Sin and Human Nature

In my sermon on Sunday I invited us to consider the central move Jesus makes in the Gospel text (Mark 10:2-16): namely, drawing us back to God's intentions from the beginning. I want to expand upon that a bit in this week's reflection.

I read books on parenting a fairly regular basis. In the one I'm reading now, the author begins with the premise (and here I'm paraphrasing) that children are bad by nature. I bristled at that starting point, not because I have difficulty imagining that children--and adults, let's be honest--behave in disastrously bad ways on a fairly regular basis, but because his account of the relationship between human nature and sin is a best imprecise and at worst, simply wrong.

Are we really bad by nature? And, if not, what is the relationship between human nature and sin? An old order for confession (the Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal) invited us to pray, "We are by nature sinful and unclean" (emphasis mine). Really? By nature sinful and unclean?

The story for us as Christians begins in Genesis 1 and 2. Christians cannot fully and finally say that human nature and sin are one and the same, for God created all things (including human beings) as good. And yet we know on a very practical and intuitive level what we confess from the green Lutheran Book of Worship, that we have sinned "and cannot free ourselves."

[Note: The part of the Order for Confession in the Lutheran Book of Worship about being "in bondage" to sin is yet another topic that was hotly debated as the Lutheran Book of Worship was being assembled... but not a topic that I'm going to address today. I think it can be solved by simply saying, "We confess that we have sinned and cannot free ourselves," with the main point being that we are sinners and we cannot do something about it on our own.]

So we need to say (because God says so) that we are not sinful by nature. Being sinful is not intrinsic to what it means to be human. Our Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, lived a human life without sin, the life that was intended for us from the start. He is not less than human, not 98% human or something like that. Yet he did not sin. So sin is not a necessary part of what it means to be human.

And yet we find ourselves knee-deep in the muck we call sin, and we cannot free ourselves. Sin so permeates our lives, our relationships, our world that we find ourselves stuck in it, infected by it, surrounded by it. The depth of our immersion in sin calls to mind the movie the Matrix; it is everywhere, in everything. Since the Fall in Genesis 3, there is nothing in creation untouched by sin. It is an infection deeply embedded into the entire fabric of creation. But it is also "not the way it is supposed to be," to borrow a book title.

A classical understanding of sin goes something like this: sin and evil are not realities in and of themselves; they are always "less than" what God has intended. Sin is like the rot on a piece of fruit or the rust on the car in a junkyard. Is like the infection that has made the body sick or the stink of decay. Sin has no life of its own; its ways are parasitic.

So what then are we as Christians to do? How do we take seriously Genesis 3, without letting it be the story and also take seriously Genesis 1 and 2 and Revelation 21 and 22?

I suggest that we take sin very seriously... and take God even more seriously.

Whenever I hear a new philosophical theory or psychological paradigm, my benchmark is the same: "Does this [system/thought] take sin seriously enough? Does it take God even more seriously?"

Taking sin seriously means struggling against it at every turn. Our whole lives as Christians are to be lives of repentance, turning from sin and toward God, allowing the Holy Spirit's burning fire to cleanse us from our sin and warm us with divine grace. Taking sin seriously means an ongoing internal battle against all that keeps us from walking in the Way of Jesus.

Taking God seriously means never believing Satan, because he is the father of all lies. Taking God seriously means clinging to the truth that Christ's victory over sin and death on the cross is the final world, even when evidence in the world around us seems to suggest the opposite. Taking God seriously means knowing the final chapters of the book of Revelation like we know the Lord's Prayer, and trusting in those same promises.

Or, as a wise teacher of mine once said, it goes something like this: "Hi, I'm Matt, a sinner, redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb." May that be our prayer and conviction today and always.

Technology, T-Metals and the Task of Being a Christian

I probably write a bit too much on technology. Truth be told, it's always been a mixed bag for me. I love my laptop because it makes my work portable... but I hate that I do a lot of extra work because I can take it with me. I love that my cell phone allows me to make calls whenever and wherever I want... but it makes it harder to truly "be away" for vacation, etc. I love that posting a document online (or sending this to you via email) can save lots of paper... but email spam drives me crazy.

At a conference I attended in July on preaching, one of the groups that did relief work around the world highlighted the impact all our consumption of new technology has upon the lives of those who live in third-world countries. Read about what our hyper-consumption of "T" metals (Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten) used in cell phones is doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example. [*Note: I do not know enough about the organization that wrote this piece to recommend it or not; I am simply sharing it as one example of the problem.] In simple terms, our consumption of new technology is never neutral.

