Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Live Not By Lies! - Redux

Almost a year ago, I wrote an encouragement to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's essay, "Live Not By Lies."

I'm reminded of that essay often.

A couple people have sent me screenshots of a guy who is writing about me by name - in a forum that is invisible to me - with some, shall we say, interesting accusations.

The good news is that he is not a brother pastor.  I don't know the guy.  I don't believe we have ever met.  We're not even Facebook friends.  I don't really care what some random guy on the Internet thinks about me (even if he is a Lutheran).  But I do care about the truth.  And he is not speaking it.  There are some people who have read his remarks, who are not happy about them, and have written to me.  He is attacking my reputation, and the reputations of others.  He is also running down Gottesdienst (for whom I write and serve on the editorial board), and trying to lump us all together.  

First of all, everyone is entitled to his opinion.  Disagreeing with me, and even disliking me, is just fine. I also have no problem with someone being vociferously critical of Gottesdienst.  To each his own. But I do have to admit being disappointed at being spoken about by name in a format that I'm not a party to - by a fellow Christian and Lutheran.  But I also realize everyone operates by his own core values.  At any rate, I decided against publishing a response at Gottesblog.  This is really more of a personal matter, so I'm responding here.   

There are basically three issues that I would like to reply to:

1) Donald Trump

My critic writes:

Virtually everything that Larry writes identifies his own Trumpist-Right Wing Populist politics with the cause of God.  I used to love Gottesdienst when it was about liturgy.  Now it's about the politics of the writers, which are predictable based on their age, gender [sic], and social class - in other words, most of their positions are generated by sociological factors which are simply baptized by them into being divine mandates.

He mentions Trump a second time in his screed.  As far as Gottesdienst goes, my critic assumes that we editors and writers are all in lockstep regarding politics and in our assessment of Donald Trump.  One of my fellow editors in particular, with whom I go back many years, is vociferously anti-Trump, and is vocal about it.  He did not vote for him, and will not vote for him.  He thinks Trump is gross and disgusting.  Why my critic thinks we all vote and think as a bloc is beyond me.  There is just no evidence for this.  Moreover, our editors and contributors include three generational cohorts: boomers, Xers, and Millennials.  We are all male (which is a sex, not a gender), because we are all LCMS clergymen.  Yet we do not think in lockstep.  And the suggestion that all people of the same sex, the same age, and the same socioeconomic status all think and vote the same way is bizarre and does not comport with reality.

As for me (not that it is any of my critic's business), I voted for Trump.  I will probably do so again.  I liked many things about his presidency: the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the appointment of a good number of conservative constitutional judges to the federal bench, and even the slight tax cuts and minor rollback of regulations were a boon to the economy - even bringing manufacturing back to the United States.  We all remember how things turned around after Trump's election.  That said, other economic opinions and policies of President Trump were awful, in my opinion.  He was also terrible on Covid.  He is socially liberal.  He surrounded himself with warmongers, as well as some disturbing religious advisors like Paula White.  So he is a mixed bag, again, in my opinion.

All that said, the real world of politics is about choices.  Frankly, I think even a moderate and flawed conservative like Donald Trump is far preferable to the likes of Joe Biden.  That is simply my assessment, and it is hardly radical or outlying or controversial.  I'm not even a registered Republican.  I don't belong to any political party, and am a registered independent.  I suspect that most members of LCMS churches will also vote for Trump, and probably have a similar assessment of him.  I'm far from slavish in my support of any politician.  Moreover, I can't find very much at all that I had to say about Trump in my blogging and writing when he was president.  I found my critic's remarks odd and baffling.

2) Christian Nationalism

My critic writes:

The key to Christian Nationalism is that you see your politics as implement [sic] a divine blueprint for society, and you identify the mission of the Church at least partially with implementing said blueprint.  Beane thinks that devoting his blog entries to attacking the progressive left on racial issues is a cause of God.  In some cases, there is a theological issue at work - like Christian anthropology.  Nevertheless, most of the time it has nothing to do with theology, and has more to do with his own personal preferences and prudential judgments, many of which are in my opinion highly flawed.

Interestingly, two weeks ago, I wrote a piece at Gottesblog entitled "On Christian Nationalism."  The main takeaway of my actual opinion of Christian Nationalism is right there for anyone who wants to read it.  Basically, my contention is:

  • Christian Nationalism is not defined, but is used as a slur across the political spectrum.
  • It can run from one extreme of simply believing that rights come from God instead of from the government, all the way to theocracy.
  • I would love to live in a Christian country - and in fact, would like to see everyone on the planet be a Christian in a Christian nation (this is called "evangelism" and "love," for we Christians believe that means they have salvation, and we are to "make disciples of all nations"), not that it would be a Utopia, but it would be an improvement to our secular state's redefining of marriage, legal infanticide, euthanasia, sexualizing children in our public schools and libraries, and statues of Baphomet in the Iowa statehouse.  What Christian would prefer the alternative to a nation whose laws and mores reflect Christian ethics?  
  • All people seek laws in accordance with their own ethical viewpoints and religious scruples, even liberals who call themselves Christians (who want a nation that reflects their own definition of Christianity).
  • There have been both good and bad Christian Nationalisms in history.
Interestingly, my critic made no mention of this article.

3) Wearing Vestments at a Confederate Monument

My critic writes: 

He obviously also thinks that maintaining pro-Confederate statues as being a divine cause since he shows up to rallies wearing his vestments.  I have seen the pictures with my own eyes.  I don't mind saying that I think this is deeply inappropriate, and not in harmony with Christian values as I understand them from the NT.

