There's Something About Mary

This question comes from some of the fine folks who participated in our pre-Christmas Bible Study:

Dave,

During our Bible Study last time, we read about Mary's encounter with the angel and the news that she would be giving birth to the Messiah. We were all touched by her response! We have a question, though: She says in her song [Luke 1: 46-55] that:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name...."

So the question is this: have we, as a church, forgotten about Mary? When the Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church, did we leave her behind? Is there a way to honor her more without being guilty of worshiping her?

Great question!  We'll try for a decent answer.

Mary has long been revered as the mother of Jesus.  As you've identified, the Roman Catholic church holds her in high esteem.  Truth be told, we Lutherans do too.  The hows and whys of that are determined by one question:  Are the reasons to call Mary "blessed" distinct, peculiar to her over and apart from the rest of us, or are those reasons for blessing more communal?

The "distinct" angle is pretty easy.  Mary was the Mother of Our Lord.  Ain't nobody else ever done that!  That distinction makes her special.  As such, we should revere her above ordinary folks.  The distinction of Mary's calling is certainly behind the Catholic reverence of her.  It immediately calls to mind the questions, "Why her?  What about her was so different or special?  There must be a reason, right?"  That reason has to be internal.  After all, if the selection was just random there would be no reason to reverence her.  So you get a whole canon of descriptions surrounding Mary:  pure, noble, meek, mild.  (Hmmm...now that I read those my feminist leanings are causing me to itch.  Isn't it suspicious that the Ideal Woman keeps her mouth shut and doesn't offend you any more than Ivory Soap does?)  In 1854 Pope Pius IX formalized a long-held belief that since Jesus was untouched by sin, his mother, too must have been without it.  Otherwise he would have been contaminated by her.  Therefore you have the Immaculate Conception, which says that after Mary's mom and dad created her in the womb, all of her sin was wiped away.  What's more, Mary's Mother (Anne or Hanna depending on who you talk to) was made a saint, mostly because she gave birth to Mary.

That's some reverence!

It's fair to point out that we Lutherans don't go this far.  It's also fair to point out that this is how far you have to go if you regard the reason for Mary's blessing as being distinct and inherent in her.  If this is the answer then we should have statues, parades...more than just the occasional feast day we hold in her honor.

But what if there's another answer?

Look at the entire text of Mary's song:

46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

About whom does Mary sing?  This song isn't about her, it's about God and all the mighty things he has done.  And for whom has God done these things?  6 of the 8 passages describing his work talk about things he's done for his people.  Only the first 2 talk about what he's doing for Mary herself.  Those acts for her as an individual are quickly put in context with the entire salvation story.  In other words, even though this particular thing (bearing God's Son) is happening only to Mary, it's not a wholly new thing.  Instead it's the continuation--culmination, really--of the work God has always done for his people...the work he's been about since the moment of creation and which he will continue to do until the very last day.

This song isn't about how great Mary is.  By her own admission, she's just a servant.  She's a servant that people will call blessed because of her particular task, NOT because of her particular internal, inherent qualities.  The task, God's mission, God's work, God's miracles for his people...Mary is praising those things, not herself.

This is also what we reverence.  We do hold Mary apart somewhat because of her unique job.  We tell her story at Christmas.  We sing about her.  She does have her own feast day as the church year progresses.  We understand and celebrate that she got to do this special thing, which is why we talk about the Virgin Mary and not, you know, just "Jesus' mom".  But all that is only about 10% of the story.

The real heart of the story--the cause for celebration--is that God worked this wondrous thing and Mary had a chance to serve him through it.  That story isn't peculiar to Mary.  It's true for all of us.  Mary gave birth to Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross and rose again to claim us, redeem our lives, make us his brothers and sisters.  We are now God's folk.  We are vessels for his Spirit.  We are servants.  We, too, bear God.  We hear his voice in the voice of our neighbors.  The REAL miracle in Mary's journey was her giving birth to the Messiah, the Savior who opened God's family to us all.  The miracle is not one of exclusive distinction for her, but the radical inclusion of all of us.  Take away that radical inclusion and you've lost the purpose of the story itself, and therefore all reason to praise Mary.

