I must apologize for Ash Wednesday.

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree  of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19 ESV)

Most folks, in or out of church, assume that Ash Wednesday is a biblical practice; many Lutherans may assume that Ash Wednesday is a rite shared with the Roman Catholic Church since the Reformation; many non-Lutheran Protestants are under the assumption that Ash Wednesday and Lent are, as a pastor identifying himself as "a Christian first, then a Protestant, a Calvinist, a Reformed Presbyterian" wrote in his blog a year ago, "a tradition of men and condemned in Scripture." He goes on to say about those who participate: "Do they not realize that these holy days are not prescribed by God, but by fallen men? Do they not realize that their participation in Ash Wednesday and Lent strikes at the gospel itself?" (Yikes!)

This pastor, henceforth known as Pastor T., goes on to claim (my boldfacing and underscoring) that "All that we need for our salvation was accomplished on the Cross by Jesus Christ and His atoning work. By participating in Ash Wednesday and Lent, we are saying that His sacrifice was not enough. We are saying that somehow we must add to what He did on the Cross. We are demeaning His work by doing so." I'm still an unpaid amateur, yes, but I'd sure like to know where this pastor gets his information. Surely not from a Lutheran church!

So, Pastor T., I'd like to apologize to you, from one Protestant to another. The Reformation drew a clear line of demarcation around practices in the Roman Catholic Church that could not be proven scripturally sound, particularly where a person's salvation was concerned. Some, such as penance and indulgences, were deemed not just false, but even detrimental to an adherent's faith. Other practices were simply labelled as adiaphora (matters of indifference), which our Lutheran Confessions (not canon law) define as "ceremonies or church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in God's Word, but have been introduced into the Church for the sake of good order and propriety." Furthermore, the Confessions go on to explain (my boldfaceing and underlining): "For Scripture calls traditions doctrines of demons, when it is taught that religious rites are serviceable to merit the remission of sins and grace. For they are then obscuring the Gospel, the benefit of Christ, and the righteousness of faith. [For they are just as directly contrary to Christ and to the Gospel as are fire and water to one another.] The Gospel teaches that by faith we receive freely, for Christ's sake, the remission of sins and are reconciled to God."  (Pastor T., are we not on the same team here?)

A Lutheran pastor writes more about adiaphora in A More Definitive Definition of Adiaphora, posted a few years ago to intrepidlutherans.com.

So, Pastor T., we Lutherans are not trying to work out our salvation through man-made church practices and holy days. What Ash Wednesday and Lent are all about is spelled out quite nicely in this Ash Wednesday order of service published by the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's World Relief and Human Care organization:

Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn days of the church year. This liturgy marks the beginning of a penitential discipline climaxing on Maundy Thursday. The mood is penitential and reflective on our baptismal faith and life. The organ is silent before and after worship. Worshipers are asked to keep reverent silence before the service and leave the service in silence. There will be no greeting at the door by the pastor. Originally, Lent was the time when candidates for Holy Baptism were intently preparing to be baptized at the Vigil of Easter. We, too, in this season of Lent prepare ourselves to remember our Baptism at Easter as we ritually “pass over” with Jesus from death to new life. During this Lenten season will remember Jesus’ Baptism, His anointing with the Holy Spirit, and His words in Luke 4 – that He was anointed to show, and to be, mercy. As His people – hearing Him proclaim God’s Word and being God’s Word as Prophet; seeing Him sacrifice Himself on a cross and know that He intercedes for us as Priest; and knowing that we live under Him as King in righteousness and purity – we will be reminded of our work of mercy. 

Today, worshipers will have the opportunity to receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of penitence and baptismal remembrance. The ashes are prepared by burning palm branches from last Palm Sunday. In a dramatic way, their use suggests God’s judgment and condemnation of sin, our frailty and total dependence on God, and humiliation and repentance. The words spoken as ashes are imposing, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” were first spoken to Adam after his fall into sin. We are forcefully reminded of the words of the committal in the Christian Burial service, “... earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Ashes also suggest cleansing and renewal. They were once used as a cleaning agent. Thus, ashes imposed in the shape of a cross symbolize both judgment and baptismal cleansing.

Ash Wednesday is a great way to begin the Lent Season, which for me is a period of reflection, introspection, and spiritual calibration leading up to Good Friday, the very somber and meaningful service on which is also adiaphora, Pastor T., but helps to color the power and majesty of Easter Sunday in a way that should be experienced by every Christian.

I know this is a lot, but I felt I owe you-- and any others who would label me (a Christian first, then a Lutheran) as someone who "profanes the Gospel"-- a HUGE apology, brother.

