Mercy Journeys with Pastor Harrison

Enjoyed time this morning with the LCMS House members in D.C.

2012-01-24T13:54:00.001-06:00

Congressman Reichert is famous for leading in the capture of the Green River Killer during his law enforcement days.

2012-01-11T21:11:00.000-06:00

St. Louis Lutheran leader responds to landmark Supreme Court case

BY JESSE J. HOLLAND - Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:24 pm | (8) Comments

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The Rev. Matthew Harrison preaches at a service in July, 2011.

WASHINGTON • In a groundbreaking case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held for the first time that religious employees of a church cannot sue for employment discrimination.

But the court's unanimous decision in a case from Michigan did not specify the distinction between a secular employee, who can take advantage of the government's protection from discrimination and retaliation, and a religious employee, who can't.

It was, nevertheless, the first time the high court has acknowledged the existence of a "ministerial exception" to anti-discrimination laws - a doctrine developed in lower court rulings. This doctrine says the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion shields churches and their operations from the reach of such protective laws when the issue involves employees of these institutions.

The Rev. Matthew Harrison, president of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said he was "delighted" with the high court's decision.

"The Court, in upholding the right of churches to select their own ministers without government interference, has confirmed a critical religious liberty in our country," Harrison said in a written statement. "The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod places great emphasis on the religious education of its children and the important role of commissioned ministers in promoting our faith, so we are thankful that the Court has confirmed our church's right to decide who will be serving as ministers in our churches and schools."

The case came before the court because the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich., on behalf of employee Cheryl Perich, over her firing, which happened after she complained of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Writing the court's opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said allowing anti-discrimination lawsuits against religious organizations could end up forcing churches to take religious leaders they no longer want.

"Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs," Roberts said. "By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments."

The court's decision will make it virtually impossible for ministers to take on their employers for being fired for complaining about issues like sexual harassment, said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United.

"Clergy who are fired for reasons unrelated to matters of theology - no matter how capricious or venal those reasons may be - have just had the courthouse door slammed in their faces," Lynn said.

But Douglass Laycock, who argued the case for Hosanna-Tabor, called it a "huge win for religious liberty."

"The court has unanimously confirmed the right of churches to select their own ministers and religious leaders," he said.

But since this was the first time the high court has ever considered the "ministerial exception," it would not set hard and fast rules on who can be considered a religious employee of a religious organization, Roberts said.

"We are reluctant ... to adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister," he said. "It is enough for us to conclude, in this, our first case involving the ministerial exception, that the exception covers Perich, given all the circumstances of her employment."

Perich was promoted from a temporary lay teacher to a "called" teacher in 2000 by a vote of the church's congregation and was hired as a commissioned minister. She taught secular classes as well as a religious class four days a week. She also occasionally led chapel service.

She got sick in 2004 but tried to return to work from disability leave despite being diagnosed with narcolepsy. The school said she couldn't return because they had hired a substitute for that year. They fired her and removed her from the church ministry after she showed up at the school and threatened to sue to get her job back.

Perich complained to the EEOC, which sued the church for violations of the disabilities act.

A federal judge threw out the lawsuit on grounds that Perich fell under the ADA's ministerial exception, which keeps the government from interfering with church affairs. But the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated her lawsuit, saying Perich's "primary function was teaching secular subjects" so the ministerial exception didn't apply.

The federal appeals court's reasoning was wrong, Roberts said. He said that Perich had been ordained as a minister and the lower court put too much weight on the fact that regular teachers also performed the same religious duties as she did.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also placed too much emphasis on the fact that Perich's religious duties only took up 45 minutes of her workday, while secular duties consumed the rest, Roberts said.

"The issue before us ... is not one that can be resolved by a stopwatch," he said.

The court's decision was a narrow one, with Roberts refusing to extend the ministerial exception to other types of lawsuits that religious employees might bring against their employers. "We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers," Roberts said.

Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote a separate opinion, argued that the exception should be tailored for only an employee "who leads a religious organization, conducts worship services or important religious ceremonies or rituals or serves as a messenger or teacher of its faith."

But "while a purely secular teacher would not qualify for the 'ministerial exception,' the constitutional protection of religious teachers is not somehow diminished when they take on secular functions in addition to their religious ones," Alito said.

Tim Townsend of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Posted in Faith-and-values on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:24 pm Updated: 5:44 pm. | Tags: Hosanna-tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church, Supreme Court Of The United States, Lutheran Church, Matthew Harrison,

Introducing the New LCMS Chief Mission Officer!

2012-01-11T17:30:00.001-06:00

Bill Keith (the great melodic banjo pioneer) plays "A Mighty Fortress"

2012-01-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

If you're gonna have a breakdown, might as well be Bluegrass

2012-01-10T21:12:00.001-06:00

Installation Sermon For the New LCMS Chief Mission Officer

2012-01-10T19:27:00.000-06:00

Dizzy Gillespie Plays "Norm's Norm"

2012-01-09T19:32:00.001-06:00

Mississippi John Hurt - John Henry

2012-01-07T19:43:00.000-06:00

A Bach Epiphany Delight

2012-01-06T18:09:00.001-06:00

Check out Wikipedia on Bach's Epiphany Cantata. P.H.

Real Presence, "epiphanies" and Christ's Historic Epiphany

2012-01-06T17:49:00.007-06:00

And so we come to the question of the Real Presence, which we must touch on here at least briefly. Why was this for Luther the question about the Gospel itself? The Lord Christ is present in all the means of grace. He comes to us in the preaching of the Gospel, in Baptism, and in absolution. In these He is present in His church, which is His body. Also where two or three are gathered in His name, gathered around His Word and Sacrament, there is the body of Christ, the whole body. For the body of Christ is not some sort of organism. It cannot be separated into pieces. It is always completely present, just as the sacramental body is always completely present in each part of the consecrated bread. “Whether one this bread receiveth, or a thousand, still He giveth One sure food that does not fail.”[1] Luther and our Lutheran fathers loved to quote these words from Aquinas's "Lauda Sion salvatorem." They ring on in the Communion hymns of our church. They can and must be applied in an analogous way to the "mystical body," the church, in order to avoid the unbiblical, romantic theory of the church as an organism. The presence in the Sacrament of the Altar, however, is not the same as the presence in the other means of grace. There is today a most earnest struggle going on to understand this presence. There are Catholic and Protestant theologians who speak of it as making Christ's death, Christ's passion contemporary, a re-presentation of His sacrificial death. Among Catholic theologians such theories emerge from the effort to clarify the doctrine of Trent that identifies the sacrifice on the cross with the sacrifice in the Mass. According to the doctrine of Trent the sacrifice of Mass is to be understood as memoria, repraesentatio, and applicatio of the sacrifice on Golgotha. It was the late Benedictine monk, Odo Casel,[2] who propounded the mystery theory that has engaged so much discussion. The point of departure for his exposition of the "cuItic mystery" was the Hellenistic mysteries.

These are then seen as "shadows" of the future mysteries of the church, corresponding to the relationship between nature and supernature [Ubernafur]. The Kyrios of a mystery is a God who has entered into human misery and struggle, has made his appearance on earth (epiphany) and fought here, suffered, even been defeated; the whole sorrow of mankind in pain is brought together in a mourning for the God who must die. But then in some way comes a return to life through which the God's companions, indeed the whole of nature revives and lives on. This was the way of pious faith and the sacred teaching (hieros logos), of society in the earliest mystical age. But the world, society is always in need of life; so the epiphany goes on and on in worship; the saving, healing act of God is performed over and over. Worship [Kult] is the means of making it real once more, and thus of breaking through to the spring of salvation. The members of the cult present again in a ritual, symbolic fashion, that primeval act. ... The mystery, therefore, embraces in the first place the broad concept of ritual "memoria1"---(Anamnesis, co memoratio) the ritual performance and making present [Gegenwaertigsetzung] of some act of the God's, upon which rests the existence and life of a community. (Das Christliche Kultmysterium, 2d ed. [1935]; emphasis added [The Mystery of Christian Worship (l962), 53]).

Justin and the early church could never have dreamed up something like this, certainly not if they remained in agreement with Paul, who did not regard these mysteries as earlier stages of Christian worship but as demonic perversion of divine truth. This whole theory falls to pieces before the simple fact that while the Hellenistic mysteries rest on myths, the Sacrament of the Altar is a matter of history. When did Attis and Osiris live? When did they die? The question is senseless because the myth does not tell of historical events. Jesus Christ, however, is a historical person. His death is a historical event that happened outside the gates of Jerusalem "under Pontius Pilate." The women who went to find His body did not have to wander all around like Cybele and Isis in the myth. They knew the place of His grave. And His resurrection was also a historical event: "On the third day He rose again from the dead." [I Corinthians 15:4] The whole theory was constructed to provide a foundation for the dogma of the identity of the sacrifice on the cross and the sacrifice of the Mass as defined by Trent. But where is there any such foundation in the New Testament? Is it by chance that the passage in the New Testament putting the high priestly work of Christ at the center has the word "once" [ephapax] right at the crucial place? He "entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12). Who dares to interpret away this "once" in view of the words that conclude this great chapter: "Just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him" (Hebrews 9:27f.).

