I want to point our readers to a cool new website called The Wittenberg Trail.

It’s kind of a Lutheran version of MySpace, a social networking site for Lutherans or those interested in learning about the Lutheran faith and spirituality. The creators and moderators have done an excellent job.

In addition to personal users’ pages and groups they have music, videos, and discussion forums. In the video section they have actual class sessions from Lutheran Seminaries. There are some great doctrinal discussions on the forums. Registration is free, and it’s worth a look even if you aren’t Lutheran.

Check it out at wittenbergtrail.ning.com

This video clip has been making the rounds on blogs and in email lately, and the reason is clear. In a short 2-1/2 minutes, the writers of the TV show ER have taken on one of the most common and insidious issues with our postmodern wisdom.

It does not save. Period.

Every time I watch this, it shakes me. I went to the NBC website and watched the entire episode while it was still available. I found myself thinking, “He asked for a chaplain, where is he?!”.

But, of course, no chaplain other than the female character he was speaking to ever materialized. (What, they didn’t have a call list of representatives of varying faiths in case someone requested one?) What else would you expect from Hollywood? I’m stunned they posed the question at all - and managed to get that part right - let alone expect them to write a character who could deliver what the man was looking for: Christ crucified for his sins… ALL of them.

Christ IS the answer.

So, I’m placing the video here for you to watch. I can not stress enough that if you haven’t seen this that you need to watch it. It’s very short, only 2:38 in length.

To set the stage, the part that isn’t included in this clip is some of the initial lead in. It starts with a close-up on the patient’s hand where he’s grasping and rubbing a rosary with a crucifix dangling over his hand to face the camera.

He tells a story about how he was the doctor in a prison who was responsible for performing lethal injections. In a particular case, a young man was convicted of murder, and as usual it fell to this doctor to put him to death. In the initial attempt, somehow the doctor botched the IV needle insertion so that all the chemicals went into the young man’s arm and not into a vein. The doctor had to do it all over again, after which it took the young man 90 seconds to die.

So, now the video…

So, here is why I am putting this in our blog today. Clearly, the question placed before the viewer from the doctor is an open-ended one. It never gets answered satisfactorily in the whole show. As a matter of fact, the character only continues to receive condemnation from all around him until he is suicidal, and then he’s even prevented from doing that!

I believe the writers and producers of ER have placed before us an opportunity. They never offered a chaplain who would give a Christ-centered answer to the doctor’s question and allow him to drink of the Gospel, which is clearly what he was seeking.

“…How could I even hope for forgiveness?”

ALL OF YOU WHO ARE PASTORS, if you had been the chaplain called into that room, WHAT WOULD YOUR ANSWER TO THIS MAN HAVE BEEN?

Why is this important? How many people out there are experiencing a very similar situation right now? That is, they’re in dire need to hear what they suspect is true, but no one is there to preach it to them?

I think this is a monumental chance to give that answer. If you read this blog and you know of a pastor that you believe could offer a Christ-centered, Gospel filled answer to the doctor’s question, I urge you to contact him and have him enter one in the comments of this entry.

I’m not sure how many answers we’ll get, but even just a couple could make all the difference for some people.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)

Pastor William Cwirla stands as one of the great examples of modern Lutheran preaching.

He has also resurrected the practice of Evangelical Confession and absolution in his congregation. Speaking from personal experience, this practice has been an invaluable aid in my struggle to lead a Christian life. (I happen to be one of his parishioners.) Being able to sit under his ministry for the past fifteen years has been a fantastic blessing.

Be sure to check out the archives. In the ‘Occasional’ category is the sermon he preached at my wedding. It’s the best wedding sermon I have ever heard.

The website isn’t much on graphics and the like but it is second to none in content. (Many of the sermons are available in MP3 as well so you can actually hear Pastor Cwirla deliver them.) You can visit it here:
www.holytrinity.ms/sermons

Enjoy.

I saw something the other day that really angered me. My wife was at first incredulous, thinking that I was over reacting to the situation. My children were watching some DVDs, among them was a copy of one of the “Veggie Tales” DVDs.

If you don’t know what ‘Veggie Tales’ are or have never heard of them, check them out here. Most Lutheran converts from evangelicalism, especially those with children, are familiar with the series.

I hate ‘Veggie Tales’. I know that will be shocking to some. They will say that I have become dour and no fun; that I take my theology too seriously. Before you jump to that conclusion, hear me out.