How I got to this place... (Part 2)

The priest raises his foot. In it he feels a dull, heavy pain. This is no mere formality. He will now trample on what he has considered the most beautiful thing in his life, on what he has believed most pure, on what is filled with the ideals and the dreams of man. How his foot aches! And then the Christ in bronze speaks to the priest: 'Trample! Trample! I more than anyone know of the pain in your foot. Trample! It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men's pain that I carried my cross.'... The priest placed his foot on the fumie. Dawn broke. And far in the distance the cock crew.  (Shūsaku Endō, from his novel, Silence, 1966)

[I must preface today's post with a plug for the novel Silence, written by Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, about Jesuit missionary Sebastião Rodrigues (and based on the historical Italian figure Giuseppe Chiara) who struggles with his faith as a priest during the oppression of Christianity in 17th century Japan. I just finished it and it is now easily among my top ten favorite books! The film adaptation, with Liam Neeson and Benicio del Toro in the leading role as Fr. Sebastião Rodrigues (del Toro played revolutionary Che Guevara in Che, a superb movie from 2008), is set to open in November.]

Continuing on from yesterday's post...

In 1995 I was knee-deep in military recruiting as a Navy zone supervisor (the single most difficult job I ever had; a short-lived stint as a grocery store night manager was a close second) in Ft. Worth. We had bought a house two years’ prior, during our transition to Texas from Maryland. My job required me to work long hours, travel, and I even had to work some Sundays.

One Sunday afternoon in early April I was lying on the couch watching the Texas Rangers on tv, when I got a call from the vicar (pastor intern) at the church around the corner where my wife and daughters were members and where I sometimes showed up, if my schedule allowed. He had heard that I played softball in the Navy and said that the church's team needed a pitcher. So I joined up (and played when I could) and got to know a dozen guys, just about all of whom are still friends. Then I got interested in choir, then I offered to maintain the congregation’s nascent website, then I asked the pastor what I needed to do to become a member myself. He was gracious enough to work around my miserable schedule and one-on-one we worked through the pastor’s class requirement and on Memorial Day I stood before the congregation in my white Chief Petty Officer uniform and professed my faith—I became a Lutheran!

I had difficulty finding a job that could pay even close to what my military take-home pay was when I left the Navy in January 2001. I suffered the indignities of interview after interview, a series of hourly wage jobs, desperation followed by fear followed by intense anger at God...one morning in July I was in a hotel room near BWI airport packing my things to return from another interview when my cellphone rang-- it was the principal of a high school in the neighboring city in Texas with a job opening as an ESL teacher and I was 1,200 miles away. He agreed to meet me later in the day after I had returned to Texas, the interview took 15 minutes (10 of which was spent on the topic of football), and I left his office with a classroom key. A contract showed up in the mail 5 days later. I must admit that at that time I couldn't even spell ESL, much less teach it... On the drive home from that interview, thinking about that key in my pocket, I broke down because I had blamed God for what I perceived as His persecution of me for some reason that I just couldn't understand-- I felt so guilty and so ashamed, but at the same time so relieved! My faith took a huge step forward on that day.

To help supplement my starting teacher salary (minus the cost of certification), I had a job at a nearby large liquor store. While helping customers, I met a lot of Russian speakers and God gave me the idea to try and form a Russian-language Bible study. So I made little cards to hand out that directed folks to a webpage that advertised a study that began in spring 2002 and grew to about 20 persons through spring 2004. My pastor and I actually conducted a first-ever bilingual Easter service that year!

From 2001 until the end of 2004 I served in varying capacities at church—elder, Andrew Caller, small group leader and Sunday Russian Bible School teacher, mid-week instructor, choir member, member of congregational softball and bowling teams, congregational vice president, and chairman of the board of elders (the post I was occupying when our pastor,the guy who had graciously worked around my schedule to make a Lutheran out of me, took a call and left).

With my buddy Aleksei near
a Moscow Starbucks in 2008

When I had become a civilian again, I inquired within the LCMS as to whether there were any Russian-speakers (preferably living in Russia) with whom I could correspond to practice Russian. The church put me in touch with a missionary pastor in Moscow who, in turn, put me in touch with a Russian Lutheran pastor there named Aleksei. He and I spent many hours chatting online and became good friends. In fact, even though he now lives on the Crimean Peninsula and it's been years since we've visited, we still consider him part of our family (my father, who I think was a little distrustful of Russia and Russians at first, even gave him a house key of his own with an open invitation to stay in an extra bedroom). Thanks to my connection to Aleksei, the summer of 2004 became a huge spiritual turning point for me... 

The winning patio, The Keys of the Kingdom, and the sabbatical is over.

"The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26, LSB)

So. It's been a month, eh?

I have to admit on this Memorial Day 2017 that the time has come to scratch the itch and end my posting sabbatical...

Since finishing the spring quarter and being a participant in that life-altering experience known as "Call Night" nearly a month ago, we've begun to map out our future-- well, at least the near future (over the next four months)-- as we look ahead to our next destination: Alamo, Texas. The summer is coming quickly! We need to find a house in Texas and I still have two courses to complete (well, three if I count Hebrew, which is really just an audit for my own edification), after which we'll be on the road again, southbound at last...

Since my last post, besides making it through the last quarter, not much has been happening on this end. I can report that after living in this complex for a year, our cat has finally figured out how to get from the back door to the front door by going around the building-- this morning I was looking through the front window for the paper (don't get me started on our 99% late delivery guy), and there he was; upon entering the place for the first time through the front door, he seemed surprised to find his food bowl. He really might be mentally retarded. I should also report that our patio (pictured) was declared the most beautiful in an impromptu contest and we won a $150 Kroger gift card. Other than mini-bingeing on Dark Shadows DVDs through Netflix (we've just passed the advent of Barnabas Collins), we're just layin' low until the pace picks up again in a week or so.

