The Singularity and The Day of the LORD

Echoing the teacher of Ecclesiastes I often find myself saying that there is nothing new under the sun. And what I mean by that is every fight has probably been had multiple times in the past. The people and the exact words change, but the fights are exactly the same. An example came up in the 20-something group as we were studying 2 Timothy. Paul remarks, “Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some (2 Timothy 2:17-18).” That “the resurrection has already happened” is every repeat of the Late Great Planet Earth, Left Behind, Rapture worry ever expressed. And those are just three in my lifetime. That specific one seems to come back about every 30 years. That one also happens any time “we are falling behind” becomes the dominant argument of any debate.

Which is my crossover Amos 5:18 which is our Old Testament reading this week. In the argument over Artificial Intelligence today there are two camps. First is the restrictionist or slow down camp. This is probably best represented by the Anthropic safety team and people like Eliezer Yudkowski and the “effective altruist” group. The name of his book is If Anybody Builds It, We All Die. The second is the accelerationist camp. This is probably OpenAI, China, Peter Thiel and everyone building Data Centers. The data center people just want to make money while there is money to be made. The others on that list have an idea that mirrors the other side – the Singularity. The faster we can hasten the singularity the better it will be for all humans. At least that is the sales pitch. They might agree with that previous book title, but think the world would be better without humans anyway. And if you think that is a stretch take a listen to Ross Douthat asking Peter Thiel if he wants humans to survive and the long pause before he answers. (https://youtu.be/0NkYxjE23JA?si=-7V719msp1C1jev8)

Singularity is just the modern geek word for The Day of the LORD. That day when everything changes. Amos is sent to the Northern Kingdom in the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam II. Those reigns were something of a Golden Age for Israel materially. They had expanded the Kingdom almost to the extent of Solomon and Samaria sat on Ivory beds (Amos 6:4). And in one way you can say they didn’t neglect their religious duty. At least exteriorly they held the feasts. They brought the sacrifices appointed. But the prophets were sent and held everything against them (Amos 4:1-5) and prophesied that the Day of the LORD was coming. And you can imagine the argument. One side argued “let’s hurry up the day of the LORD.” The other wondered how we could avoid it or push it out. Now Amos had already given the answer to how to avoid it – Repent. Seek the LORD and live (Amos 5:4-17). But nobody actually wants to do that. That’s hard.

But Amos does take up the other side, “Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? (Amos 5:18).” Do you really think this is something that you survive?

Now I’m not arguing that the AI singularity the accelerationists want is the actual Day of the LORD or that AI really has the power to destroy everything. I tend to think that is a category error. Akin to thinking that nuclear anything is going to kill us. It might have the potential, but it would be a human behind it that “pushes the button.” What that fight emphasizes is how Christian eschatology and its thought patterns turn up in the oddest places, like Silicon Valley. And how those arguments repeat. The slow down folks are not saying repent and seeking the LORD. They are just saying go slow enough we can control it. While the acceleration side is merely “let it burn.”

The gospel proclamation in such a case does start with seek the LORD and live. But it also would include the proclamation that the Day of the LORD is His day. There is nothing that you can do to either accelerate it or slow it down. Christ will return when he returns. Until that day, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24).” Which it does, from the cross and the riven side of water and blood, into your baptism and the Supper. Yes, the day of the LORD is one of darkness for those in the dark. But it is for you a day of light. Because you walk in the light of Christ.

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Living the Christian Life

In the Wednesday morning bible study we looked at something I labeled Spiritual Deterioration or Development. How does one grow or destroy the spiritual life? It’s not a typical Lutheran topic. In fact there are factions of Lutherans today who would say that it is not a necessary topic. It’s a quirk of Lutheran ministers that we are all looking for our Luther at Worms moment. Our chance to shout “Here I Stand” in the defense of the gospel. There is a greater demand for works righteousness scolds than the supply, so they often get made up. But for clarity’s sake the topic is out of the third article of the creed. The first is The Father and creation, the realm of academics and sensitive young men. The second article is Christ and Justification, the realm of the broken and he dead and the start of the spiritual life. The third article is the Holy Spirit and Sanctification, the realm of the Church Militant. The academics and the sensitive young men can ponder concepts and those more Luther than Luther can end the creed in the 2^nd article and pretend history stopped in 1521. But preachers need to be able to teach. Especially questions like “How do I actually live this?”

