Revelation, Post 1

For our adult Christian Education at Saint John, I am beginning a study of the Book of Revelation. It is a topic that greatly interests me, and that I have spent a fair amount of time looking at. One of the projects I have undertaken in the past is a complete translation of the book from the Greek. I am providing those in the class with copies of my translation, but thought that I might post sections of it here for comment.

What follows is the opening of the Book of Revelation, roughly corresponding to 1:1-1:8 (for ease of reading, I don't use verse or chapter numbers).

Preface
The Unveiling belonging to and consisting of Messiah Jesus, which God gave to him to show to his slaves the things that must necessarily occur soon. These things he signified, sending them through his angel to his slave John, who testified to God’s word and to the testimony of Messiah Jesus – as much as he saw.
The one reading aloud and the ones hearing the words of the prophecy – who are also keeping the things written in it – are fortunate, for The Time is near.

Address & Doxology
John, to the seven assemblies in Asia:
Grace to you and peace, from the One Who Is, the One Who Was, and the One Coming, and from the seven spirits that are in front of his throne; and from Messiah Jesus, the faithful testifier, the One born first from the dead, and the authority over the earth’s kings.
To the one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, to him who made us a kingdom – priests of his God and Father – be the majestic splendor and the power, for all eternity; Amen.
Look! He is coming with the clouds! And every eye will see him – even those who pierced him – and all the tribes of the earth will wail over him. Yes! Amen!
“I, I am the beginning and the end, the One Who Is, the One Who Was, and the One Coming - the All-Powerful One,” says the Lord God.

The Nicene Holiday

My traffic stats recently indicated that someone found my blog by searching for "what holiday was determined at the council of Nicaea." A rather odd search I thought ... until I decided that I wanted to know the answer as well (rather, wanted to pin down the exact wording of the answer).

Tucked away in the letter of the from the bishops gathered at Nicaea to the Egyptian churches, is the following small comment about the observance of Easter (it is found in the Greek text, but not the Latin).

"We also send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question also has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from ancient times have kept Easter together with you."

This placed the Easter celebrations on Sunday (rather than whatever day of the week Passover happened to fall). Of course, disagreements over exactly how the date of Easter is computed mean that Christians in the East and the West still often celebrate Easter on different dates.

I guess you learn something new everyday. You can read the Canons of Nicaea or see Wikipedia's entry on Easter for more info.

Trial in Atlanta

The ELCA has just begun another set of disciplinary hearings against an openly gay pastor. This set of hearings, in the synod where I grew up, is taking place in Atlanta as we speak. Unfortunately, between my connections to the Southeastern Synod, my time on churchwide boards, and my time working at the ELCA headquarters, I have personal connections with many people involved in this trial (on both sides of the aisle). This is what I know about every one involved in this mess:

1. They are faithful, committed Christians.
2. They believe they are doing what is best for the church.
3. They believe they are acting in accord with the Gospel.

You see, there are no villians here. No one is out to ruin the church. The greatest tragedy of all of this - for me - is the amount of insult thrown around between Christians. People who support Pastors like Pastor Schmeling and people who want him removed from the roster are both guilty of assuming the absolute worst about each other.
If the conversation about sexuality among Protestants in America is going to make any progress, we must begin with the assumptions that we all serve the same Lord, we all follow the same Bible, and we all believe we are doing the best thing for the church. From there we can talk about where we disagree, but not until we have all affirmed what unites us.

Lutherpunk posted this prayer from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, which I find very appropriate:

O GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace; Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord: that as there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, or faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

One Size Doesn't fit All (Review)

Over the Christmas Holiday, I read Gary McIntosh's One Size Doesn't Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Church. I found the book helpful, and thought I would share with you some of my thoughts.

Summary: One Size Doesn't Fit All is a book about a conversation between a struggling new pastor and a more experienced pastor. The ideas behind the advice given by the older pastor are those developed by McIntosh. The underlying concept is that each church size (small, medium, large) is very different, and pastors often speak of congregations as if there is only one size. McIntosh's argument is that each church needs to be approached in the method best suited to its size.

