AH CHRISTMAS IS OVER! NOW ONTO THE NEW YEAR.


If you are reading this today you realize that for most of us Christmas is over for the year. My children, like most are at home busily playing with their new toys and watching television during their winter break. My wife is busy cleaning up the mess we made in the house over the past week. This weekend most of the world will celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For most Americans it means one last hurrah while watching several college bowl games on TV.

The one custom that I want to write about here is none of the ones mentioned above, but is the custom of New Years resolutions. That is where people resolve to do something to or for themselves that will make their lives hopefully better in the coming year. Some will resolve to lose weight, some will resolve to save more money, other's will resolve to spend more or invest more money. I find the custom to be a rather silly one because most people give up on their resolutions within a few weeks though some have been actually known to make good on their resolution, but most fail and surrender to their old routine.

I have at times joked and said that "I resolve not to make any more resolutions." This one I am pretty good at keeping because it requires no commitment to better my life. Truth is the only one who can make my life better has already done so by dying on a cross about 2000 years ago to pay for my sins. He came to the world and resolved to give his life as a ransom for ours and the neat thing is he accomplished his goal because on the cross he said, "It is finished" Jesus Christ did that for us. Do you know why Jesus was able to keep his resolution? It is because he is the Son of God. No other religion or self-made deity can truly make that claim. When he was asked by what authority he came to do these things He answered "I came by the authority of he who sent me."

We can not do what Jesus did because we are sinners and left to our own devices will fail at things like resolutions almost every time. Oh sure there will be one or two who might accomplish a resolution they made, but was it easy or hard for them? My resolution for this coming new year is to get to know Jesus better through his word and sacrament. That is the means he gave us to empower us with the Holy Spirit. As I get to know Jesus better I am going to share what I know with others and point them to the cross where Jesus has forgiven them for their sins. That is all I can do as the rest is up to the Holy Spirit.

Let Jesus help you with that resolution this coming year. You might find the results to be far more rewarding than ever before.

In the next few days families will be getting together to celebrate Xmas. Oh wait. I shouldn't spell Christmas with an X? Why not? X is the greek letter Chi which is the first letter of Christ.

Todd Wilken on his Sunday show December 18th pointed out in the last minute that the X even looks something like a cross. Jesus died on a cross didn't he? Yes He did.

Anyways as I started out, families including mine will be gathering together to celebrate the birth of Christ. This season like others has brought out the controversies about whether we should say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". Some department stores have taken to not putting up the words "Merry Christmas" in their stores. Others have stopped the Salvation Army ringers from standing outside ringing for your contributions. For that I say thank you. I never could stand those incessant bell ringers and since I don't agree with the theology of the Salvation Army I don't see the need to give them my change when there are other worthy charitable organizations that help people at this time of year.

Again back to my first thought (Note to self: I must learn how to not digress when I write.)
Families getting together to celebrate Christ's birth. My family doesn't have any real standard traditions that we follow on a yearly basis. Sometimes we go to church and sometimes we don't. The only real thing I would call tradition is which side of the family we celebrate with on which particular day. Christmas Eve is traditionally with my Father's side of the family. My Dad passed away in February 1989 and though we miss his presence the memories we have of the Christmasses with him are still ingrained in my head.

When I got married, my wife and I started a new tradition. We have Christmas with both sides of the family and then we have a time where we have a private Christmas with just us and our children. This has come to mean much to me because it is one that will go into the future of my family when my children are grown and have families of their own they too will begin their own traditions.

I wish all who read this a very Merry Christmas and may the traditions you begin go on to the next generation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

CHURCH TAKES PURPOSE DRIVEN THEOLOGY TOO FAR.

As I was driving the last couple of miles to my home last night I drove by Mount of Olives Assembly of God church. They have a sign that they use to advertise events coming up. Last night their sign read: "A Purpose Driven Christmas Carol". My first thought was "Why?" Why must Christian churches continue to promote Rick Warren's pop theology to this extreme?

But then I am reminded of a production I attended back in the 1980s produced by the Jesus People and titled "The Gospel According to Scrooge." With all due respect we have in many ways perverted Dicken's classic when we do this, but yet if one really looks at what Dickens was saying it is still bad theology. A man who has given up on such frivolity as Christmas is told by the ghost of his dead partner that he will be visited that night by three spirits that will show him the error of his ways.