The first general statement about the spiritual life is that there is no neutral gear. One is either in drive or in reverse. The cause of this is largely this fallen world. While one can actively turn their back on Christ in a variety of ways, the fallen world has many structures that will lead you away passively. The lack of a spiritual leader or shepherd is one. Moses goes up the Mount and when he comes down the camp is worshipping the golden calf. Worldly success the bible warns leads to trust in it over the providence of God. “It is easier for camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter eternal life (Luke 18:25).” And there are several things that you might think you have put your spiritual life in neutral, but in reality it is going backward: evil associations, shallowness, emptiness of life, lack of spiritual insight are but a few.

While there are many ways one can passively see the spiritual life slip away, the development of the Spiritual life is active. Unlike your justification which is the work of Christ alone, given to you by grace alone and received by faith alone, your Sanctification is something that you co-operate with the Holy Spirit in. Luther’s word picture of this comes in the catechism on Baptism. “The Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and the new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God is righteousness and purity forever.” And it is that catechism image that frames my answer to “How?”

How does one overcome temptation, sins and evil desires? Before venturing a simple answer a reminder is worthwhile. While the Roman church might hold up the saints as being perfect in this and John Wesley held out perfect sanctification, Lutherans have always held onto the phrase simultaneously sinner and saint. You are Holy right now because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. because Christ has washed you in his blood. You are a saint. And the fundamental act of every saint is repentance, the admission that they are a sinner. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.” I tend to think of the Spiritual life more like baseball. If you hit .300 you are on your way to the Hall of Fame.

So, how does one overcome or at least stay above the Medoza line (.200)? It’s about spiritual maturity, putting away childish things. By attempting to live the Christian life we become more cognizant and aware of our weak spots. When we pass through the trial we can the recognize the path that lead us there. And when that path comes up again, and it will come up again, we can not walk it. I think this is what the Bible means when it talks about mortifying or killing the flesh (Romans 8:13, Col 3:5), Luther’s drowning the old Adam. We can become mature in the Spiritual life such that we know nothing good lies past certain decisions and we can put them away. But Spiritual Maturity is not all defense. As you put away childish things you also strive for Christlikeness (Eph 4:13). We can do this by imitation. Paul imitated Christ and urged the Corinthians to imitate him (1 Cor 11:1). We can do this by practicing the virtues like courage and love. For me, we know when these opportunities are before us. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “God has laid out in advance good works for us to walk in.” We might not always recognize Satan’s bad paths, but the good is usually immediately recognizable. It is just hard. Both for the immature because they might still be bound to the ways of the flesh and for the mature because they might recognize that path as the way to the cross. But this is the imitation of Christ and the saints.

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Slogans

The Reformation produced quite a few Theological slogans: Law and Gospel, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Word Alone, Two kinds of righteousness. It is my reflection that you start with some complexity. How life actually works creates some cognitive dissonance with our story of how it works. In Luther’s case the story received was infused grace. “Martin, if you just keep on doing your Monk thing, God will continue to give you more grace. And eventually you will have made yourself a saint. And if not a saint, well, you will have done enough.” And it took someone like Martin Luther and his some might say overactive conscience to pursue that for over a decade and think “it is not, it will never be, enough.” And that is the gospel moment. That is the moment the Old Adam died. The Old Adam that was constantly working hoping to pay off the debt. This is the best of the Old Adam. And it would never be enough. So either God is cruel liar sentencing everyone to torment, or it has to be another way. I can’t merit more grace. It has to be grace alone. And it is a pure reception of the grace by faith alone. I have nothing to do with it. Christ alone has given me the victory. The New Man can rise and live.

That complexity and cognitive dissonance eventually resolves itself down to the slogan. The slogan, the simplicity on the far side of complexity – on the far side of the anfechtung, the struggle – captures it. But then as generations pass they have this slogan and often take great pride in the slogan, but often no longer understand the path to it. They have the answer, but they have forgotten the question. They have the technology, but can barely maintain it let alone create it again.

