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by Stan Lemon
Perhaps the best movie to grace the screen this summer (so far) is Marvel’s latest comic big-screen movie, the one about the man of steel. No, I’m not talking about Superman (that’s the other comic company, DC), I’m talking about Ironman. In this almost Pauline epic, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) is the CEO of the world’s largest weapon’s company. This doomsday mastermind is charming, good looking, extremely wealthy and he’s got all the right moves. After a trip to the middle East and a Damascus-like experience this man with all the right moves and a godless core finds himself as a superhero saving the world from what was once defined who he was.
Like St. Paul, Stark has the right moves – he’s got the fancy “liturgically correct” clothes of the GQ world, he’s got all of the right lines and he’s at the top of his game. All this exterior perfection doesn’t do him a lick of good when he’s captured by crazy Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and everything he knows is stripped away from him. Stark doesn’t lose his eyes but he does lose heart, and only after traveling to some stinky cave is it given back to him – but with a bit of a twist. Stark’s new heart starts off as a car battery, but quickly becomes an Ark Reactor. This fancy technology can power Stark’s heart for over 50 lifetimes, or one really clunky steel suit.
While still captured by Islamic terrorists Stark is ordered to build a doomsday missile, instead Stark secretly constructs a mechanized suit that allows him to break free from the terrorist camp and eventually get back home. With his own little Road to Damascus, Stark seems a little more genuine and is now concerned with the effects his Pharisaical corporation is having on the world. Turning over a new leaf, Stark wishes to devote his energies to peace. Next thing you know Stark’s clunky steel contraption is a sharp looking and extremely powerful suit with a cool paint job that empowers Stark to save the world as Ironman.
The movie ends with Stark battling his own creation and his father’s closest friend , whose own greed has drowned his sense of reality. By the time the credits roll Stark has saved the day and peace has triumphed over evil.
Stark’s new mission, to proclaim peace where he once battled against it sounds like a familiar story. What’s even more familiar is the way that the world is busy destroying itself while Stark serves as an outcast. Greed, which is ultimately the sin of the movie, causes Obadiah (Stark’s dad’s friend) to self-destruct. Peace, which we know to be the love of God in Christ Jesus on the Cross, ultimately wins the day despite the world falling apart all around. Peace always prevails, even when it seems like it won’t.
While we see a bit of St. Paul in Stark, we also see the ultimate superhero – the one that no comic book could ever depict, but only the Word of God. It’s the greatest story ever told, where God in man saves the whole world from sin, death and the worst bad guy ever – the devil. Jesus is our own Ironman, battling sin and death, and ultimately conquering destruction and making peace prevail.
Sin and death are the world we are born into, it’s all we know as little pagans. Left to our own vices we’re no better than Obadiah, who ultimately caused his own death by virtue of his sin. To save the day amidst what the world would want is peace, the Pax Domini that the Lord can only give. He gives it to us in Holy Baptism where peace is sprinkled upon our foreheads and salvation sealed upon our hearts. He continues to give it to us in Holy Absolution and the Lord’s Supper. Our own Ironman delivers Himself to us for our sake, saving us from sin.
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to see Indiana Jones or any of the other really lousy movies out this summer, receive Ironman as your Redeemer! The box office isn’t totally lost, as this movie saves the cinema in what could be the best Marvel movie to date. I loved it, I’m going to go see it again, and when it comes out on DVD I’m adding it to my collection. Ironman rocked and it doesn’t get a single Lemon because there’s nothing sour about it!
Stan Lemon lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Sara and his dog Ivan. He serves as the Higher Things webmaster and is a huge Pirates fan.
by Stan Lemon
The book of Deuteronomy is a sort of sermon on the Law, delivered by Moses to explain the theology behind the Law. It’s often misunderstood as a simple reiteration or repetition, but that misses the fact that Moses is dealing with the Commandments in much greater detail in Deuteronomy. This Sunday, some churches heard Deuteronomy 11 read in the Divine Service. The reading picks up with second half of the chapter after Moses introduces the 1st Commandment, “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge…”
This morning’s reading concludes Moses’ exhortation on the 1st Commandment with some funny business about binding these words to your head and hands (v.18). The business of tying yourself up in God’s Law pops up all over the Old Testament and some Jews take this quite seriously! Very observant Jews often wear these things called “Phylacteries”, which are special leather headbands and arm bracelets that hold little pieces of paper with scripture passages written on them. They’re sort of like Jewish rosaries, as come with a bunch of rules and regulations for their use spelled out in a whole bunch of special Jewish books.
It’s fairly easy to come away from today’s Old Testament reading we should have a similar practice to this binding business. We’re quick to make a law for ourselves about our daily immersion in Scripture and being in the Word – or lack thereof. While being in God’s Word is always a good thing, we need never burden our conscience with our versions of Phylacteries. The fact is, we’ve been freed from the burden of the Law and have been washed by the Blood of the Lamb.
