| So, what do you all think of the results at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly?
Is there a list of liberal and conservative ELCA congregations somewhere? | comments: 23 comments or Leave a comment   |
| Ganked from an e-mail conversation with a friend who is new to the faith. We were chatting, and she expressed great concern that she had irrevocably messed up any chance she had of having a relationship with God. This is what I sent her:
Friend*,
Here's the aforementioned parable. It comes from the gospel of Luke, chapter fifteen, verses eleven through thirty-two. Afterwards, I've included some notes on the text.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.[a]'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
Most of this parable is pretty self-explanatory. The lost son represents someone who has turned against their Christian upbringing and wasted all the good things given by his father, his father represents God, and his older brother represents someone who has never strayed far from their Christian upbringing.
Note that this parable was spoken to Jews, and that the thought of feeding pigs (which were forbidden under Jewish law) would have been bad enough, not to mention being so hungry that the guy wanted to eat the pigs' food. Dude was pretty well in a shitty situation, and it was all because of his own poor decisions.
In desperation, he decides to go back to his father (i.e.- God) and beg to be a lowly servant in his household. But before he even gets anywhere near home, the father (God) sees the boy coming back to him and knows that he's sorry for what he's done, so he RUNS to greet the boy, showering love and affection on him.
Now, understand that the father in this story is a wealthy landowner; a man of great prestige and dignity. But he considers his lofty position NOTHING when compared to his joy at seeing his son again. So it is with God. As high above the Earth and all of our lowly ways God is, he comes running towards us (in the form of Jesus) and wraps us in his arms, showering us with love and affection. No matter WHAT we've done, he forgives it all and welcomes us back with great joy.
The older brother represents judgmental Christians (and I'm sad to say that there are many of them out there) who look down on sinners and don't think that God should have anything to do with them. "What? This girl turned to Wicca? And SATANISM? You've got to be kidding me! To hell with her! She's not worth God's time!" these people might say.
Well, you see the father's reaction in the parable, and of course God's reaction is the same. "Get over yourself. My daughter has come home. I am overjoyed, and now all of Heaven is going to rejoice with me!!!"
So Friend*, you don't have to be afraid that God is going to hold your past against you. God relishes in forgiveness. He takes his greatest delight in mercy and kindness. Gospel is the Greek word for "Good News", and that is the good news: All the stories people have fed you about God looking for a reason to bust your ass are lies. He loves you, and he's made a way for you to be with him forever.
__________________________________________________________________
*Name omitted. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | What is the difference between ELCA, LCMS, and WELS? I'm going to be baptized ELCA, and I know that ELCA is considered the most liberal of the 3. I know that they ordain women but all 3 are considered Lutheran. What are the differences in your opinion? No basing on any of these please, just looking for some ideas for how they're different. | | comments: 20 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Hey all. I'm converting to Lutheranism (ELCA) from Judaism. :-) Just thought I'd say hi. I'm going to be baptized in the fall. | | comments: 13 comments or Leave a comment |
| Hi all. I have a question for some of you. But before that, I want to tell you what this is not... This is not an invitation to revisit the LCMS/ELCA pissing contests that have erupted here in the past. This is not me seeking to correct anyone on their doctrine or beliefs.
What this is is me seeking to understand the perspective of people who believe differently than me. So please listen to my heart rather than my words, in case my combative nature seeps through, despite my best efforts to suppress it.
This was all brought about by a posting at a friend's Facebook, regarding the recent vote by Presbyterians to continue to disallow gay clergy. He seemed genuinely shocked by this development, which leads me to my question: If you do believe that gay clergy (or indeed the embracing of the gay lifestyle) is a good thing, what is your reasoning behind that belief? And how is that belief reconciled with the clear scriptural prohibition of said lifestyle?
And let me say for the record that by my own reasoning, the gay lifestyle is no big deal to me. I once belonged to the "build your own theology" school of thought that is so popular today, and my beliefs were probably in line with more liberal schools of thought. ("Liberal" is by no means used here as an insult, as is so often the case when dealing with conservatives.) However, after a long series of events I began to read the Bible and became convinced of God's omnipotence, and from that moment forward have believed that he is more than powerful enough to preserve his word through the ages. Therefore I trust it as being completely inerrant. So while I personally might not be able to see the harm in something, I trust in him to know better than I do what is good for us, and in that faith I go by his word rather than my own understanding of what might be right or wrong.
