Blogs

A humble hurrah for fasting — by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson — March 01, 2008

I have never been much one to appreciate ascetical self-discipline that has no purpose beyond itself. It always reminds me of a story I once heard about an earnest young collegian who put a sharp pebble in his shoe to call to mind the sufferings of Christ; one of his buddies was heard to remark, “If he really wanted to suffer, he could try shoveling the walk...”

A LCMS Case for Social Justice — by Paul Sauer — March 08, 2008

Yesterday, in conjunction with Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York, LCMS President Gerald Kieshnick held a round-table forum to discuss issues of church related social service and social justice. Conventional wisdom has long observed that with few notable exceptions (abortion, homosexuality, embryonic stem cell research) the LCMS has shied away from issuing political-ethical missives. In contrast the ELCA seems to produce statements on just about everything, or so the caricatures go...

Dissing the Stranger — by Sarah Wilson — March 15, 2008

A couple of months ago I was at a Lutheran seminary—I won’t say which one—for a day-long session with a bunch of other pastors. Thinking it might be interesting to keep other company during lunch in the seminary’s cafeteria, I flagged down a student and asked if I could sit with her. She gladly agreed and we had a nice conversation. But as the table filled in with more students—of many races and both genders—I found myself utterly ignored by the newcomers...

So Many Words — by Paul Sauer — March 21, 2008

For Lent this year, I decided to give up clutter. Central to the clutter was a number of boxes of books that I had accumulated from years of impulse purchases and the libraries of retired pastors. Each one got evaluated on the basis of this question– “Am I likely to read this again?” And so each book was distributed with limited exceptions for “sentimental value” into either a pile destined for the office bookshelf, or a pile where the books would be sold to raise money for the parish school. It was a painful, almost purgatorial, experience for a historian pack-rat like myself...

Preaching on Easter — by Sarah Wilson — March 29, 2008

Preaching on Easter is not like preaching on Christmas, although the two days are paired together for their mutual fame and likelihood of drawing in strangers, marginal members, and victims of filial piety. Christmas finds everyone in a state of spiritual drunkenness: either so happy with children and presents and cookies and sentiment that the little baby in the manger is yet one more part of the larger parcel of charm, or so miserable with family tension or loneliness or disappointed expectations that the little baby in the manger is yet one more part of the larger parcel of oppression...

Eating at the Theological Table — by Paul Sauer — April 05, 2008

For one of my classes at the seminary, we were required to read 1000 pages of Luther. It could come from any of his writings, with one exception – no more than 250 pages out of his Table Talk. The exception of course piqued the interest of those who had never discovered the crass, boorish, joviality that is Luther in his Table Talk. But it was there for a reason – seminary students when left to their own devices apparently gravitated toward Luther in his baseness more than they gravitated toward Luther in his brilliance...

Proclamation is Trinitarian — by Sarah Wilson — April 12, 2008

The Litany is my favorite of prayers. The chant and its transition halfway through are penitent but not despairing, humble but confident. It is bracketed on either end with threefold pleas for mercy, and the petitions in between are as comprehensive as one could want. When I was praying it recently I was startled by one line in particular—a familiar experience for those who are used to praying the same old words over and over that are usually dulled by their frequency. In one petition we implore the good Lord to “accompany your Word with your Spirit and power”...

Praying With the Pope — by Paul Sauer — April 19, 2008

Rock Star. Even those words, and the image of the Beatles that they conjure up, do not due justice to the excitement that existed at St. Joseph’s Parish on the Upper East side as we waited for the arrival of Pope Benedict. From inside the church you couldn’t see anything, but there was no mistaking when he arrived – the roar of the motorcade followed by the roar of the crowd, many who had begun lining up earlier in the morning amidst extremely tight security just on the hope of being able to catch a glimpse of the Pope...

The Problem is Not Self-Care — by Sarah Wilson — April 26, 2008

Nowadays it seems the single most important thing you hear in seminary, candidacy retreats, first call education and so forth is not “proclaim repentance of sins for the kingdom of God is at hand” but “please take care of yourself so you don’t burn out, leave the ministry, and worsen the clergy shortage problem...”

Leaving Wittenberg: Rome or Constantinople? — by Paul Sauer — May 03, 2008

It seems an almost yearly occurrence that one reads about a Lutheran pastor who leaves the ecclesial confines of Wittenberg for either Rome or Constantinople. While much ink gets spilled about why they have left and what their leaving says about the current state of Lutheranism, one interesting detail seems to have gone unnoticed. Why is it that those who come out of the ELCA (most notably Leonard Klein, Philip Max Johnson) have tended to gravitate toward Rome, while those who have left the LCMS in recent years (most notably John Fenton) have made their way to Constantinople?...

Correcting the Creed — by Sarah Wilson — May 10, 2008

Some of my fellow ELCA pastors do not react to the new and improved Apostles' Creed in ELW with horror and dismay. Largely it is because they were not expecting to be horrified and dismayed. I admire this; it must be nice not to approach the church with suspicion at all times. I do not have the charism of ecclesiastical trust, so I am left to deal with my horror and dismay...

Sleepless Nights — by Paul Sauer — May 17, 2008

There are few things more ominous for a pastor than being awoken after midnight to the sound of the phone ringing. Invariably it is bound to lead to a sleepless night. It was no different last night when the phone rang, and yet this time everything was different. For the phone call was not from a hospital or a grieving loved one, it was from someone who was dealing with the demonic...

Clergy Shirts and Misinterpreted Symbols — by Sarah Wilson — May 24, 2008

Symbols are a very big thing to people on opposite ends of the theological spectrum. To one end they are sort of like anchors to truth and orthodoxy. As long as you keep proffering the symbol in a theologically well-thought-out way, all will be well, and no amount of contemporary futzing around will undercut its crystal clarity. At the other end the symbol is a lovely replacement for the irritating hard edge of doctrine, allowing lots of bitterly disagreeing people to pretend that they actually are united on something, and suggesting that because truth is bigger than us we don’t have to be accountable...

Ecclesiastical Eavesdropping — by Sarah Wilson — June 07, 2008

Recently I had reason to attend a nondenominational Reformed evangelical church on a Sunday morning. In a previously held theological attitude, I would have spent the time tallying all the ways it did things wrong—in other words, all the ways it didn’t do things like an LBW-toting Lutheran church would have. Nowadays I find myself more in a place I have come to call “post-tribal Lutheranism,” wherein my passion for Lutheran theology has turned from judgment to generosity. I am more glad to find the gospel preached in word and sacrament, wherever I may find it, than I am to see institutional success for my tribe...

Clash of Cultures — by Paul Sauer — May 31, 2008

The release of Prince Caspian in theaters, as with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe before it, has once again presented the opportunity of using modern film to teach elements of the Christian faith. It is a tactic that seems to have value within the entertainment driven cultural context in which churches minister today. Oddly, one of the best films that I have seen in recent years, a film which really gets at the heart of the challenge facing contemporary Christianity, is not a “Christian film” at all...

Summer Reading — by Paul Sauer — June 14, 2008

With the arrival of summer hopefully your schedule allows you a little more free time for the simple joy of reading. The challenge of course is that it is summer and your brain doesn’t want to be bogged down by heavy theological discourse, it wants to be entertained. Yet at the same time you are aware of your God-given responsibility for life-long learning. The solution, two books which provide the best of both worlds, in depth education coupled with lively and entertaining writing styles...

A Sort-Of Kind-Of Cosmological Variant of the Ontological Argument — by Sarah Wilson — June 21, 2008

Hear me now: I am no fan of natural theology. Nein! God considered as a proposition strikes me as laughably implausible. I believe in God because I believe in the incarnate Son, not the other way around. But then, since the Son implies God in the more familiar divine-attribute guise, I do occasionally have to consider God in this form. I’m OK with all the usuals. Immortal, invisible, God only wise, omniscient, omnipotent. I recently discovered, however, a divine attribute that I could not wrap my mind around. This one: God is big.