When we examine our own faithfulness, we inevitably find that we’ve missed the mark. When Moses preaches that we should “keep [God’s] charge, His Statutes, His rules, and His Commandments always,” (v.1) we realize that most of the time we do the very things our Lord tells us not to do. We ignore His statutes, break His rules – sometimes even on purpose. When we look to the commandments to see how we’re doing at keeping them, we only see our sin.
We are not empowered or encouraged to dedicate our lives to the Scriptures by this text. In fact all we can learn from the Law is to know our sins correctly and the condemnation that awaits us for them. The veil of Moses’ preaching hangs over our heads and we are left totally helpless to remove it (FC V). In fact, after hearing the Law of today’s text I find that I am a bigger sinner then I was when I woke up this morning (SA II). I have increased in sin and only distanced myself further from Him who is the Word.
There are no leather headbands which I can wrap around my forehead to keep me obedient to God’s Law. And even if there were, I would end up lying like the Pharisees do when they pray in the temple thanking God that they are not like those other sinners. Instead, I am left with a drop of water and the mark of the Cross, given for me so that I might have a new life in Christ. Where I despise preaching and the Word, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, the very True Word of God answers Moses’ Law on my behalf. When the devil, that horrid beast who also marks his people (Rev. 13:16) points at us and tells us we are destined only to death and hell, Jesus stands in our way and quiets Satan’s accusations.
Today’s Old Testament reading can be a bit troubling. There are strange fashion accessories that just wouldn’t be trendy at school, and really weird door decorations (v.19) that could never own up to your favorite movie poster. All this leaves us wondering what must we do to fulfill the Law so that we might not be the ones cursed at the end of this chapter.
The answer is simple and found in the wounds of our crucified and risen Lord. What we have not done and could never do, He already has done for us. And He did it so perfectly that He then offered Himself up as a sacrifice for many. God the Father sacrificed His own Son, murdering Himself so that we might never endure the punishment for our sins.
No Phylacteries for us, only the Cross of Christ, sealed upon our forehead with water, washed and cleansed Holy. The Word of the Lord has been given to us and can never be taken away. No leather binding necessary – only blood and water.
Come soon, Lord Jesus!
Stan Lemon lives in Pittsburgh with his wife Sara and his dog Ivan. He serves as the Higher Things webmaster and is a huge Pirates fan.
by The Rev. George F. Borghardt III
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
A construction crane falls and two die in New York. That’s two deaths too many. Cranes are used in every city to do work every day. We see them without thinking that they are dangerous. They aren’t supposed to fall. They just aren’t. What happens when they do? Why did this one fall?
Sin. Fall. Adam. Eve. That blasted fruit that they ate and shouldn’t have eaten. That’s where sin and death originated. They took what wasn’t given to them. Today, we sin too – daily and much.
Events like this should cause us all to pause, mourn, and pray for salvation. Your sins and my sins are the reason these things happen. As the Psalmist says, “ Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight “ (51:6) With all my sins, it’s a wonder the stars don’t fall down on me! One day, they will.
And here’s the real kicker: We are born into this sinful world where things fall, and the evil that befalls us is because of our own Fall. With that truth in your mind, who would even want to get up in the morning? Why doesn’t God do anything about this?
Step back. Contemplate the Cross of Jesus Christ. God has done something, He has saved us – despite us – in the giving up of His Son. He buys us back with all our sins by having his Son die in our place. Christ takes upon Himself our suffering, all our falls, our death, so that we might have life in His Name.
There are no accidents. Not really. Our lives, our days, our years, are in His hands. There are no guarantees in this world – not even that the sun will come out tomorrow. Which leads to a valid question, “Why don’t all cranes fall?”
God’s grace. That’s what keeps everything from falling down around us – even the stars. His kindness and loving mercy for us in Christ.
What He does, He does for our good. What He allows, He allows for our sake. He calls us to repent. He enlivens us to faith. He comforts us in our suffering.
And when our last hour comes, whenever that may be, it is not because He is angry with us. No, He gave up Jesus for that. So, when we fall asleep and one day do not wake up, or when the stars themselves fall on us, at that moment we will most know what it means that Christ died for us.
Then, as certainly as Christ has risen from the dead, we too shall rise in Him. We already have – in our Baptism.
Consider that: He’s most our God, He’s most our Savior, at the point in which it all falls down around us. That’s the love God has for us – even us – in Christ Jesus. Until that day, dear Lord, preserve us and keep us.
“Lord, please comfort the families who saw their loved ones and won’t see them again until the Last Day. Thank you for this day. Thank you for safety. Thank you for your grace in another day to serve you by caring for those around us. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
The Rev. George Broghardt is associate/youth pastor for St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe, Texas, and is the Conferences Executive for HT. He is fearing the reputation of “The Disaster Pastor,” as he has published articles on the Virginia Tech tragedy, preached at For You in North Carolina about the Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis, and addressed other issues of disastrous nature.
by The Rev. Rich Heinz
“Ignorant.” “Pathetic.” “Self-absorbed.” A New Albany, Indiana Kindergarten teacher has made national news with such nasty names for one of her students. After telling his parents for some time that his teacher was mean to him, Gabriel Ross’ family recorded the hateful remarks that he was receiving. The teacher has been suspended, however the teachers’ union is challenging that decision. In the end, there is no justification for such berating of a 5-year-old, and turning classmates against him, as has been recorded.