Hermann Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors 42, 1956

[1] Sumit unus, sumunt mille/ Quantum iste tantum ille/ Nec sumptus consumitur.

[2] Odo Casel 1886-1948, liturgist. Entered the Benedictine monastery of Maria Laach in 1905 and from 1922 until his sudden death he was spiritual director of the nuns at Herstelle. Saw in the Eucharist a re-enactment of the mysteries of Christ by the church. Anticipated Vatican II. ODCC p. 294. MH

Blessed Epiphany!

2012-01-06T17:44:00.001-06:00

The Christmas Market at Erfurt

2012-01-04T20:30:00.002-06:00

It was delightful visiting Germany in December. Here are a few photos of Erfurt. When "furt" appears in the name of a city, it refers to a place to "ford" a river or stream. In Erfurt a famous row of houses is built as a bridge over the river. The church on the left of the ferris wheel is the Erfurt Dom where Luther was ordained a priest in 1507. "Zur Hohen Lillie" is a famous ancient restaurant on the square.

Pastor H.

Photos from a recent visit to the place where the "Big Three" divided Germany

2012-01-02T21:04:00.001-06:00

The second in Advent, Bishop Schoene toured the Ceclienhof with us. Great day.

Pastor H.

Photos from Cecielenhoff

2012-01-02T20:53:00.001-06:00

Chapel at the Wartburg Castle

2012-01-02T20:45:00.002-06:00

Luther no doubt spent a great deal of time here 1520-21. I've been to the Wartburg a half dozen times and never tire of it.

Pastor H.

15th Century Chasuble in the Luther's Birth House Museum, Eisleben

2012-01-02T20:43:00.000-06:00

One Bad Painting of Luther

2012-01-02T19:59:00.002-06:00

The "Luther Haus" in Wittenberg is spectacular, but the top floor hosts a collection of depictions of Luther through the centuries. This was the worst of the prints/paintings!

Pastor H.

Luther Preached the Dedication of this Chapel at the Torgau Castle

2012-01-01T22:23:00.002-06:00

CFW Walther's High School in Schneeberg

2012-01-01T22:15:00.000-06:00

A Dresden Door Knocker

2012-01-01T18:52:00.000-06:00

2011-12-31T22:28:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T21:08:00.001-06:00

Bill Monroe - Rawhide

2011-12-31T20:55:00.000-06:00

Eve of the Name of Jesus: "He took the curse of the law upon himself."

2011-12-31T16:04:00.004-06:00

What does Christ do when He, though Lord of the Law, freely subjects Himself to circumcision? Paul says in galatians 5:3: “I testify to you that every one who allows himself to be circumcised is obliged to keep the whole law” [Luther Bibel]. Accordingly, the circumcision of Christ has the important significance for us that He thereby subjected Himself to the judgment of the Law. That means He took the curse of the Law upon Himself. He fulfilled for us the entire Law in the most perfect obedience of love. For us He received the wages of sin. He received our death and curse along with all distress and misery, which the Law casts upon the sinner and transgressor for time and eternity.

These drops of blood that the dear child Jesus sheds here at His circumcision are, as it

were, the earnest money, the down payment, which our guarantor lays down against the

judgment of god. Through it He pledges to pay the entire debt. As a real guarantor, He

pledges to accomplish all this for us so that a thorough peace between us and god and His

Law be established.

This was completed on the cross by His death. His life was a sin offering given for the

sins of the lost children of Adam. His precious blood paid the full ransom and purchased

us back from the curse of the Law. The Law can now no longer threaten you [with the

phrase]: “Perfect obedience or death!” So you are redeemed from sin, death, and devil. The

righteousness of god is absolutely fulfilled. He is now a reconciled Father, who, for the

sake of Christ, forgives us our sins, receives us again as His children, and will give to us life

and salvation. to this end, through the Holy Spirit, He grants repentance in faith that we

become righteous and holy before god.

Do you see what Christ’s circumcision means! You have to admit it is of the highest

importance and blessing for a lost sinner. Here the fearful yoke and the unbearable weight

of the Law, with its unfulfillable demands and awful curses, was taken from your shoulders

and laid upon this beloved little child. With great pains, the down payment for you was

made with His drops of blood. He pledged Himself to pay your entire, great, horrible

guilt. He freely relieved you of this burden. Moreover, through this guarantor and this

deed, He obtained forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Now what is the significance of the name Jesus for us? The angel who appeared to her

already proclaimed to Mary that she should call the newborn child “Jesus.” Later an angel

also appeared to Joseph in a dream. He commanded him to take Mary as his wife and to

call the little child to be born, conceived of the Holy Spirit, “Jesus,” for He would save

His people from their sins. At the circumcision, Christ began the work of redemption and

salvation. Here this name was publicly given Him.

Friedrich Wyneken, A Sermon of Consolation on New Year's Eve

At Home in the House of My Fathers, CPH 2011

The House Where Luther Used To Die.

2011-12-30T18:52:00.004-06:00

That's right. These are photos I took a few weeks ago in Eisleben. The church is St. Andrews, where Luther preached his last sermon before ending early and complaining of chest pain. The house under construction is what has been regarded for more than a century as Luther's "Death House." We were informed by a local expert however, that conclusive evidence has been discovered which indicates Luther actually died a block down the street. Seems the authorities got it wrong a century or more ago when this home was refurbished as the Death House.

Oh well, as I quipped to friends, "Luther used to die here, but now he's dieing down the street."

Pastor H.

Nihil plus ultra - More photos of the place of CFW's Youth

2011-12-29T13:20:00.006-06:00

C.F.W. Walther was very familiar with this barn, built next to the parsonage ca. 1760. M.H.

And still more photos of the place of CFW Walther's Youth

2011-12-29T13:13:00.002-06:00

Even More Photos of Obscure German Places: Langenchursdorf

2011-12-29T13:04:00.004-06:00

Photos of Obscure German Places - Langenchursdorf: Home of CFW Walther

2011-12-29T12:46:00.003-06:00

Took these shots in the first part of December 2011. The founder of the LCMS, Dr. CFW Walther was born in this little Saxon village in 1811. The church and buildings (parish hall and barn) except for the "new" Parsonage (built in the 1840s! on the same spot as the original) CFW was very familiar with all the buildings. Walther's father and grandfather (and brother Otto Hermann) were all pastors in this little village. The current pastor, Pfarrer Stroebel, is a nice guy and well aware of the connection to the LCMS.

Pastor H.

More from the Wartburg Castle

2011-12-29T12:42:00.002-06:00

I really love "IPhoto." It's amazing that an underexposed picture can be enhanced in a magnificent piece.

The mosaics from this part of the Wartburg Castle were done in the 19th century.

Matt H.

A window in the Wartburg Castle

2011-12-29T12:36:00.000-06:00

St. Paul's in Leipzig Rebuilt

2011-12-29T09:57:00.005-06:00

A Leipziger recently told me that the destruction of St. Paul's Church in 1968 by the DDR government was the darkest day in the history of the city. A high ranking communist official noticed rather heavy student traffic and inquired about it. The students were attending church at St. Paul's. Thus the ancient church was destroyed to make room for "improvements" at the university (another communist box-monstrosity). Thousands protested and were incarcerated, some spending years in prison. The church where Bach performed, Luther and Harless preached and so much more happened, has now been rebuilt. I took the bottom photo a few weeks ago.

P.H.

The Paulinerkirche was a church on the Augustusplatz in Leipzig, named after the "Pauliner", its originalDominican friars. It was built in 1231 as the Klosterkirche St. Pauli for the Dominican monastery in Leipzig. From the foundation of the University of Leipzig in 1409, it served as the university church. After theProtestant Reformation it was donated to the university and was inaugurated in 1545 by Martin Luther as theUniversitätskirche St. Pauli (University Church of St Paul), later also called Unikirche. Johann Sebastian Bach and Max Reger were among its directors of music.

The church survived the war practically unscathed but was dynamited in 1968 during the communist regime ofEast Germany. It was not rebuilt. Instead, a new university church was built on the site in the shape of the former church and inaugurated in 2009, for the 600th anniversary of the university. For the full Wiki story click HERE.

The New LCMS Publicity Campaign

2011-12-28T19:11:00.001-06:00

Mom and I Enjoying Germany

2011-12-26T18:31:00.001-06:00

I was delighted to have my mom along on our recent Germany tour.

