Christianity

Unity Through the Blessed Virgin Mary

By Graham Glover –

Authority? Nope.

Justification? Not yet.

Ecclesiology? Yeah, right.

Sanctification. Not even close.

After 500 years of fierce division, those Christians separated from the Bishop of Rome remain ever committed to their unique reformations and peculiar revolutions. The issues that separate the many Christian communions are vast, with little hope of unity in sight. While I think the most divisive issue is that of authority, that is, a disagreement about who or what decides what is orthodox Christian doctrine, the fact remains that there are multiple issues on which Roman Catholics and non-Roman Catholics are unable to find common ground.

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The Dragon’s Treasure

By Scott Keith –

I have a dog named Kai, who is a Siberian Husky. At one time, she was a legit sled dog. She, along with her three sisters, would pull me on a small, one-person sled around a 3.5-mile loop in a little place called Hope Valley, California, which is near Lake Tahoe. Kai was what is referred to as the lead dog, which is the dog who is in charge of all the other dogs and the one who listens to the directions of the musher (me). These days, she is a bit older and a lot slower. She still likes to pull, but now her pulling is on a collar, not a harness as we take our daily one-mile walk around the neighborhood.

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It’s not Fair

By Caleb Keith –

I cannot count the number of times I have heard the words “It’s not fair.” The phrase has left my mouth on more than one occasion, especially when I was a child. To this day, my brother and I argue about fairness when it comes to cleaning the dishes or picking up the living room. Our culture is also obsessed with fairness. The social justice movement is a shining example. Its apparent focus is not to protect the rights of individuals but instead to balance the scales. This is seen in phrases like “check your privilege,” which tries to make people see how much of an unfair advantage old white men have over minorities and women. Fairness also came into play after the recent presidential election when the popular vote differed from the electoral college. While some degree of fairness is necessary for good order, it often becomes abused by whiners and gloaters.

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Evangelism First, Apologetics Second

By Scott Keith –

I’ve been lucky enough to have been trained under two of the greatest living Lutheran apologists, Dr. Rod Rosenbladt and Dr. John Warwick Montgomery. I’ve even had some tutoring from others along the way. Shaun C. Henson of Oxford University has done some interesting work with the idea of the universality of religious experience, which he shared with me while I was there. I have, in my own time as an apologist, made use of all of the tricks that these fine men have placed in my bag throughout the years.

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Putting Christmas on the Bench

By Bob Hiller –

Last week, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Memphis Grizzlies played back-to-back games. On Tuesday, Cleveland lit Memphis up 103-86 in Cleveland. The next night, in Memphis, the Grizzlies got back at the Cavs winning 93-85. Now, one might think that a simple change of venue wouldn’t matter that much. If the same teams play back-to-back nights, you might expect the same results. Well, herein lies the rub. The exact same teams didn’t play back-to-back nights. In fact, Cleveland’s three best players, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love, didn’t travel with the team. They stayed home. For whatever reason, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue wanted to rest his best for the trip.

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The Haymaker’s Top Five Humbug Hymns

By Bob Hiller –

Here’s a little piece I wrote a few years back hoping to start some fun Christmas conversation. I hope you enjoy it! I know my mom wasn’t a huge fan…

This is the most wonderful time of the year for my ears. I am becoming quite a Christmas-music snob in my age. I liked Christmas music before it was cool (Can a hipster listen to Christmas music?). This is especially true when it comes to Christmas hymns. Advent and Christmas hymns are some of the most beautiful, haunting, and theologically rigorous hymns we sing all year. But the opposite seems to be the case as well: this is the time of year when some of our weakest, most heterodox, and downright strange hymns get loads of undeserved attention. It is rather frustrating that these hymns tend to be quite popular! But as with that abysmal “Do They Know Its Christmas?” by Band Aid (ugh…), no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get away from these hymns. Like the Grinch, I want to descend into WhoVille, bag these songs up, and remove them from the musical catalogue.  But you will very likely sing them in your church this season, despite their dangerous teachings. After all, orthodoxy is no match for nostalgia. 

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Cargo Cult

By Scott Keith –

*This blog is by a previous employee and friend, Matt Lawler. He has contributed to The Jagged Word in the past, and the other day he surprised me with a couple of submissions. I love to give aspiring writers a shot at a wider audience, so I’ll be running Matt’s piece in place of mine today. Enjoy Matt’s article.

I tend to spend a decent chunk of my time on the web, getting lost on Wikipedia and reading the most random things imaginable. In the midst of one of these binges, I learned an interesting factoid. During World War II, the United States set up various military bases on islands in the South Pacific to more effectively combat the threat of Imperial Japan. After the war, some anthropologists studying the natives of these islands found something incredible. The islanders, never having been exposed to such incredible technology, had developed an entire religion centered around what they had seen. This religion was labeled by the anthropologists as a “cargo cult.” It consisted of idols in the form of replica airplanes, watchtowers, guns, and crates made out of twigs and leaves by the islanders. They believed that these objects were gifts from the gods, or gods themselves, and worshiped them as such. As a matter of fact, several of these cargo cults persist to this very day.

