by The Rev. William Cwirla
Philipp Melanchthon was born this day in the year 1497 at Bretten near Karlsruhe, the son of Georg Schwarzerd, armorer to Count Palatine Philip. At the age of ten he was sent to the Latin school of Pforzheim where he studied the Latin and Greek poets and the philosophy of Aristotle. At the age of 13, he entered the University of Heidelberg where he studied philosophy, rhetoric, and astronomy. Refused the master’s degree on account of his tender age, Philipp went to the University of Tübingen where he studied law, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. After receiving his master’s in 1516, he began to study theology under Reuchlin and Erasmus. He went on to the University of Wittenberg where he taught alongside Martin Luther.
In 1521, at the age of 24, Melanchthon published his Loci communes, a collection and commentary on Scripture texts under various topical headings. He was the author of the Augsburg Confession (1530) and its Apology (1531), which became the chief confession of the Reformation and the pillar of the Book of Concord. Though later vilified for his “variata” edition of the Augsburg Confession (1540), his compromised views on the Lord’s Supper, and his concessions in the Leipzig Interim, Melanchthon remains one of the chief architects of the Lutheran confessions and one of its most articulate spokesmen and scholars.
Of Melanchthon, Luther wrote, “I had to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very warlike. I am the rough pioneer who must break the road; but Master Philipp comes along softly and gently, sows and water heartily, since God has richly endowed him with gifts.” Luther called Phlipp “a divine instrument which has acheived the very best in the department of theology to the great rage of the devil and his scabby tribe.” It is well known that the quarrelsome Luther and irenic Melanchthon did not always agree or get along personally. Melanchthon described his stormy relationship with Luther as “Promethius chained to the Caucasus.” In spite of his strong attacks against Erasmus and Bucer, however, Luther never spoke directly against Melanchthon.
Melanchthon is described and depicted as a small and frail man, of poor health and subject to episodes of melancholy. He was a devoted family man, calling his home “a little church of God.” A visiting French scholar once observed him rocking the cradle of his child with one hand and holding a book with the other. To a fault, Philip was a quiet, peaceable man who despised jealousy, envy, slander, and sarcasm. He was a true academic, more comfortable in the company of scholars than the rough common people of his day, yet a man of prayer and deep personal piety. Though he never preached from a pulpit, he did teach homiletics and wrote sermons for his classes. He said, “Every theologian and faithful interpreter of the heavenly doctrine must necessarily be first a grammarian, then a dialectician, and finally a witness.”
For Thy servant Philipp, scholar, teacher, humanist, theologian, confessor, whose fluid pen set down the great confession of the Reformation and its defense before the the church and the world, we give Thee thanks and praise, O Father through Your Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some of you may be voting for the first time this year. But even if you cannot vote in this year’s election, you should still take some time to think about our heavenly Father’s gift of government. The Small Catechism reminds us of these particular bits of “daily bread” that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer: “devout and faithful rulers, and good government.” It might seem strange to say that “government” is part of our daily bread. But the people who are in positions of authority around us–mayors, governors, presidents, congressmen, judges, etc.–are given to us by our heavenly Father for the support of our body and life.
In fact, as Christians, we believe that because God gives government, that government is a gift which is given for the sake of Christ’s church. No, it’s not the government’s job to forgive our sins. No, we don’t go to the county office to get Holy Communion. When someone is baptized, they don’t apply for a permit downtown. The government’s job isn’t to give money to churches or decide who your pastor is. But the freedoms that our government guarantees and protects give us the opportunity to hear and learn God’s Word without fear of being attacked. In America, at least, we are free to hear the Good News that Christ has died for our sins. In that way, our Lord uses the government for the sake of His church.
Hurricanes are full of water. That means that when they come barreling down on top of us, we are reminded of our Baptism! It was in Baptism, after all that the “Storm Surge” of the forgiveness of sins washed over us by water and the Word of God! And that means that we are the Lord’s. Even if a hurricane huffs and puffs and blows our house down!
