last year the ELCA produced a statement concerning human sexuality. The democratic actions of the ELCA gathering in August ’09 approved the statement, establishing recognition of GLBT unions and also approving those in such “committed, life-long relationships” as eligible for service as clergy within the church. The ELCA thus took a progressive step, following other mainline denominations in taking a stance far beyond the biblical definition of marriage. At this writing news has been offered that some persons previously banned from the clergy ranks due to sexual lifestyle, are now reinstated.
We find that the marital definition is found firmly established in the orders of creation. These are stated clearly in the book of Genesis. Though we are sinful, for the sake of human procreation, marriage is exclusively bound forever to heterosexual relationships. Many persons, including myself, have answered the rather apostate ELCA position with a pronounced exclamation of dismay. This progressive theology distorts the historical teachings of the church to accommodate influences that have garnered voice within the ranks of the modern church. What then are we, who disagree with this action based upon our reading of scripture, to do in the face of this decision?
The ELCA now seems swamped with a stalwart, imposed silence, apparently called for by its leadership. Using a gross distortion of Luther’s “bound conscience” principles, they call for an end to heated discourse. Recent observation of this top-down imposed silence became evident during recent attendance at my annual synodical gathering. Though present only for the earliest portions of the event, it seemed the turmoil previously created by these decisions was largely ignored. The controversy was given only passing notice in leadership comment. Further, the possibility of several hundred congregations choosing to leave the ELCA was tossed aside as barely consequential. The tack was set that an upcoming meeting of the Lutheran CORE, a reform movement which seeks to begin a new, more conservative Lutheran sub-denomination, was not a tsunami to be feared. Thus it seems that the ELCA has chosen to bail out what it considers to be any conservative drudge at the bottom of their boat, and then cling silently to high and liberal gunwales hoping to ride out the waves.
As a called clergyperson within the church, what should my response be? Should I look for calmer backwaters and ride the progressive ELCA position until my waning ministerial days? For my own security it may be recommended. Or should I cling firmly to historic, traditional scriptural interpretation on this matter. If the latter is my course, as is my leaning now, will I suffer from this “here I stand” position, and risk a whupping with an ELCA oar? Indeed, shall I be keel-hauled by a pronounced churchly water-boarding?
Considering these possibilities, I yet weigh my choices carefully given my traditional definition of marriage and my views of the clergy role in the church. The troubled tide calls for thoughtful plumbing of the waters of God’s Holy Word, without allowing progressive, modernistic tendencies to give voice to a policy beyond what God has declared. What course has been set by Divine compass? I ask that we look to scripture as pilot, and there we find written…
“Early in the morning he (Jesus) came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?"
This they said to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." (John 8:2-11 NRSV)
Now I dare to convey the identity of the woman in the story is one who practiced adultery, departing from the vows of the marital bed. Given this, the church corporate, scripturally termed as the “bride of Christ”, surely now stands accused as adulterous, pandering after the love of the modern swell. We, the church baptized, are in close character with the woman charged with adultery having ourselves wandered and bedded with the gods of modern favor. We are then guided by the text to confess our sinfulness and throw ourselves upon God’s mercy. To us then, like the woman in the text as our forerunner, our Lord conveys clear message. In his challenge eventually all fall silent and God’s forgiveness flows. I repeat the text, Jesus said… “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more”
While indeed we who suffer in churchly adultery gladly hear the first phrase of forgiveness, we of the ELCA seemingly fail to apprehend the last phrase of his instruction. That is where I believe the ELCA rows forward in apostate error. Due to progressive theological steerage, it has departed from the course set by both law and gospel…, according to the law by refusing the exclusive claims of heterosexual marriage, and then progressively corrupting the good news of the gospel by excluding the freeing message of possible life reformation.
What does the future hold for the ELCA course? I fear we ride the ship of a church holding to a mast that is positioned far from the foot of the cross. In the long term, I foresee a lessening witness of the office of ELCA clergy, caused by malformed theology. For surely without the law there is no condemnation, and without acknowledging transgression we are not driven toward salvation in Christ… and thus we fail in our calling to row any future ersatz society toward safe biblical shores.
Thus is my prophetic statement this day.., if indeed authentically God’s revelation for the church, I believe that unless our course is corrected by the Spirit’s power leading us to amend we can expect an overall lessening of Lutheran clarion. The ELCA may fail to arrive at missional shores. So it is my prayer yet remains that the ELCA may acknowledge its error, and turn aside so that the Lutheran compass of faith expressed in both law and gospel may set a true course toward a future set in Christ. May it do so before I feel firmly pressed to jump ship.

Going Prosupon...?

2010-06-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

On the local front, my annual Synod Assembly is slated to occur next week. This year I have mixed feelings about the gathering. Intellectually, I know that we should gather in the Spirit for the good governance of the church. I know that we should ask for God guidance in our ministry together. I also know that we should consider all matters laid before the assembly with supplication, and resolve that what we do is a prudent path for our witness in the world. But this year, I my heart shudders at the prospect of turbulence at our gathering.

It has been a tumultuous year in the Lutheran denomination. As many know, last year's Churchwide Assembly passed what has become a very devisive piece of church legislation. In several ways, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) vote differed from biblical and reformation tradition and skewed the dialectic of law and gospel. This occurred in the bold affirmation of GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transexual) relationships and approving those participating in such relationships as eligible for ordination as clergy. The decision of the ELCA has thus strained relationships within and outside of the denomination. It has also brought a disheartening to my own ministry within the ELCA, being a matter which still vexes.

Having just received notice of resolutions which will be offered at nearby SWPA Synod, I can see that turmoil for the ELCA is not past. Backlash against last year's vote is quite pronounced, so much so that the possibility that another Lutheran denomination may emerge from the melee. At this writing, plans for my attendance at a meeting in Columbus, OH are forming. That meeting may give birth to the NALC (North America Lutheran Church).
As Lutherans, called to declare the gospel message, we may ponder, "Where shall these path take our ministries". Like blessed Paul, who as described in the "Letter to the Galatians" went "prosupon" (nose to nose) with Peter, we too may end up at odds with many in our own denomination and eventually follow differing paths.

By God's creativity, however, I feel certain that proclamation occurs amid both conflict and consensus. Did not the Almighty create all things out of chaos? I wonder if our disagreements will not stage another "breakout" of gospel proclamation, such as Paul fomented following the confrontation with Peter. As a good friend has said, "From our lips to God's ears..