Those Reformation Slogans I think tend to walk together. If you forget one, or elevate one far above the others, things go out of whack. The gospel breakthrough of the Reformation which we eventually receive in the doctrine of Justification is the chief article. The entire church does stand or fall upon the teaching that we receive salvation by faith alone. But if we lose how that came out of Law and Gospel or a recognition of two kinds of righteousness, we slip into a different type of trouble.

“The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law (Romans 3:21).” Notice that this recognition doesn’t say there is no righteousness in the law. It is the righteousness of God that has been manifested apart from the law. The righteousness of God had been clearly manifested in the law in one way – death. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through works of the law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).” The law communicates to us the righteousness of God and that we will never reach it. It tells us all the ways we fall short. But in Christ that righteousness of God has been manifested – revealed, made known, shown – apart from the law. “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3:22).” God has put forward his righteousness for all as a gift though the blood of Christ. Sinners, you without righteousness of your own, this is yours.

The righteousness of God in the law only kills us. That drives us towards the gospel for life. But that also doesn’t drain the law of all righteousness. We can’t stand before God on the basis of keeping the law. “What becomes of our boasting? It is excluded (Romans 3:27).” But there is still a civil righteousness. That law remains the law. This is how God intended people to live. And the new man who has entered the Kingdom by faith lives this way. It is the daily struggle of drowning the Old Adam and the daily renewal of the new man to live before God.

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The Anointed

There is this ancient object called The Cyrus Cylinder. I’ve put a small picture of it nearby. Inscribed in cuneiform on it is the announcement of Cyrus and the Persian’s victory over the Babylonian Empire and the reasons the victory happened. Those reasons according to the Cylinder are three: 1) The Babylonian King Nabonidus had suppressed the cult of Marduk, 2) That Marduk chose Cyrus to free his cult and 3) The reasons Marduk chose Cyrus were his virtues, strength and leadership skill. In other words, “I’m so great even a god needed help from me.”

We don’t always have such an archeological piece as the Cyrus Cylinder, but I often get the feeling the important parts of the Old Testament are written more or less as counterweights to ancient propaganda or myths. That Yahweh would occasionally get a bit annoyed as the pompous pride or simply the mythic falsehood and pronounce something like our Old Testament Lesson from Isaiah 45:1-7. And since it is the word of God it stands while the boasts of rulers disappear. In this case The LORD spells out three reasons why “Cyrus is my anointed (Isaiah 45:1).” And none of those reasons line up with the Cylinder.

The first reason is so that we might know that “the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name” is also the one who breaks the doors of bronze and cuts through the iron bars. Just like Pharoah starts off boasting that he does not know this LORD, by the end, at the bottom of the sea, he certainly did. And recorded in Ezra 1:2-4 Cyrus issues just this acknowledgement. “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. (Ezr. 1:2 ESV)” The second reason that the LORD has chosen Cyrus is so that his people might return from exile. “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by name, though you do not know me (Isaiah 45:4).” Israel in exile had heard the prophet Isaiah’s promises of return, but they despaired of them coming true. How could they ever? And the last reason Isaiah gives is that “people may know, from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none besides me; I AM THE LORD, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:6).” Unlike Cyrus’ boast about Marduk and the gods need for him, there is no Marduk. There is only The LORD. And The LORD keeps his promises. Especially when we have no idea how it can be done.

Our hope does not rest on the virtues or strengths of any human ruler. The LORD calls them today and tomorrow they are gone. If the LORD wants something done, it will be done. And the LORD works these things out for the good of his people. While we walk in darkness the LORD brings light (Isaian 45:7). While we experience calamity, it is the LORD who brings well-being. And he does it in the most amazing ways. Our hope is in the character of the LORD himself.

And what is this character? It is Christ who knocks down the gates of brass – Satan’s lies – and cuts through the iron fetters – our sins – which had bound us. We who looked for treasures in the darkness and hoards in secret places and came away empty have been given heaven by grace. We have been given the name of God that is above all names. And God himself has written our names on the palm of his hands. Christ is our Cyrus, and a much better anointed he has been, opening gates that will not be closed (Isaiah 45:1).”

