To Live with Christ, by Bo Giertz

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This “little” (829 pages) book is fantastic! It is a daily devotion book based on the historic lectionary by one of the great lights of confessional Lutheranism in the 20th century, Bishop Bo Giertz. He is best known in our circles for his book, The Hammer of God, but he’s written many wonderful works, including Preaching from the Whole Bible, The Liturgy and Spiritual Awakening, and others.

The devotions are around 2 pages each, with a prayer composed primarily by Giertz himself. They are sound Lutheran, pious, engaging and prayerful. It is an especially good deal for only $20.

Check it out. It’s worth your time.

The Great Banquet – Trinity 02

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Trinity 2 (June 1, 2008)
Luke 14:16-24

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “The Great Banquet”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Gospel lesson just read, the story of the Great Banquet from Luke 14.

I don’t think we have much of a sense of the rarity of the banquet today. Maybe if we spent more time fasting, we would understand this parable a little better. A banquet in Jesus’ day was not Saturday night pizza. Most of us are so stuff with the things of this life that we can’t even recognize good food when we taste it. But there it is. God reminds us this morning that the feast of salvation is for all, and yet is rare. God invite everyone, but not all come to His holy invitation. So what does this holy banquet mean for you and I, as we seek to understand life in Him under the cross?

First of all, notice that in this great supper or banquet, the man (the king really) invites many. It was common in Jesus’ day that when a rich man gave a banquet, whether this was a wedding feast or not, that they would invite the poor and the needy to the party. This was a sign of the generosity of the host. He did not want to keep God’s bounty to himself, but rather wanted to give it out to all and sundry. There is no sense of expectation on the part o the invitation. The host wants to bring joy to those in need, and because he has cause for rejoicing, so should his guests.

Now notice second the audacity and sheer rudeness of his guests! He invites them out of the generosity of his heart, but his guest begin to make excuse. Only each excuse is more ridiculous than the last. The servants have gone out at the dinner hour to gather everyone in to the banquet. Presumably they have already been invited. But when the servants come, they get the laundry list of why the guests can’t come. I have to go check out some property. I have to go take my new oxen out for a spin. I’m recently married and so can’t make it. Nobody goes out to start plowing a field at suppertime. You do that early in the morning, not in the heat of the day. The excuses are as lame as they sound.

But, of course, we all know that our excuses for neglecting God’s table are no better. The fish only bite at 9 am on Sundays. The lawn just won’t wait. This is my only time to just relax. I have to work later today. I’m tired. My kids are making me crazy. My parents are making me crazy! You can fill in your own excuses.

Sometimes even when we come to God’s holy banquet, we don’t come to recline at His table and receive His Gifts. We come rather to parade our holiness before the world, to complain about our own troubles in getting here, or to make someone happy. We may be here, but we are only in body, not in soul.
Contrast this with what St. John writes in his vision in Revelation Nineteen:

“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”” (Revelation 19:9 ESV)

The banquet feast of the Lamb is no typical banquet. The ones who attend this feast are truly blessed. There is no chicken, potatoes and some kind of overcooked vegetable. There is no cheap wine or bad coffee, with a boring speaker and an expensive price tag. This banquet, this marriage supper, is like no other. Isaiah tells us about this great banquet:

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6 ESV)

This is the banquet of heaven. This is the banquet where everyone is invited, where the food is the best there ever was and the wine is of the finest vintage. Here our Lord is both host and meal. He is lifted up on the spit of the cross, and is then fed to you at the holy meal. This is the feast of victory, where God delivers once and for all His gifts of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. It is a great party, with reunions of old friends and relatives, and where everyone is rejoicing and glad at heart.

It is at this table that all hatred and bitterness, all sorrow and pain, all of the troubles and trials of this life melt away. This is a banquet that is now, but not yet. It is here, but it is still coming. We rejoice as the people of Isaiah’s day once said:

“It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”” (Isaiah 25:9 ESV)

There are always excuses, there are always reasons to avoid the table. But our Lord, who is rich in mercy, is long-suffering with us, His wayward sons and daughters. He is patient and kind, and in the love of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He rejoices to give Himself to you, at this, His eternal victory meal.