Every time we claim we bear God's Holy Spirit with us, we are honoring Mary.  Every time we fulfill our tasks as God's servant we honor her too.  Every time we, too, claim that God is merciful, powerful, transforms the world, feeds the hungry, and continues his story of salvation to this day, we show true reverence to Mary as well.  It's not in pointing her out and putting her on a pedestal that we truly honor her, any more than doing so would honor your own mom.  It wouldn't, at least in any permanent way.  How do you honor your mother?  You live out the things she showed and taught you.  You become like her, treating the world with the same love and care that she showed you.

We don't just honor and praise a removed Mary up on a wall.  Every time God's Spirit pours out of us to fill the world, we have become Mary...not the physical mother of Jesus, but the spiritual mother that gives the world the goodness of God's presence.

And that...is reverence.

We have to be careful in these matters.  Sometimes the kind of reverence that looks the strongest and most obvious actually pushes the figure we're revering away from us, breaking the whole reason for reverence in the first place.  No statue of your mom can ever take the place of living out her mission.  Even attempting the statue route is, in a way, a confession that you either don't want to do the "living out" thing or you just don't trust that this is "real" reverence.  But it is.  Ask any mom which she'd prefer?  She'll tell you to save money on the statue and do the daily things that reflect her life instead.  And this is what we do.  It's less obviously reverential but it's not any less reverential.  In fact it's more, because both embrace and remembrance are tighter.

So, now, go and do as Mary did.  Bear God to the world.  Help him lift up the poor and humble.  Fill the hungry, embrace the lonely, raise God's children.  In this you honor her.  Because of this people will call her, and all God's children, blessed.

Keep those questions coming!

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

All Things Working for Good?

I got a nice question in response to the Epiphany sermon right below this post.  The source was the following paragraphs:

As annoying and sometimes traumatic as [life's] journeys can be, they're the only way our lives grow beyond our own stunted vision and self-will.  They're also the only way we ever get to see and understand the Messiah who, in the end, is too large and glorious to be contained in the static understanding of any individual.

God is sending your Epiphany star in many ways every day.  Do you see and do you follow or are you in the business of shutting out, shutting down, and killing off anything that's going to change the life to which you have grown accustomed? 

Our life's journey ultimately leads to the Messiah. 

The gist of the question was, "Does saying that 'all life's journeys ultimately lead to the Messiah' mean that all paths in life are inherently good?"

Extending the metaphor of the journey of the Magi a bit further, we find that this is not so.  The journey from the East culminated in Bethlehem with the Messiah but that does not mean that every step of that journey was sweetness and light.  The Bible doesn't describe the trek, but one may assume that it was hard and long with plenty of missteps, pointy rocks, reluctant camels, inclement weather, and what have you.  Those things weren't inherently good in themselves just because the destination was right.

More to the point, the Wise Men took a rather unfortunate detour into Herod's arms in Jerusalem and then were warned against returning to Herod on their way back.  These events precipitated the murder of many young children.  The path to Herod wasn't "good" and we may assume a return path to him would have been even worse, since the Magi were warned against it.

Our lives (and deaths) ultimately lead us to the Messiah.  That is righteous and proper.  It does not follow that any path we take in this life is good any more than every step the Magi took to the baby Jesus was equally good.  We make mistakes, get lost, step on those sharp stones, wade in weeds, experience all kinds of detours and distractions.  That doesn't stop God from bringing us to him in the end, but that act is as much deliverance and rescue as it is a happy homecoming.

Therefore it's perfectly fine to look at a path we, or someone we know, is taking and to say, "This does not seem like a good one."  The knowledge of our ultimate destination frees us from the burden of considering that judgment infallible and all-powerful.  God will decide our fate, our conceptions of good and evil paths notwithstanding.  Because we know God has the final say no matter what we decide, we are free to converse and even critique in our search for the best path forward.  Indeed, sometimes we are called to do exactly this, even to the point of intervening in difficult situations.  If you suspect your child is addicted to drugs, "Oh well, all paths ultimately lead to God!" is not the called-for response.  Rather it's, "All paths ultimately lead to God and goodness so why are you so invested in heading down this evil and destructive one that's just going to end up empty and powerless?"

Our ultimate destination does make a difference in how we perceive the world irrespective of good and evil, though.  We may not always be able to see the right, best, or even good path forward.  Most of the really difficult situations in life obscure our vision to the point that discernment of a "right" way is impossible.  But if we know that we are headed towards God no matter what we also trust that God is present no matter what. Even when we can't see the path forward, we trust there is a path forward.  More to the point, we trust that God will accompany us as we take the next steps forward even if they ultimately end up being the wrong ones.

