When, in the course of human life, it becomes necessary for a person to dissolve the false notion of spiritual independence, and to assume a position of humble servitude and submission to the Will and Kingdom of God, decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to such a position.
 
     We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23)  We have rebelled against our Creator; the very source of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in what we have done and in what we have left undone.   But the gift of God is not like the trespass, for we hold that of His great mercy all men are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:24) 
 
     That to secure this justification, God has instituted the Church as His vessel for proclaiming the message of forgiveness and salvation in Christ Jesus to all who will believe.  In this Church, He has also instituted the Sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to further create, strengthen, grow, and deepen the faith of His people.  Therefore, it is the right duty of His people to make diligent and frequent use of these means of grace and to establish for themselves such times and styles of worship and reception of the Word and Sacrament as might be most beneficent to them.  For without these means, man will be unable to free himself from his own sinful condition.  To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
 
     There is none that keeps the Law of God in perfection; as St. Paul writes to the Galatians, “All who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them.”  So it is evident that  no one is justified before God by the Law.” And as St. James reminds us, “Whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles at just one point of it, is accountable for all of it.”
 
     We see also that this sin has completely corrupted our inner being so that we neither keep the Law of God nor desire to do so.  For as St. Paul also tells us, “The good I wish to do, I do not do; but the evil I do not wish to do, this I keep on doing!  Oh, Who shall save me from this body of death?”  (Romans 7:19, 24b)
 
     We were conceived and born captive to sin and it infects every part of ourselves with its tyranny over thought, word, and deed.  For “truly I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) and “That which born of the flesh is flesh and that born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6) 
 
       In every stage of these oppressions, God has been merciful and patient; not desiring that any should die, but that all may turn to Him in repentance and faith.
For He has said through His messengers, “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Tim. 3:4) and “in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them.” 
 
     To further and efficaciously procure this salvation, God sent His only begotten Son  (John 3:16) to bear the curse of the Law for us (Gal. 3:13) and to “deliver us from the domain of darkness and transfer us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14)
 
     Salvation and true freedom from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation can be found nowhere else, for as the Apostle Peter proclaims, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) and which our own saith, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)
 
    To further bolster our hope and strengthen our perseverance, He holds out before us the blessed promise of everlasting life in His eternal Kingdom for He says, “He who cometh unto me I shall in no wise cast out” (John 6:37) and His messengers write, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall award to me that day.  And not for myself only, but for all who have longed for His appearance.” (2 Tim. 4:7-8)
 
    For all this it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.  This is most certainly true.
 
     We, therefore, the members of this congregation, united in faith and cause with all followers of the Christ across all time and the world over, do, in the Name and by the Authority of Him who saved us, pledge our unceasing dependence upon His mercy and grace and claim for ourselves His gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to Him and to one another our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.   So may it be. 
​Amen.

                                     See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
​                      that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.                                                                                                                                               - I John 3:1a 
      Love is the most written (and sung) about emotion, but it is rarely defined.  What is love?  How do we know it when we see it or feel it?  How can you describe it to someone who has never known love?  As we approach Valentine’s Day, the day when we focus on love more than any other, I look back to poets and bards of the past to see what they tell us about love.  What do you think love is and have these people captured the true essence of the love the Father has for us in Christ Jesus?
 
“Love isn’t something you find.  Love is something that finds you”
- Loretta Young
 
“Love doesn’t make the world go round; love is what makes the trip worthwhile”
- Franklin Jones
 
“Love is an act of endless forgiveness; a tender look which becomes a habit.”
- Peter Ustinov
 
“Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit” - Khalil Gibran
 
“The first duty of love is to listen” - Paul Tillich
 
“True love is selfless.  It is prepared to sacrifice.” - Sadhu Vaswani
 
“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.”
- Voltaire
 
“I think that the perfection of love is that it’s not perfect.” - Taylor Swift
 
“Love is three quarters curiosity.” - Giacomo Casanova
 
“Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.”
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
 
“Love is of all passions the strongest; for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses.” - Lao Tzu
 
“The thing is that love gives us a ringside seat on somebody else’s flaws, so of course you’re going to see some things that kinda need to be mentioned.  But the romantic view is to say, ‘If you loved me, you wouldn’t criticize,’  actually, true love is about trying to teach someone to be the best version of themselves.”
- Alain de Botton
 
“With love you should go ahead and take the risk of getting hurt.” - B Spears
 
“A man in love is incomplete until he marries.  Then he’s finished.”
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
 
  
“Love is the only force capable of transforming and enemy into a friend”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
 
“Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.”
- Hans Urs von Balthasar
 
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” - Elie Weisel
 
“Love is a serious mental disease” - Plato
 
“Power is of two kinds.  One is obtained by fear of punishment, the other by acts of love.  Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one based on fear of punishment.”  - Mahatma Ghandi
 
“Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.  Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.”  - St. Paul to the Corinthians
 
So what is love, and how do we receive it and give it away?  As we begin our journey through the Lenten season, we’ll be looking at the different aspects of love.  On Tuesday nights at Our Savior, Stanhope we’ll look at God’s love expressed to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  On Wednesday nights on Zoom, we’ll look at the five love languages and how we can become multi-lingual in showing love to those around us.  I hope you’ll join us as we embark on a journey of love over the next 7 weeks.

   ​    First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good and pleases our God and Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. - I Timothy 2:1-4
 