But there is a greater promise of Jesus than this frightening guarantee of wars and natural disasters! In the same chapter, Jesus also says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14). Did you catch that? The Gospel will be preached. No matter what happens. No matter what floods or what burns or what shakes or what falls, the Good News that Jesus has taken away our sins and gives us eternal life will still be preached until the Last Day. While all of these things continue to happen, Jesus promises that none of them can harm us. They can’t destroy us. They can’t hurt us. Even if they were to kill us, we are with Christ. By our Baptism into Him, our Lord has made it so that nothing in this world can truly harm us. Not Gustav. Not Ike. Not the devil, hell, sin, or death!
Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. People faced massive hardships and loss of property. While the media focused mainly on New Orleans, a sizeable region of our nation was hurting. Chaos and violence arose in various flooded and damaged neighborhoods. While our government was “getting its ducks in a row” to respond, many said it was too little, too late. It appeared to many news interviewees that the President and other officials did not have their priorities straight.
How well do we do? Not well at all. In fact, we are miserable at having no other gods. The Lord is NOT our top priority, no matter how hard we try. For several millennia, since the serpent seduced Eve and her husband, the Lord has not been the top priority – we make ourselves our top priorities! And as Saint James reminds us, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10) With our failure of priorities, we have failed completely.
Having just coordinated three 
Worship at HT conferences is not like a concert where you sing along with the band that actually drowns out the audience’s singing. The congregational singing – oh, the singing!! – is just…breathtaking. Hundreds of teenagers, singing HYMNS at the top of their lungs. In harmony! Kids are supposed to require strobe lights, disco balls, and big-name (or big-name-sounding) bands, dramatic illustrations with movie clips on the big screens, etc. etc. etc. in order to get their interest in anything. Not true! They love the liturgy, they love hymns! Chaplains took the opportunity at all three conferences to teach about different aspects of the service that might not be familiar to everyone. The Daily Services book also contained important information that taught about the services and practices as well.
Catechesis
Youth get to choose the specific topic they want to learn about, but all of the sessions teach meaty theology in an accessible way. Kids don’t need watered-down, children’s message type lessons covered with a sparkly veneer of fun. They don’t need skits or video clips (skits on a screen) to learn. They don’t need hands-on activities touching rocks or burning pieces of paper to learn. To learn, they need to be taught and given some meat to dig their teeth into and inwardly digest. The learning opportunities at HT conferences challenges youth in their faith, teaches them substantial theology, and equips them to make use of it in their everyday lives. And they do! 
This year was a little different as far as the fun and entertainment of the conference went. Instead of trying to herd hundreds of teenagers to a major venue for something fun (the Amen – Irvine beach party being the one exception), we brought in some different types of entertainment and let everyone just…have fun in their own way. The campuses provided a number of different activities from swimming and soccer to line-dance lessons, movies on a theater screen, dodge ball tournaments, and the ever-popular karaoke! Ultimate Frisbee, Apples to Apples, card games, and just hanging out gave youth from all over the country (even the world) to laugh and get to know each other. And if your group didn’t want to do any of those things, they could go and do their own fun thing during that time block. It really doesn’t take wads of money and glitzy production plans for everyone to have fun!
That’s what happens when we replace the theology of the Cross for the theology of Glory. There are tons of places in the world where we can go to learn how to live with good, upstanding morals. There are even more places to go and be entertained in all sorts of ways. There’s only one place to go to hear the Gospel – to the Church, where the Gospel is proclaimed in its purity and the Sacraments are administered in accordance with it.
Recently we truly saw how our world is passing away – there was an earthquake in southern California. It wasn’t a big earthquake (I’m not sure how that’s possible), but there was still some damage done, nerves shaken, and a reality check given.
Our failures are many. We lust, lie, trust in ourselves, and trust in the world. It seems natural. Look at what we’ve accomplished, the technology we have, and the buildings we’ve built. But our accomplishments fall short, technology fails, and buildings fall down. Yet there is an immovable rock that shall never crumble, fail, or fall short – your baptism.
“Paul Hamm won’t be going to the Beijing Olympics, after all,” reported Fox News on Monday. Hamm suffered a broken hand on May 22 at the national championships, and despite surgery his recovery will not be swift enough to compete. In his effort to accelerate recovery, Hamm also hurt his rotator cuff.
We all can get caught up in thinking we deserve something because of the effort and time we have invested. There are few people who invest more than Olympians. Perhaps that is what makes Paul Hamm such a prime example of our inability to count on our own strength, knowledge, and perseverance. He did everything possible to realize his dream, but now he cannot attain it.