And please do not take this as me attempting to tell you why you should believe as I do. No, I tell you all of this so that you may understand my point of view. As I said before, I come not seeking an argument, but understanding of a different perspective.
If you would be so kind, I would ask any of you who respond to limit yourself to explaining why you believe as you do, as opposed to elucidating why one side or the other needs to change. I do not want this to become contentious, and ask that we all speak kindly and gently.
Thank you all for your time! | | comments: 11 comments or Leave a comment |
| I started two communities this morning that might interest my fellow Lutherans. This one, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) nwchristians is for Christians living in the Pacific NW. I feel lonely here sometimes because it seems like so many people are hostile to faith in this area of the world. And this one, oatmeal4christ is for people who feel worn out from the liberal vs conservative push and pull routine and don't feel like they belong on either "side," but somewhere in the middle. I know for fellow ELCA folks that is probably a familiar feeling. :P
Have a blessed Good Friday, all. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | This community of Catholics and Lutherans is in my city. I should visit sometime, but I don't have a car and dragging two kids on bus to a 9 am service off our beaten path is quite a chore. I'm curious about it though. I'm curious if anyone in this community knows of a similar mission in your city, or has visited one. What do you think of this? Personally I like respectful efforts to find common ground, and this community seems to have been around for a while. I'm sure some people would see it as encouraging heresy or whatever though. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Rev. Charles Lehmann + 3rd Last Sunday + Matthew 24:15-28
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
When the legions came in the spring of 70 A.D., there was no mercy for Jerusalem. God had come to His beloved vineyard, and they had rejected Him. He came into their flesh. He lived under the same Roman occupation that they did. He subjected Himself to all the suffering that living as a first century Israelite entailed. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. But even though they rejected Him, He called to them tenderly. He healed their sick. He raised their dead. He fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies. But they still did not believe in Him. They did not believe the Word of God about Him, and so when the promised Messiah who had come to destroy their sins forever walked in their midst, most of the people of Judea called him a drunkard and a charlatan.
The people of Jerusalem trusted themselves. They said, “We are children of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone.” They said, “You break the Sabbath, and so you cannot come from God.” These are the Pharisees who walked into the temple and cried out, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” They boasted of their deeds, but Jesus said they were white-washed tombs. They looked great on the outside. They had all the right clothes and you couldn't catch them breaking any of their made up rules. But their mouths were open graves, and their souls were stained with innumerable sins. They looked to their works and believed that they were righteous on account of what they'd done. They didn't think they needed Jesus. They didn't think they needed anyone to save them from their sin. They trusted themselves for life and salvation, and so when God came to give them the forgiveness they needed, they killed Him. They nailed Him to a Roman cross, hung Him between two thieves, and mocked the one who was dying to forgive them.
Today our Lord says to us, “Where the corpse is, the eagles will gather.” Our translation says vultures, but it was the eagle that was the symbol of Rome. And it was Roman soldiers who were Christ's chosen instruments, not once, but twice. It is through the hand of Roman soldiers that Jesus accomplished His death for the sins of the world, and it is by the legions of Rome that Jesus would pour out His wrath on Jerusalem.
He had warned His beloved city time and again. Even in today's text, Jesus warned His people that when they saw the legions come, when they saw the eagle approaching the holy city, they had to flee for the mountains. No one who was within the walls of Jerusalem in spring of 70 A.D. when the Roman legions arrived left the city alive. But those who believed the Lord's word of warning did. When Rome arrived, they built a siege wall around Jerusalem, and the thousands who tried to breach it were crucified. Those that stayed in the city were eventually put to the sword.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Rev. Charles Lehmann + All Saints Day + Matthew 5:1-12
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Today is All Saints Day. All Saints. Today we celebrate that the church is far larger than we can see. You know that very well. On May 10th our dear sister Pauline Harman left this vale of tears and went to be with the Lord. This was just a few days before I got here. I was saddened by her death. It wasn't that I won't get to meet Pauline. I know that I'll have an eternity to enjoy with her when I join her in heaven. It wasn't even that I wouldn't get to be with her when I got here. Our communion liturgy makes sure we know better than that. The very first Sunday I was here I was with Pauline. On that day we celebrated our Savior's great gifts “with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven!”
