tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26045068696594087602024-02-20T17:05:01.575-08:00QUESTions: A Journey in FaithPastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-71001143286292569252013-03-06T06:15:00.001-08:002013-03-06T06:16:08.800-08:00Lenten Pooper Scooping: The 4th Step<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was a warm sunny spring day on Monday. And next to my coffee pot was the "list" left by my wife, Karla, of my "honey do" projects for the day. A top priority was pooper scooping the back yard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spring pooper scooping is a challenging task. As the snow cover recedes with each warm day, many little treasures left by our cocker spaniel, Koira, are revealed. And so with a bag in one hand, and the pooper scooper in the other, the ritual began.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wonder about the methodology of each person's approach to this task. I'm torn between two approaches. One approach is the disciplined and orderly manner. Begin in one corner of the back yard and systematically take a six foot swath across the yard, then the next swath, avoiding the temptation to divert from the orderly journey to pick up that turd lying in the next swath. I usually start out this way. And then the other method is the turd to turd method. Less organized, this simply follows the most prominent and visible 'signs' in an unpredictable wandering around the yard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I set to my task on Monday my thought process went something like this. The first turd, still slightly frozen, went cleanly into the bag. Then the next, and the next followed neatly behind. There is a feeling of accomplishment. I'm thinking that it will be nice not to have to examine my shoes so closely the next time I walk into the house. As the minutes continued on, I'm thinking "Oh crap, another turd." "And another." "Shit, why couldn't a dog learn to deposit all their treasure's in one place in the yard. And then there is the debate that comes up. Spotted is a turd that obviously has laid there since the first snow fall. These turds, as the experienced pooper scooper knows, are already molding themselves into the landscape. They've been there for five or six months by now, do I really need to pick them up? And then my thoughts go to Karla. She's not going to be any happier about six month old shit being tracked into the house, than she is about the fresher variety. And then in our yard are the occasional pile left, not by Koira, but by the moose that visit our yard all winter. These take a concerted effort. Scoop after scoop. "Olive" after olive, into the bag.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I grew weary of the task, I found myself longing for a fresh cover of 3 or 4 inches of snow. Yes, Spring is nice, but a freshly fallen snow makes the whole world look pristine and allows us to forget the turds lying underneath.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm in the midst of doing my 4th Step. The 4th Step of the 12 Steps of recovery is to do a thorough moral inventory of our lives. It is the pooper scooping of life. Resentments, shame, guilt, anger, hurt, and any number of other residuals of living lie within like stinking turds. As I do this inventory, I'm torn between the same two methodologies that guided me in the back yard. The first is the systematic approach. Let's take an orderly pattern. First, the family of origin issues, then marital, then children, then work, etc..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then there is the stream of consciousness path. One turd to the next, in no particular order.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've been working on this for weeks. "Crap, another turd in my life!" is a constant thought. It just goes on and on. "That one's been there for a long time, do I really need to disturb it now?" And yes, I long for yet another "snow fall" to cover up all this shit within my soul, so everything looks pure and clean, even if there is shit within. Alcohol was my way of covering up this shit. Somehow, for years, with a couple of Scotches, the whole world looked better, the hurt didn't hurt as bad, or a least I couldn't feel it for awhile. However, the turds remained. The same lesson is true, old shit is no better than new shit to step in time after time. Its all still crap, and healthy living means it can't just be buried or swept to the side.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lent is a time set aside to pooper scoop. Have at it.</span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-47220323829615520662013-01-18T22:20:00.004-08:002013-01-18T22:23:07.301-08:00Meeting John (Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent)<br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">“Come, Lord Jesus!”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">Come, Lord Jesus! We pray.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> But first, it is John that we must see. First it is the baptizing firebrand of a preacher, calling the nation of Israel to repentance that enters into our life. And so it must be. You see the Messiah cannot come, until the prophet prepares the way.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> John calls us to repentance. His is a ministry of truth telling. The truth telling that is repentance is not the harsh words of a wild haired preacher declaring “you brood of vipers!”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> The truth telling of repentance is what happens in that moment when we look into the mirror and we can no longer pretend. It is that moment when we see ourselves for who we actually are, not for who we wish we might be.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Such truth telling is painful and frightening. So much so that many of us spend our entire lives running from the truth, and creating a virtual palace of lies within which we live and with which we will die.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Unless we come to meet, John.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> I have been gone for awhile, now. Perhaps a few of you noticed! My first reaction, coming back to preach today, and seeing that the Gospel lesson began with John’s exhortation “You brood of vipers!” was that there was no way in the world that I could return to preach on this text. But then, on Friday I realized that there was no more appropriate text for me to wrestle with.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> For me, these last two months were a wilderness experience. Like the Jewish people in John’s day, I was led into the wilderness to encounter John, but more importantly to come face to face with myself and with the truth.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> I have struggled with depression since my youth. The one symptom that has been continuous since my adolescence was insomnia. 15 years ago I was first diagnosed and entered into treatment. I went through about four years of counseling, detailing about every experience of my life. And yet, I realize that in a very profound way, none of that truth telling was in fact the truth telling that really makes a difference.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">During that time we explored:</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">My childhood and the profound hunger for affection;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">A relationship with my band director and the affection that was abusive;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">The deep hurt experienced when a pastor and father figure was involved in sexual misconduct;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">The feeling of betrayal and abuse that I have experienced from the Church itself;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">And many other issues.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> There was a lot of truth in all of that. But John was not there.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">There is no value whatsoever in confessing other people’s sins. No redemptive value whatsoever. It’s not that those things didn’t impact my life, they clearly did. And, the truth is that</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">Children need to know they are loved;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">Young boys should never be abused;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">Pastor’s should not engage in sexual misconduct;</span></span></li>
<li class="li1"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s2"></span><span class="s1">The Church should be a place of love and forgiveness, not betrayal and abuse.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> These things, are in fact, all true. True, but irrelevant. Recognizing past wrongs, confessing other people’s sins, only creates a sense of being helpless victims or a false sense of self righteousness. And when we do that, we are merely adding to that palace of lies in which we live and with which we will die.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> But then there is John, calling us to a rigorous honesty, calling us to repentance, calling us to lives changed, and renewed. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">These last few months I have been in conversation with John. My John the Baptist was not a first century prophet, but a twenty first century Psychiatrist. What they have in common though, is that sitting face to face with them, one can simply no longer lie. One must finally, face the truth, not about others, but about ourselves. The truth is not easy to acknowledge.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">The hardest words that I have ever heard were:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">“Dave, you are an alcoholic.”</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">And a thousand times harder than hearing those words, were saying to my wife, “I am an alcoholic.”</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Back in ’97, when I began treatment for depression, in addition to an anti-depressant, I was prescribed Ativan, an anti-anxiety medication that also helps one sleep. And sleep I did. For the first time since adolescence I was able to lie down, go to sleep, and remain asleep for 7 to 8 hours.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> What I didn’t know then was that Ativan is highly addictive and habituating; and it works in the brain very similar to alcohol. In 2003, I was feeling so good that I decided to go off all of my medications, including Ativan. What happened was that those receptors in my brain that had become addicted to Ativan sent off an alarm, which basically said: “If you’re not going to give us Ativan, you better come up with another alternative.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Almost immediately I went from an occasional drink to needing two Scotch doubles a night just to sleep. Throughout the first twenty five years of our marriage I had drank alcohol only occasionally. Most of the time we didn’t have any at all in our house. I would have beer in the heat of the summer, and perhaps into the football season. I never consumed hard alcohol.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1"> This last spring as my depression worsened, a new psychiatrist changed the antidepresent and put me back on Ativan, despite knowing that I was still regularly consuming alcohol. That is a potentially lethal combination and nearly cost me my life on October 14</span><span class="s3"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1">. The time had come and I had to face the truth.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">I am an alcoholic. I am powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> John the Baptist calls us to such repentance. And my John the Baptist is known as “Dr. C.”</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Would that that truth was the only truth I had to acknowledge. It has taken a life time to build a palace of lies, and such self deception doesn’t go away over night. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> One of the reasons my depression has been worsening relates to my hopes, dreams, and sense of calling in ministry. When I entered ministry, it was with the most deep seated hope and conviction that if I were a faithful pastor, hard working, creative and caring, and one with a heart for mission and ministry—then the Church would thrive and nothing would be impossible. When I came to First Lutheran I shared with the council that though the worship attendance had been on the decline since 1986, I was absolutely committed to changing that, especially because Sandpoint was a growing community.</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Growing it was, but not in worship attendance or Church membership. That decline in worship attendance that I noted in 2000 has continued. And the only thing that has changed is the color of our hair, or how much hair is left on some of our heads. And so I found myself being quite jealous of my father’s generation of pastors. Pastors such as Bob Nale who entered ministry after WWII and saw the Church thriving and growing during the post war years of the fifties, sixties, and seventies. And the more I thought about it, the more depressed I got.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> The truth that I must now face, is that my own grandiose thoughts about how far my faithfulness and hard work could take the Church were really delusional. And my depression is the dark side of that delusion. To allow myself to feel responsible for the decline of the entirety of Christianity in our country, and to beat myself up for my failures, is in the end, to fanaticize that if I had just tried harder, I could have accomplished what in fact only God can accomplish.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> In this John the Baptist gives us an example for living. “I am not the Messiah,” he says, “but there is one who is coming.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">And so we pray “Come, Lord Jesus!”</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">And Jesus will come.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> But first we need to have a frank, honest, conversation with John the Baptist. We need to acknowledge that we are powerless and in bondage. Our confession of sin says it this way: “I am in bondage to sin and cannot free myself.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> In Alcoholics Anonymous this truth is reflected on page 60 of the big book, words that are read at the beginning of each meeting:</span></span></div>
