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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Marriage Allegory

had the occasion recently to review the Wedding liturgy. I was once again reminded of what might be the best short sermon ever written. And also reminded of just how clever Satan can be. That best short sermon is what is typically labeled The Wedding Address. In reality that address is both deathly serious and full of deep kindness. Which brings up Satan’s cleverness. You know this address because of Hollywood’s various representations of absolutely silly Bishops in their bling stating either “Dearly beloved” or “Marriage” with full lisp. Usually in front of two people who absolutely should not be getting married.

That last bit – two people who should not be getting married – had me reflecting. Is Hollywood making fun of this because of the hypocrisy of the clergyman? Pronouncing the address while knowing he should not be doing the wedding. Every minister has at least one wedding that they look back on and grimace. And because we remember the mistakes, and not the much larger number of happy occasions, they are the ones that haunt. Or is Hollywood, and Satan, merely trying to cover up with farce the clarity of Thomas Cranmer’s statement on the purpose.

The first thing Cranmer’s address does is establish where marriage comes from. “This is an honorable estate instituted and blessed by God in paradise before humanity’s fall into sin.” This is the way God made the material world to be. Before anything messed it up. Before our sin. This institution was present. That leaves the question why? Why would God create this? What meaning does it have? And Cranmer’s address immediately tells us. In the material reality of marriage, “we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the church.” Marriage is a living allegory. The physical reality is the base, but Christological, Moral and Eschatological carry the meaning. The fundamental institution that most of us live our lives within is a reflection of Christ and His people. It is an expression of the love of God for his creation “proclaimed by his presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee.”

The Address then moves on to the moral dimension. What does this institution require of us? And it includes four things that build on each other. The base of any marriage is the “union in heart, body and mind intended for the mutual companionship, help and support that each person ought to receive from the other, both in prosperity and adversity.” Marriage is hopefully more than a long-term contract, but it is never less than a long-term contract. Maybe contract is the wrong word, say alliance. That alliance has its physical dimension. “Marriage was ordained so that man and woman may find delight in one another.” As with all things planted by God – good trees – they are fruitful. “God established marriage for the procreation of children.” This often gets overlooked in our day, but be fruitful and multiply is a law that was never repealed. The last bit of the moral dimension is what to do with those kids. “Who are to be brought up in the fear and instruction of the Lord.” Marriage as an institution was created that our greatest heritage – The Word of God – might be preserved to generations’ generation.

And that leaves the eschatological. Where does this all go? “That they may offer Him [Christ] their praise.” Marriage – the image of Christ and the Church – is the institution that functions as the ark in this world. It is the institution that puts us in the boat, trusts the love of God to see that boat to shore, and populates that heavenly number that no one can count.

“For these reasons God has established the holy estate.” Marriage is a living allegory of our hope. Some particular marriages are better representations than others. There are those who absolutely should not be getting married. And sin makes all kinds of things eminently mockable. But as with all things of God, the reality – the love and the hope – are not erased. If we live into the faith that it requires. If we have the faith that Christ has blessed and honored this estate.

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Your Hair is On Fire

I’ve used it enough that I think our council is probably tired of it. But I call August around churches the annual Hair on Fire month. Why? There are a number of reasons. Attendance is often a bit depressed as people get in the last summer trips before school starts – the actual New Years Day. Leadership teams are usually turning to budget season. And they are turning to budget season usually at the lowest point. And this year is probably no different. If you haven’t looked, through the month of July we are reporting offerings of $118K against expenses of $163K for a deficit of -$45K. That is why I call it Hair on Fire. Almost every August in my experience you look at bad numbers at exactly the time you are thinking about next year.

Now I do want to call attention to something just under the covers of those top-line numbers. The first is that on the expense line, year to year comparison, we are running roughly -1.5% less. Our expenses are less than we said they would be. And that will continue for the foreseeable future. The iPad Organist is cheaper. I hate to say that. And it might not be good long term because I tend to think live music is important. But right now it is true. The live portion is going to be your voices and the person pressing play. And the iPad in my judgement is a lot better than it has any right to be. But, that reduction still would not solve that deficit. Not completely.

The real problem is the top line. Offerings year to year are down almost 18%. I can’t really blame attendance as it has been solid year to year. Collectively we managed to close in the black last year. Although that came late. In August our hair was on fire. Maybe the same thing happens. Maybe it doesn’t. The main point here is that you can’t make up an almost 20% decline in the top-line with stuff below it. Not really. Unless you want something that looks dramatically different.

