Toward Forgiveness of Sins

In the Large Catechism, Luther writes:
In this Christian church we have the forgiveness of sin, which is granted through the holy sacraments and absolution as well as through all the comforting words of the entire Gospel. Toward forgiveness is directed everything that is to be preached concerning the sacraments and, in short, the entire Gospel and all the duties of Christianity.


The Smalcald Articles start with a summation of the Apostles' and Athanasian Creeds. Then the first issue Luther discusses is Christ's work of redemption:
The first and chief article is this, that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, "was put to death for our trespasses and raised again for our justification." He alone is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." "God has laid upon Him the iniquities of us all." Moreover,"all have sinned," and "they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, by His blood."
Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed.



There are some who think that justification is only one of many metaphors for discussing salvation (as was seen in Just's paper at the 2006 symposium, and which I cannot find online anymore). There are some dear friends who say things like "redemption is a step toward renewing fellowship with God."


What happens if we focus on the atonement? What happens if pastors are just totally hung up on preaching the Law to kill and preaching the forgiveness of sins to restore life? Will good works dry up? Will we fail to find full communion with God? If our hearts are captured by the absolution, is there anything we will lack in our spirituality and piety?

I don't think so. "For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation." Forgiveness of sins cannot help but result in new life and salvation and communion with God and loving service to the neighbor.

What happens if we focus on some of those other [very good] things? Look at what has happened throughout history. If our heart desires the new life, we can get sidetracked, and try to find that new life apart from the forgiveness of sins. If we want deeper and richer communion with God (theosis) we can try to find other ways to get it besides the forgiveness of sins. People who want to increase in good works (which is a noble and holy desire) will go wrong when they try to make it their goal, rather than having the good works flow naturally from having their eyes on the crucifix and its meaning.


This morning during chapel, Pastor spoke about the third article of the Creed. "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." The forgiveness of sins is what creates the Church. The forgiveness of sins is what makes us holy. The forgiveness of sins is given in Holy Communion. The forgiveness of sins is what brings about the fellowship amongst the faithful. The forgiveness of sins causes the resurrection of the body unto life everlasting.

Toward forgiveness of sins
is directed everything that is to be preached.

And if that is what is preached, we lose none of the other blessed treasures of the kingdom of the heavens.

Paul

Mom, I thought you'd like to see these pictures of Paul (from Facebook) as he is working with the video and audio equipment. In one, he's operating the camera for the hockey games.

Today's Laugh

Rules of Chocolate

If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.

Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

Intercession

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth.

And He bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53)



In a discussion of the whole creation eagerly awaiting the Last Day and the undoing of the curse of the fall (Romans 8) Paul talks about how we too yearn for this same freedom from the effects of sin. In our weakness (that is, while we remain on earth in our sinful flesh) the Spirit helps us:

The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.


Jesus was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, and yet He opened not His mouth. His blood and His death intercede for the transgressors.

When the Spirit makes intercession for us, is He simply providing us with the crib-sheet of petitions that we can't figure out on our own, petitions that we are too weak or confused to know to pray? Is He speaking for us, as in the story of Cyrano de Bergerac?

Or is focus more on His making intercession for us with the sufferings of Christ and with the groanings of His Passion?

Today's Laugh

Why did the chewing gum cross the road?
Because it was stuck to the chicken's foot.


Why did the man cross the road?
To eat the chicken.

Attics

Gary and I never had an attic until we moved here. First we lived in apartments. Then the best parsonage in the whole district -- so roomy that we didn't need to store anything in an attic. (I don't even know whether there was one there.) The next parsonage had an attic that was entirely unusable for storage. But this house has nice, simple access to the attic, as well as part of the attic having a floor so that we can put baby toys and the artificial tree and Christmas decorations up there.

Today I was digging through boxes in the attic, looking for the Jesse tree.

Guess what?
Advent candles, stored with the Christmas decorations, do not survive summer well in an attic. And that's even with a cool summer this year.

Yuck! What a mess!

Today's Laugh

A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead are swimming breast stroke in a race. The blonde comes in last and says, "I don't mean to be a a sore loser, but I think the other girls were using their hands."

Today's Laugh

Henry is seated next to Bob on an airplane. Bob leans over to Henry and asks if he wants to play a fun game. Henry just wants to sleep, so he politely declines, turns away, and tries to sleep.

Bob persists and explains that it is a really easy game. He says, "I ask a question and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5. Then you ask me a question, and if I don't know the answer, I'll pay you $5."

Again, Henry politely declines and tried to sleep.

Bob, now somewhat agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5, and if I don't know the answer, I pay you $50!"

Now, that got Henry's attention, so he agrees to the game.

Bob asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" Henry doesn't say a word but reaches for his wallet instead and hands Bob $5.

Now it is Henry's turn. He asks Bob, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down on four?"

Bob looks at him with a puzzled expression, takes out his notebook computer, and looks through all his references. After about half an hour, he wakes Henry and hands him $50. Henry politely takes the $50, turns away, and tries to return to sleep.