Part of our calling as Christians is a call to renunciation, of saying "No!" to the things the culture around us may unflinchingly embrace. I wonder how a simple act of prayer might inform the way we embrace or decline new technologies. What might it mean to make the sign of the cross or pray together with your spouse or teen or friend before considering whether or not to get that new cell phone, iPod or laptop? [Of course, making the sign of the cross and praying in the cell phone section of Best Buy might catch on and people may wonder when they can get their own jPhone!]

The other part of our calling as Christians is to say a resounding "Yes!" to things that are of God or bring God glory (see the last Psalms, 148-150, where the whole creation is invited into one grand "Hallelujah!"). In this spirit, here are a few ways that we as a congregation are using new technology for the sake of the Kingdom of God:

@ Bethlehem now has a Facebook page. Click "become a fan" to receive updates.

@ Pastor Matt has a public Facebook page [also click "become a fan" to receive updates] and a Twitter account [MattMusteric].

@ Sermons are available now on our website for download in MP3 format. My sermons are also available via podcast on iTunes (search for "Matthew Musteric podcast").

@ Our church newsletter is available online as a PDF file. This may mean future savings of time, resources and money.

@ On the front page of our church website you can look ahead to the readings for Sunday [left column], read news about our denomination [right column], and check the calendar.

@ And finally, these devotional reflections come to you free of charge and are posted on my blog.

Are all these things we should necessarily be embracing? I don't know. But it is our task together to continue to discern that, so that we may build up one another in love.

And if all of this technology makes you dizzy, that's OK too. Remember that even books and newspapers were once "new technology."

If you have suggestions for creative ways to use (or avoid) this technology for the glory of God, send me an email.

Empty Altar Table

Very recently a group of Lutheran pastors in the area were invited to take a tour of Holy Rosary Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo. The ecumenical officer of the diocese, Father Jim Peiffer, was our gracious host. I won’t go into all the details of this magnificent building, but I do want to share a moment that moved me at the end of our time there.

We concluded with a short devotional service that mirrored the service pastors take part in as they begin in a new congregation. We began at the baptismal font, moved to the pulpit and finally to the altar. As we gathered around the altar table, a friend of mine read the Words of Institution as recorded by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. It is the first time I have ever heard those words read behind an empty table, a table without the Sacrament, an altar without Holy Communion. Father Jim shared his lament that for a number of reasons we were not able to yet share this table fellowship, the deepest fellowship Christians know.

I was moved deeply too. For I too long for the day when all Christians—not just “some” or “most”—but all Christians gather together and the share the realized, concrete fellowship that our Lord Jesus intended (see John 17 and Acts 2:42).

In 1961, the World Council of Churches issued a statement on Christian unity. My favorite paragraph is this one:

We believe that the unity which is both God’s will and his gift to his Church is being made visible as all in each place who are baptized into Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord and Saviour are brought by the Holy Spirit into one fully committed fellowship, holding the one apostolic faith preaching the one Gospel, breaking the one bread, joining in common prayer, and having a corporate life reaching out in witness and service to all and who at the same time are united with the whole Christian fellowship in all places and all ages in such wise that ministry and members are accepted by all, and that all can act and speak together as occasion requires for the tasks to which God calls his people. It is for such unity that we believe we must pray and work.

This October we celebrate with our Lutheran and Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document was signed by members of Lutheran Churches around the world and the Roman Catholic Church on Reformation Day, 1999. It essentially proclaimed that on this central issue (justification), we are putting down our swords and no longer fighting.

I suppose for me the sound of a sword being dropped makes the sight of an empty altar table a bit less harsh. But I long for the day when the sound of that sword dropping is matched by the sound of wine being poured and bread being broken and all of Jesus’ faithful followers gathering at his Holy Communion feast.

Please join me in working for and praying for the unity of Christ’s whole Church.

Building Up... or Tearing Down?

As the first of the construction crews arrived this morning to begin putting up walls to prepare for the renovations to our church building, I was reminded that we're going to see a lot of demolition and construction in the next few months.

The "building up of the church" seems to be a pervasive them in the Letter to the Ephesians (see 4:11-16) and is worth reflecting on... if for no other reason than the simple fact that demolition is almost always easier than construction when it comes to buildings. In a similar way, it is far easier to demolish and destroy one another than it is to build up one another.