Finally a little time for car repair

2011-12-26T18:24:00.001-06:00

My brother-in-law came by today and put new front break pads on the car. I had some time to replace a couple of burned out bulbs a couple of broken parts. I love fiddling with the car but haven't had the time. Last spring I bought a 2001 Mercedes with 100,000 miles but looks like new inside and out. GREAT car!

Pastor H

A Musical Gift for Christmas from Matt Harrison

2011-12-25T08:16:00.000-06:00

Joy to the World - Aretha

2011-12-20T19:04:00.001-06:00

Jazz Christmas

2011-12-20T18:51:00.000-06:00

The First LCMS - NALC Dialogue

2011-12-20T18:37:00.001-06:00

The Decisive Battle of the Smalcald War

2011-12-20T17:41:00.005-06:00

On our recent German trip we stopped at a site I'd not seen previously. This is the monument near Falkenberg, Germany. It reads, "The decisive battle of the Smalcald War, on the evening of April 24, 1547."

The battle ensued at Muehlberg, about 10 miles south. It was Sunday morning. The Imperial troops attacked while the Lutherans were having the divine service, rushing across the Elbe River. The Lutherans retreated. As they were streaming across the field behind this monument, they came to a narrow road into the forest. The retreat was slowed by the bottleneck, and 3000 Lutheran troops were slaughtered. John Frederick was pursued still further north and apprehended after being injured (note the scar). For more on the Smalcaldic League click here. M.H.

(The following is from Thebookofconcord.org).

The Smalcald War, so called because it was directed against the Smalcald League, was easily won by the Emperor. Among the causes of this unfortunate issue were the neutral attitude of Joachim II of Brandenburg and of other Lutheran princes, and especially the treachery of the ambitious and unscrupulous Maurice, Duke of Saxony and nephew of Elector John Frederick of Saxony, who, in order to gain the Electorate of Saxony, had made a secret agreement with the Emperor according to which he was to join his forces with those of the Emperor against the Lutherans. The decisive battle was fought at Muehlberg on the Elbe,April 24, 1547. It proved to be a crushing defeat for the Protestants.The Elector himself was taken captive, treated as a rebel, and sentenced to death. The sentence was read to him while he was playing chess with his fellow-captive, Duke Ernest of Lueneburg. John Frederick answered, he did not believe that the Emperor would deal so severely with him; if, however, he were in earnest, they should let him know that he might order his affairs with his wife and children. He then calmly turned to the Duke, saying: "Let us continue the game; it's your move." (Jaekel, G. d. Ref. l, 114.) The day after the battle at Muehlberg, Torgau fell into the hands of the Emperor; and when he threatened to execute the Elector, having already erected a scaffold for this purpose,Wittenberg, too, though well protected by 5,000 soldiers, signed a capitulation on May 19, in order to save the Elector's life. On the 23d ofMay,Wittenberg was occupied by the Emperor.Here Charles, when standing at the grave of Luther, and urged to have the body of "the heretic" exhumed, spoke the memorable words that he was warring not with the dead, but with the living. The death-sentence was rescinded, but, apart from other cruel conditions forced upon the Elector, he was compelled to resign in favor of Maurice and promise to remain in captivity as long as the Emperor should desire. His sons were granted the districts of Weimar, Jena, Eisenach, and Gotha. Philip of Hesse surrendered without striking a blow, and was likewise treacherously held in captivity and humiliated in every possible way by the Emperor. The imperial plenipotentiaries had assured the Landgrave that he would not be imprisoned. Afterwards, however, the words in the document, "not any bodily captivity - nit eenige Leibesgefangenschaft," were fraudulently changed by Granvella to read, "not eternal captivity-nit ewige Leibesgefangenschaft" (Marheineke, G. d. Deut. Ref. 4, 438.) The sons of the Landgrave remained in possession of his territory. Thus all of Southern and, barring a few cities, also all of Northern Germany was conquered by Charles. Everywhere the Lutherans were at the tender mercy of the Emperor,whose undisputed power struck terror into all Germany.

Sasse: "A Single illness threatens the Lutheran Churches of the World."

2011-12-20T17:01:00.007-06:00

The letters, which at Christmas time came from various areas of the Lutheran Church of Europe and America, from territorial and free churches, large and small churches, spoke without exception of the deep inner distress of the churches. They spoke of distressing matters scarcely found in the church papers, matters of which one can not speak publicly at all, or only in a very limited way. But all these voices give one who resides at a place on the earth outside Europe and America the impression that a single illness threatens the Lutheran Churches of the world. It is the very secularization of the church itself.

If 25 years ago the secularization of culture was recognized as the great illness of the time, then it is soberly to be asserted today that secularism is now the illness of the church. It is gripping to see that, in order to fulfill the missiological goal of calling the peoples of the west back to the Christian faith, the church itself must first be turned back to this faith. “Sweden’s people are God’ people.” That was the solution a generation ago. Today the question is to what extent the Church of Sweden is still the church of God? And so it is in all nations.

Great missionary endeavors and evangelization efforts will still be carried out, but it is precisely the most serious evangelists who are coming to the conviction that the gospel preaching church must be the first object of their evangelization. This understanding was already once given as a gift to German evangelical churchdom. The consequence of the theology of Karl Barth in the time of his great influence in the first half of the 1930’s was based upon this recognition. That was the meaning of his struggle against Otto Dibelius [1880-1967] and his “Century of the Church.” That was the most profound power of the “Confessing Churches” of all persuasions in Germany, however they may have differed from each other as Lutherans, Reformed, or United [Churches]. That was really the renewal of the Reformation; for Reformation is indeed the repentance of the church. The end of this repentance meant the end of the “Confessing Church.” What then followed was mere restoration. Every revolution ends with collapse and the convulsive efforts to restore everything to what it was before. That is an inborn propensity of natural man. From the far southern and eastern portion of the world, one has the impression that the Japanese people have been struck at the very core of their existence in a more profound way, and that there are more penitent men, men who have heard the New Testament summons to repentance, than among us Germans. One need simply glance at Lilje’s[1] “Sunday Paper” [Sonntagsblatt] or the propaganda paper broadcast throughout the world, “Christ and World” [Christ und Welt] with the following in mind: What remains here of the Stuttgart confession of guilt which was at least true in 1945?

Where the church, however, loses and surrenders the authority to preach repentance, neither can she preach justification. There she loses the Gospel. There she does not experience that repentance which makes the church the church of Christ. There she can still proclaim a Christian worldview; she can train scholars and workers, doctors and philosophers, engineers and journalists at evangelical academies. There her theologians can still proclaim a theory of the forgiveness of sins, but she no longer has the authority to call sinners to repentance. Karl Holl once made an excellent statement regarding the sermons of Schleiermacher from the years after the collapse of Prussia: “One gets the impression that Schleiermacher too perceived the deepening of the understanding of sin in the sense of strict Christianity at that time as a certain hindrance to the necessary ascendance of the father land” (Ges. Aufsatze [Umlaut over “a”] III, p. 357). That is Prussian Christianity, the Christianity of the “German Christians” and their kindred spirits in all nations of the earth: One reckons one’s own sins against those of others, and quickly forgets his own. But God forgets not. He forgives, but only the truly repentant.

Nowhere is the secularization of the Lutheran Church more visible than in the loss of her confessional conscience. In these letters we have often recounted that and why the Lutheran Church is a confessional church kat exochen [i.e. in the proper sense of the term]. The confession means for her more than it does for the Reformed, indeed, in many respect even more than for the [Roman] Catholics. The Reformed Churches can survive if the confession is relativized, when it is stated: “We do not know precisely whether next Sunday we will continue to interpret Scripture in the way we do today.” Catholicism actually celebrates a triumph when a dogma is proclaimed by the pope, the correctness of which is doubted by many of the best Catholics and which they then in worthy obedience accept, though they themselves know that the proof of tradition is defective and therefore doubtful. Both these groups [Reformed and Roman] lack that ultimate seriousness regarding the question of truth, which was the proprium [the essential point] of the Lutheran Reformation. We Lutherans are quite happy to boast about this virtue, but perhaps no longer with justification, just as the Swiss still boast of the bravery which their fathers showed on the battle fields of Europe centuries ago. Indeed, the church does not live on from the faith of the fathers. The confession can have a purely historical significance like the flags and uniforms of Hannover. If it is correct that the confessio, the confession of the faith, is indissolubly connected with confessio in the sense of the confession of sin and of the praise of God, is not then our lack of repentance and our lack of joyful praise of God in newer hymns a notable parallel to the regression of the dogmatic confession [of the faith]? Allow me to cite the following sentence from the Christmas letter of an American friend as an illustration of this state of affairs:

I am afraid we have come to a point in American Lutheranism where we no longer dare discuss controversial doctrines. There is a deep concern in all hearts for outward unity, but with that there often goes, as you know, doctrinal differences (read “indifference”) and even compromise on truth. The concern for truth has lost its power in our country, not least because of the philosophy of government and the corruption in government that we have seen for the last two decades. It reaches all the way down into the church because the young people are educated into this kind of a philosophy. God help us to be fearless in our presentation of the truth and in our battle against falsehood.[2]

Thus the great secularization process, which is today passing through all churches, affects in Lutheranism a troubling regression of confessional consciousness and with this also of dogmatic substance.

Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors XXII, 1952

[1] Hans Lilje, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, Council of the EKiD, leading bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany or VELKD, president of the LWF 1952-1957. RGG3 IV.378. MH

[2] Probably Herman Amberg Preus of Luther Seminary, St.Paul. Uncle of Robert and J.A.O. MH

So do you think there was a problem with sermon length?

2011-12-18T16:08:00.002-06:00

On my recent visit to Torgau, including the church where Katie Luther is buried, I noted this interesting hour glass contraption on the (what appears to be 17th century) pulpit. So... do you suppose there was a problem with sermon length by the pastor of this church once upon a time?

Pastor H.

Bach's Coffee Cantata

2011-12-17T21:36:00.006-06:00

So I was walking around Leipzig last week and found the former location of Zimmermann's Coffee House where Bach's "Coffee Cantata" was performed. The Cantata is a whimsical piece in which a father finally fails to make any progress in relieving his daughter of her coffee addiction, a new fad in 18th century Germany.

This coffee addict enjoys it tremendously

Matt H.

Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering) (aka The Coffee Cantata) (BWV 211) is a secular cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bachbetween 1732 and 1734. Although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera.

In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig, where this work was premiered.

The cantata's libretto (written by Christian Friedrich Henrici) features lines such as "If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment, I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat"—a sentiment that would likely have been appreciated by the patrons of Zimmerman's Coffee House in Leipzig, where Bach's Collegium Musicum, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1702, would have originally performed the work.

Bach wrote no operas: the cantata was written for concert performance^[1], but is frequently performed today fully staged with costumes.

[hide]

[edit]Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 1734
The Narrator	tenor
Schlendrian, (literally Stick in the Mud)	baritone
Lieschen, daughter of Schlendrian	soprano

[edit]Movements

Movement	Title	Characters	Synopsis
1	Recitativo: Schweigt stille	Narrator	The narrator tells the audience to quiet down and pay attention, before introducing Schlendrian and Lieschen.
2	Aria: Hat man nicht mit seinen Kindern	Schlendrian	Schlendrian sings in disgust of how his daughter refuses to listen to him, even after telling her 1,000 times.
3	Recitativo: Du böses Kind	Schlendrian and Lieschen	Schlendrian asks his daughter again to stop drinking coffee, Lieschen defiantly tells her father to calm down.
4	Aria: Ei! Wie schmeckt der Kaffee süße	Lieschen	Lieschen sings a love song to her coffee
5	Recitativo: Wenn du mir nicht den Kaffee läßt	Schlendrian and Lieschen	Schlendrian starts giving ultimatums to his daughter, threatening to take away her meals, clothes, and other pleasures. Lieschen doesn't seem to care.
6	Aria: Mädchen, die von harten Sinnen	Schlendrian	In this sung monologue, Schlendrian tries to figure out what his daughter's weak spot is, so she absolutely couldn't want to drink coffee again.
7	Recitativo: Nun folge, was dein Vater spricht!	Schlendrian and Lieschen	Schlendrian threatens to prevent his daughter from marrying if she fails to give up coffee, Lieschen has a sudden change of heart.
8	Aria: Heute noch, lieber Vater	Lieschen	Lieschen thanks her father for offering to find her a husband, and vows to give up coffee if she can have a lover instead.
9	Recitativo: Nun geht und sucht der alte Schlendrian	Narrator	The narrator states that while Schlendrian goes out to find a husband for his daughter, Lieschen secretly tells potential suitors that they must let her drink her coffee if they care to marry her.
10	Trio: Die Katze läßt das Mausen nicht	Tutti	All three characters sing the moral of the story, "drinking coffee is natural".

2011-12-17T21:02:00.003-06:00

JS Bach's

Coffee Cantata

Libretto by

Christian Friedrich Henrici

Cantata BMV211

wav:229Kb

Composed for perfomance by Bach's Collegium at Zimmerman's Coffee House,
Leipzip, between 1732 & 1734

Recitative Narrator Be quiet, stop chattering, and pay attention to what's taking place: here comes Herr Schlendrian with his daughter Lieschen; he's growling like a honey bear. Hear for yourselves, what she has done to him! Aria Schlendrian Don't one's children cause one endless trials & tribulations! What I say each day to my daughter Lieschen falls on stony ground. Recitative Schlendrian You wicked child, you disobedient girl, oh! when will I get my way; give up coffee! Lieschen Father, don't be so severe! If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat. Aria Lieschen Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, mellower than muscatel wine. Coffee, coffee I must have, and if someone wishes to give me a treat, ah, then pour me out some coffee! Recitative Schlendrian If you don't give up drinking coffee then you shan't go to any wedding feast, nor go out walking. oh! when will I get my way; give up coffee! Lieschen Oh well! Just leave me my coffee! Schlendrian Now I've got the little minx! I won't get you a whalebone skirt in the latest fashion. Lieschen I can easily live with that. Schlendrian You're not to stand at the window and watch people pass by! Lieschen That as well, only I beg of you, leave me my coffee! Schlendrian Furthermore, you shan't be getting any silver or gold ribbon for your bonnet from me! Lieschen Yes, yes! only leave me to my pleasure! Schlendrian You disobedient Lieschen you, so you go along with it all! Aria Schlendrian Hard-hearted girls are not so easily won over. Yet if one finds their weak spot, ah! then one comes away successful. Recitative Schlendrian Now take heed what your father says! Lieschen In everything but the coffee. Schlendrian Well then, you'll have to resign yourself to never taking a husband. Lieschen Oh yes! Father, a husband! Schlendrian I swear it won't happen. Lieschen Until I can forgo coffee? From now on, coffee, remain forever untouched! Father, listen, I won't drink any Schlendrian Then you shall have a husband at last! Aria Lieschen Today even dear father, see to it! Oh, a husband! Really, that suits me splendidly! If it could only happen soon that at last, before I go to bed, instead of coffee I were to get a proper lover! Recitative Narrator Old Schlendrian goes off to see if he can find a husband forthwith for his daughter Lieschen; but Leischen secretly lets it be known: no suitor is to come to my house unless he promises me, and it is also written into the marriage contract, that I will be permitted to make myself coffee whenever I want. Trio A cat won't stop from catching mice, and maidens remain faithful to their coffee. The mother holds her coffee dear, the grandmother drank it also, who can thus rebuke the daughters!

One of my favorite O.T. Exegetes

2011-12-17T20:59:00.000-06:00

Luther's Church on the left, Castle Church on the Right, LCMS/SELK Old School in the Middle!

2011-12-15T22:13:00.001-06:00

More Wittenberg

2011-12-15T22:05:00.000-06:00

A visit to the Wartburg

2011-12-15T21:58:00.000-06:00

Luther was Baptized at St. Peter's, Eisleben

2011-12-14T18:49:00.000-06:00

The last remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall

2011-12-14T18:42:00.001-06:00

Hard to believe a generation has grown to adulthood without a divided Berlin - and East/West Europe.

Matt H.

Frederick the Great? Not in my book.

2011-12-13T21:27:00.005-06:00

Sunday before last we visited Frederick the Great's palace "San Souci" (Without Care) in Potsdam. Frederick was Prussian King 1740-1772. We wanted our tour group to realize what the Lutherans in Prussia were up against. Frederick's ancestor John Sigismund left Lutheranism for the Reformed church in 1613. From that point forward the Prussian rulers were Reformed. Frederick was a Reformed rationalist. Bishop Schoene was kind enough to show us significant sites having to do with the Berlin Wall on the way to the castle. At Sans Souci Schoene pointed out to us that the flowers laid on Frederick's grave were placed by the Masons (Frederick was one). The great tragedy is that as ruler of Prussia Frederick was the head of the Lutheran Church in his lands. His great nephew, Frederick Wilhelm III forced the Prussian Union in his lands, creating one Evangelical Church out of some 6000 Lutheran congregations and a couple of dozen Reformed churches.

Matt H.

Hmmmmm - Not exactly my favorite Luther Bust

2011-12-13T09:48:00.002-06:00

Luther Hall - the old Augustinian Monastery where Luther lived - in Wittenberg has a fantastic collection of artifacts. It's a pleasure to visit. The top floor has a an extensive library of rare volumes and documents, and also a gallery of art depicting Luther through the centuries.