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The Horror

Yes, I spend too much time watching TV. And yes, I know it is not a favorite genre. But Halloween approaches. And horror happens to be the genre that speaks to fears and anxieties we can’t always express. And in doing so walks on profoundly Christian ground – you might even say Holy Ground. And we happen to be in the midst of something of a golden age of Horror film.

First of all I’m not talking about Freddy or Jason or the jump scare schlock that 16 year olds used to like to use as the excuse to get close at a drive-in. Some of that stuff does still get made, but that version of horror was never a real fright. Neither am I talking about a monster of the week series about hunting Bigfoot or the Mothman or a Chupacabra. I’m thinking about movies like the recent Backrooms, Obsession, the Nosferatu remake or maybe the start of this It Follows. Likewise the works of Mike Flanagan like The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and his series TV vision of Carrie.

Now Pastor, what the heck could a nice Christian find in any of that? Well, the first thing I’d say is that a recognition that there are more things in creation than are dreamt of in our philosophy is dawning on people. Nosferatu makes it rather explicit. Everyone associated with poor Ellen Hutter either dismisses her thrall to the Vampire or tries to treat is with the most advanced scientific technology that cutting edge Germany could offer. When all that technology has to offer fails. And when they go outside of pure technology reaching for occultist psychology, it too fails. What do they do? What is the only thing that kills the vampire and prevents the fall of the entire area? Ellen’s willing sacrifice of herself, her blood, holding the vampire until the Sun rises. There is power in the blood. Backrooms has something of the same theme. People stumble upon a strange parallel world of hallways and rooms that look like abandoned offices or the backrooms of a zombie mall. It’s all the parts of the world that our scientific buffered selves (thank you Charles Taylor) have cut off and say don’t exist. But just because we’ve put them in the buffer, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. In that movie they all get lost in the backrooms. It is an interesting question whether the moral would be keep up your personal buffers, or something like the backrooms can’t grow and cause such fright and obsession if we kept ourselves more porous – the phrase Charles Taylor in a Secular Age uses to contrast with the buffered self.

There is this thing called the uncanny valley. Most fakes ended up on the wrong side of it. You could tell they were fake although the closer they were the more nervous you became. Think the pod-people from the Body Snatchers. But AI seems to have crossed that uncanny valley. Even a year ago it was still easy to say “that’s AI.” Today? Have you tried chatting with one? I can see why there are people who think it has a soul. And since we have exiled the vocabulary and structure – good theology – with which we could talk about such things, we get the horror. Our anxiety and fear about things we don’t have the words to describe anymore. The artists are struggling to recover the words or as the internet joke about sex and marriage goes – recreate them from first principles. And it always starts in horror. When you all of a sudden realize that you are naked in the middle of a dark garden and something is walking in it.

Last thought about this. Horror artistically is like repentance is to faith. It is the first step. And you don’t know what comes next. Does that thing walking out there seek to destroy me? Or does it love me? Key horror themes. Some horror ends on Holy Ground when you are saved by an act of love. When God shows up in whatever form he takes. In some the characters choose poorly and the monsters do eat them. As Paul says – work out your faith with fear and trembling.

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Seven Deadly Ones

I guess I’m just not made for Vegas. My favorite thing about it is the food. Every culinary school grad with dreams of being the next celebrity chef I think moves to Vegas. The net result is that even in an outskirts of town “resort” hotel casino the food is fantastic. Nothing comes from a bottle or a premade bag. Everything is hand made from ingredients delivered that day. It’s a Glutton’s paradise.

But our evening off was a Monday which unfortunately was the day that most of the shows took off also. Unless you wanted to indulge Lust at Magic Mike, the Thunder from Down Under, or the generic Cabaret, the pickings were slim. Although it was interesting that libidinous female shows greatly outnumbered those aimed at men. There might be a story about our current moment in that. Female lust is celebrated while male is slightly embarrassing or just tacky. Although nature still has a say as we will all probably find out as what goes on at Cornell doesn’t stay at Cornell.