And one last item of business... I have a movie and accompanying novel (well, vice-versa, actually) to recommend. A couple of weeks ago, we were looking for a movie to watch one evening and I found The Keys of the Kingdom on Google Play, "A marvelous spectacle spanning six decades and two continents, The Keys of the Kingdom is the glorious epic that introduced audiences to screen newcomer Gregory Peck." It's Gregory Peck's first film (1944) and easily rivals his Oscar-winning performance in To Kill a Mockingbird (though he was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Father Francis Chisholm). After watching the movie, which I'd never heard of before finding it on Google Play, I looked into the novel (of the same name) on which it is based and then Kindled it. The film is very good; however, the book is much better! (Similar to Silence the film and Silence the book, the latter and The Keys of the Kingdom being two of the best books I've ever read and both wonderful stories of suffering faith!)

Speaking of books, I've made added list of recent titles I've read and enjoyed (under Blog Archive), going back maybe a year and a half and in no particular order. The top title is what I'm currently reading (and still enjoying, otherwise it wouldn't be there).

Anyway. I'm back on the blog circuit (for now), so stay tuned. Until next time...

“Que Dios te bendiga y siempre te cuide;
que Dios te mire con agrado y te muestre su bondad;
que Dios te mire con agrado y te llene de paz”.

(trying to get ready for the Rio Grande Valley...this is the Spanish version of the Aaronic Blessing in Numbers 6:22-27...same as the English translation at top, which we Lutherans hear the pastor say in just about every worship service... There is much that can be said of the Aaronic blessing in the original Hebrew. If we were to remove the three instances of “the Lord” (Yahweh) in the blessing, we would be left with twelve words in the original language, an intentional reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. Furthermore, this threefold repetition of the name Yahweh is not required; one usage of God’s name would have sufficed...more here)

Oh yeah, one more thing. Take a moment to reflect on the thousands of men and women who died for our freedom. Reach out to a vet today. It's the right thing to do.

С Богом, ya'll!

Become a Voting Ambassador

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV)

Last Friday I posted about my disgust for the way the presidential candidates have conducted themselves (Dual citizenship compels me to vote in November...). My urge to participate in the democratic process has just about been whittled down to three letters: m-e-h. But...

I will bring myself to cast a ballot in the fall...difficult as the choice may be.

In November 2014, Richard Doster, the editor of the Presbyterian Church in America, wrote in a very insightful opinion piece entitled  Politics: Why Christians Must Be Involved:

When Christians abandon the public square, what happens to community values? To ethics? To moral standards? When Christians wash their hands and turn away, who speaks for the poor and powerless? Throughout history we’ve seen the effect of Christian influence: in the abolition of slavery; advocating for universal literacy; for improved education; and for laws that protect children, factory workers, and women. That sort of impact doesn’t come from silence or withdrawal. It comes from faithfulness.

The United States isn’t the kingdom of God, and Christians today must understand, as Martin Luther understood in his time, that, “It is out of the question that there should be a Christian government even over one land.” The wicked, Luther wrote, always outnumber the good. Therefore, to try to rule according to the gospel would be like placing wolves, lions, eagles, and sheep together into the same fold and letting them freely mingle.

The entire article is worth reading, particularly if, like me, these presidential election campaign shenanigans are keeping your conscience up at night.

Another way of looking at one's Christian obligation in the secular world comes from Lutheran martyr (and one of my true heroes) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who spoke these words in a sermon delivered in October 1933 (in context he was referring to pastors; however, I think these words are applicable to all who "speak and act on behalf of their ruler," that is, Christ):

Every empire in this world sends out its ambassadors. Their job is to give visible expression throughout the world to the will and the might of their empire. They are not meant to be anything other than representatives, in this way, of their home empire and their ruler. The German ambassador or the French ambassador is supposed to be the quintessential German or French person. This has nothing to do with him or her as a person, but concerns only the person's mission. And in order to carry out their mission, ambassadors are vested with all the authority of their empire. They speak and act on behalf of their ruler.

And so the unseen Lord of the eternal kingdom and of the church sends out ambassadors into this world, giving them a mission that is greater than that of any other, just as heaven is greater than earth, and eternity is greater than time...

...and who wrote these words in The Cost of Discipleship (published in 1937 as the Nazi machine was gaining momentum): Let the Christian remain in the world, not because of the good gifts of creation, nor because of his responsibility for the course of the world, but for the sake of the Body of the incarnate Christ and for the sake of the Church. Let him remain in the world to engage in frontal assault on it, and let him live the life of his secular calling in order to show himself as a stranger in this world all the more.

I will no longer look upon my obligation to vote in this year as a chore, but my mission-- to "speak" on behalf of my Ruler. All Christians in this country ought to do the same.

Has it really been nearly 2 weeks?!

I know. I know.

It's been 12 days since my last post. Forsooth.