Mark’s Indirect Christology — by Sarah Wilson — July 06, 2008

My brother Will once had the misfortune of taking a New Testament class with one of those professors whose chief joy seems to be the destruction of youthful faith for reasons that are more psychological than intellectual. Among other things this professor claimed that “Mark did not believe Jesus was divine in the ontological sense.” Quite apart from the obvious and gleeful departure from Christian dogmatics in a statement like this, the professor was just being an idiot. If you are looking for a full-blown Platonic or other such theory of divinity developed by Mark in which Jesus is subsequently forced to fit, then you will certainly be disappointed. But that says far more about your own preconceptions of divinity than anything else. And if there is one thing all the gospels are determined to do, it is to demonstrate the falsity of your preconceptions of divinity...

Doing Something Practical - Mass — by Paul Sauer — June 28, 2008

Though mildly irreverent in its portrayal of Roman Catholicism and Christianity in general, I have found the now decade-old British television program Father Ted to be an insightful critique both of Christianity and of human nature in general...

The Argument from Antiquity — by Sarah Wilson — July 19, 2008

Every so often you hear in the church the argument: “We’ve never done that before, so we’re not going to start now.” Nowadays this argument is generally invoked against things like the ordination of women or of homosexuals. It has a converse expression, too: “We’ve always done it this way,” and therefore to do otherwise is wrong. This I will term the “argument from antiquity” and honestly I find it quite baffling that pastors (or any other Christians, for that matter) ever use it...

The Way to End Abortion is Through Adoption — by Sarah Wilson — August 02, 2008

I have always been pro-life, in the sense that I have always believed that each human life is God’s precious creation, from the minute-old blastocyst to the last gasp of the elderly. Theologically, this is a no-brainer. As for politics, I have long been of the mind of Plato—people less than fifty probably don’t understand the world well enough to make political proposals, and, as I’m a ways off from that venerable age yet, I will remain wisely reserved on the subject...

The Value of Values — by Paul Sauer — July 27, 2008

Talking about values rarely leaves one feeling indifferent to the conversation. Perhaps that is why, with few notable exceptions like Robert Benne or Gilbert Mailander, Lutheran theologians have shied away from the political minefield of ethics in favor of safer fields like history. It is far easier to list prominent Lutheran historians than it is to compose a similar list of ethicists...

A PK’s Plea — by Sarah Wilson — August 09, 2008

I’m a preacher’s kid who grew up to be a preacher herself, and the experience of being a PK taught me a valuable lesson about using family anecdotes in preaching: don’t! ...

Speaking of Bad Preaching — by Sarah Wilson — August 26, 2008

My last post on the dangers of the family anecdote and the philosophical introduction jogged memories of other bad homiletical approaches, so while I’m at it, here are three more...

One Last Word on Bad Preaching — by Sarah Wilson — September 07, 2008

This one is the most disturbing of all. I have heard this sermon a few times now. It goes something like this...

Two Intra-Ecumenical Proposals — by Sarah Wilson — September 21, 2008

The ecumenism of the past century has enabled a level of respectful, compassionate dialogue that is without precedent in the history of the church. Who would have thought five hundred years ago that Lutherans and Catholics could sit down to discuss justification without an army in sight? Or Lutherans and Mennonites could talk about public office without the former dragging out burlap bags in case a few strategic drownings of the latter were in order?...

Unforgivable Sex — by Paul Sauer — September 13, 2008

This month it was announced through his publicist that actor David Duchovny had entered rehab for sex addiction. Specifically it was disclosed that he struggled with internet pornography. The good news for Duchovny is that now that he is on the road to recovery, and as such he is in a better position than the estimated 37 percent of pastors who said in a 2001 Leadership Journal survey that pornography was a struggle for them. Even if that number seems high, Focus on the Family reports that 25% of their clergy support calls are from pastors who are addicted to pornography...

Embarrassing Mormonism — by Paul Sauer — September 27, 2008

I was embarrassed for them. In this equatorial country where the only time neck-ties are worn is when you are in court as a defendant, the Mormon missionaries stood out painfully with their long pants, long shirts, ties and name tags. It was almost as if they went out of their way to not fit in. At present there are about 51,000 Mormon missionaries around the world. They are volunteers working without pay and traveling at their own family’s expense in a place they have not chosen. They simply submit their names to the church and then the leadership of the church sends them out. They have no say, they simply obey...

Raise Your Hand If You Hate the Lord — by Sarah Wilson — October 05, 2008

I really thought I was done grousing about ELW. I said my piece about the erasure of military imagery and ran Philip Pfatteicher’s incisive criticism here on the website. But at the time I did both those things I was still using the green book. Of late I have been in a congregation that uses the cranberry book. It’s kind of fitting: real cranberry juice is so intense you can barely swallow it, but the usual stuff you get that claims to be cranberry juice is significantly cut with water, high fructose corn syrup, and other kinds of juice. An apt metaphor for the new hymnal indeed...

Include Me Out — by Sarah Wilson — October 19, 2008

A number of months ago I served as the monitor for the hearing on the Sexuality Study for my synod. What was supposed to be an occasion for attendees to speak and me to listen got inverted quickly: I ended up doing most of the teaching, and they did most of the listening, for reasons I predicted awhile ago—no one actually knows what this study is about...

How to Make a Radical Feminist — by Sarah Wilson — November 02, 2008

Start young. It’s never too early to tell her all the things she can’t do now, because she’s a girl, and all the things she won’t be able to do when she grows up, because she’ll be a woman. Shame her if she doesn’t like playing with children or babysitting. Teach her how gross her body is. Denounce important public figures who are women. Make sure she knows that the only real sin a female can commit is to have have extramarital sex. Make it clear that God is a man...

God's Name(s) — by Sarah Wilson — November 15, 2008

I am a trinitarian enthusiast, personally, but I do realize that God's name is not "The Trinity." It bugs me to hear it invoked in worship because it is a conceptual title applied to God, but not God's name. However, another thing that also bugs me is when people suggest that God has but one true name...

Reorganizing the Church — by Paul Sauer — October 11, 2008

A Blue Ribbon Task Force has been appointed by the president of the LCMS to address the question of how best to structurally organize the church. Already their initial report, which only presents items for discussion, has generated considerable opposition in the Lutheran blogosphere...

The Pelagian Anthem — by Sarah Wilson — November 29, 2008

A number of years ago while I was on internship and doing campus ministry with the Duke Lutherans at the eponymous university, I had a chance to enter the school's write-a-hymn competition. Curious whether the local Methodists were as Pelagian/Arminian as we Lutherans are led to believe, I composed this hymn...

Less than Perfect Children — by Paul Sauer — October 25, 2008

I have always believed in the equal dignity of all human beings as creations of God, regardless of their mental or physical well being. It is a central theme of my preaching each week to my inner-city high school and junior high students. It is at the core of my pro-life beliefs, and informs my commitment to the social welfare of all people. It is why I find the ELCA social statement on abortion so inadequate, with its belief that the value of a human life is dependent on the willingness of the parents to participate in the sexual activity, the access of the parents to contraception, and the physical health of the unborn child. It was eye opening, therefore, to once again wade into the world of adoption for research on an article that will be appearing in the winter issue of Lutheran Forum. In an industry that is dominated by many well-meaning people, many who share in a pro-life belief in the dignity of all of God’s children, it was shocking to see how children are viewed as rankable commodities...

Reformation Red — by Sarah Wilson — October 31, 2008

In honor of the 491st anniversary of Luther's posting of the 95 Theses, our "skin" on the website today is red. Tomorrow for All Saints' it will be white/gold, and then on November 2nd it will return to green for the rest of the season after Pentecost until Advent makes us blue...

