Totally random thought

prIde = "I" am at the center of my universe.

commUnity = "U" are at the center of my universe.

A hodgepodge of stuff

Sunday night I joined my brothers and sisters in Christ at Central Lutheran Church in Elk River for the worship experience of a lifetime. I had absolutely no clue how hungry I was for that kind of worship, especially after a year and a half of seminary. It was music and testimony for an hour and a half and there were times I was almost brought to tears. The children's choir even assisted in leading us in worship. Yet as people will always do, as soon as the kids got up to do their part, the video cameras came out. The worship leader took note of that and used it as a teaching moment. He said that even though it's cute to take pictures and make memories, the kids are not performing for you, but leading you in worship. They are sharing their faith with you, so instead of taking pictures and video of them singing, just sit back and allow them to lead you into the presence of God. (Totally not anywhere near what he said, but you get the idea.) It was truly amazing and made me really miss being able to play with a band and assist in leading worship through music.

On a totally different note, I've been thinking quite a bit this past week about the culture we live in. I'm not sure if it's because of things I'm reading for class or lectures, but I'm finding myself really bothered at the fact that the Bible is read so differently now than it was when it was written. Why? It's because our culture is completely different from the culture of the Biblical period. This world is so big that we each have our own interpretive lens on when we read the Scriptures. Now that I have no clue where this paragraph is going, here's my question: How does God want us to read the Bible? Does he want us to bring to the reading our own interpretive lens, or does He want us to lay down our interpretive blinders and allow the Holy Spirit to speak what it wants and/or needs to speak? I have to side with the latter.

Finally, a word from Martin Luther.
"Because up to now people have made such a big display at the consecrations of monks and nuns (even though their estate and existence is an ungodly, human invention without any basis in the Bible), how much more should we honor this godly estate of marriage and bless it, pray for it, and adorn it in an even more glorious matter. For, although it is a worldly estate, nevertheless it has God's Word on its side and is not a human invention or institution, like the estate of monks and nuns." - Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, pg. 370

Decision theology with a Lutheran lens

This morning I was in my Lutheran Confessions precept. Our assignment was to write up a question in less than a page relating to something we read. A couple of my friends and I believe a case is to be made for decision theology, meaning faith isn't something that is forced upon a person. Needless to say, I read some things in Luther's Large Catechism which led me to believe there is a case to be made for decision theology in the eyes of Luther. Our professor basically summed up her answer to our questions by saying faith is not a work, but a gift. My question to that statement was whether or not that gift should be received. Our professor said the Holy Spirit creates reception of the gift. I sought clarification by asking if the Holy Spirit draws us to the place where we can only decide to follow Christ, a place where we can't choose to not follow Christ. She told me yes. It took me 2 seconds to realize that that answer worked for me. It really isn't so much about our "decision" to accept Christ, but about the Holy Spirit bringing us to the place of conviction where the choice to follow Christ is our only option.

More quotes

"Christ is not present because we preach; we preach because Christ is present. . . . Preaching in the name of Christ is possible only because Christ is already present, because Christ has already decided to be with us, because Christ has already chosen to meet us in the spoken word of preaching." - Thomas G. Long, The Witness of Preaching, pg. 17

Quotes

"Newborn infants should also be baptized since they too are carriers of original sin, even though they have committed no sin and must be cleansed by Baptism in order to partake of eternal life. From the faith handed down from the Apostles, even infants who could not as yet commit any sin of themselves are for this reason truly baptized for the remission of sins, in order that in them what they contracted by generation may be washed away by regeneration." - pg. 48

"It does me no good to believe that Christ died for sinners, if I do not believe that he died for me." - pg. 60

"The point is that the right relationship with God which has been ruined by original sin consists in giving up one's self-mastery and abandoning oneself completely to God's mercy. . . . 'This is how God wants to be known and worshiped,' says Melanchthon, 'that we accept his blessings and receive them because of his mercy rather than because of our own merits.' Since humanity's relationship with God has been ruined by original sin, his mercy must take the form of forgiveness. What is decisive, however, is that it is precisely God's will that one live completely by his mercy. This is what happens in the faith that abandons itself to Christ. In faith, therefore, a person is restored to a right relationship with the Creator." - pg. 61

"The life of love demanded by the law and for which humans were created can only begin, according to Luther, when humans give up every last vestige of self-sufficiency, living entirely upon what they receive from God." - pg. 67

All quotes come from The Augsburg Confession: A Commentary by Leif Grane.

Is receiving an action?

On Wednesday in my Lutheran Confessions class, my professor said that faith is not an active life, but a receiving life. Here's my question: Is receiving an action?

Thought for the day

Tonight at church, one of the ladies on the ministry staff, Jill, shared insights into some of Jesus' last words. She asked a lady named Alison to share her story of how she came to know Jesus. Alison talked about being the only Christian in her family of people who believe in many gods, don't believe in god, believe in reincarnation, etc. One day when she was frustrated about constantly trying to share her faith with her family and no results were coming from it. Alison asked Jill why that was, and Jill's quote to her is my thought for the day.

"(God) chooses everybody, but not everybody is willing to receive Him."

Mike Huckabee and "The West Wing"

Today I was at Hastings for the annual Swingin' on the River show choir competition. As my uncle and I were sitting and resting after their evening performance, we found ourselves reading the Hastings paper. I read an interesting opinion article about a guy wondering if the final season of "The West Wing" would play out this year in the presidential election. He compared Barack Obama to the TV show's Matt Santos and John McCain to the TV show's Arnold Vinick. As I have been watching that show on DVD during this election season, I have to say I disagree with him. OK, now normally I don't like to talk about politics and who I'm voting for because A) I hardly ever really get super excited about a candidate, and B) I don't need to get into political arguments because in the game of ministry it's not about me but about the person I'm ministering to. Having said that, this year I have a candidate I'm excited about: Mike Huckabee, and it's not because he's a former pastor. It's because he's an underdog in the race. Mike Huckabee, in my mind, compares to Matt Santos. In the final episode of season 6 of the show, Matt Santos was heavily encouraged by the party leaders to bow out of the campaign for president so the party could unite behind a candidate. As he addressed the convention one final time, he told them he couldn't because it's not the job of the party leaders to elect a president but the job of the people. Mike Huckabee is saying the same thing this year, but not only about the Republican party. He's also saying it about the news media and pundits. I think it's so funny that people don't understand what's going on with Huckabee and yet I fully believe God does. Huckabee is giving people a chance to voice their opinion and I think that is absolutely awesome. He's working his way up from the bottom and from the looks of his website, fundraising has skyrocketed. I like Mike!