This past week was a killer-- lots of preparation and assignments to turn in as the quarter winds down (next Friday is the last day... woo-hoo!). For me, it was a B week. Sometimes the urge to get it all done and in on time causes the work to suffer... And most of what I turned in was just that-- not my best work, although it turned out to be more than passable. I did, actually, put some thought and effort into a 2200-word analysis of the chapter on Baptism in a 10-lbs. tome of Systematic Theology authored by a Baptist. I found the truth-or-consequences aspect very, very interesting (that is, why Baptists believe what they do about "being saved," age of reason, etc.). I haven't gotten the grade back on this assignment yet.

As the quarter winds down, I have only a few sundry items on the docket; so, by comparison with the past week (and the one before), the week ahead seems much less daunting.

On Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting on a bench in the corridor waiting for the room for my 2pm class to empty when I got a phone call from the placement office about a congregation in Texas that requested an interview with me via Skype...that afternoon. So I stayed after class and at 4pm I had a phone interview that lasted about 45 minutes with them (they couldn't get Skype working on their end). I thought it went well, but only God knows if it went well enough for them to issue a Call...

Friday morning I embarked upon a solo death march, since my wife was going to visit with her sisters for one night and wouldn't be here yesterday morning. I walked a skosh more than 7 miles and went over 20,000 steps according to Fitbit. The weather here has been mild and Friday morning it was wunderbar (near 70, clear, slight cool breeze)!

I watched the film "Arrival" Friday night-- I thought it was pretty good, but it was a mind twister. The special effects are great, especially when the humans interact with the heptapods (7-tentacled aliens that exist in different concept of time). The next flick to see is "Silence" once it goes DVD.

Back to the weather. Last night after my wife's return from abroad (another state), we sat out on the patio with a fire bowl and the grill going... In the middle of February in northern Indiana!

And, speaking of Indiana, our janky (that was a NY Times Crossword word today, the answer to the clue "Of poor quality, in modern slang"-- never heard of it...until today) newspaper with no discernible predictability (either by way of content or delivery) graced me with Garrison Keillor's column yesterday. He wrote about humanity. You should read it.

And, speaking of new words, I heard bozzle on the old Sally Field sitcom "Gidget," used like this: "...and all that bozzle." A lot of interesting (and now archaic) southern California teen-speak peppers the dialogue in that show. "The Flying Nun" and "Gidget" are on Antenna TV very early on Sunday morning.

And, speaking of tv series, I decided to order the DVDs from Netflix and start watching the spooky old soap opera "Dark Shadows" from the ground up. I related to my mother on the phone the other day that I remember being told by her as a little kid that I couldn't watch that show (when an episode airing had caught my attention; I was in the 2nd grade, 1969-70-ish). I used to watch it occasionally as teenager... I meant to get started Friday night while the cat and I were batchin' it, but I saw that "Arrival" was available to stream, then after that I caught the first episode of the second season of the British sci-fi series (that William Hurt was in during the first season) "Humans" on AMC (that I DVR-ed earlier in the week). So maybe this afternoon I can start up "Dark Shadows" (the problem is that my wife has no interest in watching, so...).

One more week before a two-week break.

С Богом.

Perhaps my life could be described as 'Escheresque'...

Marie is getting married tomorrow, at an outdoor ceremony in the desert. In recent years, it has rained only 5 days each year. Unfortunately, the weatherman has predicted rain for tomorrow. When it actually rains, the weatherman correctly forecasts rain 90% of the time. When it doesn't rain, he incorrectly forecasts rain 10% of the time. What is the probability that it will rain on the day of Marie's wedding? (Answer at bottom; however, you might have to turn your display upside-down or stand on your head to read it.)

Drawing Hands by M.C. Escher, 1948

Back from Thanksgiving with the distaff side of the family in Michigan...nice visit (by car, this time-- no trains, planes, or buses), watched the Boys make it 10 in a row (woo-hoo!), but still feeling a bit under the weather (this insidious cough is hanging on for dear life)...

I think I slept for 8+ hours last night; my wife for nearly 10. We went to bed last night at about 7:30pm. I was up around 4:30am and had a chance to watch the 2nd installment of National Geographic's Mars docudrama that premiered last week. If you haven't watched, you should! I have a very childlike grasp of the science behind a human leap from Earth to Mars; however, the episodes contain a healthy dose of space exploration factoids and footage as the saga plays out. It's knitted together very well (Ron Howard is part of the production team) and the thought of moving to a new planet is, in a way, a refreshing break from the post-election rip tides, police shootings, and holiday season gluttony. (It even has a cool theme song on its Mars-y soundtrack.)