<i><span style="font-size: large;">A) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.</span></i><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>B) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.</i> <br />A</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">nd then, comes the promise:</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">C) </span><span style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;">That God could and would if He were sought.</span><br />
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<ol class="ol1">
</ol>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> Personally, I wish John the Baptist were not part of the picture. I would prefer to simply have the sweet baby Jesus, a child lying in a manger, and one to save me from my sins without having to face the demands of John the Baptist for repentance. I would prefer not to have to face the truth about myself. But it is only in truth, rigorous, painful, truth, that we are prepared to receive the Messiah.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">God could and would if he were sought.</span></span><br />
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;"> The bad news none of us wants to admit is that we need a savior. The good news is that he was, he is, and he is to come.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: large;">And so with the Church of every time and every place we pray “Come, Lord Jesus. Come.”</span></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-90779784762939859162012-12-11T19:44:00.000-08:002012-12-11T19:46:20.105-08:00What’s the Point? Take Two.<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">What is the Church’s mission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the point?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why aren’t people inclined to come running to
the Church as part of their spiritual quests?</span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The big question facing so many of our congregations in
particular is ‘Why are there very few young families with children?”</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">One of the most revealing books I’ve read in recent years is
“UnChristian” by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons of the Barna Group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their research into the perceptions common
among those people, outside of the Church, ages 16 to 29, is revealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly others have looked at it and
interpret the basic facts differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But what they have to share is worthy of thought and reflection.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Here is the summary slide from the UnChristian powerpoint:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Outsiders, age 16 to 29 perceive the Church to be:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Antihomosexual <span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>91%</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Judgmental<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>87%</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Hypocritical<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>85%</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Sheltered (old-fashioned,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>out of touch with reality)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>78%</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Too political (especially right wing)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>75%</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Proselytizers (insensitive to others,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>not genuine)<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>70%</span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">If this is true, and my experience inclines me to believe it
is, we in the Church have a problem attracting these young people and their
children.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Not many people wake
up in the morning and say, “Where can I take my children so that we can all
learn to be more anti-homosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, sheltered and out
of touch with reality, beholden to right wing politics, and insensitive to
others and only concerned about ourselves.</span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">I presented this information to a group of Church folk and
the response they had to it actually confirmed every aspect of these
perceptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it only took a couple
of minutes.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">So if our mission has something to do with spreading God’s
message of love and forgiveness, we’ve got a problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem of course is that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>either we are not loving and forgiving, or we
have a very poor public relations department.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The only way we can change is to acknowledge how we have
contributed to these perceptions, beg God’s forgiveness, and begin to live our
lives in a manner that reflects the message of Jesus.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-15478459432842637112012-12-03T13:01:00.000-08:002012-12-03T13:05:45.440-08:00“What’s the Point?”<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I recently underwent inpatient treatment for alcoholism,
addiction to Ativan, depression, PTSD, and, for good measure, an anxiety
disorder thrown in as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the weeks
since I’ve discovered a new community in the Alcoholics Anonymous groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have rarely experienced anything of
community outside of the Church, so this is a new venture for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am learning much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have experienced grace in a way I haven’t
experienced it in all my years in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And I’m convinced that we have much to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first thoughts are about Mission and
Purpose.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">When people hear the words “Alcoholics Anonymous”, or AA,
there is incredibly wide knowledge about AA’s mission, its purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is simple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is clear, so clear that even a drunk reclining in a gutter knows
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AA helps people stop drinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Each group has but one primary purpose—to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>carry its message to the alcoholic that still
suffers.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Tradition 5)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only criterion of membership is a desire
to stop drinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the most important
part of remaining in sobriety is by helping others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, this purpose is rooted a very
real need in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If no one wanted
to stop drinking, AA would cease to exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If science ever devised the magic pill that would enable an alcoholic to
drink normally, AA would have lost its reason for being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it is, day after day, alcoholics around
the world wake up to the reality that they are powerless over alcohol and their
lives had become unmanageable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so
they turn to AA.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">What’s the point?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What’s the purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does the path
work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there a real need?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">What is the Church’s mission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we state it with clarity?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does the world outside the Church know what
our mission is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And does our mission
respond to real issues in the world and in the lives of those outside the
Church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most important, does what we
have to offer to the world work?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">When I consider the Church’s mission I have found great
meaning in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
agents of reconciliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that the
point?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that why we follow Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that why the Church exists?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s suppose it is.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Does the world know and understand that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When people and nations struggle with
conflict, violence, and all forms of discord that are destroying their lives
would they turn to the Church to find reconciliation and peace? </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Certainly we could argue that there is a clear need for
reconciliation in this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Animosity
runs rampant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Families are divided
against themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our human community
has been divided against itself for not just centuries, but millennia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reconciliation is clearly something the world
needs.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">But are we any good at it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here is where the Church fails miserably.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If people come to the Church wanting to be
reconciled, desiring nothing more than to live in peace with one and all, and
to become part of a loving community—they will be disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I turned to AA in hopes of stopping
drinking and arrived at the local meeting room only to find everyone there
passed out in a drunken stupor, I would quickly turn elsewhere or give up hope
altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But isn’t that the
experience of many who come to the Church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How can we who are so divided against ourselves possibly engage the
world with any credibility as “agents of reconciliation”?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">What’s our mission?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Does it address a real need?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Do we offer a credible solution?</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Church should ask itself those three
questions and answer with rigorous honesty.</span></span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-75768198920867423272012-05-10T09:54:00.000-07:002012-05-10T09:57:17.998-07:00Longing for Easter<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
only death you need ever fear is the death you already died in baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What lies ahead is totally, and completely,
the life you live in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in
Christ, there is nothing to fear. . . for as he was raised, so also are you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Preaching
the resurrection was difficult for me this year, more difficult than most
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recognize the difficulty at
anytime of preaching the great festivals of the faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we hear of the Word made flesh in