Setting aside that these names were hurtful and sinful in their context, and simply inappropriate, let’s take a moment to ponder these three statements.
Ignorant
“Ignorant” means that one does not know something. Ignorant is different from (other hurtful adjectives, such as) “dumb” or “stupid.” Ignorance is not an inability to know, it is simply a lack of knowledge. Ironically, at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Eve and Adam thought they were expanding their knowledge. When it was said and done (and eaten), they knew good and evil, alright! But now they no longer desired the good. They craved what was against God.
Now, they had become ignorant. And we follow in their footsteps. We are born not knowing God. We are without saving knowledge of Him—not just a head knowledge, but the knowledge of a relationship. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit in Baptism and the preaching of the Gospel does that saving “knowledge” come.
Pathetic
“Pathetic.” We are filled with such sadness and sorrow in our fallen nature. This horrible predicament can lead others to have pity (either out of compassion or disgust.) Such a condition is what we call “pathetic.”
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him…” The shattered image of God from the Garden makes us pathetic. We cannot do anything to change it. We are helpless. The last words that Luther penned come to mind: “In truth, we are all beggars.” That’s pathetic.
Self-absorbed
“Self-absorbed.” There is no beating around the bush. Every human being has moments when it is quite clear he or she is self-absorbed. Sin, death, and the devil all prompt each of us to make choices in our thoughts, words, and actions that are “best for me.” No longer do we think in terms of community or serving others. We have been fully immersed in a “self-serve” society.
“You gotta do what’s best for you.” “You deserve it.” “Help yourself.” We are surrounded with messages to pamper ourselves, and let everyone else do the same. We end up in a world that does not lack necessary self-esteem, but actually is plagued by an overactive self-esteem!
The Rest of the Story
“Man, Pastor Heinz is being pretty heavy with the Law!” Well, yes, as I am proclaiming to you the shortcomings we all have before the throne of God. Yet, dear friends in Christ, you know that this is not the end of the story.
Precisely because you and I are ignorant, pathetic, and self-absorbed, our dear Lord Jesus has come to suffer all for us. He received the harsh punishment of a world that knew Him not – ignorant of the Son of God!
He gave up all, as He became pathetic for us. The Man of Sorrows endured suffering beyond belief. Why? To make us feel guilty? (You know, I am talking about the “Jesus did all that horrible suffering for you, now don’t you just feel terrible?!” feeling.) Absolutely not! Our Savior did all this purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.
Our Lord became the One who could truly absorb all of our guilt to remove it once and for all. As He stepped into the Jordan to be baptized, our amazing self-less Savior soaked up all our sin and death, that He might make that lasting payment on our behalf.
Should the New Albany teacher have told such things to a Kindergartener? Absolutely not. Are those things true of us? Yes, and every other man, woman, and child on this earth.
However, our Redeemer has purchased and won our righteousness and innocence. The Master Teacher has the divine gift of the knowledge of forgiveness and life – a gift given through His precious Gospel and Sacraments. On account of Jesus Christ, you are no longer ignorant, pathetic, and self-absorbed; you have our Triune God who removes these qualities and makes you His own through His Divine knowledge, empathy, and selflessness.
The Rev. Rich Heinz is senior pastor of St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church & School in Lanesville, IN, and the Front Page editor for Higher Things Internet Services.
by The Rev. Christopher Esget
Did he get depressed, lying in the dirt? As people passed him by on the road, hurrying to meetings, walking or running for exercise, heading for the store to purchase a present, carrying a bag or basket to market to pick up food for the evening meal, did he get depressed? Perhaps a few people tossed a small coin to Lazarus, but doubtless more passed by with nothing. With guilt some would look away from him; but children drew a little closer to their mother’s skirts when they saw his hideous body, covered with sores, and the more callous adults would stare with revulsion and condescension. Did this make Lazarus sad?
Did he snarl with anger at the passers-by, so cold to his need? Was his heart filled with contempt for the Rich Man, whose table was loaded with a Thanksgiving Feast every day? Did he struggle with hatred towards the man who had so much yet gave him nothing? Or was he mostly just beaten down by despair, as year after year passed and his life grew more pathetic?
If Lazarus did despair, if he was depressed by his condition, is that wrong? Lazarus could not alter his condition. Today’s pop-sermons would tell Lazarus, “Have your best life now! Become a better you!” But I imagine those Christless sermons would only make him more despondent.