After watching Mars, I looked out the front window and Lo and Behold! my paper was there, actually a tad early for once (we have THE worst carrier in home delivery history, this grizzled 130-year old guy who is late more often than not). I happened upon an interesting article about another space story, the new film Arrival (which I'd really like to see; it's based on the short story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang) and the linguistic challenges behind communicating with extraterrestrial life that show up without a universal translator. (The science behind this story is a smidge easier on my synapses.) If nothing else, after reading the article I think I'm able to use the words heptapod and logogram in a correct sociocultural context at the next party. Not only that, I tripped and fell over Escheresque (you've probably seen some of Escher's work in a book or on a poster somewhere), Sapir-Whorf (a theory about the influence of language on culture, explained thusly: "Because the Inuit language has so many different words for snow...Eskimos may see snow differently from the rest of the world. They may even think about snow differently."), Fermat’s Principle of Least Time (too complex for my peanut-sized brain, but I was able to shoehorn it using this good analogy involving a lifeguard and a drowning swimmer), Snell’s Law (the law of refraction), and Bayes’s Theorem (applied, so I learned on a site called Stat Trek, to conditional problems like the one at the top of this post). Maybe over Christmas break I can convince the missus that it would be worth whatever the king's ransom is that it costs to see a movie these days...

And, speaking of movies, there's a new one coming out next month: Silence (based on the 1966 novel of the same name), with Liam Neeson. The Guardian reports that the film will be premiered at the Vatican. I read the book in August and really enjoyed it! (And posted about it...) Extraordinary story about the fragility of faith and courage, both gifts from a loving God that should never be handled carelessly. Hmm... I wonder if I could get in two films over break? (The last movie I saw in a theater was Life of Pi.)

So we're both lying low today, with nowhere to go (yea!). Perhaps we'll put up the tree this afternoon... 'Tis the season. On Monday it's back to class as the winter quarter begins. I'm looking forward to it!

I'm going to try to finish Dean Koontz' novel from last year, The City, this weekend (I'm on chapter 67 of 108). It's pretty good, so far-- I think there's a faith angle developing.

Until next time... С Богом, ya'll!

P.S. A plausible answer to the problem (yes, of course I cheated):

Fat Tuesday? Shrove Tuesday! (Your annual review...)

Не всё коту масленица, будет и Великий Пост. --Old Russian saying, literally: "it’s not always Maslenitsa for a cat; Lent will come soon." Less literally, "All good things must come to an end."

Today is Mardi Gras in the predominately Roman Catholic and French-speaking world, the last day of the week of gluttony that precedes Ash Wednesday, the traditional start of Lent among Christians. In many Spanish-speaking cultures, today marks the end of Carnival (sort of a sister celebration to Mardi Gras). For those of German heritage (particularly the Pennsylvania Dutch), there will be Fastnachtkuchen (donuts). For traditional Russian Orthodox commemorating (or celebrating, perhaps, in rural communities) Масленица (MAH-sleh-neet-sah) or Pancake Week, today is Заигрыш (ZAH-ig-rish) or Game Day*.  However, today is also Shrove Tuesday, which gets its name from the custom for Christians to be "shriven" before the start of Lent tomorrow. Find out more about this in my post from a year ago (an annual review, so to speak).
*Traditionally men could kiss any passing woman on the street during this day, guests are welcomed and treated to various delicacies including pancakes, single guys would be on the lookout for a wife; the purpose being to make the matchmaking process easier and form couples to get married on Krasnaya Gorka (Red Hill), the Sunday after Easter, a traditional the time for couples to get married).

Shrove Tuesday (aka Fat Tuesday) is the name more commonly used among Anglicans (Episcopalians) for today, historically the day a thrifty housewife uses up the fats kept around the house (can of bacon drippings, whatever) for cooking, but not using during Lent. Since pancakes are a standard way of using up fat, the day is also called Pancake Tuesday. In many parts of Great Britain, the day is celebrated with pancake races--  contestants run a course while holding a griddle and flipping a pancake.

Among Lutherans, Ash Wednesday and Lent are are an important part of the church calendar leading to Easter. There are no enforced or imposed dietary restrictions or penitential requirements. And many congregations will host a pancake supper this evening, as a way to share a common Christian tradition and look forward to the season of Lent beginning tomorrow. Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism that “fasting and other outward preparations may serve a good purpose” in preparing ourselves to receive the Lord’s Supper. But the best preparation, he said, is believing Jesus’ words. Fasting (which some Lutherans do prior to the Lord’s Supper, or any time) can be a beneficial practice, but there is no substitute for faith. The practice of "giving up" something for Lent is neither encouraged or frowned upon, but is more a Roman Catholic practice which many Christians follow.

As, perhaps, an addendum to yesterday's post-- the part about dealing with the world-- I offer up the following devotional to ponder before Ash Wednesday and the penitential season of Lent. While the author shares only some of the doctrine Lutherans believe and teach (he claims to reside in the "Anglican-Lutheran-Roman Catholic corner of Christianity"), this devotional is quite good and fits the moment:

God had delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.  The Book of Exodus, having attempted a natural explanation for the parting of the waters, regarded freedom as the miracle.  And freedom was the miracle.  Yet the slave mentality persisted, so the next generation (not raised as slaves) entered the Promised Land.

God had revealed Baal to be imaginary.  The only real deity, quite different from false gods, spoke in silence, not noise.

God–I AM–had done so much publicly.  Why was it not enough for many people?  We human beings seem to have a reluctance to change our minds about the major issues much of the time.  This is partially an evolutionary adaption–a survival technique in the wilderness.  If, for example, gatherers thought that a certain variety of mushroom was poisonous due to passed-down folklore, they were slow to reverse that assumption–probably for a good cause.  Yet this evolutionary adaptation, combined with the frailties of ego, leads to

[don’t confuse me with the facts]

religion, theology, and politics.