The church is much, much larger than we can see with our eyes. It is so vast that it is something that we can only see with our ears. We only know that Pauline, Margaret, Esther, Cleda, and all the saints buried here are worshiping with us because the Lord says so. We only can say it because we believe what the Word of God says about it. Psalm 149 tells us, “Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of the saints! For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; he adorns the humble with salvation.”
The Scriptures love to speak of the holy church as a totality. It's not a collection of small groups of Christians who gather at various places all over the earth. It is one assembly, one congregation of the saints. The Lord has given us His promise. He says, “Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I am there in the midst of them.” Where Christ is, there is the Church, the one Church, the whole Church. There is one congregation of the saints of which Christ is the chief cornerstone. When we gather together to receive the gifts that Jesus promises in His Name, He is here. And the church is the body of Christ. Christ does not have millions of little bodies scattered throughout Garrett County, Maryland, the United States, and the rest of the world. Christ has one body, and where Christians are gathered in His Name, the whole body of Christ is present even though we cannot see it.
Though the whole church is here, this truth is hidden from us. We can't see the millions of saints who are present wherever their Savior is present. When we look around this room it looks like there are only forty or fifty of us. We can't see Pauline, Margaret, Esther, Cleda, or the members of Zion or even the folks who are worshiping in D.C., Canada, Haiti, and in every other nation. But they're here. They with us are the mystical body of Christ, and Christ is here. He is here in His Word. He is here delivering to you the gifts of life and salvation that He won for you on the cross. And where Christ is, there the whole Christian Church is also.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| This is a reworking of a previous sermon, but it's new to the saints of the Cove.
Rev. Charles Lehmann + Reformation 2008 + John 8:31-36
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
The Jews in today's Gospel reading seem to have forgotten their history. If they lived in Garrett County, they would have failed their class in Maryland history at Northern. As hard as history class is for them, however, they do know one thing. They are Abraham's descendants. But they are not just Abraham's descendants. They're also descendants of Jacob. And we heard last month about Jacob and all of his sons going down into Egypt. In Egypt, Jacob's descendants became a great nation, but when people who did not know Joseph began to rule there, they enslaved the people of Israel. They served their Egyptian taskmasters for hundreds of years.
The words we hear the Jews speak today in the Gospel reading are very strange words, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone.” What? What is this nonsense? Have these Jews never heard the Old Testament? Have they never eaten the Passover? But forget that ancient history! Have they not seen the Roman cohorts marching up and down the streets of Jerusalem with images of Tiberius Caesar adorning their standards?
Surely the Jews have been slaves in Egypt, and they are now under foreign occupation in their own land. When these Jews who believe in Jesus say that they’ve never been slaves to anyone, they are speaking out of pride. The problem is that though they’ve heard Jesus’ sermon and believed it, they’re not willing to live in the freedom that Christ has given them. There will be no freedom for these believing Jews until they acknowledge their slavery to sin. Not only have they been slaves, but they are slaves right now.
Lutherans, of course, love this passage. We look at the bulletin, see that it’s Reformation Day, and then we hear this passage read. We think, “Man… I’m sure glad that I’m not like those Jews. I’m glad that I’m not focused on my works. I know the truth. I’m free!” We sometimes like to think of the Reformation as God’s triumph over those evil bad Roman Catholics. We know who we are in the story… we’re the free ones. We know the truth, that we are saved by faith apart from works. We know the truth, that Christ came into the world to save sinners. We know our works can’t get us anything. We know the Gospel, and we know it’s for us.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I'd like some input on tattoos, if you'd be so kind. They're only mentioned once in the Bible that I can recall. It's somewhere in Leviticus, and says "Do not shave the front of your head for the dead or put tattoo marks on your skin." (At least I believe that's it, working from memory.)
It's not a big thing for me. I wouldn't mind having one or two more (the one I have I got before my conversion to Christianity), but am fine with never getting more if it is displeasing to God.
Thanks for your time, y'all!