Pastor H.

A few more unique shots in the Torgau Chapel

2011-12-13T09:42:00.002-06:00

A few more photos I took in the Torgau chapel, including the views Luther faced when he first preached and celebrated the sacrament there. Photos two and three are the pathway to the pulpit.

Matt H.

Chapel at the Torgau Castle Church

2011-12-13T09:33:00.002-06:00

Luther preached the dedication of this church in the Torgau Castle. It is regarded as the first church built specifically for Evangelical Lutheran worship. It's walls had many paintings. Note the free-standing altar (a replica of the original destroyed in WW II). Note too the location of the pulpit.

Matt H.

At Katie Luther's Death House in Torgau

2011-12-13T09:28:00.000-06:00

Katie Luther Grave in Torgau

2011-12-13T09:07:00.001-06:00

Took these photos last week in Torgau. Katie fled Wittenberg during the Smalcald War just after Luther died.

Pastor H.

More Photos of the Old Latin School in Wittenberg

2011-12-12T13:12:00.003-06:00

Here are a few interior shots of the old Latin School. The building was financed by Duke August in 1564. The Latin School was preparatory for boys headed for the university. The school was built at the spot of the old "Ossuary" or "Bone House" where bodies were placed. Later the bones were buried. Of course, there was a cemetery surrounding St. Mary's Church. Before any construction could begin Wittenberg city archeologists had to do some digging. Here pictured is the hole dug in the building for excavation. The photos show bones discovered. These may well belong to individuals who heard Luther himself preach. Two other photos show a new department store being built on the north side of the building, and a view of the attic of the four story building.

Matt Harrison

The Old Latin School in Wittenberg

2011-12-12T13:02:00.002-06:00

Here are a few photos of the building we own in Wittenberg, right next to St. Mary's Church, where Luther preached the Reformation to life. The Wittenberg Project is set to restore this building so that the LCMS and our German partner church (S.E.L.K.) may have a continuous presence in Wittenberg up to and through the anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. The voice of the gospel is desperately needed in Germany today, and we are in a unique position to contribute to the revival of the church in Germany.

Matt H.

Sorry I went off line for a while....

2011-12-11T15:47:00.002-06:00

Been in Germany hosting a tour of Luther sites and more. What fun! I've got a lot of photos to share and will do so in the coming weeks. Our last night in Germany we had a marvelous dinner in one of the two oldest coffee houses in Europe, The Coffee Baum in Leipzig. Yes... I had coffee!

I also walked down the street to find a sign for "Zimmermann's" Coffee House, where Bach's playful Coffee Cantata was performed. Disappointed but not surprised the building is gone.

Pastor Harrison

God's Word moves away due to THANKLESSNESS

2011-11-23T09:58:00.006-06:00

God’s Word and Grace

Are a Passing Rain Shower - Synodical Sermon from 1930

By Friedrich Pfotenhauer

Translated by Matthew C. Harrison

“If we are honest about it, there are indications that in church matters we have all sorts of unrest and problems. These are warnings that the weather will change and change suddenly. Behind the clouds of grace, unthankfulness and disdain are beginning to blow. Oh, let us then earnestly tremble, heartily repent, and admonish one another; so as long as it is day, God’s Word and grace shall not become for us a passing rain shower that does not return.” Pfotenhauer, like Luther, was a prophet. The Great Depression, the Americanization of the Church, the movement toward Lutheran union, and growing internal struggles were all harbingers of difficult times ahead for the Synod. As a true prophet, Pfotenhauer called the Synod to repentance. The Synod increasingly struggled to deal with theological problems. The third generation abbreviated the theology of the second as it strived to be faithful. Others chafed at what they in part rightly perceived as ossification. Pfotenhauer’s sermon is directed as seriously to us, today. Great eras in the Church have always begun with the cry to repentance. M.H.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known My ways.’ As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:7–19

Honorable and beloved fathers and brothers in the Lord! Dear friends on all sides! In this year, our Church celebrates the four-hundredth anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. In it, the fathers of our Church clearly and plainly set forth their Confession and gladly proclaimed it on that memorable 25th of June, 1530, before the great men of this world. The Augsburg Confession is a bright morning star— indeed, a sun—in which the grace of God in Christ Jesus, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, brightly shines upon the thousands who cast their glance toward it. And it warms them with its bright rays. It became a banner around which those who love the divine Word of God were gathered. It was the vessel in which the blessings of the Reformation would be preserved for later generations. We members of the Missouri Synod are also richly blessed by this glorious Confession of our Church, and we walk in its light. It is therefore appropriate and right that this year we consider the great events at Augsburg because they are joyous and good things.

But the remembrance of the great grace that God allowed our Church to experience again also has a serious side. I hope, dear brothers, that you will not think it wrong or regard it as a sour note in this jubilee celebration if I set forth this serious matter in my sermon. When a rich period of grace had broken out over Germany, Luther, in his writing “To the Councilmen of All Cities of the German Nation, That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools,”1 made the terrifying statement in 1524: “God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once was.” Let us now treat this word of the reformer in the light of the text read in the fear of God. Thus the theme of my sermon is:

God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once was.

I will demonstrate for you the truth of this statement, the cause of this fact, and make the application to us.

Our text points to an absolutely terrible event in the history of the Jewish people. The Lord had visited them with His grace, and with outstretched arm He brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. It was a great and blessed time. God did signs and wonders for His people and spoke with them in a friendly way as a father speaks with His children. But, oh, his glorious relationship did not last long! A short time after rescuing them from Egypt, God swore to the entire congregation: “You shall not come into my rest” (Hebrews 3:11; Numbers 14:22, 23, 29, 35; Psalm 95:11). Salvation was not irretrievably lost. Instead of proceeding into Canaan, the entire nation, except Joshua and Caleb, was struck down in the wilderness. God’s Word and grace had become for them a passing rain shower which did not return. The Letter to the Hebrews places this terrifying example of punishment before our eyes for warning. We must not think that the experience in the wilderness was exceptional. No. As the history of the Church teaches, it has continued to be repeated.

It was a time of great visitation of grace upon the Jewish people when the Lord appeared in their midst and administered His prophetic office among them. His words were like early and late rains that quicken the thirsty land. The saving grace of God had appeared to them. The friendliness and gentleness of God, our Savior, personally walked among them. But at the conclusion of His work of teaching, the Lord had to declare to the people that the time of grace had run its course and would not return. And so it happened. For two thousand years, heaven has been closed and covered for the Jewish people as such. It happened to them: God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been.

In the time of the apostles and in the post-apostolic period, the East along with the bordering countries was richly visited by God’s grace. The hastening feet of the apostle Paul founded blooming congregations in Asia Minor and Greece. The apostle John worked into old age at Ephesus. In Egypt and North Africa, God gave mild rains, so that the congregations grew and gloriously expanded. But behold, around the year 622, the lying prophet Mohammed arose. He and his followers spread their false teaching with fire and sword. The East, Greece, Egypt, and North Africa were their booty. The cross vanished, and the crescent took its place. The lands that once bloomed, in which the apostle worked, where the great Church fathers Athanasius and Augustine had taught, became barren and void and have remained so now for twelve hundred years. They have experienced it: God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it has once been.

In Luther, God sent to the world a great prophet. He proclaimed, as no one since the apostles, the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. That of which the prophet Isaiah spoke happened: “Shower, O heavens from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I, the Lord, have created it” (Isaiah 45:8 RSV). The gracious weather ruled a broad area; indeed, Germany and the Nordic lands at once. And rain showers brought fruit at that time also over England, France, Italy, and other countries. But how is it going today, particularly in Germany? The Lutheran Church there is like a little building in a vineyard, a night hut in a pumpkin garden (Isaiah 1:8).2 What Luther had prophesied to his Germans has been fulfilled: “You should know that God’s Word and grace is like a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been. It happened to the Jews. But it’s gone, and they have nothing. Paul brought it to Greece. Now it’s gone and they have the Turks. Rome and Latin lands also had it. Now it’s gone and they have the pope. And you Germans must not think that you will have it forever. For the unthankfulness and despising of it will not allow it to remain.”

II.

This leads us now to the second part of our treatment, in which we will consider why it is a fact that God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been. The cause lies not in the Word of God and grace. Word and grace are not such that they desire to greet us only briefly, then lift up and rush off, never to return again. The grace of God in Christ Jesus was prepared for all men. God sent His Son for the redemption of the whole world. The Son shed His blood for a propitiation for all, and the Holy Spirit wants all to enter into the kingdom of grace. Therefore God sends His messengers out to invite them in. And oh, how happily He would like to come to all and remain with all, quicken them with His Word and His grace, and make them happy for time and for eternity! How He is pained and laments when His Word falls upon hard soil, and how He rejoices when hearts are opened to Him, so that He can shower upon them His gracious rain!

