By Bob Hiller –
Something rather significant happened in the NCAA championship this past Monday night. No, it’s not that I filled out the winning bracket in my pool. That dream died on the second afternoon of the tournament. No, the significance lies in how Villanova won. This is their second championship in the last three years. It wasn’t so much how they won on the court—basically manhandling Michigan for a 79–62 victory—but how the program is run off that makes this victory significant.
By Bob Hiller
Whatever happened to old Barabbas? You remember Barabbas from the Passion narrative, don’t you? He’s the robber (John 8:40), the notorious insurrectionist and murderer (Matt. 27:16; Mark. 15:7; Luke 23:18-19) who is bound for the cross the same week Jesus was on trial. When Pilate took up the custom of releasing a prisoner to the Jews and “tried” to let Jesus go (his wife was nervous and all), the angry leaders among the Jews demanded the criminal Barabbas be set free and Jesus crucified. Pilate knew Jesus had done nothing deserving death. He knew Barabbas should be the one to die. But he was too much of a coward to do the right thing. So, Pilate let the criminal go and put Jesus on Barabbas’ cross. Jesus didn’t just die a criminal’s death in some general sense. He died on Barabbas’ cross.
By Bob Hiller –
Mark Twain once said “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”
This Lent my congregation has been working through the book of James. I’m convinced there is no better season in the church calendar for this book. After all, Lent is for repenting over sin and the Law in James produces that sort of thing in droves! James is not one to hold back in attacking anything that has even a hint of sin in it. He is the example of how to preach the Law. This is not to say there isn’t a ton of gospel in this epistle (there is!). But when James goes after sin, he shoots to kill.
By Bob Hiller –
This past Sunday, the power went out in our church while I was preaching. Perhaps it was an act of God trying to save His dear flock from my sermon or the devil trying to silence the Word. Or most likely, it was a problem with the power lines. Regardless, our congregation was left in the dark. We have screens in our sanctuary to guide the service, but they were gone. It was not easy to read the bulletins for the few who actually had them. Further, our recently purchased hymnals have not yet been stocked in the pews, so we couldn’t reference them. We had no music to sing with as both the organ and piano flows through the sound system. What were we to do? Just quit and go home? After all, it is tough to carry on in the dark.
By Bob Hiller –
This past week, Time Magazine ran a number of articles and vignettes on what one might do to live a longer life. And this was great news! After all, death is the worst! We’re all trying to avoid it, or at least put it off as long as possible. So, thankfully, Time Magazine has the secrets you need to live longer, happier!
By Bob Hiller –
We all know the old sports truism: It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you play the game. I tell my boys that I don’t care if they win so long as they play hard and fair. The truth is, we all play to win, and we all want to win. But in every game, there must be a loser. So, though the goal is to win, the aim in each game is to play hard so that one can lose with dignity.
By Bob Hiller –
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
There are few verses in Scripture that captivate me as much as these words from Paul to the Galatians. These words excite, enthrall, challenge, and, quite frankly, frighten me. What would a life of freedom in the Gospel look like? Try as I may to describe it, I find it difficult to answer this question without imposing the yoke of slavery upon myself or others. Can I actually live in such freedom? Do I trust others to not abuse that freedom? Shouldn’t I return to the enslaving power of the Law to keep them in line just in case they try to abuse it?
By Bob Hiller –
I don’t know about you, but I am still buzzing off of that Super Bowl last Sunday, and I’m not even an Eagles fan! Far from it. I guess you can put me in the “Anyone but the Patriots” camp. So, watching the Eagles do the Pats like the Pats have done everyone else in the league for years was quite satisfying indeed. Bu, setting my disdain for the Patriots aside for a (very brief) moment, regardless of who won, that was a great game. It was intense to the finish. Especially because of the Patriots history in such situations. You can never count them out.
By Bob Hiller –
I don’t know about you other preachers out there, but I find myself stressing out more than usual this time of year. I’m not just talking about the shopping and wrapping and the extra work we have. I’m talking about the stress the comes from preparing the Christmas Eve sermon. We all know that Christmas Eve is not just one of the “high holy days” on the liturgical calendar. It is also one of those rare days when it is culturally acceptable, perhaps even expected, for folks to be in church. This Sunday, will see a larger number of church attendees than almost any other day of the year. This Sunday will present a wonderful opportunity for us as the church to give true hope and mercy to folks who don’t typically hear it. We have a chance to play the angels and sing Jesus into the ears of those lost in this world. I mean, it’s the most wonderful time of the year!
By Bob Hiller –
We have entered the Christmas season full bore in the Hiller household. Lights are up on the house. The tree is decorated. Stockings are hung by the chimney with care. And apart from the 82 degree weather outside, we are primed for the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby danced with Danny…well, you get the idea. My kids love this time of year. Like many of you, one of their favorite parts of the season is the Christmas movies. Lately, they have become addicted to Home Alone. It’s getting to the point where my middle son says, “I don’t want you guys to leave me alone for Christmas—but if you do, I hope someone tries to rob me so I can do all that stuff to them!” Thieves, you’ve been warned.