When the shows didn’t pan out, after I engaged in a bit of Envy over someone who could drop $250 per ticket to get into the Sphere without blinking, Sloth took over. Hotels used to be known for terrible mattresses. Not anymore. It has been a long time since even the cheapest place I stayed in had a mattress that crooked my back. So instead of hunting for the highlife, a two hour nap mid-afternoon indulged my inner slug. And I felt a tinge of Wrath at the conference organizers that the schedule started at 8AM. They could have at least pushed it back to 9 AM. Then I could have indulged both sloth and gluttony in the same morning.

So, I suppose that leaves me two deadly ones. I certainly understand greed, but the flashing lights of the slots and video poker hold little attraction. A few years ago sitting at a blackjack table brought a little frisson, but looking at one this time all I could think was “that’s not going to pay the mortgage.” The Monday Night Football game (GO Bears) might entice both my greed and pride. I could tell myself a story that I have just enough math skills left that I’d be part of the “smart” money. And the payouts at the sports desk are definitely better. As it turns out I should have bet my Bears and their 3^rd string QB. It would have paid for the trip. But alas, I’m a glutton, not a greed head. And writing that I just indulged my pride. Although not as much as if I had the winning ticket to prove it.

I suppose after that tour of the seven deadly sins I should address the subject of the conference. A subject sure to break anyone’s pride. Sitting there amid the temptations of Vegas talking about addiction. And specifically porn addiction. You don’t have to go to Vegas anymore to indulge lust. Maybe that partially explains the lack of male aimed shows. Why see the cabaret when your phone is a portal to a different world? Now the conference was full of medicalizing terms – dopamine cycles – and warnings – three stages of addiction. And without judgement upon the reality of them, that’s the way our culture allows us to talk about it without shame. Because that is the natural outcome of indulging sin, shame. Adam and Eve recognized they were naked, stitched together fig leaves and hid.

And you can’t address the sin, until you get past the shame. God called out “where are you?” and asked “who told you, you were naked?” And eventually he made them clothes. Fig leaves don’t last near long enough. The medicalizing that we do that helps past the shame, though I believe it has a wrong aim. It’s aim is management. The worst of it can be an attempt to normalize it, reference “minor attracted persons.” It’s what I call the problem of the church of acceptance. We admit we are sinners, and we just accept it. The gospel is not about acceptance. It is absolution. Sin and shame take their toll. We die. But Christ has freed us. We can drown that Old Adam and his addictions and the new man can arise to live forever. And yes, it is a daily struggle. And yes we will often fail. But we are not just sinners. We are saints. God not only gave Adam and Eve clothes, He gave them a promise. That snake would die. And in Christ it does.

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With Fear and Trembling

Philippians 2 – our Epistle Lesson for this week – is one of the richest passages in all of scripture. And I think it speaks to our modern Spiritual climate in ways that we don’t want to hear. We are all children of the Reformation. It doesn’t matter Catholic, or Protestant or None really. We have all absorbed a watered down sense of Grace Alone. We have absorbed God and the Spiritual life as one big warm fuzzy. God loves you and everything is going to be ok. Which has the advantage of being true. But the modern add on to that is the conclusion. So, you don’t really have to think or do anything about this spiritual life stuff. It has been taken care of. It is Grace Alone that refuses to confront the Sovereignty of God. It is Mere Christianity that is forever content to live in the hallway.

Paul rehearses the reason for that Grace Alone in Philippians 2:5-11. Christ, who was God – begotten of his Father before all worlds – did not consider that equality with the Father something to be grasped. Instead Christ took on the form of a servant. Descending into that state of humiliation all the way to death on a cross. Christ did this out of his own Sovereign Choice. He did it to free His Father’s creation from the corruption that had taken it. He did it to free you from your sins and eternal death. It is by the Grace of Christ Alone, and because of that every knee shall bow.