Our text shows us why God’s Word is a passing rain shower which does not return to where it has once been. There it says of the Jews: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known My ways.’ As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest’” (Hebrews 3:7–11).

“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (vv. 16–19).

In this text we hear the cause why Israel could not enter into the Promised Land. Their lack of faith took from them the grace of God, and their lack of faith prevented the grace of God from returning to them. They had all seen the great signs and wonders. But instead of trusting in God like children, they grumbled constantly against Him and did not believe His promises. And so God swore in His wrath: “You shall not enter My rest.”

And, dear brothers, faithlessness, unthankfulness, and disdain are always the cause when God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return to where it once was. Unthankfulness and disdain are the winds behind the clouds of divine grace. The winds disturb these clouds, set them in motion, and they up and flee away. Faithlessness and disdain are the reason God’s Word and grace do not return. Faithlessness and disdain, after they have driven away the grace of God, now breathe their hot breath against the diligence that had engendered the Word of God. That destroyed, the field once green and blooming now becomes deserted and desolate.

Unthankfulness and disdain were the cause that Jerusalem lost the grace of God. The farewell speech of our Savior to the city was this: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned them who were sent to you, how often would I have gathered together your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings; and you would not! Behold, your house shall be left desolate for you” (Matthew 23:37–38 RSV). Unthankful- ness and disdain were the cause that the Eastern Church did not retain God’s Word and grace. Unbelief, unthankfulness, and disdain have not allowed the rain and the gracious weather to remain in Germany.

III.

Now we will make the necessary application from what we have heard to ourselves. We, dear hearers, have had in our Synod God’s Word and grace for a long time. For over eighty years it has been proclaimed purely and clearly in our churches and schools. God has rained upon us streams of love. Precisely the celebration of the Augsburg Confes- sion reminds us that the Lord with outstretched arms led us out of the servitude of the pa- pacy through Luther. We must not become secure. Hear the warning that our text directs to us: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’” (Hebrews 3:12–15).

If we are honest about it, there are indications that in church matters we have all sorts of unrest and problems. These are warnings that the weather will change and change sud- denly. Behind the clouds of grace, unthankfulness and disdain are beginning to blow. Oh, let us then earnestly tremble, heartily repent, and admonish one another; so as long as it is day, God’s Word and grace shall not become for us a passing rain shower which does not return. Let us buy, because the market is gathered at the gate of the city. The sun is shining and the weather is good. Let us make use of God’s grace and Word because we have them! Let us grab hold of them and keep them!

To be sure, when we look to the evil times in which we live, to the rising level of in- difference in our congregations, to the history of previous generations, so must we break down and be overcome with great fear, like a man before battle. And certainly we should completely forsake ourselves and our ability, but not the Lord and His grace. The Lord will not leave us but remain with us. He wills not that we perish, but that we enter into rest. For this very reason He provides us a warning and example of punishment, so that we avoid thanklessness and disdain and diligently make use of His Word and His grace. The celebration of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession reminds us anew of the great treasure sent by the Lord of our Church! May this celebration move us to make use of this valuable treasure with thanksgiving, and may it also move us ardently to implore God that He would preserve this treasure for us and our children.

Oh, stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ, For evening is now upon us; Thy divine Word, that glorious light, Let it burn among us bright!

At Home in the House of My Fathers

Translated from “Gottes Word und Gnade ein fahrender Platzregen, Synodalpredigt, gehalten im Jahre 1930,” in Predigten gehalten zu verschiedenen Zeiten und bei verschiedenen Glegenheiten Auf mehrfaches Verlangen im Druck dargeboten von F. Pfotenhauer (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1938). —M. H.

New CPH Products! Wow!

2011-11-22T10:39:00.005-06:00

Steve Martin - Watch Closely!

2011-11-13T21:02:00.000-06:00

Bill Withers - Ain't no Sunshine When She's Gone

2011-11-12T21:32:00.000-06:00

Caught a Moose!

2011-11-12T20:46:00.004-06:00

Pogo Moose Incident -- Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada -- 1 hr. 45min. North of Toronto

They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated.

This one was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables. When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them.

The workers noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly teed off...

This guy was so bad off, I had to let him go ahead of me at Starbucks.

2011-11-12T20:39:00.000-06:00

Out of COFFEE???!!!

2011-11-12T14:59:00.001-06:00

Near Defenestration

2011-11-12T04:22:00.003-06:00

Reformation Banjo! Thanks again for this Rob!

2011-11-12T04:16:00.001-06:00

I don't remember this but... hey.

2011-11-11T20:43:00.000-06:00

Some days in the Missouri Synod are like....

2011-11-11T20:22:00.001-06:00

A very cool perk of this job!

2011-11-11T16:37:00.003-06:00

Luther's Legacy to Christianity.

2011-11-10T19:23:00.005-06:00

This essay first appeared in the Jahrbuch des Martin Luther Bundes, 1946, pp. 38-42. It was written for the 400th anniversary of the Reformer’s death. The essay was republished in Lutherische Blätter, vol. 19, no. 90 (August 1967). I translated it for The Lonely Way (CPH).

Pastor H.

In the early morning hours of the 18th of February, 1546, on a cold winter’s night in Eisleben, Martin Luther closed his eyes for ever. “I won’t live to see Easter” he had said on his sixty-third birthday. Concerned for his life, his friends and relatives saw him undertake, toward the end of January, the last journey of his life. Accompanied by his sons and Justus Jonas, he traveled to the city of his birth where he was to mediate a quarrel between the brothers who were the Counts of Mansfeld. The letters which he wrote to his “gracious dear lady of the house” during this journey, are the most stirringly human testimony to his mature, and yet childlike faith. “I fear that were you to cease your concern, the earth might finally swallow us up and destroy everything. Are you also studying the Catechism and the Creed? Pray and let God worry. For you and I are not commanded to worry for me or you. It says: ‘Cast your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you’, Ps. 55 and many other texts.” He wrote this on the 10th of February. Four days later he preached his last sermon. On the 16th and 17th the agreement between the counts was signed and his task of peace-making was finished. Luther no longer took part in the negotiations on the last day and remained in his room. Toward evening he complained of chest pains, which then passed and returned and worsened. Toward 10:00 in the evening, after he had rested, he went to his bedroom. He took leave of his company with the words, “Pray for our Lord God and His Gospel, that things go well with Him. For the Council at Trent and the miserable Pope have a terrible grudge against Him.” Toward 1:00 am he awoke short of breath and raised his voice: “Oh, Lord God, I’m in so much pain! Oh, dear Doctor Jonas, it appears as though I shall remain here.” He still had been able to proceed to his room, and there began his last brief hour. In the presence of his son, his friends and a doctor who had been hastily summoned, at a moment of pause in his struggle with death, he spoke his last prayers, recited to himself Bible passages such as John 3:16, and Psalm 68:21, and answered the question put by Justus Jonas: “Reverend father, will you remain steadfast in Christ and the doctrine which you have preached?” He responded with an audible “Yes!” Then his soul passed into the peace of God. But in Eisleben, in the villages and cities through which his remains were carried, and especially in Wittenberg, at this burial in the Castle Church, and the funeral celebration of the University, there was a mourning which was more than the mourning of a people over the loss of one of its great men. Indeed, the man who died while the pope convened in Trent the council for the “eradication of heresy”, that is, for the elimination of the Lutheran Reformation, and while the Emperor mobilized the forces of a world power for war against the Evangelical estates, was more than a great German. He was more than a faithful guardian of the souls of his people, a man of whom one gets the impression that through his powerful prayers had averted the catastrophe which for many years had been sweeping toward Germany. As the rediscoverer of the Gospel of the grace of God, he was the Reformer of the Church, and not only the church of one land, rather the entire, the one church of God on earth.

Only he has understood Luther, who understands him as the Reformer of the Church. The legacy which Luther left behind can be properly grasped only by one who realizes that this legacy applies to all of Christendom on earth. For if Luther – as he himself thought and the Evangelical church believes – with his discovery of the saving truth of the justification of the sinner through faith alone, did nothing other than bring the holy gospel to light again, then his discovery has a significance as universal as the Gospel itself. He had expressed this his message one last time in the last lines which we have by his hand, written on a piece of paper on the 16th of February, and found after his death. This last note, written in Latin, speaks of the unfathomable depth of the Bible: “No one can understand Vergil in his Bucolics orGeorgics unless he has been a shepherd or farmer for five years. No one can understand Cicero in his letters unless he has served in a significant position in government for 20 years. No one can apprehend the Holy Scriptures unless he has governed a congregation for a 100 years with the Prophets.” The note concludes with the sentence: “We are beggars: This is true.” The words “We are beggars” are written in German for emphasis.