Blessings to All... TJ

May Daze

2010-05-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

I've learned to hate the month of May. When I was a child we used to happily decorate a pole on May 1st. Ribbons of brightly-colored crepe paper strips were fastened to the top of the flag pole. The school children would dance around the pole while holding the bottom ends of the colored paper. We would weave in an out as we circled, thus sewing a brilliant pattern down the pole. After the music stopped, we would end with a multi-colored phallic symbol that spoke of how screwed we were that it was May.
I think of May as likened to those hanging tomato plants peddled on TV. We are the yet awakened seeds within the bags. We don't know which way is up. Dirt is dumped on us. Next we get soaking wet. Finally, we get stuck out in the spring elements and are expected to bear fruit! Yes.., I surely hate May.
My sister, Cynthia, was born on May 9th. She grew up like a spring flower to become one of the best friends a brother ever had. Now, having died far too young, the seed of her sisterly love seems buried deep within the earth. If it were not for the wetness of her baptismal waters, I fear that I would mourn this whole month and more. I really, really hate May.
I argue that at least the fishing season gets in full swing during May. My hope is lifted as walleye season starts. On a warm early May morning, I prepare and drive to a likely fishing location. By the time my line is cast, thick cumulus clouds block the sun. Soon afterward, my elderly fingers ache with cold dampness. Snow flurries begin. I cannot cast. I cannot retrieve. Packing my gear, I most certainly once again... hate May.
A retreat time has been planned. My RV is in the midst of being prepared like a May pole with colored paper hanging from its height. The weather report for the campground says "Rain, cold and wet". My hopes now wane like dirty water dripping from a hanging tomato plant. If I've not said it before... I hate May.
"April showers bring May flowers", rings in my memory from those same elementary school days. Flowers now emerge through the dirt, though snow flakes yet drift lightly down. Bright and colorful like the paper on the May pole, the crocus buds speak of happier moments to come... like those Easter baskets held daintily by my sisters in a picture from my youth. The baskets spoke of love freely given . The flowers, baskets and sisters remind me now of the garden in which Mary Magdalene spoke to Jesus after the Resurrection. In that garden encounter, Mary is shown by Jesus that God does rule all in all. Even in this upside down world where tomatoes may struggle and elder fingers can wander coldly on windblown seashores, we know that we are given the Son. He has taken the punishments of the cold, the wet, our dirt... and even the death of humanity. The exchange is made. God freely gives us Christ's eternal life, flowering brightly beneath a warm spring sun. Ah yes... but I still, maybe foolishly... hate May.

Paltry Pews?

2010-05-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

It's astounding, the hue and cry of the church. Your writer had a rather disappointing congregation meeting this week and recalled a wise observation given by a TX farmer... "When you're up to yer butt in gators, it's tough ta 'member yer supposed ta drain the swamp."
Hmmm... Anybody out there got a "bang stick"?
The meeting concerned where to put space in the sanctuary for persons who are confined to wheelchairs, or required additional room due to using a walker, crutches... etc.
Amid initial discussions, I had offered that removal of one half pew on each side of the aisle would provide ample room, and if done at an area approximately one-third from the rear of the church, it would provide a wide "cross shape" aisle located across the center of the church. In my estimation this would be aesthetically pleasing and place anyone motively-challenged in a central location from which they could enjoy services... especially baptisms that we accomplish nearby in the aisle.
"Too expensive" was the hue and cry from the church leadership. No discussion ensued, and the vote was cast. They've elected to get the resident carpenter to remove a front pew, and therefore ask the physically-challenged party to move right up front next to the choir. From there they can look high up and see a female lector's chin whiskers!
In my estimation, to place an individual who wrestles with mobility problems in that forward location would be akin to throwing the spotlight on their plight. No one! I repeat... no one in this church normally sits up front! I can envision that any person, especially one who is shy or sensitive, who is put in that location would feel the paramount callousness and not return to worship with this community. Today, having not changed my opinion on the matter, I desperately need a pastoral "bang stick"! But of course... I could be wrong and the alligator has bitten the last part of my anatomy that goes over the fence.

Evolutional Theology?

2010-04-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

It seems that a trigger has been pulled toward furthering an ELCA evolutional theology. Reading the latest "Seeds for the Parish..." intro article seemed akin to facing a shotgun blast. According to the ELCA rag mentioned, the highlighted author Phyllis Tickle not only espouses her "change" philosophy, but embraces worship in "the ancient-future church with a PROGRESSIVE but deeply rooted theology". You can access the article at:

http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/Resources/Seeds-for-the-Parish.aspx

Apparently now embraced by the ELCA, the word progressive (that I stressed in caps here) sounds alarm bells for me when I consider the recent progress the ELCA made last August wherein the denomination strode boldly into scriptural apostasy. In reaction to the "Seeds..", my wife even sent a copy of this evolutional religious morass to Glenn Beck, who sounds similar warnings against progressive constitutional diatribe in the halls of US government and social media. Though this last action sent shivers beneath my orange hunter's safety vest, in that to be even faintly allied with such a TV alarmist, I could not help but peer farther into the dim light. It seems the principles of "Social Darwinism" rise now for the church.
You can see a Phillis Tickle presentation at the Mars Hill Bible Church at:

http://www.alittleleaven.com/2009/05/whats-being-taught-at-rob-bell.html

As for me, the ”Seeds… “ article flags the church and its scriptures as subtle targets for the progressive agenda, one now blatlantly put forth within the theological realm. The impact of this blast to the depths of my traditionalist and conservative Lutheran walk of faith, has sent me back to reading some seminary notes on progressive and liberation theology garnered from Prof. Lyman Lundeen… and that’s deeper into the woods than this old hunter wanted to go. My initial reading there has not made me alter my first apprehensions. . . these progressive or evolutional "change" theologians are loaded for bear! Thank God for the guiding compass of scripture plumbed and anchored truly by the apostolic record and the Lutheran Confessions.

The Parable of the Spark-A New ELCA Hue?

2010-04-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

THE MASTER builder decided to take a meal with his apprentices one day, and while sitting he told them this parable. “There was an elder man in a far country who had tried many trades as he grew. As a farmer he had sowed fine wheat. As a warrior he had carried a sturdy shield. But though he did well at each, he did not come into his own until he began to build engines. He studied them. He made them.., and loved each one.
You see, he had read the ancient guides that would mold the work. The man's craft became the better for it. As a journeyman he soon took a workman’s pride in restoration efforts. The man could revive the power built from an earlier day, and occasionally took opportunity to watch the results of his labor. The man would gaze with amazement at the road of life. Smiles would cross his face when hearing a deep-throated rumble echo its way toward the future.
But one day in late summer, as he worked his craft, his tools betrayed a different spark. A new color came to pass as he precisely fit a piston pin into place. Being a craftsman taught by craftsmen, he saw the spark first fly while balancing a connecting rod. The spark was not quite right. He stopped his work and examined the part more closely. It looked like its fine predecessors. It felt like its foregone kind. He even tasted the metal like a fine wine or bread. No.., the spark was not the same!
The craftsman quickly told his foreman, “This rod is not the same. It may not work as well. The engine may not endure.” The foreman then simply revealed, “The company has been taken over. They have decided to become more liberal on specifications. The rod you now use works fine they say. It’s just not special. We are becoming more tolerant… because it’s cheaper.”
The man, though disturbed by the change in quality, kept working. But alas, his craftmanship now did not carry the same importance somehow. Though many thought him daft, he said that he could even tell the difference between the old and new as a vehicle rolled by his ear. He deeply saw that the spark was dim, heard the sound now sour and felt the divine temper gone.
“Oh, the engine will still run for a lifetime.” he was told. But he knew that his offering toward the perfect was now tainted. The foreman said the man could continue his work with less.., or leave, taking his skills into a world still looking for the perfect.
Finally, at the last, the man’s craft spoke clearly as it said to him… “Good man, choose this day whom shall you serve.”
After a moment of quiet, the Master builder rose and then turned to his apprentices, "He who has ears, let him hear."

Burdens of the Day... Dutch and ELCA Lutheran!