     As I write this we are in a “between time”.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day was yesterday and the inauguration of our 46th president takes place tomorrow.  Forty five times before we have had a peaceful (relatively) transfer of power, but as the riots and storming of the capitol building almost two weeks ago showed, that is not a given for this transition.  15,000 national guard troops have been called up to defend our nation’s capitol and our newly elected leader as he takes office.  This is more than the number of troops we have in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Germany, and Saudi Arabia combined!  
    Whether or not you voted for #46 and no matter how you feel about his positions on various issues, does the Bible give us direction as to how to treat our leaders.  In the words of our Minnesota brethren, “Ya, sure, youbetcha”.  Most of what Luther cites in the Small Catechism comes from Paul’s letters to the Romans and others.  We should remember that Paul wrote the majority of his letters to the churches while incarcerated by the powers that be.  As he writes the words above to Timothy, he is in a house, under armed guards, in the city of Rome, awaiting his hearing with the Emperor of Rome, Nero.  Nero was no friend to Christianity, especially towards the end of his reign, yet Paul tells us to pray for our civic leaders, obey them, counsel them, and seek their well being.  A far cry from storming the capitol building.
     Republican and Democrat are, of course, not the only fault lines in our society today.  We seem to be more divided and divisive than ever.  Anthropologists call this “tribalism” where we identify with our small, often counter-cultural, group more than we identify with the larger collective.  We seem to have forgotten that Republicans and Democrats are both still Americans.  Liberals and Conservatives share the same nation and same heritage.  Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians all share the freedoms this country affords.  Men and Women (and all the “genders” being promoted in between) are fellow citizens of this fair land.  So how do we break from our tribes to foster a greater sense of unity?  
     That’s really Paul’s point to the Philippians: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is not a new tribe that separates us from being good citizens, it is a new identity that reminds us that our citizenship in the USofA is temporary, but that of heaven is permanent.  No “green card” needed for heavenly access, just faith.  And that faith, the hope of our Savior’s return, influences how we treat the authorities that God has placed over us.  Even Nero was doing God’s bidding and working according to His plan, even if the Emperor could never even imagine it being so.  Without Paul’s imprisonment, we wouldn’t have the imprisonment letters.  Without the persecutions, we would not have the witness and the example of the martyrs.  Without the struggles there would not have been the explosive growth seen in the first three centuries.  Without missionaries holding fast to their citizenship in heaven, the “barbarian” kings of Europe would never have been evangelized and Europe would have remained pagan.
     So what does it mean to be a Christian citizen?  Well the first thing would be to obey those whom God has placed in authority over you (Rom. 13:1-2).  We don’t have to agree with the laws, nor do we need to like them, but it is our duty both as to defend sedition and rebellion (or violent protest), but we must be clear about when civil disobedience is allowable.  We can, and in fact are duty bound to, break the law when that law commands us to violate God’s law or forbids us to do what God has commanded.  Then, and only then, may we violate the laws of men and only for the specific law that is contrary to God’s command.  A law or practice that allows for violation of God’s Word, but does not command it, is not cause to violate the laws of the state.  For example, there is a huge difference between a government allowing for abortion (USA) and one that mandates abortion (China).  And at no time are other violations of either the laws of God or of men allowable.  We can protest, that is the law of the land, but we cannot assault (5th Commandment), vandalize (7th Commandment), spread misinformation on Facebook or elsewhere (8th Commandment), or curse (2nd Commandment).  Nowhere in Scripture is armed rebellion against duly ordained governments endorsed, not even with the persecutions under Rome.
     So can Christians protest against injustice and a government which is harming its people?  Certainly!  One might also argue that we have an obligation to our neighbor to see that justice (not vengeance - that belongs to God alone) is done.  But how we do that is important.  Martin Luther King Jr is considered a hero not just for the protests, but that they were non-violent (at least on the part of the protesters).  To “peacefully assemble to seek redress of grievances” is one of the rights granted by the Constitution.  We are blessed to have this right and should use it when we see laws, policies, institutions, government activities, etc which dishonor the value of any human being made in the image of God.  Silence in the face of injustice is also NOT a Christian option.
     Another way of being a Christian citizen is to use the process built into the laws of the land to change those laws or provisions which we find abhorrent. We have every right to “pester” our representatives and make sure they know how we feel on specific issues.  If our representatives will not act to address the issue, we can call for a referendum vote.  Gather enough signatures on a petition to ____ and it, by law, must be put on the ballot for the next voting cycle.  This may not be easy; New Jersey requires 10,000 confirmed signatures for a ballot referendum and federal laws require 1,000,000 verified signatures.  But just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it can’t be done.  
While on the subject of election cycles, vote!  This is the primary way to live out one’s calling as an American Christian.  Don’t like what our leaders are doing or have done, vote them out of office and vote in someone who is aligned with your values.  Again, not always easy as many times our elections are a decision on the lesser of two evils, but still an evil.  If that seems helpless, you could always run for office yourself.  There’s no Scriptural mandate saying one cannot be both a Christian and a mayor or senator or even president.  
     One thing we can all do is to pray for our leaders - all of ‘em, even the ones we don’t like or didn’t vote for.  Paul tells the Romans to pray for the very emperor who will take his head off in a few months.  Republican or Democrat (even Libertarians and Independents) can all pray not just for the man or woman in authority, but especially for the office they hold.  In a country such as ours, in days such as we find ourselves in, these leaders will need all the wisdom, grace, strength, and forgiveness heaven has to give.  From the local School Board rep to #46, these leaders need to be lifted up in prayer.  So I’ll end this blog with a prayer for our leaders. 
 
    Lord, keep this nation under Your care.  Bless the leaders of our land that we may be a people at peace among ourselves, and a blessing to the other nations of the earth.  Grant that we may choose trustworthy leaders, contribute to wise decisions for the general welfare, uphold justice for all people, and serve You faithfully in our day; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.  Amen. 

      Aaron took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.  Then they [the Israelites] said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”  When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”  So the next day the people arose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings.  Afterwards they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.    
                                                                                                                                      - Exodus 32:4-6
 
