Gottesblog

Note: This beautiful little reflection on the structure of our beloved Augsburg Confession was offered up by Fr. Dodgers in 2020. ~ Ed.

Every sin begins with the lie that God doesn’t love you… He’s holding out on you… He’s against you… The real struggle against sin comes with the struggle to believe that God is for you. Let’s see how that goes in Genesis 16.

My wife and I took turns reading chapters of this book to each other and, at the time, we were eagerly awaiting the birth of our first child. There were multiple occasions when the reading had to pause, because tears were welling up in our eyes and our voices were failing to get the words out. We would have to stop, and look at each other, and smile, and maybe even laugh a little. It wasn’t mere sadness making us tear up. It was love—love for each other, love for our baby in the womb, love for the people in this story. It was love for the beauty of the Gospel and joy in God’s gift of life.

Verses to the divine David

Be silent, Orpheus; thy lyre throw aside, O Hermes.
The tripod at Delphi hath sunk into oblivion for evermore.
For us David doth now play the Spirit’s lyre,

Resurrection, imperfect

By John Donne

The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender’s inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.

This sermon was preached for the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlotte, Iowa… Who else but the Church could rejoice on the day of a martyrdom? Who else could confidently call an execution a feast and sing praise to God?

Many people today, both Christians and non-Christians, would agree that there is very little humility or hope to be found in our society. Disagreement over political and social action intensifies as opposing sides refuse to listen to each other—no humility. And change seems to come so rapidly (and even violently) that many people are left confused and frightened about the future—no hope.

The Chronicles of Narnia is a well-known and beloved fantasy series by the Christian thinker and writer, C.S. Lewis. And in that series, The Magician’s Nephew tells the creation story for the magical land of Narnia, as it was created by the God and Christ-figure of that world: the Lion, Aslan. It’s told from the perspective of a young boy named Digory from our world who stumbled into Narnia at its very beginning.

Jesus: Come here, Thomas. Put out your finger and feel my hands. Reach out your hand and thrust it into my side. And doubt no longer, but believe.

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise Without delays, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With him mayst rise: That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

“People shouldn’t call for demons unless they really mean what they say.” In The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis’s final volume in The Chronicles of Narnia, the enemies of Narnia promote a false teaching that Aslan, the great Lion and true King of Narnia, is the same as Tash, the wicked vulture-like god of the Calormenes. It eventually becomes clear that they have no problem equating the two beings because they believe in neither of them. But then, invoked by these enemies of truth, Tash shows up:

Some may think the Church doesn’t need to bother condemning sin and false teaching in the world. We should just focus on the sins we have right inside the Church. It’s true that judgment must BEGIN at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), but that does not mean we turn a blind eye on the world or cease to warn our people to avoid the false teaching that surrounds them. An occasion presented itself for me to do so this past Sunday.

I just discovered this wonderful little hymn for the beginning of a new church year. And it’s a defense for the Historic Lectionary!

On earth as it is in heaven. It seems like a small, almost insignificant phrase in a prayer full of such magnificent petitions. But a closer look reveals a whole new way of seeing, not only this prayer our Lord taught us, but His entire work.

Am I seriously claiming there is any similarity between Daniel in the lions’ den and churches in 21st century America being urged (or forced) to shutdown? You might be surprised. In fact, the Book of Daniel is probably an overlooked model for Christians living in a non-Christian, and often hostile, society.