2004 Winter - Higher Things Magazine (with Bible Studies)

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WINTER

/ 2004

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Contents T A B L E

4

6

O F

A Meditation for the Feast of Sts. Adam and Eve

By Rev. Heath R. Curtis

HigherThings

An unusual encounter with a vicar’s cat leads to some startling revelations late one Christmas Eve.

Volume 4/Number 4 Winter 2004

Mary, the Mother of God By Sandra Ostapowich

Executive Editor REV. TODD PEPERKORN

Whoa! Wait a minute—can we refer to Mary as the mother of God? Sandra Ostapowich examines this seemingly small point of theology and finds rich meaning in understanding the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7

Putting the MASS Back in Christmass By Rev. George Borghardt III “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Keep Christ in Christmas!” are familiar sayings at Christmastime. But what about keeping the “mass” in Christmas? Pastor Borghardt explains what the other half of the word “Christmas” is all about.

8

Does God Discriminate against Women? By Rev. Dwight Hellmers In a letter from a father to a daughter, Pastor Dwight Hellmers addresses some questions about issues that reflect on women, the Bible, and feminism.

11 If You Give a Mouse a Swimming Pool . . . By Kathy Luder A Thanksgiving dinner which begins with high hopes and gourmet grandeur ends up with some lessons about thankfulness and swimming mice.

13 Registration information for the 2005 Dare to be Lutheran conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

17 I Met This Great Girl Online By Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr. With nearly 1 billion Internet users worldwide, stories of crime and abuse of this tool increase as usage increases. But many also have positive experiences. Read about one pastor’s experience and how—with much care and caution—the internet can be a place to meet some wonderful people.

20 The Business of Killing By Michael Todd Fieberkorn Fieberkorn, a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, shares his experiences as a commissioned officer in the armed forces and reflects on his vocation as a soldier.

22 Have a Material Christmas By Dr. Gene Edward Veith God became flesh in Jesus Christ and was born into this world as a baby to suffer and die on the cross and rise physically from the dead. Are these basic truths of Christianity contrary to popular beliefs today as portrayed in books like The Da Vindi Code? Read Veith’s latest column to explore this very important topic.

COLUMNS 23 Letters We Wish People would Write to the Editor 25 Ex Cathedra In this issue, Ex gives advice on great pick-up lines and how to make plans after graduating from high school. Check it out!

26 The Catechism: An American Christmas By Rev. David Petersen

Assistant Editor JULIE STIEGEMEYER

Editorial Associates REV. TIM PAULS REV. DAVID PETERSEN REV. ERIK ROTTMANN REV. SCOTT STIEGEMEYER DR. GENE EDWARD VEITH Art Director STEVE BLAKEY

Business Manager LYNN FREDERICKSEN

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HIGHER THINGS, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS President REV. KLEMET

PREUS

Vice President REV. MARCUS

ZILL

Executive Director REV. DANIEL WOODRING

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OSTAPOWICH

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W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 3

A Medita

the Feast of Sts. i

fumbled for my keys with my right hand as I held my collar in my left. It was my vicarage year and I had just returned home from St. Peter’s Lutheran Church where I had performed the liturgy on Christmas Eve. My wife was in the hospital having just given birth to our firstborn, a daughter, earlier that day. I was home to feed the cat and change clothes before dashing off to be with mother and child again.

H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 4

I retrieved the keys and opened the door. I walked a few steps in the dark to the lamp by the bay window and switched it on.Turning around, I saw our cat Basil sitting the middle of the living room staring at me. He is a fine cat—big and sleek, black on top and over his eyes, but with a white face, underbelly, and legs. His nose is large and rose-tinted with a black spot. His eyes, which at this moment were locked onto mine, are a brilliant yellowgreen with the right being noticeably more yellow than the left.

No doubt Basil had been watching me go through my entrance ritual. Usually after a long absence he meets us at the door with a meow, thus serving notice that it is time to eat. So I was a little surprised that he was not at the door this time and doubly so when I found him sitting in the middle of the living room looking at me with what can only be described as intent.

“Do sit down,” said the cat. I was looking him square in the eyes when he said this, and I saw his white mouth open to reveal his long teeth and miraculously expressive, bright red tongue.

“Pardon?” said I, fully expecting Basil to say,“Excuse me, I meant ‘meow,’” or something of that sort.

“Do sit down, if you please.”

At this point, I took the cat’s advice. I chose the chair nearest to me and gently let myself into it—all the while keeping my eyes on my suddenly loquacious cat.

“I suppose,” said Basil, blinking in his slow feline fashion,“that you, a man of the Church, know what today is.”

“Christmas Eve, of course.”

“No, no.That is today in tomorrow’s right. What is today in its own right?” said Basil, now with a twitch in his tail.

“I’m afraid I don’t know, Basil.”

“It is the Feast of Adam and Eve,” he said with a tone (his voice was much deeper that I would have imagined) of finality that implied that all should be clear to me now.

“Oh?” was all I could come up with after a two or three second pause.

“Yes. And do you know who they were?”

“Of course. Our first parents – I’m not that dull.”

“Good.Then you can surmise why I breach this topic with you tonight.”

ation for

. Adam and Eve

by Rev. Heath R. Curtis

At this, I must confess, I was befuddled.

A strange shock accompanies the discovery that your cat can talk. But the shock is greatly intensified when you find that he has something say, and that moreover he seems to have something to teach. As I pondered these things in my baffled state, the pause must have lengthened so as to betray my ignorance for Basil continued.

“Your first parents, indeed, and our first King and Queen. But you must know what they did.”

“They fell.”

“Fall! Pretty word! One may trip on a stone and fall.They jumped from a precipice.”

Basil’s tail was now moving through the air at an undignified pace. But his voice was steady and his gaze fixed on mine. Even in agitation Basil remained the cat I knew him to be.

“I see your point, Basil,” I said, not sure that I did but feeling compelled to say something.

“They brought pain and death into the world.” Another pause followed this statement – a silence evidently meant to be filled by me.

“That is true, but we share in their guilt.

‘Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt.’‘One common sin infects us all,’” I said, guessing

at the cat’s meaning.

“You! You are guilty of the fall! Do not bring us into it.”

“Who are ‘us’?”

“We who groan as in childbirth and suffer because of your trespass.”

Again the cat had spoken with authority, not like the other cats I had known. And again he waited for my response with a dead-set gaze. But I had no reply. I was thinking of nature, red in tooth and claw.

And I thought for a good long time all the while looking into those yellow-green eyes with the barest sliver of a window into that animal soul. At length I did respond.

“I’m sorry.”

“Today,” said the cat, ignoring my apology,“is the Feast of Adam and Eve.” He had placed a great emphasis on the first word and now sat in seeming expectation, a quizzical black tail wrapped tightly around white forepaws. He was waiting patiently for it to dawn on me. After a time, he repeated his words with the same accent.

Another pause.

“And tomorrow,” said I in tardy but sincerely felt triumph,“is Christmas!”

“And what have you named your daughter born on this day?”

“Anastasia—Resurrection! The newborn King, the new Adam, didn’t fall, but rose again on the third day! And he’s coming back to restore nature.”

Basil let my last syllable hang in the air for the smallest fraction of a moment, then turned with the grace and speed native to his race and, with a trot, made his way to his food dish and let out that baleful meow that meant he was hungry.

Rev. Heath R. Curtis is the husband of Rebekah, the father of Anastasia and Silas, an assistant pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Burr Ridge, IL, and a PhD student in the New Testament and Early Chrisian Literature Dept. of the University of Chicago.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 5

Mary, the Mother of God

By Sandra Ostapowich

H

old up. God has a mother? Isn’t that another one of those idolatrous Roman Catholic doctrines that Lutherans reject?

No way is Mary that special, and no way does God have a mother. Mary is only the mother of Jesus, only mother to Christ.The mother of God? That’s just taking things too far…right?

H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 6

Well, we’re Lutherans. What does it mean to say that Mary is the mother of God? Most importantly it means that God became man and entered this world to save us from our sins exactly the same way that the rest of us normal humans do—through the wombs of our mothers. God didn’t humble Himself a little bit and become a semi-man, semi-divine being like the false gods of other religions.The infinite, almighty, eternal God became a tiny, helpless, vulnerable baby Boy to die for you.

To say that Mary is the mother of God is to say that Jesus is fully man and fully God, just like we confess in the creeds. He’s not partly man and partly God with cool divine super powers and minor human flaws. He isn’t a god who just looks like a man. He really is a man and He really is God. The catechism teaches that Jesus is,“True God, begotten of His Father from all eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary.” He is true God, without beginning or end, just as divine as the Father and the Spirit. And He is also True Man, right down to being born from a mom, just like every other little baby born on this earth since Cain and Abel.

So what’s the problem? The problem is that we’d much rather that God stayed up in heaven where we think He belongs, putting His nose only in the business we want Him to, never noticing our sins.