But Paul’s rehearsal of Grace Alone is placed within the question of how we should then live. From Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This was and is the mind of Christ – loving your neighbor as yourself – and should be ours. And it is here that the world we live in wants to walk a different way. It is completely happy with God as sacrifice for our benefit. But when the Sovereign starts asking that we follow, the world gets dramatically upset. It will take the grace, but living the faith?

Yet living the faith is exactly what Paul demands. He, Paul, cannot live it for you. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence…. (Philippians 2:12) ” Nobody can live the faith for you. You yourself must “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” This is not a negation of that Grace Alone for this is “God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).” This is the necessary action of faith. His Grace is Sovereign. We don’t get to live in the hallway. You have been made a resident of the house. Do you want your inheritance? And like any inheritance you can compound it or squander it. Work it out.

But then Paul adds one more thought. While he – and we – cannot live the faith for someone else, how we live it is not meaningless. Even if it might appear to be fruitless. You live “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2:15-16).” And we are probably familiar with that metaphor of light, but it is that idea of running or laboring in vain and what follows that hits harder. “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all (Philippians 2:17).” As Christ was The Sacrifice for all mankind, Paul views his life as a sacrifice for the faith of those who would believe through him and be saved eternally. This is how Paul worked his faith out in fear and trembling.

We are not Christ, THE sacrifice. Nor are we Paul. But we do have the same call. To work out our faith in fear and trembling. To humbly consider others more significant. To have the mind of Christ among ourselves. To serve the Sovereign in the means and manner available to us by his good will and pleasure. That is a strong and meaningful vocation whatever form it takes. And one that should engage the soul – your whole person.

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Mt. Zion Stewardship Request

The council and the elders in various configurations have met a few times over the past month to discuss the budget, stewardship and Mt. Zion’s overall financial picture. We are going to ask something very specific of you. We need you to consider increasing your offering by $20/week. More than consider, we believe that is necessary for good stewardship. The rest of this article is going to explain how we got to that request.

The Baseline budget is everything that it costs to run this place as it has been run for years. The numbers in there in order of magnitude are Pastor’s Salary and benefits, Mortgage Payment, Utilities, Musician Salary, Building Maintenance (including landscaping and janitorial), Office (including secretary). We have already decided for the foreseeable future that we will not be seeking a new church musician. We will be using the iPad Substitute Organist Service and the choir will be guided by Nicholas. Those changes move the new baseline to $256,000.

Now comes the more difficult part. Last year (2025), at the higher baseline, we closed the year in the black. We managed to close in the black due to some generous donations both mid-year and at the end of the year. What I have labeled Current Offerings Baseline represents the offerings Mt. Zion received excluding those exceptional donations. Our donations so far this year through August are fully in line with that baseline. And as you can see, our baseline offerings do not come close to covering the baseline budget. If we did nothing, before the end of 2027 we would have exhausted our savings cushion.

So, the council and elders considered the question “what else can be cut?” There are three available items, but each item comes with trade-offs. Doing without a church secretary would save roughly $8,000 for the year. Those 10 hours a week or the tasks they represent would be moved onto Pastor’s desk which would impact lots of other things. The second items also save $8,000 for the year. We do without janitorial and landscaping. The trade-off is that the church presentation deteriorates. We would be putting forward a much worse face to any visitors. The last thing looked at would be refinancing the mortgage. This has been done repeatedly in the past. This is why 25 years later Mt. Zion still owes quite a bit on it. If we refinanced the current balance over 30 years that would save us roughly $9,000 for the year. If we took all of those actions the new baseline would be $231,000. Even doing all of those actions we would still have quite a deficit.

I’m hoping that you can agree that this is not an expense problem. This is a stewardship problem.

We asked the counting team for a specific number. How many families or individuals gave at least $1,000 to Mt. Zion in the past year? The response was 55. And this is what shapes our request. Our current baseline deficit is round numbers $59,000. Doing simple math, asking each of those 55 contributors to increase their offering by roughly $1,000, which over 52 weeks turns out to be roughly $20/week, closes the deficit. So that becomes the request and challenge. If you are reading this you are probably part of that 55. Will you increase your offering by $20/week?