2010-03-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Actively gay pastors? Unfaithful married golf champions? ObamaCare turmoil... what's next? After reading several blogs, glaring news headlines, and the LCMS news release concerning the ELCA sexuality decision, it seems also that I now have to consider my very geneological lineage as one that offends. A recent disclosure shows that a recent Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, has rendered a decision that allows an atheist to remain as pastor of Christian churches! This gives me a new meaning to the concept of "going Dutch". In a land frought with legal prostitution and rampant drug use, you would think the church should counter this flagrant action. I say that this old Dutchman is only encouraged that I can still kneel at the foot of the cross on Good Friday. Amid wars and rumors of wars, there I may beg God's forgiveness for the sinfulness of myself and others, and ask for spiritual guidance for all who carry the cross and gospel into the modern world.

Lenten Vent!

2010-02-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday I went to a noontime community ecumenical worship service. Persons from all walks of our community life were there. I went for several reasons. First, I wanted to hear the preacher. He is an elderly, retired minister whom I greatly admire for his experience, words of wisdom, and his choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers as his favorite football team. He did not disappoint my expectations. Secondly, being rather self-centered in my seeking, I wanted to gather my thoughts as I am invited to preach to the same gathering next week.
After the message, a hymn, and a prayer , however, I noticed an oddity while walking with my spouse to the luncheon also held in that Methodist church. An offering had been requested as each person entered the dining area, to be used for the benefit of the local food bank. Being one of the last persons to enter I looked at the plate, and became shocked at what I saw as the fruits of the Word preached. The plate was full of one dollar bills. . . ONE dollar bills!
My mind has been reeling since viewing the sight. Was not the preaching suitable? I judge that had he been a rare personality saying the same words, those gathered may have paid at least a fiver to hear him?
Was it that the persons attending were of poor station? No, that doesn't seem to fit either. I recognized many attending who lived in large elaborate homes, and drove to the service in luxurious late model vehicles. Some of the elderly I dare say, are near millionaire status or better. These could have at least thrown a twenty!
Further, did these know secretly that the local food bank did not really need the help? No. . . for I know that in these stressed economic times, the food bank is VERY hard pressed to help those in need, so much the case that they've had to turn away some of the poor for lack of resources.
Needing to vent, I have spent the last few days trying to excuse the shortfall in giving.
ONE dollar! Only one DOLLAR?
If a truly impoverished widow walked through the portals in the mix, as our Lord watched our people progress toward a luncheon of fine sandwiches, tasty pickles, chips, and a CUPCAKE . . , what would he say to us? Or to her?
Would he say to us... "You pit of vipers!"
Would he say to her, "Pray to the Almighty dear woman, for these cheapskates are taking their money with them. They have their reward."
I wonder.
Would the One who gave his One and Only Beloved Son for us, be proud of a people who could only give ONE dollar? I am truly thankful that the path through Lent ends at the foot of the cross.

Not So Quiet... Iowa Weather

2010-02-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

Should we that disagree with the recent ELCA actions concerning human sexuality and gay clergy "go quietly into that good night." In a recent blog, a writer points out that it seems that the leadership of the ELCA now spars with heads hunched down. They seemingly wait for the more "orthodox" members to tire of the din, or be absent from the melee. These wait for an opportune time to reverse our strategy to bring the church to its confessional roots. In recent actions within the NE Iowa Synod, for example, the Council reversed a stance initially taken concerning the ELCA's CWA actions.
A discussion of their waverings are given at:

http://calltofaithfulness.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/the-winter-of-our-discontent/

I would give fair warning to those of the ELCA hierarchy, both from the flatlands of Iowa and the hills of Pennsylvania. Do not put stock in redirections or lessening of dissent due to apparent tiring or aged discontent. To call for peace in the quest of modern, ersatz churchly eroticism is devious and foolish. The call does not honor the divine love of our God given in both Law and Gospel, nor God's love for those that serve the resurrected Christ. I ask therefore, "Does one allow another soul to go striding toward perdition, without attempting to alter their course, and call that allowance "Love"?" Surely I think not.

Abortion and Nationalized Healthcare

2010-01-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

In a wall statement for a Facebook meeting it was said by the moderator, "So I do think the stance of the church toward the health care bill should be support for the healing of all people. I do disagree with both the religious right and those Catholic bishops who seek to force their pet issue of abortion into the political process of adopting health care reform."
I first counter this statement in part that indeed the church should support for the healing of all people, but I feel that the funding of that healing should not fall within the province of a governmental power. To usurp the choice of the people in deciding the worthiness of healthcare, and the funding of such healing in any sort, is totalitarian interference by governmental structure.
Read this statement from Archbishop Raymond Burke, in a homily given in Phoenix, Arizona:
In our culture, “the law more and more dares to force those with the sacred trust of caring for the health of their brothers and sisters to violate the most sacred tenets of their consciences, and to force individuals and institutions to cooperate in egregious violations of the natural moral law,” he said. “In such a society, the administration of justice is no longer a participation in the justice of God, an obedient response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but a façade cloaking our own selfishness and refusal to give our lives for the sake of the good of all our brothers and sisters. It is a society which is abandoning its Judeo-Christian foundations, the fundamental obedience to God’s law which safeguards the common good, and is embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the ‘hope,’ the ‘future,’ of our nation. Reason and faith teaches us that such a society can only produce violence and death and in the end destroy itself,”
Secondly, I say that though not classed as part of the "religious right" nor "a Catholic bishop" in my denominational stance, I wholeheartedly oppose abortion as a healthcare choice, allowing in heart, mind and prayer only for those instances which cannot be avoided for humanitarian reasons. For years my denomination sub-division's health insurance has chosen to fund abortions, thus helping to murder the unborn, by virtue of offering payment for those who would simply seek abortions for any reason. I oppose this practice, that my contributions to the health plan become freely part of the funding for these procedures. Additionally, if abortion coverage is part of a proposed national health package, I surely object to the murder of the unborn empowered by my payment of taxes. Therefore I shall continue to object with voice and vote as a member of "Lutherans for Life". And I cry to Almighty God for all his people.
To God be the Glory...

From Bad to Worse, and More...

2010-01-25T06:37:00.000-08:00

It seems the more conditioned to sin that the world becomes, the less we are able to discern the depths of our own transgressions. Please read what Prof. John E. Pless of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, related in a message he delivered during the "Divine Service for Lutherans for Life" before the March for Life in Washington, DC.

"We recoil in horror over the immensity of the casualties in Haiti but we cannot forget that whatever the body count from that devastating earthquake finally totals, it will still not come near the tally of the unborn whose lives ended not in collapsing building but in a clinic in the nearly four decades since the passing of Roe v. Wade.
Add to that the way human bodies are treated as playthings to be quietly and efficiently disposed of once they are broken or have outlived their usefulness and we perceive that that a deep darkness indeed has descended on our land. Marriage as a life-long, one flesh union between man and woman is seen as antiquated as homosexuality once barely mentionable is now openly extolled and celebrated.
Luther said that a theologian of the cross calls a thing what it is, yet our culture’s theologians of glory call good evil and evil good. We call darkness light and light darkness."

