Katie’s Beer

I was a little foggy when I wrote about my intrigue with the concept of a sinful earth. As I was driving to our new offices, I realized that I had forgotten to mention the main point of a sinful earth: we are all in need of a savior, including the earth and all of creation. That savior is Jesus Christ. I don’t think pondering on the fact of a sinful earth means much if you don’t remind yourself that it is yet another sign of our need for Jesus. It also gives even more weight to John 3:16 -

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

David B. Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian, writing on the sinful earth in the Opinion Journal puts it very well, “Yes, at the heart of the gospel is an ineradicable triumphalism, a conviction that the victory over evil and death has been won; but it is also a victory yet to come. As Paul says, all creation groans in anguished anticipation of the day when God’s glory will transfigure all things. For now, we live amid a strife of darkness and light.”

My pastor and Mr. Hart refer to Paul’s writing in Romans 8: 18- 25:

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Explaining away horrible disasters, death and destruction by pointing to a sinful earth would be cold and uncaring if I did not mention that we also are to care for each other in prayer and material support.

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Despite the world’s claims that Americans do not care about the horrible happenings in the Indian Ocean and surrounding countries, everyone I know has been talking about it all week long. I am amazed at the enormity of this tragedy, yet I don’t think that it is spectacular when viewed within the history of mankind. This event has reminded me of a pastor’s teachings on a sinful earth. My daughter first shared this teaching with in her confirmation class. The teaching is quite simple: not only are we fallen from the Garden of Eden, but the entire world is fallen. That includes the very earth itself and all the creatures. It would even apply to cars hitting and killing squirrels or rabbits just searching for food - God never intended that in his perfect creation, but in a fallen world that is what happens. This teaching, at first, took me by surprise and I shook my head at it, thinking that it was taking things too far. However, it certainly would be contrived to think that only man was fallen and not all of creation. The implications of a fallen, sinful earth and creation are immense. It puts earthquakes, tsunamis and tornados into a completely different light for me. Has any one heard a pastor refer to a sinful earth? I’m very mentally tired from our move this week and probably have not explained myself well here. (The tsunami’s devasting effects have kept me from complaining about this tortuous move; I know millions are suffering much more than I can imagine. I’m just mindlessly packing and carrying hundreds of boxes!.)

I will be interested to hear if this biblical concept is referred to this Sunday in church. In the meantime, Rob at Beggars All has an interesting post related to this concept. Daniel Sellers, who takes his vocation seriously, has been my source for a Christian geologist’s perspective. Early on, I actually printed up his posts and read them to people in my office! He writes, “If anyone has anymore questions about what happened near Indonesia, I shall do my best to answer them. I’m not sure I can say much more about what happened from a purely scientific perspective. I’m actually avoiding the human element of this story and discussing the science because you can find the human element all over the place and on the blogsphere, but the science is difficult if not impossible to find. Not only that, I think the science brings some answers to the question of how could this kill so many people. When you recognize the scale of the earthquake and the magnitude of the movement, it is easier to understand how so many people died in this disaster.” I know others have written and I just haven’t had time to get to you yet. I plan to spend New Years Day reading! Happy New Year to all!!!

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I feel like this was truly my first Lutheran Christmas, because I was not very tuned into the church calendar last year at this time. I credit bloggers for teaching me this. Of course my church closely follows the church calendar, but the reminders of Christians around me really woke me up to the beauty - historical and spiritual- of the use a calendar. I don’t know much about the church’s calendar, although I’m guessing that its use was more prevalent in past times than it is now. Many Christians of our generation and later have deemed it an unecessary encumberment to free-flowing worship.

Just the other day, I realized that I am probably the first in my generation and my parents generation to realize that my grandfather, Steve, was named after St. Stephen because of his birth the day after Christmas. His simple immigrant parents were orthodox Christians. No doubt, any other devout Orthodox Christian would see a January 7th birthday of a baby back in 1907, see that the baby was named Stephen and easily assume that the baby was named after St. Stephen. There would be no question or revelation. I plan to reintroduce the church calendar to my children and my grandchildren. There is so much to learn from the dear Christians who lived before us!

Rob Brazier on St. Stephen: Have We Heard?

Bunnie Diehl on St. Stephen: Saint Stephen, The First Martyr.
She writes, pointedly: “I know a bunch of people who read this blog celebrate only two (2!) of the many holidays Christians have. Those are Christmas and Easter. Well, there are many other holidays and today, the very day after Christmas, is an important one. No, it’s not Boxing Day. Today is the day we remember St. Stephen, the first martyr. Stephen was stoned for preaching the Gospel.” Read on… There are some excellent comments following her post! I was busy after Christmas and missed this great discussion. (Don’t forget: Bunnie hates emoticons!)

