Ask for This Bread…Always

Biblical Text: John 6:22-35

The text is sometimes call the Bread of Life Discourse. Actually, it is only the first third. The lectionary has us in John 6 for the three weeks. This sermon address that in noting the difference between the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke) and John. John might tell the same story, but his story wants to work on deeper levels. In this case the question is really: “What do you hunger for?” Obviously we hunger for food. We eat some and feel full. But 4-6 hours later we are hungry again. The material and temporal points at our spiritual reality. We are hungry. For what? The sermon tries to preach that.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Ordinary Days

With the last two corners, you’ve probably had your fill of worship service explainers. But give me one more. First, we’ve asserted with some examples both sacred and secular that everybody has a liturgy. That word liturgy is simply how we incarnate our beliefs. If you want to understand America observe the liturgy of pre-game football from tailgate to kickoff. Likewise, if you want to understand who is being worshipped, observe the form of the worship. This is an observation so old it has a Latin phrase – Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi – the law of Worship is the law of belief. Second, we’ve seen that the basic form of Christian worship was most likely inherited from the Jewish Synagogue of Jesus’ day adding to that Service of the Word the Lord’s Supper as Jesus commanded his disciples to do. And third, we looked at two of the changing parts of our worship service, the Introit or Entry Psalm and the Three Scripture readings.

The changeable parts of our liturgy have a specific name; they are the propers of the day. In that big book that is always on the Altar – known imaginatively as The Altar Book – you will find almost all of the propers for every service of the year. The Altar Book itself doesn’t have all the readings printed out. It assumes you have a bible or a lectionary book. Or like we do, print it out every week. But one could host our worship directly from the Altar Book. And for most of time, that is what was done. The propers formal are the Introit, the Readings and also the Prayer of the Day, a verse, a gradual and a hymn of the day. In a true “high church” place all of this would be chanted. It is one of the quirks of getting old that growing up, since we rarely chanted anything, I was considered “low church.” But, as most of American Christianity changed its liturgies to what would have been backwoods Pentecostal worship, my low church came to seem high. And please ponder for a second that old Latin phrase. If your liturgy changes, your beliefs probably did also, regardless of what you say. The incarnation is more meaningful than the spare word. That is not questioning the salvation or presence of Christ, simply recognizing that the house has many rooms. And rooms have different decoration.

Our liturgy also has unchangeable parts. These are known as the ordinaries. Specifically: the Kyrie, The Gloria, The Creed, The Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei. You can’t study the history of Western Music without knowing those parts. Every “Mass” ever written has settings of those parts. And you will find examples of all of them quite early in church history. The creed being formalized in the 300’s but predating that. All of them being present by the 700’s. But in those five ordinaries you find the purpose of the service. The Kyrie is our basic entreaty – Lord have mercy. And it is followed by the Gloria – a trinitarian song of praise. This is why we have gathered – for prayer and praise. To seek our forgiveness and to praise the God who has forgiven us. The creed is next in the order and it is the basic statement of the faith. Right in the center of the liturgy, this is the faith which is believed and which we are incarnating in the liturgy. The Sanctus – a setting of the cry of the angels around the altar in heaven – Holy, Holy, Holy – is the recognition that here on our altar in the Lord’s Supper we are part of that heavenly feast. Heaven and Earth come together in the bread and wine. The final ordinary – The Agnus Dei – is the recognition that what we are about to receive is the very body and blood of Christ. And it is a return to the prayer of the Kyrie. As we are bold to approach the altar, may what we receive there be for our good. “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” The Kingdom of God certain comes without our prayer, but we pray that it would come to us also, as Luther would explain the 2^nd petition.

That liturgy is remarkably robust. You can strip it down for a private visit, you can blow it out for a great feast. It is made for when two or three are gathered, and for times you might have 5000 men besides the women and children. It might take a bit to learn. And since we change settings occasionally we might ask a little more. But it is the incarnation of that creedal faith at its core. Here is where Father, Son and Spirit meet us, and where they are worshipped and glorified.