By Bob Hiller –
If there is anything we know about rhetoric on social media, it is that it is well-reasoned, thoughtful, and constructive. I’ve found Twitter, for example, to be a safe space for people to share views and exchange ideas. Slow to judge and quick to build the best possible construction, even of one’s opponents, that’s the name of the game. Social media has done nothing if it hasn’t elevated the level of discourse in our society.
By Bob Hiller –
What is the image that comes to mind when you think of judgment? Think of our justice system where we say that justice is blind. The idea here is that you have lady justice holding up the scale. She weighs everything to see if she needs to execute with the sword. She is blind to persons or excuses. She simply weighs the evidence on the scale, feels the weight of the law, and executes justice properly.
By Bob Hiller –
Another World Series has come and gone. And it was a great one! Game five was about as good as it gets. Never had there been a score of 13-12 in a Series game. The rest of the series was pretty entertaining too. It was truly a joy to watch. But I’m going to be honest. I’m kind of burnt out on the superlatives. A number of commentators were touting this as the greatest series ever and so forth. Have we already forgotten last year between the Cubs and the Indians? This was a fun series, but it’s going to take a few more years before we can talk about its place in the history of the game.
By Bob Hiller –
I’m not really sure if there is such a thing as a “memorable tweet” or Facebook post. But, there is one I think about a lot from a number of years back. I was really getting into singer/song writer Josh Ritter. In particular, his song, “Girl in the War,” (which you should go listen to so the blog makes sense) haunted me. Lines like “Now talking to God is Laurel beggin’ Hardy for a gun” and “The keys to the kingdom got locked inside the kingdom” were difficult conversation partners for my theology. So, I struggled with this one. Then, one day, our own Tim Winterstein posted the song on Facebook, saying something the effect: “I think this song is about the church.” And he nailed it. I think about that post every time I listen to that song.
By Bob Hiller –
Last Sunday was amazing! My congregation in beautiful Escondido, CA hosted our circuit’s Reformation service, and it was epic! (A “circuit,” for those of you outside of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, is a group of congregations close in proximity to each other). A massive, multi-congregational choir, an orchestra, a guest preacher from Concordia University (who totally delivered the “goods” of Christ for us), the Sacrament, and, afterwards, an outstanding Octoberfest celebration all worked together for the good of the church! If this incredible service and celebration wasn’t enough, I came home that night to listen to one of the greatest World Series games in recent memory (though, last year’s Game 7 is hard to top). Game 5 of the Astros/Dodgers series was an epic, extra-inning, home-run heavy 13-12 victory for the Astros. I’ve never experienced a game that incredible on a stage that big. Sunday was amazing!
By Bob Hiller –
So, are you tired of Martin Luther yet? As you well know by now, next Tuesday marks the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his “95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” to the church door in Wittenberg. And though I’m sure by now you’ve read plenty about how those theses weren’t truly “Lutheran” as such (they are still pretty catholic in their theology), that event seems as good a time as any to mark the beginning of the Reformation. Now, 500 years after that incident, here we stand, rejoicing in and celebrating Luther’s “recovery” of the Gospel for the sake of the Church. Happy Halloween!
By Bob Hiller –
Don’t you hate those sappy sermon illustrations in which the pastor stands up and uses some cutesy moment from the life of his children to describe some biblical principle? My kids hate them too. If that is you, you’ll forgive my blog this week, as I’m totally using my son’s t-ball career as an illustration for the Christian life.
By Bob Hiller –
The waiting is the hardest part.
Every day you see one more card.
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart.
The waiting is the hardest part.
Tom Petty died this week. After suffering from cardiac arrest on Sunday night, he was taken to the hospital, where he was put on life support. It was removed Monday morning, and though he was reported dead, Petty held on to life for a number of hours. He died later that night. He was 66. He was one of the great ones.
By Bob Hiller –
Remember that song by Garth Brooks where he sang, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers?” Yeah, unfortunately, so do I. It’s this sappy romantic song about how Garth and his wife went back to his hometown and ran across his boyhood crush, the one he had prayed and prayed for God to let him marry. After seeing her he looks at his wife and is just so thankful that God ignored his prayers for the crush so he could marry his wife. God didn’t answer Garth’s prayer. He had a better plan in mind.
By Bob Hiller –
There is nothing Lutheran pastors dig more than talking the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. Well, I’m sure there are some things they dig more (insert hilarious and unpredictable joke about Lutherans and beer here). I mean, just the phrase “proper distinction” gets me all giddy! So, like so many others, I’ve been looking forward to working through the new book for Concordia Publishing House, The Necessary Distinction: A Continuing Conversation on Law and Gospel. The book is a collection of essays written for conversations taking place between the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and the North American Lutheran Church. I’m not too far into the book yet, but thus far, I’ve greatly enjoyed what I’ve read!