Instead of my own reflections, this week I offer an essay by Walter Wangerin, Jr. titled "Edification or Demolition." Wangerin reflects on how simple acts, here an encounter at a gas station, can wildly transform us for better or worse.

Pray for the building up of Christ's holy church. May we work toward this edification in all our relationships.

Eat this Book

In my sermon yesterday, I encouraged all of us to eat the word of God, to digest it daily that it may nourish us. We confess that Jesus is the Word of God (capital "W") who comes to us both through the word of God in the Holy Scriptures and in the Sacraments. Today I'd like to reflect on the regular practice of Christians eating and digesting the Holy Scriptures and allowing the Holy Spirit to nourish us through them.

As little as a year ago, if someone were to ask me how often they should read Scripture, I would have begun the conversation with something like, "Well, how often do you read the Bible now?" and then offered some suggestions for growing. If you are reading the Bible weekly, let's work on moving to daily, and so on. Now I am of a different mind.

If someone were to ask me today how often to read Scripture, I would ask them, "How often do you eat?" and encourage the same frequency for Bible reading as for eating. Every time you eat, every time you snack, match that with an equal time and frequency of reading Scripture. [You may actually want to track, just for one week, how much time you spend preparing and eating meals.]

I know it's daunting, that much Bible reading. But just as I would not encourage you to skip two meals a day, I don't think it is healthy for us when we regularly avoid digesting God's word. This food of Holy Scripture is more important, more dear to us, than even regular bread: one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3, cf. Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4).

Here are a few reflections and guidelines to aid in our feasting:

Fourth meal. What if you are an insomniac, like I am occasionally? Taco Bell advertises "Fourth Meal" as that meal between dinner and breakfast. Why not make a late night snack of God's word? Pray the Psalms.

Eat with others. Why not eat with others? Meals are always better with company, so why feast on God's word alone? Find a Bible study group that meets regularly and jump right in. Eat together.

Chew loudly. Try this practice if you have never done it before: read the Scriptures out loud for home devotions. The Word is meant to be heard. And try at worship to put down your bulletin and listen to the Scriptures.

Avoid junk food. All of what passes for devotional material is simply spiritual junk food. There may be a Bible verse but the reflections that follow often have little to do with the depth and breadth of God's word. Try lengthier passages of Scripture first, then good, solid food to supplement.

Snacks on the go. I imagine many of us have more than one Bible. Why not put one in different parts of the house, in the car, at the desk at work or school, etc.? This way God's life-giving food is always available.

Watch out. Daily engagement in the Word of God will transform us... making us over into the image of Christ. This can be a dangerous thing, loving our enemies, praying for those who persecute us...

Invoke the author. One of my favorite theologians suggests that reading Scripture is the second most dangerous thing a Christian can do, for when the Bible is opened the devil is nearby, whispering into our ears, tempting us. So when we read, we should invoke the name of the author, the Holy Spirit, to guide our reading and understanding. You may be wondering, what is the most dangerous thing a Christian can do? Not read the Bible.

Go online. One of the gifts of recent innovations in technology is that there are thousands of Bible reading plans right at our fingertips. Check the back of the Bible you have now; chances are there is a reading plan there.

Eat up, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Other Events Coming Up...

Let's Talk About Sex

There are two opportunities to discuss recent decisions made by our denomination regarding human sexuality and standards for ordained ministers. The first one, with our synod Bishop, is this Tuesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at First Lutheran Church, 109 E. Lincoln St., Findlay, Ohio. The second opportunity is here at Bethlehem, September 16 (Wednesday) from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. You are welcome to join us for either, or both.

Church at Cherry's

We received an overwhelming response to our "Church at Cherry's" theological discussions, so we hope to continue those this fall. Tentatively, we will meet once a month (probably the fourth Tuesday: so September 22 @ 7 pm). If you have topic suggestions, please send them. Oh, and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bible).

Ephesians 5: Getting Drunk

Getting Drunk

In Ephesians 5:18-19 (the text for this coming Sunday) we read:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart (NRSV).

Those who have struggled with addiction to alcohol are some of my favorite Christians, because they seem to get grace, repentance and redemption in a very deep way.

