PASTOR’S CORNER
Luke 18:16
I doubt the children Jesus blessed had the same kind of childhood I did. Although we lived in four different towns my first eleven years of life, in each one I had a circle of friends to depend on. While children in Luke’s story probably stayed in the same village all their lives, their circle of friends was never safe. On average half of those little ones didn’t survive childhood. They died of infectious diseases, malnutrition, or, in the case of orphans, neglect. From year to year, the circle grew smaller, and no one knew who would be there the next year.
I remember October fondly as a time when my friends and I played in huge piles of colorful leaves. We spent hours building leaf "forts" and tearing them down again. I doubt children in Jesus’s day had much time to play. By the age of six, boys were working in the fields, weeding and threshing. Girls were hauling water, washing clothes, spinning cloth. If a first century peasant family were to survive, it needed every member to work.
While my family lived frugally, I always knew there would be a roof over my head, food on the table, and clothes to wear. This wasn’t so in first century Palestine. Many families struggled to make ends meet, especially in times of famine, when food was scarce and expensive. Without our relatively reliable ability to limit family size, sometimes parents had too many children to feed. Older children were apprenticed or sold to wealthier members of the community. Imagine how that must have felt like, to leave your family home to become an unpaid servant in a stranger’s house.
Worse was the death of a parent. Childbirth was risky. Men’s work was dangerous. Disease was rampant. Losing a mother at an early age was not unusual; losing both parents far too common. Sometimes, if they could afford it, relatives took in orphaned children. Too often they became homeless, sleeping in doorways, earning a living through begging, odd jobs, and stealing. It may have been such children that Jesus blessed that long ago day in Palestine.
The children of Grace have had much more blessed childhoods than the children of the first century. But they still face many challenges in a media-drenched culture which offers them choices which aren’t always healthy.
On Sunday, October 23rd, we will be inviting members of the Grace community to Pray for the Children. Children are being asked to decorate praying hands which will be displayed in the narthex that Sunday. We ask you to consider taking one or more of those praying hands, and including that child in your prayers in the coming weeks. In this way we can continue what Jesus began.
But Jesus called for them and said, "let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
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Last Sunday's Sermon
[A note about last Sunday's sermon. This is a first person monologue based on the writings of Martin Luther. His words may reflect a 16th century mentality which some may find offensive. Also, this monologue has some interactive elements which will not occur in the text below. You might want to listen to the actual October 30th sermon from the Archive above.]
Reformation Sunday.October 30.2011
Ah, brothers and sisters of Flat Place, Champaign, if you prefer the French, I come in simple black as always, would have come in sackcloth and ashes, if I had sackcloth, or could find ashes in that closet your reverend pastor insists on sticking me in every single year, well, except last year, which is why I come to you, if not in sackcloth and ashes, at least in deepest humility– enjoy it, it will not happen again–to apologize for failing to appear last year to explain what I intended to happen when I posted that document on the door of the Castle Church. Apparently last year I didn’t have the heart to do so. This year I do. A little harder heart than I remember. Nonetheless, I am here to express my disappointment in how my so-called 95 Theses turned out.
But to be honest, having walked through the streets of your fair city, well, your flat city, I find I am far more disappointed now than I was then. In 1517, there was one holy catholic church in Europe, one. Many parishes, one church. I always intended there only be one. Within two decades there were four–the Romans, the Evangelicals, the Calvinists down in Switzerland, the Church of England. I thought that was three too many. But you, you have churches I have never heard of. What are Baptists? Anyone? Saints preserve us. And there are American Baptists, Free Will Baptists, General Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Southern Baptists, so many different Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians, Four Square Gospel? Jehovah’s Witnesses? But, I thought to myself, well, at least the Lutherans–even though I’ve told you now, what nineteen times, don’t use my name. Again, class, did Luther die for your sins? No. Were you baptized in Luther’s name? No. Is it the body and blood of Luther you receive at the altar? No. But even though you foolishly insist on calling yourself by my name, miserable sinner though I am, I thought well at least the Lutherans will have the good sense to stay one church. But no. There are Free Lutherans, Evangelical Lutherans, Missouri Lutherans, Wisconsin Lutherans, North American Lutherans. What, is Luther divided now? Which part of me do you have?
