Culture news: Homoheresy in the Roman Catholic Church

Like everyone else, I was shocked to hear that Pope Benedict XVI would be stepping down from his office as pope.   Benedict is a tremendous scholar and I have learned much from his books such as The Feast of Faith, A New Song for the Lord, The Spirit of the Liturgy, Jesus of Nazareth.  It has been said that Benedict has a better understanding of Lutheranism than many theologians who claim to belong to that confession today.  Naturally the differences that exist between and the Lutheran and Roman Catholic confessions remain, and those should not be minimized. Benedict certainly hasn’t.

Benedict has taken important stances in support of life.  There is another area where he has taken a strong biblical stance, and that is in relation to homosexuality.  Those outside the Roman Catholic confession (and probably many inside as well) do not appreciate in inroads that homosexuality has made among the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church.  It is not surprising that this has not received widespread coverage in the media.  The connections between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of boys in the Roman Catholic Church is an embarrassment to those who promote homosexuality in our western culture.

Recently, Fr. Dariusz Oko, Ph.D., a priest of the Archdiocese of Krakow and Assistant Professor at the John Paul II Pontifical University in Krakow has written an article entitled, “With the Pope Against Homoheresy” that addresses this situation. It has been translated into English and is available online (http://www.lifesitenews.com/resources/with-the-pope-against-homoheresy?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b7e1217340-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_02_26_2013&utm_medium=email).  It is a long read, but an important one for understanding this topic. 

A shorter summary article is also available (http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-expert-details-39huge-homosexual-underground-in-the-church39?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b7e1217340-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_02_26_2013&utm_medium=email).

Mark's thoughts: The use of chrism in the Lutheran Service Book Rite of Holy Baptism

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod has been in the gradual process of reacquiring the explanatory actions that have historically been present in the Rite of Holy Baptism.  Lutheran Worship included the reintroduction of the white baptismal gown and candle.  This trend has continued with Lutheran Service Book.  Although it is not included in the rubrics of Lutheran Service Book itself, the Lutheran Service Book Agenda includes in The Rite in Detail the following note: “9. While making the sign of the cross during the blessing after baptism, olive oil may be used to symbolize the sealing with the Holy Spirit for salvation (Eph. 1:13-14). This oil is applied with the thumb” (pg. 5). The use of chrism has become part of the practice at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Marion, IL.  The following is an explanation that was provided to the congregation.  It draws upon descriptions of the significance of the chrism that have been more common in the Western Church:

                            Oil stock and the use of chrism in the Rite of Holy Baptism

In the Old Testament, individuals were anointed with olive oil in order to identify them as priests (Leviticus 8:12, 30) and kings (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:12-13) in Israel. The fact that kings were anointed gave rise to a title used to describe them – messiah - which in Hebrew is the word for “anointed one.” God promised that He would raise up a descendant of King David who would bring peace and salvation to God’s people.  This One would be the Messiah because He would be anointed with the Spirit of God (Isaiah 61:1; cf. Isaiah 11).

Jesus was shown to be the Christ (Greek for Messiah) when He was anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism in the Jordan River (Acts 10:38; cf. Luke 4:17-19).  In his letter that is filled with baptismal language, Peter wrote: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

In the Greco-Roman world the use of oil was associated with bathing in the same way that today we think of soap.  Given this cultural setting and the rich biblical background of anointing it is not surprising that very early, anointing with oil became part of the rite of Holy Baptism in many parts of the Church.  Tertullian, writing in 200 A.D. in North Africa provides the earliest evidence of this practice.

The use of chrism (fragrant olive oil) after baptism has been a universal practice of the Western Church for at least 1700 years.  It was included in Martin Luther’s 1523 Order of Holy Baptism and the Lutheran Service Book Agenda makes provision for its use.  The chrism is applied to the forehead in the sign of the cross immediately after baptism as the pastor says: “The almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life everlasting.”

Like the lighted candle and the white gown, the chrism is an explanatory part of the baptismal rite – it visibly illustrates a truth about Holy Baptism.  The primary background is the use of oil in the Old Testament in anointing kings and priests and 1 Peter 2:9’s statement that Christians are a royal priesthood.  The anointing with oil teaches that through Holy Baptism the individual has been made part of God’s royal priesthood.   The baptism of Jesus in which He was anointed with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) also serves as the background since in Holy Baptism we are anointed with the Holy Spirit and so become Christians.