What Works: I loved the narrative style of the book, it made it much easier to read than most books of this sort. I have also seen situations like that of the young pastor in the book: people who are trained in medium to large congregations, and try to apply the same methods to small congregations -- and it just doesn't work. While I enjoyed much of the book and found that it rang true with my own experiences, I especially appreciated what McIntosh had to say about staffing a congregation.

What Doesn't: This book is primarily aimed at evangelical churches. McIntosh will talk about new churches (less than 10 years old) and older congregations (more than 25 years old). What about churches that are 125 years old? I think McIntosh underestimates "older churches" because his focus is on "new" evangelical churches. Further, I think McIntosh overestimates the role of the pastor and underestimates the role of lay leaders in the life of congregations.

Overall, a great book that I would recommend to pastors and to lay leaders.

Sunday Special (January 14)

A little late, but here's is this week's Blogging Lutherans Sunday Special.

Amor and Labor is run by a LC-MS blogger, who goes by the nom de plum Kletos Sumboulos (a tranliteration of the greek for "Called as a Counselor"). Kletos is currently working on his dissertation (couldn't find the exact topic) in the field of Psychology. AMor and Labor often provides unique insight to theology and the church from the world of Freud and Jung.

Stop by and visit Amor and Labor, this week's Sunday Special, and let Kletos know that the Blogging Lutherans are reading (and cheering him on toward his dissertation).

A New Ecclesiology

Recent posts at Sinning Boldly and Idle Rambling got me thinking about the images we use for the church. We have a number of images at our disposal, whether we are talking about our local congregation or the universal church.

The Church Militant is a word used to talk about the church on the earth. The church as semper reformanda (Latin for "always reforming") is a favorite refrain of Lutherans. Andy even suggested the Church repentent as a helpful image.

Personally, I find many of the images that we use in academia to be very detached from the real life of congregations. The images suggested are often, at best, neutral -- that is, they have no real affect on actual congregations.

The issue I have with the images of the church reforming and the church repentent (semper reformanda and ecclesia conversio) is that they both cast a negative impression of what has come before. They both say, "What you've done until now is bad, let me make you better." I have a problem with that. Many of our congregations have very rich histories, and even if change would be helpful, it shouldn't be that sort of backward-looking change.

No, in our congregations we should look forward if we want to talk about change. Not what should we have done in the past, but what can we do in the future. For this reason, I am putting forward a new image for the church: The Church Renewing (ecclesia renovare or semper renovare). Renewal implies that the our history has something to teach us, and that moving forward is more important that passing judgement on the past.

This is an image that is more than indifferent, I think it really adds something to a congregation's understanding of what it means to be the church. This is an image that not only would I use in a congregation, I think many pastors (while not using these exact words) do use this model.

An added bonus: the Latin for renewing is renovare, the Latin for renewal is either renovare or resurrectio - to be the Church Renewing is to be the church of the resurrection.

So there it is, my ecclesiology for the twenty-first century: the Church Renewing, semper renovare.

The Israelites complained against Moses ...

"And the whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses & Aaron in the wilderness" (Exodus 16:2; see also Exodus 17:2-4 and Numbers 14:1-4).

First as a pastor's kid, then as a volunteer leader in the church, and now as an ordained pastor, I have always found great comfort in this verse. Something about misery loving company I think. The fact is, no pastor and no church is (or can be) perfect for every person in the community. There is always something to complain about (even while being delivered from slavery in Egypt!).

Pastors know that this is, really, not about them. Even so, it can be difficult not to take such "mumbling and grumbling" personally. Yet there is hope. There are some complaints that seem to be almost universal. And knowing that they are present in almost every congregation can help with the realization that it is not personal to the pastor.

