Deep musings from a beloved Church Father.

Some very thoughtful, and deep quotes from one of our ancient fathers in the Faith. Athanasius of Alexandria. Alexandria, Egypt. 

 St Athanasius the Apostolic, was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His episcopate lasted 45 years (c. 8 June 328 – 2 May 373), of which over 17 were spent in five exiles ordered by four different Roman emperors. He is considered to be a renowned Christian theologian, a Church Father, the chief defender of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century.

 “He, the Life of all, our Lord and Saviour, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest He should seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the cross a death inflicted by others, and those other His special enemies, a death which to them was supremely terrible and by no means to be faced; and He did this in order that, by destroying even this death, He might Himself be believed to be the Life, and the power of death be recognised as finally annulled. A marvellous and mighty paradox has thus occurred, for the death which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonour and disgrace has become the glorious monument to death's defeat.”
― St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation   (298 - 372 A.D.) 

“In ancient times before the divine sojourn of the Savior took place, even to the saints death was terrible; all wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Savior has raised his body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ trample on it as it were nothing and choose rather to die than deny their faith in Christ. And that devil that once maliciously exulted in death, now that its pains were loosed, remained the only one truly dead.”
― Athanasius, On the Incarnation

If I do not wash you...

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."  Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."  Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" John 13:6-9 ESV

I am so eternally grateful that Peter asked Jesus that question! When I think about Jesus washing the apostles feet and Peter asking, "Lord do you wash my feet? ...You will never wash my feet." Jesus reply "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." That statement makes me think about justification by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. We know scripture informs us that we are saved by grace, and not by works. Our Lord said "If I do not wash you...". He said that they do not understand what he's doing now, but later on they would understand. What we see in this amazing event is Christ giving us a lesson, not only a lesson about how to serve others, but a loving doctrinal lesson, that it is His washing that makes us clean from sin, and when He... washes us, He washes us once and for all, clean from all of our sin. It is His work that opens the doors of Heaven for all who Believe. It is not our own righteousness, but His, which He imparts to us, that opens the gates of Heaven to a person. "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." He has done the work. 

O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
    for you have indeed done for us all our works. - Isaiah 26:12

Now when Peter said "Lord, not only my feet but also my head and my hands." We hear that and we think ...oh such devotion and love, and faithfulness. 'Now Peter understands' we say to ourselves. But Jesus once again corrects him and says, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean...". It's so easy in our human minds to want to do the things that make us holy. Christ is here telling us 'you cannot, let me make you holy in the way that I do it. For it is the only way possible.' What a beautiful picture of justification by faith. Jesus simply, and miraculously washes us in our baptism and cleanses us from all our sin in his name, the name of the Triune God. And it is our faith in His work and His act on the cross that is delivered to us in our baptism. Our faith clings to His work.

   "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." 

Baptism

...What a wonderful word. What a joyous and cleansing action, and work of God! God Himself, through the hands of the pastor, washes us in His Name, and by his command. Cleansing us from all of our own sin, our very own, most grievous sin. And we are brought into both the death, and the resurrection, and life of Christ! He imparts and gives us His name. He sees us, and traces the Cross over us, to cover us with the Cross of Christ.

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."  - Romans 6:4 ESV

 From the Book of Concord we read about Baptism.
“Baptism is not a work that we do but … a treasure that God gives us and faith grasps. … In baptism, therefore, every Christian has enough to study and practice all his or her life. … Thus, we must regard baptism and put it to use in such a way that we may draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and say: ‘But I am baptized! And if I have been baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body ….’ ”


What an amazing Promise Christ has given us in our Baptism. I do find it extremely significant that at the end of the Gospel of Matthew when we hear the words of the Son of God telling us...

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 Think of it, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Here Christ Jesus is telling us, that, I am about to tell you all something very important, "all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me." and what is the next thing he tells us? I imagine the next thing he says would be of utmost importance, and relevance. He says "Go, therefore" ..."and make disciples of all nations..." And of all of the doctrines, and practices the Lord would have us understand, know, and use in our going... He tells us to "...lead everyone into making a personal decision to follow me"? No, you say? That's right, he commanded us to lead everyone into the sinners prayer to invite Jesus into our hearts. No again? Our Lord Jesus here, on this statement of all authority in heaven and on earth, tells us to "Baptize in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 
  Thanks be to God for the Baptism that He has given us! 