Other People's Sins — by Paul Sauer — November 08, 2008

Already back in 1993 when I was working full time in the pro-life movement, there was a growing realization that Christians had no one but themselves to blame for the increasing number of abortions in this country. Sure abortionists were a convenient and blameworthy target, as were their willing political allies at Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women, but when you looked at the numbers the dirty little secret was that Christians were having more abortions than non-Christians. Planned Parenthood’s own Guttmacher Institute reports that almost 68% of abortions in the United States are sought by Evangelical Christians or Roman Catholics. Clearly Christians need not look any further than their own poorly catechized or poorly supported members to find a way to bring down the number of abortions in the United States.

De Facto Liturgy — by Sarah Wilson — December 20, 2008

For many of us there are aspects without which worship on any given Sunday would not seem complete: communion, or a confession of sin, or the creed, or the Lord’s prayer. A certain liturgical standard applies and in many cases has been actively cultivated in public piety. But there are other liturgical standards that arise more organically and end up being more rigidly required, in actual practice. For instance, imagine this: telling your congregation that there will absolutely not be any singing of “Silent Night” this Christmas Eve...

Abortion's "Tragic Dimension" — by Paul Sauer — December 27, 2008

Dennis Di Mauro has written a helpful book entitled A Love for Life which explores the history of the abortion issue within the Christian Church. A full review of the book on this website will be forthcoming. In a particularly helpful appendix to the book Di Mauro draws together in one place the Abortion related resolutions or doctrinal positions of the major North American Christian Church bodies...

Advent Contest — by Paul Sauer — November 22, 2008

Here is your opportunity to win a one year's subscription to Lutheran Forum and its companion Forum Letter, or two books of your choice from the ALPB catalog...

The End of Ecumenism? — by Paul Sauer — January 10, 2009

I represent the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church Missouri-Synod on the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialog of New York. In doing so, I find myself in a unique place. Not only do I represent a district of a national church body that has largely been on the periphery of ecumenical dialog in recent decades, but I am also easily the youngest person on the dialog. My 35 puts me at least a decade younger than anyone else on the dialog and a good 25 years younger than the median age. My youth has not gone unnoticed. At our recent meeting the question was raised, “why has your generation not expressed much interest in ecumenical dialog?” ...

The Legacy of Arthur Carl Piepkorn — by Paul Sauer — December 13, 2008

Thirty-Five years ago on this day (December 13, 1973), The Rev. Dr. Arthur Carl Piepkorn was called to his eternal rest. To try and get a picture of who Piepkorn was is no easy task...

Piepkorn — by Paul Sauer —

 

Mary and Forensic Justification — by Sarah Wilson — December 24, 2008

As our Advent blues give way to the blazing white starlight of Christmas, it is good to remember that Luther considered Mary the premier example of forensic justification. Not a cold legal transfer, but the happy realization: the Lord has looked upon me with favor...

An Instructive Mistake on Epiphany — by Sarah Wilson — January 06, 2009

I'm sure you've done the same thing. You're yodelling along with "We Three Kings of Orient Are," enjoying the vivid depictions of the christological significance of each gift, you make your way through the refrain in honor of the star, and then at the very end you choke...

Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009) — by Paul Sauer — January 08, 2009

Today the Lutheran Forum community, along with the wider ecumenical and interfaith community, mourns the passing of Father Richard John Neuhaus. It is perhaps too early to judge the impact of his life's work on the world he leaves behind, but it is easy for those of us who have been impacted directly by him to know how deeply he will be missed.

The End of Ecumenism, Part 2 — by Sarah Wilson — January 17, 2009

Like Paul Sauer who posted on this topic last week, I’m an under-35 theologian engaged in ecumenical work. He’s right about the decreased interest in ecumenism and the reasons for it, though I think the problem extends upwards from our own generation, too. In my short time doing ecumenical work professionally, I’ve realized two things that perhaps will also shed some light on the issue. Both of them pertain to change...

Revisiting Seminex — by Paul Sauer — January 24, 2009

This past week I was privileged to be one of the invited speakers to Concordia Theological Seminary’s 32nd Annual Theological Symposium. The topic was a look back at the major figures of the LCMS in the events leading up to formation of Seminex. Presentations were made by Robert Wilken on Jaroslav Pelikan, Phil Secker on Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Larry Rast Jr. on J.A.O Preus, David Scaer on Robert Preus, Dean Wenthe on Martin Scharlemann, Robert Shuta on Walter A Maier and David Schmidt on Richard Caemmerer. My presentation was on the least well known of all of the figures – Berthold von Schenk...

Race and the Body of Christ — by Paul Sauer — February 07, 2009

It is perhaps a testament to how far our nation has come that, when I showed the following picture to my students in grades 4-12 recently, none of them thought anything about the photo was particularly noteworthy...

Integrated OSL — by Paul Sauer —

 

Naaman the Syrian… Episode 2 — by Sarah Wilson — February 14, 2009

The Lutheran church here in Alsace has a liturgy and church year quite similar to what we’re used to in the U.S. In fact, liturgy is one of the best ways to start learning a foreign language: the rhythms and vocabulary are so similar that your comprehension is much higher than in, say, the grocery store or the prefect’s office. So far the biggest difference in practice is that we celebrated Transfiguration two weeks ago: instead of being the last Sunday before Lent begins, here there are three more Sundays after it, culminating in “Invocavit Sunday,” still named for the opening words of the Psalm for the day in Latin...

Farewell to Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009) — by Paul Sauer — February 10, 2009

The Spring 2009 issue of Lutheran Forum and the March 2009 issue of Forum Letter will both pay tribute to the late Richard John Neuhaus, former editor of Forum Letter...

Grace Alone and Faith Alone — by Sarah Wilson — February 28, 2009

It happens not infrequently, in theological conversation with pastors or students, or while I’m editing a piece for LF, that I come across a statement claiming that Lutherans teach justification “by grace alone.” That is not wrong… not exactly. But it is also not quite right...

A Tough Week for Lutheranism — by Paul Sauer — February 21, 2009

It was a tumultuous week for Lutherans in the United States. The ELCA released the long anticipated (dreaded among some) recommendations of the Sexuality Study. Meanwhile the LCMS was mired in their own controversy – a legal dispute of a trademark on the name of a radio show canceled by Synod...

Christians by the Church Year — by Sarah Wilson — January 31, 2009

Once, in a class, an Anglican professor wrapped up a theological exposition with the triumphant conclusion, “And that is why, my friends, Christmas is the central festival of the church year, not Good Friday, as the Reformed would have it.” The salient point was the the crux of our salvation lay in the incarnation of the Word—the sovereign and gracious decision to be God-with-us—and not in the death of that Word in our place or on our behalf, in this Anglican view a secondary move in the drama of salvation...

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty — by Paul Sauer — March 07, 2009

Growing up I was always taught that with hard work anything is possible. Our lives were not determined by our origin or the circumstances of our birth. That is at the heart of the American dream - equal opportunity and possibility for all. It is at the heart of the message which I try and instill in my students here in the Bronx. A recent study of brain differences between rich and poor children by the University of California – Berkley shows that while opportunity may exist for all, we all don’t come from equal starting points. There may in fact be a cycle to poverty...

A Pro-life Activist Reflects on the Death of George Tiller — by Paul Sauer — June 01, 2009

When I heard the initial news teaser on the radio that an abortion provider had been shot at a church, I knew both the abortionist and the church before either were named. Few abortionists were as outspoken about the abortion services they provided as George Tiller. No other abortionist was as outspoken about his involvement in a church as George Tiller. The sickening part about waiting for the actual story was to see if I would recognize the name of the alleged gunman from my time as a college pro-life leader...