I am cautious to avoid being excessively certain about divine attributes out of a desire to avoid heresy as God defines it.  Yet I make the following statement confidently:  God, in the Bible, has a track record of doing unexpected (from a human perspective) things.  Thus we move in Scripture from the mysterious encounters of Moses with God to the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth, whereby many people saw the face of God.  And I wonder what God is doing that I see without recognition because I do not expect it or I do not want facts to upset my conclusions.  It is a question worth applying to self, is it not, O reader?

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. Why? Why not! Stay tuned...

С Богом!

Ill-booten gotty?

...but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (Mark 4:19 ESV)

It’s a chilly, gray Saturday morning here in my neck of the woods. Every possible media outlet, from the tv news to Twitter is lit up with the current Powerball jackpot ($800 million at last glance). Hopeful souls across the country are braving, in some cases, weather worse than mine to stand in line for a 1-in-292,201,338 chance at hitting the mother lode—we’ve all heard the rags to riches stories (father of four lost his wife and his job and his car and spent his last dollar on the lottery…now his children have new clothes, he’s got a new Maserati, and no doubt lots of new friends and a new wife) (okay that was way too cynical, I admit, but is that not what tempts us to rub the lamp and hope a genie pops out?).

Popular consensus speaks to God’s silence on gambling, in general; yet I would file this Powerball business neatly under the 10^th Commandment; popular contemporary Christian consensus snorts and mumbles something about how Old Testament that kind of thinking is… Christ fulfilled the Law, didn’t he? So what’s the problem? The problem is coveting, which, along with the other 9 thoushaltnots didn’t disappear or become obsolete in the shadow (better, the Light) of the New Testament. Jesus himself makes this very clear in Matthew 22:36-40.

So how does a Christian solve a problem like the lottery? To run with the herd or to get trampled in the stampede, that is the question. But what about playing the stock market (I have two retirement accounts tied up in mutual funds myself, and will likely add another when I start church work)? Both involve ROI, right? And both bring up the question of “properly placed faith” with arguments for and against… Consider the fantastical find of a buried treasure chest filled with some pirate’s ill-gotten booty; we would instantly invoke the finders-keepers rule and now one person’s ill-gotten booty becomes our ill-booten gotty (a Hawkeye-ism from a M*A*S*H episode), not stolen, really…more serendipitous than felonious. Beauty, riches, and coveting are all in the eyes of the beholder.

It’s a sticky wicket. But could God not use any investment apparatus (from a $2 Powerball ticket to a hedge fund in a retirement account) whether or not it pays out as the investor intended? Of course. So could—and does-- Satan. And there is the true power behind our coveting (and we all do it). I don’t have the answer, but Jesus tells his disciples in Mark (4:19 ESV): “...but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Will a purchase of a Powerball ticket choke the Word of God and prove unfruitful? That question surely gives the Christian in that long line something to think about while waiting…

I think God is the Great Philanthropist, too, when the mood suits Him or the time seems right. His Church has been gifted financially in many ways, many times (through benefactors know and unknown). Often God's hand is indiscernible in such a frenetic world like the one we live in today, and sometimes what appears to be God's hand may be something wholly and woefully different. Take this example I found in a Mental_Floss magazine article:

As she was nearing graduation from UCLA, Carol Burnett and several fellow drama students were invited to a departing professor’s house to perform at his bon voyage party. She performed a scene from the musical Annie Get Your Gun and later that evening, while she was standing in the buffet line, a man she’d never seen before approached her and complimented her performance. He then inquired what she planned to do with her life. She confessed that she dreamed of going to New York one day for a career on the stage, but seeing that she barely had enough gas money to drive back to Los Angeles that evening, it would be a very long time before she’d make it to Broadway. The man told her he’d be happy to lend her $1000 to get her started, with three conditions: that she repay him without interest in five years, that she was never to reveal his identity, and that once she was successful she must pass a similar kindness along to another person in need. (After pondering the offer over the weekend and consulting her mother and grandmother—who advised her to steer clear of the strange man who was probably involved in human trafficking or something worse—she took a chance and accepted his check.)

Think of similar acts of anonymous beneficence to be committed with nearly a billion dollars, no matter where it came from, as long as it’s not ill-gotten booty…but even then…well, let’s just call it ill-booten gotty, shall we?

In the meantime, Temptation holds a place in line for me...  ;)

Got spooks? Who ya gonna call?...

...not this guy. Read on...

Yesterday morning I strapped on my old school Timex Ironman Triathlon GPS watch-- it's like wearing a satellite dish-- and went for a solo death march in and around IPFW (Go Dons!). (Including this morning's 6.53 miles, I've walked 11 miles and some change in the last 3 days...) When I got home I made a cheese 'n' hammy sammy, plopped down in front of the tube and as I was looking for something to chow down by, I happened across a 2012 episode of A Haunting on the Destination America channel (see related July 24 post).