Lazarus is an extreme-but-accurate picture of man before God: a sick, dying, despised beggar. He owns nothing, he is going nowhere, he is in pain, and no one cares.
No one, that is, except the only One that matters. For God still cares. We could go further: God still loves. Even when a man is in the dirt. Especially when he is in the dark dungeon of despair, when he is suffering, hurting, sad, lonely, angry, confused, disconsolate. God loves that man. That man is us – collectively, as the human race, but also individually. You may be hurt by the sins you have committed, or the sins committed against you. Sometimes those two go together – we sin against those who have sinned against us, and the cycle continues, making enemies. Or you may be hurt by the burdens others place on you, the losses you have known leading to guilt, loneliness, and emptiness. Nameless fears trouble you, a dark road lies before you, and there seems no end in sight. In all of that, God is still love. God is love, meaning that will not change through good times and bad, through seasons of elation and depression, sickness and health; when your faith is strong, and when you are clinging to the last, nearly-broken thread, still God is love, still He loves you.
A seventeenth-century Christian named Georg Neumark was robbed of everything he had by highway bandits, making it impossible for him to enroll in the university to which he was traveling. He wandered from town to town, jobless, life becoming bleaker at each rejection. Later he wrote these words to people suffering:
God knows full well when times of gladness
Shall be the needful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sadness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all unaware
And makes thee own His loving care. (LSB 750)
God gives times of gladness when it is good for you; and the times of sadness are for your benefit, too. Why? How? Because in those times especially, the LORD is purifying you from everything that does not cling to Him alone. But He never stops loving you. His love in this life is not chiefly shown in giving you a table full of rich foods, a body free from disease, a mind free from troubles. His love is demonstrated in that while we were yet sinners, He gave His Son Jesus for us; His love for you is shown in giving His Son a body made weak like yours. Do you have enemies, people turned against you? So did our Lord – it was His own familiar friend who betrayed Him. Do you have fears and anxieties? Our Lord sweat drops of blood before His arrest. Have your hopes grown dim, and do you feel all alone? Our Lord was left alone, crying out to the Father, “Why have You forsaken Me?” Nothing has come upon you that He has not known; nothing has burdened you that He has not likewise borne.
Was Lazarus depressed? Probably. Was he angry, resentful, bitter, driven to sin in his condition? Doubtless any man in such a situation would struggle in these ways, as any one of us would, as we all do amidst our various burdens and crosses. But the name Lazarus means “God is my help,” and He is your help too. He helps you with the deep help you truly need: Beginning with your baptism, you have received what Olsen received today: the Holy Spirit, the candle that shines in the darkness, the one light that shines on this life’s dark road.
And in Baptism, God the Father becomes your Father, a true Rich Man quite different from the rich man in today’s Gospel reading: He gives us beggars bread of heaven and wine of gladness from His table, in the living body and cleansing blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the help we need, joy for the despairing, healing for the sick, communion for the lonely, love for those sinned against, forgiveness for sinners.
Now then: has God made you rich in this world’s things? Then do not withhold them from those in need. For “this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Has God given you money? Give it to the poor. Has God given you time? Give it to those who need comfort, or a friend. Has God given you talents and skills? Give to those who need help. “He who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” None of this is done to be saved, for indeed, by no deeds of ours can we gain salvation. But by our deeds we can begin to show to others the love that God has for us all.
Weep today, and repent, you rich men: and make yourselves beggars before God. Listen to Moses and the Prophets, and look to Jesus alone as your treasure.
Rejoice today, and be glad, you Lazaruses: For God is your help, Jesus has gone into the gutter with you. With your hunger He was made hungry, because of your sorrow He wept, with your sins He was made to be sin – and now to you, poor man, blind woman, hungry man, hurting woman, sinful child, He has given you forgiveness, clothing, sight, a resurrected body, a clean conscience, love, a sun that never sets. God is love, in Jesus He has loved you completely; His love never fails, and He will not leave you in the gutter but will bring you to Himself for endless comfort.
The Rev. Christopher Esget is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School in Alexandria, Virginia. Formerly a student sacristan at Kramer Chapel (Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne), he served as chaplain for HT’s FOR YOU conference (2007) in North Carolina. He also regularly blogs at http://esgetology.com/, where this sermon originally appeared.
by Stan Lemon
Twenty years in the making, with who knows how many scripts rejected and with more publicity and hype than anything else this summer, the fourth installment of Indiana Jones has to be a must see movie, right? Try again…
Harrison Ford’s latest train wreck plagues one of the greatest cinematic stories of all time. Everybody loves the heroic save-the-day Indy, who first entered screens in Raiders of the Lost Ark, sent by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, you know the one Moses was given. The bad guys are none other than the Nazis, who are in search of the same Ark because of its supposedly mystical powers.
Fast forward three years and we meet a sloppy sequel, The Temple of Doom. This one made a better stunt show at Disney then it did a movie, as Indy wanders to a distant Indian village where children are disappearing. It ends up that some freaky heart-stealing guy named Mola Ram is the culprit. Indy saves the day of course, with some great stunts, a hot girl, and little Chinese sidekick.