Interestingly, this came up in conversation just a few days ago!  I did a house blessing for a married couple who are friends and frequent visitors to my congregation.  My wife came with me, and we had a lovely time.  Our friends treated us to dinner afterward.  In the conversation, it came out why they visited our church for the first time (they are not Lutherans).  

We had met them at a social event a few years back, and I had also seen them occasionally because of my fire service and motorcycling connections.  But they had never visited the church.  The lady had heard from a friend in Alabama who saw footage online of a Lutheran pastor from the New Orleans area who was at the Jefferson Davis monument in New Orleans in 2017, vested and praying for peace in the middle of a tense standoff.  She was moved by this.  Our friend had a hunch that it was me, and sent her friend a picture of me from Facebook.  Her friend confirmed that it was me.  I had no idea that I was being videotaped at the time.

That is when she and her husband decided to visit our parish.

But here is the backstory that my critic knows nothing about, but assumes only some kind of sinister motive on my part.  No, I did not "show up to rallies in [my] vestments."  I wore vestments one time, and one time only, because I was leading Vespers.  And there is a reason why I did that.  

I had friends and parishioners that had been gathering for peaceful vigils at the three Confederate monuments in New Orleans.  The mayor was playing politics, and told the police to stand down, even as mobs of Antifa, led by a Communist agitator, became menacing to those who had gathered at the monuments to show opposition to their removal.

This was in 2017.  These monuments in New Orleans were among the first to be removed.  Today, not only Confederate, but also Revolutionary-era monuments, and others, have been removed, and in some cases, violently toppled by mobs.  All over the country, statues of Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, Father Junipero Serra, Stephen Foster, Theodore Roosevelt, and even Abraham Lincoln have been removed.  Around the world, we have also seen similar removals of statues of Queen Victoria, Sir Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as the destruction of ancient Buddhas by the Taliban.  It is also common to see paintings in museums being defaced, and even ruined, by woke activists.  In addition to the statues of Lee, Beauregard, and Davis, thugs in New Orleans vandalized a monument to the Roman Catholic priest Father Abram Ryan with red paint and human feces - toppling it, and causing the city to remove it.  The beautiful gilded statue of St. Joan of Arc in the French Quarter, a gift from Orleans, France, was also vandalized.  The Archdiocese was strangely quiet.  

Names of streets (thirty-eight in New Orleans) have been changed.  Names of military bases have been changed.  School names have been changed (a school in New Orleans named after George Washington was changed a few years ago when this movement was in its infancy).  There was an attempt - so far unsuccessful - to remove the statue of Andrew Jackson (the hero of the battle of New Orleans and an iconic landmark in front of the city's cathedral) as well as the statue of Iberville - the city's founder.  A mob videoed itself removing the bust of a philanthropist from the courtyard in front of city hall in broad daylight, and threw it in the Mississippi River with impunity.  Only those who fished the statue out of the river and rescued it were threatened with prosecution.

Anyone who doesn't believe that there is an attempt to rewrite history isn't paying attention.  The Gemini AI debacle is the latest in the bizarre attempts to create an Orwellian alternate remembrance of our past.  A couple of quotes from 1984 come to mind:

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
One could not learn history from architecture any more than one could learn it from books.  Statues, inscriptions, memorial stones, the names of streets - anything that might throw light upon the past had been systematically altered.

 

I am hardly alone in my desire that we keep the monuments we have, and build more to honor other people whose stories should also be told.  That is exactly what I was saying in a rare response to a reporter when this picture was taken.  I don't believe my reasonable remarks made it into any article.  It didn't fit their narrative - nor does it seem to fit my present critic's biases.



The 2017 monument defenders who gathered at the three monuments being targeted by the mayor of New Orleans were a motley crew.  Yes, there were bikers and "rednecks," - and also professors, lawyers, community leaders, a mayoral candidate, military veterans and active duty soldiers, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, young, old, descendants of the men honored by the monuments, and ordinary people who love American history - who stood together at the monuments.  I was present some of the time at all three monuments.  At no point did I ever hear a single racial slur from the monument supporters.  I cannot say the same of the anti-monument crowd, which included bussed-in Antifa demonstrators, Communist agitators flying the hammer and sickle, and the usual cadre of angry woke activists from the local well-heeled universities.  They hurled profanity and racial invective at the minorities who were pro-monument.  Their main leader was a pro-Bolshevik Communist.

As crowds gathered on both sides, the situation became tense.  We heard rumors that the police were ordered by the anti-monument mayor to stand down and would not intervene in the case of violence.  People on both sides were open-carrying.  But things still remained peaceful.  Then, as busses of Antifa activists showed up, the anti-monument side suddenly surged toward the monument defenders at the Jefferson Davis monument.  A woman was slashed by a razor.  An elderly veteran had a burning US flag thrown in his face.  A woman in a wheelchair had a bottle thrown at her head.  Monument defenders scurried up the pedestal, and the police finally intervened.  They separated the sides and erected barricades.  The mood was even more tense.


When I heard what happened, that is when I put on my vestments, grabbed my hymnal and my Bible, and came to the Davis monument to pray.  When I began Vespers, I was surrounded by monument supporters who knelt.  Along with the Vespers service, I prayed an ex corde prayer for peace, and called on both sides to remain non-violent.  The anti-monument crowds cursed and mocked.  They were vile and hateful.  

I also went around and implored the pro-monument folks not to respond with violence, to show restraint, and to pray.  I ministered to the veteran who was having a bout of PTSD.  