Bob is a little miffed. He asks, "Well, what's the answer to the question?"

Without a word, Henry reaches into his wallet, hands $5 to Bob, turns away and returns to sleep.

Put the Best Construction on It

There are times when my intuition screams something that is not "putting the best construction on things." Maybe you suspect that harm is intended by somebody. Maybe you are sure that someone is lying to you.

But you tell yourself that you shouldn't be so negative. You tell yourself to give the person a chance. You tell yourself that you've been watching too many detective shows or listening to too many horrific news stories. You try to put yourself in another person's shoes and see what kind of obstacles they're facing or what kind of extenuating circumstances resulted in what appears to you to be cruddy behavior. And you be nice.

And then later, you find out your instincts were right all along.

And then there are all the times your instincts tell you happy things or neutral things that, likewise, turn out to be right. That makes it awfully hard to silence the worries when your intuition kicks in with warning bells.

Today's Laugh

Three legionnaires were walking through the desert under a baking sun. They were fully equipped with enough dehydrated water tablets for days, and food aplenty. On the shimmering horizon mirages came and went and came again: visions of swimming pools attended by lovely maidens, stalls full of ice-cream, sorbets, freshly-whipped smoothies of every conceivable flavor. But no matter what, the legionnaires did not crack; they kept marching solidly on.

Suddenly one of them froze, "Psssst" said he. His companions halted and strained their eyes to where the first legionnaire was pointing. "Le voila", said he, "Regardez, mes amis, isn't that a bacon tree on the horizon?" And sure enough, there it stood, proudly defiant in the middle of the desert, a true bacon tree. Slowly they crept forward towards the mystery object afar off. Inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, until they were within a stone's throw of the bacon tree.

Ever nearer they crept, and suddenly a shot rang out, dropping one of the legionnaires in his tracks. The other two returned fire, and gave first aid to their wounded companion.

Even as they bandaged him and poured water over his face, they could hear his faint voice: "That was no bacon tree," he gasped, "that was a ham bush."

Created Equal

Andrew and I are reading Whatever Happened to Justice. The book starts with the assertion from the Declaration of Independence that "All men are created equal."

In recent years, we have heard that equality means that poor people who can't afford a mortgage should not be prevented from home ownership. We've heard that equality means that it's not fair that some kids attend schools with just the basics while others go to super-duper schools with all the amenities. We've heard that equality means that everyone has a right to health care and food and electricity/fuel.

And yet, the original "All men are created equal" meant that everyone is treated equally with regard to the law's demands. It's not about equal possessions or equal opportunity or equal results. Rich or powerful people are not exempted from the law just because of their privileged position. Likewise, poor people are not exempted from the law because of their need. "All men are created equal" simply means that
-- a thief is not excused because of an impoverished upbringing, and
-- a legislator is not given a "pass" on his drunk-driving.

Amazing how a simple little phrase can be turned inside out and upside down. You'd almost think it was 1984.

Today's Laugh

Two lions broke loose in the zoo and were eating a clown.
One lion said to the other, "Does this taste funny to you?"

What Now?

There's an odd "lost" sort of laziness that overwhelms when a person's been running around crazily for far too long, trying to accomplish only what is most urgent, and then things settle down a bit. All those important things that you've been putting off --because something else was more urgent-- can now be tackled. But for years you've been teaching yourself to make those important things into a lower priority. And now what? I don't have the will or the energy to tackle what I ought. But I also know I shouldn't take up a new project that will give me an excuse to dawdle on the things I ought to be doing.

I need to learn to not freak out about having some time occasionally to rest or play ... or even to work on some of those jobs that should've been done a year ago but that we could live without.

Today's Laugh

An Irish farmer named Seamus had a car accident. In court, the lorry company's hotshot solicitor was questioning Seamus. "Didn't you say to the police at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine'?" asked the solicitor.

Seamus responded: "Well, I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite cow, Bessie, into the ..."

"I didn't ask for any details," the solicitor interrupted. "Just answer the question. Did you not say at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine'?"

Seamus said, "Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road ..."

The solicitor interrupted again and said, "Your Honor, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the police on the scene that he was fine. Now several weeks after the accident, he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time, the judge was fairly interested in Seamus's answer and said to the solicitor, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite cow, Bessie."

Seamus thanked the judge and proceeded. "Well, as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite cow, into the trailer and was driving her down the road when this huge lorry and trailer came through a stop sign and hit my trailer right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurt, very bad like, and didn't want to move. However, I could hear old Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible pain just by her groans. Shortly after the accident, a policeman on a motorbike turned up. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her and saw her condition, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the policeman came across the road, gun still in hand, looked at me, and said, "How are you feeling?"

"Now what the hell would you have said?"

Stuff

The trees in the yard are done dropping their leaves. Andrew cleaned the gutters this week.

I've gotten to where I hate going out at night. The days are short. I want to be in the house with too many lights turned on. Driving around for errands in the evening is just so .... dark.

My mom was planning to come visit next week. But the person she was riding with had a change of plans. Sadness. Oh well, another time.