In this way we experience the truth of the oft-misused quote from Romans 8:28,  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Not all things are good, but God will not let non-good things have the last word.  He will ultimately work goodness for us even when we're on the most misguided paths.

The more "experienced" I've gotten in life the more I've come to understand this truism.  There are two kinds of people in the world:  those who trust in God's presence--and thus see/experience/share him--even in the most desperate of circumstances and those who cannot bring themselves to trust in God's presence no matter how ideal the path they're on.  The first type of person believes, hopes, endures, and walks with his or her neighbor through trial and tribulation, bringing comfort.  The second type of person always finds something to complain about.  The first person finds the potential for God and goodness in every moment.  The second wouldn't know goodness if it bit them in the behind.

All of us fall into both categories somewhat.  We will all find strength and we will all find the capacity to complain and find wrongness.  But when push comes to shove, one or the other of those traits will win out and guide our lives, particularly our lives of faith.  Not all paths are equally good, but each path has the potential to teach us something about life, love, faith, and God if we are the type of person to regard it so.  We have no choice over our ultimate fate and destination.  We do have the power of interpreting the circumstances of our daily lives and paths.  Will we believe that God works in, with, and through them (that they lead us to him) or will we deny him at the end, beginning, and on each step in between?

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

Sermon Question: Good and Right

A question from one of our parishioners:

Pastor Dave,

In today's sermon you said that part of committing to God's call is committing to goodness, being married to it even.  I understand what you're saying but part of me also asks how this is possible.  I want to be committed to goodness in everything I do but I don't seem to be able to achieve that!  I make mistakes.  Sometimes it seems like nothing is right.  I suppose I'm saying that if I'm married to goodness I'm a bad spouse because I keep stepping out! How do I make this marriage work?

Great observation!  The easy answer is, "That's what forgiveness is for."  We need it in our marriage to goodness just as much as we need it in our earthly marriages and other relationships.  Nobody can be around another person for any length of time without forgiveness.  Fortunately God has an infinite supply.

I suppose we could leave it at that, save for your last question.  Saying, "God will forgive you, just keep trying" is true but it doesn't make a strong basis for feeling committed to something.  My gut tells me we need to add to the story a little by exploring the odd difference between "good" and "right".

In an ideal world--and frankly in the theological world as well--the terms "good" and "right" are interchangeable.  What's good is right and what's right is good.  End of story.

Unfortunately daily life tends to muddy our definitions.  How often do you really get to make a "right" choice?  I don't mean a choice that seems good in the moment or that addresses a certain situation, but a choice that's 100%, without exception or argument, right?  Chances are the answer is, "Almost never."  If you think you make the 100% right choices all the time then you need to get yourself a teenager.  Within 48 hours you will be informed how not-100%-right your choices actually are!

In real life few, if any, choices are absolutely right.  They all depend on context, opinions, culture, goals.  Even when all those things align your choice still only ends up right for you and people who feel/think/believe/grew up like you.  Let a stranger come into your midst and your "right" goes right out the window.  And this isn't even counting all the times when the "right" choice is simply the lesser of two evils.  *cough* *cough* election year *cough*

But as counter-intuitive as it seems to our pristine, theological minds, a choice can contain 100% goodness (in certain ways) even when it's not 100% right.

Let me give you an example.

Right after my parents divorced my sister and I spent hefty amounts of time in a new situation:  living in a house with my dad as the sole parent without the influence of mom.  As you may expect, some things changed.  Among the most prominent of those was dessert.  Heretofore portions of dessert had been strictly rationed.  That was the sensible-mom, child-rearing thing to do.  Now here comes dad, completely mom-free.  "You guys want some ice cream?"  Two heads nod.  Out comes a ginormous spoon and three ginormous bowls.  The spoon dips into the carton once, twice, thrice for each bowl.  My sister and I are now holding the Machu Picchu of ice cream in our little hands.  With huge, incredulous smiles we devour the wondrous bounty.  It was amazing.