A lot of people thanked me for being there, and said that my presence had a calming effect and helped de-escalate matters.  I am happy to say that no shots were fired by any monument supporter - not then, and at no time afterwards.  I'm not taking credit, but I do believe in the power of the Word.  I believe prayer matters.  I was the only clergyman there.  I wish there had been more.  I wish there had been a lot of us.  I wish there had been lots of clergy on the other side of the barricades as well.  But there weren't.  Would my critic have preferred that the Word of God went unspoken there, and that prayers for peace would not have been offered?  Would he have rather just let the pressure build with no mention of Christ?  

Or is he just angry that I wasn't on the Antifa side of the barrier?  

Anyone who has ever been in a mob situation with armed people knows how tense and unpredictable it is.  It was a powder-keg, and we Christians are called upon to be peacemakers (Matt 5:9), no matter which side we may take in such matters.  That is "living in harmony with Christian values... from the NT" and with our calling as pastors of Christ's church.

Another violent incident happened at the Beauregard monument that was quite scary.  A woman who was a descendant of General Beauregard brought her ten-year old daughter to see the monument before it was removed.  She was standing next to my 12-year old son.  In broad daylight, in heavy traffic, a man stopped his car right in front of us in the roundabout, pointed a gun out the window, and pulled the trigger.  He hit the little girl.  Fortunately, it was only a paint ball gun. She was hit in the chest and in the arm.  The projectiles broke her skin and caused bleeding.  It certainly could have been worse, but it was a scary moment.



At the Beauregard monument, the pro-monument folks were corralled behind a barricade as anti-monument activists pressed in on them from all sides.  I was being squished against the barricades and asked the police officer why he wasn't doing anything.  His answer confirmed our suspicions.  He replied, "Do you think I like just standing here?"

The Lee monument was also the site of surging Antifa mobs.  Although it was a tense situation, no firearms were discharged.  There were a few blasts of mace, however, in response to some pushing and shoving.  I shot video of what appeared to be a voodoo priestess contorting and twerking in the faces of the pro-monument folks.  I prayed the Psalter during that tableau.  The Lee Monument had been vandalized the year before in a riot following the 2016 presidential election.  It was spray-pained "Die, Whites, Die."


Of course, this is not to say that every person of a different race was at one another's throats.  

Regarding that one occasion where I vested and prayed at the site of the Davis monument, I am glad that I did it.  I would do it again.  I don't care who approves or disapproves.  I don't care who lies about my motivations.  My conscience is clear.  As I said, I wish we had more clergy praying - and that we had them on both sides of the barricades.  The Roman Catholic archbishop (who favored the monument removals) could have shown up.  He could have also brought calm to the situation, but was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was holed up in his cathedral - which incidentally flies a Confederate flag in the nave.  

Had my critic simply asked about my opinions and my motivations, I would have been happy to relate all of this to him. But he didn't.  He didn't care enough for the truth to even find out.  Sadly, I'm no longer surprised at such behavior.  That's how things are done now - in both the world and the church.  Sometimes all we can do is pray for our Lord's speedy return.  

We don't have to defend ourselves from every attack.  But I do think it is important to tell the truth - especially in the face of untruths - not just for our sake, but for the sake of others who are being attacked as well.  Lies are destructive, and sometimes the lie of omission is more damaging than the lie of commission.  The devil is the father of lies, and the name "Satan" means "Accuser."  

Whether we agree with others' opinions or not, I think we should consider the wise words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (whose monument was also defaced by Communists two years before the events in New Orleans): "Live not by lies."  




Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 4, 2024



12 Mar 2024

Text: Mark 12:13-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Various factions hated Jesus and sought His destruction.  They tried to trap Him and get the people (and the authorities) to turn against Him by asking Him controversial questions: questions that were not really questions.  Our Lord knows their malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance of the Word of God.  He not only answers their “questions” in such a way as to outmaneuver them, He does so in a way that teaches those who will be actually taught.  Jesus tells the truth – even knowing that He would be lied about.  Jesus knew that He was going to be arrested, condemned, and crucified by the guile of these very plotters and enemies. 

And in the words of the sixteenth-century hymn: “A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the guilt of sinners bearing.”  Jesus even dies to cover the sins of His enemies, though few of them will receive it in their malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance. 

The conservative Pharisees and the Herodians attempt to entrap Jesus on the thorny issue of taxes.  Nobody likes taxes, and the Romans went beyond paying for government services.  They used taxes to extort and control their captive populations, employing collaborators and thieves among the people to oppress them.  Of course, even the suggestion of a tax revolt would have brought the wrath of the Empire upon anyone suggesting such a thing.  “Knowing their hypocrisy,” our Lord replied with His famous dictum to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The liberal Sadducees try to trap Jesus into denying the resurrection with a hypothetical about remarriage after the death of a spouse, concocting a ridiculous thought-experiment.  But Jesus rebukes them: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God,” teaching us that marriage is an institution for this life, not the life to come.  And there will be a resurrection, led by Jesus Himself.  For God “is not the God of the dead,” says our Lord, “but of the living.  You are quite wrong,” Jesus tells them.

We see this very thing today, dear friends, as people with political agendas from all sides use false narratives and compete with each other in destroying one-another’s reputations.  It is a good thing to argue about theology and current events, and to do so vigorously, making one’s case based on Scripture and natural law, but it is an entirely different matter from seeking to destroy people through intimidation, to get them fired from their jobs, or even subjecting them to violence.  We are not to join in the world’s malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance.  And certainly not in their lies.

