Christianity

Learning not to Love the Church

By Paul Koch –

The smorgasbord that is American Christianity is a plethora of material for running jokes and cultural commentary. Not only is there a conflict between people of the Christian faith and those outside the Church, but there is also an ongoing conflict within Christianity. The Baptists are pretty sure that the Catholics are going to hell, the Lutherans continually frustrate and confuse the Presbyterians (but let’s be honest that’s not hard to do), the Catholics think everyone else is just throwing a temper tantrum and will come home eventually, and on it goes.

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The Vampire Fallacy and Making Disciples

By Joel A Hess –

“We might call the first of these the ‘vampire fallacy.’ This fallacy seems impossible to kill; it goes dormant for a period, but re-emerges just about every decade. In its last manifestation, the vampire fallacy emerged as the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) in the 1990s. Concepts with catchy titles such as ‘Shock and Awe’ and ‘Rapid, Decisive Operations’ promised fast, cheap and efficient victories in future war. Those who argued that these ideas were inconsistent with the nature of war were dismissed as being wedded to old thinking. Technology would make the next war fundamentally different from all that had come before it, because information and communication technologies had shifted war from the realm of uncertainty to that of certainty.

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Awake, O Sleeper

By Paul Koch –

We have all heard the familiar proverb that says, “familiarity breeds contempt,” but quite often I find that it is not contempt that is bred, but familiarity breeds apathy. Familiarity breeds a lack of concern, a lack of being on guard, a lack of passion and engagement. People will often speak about their marriages in these terms. After years of getting to know one another, there is a routine and a comfortableness that sets in. There is a familiarity about their situation that can often feel lifeless and boring. And of course, the great fear of apathy is that it will breed complacency: settling for a new norm that you may not want, but it is the easy way forward. It’s not just our relationships that are in danger of the terrors of familiarity but our jobs, and our various vocations in life are all susceptible. Even our life as the children of God, as those who receive the gifts of our Lord so freely, even we can easily be enticed by the apathy of familiarity.

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Don’t Make Jesus Your Lord

By Bob Hiller –

*The following is from this past Wednesday’s Lenten sermon on the Second Article of the Creed.

A number of years ago, I was having breakfast with some pastor friends of mine. They were discussing a theological controversy that they were dealing with in their church. Now, they weren’t Lutheran, which was obvious because we have no controversies in our church. But they had been arguing over what we mean when we say that Jesus is “Lord.” It was called the “lordship salvation” controversy. Basically, they were contending that there are two categories of Christians: those who were saved but still lived in sin because they hadn’t fully dedicated themselves to Jesus and those who were sold out, who had made Jesus their Lord. They asked the question, “Jesus is the savior of your soul, but have you made Him the Lord of your life?”

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When Debate Replaces Highlights

By Bob Hiller –

One of the things I tend to geek out on is sports broadcasting. Like most sports fans my age, I grew up watching game highlights on Sportscenter. I became a fan, not just of the players on the highlight reel but also of the broadcasters who delivered the highlights. So, I was enthralled this week while listening to an interview Jim Miller, the author of Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN. Miller spoke with Dan Patrick about the current state of sports broadcasting and what has changed with stations like ESPN. Patrick pointed one of my pet peeves with ESPN and sports broadcasting in general. He suggested that “Debate has replaced the highlight.” Building on Patrick’s assertion, Miller said sports debate shows were growing in popularity because “Young male viewers loved seeing these guys [the sportscasters/debators] go at it…the most outlandish things, even if they weren’t supported by fact, you know, were provocative.”

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A Few Weeks Without My Phone

By Graham Glover –

For the last several weeks I’ve been living in the backwoods of the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. Training alongside my Soldiers, I was “disconnected” from the rest of the world during this time, with no access to my phone or personal laptop. That meant: no calls, texts, email, Facebook, or Twitter, no ESPN, Fox News, Huffington Post, or GatorSports.com. I had virtually no idea what news stories were breaking, which sports teams were winning, and perhaps most importantly, no ability to engage you, the readers of The Jagged Word!