Now, was this right?  Probably not.  Even if you discount the dubious nutritional content of those enormous bowls for pre-teen children you're left with one middle-aged pastor who to this day has inordinate affection for large bowls of ice cream and the comfort they bring.  This was not a sustainable, healthy pattern of eating for then or the years that followed!

But you know what?  For two little kids now living in a recently-broken family, emotionally adrift, with precious little to reassure them--kids who privately wondered every day whether anything would be safe or comforting again--this was good.  Oh yeah, this was 100% good, even though by many measures it was also wrong.  To this day I cannot imagine what life would have been like without those large bowls of ice cream.

Being married to goodness doesn't mean that you're going to do everything 100% right.  Rather it means that in everything you do, you can find goodness.  That goodness is what causes you to make the decisions you do, right or wrong though they may be.  And that goodness isn't just about you and your own needs, but also about the needs of those around you.  You focus on the goodness rather than how right or wrong you are.  As you begin to see the goodness in your (admittedly faulty) decisions your eyes also open to the goodness in other people's decisions...even those decisions which seem wrong by your internal measuring stick.  This brings you closer together with those around you and allows that ever-necessary forgiveness to flow more freely.

Being right is a fool's task that, even when successful, ultimately drives people apart.  The effort spent in being good, however, is never wasted.

I have been asked to my face before--several times--whether I think some of my decisions are right...by Scripture, morality, by our cultural norms, by church tradition.  I'm always a little at a loss there.  Who can ever guarantee that any decision is the right one even by one's own standards, let alone by those lofty measures?  I can't tell you with certainty that my decisions and interpretations are right, especially by Scriptural standards.  But I can tell you that they are good and I can point to that goodness in the lives of others.  It may be in a particular way.  It may be through an avenue or person that you don't like.  It may only get acknowledged by a simple smile, a momentary widening of eyes, or puzzlement because the recipient expected a different response from a "church guy".  But it's there.  I can see that goodness and I can commit to serving my neighbor by upholding it.  And really, what more could be asked?

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

Question re: Loving Your Neighbor

Whether they come in the comment section or via e-mail, we love...love...LOVE questions about the things we write here.  That's how we all learn!  Coincidentally enough, this question is about the "love" sermon we detailed yesterday.

Dave,

I try to show kindness and support to all (ok, most).  BUT, to completely love your neighbor requires time and priority.   Surface love…smile at the grocery store; patience while an older person writes a check, letting another driver go first, etc. can be done instantly but is really just a surface type of caring.  To deeply love you need time to develop a relationship where love can be shown.  You can’t possibly “deeply” show love to everyone.  How do you prioritize?   A little bit to everyone leaves those closest feeling brushed off.  Too much time and you leave others out.  Try a group…even there people get over looked.   Do you pick a subject and say…this is the one I focus on for today, tomorrow, next week?  I really do try  to include all and visit those who appear to need a vist or a call.  But, it really can become overwhelming.  I then worry…o my gosh…did I not call that person enough, or did I overlook someone else in their time of need?   The love you neighbor thing can get stressful!  Not complaining, just trying to be faithful and do my best! 

First off, don't underestimate that "surface love".  It may be quick but it can run deep.  After all the checker at the grocery store is going to be a little shocked and put off if you throw your arm around her and squeeze the way you'd do to your spouse.  (Don't ask me how I know this!)  But you can convey much of the same warmth and bonding by a smile, some patience, and a few nice words.  She's not going to talk to you about her husband when you do that but when she gets home she's going to talk to her husband about you!  That's how important a small gesture can be.

As for the rest, first understand that if everybody asked your question we'd be a lot better off!  The trick is to ride that guilt without letting it master you...to go to bed at night knowing you've left things undone but to still be at peace because you also did plenty of wonderful things.  That lets you get up with motivation to do better but also the confidence to follow through with the motivation.

Here's how I manage it for myself.  First I understand and admit that I am going to fall short.  Therefore I try not to pre-prioritize my day in order to avoid messing up.  No matter how I organize my time and energy I'm going to end up missing someone, as you said.  So I try to let go of my pre-conceptions about who I'm supposed to love.  I try instead to be receptive to the people God sends me in each moment, trusting that he knows best.  If a kid comes walking up to my door, there must be some reason.  If I see a particular person at the store, get the odd urge to call someone that day, or happen to get reminded of someone by a seemingly random event I try to follow up.  I don't let a moment with the person in front of me slip by while I'm worrying about all of the other people I should be seeing and loving.