This is not what I had in mind when I wrote those theses. Thirty-seven different kinds of Lutherans, in North America alone. I was foolish. I thought once I revealed the truth, everyone would agree with me and remain one church, reformed, but one. I should have known. Because we are limited, sinful creatures, and life is ever changing, things never go as we plan. For example, how many are married? How many have been married for less than one year? Ah, the bloom is still on the rose. How many have been married longer than ten years? Twenty? Thirty? Remember your wedding day? Such plans. Has life for the two of you turned out the way you planned? No. Better in some ways, hmm, not so good in others. How many are parents? How many are parents of adult children? Remember when that tiny baby was placed in your arms? Oh, you had such dreams for that child. Have they become what you dreamed? Not so much. Again, better in some ways, not so good in others. How many have jobs? What work do you do? For how long? Remember what your employers told you about your work when they hired you? Has it gone the way they told you. No. Better in some ways, not so good in others.
So it was with my reformation of the church. I wrote that paper, those theses, I didn’t care how many, it just turned out to be ninety-five, to invite fellow academics to discuss the place of indulgences in the church. Indulgences were pieces of papers. You pay me, I give you the paper. Your sins are forgiven. Simple transaction. But the greedy indulgence sellers tugged at the heartstrings of the poor, "Oh, if not for yourself, at least buy freedom for your beloved Uncle Ludwig who even now is being tormented in the fires of purgatory ," when they hadn’t enough money to buy milk for their children. And the rich bought indulgences instead of giving alms to the poor, who needed it far more than the pope. And where did the authority to sell such forgiveness indulgences come from? Not from the Scriptures, or the great Councils of the church, Nicaea, Constantinople, not even from fourteen hundred years of the writings of popes. Only Christ has the power to forgive sins, and not because of your payment of silver or gold, or even good works, but his payment for you with his life on the cross. Am I wrong?, I was asking my fellow theologians in those theses. Tell me. Let’s talk. That’s all I wanted, a discussion.
And how many colleagues do you think were willing to discuss my theses with me? Ten? Five? One? None. They were afraid. Before they even read them, students took them down, rushed them to the printers, who smelled money in my words, and printed and sold them by the hundreds, the thousands, not that I ever got a pfennig. I was the talk of Germany. I was the talk of Europe. I was the talk of Rome. I was trouble. I was that insolent monk who had challenged the pope. I did no such thing. I started a discussion. And for that I was declared a heretic and an outlaw. And there became two churches. And when Zwingli said since Christ was up in heaven; he could not come to us through the bread and wine of communion, for your sake, and the sake of all who depend on Christ’s real presence in the sacrament, this I could not accept, and so there were three churches. And when King Henry thumbed his nose at the pope for refusing to grant him a divorce, and became his own pope, well, then there were four churches.
And now the body of Christ is splintered in ten thousand pieces. Or is it? Let me ask you. Is there not a university over there? Far larger than Wittenberg ever dreamed of being. And the university is divided into how many colleges? (17). And each college into how many departments? Who knows? Are there then many universities over there, or one? What makes it one? The name? No. The Board of Trustees? When were boards ever one? That game the young men play at the stadium? Not lately. Some want their leader dismissed. The Chief? Don’t get me started. The faculty and staff? They are twelve thousand different people. The students? Come and go, or should. The alumni? They are four hundred twenty-five thousand different people. What makes it one? Its mission. To create knowledge and to share it.
So what makes the church one? A name? Roman? Methodist? Lutheran? No. A pope? No. A bishop? No. A pastor? Don’t make me laugh. A piece of paper? No. What makes the church one like the university is its mission? And what is its mission? And what is the Gospel? Summarize in seven words. Confirmation students, you should know this. What is the Gospel? Yes. We are saved by grace through faith. My 95 Theses were not posted in vain. Yes, wherever the Gospel is preached and the body and blood of Christ are shared, there, there is the church. Not splintered, not fractured, not broken, one church. That is all I ever wanted.
As for the rest. I understand you are again in the process of electing your king or queen. Every four years. Since I disapprove of such foolishness, I have no advice. May God have mercy on you. Nor being a man of the sixteenth century shall I comment on your insistence on allowing women to serve as doctors, lawyers, and even members of the clergy. I shall however, against my better judgment relay the words of the boss of Zulsdorf, my beloved Katherina von Bora Luther, who told me to tell female professionals, "You go, girl." Finally, while a World Series championship for those who wear this cap seem beyond the reach of even the miraculous, I would remind you that Theo in Greek is short for the divine. I’m just saying.
Now that I’ve had my fun, while my little piece of paper did not reform the church in the way I’d hoped, I see it has in some small way proclaimed the Gospel to you. For that I am profoundly grateful. And so should you be. Treasure it, and share it. Auf wiedersehen.
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