We prefer a god who isn’t like us at all, who is completely foreign, even alien to us. We want a god who doesn’t have a mother, a god who doesn’t suffer, and most definitely a god who doesn’t die.

But thank God that isn’t the kind of God we have!

We have the only God there is, who is God in the flesh, the One who gave us Himself. God is one of us so that people could not only touch God, but beat God, and drive nails into God’s hands and feet to hang God upon a cross to die.Yes, Jesus, Mary’s Son, God in the flesh was so fully man that, on Good Friday, God died on the cross for your sins and mine.

When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, the grave was empty. God didn’t just become a disembodied ghost when He rose, leaving His dead humanity in the tomb to rot and decay. His body rose from the dead too.Thomas put his hand in the resurrected and glorified flesh of His wounds. And when God ascended into heaven, He didn’t just float out of His body.The disciples watched Him go up into the sky as far as they could see until the clouds blocked their view. Jesus, God the Son, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty is still fully man and fully God. In 451 AD, the Council of Chalcedon confessed Mary to not simply be the bearer of Christ (christokos), but the bearer of God Himself (theotokos).

Thank God, since this is what Scripture says!

It is Mary’s Son who is special, not Mary. Her Son is Jesus, God Incarnate, Savior of the world. Mary is His mother, the mother of God. Sandra Ostapowich lives in Plymouth, MN with her son, Isaac, and is a member at University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis.

Putting the

Mass

back in “Christmas”!

ou’ve heard the expression,“Keep Christ in Christmas,” haven’t you? That couldn’t be more true! The world has no problem talking about “God” at Christmastime, but wants to find God somewhere else other than on earth, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying and sleeping in a manger. For us, the big deal about Christmas is that Jesus has come into the flesh. We most definitely should keep Christ in Christmas!

Y

But no one ever says not to take the “mass” out of Christmas, do they? What does the “mass” mean? Did your Lutheran alarm go off when you first read the word “mass”? Did you think,“That’s Roman Catholic”? That’s not a bad thing to think for we have many disagreements with the doctrines of the Roman Mass. But we Lutherans do celebrate mass every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.The Divine Service in our hymnal flows from Luther’s Deustche Messe, his German Mass.

When the “mass” is celebrated by Lutherans, this means simply that the Lord Jesus gives us what He won on the cross by grace alone at His Supper.

So we are gathered together by our Lord Jesus on December 25 to celebrate the Mass of Christ. What’s the connection between Jesus being born in the manger and the Lord giving us His Body and Blood in the Sacrament?

Answer: everything!

Christmas is the church feast where we remember that the Babe of Bethlehem is born not to stay in the manger, but to go to Jerusalem. Mary’s Boy is born to die, born to be sacrificed for your sins and mine on the cross. He reconciles God and sinners by giving His life for the sin of the world.

But we can’t go back to the manger

that first Christmas Day no matter how hard we try. Nor can we go back to the cross when grown-up Jesus died on Good Friday. Nor will we find Jesus there! So what does Jesus do? Christmas is the day when the Babe of Bethlehem comes to us not in the manger but in His Body and Blood at the Sacrament.

Jesus came that first Christmas not in heavenly splendor, but wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger. He was born so down-to-earth, so one of us, so ordinary. He came to earth not with thunder and lightning, but humble, meek, and lowly. Jesus is God with us, God one of us, God for us.

By Rev. George F. Borghardt III Jesus comes to you at Christmas not in heavenly splendor. He comes to you in ordinary, down-to-earth bread and wine. He comes not with thunder and lighting, but with the forgiveness of sins put into your mouth.

Dr. Luther said it this way, “If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross” (AE 40, 214). We don’t go to the manger to find God on Christmas; we go to the Sacrament where God delivers Himself to us, into our mouths, in, with, and under the bread and wine.

But don’t we have the Lord’s Supper often and not just on Christmas? Yes! The good Lutheran question is,“What does that mean?”

It means that every celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a Christmas celebration! Our Lord Jesus loves us that much that He gives us His Body and Blood not just on Christmas, but every Divine Service.

Don’t let anyone take Christ out of Christmas. And don’t let anyone take the Lord’s Supper out of Christmas either! Jesus desires to come to you in His Supper. This Christmas, He breaks into your world, not wrapped in swaddling clothes, but bearing His salvation in His Body and Blood given and shed for you for the remission of all your sins. Take Eat, His Body. Take Drink, His Blood. A blessed and merry Christ’s Mass to you!

Rev. George F. Borghardt III is the assistant pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe,Texas.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 7

Dear Dad… Does God Dis

By Rev. Dwight Hellmers

y beloved daughter, you have asked me a hard question. When you were in grade school, you began to observe that the boys in your class were usually stronger, taller, and faster than most girls. In confirmation class, you learned that God is the Creator of all people and you wondered why He seems to have put women at a disadvantage.

M

H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 8

Even in the church, we say that women can’t teach or have authority over men and they can’t be pastors.

The Bible says that women are “the weaker sex”and are to be “subject to their husbands.”“How unfair,” you say.“Isn’t God discriminating against women?”

As your dad, I want to assure you that I love you.

My imperfect love for you is but a reflection of the perfect love of your heavenly Father who cared so much for you that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to live, suffer, die, and rise again for you.

When did He start loving you? Before you were born—when He determined that you would have an earthly life, so He formed you in your mother’s womb to be the person you are—including your gender. He also wanted you to have an eternal life by means of your Baptism wherein He gave you faith in Christ and He nourished that faith by means of His Word.

It is by that Word of God, our Bible, that you know your Savior Jesus. It is by that Word that you know what purpose God has for your life. He who made you to be His child also made you to be a woman.

As a child of God by Baptism and faith, you have equality with any man insofar as the most important things are concerned. Although you are a sinner, you have the complete and full forgiveness of God which Jesus bought for you on the cross and conveys to you in His Absolution and His supper.

Because of His love for you, He will treat you as His child and an heir of heaven.

As a woman, He created you to be different than any man.Through you He may choose to bring new life into this world, that is, to bear a child. God enables you to think differently than a man; scientifically we know that the brain of a man and a woman are “wired”differently.What is sometimes referred to as “a woman’s intuition”is actually her ability to consider, all at once, a wider ranger of factors than a man does. God made you with skills and abilities which complement those skills and abilities He gave to men.

criminate Against Women?

Sometimes people may look at the Bible and say that since God chose men to be His leaders, what is left for women? The writer of Genesis tells us that the “man” was created first. But remember that God knew from the beginning that this man would be incomplete without the companionship of a woman. It is true that men are put in positions of leadership, but it is also true that men are counseled by wise women (for example, Nabal is given wise counsel by his wife Abigail in 1 Samuel 25). It is also true that God chooses to speak through women such as Deborah the Judge and Anna the Prophetess, though He does not give women the office of priest in the Old Testament nor of pastor in the New Testament.

But our gracious God does still speak through women today.The married woman who gives wise biblical counsel to her husband and the married or single mom who teaches her children by word and example about the love of Jesus speaks for the Lord in her family.The career woman who demonstrates faith-born morality in her workplace, as well as a sincere Christ-like consideration for others and a desire to share her hope in Christ, when it is appropriate, is the Lord’s agent in that place. Many women serve their own churches with tireless effort in the Sunday school,Vacation Bible School, weekday school, Altar Guild, as well as members and officers (within the guidelines of God’s Word) of various boards and committees essential to the functioning of the congregation.Women today are called by God to be teachers in our Lutheran schools, and deaconesses who call on the sick and teach other women in Bible classes, not to mention Directors of Christian Education, Directors of Christian Outreach, and talented musicians.

When God came to earth, He came as a man, but one must never forget that our Lord Jesus came by means of a woman, the Virgin Mary, and that His earliest nurturing and care came from her.The Gospels witness to the fact that it was women of

means who supported the ministry of our Lord.

The Gospels also point out that at the time of the resurrection of Jesus, the women first witnessed the empty tomb and the proclamation of the angels while the Apostles found it hard to believe.

The unbelieving world will tell you that the only way that women can gain their proper position is to seize the roles of men and demonstrate that they are the same as men.The problem with this way of thinking is that it results in pain and frustration for all. In the very beginning, when our first parents fell into sin, God said to Eve,“Your desire shall be for your husband and He will rule over you.” Some Hebrew scholars have pointed out that the word translated “desire” has to do with “control.”The battle for control is what sets man and woman against each other as competitors rather than partners.

In Jesus Christ we are “recreated” into the people He intended us to be. Although the process is far from complete, Christians, male and female, see each other as “partners,” that is, we are “joint-receivers” of God’s gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. We also see each other as having different gifts which are to be used in different ways to accomplish our God-given purpose. We are placed on earth to do good as God wills and to appreciate the diverse gifts which our Lord has given to men and women.

Does God discriminate against women? No, He doesn’t, but He has given you, as a woman, a role that no man can fill. For that we can praise His name together!

