Author: Higher Things

Did you see the great Super Bowl commercial about farmers? In this week’s article spotlight, HT is pleased to share a blog post by Pastor Sam Schuldheisz in which he talks about the great example of the biblical teaching of vocation provided by that ad. Pastor Sam Schuldheisz is a Son of Adam who serves as pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Huntington Beach, CA.
The original blog article appears here.

Overall the commercials at his year’s Super Bowl (er, excuse me, Big Game) were about as good as the Niners in the first half. At one point I was actually hoping that a similar power outage would have taken place at my local CBS station so as to avoid any more painfully gross Go Daddy commercials, gack! Of course, there were a few honorable mentions, the Volkswagen bit was clever, although it was no Darth Vader of a few years ago. And the talking E-Trade baby always gets a snicker or two. But the winner in my playbook was the Dodge Ram commercial featuring the late Paul Harvey giving his famous speech, So God Made a Farmer. Here’s the text below in case anyone missed it. You can also check out the video here.

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon — and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain’n from ‘tractor back,’ put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life ‘doing what dad does.'” So God made a farmer.

And now for the rest of the story…

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Of course, we know from Genesis 1-3 that God didn’t actually say any of these things. But that’s not the point. Without ever using the word (perhaps even without even knowing it at all), Paul Harvey spoke truthfully about God’s gift of vocation, a gift that began even before the Fall into sin. And a gift which continues after the Fall into sin as well, whether you’re a farmer, a truck driver, a teacher, pastor, law enforcement officer, mother, father, sibling, gardener, and the like. The farmer, you see, is a mask of God. Because of the vocation of a farmer – and countless others – we are able to sit around our dinner table and not only thank God for our daily bread but eat it and enjoy it as a gift. Above all, that’s what vocation is, gift, given to us without any merit or worthiness in us, out of pure Fatherly, divine goodness. Truth be told, God could snap his fingers – zap! poof! wizbang! – and your refrigerator and table would be be graced with more abundance than all the Big Game parties combined, a veritable smorgasbord of First Article gifts. And, it’s worth noting, that He could do the same with miraculous healing as well. We read of countless examples of Christ’s immediate work throughout the Scriptures. But mostly, he works mediately, that is to say, through means. For healing, he uses doctors and nurses. He uses medicine and technology. And the same is true for every facet of earthly life. God uses means. And it’s no less miraculous when He uses ordinary means to hide his work behind for our benefit. In fact, if Luther is right (and I think he is here) it is precisely in the ordinary that God continues to work his hidden holiness for our well being and the good of the neighbor.

And it’s not just the farmer and the myriads of other masks God uses to serve us, it’s also in the seed, the seed of God’s Word. Not only does Christ make farmers. He himself is the archetype farmer, the Sower in human flesh and blood. So it should be no surprise that He also uses the means of His creation to bless, preserve and save us. He plants His Word in the mouth of sinners – and it is no less miraculous than when he says it himself. Pastors are mouthpieces, hands, heralds, and helpers. He waters that planted Word by water, Word and Spirit. And our faith in Christ grows by the same breath of life that hovered over the waters of creation and filled Adam’s lungs with life. That’s the Holy Spirit’s vocation, to show you Jesus. You are fed with the finest of foods and the richest of wines, Christ’s very body and blood. And all of this through means. That’s good news. Because the best part about it all is, it’s free – not an over-paid, sensationalistic advertisement in sight. Your vocation is a gift because Christ is crucified and risen for you. And you are a living sacrifice for your neighbor.

So God made vocation…on the 6th day and every day since then. And he made it for you. Behold, it is very good.

by Rev. Sam Schuldheisz

Normally religion and politics are taboo topics in our conversations. There are those who go further and believe those areas should never overlap in our daily living. Rev. Cwirla demonstrates how to manage and balance these two areas through the filter of Luther’s two-kingdom theology. For more great articles on Church and State check out the FREE winter issue of Higher Things Magazine.

