Wordless Wednesday: 3 Months Later--Still Gleeful to be "Put"

Glee: Good, Gracious, or Ghastly?

The theme is a common one from literature and television: take a rag-tag bunch of misfits, bring them together, and when working together, the greatest of odds can be overcome. This is at the heart of Glee, running its first season on Fox, Wednesdays at 9 PM EST.

There are a number of roles and situations on Glee that the Christian would find troubling. Of course, every human is sinful, and we will not look at every single character. Still, it’s a good thing to look at a few examples.

Kurt Hummel is a sweet boy. He is a loyal friend. He has a good voice. He loves fashion. And he has a bit of a crush on star quarterback Finn Hudson. Yes, Kurt is a stereotypical, flamboyant homosexual.

Sue Sylvester is downright mean. This cheerleading coach is the embodiment of evil, cunningly cutting down kids’ egos, manipulating and destroying what she sees fit, literally pushing people down stairs, and trying to sabotage the Glee Club.

Noah "Puck" Puckerman has fathered the pre-born child of Quinn Fabray, cheerleader and president of the celibacy club. Quinn is also the girlfriend of Finn Hudson, and has convinced him that although they have not had sexual relations, he is the father.

But perhaps the most disturbing scenario of the entire series (and yet the one we are drawn to accept and enjoy) is the relationship of Will Schuester and Emma Pilsbury. Will and Emma were high school friends at the same school where he now teaches and she is guidance counselor. Will is now in a very unhappy marriage, in which his wife, Terri, is completely self-absorbed—to the point it is plainly idolatry. She shows no care or concern for him, is extremely demanding and manipulative, and has led them to the brink of financial ruin.

Viewers are not supposed to like Terri at all. Conversely, Emma is quirky, but as nice and sweet as can be, and you end up wanting Will and Emma to get together! Will and Emma both show care for people, and put others ahead of themselves.

Those of us who are committed to what the Lord teaches about the sanctity of Holy Marriage can be easily led down this (albeit fictitious) path of approving their repressed romance. Granted, Will and Emma have not gotten to the point of sexual infidelity – or have they? Tension-filled hugs and staring into one another’s eyes might not be “going all the way,” but there certainly is desire that transgresses the 6th commandment.

On the other hand, in spite of all these troubles, is there anything worth noting? I would suggest there is.

Glee is full of love and friendship. Students that didn’t find a niche in the school have

become a group of loyal friends, truly caring for one another. When others fail them, the Glee kids come to realize that these new friends have accepted them, “no strings attached.”

Glee shows forgiveness. Yes, I realize it is not flowing from Christ through His Gifts, but the Glee students, along with Will and his friends, demonstrate a human forgiveness and an allowing of new beginnings for each other. Quinn is shunned by her cheerleader “friends” when they discover she is pregnant. She is also kicked off the squad. But the Glee friends voice their care for her. And when Finn has been pressured by the football team to back off from Glee and even torment them, Kurt takes a slushy out of Finn’s hand and tosses it on himself. Kurt “took one for the [Glee] team,” so the quarterback did not have the guilt of doing this to a friend, yet he could maintain a “cool” reputation on the football team. When all is said and done, Finn is welcomed back to Glee.

So where does that leave you, the Christian viewer? How should you feel about Glee? I propose that the answer is similar to how you should feel about the people in your real life – the students and faculty of your own school, the friends in your own circles, even the people in the pews of your church.

Every one of us is a poor, miserable sinner. This does not excuse our actions or words or thoughts in the least. However, we live in a recognition that in faith we will not approve of every behavior, every day.

Yes, Glee has some sinful characters and sinful scenarios. Still, there are moments of (humanly speaking) goodness, kindness, and friendship. Being familiar with a show like Glee that so many are watching, may provide opportunities for you to engage in discussions that would otherwise be unavailable. Perhaps the Lord might end up using you to be His witness, speaking the truth in love. He may lead you to show what was good and supportive of the faith in a given episode, and what was not.

In the end, you already know the one and only Source of your Glee: Jesus Christ! Our Savior has taken on human flesh and was born, announced with the Glee of singing angels. At His Baptism, the Father announced from heaven His Glee in His Son, in whom He is well pleased. With Jesus’ triumph on the cross and His joyous resurrection, God demonstrated His Glee once again, in the ultimate, first Easter.

Jesus is the greatest, truest, and everlasting Glee for His Church! Living in Him, we await the Day when our Glee will be complete, and He gathers us all into the eternal kingdom He has GIVEN.

[This post was produced for HigherThings.org, and can be viewed also here.]