With love, Dad Rev. Dwight Hellmers is pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Golden, Colorado, where he lives with his wife. He also is the father of two grown children. He has served two other parishes in Colorado and taught at Milwaukee Lutheran High School and Lutheran High School North in the Detroit area.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 9

10

Ultimate Event

T H I N G S __

The

H I G H E R

C

hrist Academy is a two-week residential program for high-schoolaged men, founded by Concordia Theological Seminary. It is a place where students can study about Christ who is present in His Word and Sacraments and who died that their sins would be forgiven. It is a place where students can experience seminary life. It is a place where students can explore the possibility of someday becoming a pastor. @ @ @ @ @

Worship, the Center of the Experience Life Changing Studies Clarity of Direction Fun Activities June 19 - July 2, 2005

For more information, please call:

1-800-481-2155 www.ctsfw.edu ChristAcademy@mail.ctsfw.edu

If you give a mouse a

swimming

pool...

By Kathy Luder

y mom loves Thanksgiving. She grew up in a parsonage far away from her grandparents, aunts, and uncles.They could never get home for Christmas so they always invited the whole family to come the 700 miles to their home in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. Every year at least some of them came. It was always an early Christmas. As a kid, her Thanksgivings were presents, cousins, and good things to eat.

M

She tries hard to recreate that atmosphere at our house every year. She cleans, shops, and bakes for days on end. We always have extended family with us and often close friends. Early on I learned to hate Thanksgiving. It always meant a lot of work and sleeping in the living room. But this year I had a school writing project to gather family memories of holidays. Since I procrastinated, I ran out of choices, so I threw myself into my mom’s version of an ideal Thanksgiving. We went to the library and brought home Bon Apetit and Martha Stewart magazines.

We finally settled on a menu: Arugula Salad with Oranges, Pomegranate Seeds, and Goat Cheese; Porcini-Rubbed Turkey with Shiitake-Madeira Gravy; Artichoke, Sausage, and Parmesan Cheese Stuffing; Fennel-Scented Mashed Potatoes; Roasted Root Vegetables with Thyme and Marjoram Vinaigrette; Cranberry Sauce with Roasted Shallots and Port; Honeyed Chestnut Corn Bread; and for dessert, Pumpkin and Pecan Semifreddo with Caramel Sauce.* It was, to put it mildly, a bit ambitious.Things started going wrong right away. First of all, my mom’s youngest sister had a baby in Ohio the day before Thanksgiving. Our whole family was recovering from the flu and we were advised to stay home.

Everyone else headed to Ohio. We had a refrigerator full of artichokes and arugula so figured we’d wipe our noses and forge ahead. We’d just have to have Thanksgiving without them.

We got up early on Thursday morning and collected the turkey off the back porch where it had been soaking in a vegetable broth brine (Martha Stewart special) all night. We found more than the turkey. A mouse had climbed in for a swim and never got out. My mom screamed at the sight.

“Do we have to throw the whole thing away?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Get it away,” she said, pointing at the mouse.

“Can we get another turkey in time?”

“No.This will be okay. I’ll rinse it off with hot water.The turkey is going to cook to 175º.

There won’t be any danger of bacteria or anything.”

“It’s kind of gross.”

“I know. Don’t tell anybody.”

So that was the deal. We laughed about it and enjoyed the secret. We cleaned the turkey, which we began calling “Mickey,” and brushed it with oil. Mom slipped a few rosemary sprigs inside and set it on the roaster. Martha is against stuffing inside the bird.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 11

The magazine said that dries the bird out so we made the stuffing in a Dutch oven. My mom peeled potatoes and I roasted shallots for the cranberry relish.The pies and other dishes had all been made the night before. We covered everything in plastic wrap, set it on the porch, and got cleaned up for church. Just before we left Mom put the turkey in the oven.

The sermon was the lepers again. One returned and gave thanks. After church, we shook the pastor’s hand and I gave Molly a quick, pretend kiss in air by her cheeks, European-style, and we raced home. I didn’t have time to tell her about the mouse.

We tied on our aprons and got to work as soon as we got home. Mom set the boys to wash off the china and set the table. Dad checked the temperature on the turkey and got ready to carve it.

Mom slipped the pies into the oven along with the carrots and cornbread to warm them up. I was putting ice into glasses.

Dad always cuts the turkey right down the middle in the roasting pan. It opens up like a book.

He then carves half of it at a time on the cutting board. All of us were crowded into the kitchen, bumping into one another, doing our jobs. We all noticed Dad stop breathing and looked to see what was wrong.The turkey was open and nestled in the rosemary was a very well done mouse.

Apparently, mice don’t swim alone.

It was our first ever vegetarian Thanksgiving. Not only were we missing turkey, but the recipes from the magazines hadn’t turned out either, including my cranberry relish. John got two cans of cranberry sauce from the pantry and slopped them into a bowl, their ribs etched in the gelatin. We ate that instead, and everyone declared it was the most delicious cranberry sauce ever.

The mouse stuffing will certainly be legendary in our family. I am sure we won’t forget this Thanksgiving. Without turkey on the table the elaborate side dishes and decorations seemed silly.

We swore that next year we’d keep it simple and forever have cranberry sauce from a can.

After dinner, the boys did the dishes and Mom and I went to watch the parade. She was quiet.

“You okay, Mom?” “Sure. Why?’ “Well, it didn’t work according to plan. I wish Grandma was here.”

“Yeah, me too. But I am glad we’re still all here.The boys aren’t in California or Iraq. I have a new nephew. Anyway, the best part of cooking is the planning. I loved looking at Bon Apetit and picking the dishes with you. Besides, that leper healing always gets to me. It puts things in focus.”

“They wouldn’t have thrown away a turkey because of a mouse,” I said.

“No.They wouldn’t have. We really are fortunate. We have so much. We live in America. Our church teaches the truth. And how is that we express thankfulness to God? By making pigs of ourselves?”

“Yeah. I don’t like to think about that,” I said.

She went on,“The Samaritan leper who returned gave thanks in a different way. He returned to Jesus. He recognized the most important thing. He surely missed his family and was looking forward to a reunion feast, but first He came back to worship Jesus. I am glad we did that today and hope we always do. Besides, it is not like we don’t see Grandma all the time.”

My mom was right.The most fun was planning that crazy menu and looking at the magazines.

And no mouse stuffing or missing family can take away the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and His presence for us in the Holy Communion.That really is something to be thankful for. We don’t need turkey. We need the Bread of Life. And we’ll always have our true families with us in heaven.Thanksgiving isn’t about turkey or even family. It is about giving thanks by receiving what Jesus gives.

Mom has started preparing for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. She is looking at magazines and planning a menu. And I am wondering—if Thanksgiving isn’t about turkey, then what is Christmas not about? *I am not making this up.You can find this menu and recipes at http://www.epicurious.com/bonappetit/menus/thanks03/index H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 12

Kathy Luder is not particularly fond of cooking, mice, or cats, but loves baroque music and sci-fi.You can e-mail her at kathyluder@hotmail.com

SPECIAL SECTION

Dare to be

Lutheran A Higher Things Youth Conference - 2005

St. Louis, Missouri • July 19-22, 2005

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SPECIAL SECTION

Higher Things Youth Conference

Dare to be Lutheran What does it mean to be Lutheran? At this conference we will examine some of the major themes of the Reformation, and learn what they mean today. On the beautiful campus of downtown St. Louis University, we will be in the midst of a city full of many different faiths and religions. But what does dare to be Lutheran really mean today? With engaging speakers, a wonderful city, lively worship and lots of fun, this promises to be a conference you’ll remember for a lifetime!

DARE TO BE LUTHERAN Lutheran Youth Conference St. Louis, MO - July 19-22, 2005 Registration: $135 per person Housing and Meals: $135 per person.

Conference Speakers: K. Preus, Rast, Kleinig, Weedon,

See you in St. Louis!

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For registration forms go to www.higherthings.org

For registration forms go to www.higherthings.org WHAT? to expect Higher Things is excited to invite you to our fifth Lutheran Youth Conference since 2000. Next summer, you can expect the same quality Lutheran Youth Conference that will engage your youth group in Christ-Centered worship, solid biblical teaching, and good fun and interaction for a reasonable price.

Next summer’s theme, DARE TO BE LUTHERAN, gets right to the core of what HIGHER THINGS is all about.We believe in providing conferences where young people will grow in a deeper understanding of their faith so that they will be able to face life’s challenges standing on the foundation of God’s Word.This conference will focus specifically on the central teachings of Lutheranism, and what it means for now and the future.

WHO? may register 1. Youth. While HIGHER THINGS conferences are specifically designed for older Higher School Youth, registration is open to any youth who will have been confirmed by the conference date. Exceptions to this rule may be granted after specific requests are made in writing to HIGHER THINGS. 2. Adult Youth Leaders. Adult leaders must be 21 years of age, and be willing to help organize your trip and supervise your youth participants. It is strongly recommended that you have at least one adult male and one adult female adult chaperone (unless your group includes only boys or only girls).There is no limit on the number of adults who register as long as it is within reason. We recommend one adult per seven youth participants.