Five more years and we find an attempt to salvage the Indiana Jones legacy, and how are all great trilogies saved in the 80’s? With Sean Connery! The Last Crusade is an excellent conclusion to the Indiana Jones series, with Indy and his father seeking out the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Of course, the de-facto bad guys, the Nazis, are after it as well. Connecting well to the movie that introduced Indy we find these bad guys once again seeking some mysterious power buried in antiquity.
Indiana Jones threw the Jews a bone and then the Christians too, so it only seems natural that the fourth movie would also throw some other religion a bone and give them center stage. Who, though, would have guessed the atheists would have taken the day? [spoilers to follow]
No “God” in this one, just little green men. Taking place some 20 years after the first film, Dr. Jones faces a new enemy, the Soviets. With the Nazi regime gone, the movie needed another evil world power to battle Indiana Jones and with Harrison Ford’s aging the Soviets were the right fit. Once again they seek some hidden source of power buried within antiquity.
Having been to the Middle East, Europe, Asia and India we really only had a couple of choices left… This mystery leads us to South America where the Soviets and Indy are searching for a hidden city of gold. With some hokey twists and turns Indy, his son (played by Shia LeBeouf ), Marion Ravenwood (remember her from Raiders of the Lost Ark) and some other people who are pretty much trivial to the plot go in search of a crystal skull in the depths of the Amazon.
The movie ends with the crystal skull belong to an alien, one of thirteen we find out from a trans-dimensional reality or some nonsense like that. A movie which started in Roswell with the Soviets ends with Indy sending the little green men off. Of course the whole time our martian friends are portrayed as some kind of demi-god. Sounds strange to you?
The movie stunk, what else can be said? When Indy was Indy you could enjoy the film, but eventually you realized that not enough stunt devils, fill-ins and CGI could make Harrison Ford 20 years younger. Throw in some cheesy dialogue, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and you’ve got a bad fourth episode to an awesome saga.
What’s most disheartening about the film is the direction it took, the little green men. Our society is so infatuated with concocting a reality where God doesn’t exist that we should have expected it. But, who counts on archaeology going to space? This Godless movie couldn’t possibly give us a good spin if we tried, and worse yet is the fact that Indy’s not even so heroic this time around to find a Christological connection in him. It’s just that bad.
If I were you, spare yourself the ticket – this one is best reserved for the Red Box or Netflix – it’s not even worth OnDemand-ing! Maybe when it’s goes to $.99 at the Family Video… Instead, go out and see Ironman, that’s what I did to redeem my summer cinema experience. Let’s hope Harrison Ford retires after this one, because I’m sending him and Lucas a whole grove of Lemon trees – that’s how sour Indy 4 was!
Stan Lemon lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife Sara and his dog Ivan and serves as the Higher Things Webmaster. When he grows up, he wants to be just like Pastor Borghardt! (a Texan)
by Kim Grams
The problem with being a junkie is that you want to quit, but you can’t. American Idol in a lot of ways has gotten predictable, clichéd, and boring. It’s still the number one show, but a lot of people don’t watch anymore – especially in the younger demographic. I always think I’ll quit watching, and then end up watching anyway.
I had an article already written giving you the week-by-week playbook; it just needed the stuff from the finale and it would be already to go. But I’m ditching it at the last minute to bring you the following instead . . .
Why Season 7 Was the Best Season in a Very Long Time
Everyone was not the same:
By the time we were down to the top 8, there were still 3 rockers (Michael, Carly, David Cook), two folksy singers (Jason and Brooke), one who was perpetually in the bottom 2 but didn’t go home (whom I originally hated, but came to respect – Miss Kristy Lee Cook), a power vocalist (Syesha), and a teen wunderkind (David Archuleta).
Surprising moments:
Even though it started to become clear that it would be a David vs. David finale, there were still many moments that made the season exciting. Starting with “Idol Gives Back” week, here’s my Top 10.
Moment 1 (Inspirational songs):
Jason Castro bought a ukulele for a Hawaiian version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. That kind of thing is either a disaster or brilliant. It was the latter – and to me one of the best moments of the season.
Moment 2 (Idol Gives Back):
All the secular journalists complained, but the group song for the results show was “Shout to the Lord”. A lot of the singers chose songs that name-checked God this season, and Dolly Parton sang “Jesus and Gravity”, but I would LOVE to know how it came to be that the Idol finalists sang a song about Jesus.
Moment 3 (Andrew Lloyd Webber week):
Syesha’s “One Rock and Roll Too Many”, which is still in my mind weeks later, showed her star quality and launched her toward her top 3 finish.