Bethlehem, of the cross and the empty tomb, and of the rush of the mighty wind
and the tongues of fire, who are we that we can add to the witness of the
centuries?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s my struggle every year
at Christmas, the Resurrection of the Lord, and Pentecost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What possibly can I add to the proclamation
that has come down through the ages?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
this year the struggle was even harder for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The struggle was rooted in the depth of my own experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Christmas I brought communion to the home
of my physician and friend who was dying of cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lent began with his funeral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Holy Week was marked with two more
funerals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of all this my
own emotional struggles dating back to childhood paid another visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result was total exhaustion and a profound
feeling of emptiness in the days and weeks following Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good advice from caring people helped me to
decide that some time off was not only advisable, but necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, somewhat rested, I’m resuming the
pace of ministry.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over
the last few weeks I’ve been reflecting on the cross and resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thought that overwhelmed me is that it is
a whole lot easier to preach Good Friday while living in the light of Easter,
than it is to preach the Resurrection while still walking through the darkness
of Good Friday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love the theology
behind the opening paragraph of this blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is rooted in the conviction that death has already lost “its sting”,
that we already participate in the new life of the risen Christ, and that we
have been set free from all reason to fear.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wish
that I could reflect on Good Friday like our parents and grandparents used to
remember walking to and from school, you know, “uphill both ways in raging blizzards
with five foot snow drifts”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would that
Good Friday was a distant memory of a difficult time now past, and that our
lives now truly reflected the new life lived in Christ, specifically, the risen
Christ.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But we
find ourselves straddling these two realities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By faith we live as Easter people basking in the light of the risen
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, this mortal flesh,
indeed, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until
now; <sup>23 </sup>and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the
first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the
redemption of our bodies.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a>
“<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For me, life too
often involves groaning inwardly for the redemption of my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
have struggled throughout my life with Dysthymia, i.e., chronic
depression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another generation I
would have been considered just one more melancholy Scandinavian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I long to be able to wake up in the morning
with the joy of Easter dancing in my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yet, there is that ever present cloud of the Good Friday world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I watch the residents of our Memory Care
facility next door struggle with their ever increasing cognitive impairments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see young and old struggling with
conditions that are chronic by nature and simply won’t go away with the dawn of
a new day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of course there is this
world, still groaning in travail, still suffering as it suffered in Jesus’ day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
so we wait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wait as people of the
Easter promise, and yet also, aware that this promise is for us still a future
hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That hope, my friends, will need
to suffice for now.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>.
Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Ro 8:22-23</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-87638680157043962572012-03-18T15:17:00.000-07:002012-03-18T15:17:42.949-07:00For this Christ died<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8 </span></sup></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— <sup>9 </sup>not the result of works, so that no one may boast. <sup>10 </sup>For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;">[2]</span></span></sup></b></span></sup></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></b></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Imagine raising a child the way we have worshipped God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine if every conversation we had with our child was to begin with a focus on their failings, their inabilities, and their unworthiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the question that I put forward to my congregation this morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m questioning why every worship service must begin with a focus on our sinfulness, even wretchedness, as opposed to God’s goodness and the potential that is ours in Christ.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">In our parenting we would consider a continual focus on our children’s failures to be, quite frankly, emotional abuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have known parents who have done that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The consequences are varied, but never good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is troubling to me is that if the beginning and end of our every conversation with God goes no further than our sinfulness and God’s forgiveness, we’ve missed something very important.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christ did not die <u>solely</u> for the sake of the forgiveness of my sins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, the redemption of the world is NOT, is NOT, I repeat—just about<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our being able to live as forgiven sinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are a new creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are what he has made us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are created (<u>and re-created</u>) in Christ Jesus <u>for good works</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God intended from the beginning for this to be our way of life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">This morning I proposed to the congregation that we should begin our service with a different sort of confession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s start with Psalm 8:3-9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, let the pastor respond with Ephesians 2:8-10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to beginning the Eucharist, I was handed a note from a parishioner that said “Pastor Dave, Start next Sunday with God’s wonders, not our sins!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another parishioner was not so delighted and informed me that he would continue praying that I would quit ignoring part of scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Overall, though, the feedback on the sermon was very positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To focus on our potential in Christ Jesus, as opposed to our failures apart from Christ, struck a resonant chord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">As Lutherans we have focused so much on justification that the “new obedience of faith” and the relationship between faith and good works has often been totally ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True, we are not saved by what we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are saved for the sake of the work to which we’ve been called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a purpose for which we have been saved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, our Lutheran predisposition has been so leery of works righteousness that we often have failed to deal adequately with the new life that is ours in Christ Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus says:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Apart from me you can do nothing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus does not say:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You can do nothing.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The bottom line:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we focused on the potential that is ours in Christ Jesus, and all that the Holy Spirit can do through us, instead of this constant fixation on our sinfulness, might we discover that we can realize much more of that God given potential than we currently do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s worth a try.</span></span></div><br />
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<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Eph 2:8-10</span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Jn 15:5</span></span></div></div></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-55049656463563933292012-01-11T15:19:00.000-08:002012-01-11T15:19:13.500-08:00The Atoning Work of Christ: “I can’t get no, satisfaction!”<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NRSV) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><sup>18 </sup>All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; <sup>19 </sup>that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">d</span></sup></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>not counting their trespasses against them</u></b>, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;">[1]</span></span></sup></b></span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Pastor, why does there have to be a ‘blood sacrifice’?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never understood how the shedding of one’s blood, could atone for another’s sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we’ve sinned against God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What good does sacrificing a sheep or a bull do?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More to the point, was Jesus’ death necessary for our forgiveness, or could there be something else going on here?</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Can forgiveness be freely offered?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or must there be some objective act of satisfaction in order to open up the possibility of forgiveness?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I continue to focus my thoughts and reflections around the concept of intimacy with God and one another as the final objective of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must confess that the only way I can make sense of our relationship with God is to compare and understand how our relationships with one another work.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Last month my wife and I celebrated our 34<sup>th</sup> wedding anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a lot of things that go into a marriage that lasts 34 years, or a life-time for that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, a great deal of love freely given and gratefully received is a wonderful place to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another equally obvious thing is that for relationships to last and to grow in intimacy over the years there will need to be a willingness and capacity to forgive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To put it differently, if you are going to insist on keeping score, there is going to be hell to pay down the road.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><sup>d</sup></a> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>not counting their trespasses against them</u>.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The basis for intimacy, forgiveness, and reconciliation is in <u>not</u> keeping score.