So this episode of a tv show SO mind-boggling stupid had a synopsis that made me curious (not unlike a rubbernecker slowly rolling past the carnage of a multi-vehicle pileup on the interstate-- you just can't help but peer and gawk as horrendous as it may be...): Georgia single Mom Cindy Sauer tries to get over the sudden death of her husband when dark shadows and nightmares convince her that a demon is haunting her. Cindy turns to a Pastor to exorcise the entity before it drives them literally insane. So this woman's husband committed suicide in the house where she still lives with her teenage daughter. She meets an ex-pastor (red flag!) who, like she, has a penchant for haunted things (houses, mostly). Why the guy is an ex-pastor is only alluded to, as is his experience with a couple of possessions that left him...well, spent. BUT. Because he "studied theology" he is able to quickly diagnose the problem and recommend "a religious intervention." Really. I wonder if any of the writers of this crap have even set foot inside a church? But Expastor isn't the hero of this tale, lawdy mama no! He has connections to (an obviously non-Roman Catholic) "priest" somewhere in the Georgia outback where this nonsense plays out, a "Father Darren" who shows up (with a tin of pre-sanctified wafers and a sidekick-- Paranormal Mary, a woman from some local Ghostbusters outfit). After demanding-- twice!-- that the demon possessing the woman give up its name, it did. What I heard was Albert, which made me giggle with a mouthful of potato chips, but it turns out the name was Albin. Albin. What self-respecting demon would go on tv with a name like Albin?! (Seriously, it's like a demon named Hortence or Francis or Theodore...) Anyway, this Father Darren saved the day and they all lived happily ever after (including Albin, whom the woman belched out in a dark, miasmic puff...and then he was gone). Just like that. Case closed...

...not so fast. I did some digging on this Father Darren and all I could find were two podcast pages with broken links and a tenuous connection to the Anglican Diocese of the South, which doesn't even list his church.

Once again my caveat: I am an unpaid amateur, a seminary student, so I am far from an authority on things ecclesiastical or theological, which includes exorcisms. But if you're going to make a tv episode entitled "The Exorcism of Cindy Sauer," you need the Catholic Church-- they, literally, wrote the book on exorcism. So once again, I make the point that apologetics is very, very important in a world where people get their theology from tv shows like A Haunting. And, speaking of aplogizing, the writers and cast and real-life characters of that episode need to. Apologize, I mean.

However, speaking of priests, I am right now knee-deep in a great read, Silence (being made into a movie), about the persecution of Portuguese Jesuit priests in Japan in the early 17th century. It's historical fiction and I just marvel what these trailblazing priests endured to spread the Gospel, guided only by faith.

Well, that's it for now. It's grillin' time on the patio and a cold beer awaits...

Until next time...

С Богом!

Lucifer vs. The Peg

Man. This week seemed to just fly by! Here it is Saturday morning BDM (Before Death March, which may or may not happen-- it's 14 degrees outside) and I'm all too aware of a Baptism homily that's due to my professor before 11:55 tonight...

click to enlarge

Since posting a week ago, my wife's Ancestry DNA results came back. Surprisingly, no Poohawk in her genes. But we did learn that she's over two-thirds British, which makes sense, as I have traced a few of her lines in that direction. Like most Americans with euro-ethnic surnames, we just always assumed we were of more German ancestry, than anything else. And I also find Ancestry's attempts to match DNA submitters with similar matches interesting. They found a very close match to my wife's profile ("Possible range: 1st - 2nd cousins / Confidence: Extremely High"), and one matched mine, though not as closely ("Possible range: 2nd - 3rd cousins / Confidence: Extremely High").

On Thursday I was part of the seminary's chapel service for the first time-- I was a lucifer (that's a little "l" for light-bearer, not a big "L" for the prince of darkness). It was kind of a clunky performance during our last act, which was to replace the candle and cross holders on these little pegs near the lectern. The pole with the cross on it sort of snaps in to the lectern, but we lucifers (there are two) had a devil of a time (pun intended) getting the poles on the pegs! The other guy used a little too much elbow grease and his hit the floor hard enough that his candle went out. I was the lone pole wrangler during about 10 seconds of awkward silence. Other than that, the service went well... You can watch it here, if you'd like (the service actually starts at 5:52 and our final procession back toward the altar is around 16:20).

This morning I encountered a phrase in a comic strip that I'd not previously heard (that I can remember, anyway), "to whistle for it." I've been around for a half century (and spent two decades of that in the Navy) and consider myself fluent in English... Well, here's the strip:

Lastly, I read a Bloomberg article in our paper this morning that so defines what the Super Bowl means to most Americans. Check it out and see if you agree: The $400,000 Way to Do the Super Bowl

Kyrie, eleison.

(I was going to opine on the rioting at UC Berkley, but I've run out of gas... And it's Death March time.)

С Богом, ya'll.

Casuistry? (Movie recommendations!)

