Author: Father Brown

Power in the Name

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Biblical Text: Exodus 3:1-15

It was a fun service to plan. All the hymns of the day contained verse about the name of God (Holy God We Praise Thy Name, At the Name of Jesus, All Hail the Power of Jesus Name, Jesus! Name of Wondrous Love, Savior Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise.) That is quite the powerhouse Sunday of beloved hymns. And all of them are pretty solid on the theology. But the Text is when Moses receives the name of God. The first solid point is that god is not a name. God is a generic word for a category. And the ideas behind that category can be quite different. What Moses receives is the name. We usually say “I AM.” And that has all kinds of philosophical points. But it is first a name. And there is power in names. Not the least that you can drop them.

This Sermon is a reflection on the 2nd commandment (Do not take the name of the LORD in vain) and Luther’s explanation. It finds it’s practical points in our language, namely the causal use of things like OMG. And how OMG might not be that big a deal in itself. It doesn’t seem to trespass any of Luther’s explanation. But that is only because of how flippantly we use it. A deeper meditation would be how such flippant use of language – not just a generic category god – influences everything else we speak or hear. That is what this sermon wants to ponder.

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Antichrists?

You may or may not recognize the name Peter Thiel.  His short bio is Stanford law, founder of PayPal, first investor in Facebook, founder of Palantir, destroyer of Gawker, high contrarian, disciple of Girard, heterodox Christian and homosexual dabbler in rightwing politics.  I don’t know if he’d accept the term, but I’d call Mr. Thiel “the philosopher of the age (1 Corinthians 1:20).” That’s leaning on Paul’s contrast between the wisdom of the world and cross, but it is also leaning on an older definition of a Philosopher. When we think of that term, we jump to academics and eggheads. Socrates would aghast at that. Philosophy used to be a way of life.  Socrates did not flee Athens when condemned to death. That is what those in control of Athens wished he would do. For Socrates, his philosophy of the City, the Polis, required that he stay and accept its judgement, as terrible as it might be. Call it Socrates the Christ figure who prefigured Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate and judged by his own people. Peter Thiel is the Philosopher of the Age in that he has very specific ideas and he lives by them.  He always has skin in the game.

Now, Philosopher Peter Thiel has latched onto a very Christian term which Paul discusses in our Epistle lesson today (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17) – the antichrist. He’s got a very specific definition.  Per Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians the watchwords at the end of all things will be “peace and security (1 Thessalonians 5:3).”  Peter Thiel is an investor is technology. In his original book Zero to One, one of the concepts he discusses is the dichotomy of technology and globalization. Globalization takes already existing technology and as the name implies spreads it across the globe.  The ultimate purpose of globalization is to make all things equal.  Now that might be an equality of a miserable fight of all against all, but it is an equality. Contrary to globalization, technology makes something new, it goes from zero to one. And everybody gets richer going from zero to one.  We’d all like the one of a cure for cancer. But the person or group that makes the one gets outsized gains.  Hence why Peter Thiel is a Billionaire.  His story of the antichrist is the story of a one world government that kills all new technology – all zero to one – in the name of peace and security. Because technology is disruptive.  Of course Philosopher Peter Theil could also just be talking his balance sheet.  He has billions riding on technology, not globalization, especially not a global government.

Now Peter Thiel’s concern is not without some very old biblical passages and interpreters. Daniel 7:8 talks about a “little horn” that arises and rules all the others. And Origen and other church fathers would all conclude that the little horn, the final tyrant, was The Antichrist.  But Mr. Thiel’s concern also departs from how John would talk of the Antichrist.  From 1 John 3:18, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is come, so now many antichrists have come.”  Far from a single embodied one world ruler, in John the antichrist is everyone who “denies that Jesus is the Christ, who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 3:22).” Paul in our lesson talks about the antichrist as “the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of god, proclaiming himself to be god (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).”  And it is here where Mr. Thiel’s conception runs into trouble. Because it is often those who march under the banner of technology – “move fast and break things” – that would most resemble lawlessness. It is the technologists – from Bacon onward – that often claimed the power of god and the worship of god with signs and wonders. And in Paul’s writing there is something right now that restrains the lawless one so that he might be revealed in his time (2 Thessalonians 2:6). And most interpreters have said that restrainer was the Ur One World Government – the Roman Empire and any of its descendants.