God Passes By

072824 Sermon Draft Download

Biblical Text: Mark 6:45-56

The text is the Markan account of calming the storm and walking on the water. There are multiple accounts like this, but Mark’s is unique. It isn’t about Peter getting out of the boat. It is really about Jesus getting into the boat. In this sermon there are two words from the key phrase that I think need sharpened up. The first is how the disciples are described. “making way painfully” misses both the origin of the word which is in testing the purity of precious metal and misses how the word is normally used as torture. The disciples rowing int the 4th watch against the wind is a test or torture. And Jesus means to pass the by. Means is just too squishy. He desired, a much deeper word. The combination is a tough saying. But it is in the toughest saying that we often find the sweetest gospel. This sermon meditates on that.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Why Three Readings?

One of the questions about a liturgical service that often comes up is why are there three readings: Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel? The answer is both very old and relatively new. The old portion of the answer goes all the way back to the Synagogue. The Jewish Synagogue service had two readings: one from the Torah – the first 5 books of the bible – and one from the prophets. The reading from the prophets was typically shorter and keyed to the Torah reading. You get a glimpse of that with Jesus in the New Testament in Luke 4:16ff. When Jesus begins his ministry in Nazareth it is on the Sabbath and he is given the reading from the prophets to read. The pattern of Christian worship grows out of that Synagogue worship.

There are two famous “dog that didn’t bark” arguments about early Christian worship. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 addresses Christian Worship, but his words are primarily about how to celebrate the Lord’s Supper with a prolog about men, women and hair coverings. The dog that didn’t bark is about what we call “the service of the Word.” There were no problems with the basic service because the Christians just followed Jewish practice. The problems were where Christian practice diverged from Jewish. It diverged in welcoming both men and women into the same space for worship. And hence some guidelines for good practice. And the real new part was the Lord’s Supper. The other dog that didn’t bark is infant baptism. In the New Testament entire families were baptized (Acts 16:15). The universal practice of the church until the Reformation was infant baptism. Not all were baptized as infants. There were strange delays of baptism – like with the Emperor Constantine – treating it as a one time get out of hell free sacrament. But nobody ever talks about baptism, other than to do it, because it was just accepted practice. Even in the scriptures the squeaky wheel gets the oil sometimes.

Somewhere between the 2^nd and the 4^th centuries the Torah and Prophets readings were replaced with an Epistle and a Gospel reading. The Gospels being the Torah wellspring and the Epistles commenting on the Gospel like the prophets. That two readings format continued until the middle of the 20^th century. The relatively new portion of the reading cycle being the addition of an Old Testament reading and the freeing of the Epistle from the Gospel. The Epistles for most of the year are now read continuously in themselves. The Old Testament readings being keyed to the Gospel.

All of that is a nice short history that answers the “why?” with “It’s tradition!” We can all join Teyve in a dance. But if you’ve ever attended a Reformed service or a non-denom type they have clearly separated themselves from that tradition, why not Lutherans? Isn’t reading three separate readings each week confusing?

As far as confusing, maybe. But the Old Testament and the Gospel readings are usually meant to be typological fulfillment. The Gospel Lesson today (Mark 6:45-56) is Jesus walking on the waters. Here is the one who commands the winds and the waves. And this one gets into the boat with the terrified disciples. This is a fulfillment of the promise of God after the flood to Noah which is the Old Testament reading (Genesis 9:8-17). “The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” The fulfillment of that covenant is present. This is also one of the reasons I like to take the continuous reading of the Epistle as the bible study topic. Confusing gets addressed through preaching and teaching.

What about tradition? This gets at something core in the Lutheran Reformation. The Augsburg Confession Article 14 is on “The Mass”. And it starts off with the charge: “Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the mass.” And compared to the Reformed version of the Reformation that would often change things much more radically, the Lutheran Reformation maintained a rule that if something could be kept, it should be. And again, most of that article talks about the practice of the Lord’s Supper. How the mass had been turned into a money making operation. Getting the Lord’s Supper wrong seems to be a church tradition. But that article ends with an interesting quote. “The mass among us follows the example of the church, taken from Scripture and the Fathers…this is especially so because we keep the public ceremonies, which are for the most part similar to those previously in use…the Scriptures are read, and the preachers expound them.”