3. College Students. HIGHER THINGS conferences are also open to college students. In addition to attending the main sessions and worship services with the entire group, supplementary sectionals and social activities will be available for college students.

Everyone who attends the conference must register.

A $75 non-refundable deposit is required at the time you mail in your registration.

Groups will provide their own transportation traveling to and from the conference, including airport shuttles.

HOW? to register Registration opens on November 1, 2004.

Registration will close on February 28, 2005 unless we reach capacity before that. Capacity is 1100 registrants, and we expect to reach capacity as we have in past years.

Step-by-Step Registration Instructions • Copy and distribute one PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION FORM for each adult, youth, or college student participant planning to attend.

• Complete the GROUP REGISTRATION FORM. • Collect PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION FORMS, obtain signatures of pastor and adult group leader on each individual form.

• Double check that all forms are filled out completely and legibly.

• Make copies of all registration forms.

• Enclose a single check made payable to HIGHER THINGS in the amount of at least $75 x the total number of registrants or payment in full. Doublecheck your math!

• Understand the following policies: • Deposits will not be refunded, but can be applied to substitutions from your group.Your $75 deposit applies toward your registration fee.

• Full registration ($135) must be paid for each registrant unless a cancellation is made in writing before June 1, 2005.

• The housing and meals cost ($135) must be paid for each registrant unless cancellation is made in writing before July 1, 2005.

• There are no additional penalty fees for additions, substitutions or cancellations (other than the lost deposit for cancellations).

Mail all registration forms and payment by regular mail. Registration must be postmarked by 2/28/05.

Send registrations to the address given on the GROUP REGISTRATION FORM.

Conference Costs WHERE? will it happen The conference will take place on the campus of ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY in St. Louis, MO. Some entertainment venues will take place off campus, for which shuttling will be provided. Housing will be provided on campus in dormitories.The dorms, college church, meeting rooms, and dining facilities are all within a few blocks of each other (on level terrain).

Housing/Meals*: $135.00 US Registration: $135.00 US $75 non-refundable deposit due at registration mail in.

*Three nights in dormitories. Single rooms will cost extra.

You may also be responsible for 1 or 2 meals on your own during conference duration.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 15

For registration forms go to www.higherthings.org

Dare to be

Lutheran A Higher Things Youth Conference - 2005

St. Louis, MO - July 19-22, 2005 Registration: $135 per person Housing and Meals: $135 per person.

Conference Speakers: K. Preus, Rast, Kleinig, Weedon

“I met this great girl online...”

by Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.

I

‘m nearly 30 years old and engaged. Finally. After I had spent over a decade yearning, longing, and storming the gates of heaven, the Lord has introduced to me the woman with whom I am meant to share the rest of my life. Her name is Faith. She’s a lovely woman and everything I ever wanted in a spouse—intelligent, witty, adorable, beautiful.

Most people only have to introduce their spouse to their family and a handful of friends and co-workers. As a pastor, I also have to introduce my fiancée to the 1,200 members of my congregation. Inevitably, one of the first questions they ask is,“How did you meet?”

We met through the Internet. We both keep online journals, and we stumbled upon each other as we were exploring interests which we happen to have in common. We began exchanging e-mails and chatting through Instant Messaging programs, and then we continued on the phone. Finally, we decided we would meet in person—which was an adventure since she lives in Louisiana and I live in Ohio. I met her at the airport, and she was more beautiful in person than she’d been in any picture. As we talked, we couldn’t help but recognize the connection growing between us. I asked her out; she said yes. It wasn’t long before I was asking the Lord if Faith was really the woman He’d set apart for me. Once I knew she was, I wasted no time in asking her to marry me.

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This would not have happened without the Internet. I did not go online to meet a wife, but God used the Internet to introduce us. If I had met Faith in a class in college or in the mall or even at church, I probably would never have spoken with her. I’m not comfortable approaching new people in person.

During my many hours online, I’ve met quite a few people with whom I have had wonderful conversations.

These conversations would never have happened if I had to speak the words and that includes my first conversations with Faith.

The Internet is an amazing tool for meeting people with whom it would normally be impossible to interact. However, some adults do not or choose not to understand computers so the horror stories they see on TV are all they know about the Internet. When they hear that a young person has met a significant other on a computer (of all things!), they immediately see this as something bad, something dangerous.

This is not all that different than how quite a few of our grandparents met in their generation. Especially during World War II, many couples met through correspondence. Ask WWII veterans how they met their wives and it’s not uncommon to hear,“She wrote me letters when I was overseas.” Our parents and our older brothers and sisters, especially those who grew up before computers were in every home or even in every school, used the telephone to meet and to get to know people. Most people today really don’t write letters anymore. Most of us have phones on our belts or in our purses, and we continue to use them for interaction. But when corresponding by e-mail is so simple and we can talk to five different friends over IM at the same time, it’s no surprise that “snail-mail” has given way to e-mail and Instant Messenger programs.

In any event, God works in mysterious ways, and that includes the ways He introduces men and women.There is nothing innately sinful about finding a mate online.The Internet is a relatively new thing, of course. However, we know the Lord works through means, and one of those means can be a computer.

The Internet is not evil in itself.

Meeting someone you have met online in person calls for some caution. We’ve all heard the real-life horror stories of older men who talk to children online and, when they meet, the child is never heard from again. Unfortunately, this is a very real danger. With caution in mind, I offer these suggestions: Pray. Anything worth doing should be done with the Lord. Pray. Ask the Lord to be with you as you interact with people online, that what you say and do may be pleasing in His sight and safe for you.

Do not rush a meeting. Anyone worth meeting is going to understand your caution.They won’t want to hurt you, and they won’t want to be hurt themselves.

The world we live in can be dangerous, and, sadly, not everyone you meet is necessarily a nice person.

Do not give out your address, phone number, or schedule over the Internet. They can already contact you through your e-mail or instant messaging program; they don’t need your phone number. List a few times when you will be able to meet. Choose one together.

Ask your parents. Your parents care about you, and they want what’s best for you.Tell them about this person you’ve met online.Tell them that you would like to meet this person. Ask them to go with you so you won’t be meeting strangers alone. Suggest to your online friend that they do the same thing.

Do not meet a stranger alone. There are a number of ways to make sure you’re not meeting a stranger alone for the first time. Ask a parent to go with you. Invite a group of your friends to join you.

Again, ask your online friend to do the same thing.

There is safety in numbers.

Make appointments to check in. Inform the other person that you’ve scheduled check-in times, though don’t tell them exactly when or how many. If someone is expecting your call and they don’t receive it on time, they will know that they need to check on you.

Meet in a well-lit public place. Movies are a lousy place to meet someone for the first time. Not only is it a bad place for conversation, but it also means that the room will be dark for over an hour. Meet in a mall food court or a coffee house. It will be safer, and you will have food to discuss even if the rest of the conversation falls apart.

Pray. Yes, this appears on the list twice.That’s because prayer is twice as important as anything else you do. When the meeting is over, thank God that He has given you this opportunity to meet someone new.Thank Him for bringing you home safely.Tell Him about the meeting. He cares about you, and He wants you to share your life with Him. God is gracious to grant you friends. Whether this is a platonic relationship or something romantic, make God a part of it. With God, all things are possible.

After all, if I’m engaged to be married, it can happen to anyone!

Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr. is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Zanesville, Ohio.

The Business of

“Get in step,

soldier!”

I heard the cadre member call out.

“I’ve never been called that before,” I thought to myself. I was scared, nervous, and anxious. I was taking the traditional first steps of a basic cadet entering the United States Air Force Academy—marching with others in formation up the “Bring Me Men” ramp to the place I would call home for the next four years. It felt awkward at first—the yelling, the marching, the uniforms.

Though I didn’t think much about it then, those were the first steps I took towards entering the profession of arms. As a

H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 20

By Michael Todd Fieberkorn

Killing member of the United States military, my vocation would be filled with duties ultimately related to the killing others.

Five years later I am now a commissioned officer, a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Since those initial steps onto the Academy’s terrazzo area, I have often reflected on the nature of the profession I have entered. In simple reality, the ultimate goals of a military officer are to meet strategic national objectives, which almost inevitably means taking life in the process. What’s it like to know that the job I go to every day is responsible for killing people? What goes through the Christian soldier’s mind as he takes life under the orders of his nation’s military? After all, doesn’t the Bible contain the commandment,“Thou shalt not kill?”

As the global war on terrorism rages, we constantly face the realities war brings. Each day we receive news of another loss of life, another battle, another conflict. Is war justified? Is taking life in war breaking the Fifth Commandment? These are good questions for Christians to ask, and good questions for Christians to be able to answer.