Christmas Hymns Off the Beaten Track — by Sarah Wilson — December 19, 2009

There are some times of year when liturgical creativity is undesirable and Christmas is surely one of them. The faithful who show up for every service no matter how minor or inconveniently timed, as well as the once-a-year folks whose mixture of sentiment, superstition, and longing for the true God brings them in, both want and need "Joy to the World," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," and "O Come, All Ye Faithful." For that matter, so do I. But that's also why I've always been particularly fond of the First Sunday after Christmas and even more, if we are so lucky, the Second Sunday after Christmas, as a chance to enjoy the fringe of Christmas hymnody. Here are three favorites of mine...

Worth a Look and Worth Your Support — by Sarah Wilson — January 21, 2010

Odds and ends of recent interest!

Talking about the Seminaries — by Paul Sauer — January 14, 2010

It had been my hope when I wrote “The Best of Times the Worst of Times for the LCMS Seminaries,” that it would start a Synod-wide dialog on how best to organize our residential seminaries to ensure that they continued to be a source of academic pride for the Synod. Sadly, despite initially hopeful responses, the discussion quickly devolved into defensiveness about why one seminary or the other should stay open and the overall benefits of residential seminary education versus non-residential education. Even those misguided arguments have now run their course with a joint statement released by the president of synod, the presidents of each residential seminary, and other pastoral education leaders...

Occult America — by Paul Sauer — February 16, 2010

Three is a tendency for individuals to assume that the days in which they are living are the apex of spiritual decline. That with the preponderance of new religions and religious philosophies and the decline of the old mainline Christian faiths, a new religious order will be established and Christians will be pre-Constantinian outcasts once more. History tends to generalize and sanitize and as a result the past often becomes homogeneous and the glory days become perhaps a little more glorious than they may have in actual fact been... Mitch Horowitz’s Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation provides a helpful corrective to the view that America was once a unified Christian (at least in the traditional creedal sense of the word) nation.

Bible Studies for Lent — by Sarah Wilson — February 12, 2010

One of the earliest decisions that the church made, as a whole, was that there would be four gospels telling the One Gospel. The four would not be smoothed out into one streamlined account; each would be allowed its own voice, its own emphases and peculiarities. Almost as early, systematically-minded and earnest theologians tried to iron out the wrinkles and force the four into one. Tatian in the second century tried to do just this with his Diatesseron. The church didn’t think much of it and stuck with the four...

Top Ten Hits of the Gospels — by Sarah Wilson —

 

Passion Scavenger Hunt — by Sarah Wilson —

 

Reflecting on the Bad Guys in Lent — by Sarah Wilson — February 22, 2010

When I was little, I took comfort in an early theological certainty: that Judas, Pontius Pilate, and Hitler were all in hell. I think this must have been, among other things, assurance in an unpredictable and uncontrollable world that righteousness and order would reign in the end. Now I am older and, as often happens, past assurances have ceased to be comforting...

Reflecting on the Bad Guys in Lent: Peter — by Sarah Wilson — March 02, 2010

Peter is the icon of the sinner-saint. We always find ourselves in his shoes. He’s the one who leaps out onto the water because of his great faith in Christ, and then halfway there—when the miracle is evidently working just fine—that’s when he panics and starts to sink. He’s the one who confesses first that Jesus is the Messiah, not a prophet or Elijah or John the Baptist, for which the Lord praises him and the blessing of divine revelation that granted Peter this insight; yet within three verses Peter’s telling the Messiah that he’s not allowed to go to the cross, which is Satan speaking from within him...

Reflecting on the Bad Guys in Lent: Judas — by Sarah Wilson — March 09, 2010

There’s actually quite a number of Judases in the New Testament: Judas the brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55), Judas the son of James (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13), Judas not Iscariot (John 14:22), Judas the Galilean (Acts 5:37), the Judas who sheltered Paul (Acts 9:11), Judas called Barsabbas (mentioned three times in Acts 15), and the epistle-writer Judas whom we in English prefer to call Jude, most of whom are basically good guys, but you won’t find Christians naming their sons after any of them. When we say Judas we mean Judas Iscariot, the sneaky low-down traitor, so oily that he betrays the Son of Man with a kiss, so cheap that it’s Mary of Bethany’s extravagant anointing of Jesus with nard that drives him as thief and keeper of the moneybag to bargain with the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver in exchange for his teacher...

Bible in 66 Verses — by Sarah Wilson —

 

The Bible in 66 Verses — by Sarah Wilson — April 05, 2010

I can’t imagine that this has never been done before, but the idea popped into my head one day and it seemed like an interesting exercise to try. The rules I imposed on myself were that each book of the Bible had to be represented by one single, whole verse (no convenient deletions, like we do with the psalms in worship), and no more than that one verse (inspiring lines spanning two or more verses were out)...

A Rebirth for Orphanages? — by Paul Sauer — March 18, 2010

For many in my generation the word orphanage conjures up images formed by movies where abuse and neglect are the norm rather than the exception. The word “institutionalization” in the adoption world is usually followed by a discussion of how to deal with physical and emotional challenges that are raised as a result of a child’s institutionalization. Life in an orphanage has been bad for children since the days of Dickens’s Oliver Twist, or so the conventional wisdom says...

NEW! Print archive — by Sarah Wilson — March 14, 2010

Studies have shown that nothing depresses a faithful Lutheran Forum reader more than remembering that fantastic article sometime last year, was it in the summer issue? and then discovering, after a careful perusal of all the shelves in the house, that it's gone missing. Probably some eager if dishonest fellow clergy stole it at the last pericope study. And other local readers are far too zealous about the whereabouts of their own past LFs to lend their copies out, even for an IOU inscribed in blood...

Missing Pages in the Spring Issue? Let Us Know — by Sarah Wilson — March 16, 2010

Dear readers, we've gotten a few reports from subscribers who have missing or misplaced pages in their spring issue. If this has happened to your copy, please let us know as soon as possible! Drop us a line at editor at lutheranforum dot org and we'll take care of it. Our profound apologies for the trouble.

Reflecting on the Bad Guys in Lent: Chief Priests, Scribes, Elders, Laywers, Pharisees, and Sadducees — by Sarah Wilson — March 22, 2010

Christianity is at its ugliest when the tales of the Jewish leaders and clergy in the gospels are taken only literally, as evidence of the corruption of the chosen people and their religion. Here is one case where an allegorical reading is an absolute necessity and in many ways the only tool for making sense of the all-too-frequently disastrous track record of the Christian clergy...

Reflecting on the Bad Guys During Lent: Pontius Pilate — by Sarah Wilson — March 27, 2010

Of all the Lenten bad guys, Pilate’s the one I feel sorriest for and would most like to excuse. This probably accuses me, too, since Pilate is the closest to those of us who are privileged North Americans—the paragon of the powerful coward...

The Social Ministry Question for the LCMS at the July Convention — by Paul Sauer — April 16, 2010

With the release of the names of the top nominated candidates for Synod president, the Missouri-Synod’s favorite pastime has officially reached its playoff season. Judging from the uptick in the blogosphere action, the heated political battle for Synod president will likely garner most of the attention in the days leading up to the July convention. I have always found the great concern about who is elected Synodical president to be a bit misplaced. Ultimately, with the strong congregational emphasis of the LCMS, the only real Synod-changing power the president has is the ability to remove District Presidents for theological boundary violations. While this may change the openness of Missouri’s theological climate, for better or worse depending on your perspective, life in the individual parish will go on exactly as it has for most parishes and pastors regardless of who is elected come July...

St. Augustine and the Cynics — by Sarah Wilson — April 30, 2010

Some years ago I was a teaching assistant for a course on St. Augustine’s Confessions, one of my favorite books. It turned out to be one of the most discouraging experiences of my life. The fault was not Augustine’s, and in some way not even the students’, but the horrible sham of an education that the students had acquired somewhere in their past...