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not about retaining meticulous records of all the wrongs done and demanding some action to correct the wrong or compensate (make satisfaction for) the wrong done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the things I learned about myself in the years past is that part of my psychological profile is distinctively “shame based”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One dimension of that shame based profile is “to never bury the hatchet”, or more specifically, never forget a wrong as the day may come when you may need the ammunition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This became particularly clear when I reflected on memories of hurts that I was preserving from the earliest days of my life and of my marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a memory is an act of score keeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as long as we continue to keep score, as long as the days of our lives are counted in terms of merits and demerits, forgiveness is not possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now if I was totally honest, I’d probably confess that within our marriage I have a lot more to be forgiven for, than I have to forgive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But again, that is just another way of score keeping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would forgiveness be served if at the end of the day, my wife and I could look at each other and say, “OK, you have done this and I that, we’re even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s call it good.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or more to the point, if I were unfaithful to my wife, is there anything that I could do, any price that I could pay, that would merit her forgiveness and justify it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Going back to the original question posed by my parishioner, if I sacrificed our family pet would that atone for my sins?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about a child?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does blood have to be shed in order for sin to be forgiven?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In my example, if forgiveness were possible in that situation, it would only be possible as a free gift of grace, offered unconditionally because of the love that defines the relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be a conscious choice on one person’s part of “not counting (the other’s) trespasses against them.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This I believe is the reconciling work of God in Christ Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about not counting trespasses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about the Son declaring from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about God loving us unconditionally, in spite of ourselves.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is an old adage that “Love is blind.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loving intimacy is not blind, it just doesn’t keep score.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> </span><br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">d</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or <i>God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span style="mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989</span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span style="mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">d</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or <i>God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-28446494427487271662011-11-23T18:07:00.000-08:002011-11-23T18:07:29.783-08:00Christ: On Being and Doing<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NRSV) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><sup>18 </sup>All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; <sup>19 </sup>that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">d</span></sup></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;">[</span>1]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: large;">As our creator, God desires an intimate relationship with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where God would desire intimacy, we have become estranged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The work of Christ within this context is simply reconciliation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in this light that these two verses, quoted above, from 2 Corinthians have become for me a creedal statement of Christology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The One through whom God is reconciling the world to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means that we have been entrusted with the message of reconciliation.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Historically, the Church has had an infatuation with Jesus ‘being’ as opposed God was ‘doing’ through Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chalcedon Formula and the Athanasian Creed are prime examples of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times we have maintained that in order to answer the question of what God was ‘doing’ in Jesus, we of necessity had to come to understand Jesus being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The importance that we gave to doctrinal formulations regarding the Trinity was elevated to the extent that the Athanasian Creed concludes with the statement “One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My conviction is that our obsession with the ontological question of who Jesus is has distracted us from the more important question of the work God is doing in Christ, namely reconciling the world to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, I would contend that we’ve stated more in our Trinitarian Doctrines than our human reason allows, and certainly more than one can conclude on the basis of scripture.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So Jesus is referred to as “the Son of God” in the scriptures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How would the evangelists or any contemporary of Jesus have understood such a phrase?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Hebrew Bible the phrase “Son of God” or “sons of God” and other such references occur with a variety of meanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The NRSV translates “sons of God” in numerous places as “heavenly beings”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also a reference to Israel or Ephraim or Jacob.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Psalm 2, the reference “you are my Son; today I have begotten you” is a reference to the Davidic King, and by extension the phrase “Son of God” becomes a Messianic title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elsewhere, “sons of God” carries the connotation much more similar to ‘children of God’ in contemporary usage.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My point is that the question of ontology regarding Jesus being designated “Son of God” developed far beyond what would have been understood by the first disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also find myself wondering if our focus on the question of Jesus’ being has resulted in a distraction from the work of reconciliation that God is doing through Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To put it differently, if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, </i>have we in seeking to define Christ’s being, and by so doing, defining who are truly Christian, created the very estrangements that Christ’s reconciling work was meant to overcome?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself—</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">how then has it happened that our proclamation of Christ has often been so divisive, and has not reflected the message of reconciliation that was entrusted to us?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, if God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, does anything else matter?</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">d</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or <i>God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span style="mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-text-raise: 3.0pt; position: relative; top: -3pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></div></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-68201139753262823992011-10-20T15:23:00.000-07:002011-10-20T15:23:52.115-07:00Intimacy and Estrangement<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">16 </span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“For God so loved the world . . .”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">21 </span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></i></span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">f</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> . . .”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“See, the home</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">a</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> of God is among mortals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He will dwell</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">b</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> with them as their God;</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">c</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">they will be his peoples,</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">d</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and God himself will be with them;</span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">e</span></span></sup></i></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he will wipe every tear from their eyes.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></sup></b></span></sup></a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">I continue to find the concept of “intimacy” as the most compelling description of what God is up to in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a desire to be intimately related to this world that motivated God’s creative activity in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It is not good that the man should be alone. . .”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps this is a statement that God makes based on God’s own experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being alone, God and nothing else, was probably not too fulfilling for God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so God began this venture in Being, and more specifically, in Being in Relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Yes”, God proclaimed, “this is good stuff, very good indeed!”</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Yet we must also deal honestly with the reality of sin that pervades this otherwise good creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the purpose of creation is intimacy with God and others, the nature of sin is to be estranged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estranged from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estranged from others. Estranged from self. And Estranged from the world in which we live.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">I’ve written before about the two polarities of Being, namely that of differentiation and association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every entity that exists simultaneously is differentiated from the Other, and is placed in relationship to the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To use Buber’s terminology, intimacy is achieved in the I-Thou relationship, when two individual “Thou’s” are in a balanced and harmonious relationship with each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This encounter of the Other as a person, a Thou and not an It, is the basis of intimacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this manner, true intimacy will always be a matter of faith, not knowledge, of relatedness, not experience, for the mystery of the Other must remain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To reduce the other to an It, the mere object of our experience, is the way of estrangement not intimacy.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Estrangement begins with the Self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estrangement can take two paths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, estrangement is the consequence of an inflated sense of the Self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The human quest to be as god, to be the center of existence, to be the Lord of all, subservient to none, is the basic sin of this inflated sense of self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estrangement follows.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">However the converse is also true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Namely, that a deflated sense of Self, “I am a worm, and not human”, losing a healthy sense of self and being subsumed into the Other, also brings with it estrangement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither a pride filled arrogance, nor a shame based self-deprecation allow for intimacy with the Other.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Likewise, when relating to the Other, estrangement occurs when the scale tips in either direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether the Other in question is God, or neighbor, or the natural world in which we live, either an inflated or deflated sense of the Other destroys intimacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The God who is so Wholly Other as to cause terror, is not the God that Jesus intimately revealed to us as “Abba”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a God whose very existence is a matter of indifference to us, hardly can be a partner in an intimate relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We likewise experience estrangement when the Other is another human being, but one who we see as either so above us, or below us, as to disallow the mutuality of intimacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this planet on which we live can be perceived as an overwhelming place in which we are powerless and vulnerable in the face of the natural forces—Or it can be seen as a mere object for our exploitation.