The solution to living with integrity in a culture such as this is to indeed give both Caesar and God their due, and to know the Scriptures and the power of God.  And in following Jesus, we know full well that we must bear crosses of our own.  As the heroic dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who bore the cross of the malice, hypocrisy, and ignorance of the Caesar of his own time eloquently summed it up: “Live not by lies.”

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  And we must be willing to confess the truth before both friend and foe – and do so without becoming like those who seek to trap us in our talk. 

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 3, 2024

5 Mar 2024

Text: Mark 9:33-50

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Jesus has to teach us how to be normal again.  We are so immersed in sin that we have to be reminded not to lead children into harm.  Even animals know this, and their instincts tend toward the protection of children.  Why should Jesus even have to say this to us?  We have the Ten Commandments.  And we have the law written on our hearts.  But we also live in a debased culture, in which children are targeted for abuse in our schools and libraries – thanks to unbelievers who have hijacked our institutions.

But it isn’t only unbelievers.  For notice how the disciples are in an argument.  Jesus happens upon them and asks what they are arguing about.  “But they kept silent.”  For they were arguing “about who was the greatest.”  They knew that this was wrong and sinful.  They knew that they should “fear, love, and trust in God above all things,” and not consider themselves “the greatest.”  And when Jesus caught them, they were embarrassed, and became silent.

For they too had forgotten how to be normal.  Sin does that to us.  It makes us abnormal and ugly.  It causes us to deviate from the beautiful norm that God established in His creation.  Sin makes us elevate ourselves rather than humble ourselves.  Sin turns men into predators instead of protectors.  Sin transforms women into ugly imitators of the masculine instead of the beautiful nurturers that God created them to be. 

Sin also makes us think in terms of human institutions instead of the kingdom.  John reports to Jesus that there is someone out there casting out demons in the name of Jesus, but this man is not part of their bureaucratic structure.  And so they tried to use force to prevent him.  They were replacing the church with a bureaucracy, the kingdom with just one more thing of human origin.  They were thinking of themselves as a worldly organization instead of the body of Christ. 

And again, Jesus has to remind them to be normal.

For since the fall in Eden, the abnormal has been normalized.  We think death is normal.  We think controlling and lording over other people is normal.  We think putting ourselves on a pedestal is normal.  But this is all abnormal, dear friends, abnormal and destructive.  Jesus has not come to restate the law, but to comply with it, and to give us His righteousness.  He comes not to scold, but to correct – in the true sense of the word.  Jesus has come to draw us back into the bell curve of normalcy, to bring us into a right relationship to God and to one another, to restore the good and normal and beautiful kingdom of His reign.

His metaphor of repentance as the destruction of the body in order to enter the kingdom of God is, for Him, not a metaphor.  For Jesus will suffer worse than a gouged eye or an amputated hand on the cross.  He will suffer and die for our sake, and will rise again to make resurrection normal for all of us.  And by His wounds, we are healed.  By confessing Him as the greatest, we are free to be what God created us to be in the kingdom.  We can be normal and beautiful and immortal again.  And instead of being shamefully silent, we will sing praises to Him in shameless glory according to the normalcy of His redeemed creation!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 2

27 Feb 2024

Text: Mark 6:35-56

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Jesus has been teaching, and has amassed a crowd of five thousand men, plus their families.  They have been enthralled with His Word for hours.  “When it grew late,” the disciples propose that Jesus break up the meeting and “send them away into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  Our Lord has a better idea: “You give them something to eat.”  This is so typical of our Lord.  It sounds like a joke.  But it isn’t. 

Jesus has been undoing all of the curses of Eden, one by one.  He casts out demons.  He drives out sicknesses and raises the dead.  And here, he attacks the curse of scarcity: the ground itself producing “thorns and thistles” and being stingy with its fruits, and Adam’s curse: “by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.”  In the post-Eden world, demand outpaces supply.  Food is scarce.  We have to buy it.  It is a matter of labor and trade.  On this day, as thousands hear the Word of God, there are no trees bearing fruit effortlessly as in the garden.  The people must trade their labor for bread, and they must go away from hearing the Word of God in order to feed themselves. 

But Jesus came to return us to paradise.  And He gives us a glimpse into a post-scarcity world to come, one where there is no more need to trade one’s sweat for the stubborn fruits of the earth, mixing in even more labor to make a little bit of bread, just to stave off starvation and death for another day.  That is not how God made us to live.  Jesus has a better idea than sending them away to purchase bread: “You give them something to eat,” He says to His disciples.  For in a post-scarcity world, bread will be so common that it will not be a commodity of trade.  The disciples suggest that the people “buy.”  Jesus suggests that the disciples “give.” 

The disciples are dumbfounded.  There is so little for so many.  And, of course, our Lord miraculously multiplies the loaves and fishes, feeds the multitudes, and “they all ate and were satisfied.”  In the post-scarcity world, satisfaction replaces starvation.  And not only were their needs met, there were “twelve baskets” of leftovers – one for each of the Twelve.  For their ministry will be to likewise distribute the Bread of Life, including the Meal that began at the Last Supper: the body and blood of Jesus, that they and their successors will miraculously multiply for multitudes numbering in the billions across centuries of time.

For the bread that Jesus gives “for the life of the world is [His] flesh” (John 6:51).  The kingdom Jesus establishes has no starvation, only satisfaction, no “thorns and thistles” (Gen 3:18) but only God’s providence, no sickness and no death (Gen 3:19), but only everlasting life, and no serpent to deceive us with “Did God actually say?” (Gen 3:1), but only the Word Himself, delivering on His promises, rolling back the curses of Eden, and supplying us with superabundance, as His gifts to us never run out.  There are always twelve baskets of His grace left, no matter how much grace we have received. 

