February 27, 2021 — The Small Catechism

“Each day, we’re given many opportunities to open up or shut down. The most precious opportunity presents itself when we come to the place where we think we can’t handle whatever is happening. It’s too much. It’s gone too far. We feel bad about ourselves. There’s no way we can manipulate the situation to make ourselves come out looking good. No matter how hard we try, it just won’t work. Basically, life has just nailed us. It’s as if you just looked at yourself in the mirror, and you saw a gorilla. The mirror’s there; it’s showing you, and what you see looks bad. You try to angle the mirror so you will look a little better, but no matter what you do, you still look like a gorilla. That’s being nailed by life, the place where you have no choice except to embrace what’s happening or push it away.” (Chodron, Pema. When Things Fall Apart (Shambhala Classics) (p. 20). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.)

Here is how Luther’s Preface to the Small Catechism begins:

“Martin Luther, to all faithful and godly pastors and preachers: grace, mercy, and peace be yours in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the parishes have constrained and pressed me to put this catechism of Christian doctrine into this brief, plain, and simple form. How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach. Yet all the people are supposed to be Christians, have been baptized, and receive the Holy Sacrament even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments and live like poor animals of the barnyard and pigpen. What these people have mastered, however, is the fine art of tearing all Christian liberty to shreds. Therefore dear brothers, for God’s sake I beg all of you who are pastors and preachers to devote yourselves sincerely to the duties of your office, that you feel compassion for the people entrusted to your care, and that you help us accordingly to inculcate this catechism in the people, especially the young. If you cannot do more, at least take the tables and charts for catechism instruction and drill the people in them word for word…”

Thus begins the preface to the Small Catechism written by Martin Luther.  The opening lines say it all – the deplorable, miserable conditions of the faith understanding of the people. He visited the local churches and realized no one knew the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds or the Ten Commandments. What could he do? He could have walked away and simply admonished the local priests. Instead he embraced the situation and found a way to make a difference – a simple tool for changing the situation in the churches. And so he took it upon himself to give the pastors a teaching tool – and we still use this teaching tool today in our catechism classes. Luther admonished them, but also encouraged them to stick with it, not to give up, and to continue it year after year.

This continues to be our tradition in teaching the faith in the Lutheran church. And we all could use a refresher from time to time.  This teaching tool is still vital to our faith understanding today.

Pastor Dave

February 28, 2021 — Lent 2B

“Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” ³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38)

I wonder how dusty many of our crosses are – you know, those crosses sitting on our shelves around the house? You know how much dust begins to pile upon those things we do not take off the shelf and use that often – so I imagine our crosses are just a little dusty. After all, we have to work really hard to keep the cross on the forefront of our minds, and our actions.

Imagine how often the early disciples and apostles thought about the cross after the crucifixion of Jesus. Imagine Peter – the one who denied Jesus – how often do you think he thought about the cross? Or every morning that he heard a rooster crow, or every time he stood along the sea and thought about the time he walked upon the water toward Jesus – I imagine he thought about the cross every day.

How about James and John – the sons of Thunder. James and John were the ones who came to Jesus and asked if they could sit on either side of Jesus, on his right and on his left when he entered into his glory in the kingdom. When they witnessed the crucifixion, and saw the two thieves hanging on crosses, one on his right and one on his left – I bet they thought a lot about the cross. But with the cross being a recent memory for them, and with people being crucified regularly in their community, well the cross would have been woven into the very fabric of their lives.

But you and me – well, we have not witnessed a crucifixion recently. We have not been forced to deny our faith or be beheaded, recently. So unless we are taking out a cross and prayer beads and praying the Rosary on a daily basis – or unless we venerating the cross in some other way this Lent, I imagine our crosses are just a little dusty. Yes I said Venerate the cross – and I know what you are thinking: “Isn’t that just a little “Catholic”? What does the word venerate mean, after all? It means to worship, to hold in deep respect, to honor. Where do we place the cross in our worship space? Right in front of the Nave – in the middle of the altar. And in Lent we cover them in a shroud because we are in a penitential season. All ways that we venerate the cross.

If you walk into a Catholic church, you will notice that most of their crosses have the crucified Christ hanging on the cross – as if he has just told uttered the words “It is finished”. But in the Lutheran church, our crosses are empty. Why? Do we not believe in the crucifixion – or hold it in respect as much as the Catholic church? Of course we do. However, we simply believe in an empty cross.

For Lutherans, our emphasis is on the risen and victorious Jesus, the Easter Jesus — though we do not want to forget that one must go through “Good Friday” to get to Easter. Crosses with the crucified Jesus or “crucifixes” as many call them, were prevalent in Lutheran churches until the 17^th and 18^th centuries, when the influence of Lutheran Pietism and Reformed Christianity found its way into Lutheran practice. At that time, the use of crucifixes fell out of practice because it was looked upon as being too “showy” and too “Catholic”. But Martin Luther had no problems with Crucifixes – so neither should we. After all, the cross symbolizes both “death” and “life” – and for us it means both “loss” and “gain”. As I have said, the cross is serious business. And to live a life where we venerate the cross on a daily basis or focus on living the “cruciform” life every day, well that is a hard sell in this society.

In our comfortable, over-scheduled lives, we sit in our homes and write on our tablets and computers about how we try to strive for the dignity of all people. We will write heart-felt messages on our social media platforms about how terrible that woman was who complained about a baby crying next to her on an airplane. We will sign on-line petitions against assault style weapons, join different prayer groups, but how willing are we to long for distress, share in the fast, and drink the cup of suffering? How dusty is your cross?

Pastor Dave