The episode in question was about Joshua’s conquest of Jericho. In addition to not following very closely the biblical narrative it was ‘cutsey’ and trivialized the whole story. When my children remember the story of Jericho, I don’t want them visualizing green peas wearing greek helmets, defending their city by throwing blue slurpees on vegetable Israelites.

People raise their children on this stuff in an effort to make Bible learning fun and then wonder why their kids leave the faith when they get into High School and college. When you contrast this video with the real narrative of the conquest of Jericho from the Scriptures, or the narrative of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16) such trivialization appears blasphemous.

My wife protested that young children really couldn’t understand and that things like this are needed to introduce our children to the Bible. I disagreed. Children understand far more than we give them credit for, and even if they don’t in this particular situation, they do understand something’s importance based on the way their parents treat it.

For contrast I read the story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram for our family devotion that night. Not only were my children wide-eyed but they asked some pretty serious questions about sin and punishment, and about Jesus and His work on our behalf.

Turning something into a fun cartoon and attempting to make it funny and entertaining by being cute, tells our children that we aren’t that serious about it. Later on in life when these stories are referenced our children have these ridiculous pictures in their minds imparted by some insipid cartoon.

How can they then take these things seriously?

Furthermore these videos are devoid of the Gospel. They are moral exhortation and Law. Needless to say, there are no more Veggie Tales playing at our house. I’m sure some will say this is an overreaction. So be it. Sometimes Christians are our own worst enemies, and as parents we need to be vigilant.

This interview with Eugene Peterson is one of those classic gems that everyone should read at least once. I can’t believe that Christianity Today would print it, because it condemns about 75% of everything that they promote.

Pastor Peterson is one of my heroes in the faith, and his work has had a huge impact on me. He comes from Montana, very close (by Montana standards) to where I grew up. His writing has changed my whole paradigm, and my view of the role and function of the Pastoral office. It has rejuvenated and refreshed the ministries of hundreds if not thousands of Pastors.

In this interview he challenges our cultures idea of what is ’spiritual’ and calls BS on the whole idea of ‘relevance’. Man, I love it! Take a few minutes and treat yourself by reading it. We are also going to post it in our ‘Freebies’ section for your convenience.

This weekend, while driving, I tuned into National Public Radio. A show came on entitled “Speaking of Faith.” It is Public Radio’s attempt to address spirituality and religion. This was the first of their shows that I have listened to, and I can see that it might have some real possibilities to start conversation and debate. This particular episode dealt with the ‘Spirituality of Parenting’ and was an interview with a female Rabbi on how to raise your children with a sense of the ’spiritual.’ You can hear the whole interview here:

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/spiritualityofparenting/

About twelve minutes into the show they play a clip from a caller, in which the caller asks how to instill spirituality in her children while avoiding a “parent-forced religion.”

The guest Rabbi goes on to expound her theories concerning this and then offers some sample prayers from one of her books for children. I was totally shocked. Prayer as speaking to God was non-existent. These were poems or free verse not directed really to the deity. My question is, how is it even really prayer if you are not addressing deity? The emphasis was on instilling a vague sense of fairness, niceness, and compassion (i.e. when a squirrel gets hit by a car), and avoiding any real content or doctrine (dogma in the Rabbi’s parlance) and allowing the naturally spiritual nature of children to be nurtured and encouraged.

Hmmm… maybe I should let the naturally hedonistic tendencies of my children dictate their learning experiences with sex and drugs. Their self assertiveness and self esteem should be bolstered on the playground by their natural inclination to bullying and going along with the crowd. We wouldn’t want to be guilty of “parent-forced” sobriety or chastity, inflicting our arbitrary values on our innocent young. Of course this is insanity, and I would never abuse my kids in such a manner. But apparently our culture thinks this is the way to do it with our children’s spiritual development.

Why would you want to impart any kind of spirituality to a child that you didn’t think was true? These people evidently reject dogma and doctrine as not true (or not true for them) or in the case of the caller to the show, true for her but maybe not true for her children, but then feel the need to impart a set of values that they have made up or arbitrarily elevated to importance. The whole thing seemed empty and pointless; an effort to instill in children character traits that our feminized culture deems appropriate. (Note: I am not saying that these traits are wrong or there is no place for them in our children’s development, just that these are not the primary stuff of the Christian faith.) Times are tough for theologically liberal Christians and Jews if the above example is indicative of their best efforts at handing down their faith to their children.