An excellent explanation of this occurs in the Brandenburg Church Order of 1540:

Because it is an ancient traditional ceremony to use chrism in baptism we wish to retain its use, but it is to be understood in the following way.  As the use of chrism is a traditional ceremony, so it has a particular significance.  In the Old Testament only kings and priests were commanded by God to be anointed, but we Christians are spiritually anointed by our Lord Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit to be a royal priesthood, and are therefore called Christians, that is, the anointed, after Christ. To show this the fathers used this external ceremony at baptism and anointed the Christians with chrism, to signify that they were anointed spiritual kings and priests by the Holy Spirit, as various Easter collects show.

Incredible resource: William Harmless' "Bibliographies for Theology"

William Harmless is known in Lutheran circles for his masterful book, Augustine and the Catechumenate.  Harmless has been a prolific scholar and is someone I include on the list with scholars like Peter Brown whose work is always worth reading.

Harmless has a “Bibliographies for Theology” that you should know about.  In its introduction Harmless writes:

For many years, I've tried to help my students make use of the best and the most current scholarly texts in theology.  To aid research, I've posted here an extensive set of bibliographies in the areas of biblical, historical, sacramental, and systematic theology. 

Each bibliography contains various subheadings, and under each subheading, I single out one or two books that I recommend starting with.  I give a brief review of these selected books, highlighting their strengths (and, on occasion, weaknesses or biases).

This is a resource that is not to be missed, especially if you are interested in the early Church, late antiquity or monasticism.  I have always found Harmless’ comments to be helpful.  His bibliography includes the range of significant scholarly works that should not be missed, and he is constantly updating it to include the newest and best works that come out. Enjoy!

The Dutch and prostitution, drugs and euthanasia

Gene Veith has links to two interesting articles on his blog that describe the problems the Netherlands is having with its policies towards prostitution, drugs and euthanasia.  When prostitution, drugs and euthanasia become tied to "tourism" you have a serious problem.  

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/02/how-dutch-legalizing-of-prostitution-drugs-euthanasia-is-working-out/

Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent, Reminiscere

Lent 2

                                                                                                            Gen. 32:22-32

                                                                                                            2/27/13

            At some level, every family is dysfunctional.  It’s really not hard to understand why this is.  For starters, there is the basic fact that all families are made up of sinful people.  And then on top of this, the unique dynamic of family itself produces tensions and troubles. 

            Family is the closet group relationship in which we live. Humanly speaking, there is nothing closer than the relationship between father and mother; parents and children; brothers and sisters.  We physically live together day in and day out for years within these relationships.  And of course there is also then that broader network of family relationships that includes grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, and cousins.  These too are important long term relationships that carry a great deal of emotional weight.

            We have these close and permanent ties with family members.  And yet the thing is, we don’t get to choose the people who will be in these relationships.  It’s not like a spouse or close friends.  In those relationships we get to choose the people we want to have in our life.  We choose people who have similar interests and who have personalities we enjoy being around.

But that’s not how it is with family.  It is amazing that he same two parents raising children in the same home setting can produce children that are so very different. Then add on top of this the fact that you don’t get to choose your brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws.  And in turn, they then produce children that are diverse. All of this means that you can end up with some “contrasting personalities” – I’m being gracious here – who have to live permanently in relationship with one another.  That’s a recipe for problems.  And often there are.

Dysfunction in families is just part of life.  And the God’s Word doesn’t make any effort to hide the fact that family dysfunction was part of life for the patriarchs in the Old Testament.  In fact, you will be hard pressed to find a more dysfunctional family than the one Jacob was in.

Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, favored him while his father Isaac favored his twin brother Esau. Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright. And then Rebekah helped Jacob trick her husband, so that Jacob could steal the blessing of the first born twin Esau.  Are you following this?  Keep up, because it’s just going to get more twisted. 

Esau wanted to kill Jacob, so Rebekah sent Jacob to Mesopotamia to live with her brother Laban.  Laban had two daughters, Rachel and Leah.  Jacob fell in love with the hot one, Rachel.  However his uncle Laban swindled him into marrying the older and not so hot one Leah.  So Jacob ended up working seven extra years – fourteen total – to have a wife he really wanted and a wife he really didn’t.  Needless to say Jacob favored Rachel, who unfortunately had trouble having childen.  And then there began a competition between Rachel and Leah - which also involved using their servant girls – to see who could have more children.  Oh yes, this is all very healthy.