I know there are other great posts on St. Stephen’s Day, but I’ve got to get back to work packing boxes for the move. I would really appreciate it if others added links to those posts below. I can promise you that I will read them and will read them to my family.

Merry Christmas to you all!

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Merry Christmas!

A Boy is born in Bethlehem ◊ 112 ELS Hymnal, thanks to the hard work of Mark DeGarmeaux and the worship committe of Bethany Lutheran College.
\\(Latin and German text)

1. Et Barn er født i Bethlehem,
Thi glæde sig Jerusalem!
Halleluja! Halleluja!

2. En fattig Jomfru sad i Løn,
Og fødte Himlens Konge-Søn!

3. Han lagdes i et Krybbe-Rum,
Guds Engle sang med Fryd derom:

4. Og Østens Vise offred der,
Guld, Røgelse og Myrrha skiær!

5. Forsvundet er nu al vor Nød,
Os er i Dag en Frelser fød!

6. I Kiød og Blod blev Han os lig,
Og giør os til Guds Børn med sig!

7. Guds kiære Børn vi blev paany,
Skal lege Jul i Himmel-By!

8. Paa Stjerne-Tepper lyseblaae,
Skal glade vi til Kirke gaae!

9. Guds Engle der os lære brat,
At sjunge, som de sang inat:

10. Da vorde Engle vi som de,
Gud-Faders Ansigt vi skal see,

11. For Frelser bold og Broder blid,
Vi synge da til evig Tid:

This Christmas hymn was especially popular during the ancient period. Its author is unknown. The oldest Latin text found so far is contained in a Benedictine book dating from the beginning of the fourteenth century. This copy belonged to the Cloister of St. George, near Olmütz, but is now kept in the university library of Prague. It was printed in 1886, in G. M. Dreves’ Cantiones Bohemicae. It contains nine stanzas with an added doxology from a 1420 Cantionale. This text with ten stanzas is also found in a Hereford Breviary of 1505. The Latin text, which is found in many different redactions ranging from six to twelve stanzas, has, very likely, been composed by several authors. Consequently, it has undergone many changes due to omissions, revisions, and additions. “Puer natus” was translated into German in 1439 by Heinrich von Laufenberg. Later on a number of German versions appeared. In the old German, Danish, and Swedish hymnals a translation in the vernacular was inserted immediately after each Latin stanza. It has been surmised that the choir sang the Latin and the congregation sang translations of the same. The German rendering most extensively used was that found in Val. Babst’s Gesangbuch, 1545: “Ein Kind geboren zu Bethlehem.” This contains ten stanzas with the German translation inserted after each stanza except the second. Other Protestant and Catholic hymnals published the hymn in various forms, but all have the same beginning. The first Danish translation appeared in the Supplement to Hans Tausen’s Hymn Book, circa 1553. This is written in four-lined stanzas without the “Hallelujah,” and it has not been included in the later Danish hymnals. The first Danish version which follows the old form, ten two-lined stanzas with the “Hallelujah,” is found in Thomissøn’s Hymn Book of 1569. This version has also been used in Kingo’s and Pontoppidan’s editions. Grundtvig revised the hymn, and his beautiful rendering is used now in Denmark. Landstad has followed Thomissøn’s edition, but has to some extent modernized the language. The English version included in The Lutheran Hymnary was made by Philip Schaff and was printed in his Christ in Song, 1869. There areat least eleven other English translations.

In regard to the third stanza, Skaar quotes from the hymnological works of Daniel: “On many early medieval paintings representing the nativity of Christ, as well as in Christmas hymns, are found an ox and an ass. This practice has been ascribed to a faulty rendering of the passage, Hab. 3:2: ‘In the midst of beasts make known’; for ‘In the midst of the years make it known.’ They concluded from Is. 1:3 that the two ‘beasts’ referred to were the ox and the ass: ‘The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib.’ These passages are taken to be the Biblical basis for the old Christmas stanza: ‘Cognovit bos et asinus, quod puer erat Dominus, Halleluja’ (The ox and the ass knew that the Child was the Lord).” Nutzhorn claims that the expression is rather. an “innocent desire for free poetic representation of the circumstances surrounding the nativity of Christ.” [Dahle, Library of Christians Hymns]

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This blog was never intended to be a political blog, but it can’t help but being one. So many social issues of my day are related to the battle of ideas between liberal thinkers and conservative thinkers. I don’t think I’m making a judgment one way or another with that statement, because I believe that many people who label themselves as liberals genuinely want to help their fellow citizen. Same goes for most conservatives. I’ve written several times about my opinion that so-called “American Evangelicals” are not solely responsible for the re-election of George Bush as President of the United States. See Who are we? ; Clues to who we are and More clues to who we are.