Why three readings? Yes, tradition, but also because this is the Word of God expounded for us in the way that we received it.

Something to Eat

072124 Sermon Download

Biblical Text: Mark 6:30-44

The feeding of the 5000 is one of the few episodes that is in all 4 gospels. And I think each one of them has their own theological understanding of the event. Mark’s to me emphasizes the providence of Jesus in the Spiritual Life. We all tend to think we can do it ourselves. And then we end up hungry in a desolate place. This sermon walks through both how we find ourselves in those places, and how Jesus restores to us life by giving himself.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Everybody

There are two “everybody” statements that I firmly believe in, but it has been my experience most people reject. They might even get mad when I say them. First, everybody worships. Second, everybody has a liturgy of worship.

The first one: everybody worships is easier to prove. Luther’s explanation of the first commandment is that “we should fear, love and trust in God above all things.” He expands on that in the large catechism explaining that whatever we fear, love or trust in above anything else is our God. The number of idols is almost endless, but Luther in his jokey way, I think correctly recognizes that most people have their own stomach as their God. Whatever the gut wants is where they are lead to worship. Although there are several other common gods: money, power, fame are the usually the negatives, but you could also add family, land or tradition as normal positive things that can become idols. And if you don’t believe me on those, listen to Jesus in Matthew 10:37 or Matthew 15:3. Most of his arguments with the Pharisees were over idolatry of good things. The righteousness of the Pharisees wasn’t slight, see Matthew 5:20. It was just nowhere close to the perfection required for salvation. The purpose of “everybody worships” is a reminder to be conscious of who or what you worship. Most people slip through life not knowing. Hence Luther’s being led around by their belly. But The One God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. You can worship him.

The second “everybody” is something of the answer to: Well, how do I worship? And even more than people not realizing who their God is, the vast majority do not understand how they worship. And in not understanding they don’t realize the power of everyday liturgies. What is a liturgy? A liturgy is formalized order of worship that incarnates belief. Now that worship and belief doesn’t have to be of ultimate importance. There is a liturgy of going to a football game. You enter through the tailgate. Everyone rises and lines up. The colors are presented. Sometimes a prayer is said – like at my son’s Valley Lutheran Games, but always the National Anthem is sung. On High Holy Days, like a championship game, you will have an airplane flyover. On the highest of holy days you get a Stealth Bomber. The Kick-off lines up. Everyone chants “seven nation army” or whatever the kickoff song is. And then the liturgy is over when the ball flies. What does that liturgy worship? Basically everything America and American. And when you break liturgies, like by kneeling for the anthem, people get upset. There are liturgies big and small that fill our days. The purpose of “everybody has a liturgy of worship” is knowing what yours are. Because those liturgies tell you what you actually believe; what you believe deep enough to make real in time and space.

I want to occasionally highlight elements of our liturgy. Today I want to take a minute to look at the Introit. What the heck is an Introit? It is simply the Latin word for entry. Now we usually staple on in front of it a hymn and corporate confession. We’ll leave that for another day. But the original start of the worship of Father, Son and Spirit was the invocation of the God being worshipped. Christianity is clear. The idols usually try and hide that part. But you started with the invocation and some entry words about what we are going to be making real in time and space. Those words change week to week as the meditation of the church upon Christ focuses on different things He has done for us. Those words are typically taken from the psalms, the prayer book of the bible. So what we have in the Introit, which we at Mt. Zion recite responsively, is the theme of our worship for the day in the words that God has given us.

Today, the words of the Introit give us the theme of God providence (Psalm 147:7-11, Psalm 145:16). “He makes the grass grow on the hills.” But that material providence that falls on the just and the unjust alike points at God’s greater providence. “You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” And what is that desire? To rest secure in the love of your creator. “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” You who join in this liturgy, in making real in time and space our beliefs, shall see that steadfast love of God for you. That love of God that forgives sins, provides us our daily bread, and most importantly promises us that we shall dwell securely in his land (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

Which Kingdom?