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">In other words, the intimacy that God envisioned for this world is one of a harmonious balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It begins with the recognition that we are children of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are limited, children not God, but with great potential, Children <u>of God</u>, created in God’s image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are creatures, not the Creator, but creatures of God, indeed.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[1]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Jn 3:16</span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">f </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other ancient authorities read <i>be one in us</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[2]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Jn 17:20-21</span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">a </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gk <i>tabernacle</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">b </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gk <i>tabernacle</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">c </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other ancient authorities lack <i>as their God</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">d </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other ancient authorities read <i>people</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;">e </span></sup></a><span style="font-family: "Footnote Text","serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other ancient authorities add <i>and be their God</i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: x-small;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Re 21:3-4</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-45734076961881653032011-10-03T12:47:00.000-07:002011-10-03T12:47:08.851-07:00Tov! Tov! Tov! Tov Meod!<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Indeed, it is very good!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we read the Song of Creation in Genesis 1 without being moved by God’s unrestrained joy at the goodness of the creation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with God's shouts echoing throughout the cosmos “Tov! Tov! Tov!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tov Meod!” [It is Good, Good, Good, Exceedingly Good!], how can we with integrity continue to focus so much on the fallenness of the creation?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">First, a word about God as Creator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God the Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, did not retire 5,772 years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite to the contrary, God’s creative work is an ever present reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is not just the First Cause who in antiquity, at the beginning of time, set things in motion and then retired to a beach somewhere in the South Pacific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Psalmist is quite correct in declaring that “It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And also “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Psalm 139: 13-14, NRSV)</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The more I learn about the creation of a human being within its mother’s womb, the more I marvel at the goodness of God’s creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine, from one fertilized ovum, the explosions of cells dividing and redividing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At maturity, trillions of cells make up the human body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We begin with stem cells, as yet generic in nature, and then the process of differentiation and association unfolds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brain cells, bone cells, skin cells, muscle cells, cells that form the circulatory system, the digestive system, the nervous system, each emerging in their distinctive form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only do these cells differentiate but they associate, aligning themselves in this incredible matrix of relationships that is life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, in that right moment, through the birth canal the baby travels to awaken to the light of life, and to breathe the first breath of life.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Tov! Tov! Tov! Tov Meod!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the shout of joy shared by parents at that moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the shout of joy of the Creator that continually echoes throughout the universe.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">The doctrine of original sin has numerous weaknesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, it tends to restrict God’s splendid and “good” creative work to the beginning of time, and then asserts that because of the Fall, all subsequent occasions for the birth of new life are corrupted, possessing an “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">innate disease” and are condemned <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“to God’s eternal wrath”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></sup></span></sup></a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To reject this, the Augsburg Confession says is “insulting [to] the suffering and merit of Christ.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, if rejecting the doctrine of original sin is insulting to the suffering and merit of Christ, affirming the doctrine of original sin is equally or even more insulting to the work and word of the Creator who declares that it is good, very good!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">To put it differently, as the father of four children, I can view their life in two ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, that their birth is merely the result of the biological processes that have been running in an independent manner since the beginning of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, I can view each one of them as a creature of God, holy and precious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If their birth is merely the result of a long line of cause and effects dating back to eternity, it is easy to postulate that something ‘went wrong’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, to hold the newborn infant in your arms and to see in them the marvelous work of the creator, is to recognize the inherent goodness of life and the image of God in them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">For Lutherans, I believe that the corrective for an over emphasis on original sin lies in the “simul” that is so central to our theological framework.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as we affirm the “simul justus et peccator”, simultaneously saint and sinner, so also I believe that we need to hold in tension the goodness of creation with its need for redemption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simultaneously Good, yet incomplete.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To use my fatherhood experience as an example, at the birth of Katie, Dieter, Jens, and Brita there was both an awareness of the fundamental goodness of this new life, held in my arms, and yet also an anticipation of all that was yet to come as their lives unfolded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without denying the goodness of what God had created, I was also aware of the capacity for both good and evil as their lives unfolded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it is with God, who can look at all that has been created and declare unequivocally “It is very good” and yet also anticipate the challenges that will lie ahead for this new creature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, the capacity for evil does not negate the inherent goodness of God’s creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Tov! Tov! Tov! Tov Meod!” still rings loud and clear throughout the universe. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> </span><br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;">[1]</span></span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Kolb, Robert ; Wengert, Timothy J. ; Arand, Charles P.: <i>The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church</i>. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 2000, S. 38</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-23409656989810108892011-09-08T14:36:00.000-07:002011-09-08T14:36:33.587-07:00Sin is not an STD<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;">For some, the title to this article might sound to be a radical departure from Christian theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For others it might seem a statement so obvious it’s hardly worth stating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What continually amazes me is how much has been invested in this line of thinking over the centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus <u>had</u> to be born of a virgin so as not be infected with the fallen condition of humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that further, Mary, Mother of our Lord, must have been conceived “immaculately”, so as not to infect Christ within her womb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of all the Christian Doctrines, I believe that the doctrine of original sin is one that we struggle the most to communicate in the context of a contemporary world view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That little baby just doesn’t appear to be representative of “total depravity” and deserving of nothing but eternal damnation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">“You want some food for thought concerning original Sin?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cannot perceive the world except through our own eyes, meaning that our world view will always be self-centered, and our actions so disposed.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a paraphrase of a comment that Dr. Roy Harrisville made in one of my seminary classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It deserves some thoughtful consideration.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">About twenty years ago, Lutheran Community Services conducted a parenting class in my congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will always remember the observation they shared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The work of adolescence is differentiation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many parents see this as ‘rebellion’, but in truth, every adolescent must differentiate themselves from their parents in order to prepare to enter into adulthood.”</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Martin Buber writes in “I and Thou”, (pg 112):</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Egos appear by setting themselves apart from other egos.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Persons appear by entering into relation to other persons.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One is the spiritual form of natural differentiation, the other that of natural association.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The purpose of setting oneself apart is to experience and use, and the purpose of that is ‘living’—which means dying one human life long.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The purpose of relation is the relation itself—touching the You.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For as soon as we touch a You, we are touched by a breath of eternal life.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">This is the cycle of not only human relationships, but of the entirety of creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Differentiation and Association. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each entity, whether it be the celestial bodies, or developing fetus within a mother’s womb, the galaxies and solar systems, the emerging cells within each living thing, are continually and simultaneously in this process of differentiation and association.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">It is for the sake of Love that God created the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And God’s ultimate purpose is loving intimacy with all of creation, and with each individual person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But intimacy with an Other, requires both differentiation and association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, we had to first be able to say “No!”, in an adolescent like rebellion in order that we could then say “Yes!” to the invitation to loving intimacy with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God had unity prior to the creation of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that was, was God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in creating the Other, God sacrificed unity for the sake of intimacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Differentiation of our wills from God’s may well be seen as an act of defiance, and often it is exactly that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in that God’s ultimate purpose is an intimate loving relationship with each of us and all of creation, it is also a necessary precondition for our being able to associate with God, in love.