Bob Waters added a post today which interests me. He ties in an article about the misconceptions of the Democratic Party on who votes conservatively and an essay on why ecumenicalism is not practicing true faith. First, he links to an article written by Michael Lind in Prospect Magazine titled Red State Sneer. Lind writes:

“Many Democrats blame the unenlightened people of red-state America for John Kerry’s defeat. But most working-class Americans remain politically centrist and a rising number simply want to live in the fast-growing suburbs of middle America. Liberals should stop sneering at the people they aspire to lead.”

Then, Bob cleverly ties in this article to the article by Mollie Ziegler, “Interfaith Is No Faith: The Missouri Synod is right to reject ecumenicalism.” written back in July of 2002 and featured on Opinion Journal. Her essay begins,

You would think that the more militant forms of Islam would be enough to worry about these days, for those inclined to anguish over religious extremism. But no.

Apparently the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod deserves our special concern. In late June, the church suspended the Rev. David Benke, the president of its Atlantic District and the pastor of a Brooklyn church, for praying with clerics who don’t share the Christian faith.

But what exactly had the church done wrong? What if it had a point? Read on…

Bob ties the two together by saying, “Mollie Ziegler’s point is made by this (Lind’s) article on America’s political future, which parenthetically contains this remarkably accurate description of the idolatrous religion that was practiced at Yankee Stadium- and which- the First Amendment to the contrary, is in fact the established religion of the United States, as well as being our modern, red, white and blue Baal.”

Well done, Bob! Just when I think that this subject has been over-discussed at the end (so to speak) of this political season, I find more reason to keep plugging my point. In a way, neither the Democrats or Republicans fully understand who votes which way and why.

I have been read Bob Waters’ blog more and more lately. Bob describes his blog as “Notes on politics, religion, sports, culture and mores from a politically Center Right confessional Lutheran, blogging from just outside the Beltway.”

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Dear Theresa,

You are the ideal superwife that I have been dreaming of for a long time.

Love,

your husband

—–Original Message—–
From: Theresa K.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 11:07 AM
To: Rob K.
Re: Christmas

Erik and I picked out the Christmas card photo last night. I edited it this morning, emailed it to ProEx and just got an email that it is ready to pick up. I will pick it up at noon and have the kids put the photo in the card. I will run the address labels, write and print the newsletter this afternoon and we can send them off tonight or tomorrow morning.

I picked up Mike and Mark’s gift cards this morning.

I washed three loads this morning and Kris is folding/putting away.

I will pick up dishwasher soap and have Erik do dishes.

Love,

Theresa

—– Original Message —–
From: Rob K.
To: Theresa K.
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 11:03 AM
Subject: RE: Christmas

Terr,

Lots to do today and tomorrow.

Well, with time so short and Christmas cheer in the air, I might as well begin to spend some money. Yes, tonight I must begin the shopping spree. Lots of gifts to buy!

rk

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Check out the very interesting discussion over at conservative Episcopalian Midwest Conserative Journal. The post, THE CONTAGION SPREADS, updates the situation in the ELCA and ends with…And so it begins again. Those of us fleeing ECUSA’s apostasy had better prepare to be joined at some point by conservative Lutherans because regardless of which way ELCA’s vote turns out in 2005, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America looks like it will eventually travel the trail blazed by ECUSA. Read on…

The very interesting part, for me, was reading through the 25+ comments following the post! You will recognize some of the commenters.

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Ditto on Mia’s congratulatory post to Minneapolis’ own Powerline in Congratulations to Powerline

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Mia writes an excellent commentary on the sad trend of eliminating Christian symbols from American culture in Spyglass: No Room For Christmas

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This one’s bound to be a Door classic!

In an effort to be more relevant to non-Christian listeners, New York’s leading contemporary Christian radio station, WIAM-FM, has hired shock jock Howard Stern as its on-air “morning ministry director.” General Manager Will O. Creek praised Stern as an “innovator” whose popularity will reach seekers in search of life’s answers. “We learned a long time ago that being seeker-sensitive means reaching out to people wherever they are in their spiritual journey,” Creek said. “Hiring Howard, frankly, is recognition of that.” Read on.

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