By Jonathan Holmes –
I don’t go on Facebook very often. If I do, it is usually to find jokes and other humorous tidbits, or the occasional theological writing that a friend has posted that might be worth reading. Besides, The Jagged Word, of course. However, not everybody trolls Facebook for the same reasons I do. What, you’re surprised?
By Tim Winterstein –
I knew this was going to happen. I knew that if a movie was hyped over and over, time and again, as being an incredible, profound meditation on faith and doubt, that it was unlikely to be anything of the sort. If someone has left or been scarred by Christianity, or an American Fundamentalist version of it; if someone is quick to say, “I’m spiritual, but not religious”; or if someone is fully convinced that what the Church should do is take up the apocalyptic cause du jour, then that person is the perfect candidate to be over-impressed with Paul Schrader’s First Reformed.
By Paul Koch –
Peddlers of bulls**t are nothing new. Our lives often seem to be saturated in their mess. We’re used to hearing bulls**t from our politicians and bureaucrats of almost any stripe. There’s bulls**t on the left and bulls**t on the right. There’s the difficult to decipher bulls**t that comes from mainline media outlets and the intentionally crafted and personally curated bulls**t we find in our preferred online news sources. I’ve been accused of peddling bulls**t myself. Hell, I’ve probably even been guilty of it more times than I would like to admit.
By Bob Hiller –
Someone is caught in the act of a grievous error. Everyone saw it. There is no denying it. They can’t justify it. So, what should be said about it? J. R. Smith might not be the best guy to learn from in this scenario. As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers (the team J. R. Smith is on…for now) was about to pull off a huge surprise in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. No one really expects them to win the series; few expect them to take even a game. But at the end of Game 1, they were primed to steal one from Golden State and change the entire conversation. Down by one point with five seconds left, George Hill was at the free-throw line for the Cavs. He hits the first to tie the game at 107. It looked like overtime when he missed the second shot, but for J. R. Smith! He snags the rebound, and all he has to do is put the ball back in the hoop. Game over. Cavs win! Smith is the hero!
By Tim Winterstein –
I can’t believe that I’ve been writing these for a year! Thanks to The Jagged Word for the opportunity to watch more movies and write down whatever I think about when I watch them. I don’t know if any of it is worth anything, but at the very least, I hope you’ve discovered some good movies.
By Bob Hiller –
We’ve all been there: You’re having a conversation about the faith with a person who is struggling to believe, or doesn’t at all. In the course of the conversation, they bring up an argument you don’t have an answer for. In fact, the point is way over your head, and you worry that pursuing the question will challenge your faith in uncomfortable ways. Maybe they are questioning how you know Jesus rose from the dead, or why you believe the New Testament is full of trustworthy documents. They’ve watched the latest Food Network special on the historical Jesus or checked out the latest Bart Ehrman thriller reconstructing the first four centuries of the church, and now they have questions. They aren’t afraid to put you on the spot: “How do you know? Why should I believe?” And all you can say is, “I just have faith that it is true. You just need to believe it! Take it on faith!”
By Tim Winterstein –
[SPOILERS]
There is only one story, told truthfully or distorted. Once reality has been shaded in a particular direction, there is no escaping it. One can deny it or affirm it, but one can’t pretend that it never happened. So whether one denies the Christian story or believes it, it is impossible to escape.
By Paul Koch –
Over the years I have read quite a bit about the influence of Scientific Management in our schools, corporations and military but I had never really thought much about its influence in the church. Scientific Management views efficiency as the highest good. So if you want a good and well-oiled society the best way to get it is to engineer it to be as efficient as possible. Schools need to track students and guide them to fill a specific role in society and so people are viewed as part of a machine, each providing a crucial piece and working with the highest efficiency. Such things don’t happen by chance; they need to be scientifically managed to reach the best outcome.
By Hillary Asbury –
Michelangelo Buonnarotti’s “Holy Family” is also referred to as the “Doni Tondo” in reference to its round shape (“tondo”) and the family that commissioned it (the Doni family).
It is perhaps one of my very favorite oil paintings in history. It resides at the Uffizzi in Florence, Italy, and the first time I saw it in person, I was enchanted, though I couldn’t say why at the time. I remember being pulled in by the rich colors and smooth brush strokes first, and then being carried away by the sweeping composition.
By Joel A. Hess –
This past Sunday, our church celebrated the confirmation of a bunch of our kids, my son included. Poor kids. What are we doing? Thirteen and fourteen year olds promising to be upstanding members, givers, and receivers in the Church, to hold to the teachings of the Church according to the Small Catechism, even to suffer death than to fall away from the faith.