When we meet Jacob in our text this morning he has finally decided that business tensions with his uncle Laban have become too great.  And after making a less than gracious exit he is now headed back to Canaan. He hasn’t seen Esau in twenty years and the last time he was there Esau wanted to kill him.  Jacob sends ahead messengers to Esau with a greeting.  In return, Jacob doesn’t get a reply from Esau.  Instead the messengers report that Esau is coming to meet Jacob … and that he’s bringing four hundred men along with him.  We are told just before our text that “Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.”

Jacob divided his household into two groups in the hopes that if Esau attacked they wouldn’t all be destroyed.  He sent ahead hundreds of animals as a gift to Esau.  We learn at the beginning of our text that after doing all this, he had all of his family and possessions ford the Jordan River.  And he then remained on the far bank as night began to fall.

Jacob is involved in a great number of difficulties – many of which are his own doing.  But it’s important to realize what God had been doing for him. Twenty years earlier, when Jacob had been fleeing Esau’s wrath, God had appeared to Jacob in a dream.  Jacob had seen a ladder going up to heaven with angels ascending and descending it.  Above it was God who said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

God promised that he would be with Jacob and care for him.  He promised to give his offspring the land of Canaan. He promised to give Jacob numerous offspring. And he promised that in Jacob and his offspring all the families of the earth would be blessed. 

Now God had blessed Jacob.  And Jacob had set out for Canaan because God said to him, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”  God had

repeated his promise to be with Jacob and as Jacob made his way to Canaan he was encouraged by encountering two angels.

            Immediately before our text, as Jacob made his preparations to meet Esau, he prayed to God saying, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

            This prayer determines how we should understand the events in our text. Jacob recalls before God all of the blessings he has received.  He emphasizes the fact that his return to Canaan is faithful obedience to God’s command.  And then he holds up God’s own promise before God when he prays, “But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”  Jacob is a sinful person.  He is flawed. But he has faith in God’s promise.

            We hear in our text, “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.”  Now the lack of details about this man and his struggle with Jacob gives our text a very mysterious feel.  In fact Martin Luther comments, “This passage is regarded by all as among the most obscure passages of the whole Old Testament.”  But he then goes on to add, “Nor is this strange, because it deals with that sublime temptation in which the patriarch Jacob had to fight not with flesh and blood or with the devil but against God himself.”

            Jacob found himself in the dark wrestling against a man.  They struggled all night and Jacob refused to give in – he refused to be overcome.  Even after the opponent at wrenched his hip out of joint he continued.  Finally the man said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man replied, “What is your name?” When he answered, “Jacob,” the man said “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Jacob wasn’t willing to leave it at that.  He asked, “Please tell me your name.” But the man said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. And by then Jacob knew that he had been struggling with God.  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

            In our text, Jacob is facing frightening circumstances.  And on top of that, he finds himself attacked in the dead of the night. Yet the thing that has been made evident is that he has faith in God’s promise – his promise to care for Jacob and give him a future.  Because of faith in God’s promise he doesn’t quit.  He struggles all through the night.  And even when he has been disabled he keeps struggling.  It becomes apparent that it is God’s promise that gives him the will and the strength to keep going.

            It is God’s promise that has kept him going.  And it turns out that the One who has been accosting him has been God.  It is God who has been pushing him in this moment of crisis – this moment of faith. It is God who has been testing him – pushing him to go further and deeper in faith.

            Now I sincerely doubt that any of you have ever had a brother whom you thought wanted to kill you.  You have probably not physically wrestled with someone all night. But each one of us in our own way has known – and perhaps knows right now – the struggle of faith.  We know the struggle of continuing to trust in God when there are serious problems: problems that are physical, or financial, or marital.

            We don’t want those struggles.  But today’s text teaches us that God doesn’t always consider those struggles to be a bad thing.  There are even times when those struggles become tools in his hand by which he pushes us. Yet he does so to drive us ever deeper into the promise of his forgiveness and love and care. He does so to exercise us in faith toward Jesus Christ.

