Absolution

God, I have something for you

By Cindy Koch –

It’s not much, but I thought you should have it. My life should give glory only to you. And so I give my all to you. Every minute, every thought, your action will always be on my mind. Every morning I will give my time to you. In this crazy mixed up world, you should at least have the first few minutes of every day. My heart is yours, from the morning through the night. No other person or thing will stand in your way. God, you created everything, and I know this should all be yours, so I want to give it all to you.

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Ricky Bobby Christianity

By Joel A. Hess –

Like many simple-minded fools, I love the movie Talladega Nights: the ballad of Ricky Bobby. Next to the scene when he first speaks publicly and doesn’t know what to do with his hands, I love the baby Jesus prayer he gives early in the movie. He begins the prayer, “Dear sweet baby Jesus” and continues with “tiny infant Jesus” and “use your infant powers.” His family is annoyed by his obsession with baby Jesus and tells him that Jesus is a grown man. Ricky Bobby says, “I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m saying grace. When you say prayers, you can say what you want…” Of course, his buddy Cal says, “I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt.” One of the kids adds, “I like to think of Jesus as a ninja.”

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Fearless Joy!

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?

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Enthusiasm and the Holy Ministry

By Paul Koch –

“In short: enthusiasm clings to Adam and his children from the beginning to the end of the world – fed and spread among them as poison by the old dragon. It is the source, power, and might of all the heresies, even that of the papacy and Mohammed. Therefore, we should and must insist that God does not want to deal with us human beings, except by means of his external Word and sacrament. Everything that boast of being from the Spirit apart from such a Word and sacrament is of the devil.” (Martin Luther, Smalcald Articles, III, 8)

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Hope you fail this Lent

By Joel A. Hess –

Well, here it comes again. Lent. I used to say that this was my favorite time of year. It should be for a pastor, right? It’s time to get serious about the faith. Get back to basics. Restore the Roar. Those are just a some of our eye-popping, life-changing Lenten themes you have probably seen at various churches as if the perfect theme name will get people excited about coming to church. And of course, there are the Rs: Repent, renew, reflect, rediscover, rejuvenate, rehearse, rehash, regurgitate, blah blah blah.

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Proof Text Mafia

By Cindy Koch –

They shouldn’t scare me, but I find myself hiding from them. Smugly sauntering into any situation, armed with a knowing glare. They hold up their heads high, bold and unashamed. Stepping over the weak and lowly, they collect respect and fear from the quiet stares that follow their path. They flash their weapons, not made of iron or steel, but daggers made of Words. Powerful words once on the lips of the Almighty, forged into bullets and knives. Stinging words of Truth carefully selected to wound and murder.

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Jesus Doesn’t Play Hide and Go Seek

By Joel A. Hess –

Jesus wants to be found by those who look for Him. But to look for Him we have to get up and go out. @pontifex

The leader of a good portion of Christendom tweeted the above tweet just a couple of days ago. Yes, I follow him because his twitter tag is so cool, “pontifex!” Sounds like a Pagan priest. Oh, wait, what? Sadly, there seem to be many high church Lutherans who balk at being associated with or looking like evangelicals, yet have no problem being confused with this guy’s minions. Why is wearing a collar and being confused for a priest more acceptable to some than wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt and being confused with an evangelical? Seriously, many high church Lutherans and fine friends of mine have told me they feel closer to Rome than Wheaton. Yes, they are still my friends because we are men enough to be able handle jabs at one another.

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Idle Work

By Paul Koch –

We have all heard at some time in our life, usually on the lips of a well-meaning grandmother, that famous saying, “Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” This is a great saying and there is truth found in it. In fact, if you think about it, this saying focuses us on a central problem of mankind. The thing is, our hands don’t stay idle. To be idle is to be unproductive, to do nothing, but we are busy creatures always working in some way. So, this a cautionary saying that if our hands are not being employed toward something good, something faithful, or something beautiful then they will be employed towards something wicked – for they will not stay idle.

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Baptized Bride

By Cindy Koch –

Look in the mirror, my daughter. What do you see? Can you see the beautiful girl that God created you to be? Do you see the white robe of righteousness that Christ put on you? Do you see a perfect and blameless life that lives inside of your heart? Probably not. You might see a familiar face that you remember looking back at you on both happy days and sad days. But she looks pretty normal. Maybe she doesn’t even look all that special. How could this girl in the mirror be the amazing bride that Christ loves?

