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On September 5, 2019, I wrote a blog post about bad theology and I jokingly chose an image to go with it that said “Bad Theology Kills.” In the blog I talked about a Facebook post in which I joked about how God was trying to teach me a lesson through all of the bad luck I was experiencing. Some people didn’t realize I was joking on Facebook, so I needed to clarify in the blog that I don’t think God punishes us for our actions.

Today, I feel the need to call attention to some more bad theology that is currently floating around the internet in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) threat that is spreading throughout the United States and the world. I have seen several posts that say “Do Not Fear” or “God Is In Control” and are accompanied by people talking about how we do not need to worry about this pandemic. Those are mild compared to the pastor who recently preached that the coronavirus is a plague sent by God to purge the world of sin as the End Times approach and “true believers” will be immune from the plague. 

First and foremost, I do want to say that there is Biblical precedent for believing that God is working for the redemption of the world and that we do not need to fear death because Christ has shown us that God can defeat death. But, and this is a big BUT, we still have free will here on Earth. God is not pulling all of the strings as if we are marionette puppets. If we didn’t have some control over our lives and this world, Adam and Eve would not have been able to eat of the forbidden fruit. We are still responsible for our actions here on this earth. 

God has given us gifts of reason, knowledge, and understanding and this is the exact time that we should be utilizing them for the betterment of all society. Scientists from around the world are telling us that through social distancing we can “flatten the curve,” which will greatly reduce the amount of people who will contract the coronavirus, potentially saving millions of lives. (https://www.sciencealert.com/dragging-out-the-coronavirus-epidemic-is-important-in-saving-lives) We should take great care in trying to balance caring for our families and also trying to protect the most vulnerable in our midst. Jesus gave us the responsibility to care for those who are most vulnerable in our society even if it seems inconvenient to us at times. 

These next several weeks or months are definitely going to be hard for us as the normalcy of our lives is interrupted. You will not be spared from the Coronavirus because of how “holy” you are and scientists are not antithetical to Christianity. God desires you to be healthy and live a life of love. One of the ways we can show that to others right now is to make sure we listen to the advice that is given to us and choose to preserve life at any cost. 

Your armchair theologian,

Pastor Corey

The Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA

In 1526 the reformers embarked on a program of visiting the parishes in Electoral Saxony. It’s known as the Saxon Visitation. As would later be stated in the Augsburg Confession, its objective was to determine if “the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly.”

Martin Luther himself visited the parishes in and around Wittenberg. He wasn’t pleased. He found that many clergy didn’t receive adequate compensation, and that the gospel was not clearly taught or understood.

Luther, In his inimitable subtle style, wrote: “Dear God, what misery I beheld! The ordinary person, especially in the villages, knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith, and unfortunately many pastors are completely unskilled and incompetent teachers. Yet supposedly they all bear the name Christian, are baptized, and receive the holy sacrament, even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments! As a result, they live like simple cattle or irrational pigs and, despite the fact that the gospel has returned, have mastered the fine art of misusing all their freedom.” Yikes!

Luther’s experience led to the publication of his Small Catechism, a “Handbook for Ordinary Pastors and Preachers.” In clear and concise language, he explained the basics of the Christian faith so that all people, not just educated professionals, could understand the great gift of the gospel and live it in daily life.

Theologian Timothy Wengert points out that Luther rearranged the typical order of medieval catechisms to make clear the evangelical understanding that the good news means law and gospel, judgment and promise. Luther “insisted on moving from law (Ten Commandments) to gospel (Creed and Lord’s Prayer).”

This uniquely Lutheran understanding of the gospel is an important contribution to the Christian movement. It calls out the reality of the human condition, that we are broken and have broken creation, that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves, that we need a just and loving God who has no illusions about human nature and, at the same time, has infinite love that claims us and sets us free.

This is true evangelicalism that rejects what I call the “Billy Joel gospel” that declares: “I like you just the way you are.” God’s love is unconditional, but God does not like us just the way we are—that’s why we have Jesus.