Moment 4 (Andrew Lloyd Webber week):
David Cook’s “Music of the Night”. I’ve pretty much loved everything he did since “Hello” in the semi-finals, and he’s the one I wanted to win it, but this was so beautiful it made me cry (and if you follow my articles you know that I reserve crying for something really awful that happens and episodes of Extreme Home Makeover). I’ve seen and heard multiple versions of Phantom of the Opera on stage, screen and recording; I’ve never heard it better. He’s known as rocker David, but this time, he just sang it straight from the heart – it was magical.
Moment 5 (Neil Diamond week):
This is where the lines were clearly drawn in the battle of the Davids. David Archuleta sang “Sweet Caroline” and “America” and David Cook sang rocked up versions of “I’m Alive” and “All I Really Need Is You”. It’s going to come down to what KIND of Idol you want: traditional, ballad singer or innovative rocker? And the question I’ve been asking myself all season is CAN a rocker WIN American Idol.
Moment 6 (Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame week):
Not all surprising moments are good. When Simon asked Jason what he was thinking when he chose to sing “I Shot the Sheriff”, Jason said, “I was thinking Bob Marley”. He also sang “Tambourine Man”, during which he botched the words. Just before he was eliminated, Jason admitted that a fan had told him that he’d Shot the Tambourine man! Classic.
Moment 7 (Hall of Fame week):
Once again, would you like American Idol lite (David Archuleta’s “Stand By Me” and “Love Me Tender”) or with a kick (“Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Baba O’Riley” by David Cook).
Moment 8 (Producer’s Choice):
David Archuleta sang “Longer”. I had hideous ‘70’s wedding flashbacks. Nuff said.
Moment 9 (Judge’s Choice?):
For Syesha, Randy picks the kind of song that the judges always say NOT to pick – a current hit by a top artist. He then goes on to say, “That’s why you’re standing here at number 3!” – not IN the top 3. Uh, could we please VOTE first?
Moment 10 (Judges, Contestants, Producer’s Choice):
Of the three songs David Cook sang (which were all phenomenal) the one that stuck with me was his own choice, “I Dare You to Move”. I haven’t wanted anyone to win this badly since the Ruben/Clay smack down (I’m still mad that Clay didn’t win).
David vs. David:
Other than the stupid boxing theme, this was one of the better finals in recent memory. They both sang really well; neither one clearly took the night. (Simon called it for Archuleta, but after viewing the TV playback, declared it too close to call). It all comes down to personal preference for type of artist and musical style.
The Finale Rocked!
Usually the finale is 2 hours of stuff you could care less about. This year had great duets and groupings. The 2 Davids sang “Hero” – brilliant (they should put THAT on a CD). Syesha sang with Seal. The Top 6 girls sang with Donna Summer! Carly and Michael Johns did a fantastic duet (they should hook up and form their own super group). The top 6 guys did a Bryan Adams tribute – with Bryan Adams! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, David Cook jammed with ZZ Top. Brooke did a pitch-perfect duet of “Teach Your Children Well” with Graham Nash. David A. sang with One Republic, another good pairing. Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name” was hot. The night ended with the Top 12 doing George Michael medley – and a solo by George Michael!
Maybe my age is showing here – I loved Donna Summer, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top and George Michael back in the day. Maybe I’m predisposed to liking this finale. But the celebs chosen really DID match up with the Idols well.
And then, the most amazing thing happened. The Rocker, David Cook, WON American Idol. By 12 MILLION VOTES!!! My faith in the American Idol voters is restored. Turns out us rock fans CAN out-vote a bunch of tweens on speed-dial. And even better – MY tweens – ages 10 and almost 12 are now David Cook, rock n’ roll fans. Time to get out some CD’s (and cassette tapes – if they even still work) and teach them some tunes this summer. Class is back in session!
Yes, American Idol, Season 7 was full of surprising moments. In the Divine Service we have recently been hearing about the greatest surprising moments: God-in-the-flesh dying for us, and the tomb vacated by our Risen Savior. Surprising moments continued for Mary Magdalene, the Emmaus disciples, and others seeing the Resurrected Lord. Now the amazing ascension and the miracle of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are joyous surprises ringing in our ears.
The Easter Season’s winners are more than the toss up between which David you like. The winners are you, and me, and all of the people who are baptized into Christ. We have survived the judgment of sin, death, and the devil. We have been made righteous! Our sins are removed! That is the most surprising thing for the world – we are redeemed and will join in the resurrection!
As you enjoy the surprising moments of this life, take time to ponder and celebrate God’s surprising moments for you! Amen.
Kim Grams is a writer and pastor’s wife who lives in Scottsbluff, NE. A dancer and an avid reality TV viewer, she has also written Diary of An American Idol Junkie, Diary of An American Idol Junkie – Volume 2, and Diary of An American Idol Junkie – Volume 3
by Stan Lemon
The word Corpus is Latin for “body” and Christi if you couldn’t tell is “of Christ”. Today, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday is the Festival of the Body of Christ. You may not have heard of it before and you probably won’t find it in your hymnal either, but I assure you today is the Festival of the Body of Christ.