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-36323267495109469832011-08-26T13:12:00.000-07:002011-08-26T20:04:30.359-07:00On Icons and Idols<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord </span>descended in the cloud and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name, “The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord”. (Ex 34:5, NRSV)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">There is something about the reverent awe with which Judaism treated the name of God that I find lacking in our world today. A name so holy that God, and God only, can pronounce it. There is a mystery surrounding God’s identity and being that remains wholly Other to us. God is beyond the realm of our experience. Our language is incapable of capturing God’s being. We have no words or thoughts with the capacity to accurately speak about God. What we are capable of is speaking <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>to</u></i> God. God has gifted us with the ability to lift our voices in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Martin Buber speaks of this in “I and Thou”, a book that has shaped my life since my first reading of it many decades ago. “The world as experience belongs to the basic word I-It. The basic word I-You establishes the world of relation.” (Buber p.56)</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">“Men have addressed their eternal You by many names. When they sang of what they had thus named, they still meant You: the first myths were hymns of praise. Then the names entered into the It-language; men felt impelled more and more to think of and to talk about their eternal You as an It. But all names of God remain hallowed—because they have been used not only to speak <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> God but also to speak <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to</i> him.” (Buber p. 123)</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">When we seek to speak <u>about</u> God our words, and the thoughts and symbols they convey, will function in one of two ways. They may rightly function as icons, images that by their very nature are unreal, but which point beyond themselves to the reality of the Divine Mystery that is God. Icons, for this reason, are traditionally painted in two dimensions, so as to avoid the appearance of reality. They are windows through which one looks to the reality beyond that will always be clothed in mystery.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Our words and the thoughts and symbols they convey may also become idolatrous. Here am I going to be very cautious. Consider the Creeds of our Church, the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. The Book of Concord, the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, speak of these creeds as the “Three Chief Symbols”. The Orthodox Church refers to the Nicene Creed as the Icon/Symbol of our faith. Used correctly as icons, these creeds and the doctrine of the Trinity they seek to definitively state, point beyond the words and the concepts that originate with us, to the mystery of God’s actual being that lies outside of our ability to experience, comprehend and grasp.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The Creeds become Idols when we worship the god that we have created with our own thoughts, concepts, and formulations. This god, created by us, is an It, to use Buber’s terminology. It is an idol. This is the “Golden Calf” of the Christian Church. The Israelites fabricated the calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. It was a god they could see, while the Living God was hidden in mystery on the top of the mountain. Likewise, the Christian Church, having encountered this Living God in the person of Jesus and in the Spirit present in the community, created an Idol. We cannot define the essence and being of the eternal “You”, the Living God, with our finite words and concepts. We can only point beyond to the mystery of God’s being that we encounter in relationship. And yet, we have sought to define God’s very Being.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">That the concept of the Trinity has become an idol for us is evident whenever we would differentiate between the god we worship, and the God that has chosen to enter into relationship with all creation, and specifically many peoples. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac (might we add, the God of Ishmael), and the God of Jacob.” The Jews do not worship a Triune God, nor do the Moslems. Yet both worship together with us the God “of Abraham”. When our doctrinal statements trump God’s own self disclosure, then they have become idols. </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">As a Christian, my point here is not to deny the doctrine of the Trinity as defined in the Creeds and in Christian theology over the centuries. What I do believe is that we have stated more than we are capable of, and in so doing, have created an idol. I believe that when we moved from speaking to God, and speaking of the God who has encountered us in relationship, to speaking <u>about</u> God and seeking to define the very essence of God’s own being, then the object of our efforts ceased to be God at all. God is always beyond our words and definitions.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">However, when the symbols, when the scriptures themselves, point beyond themselves to the hidden God, the God clothed in mystery and divine glory, then once again it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob we encounter.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">It is not doctrinal clarity about the essence of God’s being that is needed. That is beyond us. We cannot capture God in this way. What is needed in our world is a greater sense of reverent awe as we encounter the God so clothed in mystery. And, as humans, would that we be filled with such humility that we might stand before this God, as Moses did, silently, recognizing that God, and God only, can pronounce “the Name”, and so disclose himself to us.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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</div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-60850036540994986062011-08-03T16:34:00.000-07:002011-08-03T16:40:29.644-07:00Confessions of a Confessional Lutheran<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></sup></span></sup></a><span style="font-size: large;">” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Acts 22:3, NRSV]<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">I could paraphrase this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I am a Confessional Lutheran, born in a pastor’s household, brought up in the Lutheran Churches, studied at the feet of Nestingen, educated strictly according to the Book of Concord, being committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just as all of you are.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could add to this that as Nestingen’s teaching assistant I tested my classmates on their memorization of the Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And for twenty three years now I have been preaching and teaching each on a regular basis.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Now for my confession:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the years have gone by I have found that the traditional language of Law and Gospel, so firmly rooted in our tradition, mandated by our constitutions, and the very framework of the Confessions that define Lutheranism – no longer are persuasive to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My fundamental problem is that though we hold firm to Paul and Luther’s understandings that we are justified by faith, apart from works prescribed by the law, we have nevertheless retained a fundamentally legalistic world view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than come to a new understanding of the Gospel that has nothing to do with “the Law”, “the Law” remains fundamentally determinative for our relationship with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gospel has been added, yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is seen as the cure demanded by the Law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Law remains.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">We have a “cure” for the condemnation that the Law exacts, and so we will continue to “wound with the Law” that we may “cure with the Gospel”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if that wasn’t what God ever intended?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if the reason God sent Jesus was not to first beat us up, convicting us of our sins, so that then he could forgive us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if it was simply about a loving God reaching out to those that God loves, seeking nothing more, but also nothing less, than an intimate relationship with us all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">If St. Augustine could begin his “Confessions” with the line “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you”, the thought of Intimacy with God is clearly not some new and novel thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loving intimacy is not a concept that can be defined legally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we read scripture from the standpoint of a theology of intimacy what we find is that this theme is clearly present throughout the biblical witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if we develop our understanding of God’s relationship with the world as being defined by a quest for intimacy, we will end up with a much different world view than when we begin from the starting point of law and obedience.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Previously, I have written about my concerns that we no longer share a world view that centers on a cosmic battle between the forces of Good and Evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have shared that I do not believe that it is all about “playing by the rules”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The polarity that I am suggesting truly reflects the world in which we live, is a polarity of “intimacy” versus “estrangement”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is purely for love that God has created us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the only thing God desires of us, is that we love even as God has first loved us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not radical language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is at the very heart of the biblical witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But love and intimacy can never be defined by the Law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, I find myself compelled to reexamine our traditional teachings that presuppose the Law as the fundamental framework of our relationship to God.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2604506869659408760#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: large; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></sup></span></sup></a><span id="__spanCitationData"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;"> <i>The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version</i>. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, S. Ac 22:3</span></span></div></div></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-89432217273709471762011-07-24T21:36:00.000-07:002011-07-26T14:37:49.717-07:00On Repentance and Responsibility<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> A</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">s I write, the Congress of the United States is debating the debt ceiling and the variety of proposals on the table to respond to what is a growing matter of concern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While thoughts about this might seem misplaced in this article, there are two themes that are central matters of our faith and which I believe come to bear on the current situation facing our country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are “repentance” and “responsibility”.</span></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Why are we burdened with such a tremendous national debt?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many will point their fingers at Washington and the politicians serving there and heap all sorts of blame on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, to be truthful, we must look first at ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is it that desires all of those services that our government provides?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And who is it that continually desires to see our taxes lowered even while continuing to receive these services?