Multitudes today continue to need the Word of God.  For this is still a “desolate place,” and indeed, “the hour is late.”  People continue to struggle with sin, death, and the devil, with scarcity and sickness, and with their need to be fed.  Jesus continues to say to His church today, “You give them something to eat.”  This is indeed typical of our Lord.  It sounds like a joke.  But it isn’t.  Thanks be to God!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Tuesday of Lent 1


20 Feb 2024

Text: Mark 3:20-35

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

It’s easy to forget how much opposition our Lord had during His three-year ministry that changed the world.  The demons opposed Him.  The local government opposed Him.  The Imperial government opposed Him.  The Jewish religious authorities of every sect opposed Him.  One of His disciples betrayed Him.  The leader of His disciples denied Him.  At His trial, all of the to-be apostles fled from Him.  Upon hearing Him say that His followers must eat His flesh and drink His blood, many of His disciples abandoned Him.  On the cross, Jesus would pray Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  And at this early phase of our Lord’s ministry, even as the multitudes come to be healed, His own family said, “He is out of His mind.”

Our Lord’s miraculous works were so open and numerous that nobody could deny them.  Nobody could say that these were magic tricks or people acting like they have been healed – as we see with modern-day religious frauds and showmen who use tricks like hidden earphones with people feeding the so-called “faith healer” information, and putting healthy people in wheelchairs so as to order them to walk around.

Jesus did so many verifiable miracles that His enemies could only claim that He was a sorcerer, using the demons to effect miracles.  Jesus points out the obvious: “How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”  The works of Jesus are forgiving sins, liberating people from bondage to evil spirits, healing people of diseases, and even raising the dead.  These are acts of God, not of the devil.  And here, Jesus warns against such hardness of heart that would call God evil: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” 

In spite of the opposition of the entire fallen world and of the fallen angels in the world unseen – Jesus doubles down and continues His ministry.  He is not concerned with majorities, with numbers, with worldly influence.  He casts the seeds of the Good News like the sower in His own parable: announcing the kingdom, exorcising demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, and most importantly of all, atoning for the sins of the world at the cross.  For many of those who rejected Him will come to Him.  Some members of the local government, the Jewish council, will emerge as His disciples.  In time, the Imperial government will become Christian.  Nearly all of the Jewish sects will disappear, while the church will be established the world over.  Eleven disciples will come back to Him, will be ordained, and sent to evangelize the world.  Judas will be replaced.  And St. Paul will be added to the number of the apostles.  Billions of people will eat His flesh and drink His blood.  And He, the crucified one, was vindicated by rising from the dead.  And “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23) to this day.

His own family would no longer claim that He had lost His mind.  His mother, who saw Him crucified, would be taken care of by John the apostle in Ephesus.  Our Lord’s kinsman James would become the first bishop of Jerusalem.  The demons will continue to oppose Him, but helpless in their desire to defeat Him.  And the family of Jesus has been expanded to include “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” redeemed by His blood, confessing Him as Lord, being rescued from not only soul-destroying unbelief, but also from the malice of demons and from the ravages of sin, including death.  We, the church, confessors of Jesus, are His family.  He has not lost His mind, but has rather won forgiveness, life, and salvation for us by His blood.  Thanks be to God!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Sybil for the 21st Century?


Nearly fifty years ago, the popular culture was introduced to a rare and horrific mental illness that was, at the time, called Multiple Personality Disorder. The 1976 movie Sybil was apparently based on a true story of a young woman academician who suffered from this ailment, today called Disassociative Identity Disorder.  She had sixteen distinct personalities, and could not live an ordinary life until she was treated.


This award-winning made-for-TV movie (based on the book by the same name) starred Sally Fields, and made quite a splash in the culture of the time.  Debates rage over how much of the novel/movie is true, but the disorder is very real.  Since that time, we haven't heard much about this ailment. 

According to the Mayo Clinic:

Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, this disorder involves "switching" to other identities. You may feel as if you have two or more people talking or living inside your head. You may feel like you're possessed by other identities.

Each identity may have a unique name, personal history and features. These identities sometimes include differences in voice, gender, mannerisms and even such physical qualities as the need for eyeglasses. There also are differences in how familiar each identity is with the others. Dissociative identity disorder usually also includes bouts of amnesia and often includes times of confused wandering.

And this is a mental illness brought on by trauma:

Sometimes dissociative disorder symptoms occur in a crisis with severe or impulsive behavior. People with these symptoms need care more urgently and in an emergency department at a hospital when safety becomes a concern.

If you or a loved one has less urgent symptoms that may be a dissociative disorder, contact your doctor or other health care professional for help. 

Moreover, 

Dissociative disorders usually arise as a reaction to shocking, distressing or painful events and help push away difficult memories. Symptoms depend in part on the type of dissociative disorder and can range from memory loss to disconnected identities. 

Symptoms include "a blurred sense of your own identity" and "mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors," again, according to the Mayo Clinic.  Causes, again according to the Mayo clinic, include traumatic events in childhood, such as sexual abuse:

Dissociative disorders usually start as a way to cope with shocking, distressing or painful events. The disorders most often form in children who go through long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Less often, the disorders form in children who've lived in a home where they went through frightening times or they never knew what to expect. The stress of war or natural disasters also can bring on dissociative disorders.  You're at greatest risk of having a dissociative disorder if you've had long-term physical, sexual or emotional abuse during childhood.

