Some Thoughts on Synodical Politics

A very wise and holy man once observed:

"If truth be told, my attitude towards all gatherings of bishops is to avoid them. I have never seen a good outcome to any synod, or a synod which produced deliverance from evils rather than the addition to them... Rivalries and maneouvres always prevail over reason.”

Anyone who has hung about Mother Mo for any length of time can completely sympathize with St. Gregory of Nazianzus' sentiment.

With a Synodical convention looming again this coming summer, the question arises what should we DO about the Synod and the current state of affairs?

Here's my suggested action-plan.

1. Trust not in princes, they are but mortal. And I don't care WHO your prince happens to be. The solution to what ails us is not politics, but repentance. And repentance happens via the preaching of the crushing law and the absolving Gospel, not the election of "the right" person.

2. Pray. Pray for your pastor, your parish, your circuit counselor, your district president, and your synodical president and other church leaders. Pray for them EVERY DAY. Pray for them to be faithful in proclaiming the Good News and in holding fast the apostolic doctrine; pray for them to be protected from the temptations of the enemy.

3. Humility. If there's one thing that reeks to high heaven in the whole mess, it is the pride with which "we" view "them." As though, "they're" just stupid, or unfaithful, or dishonest, or whatever. May the Lord forgive us all! Let's lose the pride that damns others - because that pride REALLY ends up damning us. Let us remember that our battle is never against "flesh and blood" but against "the principalities and powers."

4. Hope. The temptation to cynicism is great: Satan would really sell us on our situation being hopeless. And, of course, if it depended simply on us, it WOULD be. But the truth is that it doesn't. Our hope is the Word of God and the power of that Word to bring us to repentance, to keep us in repentance, and to lead us to ever greater faithfulness. To give up is to say: "The Word cannot effect a change here."

5. Show the Possibilities. Tired of hearing about how liturgical-minded folk don't care about mission? Me too. So let's show that not only do we care, but that we understand what the Church's mission is (rescuing idolators from false worship and bringing them into the worship of the Blessed Trinity, which alone IS life) and demonstrate a zeal in using the tools God has provided (the Gospel!) to reach out and liberate. Let's become not just people who subscribe to the Augsburg Confession; to borrow Schroeder's phrase: let's become Augsburg Confessors!

There's my five point plan. Anyone ready to join me?

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Faith alone unites us to our Savior, so that we derive our spiritual life, our justification, and our salvation, from Him, as the branches draw all their sustenance from the vine. - Johann Gerhard, *Spiritual Meditations* XII

Patristic Quote for the Day

Faith is a relational power or a relationship which brings about the immediate, perfect, and supranatural union of the believer with the God in whom he believes. - St. Maximos the Confessor - *Second Century on Various Texts* Philokalia II:189

Passion History, Part II

Here's Doctor Lee Maxwell's homily on the Second Part of the Passion History. He gave me permission to post it for the edification of any readers:

Wednesday of Reminiscere
Passion Account II (Gethsemane)

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Our Lord knew how difficult those three days would be for His disciples. He tried to prepare them ahead of time. He clearly told them what would happen to Him: “The Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (St. Matthew 20:18f)

And Jesus clearly told them what would happen to them that evening too. He, the Shepherd, would be struck, and they, the sheep, would be scattered. He knew that after He was arrested, His disciples would abandon Him and flee. But, good old Peter—he thought he was one of the strong ones, not the weak—he promises to stand by Jesus’ side through thick and thin: “Even if all the others forsake You, I will never forsake You.”

But our Lord knows the weakness of Peter’s flesh. He knows that Peter, and the others, would forsake Him and run away when the going really got tough. But He knows something else too: “Peter, My friend, before the rooster crows two times tonight, you will deny Me three times.” Peter bristles at those words and asserts even more strongly, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You!” And all the other disciples said the same thing.

Yes, the spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. And twice more that evening Jesus tried to warn them: “Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation.” But we know what happened, don’t we? After the soldiers seized Jesus and arrested Him, all the disciples abandoned Him and fled. But Jesus did not abandon them, or His mission. He forged ahead. He went on to drink the cup of His suffering and cross, because He knew that this was His Father’s will to bring about the salvation of the world.