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Rugby Catechesis

By Bob Hiller –

This past week, we entered a new phase of 21st century family life in the Hiller household: organized youth sports. My middle boy joined the local under-8 rugby squad. I know there are all kinds of problems with youth organized sports. I have to tell you, taking my son to rugby was pure joy. I loved watching him run around while getting barked at by the coach. I loved the look of satisfaction on his face when he figured out how to succeed at his drills. I loved how much fun he had with his friends. I loved him asking when he could do it again. “Thursday night, buddy.” “Yes!” he beamed. At least for now, youth rugby is fun.

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The Least of These

By Ross Engel –

“You know Pastor, not every pastor would do what you did today. Thank you.”

I had just spent the day driving through the inner-city with two older ladies. My role was to make sure we didn’t get lost or accosted while we were in the rough part of town. Our mission for the day was to complete all the necessary steps to get one of the ladies on a path that would get her back on her feet for good. We accomplished our tasks and even managed to have a few laughs in the process! It was an enjoyable time, despite the circumstances.

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Rejecting the Intellect

By Caleb Keith –

The Christian faith is blessed with the ability to be informed and educated. The Lutheran Reformation highlighted and used this gift to its full advantage. Theologians were trained in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, History, Rhetoric, and Logic to better understand the Scriptures and clearly read what God revealed to the authors of the New and Old Testaments. Informed preachers and teachers were then called to proclaim the Gospel message to common people and train them not only to believe but to understand their faith.

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After the Election: A Pastor’s Concern

By Bob Hiller –

Like you all, I’ve been sort of reeling in the wake of Tuesday’s election results. If I am being completely honest with you (and why would I have reason to be anything else), I truly don’t know how to feel about the president-elect. But like many of you, my blood pressure has risen and fallen at remarkable rates as I’ve scrolled through my social media feeds. I have a lot of personal and political concerns about our country and would have had them regardless of who got elected. In today’s blog, I don’t think I can contribute much to the conversation by way of political analysis or social criticism. Anything that I have to say on that front has likely been said already by people far more capable and intelligent than myself. However, as I read through my feed and reflect on my own personal actions and attitudes this past week, I do have a pastoral concern that is weighing on me.

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The Hell House

By Ross Engel –

All Hallows Eve is only a few days away. Costumed trick-or-treaters and late night revilers will soon be upon us! Be prepared! I have many fond memories of my childhood, dressing up to go trick-or-treating on Halloween and getting lots of free candy! I grew up in the 80s and back then my parents had a standing rule that we couldn’t eat any candy until we got home and they inspected it all. They meticulously checked our candy-filled plastic pumpkins for things that might be dangerous. Over the years, some really sick people have tried to hurt children by poisoning candy and there have even been instances of razors or nails imbedded in Halloween loot. We had great neighbors growing up though, and never had anything like that in our Halloween haul.

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The Holy Spirit Has Hands

By Cindy Koch –

She spoke in a hushed voice so the other ladies at the table couldn’t quite hear. “Well, he really hates going to church on Sundays. He just wants to sleep in. I guess that’s just the way it goes.” She fake smiled and gave a cute little shrug, but her eyes stared desperately at me for a solution. Three other gals at the table were engrossed in another conversation, so I asked her to continue. 

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Dear Church, Remain Calm. Jesus is in the Boat.

By Joel A. Hess –

Buckle up—here we go. Into the dark ages, fast or slow. Agreed upon sources of authority for right and wrong, truth, meaning, and purpose are disintegrating exponentially. When absolutes and meaning disappear, words become everything, yet nothing, like the Sophists suggested long ago, and as we are witnessing now. Unfortunately, the power of rhetoric only goes so far without a correlating reality. Soon we will see what happens when neither reason nor words are allowed to persuade a people. Instead, might will make right. Mark my words. This is how it always goes!

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Get Your Head in the Game

By Bob Hiller –

As I sit down to write this here Jagged blog on this lovely Tuesday evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers have just shut out the Chicago Cubs for the second straight game, taking a two-games-to-one lead in the National League Division Series. Post-season baseball is about as good as it gets for America’s pastime. Thus far, this series has been no exception. Even though the 6-0 Dodger shutout in Game Three may not have been a nail biter. It makes for great intrigue going into the rest of the series. The Cubs have been the best team all season long, but can they come back to take the series be one step closer to ending their 108-year championship drought? Or will the Curse of the Billy Goat live on?

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Stockholm Syndrome Your Neighbor

By Jaime Nava –

Some forty years ago, a bank in Sweden was the scene of a hostage situation. Four bankers were held for six days and covered in explosives by a couple of longtime criminals. After the captors were themselves captured by police, the four victims did something unusual. They defended the two men who held them against their will. Some say one victim was engaged to one of the criminals while another started a fund to boost their defense in court. They all had kind things to say about the two criminals in interviews that followed. Although it had been happening long before that year (see abusive relationships), the term “Stockholm Syndrome” was coined.

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