     Last blog we started looking at some of our Christmas traditions and seeing how many of them have little or nothing to do with the birth of Christ.  HOW we celebrate Christmas can be either sinful or sacred, and many times the pagan practices have been given Christian meaning (they’ve been baptized so to speak).  Yet it’s still very easy to fall into the pagan ways of the land in which we are living.  To help us avoid acting in ignorance, let’s spend a few more moments examining the history of many of our holiday festivities and whether they are worthy of Christian practice.
     We’ll start with one which has always been pagan and continues to be, even widely accepted - that of stealing a kiss under the mistletoe.  Mistletoe is a parasitic vine which is native to northern Europe and grows exclusively on oak and ash trees. This plant was sacred to the Druids of Celtic Europe, and is yet a primary component of modern druidism.  As the druids met in ash groves (you probably know the tune “The Ash Grove” from the hymn Sent Forth by God’s Blessing), mistletoe was also commonly there.  But mistletoe could only be cut with a silver sickle on the night of a full moon, then it could be used for fertility rites.  As the white berries resemble drops of male reproductive fluid and the shape of the leaves resemble the external female genitalia, the law of sympathetic magic states that what appears in nature would then produce what it resembles.  Infertile couples would drink a mistletoe tea (now known to be poisonous) and lie on a bed of mistletoe to procreate.  I guess we should be thankful that in the intervening centuries it’s been toned down to just a kiss under the mistletoe.  A great many in our culture, even Christians, still hang a spring of this poisonous plant and it appears in many Christmas songs as well (…let there be snow, and mistletoe, and presents under the tree).  
     Speaking of presents under the tree, who came up with the idea of deforesting large areas for holiday decorations?  It was none other than Martin Luther, though he was just practicing a Christianized version of a tradition that goes back to Yule celebrations in Scandanavia a couple thousand years before his time.  To the Norse, trees have a special place in their theology, especially Ygdrassil, the World Tree which held Odin for three days so he could learn about runes and bring writing to humankind.  In it’s branches this tree also holds all the “worlds” of heaven (Asgard), earth and other inhabited planets (Midgaard), the worlds of frost / punishment (Jotenheim) and the other 6 planes of existence.  At the festival of Yule, which is on the eve of the first full moon following the Winter Solstice, it was common practice for the warriors to head to the woods (since it wasn’t battle season) and use their axes to chop down the largest tree they could find - usually a Norwegian Spruce or member of the evergreen family.  This tree would be carried back by the soldiers / raiders and set up in the town square.  Bethrothal notes and gifts, ribbons, fruits, sausages, and the like would be placed on the tree for the Yule celebrations.  Yule would last for 12 days, during which time the foods hung on the tree would be eated and it was not uncommon for icicles to form on the branches (tinsel). We can thank the Vikings (ouffda!) for bringing this tradition to Northern Europe in the ninth and tenth Centnturies.  
     During the Yule ceremony, the tree from last year would be used to start and to fuel a bonfire which was kept burning for the whole 12 day celebration.  Hence the tradition of the yule log was started many hundreds of years before those people heard about the Christ.
     As mentioned above, Martin Luther is associated with the Christmas tree as we know it now.  According to Luther legend, Hans (Martin’s father) was home from the mines feeling ill one winter’s evening.  As a young Martin was completing his evening chores, he looked out and saw the starlight twinkling through the boughs of the evergreens around their home.  Wanting his father to share in that experience, he cut down a tree and brought it in the house.  He added candles to the branches to simulate the starlight, and hung apples from the branches.  He would later add Christian meanings to all these things as the tree’s shape makes an arrow pointing to heaven from which our Savior came.  The branches are green while all other trees have lost their leaves and appear dead, thus symbolizing the eternal life which is ours in Christ Jesus.  The fruits could be the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or, more likely, the fruits of the Tree of Life in heaven where the fruits are borne every month and the leaves are for the healing of the nations (Rev. 22:2)  The bright ribbons and lights represent the Light of life coming into the world (John 1:4).  This is a prime example of a pagan practice being sanctified by Christians.
     Skipping ahead 500 years, the Christmas tree has become the very symbol of our holiday (it’s easier to draw than a manger).  But it is a relatively new addition to Christian decorating designs and would NEVER have been found in a sanctuary until the 20th century.  In 1824 a Leipzig organist named Ernst Anschutz wrote the song “O Tennenbaum”, which in it’s later verses describes the Christian symbolism now associated with the evergreen.  Soon after that, the Christmas tree as we know it came to England when Queen Victoria’s German husband, Albert, brought an evergreen into Westminster Palace (and later to Buckingham).  As Victoria was quite the trend setter, soon everyone wanted an evergreen in their house.  The fashion hopped the pond to the Americas and Christmas trees, once only found in homes of German immigrants, became mainstream.  New York got its first Christmas tree in 1931.  This is now so much a part of our culture and the sight and smell of the tree so comforting that this year Christmas trees were sold out in many places by the first weekend in December.  I won’t discuss the “real” and “fake” tree controversy here.
     One of the traditions which is uniquely Christian is the practice of putting candles (or oil lamps) in the window .  This was Christian code during times of persecution both during the Roman Empire and later in pagan countries like Bohemia during the time of Good King Wenceslaus (when his pagan stepmother Ludmilla reigned in the ninth century).  The candle in the window meant that the room with that window was open for any traveller who needed lodging or was fleeing persecution.  The light (see John 1:4 again) meant that a Christian could sleep safely under that roof.  This was part of the Christian admonition to “practice hospitality”, which has fallen by the wayside a bit in our era.  The lights on the outside of our houses also have their origins in stating that this is an abode of refuge and goodwill - though I’m not sure if that holds true for the Griswold house and those like it.  
     There are many other traditions we celebrate around the holidays - ringing in the new year, feasts and special foods served especially at Christmas (based on Dickens and Victorian tastes), carols, and the like.  I encourage you to look at the origins and meanings of these things as you prepare to welcome our newborn King, Jesus.
                                           - Pastor Brian

 
     These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given to you to possess -- You must not worship the Lord, your God, in the way that {those nations} do.  But when you have driven them out and settled in their land, and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods?  We will do the same.”  You must not worship the Lord, your God, in their way, because in worshiping their gods they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates.  - Dt. 12: 1,4, 30-31
 