And what about us? Do we watch and pray every day, so that we do not enter into temptation? Of course, we pray in the Our Father, “And lead us not into temptation.” We ask our heavenly Father to preserve us “so that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice.”

You see, this life is full of temptations. Some are obvious, but others are more subtle. But they all have this in common: The devil uses whatever means he can to drive a wedge between us and God, to get us to let go of God’s Word and go after whatever our little hearts desire. He uses the things of this world, like its cares and pleasures. But he also attacks our own sinful flesh, because he knows Jesus is right: The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

So, do we recognize temptation when it confronts us? Do we pray to God to strengthen our spirit and our flesh so that we can resist temptation? Do we avoid those things that God has forbidden, or do we expose ourselves to them so the tempter can work his power? St. James warns us about that: “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (1:14). It all begins with a thought. And when we entertain such sinful thoughts and delight in them—“when desire has conceived”—then we soon end up acting on them—“it gives birth to sin.” And if we go that far, then we have forsaken our Lord and fled from Him.

It is for this reason that our Lord forged ahead. He let Himself be betrayed and delivered over to those who condemned Him. He let Himself be mocked and scourged and crucified, all the while bearing the weight of the world’s sin. Yes, Caiaphas was right. It would be expedient that one Man should die for the people. Not only for that people, however, but for all people, suffering and dying on the cross for all, and then rising again on the third day to give them new life and a share in His Father’s Kingdom.

You were given that new life and that share in the Kingdom when you were baptized, which is where you died and rose again too. Remember the words of St. Paul? “We were buried with Him through Baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” What Christ did on the cross—an actual and real dying to sin—Baptism is for you—an actual and real dying to sin, a liberation from it. And so Paul’s urging, that “we also should walk in newness of life.”

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The Lord knows the weakness of your flesh too. As an antidote against that weakness, He gives you the gift of Himself: His very Body and Blood. And with His Body and Blood you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith to fortify you as you confront the temptations of the devil, the world, and your own flesh.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. As you continue your Lenten journey and prepare for the paschal feast, pray that you do not enter into temptation, and if you face it that you do not fall into sin. But if you do, remember that your Lord Jesus is waiting to receive you back through repentance and the forgiveness He won for you at the cross. He will cleanse your hearts and bring you to the fullness of grace that belongs to the children of God.

Daily

Striking, is it not, that the Larger Catechism twice speaks of the Eucharist as daily fare?

"Therefore, the Sacrament is given as a daily pasture and sustenance, that faith may refresh and strengthen itself so that it will not fall back in such a battle, but become ever stronger and stronger." LC V:24

"Then people will not let such a great treasure - daily administered and distributed among Christians - pass by unnoticed. So those who want to be Christians may prepare and receive this praise-worthy Sacrament often." LC V:39

Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs

Here's the bio from the LCMS website:

At the beginning of the third century, the Roman emperor Septimus Severus forbade conversions to Christianity. Among those disobeying that edict were Perpetua, a young noblewoman, and her maidservant Felicitas. Both were jailed at Carthage in North Africa along with three fellow Christians. During their imprisonment, Perpetua and Felicitas witnessed to their faith with such conviction that the officer in charge became a follower of Jesus. After making arrangements for the well-being of their children, Perpetua and Felicitas were executed on March 7, 203. Tradition holds that Perpetua showed mercy to her captors by falling on a sword because they could not bear to put her to death. The story of this martyrdom has been told ever since as an encouragement to persecuted Christians.

From the old text book the LCMS used to use to teach Church History to 8th graders:

"In most Christians the love for the Savior was stronger than family ties. They forsook parents, loved ones, and children rather than deny the Lord. Such was the case of Perpetua.

Perpetua was of noble birth. Through her own Christian mother she had been converted to Christianity. Perpetua was imprisoned shortly after giving birth to a child. All appeals by her heathen father to give up her faith were in vain. He asserted that he and the child, too, would be persecuted and tortured because of Perpetua's devotion to the cause of Christianity.

When Perpetua was condemned to die in the arena, her father pleaded with her again: 'Daughter, have pity on my gray hairs. Bring no such shame upon your father. Behold your child cannot live without your care. Do not bring ruin upon us all.'