071424-Sermon Download

Biblical Text: Mark 6:14-29 (Amos 7:7-15)

It is a difficult text and a difficult day. I am always amazed at the synchronicity of the lectionary. Honestly you start writing the next sermon in your head by Sunday afternoon. You translate it. Make sure you understand the words. You read what a few solid commentators have said through the ages. But by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, the general theme is locked down. In this case the text was the story of John the Baptist’s execution by Herod. And the general theme I had decided upon what a contrast of the Kingdoms. The Kingdoms of this World represented by Herod and the The Kingdom of Heaven represented by Jesus and John. The general thrust coming from the best prayer ever written by Thomas Cranmer (which is saying a lot) – may we pass through things temporal without losing things eternal. As the people of God we are citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet today the Kingdoms of this World and the Kingdom of Heaven exist side by side. Each exerting some authority over the other. How do we live in that overlap? And then Saturday evening someone tries to shoot a major Presidential Candidate. Someone was overtaken by things temporal and lost things eternal. And all of us, and entire nation, seems to be walking that same line. The propaganda assault we live in daily puts eternal weight (“The Republic Will Be Lost”) on temporal things. And it is not that those temporal things are not important. They are. It is that the Christian must not lose sight of the eternal. The Kingdoms of this world might listen and respect and protect us. We should pray for that. Herod did that for John, for a while. But they ultimately have a different master and work by different rules. They turn into beasts and chop off heads. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is not temporal rule or health and wealth. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life under the one true King, Jesus Christ. And if that means a temporal pit, so be it. The Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord in his good time. And we shall be there to receive them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Plumb Lines

“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” – Amos 7:8

I’m always hesitant to bring up things that originate from the larger Christian world that I consider bad ideas. There used to be a never ending stream of dumb ideas floating over from Evangelicalism. Even that term I don’t exactly like because it doesn’t really describe that movement or the churches that they form. There really is no consistent theology believed, taught or confessed. It varies church to church and pastor to pastor although most of it is vaguely Baptist. I like the historian Miles Smith’s term, Folk Religion. There is a core of general doctrine, but more important are the feelings and practices. And those practices are ever changing and morphing as the folk themselves change. That is both the power and the danger. American Evangelicalism is often able to meet the moment and a folk practice can spread rapidly, but it can also spread terrible ideas just as fast.

One of those ideas goes by the name “Faith Deconstruction.” The general idea behind it I believe is a healthy one. Over the last 50 years in this folk religion evangelicalism there have been lots of practices and beliefs that have attached themselves and even moved into central identity roles. The original faith deconstructionists undertook to examine some of those practices and beliefs and be more discriminating if they deserved a central place. I’d take that general idea has something of what Paul would mean by “examine yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5)” or “work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” We should take note of our faith and practice. Satan is tricky and our hearts are idol factories. But folk religion is and was a terrible basis to do that from. Being concerned primarily with personal feelings and practices, it had no “plumb line”. Or the only plumb line was the individual heart. And so faith deconstruction, which has spawned an entire genre of memoirs about it, became not a healthy spiritual practice, but a method often to ditch the faith all together, or to re-craft the faith into exactly what our sinful hearts desire.

This is exactly where folk religion/evangelicalism needs its confessional spine like the Lutheran Church. In our Old Testament Reading for the day (Amos 7:7-15), God tells the prophet Amos what he is doing with the Northern Kingdom of Israel. “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel (Amos 7:8).” And what is the purpose of a plumb line? It is to see if the wall constructed is straight. Is what has been built, built square, built to last? Or is it crooked and destined to fall? In Israel’s case it is all destined to be taken down. “The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste (Amos 7:9).” What the folk religion of Israel had built was crooked and needed to be deconstructed in a radical way. But the question for us is: What is the plumb line?