     Are you ready to celebrate Christmas?  Should we be celebrating Christmas?  The title of this month’s blog might be laughed off, but it is a serious question.  Could it possibly be a sin to celebrate Christmas?  It sort of depends on how one defines Christmas and what kind(s) of celebration we’re talking about.  If we take the God’s Word as recorded in Deuteronomy, cited above, as the immutable and authoritative rule, source, and norm, for all of faith and life, then maybe the question is worth taking some time to answer.
     One of the first things to note is that for many centuries Christmas was not celebrated at all.  Certainly there was the holy feast of the Nativity, but that was an optional feast listed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD.  The day was observed, but with about as much emphasis as we put on Ascension Day or the feast of the Epiphany (more on 12th night next month).  Many times throughout the middle ages the celebration of Christmas was outlawed, simply because the celebrations were too worldly - a drunken orgy is not godly worship.  Many of the newly emerging Protestant Church bodies did not celebrate Christmas.  This is most clearly seen in our own Revolutionary War accounts when George Washington attacked Trenton on Christmas Day.  The Hessians (German Lutheran mercenaries) were recovering from their celebrations of Christmas Eve.  Our “hero” attacked a bunch of worn out, hungover troops and Washington’s troops didn’t observe Christmas.  Many of the colonies had restrictions on the celebrations at Christmas, if they allowed them at all.  There is no account of the Pilgrims - made  popular with last month’s holiday - ever celebrating our Lord’s birth.  This was primarily a Lutheran and Roman Catholic observance - until Queen Victoria.
     In the Victorian era, many of our beloved Christmas traditions came to be mainstream, largely through Victoria’s German Lutheran husband, Prince Albert.  He brought the Christmas tree to England, and it didn’t take long to spread to America.  It was Albert who brought the traditions and legends surrounding St. Nicolaus and the “stocking all hung by the chimney with care” from the Low Countries of Northern Europe.  A quick reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” will show just how quickly many of our “traditional” observances took off in the United States.  But are these traditions God pleasing?  Are they observances and rites based on “the land you have come to possess” and culturally derived?  Can they actually diminish what Christmas is all about?  Let’s look at a few of these and see.
     Let’s start with the one that launches the “culture wars” every year - is it OK to say “Merry Christmas”?  There is no legal requirement to only say “happy holidays”.  There is no legal restriction for you, as an individual, to wish someone a merry Christmas.  There may be restrictions as a representative of a company or government agency, but not as an individual.  Political correctness and theological correctness do not always go hand-in-hand.  You’ll have to decide whom to serve.
     Now we know the big thing about Christmas, especially for an 8 year old, is not the Nativity, but the presents under the tree and what shows up in the stocking.  As the great lyricist Tom Lehrer put it, “It doesn't matter how sincere it is, nor how heartfelt the spirit; Sentiment will not endear it, what's important is the price! Hark the Herald Tribune sings, Advertising wondrous things.   God rest you merry, merchants, may you make the Yuletide pay.    Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!”  Black Friday (which actually started just after Halloween this year) got its name from the fact that with the seasonal gift shopping, a merchant’s ledger would go from red (loss) to black (profit).  Even during this current economic downturn, Americans will take on an added tens of millions of debt to get “just the right present” for Christmas.  So are we listening to the voice of the prophets or the voice of the profits?  We may well look at this and ask as Charlie Brown did, “Can’t anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?”  If we look at the nation around us and our capitalistic, cultural values, Christmas is all about the amount of money spent on gifts.  Is this God pleasing, or is it a realization of the warnings of Deuteronomy 12?  For many it is the latter.
     I have no problem with gift giving, and it is a reflection of the gifts the Wise Men brought to Jesus (bling, perfume, scented candles).  But gift giving wasn’t done at Christmas - that waited until the appearance of the Magi at Epiphany or 12th Night.  The stuffing of stockings (actually wooden shoes) was the feast of St. Nicolaus on Dec. 5th.  So other than our timing being a little off, there’s nothing inherently sinful about exchanging gifts.  But what happens when that becomes the focus of the season?  I remember one Christmas my elder brother unwrapping the last of the presents and saying, “Well, Christmas is over now.”  I was thinking that on Christmas morning the celebrations and joy were just beginning - after all we have 12 days of Christmas for my true love to give to me… (I’ll take the pear tree, but you can keep the noisy, smelly partridge).  So is it sinful to exchange gifts?  It can be.  It really depends on the focus of the parties involved.  Is this something we do out of a response to God’s gift of His Son, or it is one upsmanship and trying to “buy” another’s love and affection?  Are we reflecting what God has done for us in sending His Son, or are we just mimicking the culture around us and playing to its values?
     Along with presents, we should probably tackle the issue of Santa Claus.  Did you realize that if you rearrange a few letters Santa becomes Satan?  Coincidence?  The “right jolly old elf” is an invention of Clement C. Moore and the Coca-Cola company.  The real St. Nicholas (Niclaus in Moravia) is a fascinating saint of the patristic period and one of my top 3 faves (Padraig and Francis of Assissi are the other two).  According to legend, he saved three boys from being pickled in a vat of herring, 3 girls from a life of prostitution, and calmed storms at sea.  He would regularly be seen in his red bishops robes (Cardinals would wear the red after the 1200’s) carrying a sack of food and toys on his back.  The reindeer came from Norse mythology and aren’t associated with the real St. Nick.  My favorite story, and this is backed up by witnesses to it, was that at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, he became so enraged at the heretic, Arius, for denying the full divinity of Christ, that St. Nick got up and slugged Arius right in the face, breaking his nose.  Ah, theological debates were so much easier back then.
     Santa Claus certainly gets more attention than Jesus during this festive season.  Just a few years ago, our Christmas Eve theme was “Where’s the line to see Jesus?”  So I guess the real question is which Santa (saint) Nicolaus do you celebrate and how?  Certainly, Bishop of Nicholas of Myra is worthy of our study and emulation, but what about the guy in the soot covered red suit who breaks into your house through the chimney because he says he has something he wants to give your children so long as they sit on his lap?  What kind of parent are you!  Can Christians “worship” Santa Claus and “pray” to him for what they want for Christmas, or is that crossing the line as we were warned about in Deut. 12?  Is there a way we can celebrate the passion and compassion of this 4th century saint, without getting wrapped up in the modern caricature that bears his name?  Some families, to avoid behaving the way the world does, forego the hanging of stockings.  Others celebrate the life and work of Nicholas on his feast day earlier in the month.  But most don’t see the conflict of “practicing what you preach” and just go along with the way the culture does things.
     So back to our original question: Is it a sin to celebrate Christmas?  Well, no.  We should celebrate the fact that God sent His only begotten Son into the flesh so He could die in payment for our sins (only one Christmas carol mentions the passion btw).  We should rejoice in the “glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people”.  But HOW we do so can lead to sin or at least a diminishment of what this holy season is all about.  Next blog we’ll take up some of the obviously pagan elements that have crept into our winter solstice celebrations like Christmas trees, yule logs, eggnog, holly and ivy, putting lights on the house and candles in the window and the like.  Until then, I hope your days are merry and bright.
 