It is as though Luther wanted to say what he had to say one last time; for all, for his contemporaries, those who came after him, for Christianity of all times. “We are beggars! This is true!” This is the fundamental melody which rang out throughout his entire life, doctrine and work. They ring powerfully already in the first words of his lectures on Romans of 1513, where he notes that it is the intent of this letter “to destroy, root-out, and bring to naught all wisdom and righteousness of the flesh, and this to fortify and make sin great.” It rings through the hymns of the Reformation: “Even in the best of lives, our deeds are naught”, “With our might nothing is done.” It resounds in all the work of the Reformer, to the last great controversial writings in which he defends the gospel against its falsification by pope and council. There is only one of the great teachers of the church who possessed the knowledge of human misery, the impotence of man in all spiritual matters, who can be compared to Luther. That is Augustin, the greatest of the church fathers of the old Latin church. He so emphasized the sola gratia, “by grace alone” in a time of the migration of nations to the Christianity of the west, that it could never completely forget it. Still today his mighty praise of the redeeming divine grace rings in the Roman Catholic liturgy when in one of the prayers, which is read by the priest in every mass, God is called upon as the “One who does not regard merit, but sends forgiveness.” Or when in the burial office is sung in the dies irae, “King of fearful majesty, you who deliver freely [umsonst] those who shall be delivered” and implores the Lord Christ:

“You who once absolved Mary
and pardoned the thief,
have granted hope also to me.”

This sola gratia, as it rings yet even in the Roman Church – if only as one note among others – must not be undervalued. As Evangelical [Lutheran] Christians we can only rejoice. This is for us today what it once was for the Reformer, Martin Luther: A promising sign that the church of God is also still present in Roman Christianity. Otherwise how could the Reformation have commenced from a cell in a monastery?

But Luther’s understanding goes deeper. He knew that the sola gratiamust be enlarged by the sola fide, that to the “by grace alone” must be added “through faith alone.” For the depth of divine grace is understood only when one knows “Even in the best of lives, our deeds are naught.” Also in a life led in the peace of the forgiveness of God and in the power of His Holy Spirit, we are never righteous by what we are and do, rather always only through that which Christ is and what He as done for us. When the Apostle, with the deep experience of the effect of the Holy Spirit, describes a life of sanctification in Galatians 2:20, with the words: “I live, and yet not I, rather Christ lives in me,” he then continues with, “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Our righteousness before God is never a righteousness which we possess, rather it is, in the proper sense of the word, the righteousness of Christ. What the old Reformation hymn says, which the young Zinzendorf revitalized in his own way, is literally true:

Jesus Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress
With it before God shall I stand,
When I heaven shall enter in.

Here the sola fide is so clearly and simply expressed that a child can understand it. If a Francis of Assisi, a Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, or whoever else one might name as an example of a sanctified life, were saved, then it was not because of their life or work, rather only for this reason: Because the Lord Christ also died for these poor sinners. “By faith alone”, that is “I am nothing, I have nothing, I am capable of nothing; but I have a Savior who is all, has all, and can do all.” God has made Him for us “Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. 1:31). And what Luther wrote in 1516 to his brother in the order, Goerg Spenlein, cries out through his words, “We are beggars: This is true”, his last written note, to all of Christianity, as his legacy to every Christian: “Father, my dear brother, learn of Christ, even Christ the Crucified! Learn to sing His praise and despairing of yourself, say to Him: You Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken what was in me, and have given to me what I was not.” And then comes this bold assertion: “Be careful never to endeavor to obtain such purity, that you no longer find yourself a sinner, much less desire to be one. Christ dwells only among sinners. This is why he descended from heaven, when He dwelt among the righteous, so also to make His dwelling among sinners. Take note of this His love time and again and you will experience the sweetest consolation… And so only in Him, through having despaired of yourself and your works, will you find peace. Here you will learn from Christ Himself, that He, as He has received you unto Himself, has made your sins His own, and His righteousness your righteousness.”

Here we see Luther’s understanding of man in its profound correspondence with his understanding of Christ. Luther completely understood the pitiful condition of man, the sin which is “such a profound evil corruption of human nature,” “that reason cannot understand it, but it must be believed on the basis of holy Scripture.” That we are sinners “Even in the best of lives”, and that the “best” Christ is perceived in the daily and rich forgiveness of sins, this human reason cannot grasp, and it will not accept it for true when it hears it spoken. Original sin can be compared to one of those mental illnesses, a sign of which is that the sick person can no longer recognize his illness, and believes he is entirely healthy. Luther understood the profundity of sin because he allowed himself to be instructed on the nature of man, not from the philosophical books, as the medieval man learned from the works of Aristotle, but from the Word of God alone. And for this reason he was also able to understand the office and work of Jesus Christ as no teacher of the church before him. “Christ can not enter into living communion with a sinner.” Thus the German edition of St. Thomas Aquinas (vol. 30, p. 528) interprets the statement of Thomas Aquinas, that the man in the condition of mortal sin can not be united with Christ and thus must not receive the Sacrament of the Altar (Summa Theol. III, 79.3). Luther asserted the very opposite: “Christ dwells only with sinners.” For the sinner and for the sinner alone is His table set. There we receive His true body and His true blood “for the forgiveness of sins” and this holds true even if forgiveness has already been received in Absolution. That here Scripture is completely on the side of Luther needs no further demonstration. Every page of the New Testament is indeed testimony of the Christ whose proper office it is “to save sinners”, “to seek and to save the lost”. And the entire saving work of Jesus, from the days when He was in Galilee and, to the amazement and alarm of the Pharisees, ate with tax collectors and sinners; to the moment when he, in contradiction with the principles of every rational morality, promised paradise to the thief on the cross, yes, His entire life on earth, from the cradle to the cross, is one, unique grand demonstration of a wonder beyond all reason: The miracle of divine forgiveness, of the justification of the sinner. “Christ dwells only in sinners.”

“We are beggars: This is true.” In these words, the last which Martin Luther’s tireless pen wrote for us, lies his legacy to Christianity. The most profound understanding of man as sinner and the profound understanding of Christ as the Savior of sinners is bound up in this statement. “That man is nothing and that he learn to forsake himself and to hope in Christ” to this the Reformer yet today calls Christendom, and indeed, all Christendom. For the saving message of the justification of the sinner alone by grace belongs – precisely because it is nothing other than the proper understanding of the gospel – to all of God’s church. Yes, the one church of God, which on earth exists in, with and under the various confessional churches of Christendom, lives from the gospel so understood. For the pure maintenance of the message of the Reformation is not a work of confessional narrowness, rather a service for the unity of the church, as Luther once expressed it, when he said of the article of justification by faith, “Where this article remains pure, Christendom also remains pure and united, without separation. But where it does not remain, there it is not possible to avoid any error or sectarian spirit.” It is for this service that the Evangelical Lutheran Church today is called to fulfill in the world in a special way. It is still nothing other than that portion of Christendom to which the cry of the Reformation belonged and to which the Lord of the church had given the task to raise this cry again. Can we do this? Is the gospel of the justification of the sinner by grace alone still the bread from which we live? Is it still the heart and soul of our preaching? Do we still know – or once again realize! – what sin is, how serious the judgment of God is, and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God? Do we still know the full consolation of faith in the Savior of sinners, in the way Luther’s explanation of the second article shows Him to us? Do we know what it means that this Christ is actually present in the Word of His Gospel and in His Sacrament, as near to as he was when He walked the earth, yes nearer than when He ate with tax collectors and sinners? If we still know all of this, if we still believe it, is it a living possession or has it become a mere tradition? Have they become words without content? These are the questions which the Reformer poses for us who confess the faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, both in Germany and in the entire world. “We are beggars: This is true!” So must we answer with shame and remorse. But immeasurably rich in grace is He who is the Savior of all sinners and whom the New Testament once called “The Savior of His body” (Ephesians 5:23), the Redeemer of His church. And inexhaustible are the riches of His means of grace, the Gospel in Sermon and Absolution, Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper… inexhaustible for all beggars.

Sasse: "The dying of the confessional church began in the Reformed Churches."

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The dying of the confressional church began in the Reformed Churches. In an opinion concerning the “desireability and possibility of a general Reformed confession of faith for the Alliance of the Reformed churches holding the Presbyterian system” Karl Barth in Cardiff (1925) defined a Reformed confession of faith as “the statement of the insight granted provisionally to the universlal christian Church concering the relation of God to Christ Jesus, witnessed only in the Holy Scriptures, formulated spontaneously and publicly by a locally circumscribed Christian fellowship, decisive for the present for its character toward the ouside and directive for the present for its own teaching and living.” (Gesammelte vortraege, Bd. II, 1928, p. 76; emphasis ours).