The full text of his message may be viewed on...
http://esgetology.com/2010/01/22/we-are-not-saved-by-our-ethics-sermon-by-prof-pless-before-the-march-for%20life/

Within the message is the revelation that we who live in sin often are quilty of attempting not only self justification, but once freed by the gospel message we take up a banner of self-righteousness that is not helpful to correcting the world's sinful trends. I agree, however, I also believe that as collective sinners and saints, when the light of the gospel affirms God's wishes for life and love in the world, we are often called to do as brother Luther admonished... to "sin boldy". In this vein we are to work knowing that our place in the heavenly realm is secure by the work of our Lord Jesus upon the cross, and only from that security we may grow in faith expression, attempting to brighten the world by mirroring his grace and guidance.
In this way, relief may come to those oppressed by virtue of God's love illuminating the way forward. We are called to wrestle with the profound and subtle darkness, remembering Jesus call to his disciples who would build booths in the valley below the Mount of Transfiguration. He simply spoke to them saying... "Follow me."
Let us do as our Savior has done.

Do the Good Samaritan Thing!

2010-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

Being personally involved in the pain of earthquake by virtue that my wife and I wed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti... we hold dear many memories of that country and the many loving people we met there nearly 30 years ago. Therefore I boldly ask anyone who reads this post go to directly to:

http://www.lwr.org/

and donate whatever amount that you see fit to help efforts on behalf of those in this very poor nation. On TV today, Barb and I saw the devastation caused to the very hotel where my bride and I shared our first marriage meal. It was devastated, and around two hundred guests were unaccounted for in the wreckage. I ask again... please pray and donate!
May Almighty God reward your generosity... TJ

Lutherans Unaltered

2010-01-12T06:07:00.000-08:00

Join in the fray! Participate in the Facebook "Lutherans Unaltered" group. In the challenge of creating dialog that is forthright and honest, but not necessarily agreeable, this group is created to focus on the future of American Lutheranism. While considering past synodical or denominational differences and unrest within our church, this group shall strive for frank discussion of issues that affect Lutheran ministries and witness. We ask that all participants, should the debate become heated, refrain from personal attack or the use of profanity. Like Peter and Paul, who contended "prosupon" (from the Greek meaning nose to nose) over circumcision, we who are "unaltered" pledge to argue for the good of the faith.

ELCA Censorship?

2010-01-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

As an ELCA pastor, I am thoroughly disheartened by actions that the Facebook ELCA Lutherans group took in its “Letter to Bishop Hanson” meeting. The ELCA Lutherans group has taken a denouncing action against Pastor Mark Powell and his opinions. I am shocked, for I have thoroughly enjoyed starting my days by checking into what all of participants are going to write next.
It states clearly on the Facebook entry page for this group that the venue is open to all, whereas; the notice given to Mark seemingly reveals that some would say it is not. Also, there are those there that have suggested that because he is not ELCA, he cannot contribute to this rather raucous and interesting melee. I fear that the diversity of opinion is what has made the meeting so delicious. But if that is the opinion some persons hold, so be it. However, allow me to suggest that his thoughts on the matters we have discussed there will not be silenced, for many issues and opinions he holds, but not all, are shared by such as myself. And please be reminded… I am an ELCA pastor! And note, the operators of this ELCA platform are known, so that if and when this “open” meeting stifles or unplugs my opinions due to their positional agenda, they SHALL hear from another… an opinion of my legal representative.

Church Workmanship?

2010-01-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

Going through a new car dealership, trying sinfully to profit from the recent financial straits of a car manufacturer, I was astounded at many marvelous electronic wizardries that the vehicle offered. The car could remember my preferred seat setting, steering wheel position, and mirror sightings. It could automatically re-adjust for my wife's more slender and dimunitive size. It had fuel consumption monitors. It had GPS! What a marvel.., but when I began appraising the chariot with professional eyes rather than a consumer's appetite, the vehicle began to look less inviting.
As I perused the body lines, the fit of doors, hood and trunklid... I noticed a slight shift in the paint hue between the trunklid and the rear quarter panels at both sides of the vehicle. Knowledgeable about multi-stage paint systems used to cover these beautiful products, I wondered why the coating on the trunklid, a black metallic, had a pretty bluish hue as reflected in the light; whereas, the hue or tint in the rear quarter panels exhibited the same black metallic with a subtle green reflecting to my eye. A quick in-depth check beneath in the rear luggage compartment lid betrayed the truth... the car had been damaged in shipment and refinished at the dealer. In this process, the straightened trunklid had been refinished with the correct paint mix, but with an aftermarket paint product that changed hue slightly from the original. Had I not detected the change and gradual blending of the aftermarket product, I may have bought the vehicle and been stuck with a less-than pristine purchase.
Now, don't be deceived! I tell you this tale in order to emphasize another issue. Recent decisions within certain aftermarket realms of the church, originally designed to proclaim the scriptural, true color message of God's law and gospel, have tinted the spectrum for the untrained eye. Certain denominations have not maintained a true balance of law and gospel! What was true blue in matters of church life have now been blended over a spectrum of years toward a liberal agenda, by powers within the denominational aftermarket of church. Certain denominations, my own ELCA included, have sprayed us with a theological mix that looks faithful to scripture, but is not.
Claiming clarity for the future in their eyes, in apostasy these liberal powers have skewed scriptural meaning to give us a hue which I believe is not pleasing to the eye, the ear, or the heart of the Almighty. In the arena of human sexuality these powers are claiming that certain sins are not sinful, and in any case the gospel delivers all from all. I say to you that a sin not realized and confessed, is a sin not forgiven. Thus it is that we leave the church, including those who transgress this unadmitted sin, in great peril. We all leave the sanctuary with our pride and error, driving away in this newness not realizing that the color of our sin is changed only by our superficial modern coatings and consumerist perspectives. To top this aftermarket peril, the sellers of this product also wish to hue the appearance of the church's enlightened propriety by placing the keys of the kingdom in the hands of those who would look with a jaundiced eye upon the finished product. As if to say "It's OUR church, we bought it, and now we're driving it."
I wonder.., how long will the patchwork last before the shoddy workmanship of blending shows and the paint peels away?

A Blessed New Year!

2010-01-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

Being a churchman, today I pass along a statement of faith rather than a happy, smily face. That my readers would be blessed by Almighty God and walk in faith for the coming days, is my heartfelt prayer for all on this New Year's Day. And though January 1st is not a religious holiday, I do believe that you will find this blessing passed from one person to another turns it to a holy day indeed.

Toward Shore?

2009-12-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

Floundering Around
Since August, waves of dissent within Lutheranism have risen to tsunami levels for many congregations and peoples. The quake that began the swamping roll for this denomination of the church was caused by decisions reached at this year’s ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) Churchwide Assembly (see my previous rant). Held in Minneapolis, MN, the decisions first approved a hotly-argued statement concerning human sexuality. The decision gave recognition to committed, long-term homosexual relationships. The second portion of the controversial actions approved the calling of homosexual clergy who are in committed relationships, to the ministerial ranks of the ELCA rolls.

Ride the Wave
Several issues arose. First, I deem the action taken had no biblical precedent or Confessional authority. Therefore by doing so, the ELCA went beyond the Word of God as being the source and norm for the church and its people. Through ersatz democratic action, the denominational leaders replaced God’s lordship with their own modernistic political steerage for the ship of church. On these issues the ELCA thus operates independent of the law and gospel of God or the Lutheran Confessions.
Since the inception, reactions to this movement have varied widely, with applause from those in favor.., to an immediate jumping of the church’s ship by others. Some, and I myself, cling blindly to the shuddering gunwales hoping to ride the tumult into a livable calm. Many in leadership are trying to bail us out, asking for a pacifistic, mis-application of the Lutheran “Bound Conscience” position from the rabble who now rows the ship of church in circles through heavy and turbulent seas.