Is Jesus Asking for My Money? -- Mk. 12:38-44

Mark 12:38-44

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Oh, no! Today we are presented with a Gospel lesson in which Jesus uses money as an example. It’s times like this when a number of people can

walk away from church muttering: “That’s all he ever talks about – money!” (Now, it is not the pastor who chooses the readings, that is a schedule made up by the church at large, set for many years – so it is a safeguard from anyone’s personal agenda.

But is it even fair to say this of our Lord? Is money the main point of Jesus’ words here?

This is not a parable; it is our Lord commenting on a real woman, a real widow, placing her real money – her real offering – in the temple. But is the money what Jesus wants our focus on?

What was going on? Our Lord is sitting there, in a place where you could see people coming and going in the temple, with an offering box nearby. Many people came through.

Lots of wealthy people would pass by a drop great amounts. Large donations for the work of the Lord. Is that bad? Of course not! Christ is not saying that this money was no good for God’s kingdom. Indeed, God used it well.

But then comes a poor widow. And she is the poorest of the poor. The widow gives the last two coins that she had to her name, and even they barely added up to a portion of a penny.

Jesus simply states that for all the great amounts that the wealthy had given, this woman had given the greatest treasure. The others gave out of much. She had poverty – and gave everything she had on this earth.

Many would come in the temple courts and have their tithe, ten percent of their wealth, perhaps even calculating what they needed to give, down to the penny. Then the widow enters, and does not give a tithe. No. She is free in the Gospel, not bound to the Old Testament rule of 10%. So she gives 100% of her so-called wealth to God.

Jesus commends her to our consideration. She did not give as the Law required. She went beyond that, giving out of loving thanks for the Gospel. It was rejoicing in God’s blessing, and trusting that He would have mercy, that she gave it all.

But again, is this about money? Yes and no. Money is only a part of understanding. The widow perceives what this earthly life is: entirely gift! Everything is a gift from our gracious Father in heaven. Our finances, yes, but so much more!

Your body and health are gifts from the Great Physician. Your mind and mental ability are gifts from Him. Your clothing and housing – gifts from the Lord. Sight, hearing, and communication – gifts from God. Friends and family are treasures from our heavenly Father. The ability even to breathe and have a heart pumping – gift.

So what do we have or possess that is not a gift from God? Absolutely nothing!

Jesus makes appoint of directing His disciples attention to the widow, but not for a lesson in

banking or financial planning. He praises her living out her faith. The Holy Spirit has led her to recognize that absolutely everything is a gift from God, and that He will not neglect her. She trusts He will provide and send what she needs. So she responds in giving back to God what is His to begin with: everything! Why? Because it was never hers to begin with!

How are you doing at recognizing that you own nothing? That everything belongs to the Lord and you are simply a manager? How easy is it for you to recognize that even your time is not your own? Your abilities and talents belong to God as well.

When you are begrudging the time you are giving to the Lord in His church and school, you are arguing with the Lord. When you say you don’t want to be bothered, or complain that “they always want my help,” you actually are despising the gifts the Lord gives. In fact, you are not simply hoarding your own time, or abilities, or possessions – you are cheating. You

have taken these things that belong to God and refuse to let Him use them!

Repent! Repent of selfishness. Repent of hoarding what is not yours to begin with. Repent of refusing to aid others with your gifts. Repent of denying the Giver the chance to use you in His giving.

Our precious Savior comes with His solution. The Holy Spirit does bring you to repent, and converts you once again to faith in the Lord. He brought rescue and redemption on the cross, and now He delivers it to you.

Jesus dwells in each of His baptized, and He uses you to give His gifts. He uses pastors to give His Holy Gifts of Gospel and Sacraments. And He uses you to give the daily bread He places in your lives. As He blesses you with more than you need, He provides opportunities to extend those gifts to those you know and meet. He gives you chances every day to share your time with friends and others that will benefit from you. He provides you with mental abilities and reasoning to benefit not only you and your family, but your neighbors, your fellow citizens, your church.

Our loving and providing God comes to you each week, forgiving, feeding, and forming you to give what He gives you. Our Father gives daily bread even beyond the ultimate and highest daily bread—the Bread of Life in the Eucharist, He uses every one of you to touch other lives in aiding their earthly needs.

Our compassionate Christ looks upon you as He did this poor widow, commending you and blessing you with the generosity of sharing yourselves and the sum total of all that you have or are.

