All I can say is “Ouch!”

The Law stings. It hurts. It exposes. It crushes one’s pride. Here’s a fine example from the pen of Dr. James Bollhagen (The Practice of Pastoral Theology: Practical Reflections on the Holy Ministry, Fort Wayne, IN: CTS, 1995):

There is often heard in the church a little “horror story” which aptly demonstrates the avoidance of pastoral responsibility. You will hear a story that goes something like this: for some time a man has been the called pastor of a church whose membership has hovered around fifty communicants for the past several years. Of the fifty members twenty of them can be classified as delinquent members, who have not darkened the doors of the church for a minimum of two years. Ten others are listed as “whereab0uts unknown.” And, the twenty stalwarts that remain are not getting along very well with each other: in fact, you can hear them arguing in the room adjacent to the pastor’s office. Meanwhile, what is the pastor doing? He is watching it all happen. With his computer he is documenting it all as he sits in his office day after day. He complains about the lack of zeal for the kingdom amongst his members, a malady which might make a good subject for a future journal article. He is getting increasingly nervous about the prospect that sooner or later the complaints are going to turn in his direction. He is already beginning to suspect that the arguments outside his door are starting to center around him. Perhaps, he thinks, it is time to put his name on a call list, so that he can go someplace where he will be appreciated. He doesn’t have to put up with this, and no one could ever accuse him of false doctrine.

Such a pastor needs to be shaken up with the reality of his responsibility: “You’re the pastor–do something!” He also needs a good dose of the Gospel in order to turn the paranoia that accompanies lethargy and inactivity into the joy that goes along with service. A renewed awareness of his divine call would lead him to what might be called a “pastoral awareness,” a full realization that he is Christ’s man for the job. Looking the other way may be the path of least resistance, but the path of most assistance is the one that follows the way of Christ himself” (p. C.10).

I could say that I wished that I had read this book when I came to my first parish, but I wonder if I would have been able to accept it at that point. Oh how these words, and many others, have stung as I have read the pages of this book by Bollhagen, and yet how comforting many of the other passages are. His words are grounded in a thoroughly incarnational view of the Office of the Holy Ministry, and yet are seasoned with both Law and Gospel through and through. I highly recommend this volume to new and so-called “experienced” pastors.

Luther on the Issue of False Unity

Here are a couple of outstanding quotes from our dear Luther concerning the problem of pastors “looking the other way” and ignoring doctrinal differences with regard to the Lord’s Supper. I lifted them from a little book that I found in my personal library by Carl Manthey-Zorn called “Questions on Christian Topics.” Luther is quoted in the section on the United Church:

“And, in a word, lest I linger too long upon this point, I am horrified to hear that in one and the self-same church, or at one and the self-same altar, both parties should receive one and the self-same Sacrament and one party believe it is receiving mere bread and wine, while the other party believes it is receiving the true body and blood of Christ. And oftentimes I have my doubts whether it be credible that a preacher, or minister of souls, should be so hardened and so desperately wicked as to keep mum and allow both parties to depart each with its own opinion that they are both receiving one and the self-same Sacrament, every man according to his own belief. But if such (a pastor) there be, he must have a heart harder than stone, steel, or flint, he must indeed be an apostle of wrath. Give me a turk or a Jew in preference to such a preacher. For they disown our Sacrament and do it openly, and thus I am in no danger of being deceived by them and of being drawn unawares into their idolatry. But these fellows must be the real, exalted arch-devils, who would give me mere bread and wine and allow me to believe it to be the body and blood of Christ and thus deceive me so shamefully. That were too galling, too exasperating. God will shortly wreak terrible vengeance upon those fellows. Wherefore let them that have such pastors, or that suspect their pastors of such dealings, beware of such knaves as of the very devil himself” (Luther’s Works, Erl. Ed. 26, p. 304).

Commenting on the Gospel of John 8:31, 32, Luther writes in addition:

“A man that holds his doctrine, creed, and confession to be the very truth cannot stand in line with such as teach, or are given to, false doctrine; neither can he smile for ever and aye at the devil and his minions. A teacher who holds his peace in the face of error and yet insists that he is a teacher of the truth, is worse than an open enthusiast and does more harm with his hypocrisy than does a heretic and is unworthy of any man’s confidence; he is a wolf and a fox, a hireling and a belly-servant, etc. One need not be surprised to see him set at naught doctrine, word, creed, sacrament, church, and school and surrender them to the enemy. Aye, either he is secretly at one with the enemy, or he is a doubter and a weather-cock, waiting to see which way the wind blow, whether Christ or the devil will prevail. Or he doesn’t know his own mind, and is not worthy to be called a discple, much less a teacher. He is afraid to hurt any one’s feelings, neither willing to stand up for Christ nor to hurt the devil and the world.”