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*Believe it or not, this is a term of respect, indicating your long-time study and dedication. For instance, I refer to myself as a Star Wars nerd (among other kinds). | | comments: 28 comments or Leave a comment |
| Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 22: 34 - 40 + Pentecost 23
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The Pharisees and Sadducees hate that they can't catch Jesus in his words. Last week we heard when Jesus caught them in idolatry. The Lord would not play their games. He knew their evil intent. He knew that they were not really interested in His Word. But that's par for the course. Jesus' enemies always acted out of unbelief and hatred. Because they did not believe His word, the Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus in charges of blasphemy so that they could kill him.
In Romans, Paul tells us that the purpose of all Law is "so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world [be] held accountable to God." In the book of Revelation, we hear the exhortation, "He that has ears let him hear what the spirit says to the churches." It is with our ears that we hear and believe. It is with our mouths that we confess what the Lord has said to us. But since Jesus' enemies did not listen to Him, they couldn't confess either.
When the Sadducees came to try to trap Jesus in his words, he saw through what they had said to the unbelief that lay behind it. After Jesus had corrected them He said, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." The Lord's words silenced the unbelief of the Sadducees. The Lord silenced the Sadducees because He loved them. The Lord wanted the Sadducees to listen to Him so that they would hear the words of life that He was speaking.
( Read more... ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 22:15-21 + Pentecost 22
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Cyrus was an evil, pagan king. After He conquered Babylon, Cyrus had the following written in the account of his victory: “Marduk, the great lord, moved the noble heart of the residents of Babylon to me. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced in my pious deeds, and graciously blessed me, Cyrus, the king who worships him.” Cyrus couldn't have picked a more disgusting false god to worship. Not even the Babylonians who worshiped this false god had anything good to say about him. In their stories, their so-called god murdered his parents to become the king of the gods. He created humanity to be his slaves, even though he hated all the noise they made.
That was the sort of false god that Cyrus worshiped. But Cyrus really wasn't all that picky. He both allowed and encouraged the peoples he conquered to worship their gods instead of the gods of Persia. He probably would have done well in the November elections.
We have no reason to believe that Cyrus ever worshiped the true God. But even though Cyrus did not acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the only true God, the Lord doesn't need a king's permission in order to use him for His purposes. Because of this the Lord still calls Cyrus His Anointed One. He says, “I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.” In Hebrew the word for “Anointed One” is “Messiah.” Cyrus is the only pagan that God ever calls by this name. All the others who are anointed by God are priests or kings of His people. They are set apart for holy purposes. But here, God does a new thing, a strange thing.
Here God calls Cyrus, an evil, pagan, idolater his “Messiah,” His Anointed One. Why would God do this? He does it because the Lord has set Cyrus apart for a holy purpose. Cyrus will free Israel from their captivity in Babylon. He will send them home to rebuild their temple. Cyrus will not do this because He believes in the true God. He will not do it because He has cast aside His satanic idols. He will do it because it will make him look good politically. He will do it because He doesn't think any one god is more important than any other. Cyrus will be a self-absorbed pagan conqueror and he will do what he does for self-absorbed pagan conqueror reasons.
( Read more... ) | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
|
"Martin Luther"
by Tommy Womack
Martin Luther slung his feces up against the wall.
"Get thee hence here, Satan. You will not see me fall."
Martin was a wanted man, it all just kinda got to him.
But now all Minnesota gives what Martin Luther's due him.
Martin Luther nailed a bunch of theses to a door.
Ninety-five in all, he coulda thought of more.
The printing press was hip, like the internet is now,
And Martin Luther got in trouble, like you don't know how.
Martin Luther said that a man can talk to God.
All he needs between 'em is the taste of Jesus' blood.
You don't have to sell things and you don't have to buy,
And no man gets to say who goes to heaven when we die.
Martin Luther went to court, such as courts were then.
You had the right to shut your mouth, and not open it back up again.
Martin Luther talked, and Martin Luther talked,
And after Martin Luther finished talking, Martin Luther walked.
So the Pope sent folks to kill him, and they prob'ly would,
If a gang of friendly monks ain't hid him in a dungeon for his own good.
That's where he slung his feces, locked up in a cell.
Hallucinating Satan, but otherwise holding up quite well.
Martin Luther said that a man can talk to God.
All he needs between 'em is the taste of Jesus' blood.
You don't have to buy things and you don't have to sell,
No man gets to say who goes to heaven or to hell.
You don't have sell things and you don't have to buy,
And no man gets to say who goes to heaven when we die.
Martin Luther. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
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curious