What is it that gets you down?

We live in a culture where the highest value seems to be personal happiness.  We are always told what advertisers just KNOW will make us happy, if we would just stop fighting it and buy it already!

We Lutherans pride ourselves in our theologia crusis (isn’t that an oxymoron?  Pride in…) and we know that no one has promised us happiness all of the time, but I contend that even we tend to buy into the right to be happy.

So, I ask the contrary question: what is it that gets you down?  I mean, honestly; not the pious answers we give to the Elders Meeting or at the budget meeting when it becomes apparent that no raise is forthcoming this year…again.  What sorts of things get you down? I am convinced that honesty in this area will enable us to keep our “downers” in perspective.

As I reflect on my own question, I notice that my answer is in flux; my answer has changed a lot in the past 5 years.  I survived an upheaval in the political system in our country and in spite of my primary disagreement with our new President and his political party and mostly his views on areas that are of primary importance to me, it hasn’t gotten me down. Looking at increasing attendance at church with a decrease in income hasn’t gotten me down.  Brett Favre’s yearly announcement that he wants to play again, even with the Vikings, hasn’t gotten me down.  Our son totaling my favorite car hasn’t gotten me down (no one else was involved and he wasn’t injured), our other son crunching his car (again)….nope.

Lest you believe that nothing gets me down, I do have my list but I am finding that at the mid-point of my 5^th decade, it takes more and more to get me down.  Why?

I am blessed to be a parish pastor, the only vocation I have desired since my youth; I have an amazing wife, a Christian woman of amazing faith and character who seems to love me as much as I love her.  With one son in heaven, I am blessed with sons and a daughter who, with her husband, have given us 2 of the most beautiful granddaughters God has ever created, I am in relatively good health and finally have a respite from my chronic pain.

But more than that, dear sisters and brothers, I am loved and redeemed by God, who loves me more than even my wife. I am privileged to proclaim God’s piercing Law and His soothing Gospel to a group of sinner/saints who might actually be paying attention; even if my sermon falls flat, I am privileged to share the precious Body and Blood of Jesus to those same sinner/saints, and whomever else God sends our way on a given day.

So, what is the purpose of this column? Through it I pray that you may take inventory of your life and realistically examine why you get down and what it takes to get you down.  One of my favorite books is Telling Yourself the Truth by William Bakus and Marie Chapian (ISBN: 0871235625/ ISBN-13: 9780871235626).  I have given away many, many copies over the years and still find it one of the best books on the subject of Misbelief Therapy, as the title suggests. In my experience in pastoral care and spiritual direction, I find that the things that get us down are often not true; they are lies.  But we have come to accept and believe those lies and in spite of the best efforts of those who care about us, we are reluctant to tell ourselves the truth.

A realistic examination of conscience as part of our Daily Office goes along way, aural confession to a confessor who will listen and discern before pronouncing Holy Absolution, time with a spouse and/or a good friend whose views you trust and will take to heart. While I doubt that most of us confess our sins as scrupulously as Father Luther did to Father Staupitz, I am convinced that many of us beat ourselves up far more than we deserve.  We who preach and proclaim grace must learn to hear it ourselves.

Yes, this column is kind of light, even a bit fluffy in content, but at this time and for our circumstances, I am confident that God will use it for those who need it most.