Here are the complaints that I have found to be nearly ubiquitous:

1. Hymn selection. Whether the pastor chooses the hymns or not, and whether the hymns are contemporary or classic, from the Lutheran tradition or the Baptist tradition, someone will complain that there is no way that anyone on the face of the earth could ever sing the hymns that are chosen for Sunday morning.
2. Sermon length. It is often disguised as a joke or giving the pastor a hard time, but if a sermon goes longer than 5 minutes the comments about sermon length are inevitable. Remember this: Luther advised keeping sermons short - not longer than an hour.
3. Youth. Unless a congregation has the town's best youth ministry, chances are that there will be complaints about it. The sting of this complaint is that it is often true: only the largest and best-financed congregations seem to have dynamic youth ministries. But remember, the congregation that attracts teenagers may not be able to attract couples who are 30-50; every congregation has its blindspots and shortfallings.
4. Finances. I have been involved with congregations with annual budgets ranging from $200,000 to almost $700,000, and they all had one thing in common - someone in the congregation was convinced that finances were a problem and the church was about to go broke. If we are being good stewards of the gifts we have been entrusted with (that is, spending the money on mission and ministry), we will always run into this. To not spend the money is poor stewardship, as is spending too much and on the wrong things. Its a tightrope, and not everyone will agree on the right path.

These are the universal complaints that I can think of, but I'm sure there are more. The bottom line: no pastor, and no congregation, can please everyone all of the time.

New Year 2

The prominence of so many "Best of 2006" lists on the web and on tv are an excellent indication of our need to look back at the start of a New Year. But, a new year must also be about looking forward. I once heard archbishop of canterbury William Carey say (quoting Jaroslav Pelikan, I think), that "Tradition is the living faith of the dead ... but traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." It is important - essential - that we look back and remember - whether it is personally at the start of a new year, or corporately as a church or other community. But it is every bit important that we turn back around and look forward. So here is my second list for the New Year - the things I am personally looking forward to most in the 2007:

• Celebrating Easter in Prairie Hill, and my first Lent & Easter in the parish
• My sister-in-law's wedding in Iona, Scotland
• A week of vacation with my parents and a visit from them
• The challenges (and rewards!) of the rest of this first year of ordained ministry

Of course, there are things that I am looking forward to professionally as well -- things that I look forward to as a member of this community of faith:

• The process about learning about our ministry needs and gifts through the strategic planning committee
• Learning from the gifts and experiences of a newly elected council
• Seeing the community come out for the monthly fellowship events hosted by our evangelism committee
• Exploring together ways to improve our worship with the new hymnal

All this is probably just the start of the things that excite me about 2007. But it is nice to see them written down, where I can reflect on the many exciting things happening in my own life and in the life of the family of Saint John Lutheran.

What about you? Are you spending the New Year only looking backward, or are you looking forward as well? What excites you most about 2007?

Sunday Special (January 7)

After a brief hiatus, it is time for the triumphant return of the Blogging Lutherans' Sunday Special. Thus far, 6 blogs have been featured: 2 WELS blogs, 2 LC-MS blogs, and 2 ELCA blogs. I hope to get up permanent links to all of the Sunday Special blogs, but until then you can view all of the previously featured blogs by clicking here.

This week's Sunday Special come from Andy, a layman in the ELCA. I often have a hard time making myself look through the archives of blogs, but the Sinning Boldly archives were rewarding. The posts at Sinning Boldly are theologically astute - Andy does not shy away from the difficult (but often rewarding) task of posting on theologically difficult subjects. A few of Andy's favorite posts on spirituality, being a Lutheran, and other topics are perma-linked on the blog, but there is much more in the archives. (Maybe it't time to switch to the new Blogger so that we can browse by topic?)

In fact, Andy has another blog, The Truth about the Trinity, which has fallen by the wayside -- but could be an excellent place to delve into the depths of trinitarian theology (maybe a little extra traffic would prod the blog back to activity).

Sinning Boldly is this week's Sunday Special. Stop by and show your support, and let Andy know that the Blogging Lutherans are reading.

Lutheran Quiz

I don't normally post these sorts of things, but this was an especially good quiz about Lutheranism. Thanks to Andy for pointing it out. It turns out that I am about as Lutheran as you can be (no shock there).