This, by the way, also includes my own kids and family.  Oddly enough God sends them into my life every day.  There's a reason for that.  I could literally be gone dawn to dusk visiting other people and not see my own family at all.  It's OK to realize that God purposely sends certain people to see you more than others and to follow up on seeing/loving those people every day even though it means you may be overlooking someone else.  Those aren't the only people you love, just the people you get to love most often.

I also realize I'm going to disappoint people sometimes this way when I miss them.  I accept that I don't have infinite time or resources, nor is my vision perfect, nor is my system of "tend to the folks God sends you" perfect.  I trust that other people will also love those people I miss...that the whole world doesn't depend on me alone.  This is why having a supportive and loving church is far superior to having just a supportive and loving pastor.

I also apologize without reservation when I've missed someone.  Plus I ask God's forgiveness for my shortcomings every week and allow his mercy and assurance to carry away some of the more harmful after-effects of that guilt.  As I read it I realized that your entire paragraph could well serve as a confession.  Most people absolve themselves of loving others by saying that they aren't really responsible for their neighbor like scripture says.  Others use guilt over falling short in that task as a method of avoidance, throwing up their hands and saying, "I can't do it. I quit."  The better way would be for all of us to admit exactly what you've said above every time we confess, asking God to give us strength but also for him to show us all the love he's giving to the world through others so that we might be inspired and feel better about the times we fall short of his loving ideal.

Keep those questions coming!

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

Reader Question: Good People and Bad

There's no Monday Morning Sermon this week since our Sunday School classes did a wonderful job relaying their version of the Advent/Christmas through their annual program.  Thanks to everyone who helped plan and carry out this inspiring event!

Instead of the usual we're subbing in this reader question:

Pastor Dave,
I enjoyed your talk about judgment and sin.  The issue has frustrated me.  A couple friends of mine have really gotten on my nerves in the last year for this very reason.  They're so judgmental about certain things.  They call it godly but I can't follow that.  It just seems narrow-minded and hateful to me.  I've tried to talk to them without any success and it has hurt our friendship.  We were once very close!  How do good people go bad like this?  What makes people so judgmental?  Is it really something they're reading in the Bible?  If so, where?

I'll answer the last part first.  There aren't really any (or at least not many) places in the Bible that tell you to resent people or be judgmental towards them.  Those that appear to exist are outweighed ten to one by other references and infinity to one by Jesus' actions on the cross.  But people have a knack for seeing what they want to see.  Even the devil can quote scripture, as the famous saying goes.  If you're looking for something that can be interpreted as judgmental--something that makes you look right in a certain stance--you can probably find it in scripture.

There's often a difference between what the Bible says and what people say the Bible says.  Plenty of really bad preachers make a living on that difference...let alone common folks.  In our society all you have to say is, "This is what *I* believe and religion is a private matter between me and God" and you have finished the argument.  Everybody seems to respect that.  I do too, actually, as long as the discussion remains one-on-one and on somebody's couch.  The problem is that these beliefs inevitably go public and make hordes of people think that being judgmental is the true and strong Christian stance.  Meanwhile the rest of us "nice" folks stand on the sideline and shake our heads while the judgmental folks leave this impression with everyone.  That's sad.  In any case, I'm not sure it matters what the Bible says or where judgmental folks are getting the material.  If you argue them out of one passage they'll just jump to another that they believe supports their claims.  It's hard to see clearly when your premise is faulty to begin with and you only want to read things that confirm it.

As far as how good people go bad...in my experience that's not true.  Good people don't go bad.  Good people go good.  That's the problem.

Click through to see what I mean!

Reader Question: The Sign of the Cross

Pastor Dave,
[During Advent] you've been saying we can dip our fingers in the baptismal font and make the sign of the cross before communion if we want.  I've often wondered whether or when we're supposed to cross ourselves.  Do we do it every time you make the sign up front?

The confusion is understandable, especially if you grew up in a different tradition (usually Roman Catholic) where the rituals surrounding the sign of the cross are formalized and everybody does it at the same time.

The easiest answer to your question is, "You can, but you don't have to."  Making the sign of the cross can be an important reminder to yourself and everyone around you what we're doing here.  Personally when I do it--which I often do when I enter a church with a prominent and full baptismal font in the entryway--it feels a little bit like getting a hug from Jesus.  I'm reminded that he's there, touching me, covering me, protecting me.