Jump Ship?
Upon hearing of these decisions, I wanted to immediately walk the plank to another venue or retirement… for I felt betrayed by my own denomination. Instead, after conversations with my bishop and Council presidents, I’ve recanted an initial resignation, thus holding my consternation. I now remain in my present calling. Since that decision, influenced by my sense of call, my advanced years, and a daughter’s recent accident.., I have yet ground my dentures and teeth when considering the matter. I know that if it were not for the blessedness of family and many of the people that I serve, my time of ministry would end. I am that distressed. I think daily, “What does the future hold?”
For the church, I find that the present tokenism being offered as balm through the church politic of the ELCA is not assuaging my blisters as I row toward scriptural fidelity. I foresee that a new Lutheran entity will likely form that will hold to the authority of scripture with greater import and balance of law and gospel. Though I seriously doubt that my own congregational crews shall jump ship to that new emergence, I do not see this new formation occurring within my time remaining as an active pastor.
As for me, I look to God for guidance. I see that this decision causes a dark shadow upon the ministry of the whole Lutheran denomination.., not only the ELCA, but other branches of Lutheranism as well. My thoughts are now that, in the future I may need to jump ship from this present darkness. If so, I fully know that my Lord, as the Word of God, is the lighthouse that beckons us to sheltering shores… even when heavy clouds gather.

Orders of Creation...

2009-12-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Order and Acceptance?
As many of you may already know, the orderly Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently passed new orders at its Churchwide Assembly (CWA). In the vote of the attending representation, the assembly adopted the social statement, "Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust". The statement affirms “lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships”. The passing of the social statement required a two-thirds vote. During the legislation, however, voting members previously defeated an amendment to modify a section of the social statement about lifelong monogamous same-gender relationships. This defeat dismissed the proposed replacement language that reflected the position of some in the church that believe the "practice of homosexual erotic behavior as contrary to God's intent." As well, however, the social statement recognized the obvious.., that members of this church are not in agreement and may not follow the mandate.

Ministry Policies…Also, by majority vote, the gathering directed that changes be made to churchwide policy documents, to make it possible for people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders in the ELCA. I quote from the ELCA press release that the assembly adopted these resolutions as follows...:

Resolution 3: “Resolved, that in the implementation of any resolutions on ministry policies, the ELCA commit itself to bear one another's burdens, love the neighbor, and respect the bound consciences of all."
Resolution 1:: “Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support and hold publicly accountable lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”
Resolution 2:: “Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding a way for people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.”
Resolution 4: This resolution called upon members to respect the bound consciences of those with whom they disagree; declared the intent to allow structured flexibility in decision-making about candidacy and the call process; eliminated the prohibition of rostered service by members in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships; recognized and committed to respect the conviction of members who believe that the ELCA should not call or roster people in committed same-gender relationships; called for development of accountability guidelines; directed that appropriate amendments to ministry policy documents be drafted and approved by the Church Council; and urged that this church continue to trust congregations, bishops, synods and others responsible for determining who should be called into public ministry.”

My Pastoral Responsibilites…
In this action, therefore, the ELCA asserted these policies as binding for our church body. As a pastor, I am therefore called by this legislative action to operate within the “bound conscience” guidelines. I must accept and respect within our church those who are equally committed to their own interpretation of scripture and Lutheran tradition though I disagree on these points.
After long consideration and study then, I find that the persons among whom I am called to do ministry, both those with which I may agree or disagree, should know my position on such matters. First and foremost you should know that I cannot endorse several positions the ELCA has taken at its assembly. I now state my own thoughts on these matters, based upon the texts I find in scripture..

Scriptural Guidance...
First, be sure that I welcome the participation of those persons within "lifelong monogamous same-gender relationships" within the church as part of the collective sinful humanity to which we all belong, As a sinful person, I join with all brothers and sisters in Christ that are called to come to the foot of the cross and ask forgiveness. However, I cannot endorse a same-gender sexual relationship as being an accepted human relational state before God. For this reason, I state as a pastor of the church that I reject, and shall not perform a “blessing” of any “lifelong monogamous same-gender relationship". This I must hold no matter how loving and well-intended the parties may be. But I do also repeat that persons within any congregation retain the right to disagree with me in “bound conscience” on these matters.
My justification for this position is placed not in scripture as to the nature of sexual sins. These are worthily argued and highlighted by authorities on either side of the issue who have culled scripture proof texts from Leviticus to Paul. Each has their particular view, and I have investigated each. But my pastoral position comes not from Leviticus, nor an Epistle. My opinion first comes from Jesus Christ, as recorded by the church of Matthew. Concerning marriage, Jesus spoke clearly to the Pharisees when they asked, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” (Matthew 19:3-8).
In his reply, Jesus stated. “Have you not heard that from the beginning that he who created them made them male and female, and said… “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.?” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
After this statement, in just a few short verses, we read also in Matthew that Moses allowed divorce, but Jesus asserts, “…from the beginning it was not so.”
Therefore, concerning marriage, divorce, and more, Jesus points us back to the beginning. He points toward Eden and the orders of creation. We are then called to read and examine the original intent of God. Following this tactic, within Genesis 1:27-28, we read in part… “So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply...”
By scriptural story, therefore, we read that God spoke and created, ordering humans as male and female, and blessed them in marital union for procreation, so that these may fill the earth.
We may also note now that Adam and Eve were not good at following orders, for it seems that they wished to be “gods”. We may note that working to be a god, attempting God’s decisions, is contrary to the Creator’s plan for us. Caught in sinful disobedience to God’s law then, the first faith parents were cast from Eden. But, according to the ancient story, they were spared immediate destruction by God for the reasons of perpetuating his people. This was accomplished solely by the grace of God for the Almighty’s own reasons. I think that our Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) says it well in the introductory statement in the service of Marriage…
“Because of sin, our age old rebellion, the gladness of marriage can be overcast and the gift of family can become a burden. But because God, who established marriage, continues still to bless it with his abundant and ever-present support, we can be sustained in our weariness and have our joy restored.”
For reasons beyond my knowledge, unless it was preparatory to accommodating these recent churchwide decisions, the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal omits this wonderful text. But in support of the LBW’s content, I find that there is no scriptural foundation for the blessing of any other human sexual relationship other than heterosexual marriage. Though I may be in error, it is my pastoral conclusion that “blessing” any other human sexual relationship goes beyond the orders of creation, and therefore should not be accomplished in, or by the church..

Ministry Changes…
Finally, while any church does have the right to gather unto itself persons fitting its own criteria for ordained ministry, I have also formed opinions on this matter. For this I refer the reader to the record from the scriptural First Letter to Timothy. Paul writes….
“Let deacons be the husband of one wife, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 3:12-13)
Yes surely, Paul was writing to the people of an ancient time rather than our own. And yes, not all of his instructions should be carried over into our own time and culture. For this last claim, examine his statement that “…women should learn in silence…” Any pastor trying that tact in a modern bible study could soon note the favorable change in our own society.
But I argue that the moral impetus for the called and ordained has not changed. For the ordained are to, “…gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith…” In my definition, one who is in good standing should be those who comply with the orders of creation set up at the beginning. Therefore, these are they who teach that heterosexual marriage is the order of ongoing creation and thus live striving toward accordance with that status.
And finally, given that marriage remains still as the only scripturally-blessed fleshly union, I contend that unless the ordained person shall remain single and celibate, heterosexual marriage is the only sexual union that lies authentically available for the ordained clergy. I view that any other “blessing” of unions outside of the male and female model does not comply with scripture and should not be performed by the church and its clergy. Nor do I think homosexual relationships within the clergy properly present the church to the world. To offer this modernistic adjustment to scriptural interpretation is an attempt to dilute the intended order and goes beyond scriptural mandate.

