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Higher Things
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Inside this issue:
• It Is Time to
Go to Confession
• Triskaidekaphobia • Free to Offend
W W W. H I G H E RT H I N G S . O R G
/ SPRING / 2010
Worship, Theology, and Roller Coasters… Where do I sign up?
www.ctsfw.edu/christacademy
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Join guys like you, guys who have been encouraged to consider serving the Church as a pastor. ✠ Worship together ✠ Study together ✠ Play together
For more information about Christ Academy, please call us at 1-800-481-2155. You can also find information at the seminary’s Web site www.ctsfw.edu/christacademy or e-mail christacademy@ctsfw.edu
June 20–July 3, 2010 Theme: "Evangelical Responses to Non-Christian Religions" Featuring: "Ministry in a Pluralistic Context" with Dr. Douglas Rutt and Dr. Adam Francisco.
Students will explore how to present and defend the faith "with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15)" during a day-trip to Chicago where we will visit the Baha'i temple, a mosque, and a modern Jewish synagogue.
Concordia Theological Seminary ✠ 6600 N. Clinton St. ✠ Fort Wayne, IN 46825
Contents T A B L E
O F
FEATURES 4
6
8
Reality TV
By Rev. Tom Chryst The Bachelor Jake picked Vienna instead of Tenley? Ugh. He’s so unbelievable! Wait. Back up the train. Reality TV . . . isn’t. Most often, it’s based on short clips that don’t tell the whole story. But Pastor Chryst knows the reality of what Jesus does for us: He frames our thinking about all of reality, even reality TV. He’s our God, and we are His people. Really.
Triskaidekaphobia
By Rev. James Leistico Do thoughts of Friday the 13th make you shudder? Do you stay in bed that day to avoid mirrors and black cats? If so, call the doctor! You have a severe case of triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. But there’s a sure cure for this disorder: a healthy dose of the Gospel! Pastor Leistico is here to remind you of the blessings, not luck or four-leaf clovers, that are yours in Christ.
Last Easter I Was Robbed
By Mrs. Tracey Dann Wander into an unfamiliar church on Easter morning, and you may hear phrases like,“We hear the voice of Christ in the stillness of a clear night, in the way our friends call our name, and in a song that brings tears to our eyes.” Say what? Mrs. Dann was robbed of the Gospel last Easter, but this year, she’s not leaving church until she hears about Jesus’ death and resurrection for her and for you!
12 Rescue from Death
By Mr. Roy Coats Most baptisms take place in a church with sponsors, a baptismal shell, and a beautiful white gown. Mr. Coats, however, performed an emergency baptism to the victim of a random shooting on the streets of Baltimore.Whether in church or in the gutter, we rejoice that Christ’s gift of life and salvation through baptism puts death to death.
Volume 10/Number 1 • Spring 2010
22 A Church Full of Young People
By Rev. Tim Pauls On Sunday morning, you have to fight your little brother for the bathroom. And the front seat. And the last donut. But what if, when Sunday rolled around, you had to dodge bullets, rocks, and police to get to church? Many of your fellow Christians across the globe are in danger, and Pastor Pauls tells you why getting to church is worth risking their life for.
24 Good Things When Life Isn’t Good
By Rev. George Borghardt III When life hands Pastor Borghardt lemons, he drinks a Diet Coke. Wait . . . huh? As Christians, we know that God is good. But what do we do when it doesn’t seem like it? God is, right now, working all things for your good, and we don’t want you to forget it.
26 Piety and Pietism: Can a Christian Listen to Secular Music?
By Mr. Jordan McKinley One of your friends asks,“Do you have any music we can listen to?”“Sure!” you say.“My CDs are over next to the stereo.The Beatles, Bon Jovi, CCR . . . take your pick.”Your friend says,“But don’t you have any Christian music?” Uh oh. Does this make you an impious Christian? Mr. McKinley sets the record straight on the difference between piety and pietism and whether or not Christians can listen to music that isn’t straight out of the LSB.
COLUMNS
10 Mining the Riches: Feasting with Our Lord
By Rev. Thomas Messer The Feast of the Passover. Unleavened bread. Male lambs. Bitter herbs. What is it with all this feast talk anyway? Pastor Messer fills you in on what this event meant for Christians in the early church and the significance of it for you today.
14 Looking Forward
20 Free to Offend
18 I Believe God Has Made Me and All Creatures
28 It Is Time to Go to Confession
By Dcs. Rachel Mumme Admit it. Some Sundays it’s awfully hard to pull yourself out of bed and go to church.You already know what you’re going to hear and see and sing. Why should you have to go again? Dcs. Mumme has a different perspective on the Divine Service, and she’s anxious to help you see why the delivery of our Lord’s gifts is a great reason not to hit the Snooze button. Again.