This is an enjoyable little volume by Zorn. He has a pretty meaty section on marriage and procreation, as well as some very helpful writing on church discipline. I’m not sure what Zorn’s background is, but he definitely seems to fit into the confessional camp of the Lutheran Church. This book was published by Northwestern in 1931. I know he was a member of the Synodical Conference…probably a Wisconsinite. I haven’t read too much of his stuff on the more practical issues that were being debated at the time (insurance, etc.) I don’t know if he’s legalistic or not. We’ll see.

It’s Official

I announced to my congregations this morning that I was accepting the Call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls, IA. Thank you all for your prayers. Iowa Falls is located north of Des Moines, west of Waterloo, and East of Fort Dodge, IA. It is set on the Iowa River, and looks like a very nice city. There is much to do before we move, and right now it seems all very surreal, but we are looking at moving sometime after All Saints’ Day.

More to come…

Calls and Such

Last Thursday I was notified by the circuit counselor of the Eldora Circuit in the Iowa East District that a Call has been extended to me by Immanuel Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls, IA. Your prayers are appreciated as I deliberate whether or not to accept this Call.

A Good Weekend

It has been a good weekend. The kids have been well behaved, the weather was nice, and I got a lot of those “little, annoying” things done that needed my attention. Divine Service went well as we focused on the theme from the appointed Gospel: “Do not worry…” My mother-in-law has been here for several weeks now helping out after my wife had surgery, and we have really enjoyed (and been thankful for) the time we have had with her. Before that my mom was here. We would have been in bad shape without them. Thank God for mothers!

Looking forward to this next week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I teach in the afternoons at John Wood Community College. This has been very enjoyable. I have been learning a lot. Some days are better than others. Sometimes I’m very happy with my lectures; other times not so happy. It takes me a good three hours to prepare for a one hour lecture, if I want to do it well. Until you have done this, you know not how difficult it is. But I feel oddly at ease in that environment.

M, W, & F I put on my “ministry” hat and take care of my flock. I always feel like I could be doing more for them, but then I never know what that “more” could be. Most days I feel like a poor excuse for a pastor. I’m probably too hard on myself, but that’s the way I am. I am my own worst critic. I’m never fully satisfied with the work I do. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is.

Our Oktoberfest/Open House is coming up and we are excited for that. We always have a fun time. I grill brats and burgers up, serve some good beer, and Amy makes some out-of-this-world German Potato Salad. We usually have a door prize drawing–an old “Beisel” tradition (My dad used to do the same at his MBA parties). We have friends from the community, a handful of folks from the churches, and usually a few pastors from the area come. Lord willing, the weather will be good.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Jonah–Patron Saint for those who lack Evangelical Zeal

Sedes Doctrinae: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Previous generations of pastors and theologians did theology by sedes doctrinae, that is, they found passages in Scripture that supported or negated a particular doctrine and referred to these “seats of doctrine” in theological discourse and in teaching. The Catechism contains many sedes doctrinae, especially the Synodical portion of the Catechism with the questions and answers. A doctrinal statement is made, followed up by four, five, six or more passages from the Bible that support that doctrinal statement.

In recent years, there seems to have developed among Lutheran theologians of the confessional sort a distaste for this manner of doing theology and of teaching. The criticism, so it would seem, is that Christianity ends up getting divided up into a bunch of doctrines, none of which are really connected, and the Christological center of theology is lost. More emphasis today is placed on the Bible narratives rather than isolated proof passages, and pastors (including myself) attempt to draw people into the Biblical story more, and helping people see how this or that doctrine is related to the doctrine of Christ, the Sacraments, the Church, etc. This seems to be more of a patristic approach to Biblical teaching.

I think there is some merit to the criticism, because there does seem to be a disconnect, especially in the minds of some older Lutherans, between doctrine and Christ, if that is even possible. And I think that in large part this is one of our problems with how our people view worship. But that is another topic for a different post. If doctrine is not seen as integrally related and flowing from the Person and Work of Christ, then you end up with a doctrinally conservative, but Christ-less Christianity!