So you have both technologists pointing the finger at globalists, and you could have globalists pointing the finger at technologists as the Antichrist. But neither John’s nor Paul’s point of bringing up the Antichrist is to frighten the Christian or spur them to some heroic stand.  In fact something of the opposite. These things have to happen. You are not going to stop them.  And if it were possible, they might even lead astray the elect (Matthew 24:24).  But it is not possible. Because you are Christ’s.  You have been baptized into his name.  You have taken his body and his blood.  “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14).”  So stand firm. You know God – Father and Son.  You know the temple of God – your heart where the Holy Spirit dwells.  “Stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught.” Technologists and Globalists will both rage. Antichrists have gone out into all the world.  But your life is with Christ.

Walls of the Heart

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Biblical Texts: Luke 19:1-10, Isaiah 1:10-18

The liturgical calendar gets more than a nod here, this is All Saints (Observed). The hymns carry the heavy load, maybe more so this year as I chose the lessons for the regular Sunday instead of the All Saints texts. The same texts tend to get skipped year after year. In this case the story of Zaccheaus and a rather harsh sounding Isaiah text. But I picked them for what I thought is an important, but often ignored aspect of All Saints. The day is usually given over to the Saints at Rest. Let me explain three terms. You have the Church Militant or the Saints Militant which is you and me if you are reading this. You have the Church/Saints at rest who are those who have died in the faith. Eventually you will have the church/saints triumphant who are all the saints in the resurrection. For a protestant All Saints is typically the day to remember those now with Christ. But these lessons were perfect I thought to meditate on the Church militant, and maybe even more specifically from a Protestant perspective what makes a saint.

Zaccheaus is an interesting view. The sermon connects it to an Old Testament story that I put forward in typological fashion. How different walls need to come down to enter the promised land. The walls that make a saint are the walls of the heart. It is the call of Jesus, when we are up a tree, that tells us to come down and invites himself in. And Zaccheaus complies and receives him joyfully. The sermon picks up from there.

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On the Soul at Halloween

Hallow’een – with the original apostrophe – signals where it came from, All Hallows Eve. Of course you have to have an understanding of what the slightly archaic word Hallow means. We still use it in the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be thy name. If a saint is a noun – a person, place, thing or idea – to hallow is the verb that makes a saint. Yes, 3rd grade grammar, which is also something that isn’t taught anymore, can be useful. To hallow, is to make Holy. Hallow is a good old Anglo-Saxon word. The words that have replaced it – saint and sanctify – come from the Latin. Hemingway liked short sentences and Anglo-Saxon words. He thought those old words were closer to the living core than the more intellectual Latin.  You take off your shoes when your gut senses the hallowed; the sanctified is something you ponder with your head. Which cuts to the quick?

And that distinction is something I want to think about here.  All Hallows Eve was of course followed by All Saints Day and All Saints was followed by All Souls. The distinction is the medieval one – between those in heaven and those in purgatory. And hence it was something in need of Reform as medieval purgatory is not part of the true teachings of the church. Christ actually did save us. The Holy Spirit actually does hallow us. We do not owe the Pope penance or need to buy indulgences. A Reformed understanding of All Souls might simply be that the judgement as to our final hallowing is not up to us. We can grasp with surety the promise of souls with Christ, which is better by far (Philippians 1:23), for those who evidenced belief. But there are many who might have been baptized but did not evidence belief. Or had not in a long time. We do not know.  And judgement is not ours to make. We commend their souls to the grace of Almighty God. All Souls Reformed is the shadow of All Saints.  If we hold up the Saints as examples of faith to follow. We should also remember that everyone we meet has a soul with all that implies.