            We are able to trust in God’s love and care because of what God has done for us in Jesus.  In the death and resurrection of Christ God has revealed his self-giving love that has given us forgiveness and eternal life.  It has given us the assurance of resurrection and the end of all the struggles.

            At the end of our text God says to Jacob, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  God gives Jacob a new name that is based on the Hebrew verb that means “to fight or struggle.”  This new name was to be a reminder of this struggle in which Jacob had continued on in faith – in which he had not given up because of faith in God’s promise.

            God has done something very similar for you.  In Holy Baptism he put his Name upon you as you were baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And in doing so he gave you a new name.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit in the water and word you were joined to Jesus Christ’s saving work.  You received the name Christian.  The triune name of God and the name “Christian” serve as constant reminders of God’s promise of salvation in Jesus and of the faith he has created in you by which you grasp and hold onto him.

           

           

Recent news about Christians persecuted in Saudi Arabia and China

Two recent news items have appeared about persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia.  Such news always reminds us to pray daily for the persecuted Church around the world.   It also leads us to give thanks to God for the religious freedom that we have in the United States.  And it reminds us that we need to use the opportunities that  God has given us to practice the faith and share it with others.

Persecution of Christians in Saudi Arabia:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/21/saudi-religious-police-arrest-ethiopian-workers-for-practicing-christianity/

Persecution of Christians in China:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/02/21/christians-house-churches-in-china-see-erious-escalation-persecution-report/

Mark's thoughts: Why liturgy? - Thoughts about its form and function in the Lutheran Church

A. Theology of the Divine Service

Every Sunday we gather for worship at church.  As we consider what happens on Sunday morning, it is essential that we think about the service in the way of the Gospel.  The focus of Sunday morning is not on what we do (Law).  Instead, the focus is on what God is doing for us (Gospel).  God comes to us with His gifts of the Means of Grace by which He delivers forgiveness and strengthens us in the faith.  The first move is from God to us.  Then in turn, as we receive God’s gifts, we respond with praise and thanksgiving.  As the Apology of the Augsburg Confession states: “Thus the service and worship of the Gospel is to receive good thing from God, while the worship of the law is to offer and present our goods to God … The greatest possible comfort comes from this doctrine that the highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness” (IV.310).  In order to recognize this fact, Lutherans have called the Sunday service Gottesdienst, which means “Divine Service.”  This name reminds us that on Sunday, God serves us with His gifts.   

B. The Liturgy of the Divine Service: The words of Scripture frame the Means of Grace

In ancient Greece, the word “liturgy” meant “public service” - that is, the service a wealthy individual did for the city.  The early church took this word and used it to describe the fixed orders of service in which God comes to us and serves us with His gifts.  The liturgy is made up of verses and phrases taken from Holy Scripture.  The liturgy is made up of Scripture and it has been built around the reading and proclamation of God’s Word and the celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar.  It highlights and emphasizes the sacramental ways in which God comes to us and is therefore the best and most natural setting for these gifts.  The liturgy stresses the sacramental ways that God works, and therefore it also emphasizes the incarnation because the sacraments find their origin in the incarnate One, Jesus Christ. 

C. The liturgy teaches the correct faith

What we believe shapes and forms the way we worship.  For example, churches which believe that Christ gives us His true body and blood in Lord’s Supper place the Sacrament of the Altar at the center of their worship service every Sunday, while churches which believe that it is only a symbol do not usually celebrate the Lord’s Supper very often.  The liturgy of the Divine Service reflects exactly the faith of the catholic and apostolic Church that we believe and confess as Lutherans.   

At the same time, the opposite is also true.  The way we worship shapes and forms what we believe.  The things we do, say and hear every Sunday determine what we believe.  What a church really believes can be learned from how they worship on Sunday morning.  The weekly use of the liturgy helps to form and shape us in the one true, catholic and apostolic faith.

D. Scripture handled correctly: again and again

The liturgy of the Divine Service is drawn from Scripture.  However, unfortunately it is possible to misunderstand the Scripture.  Because the liturgy reflects the faith of the catholic and apostolic Church, it is Scripture believed and understood correctly.  In the liturgy, Law and Gospel are properly distinguished as we confess our sins and receive Christ’s forgiveness in the Means of Grace.  The liturgy places Jesus Christ at the center and in doing so teaches it us that the Christian faith is Christocentric – it is focused on the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  The liturgy repeatedly points us towards the return of Jesus Christ on the Last Day (it is eschatological), even as it assures us that we already now begin to experience a foretaste of God’s final salvation.