The easy part of the text above is the "don't get drunk" part. However, I am concerned that we often read this as simply a word about too much alcohol. I think we need to say more than that. Many of the sins in our culture are sins of excess, sins of gluttony, sins of simply "too much." In other words, even for those who can count on one hand the number of times they had too much alcohol to drink (or perhaps have never had "too much"), most of us regularly "get drunk" on all sorts of things: excessive shopping, too much TV, too much technology... the list is probably endless. As a relative of mine once said: "Everyone has their vice."

What all of this excess leads to, as with alcohol, is a dulling of the senses, a lack of awareness of God and of the world around us. In other words, regardless of the object, "too much" is nearly always spiritually dangerous.

In contrast, Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians (and us!) to drink deeply of the Spirit. The verse above locates this deep drinking of the spirit in the center of the worship life of the Church: in particular in singing: hymns, songs and Psalms. The Psalms are a rich collection of prayers to God that form not just the first hymn book of the people of Israel but also for us as the Church. If you do not already have a weekly or daily practice of praying the Psalms, I would encourage you in that direction.

What are some other ways we drink deeply of the Spirit? Christians throughout space and time have centered on three or four disciplines of faith that put us in the right places and frames of mind to receive the Spirit:
1.) Prayer (daily, or multiple times daily)
2.) Fasting
3.) Works of Mercy/Charity
4.) Scripture Reading

But there is also a sacramental way that we drink deeply of the Spirit. In the Sacrament of Holy Communion we literally drink of the Holy Spirit as we receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe by eating and drinking.

May God the Holy Spirit fill you enfold you this week and always!

A few housekeeping items:

+ The "Church at Cherry's" Theology discussion continues this evening at 7 pm at Cherry's Pub on Front Street. This evening's topic will be: "The Way, the Truth and the Life?" exploring what it means that Jesus is the Way and how Christians relate to other religious traditions.

+ I am a bit behind in posting sermons from the past several weeks due to the New Orleans youth gathering and vacation, so please be patient. I am hoping to post Pastor Jim Miller's sermon from the Community Worship Service this past Sunday, but I have not yet checked the audio quality.

+ I am hoping to at some point consolidate this blog with my other one (revmatt.blogspot.com).

I am Bourbon Street

Our youth and adults traveling to New Orleans arrived back safe and sound on Monday, after a few glitches with an early morning canceled flight. You can read all about our adventures on this blog and at another unofficial Gathering blog. Thank you for all of your prayers while we were gone.

I am Bourbon Street
I have chosen to title this post-Gathering reflection "I am Bourbon Street." Bourbon Street in the French Quarter is of course famous for many things, most of them revolving around what I would all "excess." Bourbon Street is, of course, almost a parody of itself. Because of so much excess, it is easy for most people, I imagine, to speak of Bourbon Street as some place those people go to do those things. But what if we all admit that deep down we are all Bourbon Street. The interiors of our lives are plagued with sins known and unknown, things done and left undone. It turns out we are all Bourbon Street.

But here is the great news. You see, each morning a full crew of garbage collectors and sanitation workers with soapy, pressurized water descends on the French Quarter to clean things up. They don't ever consider not doing this. It is simply what they do, day in and day out: clean things up. So it is with God's forgiveness of us. Not because it is something that God has to do, but because it is fitting with the very nature of God: It is something God chooses to do and wants to do. God descends upon the Bourbon Streets of our lives in Jesus Christ and cleans us up. Sometimes this cleaning is with gentle scrubbing, sometimes it is with the blast of pressurized water. These sanitation workers presented for me an image of Baptism: the life-giving water that rescues us from sin and cleanses us through daily repentance and forgiveness.

And, grace upon grace, the wonder if all this forgiveness and washing is that it precedes our sin. God's forgiveness is the first act. Jesus Christ is not Plan B. Before the foundations of the world, the Cross stands looming.

I am Bourbon Street, caked in sin. But I am also Bourbon Street, new every day, washed in the waters of Holy Baptism and made new in the blood of the Lamb.

Channel 11 News Feature
Our Church at Cherry's theology discussion made last night's evening news. I want to be clear about a few things. First, neither Pastor Jim Miller nor I nor the bar owner invited the news. It was not done as a publicity stunt. Second, I want to give due credit to where we got the idea: We swiped it from Pastor David Nevergall in Elmore who got it from the Roman Catholic Diocese with their "Theology on Tap" program. And I'm pretty sure that they got the idea from Jesus himself.

While it would have been nice to have a heads up, I am thankful, not for the publicity for our community, our churches or even Cherry's, but rather that the Gospel was spoken publicly.