First, it is good to make a distinction between the word “kill” and the word “murder.”The Bible does not explicitly forbid all kinds of killing; the word used in the Fifth Commandment is the Hebrew word for “murder.”We can all understand the distinction between killing in war and murdering a person. What is forbidden in Moses’ law is murdering.

It is important for all Christians to realize that God uses armies of nations on earth to carry out His own objectives among us.The soldier’s job is a vocation God uses just like the farmer or the plumber. He works through the farmer to feed us, through the plumber to fix sinks. God uses the soldier to provide safety and wage war. We read in Romans,“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is not authority except that which

God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God” (13:1).“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong… for he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment to the wrongdoer” (13:3a,4). Notice that all in authority are there because of God’s providence. The leaders of our nation and the leaders of our armed forces have a divine appointment from God. They are his agents to protect us and to “bear the sword,” punishing evildoers.

People have posed the question over the years about whether a Christian can be a soldier. Is the military a valid profession for the Christian man or woman? Some pacifist groups and faith traditions believe all war is wrong. Some argue that waging war and killing is incompatible with Christianity, and that no solider could really have saving faith.

It was enough of an issue in Luther’s day that he wrote an entire treatise on the subject, Whether Soldiers Too May Be Saved. Luther’s answer and our answer is “Yes.” Reference a conversation Jesus has with a Roman centurion in the gospel of Luke: Jesus encounters a humble centurion and, after hearing what he has to say, tells a crowd,“I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel” (7:9).

Make no mistake about it. Uniformed men and women serving in our military today are in the business of killing people. And yes, many of these men and women, like me, are Christians. We carry out our vocation in confidence, knowing we work for God and under His authority. In the spiritual kingdom, we are Christians saved by grace, called to love our neighbors, and save the lost. In the earthly kingdom, we are soldiers armed and ready, called to protect the innocent and provide justice by bringing God’s wrath upon those who do evil. It is a unique and honorable calling, serving as God’s agents on earth, a member of the armed forces.

Michael Todd Fieberkorn is a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force and is currently serving as an Acquisitions Officer at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH, where he resides with his wife Angela. His current assignment includes managing the development of new technology for Global Hawk, and unmanned aerial vehicle currently employed in the Global War on Terrorism.

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 21

have a

Material

he American Religion, a book by the eminent scholar Harold Bloom, is not about Christianity. America’s true religion, according to Bloom, is Gnosticism.

T

Gnosticism is a Greco-Oriental religion that tried to attach itself to Christianity in the first centuries after Christ. Gnostics reject the physical, objective realm of matter. Only the “spiritual” is worthwhile. Salvation comes from neither faith nor works but from knowledge. Gnostics cultivate an inner spirituality that has nothing to do with matter, objective truth, or the body.

The early church condemned the Gnostics as heretics.

After all, since the Gnostics believe the material world is intrinsically evil with no spiritual significance, they rejected the creation, the incarnation, the redemption, the church, and the Sacraments.They were also notoriously open to sexual immorality, since what they do with their bodies also has no spiritual significance.

Bloom says that every religion that had its origins in America is essentially Gnostic. He sees elements of Gnosticism in the New Age Movement, Mormonism, and even American evangelicalism with its highly interior piety and its indifference to Sacraments, denominations, and objective doctrines.

Bloom, who considers himself a Gnostic, thinks this is a good thing. In fact,

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Christmas

By Dr. Gene Edward Veith

overt Gnosticism has come in vogue. Feminists like it since Gnostics believe the body does not matter, so there is no significant difference between men and women.The bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code, with its combination of occultism, feminism, and anti-Christian polemics, is distinctly Gnostic, going so far as to exalt the ancient heretical Gnostic writings over the books of the Bible.

According to the Gnostic approach to Scripture, the God of the Old Testament is evil, since, after all, He is responsible for making this evil material world.The serpent offered Adam and Eve knowledge (“gnosis”) so that what Christians understand as the fall into sin is actually salvation.This blasphemously topsy-turvy theology, which insists that God is bad and Satan is good, is copied directly by Philip Pullman in his popular fantasy series His Dark Materials.

As for Jesus, the Gnostics consider Him an enlightened spirit being. But they deny that Jesus came in the flesh.

The Apostle John was taking on the Gnostics when he referred to a great test of who has the Holy Spirit.This is determined not by some inner experience, much less speaking in tongues, but by confession:“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3).

St. Paul was dealing with Gnostics when he dealt with the two sides of the Gnostic coin, both immorality and asceticism.

He told the Corinthians that misusing their bodies for sexual immorality is spiritually significant (1 Corinthians 6:12-20), and he told Timothy to teach that “everything created by God is good” (1 Timothy 4:4).

Gnostics then and now cannot get their minds around the astounding revelations of the Christian faith: that this real, tangible world we live in is the gift of a loving God; that God became flesh in Jesus Christ, who was born into this world as a baby to suffer and die on the cross and rise physically from the dead. Furthermore, our Christian Gnostics cannot get their minds around the fact that Christ uses the physical waters of Baptism to bring sinners to Himself, and that He still comes to us in His Body and Blood in physical bread and wine.

Christmas is all about the non-Gnostic, objective truth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Some people complain that Christmas has become too materialistic. If by that they mean its meaning is obscured by greed and commercialism, perhaps they have a point. But the gifts and decorations and celebrations remind us that Christianity is indeed a faith that— contrary to the Gnostics—is grounded in materiality. So have yourself a material Christmas.

Dr. Gene Edward Veith is the cultural editor for WORLD magazine, and is the Director of the Cranach Institute.

He is also an editorial associate with Higher Things.

letters

we wish

people would write

to the editor How do you pick the themes for these issues? Does each issue follow a particular theme, or do you just stuff in whatever people submit?

Every year, our editorial board has a meeting in the sunny land of Kenosha, Wisconsin. At this meeting we pick the themes for the upcoming year, as well as brainstorm on ideas for specific articles, graphics, and the like. We also examine the ongoing columns (Catechism, Pulse, etc.) to determine if they need any tweaking or improvements.

Why don’t you have more young people write for the magazine?

Because we don’t get submissions from high school students very often. I would love to have more writing from young Lutherans. Submit something (magazine@higherthings.org) and we will seriously consider it. I promise.

Who is Kathy Luder?

I can’t tell you. She’d kill me if I did.

How much money and time does it take to produce an issue of Higher Things?

It costs approximately $14,000 to produce one issue of Higher Things. Of that, approximately 60% of it is covered by subscriptions and advertising. That means we have to raise roughly $25,000 a year to pay for the magazine.

In terms of time, that’s hard to measure.We don’t have any full-time staff.We do have several part-time positions, and most of our writers are paid an honoraria for their services.

Suffice it to say that it is a lot of work, but we believe well-worth the effort.

Why does it seem like half of your articles are Roman Catholic?

None of the articles are Roman Catholic. Almost every single writer who has ever contributed is a member of The

Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

Although we are not affiliated or sponsored by the LCMS, that is certainly our ecclesiastical “home,” so to speak.

Having said that, I can understand how someone may think this.

Lutheranism is a strange breed in America. Our preaching is Law & Gospel oriented, with Christ at the center and the Sacrament at the end of our preaching.

Our worship practices may look “Roman” to some, even though we may be following the oldest traditions in Lutheran churches regarding worship practice.

Perhaps a couple questions may be worth considering. 1. Does Higher Things hold up Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of sins? 2. Does Higher Things point me to my own works, piety, merits, worthiness, etc., or does it point me outside myself and to God? 3.What precisely does it mean to be Roman Catholic? I would welcome any conversation on these topics with our readers.

Perhaps the following quotation from Dr. C.F.W.Walther, the first president of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, would also help: Der Lutheraner, July 19, 1853 issue, volume 9, number 24, page 163.

Whenever the divine service once again follows the old EvangelicalLutheran agendas (or church books), it seems that many raise a great cry that it is “Roman Catholic”:“Roman Catholic” when the pastor chants “The Lord be with you” and the congregation responds by chanting “and with thy spirit”;“Roman Catholic” when the pastor chants the collect and the blessing and the people respond with a chanted “Amen.”

Even the simplest Christian can respond to this outcry:“Prove to me that this chanting is contrary to the

Word of God, then I too will call it `Roman Catholic’ and have nothing more to do with it. However, you cannot prove this to me.”

If you insist upon calling every element in the divine service “Romish” that has been used by the Roman Catholic Church, it must follow that the reading of the Epistle and Gospel is also “Romish.” Indeed, it is mischief to sing or preach in church, for the Roman Church has done this also . . .

Those who cry out should remember that the Roman Catholic Church possesses every beautiful song of the old orthodox church.The chants and antiphons and responses were brought into the church long before the false teachings of Rome crept in.This Christian Church since the beginning, even in the Old Testament, has derived great joy from chanting... For more than 1700 years orthodox Christians have participated joyfully in the divine service. Should we, today, carry on by saying that such joyful participation is “Roman Catholic”? God forbid!