In Closing…
You can easily deduce that in these opinions I find myself at odds with the recent CWA decisions, and also many persons within the ELCA, and find yet according to their dictate I reside under the “bound conscious” parameters. Therefore, I must decide my personal course of actions based upon both my calling and my own walk of faith.
But know this.., at least for the moment I remain your pastor and seek your prayers for guidance. Whether this shall remain our mutual calling before God depends on our collective congregational response to these issues. But to reiterate somewhat, in my knowledge our congregation is asked by church and state law to perform marriage. It remains our prerogative to assent or refuse. Secondly, in actions concerning future pastoral callings, a Call Committee need not entertain the call of persons of homosexual orientation couched within life-long relationships, though these may be available in the near future from the church-wide pool of the ordained.
A congregation may wish to remain as God’s servant community within the ELCA, following the dictates of its own scriptural interpretation concerning these matters. But also know that these shall be judged by God and the world by its allegiances. A passerby to whom we are called to witness may ask, “Does this church belong to the “Order of the Woodchuck”, to the ELCA, or to God’s calling within another faithful construct?. As your pastor, I ask you to prayerfully answer these matters concerning your future not in denominational ties, but in Christ, And I ask that you balance that answer with your mutual ministry according to Holy Scripture. May God bless your walk of faith with peace through the Holy Spirit, even unto eternal life.

New Model?

2009-10-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

Bad design? Did I hear right? Many years ago, Chuck stood beside me looking at an Oldsmobile Toronado that was perched on a lift. The tranny had fried and I had it out of the car for repair. But there was one bolt, hidden way back in a corner of the transmission case, that was tough. I knew I could get it out. But I also know now that I’d never get it back in place. The accepted fix said, “Leave it out.”
And Chuck said, “It’ll still work.., but weaker. It’s a bad design.”
The bolt, almost inaccessible once the engine and tranny were attached, could not be reinserted into the tranny case. Oh, I tried… I really, really tried.
I said, “But an engineer put it there for a reason.”
He responded caustically, “The think without it the case won’t hold for the heavy long haul. They’re gambling with the fix.”
I rebuilt the transmission, and installed the tranny without the bolt. But I often wondered about the missing part and whether I did justice to the car owner. The car never came back again, so I’ll never know.
I feel the same way lately... about decisions my church denomination has made. Gay pastors? They’ve approved doing it that way. Will it work? Maybe.., but I remember Chuck’s words about the bolt… “It’s a bad design.”
Yep, now I think the Engineer of Engineers meant well when he first created man and woman, but because we sin… things go wrong. Gay pastors? Have we taken a bolt out that we can’t put back? We try to fix the grand designs in our finite way, and maybe... just maybe, it won’t work for long. Maybe it’s time for those of us in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to trade our wheels… for a new, better model?

Decisions, Decisions....

2009-07-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

My daughter's car just went berserk. Like an ungrateful child sequestered in a high chair for one hundred thousand miles, almost exactly, the little blue Sunfire began to spew forth fluid from its guts. The temperature gauge rose as she drove home at three o'clock AM, from seeing the most recent segment of "Harry Potter". As I personally checked the car at a more sane time, the engine did raise its temperature within a quarter mile, and I shut it down before the needle pegged. A check of the cooling system during the subsequent afternoon revealed two cylinders puffed inadequate compression.... a blown head gasket! Aargh!
Now, since my advanced years prevent my entertaining the job myself (bending over little cars and low fenders wasn't meant for old people, let alone tall, fat old people), therefore I farmed the job to a local shop. The price.... over six hundred for a gasket replacement, and over a grand if the cylinder head is cracked. Ouch! But the alternative is trading up to a newer car and taking a hit on trade-in value. A quick perusal of the car said it is still in good condition for its age and mileage. Some basic math then took into view the proposed new car payments, greater insurance costs, and market losses due to trading a defunct vehicle... and the decision was a done deal in my mind... fix the gasket!
My daughter, however, got immediate visions of a new set of wheels.., possible a 4WD vehicle to get her through the winter snows. When quick checks of the models that were available, their prices, and their prospective fuel mileage ranges was made.., again.... the answer came out to fix the gasket! Very few, if any, 4WD vehicles are going to give her the fuel mileage the little four-banger gathers, and so far Pontiac hasn't done a swan dive as a car maker. So my sage advice to my girl has been... "Keep it and drive it 'til the wheels fall off. If ya gets stuck in the snow, call AAA" I know this won't help Detroit get through the economic recession, so I almost feel guilty. Whaddya think?

Help US automakers?

2009-02-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

We citizens who have been champions of the free market system, and now participants in the world market, now watch as our government is asked to economically dabble in bailing out the domestic automakers. As taxpayers, we are thus viewing our Presidential taskforce being assigned to study those manufacturers whose poor economic policies and management have caused a dwindling workd market share. We might ask whether the faltering is due to shoddy economics, or shoddy manufacturing and management. We should question whether our protectionism to banks, should even enter the manufacturing realm? It seems to me that those auto manufacturing fat cats who have ridden the gravy train toward establishing overseas personal accounts and furthered development of foreign manufacturing facilities, should be held economically accountable for their self-centered ineptitude. Should free market accountiblility occur before any corporate bailout program begins. Should investigation of corporate executive pay structures and personal worth assessments be made, rather than the onus for financial failure be laid upon the back of a financially depressed citizenry. I think so! Of course. . , I could be wrong. Whaddya think?

Muddying the Waters...

2009-02-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

AS TIME rolls along the automotive highway, we now see a veritable tromping through muddy waters as we search for new fuel sources. Yes indeed, there are new hydrocarbon based fuel sources already being tapped. But existing oil sands and most other such resources still remain in the early stages of access and development, and all still leave us with dubious carbon footprint pollution problems. This path leaves us still needing to explore pure hydrogen as a future fuel.
Along these lines, Fritz Prinz, chairman of Stanford University's mechanical engineering department, had recent conversation with MSN Autos concerning the progress of hydrogen as a viable automobile fuel. His conversation beheld. . .
"While some experts believe that battery technology could eventually provide enough efficiency to store and release solar power, Prinz sees hydrogen as a more practical solution. "Solar can only become effective and feasible once you have a parallel of energy storage." The energy produced by photovoltaic panels could be used to extract hydrogen from another renewable resource: water. Strategic placement of solar farms could limit the length and number of hydrogen pipelines. This is a relationship that Honda is already exploring, with a demonstration home in Torrance, Calif., that uses rooftop solar panels to generate hydrogen, with a refueling station located in the garage."
Thus this energy gnome states that hydrogen is still a viable power source for automobiles that is being explored by major auto makers. I argue, however, that auto industry impetus toward hydrogen-powered fuel cells in vehicles may be misplaced. Though much more efficient than a hydrogen powered piston engine, fuel cell automobiles do provide some nasty pollutants, and would seem also to foster a fairly substantial automotive upkeep industry.
Whereas, the hydrogen-powered piston engine, such as that developed by BMW in the Model 7 prototypes, uses technologies already available. And, though stated as less thermally efficient in its hydrogen fuel use, it would seem that a piston engine-equipped vehicle that is not running a carbon based fuel would provide far greater longevity provides less cost for the consumer. Hydrogen does not contain the carbon of oil-based fuels, and therefore the piston engine wear is reduced and its life span is increased. To ignore the application of hydrogen in piston engines, therefore, seems a choice mentored primarily by those who have already made monetary investments in fuel cell vehicle technology. I believe they are taking us down the wrong road to advantage their own financial ends. What do ya think?