                                              - Pastor Brian

     [Jesus said] “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.” 
                                                                                                                          - Matthew 6:24
    As we saw last time, the idols that have infiltrated our faith are falling left and right under the stress and changes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.  We looked at the falicy of thinking “it can’t happen to me” or “that only happens to ___ people”.  With that we tore down the idol of modern medicine and the belief that there’s a pill for whatever ails you.  We also looked at the changes in family dynamics as children did school from home and the family was “cooped up” for months on end and the grandparents and other extended family couldn’t be visited.  This time we’ll look at a couple more idols removed from their thrones by a microscopic virus.
   When Covid-19 first landed on our shores in a few nursing homes in the Seattle area, very few thought it would spread with such rapidity throughout the country.  By the middle of March, stay at home orders were issued with fines and penalties for non-compliance.  Restaurants, clothing stores, malls, parks, and all manner of places for doing business were shut down overnight.  Back then we were told it would only be for 14 days to “flatten the curve”, but that two weeks turned into two months and now it looks like there will be business restrictions for a year or more. Do you remember the last movie you saw in a cinema?  The last live show / concert?  
    Suddenly those who build their lives around their work found their most important measure of self (and self worth) were floundering.  It’s not just the economic impact of closed businesses that show them to be an idol, it’s how they affect our attitudes and identities.  If I thought of myself first and foremost as a __(insert vocation here)___, and then that business was shuttered by the government, my sense of self is shaken and needs to be reexamined.  Who am I if I’m not working in a particular field?  Am I really not an essential worker?
    Of course there is the financial side of it too.  The government stepped in with
stimulus checks, loan forbearance, increased unemployment benefits and the like, but all that doesn’t tackle the spiritual dimension of setting one’s vocation as one’s god. When I “fear, love, and trust in” my ability to earn an income that takes care of all my needs - what do I need God for?  Maybe when I die and want to get to heaven, but He’s pretty irrelevant in my day to day life - until the idol falls.  This idol of money and I must obey my master (making more $) is very pervasive in our land.  Greed and discontent and jealousy over the fortunes of others (why do they get an extra $600 week while I have to work at minimum wage?) were suddenly revealed for the idols they are. When this idol was overthrown by Covid-19 it led to many other disruptions.
    Yet we have known the dangers of putting money before God since Moses carried the two tablets of the Law down from Mt. Sinai.  Jesus warns against the Canaanite god “Mammon” in the reading cited above.  Paul instructs Timothy to be on guard as “the love of money is a root of all forms of evil” (I Tim. 6:10).  Greed even made it to the list of 7 deadly sins in the middle ages.  Yet this god shows no signs of going away anytime soon in our consumer driven, capitalistic society.  Perhaps it’s a good thing to have runs on toilet paper and canned goods, to have one’s paycheck reduced to 60% of what one previously earned, and other means of “involuntary simplicity”.  By doing this we see what is most important in life - and it’s not the pursuit of wealth.  We come to see how we are reliant on God, not just for salvation and eternal life, but also for “our daily bread.”  We have learned, reluctantly at first, that the really important things in life are things that money cannot buy.  Maybe an economic downturn was just we as a society needed.
    Related to this is a personal idol, and idol I did not realize existed until it was pointed out at the Doxology retreat I attended in October.  This idol remained firmly enthroned throughout the early days of the pandemic and demanded my offerings of love and devotion.  The idol was myself.  What hit me like a cannonball as worship was forbidden (or fined heavily if you gathered with more than 10 people) was the fact that Church and all it does to help people in times of crisis was deemed “Non-Essential” - yet liquor stores, racetracks, and strip clubs could remain operational.  If the Church is not essential, then those who work in the church are deemed non essential employees.  In short - I don’t matter to this culture.  This sense of being non-essential was compounded by the fact that I was still working, but not getting paid (no offerings = no salary).  We made sure every member of the congregation got a phone call every week or 10 days to see how they were weathering the Covid storm, but Michelle and I got zero phone calls to see how we were doing, even though she was a front line worker and I was a high risk candidate.
    The demon of self-pity and self-loathing was firmly enthroned.  I don’t know how many weeks or months I was stuck in this “funk” of “nothing you do matters to anyone.”  When I received word that Pastor Merz was taking a call to Montana and Pastor Serina was leaving the same week for CTCR in St. Louis, I went back to my Lutheran Confessions and Walther and began to read again what the church is and what church work is all about.  Then it hit me; It’s not about me, it never has been, it never shall be (world without end. Amen.?)  All that matters is that the good news of new life in Christ Jesus is being boldly proclaimed - by Zoom or Facebook live if need be.  How governor Murphy feels about this being essential or not is really quite irrelevant.  How the culture, both within and outside of the church, receives this message is not my responsibility.  My worth is not tied to how well received this Gospel is by others.  All that matters is that I am, and ever shall be, a blood-bought child of God, saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.  Salaries, recognition, numbers online, all that stuff is just icing on the cupcake - they don’t really matter.
    Perhaps a healthy dose of humility was called for, even if it is bitter medicine.  When we turn inwards as individuals or as a congregation and forget the real task of which we get to take part, then maybe God steps in and uses these events like Covid-19 to get us to look outside of ourselves and to the salvation and well being of others.  For all the damage; emotional, spiritual, economic, relational, physical, etc. that this pandemic caused, maybe God can still use it to make some good come of it. God truly works in mysterious ways if this is the case.
    Now, the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects are not the only things that have happened in the last 7-8 months.  There are a few other idols which have not been shown for what they are by this crisis, but are certainly toppling now.  We’ll take a look at the idols of nature / eco-warriorism, social fabrics and race relations, and how God overthrows these idols as well in the next blog.

         [Jesus said] “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.” -                                                                                                                                                            Matthew 6:24
 