Thank God for the Scriptures and the catechisms. These allow us to impart to our children God’s answers to their questions from His Word. They give form and structure to our spirituality, teach us to pray, and impart content that we have not just made up. These answers are time tested, and connect us to those who have believed and gone before us. They illumine God’s grace and action toward you in Christ. They impart to us God’s wisdom and truth.

If you listen to the podcast, or at least part of it, you will be struck by the huge contrast between the Christian/Lutheran way of catechesis and the generic spirituality of modern liberal religion. I think it is pretty informative and is worth five or ten minutes of your time.

(Resurrection Day, 2008)

I have been accused in recent months of being a “radical.” I guess I must confess that I stand guilty as charged. I am a Christian, and thus by nature I stand on this earth as a radical. As a Christian I believe, teach and confess a faith that is in stark contrast from everything else under the sun. This faith I proclaim is not a faith that allows for fence sitting or lukewarm commitment.

I have been given faith from the One who says, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25) In an age of fence sitters, flip-floppers and tolerance of every ideology, the Author of my faith says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30) Indeed, I guess being a Christian in this world of lies makes me a radical.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) As Christians we proclaim the Good News about Jesus Christ, and Him crucified for the forgiveness of every sin of all mankind. When the world was separated from God because of its rebellion against Him, at just the right time, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. All of us. Every last one of us.

So deep was His love for us that He was willing to beaten and crucified to death to save us from the fires of Hell. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). Indeed, a Father sentencing His only begotten Son to death to save world of rebels who hate Him should be considered a radical message.

We do not make Christianity a radical faith. Jesus Christ Himself did that. You see, Jesus makes claims that do not allow you to be a fence sitter, or to simply “believe what you feel.” Jesus makes claims that you must come to terms with. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6) Did you catch that? No one can get to Heaven apart from Jesus. He is the only door by which mankind can enter in. This is a claim of exclusivity. That means that eternal life depends on Jesus Christ alone. This means that it cannot be “Jesus and…” anything. Not “Jesus and me”, not “Jesus and Mary”, not “Jesus and Mohammad”, not “Jesus and Buddha”, not “Jesus and Oprah”, not “Jesus and Osteen”, not “Jesus and Pastor Killian”, but simply Jesus Christ alone. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

I guess I am a radical. Being a Christian by necessity means that you must confess one thing to be true (Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins), and the rest of things not to be. Do not be afraid, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to count yourself a radical too. Let the scoffers scoff and the mockers mock. Let them brand us as extremists.

In Jesus Christ alone, there is truth that brings eternal life. We belong to Christ. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25) Christ the Lord is risen today! Death is dead, and life lives! Live in repentance, and live today and every day in the shocking and radical grace of God who loves you.

Under His Mercy

We here at NRP hope you have a wonderful Resurrection Day, filled with the grace-filled preaching of the Gospel of Christ for your salvation. After taking your sins to death on the cross in order that you might be freed from the shackles of sin, your debt paid forever, our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, just as was foretold, defeating sin, death and the devil for all eternity.

Our Father loves us, his flock, so dearly that He gave His only begotten Son that we might have eternal live with Him. What a wondrous and glorious gift.

In His gift of faith, we are clothed in Christ’s perfection, all His perfect works imputed to us, credited as righteousness. It is finished. The battle is won, fought by the great Healer and King in our stead, stepping in and fighting the fight which we could not.

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day:
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of Glory passes on His way.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Excerpt from “For All The Saints”, LSB #677;
You’ll hear me quote this, my favorite hymn, fairly often

Like many others, I was a bit shocked to hear the abrupt cancellation of the wonderful Issues, Etc. radio program and termination of Pastor Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), which owns the KFUO radio station. But, I do have to say that this news is not completely surprising. Honestly, this sort of thing has been brewing for a long time.

Many have been trying to guess as to what is behind this seemingly sudden move, and I won’t try to join that crowd here, but I would like to focus on a couple things. Please keep both Pastor Wilken and Mr. Schwarz, as well as Jeff’s wife who is pretty sick right now, in your prayers. This is of the utmost importance.

Secondly, especially during this Holy Week, please remember what we Christians celebrate and recognize was done for the sins of the world in Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is easy at times like this to get lost in the wickedness in this kingdom and forget that our Father can create wonderful and great things from such tragedies as this. I already have suspicions about some truly great possibilities in the future that could dwarf what came before. I would recommend that we all hold tight in this respect, be as patient as we can, and see what comes of this.

This isn’t to say that anger and indignation isn’t appropriate. Sometimes lines are crossed that simply demand a visceral reaction. If anyone understands the need to sometimes be loud and angry, it is I.