Therefore, as we continue to hold and to restore our wonderful divine services in places where they have been forgotten, let us boldly confess that our worship forms do not tie us with the modern sects or with the church of Rome; rather, they join us to the one, holy Christian Church that is as old as the world and is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Is there any way I can meet the writers and editors of Higher Things?

Sure! Most all of us will be at the Dare to be Lutheran youth conference in St. Louis this summer. Just come by the magazine booth or come to one of our sectionals. We would love to meet you!

Is it true that you will get a higher place in heaven by supporting Higher Things?

No. See question above about Roman Catholicism.

Rev.Todd Peperkorn Executive Editor Higher Things: Dare to Be Lutheran

W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 23

Bling-Bling – \BLING BLING\ noun - def. 1. jewelry such as silver, platinum, or diamonds, gold. 2. extremely expensive style of clothes, cars, general life-style; something “flashy.”

Not a “church word,” but fun to say.

ave you noticed certain words are used in certain circles? The words you use with your parents are different than the ones you might use with your friends. And those words are not the same you would use with your baby brother.

H

The same is true for church. Many of the words we use in church aren’t used a lot outside of Sunday morning,but don’t let that scare you off!

Here’s a handy Lutheran Lexicon for the “terminologically challenged.”

Light on the Lingo?

By Rev.Tom Chryst

H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 24

Advent - From Latin “He comes.”The beginning of the Church Year, where we remember Christ’s coming in the flesh,His Coming in Word and Sacraments,and His final Coming on Judgment Day. Absolution - Forgiveness. Offered by the pastor “in the stead…” (in the place of) “and by the command…” of Jesus.

Confession - 1) Admitting your sins 2) Declaring your beliefs 3) The set of beliefs that you hold true (your “confession”) “The Confessions” refers to those historical documents which state our Lutheran beliefs – found in the Book of Concord Evangelical - Having to do with the Gospel.

Sometimes abbreviated “Ev.” in the names of our churches. The Greek word literally means “good (ev) message (angel)” Incarnation - Coming “in the flesh,” literally. Jesus came as a human. He was “incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.”

Introit - From the Latin “Entrance.” The Psalm chanted as the pastor approaches (enters) the altar (chancel).

Justification - The idea that through Christ, God declares you just, or “right.” This is like a judge declaring a person innocent in a trial.

Lectionary - The system of scripture readings chosen for the church year.

Liturgy - The form of public worship. Origins of this word indicate a public giving-out of “goodies.”The Pastor distributes the gifts of God (Word and Sacrament) in the liturgy.

Preaching - How God delivers His “blingbling” (His Word) to the world through His pastors (“blingers”?).

Reconciliation - Restoring the relationship between God and sinners. Like a husband and wife who are separated and get back together.

Salutary - Helpful and health-ful. Good for you.

Salvation - How God saves or heals the sinner.Makes us new.

Sanctification - How the Holy Spirit makes you holy. “…but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

Stewardship - Managing one’s bling-bling (or all your “stuff”) in a godly way. Realizing it doesn’t belong to you in the first place.

Transfiguration - Changing appearance. This refers to a specific event in Jesus life when he got all bright and shiny (bling-bling?). Celebrated at the end of the season of Epiphany.

If you’re a real word-hound you can find more definitions online with the always-helpful “Christian Cyclopedia”http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/cyclopedia/ Rev.Tom Chryst is associate pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Racine,Wisconsin.

Ex Cathedra From Advice to Absurdity Dear Ex Cathedra, I will be graduating this spring. The problem is I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Any advice?—Debbie, 17 Dear Debbie, Certainly. First, don’t panic! Give yourself the time to think it through, and keep an open mind about it. Many people don’t stick to the career plans that they made back in high school.

Explore your possibilities, and don’t be afraid to change your mind if something doesn’t seem to pan out for you.

Second, focus on your interests, your abilities, and your opportunities. Not everyone can be a brilliant advice columnist, and few want to be. That’s why they become NFL quarterbacks instead.

Third, talk to your friends, parents, relatives, pastor, and other adults who know you, especially those who have vocations that interest you. You may be pleasantly surprised on what they have to offer you.—EC Dear Ex Cathedra, Matt, age 15, asked about his ‘large chest.’ Great answer, Ex! Matt sounds quite normal to me. I remember feeling embarrassed for some of the guys I saw in the locker room when we were 15 - I’d hate to have had their bodies!

Let’s dig a little deeper here. Ex, do you remember 15?

The singer Chris Rea spoke of the teen years as “pride and passion kicked around.”We were all posers, trying to mimic being men, and usually failing comically. Weakness, real or perceived, was death in P.E., and Matt’s pseudo-boobs are seen as a weakness, but especially by him. Good call with the checkup. Bad call with the last sentence.“I know that this is really hard for teenagers, young adults, and even many mature adults to believe, but what you look like doesn’t matter. Really.” Sir, it does. It matters to Matt that he doesn’t look like a man to himself. —Goeff

Dear Geoff, Yes, I remember 15. But I had no idea you were looking at me like that in the locker room.

When I said,“What you look like doesn’t matter,” I meant simply this: God doesn’t judge us based on our outward appearances. Those who judge your value or manhood based on such superficial characteristics should be dismissed.

Digging deeper, it is true that good diet, exercise, and perhaps medication may improve Matt’s appearance in his eyes and others. And, of course, good health and balance is important as we take care of what God has given us. But the more important thing is to value oneself as a work of the Creator, and one loved and redeemed by Christ.—EC Dear Ex Cathedra, There is this girl at my school that I really like but can’t muster the nerve to ask her out. Do you know of any good pick up lines?—Dave, 17 Dear Dave, Walk straight up to her and say,“You must be the Acts of the Apostles because I’d pass over Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John just to look at you.” If that doesn’t do it, try,“Would you touch me so I can tell my friends I’ve been touched by an angel?”

Seriously, if you are thinking a pick up line will do the trick, you’re an idiot, and this girl deserves better. The best bet is simply to talk to her, be yourself, be honest, and don’t obsess about it. If she turns you down, she turns you down, and you’ll get over it.—EC W I N T E R 2 0 0 4 __ 25

American Christmas

By Rev. David Petersen

T

Ah, Lord, who hast created all, How weak art Thou, how poor and small, That Thou dost choose Thine infant bed Where humble cattle lately fed!

Were earth a thousand times as fair, Beset with gold and jewels rare, It yet were far too poor to be A narrow cradle, Lord, for Thee For velvets soft and silken stuff Thou has but hay and straw so rough, Whereon Thou, King, so rich and great, As ‘twere Thy heaven, art throned in state.

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child, Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled, Within my heart, that it may be A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

Martin Luther TLH 85 sts. 9-11, 13 H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 26

he world has stolen Christmas. It

is not a celebration of the Incarnation.

It is a mass retail event. Its goal is to close the year with a feeling of goodwill. Good works are encouraged. Some sort of spirituality is also desired, but it is not the kind for which the martyrs died. All of America likes a chubby little baby in a barn, especially on the mantle or side table.They are also in favor of angels. But the innkeeper’s rejection, Mary’s trauma and pain, the unsanitary conditions, the blood and the mucus in the straw—that is all missing. Most significantly, God becoming man to be a sacrifice for our sins, to bring peace between heaven and earth, does not come into the picture. At best it seems that Jesus was born to encourage us to behave and to be nice to one another.

Consider some standard American fare: It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a Wonderful Life is a beautiful film. I love it. It certainly seems wholesome compared to the holiday offerings of Adam Sandler and David Spade. But it teaches that upon death men become angels. They earn their wings by acts of mercy. And finally, our worth in this life comes from helping others. There is no Jesus, no incarnation, no divine forgiveness. It is heartwarming. It is cute. It is fun. But it is certainly not Christmas according to Luke 2. Its doctrine and message lead straight to hell.

There are other texts for an American Christmas.The film A Miracle on 34th Street should be mentioned.The poem The Night before Christmas, the animated film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the British novel A Christmas Carol are also definitive as to how we think of this holiday. So are Norman Rockwell paintings and Hallmark greeting cards. Not all those things are equal. And I am not saying they never mention our Lord in any way at all or can’t be enjoyed at all. A Charlie Brown Christmas gets as close to

Christian as just about anything ever shown on network television. But again, nostalgia rules. Even there the message is that we should work together and offer something to God, rather than a clear proclamation that God came to earth to suffer and die for us.

The sad thing is not that these cultural events and stories teach some dopey things like a shepherd boy who impresses God with a toy drum, but that they obscure and hide the birth of God to take up our flesh and be our Savior.The world embraces ribbons and bows, sugar plums and elves, but rejects the very foundation of our faith. If Christ were not born a man then He did not die. If He did not die, He did not rise. And it is written,“If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” Any talk of our Lord, including talk or celebration of His birth, apart from His atoning work is either speculation or deflection. He is not known apart from His death and resurrection. His being born out of doors is not romantic. It is the beginning of His suffering. His path to the cross and His rejection by men begins with the innkeeper and Herod the Great. Christmas preaching must be a preaching of Christ crucified.There is no other preaching.There is no other hope, no other salvation.