What this definition has in common with the Lutheran understainding of the Confessions is

the disignation of its contents as an interpretation which is correct and has therefore been given to the whole Church. What distinquishes both is the stronger emphasis placed on the normative significance of the Confessions among Lutherans over against the “pious relativism” (ibid. p. 79, 83), which expresses iself in the terms “locally circumscribed,” “for the present,” “temporarily.”

It is actually true that the Reformed Church knows no common confession, but that the Augsburg Confession, which unites the Lutheran Church, faces a multitude of Reformed confessions, the Helvetica, the Gallicana, the Belgica, the Scotica, the Anglican Articles, etc. Also confessions which thereafter not only achieved local standing, as, e.g., the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession, never where adopted by all Reformed Churches.

Now of course no objection can be raised if a locally circumscribed church, be it a regional or

state church, confesses its faith. On the contrary, it must do that.The only question is, why the same faith should not be confessed by all in the same words, as we do in the ancient creeds of the church. Isn’t there perhaps a connection between the localizing of the confession of faith and “for the present,” between the renunciation of local ecumenicity and the renunciation of temporal ecumenicity? It is essential for the Lutheran confessions that they wish to give expression to the truth which unites the entire orthodox church of all times and places, the believers presently living with the brethren in the whole world: with the fathers since the beginning and with those who will confess the true faith unto the end of the world. That, then, leads to this that the confessor

confesses the faith in which he wants to persevere and with which he wishes to step before the judgment seat of God.

Barth and the whole Reformed church of today assures us that this is hybris, that we are seeking an unattainable safeguard and thereby actually destroying the character of the Scriptures as the only norm. We intend still to enter upon the relation of the Scriptures and the Confessions, of the norma normans (the guiding principle) and the norma normata (the guided principle). At this point we should like, first of all, to call attention to the fact that confessions existed also in the old Reformed Church, to which the relativism of “for the present” was still foreign, e.g., the Confession of the Church of Scotland of 1560 which was rightly valued so highly; edited, and commented upon by Karl Barth. Here as in the Lutheran Confessions from Luther’s Confession of 1528 (Vom Abendmahl Christi, Bekenntnis, WA 26,490; [LW 37.161-372; Aland no. 2]) to the conclusion of the Formula of Concord, one finds the same view of judgement and the resolve to abide by this confession. The Preamble of the Confessio Scotica concludes with a reference to the judgment

which according to Matthew 10:33 is to descend upon the deniers of the truth of the Gospel, after which these words follow: “Therefore it is our definite resolve, through the mighty Spirit of this our Lord Jesus Christ, to abide in the confession of this our faith as it is is expressed in the following articles” (quoted form Barth’s Gifford lectures of 1938, “Gotteserkenntnis und Gottesdienst nach reformatorischer Lehre,” Zollikon, 1938, p. 11; the Preamble is missing in the edition of the Reformed Confessions by E.F.K. Mueller). With respect to the readiness to permit themselves to be corrected by the Word of God, there is therefore no difference between the Old Reformed and the Lutheran view of the Confessions.

The “certain pious and free relativism” which according to Karl Barth is suited to the Reformed Confession, was doubtless prepared in the sixteenth century. But it achieved its triumphonly gradually in the latitudinarianism[1] of the Anglicans, in the independent Puritanism and in the syncretistic movements of the seventeenth century (“syncretism” is the term commonly used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for what is later called “union” and “unionism”). At this place we would mention only the second of these phenomena, which has become of immeasurable importance for modern Protestantism in Europe (through Pietism) and America.

In his famous farewell sermon preached to the Pilgrim Fathers who were leaving Leyden for America, J.P. Robinson[2] said: “The Lord will let still additional truths burst forth from His holy Word. I cannot sufficiently express my regret over the Reformed churches which have arrived at a frontier in religion and are not new willing to go forward, as the instruments of the Reformation. – Luther and Calvin were great shining lights in their days, but they did not penetrate the whole counsel of God.” And he even hazarded this statement: “All pious people, though they are themselves outside the true visible church, are by faith members of the mystical body of Jesus Christ – common reason as well as Holy Scriptures teaches that.” In these words, by the way, the future church history of America is prophesied.

What are the confessions to these Congregationalists? Since the Local congregation, which assembles here and now for he worship of God, is the Church of Christ, its confession can actually be only a local one. There can be no confession which binds all Christendom. Within a year the local congregation [has changed and] is not the same as it is today. Consequently its confession can only be a provisional one. How can I say that a congregation whose composition (membership), as we know is continually changing, will abide by one particular confession? Yes, how can I myself say with Luther and all the confessors of the church that I desire to step before the judgement seat of God with this my confession? I can do that only, and a congregation can do that only, on the basis of the firm conviction that this confession teaches nothing else than the truth of the Word of God. Also the Pilgrim Fathers of 1620 knew that. But they were told that the churches of the Reformation had stood still; that God would still let new truths burst forth from his Word; that to say the least, a completion of the Reformation by means of a new Reformation, the completion of the old confession by means of new confessions was necessary. And who would find these new truths, formulate these new confessions? That would be done by the individual local congregation out of the hic et nunc (the here and now) of its confessional situation. A host of new confessions would thus come into existence.

And that has actually been the case. Karl Barth himself points out that the same renewal movement of the nineteenth century, which in Lutheranism led to the revivial of the Book of Concord resulted in the drafting of ever so many new confessions in the orthdox free churches in the Reformed area (Gesammelte Vortraege, Bd. II, p. 80). The pressure for new confessions, the emergence of new confessional forms for a more or less limited area, which we observe in modern Lutheranism, is a criterion of the Calvinizing process through which our churches are passing, all the more since this movement goes hand in hand with a growing lack of understanding of the old confessions of the Lutheran Reformation and of the meaning of the confessional pledge in our Church.

Here, with respect to our confessional pledge, opinions are divided even as the churches themselves part company at this point. Here it also becomes clear why the Reformed Churches have not been able to preserve their Confessions. The “pious relativism” of the Reformed Confession finds expression in the quatenus (the “insofar as”) of the doctrinal pledge. Whereas the Lutheran pastor assumes the responsibility of teaching according to the Confessions “because” (quia) they are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures, the Reformed pastor does this only “insofar as” (quatenus) it is Scriptural, and because he regards the Lutheran pledge with the quia as presumption, yea, as an elevation of the Confessions above the Holy Scriptures.[3]

What shall we say to this? First, that the properly understood quatenus (“insofar as”) is self-evidnet for every church which appeals to the Reformation, since no church wants to teach anything which is not Scripture doctrine. It is so self-evident that one does not need to articulate it. Men can and must accept also the Talmud or the Tridentimum [creed of the Roman Catholic Council of Trent] quatenus, “insofar as,” they interpret Scriptures correctly. The quatenus pledge is really no pledge at all. Secondly, the question which comes into consideration in connection with the confessional pledge is simply and solely the question whether the Confessions are Scriptural, whether they are the substance of the Holy Scriptures, as the Formula of Concord expresses it. Only if I am unshakably convinced and that on the basis of most earnest searching in the Scriptures, can I accept it and promise that “I will neither privately nor publicly speak or write anything contrary to it, but by the elp of God’s grace intend to abide thereby” (Conclusion of the Solid Declaration).

Hermann Sasse, Letters to Lutheran Pastors 43, 1956

[1] Term applied in the 17^th century to a group of Anglican divines who, while continuing to conform with the Church of England, attached relatively little importance to matters of dogmatic truth, ecclesiastical organization, and liturgical practice. In general the sympathies of Latitudinarian divines lay with the Arminian theology. Their views did much to prepare the way for the religious temper of England in the 18^th century. ODCC p. 956. MH

[2] John Robinson ca. 1575-1625, pastor to the Pilgrim Fathers. Little is known about his early life. Probably studied at Cambridge. Ordained in the Church of England. Later became a Puritan. In 1608 due to the extreme measures against non-conformity, he and his congregation fled to the Netherlands. Settled in Leiden and from 1617 interested himself in the Leiden community’s desire to emigrate to America. Prevented from joining them on the Mayflower, he assisted in their preparation. ODCC p. 1403. MH

[3] See Sasse’s “Quatenus or Quia?” in The Lonely Way I. Originally published in AELKZ 71.7 (18 Feb. 1938) pp. 152-154; Feuerhahn no. 201. MH

Satchmo

2011-11-08T17:40:00.001-06:00

Louis Armstrong's Trumpet Teacher 1

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Louis Armstrong's Trumpet Teacher 2

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Paul McCain in the Forest?

2011-11-08T08:31:00.001-06:00

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2011-11-08T08:05:00.000-06:00

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2011-11-07T07:52:00.002-06:00

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Satchmo