1 Corinthians Chapter two gives us a very clear understanding of what God has given us. And how we are to understand it.

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

-1 Corinthians 2:10-12

To understand the deep things of God, is to understand what He has freely given us, In Christ.
Now of course Baptism is not a "get out of jail free" card. But that is a topic for another time.

God's peace be with you!

Happy New Year 2020?? "By Gracious Power" Yes!

I've just recently heard of this New Years Hymn written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was certainly not aloof, and thinking like most do today as we see on every new year celebration.. "oh Happy New Year, this year is going to be so much better, I'm going to be better, and..." better better better... Blah blah blah! Here in his Hymn, he makes no such empty platitudes. 

Here in his Hymn, he is looking forward with realistic hopefulness. Looking into the face of unknown adversity, in a way that is counting on it almost.  BUT With Hope in Christ, because He is enough! The Hymn was written in German of course. Below is the English translation.

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
       and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
       and never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
       and evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
       for which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.

And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
       with bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling
       out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world you give us
       the joy we had, the brightness of your sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through
       and our whole life shall then be yours alone.

Words © 1974 Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188

A Wordsworth worth of words

Years ago, probably 20 years ago, maybe more now, my wife and I were visiting my sister in Chicago, and she had a bookshelf that had some really old books on it. I was admiring all of them, but one in particular, and she said I could have it. It was an old original 1891 printing of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"

Thank you Sissy!

I've had it for all these years, and I love to take it down off of my own shelf every once and a while, (ever so carefully that is.) and have always been blessed with deep thoughts and often very light heartwarming thoughts as well. Just the other night I was reading from the William Wordsworth section. I found once again the section where he talks about  his "Intimations on Immortality" . 

The words went into me like a tiny needle injecting thoughts into my veins, to invade my mind with the notion and realization of two things 1) This earth, as beautiful and glorious as it is, is yet missing something that it had from it's original days. And 2) that every day we have, and are experiencing on this earth is the only one like it. Never to be repeated again. And thus this moment in time, this very day is a sacred gift.

"The Rainbow comes, and goes, And lovely is the rose.

 The sunshine is a glorious birth;

   But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth."

This quote from his lengthy prose, tells us also about all kinds of loss, that we struggle with in our human experience. That this world in which we live, is not exactly perfect. And that pain and suffering is a real thing that we all experience. And we can think deeply upon it. 

This reminds me of the fact that in our time, we often are tempted to think that we are so smart, and have all of this new learning, and new knowledge. Not realizing that it's actually not that new. It's only the incomplete thoughts that have already been thought out thoroughly by much older and wiser thinkers than ourselves from ages past. I've said it before on this blog, but it remains true, the mental and emotional state of what C.S. Lewis described for his time and it remains true for our time. We suffer from a "Chronological Snobbery" The idea that 'if it's old, it's wrong, and if it's new, it's right.'.

Lord save us from our presumptuous, unthinking selves. 

       

Spirituality without Theology

What is it about our American Christianity that wants to believe what it wants to believe, as opposed to Biblical, Theologically pure Christianity?

It's very easy in our American Christianity to go with the current, and flow of thought. Whatever sermon series the preacher of the day on television may (or in our own pulpits) be touting about how to live the best version of yourself, or your best life now. Or how we need to be in "revival" or speaking to our felt needs, by tugging on our emotions. A Christianity that has been correctly named "Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism". We see how different our Christianity today is from Biblical Christianity, in what it means to be a Christian.

When one delves into the whole of Scripture, and see's Christ throughout, we see God's work throughout. In response to Christian moralism, rationalism, and mystical Christian experience, Gene Edward Veith's book entitled "The Spirituality of the Cross" answers with this...