Do religion and politics mix? Or are they like oil and water—two things that will always be separate no matter how hard you shake them up? There’s no doubt that religion and politics are two of the most sensitive topics we can talk about. Bring up either one in a crowded room, and there is sure to be an argument. Bring up both together, and there will likely 
be a brawl!

The reason for this is that these are two of the most important topics in our lives—much more important than sports and even the weather. Religion has to do with what we believe about God, life, morals, and eternity. The big picture stuff. Politics is the art of government, order, society, and community.

Religion deals primarily with eternal things, things “not of this world,” or at least things hidden “in, with, and under” the things of this world. Politics deals with temporal matters: roads, taxes, welfare, marriage, safety, protection. So on the surface, at least, they don’t seem to have anything to do with each other. But let’s delve into this a bit more deeply.

The church is in the world. It may not be “of the world” but it is definitely in this world. We occupy the land, use electricity, water, and gas, and flush our toilets. And when the church is on fire, we call the fire department. We are very much in this world, and this world is a political world. Christians are both religious and political people. We believe, teach and confess things about God from the Scriptures. And we participate in the world of government and politics, believing that this, too, is a gift from God.

Our Lutheran Confessions teach that the political realm is a good gift 
of God’s fatherly goodness and mercy (Romans 13:1ff). “It is taught among us that all government in the world and all established rule and laws were instituted and ordained by God for the sake of good order, and that Christians may without sin occupy civil offices or serve as princes and judges, render decisions and pass sentence according to imperial and other existing laws, punish evildoers with the sword, engage in just wars, serve as soldiers, buy and sell, take required oaths, possess property, be married, etc.” (Augsburg Confession XVI).

There are some who would like to sweep the public square clean of all religion and create a kind of “naked, public square” where no religious ideas are expressed. Of course, this would favor the religious views of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics who believe that religion has no place in a rational society.

As Christians, and especially as Lutherans, we think that what we believe shapes our view of the world and of society and therefore it can’t be left out of our public life. We would rather have an open public square where everyone is free to speak one’s mind based on one’s beliefs even if we disagree (yes, even atheists!) than have a “naked public square” stripped bare of all religion. We believe this makes for a much better political discussion and a better representation of all the various people who live in our country.

I’ve been talking here about the individual believer as a citizen, not the institutions of “church” and “state.” Church and state are two of the three “estates” or “orders” of the temporal kingdom, i.e. this life. The third order is at home. (See the catechism article about the Table of Duties on page 28.) Church and state are distinct orders established by God for two distinct purposes. The church’s work is to proclaim the kingdom of Christ through Word and sacrament. The state’s work is to restrain evil, reward good, and maintain order through the sword—that is, the use of coercive power.

The church’s job is not to govern or redeem society; the state’s job is not to preach the Gospel. That’s why it doesn’t matter if the president or other heads of state are Christians. It’s also why Christians should not try to establish a “Christian government” or a “Christian nation.” The rule of law is not uniquely Christian but is shared by every organized society. We would identify this with the work of the law hardwired in our hearts (Romans 2:14-15), which is known even without any written law.

The church should not tell people how to vote. Nor should the state tell people how to pray or worship. Each needs to be busy with its own vocation. The church needs to proclaim the kingdom of Christ, baptize, preach, teach, administer the Body and Blood, forgive and retain sin. The state needs to protect its citizens and enforce the rule of law. But the individual Christian, who lives in the church, state, and home, is always mixing religion and politics. Martin Luther was well known for bending the ear of his elector regarding taxation, war, social welfare, the church, marriage, and education. Luther’s faith and knowledge of the Word shaped his political views and thinking.

The mix of politics and religion is really a one-way mixture, however. Our faith shapes our political thinking, but our politics should never influence our faith. Faith relies solely on the Word of God, while politics involves the use of reason. Reason is always a minister to the Word, never its master.

It’s very important to keep in mind one last thing: Politics is temporal; faith in Christ is eternal. The kingdoms of this world, including our own, will all pass away and are destined for destruction. But the kingdom of Christ will never pass away. As a baptized believer in Christ, that is your citizenship and your destiny, even as you live, move, and have your being in this political world.

by Rev. William M. Cwirla