Other shocking, distressing or painful events also may cause dissociative disorders to arise. These may include war, natural disasters, kidnapping, torture, extensive early-life medical procedures or other events.

Per the Mayo Clinic, this disorder spawns other symptoms, including: "depression and anxiety," "problems with sexual function," "personality disorders," self-injury or high-risk behavior," and "suicidal thoughts and behavior."

Obviously, this is purely a clinical, psychological explanation for this disorder.  Christians who believe in the supernatural certainly see the possibility of an underlying spiritual cause in such cases.  Whether any individual is being tormented and victimized by demons is not something that secular mental health professionals are qualified to address.  For this article, my goal is to show how mainstream mental health professionals describe such things, and how mainstream journalists typically accommodate one person with multiple personae.

Moreover, the existence of this disorder highlights the importance of protecting children from predators, from being sexualized, and from exposure to people with sexual abnormalities and disorders.  Again, per the Mayo Clinic: 

Children who are physically, emotionally or sexually abused are at increased risk of developing mental health conditions, such as dissociative disorders. If stress or other personal issues are affecting the way you treat your child, seek help.

While we don't hear much about this rare disorder, we are seeing a surge in people presenting themselves in different personae, people who seem to have been traumatized and suffer sexual confusion, who are also plagued by suicidal ideation.  There is an increasing social reluctance to see this kind of sexual identity and personality confusion (and even multiplicity) as a malady to be treated, as it is, instead being normalized.  There is increasing mainstream pressure to give actual recognition to multiple personalities, even using multiple names and pronouns for the same person.

By way of example, a recent article in the free New Orleans newspaper The Gambit casually refers to a man by different personalities and genders.  In the February 12, 2024 piece called "A Moment Like This: The Big Gay Baby variety shows are a space to heal your inner child," author Kaylee Poche refers to the same man as both "Maxwell, who is trans" by the plural neuter pronoun "they," as well as "April May" by the singular feminine pronoun "she."

For example: 

  • "Maxwell took to the stage as their drag persona April May at the next Big Gay Baby show to perform a mashup of emotional, nostalgic songs."  
  • "Maxwell had long dreamed of performing in drag.  They loved singing in their bedroom as a child... and did musical theater in their youth, but they hadn't found the right outlet to get back on stage as an adult." Emphasis added.

The article is peppered with "they say," when quoting Maxwell.  It creates a sense of plurality.  One has to depend on context to determine whether the "they" is singular or plural.  And in fact, there is a plurality to Maxwell's personalities.

On stage, he is "April May."  And the author of this article, when speaking of Maxwell in that context, switches pronouns to "she" - as if Maxwell has multiple personalities instead of his simply acting on stage and playing a role.  The author describes the role as an actual personality.

For example: 

  • "The crescendo synched with an epic costume change as she ripped off her black gown to reveal a pink tulle dress underneath."
  • "As April May ended her performance, a trans flag with the words 'PROTECT TRANS KIDS' projected onto the screen behind her, and she put her fist into the air."  Emphasis added.
There is video footage of Maxwell speaking - in drag - before the Louisiana Legislature - along with some other activists opposing a bill to prevent certain sexual procedures being implemented on minor children.  One of these activists describes parents who refuse such procedures to their own children as "bigots" who should have no say in their children's mental and physical health, not to mention their education.  It is apparent that these activists do not have children of their own, and they feel entitled to have access to children who are not their own.  We would do well to vet teachers to make sure that they are mentally and sexually healthy, that they respect parental rights and the law, they keep proper boundaries with children, and are not simply acting out something on children that was acted out on them in their own youthful mental and sexual development.


The bill was vetoed by the (former) governor of Louisiana, a Democrat, and the veto was overridden.  

The current penchant for legitimizing - and even compelling - the use of pronouns (some made up, some of mixed gender and number) to accommodate personalities, even using plural pronouns and multiple names/identities, may be covering up genuine cases of Disassociative Personality Disorder.  And not only that, giving such traumatized people (perhaps even sexually traumatized people) access to children - even in their desire to have private access without parental oversight or even consent - should raise red flags.

Often those who are pushing for teachers talking about sexuality with even very young children in public schools - even against the wishes of the parents - try to diffuse the matter by pointing out that "drag" is a benign comedic entertainment genre of the type one sees in light Hollywood comedies and British humor.  But this is different.  This is not comedy.  This is not an actor performing on stage.  What we see with Maxwell is two distinct personalities with two distinct names and pronouns.  He doesn't dress up as a woman on stage for laughs.  He is serious, even to the point of appearing as he does, in a blonde wig and blue face paint - to testify before the Legislature.  We see a reporter writing about him using a bifurcated pronoun scheme based on which personality he is presenting at a given time.  We see a man doing all of these things testifying in favor of allowing professionals to permanently change the physical bodies of children's sexuality by means of surgery and hormones, and for teachers to speak to children about sexual matters - and to do so over the objections of the parents.  

Of course, I have no idea whether Maxwell and the other specific people testifying against this bill were sexually abused as children, or if they suffer with disassociative disorders, but it would certainly be consistent with what we read in the Mayo Clinic article.  It is not uncommon to hear people who identify as non-heterosexual to describe being sexually abused as children.