So is Jesus asking you for your money today? No. He doesn’t have to – because there is no such thing as “your money.” It is His to begin with. Nor is He asking for your time or abilities. He is not asking for any of it. He knows that as He builds up your faith, and as He nourishes and sustains you, you will respond in love and thanks, giving back what He has given you. And He who has made you stewards of His gifts will keep on giving and using you until He returns again in glory, when the Giver gives the gift of resurrection and eternal life with Him.

The Gospel in Star Wars

I just came across the archive of a time I was interviewed on Issues, Etc. about the "Gospel in Star Wars" presentation I have given at Higher Things national conferences.

Here is a link.

Set Free: A Reformation Homily

John 8:31-36

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The young priest, Father Martin of Wittenberg, had been haunted for a very long time – haunted by the fear of, “I’m not good enough.” “How can anyone escape damnation?” “If God had to send His Son to die in my stead, He may still be angry!” “I’m trying, but how do I know if I have eternal salvation?”

Still, this priest and professor knew that something just was not right with the teaching on indulgences, and knew it needed to be challenged. The next day would be the Feast of All Saints, and great crowds from the university would gather for prayer and for the Mass. In fact, the festival would begin the evening before, at Vespers. So, like any self-respecting professor, Dr. Luther went to the door of All Saints Church, the “Castle Church,” and posted 95 debate topics on the issue of indulgences.

“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs.” So went the ad campaign for raising the funds the Archbishop needed to pay off his bribe to Rome for his title. So, rather than our Lord Jesus’ words from today’s Gospel, the notion was, “You shall know the money, and the money shall set you free.”

Granted, we do a disservice when we say they thought they were buying forgiveness. Rather, they thought they were making a monetary sacrifice to pay off the earthly punishment for their sins, after they were absolved. The problem is, there is no such thing. No remaining punishment to appease God after absolution, and no purgatory mentioned in Scripture.

But where is the real danger for us, here and now? Are you fearing Purgatory? Are you thinking that your financial offerings are giving you some blessed assurance of heaven? I doubt it.

You are in danger, though. You are in danger of the sin of doubting God’s full and free forgiveness. You might be one who speaks of God’s grace and mercy, but turns around and says, “I think I’ll make it to heaven. I hope I’ve been good enough.” What!!!???

Our dear Lord has gone to His cross and suffered, bled, and died for you. He did it all, and purchased and won forgiveness, life, and salvation for you! There is no maybe. The Holy Spirit has given you faith, and you are assured of His mercy and the life He gives you…the freedom from sin and death given through Christ alone.

And there is another danger. For many people, this day in the Lutheran tradition is a day to thank God that we do not teach the errors of Rome. Dear friends in Christ, beware! Do not fall into this trap! Do not be enslaved by the sin of this boasting and sense of superiority. Do not be like the Pharisee, detesting the Tax Collector, saying, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like him!”

Repent of any sense of false superiority. Repent of snubbing others or looking down on people because they belong to the wrong parish or group. Repent of any sin, since sin binds you to the chains of slavery of death and the devil.

Jesus tells you His solution this evening. Yes, you have been bound by the slavery of sin, death, and the devil. But the blood of Christ dissolves those chains. Our Savior comes in the flesh to rescue us from that bondage, and make us free. Not free in the earthly sense of nations and constitutions; true freedom. Freedom from death and hell. Freedom from Satan. Freedom to live in Christ’s Gospel, living lives of love in response to the incredible gift of His grace.

Jesus tells you: “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Today He tells you, “The Truth will set you free.” Christ does not speak of some generic truth. He does not mean some vague idea of truth. Jesus Christ is saying He IS the Truth, and He sets you free! Dear, forgiven saints, you are truly His disciples, in His Word, and the Word-made-flesh sets you free.

Now, the Holy Word-Made-Flesh bids you to come and feast on Him, that you may receive His forgiveness and live in heavenly freedom. Receive Jesus in His Flesh and Blood, not from the hand of an angry Judge, but from our dear and precious Savior, who gives Himself gladly and willingly, that you may live with Him forever.

Lord, Have Mercy: A Homily on Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10:46-52

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Lord, have mercy.” The words are so simple, and yet so profound. “Lord have mercy.” Three little words in English – and it only takes two in the Greek – and yet so much is packed into those few syllables.

“Lord, have mercy,” or some variation thereof, is spoken on many occasions as a prayer to Jesus. Here, Bartimaeus the blind beggar is excited to hear that Christ has come. He cries out to Christ Jesus with these words of faith and humility.