Having said that, I think we should be cautious, and before we completely do away with the sedes doctrinae method of theology should make sure we are not throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. I think there is still much value in this approach, especially for the common people. I still use the Synodical Catechism, supplementing it with my own narrative approach to catechesis.

I think we need to approach Catechesis from both sides. On the one hand, we should preach the Scriptures, the Biblical Narratives, to the people and from these narratives preach Christ. On the other hand, the people need to be able to have an organized understanding of Christian doctrine.

Luther suggested doing this with children (I did this for VBS one year and it worked great!): on a chart, make two headings: Faith and Love. Under the heading “Faith” place two pouches, one for Sin and one for Grace; Under the heading of Love place two more pouches: one for good works, and another for bearing the cross. Note: this is a rough paraphrase of Luther’s suggestions. Actual instructions are found in Vol. 53 of the American Edition, page 66. Then have the children bring home Scripture passages from the sermon and teach them under which heading that verse should fall.

By doing this, says Luther, “…we would have a wealth of Christian people whose souls would be so enriched in Scripture and in the knowledge of God that of their own accord they woudl add more pockets, just as the Loci Communes, and comprehend all Scripture in them. Otherwise, people can go to church daily and come away the same as they went. For they think they need only listen at the time, without any thought of learning or remembering anything…” (p. 67).

The people need to know which Scripture passages teach which doctrines. We should not deprive them of this learning tool, nor should we do so to ourselves. I wish I were more faithful in applying this Loci method in my own studies. Even as we teach people the sedes doctrinae let us not give them doctrine without Christ. He is, after all, the center and subject of all Scripture.

Clericals or Ties?

I generally wear a tab collared clerical shirt. I wear these everyday, whether I am visiting shut-ins or not, whether I am conducting a service or not. I’m not dogmatic about this. I really don’t care what other pastors wear. I know some fine pastors who come from the Robert Preus (+) days that typically wear shirts and ties during the week, and clericals for Sunday services. No biggy for me. I wear what I wear because I find that it reminds me constantly of my Call as a pastor.

I wore the neckband for years, but got tired of the sweaty neck (I live in an extremely humid climate). Recently, however, I began teaching at a local college. For this, I purchased some shirts and ties to wear with my slacks, you know, to “look the part.” Today after class I was walking through Wal-Mart doing some shopping, and I noticed that people were a lot more friendly to me than they usually are. Strangers nodded, some even smiled, and chatted with me. And then it dawned on me–I was not dressed like a Priest. The difference was palpable. No one is ever that friendly to me when I go to the store. But then, my attire was not calling attention to my Office or the Christian Gospel. No wonder people were being friendly. Normally children stare at me like I’m some sort of oddity. Today one little boy yelled, “Are you a principal?” Go figure.

As I said, I really don’t care what other clergy wear. Our Church does not prescribe any particular attire, and I’m sure there are many who dress as I do that are not solid theologically. For me, the clothing I wear has as much of an effect on me (if not more so) than it does on the public. When I am wearing my “blacks” I feel as if I am “dressed for the Ministry.” When I wear a shirt and tie, I feel like I am “dressed for teaching” at a state run college.

To Genuflect, or Not To Genuflect…

When genuflecting during the Nicene Creed, you will see some pastors arise after the words “…and was made man,” and some continue the action all the way to the point at which is said: “…he suffered and was buried.” The argument of the latter is typically that one should remain kneeling throughout the humiliation of Christ, rising just before his exaltation begins. I believe this misses the point of genuflecting during the Creed. When someone genuflects, or bows profoundly during this part of the Creed, isn’t one simply acknowledging the mystery of the incarnation? So, the action begins during the words “and was incarnate…” so that the knee is touching the floor when the words “…and was made man” are spoken. The point of genuflecting is not, in my opinion, to acknowledge his humiliation, but rather the fact that God became man. Luther’s lectures on the Gospel of John would seem to confirm that this was at least his attitude.

ELCA Decisions Distressing, but not Surprising

To the Editor: 

Recent decisions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) regarding human sexuality have caused quite a stir in churches that bear the name of the 16^th century German reformer, Martin Luther. At their church wide assembly in Minneapolis last week, the ELCA officially gave its blessing to monogamous, life-long, same-gender relationships, and gave permission to practicing homosexual men and women to serve as clergy and church leaders. The ELCA is just one of several Lutheran church bodies and is not to be confused with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, for example, whose ministers and congregations believe that the Bible speaks clearly on the issue of homosexuality.