It is up to those who are healthy - mentally and sexually - to protect children from physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and trauma, and to find a way to generationally reduce the number of people impacted by childhood abuse.  All people within the healthy bell curve have the duty to protect the most vulnerable in our society.  And if people like Maxwell truly want to lead a life unencumbered by the desire to live with multiple personae, to be able to raise healthy and well-adjusted children of his own, there may be a path forward.  That is up to him.  

But neither he, nor any other activist who insists on being addressed in alternate personae, has the right to have access to children against the wishes of their parents.  And mental health professionals, doctors, counselors, and others should give serious consideration to the possibility that we are seeing pathological multiple personalities - and speaking to it - instead of just taking the politically-correct path that helps no-one.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Sermon: Ash Wednesday – 2024

14 February 2024

Text: Joel 2:12-19

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

We have turned a new page on the calendar.  We went from yesterday’s Mardi Gras to today’s Ash Wednesday.  We went from the lingering green of the Epiphany season to the black of today and the purple of the Lenten season.  And we begin this forty-day penitential season with a reminder of our own death.

All calendars include changing seasons: winter and summer, planting and harvesting, and the annual cycle of nature.  But our spiritual lives are also based on a cycle of time  As King Solomon reminds us, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  And all peoples around the world have times of feasting and times of fasting, times of plenty, and times of want, times to celebrate, and times to reflect.

“Remember, O man.” 

God’s people of the Old Testament had a different calendar than we have today, dear friends, but they also had times of feasting and times of fasting.  The prophet Joel reminds us of this when he calls the people to repentance with the message from God: “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people.  Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.”

This is such a day among us, the people of God in the New Testament.  Instead of blowing trumpets, we ring bells.  But we “gather the people,” young and old.  We assemble, and we remember – “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  And that is one of the reasons we have a calendar: to remember.  We remember history that is important to us: personal days, national days, church days.  And on this consecrated fast, at this solemn assembly, we remember the fall in Eden.  We remember the words God spoke to Adam.  We remember that we are mortal.  We remember that we are sinners.  And we remember why Jesus came into our world.

“Remember, O man.”

The ashes remind us of God’s Word spoken to Adam the man, the adam, that he would return to the dust, the adamah, from which he was made.  The ashes remind us of death.  The ashes are in the form of a cross: the ancient symbol of punishment: of the death penalty.  But this cross is not just any cross, dear friends.  It is a reminder of the cross of Jesus.  It is a reminder that Jesus also died.  But Jesus did not die for His own sins, for He has none.  Jesus died for our sins.  We are not only marked for death, we are marked for life.  We are marked for forgiveness.  We are marked for redemption by Jesus’ blood.

There will come a time to exchange the fast for the feast.  We will turn a page on our calendar after these six weeks of fasting to enjoy seven weeks of feasting.  We will exchange the cross for the crown. 

But not yet.

Joel speaks anew to us “priests, the ministers of the Lord,” when he calls us to “weep and say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a byword among the nations.’”  We who are called to preach to you, to proclaim the Word of God, both Law and Gospel, to all with ears to hear, in season and out of season, we are called especially during this consecrated fast to pray for those under our care, to pray that God will spare them, redeem them, save them, and forgive them.  We pray that the people of our congregations will remember that they are dust, but also remember that they are redeemed.  We pray that our people will recommit to the Lord, to hear His Word, to receive Jesus’ body and blood, to confessing their sins and being absolved, to teaching their children the faith, to loving their neighbor, to live out the live of repentance and of forgiveness. 

And Joel reminds the people of God the message and the promise of our gracious Lord, “Behold, I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.”

“Remember, O man.”

In season and out of season, God still promises to take care of us, dear friends.  He sends us crops.  He sends us what we need to live.  He sends us the rain and the sunshine that continue to sustain life.  But the grain, wine, and oil also have a spiritual meaning as well.  The Lord sends us grain: grain that is used to make bread.  We live not by bread alone, but by God’s Word.  And we also live by the Bread of Life: Jesus Himself, who is given to us in the bread that is His body.  The Lord sends us wine, not only to gladden the heart of man, as the Psalmist says, but also the very blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of sins given to us to drink in the cup.  The Lord sends us oil, dear friends, not only for our worldly sustenance, but oil that is used as a symbol of your being sealed by the Holy Spirit, traced in the sign of the cross at your baptism.

That same cross has been retraced on your forehead today, dear friends, bearing the ashes that you can see with your eyes, ashes mixed with the oil of your baptism that you cannot see, except by the eyes of faith.

And it is important to remember, O man, that God provides the grain, wine, and oil for us.  We can take no credit, even though God calls human beings to plant and reap, to cultivate and harvest, to pluck and to press, according to the seasons of planting and reaping, according to the calendar that he has established.  It is still by God’s grace that these things needed for our lives, physical and spiritual, are provided as a gift.

God also provides the Savior for us, so loving the world that He sent His only son, that we would not perish, but have eternal life.  God provides the cross, Jesus takes up His cross, and in this consecrated fast, it is our gift to bear our own cross and follow Jesus.  In these forty days, we follow our Lord into the wilderness, doing battle with the devil, fasting and meditating on the Word of God. 

The calendar helps us remember.  Fasting reminds us of the reality that we are sinners in need of redemption, mortals in need of life.  “Remember, O man.”  But after the consecrated fast will come the consecrated feast.  For after the crucifixion will come the resurrection.  The cross is also a reminder of God’s love and forgiveness, of His taking the burden that we remember upon Himself, because God also remembers His promises to us.  Yes, we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  But we are also dust that shall return to life.