A confessor has to secure himself and study silence and forgetfulness, and learn not only to be silent, but also deaf. The position of a confessor is so unique that he cannot even make use of a judgment concerning his penitent that he formed based on the confession. He must not know what he knows. It is not falsehood, but highest honesty to give a judgment in confession, and one outside of confession, and to refuse to let the one influence the other. --excerpt from The Pastor by Wilhelm Loehe (1808–1872), Lutheran pastor in Germany and the main founder of the seminary here in Ft. Wayne

cas·u·ist·ry [kazh-oo-uh-stree] n. branch of theological knowledge related to pastoral theology, though usually regarded as a branch of ethics, dealing with the solution of doubtful cases of conscience or questions of right and wrong according to Scripture

Seen any good movies lately? How about a recommendation or two (or, maybe, three, four...)?

Last night, we watched I Confess (a 1953 film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, and Karl Malden). I've seen most of Hitchcock's films, but that was the first time I'd seen this one. I thought it was really good, mainly because a murder confession puts a priest in jeopardy (in more ways than one)-- Montgomery Clift plays the part perfectly. I bring this particular movie up because after it was over we talked about the clerical vow to never divulge a confessed sin (explanation in next paragraph). This film is a good example of a case of conscience and whether a man of the cloth should a) forgive a murderer or b) break a vow to save others. It's certainly not easy-- the former begs the question of the existence of contrition and true repentance and a desire to amend one's life and the latter the question of whether any possibility of harm to others exists (or might).

C.F.W. Walther (the first president of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod) notes in his book on Pastoral Theology: Someone asked Dr. M. Luther: If a pastor and father confessor had absolved a woman who had killed her child, and it was later revealed and made known by other people, would the preacher also have to testify to the judge if he were asked about it? Then he [Luther] answered: "Absolutely not!  For one must distinguish between churchly and worldly government since she has confessed it not to me but to the Lord Christ, and if Christ keeps it secret, I should also keep it secret and say nothing more than: I have heard nothing; if Christ has heard something, let Him tell it" (from Luther's Table Talk, XXII, 879).

We caught another movie earlier this week on TCM, The Night of the Iguana (a 1964 film based on the 1961 play of the same name written by Tennessee Williams and directed by John Huston, with Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr), that provides another look into clergy life. I'm not really a big fan of Richard Burton; however, he does an outstanding job of portraying an Anglican priest who's at the end of his rope (metaphorically, of course, but the film's title comes from a scene in which a poor iguana finds himself literally at the end of his...), having been accused of an impropriety with a young woman in his office at the church-- so he starts a sermon about judging others and goes off on the congregation... He ends up as a tour guide in Mexico for a busload of women from a Baptist college in Texas and is, again, accused of conducting himself in a less than clerical manner with an 18-year old girl in the group. I won't ruin it for you by telling you whether Burton's character is worthy of his collar (the Baptist women heard he had been "defrocked", which the priest refutes repeatedly). Along comes this Puritan-esque character played by Deborah Kerr who kneads a great quote out of the Rev. Larry Shannon as he tells her about the past events that brought him to Mexico:

I collect evidence of man’s inhumanity against God. The pain we cause him. We have poisoned his atmosphere. We have slaughtered his creatures of the wild, polluted his rivers. We have even taken god’s noblest creation, man, and brainwashed him into becoming our product, packed, stalked and
canned.

It really is a good movie, but you have to pay full attention to what's going on! (Pastors, of course, are not exempt from accusations, rumors, and innuendo...)

Okay, two more recommendations from movies I've watched over spring break on TCM, which present a couple of more secular casuistry cases...

The first is another Richard Burton film, My Cousin Rachel, the 1953 screen adaptation of the novel by Daphne du Maurier published in 1951. It's a mystery story that I was sure I knew the ending of, because as I watched, the plot seemed very familiar. Near the end, I remembered why-- my grandmother read a lot of Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier mysteries and had this cache of paperbacks in her house. I borrowed and read a few, and I must have read this one (I would have been 12 or 13 at the time). Anyway. It's very Hitchcock-like and Olivia De Havilland was made for the part of Rachel (when you look at her eyes, you can almost hear her hiss...). By the way, a remake of this movie is due out in July of this year.

The other one I watched yesterday afternoon, a film I'd never heard of, The Gazebo, a 1959 black comedy about a married couple who are being blackmailed with Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner (his first film appearance), John McGiver, and Herman the Pigeon. It's very cleverly stitched together and I wondered through the first three-quarters of it why the husband kept this pigeon around. It's entertaining in a seemingly stupid way, but it'll keep you guessing until the very end. Glenn Ford's performance as a guilt-ridden neurotic TV producer and husband (as well as the couple's cleaning woman who always shouts because her mother is hard of hearing) would be worth the price of admission alone! The scene at the end with Herman just cracked me up...

All four films actually present real-life issues dealing with cases of conscience or questions of right and wrong (and, yes, according to Scripture, whether or not the spectator OR the character so believes).

Lent is the perfect time for movies like these-- it's so hard to be human some most of the time. And God understands, which is why we celebrate Easter!  :)

С Богом!

P.S. For some reason, words in the Metallica song The Unforgiven provide an antitheti--...hmmm. Never mind.

P.P.S. Clue from today's NY Times crossword: What had a double standard in the Bible? (3 letters)