Blessings... TeeJay

Farming Gasoline and Diesel Fuel?

2008-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

A recent e-mail I recieved called an experiment to my attention that is relevant to our topic. It pointed out the work being done by a power and light company in New Mexico that has been doing some algae farming. The company had decided, because of the high cost of fuel, that it would expose algae to sunlight to attempt to produce hydrocarbons. Working with the scientific community, the work resulted in production of hydrocarbon fuels which can be tailored by algae genetics, and produced in high quantity. The hydrocarbon chains made by the genetically controlled algae can be tailored so the life form can make gasoline, diesel fuel, and other liquid hydrocarbons. The process does take its toll on the little critters, and the cultivation of them is a constant process, but favorable regeneration and container maintenance is possible at a profitable monetary rate. To produce this fuel for the entire nation, it was said, the sunlight algae farms would only need be about the one-tenth the acreage of New Mexico. Given this work then, we can foresee that these farms could be made to produce in the dry expanses of many southern U.S. states, especially in some whose economic farming infrastructure and geographical terrain make them favorable to this development. We might even replace cotton and tobacco as solitary cash crop choices! Let's see now, where, can I find some pond scum? And can they be especially bred to produce Yukon Jack whiskey?

Wind and Gas

2008-09-16T17:01:00.001-07:00

As hurricanes have recently had their way with the southern coast of the U.S., gas prices are beginning to soar in some states. Price gouging is underway. And another page in the saga of our dependence upon foreign oil is written. What shall we do?
A recent commercial presented by T. Boone Pickens raised the flag of natural gas as a temporary cure for our liquid fuel addictions. I think he's got a solid idea with this gassy fuel. But as a society I believe we have to be careful not to consider this cure as a long term fix. As he clearly states, the change will cause us to be energy independent until a fuel such as hydrogen power is brought to bear. So, the next time you see T. Boone Pickens on the tube, listen up... and let me know what ya think! I wonder what I'll need to convert that ol' Grand Cherokee gas fuel injection to natural gas?

Slogging and Bogging Along?

2008-07-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

A recent Newsweek article probed the depths of the oil bogs of Alberta, Canada. It seems that the recent upswing in market prices paid for a barrel of oil has made slogging through the depths of the province's oil sand bogs a very profitable venture. And, study has shown that once the oil bogs are removed in those far northern reaches, the land can be actually restored and improved in its forest producing abilities. But, whether this latter program will be scrupulously followed is tenuous, much like our own mountaintop mining of coal in the Appalachians.
According to sources, bog miners can remove the top slurry from the bog and heat squeeze a very high quality crude from the natural concoction. According to estimates, there is enough bog oil to supply the domestic oil industry of Canada and this country for many decades. As well, it has also been in the news that shale oil in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and North Dakota has given us our own oil reservoir that lies beneath a vast territory. This shale oil is fast becoming accessible via new drilling and retrieval methods.
The catch for us.. as I see it? First, the oil industry has not cleaned up the spew of harmful airborne emissions that come from bog refining processes. Thus high air pollution is spewing forth from the oil found in the pristine reaches of our northern neighbor. Second, although the use of this new found fuel may somewhat relieve the immediate problems of high prices at the gas pump, it will not alleviate our air pollution troubles as vehicle continue to burn hydrocarbon fuels. But know this.... pure HYDROGEN will. My fear as I sit typing is that the welcome retrieval of oil sands and shale will slow scientific and industrial research into the production of a truly adundant and clean hydrogen fuel. Whaddya think?

Where's the Research?

2008-06-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's been a while since I got the chance to sit at the keyboard and bemoan gas prices. In recent weeks, however, it seems prudent to do so. I just paid over $4 a gallon for my dose of regular.. and I think that money paid for some alcohol-spiked variety that'll cut my mileage by a few mpg.
This makes me ask... where is the fuel-conversion research that will make gas and diesel fuel from coal? This nation has, as I've heard, huge reserves in coal. Though living in a coal-rich state causes my environmental duress to mount, I now consider mountaintop mining not too high a price to pay if it means we can still afford to buy gasoline and wisk a sick child to the hospital in the middle of the night. Also, I ask you folks that work in the fields of national economic security.., Isn't it time to wean ourselves from foreign energy brokers and keep mine workers, machinists, heavy equipment operators, and truckers busy right here at home.
Is it time to look back and update coal and even reconsider the steam railroad engine? This has been a nation of economic opportunity for many... I believe it can be again.

Woe Is Us Hot Rodders?

2008-02-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

I recently read a news story that the fuel crunch, expressed both in high price and low availability... will soon put a hurtin' on the restoration and running of older vehicles. This attitude worries me... partly because I am waiting for a few warmer days in the garage before putting some finishing touches on an old GM small block.. and now with this ill thought wandering through my mind, I am not sure whether to finish it or junk it.
Hmm... will the scarcity of high test gasoline, or a hefty price for that anti-knock gasoline punch... stop a '66 Olds 330cid V-8 from cruising a classy Cutlass to the soft ice cream stand on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The answer comes after some idling thoughts... I seriously doubt it!
I can more easily see that my inability to find a box or two of GM's arch-shaped rocker arm fulcrums might more easily cramp my ride... than fuel scarcity troubles. Apparently the writer of such blather has never heard of American engine-uity! From the first hotrod flathead V-8 high boy Ford that cruised out of the So Cal Speed Shop, to the latest spark gushing, road scraping low-rider Honda from Tampa... the imagination of a dedicated motorhead will get us through these transient fuel problems. If you can burn it, we'll find a way to run it! Wasn't it Rudolf Diesel who built his engine to run off such things as coal dust! And, if Rudy did it... well, let's see... where did I put that bottle of white lightning... and what'll it do in a 4-bbl Holley?

A Dimly Burning Wick

2008-01-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

Capitalism works! Though the system may be criticized on many levels, the need for items in the marketplace can drive progress. This is true, especially when it comes to the car you drive. The industry is now seeing fledgling companies offering hydrogen-powered vehicles. In a gesture to the major car manufacturers, a few small entreprenuers are saying "slide over" and are taking the wheel. They are re-manufacturing present vehicles so that they run on hydrogen.
According to an article recently read on the MSNBC website, ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4563676/ ) some Cobra, Hummer, Nissan trucks and Ford trucks are already being fitted using hydrogen as the fuel for the internal combustion engine.
Thus countering the commitment many car makers have toward fuel cell vehicles, these folks are busy making hydrogen combustion-powered vehicles, but at a high price tag! Take note though, I wonder... How much did Edison ask for the first light bulb? How much do they cost now?
Yes, at present the vehicles are expensive to convert. And, yes, the fuel is hard to acquire... so far. And yes, it's doubtful that I willl have a hydrogen-powered Cobra sitting in our driveway this year... but I freely can dream... and I can pray... and just watch the crankshaft turn.