The judge, beholding the father's grief, added his entreaties: 'Have mercy on the gray hairs of your father and on the tender age of your babe. Sacrifice to the emperor!' Perpetua affirmed: 'I am a Christian.'

She was thrown before the wild beasts, and when the executioner came to deal the deathblow, she guided his blade for the thrust to her heart." (The Church Through The Ages, page 269)

From the Brotherhood Prayerbook:

Today we remember Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, the martyrs.

Precious in the sight of the Lord: Is the death of His saints.
Jesus Christ the same; Yesterday, today, and forever.

Almighty God, who didst give Thy servants Perpetua and Felicitas boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we likewise may ever be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for His sake; through the same, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Whatever adversities then, whatever temptations, the faithful soul here suffers, let them be regarded not as a mark that God is reproving us for our sins, but rather that He is proving our faith. - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XL.

Patristic Quote for the Day

The Logos destroys the tyranny of the evil one, who dominates us through deceit, by triumphanty using as a weapon against him the flesh defeated in Adam. In this way he shows that what was once captured and made subject to death now captures the captor: by a nature death it destroys the captor's life and become a poison to him, making him vomit up all those he was able to swallow because he had the power of death. But to humankind it becomes life, like leaven in the dough impelling the whole nature to rise like dough in the resurrection of life. It was to confer this life that the Logos who was God became man - a truly unheard of thing - and willingly accepted the death of the flesh. - St. Maximos the Confessor, *On the Lord's Prayer* Philokalia II:289

If you've not checked out Gottesblog lately...

...don't miss the fascinating latest on 2 Cor. 2:10. Also the Latin has "in persona Christi"! Fr. Fritz' keen eye has definitely picked up an interesting phenomenon in modern translations on that one.

A Homily for Oculi

[I'm not preaching this Oculi - Pr. GeRue will have the honors at St. Paul this time round - but here is a homily for this Sunday from yesteryear upon the Gospel text: Luke 11:14-28]

Isn’t it weird? If you set out to be free and to live your life with no constraints and just do your own thing whenever and wherever you want, you end up a slave. Your own appetites end up ruling you and you have to obey them. You think: oh, just a little won’t hurt, and before long, you’re hooked, and Satan and his minions are having a field day with you. Porn. Drugs. Alcohol. Food. Gossip. Adultery. You name it. Freedom? Heck, no. Doing your own thing is just the broad and easy way that leads to your own destruction, to pain for those around you, and finally to death itself.

And yet is it not equally true that the path to real freedom is precisely in being Christ’s slave, His servant? A slave does the will of his master. To serve Christ is to renounce doing your own thing and living without contraint, to pray instead: “Thy will be done!” and to fight an ongoing, never ending war against your selfish desires. As our Epistle said: to dump “fornication, uncleaness, covetousness (which is idolatry), filthiness, foolish talking, coarse jesting” and to replace them with “giving of thanks” and offering up our lives in union with Christ’s offering of His life as a living sacrifice to God, to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us - THAT is the path to freedom. And to live that way is not really to live as a slave at all – it is to live as a beloved child of the heavenly Father, joyfully following God’s way.

Two paths, then. One landing you in bondage; the other leading you to freedom. One resulting in the permanent loss of the home you were made for – as St. Paul said: “Let no one deceive you with empty words; because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience.” The other leading directly to the home which God has prepared for you through His Son. Everyone of you is walking one path or the other, and none of us can pull off walking both at the same time; they face in opposite directions: toward heaven or toward hell. Which are you walking today?

Our Lord Christ knows how strong the grip of Satan can be in our lives. That’s why He described the devil in today’s Gospel as a strong man, who is armed, and guards his palace so that his goods are in peace. In other words, Satan is like an armed bandit, holed up inside of the human person who has given himself over his passions and let them rule him. And then the person is really helpless to do squat about it.

Possessed is a strong word, but it means that the devil’s in the driver’s seat and you’re just along for the ride. It’s when the realization hits you may have freely given up the driver’s seat, but you cannot freely take it over again. The one driving the car now is armed and means you no good; in fact, you are the loot he’s interested in stealing. He wants to own you, to possess you, to fill you with his own emptiness, bitterness and hatred.

