Accepting one’s callings in life is among the most difficult things for a Christian. A man desires a better situation, a pastor desires a different congregation, the idealist longs to live in a different time and place. The term ἐπιθυμία (epithumia, “desire”) and its cognates is sometimes used positively in the New Testament, but more often is associated with the corrupted human heart that drives a man to sin. Passages such as Romans 7 and James 1 particularly note the pattern that desire gives birth to sin, and sin to death. The desire for a satisfying life is—because of the inverted heart—ac ..read more

The history in Europe is of church decline through tyrannical governments. But the church in America has declined with only mild hostility from the state. What has caused the decline here? Americans view church membership with less loyalty than a gym, supermarket, or airline preference. Convenience and amenities triumph over doctrine. The politics of the community matter more than the confession of faith. In the middle ages, backs were whipped in penance, and we call it darkness. Today votes are whipped, and we call it democracy. This is not reformation. We cannot celebrate the Reformation tod ..read more

Last Sunday we heard about nakedness and clothing. There is the nakedness of man’s sin and shame, and the clothing of Christ’s righteousness, given in Holy Baptism. What we have at the end of today’s parable is a man who rejects that clothing. He refuses the wedding garment, he refuses Christ’s righteousness. He wants life, he wants the kingdom on his own terms. The same thing is going on at the beginning of the parable. What is a parable? It’s a story with you in it. And in the Bible, it’s a story with Christ in it. If you get those wrong—if you mistake yourself for Christ—you’ll end up with ..read more

“I renounce Satan, and his works, and his pomps, and his worships, and his angels, and his inventions, and all things that are under him.” And after his renunciation let him in his consociation say: “And I associate myself to Christ, and believe, and am baptized into one unbegotten Being….” “I associate myself with Christ.” Disciples of Jesus do not leave the world, but we renounce its prince—the devil—and we renounce its principles. We renounce lies, we renounce lust, we renounce licentiousness. We confess Christ, we practice charity, and we defy the demands of the world to worship the image ..read more

Demons are real. One-third of the spirits, or angels, rebelled along with Lucifer, the “light-bearer.” The light-bearer turned to the darkness. Some of these demons in the course of time gained a very strong influence over certain nations and governments. By mastering the rulers, they control the governments. In antiquity, they developed rituals to worship the demons, which we call idolatry. In the modern Western world, the worship of demons takes a different form. The demons have turned mankind to celebrate in our own destruction. And that demonic influence is at work in the government and pr ..read more

What impressed me immediately when I first met Bob were the books. Shelves and shelves of glorious books, and more piled nearby. Yet while Bob was a reader, he didn’t boast about what he’d read or what he knew. He asked questions. He cared about this city. What it is supposed to do and be, what it represented, and who played baseball for it. Retired more than a decade by the time I met him, he and Hazel both had careers protecting the interests of our nation. He wouldn’t talk about it, despite my occasional prodding. He also didn’t like to talk about himself. But we should note he was a gradua ..read more

Do you want to be the donkey, or the master? Turned in on ourselves, we don’t merely want to be the master of one donkey. We would like to own a thousand donkeys, a thousand beasts of burden to do my work – a valet to prepare my clothing, an army of lawyers to solve my problems. But in the language of today’s parable, we are not the master. We are the donkey, the one in the pit. “Which of you,” Jesus addresses the Pharisees at their Sabbath dinner, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” We are the donkey fallen ..read more

We cannot say, “Mine is the true religion; yours isn’t true.” That’s what the bishop of Rome, Pope Francis, said on Friday. He continued, All religions are a path to reach God. They are, to use a comparison, like different languages, different dialects to get there…. There is only one God, and we, our religions are languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian, but they are different paths. To assert one’s religion is true, the Pope said, this leads to destruction. With these words, the pope places himself outside the Christian faith. It’s a tragedy that goe ..read more

The day we brought him home, I began a routine every night at my son’s bedtime. After our prayers and before the blessing, I say to him, “James Julius, you are my beloved son; in you I am well pleased.” It’s adapted from the words of the Father at Christ’s baptism. Today’s Bible reading says the Father now identifies us with His beloved Son: The Father qualifies us, or makes us sufficient, to share in Christ’s inheritance; He transfers us into His beloved Son’s kingdom. Well it’s a great thought, and they’re easy words to say to an infant: “James Julius, you are my beloved son; in you I am wel ..read more

Jonathan Haidt’s important book The Anxious Generation demonstrates that smartphones and social media multiply anxiety. This is particularly true for adolescents. He’s right. Yet the problem of anxiety is not new. Tolstoy in the 19th century said, “Our whole life is taken up with anxiety for personal security, with preparations for living, so that we really never live at all.” Election years exacerbate anxiety. But anxiety haunts the human experience. A little 4 year old spent Tuesday morning crying through morning prayer on the first day of school, right over there. Perhaps the mother was als ..read more