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer is you and me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are the ones who continually want to pay lower taxes while being unwilling to see any of the government funding for our favorite projects and programs decreased.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Politicians, finally, follow our lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are responsible for this fiscal crisis that our government faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until we as a people realize that, and repent of our ‘sins’, namely wanting something for nothing and passing the cost on to future generations, we will continue to reap what we sow. </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Instead, I would suggest that we need to learn to live with a spirit of gratitude, and yes, responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jake worked his whole life running a bull dozer building roads for the logging industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pastor,” he said, “I cannot understand people who complain about paying taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had years when I haven’t had to pay any taxes, and years that I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, those years when I had to pay a lot of taxes were much better years.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jake was also thankful for Social Security upon retirement, for Medicare, for roads, for parks (especially boat launches, he was a fisherman), for the schools, and for a free and secure country in which to live.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">We have been blessed by God to live in such a great country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that same God also said “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our country achieved greatness not because of a few brilliant leaders, or because of ‘getting something for nothing’, but because our citizens took responsibility for the challenges that faced us and sacrificed to overcome them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s time once again for us to rise up to the challenge, to admit our failures, and to take responsibility for our future.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">[Bonner County Daily Bee – July 22, 2011]</span></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-11587673222755956232011-07-15T13:11:00.000-07:002011-07-26T14:38:38.699-07:00"Play by the Rules!"<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">My oldest son is an avid golfer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the time he first picked up a club in grade school he had a natural swing, and loved the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we moved to Idaho, Dieter would spend as much time as possible out at Hidden Lakes golf course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was on the high school golf team, the golf pros at the club knew him, and were more than willing to pair him up with other players whenever he asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one such day he was playing with another gentleman, apparently a quite serious golfer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On one of the early holes, it being just a practice round for him, Dieter ‘took a gimme’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When his back handed tap in missed, the other player was adamant that there were no “gimmes”, it didn’t count until he actually sank the putt, so finish out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Play by the rules!”</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Dieter was pissed off by the gentleman’s rather uncompromising, anal attitude toward the rules, especially as it was only a casual practice round for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ok, if we’re going to play serious, then we’ll play serious!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next hole was a par three and Dieter proceeded to hit a hole in one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the eighteenth hole, his third shot was from about 125 to 135 yards out, and again, he knocked it in for an eagle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Dieter had left, the golf pro reported that this gentleman had walked into the clubhouse stunned, and asked “Who in the hell was that guy you paired me up with?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the next few times I played with Dieter, the clubhouse would announce our tee time with “Next up on the tee, Tiger Woods and his dad.”</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The moral of this story is that if you are going to be anal about the rules, you may just end up getting your butt kicked.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am amazed that within the Lutheran Church, after 5 centuries of continually preaching that we are “justified by grace apart from works prescribed by the law” (Romans 3:28), that many if not most of our people still are preoccupied with ‘playing by the rules’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The USGA (United States Golf Association) web site states: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Learn and play by the rules for maximum enjoyment of the game. We’re here to help.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many Christians, a slight variation of this could serve as the mission statement of the Church:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>“<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Learn and play by the rules for maximum enjoyment of life. We’re here to help.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Certainly, within the scriptural and doctrinal history of the Church there is ample reason for the preoccupation with rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recurrent theme throughout the scripture is “obey and live, disobey and die”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sin and righteousness are often the defining categories of our spirituality and doctrines, and obedience or disobedience are our only choices in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “Law and Gospel” is how Lutherans understand God’s Word.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is this the operative world view for most Christians?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That God created the game of life, established the rules of living, and now stands as the judge and jury, ready to condemn or reward each according to the way they played the game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many people the answer is a straight forward “Yes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when we add to this picture a means of forgiveness and redemption, with the special rules governing how we may be forgiven or redeemed, it still remains the same game of playing by the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, if we are honest, the “rules” we live by are strange.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">Imagine, for example, that the rules of golf were binding on all players, with one exception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are a member of the USGA, any penalties imposed by the rules will be forgiven, and everyone may turn in his/her scorecard recording not their actual score, but the best score possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What was your score today, Honey?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“18”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“How can that be?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Although many would maintain that the Bible is a ‘book of rules’, God’s Word according to which we must live in obedience—no one actually is willing to obey everything in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most people are willing to do is selectively obey those portions of scripture that they find acceptable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a conversation I have had on numerous occasions with those who profess a literal belief in the scripture’s inerrancy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My favorite passage in scripture to ask them about is Deuteronomy 22:28-29:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act,<sup> </sup>the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.” (NRSV)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not once has anyone ever suggested that such a Biblical mandate should be obeyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may like the principle of the Bible as a book of Laws, but we don’t care much for the application.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An even more difficult aspect of viewing the world through the lens of obedience and disobedience, of seeing the scripture as a book of rules, is that “</span>if you are going to be anal about the rules, you may just end up getting your butt kicked”, to recall the moral of the above story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More specifically, as our tradition states emphatically, if we’re going to start counting offenses everyone stands condemned. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">When our proclamation is based on this legalistic understanding of life, we also come face to face with our own hypocrisy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many outside of the Church see this as one of their major objections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We proclaim a message of obedience to the will of God, and yet none of us obey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another problem for evangelism and proclamation is that the credibility of our witness in the world is not good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many people outside of the Church turn to the Church for moral guidance and insight into how we shall live?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very few, I’d guess.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">The difference between the USGA and the Church is this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The USGA’s authority regarding the game of golf continues to be normative for the sport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Church’s authority has become highly suspect regarding the game of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is clear to me is that in today’s context the question “What should we do?” is not very often the dominant question on people’s spiritual quests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even within the religious community I am struck by how seldom people seek the guidance of the Church on this question.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a post on my blog Eugene A. Koene said “<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I would suggest that a question, if not THE question, for people today is, "What does it really mean to be human?".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what I am suggesting is that “playing by the rules”, is not, finally, what it means to be human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is why when the Church becomes preoccupied with the Law, it rarely speaks to the yearnings of the human heart.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-80542586461315231732011-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:002011-07-13T09:59:50.677-07:00The Drama of Life<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Life is a drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an unfolding story of conflict and resolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our defining world view is determined in large part by how we interpret the drama of life and the opposing forces at play in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our world view will shape how we interpret global events, politics, and the drama underlying our religious convictions.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of my memories growing up in the sixties was of the bomb shelter sign over the door of my school and the constant reminder of the defining conflict of our world at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were raised amid the drama of the Cold War, where freedom, capitalism, and all that was good in life were pitted against communism, oppression, and all the evil that lurked behind the Iron Curtain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Christian nation of the United States stood in firm opposition to the godless atheists of the Soviet Union.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This drama defined us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire his words reflected not only a political viewpoint, but a religious world view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this world view, the drama of life is the ongoing conflict between the forces of good and evil.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Such a view is not new, it is only that with each generation we redefine those forces of good and evil to reflect our contemporary perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Book of Revelation clearly understands this drama as being played out between the community of the faithful and the powers and principalities of this world, namely, the Roman Empire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a drama between the Church and the State, with the latter finally being destroyed by the Lamb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise, Martin Luther reflected this world view as he wrote the great hymn “A Mighty Fortress”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, the battle has been redefined in our world view as a conflict between Christianity and Muslim terrorists, if not Islam as a whole (depending on who you are talking to and how honest they are being).