“Remember, O man.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – February 13, 2024

13 Feb 2024 – Sts. Aquila, Priscilla, and Apollos

Text: John 4:46-54

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. John built his argument that Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14) around seven particular demonstrations of His divinity, which John calls “signs.”  Right after the “first of His signs” (John 2:11) – turning water into wine – an “official” in Capernaum approaches Jesus seeking his son’s healing.  From the other Gospel accounts, this man was a Roman military officer, and his son is also described as his servant.

The other accounts give more details of this miracle, which John has identified as the “second sign” of Jesus in his Gospel.  But John glosses over these details in his own account of this incident – which St. John considers to be one of the seven most important proofs of our Lord’s divinity. 

And there is an irony here.  For while John’s Gospel is a rhetorical argument for the divinity of Jesus, our Lord Himself is not a fan of such arguments and proofs – which is the very point that John himself makes in what he emphasizes in this miracle!  In other words, what is important about this sign is that signs are not supposed to be so important.  Nevertheless, we poor, miserable sinners do need convincing.  Jesus is merciful in giving us signs of His divinity – though the word of the Word should be enough.  For “faith comes from hearing… the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). 

John’s account of the healing of the official’s son hones in on our Lord’s frustration with the constant demand for signs: “Unless you [plural] see signs, you [plural] will not believe.”  But the official – who is a Gentile – is not part of that “you [plural].”  For he already has faith – which is why he comes to Jesus in the first place.  He believes in the power of Jesus to command even illness, and to banish it by means of His words alone.  We learn from Matthew (8:5-13) and Luke (7:1-10) that this centurion has such faith that he accepts the military-like order of Jesus as sufficient to heal his son.  He understands the delegation of authority as a “man set under authority” (Luke 7:8).

John emphasizes the fact that the official is not concerned with signs, but rather love for his son.  He doesn’t need convincing.  He already believes.  And so he prays, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”  Jesus commands the illness to leave from afar: “Go, your son will live.”

In this sign, we see faith – not in signs, but in Jesus Himself.  For signs have a way of taking over the landscape, becoming more important than the thing signified.  Sometimes signs become clutter that only detracts from the thing being pointed to by the sign.  If we understand John’s seven signs not as rational proofs, but rather as “oracles of God” (Rom 3:2, Heb 5:12, 1 Pet 4:11) that bear witness to Him who is the Oracle of God Made Flesh, then our faith is in Jesus and not merely in signs.

And the true signs of Jesus are not merely manifestations of His mighty power, but also of His “mercy and loving-kindness” (Ps 36:5 AMPC).  And in giving us this sign, Jesus is giving us a sign of His own resurrection, the ultimate sign of both God’s power and His mercy: “Go, your son will live.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – February 6, 2024

6 Feb 2024

Text: John 1:35-51

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. John’s description of Jesus calling His first disciples is compelling reading.  And these men immediately leave behind their former lives to follow Jesus as if they had been compelled.  John the Baptist begins by calling Jesus “the Lamb of God.”  His own disciples hear this, and matriculate from John’s rabbiship to our Lord’s. 

St. Andrew was one such disciple of John, who became one of the first – if not the first – disciple of Jesus.  And in short order, Andrew is confessing Jesus as the Messiah, and evangelizing – telling his brother Simon (who would later be called ‘Peter’), “We have found the Messiah.” 

The account of Philip and Nathaniel joining what will become the apostolic band is also interesting.  Philip follows Jesus after Jesus invited him with two simple words: “Follow Me.”  Philip goes to Nathaniel and tells him “We have found Him” – “Him” being the Messiah.  Nathaniel replies with a bit of sarcasm that has the sound of some kind of common saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  It sounds a little like how Michiganders and Ohioans tease each other, or Texans and Oklahomans.  But the irony is that not only is “good” coming from Nazareth, God Himself is.  And Philip replies to him the same way that Jesus replied to Andrew: “Come and see.” 

And when he does “come and see” Jesus, Nathaniel’s skepticism is immediately turned into faith.  Our Lord says to Nathaniel: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”  Jesus is replying to Nathaniel’s sarcasm with a bit of His own.  Maybe this too is an old saying.  It is greatly ironic, however, because He is saying, “Look here!  An honest son of Jacob!”  Israelites are descendants of Jacob, whose very name means: “The Deceiver.”  The humor dripping between the lines is both palpable and quite humorous – in a dry sort of way. 

Something about coming and seeing Jesus, and in hearing this quip, struck Nathaniel.  Jesus has revealed something to Nathaniel that He could not have possibly known by natural means.  “How do you know me?” asks a bewildered Nathaniel.  “Before Philip called you,” replies Jesus, “when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”  Clearly, this was something supernatural, something that revealed our Lord’s divine nature.  For Nathaniel replies in a way that flesh and blood has not revealed (as Jesus would later describe Simon Peter’s confession of Him as the Christ).  Nathaniel says: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”  Our Lord replies, as we would say in modern, colloquial English: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Jesus says: “You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  This too is a significant biblical reference to Jacob.  For this is the vision that Jacob saw, prefiguring the cross.  Nathaniel is to be an apostolic fulfillment of Israel, as the twelve tribes are extended to the twelve apostles: Deceiving Jacob would wrestle with God in the flesh, and the chosen people of Israel will be extended to all nations: people who experience God in the flesh in the person of Jesus, the Son of God and King of Israel.

For this is the church, and the church starts with the calling of the Twelve.  The apostolic preaching and the church itself continue to this day, dear friends.  We are still inviting people to “Come and see.”  And our Lord Jesus Christ is still inviting and saying: “Follow Me.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.