By Rev. Rick Serina Most heresies are pretty obvious, right? Buddha, Muhammed, Tom Cruise jumping on couches . . . those are fairly noticeable. But what about Gnosticism, that sneaky little lie that says anything that is fleshly or material in creation is a mistake? If you’ve heard this popular buzzword, check out Pastor Serina’s article. Christ has redeemed creation, and you are no mistake!
By Rev. Jeffrey Grams Christians know all about political correctness. We’re not supposed to use the words sinners, unbelievers, or hell. And having a discussion with someone about your faith? Fuggedaboutit! Pastor Grahams wants you to know that Christ has forgiven your sins and set you free, and that gives you all the freedom in the world to speak God’s truth in love! Rev. David Petersen Gulp. Who? Me, confess? Going to private confession can be scary. After all, you’re talking with your pastor about your sin, and that can be painful, and, well, awkward. Pastor Petersen has heard confession a time or two, and he wants you to know that Christ uses the words of absolution spoken from your pastor to forgive your sins, and that’s not scary at all.
HigherThings
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Volume 10/Number 1/Spring 2010 Where the doctrine is strong, the editors a trifle peculiar, and the readers are both cool and under the cross. Editor
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REV. MARK BUETOW Christ on Campus Executive REV. MARCUS ZILL Higher Things® Magazine ISSN 1539-8455 is published quarterly by Higher Things, Inc., 5009 Cassia, Boise, ID 83705. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the executive editor of Higher Things Magazine. Copyright 2010. Higher Things® and Christ on Campus® are registered trademarks of Higher Things Inc.; All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States. Postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. For subscription information and questions, call 1-888-448-2359 or e-mail subscriptions@higherthings.org. (This phone number is only used for subscription queries.) For letters to the editor, write letters@higher things.org. Writers may submit manuscripts to: submissions@higherthings.org. Please check http://higherthings.org/magazine/writers.html for writers’ guidelines and theme lists.
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Triskaidekaphobia By Rev. James Leistico H I G H E R
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Friday the 13th was my birthday. It started with my baby peeing all over me while I changed her diaper. Ugh. I wondered what else would go wrong. Friday the 13th. Hmmm. Our world has a number of superstitions about good and bad luck. Last spring, my oldest daughter suddenly started squealing in our yard,“I found a four leaf clover! I’m lucky!” But the Chinese zodiac says she is not so lucky.The chart at the Chinese restaurant we go to says that, according to the years we were born, she should avoid my wife and me because our animals bring her bad luck. Weddings have their own share of superstitions.The bride should have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue for good luck, and it is bad luck for her to see her groom before the wedding. When I encourage couples to get as many photos done as possible before the service, I tell them, “We are to fear love and trust in God above all things, even superstitions.”The Lord is our light and our salvation. Shall we be afraid of bad luck because a bride and groom saw each other before the wedding? Shall we be afraid of Friday the 13th? No, the Lord is the stronghold of our life (Psalm 27). Now, we might be afraid of God . . . or at least be uncertain about what He thinks about us. After all, we have not kept that First Commandment, especially when we act as if luck has more control over our lives than the Lord does. After all, it’s the Lord who can destroy both body and soul in hell forever. Yet consider this: when His people are frightened in the Bible because either He or His angels arrive in His world, scared sinners consistently hear this message from God:“Do not be afraid.” Adam and Eve hide in the bushes, terrified. But God does not come to destroy them. He invites them out into His salvation in the Son of Man who will come years later to destroy the Devil’s work. Remember the Easter Scripture of the disciples locked away behind the closed doors for fear of the Jews. After defeating death and rising from His grave, Jesus appears to them but not to destroy them for abandoning Him and being a bunch of faithless cowards on Good Friday. Jesus does not hold a grudge. But neither does He simply ignore their failure and pretend they never sinned. Rather, our Lord forgives it to release them from the condemnation that is worse than any imagined bad luck.“Peace be with you,” He says. And then God sends them out as His ambassadors. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you . . . If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld” (John 20:21, 23). It was not
enough that the Father sent the Son to suffer and die for the sins of these disciples. More sinners remain scared to death, and they must be made alive until His Kingdom is filled with people from every tribe and people and language. Jesus puts forgiveness in the apostles’ mouths for a world imprisoned by the same sins and fears that once held these men. He sends His Word of peace to people locked in the darkness where we hide from bad luck. He sends His Word of pardon for our false beliefs based on superstitions and fears.The times we have been ungrateful to God for His goodness because we were too busy trusting good luck are all forgiven by the Lord who says to you,“Peace be with you.” The Scriptures say,“This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). That is always true, whether today is Friday the 13th or not.The Bible does not speak about good luck or bad luck, but it does speak about blessings and curses. And whatever curse does come your way, let us rejoice because God knows about it, and He will work the curse into something that will eventually be good for you. Whether Good Friday was on the 13th or not, look what God did with the evil murder of Christ on the cross. “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The Holy God was willing to take upon Himself the curse of hell that we deserved. There is no sin of yours that He did not wrap up in His sacrifice. His cursedness results in your eternal blessing in paradise, the place where no one will even think about bad luck. We can rejoice and be glad in this day for your eternal Christ has blessed you with the freedom from fearful lives controlled by false beliefs in superstitions. You have no bad luck . . . or good luck for that matter! You have something better.You have the goodness of the Lord who blesses you with sins forgiven in the name of the crucified and risen Jesus. Rev. James Leistico is pastor of Saint Peter Lutheran Church in Evansville, Illinois. E-mail him at leistico@htc.net.