So come and feast at His table. Rejoice that you have been brought into His holy kingdom, and that you are here, forgiven, healed, and restored. And one day, dearly beloved, you will feast with our Lord face to face in heaven. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

The Saccharine Jesus

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Fahrenheit 451

I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It’s been a long time since I read it, if ever. The premise is a world of mostly self-imposed censorship, because people simply no longer desired to read and to think. it’s also a commentary on the passive nature of television and other audio media. This was before the day of “active listening” I guess. Anyway, one paragraph addresses religion. The scholar, Faber, asks Montag if he can see the Bible, which Montag saved from a fire of his own creation:

“It’s been a long time. I’m not a religious man. But it’s been a long time.” Faber turned the pages, stoping here and there to read. “It’s as good as I remember. Lord, how they’ve changed it in our ‘arlors’ these days. Christ is one of the ‘family’ now. I often wonder if God recognizes His own son the way we’ve dressed him up, or is it dressed him down? He’s a regular peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn’t making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshipper absolutely needs”((Fahrenheit 451, by Rad Bradbury, p. 81).

What is intriguing about this, of course, is Bradbury’s observation that left to our own devices, we create our own God to suit whatever the theo-political-sociological needs of the day might seem to be. Exodus 32 is alive and well! The golden calf is in all of us.

Contrast this with our Lord’s self disclosure. He reveals Himself to us, the Word made Flesh. He gives us not what we want or what we think we need. He gives us what we truly need, a Savior from sin, death and hell. God is our creator who knows what our deepest needs are. We cannot create our own God. He creates us in His holy waters. Words matter. They connect us to God Himself.

Thanks, Mr. Bradbury.

St. Mary and St. Antonious Coptic Church: Our Lord Jesus Christ (3/3)

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The Coptic Orthodox Church has a long history. They broke from the Orthodox and Catholics at the Council of Chalcedon over the nature of Christ. From what I have been able to discern, the Oriental Orthodox Church (as they are sometimes called), were essentially miaphysites, teaching that Christ had one nature.  Now this is really, really simplifying some very in depth theological constructions. If I have misspoken or misrepresented these views, PLEASE TELL ME and I will correct it forthwith.

So the Coptic church has a pope, and has been divided from both East and West for 1500 years.  The Copts probably were hit harder than any other historic church by Islam.  In the 6th century, 95% of Egypt was Christian.  After Islam it is less than 15%.  I can only imagine the suffering they have undergone over the centuries.

Apparently, the Copts and the Orthodox have been in theological dialogue for the last 25 years or so, and are very close to reaching an agreement.  Like most theological issues, half of it was and is politics and half of it is theology.  You figure that at the time of the controversies, you had Greek, Latin, Coptic and who knows what other languages floating around. That is a recipe for theological messiness if ever there was one!

St. Mary and St. Antonious is the only Coptic Church in Wisconsin.  There are three in Chicago.  Their building was completed within the last 2 years, and is right off of I-94 just south of the airport:

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The building cost around $3m, which indicates to me that they had a LOT of work donated.  It’s a beautiful building, with a great deal of potential.  There’s no stained glass, the dome isn’t finish, and the font leaves something to be desired:

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However, the iconography is exquisite.  Here are some samples:

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All of this is lovely, but that’s not actually what struck me the most about the place.  What struck me the most was the phrase, “Our Lord Jesus Christ,” used by the priest, the Revered Father Rewis Awadalla.  Father Rewis gave us the tour, and his piety and conviction was evident and a beautiful adornment of the Gospel.  He is Egyptian, and came to the United States in 1993 to serve this parish.  He and my erstwhile colleague, Rev. Sean Smallwood of Lamb of God Lutheran Church, particularly hit it off well.

But back to this phrase.  What struck me was his use of the phrase, “Our Lord Jesus Christ.”  It is no secret that the West has little sense of piety, and (dare I say it?) excel at iconoclastism.  The way that he used this phrase was reverent to our Lord Jesus Christ, but also inclusive.  It was clear that he was speaking of OUR Lord Jesus Christ.  I had a great affinity to his honor for the name of Jesus.  It is something we in the West would do well to emulate.

The space was still foreign.  There were plenty of elements that I don’t understand or that struck me as odd (especially the font).  I would still feel more at home at St. Mary and St. Antonious than I would at most Baptist or even Lutheran churches.  I’d like to visit with him again.  I pray it may happen.