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Born Haters

By Joel A. Hess –

Recently, our former president, with good intentions I’m sure, tweeted a Nelson Mandela quote, “No one is born hating another person because of his race, background, or religion….” It has quickly become one of the most liked tweets of all time. At first glance, it’s easy to like and retweet. Just look at a cute baby! They don’t know anything about race or hate. Just ask them! 

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Congratulations, You Are Being Rescued… Please Do Not Resist

By Scott Keith –

Do you ever notice that Christians tend to treat their salvation like a participatory event? We act as if we had some hand in and that without our help, God will never be able to see it through to completion. We strut about as though we not only have something to be proud of but as if we deserve some heavenly credit. We wait, I think, for God to say thank you to us someday for all our hard work pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. In fact, we all seem rather disappointed that God has not reached down from heaven and patted us on the back already.

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Hanging by a Thread

By Bryan Salminen –

The cross confronts us with the fragility of Jesus. He’s no superman who leaps down and says, “only joking.” He suffers to the end. We wonder how this awful spectacle can possible be necessary for our salvation. We’re supposed to wonder that. We wonder whether this tiny, broken, wasted body can possibly be the body of God. We’re supposed to wonder that. We wonder how any joy, any hope, any glory can possibly emerge for this hideous catastrophe.

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Saint and Sinner

By Paul Koch –

Today in church we had the joy and the privilege to read together one of my all-time favorite sections of Holy Scripture. St. Paul’s words in chapter 7 of his letter to the church in Rome is a delightful gift. Now, it can sound a bit confusing as he says things like, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” It sounds as if Paul is having some sort of mental crisis. In fact, perhaps that is exactly what is happening. The thing that makes this text so wonderful is how brutally honest it is about the human condition. About the struggle of the Christian life. About why I can desire to do good over and over again, and yet fail to accomplish it.

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Racism in Our Ears

By Bob Hiller –

A couple of years ago, when I first started writing for this blog, my brother told me I needed to deal with some of the pressing social issues in our culture. He said that since I write a good deal about sports, I should talk about race in sports. I have been incredibly hesitant to do this for many reasons. First, I am a rather privileged white dude. My views on race are not going to be particularly well informed. Second, I try to keep my blogs to issues of preaching + ham-fisted sports analogies, though I have blogged about social issues before. Third, I have an aversion to the social gospel, which I don’t believe should be confused with biblical Gospel. Fourth, and perhaps this is the most shameful reason, I am afraid of causing offense where offense need not be given (the key word there is “afraid,” read “cowardice”). To be fully honest, I don’t know the utter depths of the issues. I cannot argue for or against politically conservative or liberal views with any sort of competency. I am ashamed to say that I live in a rather white world where issues of race are not on my doorstep every day apart from what I hear in the news or see on social media.

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Work, Work, Work

By Scott Keith –

Early Days at Wittenberg

Contrary to popular opinion, Melanchthon never served as a parish pastor. Unlike Luther, he was not known as a preacher. But as John Schofield points out in his work Philip Melanchthon and the English Reformation, his 1519 Bachelor of Divinity degree earned at Wittenberg and his appointment to the faculty at the University of Wittenberg made him the first ordained professor of Greek in Germany.

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Be Ashamed When You Sin, Not When You Repent

By Joel A. Hess –

“Be ashamed when you sin, not when you repent.” – John Chrysostom

This little quote from Golden Mouth struck me this past week. Our social media society has compelled most people to configure false images of themselves on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Like a recent episode of the British TV show Black Mirror, people put stuff out there to get likes, pure and simple. Ha, it’s kind of like this blog post. Therefore, at first glance, it may appear that all our friends are living extraordinary lives of constant adventure, romance, perfect marriages, and happy families. Black Mirror really shoves this in your face.

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Coloring Book Jesus vs. the Dark Night of the Soul

By Bob Hiller –

A few weeks back, my son brought me a picture he had colored out of a Bible story coloring book. It was Jesus carrying the cross. My boy had done a fine job of coloring Jesus’ Hulk-like legs yellow, the Lord’s mighty six pack orange, His everlasting arms purple, and the old rugged cross green. Though He was all muscle and rainbow, this burden was not easy for coloring book Jesus. After all, His face did seem a bit uncomfortable having to bear that Kelly green crucifix. Don’t misunderstand me, I was impressed with how well the boy is coloring within the lines, and the color scheme wasn’t all bad. But I have to be honest, I am just a tiny bit uncomfortable with a coloring book page of the our Lord bearing the cross. Maybe I’m being picky, but coloring Jesus on His way to Calvary does seem to take away from the gravity of the Passion.

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