The answer is first the scriptures. If someone says search your heart in spiritual matters, that is bad advice. In spiritual things, in the things of God, you start with the Word of God. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you (Micah 6:8).” Resting under the authority of Scripture the church through the ages has found certain expressions of the faith to be wholly consistent with the scriptures. The creeds which we confess and the Small Catechism fall into that category. We believe, teach and confess them because they are a right understanding. To faith deconstruct one needs a plumb line. And we have been given one. Although we often disdain it. Just as Amaziah the priest and Jeroboam the King said to Amos when he held up the plumb line of God. “Seer, go, flee to Judah, and eat there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the King’s sanctuary and it is a temple of the Kingdom (Amos 7:12).” We often prefer our sanctuary and our temple, the King’s sanctuary and temple, our folk religion over the religion of Jesus.

But we don’t get rid of God and his plumb line so easily. Amos’ reply to the High Priest and King, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ (Amos 7:14-15)” The word of God, that plumb line, has a way of sticking around. And God is not embarrassed to have his humble witnesses. Amos might never get a book contract for his memoir, but he has a plumb line. And what is not straight shall come down.

Scandal of Particularity

070724-Sermon Download

Biblical Text: Mark 6:1-13

This sermon starts out with that theological phrase, the Scandal of Particularity. I think it is much more common that we admit. Primarily because we don’t really know what to call it when it happens. It is more than just envy. And it has some logic behind it. But if we can identify it, I think it is also what hangs around at the most intimate invitations from God to know Him better.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Prophetic Voice

(A note that I’m writing this to be printed June 27th, and our popular definition of a prophet (being able to see into the future) is not something I claim. But I do think this is evergreen truth.)

It has always interested me how certain strains within the church have claimed to be “speaking prophetically.” I always think they must never have read the actual bible. Because when you actually read the bible you get confronted with what the prophetic voice actually means. Our modern day prophets seem to think it means “I get to change things and I win.” But when you read the bible you get confronted with calls like Isaiah who was to say “keep on hearing, but do not understand…and though a tenth remain in it, burn it again (Isa 6:9,13).” Or you get our Old Testament lesson today, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear, they will know that a prophet has been among them (Ezekiel 2:5).” In the Old Testament the prophetic voice was the simply the voice of truth. The only prophet who “won” was Jonah, and he didn’t want to. And lest you think the prophetic calling in the New Testament is dramatically better, please remember Paul’s “thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7).” The power and truth of God speaks more powerfully through that left hand of weakness. Even Jesus in his prophetic office is thrown out of his hometown. “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown…and he marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:4-6).” The prophetic call of Jesus leads directly to the cross.

The main point of Ezekiel’s call is that the people of Israel are a nation of rebels, impudent and stubborn. And this is simply the way of the World. Satan, the ruler of this age, has been in rebellion since the beginning. And this age, or this world, is his. This world groans at that. There are remnants. God created is so good, much of it continues. But when the powers that be are focused, the world is on their side. And that rebellion against the creator is as deep as our own flesh. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5 KJV).” The prophetic voice is that voice which speaks truth to this situation. If the voice claiming to be a prophet is making peace with the devil, the world or our flesh, it is a false one.

But the promise of the gospel is present both in those Old Testament calls and even more in the word’s of Christ. Isaiah’s words may have burned Israel to a stump, yet “the holy seed is its stump (Isa 6:13).” Our Old Testament lesson cuts off for some reason, but it continues that “you (Ezekiel) be not afraid of them (Eze 2:6).” The Lord shall put flesh on the field of bones and breathe life into his people. Paul boasts in his weaknesses because that is the power of Christ in this world (2 Cor 12:9). And Jesus – rejected by his hometown – sends out the apostles two-by-two. And the demons flee and sickness is healed.

That prophetic voice is the voice of the Good Shepherd for all who hear it. It is the voice that calls us to repent of our wayward ways. It is the voice that reminds us that this age is the age of the cross. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. And if we are living the word, we are living behind enemy lines. But they know their time is short. This age is drawing to a close. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. When you hear that, you know you have heard a prophet.