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” In other words: “Master. Savior. I believe that You are the descendant of King David that we are waiting for: the Christ! I will never be good enough to deserve this, but you are my loving God. Give me help. Give me healing. Give me forgiveness and life. Give me all that I need for body and soul. Give me salvation. I have nothing good to give in return. Yet I know You can do all this and more!”

“And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

Blessed Martin Luther went through much of the same thing. No, he was not blind, but he came to a fuller knowledge of our Lord, and was crying out in faith. Others around him were rebuking him, telling him to be silent. The Holy Roman Emperor called a special hearing, in which Luther was told to recant of his writings – to take back what he said and wrote. The Empire and the Pope were rebuking Luther, and telling him to be silent. If he refused, he would be an outlaw, and it would be legal to kill him. He would also be excommunicated, and thus cut off from the Sacrament. What was he to do?

Luther followed Bartimaeus’ example: he cried out all the more. “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen!”

The pure teaching of God’s Law had been brought to light once more, and the clear message that we are poor, miserable sinners who can never be good enough for God was proclaimed. And hand-in-hand with that is the pure teaching of the Gospel, with the clear message that in His mercy, God gives His undeserved love and forgiveness that we call “grace.” He redeems us and rescues us from our own wretchedness, and gives forgiveness, life, and salvation as gifts!

The world had slipped into some blindness, losing sight of our Lord’s mercy, relying on our imagined ability to cooperate with God. We were in a spiritual darkness that was fearful of God’s wrath, but had no idea on how to escape it. The time leading up to the Reformation looked at the cross of Christ with His body on it as a grim sign of God’s judgment that we would face – sort of a “This is all your fault!”

Yet that is not the message to the Christian at all. God in His great mercy says: “Look to the crucifix as a most blessed image of My love.” There, the Body of Christ hangs in death, not defeated by death, but victorious! He died, but in dying, He became the Champion! He became the Victor who triumphed! The beaten, bloodied, broken Body of Christ is the clear delivery of the Lord’s mercy! Death was destroyed by His death, so that the lifeless flesh of Jesus on the cross is really the greatest picture of hope! His resurrection then confirmed this great truth.

We can still be blinded. When we think we can cooperate with God for our salvation, we are blinded to the reality of our sinful nature. When we talk about our believing as if we have the power to believe harder or more sincerely, we turn faith into a good work, and end up teaching salvation by works! We end up as blind to God’s grace as some 16th century indulgence sellers.

Dear, blinded friends, our gracious Savior comes and restores our sight. Like He called Bartimaeus to Himself and healed him, He has called you through Holy Baptism, and washed the filth of sin from you, including from your eyes, that you may see.

The Holy Spirit worked on Bartimaeus, giving him faith so that when Jesus called him, he jumped up, tossing off his cloak. And why is that important? As he begged, people would toss coins onto that cloak. He just lost all of the money that people had given him, trusting that he would no longer need it – Jesus was going to heal him!

That day Jesus gave Bartimaeus physical sight. He also healed his soul. And a short time later, as Christ’s own eyelids closed in death, He claimed sight for all who would come to faith.

The Holy Spirit has worked on you too. He has shed from you the old covering of sin, death, and hell, and replaced it in your baptism with forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and the promise of eternal salvation. He has brought you out of darkness into Christ’s marvelous light. He gives you sight, that you can now behold your Lord and God in His preaching and in His Sacraments. He heals you!

We can slip back into moments of blindness. Times when we refuse to see the Gospel touching the lives of students and others here in our church, and school, and over at Luther North. It is easy for humans to become negative and overlook the good blessings that God is giving in these places. There are times when we turn a blind eye to ways we can help instead of rebuking those who would seek the Lord.

But the Lord delivers us, even when we have not wanted it! He calls us to repentance. And He renews our sight, our vision. He gives light to our eyes and leads us in His Word. And from there, He brings countless good things out of the trials and hardships. Throughout all suffering, He carries us, looking it straight in the eye and defeating it in the end.

How? Jesus, the Son of David, [has] mercy. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. The scarred hands of our Savior reach out and open our eyes, having endured it all for us. In His grace and mercy, He heals, restores, and gives life everlasting! Our magnificent Messiah re-opens our eyes and fixes them on Him.

He fixes your eyes on Jesus in His Word. And soon He will fix your eyes on Jesus as you behold Him in the Host and Cup. At that time, He will fill you with Himself, so that you cannot but help to cr[y] out all the more: “[Lord], have mercy!”

The Lord has mercy as He comes to you in His Holy Eucharist, filling you with His Body and Blood – the purest forms of His mercy on this earth! Praise God for filling you with His mercy! Amen.

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