I am concerned that our branch of the Lutheran movement can become watered down to the point of Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—a concept developed by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton in their 2005 study of common beliefs of American youth. To paraphrase very roughly the results of their study: God exists, God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, the central goal in life is to be happy and feel good about oneself, God does not need to be particularly in one’s life except when God is needed to solve a problem, and good people go to heaven when they die.

In this philosophy, there is no awe in the presence of the Transcendent, no turning outward from self, no horror of the reality and the effects of sin—and not in the narrow sense of individual moral failings—no wonder at the intimate love of God shown in the incarnation and the crucifixion, no deep gratitude for the liberation of the resurrection.

In 2017, I called this church to study Luther’s Small Catechism. I think we did for a while. I ask that we all study it again, use it in Bible study and preaching, refer to it when navigating the demands of daily life, incorporate it in our work of justice and advocacy, use it in honest self-examination, and trust its witness to the gospel when we receive the Lord’s consolation. Luther said he needed to study it every day—and he wrote it! Let’s us do the same.

A monthly message from the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, published in the February 2020 issue of Living Lutheran (LivingLutheran.org).

Did you know that you can pick up your own copy of Luther’s Small Catechism, along with other devotional resources, in the Gathering Space? You can also download a free app here: https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/22879/Luther-Small-Catechism-App

Nathan gets it. His momma has been home with the flu all week, so she couldn’t come to worship on Ash Wednesday. Before he left the church after worship, Nathan made sure that he had some ashes to go in a little communion cup, so that she wouldn’t miss out on this important church day. It was his way of saying, “I love you.”

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our 40-day Lenten journey toward Easter and is a day when we confront the reality that we will die. As part of my reflection on Joel 2 (2:1-2, 12-17) and Matthew 6 (6:1-6, 16-21), I said that “I’ll never get used to the death-related aspects of my job. While I have the opportunities to be part of all sorts of exciting life-giving and powerful moments – baptisms and weddings, worship and concerts, Sunday morning learning and weekday Bible studies, BBQs, visiting newborns at the hospital, dreaming and visioning and so much more – much of my time is spent hovering in the circumference of death and dying moments.

Little ones who are ailing, marriages that are decaying, downward spirals of addiction, family hurting family, friends betraying friends, and the heavy burdens that come with words like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and stroke, not to mention end-of-life farewells. Not all of them are a literal death, but there is frequently a dagger to the heart of joy and hope. Some days it is too much to bear.

In reality, it isn’t just me facing down all of these things. You are too. We’re all in this together.”

What a gift it is to be able to love people. God created us in love, for love. Sometimes it can be terribly hard, bordering on unbearable, but we are blessed to share the journey with others.

This Lenten season, we’ll be exploring Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages and what they looked like in the life of Christ. Chapman suggests that we all give/receive love using our primary language(s). The Five Love Languages are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, Physical Touch. Until we understand one another’s love language, we are missing communicating and connecting with each other. 

Jesus knew what type of love each person needed and loved them perfectly. He offered words of encouragement and affirmation to the Centurion saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith” and told his disciples and the crowd that they were his family.

To others, he stuck around a little extra, giving them the quality time that they needed, including a deep investment in his disciples by living, working, and sharing with them for three years.

Jesus was also a phenomenal gift giver. He gave the hungry crowd on the hillside more than they could eat, power and authority to his disciples, and restored life to his friend Lazarus. Each was a gift of love.

Washing his disciples’ feet and healing the man born blind, Jesus showed his love through acts of service, not to mention that he willingly laid down his life for you and for me.

When Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them, he was telling them of his great love, just as he did when he saw Simon’s mother-in-law lying ill and “took her by the hand and lifted her up – the fever left her.” Physical touch was central to his ministry.

How does Jesus meet and love you? How do you experience the presence of God in this community and the world? Little Nathan might not know his mom’s love language, but that doesn’t stop him from loving.

XOXO!