But I would ask that, as you pray for our dear friends from the former Issues, Etc. radio program, please remember that this is not hopeless. We celebrate the most hopeful event this week that any sinner could wish for.

Our Lord became man and took the sins of the world to Himself and took them to death that we would have eternal life with Him. All thanks be to God!

Under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness.

I was talking with a friend the other day and we were discussing lent in general and Holy Week in particular. Personally, I love the Church year, especially Advent and Lent. Of course my favorite days are the Twelve days of Christmas and Easter, but I digress. Joe and I were pondering the emotional roller coaster ride that the disciples must have gone through the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and how that compares with the “solemnity” and “repentance ” that we often feel obligated to drum up during lent and Holy Week. In reality there is no comparison. Foregoing meat or sweets or whatever else we deny ourselves for lent just never made sense to me. It seems unrelated to the subject at hand.

Imagine that you are one of the disciples. You have cashed in whatever life you once had and thrown your lot in with Jesus. You spent the last three years with Him, wandering around the country side, listening, watching and learning. Every once in awhile He says some things about dying and rising that you really don’t understand, but other than that you think you have a pretty good grip on His program, and those ‘hard sayings’ are just metaphors you haven’t figured out yet.

His hour has finally come and you are jubilantly riding on His coat tails as He is welcomed as the King of Israel in Jerusalem. All the sacrifice is about to pay off and you will be an important officer in His kingdom. Your wildest hopes and dreams are coming true right before your eyes. Your country will be restored to it’s former glory, and you are working with the Messiah-King, right in the center of things, helping Him to restore God’s rule over the land. It doesn’t get any better than this. You are in the right place at the right time.

Then things literally start to go to hell. Betrayed by an insider, Jesus’ inner circle prayer meeting is raided by the religious police. You are woken from a comfortable sleep. A brawl and a knife fight ensue. Someone is stabbed. You all flee from the authorities. Jesus is taken prisoner. In moments the whole plan comes unraveled. Your life as you had come to know it is over. You went from being an important official of the new kingdom to a wanted fugitive in just a few minutes. The next morning a kangaroo court is hastily convened, and by that afternoon Jesus is dead, and you and your friends are in hiding. Although sudden, Good Friday must have unfolded like a slow motion train wreck, going from bad to worse. Everything you had worked for is gone. Everything Jesus had promised you is gone. You cannot return to your old life, its gone too. You have nothing left.

Two days later Jesus appears to you and your friends, having risen from the dead. Your hopes and dreams are thrust back upon you in such a shocking fashion (albeit greatly changed) that you really don’t begin to grasp its true significance until Pentecost.

This is what they would call back home a “whipsaw,” to be suddenly and violently wrenched from one position to another and back again. How do you even begin to get your mind around it? The amazing euphoria, the rage and grief, the jarring return of hope. How does someone handle something like this?

The apostle John seems to have handled it. He followed Jesus at a distance during His trial, even attending the crucifixion and comforting Jesus’ mother.

Peter, on the other hand, doesn’t do so well. He starts a brawl, cuts off a guy’s ear, then runs away. He too follows at a distance, but denies Jesus by telling the lie/truth that he “knows not the man.” The statement is a lie because Peter is clearly a disciple and has talked to Jesus almost every day. It is also true because after three years Peter really had no idea what Jesus had been saying all this time or how He was bringing His plan to pass. This is Peter’s confession of his failure to understand Christ and to hear Jesus’ words in faith.

As for the other disciples, the Scriptures are largely silent, but it can be assumed that they went off and hid.

Even after all this time, the recounting of these events leaves us with many questions, and a couple of answers, and that is why I think that there is value in revisiting the events of Holy Week each year. What happens to our hopes and dreams, and even our lives, when all we have left is a dead Jesus? As believers, how do we deal with the Peter, John, and missing disciples that dwell simultaneously in each one of us? How well do any of us really understand Jesus? I think this is the repentance that lent and Good Friday call us to.

God has answered all this by reconciling all things to Himself in the death of His Son, and raising Him to life so that we may obtain the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. In light of this I am convinced that no matter what happens to me in this life, in the end it will be okay, and Jesus will make it so. The resurrection is the guarantee that “whoever trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”

It is my hope that our readers will avail themselves of the many worship opportunities available this Holy Week, culminating in the Feast of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, and ponder the lessons of lent and Easter throughout the coming year.

God’s Peace