"The Spirituality of the Cross negates all moralism, but it inspires selfless service. The Cross swallows up rationalistic speculation, while it affirms the truth of revelation in all of its ineffable mysteries. The Cross counters the mere quest for mystical experience by lifting up what is inglorious, ordinary, even painful, yet, through the Word and Sacraments, offers a true union with Christ."

When our preachers, and our 'Christian teachings' are trying to pull us away from the true, pure, Gospel of our Lord, and tell us that we need to seek God, who is present in the world ...but in a way that requires us to "hunt for God" as if he's out there, or in there somewhere, and we just need to find Him, and in a way trap Him so that we can have some of Him, and so he can then bless us. This thinking although well-intended, is simply wrong. Let's imagine, you're in a crowded amusement park with your Dad, and you split up and he says to you, meet me back here at the car in one hour, where we've parked, at the north east corner of parking lot B. And in one hour you start looking for your Dad by the pony rides. And then you look for him by the tilt-a-whirl. And then by the Ferris-Wheel. It's the same with Christ. Suffice it to say, that Christ is right where he said He would be. Waiting for us as planned. In His Word, In our Baptism, in the bread and wine, the Holy Sacrament, and in the preaching of His Word, and in the loving of our neighbor, as we live out our vocations, as husbands, wives, children, uncles, aunts, employees, friends, grandparents etc. etc.

Just recently in my daily reading of Scripture, I read Isaiah 51. Which speaks to this notion of God with us. And not "somewhere out there..." The Lord works in and through us, and those around us. Luther called them "the mask's of God".

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
    and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
    that I might bless him and multiply him." - Isaiah 51:1-2

While the Holy Scripture rightly tells us that "no one can see God and Live." Christ comes, and puts Himself, in a box. So that we can behold Him. Not only that, He gives Himself for us, His life, for ours. And the universe is (and always has been) in subjection to Him, under His feet. He has revealed Himself, in, and through His Word. Thanks be to God!

Veith's book concludes that the Spirituality (which is a word that has been dissolved of it's meaning in recent times) of the Cross is simply this.

"Though it's not easy to struggle with ones own nature, to be broken by the Law of God, fighting through trials and suffering. But on another level it is indeed easy. Simply a matter of receiving Christ's gifts. And the Gospel of Forgiveness and grace in the Cross, is, as the catechism says "most certainly true." This truth is no mere intellectual assertion but a faith lived out in worship, in the inmost depths of the heart, in love of others, in work, and in the day-to-day routines of ordinary life."

Now there are those who would say... "Why the Cross? Why must I accept that 'version' of the truth?"  And to that, our good Doctor Martin Luther is very useful in understanding that mind when he writes...

"God seems as though he had dealt inconsiderately in commanding the world to be governed by the Word of Truth, especially since he has clothed and hooded it with a poor, weak, and condemned Word of the Cross. For the world will not have the truth, but lies; neither willingly do they aught that is upright and good, unless compelled to by main force. The world has a loathing of the Cross, and would rather follow the pleasures, of the devil, and have pleasant days, than carry the cross of our blessed Savior Christ Jesus."

So why does our "home-grown" Christianity believe, and teach what it wants? This may in-fact be one of the greatest questions of our age. It is the most human of natures, that we not take God at His Word. To pursue our own self justification, and not the justification that comes from another who is greater than us.

The beloved Psalm 52 that poses the question most excellently. I encourage everyone to read the entire text of the Psalm and see how the Lord comes to us with His gifts, simply because the righteous are those who trust in His name. Thanks be to God!

"Why do you boast of evil, oh mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day..."

The Fire and the Staff...