Pastor Lowell

If you haven’t done it, yet, we encourage you to take an online assessment to show how you lean:

www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes

We encounter strangers, friends, and acquaintances every day and our interactions are often guided by the first impressions we have when we see them. Are they smiling or frowning? Do they seem like they are “put together?” Do they appear calm or agitated? Sometimes we pay very little attention and go about our day with rote greetings: “Hello! How are you?” “Do you need help with anything today?” “Have a great day!” And sometimes we are paying attention but the people with whom we interact have put up a social facade, masking anything that might be troubling them.

Recently, music director John Johns stepped out of 9:30 worship to share his spiritual journey with the Senior High students in Sunday School. He talked about his childhood, growing up in the Roman Catholic church, and struggling with depression and anxiety. Toward the end of the morning, he shared a story about how important it is to be part of a loving community.

A couple of years ago, John was working quietly in the sanctuary and Cara asked a seemingly innocuous question: “Are you okay?” John answered, “yeah, just getting a lot done,” but he realized that what he thought was a carefully manufactured happy face must be slipping. For most of his life, he was used to smiling at people and pretending to be “fine,” when most of the time he was working hard to keep his depression and anxiety at bay.

Cara’s attention and the simple question made John realize he couldn’t manage his mood on his own anymore, and that he needed to go to the doctor for help. Two years and several treatment options later, he feels like he has his mood under control, and he knows he is part of a community that is helping to watch out for him. 

Cara doesn’t even remember the conversation. But sometimes a passing comment can have a significant impact on another person. From ending a bad relationship to seeking treatment or renewing faith, simple conversations can make a big impact in the context of a caring community. We recognize the power of caring conversation in many forms, such as CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish) retreats, support groups, and Stephen Ministry. But John and Cara’s narrative highlights that there doesn’t need to be a formal mechanism for such a conversation to take place, just a caring community. 

Yours in Christ,

Cara and John

I used to love reading the print news. I know that may seem strange coming from someone who straddles the GenX and Millenial age ranges since it is widely assumed that our generation’s addiction to technology is killing print media. My interest in print media developed at an early age as I used to peruse the Hamilton Journal News at my parent’s home, focusing mainly on local articles and the arts section. That interest has continued through adulthood as I currently have subscriptions to four magazines and two newspapers and that doesn’t include the random magazines that come to my house throughout the year from Thrivent, my alma mater Miami University, or other places that have me on their customer mailing list. Despite being surrounded by a trove of print media each week, I am finding it harder and harder to pick it up and read it. 

I used to consider print media as the last bastion of truth in reporting. I have long ago given up on any “news” program that airs on TV as the majority of the program is commentary and spin on things that may or may not be fact, the focus has shifted to ratings rather than reporting. I held onto the hope that social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook could be a source for real news, but as we have seen, anyone can post something claiming it is true, and many people who see it will believe it and share it. News has become so politically divided that each political side claims to own “the real truth” and anyone who doesn’t believe them is a moron or propagator of a massive conspiracy. It feels like we have lost the ability to know “the truth” and that is immensely debilitating. 

I had a similar experience during my first month at seminary in my Introduction to the Old (First) Testament class. My professor told us, “the great flood of Noah, as you think of it, probably didn’t happen.” She went on to say that there was probably a flood at some point in history, that seemed like it covered the whole earth to the people at that time, but in all reality, they had no idea that the earth was round or what was on the other side. This shook me to my core for a while. What I considered “truth” in the Bible was maybe not as truthful as I thought it was. It could have just been commentary, by the author, about a historical fact mixed with a dose of God’s faithfulness in saving humanity. Where could I find truthful reporting about the God of history?

My quest for truth in the media and truth in the historical accounts of the Bible may continue to frustrate and confound me for the rest of my life, but the good news is that we can put our hope in the Truth (capital T) that is revealed to us through Scripture, that Jesus Christ came to show us the kingdom of God and that God has power over death. While all of the details may be up for speculation, we have faith in the true message of the story, that our God is a God of truth, justice, and mercy. Life is never as easy as a dichotomy, an either/or, a black/white, we live our lives in the multiple hues of the continuum of grayness; and while that may frustrate us at times, the search for truth usually happens in the liminal space, the margins, somewhere between. 

Not yet making a cone hat out of foil, 

Pastor Corey

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