On the other hand making the sign is not a law or requirement.  There's no difference to your salvation if you don't.  We're not going to kick you out of church either.  The problem with saying you have to do something is that the meaning soon becomes diluted in favor of the rote repetition of the act.  Consider, for instance, if we said you had to kiss your spouse every morning...HAD to, or you'd get divorced.  How meaningful and passionate would those kisses become?  After a few times you'd probably see perfunctory pecks on the cheek at best.  Frankly that's the impression I get many times in churches that require these things.  People dip their fingers in the water without pausing, genuflect instinctively without reflection.  The signs are there but it's just a peck.  Much better, I think, to have the occasional (or even more than occasional if you choose) passionate kiss with meaning and spirit than a constant stream of cold, but mandated, smooches.

That's not to say that everything in your faith life revolves around how you feel about it.  Some things should be done automatically whether you feel enthusiastic about them that day or not.  Among those are probably helping the poor and your neighbors, supporting your loved ones, and coming to church.  Those things all run deeper than just a moment or a feeling...in fact often the proper feeling comes through doing them rather than anticipation.  But the sign of the cross is just that...a sign.  It's meant to point to something in a given moment.  If the feeling/relationship/deeper meaning isn't there, the sign is no good.  In that case it's not wrong or particularly damaging to omit it.  That omission usually isn't intentional, you just forget or aren't used to it.  That's fine.  It just indicates that it's not that important to you.  We have plenty of other things to hold onto.  Real faith isn't about a single outer sign anyway, but about a life lived with God inside and out.

Some strains of Lutherans, on the other hand, have seized on our theological differences with the Catholics as an opportunity to put down the sign of the cross or to argue it shouldn't be done.  This is as wrong as the other.  The cross is our inheritance through Jesus Christ...the closest tangible contact on this earth between us and God.  Yes, the Catholics have special holy water while we claim the strength of the water used in our services comes not from any inherent quality, but through the Word of God alone.  Yes, most Catholics see those service responses as a kind of Law (grace-filled though it may be for them) while we would decry such a thing. But those differences shouldn't rob us or them of our ability to acknowledge Christ and the power of his cross. It's not required to make the sign at the font or in response to the pastor's sign but it's a very good thing to do!  Doing it the Catholic way is perfectly right for Catholics.  It would be wrong for Lutherans to do it that exact way.  But that doesn't mean it would be wrong for Lutherans to do it any way.  That last kind of thinking isn't faith as much as prejudice.  It would be better for all of us to be absolutely required to make that sign every service than to live by contempt of fellow children of God.

Ideally, I suppose, you'd have everybody responding willingly and joyfully by making the sign of the cross over themselves every time I did it in front of the congregation and every time they approached a full baptismal font.  (Ideally, of course, the baptismal font should always be full too!)  They'd realize that it's just a sign and not a law and imbue that moment with special meaning.  In practice that's way too much for people to think about most days and frankly we'd rather have your attention on the Gospel, the Sacraments, and your neighbors.  We could start a tradition where everybody did it at all the right times but then you'd be doing it as a tradition/requirement and probably just doing it because we told you to, which kind of takes away the point.  Therefore it's best to leave it as it is...imperfect though that may be.  Go ahead and make the sign with gusto in God's Spirit when you wish or when you remember.  If you don't there's no need to fret.  The sign I make up front and the remembrance it gives is sufficient for all and the baptismal waters still flow over us no matter where we stand on the issue of dipping.

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

The End Time and Generations

Another question came into the e-mail inbox today, this one regarding Sunday's Gospel from Mark 13 and the end times.  At issue is Mark 13:30 when Jesus, after describing the suffering of the world and the Son of Man coming in glory, says:

30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

The question at hand:

What does this mean?  Doesn't this 30th verse mean that the end of times will happen in our lifetime, or--weirder still--back in their lives?

Yeah...this is on my list of "What exactly did you mean here?" questions for Jesus when we see him.  I wish he would have taken time to explain a little more clearly!

Some folks over the years have used this verse as proof that the Bible is false.  "The guy said that the end would come in the lifetime of those dudes.  It didn't.  He was wrong.  End of story."  Obviously this is a little unsatisfying.