We recognize that since the number was pulled from those who donated at least $1000 in the previous year, we are asking some people to double their tithe. But we also decided that $20 is roughly one fast food meal a week. On a weekly basis we did not consider this onerous. Spiritually this is a request to look at what the LORD has provided you, and to return to the work of his Kingdom a larger percentage. I’d make the same encouragement as Malachi. “Bring in the full tithe (Malachi 3:10).” I’ve never met a full tither yet who if you get past reluctance to be seen bragging won’t tell you that God keeps his promises and “pours down blessings (Malachi 3:10).”

We also would encourage you to talk with your assigned elder about this. If you can happily do this, share the good news. If this request causes angst, talk with your elder. Those talks will serve a dual purpose. We – the leadership boards of Mt. Zion – really need to have some idea if this will happen. Because if it will not, much tougher decisions need to be made. But that talk would also be good for your spiritual health. There are people who in other contexts are keen to say that Jesus talks more about money than insert your favorite political cause. And they aren’t wrong. Jesus does talk about money quite a bit. How you spend your money – who you are rich with and where you skimp – is the surest sign of spiritual health. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-20).”

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Acceptance vs. Absolution

I don’t know if any of you are podcasts fans. The Rest is History is an occasional rabbit hole, and it isn’t a nothing as it boasts 20 million downloads a month. It is hosted by two decent British Historians – Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook – who together have an easy repour. Maybe it is because neither has anything left to prove academically, they are both willing to cover “popular” historical eras and they are willing to indulge in what used to be called moralizing. The entire reason history as a subject exists was moralizing. The Greek and the Roman historians wrote so that current and future leaders might emulate the good and avoid the bad. They drew conclusions about their subjects and their times. Something that fell out of favor among modern academic historians. In a recent work of his, Dominion, Tom Hollard put forward a thesis that is both undeniable and yet shocking to actually state. Christ changed the world. Things that Homer or Caesar took for granted as the way of the world were flipped upside down. The Rich Man’s treatment of Lazarus at the time not only would not have been remarkable, it would have been thought appropriate. It is Christ who commanded the care for the poor, the least, the unfortunate. It is Christ who claimed to be the servant of all. It is Christ who redeemed suffering. And as much as someone my age might lament what feels like a complete loss of Christendom, Holland’s book points out just how Christian we all are. The release of the movie The Odyssey this summer had some talk about this. Many Classicists complained that the director Nolan Christianized Odysseus and the story. And Nolan’s reply was rather blunt. You couldn’t tell it any other way and be understood. Straight Homer doesn’t make sense to us anymore. Christ flipped the world upside down.

That’s a long introduction to something I’ve been pondering which I think is woven through our lessons this week and that is the concept of sin itself. I’ll use Freud as the historical marker. The concept of sin prior to the therapeutic concept was both well developed and personal. As we say in the corporate confession “we have sinned in thought, word and deed.” And a mere catechism lad could have expounded and identified his sin in textured ways. And over all of that would be spoken the absolution from the cross and the call to life in the Spirit. “I lay my sins on Jesus” to “How clear is our vocation Lord when once we heed your call.” That’s the progression in our hymns this week.

But the therapeutic concept pronounces all of that morose. The therapeutic tends to remove personal responsibility and cast blame on social faults and systemic injustice. At the extreme, sin itself is just the internalization of some oppressor’s unjust rule over you. They no longer even have to be present because you have internalized their judgements. And the therapist is not present to grant absolution. The therapist is not there is set you free from your sinful condition by the indwelling of God. The therapist is present to free you from your own mental shackles. You are good enough, and you have every right to strive for full self-actualization, however you want to do that. And anything that gets in the way, any institution be that Family or Church or State, anything that demands loyalty at the expense of personal expression must be torn down. The therapist is present to pronounce acceptance.

And I can understand the appeal. Things are not my fault but the fault of impersonal forces beyond me. I am not the bad person and any bad I feel is just my struggle to be authentically me against the oppressor. I can be who I am without any necessary change and that is just ok. But here is my problem. To Hell with acceptance. I know what the authentic me would do. And I don’t like that guy. And I certainly don’t want to live in the world that looks more like straight Homer. What I need is that absolution. What I need to the Word of God that says this suffering is not meaningless. As Joseph says to his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20).” And then brothers can live in harmony and not fear. To the therapist there are no sinners, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ is only for sinners. Jesus sinners doth receive.