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Rescue from Death
By Roy Coats
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It was a typical hot and humid afternoon in the inner city of Baltimore. Groups of kids, freed from the confines of summer school, were playing in the streets.The adults loitered on the stoops. It was too hot to go inside since the row houses are like brick ovens that late in the day. It was a typical day. Three shots rang out. Unmistakable. Gun shots.The crowds of kids and adults quickly ran from the sound. But a small girl, no older than five, did not move. She crumpled to the ground in the middle of the street and lay motionless with blood streaming from her temple, forming a halo around her head. Her doll lay shattered next to her. Two women rushed and knelt down beside her. They started the lament, the lament that goes back to Eve weeping for Abel, to St. Mary at the foot of the cross.The crowd, running back up the street, encircled them.Yet, instead of crying out, many just gawked at death. For too many onlookers, this was still a typical day in Baltimore. Holy Baptism is meant for dying people.This does not mean that one should wait until someone is taking their last breath to baptize. It means that we baptize everyone we can, for everyone is in the grips of death and under the curse of death.This is true of the small, newborn infant and of the grandfather diagnosed with cancer. Death is an ever-present reality, and Baptism is Christ’s answer to death. In Holy Baptism, He gives dying people life, an eternal life, one that death cannot overcome. The youth group and I were just exiting the back door of St.Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church where I was serving as a vicar. We had just finished cleaning up after the summer kid’s club, and I was about to drive them home. We heard those three shots ring out a block and a half away. We ducked back into the church. I looked out the window and watched a crowd of people running down the street in a panic. I went out to see what had happened, leaving the youth in the safety of the church. I saw the crowd in a circle, and in the middle were the two women wailing uncontrollably. Between them lay the little girl, blood trickling from her temple. Only faint breathing indicated that she was still alive. I asked the women what had happened, but they were in complete, continuous, and uncontrollable hysterics, wailing and crying out, as this young girl, only five years old, was dying before us.
I started to pray. As I did, I realized that she was dying and she should be baptized. I did not know where to find the water, yet I did not need to look far for next to where I knelt, in the middle of the street, was a bottle of water, unopened. I asked the women if the girl had been baptized.They eventually communicated that they did not know. I asked what her name was; they mumbled a name that I could barely make out. I told them and the surrounding crowd that there was going to be a Baptism. I began with the sign of the cross and said the Apostles’ Creed. Then, opening the water bottle, I poured the water into my hand.There Christ baptized that small girl in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I watched as her baptismal water mixed with her blood.There, in the middle of that street in the inner city of Baltimore, death was swallowed up in the victory of Christ. “What benefit does Baptism give?” Luther asks us in the Small Catechism. We respond,“It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”1 Holy Baptism rescues from death. We baptize because there is death in the world. If you encounter someone near death, be bold to speak about the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Furthermore, if there is an emergency and no pastor is available, be bold to be the hands of Christ and rescue that person from eternal death. If there is any doubt about the nearness of death or whether the person is baptized, be bold and baptize. And take comfort in knowing that the Baptism that you administer is as much Christ’s Baptism as if it were St. Peter or St. Paul or your pastor administering it. Mr. Roy Coats is a fourth year student at Concordia Theological Seminary and was a vicar at Martini Lutheran Church, St.Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Mission Society in Baltimore, Maryland. Reach him at coatsra@ctsfw.edu. 1. Taken from Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation, copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House.
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