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On Killing Your Brother

By Ross Engel –

One of the mortal sins of combat is known as Fratricide. It is the killing of one’s teammate; it is the killing of one’s brother. Perhaps you’ve heard it called “Friendly fire” or an instance of “blue on blue.” It is one of the most horrific parts of war, and as long as there has been combat, there have been accidental incidents of fratricide. The 1989 Tom Cruise movie, “Born on the 4th of July” depicts the confusion that takes place in the midst of battle, “the fog of war,” and the accidental killing of one’s own teammate. The psychological scars of this action would haunt Tom Cruise’s character, real life Vietnam War veteran, Ron Kovic, for the rest of his life.

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Jesus, the Mediator of a New Bureaucracy

By Joel A Hess –

From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to the Matthew 18 passage on church discipline that never goes out of circulation, Christians have wrongly used Jesus’ words to establish new bureaucracies. Ironically, our Lord used these same exact words to tear down the bureaucracy of the day. Some church bodies have even set up constitutions specifically based on what they believe is Jesus’ prescription for sin management. Others are more subtle. Instead of hearing “Christ, the mediator of a new covenant,” many in our pews hear, “A new bureaucracy I give unto you!”

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A Possessive Lord

By Paul Koch –

Sometimes in life we find ourselves looking around at the world in which we live, and we honestly wonder what has happened. It is difficult to recognize the world that we knew through younger eyes. Not that we’re overly innocent or blind to the slow creep of cultural changes but occasionally we find ourselves longing for a world, a country, and even a church that we no longer find around us. Recently we’ve watched the protests and marches on Washington as people fear for what might be happening to this country. We hear the slow roar of divisive rhetoric that deepens an ideological divide among the people. There are those who argue that walls and travel bans are un-American and will not be tolerated. Then there are those who are glad that our President doesn’t fit the usual political mold and will do the unpopular thing to protect the people. So, we watch the news and listen to talk radio and wonder what in the world is happening to our country.

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What Are We Fighting For?

By Paul Koch –

Sometimes I wonder what it is we are fighting for. When I go to a circuit gathering of fellow pastors and argue over doctrinal distinctions and their current importance, or engage in discussion about disagreements that have come from the continued writing and promotion of this blog, or I hear about what some dillhole put on their Facebook page about a friend of mine, I wonder what we fight for, what is the end game of all this, and is it really that crucial?

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My Daughter’s Song

By Cindy Koch –

The clouds hung low this last Sunday morning. Already shivering as I stepped outside, I called back to the hustling brood to grab their jackets before we piled in the car. Damp palm trees and lonely puddles hinted that it was about to rain, but only a gray mist colored our morning drive to church. The children and I traveled together in unusual silence, taking in the gloom. 

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Beautiful Church

By Paul Koch –

For me, the most beautiful creature that I have ever seen is my wife. From our days of surfing during our college years, to the moment I saw her walking down the aisle on our wedding day, to my return home just last Friday evening after being away for a week at a conference, I am continually stunned by her beauty. I understand why it is that Adam when he saw Eve for the first time would stand and sing, “This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh…”

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Up Before the Enemy

By Ross Engel –

It’s early. The sun won’t be up for another two and half hours. My alarm was set to go off at 4:45am, but it’s 4:26am, I’m already up, and my obnoxiously large cup of coffee is about to be consumed. In the words of Jocko Willink, it’s time to “Get After It.”

Jocko. I feel like I know the guy. Thanks to Twitter, his weekly podcast, and his book, it’s like I’ve got my own “cornerman” yelling instructions to me as I grapple along in life.

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The United States of Hysteria: We are a Nation of Toddlers

By Joel A. Hess –

While it’s been coming for some time, we have finally become a nation that reacts to everything with hysteria, much like a toddler. Instead of waiting for all the facts, carefully digesting them all, and considering for a moment that an event or person is not 100% evil, we like to jump out the window with inflamed accusations, speeches, and marches! 

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On Women’s Protests. What if…

By Cindy Koch –

There were quite a lot of protest rallies last Saturday and on inauguration day. The gals got together in Washington D.C. as well. In our modern culture, it seems that if we are disappointed with the way things are going, we’d better show up somewhere with a sign. Admittedly, I was a little slow on the uptake. Sitting here a few days later scrolling through all of the pictures of protest groups proudly gathering to send a profound message, it all made me very sad.

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