   As we saw last time, the idols that have infiltrated our faith are falling left and right under the stress and changes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.  We looked at the fallacy of thinking “it can’t happen to me” or “that only happens to ___ people”.  With that we tore down the idol of modern medicine and the belief that there’s a pill for whatever ails you.  We also looked at the changes in family dynamics as children did school from home and the family was “cooped up” for months on end and the grandparents and other extended family couldn’t be visited.  This time we’ll look at a couple more idols removed from their thrones by a microscopic virus.
   When Covid-19 first landed on our shores in a few nursing homes in the Seattle area, very few thought it would spread with such rapidity throughout the country.  By the middle of March, stay at home orders were issued with fines and penalties for non-compliance.  Restaurants, clothing stores, malls, parks, and all manner of places for doing business were shut down overnight.  Back then we were told it would only be for 14 days to “flatten the curve”, but that two weeks turned into two months and now it looks like there will be business restrictions for a year or more. Do you remember the last movie you saw in a cinema?  The last live show / concert?  
    Suddenly those who build their lives around their work found their most important measure of self (and self worth) were floundering.  It’s not just the economic impact of closed businesses that show them to be an idol, it’s how they affect our attitudes and identities.  If I thought of myself first and foremost as a __(insert vocation here)___, and then that business was shuttered by the government, my sense of self is shaken and needs to be reexamined.  Who am I if I’m not working in a particular field?  Am I really not an essential worker?
    Of course there is the financial side of it too.  The government stepped in with
stimulus checks, loan forbearance, increased unemployment benefits and the like, but all that doesn’t tackle the spiritual dimension of setting one’s vocation as one’s god. When I “fear, love, and trust in” my ability to earn an income that takes care of all my needs - what do I need God for?  Maybe when I die and want to get to heaven, but He’s pretty irrelevant in my day to day life - until the idol falls.  This idol of money and I must obey my master (making more $) is very pervasive in our land.  Greed and discontent and jealousy over the fortunes of others (why do they get an extra $600 week while I have to work at minimum wage?) were suddenly revealed for the idols they are. When this idol was overthrown by Covid-19 it led to many other disruptions.
    Yet we have known the dangers of putting money before God since Moses carried the two tablets of the Law down from Mt. Sinai.  Jesus warns against the Canaanite god “Mammon” in the reading cited above.  Paul instructs Timothy to be on guard as “the love of money is a root of all forms of evil” (I Tim. 6:10).  Greed even made it to the list of 7 deadly sins in the middle ages.  Yet this god shows no signs of going away anytime soon in our consumer driven, capitalistic society.  Perhaps it’s a good thing to have runs on toilet paper and canned goods, to have one’s paycheck reduced to 60% of what one previously earned, and other means of “involuntary simplicity”.  By doing this we see what is most important in life - and it’s not the pursuit of wealth.  We come to see how we are reliant on God, not just for salvation and eternal life, but also for “our daily bread.”  We have learned, reluctantly at first, that the really important things in life are things that money cannot buy.  Maybe an economic downturn was just we as a society needed.
    Related to this is a personal idol, and idol I did not realize existed until it was pointed out at the Doxology retreat I attended in October.  This idol remained firmly enthroned throughout the early days of the pandemic and demanded my offerings of love and devotion.  The idol was myself.  What hit me like a cannonball as worship was forbidden (or fined heavily if you gathered with more than 10 people) was the fact that Church and all it does to help people in times of crisis was deemed “Non-Essential” - yet liquor stores, racetracks, and strip clubs could remain operational.  If the Church is not essential, then those who work in the church are deemed non essential employees.  In short - I don’t matter to this culture.  This sense of being non-essential was compounded by the fact that I was still working, but not getting paid (no offerings = no salary).  We made sure every member of the congregation got a phone call every week or 10 days to see how they were weathering the Covid storm, but Michelle and I got zero phone calls to see how we were doing, even though she was a front line worker and I was a high risk candidate.
    The demon of self-pity and self-loathing was firmly enthroned.  I don’t know how many weeks or months I was stuck in this “funk” of “nothing you do matters to anyone.”  When I received word that Pastor Merz was taking a call to Montana and Pastor Serina was leaving the same week for CTCR in St. Louis, I went back to my Lutheran Confessions and Walther and began to read again what the church is and what church work is all about.  Then it hit me; It’s not about me, it never has been, it never shall be (world without end. Amen.?)  All that matters is that the good news of new life in Christ Jesus is being boldly proclaimed - by Zoom or Facebook live if need be.  How governor Murphy feels about this being essential or not is really quite irrelevant.  How the culture, both within and outside of the church, receives this message is not my responsibility.  My worth is not tied to how well received this Gospel is by others.  All that matters is that I am, and ever shall be, a blood-bought child of God, saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.  Salaries, recognition, numbers online, all that stuff is just icing on the cupcake - they don’t really matter.
    Perhaps a healthy dose of humility was called for, even if it is bitter medicine.  When we turn inwards as individuals or as a congregation and forget the real task of which we get to take part, then maybe God steps in and uses these events like Covid-19 to get us to look outside of ourselves and to the salvation and well being of others.  For all the damage; emotional, spiritual, economic, relational, physical, etc. that this pandemic caused, maybe God can still use it to make some good come of it. God truly works in mysterious ways if this is the case.
    Now, the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects are not the only things that have happened in the last 7-8 months.  There are a few other idols which have not been shown for what they are by this crisis, but are certainly toppling now.  We’ll take a look at the idols of nature / eco-warriorism, social fabrics and race relations, and how God overthrows these idols as well in the next blog.

​                                                                                            -Pastor Brian
 

                                             Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.  
                                                                                                                             -I John 5:21
 