Is there any hope then? If you find yourself in such a predicament? Yes! No hope in yourself, but great hope in Christ Jesus. That’s why He said: “But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth the spoils.” Jesus is that “stronger man.” And this is exactly what He has come to do – for the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. He came hunting for Satan and his angels. He overpowered them. He stripped them of the armor they were trusting in. And that’s how he began looting the strong man’s house.

Do you know how he stripped him of his armor he was trusting in? He did that on the cross where He shed His own blood! You see, THE armor Satan trusted in was his right to accuse, to wave your sin in God’s face and demand that He hand you over to hell as one whose life was forfeit. But by going to the cross your Lord suffered that hell and death which were the due punishment of the world’s sin – and He suffered them innocently! His blood blots out your every sin in the eyes of His Father. That’s how he knocked the biggest part of Satan’s armor out of his hand. What does Satan have left for armor, then? Only the power of the lie, the power to deceive. And Christ exposes this too – shows the enemy up for the murder he is - and then our Lord proceeds to drive Satan out. To show him the door. And this he does in the waters of Holy Baptism. “Depart unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit!”

And yet make no mistake about it: the Lord Jesus clearly teaches that just because Satan is ONCE driven away from a person, that does not mean he loses all interest in that person and can never touch them again. Quite the opposite! The demon once driven out is restless and homeless, and seeking a home, it tries to return to the person from whom it had been driven out in the first place. If it finds its old home with a “vacancy” sign hanging out front, the demon moves back in with a vengeance and throws a party for a bunch of his friends who end up moving in along with him. “And the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

He couldn’t say any clearer: beware of the “once saved, always saved” nonsense! Beware of saying: “I’m baptized!” and treating that like your ticket to heaven while you merrily walk the road that lands in perdition! Satan must not just be cast out; he must be kept out. But how?

Well, if the house of your life is constantly filled with Christ, then there’s no room for Satan to even get his foot in the door, is there? So let Christ fill your life! Let Him live within you! Come to Confession and receive His absolution to forgive you and strengthen you in the fight against your passions! Come in humbleness to His Table and let Him place into you the Body of the Stronger Man who tosses Satan out and the Blood that has blotted out the handwriting against you! Read His Word daily and there let Him find a home in you. Never cease to call upon His name! Let Him fill your life through and through.

For that is how the One who tossed Satan out in your Baptism will be keeping him out – and then you’ll enjoy freedom, the freedom you long for, the true and lasting freedom that comes only from our union with Jesus Christ! Amen.

Jesus, Grant That Balm and Healing

Jesus, grant that balm and healing
In Your holy wounds I find,
Ev'ry hour that I am feeling
Pains of body and of mind.
Should some evil thought within
Tempt my treach'rous heart to sin,
Show the peril, and from sinning,
Keep me from its first beginning.

Should some lust or sharp temptation
Fascinate my sinful mind,
Draw me to Your cross and passion,
And new courage I shall find.
Or should Satan press me hard,
Let me then be on my guard,
Saying, "Christ for me was wounded"
That the tempter flee confounded.

O my God, my rock and tower,
Grant that in Your death I trust,
Knowing death has lost its power
Since You crushed it in the dust.
Savior, let Your agony
Ever help and comfort me;
When I die be my protection,
Light and life and resurrection. (LSB 421:1,2,5)

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Temptation also purifies our souls. Our great Physician, Christ, employs many bitter remedies to expel the malignant spiritual diseases of love of self and love of the world. - Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XL.

Patristic Quote for the Day

Complete unwareness of the loss of the virtues marks the downward path to godlessness. For the person who habitually disobeys God, through indulging the pleasures of the flesh, will deny God Himself when the occasion arises. In preferring the life of the flesh to God, he places a higher value on sensual pleasures than on the divine will. - St. Maximos the Confessor, *Philokalia* II:213

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

So unworthily do I use the remission of sins He has granted me, and so disdainfully do I treat His first proffers of grace to me, that I greatly fear lest by a secret and righteous judgment of God I shall be deservedly deprived of that which I have so unworthily used. I tremble lest I may be deserted by Him, whom I time and again since my conversion have so shamefully deserted. What anguish does the thought give me that a heavier and severer judgment may follow these great benefits the Lord has conferred upon me, if it shall appear that I have abused them. And yet I am comforted by the thought of the infinite mercy of God, who, as He has given me the power to will, will give me, also, the power to do, for He is a God that changeth not; "His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever." - Johann Gerhard, *Sacred Meditations* XLII