What’s this festival all about? Back in the heyday, you know like 1264, the Pope instituted this festival for the whole Catholic church. The festival itself actually dates much further back than that, but it was in 1264 that Thomas Aquinas (a guy whom Luther could care less for) penned out, by decree of the Pope, a liturgy to be used on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday for the Festival of the Body of Christ.
The Festival of the Body of Christ was first celebrated to refocus on Maundy Thursday. You know how it goes, Palm Sunday rolls around, the Catechumens are confirmed we do the thing with the Palms and next thing you know we’re at the Good Friday Tenebrae service waiting for the Easter Bunny to show up. Somewhere in there we quickly skimmed by Maundy Thursday, and so it was when the Festival of the Body of Christ was instituted. Maundy Thursday was getting lost in the hustle and bustle of Passion week, so the Church, not wanting to lose sight of the glorious gifts of the Lord, set aside another festival to commemorate the Lord’s Supper, His Body and Blood. After all, the way of the Gospel is more!
Your church may or may not celebrate The Festival of Corpus Christi today, and if they don’t that’s alright (mine doesn’t either). As Lutherans we know that each Sunday when we gather together to receive the Lord’s gifts we celebrate the festival of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. There in His words, we look back with all Christians of all times to the night in which our Lord was betrayed. On that night and in this supper He took bread and wine and gave it to His disciples, and then in them gives the Corpus Christi and Sanguis Christi (that one means blood of Christ) given and shed for us!
Your Pastor stands before you to deliver these Words and this Corpus Christi. He delivers them into your mouth, where the Lord bodily comes. In His body and His blood Jesus brings forgiveness and life, and salvation touches your tongue and buries your sin in His tomb. In Jesus, in His Body, we are one, united together as the Church. So as much as the Festival of Corpus Christi is about our Lord delivering forgiveness to us at the Altar, it is also about Him cleansing His bride of her sin. His bride, the Church washed in the font of Holy Baptism and wedded to Him in flesh, the Corpus Christi. We literally become what we eat. Father Adam has no gifts for us in His meal of death, but in this meal of Life the second Adam gives all that we could ask for and even more still!
In this way, then let us sing with Thomas Aquinas (yeah that guy) of the Corpus Christi:
That last night at supper lying
Mid the Twelve, His chosen band,
Jesus with the Law complying,
Keeps the feast its rite demand;
Then more precious food supplying,
Gives Himself with His own hand.Word made flesh, the bread He taketh,
By His word His flesh to be;
Wine His sacred blood He maketh,
Thought the senses fail to see;
Faith alone the true heart waketh
To behold the mystery.“Now, My Tongue, the Mystery Telling” by Thomas Aquinas. Lutheran Service Book 630.
Stan Lemon lives in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife Sara and his dog Ivan and serves as the Higher Things Webmaster. When he grows up, he wants to be just like Pastor Borghardt! (a Texan)
by The Rev. Mark Buetow
St. John 3:1-17
If people believe in God at all, I think there are generally two ways they think of God. On the one hand, they suppose God is a condemning God. They usually think this because they consider themselves better than others. These are the folks who love to see the glorious God of Isaiah who is ready to smite sinners and burn them to ashes. This God is a punisher, just waiting to destroy anyone who doesn’t get in line, get on board and behave. Those who have such a God live under the delusion that they had better not do anything to make God angry at them!
The other view of God that people have is almost the exact opposite: God is forgiving. He is merciful. In fact, God is so loving and so caring and so nice, that He would never actually condemn anyone for anything. People who believe in that God would never dare say anything is right or wrong. You can’t do anything wrong when God is just going to forgive you. And even if there is right and wrong, it’s OK to do wrong, because God is just going to forgive you anyway. Just because He’s nice that way. Either God is a vicious and mean God who kills sinners, or He is a free love hippy kind of God who lets anything and everything go on.
And it’s funny, too, because if we’re talking about our lives, we usually mean the nice God who approves of how we live. And if it’s other people doing things we don’t like, they get the mean judging God. But I am telling you today, brothers and sisters in Christ, yes, warning you, that if either of those is your God, you will perish eternally. Both of those “Gods” are false gods and believing either way about God will lead you to eternal death.
Jesus says, “The Father did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” With these words, Jesus teaches us repentance and faith, destroys our sins, and saves us for all eternity. Jesus did not come to condemn us. He came to save us. How? He tells Nicodemus, by being lifted up, that is, on the cross. Jesus saves us by taking our sins away. He saves us by suffering and dying for our sins. He saves us by being lifted up as the serpent in the desert.
When the Israelites were bitten by the punishing snakes, they looked at the bronze serpent and lived. When we sin, when we deny and despise God and scorn and hate our neighbor, we look to Christ crucified and we are saved. It is Jesus who takes away our sins, not by simply making them vanish, as if we don’t have sins, but by taking our sins upon Himself and suffering death to rid us of them. Jesus did not come into this world to make a record of our sins, to list our sins, to punish us for our sins, but to show us our sins and then take them upon Himself and carry them to the cross and shed His blood there to wash them away. God the Father doesn’t send the Son to pound the nails deeper into our coffins but to release us from sin and death and set us free. In Christ there is no condemnation from God.