You are 100% Lutheran! This is most certainly true.

Nicely done! Martin would be proud of you! You may or may not have room for growth in understanding Lutheran terminology and culture. Good thing Salvation is by Grace and not by merit. We can add nothing to what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. But it never hurts to learn a little more about the church on earth. Thanks for taking the quiz!

How Lutheran Are You?
Create a Quiz

Lutheranism 101

Lutheranism 101 is updated. The latest post includes links to blog articles about Lutheranism. If you know of a great post about Lutheranism that I missed, please leave me a comment and I will gladly add it.

New Year Part 1

A New Year, Part 1: Looking Back


When a new year arrives, none of us can resist the temptation to look back over the year just ended and reflect. I think it is a natural impulse we have, to look back and say, what went wrong/what went right? As I got back from vacation, I looked through some blogs and found one post after another of this sort -- and what can I say, I am no different.

As this year draws to a close, I cannot help but reflect on the events of 2006. The worst events of the year ... Well, they are gone as we turn the page on the calendar. But here are some (certianly not all) of my best moments over the last year:

• my ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament
• celebrating my Dad's 36 years of ordained ministry & his retirement the weekend before I started my ministry
• A family reunion and vacation in Florida
• Being able to bring my wife back to her home of Texas
• The Christmas celebrations at Saint John
• Moving out of seminary housing and into a house
  

In all, 2006 has been an amazing year for me. It will be hard to top ... but 2007 is already shaping up to be a good year for me personally and for the congregation. I can't wait to see what the months ahead will bring.

Back from Vacation & Other Info

The much needed post-Christmas vacation is over, and Julia and I are back home again. The time spent with my in-laws and with Julia was a wonderful chance to rechange and renew.

The end of vacation means that I will resume regular posting on this blog: you can usually expect to see a daily new post Sunday-Thursday. There should also be a new post shortly on Lutheranism 101.

The Blogging Lutherans WebRing has been brought up to date - there are now 35 member blogs. If you have signed up for the WebRing and have not yet received notice that you are now a member, please add the RingSurf html code. (If you sign in to RingSurf, the code will be on that page -- add it to your blog, usually in the template; it will produce the "Blogging Lutherans" Graphic you see in my sidebar). If you have trouble, leave a note here and I will try and talk you through it.

Happy 10th Day of Christmas!

An Exciting New Year

2007 has arrived, and with it the excitement of a new year. I have always loved this time of year - it is a time of new beginnings and of possibility. January always gets me thinking not only about what I want to accomplish in the year to come, but also about what is possible in the next year.

I have always heard that mainline denominations, and the congregations in those denominations, are dying. And if this true of mainline denominations generally, it is especially true of rural congregations. From college through seminary, I was taught that rural congregations and rural communities are a thing of the past, quickly vanishing from the American landscape. I have heard it in classrooms, read it in newspapers and religious magazines, and seen it on television.

And yet here I am in Prairie Hill, Texas - a rural community centered around a mainline congregation. According to the popular wisdom, this should be a dying congregation. But it certainly is not dying ... indeed, after six months as Pastor of Saint John Lutheran, I would say that this congregation is thriving.

• Our worship attendance for the months of August-December is almost 20% higher than it was in the preceding year for those months.
• We have records for Christmas worship attendance going back to 1993 -- this Christmas' celebration was larger than any of those years, with a combined attendance of 542.
• The ministries of Saint John are continually growing, with new programs and events starting regularly.
• The regular giving of our members continues to increase, witnessing to increasing commitment to the ministries of this congregation.
• Our average worship attendance for 2006 was 37% of our membership - not only an increase over previous years, but better than the average mainline congregation.

No, this congregation is certainly not dying. Amazing things are happening at this little country church, and as we enter a new year the possibilities are endless.

I have just started reading Christianity for the Rest of Us -- a book about how mainline congregations are thriving in America. Let me say, with a hearty Amen, that Saint John Lutheran is one of those thriving communities of faith.