-LL

We Understand Us – Trinity 01 – 2008

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Trinity 1 (May 25, 2008)
Luke 16:19-31

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “We Understand Us”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Gospel lesson just read, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16.

It’s nice to be back to Green, isn’t it? Lutherans, after all, are people of tradition. We get a little nervous when things keep changing all the time, even if it’s just the paraments on Sunday morning. So it’s nice to get back to normal. Now we can have our good, safe, green for the next five months or so. Tradition is good. At least usually. What we pass on from father to son, mother to daughter, well, it shapes us. It defines us for now and for future generations. The fact that we use Green for the season of Trinity is a mark of our ties to the Church of the Ages.

Our text deals with tradition as well. The tradition of sin, of selfishness, and of refusing to see our Lord in our brother at the gate. The rich man in our text was a man of tradition. He didn’t wear green; he wore purple, the color of the royal and the rich. His home was old and beautiful. He had servants, sumptuous meals, and everything he needed. More, in fact. Every day he walked past Lazarus, who longed for mercy, even the crumbs which fell from the master’s table. But Lazarus did not get them. It was not a part of this rich man’s tradition.

The rich man, you see, had forgotten what it meant to be human. He had forgotten that the very nature of our humanity is our connection to the divinity. He had forgotten that no amount of stuff, no riches or servants or wives or money or jobs or anything else could make him right with God. We don’t even know in our text if he recognized God at all! Yet there it is. The rich man, basking in his riches, while Lazarus is dying at his doorway.

Of course, we often do the very same thing. So often we think of our riches as the goal, the point of our existence. We forget that living is not about getting but about being in Christ and in each other. It is that tradition, the one of handing over our lives to each other in Christ, it is that tradition which we avoid like the plague. Even Lutherans. Even us here at Messiah Lutheran Church. How often have you passed by those in need? How often have you chosen to serve yourself rather than your neighbor in love? All too often, I fear. The tradition of the rich man is alive and well.

But it is a tradition with no life, no future. Once you have gained one thing, you long for another. In stepping over the poor and needy in your path, you tread upon God Himself. Repent.

Now there is another rich man who is held up in our text, Abraham. Unlike the rich man with Lazarus, Abraham recognized that his wealth, the gifts that God had given him, were not his to hoard, but were gifts to be shared with all. When the angels came to visit him unawares, Abraham gave them a feast beyond imagination! One commentator observed that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, used 21 quarts of flour to make bread for them. That’s a lot of bread for three people! But Abraham did not want them to be in want, and so he gave of what he had, because he gave of himself.

This is the proper understanding of tradition, and soon we will get to our Lord, Jesus Christ, in this text. Tradition is something that is passed on, not hoarded. Tradition is sacred, because it is a gift given to you as a trust that you are entrusted to give to those whom you meet. In a very proper sense of the term, we could even call the Gospel a tradition. The Gospel has been passed on to us, and we in turn pass it on to those we meet in our lives.

Lazarus, you see, had received the tradition. He was a child of Abraham, just as you are. Lazarus did not receive the material gifts of this world, but the tradition he received was one of life, life in God, life with his fellow man, life at the bosom of Abraham with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Martin Luther put it this way:

All believers are like poor Lazarus; and every believer is a true Lazarus, for he is of the same faith, mind and will, as Lazarus. For we all must, like Lazarus, trust in God, surrender ourselves to him to work in us according to his own good pleasure, and be ready to serve all men. And although we all do not suffer from such sores and poverty, yet the same mind and will must be in us that were in Lazarus—cheerfully to bear such things, wherever God wills it. Abraham had the mind and will to bear what Lazarus did. Therefore he recognized Lazarus as one of his own and received him into his bosom. (Blessed Martin Luther)

Now this brings us to Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the son of Abraham. He received what Abraham had to give, namely, life itself. He gave of Himself. No, more than that, our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself, even His very life, so those whom He serves. Where we fail, where we are cruel and forgetful and selfish, He gives and gives and gives. He gives up His very life for you. Why does He do this? He does it so that you can receive that gift of Abraham, that gift of life which only He can give to you.

Come, then, to our Lord’s holy temple. Come with Abraham, Lazarus and all the saints of old to receive the gift of life which only He can give. Come and rest in Him, for He cares for you like no other. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.