It's been said that "There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read." I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like one, and then other times like the other. But more often it seems, I’m the tired man. I've recently read a book called "The Fire and the Staff" by Klemet Peus. This wonderful book is one that I recommend picking up! And take your time with it. The reasons are many, starting with the breadth of topics that are addressed in the book. Topics that span a great many doctrines and questions that every Christian has had, and perhaps even some that you've not yet considered, mostly due to our business of life. Topics such as the Divine Service, and what is happening in the service. Worship, and what it is. The question of 'what is faith, actually?' Objective justification, and conversely objective condemnation, regarding Original Sin. Why do Pastors wear collars, and robes? Baptism, the Lords Supper, So many rich topics with such depth of understanding, presented in a way that is very tangible, and accessible, and often knit together with wonderful, relate-able stories from the author and his years as a Lutheran Pastor, and from history. However the most amazing thing that happens in the book, is you start to see how in the end, the practice of one’s life will directly creep into his, or her doctrine. And simultaneously how the reverse is also true. That a person’s doctrine will affect that person’s practice, and their life. And the major thread that weaves through it all, is the True Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “Doctrine is life” he says, and as a shepherd uses his staff to keep his sheep close to, and warmed and safe by the fire, so the Doctrine of Christ does for us! This book brings to light so many things about our faith, things that in our "American Christianity" we may have found ourselves very accustomed to, and takes a much closer look into those things in the Light of Holy Scripture. Some of the things that reformed theology and others try to explain away. 

I'm not often brought to tears when reading Theology books, but this one did it. The story about a baby's Baptism. "Pastor," Said the father of the baby as he was helping the pastor dig a post hole at his house. "I never would have known what Grace alone meant if it hadn't been for seeing my daughter being baptized as an infant." "How do you mean?" asked the faithfully probing pastor. "That morning of her baptism, we changed her, we fed her and dressed her, we chose her food, and we chose her clothes, and when I saw that water being pored over her head, and hearing the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit being spoken over her, I realized what Grace Alone really means." Reading that, I had myself, understood anew how the Love of the Father is truly lavished on us in our Baptism. The Author also talks at length to our "American Christianity" and how we (American Christians as a whole) in many ways, through our practices, have left Christ and His Gospel out to dry. And it brings to light our confession of the glorious light of the Gospel of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The Gospel of our salvation won for us objectively on the cross!

The author talks about Faith “it’s like a trick or treat bag”, he talks about passive faith, and active faith. "Saving faith is passive” he says. “Like a trick or treat bag, because we only think about the bag when we don't have one. Then when we do have the bag, we now only think about what is in the bag.” He continues with the scenario in regards to repentance and faith... "Trick or treat’ literally means I'm going to throw eggs at your house unless you give me candy." but what it really means is "I expect that you will give me some candy." Repentance and faith are in a way, mixed into the same dough. Because we trust that God is Good “(if we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness.”) Also comparing passive faith with active faith, in keeping first things first. "Active Faith", the author says, "can only be a response to Passive Faith." Imagine playing in the game of baseball in the outfield, when the ball is coming towards you, you can't throw the ball before you catch it.” We can’t and shouldn't let "Church activity" get in front of our own Salvation. You must first be passive and receive the ball. “Catching the ball does not depend on throwing it. Throwing the ball depends on catching the ball”, not the other way around. “As soon as you take your eyes off the ball to look around the field (to see where you might throw it) you'll not be able to find the ball again. The ball is God's Grace, and if you are thinking about what you are going to do with it before you catch it, you'll lose the Grace of God.”

This book exposes a lot of things about our home-style Christianity, and how some of the practices, have come from something other than the pure Gospel Doctrine. Here are a few nuggets that you can look forward to reading in the book.
“People today want ‘Spiritually without Theology"
"our spiritual health is in what we receive, not in how active, or how involved we are."
He talks about Church growth advocates, who promote a certain "dynamism" of character in the preaching and teaching of the Gospel and in Church life. He corrects that notion with "The Gospel is dynamic, not the one who speaks it, the Word is dynamic, not the one to whom it is spoken. The Message is dynamic, not the congregation that authorizes it's spread."  The author fearlessly addresses the role of women in the church, and the role of men. The Lord’s Supper, ‘witnessing -vs- confessing’ the list goes on.
Are you the “tired man” like me? Then I encourage you to pick up this book, and take your sweet time, and read it! Through it all, shines the beaming light of the Glorious Gospel of our Lord and Mighty Savior Jesus Christ!  Thanks be to God!