And I think this really is the time of trial. Of course the answer is more people sharing the burden. Most people when they say that mean something like “we need more people in here.” And I’m not saying that is false, just that is not how God tends to work. Saying to God “you need to send more people because I don’t want to bear the cost of this church” is rarely a compelling argument with God. What He tends to say is something like Haggai. “These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD…Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruin?…Consider your ways, Go up to the hills and bring wood to build the house (Haggai 1:2-11).” Or God says something like Malachi. “Bring in the full tithe…and thereby put me to the test, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no need (Malachi 3:6-12).” Or if you want the New Testament and Jesus, he has no problem saying something like “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke. 6:38).” Or “Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9).” Or, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21).”

Stewardship is always the acid test of are you on mission with God. God wants people who are on mission with him. Budget problems are almost always spiritual mission problems. Do you believe the promises? Do you want to see the Kingdom grow? Prove it. Put God to the test.

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The Law and the Promise

In the Young Adult group that meets on Wednesday evenings, in between silly movies, we’ve been reading Galatians. And to Lutherans in the know Galatians is probably the most Lutheran book of the bible. It is a book about the proper distinction of law and gospel. And distinction is the right word. They are two separate covenants – Abraham and Moses. But the covenant with Abraham – “he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, Galatians 3:6)” – is both prior to that with Moses and more direct. God speaks directly with Abraham. The covenant of Sinai with Israel is mediated by Moses. Exodus has Moses going up the mountain and down the mountain and up and down each time relaying parts of a negotiation. Down, I’ve met the LORD. Up, the people of Israel say you are scary. Down, tell them they are right and to back away from the mountain. Up, they’ve agreed and backed away. Let me bring down your word. You should go down first. Down, witnesses the golden calf. Breaks the law. Cleans up Israel. Up, yes, God, I’m sorry, I dropped the tablets. I’ll make a copy. Down, here is the law again, will you keep it? Up, they said they’d keep it. Down, we need to assemble the elders for a meal on the mountain. Up, a meal with the Elder and the LORD to celebrate the covenant of Moses. The covenant with Abraham is the promise – the gospel. Believe, God will do it, God has done it. The covenant with Moses is the law.

Isaiah 56, our Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, is an interesting mixture of the promise and the law. But I can’t help but hear the gospel predominate. “Thus says the LORD: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed (Isaiah 56:1).” Paul would say something like the law was given to us as guardian (Galatians 3:24). And there is nothing wrong with the law. The law is good and wise. It is justice. It is righteousness. It’s problem is that the law cannot make us righteous. It instead exposes that we are far from righteous and injustice is what sow. Often injustice is what we sow exactly when we think we are meeting it out. And so what we need is the promise. “My salvation will come, my righteousness be revealed.” God will act. And in the act of God we shall find our salvation, even victory over our sinful selves.

And this is the superiority of the Gospel – of the direct promise. It is available to all. It is available not to the offsprings of Abraham, the pure physical descent. It is available through the offspring – Christ (Galatians 3:16). Isaiah puts this in a different key. He calls out the foreigner, that is the gentile, and the eunuch, that one literally cut off. Our lesson cuts this line out. Probably because of squeamishness over eunuch. “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’; and let not the eunuch say ‘behold, I am a dry tree. (Isaiah 56:3)’” Isaiah implores both to “hold fast to my covenant.”

Which covenant? He mentions the Sabbath and the sacrifices. The sacrifices are clearly part of the law. But the Sabbath goes back to the beginning. On the seventh day, God rested. The toil of the law – the guardian – is felt. But he Sabbath rest comes. And yes, the necessities of the sacrifices of the law once filled the temple. And Christ cleared it saying “my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples (Luke 19:46).” For Christ is the salvation of God. And Christ is the righteousness of God. It is not that the law is useless or contrary. It is that the promise is stronger. The law kills us, but God is the God of life.

And he gathers us all into his house of prayer. He promises the eunuch “I will give you a house within my walls, and a name that shall not be cut off.” He promises the foreigner, “I will gather others to him, besides those already gathered.” These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in prayer. Paul would say in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. In Christ we are heirs of the promise. And we have seen his deliverance revealed.

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