     Keep yourselves from idols.  Sounds pretty easy right?  I mean when was the last time you saw an idol in the shape of a man, woman, beast or bird?  Come across any Asherah poles lately?  Idols are just an Old Testament thing - or so we’d like to think.  In the explanation to the first Commandment, Luther reminds us that an idol is anything we fear, love, or trust in more than the Triune God.  There are still a great many idols out there - most of which don’t have temples or statues.
     As we enter the 6th month of this pandemic, we see the world getting angrier and more divided.  BLM, QAnon, Antifa, Republican, Democrat, Christian, Atheist, we all have our titles and tribes and these tribes seem to be increasingly violent towards each other.  Civil unrest is not surprising during an election year, but 2020 seems different; almost as if the angst is caused by something else.  Of course we have Covid-19 and all the changes that wrought, and maybe that’s the root cause.  Perhaps Covid-19 and the response to it have exposed our idols for what they are.
   One of our modern idols, one that affects young people in particular, is the idol youthful indestructibility. At the outset the younger members of society felt as if Covid could not affect them, or if it did it would be no worse than the flu - something they’d get over without too much discomfort.  They even coined a new term for their god of perpetual health by calling this virus, “Boomer remover” as it seemed to be especially deadly for those over 60.  Then Spring Break happened. The bars and beaches were packed.  Social distancing was unknown.  Suddenly hundreds and then thousands of people in their prime  got sick and many even died.  The god of “It won’t happen to me” was toppled as well as their worship of youth and mindset of immortality.  Suddenly they realized they are just as mortal in the face of this virus as an 80 year old.  The virus doesn’t discriminate, it will kill young and old alike.  This isn’t just a god of the young.  We have become accustomed to the wonders of modern medicine which would seem like a miracle to those only a century before us.  If we get sick, or have an accident, or catch a “bug” all we need to do is take the right pill or have the right surgery or procedure and then we can resume our lives as usual with no disruption to our daily patterns. But there is no “cure” for Covid.  All we can do is treat the symptoms with various levels of success and hope that our bodies can fight off the virus.  There is no pill that is 100% effective at stopping it, no procedure that can correct the damage it causes, not even a vaccine that works without catastrophic side effects (at least not yet, though trials continue).  All we can do is change our lifestyles to stay 6 ft (or more) apart, wear masks everywhere we go, and wash our hands often or use copious amounts of alcohol based sanitizer - and even that isn’t a certainty of protection.  
    The idol of invulnerability has been cast down.  Whenever an idol falls, those who feared, loved, and trusted in it understandably become anxious, fearful, and angry. Much of the violence and vitriol we see in our world today has nothing to do with the cause(s) for which the perpetrators claim.  You don’t hold a police department accountable by defunding it and burning down its stations.  You don’t show that Black Lives Matter by demolishing the businesses of black business owners.  When your “god” fails to save you and that / those which you love, it’s natural to look for a savior (or a devil) elsewhere.  So when idols fall, where do you turn?
     Christians are well aware of this idol and refuse to worship it.  We know we are mortal and that we have all sinned in some way, shape, or form, both in what we have done (commission) and in what we have left undone (omission).  We know the penalty or wages of sin is death and that death will eventually come to all of us.  But our God is not a god of the dead but of the living.  He raised the body of His crucified, dehydrated, shock-ridden, spear punctured, Son to life again on the third which has been perfected just as Christ’s body is.  This is our hope when we say “I believe…in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.”  We know the earthly god of immortality and invulnerability to be just another idol.
    Another of the idols Covid-19 has cast down is one that many of us, even regular church-goers, bow down to.  That is the idol of family.  If you have ever skipped out on church or refused to serve God n some way to see your grandchild’s soccer game or go to a family reunion, or just have some “family time” during the worship hour; then you have offered your pinch of incense to this idol.  Now there’s nothing wrong with loving your family or spending time with them, in fact we are commanded to honor our fathers and mothers and to love our children and raise them in the fear and knowledge of the Lord (proverbs1:7 and others).  Jesus makes it plain that family can become an idol when He says, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;” (Mt. 10:37).  The key phrase in Jesus’ teaching is “more than me”; if family comes before God, we’ve got things in the wrong order.
    Covid has certainly changed family dynamics.  At the outset of the lockdowns and other mitigation strategies, we were expecting a baby boom by year’s end.  But just the opposite has come to pass.  Recent surveys show that marital intimacy has precipitously declined in this pandemic, down as much as 60% according to some results (too much of a good thing?).  Divorces, especially online divorces, have increased 140% compared to last August (last month data was available).  Domestic and child abuse are on the rise and parents having to suddenly become teachers and full time care givers has caused cracks in the family unit to open to full blown fissures.  For many months, children could not see their grandparents, cousins, and, in the case of blended families, their step or half siblings. School and community sports were put on hold as were graduations, weddings, reunions, and other gatherings.  Even funerals were restricted and many families never got a chance to say good-bye or find closure during the Covid-19 months.  All it took was a virus one-billionth our size affecting less than 10% of the population to cast this idol from its throne.
    While some families are seeing the fallacy of this idol, others have been strengthened by having to spend more time together.  Parents and children who often passed each other by as one went to school or sports and the other went to work are now getting to know one another.  When God is at the center of the family and their trust is in Him, then the inconveniences of the Covid-19 era are not earth shattering.  As we resume worship, more families are seeking baptism, weddings, confirmations, and Christian education to strengthen their families and the understanding of the God who makes spouses, “no longer two but one.” (Mt. 19:6).  Turning from an idol back to the Living God will always yield better results than what the idol promises.
    Of course there are a great many more idols that have been knocked off their pedestals these last few months, but just take a few moments and consider what it is that you “fear, love, and trust in…above all other things.”.  In the next installment we’ll continue looking at some of these idols in their post-Covid state as well as an idol of my own making that I just recently realized had become an idol in my life.    
    Until that time, I’ll leave you with John’s words, “Children, keep yourselves from idols.”  
​                                                                                                             -Amen.

     Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness.  He sends you abundant showers, as before, both autumn and spring rains.  The threshing floor will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
​                                                                                                                            - Joel 2:23-24
 
   According to my outdoor thermometer, it dropped down to 47 degrees last night, and my tomatoes were not happy.  When I let the dogs out at 7 AM, I could see my breath.  I expect this to happen in September sometime, just not as early as it happened this year.  My walnut tree is already turning yellow and losing leaves and for the first time since April, I had to grab a jacket when I left the house.  This can mean only one thing; Fall has fallen upon us.
    It’s definitely a time for the changing of the seasons, even if Covid-19 is still present and active and the official start of Fall (autumnal equinox) is still a week away on Sept. 22.  Monday night Football has begun (as have Sunday and Thursday games - go Patriots!).  Baseball is winding down and getting into playoff mode, even though the season was delayed due to Covid.  School has started again, though in hybrid, online, and / or in person modes.  Beach-going is over for the year and summer vacations are done.  While we may miss summer and all its activities and joys, we rejoice in the coming of the autumn season.
    Back in Joel’s day there was a rejoicing at the coming of autumn as well.  After a long and dry summer, the rainy season would begin.  Crops would swell and the grapes ripen for pressing into wine.  Last year’s spring calves and lambs would now be at “market weight” and provide fats and proteins for the coming long dark and cold of winter.  It was a time when wheat sown in the spring would be harvested and ground into flour to give us our daily bread.  There is an abundance to autumn that just doesn’t happen in any other season of the year.  In our time and place, we may look forward to “pumpkin spice” ____ (well, everything seems to be pumpkin spice now) as well as apple picking, pumpkin picking, fall mums and other late blooming flowers, hayrides, bonfires, and the distinctively fall smell to the air.
    It is a change of season for the Church as well.  We entered Pentecost just before the start of summer and will remain in the season until November 29 when a new Church year begins.  So while we may not change the altar paraments to a new color, the texts and themes of our weekly readings have undergone a change of focus.  For the next several weeks, we have a prelude of the coming end times as many of the parables and miracle accounts speak of “…so it will be when the Son of Man comes in His glory….”  As we enter into October the theme shifts to one of harvests and reaping a harvest of souls for Christ or bearing fruit of the Kingdom of heaven.  In November, as we count down the last few weeks of the Church year, we get to the specifics of Christ’s second coming in glory to judge both the quick and the dead.  Liturgically it’s still Pentecost, but there is a definite change of seasons as well.
    It is a time of transition in our organizational life as well.  Until Reformation Day (Oct. 25) and probably for some time after that, we will be sharing our pastor with Our Savior, Stanhope.  Soon it will be time to look to 2021 and start setting our ministry goals and what resources we’ll need to meet those goals (aka budget).  After many seasons of warnings about declining worship attendance, participation in the “nuts & bolts” of running the church as an institution (officers, programs, etc), reduced giving, and other reductions, it is certain that we cannot enter 2021 with the same mindset and organization we did for 2018.  What 2021 will look like, we don’t know yet.  It will certainly be different than 2011 as we are no longer the congregation we were ten years ago.  Fall is when this transition begins to take place
    But even though much may change, there are some things that will remain the same or at least very similar. The sun may rise later and set earlier each day throughout autumn, but it still rises in the east and sets in the west each day.  The days may be mild (instead of brutally hot) and the nights get chilly - but this happens every autumn and is not unexpected.  Our service time may have changed from 10:00 to 10:45 to allow pastor to preach at Stanhope at 9:00, but we still hear God’s Word in its fullness, truth, and purity each week and get to receive the Sacrament administered according to Christ's institution each week.  Add to this all the Covid-19 protocols and we see many things changing, yet remaining familiar.
    C. S. Lewis calls this “the Law of Undulation”.  In both Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, he highlights this fundamental law of how God works with us.  Every season is different, yet always the same.  Fall may or may not start on the equinox, but it always has certain things that typify Fall.  In November we’ll have new (maybe) political leaders, but we’ll still have our three branches of government.  Worship changes every week - different hymns, readings, sermons, prayers - but it is always the same - Invocation, God’s Word, our response, the Lord’s Supper, blessing.  This Law of Undulation is universal throughout our world, sacred and secular.  Thus one may say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  We’ll look more at this Law of Undulation in our weekly Table Talk on September 23 on Zoom - I hope you’ll join us for it.
    In the meantime, pull out your sweaters and pack away your shorts, rake leaves, go for a drive through the beautiful Fall scenery as the leaves show God’s creative wonders.  Some things may change, but God’s love for us endures forever.  Amen.