By Joel A. Hess –
Remember those stereograms that were popular a couple decades ago? What better way to eat a bunch of time in the mall while you wait for your family to buy school clothes. At first glance, the picture looks like a bunch of gibberish—random dots and colors. But if you stare at a certain spot and relax your eyes, a three-dimensional image appears.
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 Tim Winterstein –
It’s Holy Week, so what else would I be doing but watching two films about Jesus’ last few days? Two long movies. Two movies that inspired controversy and discussion and debate. Two movies that present two different Jesuses. And frankly, I don’t care if movies want to use different devices to try to understand the most divisive, explained, written-about person in history, Jesus of Nazareth. I have trouble understanding people who protest religious movies (or any movies for that matter). The only thing such protesting serves to do is draw attention and publicity to movies that might otherwise (and sometimes rightly) fade away into the oblivion of thrift-store DVDs. It is exactly for these sorts of protests that the phrase “all publicity is good publicity” was coined. Roger Ebert’s 4-star(!) review barely even touches the film itself, acknowledging “that this entire review has been preoccupied with replying to the attacks of the film’s critics, with discussing the issues, rather than with reviewing “The Last Temptation of Christ” as a motion picture.” (That, for Ebert, is a confirmation of the film’s greatness.)
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.
By Paul Koch –
Back in 2006, our church body released a new hymnal for use in all congregations under the title Lutheran Service Book. As far as hymnbooks go, and within my limited experience, I think this is one a real gem. The resources bound into this one book are invaluable. As soon as it was in print, my congregation ordered enough to replace all our old hymnals. When the first box showed up, I eagerly opened it up and took one of the first copies for myself. The church’s hymnbook became my hymnbook.
By Jeff Pulse –
The Old Testament text for this Sunday, December 10, 2017, is from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The text is Isaiah 40:1-11, which constitutes the beginning of an entirely new section of the prophet’s writings. This section encompasses chapters 40-55 of Isaiah, a section most known for the Suffering Servant prophecies. Most scholars today would agree with the unity of Isaiah, and they would agree that this section speaks to the Babylonian exile. However, conservative Lutherans would also say that these chapters are also eschatological and point to the salvation which will be purchased by the “Suffering Servant” at His first coming and completed at His second Advent. As R. Lessing writes, “Within the book of Isaiah, chapters 40-55 present prophetic instruction concerning the realization of Yahweh’s worldwide plan of salvation. He has heard the cry of His people, and these chapters intend to get them ready for the new exodus so they can come home to Zion.”
By Jeff Pulse –
The Old Testament text for this Sunday, December 3, 2017, is from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The text is Isaiah 64:1-9. As we enter the Advent season, there may be no better Old Testament text to point to the longing and anticipation for the coming Messiah. This pericope is a portion of a longer section, often called “Isaiah’s Lament” (63:7-64:12). There is a change in the character of the lament that marks the beginning of our text. The first section (63:7-19a) focuses on complaint, but in 63:19b-64:12 the tone and language are that of petition. Historically, it is interesting to know that 64:1 (English) was a verse consistently used by the Jews during the Holocaust. “Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down” was lamented in the midst of the persecutions and atrocities. They understood that only the LORD could save them, and he had promised to do so by coming into the world. For Christians, we find this same sentiment and understanding in the pages of the Revelation of St. John (Rev. 22:20); “Come LORD Jesus!”
By Jeff Pulse –
The Old Testament text for this Sunday, November 26, 2017, comes from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. The text is Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, which is one of the best-known chapters from this book. Chapter 34 begins with a strong admonition against the evil and wicked “shepherds of Israel.” In these verses (1-10), the litany is of all the things these false shepherds do or do not do and how they bring harm to the sheep. This is a frequently used text for ordinations/installations of pastors as it details what NOT to do! Then the chapter moves immediately into our text beginning at vs. 11 as the LORD God declares that He Himself will shepherd His sheep.
By Graham Glover –
Wait, what? A reformation with non-Christians? Wasn’t the whole point of the Reformation to reform the Christian faith? How can we talk about a reformation with faiths that deny the most important belief of Christianity, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
By Jeff Pulse –
The Old Testament text for this Sunday, November 5, 2017, comes from the prophet Micah in the Book of the Twelve. The text is Micah 3:5-12, which is the end of the first significant “Law” portion of his short book. Micah ends this section with strong judgement against the “prophets” and the “rulers” of Israel. It is important to remember that Micah is a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah as we see many of the same themes and similar language. Some would argue that Micah borrowed from Isaiah; others would say that Isaiah borrowed from Micah. Ultimately, this is neither important nor a problem. Certainly, the LORD is unlikely to give contradictory or competing prophecies toward His One people through two prophets. It comes as no surprise that these contemporaries deliver a similar, consistent message to the people of God.