And that brings up the question, what is a soul anyway? Modern philosophers would dismiss the word. Tom Wolfe – the guy who wrote The Right Stuff – also wrote a famous article “Sorry, Your Soul Just Died.” What might be shared between ancient philosophers and modern would be that your Soul is what makes you, you. Plato and most of the ancient world asserted that your soul was eternal. It was a little spark off of the eternal one.  And you – your soul – would eternally separate from the one and eventually return to the one. Eastern religion would call it the Wheel of Samsara. Modern philosophers, contrary to the ancient, would say Tom Wolfe’s title. Your soul dies with your body, sorry but nothing of you is immortal.

The Philosophers might bounce between eternal and mortal, but the Psalm writers are the greatest biblical students of the soul. Your soul is not eternal.  You are not Christ, begotten of the Father before all world, God from God, Light from Light.  You are not a spark off the eternal one. You are a creature. You were created. “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).”  But neither are you reducible to just atoms.  The Psalmist knows that he can’t boldly state the immortality of the soul. Lions might tear the soul (Psalm 7:2, 57:4). The soul might melt away (Psalm 119:28). One pleads that the soul might live (Psalm 119:175). Your soul depends upon the grace of God.  But it is that gracious God who sustains you. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…He restores my soul (Psalm 23).” It is God who redeems your soul/life from the pit/sheol (psalm 103:4). It is the LORD who is the consolation of the soul (Psalm 94:19) and makes you the apple of his eye (Psalm 17:8). All this is why the Psalmist says many times, “Praise the LORD, O my soul (Psalm 146:1).”

We might think, and when we think we worry, about our souls – what makes us who we are. But our worry is unnecessary and often unhelpful.  It leads us to false hopes like an eternal soul. It leads us to despair like a dead soul. Instead we put our trust in the LORD, our strength and tower. For He knows our worth.  And he will hallow and keep you – keep your life – in Christ. Know it in your gut.  You are being hallowed.   

Standing Before God

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Biblical Text: Romans 3: 19-28

I don’t often preach from the epistle texts. A part of that is that the Epistles typically lack a hard narrative. I think we as humans understand narrative – the story of a life. And we understand how God works in our lives through the narrative. The narratives that the apostles had were ancient Isreal’s, Jesus and their own. The Epistles end up being authoritative examples of how one does theology – how you proclaim doctrine from the narrative. In that way they are great at teaching, but at least to me less for preaching.

But today was Reformation Day (Observed). And there is a narrative – the story of Martin Luther and the Reformation – that ties directly into the doctrinal teachings of the Epistle lesson. This Romans passage on the Righteousness of God is what Luther was reading when he had his “tower experience.” That experience was when the gospel was cemented in his brain.

This sermon attempts to weave that narrative, and Paul’s doctrine together with how we might live our lives – how we might tell our own stories. How the righteousness of God comes to us. How it is the sure foundation. And How we might build on that.

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God’s Word is Our Great Heritage (A Reformation Day Reflection)

It’s an internet joke these days that if you identify something you don’t like you can blame it on Luther. The more ridiculous the claim, the better the joke. It’s a little like playing “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” that old game of connecting any actor however young, old or foreign to Kevin Bacon with a maximum of seven movies.  Which itself was an absurdist take on the sociological observation that we are all within seven degrees of separation from anybody on the planet. Blame it on Luther takes a modern problem and through a Rube Goldberg string of other bad things eventually ends with ‘See Martin Luther started all bad things.” Now the Roman Catholic apologists meant it for evil, but the internet – and maybe God – has turned it into good (Genesis 50:20). As every time someone blames Martin Luther, the Great Reformer’s actual words eventually get quoted. And those Words almost always are firmly established on God’s Word.