It is tough to find Christmas cards that carry this message. I know—I’ve tried. But it is worth looking. Maybe you’ll just have to make your own. Whatever cards you send this Christmas, I suggest you make a clear distinction between an American Christmas with school parties, Santa Claus, eggnog, and mistletoe and the Christian celebration of our Lord’s incarnation.They are not the same thing. I am not saying there is no place for eggnog and candy canes or even for Rudolph or Mr. Heatmeiser. But we must keep eggnog and the Blood of Christ distinct and clear. All that being said, here is my Christmas card to you: Jesus Christ is come in flesh.Thus are you of God. Hallelujah and Amen. @@@ Rev. David Petersen is pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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Conference Speakers: K. Preus, Rast, Kleinig, Weedon

Bible Study Leader’s Guide Rev. Timothy Schellenbach I.

Basil the cat refers to “We who groan as in childbirth and suffer because of your trespass.” And Pastor Curtis thinks of “nature, red in tooth and claw.”

A. Read Romans 8:19-22. To whom is Basil referring?

To all of nature, including the animals.

B. Read Genesis 3. Who was guilty of the fall into sin? What were the consequences for the rest of creation?

Adam and Eve, and Satan. All of creation is affected, however, because it is no longer in harmony with man, who was intended to be its crown. Man must work and force creation to provide for him, and the beasts are now dangerous to us when they weren’t before.

II. Basil points out the importance of the feast of Adam and Eve being the day before Christmas.

A. Read Romans 5:12-19. What is the similarity between Adam and Christ? What is the difference?

In both cases, all is affected by the actions of one man. Through Adam sin and death came to all, but through Christ life comes to all. But Adam did it out of selfishness, while Christ did it out of love, as a victim of the selfishness of others (and ultimately, of all mankind including ourselves).

B. Read the hymn, “All Mankind Fell in Adam’s Fall” (TLH #369 or LW #363). How does the hymn writer refer to Christ in stanza 4?

Christ is “the Second Adam,” who has given us life instead of death.

III. The punch line of the article is when Pastor Curtis realizes that Christ is “coming back to restore nature.”

A. Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Who participates in the victory the Second Adam won for us?

“As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive.” Point out that this doesn’t mean that everyone will receive eternal life no matter whether they believe (universalism), but that all who are “in Christ” will receive the benefits He won for us.

B. Read Isaiah 11:6-9. What will be the effect on nature of the restoration of all things?

Death is the result of sin. Not only mankind’s death, but the death of animals as well. In the new creation, the animals will be at peace with man and with each other, just as they were intended to be from the beginning.

Bible Study Rev. Timothy Schellenbach I.

Basil the cat refers to “We who groan as in childbirth and suffer because of your trespass.” And Pastor Curtis thinks of “nature, red in tooth and claw.”

A. Read Romans 8:19-22. To whom is Basil referring?

B. Read Genesis 3. Who was guilty of the fall into sin? What were the consequences for the rest of creation?

II. Basil points out the importance of the feast of Adam and Eve being the day before Christmas.

A. Read Romans 5:12-19. What is the similarity between Adam and Christ? What is the difference?

B. Read the hymn, “All Mankind Fell in Adam’s Fall” (TLH #369 or LW #363). How does the hymn writer refer to Christ in stanza 4?

III. The punch line of the article is when Pastor Curtis realizes that Christ is “coming back to restore nature.”

A. Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-28. Who participates in the victory the Second Adam won for us?

B. Read Isaiah 11:6-9. What will be the effect on nature of the restoration of all things?

Mary, the Mother of God Bible Study Leader’s Guide Rev. Chad Kendall I.

Calling Mary “The Mother of God.” A. Read Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah 7:14. How is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, referred to in the Old Testament?

Genesis 3:15 gives us a hint into Christ’s relationship with His mother. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” As God pronounces coming judgment on Satan, He proclaims that the Son of God shall be “her seed.” This language hints at the virgin birth but also leads us to see “Theotokos,” or God-bearer, imagery. Point out to the students that Immanuel means “God with us,” which leads us to see the synonymous relationship between the virgin’s Son and the reality that her Son is “God with us.”

B. Read Luke 1:35, Isaiah 9:6, 53:1-2, and John 1:14. Why is it important to call Mary, “The Mother of God?” As our author states, calling her “Mother of God” defends the fact that God came in the flesh as a man, thereby defending the two natures in the one person, Jesus Christ. Point out to the students that in Luke 1:35 we, along with Mary, are reminded, “…that the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God,” being “born” and being “the Son of God” are synonymous. In John 1, “The Word” speaks of Christ’s divinity and we are told that the Word is “enfleshed.” The Word is born of the virgin Mary. In Isaiah 53, we are told, “He has no form or comeliness. And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” In other words we will not see God in His glory or splendor but hidden and veiled by the flesh. When the baby Jesus comes forth from the virgin’s womb, the world shall see no comeliness or splendor in the person of Jesus. Nevertheless, He is God, the Son of Mary.

II. The Invasiveness of God’s Birth A. Read John 3:19-20. Why might people be uncomfortable with the title, “Mother of God” as explained by the author?

Because we would much rather that God stay in heaven. Why? The Old Adam in us all would rather try to work out his own salvation. God breaking into the world means that He acts: He is the doer. Sin has no way out except to let God be God. The Old Adam in us doesn’t want sin exposed. The very fact that God breaks into the world to take on flesh and become like one of us makes us uncomfortable.

B. Read Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:18; and Romans 8:3. Why should the invasiveness of God’s birth into the world through the womb of the virgin be comforting?

It is a comfort for us Christians because God broke into the world, coming in the flesh to free us from the bonds of sin. Where we fail, God in the flesh gains the victory.

III. Employing Those Things Which Lead Us to Christ A. How is it helpful to say that Mary is the Mother of God? As we learned from our author, it is Mary’s Son who is special. He is the focal point. By calling her “The Mother of God,” the church highlights God’s incarnation and birth. It emphasizes God’s entrance into this sinful world in order to save mankind from sin, death, and the devil.

B. How does acknowledging Mary as “Theotokos” (Mother of God) relate to the observance of saints’ days in the church year? Is it helpful to observe feast days that focus on her?

As Mary, the Mother of God emphasizes God’s work and movement in time to save man, the observance of saints’ days in the church year emphasizes God’s continued work in time to save man through the Apostolic Scriptures and the Holy Sacraments. Through Ss. Peter, John, and James, just to name a few, we are encouraged and reminded that Christ is still saving sinners in time through the precious means of grace. God’s work is no different than it was in the days of the New Testament. It is helpful to celebrate feast days which focus on the Biblical accounts of Mary’s life. When Mary is remembered as the virgin who bore the Messiah, we are reminded of God’s favor upon mankind. We observe Mary and her life in order that we can rest assured that God is merciful, kind, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. So much so that God would humble Himself to be born of a virgin in order that He would suffer hell in our place and die on a cross.

Mary, the Mother of God Bible Study Rev. Chad Kendall I.

Calling Mary “The Mother of God.” A. Read Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah 7:14. How is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, referred to in the Old Testament?

B. Read Luke 1:35, Isaiah 9:6, 53:1-2, and John 1:14. Why is it important to call Mary, “The Mother of God?”

II. The Invasiveness of God’s Birth A. Read John 3:19-20. Why might people be uncomfortable with the title, “Mother of God” as explained by the author?

B. Read Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:18; and Romans 8:3. Why should the invasiveness of God’s birth into the world through the womb of the virgin be comforting?

III. Employing Those Things Which Lead Us to Christ A. How is it helpful to say that Mary is the Mother of God?

B. How does acknowledging Mary as “Theotokos” (Mother of God) relate to the observance of saints’ days in the church year? Is it helpful to observe feast days that focus on her?

Bible Study Leader’s Guide Rev. Darrin Kohrt Begin your study of God’s word by singing or praying, “O Lord, We Praise You” (LW #238 or TLH #313).

It is not difficult for most people to think of Christmas from a material standpoint. Most of the presents we receive are material objects. These material things usually put smiles on our faces. Of course we know that Christmas is really about the greatest gift, Jesus Christ. Yet our focus on Him tends to be “spiritual” in the sense that it lacks or under-appreciates the tangible way in which He comes to us. The Lord’s Supper is truly the MASS in our Christmas.

I.

Sin: The Immaterial invasion of the material world.

A. The Formula of Concord states, “Original sin is not something which exists independently within or apart from man’s corrupted nature” (Tappert p. 513). Discuss what this means.

Sin itself is not a material or physical substance. It is a corruption of the physical substances that God created.

The Bible often describes sin by what it is not, e.g., original sin is the lack of original righteousness.