So now we don’t need to worry about our sins, right? Now we don’t have to figure out what our sins are. We don’t have to repent because it’s all taken care of? We can live however we want and do whatever we want? After all, we’re forgiven. No, that’s the second wrong view of God we talked about a minute ago.
There IS condemnation for sinners. It’s just not Jesus who brings it. The Law that God gives, the Commandments, condemn us. They show us clearly and plainly how we should love God and our neighbor. And the Commandments show us clearly that we do neither. And the Commandments judge plainly that we shall die for our sins. Apart from Jesus, God will damn you. Apart from Jesus there is nothing but the Law. And the Law does nothing but condemn you. You can’t try harder to keep the commandments to make up for the ones you’ve broken. And if you live as if your sins aren’t sins, then you despise Christ who died for them and show you would rather be under the Law.
Let me put it to you as simply as I know how: God will deal with your sins in one of two ways. The way of the Law which condemns and punishes. Or the way of Christ who is lifted up for our sins. If you have sins you want to be rid of, then unload them on Jesus. That’s His job: to take them away. If you want to hang on to your sins, say they’re not sins, then go ahead; but you’ll have the Law to answer to. Jesus is teaching us what the world absolutely does not want to hear. In Him, there is no condemnation. Apart from and outside of Jesus, there is nothing but condemnation. No one outside of Christ will survive the judgment against them on account of their sins. No one who is in Christ will suffer the punishment of their sins because it has been taken and laid upon Jesus for your sake.
So the question is, do we want to try to deal with God directly or in and through Jesus? Obviously, if we will be saved, there is no dealing with the Father apart from the Son. So then, how do we get to God? How do we deal with the Son? Does it take special knowledge? Special skills? Special religious piety? Nicodemus thought so. That’s why he comes at night to figure out from Jesus what the secret knowledge is that he has to know to get “in” with God. Nick figures that Jesus knows the right stuff to teach him to do to get on God’s good side. Nick’s got the condemning God going on and needs to figure out how to get past the front door!
But Jesus doesn’t play that game. He simply tells Nick that the only way into the Lord’s kingdom is to be born again, from above. Nick has no idea what Jesus is talking about because Nick is all about Nick.
Jesus, in telling Nicodemus he has to be born again, is teaching Nicodemus and us, that to be saved from our sins means being born from above, by water and the Spirit. That’s right, Holy Baptism. New birth. The womb of the font as we heard last week. A washing of water and the Word by which the Spirit gives us new life, spirit born of the Holy Spirit. It’s not something Nick or we can do for ourselves, it’s something that must be done to us and given to us by the Spirit.
Which way do you want the Lord to deal with yours sins? If you want the way of the Law, then give it your best shot of thinking that your sins aren’t so bad and you aren’t doomed by them. The Law, of course, will condemn you. That’s the way they live who don’t want to repent, who don’t want to live in their baptism, who have no reason to be absolved and who don’t want Jesus’ body and blood. They can keep their sins. On the Last Day the Law of God will be their condemnation. Born of flesh, their flesh will die.
But in Christ, where He is, is no condemnation, but salvation. Form the font, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has rescued you. Absolution declares that you do not stand condemned for yours sins. The gift of the Supper says that Jesus’ body and blood are given for forgiveness. With these gifts, you have the Spirit giving you Jesus and He brings you to the Father. Apart from Christ, there is no love of God, no grace, no mercy. Only sin and death. In Christ, where Christ is, in His church, by His gifts, there is no sin and death, only forgiveness, life and salvation.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, either the mysterious and almighty Holy Trinity is for you or He is against you. Outside of Jesus, He can be nothing but your enemy, the one Whose holy Law condemns to eternal death. But the Father sent the Son and the Son did not come to condemn but to give life. In Jesus, that Holy Trinity is all for you. The Father who sends the Son; the Son who becomes man to be lifted up and take away your sin; the Spirit who pours out His gifts upon you in the church.
If your sins are no big deal, then the God of the Law is waiting to show you otherwise. But if your sins terrify you and would condemn you, then the God who is in the flesh in Jesus Christ has already taken care of them. He has been lifted up on the cross and that means the condemnation has passed from you to Him. He has taken all your sins.
And now, filled with the Spirit, you are a son of God – the very God who is once again your Father. If there’s ever a doubt, ever a question, just look to the font and your doubts will be answered: Hear again the divine name put upon you: “In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.” All in and by and through and because of Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus, death. In Jesus, life and salvation. Amen.
The Rev. Mark Buetow is pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, IL, and the Internet Services Executive for Higher Things. He edits the Daily Reflections. He is married and father of three.