Our sending hymn this Sunday is God’s Word is our Great Heritage. It comes from Denmark and was published to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation.  It was originally set to the Great Reformation hymn tune of A Mighty Fortress.  The tune we sing it to was published in the United states for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation. The text was originally an attempt to extend the work of the Reformation to Danish Pietists. Their heirs in New Ulm, MN thought the text was so important, but in English it would no longer fit A Mighty Fortress, that the choir of St. Paul’s church set it to the current tune. It reflects in itself the idea of a true Heritage. At that 300th anniversary Rationalism – think Thomas Jefferson cutting up his bible to remove the parts that just couldn’t be true – was ravaging the church. Grundtvig the author was originally at odds with his Lutheran pastor father.  But in his own studies and work eventually moved closer to Dad.  The hymn was a token of that.  At the 400th the big question in the US might have been: Can the Gospel withstand the translation from the language of the Old Country to English or would the Heritage be lost? The Choir of St. Paul had an answer.  And so we, soon after the 500th anniversary, also have the question that the hymn perfectly presents to us.

The text is worth looking at closer

God’s Word is our great heritage/And shall be ours forever;

To spread its light from age to age/ Shall be our chief endeavor.

Through life it guides our way,/In death it is our stay.

Lord, grant, while worlds endure,/We keep its teachings pure/Throughout all generations.

It starts with a gospel promise. God has given us his word and it will always be ours. Now that is a statement of the objective Gospel. The incarnation of Jesus Christ happened, and Jesus lives, the victory is won.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church with that proclamation.  And that proclamation is for you. God has done this for you.

And as with every proclamation of the objective gospel, it subjectively asks us how are we then going to live? Grundtvig’s hymn puts forward three things that are part of our subjective receptance of that gospel.  First is the call to evangelism.  To Spread its light from age to age. The hymn doesn’t expand on this. But that evangelism can take place in many ways.  Something we probably should recover from those pietists, we all need evangelized. The home is a primary location of evangelism. Second, the hymn puts forward the Word of God as our guide in life. The summary of the law is a good place to start.  Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.  But lastly the hymn says, “in death it is our stay.” Regardless of your evangelism and walk, the gospel is not ultimately about works.  It is about faith. It is about believing that the works of Jesus – God’s Word – are our great heritage. And that nothing shall separate us from the Love of God is Christ. Not even death.

And appropriately it ends with a prayer. Something very like “Thy Will Be Done.” Let us keep its teachings pure, throughout all generations. The will of God is certainly done.  Hell will not prevail.  The church has been built on the cornerstone of Christ. We pray that this gospel would remain ours.  Though 300 years, 400 years, 500 years, throughout all generations.  Because this Word is life. 

On Not Losing Heart (or Who you pray to and What you pray for)

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Biblical Text: Luke 18:1-8

As a Protestant I am tied to a doctrine of perspicuity. All that fancy word means is that the typical Christian is able to read and understand the scriptures. The intro to this sermon elaborates a bit, but the reason I was thinking about that is because this gospel lesson is one that I think pushes that border. The plain reading would be something like “go be a monk and pray all the time” or “pester God more.” But neither of those I’m convinced are what it is about. Instead, like all parables, it is first about who God is. It reveals God the Father to us. And second, it is a nudge toward what we should be praying for. I’ll admit that the second point is not as direct, but I still think that the typical Christian who has been catechized can see it. Because it hinges on what is justice. The woman demands justice against her adversary. And yes, we have temporal adversaries which is why we pray for our daily bread. But our real adversaries are those comic things: the devil, the world and our sinful nature.

This sermon is about praying and not losing heart – keeping the faith – that God will finally deliver us from evil.

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Choices, Choices, Choices…

We could say that life is ultimately about making choices, but that doesn’t really capture it.  It is more about living with the choices we have made. In multiple fields of study “path dependence” is a meaningful thing.  In math there are things that appear reversable, but really aren’t. For example 2^2 (two squared) is 4.  But if you take the square root of 4, theoretically reversing the square, 2 is one answer, but -2 is also possible. -2*-2 is 4. Squaring is technically not reversible. Most of life is not reversible. And if we try to reverse things we often end up on the negative side of the ledger satisfying nobody.  Moving forward is the only real path.