The Joyful Exchange across the Centuries — by Sarah Wilson — June 05, 2010

As I mentioned in my editorial “Joyful Exchanges” in the summer 2010 issue of LF, the joyful exchange is one of the “softer melodies” floating along through the history of the church. Here are the examples I’ve turned up so far from theologians other than Luther...

Joyful Exchanges in Christology and Ministry — by Sarah Wilson — June 12, 2010

The very early theologian St. Irenaeus built his interpretation of the Christian faith around the idea of recapitulation: who Adam was and what he did wrong is replaced and made right by Christ. Irenaeus derives the idea, of course, from Romans 5. The primal exchange in the whole human family should have been for the good—our forefather Adam setting a pattern of righteousness for all his descendents—but it turned out for the bad, and his death became our death...

Joyful Exchanges in Two Novels and an Unjoyful Exchange in a Third — by Sarah Wilson — June 19, 2010

C. S. Lewis’s late novel Till We Have Faces is unlike his other and generally more famous novels. He wrote it while married to Joy Davidman and her constant feedback was part of his writing process. It is neither about explicitly Christian people as in the Space Trilogy nor does it contain direct Christian parallels as in the Chronicles of Narnia. It is a story of ancient pagans, drawing on the Greek myth of Psyche but told from the perspective of Psyche’s possessive sister Orual, who does not like the way the gods deal with human beings. Her own distrust infects Psyche and leads to Psyche’s exile from the god’s home. The story is altogether a tonic and not a little terrifying vision of divinity. Aslan’s furry goldenness tempers the fact that he is not a tame lion, but there are no comforts of the incarnation here...

Jesus in the Testaments — by Sarah Wilson — May 11, 2010

One of the great gifts of biblical scholarship in the last century or so has been better knowledge of the Jewishness of the New Testament figures and authors. This movement has done much to demolish the obnoxious and at times dangerous view of Judaism as a backward religion that Christianity morally, if not outright sociologically, supersedes. For Gentiles two millennia later, this knowledge brings our New Testament to life, explaining much that is perplexing and highlighting details that don’t convey the same meanings to Gentile readers. What is peculiar is that alongside this “re-Jewishing” of the New Testament has been a hands-off attitude toward the Old Testament for Christians...

Rehabilitating Martin Stephan — by Paul Sauer — May 15, 2010

Few people celebrate when their own history gets rewritten. That Jefferson may have fathered children with his slaves causes discomfort to the pristine historical narratives of our youth. That Joseph Smith may not have been an upstanding man for most of his life causes the Mormon church to rush to polemical defense. That Luther did and said things that at the very least don’t translate well into 20th century life has caused no less discomfort to Lutherans. It is certainly an uphill battle then, that descendants of Martin Stephan face in seeking not only to rehabilitate a man who would become the Missouri Synod’s deposed bishop, but to call into question the saintly narrative that has become the life story of Missouri’s founding pastor and first president, C. F. W. Walther...

Robert Louis Stevenson, Ecumenist — by Sarah Wilson — May 22, 2010

When I picked up a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, it was not with the slightest expectation that I was in for a religious read—certainly not from the writer best known for his pirate thriller Treasure Island. I knew only that it took place in France and was beloved enough by the English to have eventually led to the creation of a “Stevenson Trail” where devotees can follow his footsteps, though presumably with fewer mishaps, a lighter load, and no recalcitrant donkey in tow. What I in fact found was the heartfelt plea of what I can only describe as an early ecumenist...

A Few More Thoughts on Baptism and Godparents — by Sarah Wilson — July 02, 2010

In the past two months I’ve spoken with a couple of groups about baptism, prompting me to think more about the subject of godparents as I wrote about in the current issue's "Joyful Exchanges." These have been in settings of state or folk churches in Europe, so circumstances are rather different, but many of the concerns I heard would be familiar to Americans: people show up to get their babies baptized and never darken the door of church again; we try to educate them about baptism but they just don’t care; it’s impossible to get confirmands excited about affirming a baptism they don’t remember; it’s just plain more exciting to baptize people past the age of accountability than squalling infants. And yet, the deep theological conviction remains that the baptism of infants witnesses to a profound and necessary truth about God’s dealings with us...

The Rostered and the Ordained — by Sarah Wilson — July 06, 2010

Consider the curious case of Pr. Rebecca Heber. Pr. Heber has been an ordained pastor for 23 years, most recently in the Florida-Bahamas Synod, and she serves on the National Steering Committee for Lutheran CORE. On April 21st of this year, Pr. Heber was on her way to vacation when she received an email from the bishop’s secretary of the Florida-Bahamas Synod informing her that she needed to submit her annual request to the Synod Council to extend her On Leave From Call status...

How to Get Fired Constitutionally — by Sarah Wilson — July 10, 2010

Just in case anyone wants to know. These are the duties of ordained ministers serving congregations in the ELCA, according to the Constitution of the ELCA. Failure to perform any of these tasks could, presumably, lead to removal from the roster or the ministry. Take note of #3 and #4 particularly...

Let the Little Children…? — by Sarah Wilson — July 13, 2010

It remains a matter of intense ongoing debate whether the right thing to do in the face of last year’s churchwide assembly is to stay in the ELCA or pack it in and start afresh. As I’ve said before, I don’t think any option is good, but of the bad options I think staying is the better. But even among those who generally share this view with me, I hear a recurring worry: what about my children?...

Why Does Sin Feel So Good? — by Paul Sauer — July 16, 2010

One of the great joys of working in a Lutheran school is the exceptional perspective that the children often bring to matters of theology. Recently a student asked me, “Why does sin feel so good?”...

Certainty and Hope — by Paul Sauer — July 20, 2010

It always seems to happen when I schedule a baptism for a family that I don’t know very well. They’re late, and on a Saturday when I have so many things to do, the 11 am baptism has already led to other cancelled appointments and as the hour nears 11:30, if they show up at all I will be late for my own daughter’s birthday party. Calls to the cell phone go unanswered, and the voice-mailbox is full so leaving a message is as hopeless as everything else involving this baptism seems to be...

Lutheran-Mennonite Study Commission — by Sarah Wilson —

 

LWF Statement to Mennonites — by Sarah Wilson —

 

Tell Your Congregation About This One — by Sarah Wilson — July 21, 2010

I'm in Stuttgart, Germany, at the moment, attending the 11th Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (assemblies happen every six or seven years; the LWF was founded in 1947). Among all the other business on the table, it's an ecumenical action taking place here that will be the main thing remembered and have the biggest impact on the whole church in the years to come. In recognition of the fact that some Lutheran reformers, including Melanchthon and Luther himself, advocated the use of violence and even capital punishment in dealing with Anabaptists, whose present-day descendants are called Mennonites, the LWF is making a public statement of repentance and remorse, asking forgiveness from God and from the Mennonites. It is hard to convey the enormity of this action in the ecumenical world...

After the Apology — by Sarah Wilson —

I can say already that I will be proud for the rest of my life that I was able to take part in the action of the LWF today in repenting of the sins of the past against the Anabaptists. It was an extraordinary event. I am proud that the Lutheran family was capable of confessing its wrong and asking for forgiveness. But I was not expecting the response from the Mennonites, which was every bit as extraordinary...

After the Apology — by Sarah Wilson — July 23, 2010

I can say already that I will be proud for the rest of my life that I was able to take part in the action of the LWF in repenting of the sins of the past against the Anabaptists. It was an extraordinary event. I am proud that the Lutheran family was capable of confessing its wrong and asking for forgiveness. But I was not expecting the response from the Mennonites, which was every bit as extraordinary...