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Regardless how this conflict is defined by a given generation and culture, this world view will produce a deep yearning within the human heart for the “champion (who) comes to fight, whom God himself elected”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who will destroy the powers of Evil in the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is the answer.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the problems with this world view and our mission to be evangelists is that few of the unchurched see the world as a cosmic battleground between the forces of Good and Evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And more pertinent still, is that many would understand religious fanaticism of any shape or variety as having caused more evil than just about anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some outside of the Church, religion will never be able to save the world from evil, precisely because religion itself has caused so much evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those holding this world view the real conflict is between religious fanaticism and a reasonable, secular, and just world view.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another historical understanding about the drama of life centers around “insiders and outsiders”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How that has been defined in any age varies:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jew and Gentile, Greco-Roman and Barbarian, Christian and Pagan, civilized and savage, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When this becomes our dominant world view a variety of responses emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first is that of being ‘set apart’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jewish experience of setting themselves apart from the world around them is a classic example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Jewish faith was not about conquest or conversion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about maintaining internal integrity over and against the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others such as the Greco-Roman/Barbarian were more about conquest and integration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christianity focused on conversion of the pagan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And of course, the operating assumption of civilization is that it should be spread.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Often these lines become blurred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember in my childhood watching slide presentations of missionaries who had been serving in places like Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was most striking is how the natives were dressed in traditional African clothes, and then those who had converted to Christianity were wearing western clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evangelizing and civilization, or more specifically, the spread of Western Civilization, were often indistinguishable.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By definition, any world view built around the notion of insider and outsider is egocentric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My theme is this blog is to explore the questions that define our faith journey, and to specifically look at the questions that are part of our larger contemporary culture, and specifically on the hearts and minds of the unchurched.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If our operative world view is that of insiders and outsiders, those on the inside will almost always devalue the experience of those outside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either we separate ourselves, or engage in some form of conquest and conversion, bringing the outsider in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But rather than seeing the experience of the outsider, and the yearnings within their heart and existence as having value, this view seeks primarily to create a new world view that conforms to the view of those on the inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the world no longer asks the questions of faith that we are prepared to answer, that’s their problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to teach them the truth so they know the appropriate questions to ask.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It also should be acknowledged that when we view the world through the lens of insider and outsider, the role of ‘gatekeeper’ becomes very pronounced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the integration of the ‘outsider’ into the inner circle is the goal, most often this is a selective process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the nature of insiders to be protective about who they allow to become part of the group.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Finally, a major theme in the drama of life is played out in the arena of the “haves” and “have nots”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a social, political, economic, and religious dynamic that has no doubt been part of the human experience since the beginning of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This struggle between the haves and have nots has fueled the flames of everything from the prophetic zeal of Old Testament prophets to the Marxist critique of capitalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disparity between the rich and the poor has always and will always be a driving force in the conflicts on the world stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It fuels the partisanship present in our politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if we are honest, it is one of the most powerful driving forces in all of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who have strive to keep, those who have not strive to obtain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this drama Jesus as Savior may be seen as the key to the good and abundant life, or the prophetic voice calling for justice, equality, and God’s compassion for the poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some will take comfort in the prosperity of the elect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others will hear the voices of the prophets, “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion!”</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Jesus is the Answer!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the question?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Who will destroy the powers of Evil?”</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Who will gather all people from the four corners of the earth into the Kingdom?”</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Who will offer to us the abundant life in which all things are held in common, and each receives from the Lord’s hand according to one’s need?”</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The questions we ask, and the questions that all people ask, are deeply shaped by our world view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How does the drama of life play out on the global stage?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is the dominant social/political view of the drama of life in our country today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it still the primary conflict between Good and Evil that shaped our national psyche during the Cold War, only now the Soviet Union has been displaced by terrorists and the Muslim world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it all about insiders and outsiders (think about the border fence to the south)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or is it about protecting our status as the wealthiest and most prosperous nation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how does that world view shape our proclamation?</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most importantly, if our world view shapes the questions we ask and the message we proclaim, how can God’s world view transform who we are?</span></div>Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2604506869659408760.post-89449250776471781672011-07-07T13:19:00.000-07:002011-07-07T13:19:02.591-07:00QUESTions: A Journey in FaithDuring my years at Pacific Lutheran University, there was a church located just off I-5 at the 38th Street exit. Towering above the church was a large sign, illuminated at night with vintage neon, and declaring JESUS IS THE ANSWER! Some of my college classmates and I used to entertain ourselves in speculating just what the question was. A little creativity, some cynicism, mixed with a dose of impious humor resulted in quite a few possible questions.<br />
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On a more serious note, as I contemplate the challenge before the Church in the 21st Century, I am more and more convinced that prior to our being able to declare that "Jesus is the Answer" we have to begin by listening to the world in which we live and discern just what the questions are that lurk deep within the human heart. The proclamation of the Gospel cannot be dependent upon our first convincing the world that their questions, the questions of this generation, are NOT the appropriate questions to be asked. No, people should be asking yesterday's questions. Why???? Because we have had ample time to formulate answers, confessional statements, and doctrines gallor centering around the questions of a bygone era. We are not so sure that we have the answers to today's questions, so please, world, don't ask them!<br />
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One example of this that got me thinking was stimulated by an observation that my former Brother-in-Law Mark made. Mark is a Japanese American who grew up in Hawaii, and whose familial background included both a smattering of Christian and Budhist inclinations. Mark related how he had been sent to Sunday School as part of his upbringing, and had seriously considered adopting Christianity as his faith. However, there was one thing he could not get over. "Before they would let me become a Christian, they insisted that I needed to be a sinner. That didn't make sense." And so Mark declined the offer. That for me is a prime example of how we continue to insist that the questions of a bygone era are the only relevant questions for today. "Jesus is the Answer!" The question is "Who will save us from our sinful nature and the consequence of our sins?" Oh, wait. That is not the first question that comes to mind for the typical person on the street today. That is a question that we have to learn to ask. That is a question we are taught. And so if you are a fully indoctrinated Christian, maybe that question makes sense. But if you aren't, it is not likely the question that will motivate your quest for faith and meaning in this life.<br />
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I recently preached a sermon in which I shared that I did not believe that every human being deserved eternal damnation and torturous punishment, nor did I believe that God created the vast majority of humanity simply to condemn all but a select few to hell. These are theological convictions rooted in the Middle Ages and which have shaped our religious consciousness ever since. But again, for those outside of the Church the questions that are raging within their souls do not, in my experience, center around the wrath of God, hell, and escaping from the punishment that we truly deserve. And to suggest that an innocent man could die in the place of the guilty, and so fullfill all of the demands of perfect and divine justice, simply no longer rings true. We are seeking to answer questions that are not being asked. That is a definition of irrelevance. And yet I never cease to be amazed at how we cling to these old answers, and insist that the old questions are the 'real' questions. We have studied. We've learned the questions and the answers. We are not prepared to venture into the whole arena of contemporary relevance because our well rehearsed answers to preprogrammed questions just don't work in the real world.<br />
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Perhaps the reason why the Church has ceased to be relevant for the majority of people in the Western World has to do with the fact that those outside of the Church have understood long before those of us inside the Church, that the questions have changed. And the answers we've been giving are not speaking to the heart of the matter.<br />
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What are the questions that drive the worldwide dialogue today? What is the drama at the center of a contemporary world view? What are the polarities that drive the dynamic struggles of today? These are the questions that I will be exploring on this blog. Welcome to the Journey.Pastor Dave Olsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226603867463498876noreply@blogger.com5