I’ve been thinking about choices recently for a couple reasons. I’ve noticed in my kids and not just my kids, a hesitancy, maybe even a fear, about making choices. Something that goes beyond the simple procrastination that affects 99% of us. (Yes, I am writing this on Friday, two days after I wanted it done.)  I’ll ask my youngest, “how are college applications going? Where are you applying?” And he will leave the room. I’ll ask the middle child, “So, have you had enough time off?  Have any initial thoughts? Anything Dad could help with?” And he will continue playing a video game.  Or positively start making dinner for us. Path dependent irreversible decisions. But like Rush (the band, not the radio voice) would say, “if you refuse to decide, you still have made a choice.” Unlike math, life comes with default decisions that the world will press on you.  And the world’s defaults are usually pretty poor.

The fear of choice, or the fear of living with them, that can paralyze might be the most common, but it isn’t the only reaction. Two others are nostalgia and recklessness. If the kids are paralyzed, there is plenty of longing for the way things used to be. But decisions have been made.  And those decisions landed us here.  And because it is life, those decisions are irreversible. The problem of sin is that we have to live with its effects. The ultimate one being death.  But it is not just sins.  Most things we choose in life are not choices of black or white. We are not that good.  We choose between different shades of gray. The materialist might point at the 2nd law of thermodynamics – everything ends in heat death.  The Christian understands that we live in a fallen world. Perfectly fine choices can still end up troubling. And we find ourselves longing for some time we didn’t have to live with the results. The flip side is recklessness. Sure, why not become a day trader. Bet it all on Bitcoin at $100,000. I have an acquaintance who recently lost $10M paper dollars in just such a way. Easy come, easy go.

What then are we to do?  We can’t go back.  Wallowing in nostalgia is like Harry Potter staring at the Mirror of Erised.  As Dumbledore tells him, many people have lost their one life staring at it. Yet repeatedly going all in doesn’t seem wise.  And pushing it all out might be the worst – getting pushed down a path you never even chose. Three things worth keeping in minds at such times. First, “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” That might sound hopelessly polyanna-ish or trite, but it is really the promise that God loves you.  His providence is with you.  The Spirit helps us in our weakness. Trust that even if you find yourself leaving Ur for a land you do not know (Abraham) that God is working in you for good. And he has good works laid out in advance for you to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). So Walk in them. Second, you really have eternity. This world may feel highly pressured, but try living into that promise.  “We believe in the resurrection of the death and the life of the world to come.” The paths that you will walk will be infinite and better than today. So keep walking. And lastly the teacher, “there is nothing better than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; and to eat and drink and take pleasure in all your toil – that is God’s gift to man (Ecclesiastes 3:12).”  Find the joy in what is set before you.  Find the joy in the walk.  It’s heavenward all the way.

Problem, Solution, and Zombies

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Biblical Text: Luke 17:11-19

The text is the 10 lepers. It is the standard text for Thanksgiving for obvious reasons – the one who gives thanks. But I have to admit that most sermons on it feel like they miss the gospel. Or maybe I should just say they all assume the gospel. This sermon is as clear as I can make it from this text.

We have a problem. Our problem is a lot like leprosy used to be. A known march toward death that you can do nothing about and which separates you from everything you love. You could say we have a trinity of problems: sin, death and the power of the devil. And like the lepers we are left to plead, “master, have pity on us.”

We have a solution, and that solution is a universal one. Jesus has defeated sin on the cross. His resurrection makes a way past death. And he has bound the strong man – Satan – stealing us. The only revealed God ever who has walked in our villages and streets has freed us from our problems. All 10 lepers were healed.

The question is – How then do we live? One of the ten returned to give thanks. Our new life begins with thanks. Thanksgiving aligns us with our Lord and Savior Jesus. And that Jesus tells us to “rise and go our way, our faith has made us well.” Our way is now the way of Christ. We travel with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We walk with angels all the way. And we walk that way by faith. There are the zombies of our problems still out there – The Devil, The World and our Sinful Flesh. But that is what they are, zombies. We have been healed. And in faith we walk past.

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