                                                                                      Pastor Brian

    Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may honor Your name.   - Psalm 86:11 

    When did your education come to an end?  High school?  College?  On the job training?  When did you stop learning?  This can be very difficult to answer as our world is always changing and we’re always learning new things.  Formal, institutional instruction may end with a degree, but that doesn’t mean the learning has stopped.  I consider it a wasted day if I haven’t picked up at least one piece of information I didn’t know before.  Granted, some may say that I’m a walking compendium of useless information (like how many stomachs a sheep has and the names of all 4 of them), but our learning is never supposed to come to an end.
    The last couple of weeks we looked at the upcoming school year and colleges reopening in the midst of Covid-19.  Last week we looked at how our preschool provides more than just a basic education to the children and families we serve. Today I’d like to explore why we still need to keep learning even as adults.  We see the need for this in the worldly realm as more than 1/3 of students in colleges and universities now (especially online) are adults in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s training for a new career.  No longer do we go to school for x years, get a job in ___ field, and then stay with that employer throughout our lives.  It is now expected that a member of generation z (the one that comes after the Millennials) will change careers at least 4 times throughout life.  This isn’t just changing jobs or companies, this is changing one’s career field; like going from an accountant to a mechanical engineer.  Each of these vocations requires a certain skill set and training to be proficient.
    But what about faith learning.  Certainly we learned all we need to know in Sunday School and Confirmation class.  As can be seen from Redeemer and other Sunday schools, less than 1/10th of the children “on the books” are partaking of Christian education weekly. Pew Research Co. has that number down to 1 out of 20 children overall.  It doesn’t get much better when they hit their teens and it’s time for Confirmation - 75% of children baptized never confirm their baptism.  And this carries through to adulthood.  Only about 1 in 10 Christians worshiping on a Sunday morning will attend a Bible class sometime during that week.  So it should come as no surprise that those who claim to be Christians really don’t know much about what the Bible says about the faith they hold.  This is also why those being trained in preaching (homiletics) are being taught to make their sermons “didactic” or “teachable”.  It’s the only time 90% of the people will receive any Bible instruction.
    Yet this is the polar opposite of what we find in both the Old and New testaments.  Moses commanded God’s people to “talk about these things when….” (Dt. 6) and saw all of life as an opportunity to learn more about God and His workings in our lives.  Jesus called His followers “disciples”, which is another name for students.  We are not just to follow Jesus or to believe in Him, we are meant to learn from Him and emulate His actions.  His disciples ranged in age from their late teens (John) to the late 30’s / early 40’s (Peter).  Even the great teacher, St. Paul, spent 12 years learning more about Jesus before beginning his missionary work. 
    In the early Church, one of the first things that was done was to set up Christian education centers, called monasteries, for the instruction of both young and old.  In the Celtic Christian tradition this education was offered regardless of gender - yes, those silly Celts even taught women to read and write; scandalous in the 400’s!  Luther would promote and encourage learning at all ages and even developed text books to aid in learning (Small Catechism for kids, Large Catechism for adults).  The point is, our learning about God and how to live as Christians never ends.
    But how do we do this in a post Covid-19 world?  We can’t all gather around a table shoulder to shoulder sharing Bibles and other resources.  Wiki, YouTube, and Google have their limitations.  Zoom could be an effective way of getting together while staying socially distanced - but there’s always background noise, technical glitches, and the like.  Facebook live and webinars (non interactive Zoom meetings) can work well so long as there aren’t too many questions.  So how are we to continue learning when in person instruction is out and technological teaching has its shortcomings?  
    The best way is the way it’s always been done - one on one with a mentor and a mentee. Most of the instruction we are told to do takes place in this one to one environment, usually a parent or grandparent passing down what they have learned to their offspring.  Yet those who experienced the homeschooling experiment of March to June realize that the parents need to be informed first to be able to teach.  Even if its not perfect, professor-level learning, the faith can be taught by letting the faith be caught.  Our lifestyle and example will teach far more than our words will.
    So will you walk the path the Lord has set, to walk in His ways as the Psalmists so often encourage?  Will you teach and share what you know, while still learning and growing in your faith yourself?  As we as a nation prepare to go “back to school” don’t let the new ways of learning make you a truant and leave you “simple”.  Join with us Sunday mornings for worship (online if that’s the safest option for you), on our Wednesday night Zoom devotions, or other ways of coming together to learn from Lord Jesus.  There’s plenty left to learn, let’s learn it together.  Amen.

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