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Invite a Friend – Liturgy Isn’t Scary

I’d like to welcome any friends and neighbors who have joined us today. And I want to use this space, along with some of the space in the bulletin, to guide you through our Worship service. Which may or may not be familiar to you.

The first word I’d introduce to you would be liturgy. Now every church or denomination has a liturgy even if they don’t call it that. A liturgy is simply the normal order of how the worship proceeds. Things don’t even have to be overtly religious to have a liturgy. Pregame sporting events have a liturgy from low church simple singing of the anthem followed by kindly applause to high church presentation of the colors by fully uniformed officers, a soloist singing of the anthem, followed by a low altitude fly-over of the stadium by an American bomber. After which the appropriate reply is a full-throated cheer and chanting of USA USA. Life is full of liturgies.

Low church liturgies these days are modeled after the 18^th and 19^th century revival tents. Congregants gather. A band warms people up steadily increasing the volume and emotional pitch. The band then turns it down a notch for one last song. The Preacher comes out, reads a verse or a passage which will be the text of his preaching. He then proceeds to preach. There may or may not be an altar call. At the end the band comes back out for one wrap-up song. And then there is a dismissal. High Church liturgies – or what might today be called High Church but not long ago would have simply been church – all stem from a 2000 tradition that probably goes back to the Jewish Synagogue. You can get a bit of that flavor in the gospel of Luke when Jesus goes to his hometown Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:16). The liturgy you will experience today in this Lutheran church would have been quite low church mid-century. It would have been called a simple service of the Word as we are not celebrating the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper today. This congregation follows a rhythm of the Sacrament on 2^nd, 4^th, any 5^th Sundays or any specific Holy Days. 1^st and 3^rd Sundays are for the Word alone. All of that following a church year calendar.

The service opens with a Hymn of Invocation. An invocation should tell you both what God is being worshipped here in this service and is the opening prayer of the gathered believers. Today that invocation is both specifically to the LORD Jesus Christ and a Trinitarian invocation. And the request is for His presence to move our hearts to continued faith. Immediately after the invocation is the Corporate Confession and Absolution. For most of church history, confession and absolution would have been private and would have been expected in the week prior if you wanted to receive communion. I’m just old enough to remember my parents having to declare for communion. Within the Lutheran Church corporate confession has become the standard.

The Lutheran Liturgy – today our simple Service of the Word – proceeds in three large steps: Scripture, Preaching and Prayer. The first step are the various readings of the Word of God and congregational responses. From the entrance Psalm (the Introit) with its response of the Gloria, to the assigned readings with the response of the public confession of the creed and the Hymn of the Day. The rhythm of the liturgy is often Call and Response in big ways and in small. You will see that Call and Response in a small way after each reading. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

We are gathered to hear God’s Word and we first do that in the Words of Scripture which are for all peoples of all times. Our specific readings are assigned. We follow something called a lectionary. That lectionary each week has a specific Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel reading. The use of a lectionary ensures that I the preacher don’t harp on the same thing every week but preach “the whole counsel of God.” The sermon or preaching is to be the Word of God for this people gathered today. And then in the simple service we turn to prayer and blessing. Other weeks we would celebrate the Sacrament before the sending.

That is a quick overview of how a Lutheran service flows. We hear the Word, we interpret and apply the Word for our lives, and we ask God for his care and blessing. It might seem a little formal, but not everything – maybe especially the things of God – has to be in an informal register. The vestments I wear are not meant to mark me personally out, but are the dress of the office. The colors of the various hangings that make the sanctuary beautiful follow the colors of the church year. Right now, being in the Season of Pentecost which is the season of the growth and mission of the church, they are green. Come back in Advent they are blue. Christmas is white. Festivals an audacious Red. What the liturgy and everything around it does is attempt to create a sacred time and place. A place to withdraw from the world and encounter God. To hear God in his word and his promise.

Thank you for worshipping with us today.

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