Two More Significant Ecumenical Speeches at the LWF Assembly — by Sarah Wilson — July 25, 2010

First, during the worship after the public apology and forgiveness between Lutherans and Mennonites, Larry Miller, the General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference, gave a brief testimony, which included this admission: “At times, our versions of martyr stories have reduced complex history to simple morality tales of good and evil, in which historical actors are either Christ-like or violent. At times, we have remembered Lutheran reformers primarily for their arguments and actions against Anabaptists, thereby minimizing the broader theological contribution of these reformers to the Christian church and, indeed, to our own movement...

Amish Ecumenism — by Paul Sauer — July 31, 2010

My parents are friends with an Amish family in upstate New York. Those who know my legendarily outgoing father may not be terribly shocked, but I must confess that this one even caught me by surprise. I don’t know a whole lot about the Amish but I remember learning that their theological identity is to live out literally St. Paul’s command to “be not conformed to the world” and to heed the warning of the author of James that to “befriend the world is to have enmity with God.” Friendship with “English” like my father and mother breaks down those worldly barriers. Nevertheless, there I was standing in the dark, smoky kitchen of an Amish family...

Here I Walk: An Ecumenical Pilgrimage — by Sarah Wilson — August 17, 2010

A few years back my husband Andrew and I noticed the upcoming 500th anniversary of Luther’s 1510 pilgrimage to Rome. We thought it would be really cool to retrace his steps. But the questions of “how?” and even more “why?” (besides the coolness factor) remained unanswered. Now, however, we have answers, and we’re gonna do it… in just a few days. We leave August 22 from Erfurt...

Here I Walk media kit — by Sarah Wilson —

 

Seventy Days on the Road with Luther — by Sarah Wilson — September 18, 2010

In 1510, Martin Luther, not-yet-reformer, walked from Erfurt to Rome on business for the Augustinians. In 1910, missionaries from all over the world gathered in Edinburgh, Scotland, to discuss world evangelization, in the process giving birth to the ecumenical movement. And in 2010, my husband Andrew and I figured we'd try to put the two together, retracing Luther's steps from Erfurt to Rome for the sake of ecumenical reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics. We've been on the road nearly four weeks now...

A Septuagint of Prayer for the Unity of the Church — by Sarah Wilson — October 25, 2010

This is a list of 70 verses for prayer and meditation in the setting of the divided church but in hope of church unity. It was originally developed to accompany each of our 70 days walking from Erfurt to Rome, but it could be used in any number of other situations, from personal devotion to church study to ecumenical gatherings. Feel free to augment or alter the list as you see fit...

How Lutheran Forum is Not Like the New York Times — by Sarah Wilson — October 15, 2010

It has come to our attention that certain avid readers of the LF website have not been subscribing to the print magazine because they thought they were getting everything we have to offer online. Egad! There is NO overlap between the print and online versions of LF (except, of course, what you find in the archive). Over on the right side of this website we feature a few choice titles from the issue that is "now in print" to let you know just what you're missing. Every issue has exegesis of New and Old Testament Scripture, an episode in American Lutheran history, a consideration of worship matters, a study in Luther's theology, a new hymn, a biography of a Lutheran saint, a report from a Lutheran church elsewhere in the world, and two editorials... not to mention the frequent appearance of philosophy, stories of Lutheran witness in the lefthand kingdom, seminarians' views, the ever-unpredictable "And Now for Something Completely Different" department (everything from Lutheran monks to Lutheran surrealists)... and of course the gorgeous covers with the work of living Lutheran artists...

The Forum Package for Christmas — by Sarah Wilson — December 16, 2010

You already know what a great read and a great deal the Forum Package is--four issues of Lutheran Forum absolutely stuffed full with articles, probably more than you can read in 3 months anyway and certainly the most colorful covers in the theological journal business, plus 12 issues of hot-off-the-presses reporting in Forum Letter--but a lot of your colleagues and friends probably don't. Even though we enjoy an astonishingly wide circulation for a Lutheran-specific publication at about 2500 paid subscribers, by our count there are at least twice as many people who ought to be subscribing. If not more! So please help us and your neighbor out, and think about giving a gift subscription for Christmas, maybe to a first-call pastor in your area who's feeling the painful loss of the seminary community, or a parish ministry veteran who's ready for a fresh encounter with theology, or lay folks who are constantly bugging you with their excellent challenging questions..

There were Giants in the Land — by Paul Sauer — December 18, 2010

December 12 marked the second anniversary of the death of Avery Cardinal Dulles. In commemoration of this occasion, Fordham University, where Dulles spent his last 20 years as a professor, held a forum discussing his legacy...

Lutherans and Roman Catholics - By the Numbers — by Paul Sauer — January 08, 2011

One of the many hats that I wear is as the leader of the Atlantic District team on our local trialogue with the ELCA Metro-NY Synod and the Archdiocese of New York. Given the significant changes in the American church political landscape over the past few years, the dialog determined to spend the first few meetings just reintroducing ourselves. Each tradition shared some of its history as church bodies and regional incarnations of church bodies, documenting developments over the years, and identifying challenges and pressing issues that their respective communions will face in the years ahead. It was a rare and helpful opportunity for each tradition to describe itself in its own words I had always known how big Roman Catholicism and the Archdiocese of New York was. But to work with actual numbers was astounding. Arch-NY has nearly 3 million members. Comparatively, the whole of the LCMS has approximately 2.5 million members (the ELCA, 4.8 Million)....

A Lutheran Reading of Moby Dick — by Sarah Wilson — January 16, 2011

It is common knowledge that Moby Dick is the great American novel, with only Huckleberry Finn running as a possible contestant to that title. It is also common knowledge that, quite unlike Huckleberry Finn, nobody ever really reads Moby Dick. The general consensus is that it is a brilliant exposition of the brutal Calvinistic doctrine of double predestination, interspersed with interesting travelogue; and that is quite enough for anyone to know. That’s a shame, because it really is a phenomenal book...

Luther on Godparents — by Sarah Wilson — February 14, 2011

Last year I posted some comments about the renewal of the role of godparents in baptism in connection with my article in the print edition of Lutheran Forum, “Joyful Exchanges, Part I” (Summer 2010). So I was pleasantly surprised to rediscover Luther’s comments on the duties of godparents in his “Baptismal Booklet” appended to the Small Catechism. They are well worth repeating here...

Desperately Seeking the First Use of the Law — by Sarah Wilson — March 22, 2011

At the midpoint now of my biblically allotted threescore and ten, I have come to the sad conclusion that anybody is capable of anything. I have also, not coincidentally, come to the conclusion that one of the worst failures of our Lutheran churches has been the widespread abandonment of preaching on the first use of the law. I can’t remember ever, since childhood, hearing a Lutheran sermon simply expositing the Ten Commandments, telling me in plain speech that this action is pleasing to God while that action is not...

The First Use and the First Article — by Sarah Wilson — March 28, 2011

I must not be the only one longing for the first use of the law, judging by the outpouring of responses to my previous post. In fact, it’s probably not even the first use itself, but just plain old preaching of the Law, which will be “used” by the Holy Spirit in the first way or the second way (perhaps even in the third!) as is needed in each human soul… but which can’t happen if the Law isn’t getting preached at all...

American Lutheran Bishops? — by Paul Sauer — April 22, 2011

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in its wisdom established a Commission on Constitutional Matters (CCM) to serve as the supreme court interpreter of Synod’s constitution and bylaws until such time as the Synod in convention gives their official opinion on matters. Their quarterly plus special meetings reports are “must reading” for aspiring church bureaucrats everywhere. Occasionally, they even make decisions that actually impact the average everyday life of those few remaining Lutherans who still seem to care about church bureaucracy and authority. The recently posted minutes of the CCM meeting over February 18-20, 2011 are one such example. Buried in their comments regarding the revision of the constitution and bylaws of the English District of the LCMS (10-2578), the CCM referenced back to its previous opinions 00-2202 and 00-2215 which affirmed that although the LCMS constitution and bylaws refer to “district presidents” as “district presidents”, it is ok for them to be referred to as “bishops” in the everyday usage of everyday Christians, with the exclusive “district president” being reserved for constitution and bylaw usage...