B. What does Romans 8:19-22 say about the affects of sin in our physical world?

Sin permeates the material world and is constantly expressed physically. The whole creation is in decay because of sin. It is literally falling apart and breaking down.

C. How does sin specifically influence us as human beings in the very tangible things we do? See Romans 1:28-32.

Sin “animates” us to do or fail to do every kind of evil and unrighteousness. Romans 1 provides a daunting and condemning list.

II. Christ: The Biblical stance on His substance.

A. In his article, Rev. Borghardt agrees we shouldn’t take Christ out of Christmas. Everyone knows that Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth. What was absolutely unique about His birth compared to everyone else’s? See Luke 1:30-33 and Matthew 1:21-23.

Only Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. He is divine and human in one person.

B. What does Hebrews 2:14-18 say about Jesus’ human nature?

Jesus, in His physical nature, His humanity, is like us in EVERY way, except without sin. This unity was necessary for Him to redeem sinful human beings.

III. Communion: True substance for a material world.

A. We crave material things but they cannot ultimately satisfy. Why? See Luke 21:33.

They are all transient and fleeting. Every material substance will eventually break down and decay.

B. Holy Communion is the most tangible and satisfying thing we can partake of. Why? See 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-26 and Matthew 26:28.

In Holy Communion we receive Christ’s incorruptible body and blood. It is not altered by sin. It will never decay.

It alone can give us the forgiveness of sins. Only forgiveness has enduring “satisfaction.”

B. Holy Communion is also a foretaste of heaven. With the “tangible-ness” of Christ in mind, read Matthew 26:29 and Luke 13:29. Compare what you learn with some common ideas people have about heaven.

The Bible doesn’t lead us to believe that heaven involves a purely ethereal (lacking material substance) existence. It speaks of eating and drinking. We might best conceive of this as meaning that we are continually nourished by the presence of Christ Himself.

Bible Study Rev. Darrin Kohrt Begin your study of God’s word by singing or praying, “O Lord, We Praise You” (LW #238 or TLH #313).

It is not difficult for most people to think of Christmas from a material standpoint. Most of the presents we receive are material objects. These material things usually put smiles on our faces. Of course we know that Christmas is really about the greatest gift, Jesus Christ. Yet our focus on Him tends to be “spiritual” in the sense that it lacks or under-appreciates the tangible way in which He comes to us. The Lord’s Supper is truly the MASS in our Christmas.

I.

Sin: The Immaterial invasion of the material world.

A. The Formula of Concord states, “Original sin is not something which exists independently within or apart from man’s corrupted nature” (Tappert p. 513). Discuss what this means.

B. What does Romans 8:19-22 say about the affects of sin in our physical world?

C. How does sin specifically influence us as human beings in the very tangible things we do? See Romans 1:28-32.

II. Christ: The Biblical stance on His substance.

A. In his article, Rev. Borghardt agrees we shouldn’t take Christ out of Christmas. Everyone knows that Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth. What was absolutely unique about His birth compared to everyone else’s? See Luke 1:30-33 and Matthew 1:21-23.

B. What does Hebrews 2:14-18 say about Jesus’ human nature?

III. Communion: True substance for a material world.

A. We crave material things but they cannot ultimately satisfy. Why? See Luke 21:33.

B. Holy Communion is the most tangible and satisfying thing we can partake of. Why? See 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-26 and Matthew 26:28.

B. Holy Communion is also a foretaste of heaven. With the “tangible-ness” of Christ in mind, read Matthew 26:29 and Luke 13:29. Compare what you learn with some common ideas people have about heaven.

Have a Material Christmas Bible Study Leader’s Guide Rev. Robin Fish Dr. Veith encourages us at the end of his article to have a “material” Christmas. He has carefully distinguished what he means from a materialistic Christmas. He is suggesting that we take advantage of the holiday to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation. Christmas is the perfect time for that, since it is the Festival of the Incarnation, and grounds our faith first in that wonderful reality.

I.

The word Incarnation does not appear in the Bible, not even if you read Latin. It means to put on flesh (literally “meat”). Scriptures make a big deal out of Jesus and the flesh. Some of the reason for this is because the Incarnation was absolutely novel, an idea never heard before, God in the flesh. The Romans had deities that took on human form for a little while, to fool around with humans, but none that became human and lived a human life, and died a human death.

A. No Roman deity could ever have been described as Jesus is in Colossians 2:9. What does this verse say? What does it mean, in your own words?

It says that in Him, Jesus Christ, dwelt all of the ‘godhead’ or deity in bodily form. In other words, all of God was there, not just a piece of God or an aspect of God. You might want to explain to the students that Paul specifically says “the fullness of the deity,” probably because when the Gnostics denied the Creator, and called Him evil, they posited a superior, all spirit deity which they called “The Fulness”, from which Jesus was supposed to be an “emanation” or a ray of spiritual truth. To say that “the fulness” dwells bodily in the man Jesus is something that just didn’t fit in Gnostic ideas. Simply stated, where Jesus is, there is God; where Jesus is not, God is not either.

B. The Gnostics that Dr. Veith writes about believed ‘matter’ to be evil by nature, and the creator of material things to be an evil being. Does Genesis, chapter 1 refute that notion, and if so, how?

At every step God judged His creation “good”, and at the finish of creating, He saw the whole thing and said it was “very good”.

C. How does John 1:14 (read in the context of the first five verses of John) stand against that Gnostic notion?

Jesus participated in creation of all that exists. The word “word” (in Greek, logos - lovgo~) was a Gnostic term for Jesus, only disconnected from the Creator. John re-connects them powerfully in the first chapter of his Gospel.

II. The Incarnation is not merely a New Testament idea, either.

A. Check out Acts 2:25-32. How does this link the idea of the Incarnation to the Old Testament?

By quoting Psalm 16 and connecting it to the body of Jesus Christ.

B. Read Genesis 4:1. Note that the statement of Eve in the verse may also be correctly translated, “I have gotten a man, the Lord.” How does this suggest the Incarnation?

She clearly expected God to be born in human flesh – and so obviously that was part and parcel of the revelation of the promise already in Genesis 3:15.

III. Dr. Veith points out that, according to Bloom, Gnosticism can be seen even in “American evangelicalism with its highly interior piety and its indifference to Sacraments, denominations, and objective doctrines.”

A. How is the denial of the Lutheran doctrine of the Sacraments “gnostic”?

The denial of baptism’s power in Reformed Christianity, the denial of the Sacrament of the Altar’s truth, power and reality among Protestantism and Evangelicalism, the focus on personal experience and the inner life that is common in American Evangelicalism is a focus on what’s going on in the mind rather than what’s going on out in the world (and especially in the Church).

B. Read 1 John 4:1-11 and then 2 John 1:5-11. What is the Gnostic teaching that John is fighting against? How seriously does he take it? What similar ideas do we see among Christians in our own day?

In both passages, the Gnostic denial that Christ has come in the flesh (denying the Incarnation) is a denial of the Christian faith. Christ is separated into the spiritual realm by denying His presence with us, and His working among us through Liturgy, Sacrament, preached Word, and the holy fellowship of the body of Christ.

Have a Material Christmas Bible Study Rev. Robin Fish Dr. Veith encourages us at the end of his article to have a “material” Christmas. He has carefully distinguished what he means from a materialistic Christmas. He is suggesting that we take advantage of the holiday to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation. Christmas is the perfect time for that, since it is the Festival of the Incarnation, and grounds our faith first in that wonderful reality.

I.

The word Incarnation does not appear in the Bible, not even if you read Latin. It means to put on flesh (literally “meat”). Scriptures make a big deal out of Jesus and the flesh. Some of the reason for this is because the Incarnation was absolutely novel, an idea never heard before, God in the flesh. The Romans had deities that took on human form for a little while, to fool around with humans, but none that became human and lived a human life, and died a human death.

A. No Roman deity could ever have been described as Jesus is in Colossians 2:9. What does this verse say? What does it mean, in your own words?

B. The Gnostics that Dr. Veith writes about believed ‘matter’ to be evil by nature, and the creator of material things to be an evil being. Does Genesis, chapter 1 refute that notion, and if so, how?

C. How does John 1:14 (read in the context of the first five verses of John) stand against that Gnostic notion?

II. The Incarnation is not merely a New Testament idea, either.

A. Check out Acts 2:25-32. How does this link the idea of the Incarnation to the Old Testament?

B. Read Genesis 4:1. Note that the statement of Eve in the verse may also be correctly translated, “I have gotten a man, the Lord.” How does this suggest the Incarnation?

III. Dr. Veith points out that, according to Bloom, Gnosticism can be seen even in “American evangelicalism with its highly interior piety and its indifference to Sacraments, denominations, and objective doctrines.”

A. How is the denial of the Lutheran doctrine of the Sacraments “gnostic”?

B. Read 1 John 4:1-11 and then 2 John 1:5-11. What is the Gnostic teaching that John is fighting against? How seriously does he take it? What similar ideas do we see among Christians in our own day?