A Beggar At The Table

“What of ‘verbally inspired, infallible Word’? This is biblical and Lutheran and not to be surrendered. But it does not say enough: it does not in itself say the essential thing. It says: ‘The Word of God is an arrow with a perfect tip and a shaft without flaw, check, or blemish, feathered and balanced as no other arrow is; there is no arrow like it under the sun.’ The Lutheran res says: ‘This perfect arrow is aimed at you; it will kill you, in order that you may live.” The Lutheran res will not permit the church to become a Society for the Preservation of the Perfect Arrow.” (Martin Franzmann, “Seven Theses on Reformation Hermenutics” in Concordia Journal, Spring 2010, 129-130)

In short, he’s talking about the efficacy, the power of the Scripture that it does something, and is not just an information source.

Interestingly enough, Wallace Schulz (former Lutheran Hour Speaker) seems convinced that forgetting this Lutheran emphasis of the efficacy of the Scriptures is part of the general malaise affecting North American Lutheranism in general and the LCMS (and LCC, for what it’s worth) in specific. Here’s a LINK to an article he wrote on this topic. Agree with him or not, it is interesting how he connects the dots of what’s going on within the Lutheran Church right now.

It’s been a pretty tough month here at the Klages ranch; illnesses all around, ailments for both Kelly and I. Really thankful the month of June ends in a couple hours and we get to try again with the month of July.

In unrelated news, the Queen will be in Winnipeg in a few days. Wish I could see her but I know we’d have no luck getting anywhere close.

The apostle James, at the conclusion of chapter 1 of his epistle, says the following:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27 ESV)

The observation I have made is that it seems to me that churches in general, and I would dare to include my own failings and faults as a pastor in specific, tend to end up falling too heavily on one side or the other of this equation without holding both as equal priorities.

On one side you have generic mainstream churches, seeking social justice and trumpeting many worthy (and, admittedly, some not so worthy) causes.

On the other side you have generic conservative churches, wanting so badly to remain unspoiled by the world that it is easy to neglect the widow and the orphan in favour of having the pleasant messages and the inoffensively popular-styled music.

The true Christian way is to work hard on behalf of those who need you, while realizing that this world as it now stands is not our goal. You cannot serve both God and Mammon; you cannot seek the pleasures of this world and be a true follower of Christ. As our Lord Jesus himself said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:23-26 ESV)

It is a call for me, at any rate, to remember whom I am to serve; Christ, and serve Him by serving the people He has sent me to serve. I am not to be ashamed of His Word, but to speak it boldly and firmly. If that means I need to speak against sin, so be it. If that means I need to speak a word of grace to one struggling and drowning in guilt or fear or shame, so be it.

But it is neither wise nor prudent to pretend that one is following Christ by merely pursuing either the care of the poor and defenseless or contending for the truth of God against the stain of sin in this world. The believer in Christ is called to do both. Faith is shown in the acts of mercy and service done without desire of notice or recompense for the neighbour who needs them. Faith is shown in the willingness to say, “Thus saith the Lord” even when all the tempestuous seas of society say the opposite.

God grant me His mercy and grace for the sake of Christ so to do.

No, not to you, the readers, but to my beloved Ottawa Senators, who have sadly bowed out of the playoffs. They put up a valiant effort but were repelled at the last minute by a Penguins team who simply wanted it more.

Can’t wait for training camp in September…

My beautiful, intelligent, and talented wife had two of her posts picked as “Blog of the Week” simultaneously by Jeff and Todd of Issues Etc—go check her blog out to see what she’s been doing lately.

It’s been a *really* long time since I posted one, but I have one in the works. Hopefully it’ll be done soon. Lots of other irons in the fire, but I’ve got a nasty headcold at the moment (I know it’s not just allergies because I’m on my meds for those) and I don’t feel much up to visiting around.

So maybe, just maybe, I’ll add content here soon. Maybe. Once my taxes are done, that is.

I must admit, I am not the biggest Internet Monk fan in the interwebs, but I did enjoy reading his site from time to time (and no offense meant to Chaplain Mike, but he’s not the same).

It is sad to consider death, but that too is the reality of a world busted by sin. Death wins, or so it seems. Regardless how rich or poor, wise or foolish, young or old, famous or anonymous you may be or may consider yourself to be, all die.

Death is not the end, though, for those in Christ, and from what I knew of Mr. Spencer through his writings, I have full confidence that he is now with his Lord Jesus enjoying eternity. That’s all we really need to know. Death might look like it wins, but because Jesus is raised from the dead we too shall be raised. Death doesn’t win. Death will lose, and, in fact, death itself will be destroyed at the end. That’s good news to consider in a time of mourning.

For more, go check out the inimitable Josh S, the Fearsome Tycoon, for his thoughts.

A few years ago, Kelly was approached by one of the Lutheran Forum editors as to whether she would prepare a cover image and write an article. Thanks to the generosity of the Lutheran Forum staff, that image and article are now online for your perusal. Check it out over here:
http://www.lutheranforum.org/categories/archive

Kelly’s article and cover are in Fall 2007.

Well, Canada did alright at the Olympics, eh? 14 Gold is a new record for the Winter Games, although, as I noted to my brother on the phone, there are more events now as well. But whatever. It was fun to watch what I did of the games, and now life goes on.

I’m not sure that Crosby’s goal was anywhere near the Paul Henderson moment of the 1972 Summit Series, but it was fun.

As I noted in my sermon yesterday,

I must admit, the Olympics are enjoyable. And, humanly speaking, they have their importance. It is good to see these athletes from around the world gather together, representing the pride they have for their countries. But what is the end result of the Olympics? Pride, certainly, but also significant debt for Vancouver, for British Columbia, and for you and me, as residents of Canada. Debt which will be paid by our national obligation, taxes. The citizenship of this world always ends up pointing us back to worldly things. The pride we gain from something like the Olympics is a pride which ends up contributing nothing to us of eternal value. For the various skills and talents of this world, apart from the Gospel of Christ, are so much vanity, a chasing after the wind.

I guess it’s just a matter of perspective. The Olympics are over, and I’m sad that there won’t be all these wonderful winter sports on TV, but on the other hand, there are more important things to be concerned with than sporting events. 30 minutes playing in the snow with ToddlerK does me more physical good than watching the Olympics, and 30 minutes reading the Scriptures does me more spiritual good than watching the Olympics (although it was nice to see the segment on Cindy Klassen which pointed to her faith).

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the Olympics last for a time, and are enjoyable enough, but the Word of God stands forever. As a called and ordained servant of the Word, the Olympics have reminded me of my calling, and the importance of doing the best for the congregations with the gifts God has given me.

And I suppose that’s not a bad lesson to draw from the Olympics.

It’s the Olympics… so…

GO CANADA!