Scrooge is first visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. He visits his boyhood and sees his sister, whom has long passed on to the next world. He visits the first place he ever worked and we see the woman he almost married were it not for his greed. The next Ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Present. The Ghost now takes him to his nephew's home and then to the home of his clerk Bob Cratchit. He sees Tiny Tim and is made aware of the boys ailment. He is also forced to see the conditions in which Bob and his family live.

Finally Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas yet to come and is taken again to see the Cratchits mourning over Tiny Tim's death. He also gets to witness people preparing for his own funeral and finally taken to the cemetary where the Ghost points him to his gravesite. At this point Scrooge is awakened by what seems to have been a dream, but he is now feeling a change in himself and when he realizes that he has not missed Christmas goes off to make right some of the wrongs he has committed including that of his clerk Bob and his family and that of his nephew.

If one were to look at this story from a theological perspective one would see first of all that no where is Christ really mentioned other than that the name of the holiday. Scrooge is given a glimpse inside himself instead of showing him objective signs of the salvation Christ won for him on the cross. Though I don't think that Charles Dickens had in mind to create a story of the Christ it seems interesting to me that Christian's want to do it for him. I wouldn't mind that they do it but at least get the theology correct.

I suppose the next thing we will see is "Purpose Driven Easter Bunny"

Let this purpose driven fad go and get back to Christ and him Crucified.

Last Sunday, at our Lutheran Church, our pastor did a Sermon on Christmas being taken away from the Christians. Every year they seem to limit Christians from being able to express their faith during this season. Last year Target came out with a new policy of not allowing the Salvation Army from ringing it's bell outside of their stores. Many Christian organizations and churches were in an uproar over this action and many claimed that they would not shop at Target during the holiday shopping time. This year Target has again made many Christians angry with them over the fact that they will not use the word Christmas in their stores, but will instead use the words "Happy Holidays" to show their holiday spirit.

On the news last night it was reported by Bob Schieffer on CBS that President and Mrs. Bush did not include the word Christmas on their greeting cards this year. Being a Christian and knowing that the President is also a Christian this news surprised me a little, but I found it more interesting to note that Christians are having a difficult time with this. My wife said, if he had used the words "Merry Christmas" there would have been a protest by those who are not Christian over the words he used. I don't know if there would have been or not, but his decision not to say anything but "Happy Holidays" is his to make and to me most Christians I talk to on a regular basis use the words Happy Holidays when greeting one another at this time of year anyways. So what's the problem?

Jesus Christ said that we would be persecuted because of him. Mind you this is very mild if it is persecution. This is more of an annoyance than anything else. We have to face the fact that we do not live in a society that only embraces our religion but stands for freedom of religion. Christianity does not have a monopoly on religion in this country. Yes, it is by far the most populous faith in the country, but there are minorities who hold to Islam and Judaism and some in Eastern mysticism. Perhaps the President is just being sensitive to those minorities when he bought his Holiday cards this year.

When the real persecution begins you can expect no mercy to those who follow Christ. Christmas will be a dim memory for us. Besides if you consider all things Christmas has become a merchants goldmine. Americans spend millions annually on things to give their family and friends at Christmas. Is that what Christmas is all about? I would rather see us return to a mild observance of Christ's birth by attending Church services and reflecting on what Christ's birth means to our faith. In the Gospels, only Matthew and Luke even relate any part of the Christmas story. Mark and John are focused on other aspects of Christ's life. How important is the season in the realm of the Christian calendar. The Death and resurrection are recorded in all of the Gospel accounts and I consider that story to be the more imminent story to behold.

Yes! Christmas is important, but it is only the beginning. The end is where we get the true rewards.

Take the time this Advent season to reflect on what we still have as Christians. Read the Christmas story in the Gospels and enjoy the Holidays as you see your loved ones. Remember that it is still more blessed to give than to receive. Say a prayer for those who are poor and are unable to realize their Christmas dreams for their families. Invite your neighbors to go to church with you. Make this Christmas special by sharing Christ with someone else. Let the Holy Spirit guide you to do the works you were created in advance to do.

