Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene
We are one week from Christmas Eve and though I do have a sermon or two to write it’s high time to contribute here, again, (or so our son, Chase, suggests). So here are a few thoughts about what’s going on around us.
Many thanks, again, to President Dale Meyer of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, for sharing this gem from G. K. Chesterton (G.K.C.). It was in the larger context of the Wisdom of God which has come to be among us in Christ Jesus. As we contemplate our need for the wisdom of God this quote emphasizes how much we need it. “If a man says, ‘I’d like to find something greater than myself,’ he may be a fool or a madman, but he has the essential. But if a man says, ‘I’d like to find something smaller than myself,’ there is only one adequate answer – ‘you couldn’t.’”
I used to be a stickler in Advent. I would steal myself against celebrating, contemplating, or enjoying the Christmas season until after December 25th, when the 12 days of Christmas truly begin. But I found that I was pretty much alone in wanting to watch Christmas movies and enjoy Christmas music so late in the season. So, while I very much appreciate the significance of Advent – considering the three-fold coming of Jesus at the nativity, in the Word and Sacraments, today, and in glory at the end of days – I’m also enjoying here in December that great segment of our hymnody that revels in the birth of Christ Jesus in Bethlehem.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle I noticed on the news last week. It was suggested that Pope Francis was considering changing the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. The Pope could be a little more circumspect when he addresses the press, but I found the explanation in the National Catholic Register helpful. It seems the Catholic church in France has begun to say, “don’t let me fall into temptation,” rather than, “lead us not into temptation.” Pope Francis simply suggested that the Italian Catholics might want to follow suit. Again, he ought to know that what he says is going to be examined every which way. All this leads me to thankfulness for what we have known all along, courtesy of Dr. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism and its explanations (this one in the latest translation):“God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice…”
And finally, back to G.K.C. Here is the last segment of his Christmas Poem, (which may lead you to want to google it for yourself!).
To an open house in the evening
Home shall all men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
God bless you as together we trek to the manger in Bethlehem, once more, rejoicing in the birth of our Savior Jesus the Christ.
Some good thoughts from Dale Meyer
Dale Meyer, the president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, has some good thoughts for these days:
These days after Thanksgiving now have names, “Black Friday,” “Small Business Saturday” and “Cyber Monday.” The names show what our culture truly values-stuff, buying and getting stuff, and all the businesses that thrive on this culture of consumption. Remember that “consumption,” the old word for tuberculosis, a dread disease? The culture of consumption is so pervasive that even church people may not see the fundamental challenge, this disease eroding our reliance upon God. Do we finally rest our lives on the stuff we can see, buy and enjoy, or faith, trusting in the promises of God? (2 Corinthians 5:7). Even tomorrow’s “Giving Tuesday” is disguised consumption. It just happens to flow to charities instead of capitalist businesses, but it’s still about money.
St. Paul: “You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain” (Galatians 4:10-11). Paul had labored to free the Gentiles from their notion that what they did (for us these days, acquire or give) made life good before God and others. Apply Paul’s arguments to our consumption. “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law (by what you buy, a legal transaction) but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law (by the things you’ve built up) or by hearing with faith?” (3:2). Yes, we do need stuff, “daily bread,” to live, but consumption is no Gospel; it’s in the law. If I do this then… If I don’t buy this, then… “‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” (3:10). Consumption will prove a fatal disease.
Can a person of faith shop on “Black Friday,” “Small Business Saturday,” or “Cyber Monday?” Yes, so long as you don’t value the quality of your life by what you have and acquire. Christ sets us free from slavery to stuff. “Giving Tuesday” thrives on altruism, selfless concern for the welfare of others, and that benefits countless people, but don’t give as a guilt offering because you spent on yourself the previous days. Give because He loves you so much that He gave Himself for you and now through you His gifts can flow to others. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1). Who’s your Lord, God or mammon? (Matthew 6:24).
Out and/or Up
“Let my prayer rise before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” So begins the Psalmody in the Lutheran Service Book“Evening Prayer” service, a translation of Psalm 141. It came to mind the other day as I heard a little dust-up on prayer relayed over the radio.
Apparently, a major television network’s anchor recently disparaged the thought of praying for someone, suggesting that prayers don’t do anything. I think it was made out of frustration with people who say they’re praying for people in terrible loss instead of promoting some legislation to prevent further suffering and loss.
I would argue against the “futility of prayer” comment in two senses. Firstly, prayer places whatever is in my mind or on my heart before God Almighty and He can do with it whatever He knows is best for all concerned. He loves us and He raised His Son from the dead: there is nothing beyond His capability. And secondly, since I am intentionally placing things before God, it changes me and my perspective on the issues at hand. It causes me to rely on God in His mercy through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Another thing that has been on my mind is the way prayer is often referenced on the television. As (1) the fires have been raging in California, (2) people have been shot in Thousand Oaks and (3) turmoil has been experienced in other places, I have heard any number of people say something like “Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.” I believe I know what they mean to say – that the people going through such trial and suffering are often in our minds and we sympathize with them and we wish the best for them.
But, I believe it’s better to observe the following rule of thumb: thoughts go outand prayers go up, (like incense, as in the Psalmody, above). Our thoughts and our hearts can go out to people, but when we say that prayers go out to them that is tantamount to wishful thinking, and prayers are much more than that.
Prayers go up to God on their behalf. And as we place their needs before our Glorious and Gracious King, we can keep in mind what C. S. Lewis said of the gift of prayer God gave us: Prayers are not always—in the crude, factual sense of the word—"granted." This is not because prayer is a weaker kind of causality, but because it is a stronger kind. When it "works" at all it works unlimited by space and time. That is why God has retained a discretionary power of granting or refusing it; except on that condition prayer would destroy us. It is not unreasonable for a headmaster to say, "Such and such things you may do according to the fixed rules of this school. But such and such other things are too dangerous to be left to general rules. If you want to do them you must come and make a request and talk over the whole matter with me in my study. And then—we'll see."(God in the Dock, essay 11 on Work and Prayer).