Patristic Quote for the Day

The wrath of God is the painful sensation we experience when we are being trained by Him. Through this painful experience of unsought sufferings God often abses and humbles an intellect conceited about its knowledge and virtue; for such sufferings make it conscious of itself and its own weaknesses. When the intellect perceives its own weakness it rejects the vain pretensions of the heart. - St. Maximos the Great, *Third Century of Various Texts* par. 9 in Vol. 2 of Philokalia

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

I dare not compare myself to any of Thy saints, nor even to any repentant sinner, unless perchance to the penitent thief upon the cross. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou who didst show Thyself so merciful to that penitent malefactor! Wretchedly, wretchedly have I lived; my life hath been one of sin; but, oh, I do desire to die the death of the godly and of the righteous. But godliness and righteousness are far from my heart, and so in Thy godliness and in Thy righteousness I take refuge. - Johann Gerhard, Sacred Meditations XI

Patristic Quote for the Day

Lord, you are then not only that than which nothing greater can be thought; you are something greater than it is possible to think about. For since it is possible to think that this could exist, if you are not that thing, then a greater than you can be thought; and that will not do. - St. Anselm, Chapter 15 of Proslogion [Philosophical note: this is the famous "ontological proof of God" - important to note that it is no such thing. It is a prayer.]

Does Not Compute

I note that my good friend, Fr. Fenton, followed the option in the Orthodox Missal that permitted the Gospel reading for this Sunday in Lent to be observed with the Transfiguration Gospel. EWTN showed that Rome too read the Transfiguration Gospel today. That means that only those Lutherans who use the one year series (and any Western Rite Orthodox who used the first option for the Gospel today) and anyone using the old Episcopal prayerbook read the Western Church's ancient and assigned text for this Sunday (since the days of the Comes) of Matthew 15:21-28.

I think something is definitely lost by omitting this reading. The Sunday readings in Lent are designed for the schooling of the Catechumens. And one of the great and important lessons that the Catechumens need to learn early and well is dealing with the divine "cold shoulder." Yes, it seems sometimes when a Christian is just beginning to walk the path, God drops answers to prayers down on us almost before we can say the "Amen." But the Church in her wisdom teaches: "Don't get used to it." Instead, recognize that God will try and stretch your faith. Just as he did to the Canaanite woman. The message is clear: Don't give up on him when he feels so cold and distant. Hold onto him just like Jacob did, saying: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." Such persistent clinging to Him and trust in His mercy - no matter HOW much cold shoulder you get from Him - results in being blessed indeed. "O woman! Great is your faith!"

Don't know about you, but to get that reminder at least once a year is a GREAT blessing all in itself.

Gotta love Luther

So, I'm working my way again through this piece by Schroeder and I can't get beyond the Luther citation from Table Talk. You see, Ed gives it out of the Weimar Edition. So is it German or Latin? It's Germtin or Latman. I love it! I won't bother reproducing the quote, but here is how Dr. Luther spoke at the table. The G stands for a German word, and the L for a Latin one:

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGLLL
GLLLLGGGGGGGGLLGGGGGGLGGGGLGLGGG
GGGGLLLLGLLLGGGGGGGGLLLLLGGGGGGLL
LLLGGGGLGLLLLLLLGGGGG.

He TOTALLY mixes the languages together as though they were one. It's a hoot and a half!

Oh, my!

Well, if you're observing the Western version of the fast, Sundays are not fasting days. Today is the last Sunday that Jo and Dave will be around for a while, so Cindi made an old fashioned breakfast. We had two plates of whole wheat pancakes, a platter of sausage and bacon, 8 potatoes turned into hashbrowns (with and without the onions), and 8 eggs scrambled. And sadly I was the only one drinking coffee - how CAN you properly enjoy such food without coffee??? I don't understand. In any case, as I pushed away from the table I thought "Now THAT'S what breakfast should be like." Of course, if breakfast were like this every day, I'd be big as a house. Still, what a great way to finish off the morning after the Divine Services and Bible Class.