Katie and Alia are coming to visit for a few days at New Year's.

We attended "The Complete Works of Shakespeare -- Abridged" this evening at the Lutheran high school. Funny! Silly! Lots of laughs! The friends we went to see were some of the best in the play.

Maggie finished a math workbook today. It's for the first semester of third grade, and it's information we covered in other textbooks. So this was review and extra drill work. But she seems able now to do problems like 63+19 or 63-19 in her head. And she scored a 90% on her test at the end of the book. Yippee!

The folks at Gary's work have been telling him since he started that he needs to watch The Office. He started watching old episodes in the last week or so. They are hilarious! How can anybody be as self-consumed as the boss in the show? And how come we find it funny? But we do.

Didn't feel so great last weekend. Not sick. But didn't feel like eating, and slept a lot. Much better now, but still not back to the momentum I had there for most of fall.

We woke up this morning to find the pressure tank leaking. The main shut-off valve for the house's plumbing is where the water comes out of the pressure tank. But I wasn't figuring out how to stop the leak between the well and the shut-off valve. I'm so glad for a plumber that I trust and who was available to come help us this morning. It's so wonderful to be able to trust a carpenter, a plumber, and a car mechanic ... and to know that those three men are able to guide me to trustworthy tradesmen/craftsmen in other areas.

A lot of dust bunnies and cobwebs have been cleared out of the section of the basement that got wet today.

Kids were shown how to shut off the water to the house if they should ever need to know. It's so frustrating to have water coming in and not being able to stop it. But now we all know how.

Triskaidekaphobia

Ah, memories of Charles Froehlich -- the best teacher I ever had!

Every Friday-the-13th when I had Prof Froehlich, he would mention triskaidekaphobia. Translated literally from the Greek, that's 3-and-10-fear, or the fear of the number 13. I know quite a few of my blog readers are married to people who would've heard the same thing from the same dear man every Friday-the-13th.

So this morning, after chapel, the headmistress does what she does every day, and asks the little kids for the date. And with mention that it's Friday, the 13th of November, I lean over to Andrew and mention triskaidekaphobia. Moments later, I laughed as Pastor (who was in my Greek class too) brings up triskaidekaphobia. He tried to get the kids to figure it out, but all they could figure was something to do with superstition or Friday-the-13th. So I was finally permitted to answer.

Those funny little things about an awesome teacher sure do stick with you for a long, long time!

Today's Laugh

A man was applying for a job as a prison guard. The warden said, "Now these are real tough guys in here. Do you think you can handle it?"

"No problem," the applicant replied, "If they don't behave, out they go!"

Today's Laugh

In England, if you commit a crime, the police don't have a gun and you don't have a gun. If you commit a crime, the police will say, "Stop, or I'll say stop again."
-- Robin Williams

A Will to Win

I've been amazed at some of the first-person sources we've heard recently as Andrew and I study the American Revolution. I had learned in school that the Americans used guerilla warfare tactics against the British, and this played a significant role in winning the war. The accounts, from both the Brits and the colonists, are shockingly similar to today's American complaints about the terrorists we are fighting.

During the Revolution, the Americans would not fight according to the generally-accepted rules of warfare. The Americans would use women and children as spies and couriers. The British thought it was dishonorable to attack civilians, so the American soldiers blended in and looked like civilians. The Americans used the Brits' sense of fair play against them. The Americans had the will to win, no matter what it took, including doing things that might have seemed like "cheating" in the war.

You'd almost be tempted to think that the audiobook was trying to make some point about the similarities between the American militiamen from 230 years ago and the Muslim terrorists today. But it's not likely; this series was produced in the late 1980s.

Whether we agree with the American military strategies during the Revolution, whether we agree with the jihadists' military strategies today, there is at least one thing they have in common -- the will to win.

Cal Thomas wrote Tuesday about America's desire to "play nice" in the war today. We refuse to be politically incorrect. Our leaders punish anything they perceive (or imagine) to be bigotry. We want to preserve freedom so much that we let those who wish to destroy us use their freedom to undermine our safety.

And what is the result? While they want to stamp us out, wipe us off the face of the map, we don't have the same perspective. We want to be nice, we want to get along with them, and we really would prefer that people don't get hurt in this war. We don't even want to hurt feelings of people who are giving indications that they might be the enemy.

Unless one side changes its perspective to match the other's, there's really only one outcome possible.

For the sake of the soldiers who are out there, protecting their country, their families, their way of life, their freedom --and ours-- America's leaders really need to decide that it's more important for our soldiers to win than it is for all of us to be nice.

Today's Laugh

While talking to a potential recruit, the military recruiter said, "Exactly what kind of job are you looking for in the military?"

The high-school kid said, "I'm looking for something with an enlistment bonus of about $20,000, where I won't have to work too hard, and won't have to deploy overseas."

The recruiter said, "Well, what if I could hook you up with a skill that allowed you to come straight in as an E-7, where you'll only work weekdays, and you can have the base of your choice and stay there as long as you want?"

The young recruit sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?"

The recruiter replied, "Yeah, but you started it."