The Resurrection in a Memorial Culture — by Sarah Wilson — April 24, 2011

Years ago I had the great delight of seeing Kathleen Chalfant star in Margaret Edson’s play “Wit,” sometimes written “W;t” in reference to the recurring theme of commas vs. semi-colons in one of John Donne’s holy sonnets. Chalfant played Vivian, an English scholar of markedly misanthropic tendencies diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. Over the course of the play she suffers through the side-effects of aggressive treatment, which finally fails, just as she struggles through what the death awaiting her means. Is it the end, as rigid a division from life as a semi-colon? Or is death—compromised by what Christ has done—merely a comma, passing from one life with him to another?...

The Right and Salutary Way to Destroy the House of the Lord — by Sarah Wilson — May 09, 2011

I didn’t realize till I was well past seminary and halfway through internship that the adult Jesus took up residence in Capernaum. I suppose it’s because Christmas focuses our attention on Bethlehem and Nazareth, and then Easter and Pentecost put us in Jerusalem. The other cities of the Gospels slide by, familiar but otherwise meaningless names. Capernaum doesn’t have much in the way of emotional or theological resonances like the other cities do, but I’ve ever since been struck by the fact that Jesus did in fact establish himself in another city as his ministerial base of operations. In the past week, this Jesus-of-Capernaum has startled me once again...

Sources of Authority according to the Lutheran Confessions — by Sarah Wilson — August 19, 2011

Lutheranism as a distinct branch of the church catholic began with the realization that the church is full of liars, politicians, hucksters, unbelievers, and traitors. Luther and his companions were not the first to realize this as such. It has been the ongoing problem of the church and of Israel and of the whole fallen world. The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ even needed to declare that “all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18) is proof enough that sin, death, and the devil contend Christ’s authority. So Christians should be aware that if the topic of authority comes up at all, it is because there is already a crisis of authority at hand...

The Communion of Saints — by Paul Sauer — August 29, 2011

One of the challenges of raising and educating children among the urban poor is finding heroes for them. Despite the low poll numbers Barak Obama still retains hero status among most of my youth here at the school because someone who is “one of us” became president of the United States, and those examples of success are often few and far between in this community. Presidential politics aside, I find the notion of embracing heroes somewhat refreshing in a world that is so often riddled with the historical amnesia of a contemporary information overload that has little space for quaint stories of old...

Two Senses of the Word “Gospel” — by Sarah Wilson — October 04, 2011

“Gospel” is a dear word to us Lutherans, the measure of all good theology and preaching. But because of its polyvalency, especially because of our law-gospel distinction, the word itself sometimes trips us up. In my recent re-read of the Book of Concord, I came across a useful little section in the Formula about two distinct senses in which this word is rightly used among Lutherans...

Two Online Resources for Theology & Preaching — by Sarah Wilson — November 08, 2011

I recently made acquaintance with these two internet archives, both well worth your attention...

The Hope of Eternal Life — by Paul Sauer — November 12, 2011

The eleventh round of the American Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialog has released its latest common statement entitled The Hope of Eternal Life. Following the general format of the Joint Declaration the statement explores first the Biblical evidence and then ecclesial-specific doctrinal teachings on matters such as “death and Intermediate states”, “Judgment”, “Hell and the Possibility of Eternal Loss”, and “Heaven and the Final Kingdom”...

Physician Heal Thyself? — by Paul Sauer — November 30, 2011

My parish is situated in the midst of a growing medical-professional area in the Bronx, surrounded by three hospitals and a number of outpatient and specialist facilities. During the day as I walk the neighborhood I am more likely than not to encounter medical personnel on break. One of the great oddities that I have observed is how poorly so many of these doctors, medical students, nurses and EMTs take care of themselves...

Pouches and Pockets for Faith and Love — by Sarah Wilson — November 26, 2011

Recently I stumbled across a charming little passage from Luther that I don’t recall ever reading before. It’s in his account of catechetical instruction in his German Mass of 1526 (LW 53). Once children—or any persons desiring to be Christians—have learned the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, they can start on Bible verses, which Luther selects and distinguishes according to pouches and pockets. Before you start, it will help to knw that Hungarian gulden were worth more than Rhenish gulden, that pennies, groschen, and gulden were made of copper, silver, and gold respectively, and that Schreckenberger were a variety of silver groschen...

Good Friday and Easter in Christmas — by Sarah Wilson — December 24, 2011

In “Away in a Manger” we sing “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes,” but I doubt it’s true. And I hope it’s not true. It’s meant as nothing more serious than an expression of children’s piety, but doctrinally we don’t want to draw back an inch from the implications of the communicatio idiomatum, the full exchange between Christ’s human and divine natures. Anything less, Luther passionately argued, and our salvation is a lie. I am feeling particularly grateful for the incarnation and the attendant communicatio idiomatum this Christmas. At the beginning of December I had an invasive surgery that has left me still, three and a half weeks later, exhausted, bent over, aching, and weak...

The Celebration of a Cardinal — by Paul Sauer — February 27, 2012

Given the preeminent role that the issue of religion in the public sphere has played during the last couple of week’s news cycle, it was with a little more interest than usual that I attended the February 25, 2012 service of mid-morning prayer celebrating the elevation of Timothy Dolan to cardinal. As usually happens with anything formal regarding the Archdiocese of New York, the event was a gala celebration pulling together ecumenical and inter-faith clergy from innumerable traditions, and a host of politicians across the political spectrum, all wedged, quite literally by seating arrangement, between the women religious on one side and the male religious on the other. . .

Empty Bowling Alleys, Stages, and Churches — by Paul Sauer — March 19, 2012

One of the great privileges of being the regional District Vice-President for Metro-New York, has been how it has allowed me the opportunity to walk through many of our urban church buildings. I am always amazed at how extensive the facilities are. It seems the pattern for the early urban churches was to build a sanctuary first and then the next thing to build was a fellowship hall with a stage, even if there wasn’t going to be a day school attached to the church. Even more remarkable is how many of these old churches had bowling alleys in their basements...

The Presence in the Absence — by Sarah Wilson — April 06, 2012

The Harry Potter series, once giving rise to accusations of seducing young folk with witchcraft, ended a couple of years ago with the most powerful christological themes to come out of fiction since the Chronicles of Narnia. Theological reflections on the Potter saga accordingly abound...

The Resurrection of Saggy, Lumpy, Longing Bodies — by Sarah Wilson — April 12, 2012

Once you start theologizing about Harry Potter, it’s kind of hard to stop. I have been pondering another blog post about all the central theological details of the last HP book that the movie version left out. To my surprise, what I consider the biggest movie error of all was not mentioned: namely, that when Voldemort is finally defeated—through his own death curse rebounding upon him—his body explodes into a billion pieces...

Tearing the Soul by Violating the Body — by Sarah Wilson — April 19, 2012

One more on Harry Potter, and then I promise I’m done. In the Potterverse, the whole plot hinges on Voldemort’s creation of Horcruxes: physical objects in which a fragment of his soul have been concealed, which mean that whatever assaults come on his body, he cannot die. Division of body from soul normally spells death plain and simple for mortal creatures, but in a Horcrux the division is turned to a warped sort of advantage. Professor Slughorn, from whom the young Voldemort learns this, assures him “few would want” the kind of existence resulting from such an act. “Death would be preferable.” But to Voldemort, absolutely nothing conceivable is worse than death...