In response others have opted out with the old, "Well...you don't have to believe every word in order to get the message."  This is just as unsatisfying. If we're just going to pick and choose what we consider true in the Bible then why have it at all?  Why not just consult our instinct or some other source that's easier for us to accept?

I would offer the caveat that this is probably not the most important thing that Jesus said.  We could get along just fine never understanding its real meaning and we may have to!  I wouldn't hinge my entire faith on this one statement.  But neither am I willing to just throw it out or ignore it.  Jesus said it. There has to be some reason and truth to it.  What could that be?  Is there a way this statement could be true and literal even if the world didn't end before 100 AD?

One approach involves personal experience.  We haven't seen the end of the world yet as a group but plenty of individuals have seen the end of their world since Jesus spoke those words...as we all will sooner or later.  What happens to us when our world ends?  At the moment we enter eternity time ceases to be an issue for us.  When we die the very next experience we have, blending seamlessly with our lives, is exactly the one Jesus describes:  seeing him come in glory.  To the living--those still on their journey--time passes in the interim.  Therefore we say Jesus has not come yet.  Not so for the departed.  They don't have a "yet" anymore!  Those who have died are touching eternity.  They can see eternity.  They are experiencing eternity.  Therefore God has already come to them even though he's still in our future...or at least what we perceive as "future".  (Eternity doesn't really have a future as we think about it, you see.  All times are one when you touch it.  Now...later...it's all the same.)  This is a wicked pretzel to think your way through since we can't possibly grasp what touching eternity does, our current minds and eyes being so limited.  But it does offer the possibility that what Jesus was saying to his followers literally came true for them, as it does for each of us.  The world did end for them and it will for us, exactly like you have said in your question.  This would also explain why he couldn't explain it better!  He'd have just left us scratching our heads more!

A somewhat easier explanation is that Jesus was defining "generation" differently than we think.  We tend to define generations--and indeed our lives--by two things:  time and family.  We say a new generation comes along every twenty years or so.  We say that a grandfather is in a distinct generation from the father who is in a distinct generation from the son.  Jesus defines generation by God's Word and grace instead of our own mortality or time limitations.  When Jesus rose again after being crucified he changed the world...re-creating it every bit as much as Adam and Eve re-created it when they bit the fruit.  Everything they ruined he redeemed.  Everything they scuttled he saved.  Therefore he inaugurated a new generation, or "age" if you will, of the world:  the age when God's salvation was truly revealed, his Word fully explained, his victory truly won.  Everybody before Jesus' time had been waiting for the Messiah.  Everybody since has seen him!  Therefore when Jesus says, "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" he means, "This is it!  You've now seen everything you need to in order to understand God's plan.  There isn't another age or another development to come after this except the end and the final coming of heaven." 

This generation--this new age--created by his death and resurrection will never fail or die out up until the very last day.  His Word will not fail.  We will never know a time when it is not with us...when he is not with us.  This was true of his followers and our great-great-grandparents.  It was true of our own parents and it's true of us.  It will be true for our children and for all the children that follow after until the roll is complete.  We no longer belong to different generations.  God's children are no longer divided by age or time.  We are united in a single, larger family, one giant generation in the history of the world defined and united by his Word, his love, and his saving act for us.  It's no accident that right after Mark 13:30 comes verse 31...

31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Our generation has Jesus and will never lose Jesus.  Our progression will go: Jesus with us...Jesus with us...Jesus with us...Heaven!  There won't be any gaps in between, even when there appear to be because we see the world suffering.  That is a very nice thought.  I also believe it's the most likely meaning for the 30th verse of Mark 13.

The promise Jesus made to his followers continues today, even when those particular followers are long gone.  It's become much larger and stronger and truer than they ever could have understood or believed.  And it will keep going until we all see the end together and get to celebrate its goodness.

Keep sending those questions along if you have them!

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)

Christmas and Culture

We got our first question via e-mail today!  Thanks to the person who wrote.  We'll always keep questions anonymous so you can ask whatever you'd like.  Most of the time I'll edit it down for clarity as well.  But if you can live with that, fire off a question to the inbox and we'll talk about it.

Pastor Dave,
I love and hate Christmas at the same time. How do you find the balance between the religious holiday and the secular celebration?

Click through for our discussion!