Hydrogen: Just How Long...?

2007-12-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Browsing through You Tube recently brought me to an interesting video. I seems that hydrogen combustion power is already motoring the roadways of the European continent. Through not released for sale to the general public, the debut of the BMW Hydrogen 7 series luxury car was made known. The vehicle is indeed multi-fuel. The car will run on either liquid hydrogen or high octane gasoline. The operator simply has to press a steering wheel switch to make the transition from one fuel to the other. Computer control of the fuel metering.., etc. is apparently done without the driver adjusting any other item. Running on hydrogen, only water vapor comes out of the exhaust.
Now, the statement was made during the video was that we indeed have the technology to build the cars, but do not have the infrastructure in hydrogen refining and delivery. Thus it is that the car is dual fuel- therefore it’ll run on hydrogen where you can get it, and switch to gasoline when you cannot. In the video it was predicted that it will take twenty years or so for the hydrogen infrastructure to mature. I wonder?
While you are on YouTube, also check out the video for the Mazda rotary-powered sports car that runs on hydrogen. As well, there are some educational videos about hydrogen engines and a system wherein you can produce hydrogen fuel. The videos are amateurish, yet claims are made that hydrogen can be a fuel produced in sufficient quantity for everyday use.

Interesting stuff! Check it out and let me know "What Ya Think?"

Fireside Conversation

2007-12-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

I recently went to the home of elders in my parish to give home communion, and got involved in a heating and fuel economics lesson. I love taking communion to this elderly couple, because the folks at this farmstead home are absolutely great. Both husband and wife are 85+ years young, and I am welcomed like I am one of the clan. Seth, Martha and I sat, talked, and shared the eucharist in a nice warm sitting room. As I looked at a fire glowing in the room’s corner, Seth asked… “Do you like the stove? It’s a coal stove… we just got it last week. It heats the whole house."
I looked at the blue colored flames flickering in the stove window. “I like it, it’s a handsome stove. It reminds me of my grandmother’s stove she had when I was a child.”
Then he said something I didn’t expect… “It saves gas.”
“What do you mean?” I said.
“Well, if gasoline keeps going up in price we aren’t going to be able to function very well in this country. That’s not what I fought for back in ’44."
I knew that Seth had been a POW during WW2. I also knew that he was a practical man.
He said, “I figure if we older folks can set an example, and we can get back to using more coal for heat, like we used to do… then we wouldn’t use nearly as much fuel oil.
If we wouldn’t need as much oil, then we can make more gasoline. And then the price should come down so folks can get to work.”
I thought about it. And I wondered at the logic. It seems so simple. More coal used for home heating, and more petroleum processed into gasoline… at least for while. Could it be that simple? What do ya think?

Water as Fuel? Not so Far-Fetched

2007-11-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

About thirty years ago a good friend and co-worker of mine, Bud Groner, owned a brand new, silver VW Sirocco. The car blew my mind! It was unique in that it had a 5-cylinder engine. Now Bud, who at one time had owned the Langhorne Speed Shop in Langhorne, PA, was one of those inquisitive automotive nuts who made my years as a vocational teacher an exciting journey.
A gas crunch was hitting the U.S., and people were looking for alternative fuels almost as much as we are now. So, Bud acquired a kit that touted water injection, and came to me to help noodle it out. If it worked, he wanted to know how it worked.
Basically, the unit was a bottle that mounted beneath the hood. Attached by plumbing, beneath the bottle was a 12V electric pump which fed a stream of water to a small nozzle jet. The pump was wired so that it would activate via a manifold vacuum switch. The switch would turn on the pump for a delivery of misted water, ejected whenever a predetermined low vacuum signal was reached. In other words, whenever the engine was under a load, the air cleaner filter would get a spray mist of water, or if you wanted a better “boost” you’d put both water and windshield washer alcohol in the bottle.
What Bud wanted to know, was… “Will my five banger blow when I energize this booster?”
Together we looked at the unit, the installation instructions, the claims, and then the… “disclaimer”. The latter, stated that there were no liabilities for the manufacturers if you “lunched” your engine.
So Bud and I thought about the whole process, and here’s what we came up with. I said.., “We know that damp and cool intake air aids in completing gasoline combustion. We know an engine runs better on a cool damp night, just before a rain storm. The dense, moisture-laden air supplies more oxygen per cubic foot of air. . . so it must be like squeezing the trigger on an acetylene torch.”
But Bud interjected a cautious.., “And a torch can burn a hole in metal.”
To which I replied, “I don’t think so here, the water is going to suck up heat as it vaporizes. Besides, it’s your car.., not mine.”
With that said, Bud grinned, and we installed the unit to try it out. And… it worked! In a quarter mile acceleration run, the unit took 1.5 seconds off the elapsed time, using plain, distilled WATER in the bottle. Performance was definitely improved, and as the unit operated over an extended time, the fuel mileage was increased slightly. The increase, however, depended on how heavy Bud stepped on the accelerator. He noted that the improvement was most notable in hilly country, when he would fight his tendency to downshift and climb the hill. The bottom line was “water injection works”.
But, a caveat has to be clearly stated… the water must be carefully metered! I know, because Bud suggested that a little improvement with a little water, may mean a lot of improvement with more water. So we hooked up a bigger hose and a primary carburetor jet to feed a ’67 Ford 302cid engine. We cranked up the ol’ Fairlane, warmed it up, and ran the flivver down a new, unopened section of I-95. Wow! Did that little engine put out the power! I looked in the mirror to see if we were pursued by any gendarmes, and the steam was just rollin’ out the exhaust. I looked at Bud, and said… “I guess Stanley was right when he built the steamer”. Then there was that funny crunching sound, and the white smoke turned blue as the 302 imploded a few pistons.
Thus greed ended the Beam-Groner water experiment. Two weeks later, if my memory serves, Bud traded the VW for a pickup truck.

Possibilities Abound!

2007-11-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Consider this release from"News from physorg.com"

New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy to run engines, fuel cells
(edited to delete references to a picture not included here)
Purdue researchers demonstrate their method for producing hydrogen by adding water to an alloy of aluminum and gallium. The hydrogen could then be used to run an internal combustion engine. The reaction was discovered by Jerry Woodall, *******, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering. Charles Allen, *************, and Jeffrey Ziebarth, both doctoral students in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are working with Woodall to perfect the process. A Purdue University engineer has developed a method that uses an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water for running fuel cells or internal combustion engines, and the technique could be used to replace gasoline.

This release was made available in May 2007, and notably it demonstrates that researchers in many places are working diligently on the fuel supply problem, and a few, like this one, provide heartening results. I may note that this particular advancement is a long way from putting plenteous hydrogen available at the filling station, and given that I personally had to dig deep for the news may either indicate the caution of the researchers about this work, or the reluctance of the educational and institutional communities to alarm oil industry powers wishing to maintain the status quo. In either case, the hydrogen-powered car is already motoring down the road. What ya think?