In the words of Tiny Tim from Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" "God bless us everyone."

Well Thanksgiving day is done and now the mad rush to go out and buy Christmas presents for friends and family is upon us. Many people will go to the shopping malls today to get as good of a deal as they can on the many items on sale.

Do you think that this is what Christ had in mind? If you get a chance over the next 30 days read the Christmas story in both Matthew and Luke. I think you will see a different kind of madness (in King Herod) there than you do at the shopping malls.

This Sunday marks the first sunday of Advent. Many churches willl have an Advent wreath with 5 candles on it. Each sunday another candle will be lit. In the Lutheran church, the sermons will be focused on "the second coming of Christ"

I look forward to this time at church, but I don't look forward to the busy stores and extra traffic.

Instead of spending gobs of money on someone you care about. Pray for them everyday. Pray that they know their Lord and Savior and if they don't pray that God will reveal himself to them through his word.

God bless you this Holiday season.

A recent paper came to my attention. It is written by David L. Adams who is on the faculty of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. The paper was written for the Walther Conference which was recently held Nov 4th and 5th at the Seminary in St. Louis.

In the paper, he defines the three groups who are struggling for control of the synod. These groups are identified as Traditional Missouri, Moderate Missouri and Neo-Evangelical Missouri.

It is an interesting paper and if you like you can make a comment here and leave your email address and I will be glad to send it to you.

Today is All Saints Day. Our church celebrated this by having a candle lit for each saint we named and turned into the church office three weeks prior. I turned in a sheet with the names of my father, who passed away by cancer almost 17 years ago, my maternal grandparents, my wife's maternal grandparents were all listed as the saints who are deceased. I listed my wife's parents on the list of saints still living. The word "saint" is an interesting title. In the Roman Catholic tradition, a saint is someone who has passed on and was considered by many to have lived an extraordinary life.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II are just two of the people who are being considered for sainthood in that church. However, there are some steps that must be taken before those put up for sainthood are declared saints. Beatification is one of those steps. The dictionary states that to beatify someone is to proclaim the deceased person as one of the blessed and thus worthy of public religious honor.
After this there must be a record of so many miracles associated with that person post mortem.

In the Lutheran Church, we declare that Saints are those who have both lived their lives to Christ prior to death or are living their lives currently to Christ.

This past few months have been very trying to me and my family. This past August, my wife lost her job that she had been working only for 9 months because she became sick and had to stay away from work by order of the Doctor. Because she had not been employed for a year she did not qualify for the Family Medical Leave Act or FMLA which allows a person to be out of work for up to 12 weeks a year for personal or medical leave. She decided that she wanted to be a stay at home mom, but because our home mortgage is high we needed her income to afford it. We decided that maybe our lifestyle needed some simplifying so we got our home fixed up and put it on the market. At this time, we have had no offers on the house.

At the beginning of October, our church was visited by some people who work for LCMS World Missions. We saw some pictures of the mission life in Africa and Kyrgystan. During this presentation I felt something begin to gnaw at my heart and mind. Was God using this to tell me what we were going to do next. My wife and I started to discuss the possibility and we went to the LCMS website and inquired about life as missionaries. We were sent applications which we filled out and sent in. We don't know what God has in store for us but we are open to becoming career missionaries.

Christ told his disciples to Go into the world and teach all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit [Matt 28:19]. This is the mission of the church. Not everyone is suited for mission life overseas. Some are suited for local mission work in poverty areas or college campuses.

Upon hearing of our desire to go into missions, my mother asked me "don't you have to be ordained in the ministry?"
I told her that "no, missionaries are not just ministers." Many of us can be aids to the ministers in the field. We can run the errands they used to run and do some of the tedious work and give those who are called to share the word more ample time to do just that.

Paul said that we are all one body but many parts and each part has a separate function. This is how the church should work. We are all missionaries to some extent because no matter where we are located we can share Christ with those we come in contact with on a daily basis just as much as those who are working in overseas missions. Jesus said that he is the light of the world and we need to take that light to where there is darkness. Christ will enable you to take his light to those dark places. Just ask him to do so.