The Bible in 66 Verses 2 — by Sarah Wilson —

 

The Bible in 66 Verses, Redux — by Sarah Wilson — June 14, 2012

I first posted this list a little more than two years ago, and it has proven to be by far the most popular on the website, still generating hundreds of hits a month. For those of you who missed it the first time or are glad to have your memory jogged, here it is again, with a few corrections and changes as well. The rule I imposed on myself was that each book of the Bible had to be represented by one single, whole verse (no convenient deletions, like we do with the psalms in worship) but no more than that one verse (inspiring lines spanning two or more verses were out). Beyond that, the strategy in picking each verse varied a bit from book to book...

The Curious Case of First Lutheran Church — by Sarah Wilson — October 11, 2012

It happened something like this. First Lutheran in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, is a large and flourishing congregation with both traditional and contemporary worship services, a strong commitment to evangelism, and a Bible-centered outlook. In the course of recent events, which are too obvious to be named, First Lutheran began to have some doubts about the general drift of the ELCA. But it also wasn’t ready to walk out altogether...

All Are Welcome, Sort Of — by Sarah Wilson — October 21, 2012

"All are welcome.” A sign with these words in front of the church, or a notice in the bulletin, or an ad in the paper—the “all are welcome” announcement has become the sine qua non of most American churches, more than any sacrament or Scripture text. Yet this ecclesiastical pick-up line is a lie. We have bought into the idea that hospitality is an entirely benevolent act. But as with most things human, a lot more lurks beneath the surface of our apparently pious good works...

Preparations for 2017 in Germany — by Sarah Wilson — November 04, 2012

Germany didn't get the Winter Olympics for 2016, but it does still have the Luther anniversary in 2017. Enormous amounts of time and money are being put toward the grand event, and in fact started in 2008, ten years in advance. The Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland has been observing a "Luther Decade" with a different theme for every year and no end of special events, concerts, and conferences. They range from very theological to marginally so, and—perhaps because Germany faces an even more accelerated rate of secularism than the U.S., and is nearly completely secular already in the old East—a great deal of emphasis is laid on the heritage of the Reformation that is expressed in the daily life of Germans, Europeans, and citizens around the world, whether they realize its source or not...

Advent Musings — by Sarah Wilson — December 07, 2012

At home we’ve been singing through Advent hymns, and like many a Lutheran we have come again to the conclusion that Advent gives Christmas a real run for its money, musically speaking. From the solemnity of “Savior of the Nations, Come” to the eager expectation of “Wake, Awake, For Night Is Flying,” Advent has good claim to be the most singable of the liturgical seasons...

Rehabilitating Openmindedness — by Sarah Wilson — December 14, 2012

I get the impression that among a certain segment of the population “openmindedness” has become a vice instead of a virtue. That is probably because, in another segment of the population, “openmindedness” is the equivalent of “emptyheadedness,” the same way that “tolerance” can degenerate into “indifference.” But abuse does not exclude right use (abusus non tollit usum, a rule Luther himself liked to invoke). Openmindedness is a virtue that Christians of all stripes should earnestly cultivate...

Come, Lord Jesus — by Sarah Wilson — December 24, 2012

It is entirely rational to be fearful, of nearly everything and nearly all the time, and that is one of the biggest problems with fear. There’s simply no end to it. Wars sprout and grow all over the globe, and there is no guarantee that we will end our days without seeing another on our own soil. In the meanwhile, as recent tragic events have demonstrated once again, there is no immunity from terrorizing violence even in apparently peaceful lands and towns. We fear the state of the economy, the state of the government, and the state of the church; we fear for the health of our food and the health of our environment. We fear the people around us and we fear for them. All too often our fears our justified, and so it is proven to us, once again, how eminently rational it is to live in a state of constant fear...

2013 Theological Reading Challenge: The Pentateuch — by Sarah Wilson — February 20, 2013

I have read all the books of the Pentateuch before, separately; and I have read some parts over and over again. But I’d never before gone through all five in a short period of time—and I still haven’t quite caught my breath. It’s amazing how how you read affects your perception of what you’re reading. Genesis to Deuteronomy all at one go is really not like hearing a snippet in Sunday worship...

2013 Theological Reading Challenge: Matthew — by Sarah Wilson — March 05, 2013

As I observed with the Pentateuch, it’s quite a different experience to read a book of the Bible all at one go instead of in drips and drabs. But while the first five books of the Old Testament contained plenty of surprises and forgotten tales, the Gospel of Matthew surprised me with how much of it I already knew, and quite well, at that. This can be attributed to the lectionary, I suppose—though the parts left out of the lectionary leapt out at me for their lesser familiarity. (Why aren’t we allowed to preach on the temple tax in the fish’s mouth, anyway?)...

2013 Theological Reading Challenge: I and II Peter — by Sarah Wilson — March 19, 2013

It wasn’t till this time through that I really grasped the “gestalt” of the Petrine epistles (which seems to be the recurring theme of reading large swaths of the Bible). I Peter is pretty well summed up in 4:19: “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” The new believers in Christ seemed to have expected a smooth passage; after all, they were on the side of the mighty, good, saving Lord! So the persecution that followed quickly after they faith startled them and shook them badly. Peter is trying to bolster them up: suffering doesn’t mean that their faith is wrong or that God has turned against them...

2013 Theological Reading Challenge: The Martyrdom of Polycarp — by Sarah Wilson — April 02, 2013

Polycarp was not quite the earliest Christian martyr—there’s Stephen in Acts, and the other apostles too, of course, and then Ignatius—but the story of his death by burning at the stake in the year 156 was widely circulated and powerfully inspirational to early Christians and has continued to be so ever since. (He’s commemorated on the ELCA and other calendars on February 23.) In the best tradition of hagiography, his story teaches about the gospel and gives the glory to Christ, but through the medium of another human life, one to which we can relate, a life into which we can even imagine ourselves. Chapter I already spells out the remarkable gospel qualities of Polycarp’s death...

What Being "Pro-life" Truly Means — by Paul Sauer — April 15, 2013

Abortion was supposed to solve many of the social problems that have now become endemic. If pregnancies could be planned and women had ready access both to contraception and abortion, then rates of illegitimacy should go down. Likewise, if every child was a wanted child, then of course child abuse should become a thing of the past, or at least it should become a rarity. Logically, safe, legal abortion makes perfect sense...

2013 Theological Reading Challenge: On the Soul and Resurrection — by Sarah Wilson — April 25, 2013

And you thought Leviticus was a tough slog! Gregory of Nyssa’s treatise is an intriguing piece of work, and in some ways its inaccessibility is all the more reason for us to read it. For one thing, it gives us a window into the apologetics of a far distant time and place. It is almost impossible to overestimate how parochial our thinking is, how much we project our own particular set of issues onto the whole church throughout its history. The nature of the arguments here shows how flexible but also how impermanent the apologetic project is, which is why apologetics in itself cannot be our foundation. (George Lindbeck gave us the handy concept of “ad-hoc apologetics”: what works to remove unnecessary stumbling blocks in a particular time and place, as opposed to an entire edifice that will crumble with cultural movement away from those particular stumbling blocks.) At the same time, we see recurring questions that need to be addressed generation after generation, and we discover resources for our own apologetic task that we might not have lit upon otherwise. As with all good reading, tackling this text should be a horizon-expanding experience...

Theological Reading Challenge 2013: Cyril of Alexandria — by Sarah Wilson — May 10, 2013

St. Cyril of Alexandria was the great champion of the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). But that doesn’t mean he was a straightforward hero. He was among the least pleasant of human beings ever to get canonized, politically wily, sometimes outright violent. If Lutherans ever wanted proof that our ultimate rightness with God does not depend on our moral perfection, St. Cyril is it...