The liturgy teaches us these things, and it does so by exposing us to these truths every week. There is an old saying that “repetition is the mother of learning.”  The repetition of hearing and singing the words of the liturgy each week teaches us the catholic and apostolic faith, and shapes and forms the way we think about the faith.  This is a process that begins with the smallest child and continues all throughout our life.  It is not a process that ever ends or is finished because the words and phrases, movements and actions invite ever deeper understanding as we grow and mature as Christians. 

E. The liturgy: prayers that teach

The liturgy contains prayers that teach.  In the liturgy we use the inspired prayers of the Psalms.  We also encounter prayers that use the language of Scripture and have been crafted by two thousand years of Christian experience living the faith.  These prayers teach us the Christian faith.  They also teach us how to pray by leading us beyond those things that we would say and focus upon.  They lead us beyond ourselves and support our prayer when don’t want to pray or don’t know what to pray.

F. The liturgy preserves the faith (it keeps us catholic)

The liturgy teaches the correct faith.  It also preserves the catholic and apostolic faith as it is handed on from one generation to the next.  The eternal and timeless truth of God’s Word is preserved in the liturgy and this helps the Church to resist the spirit of the world in each time period (the tyranny of “today”).  As such, the liturgy of the Divine Service unites us with the saints of the centuries before us who have sung and spoken the words of the liturgy (the communion of saints).  The liturgy binds us together with one another, and with the Christians who have gone before us.

Lutherans are evangelical catholics.  We are centered on the Gospel as we share in what the catholic (universal) church has believed and practiced.  The liturgy confesses the truth of the Gospel as it teaches and preserves the catholic faith.  For this reason, the Lutheran church is a liturgical church – it uses the liturgy of the Divine Service.  As the Apology of the Augsburg Confession states: “So in our churches we willingly observe the order of the Mass [the medieval name for the Divine Service], the Lord’s day, and the other more important feast days.  With a very thankful spirit we cherish the useful and ancient ordinances, especially when they contain a discipline that serves to educate and instruct the people and the inexperienced” (VII/VIII.33-34). 

G. The reverence of the liturgy as we stand before God

The liturgy shapes worship with a profound reverence as we stand in God’s presence.  The biblical texts used; the use of song and chant; the fixed movements by pastor and congregation (such as standing and bowing) help us to enter into God’s presence with reverence.  They remind us that in the Divine Service we stand before the holy God.

H. In the liturgy we experience the real world: the new creation

As Christians we live in the “now and the not yet.”  While we look forward to Christ’s return on the Last Day, we already now have received God’s reign in Christ and have received salvation. In the liturgy we experience something different from the rest of the week.  Yet as God comes to us in His Means of Grace, what we are experiencing is the world as it really is.  We encounter God’s reign that has made us to be a new creation in Christ.  We are joined together with all the saints and the heavenly host as we experience heaven on earth.  The liturgy emphasizes the “now” of salvation, even as it points us forward to the return of Jesus Christ on the Last Day.

I. The liturgy is part of the Church’s culture that sets it apart from the world

Christ has called the Church out of the world and made her His own.  We know the Church is present when the Means of Grace are being administered – where “the Gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel” (Augsburg Confession VII.1).  The Church is most herself when she is in worship, and therefore she looks very different from the world when this is occurring.

The Church has her own culture – her own ways of speaking and acting – that separates the Church from the world and marks her off as God’s people.  The liturgy of the Divine Service is a very important part of this culture that marks off the Church as God’s own people who have been called out of the world.  As visitors encounter the liturgy, they will often experience something that they find to be different and foreign to them.  This is not surprising because they are encountering a different way of doing the world – God’s way.  However in this recognition there is an invitation to learn more about God’s way of doing the world and to join the culture of God’s people.

J. The ceremony of the liturgy communicates in many ways

The ceremony of the liturgy – the movements by the pastor, the way the communion ware is handled, the vestments, paraments, candles, etc. – is part of the church’s culture.  The ceremony of the liturgy adorns the Means of Grace and sets them before us.  It communicates the truth of God’s Word to us in a variety of ways and embraces our bodily, physical existence in this time and place.