Life is Like a Box of Legos...

My daughters are about that age now when they can really get into Legos. And that's exciting. Because first, Legos give you the potential of modeling ideas in your head and bringing them into some resemblance of reality. And two, I like to play with Legos too!
Anyway, I got to thinking about Legos as a reflection of our relationship to creation. There are really three things that you can do with a Lego set. 1. You can try to keep the box and all the parts and pieces in their original condition - using them as little as possible. 2. You can use them for purposes they were not intended - like trashing them, breaking them, losing them, using them for house insulation, or worse. 3. You can use them to build the car or boat or house or whatever the designer intended AND modify it for your own purposes and tastes AND build something entirely different - and expression of your creativity and your wants and desires at the time. At the same time, you want to take care not to lose or destroy any parts, because then your Lego set will be less than it was to begin with and not as great a toy to play with anymore. Number 3 is what is so awesome about Legos!
Back to Creation. Creation can be viewed as one massive huge Lego set. All the pieces and parts of everything we can possibly need or want are here in our playground, our Lego set called Earth. Now we can try to leave it as undisturbed as possible (the radical environmentalist view). But that would serve to stifle our creativity and quality of life - possibly even destroying ourselves, because we don't use the "legos" of the earth to provide for our own lives. We can just trash the earth and take what we want in wild abandon. But then, like lost and destroyed Legos, the earth would not provide us what we need or want - creativity and quality of life gone forever. Or, we can use the earth the way it was intended - use all of the building blocks we have been given for our sustenance, our homes and businesses, our pleasure, and our creative expression. But then use those same blocks again and again for new and different purposes. Our earth, like Legos, is remarkably resilient and adaptable. It is here for our use and it is here for us to take care of and manage.
So go enjoy your big box of Legos. (But clean them up after you're done!)

Organic Unity of Worship

The Missouri Synod has a percieved lack of unity among its 6000+ congregations. Those looking at us from the outside would probably view us as lock-step in agreement. And, as our Synod President has pointed out time and time again, we are in total agreement about the major doctrines of the Faith. But one of the greater reflections of this disunity is the so called, "Worship Wars" that have been going on for close to 30 years. Dr. Andrew Bartlelt of Concordia Seminary recently wrote an article about the new Missal the Roman Catholic Church is introducing in the coming months. Click here to read his article.
I fully agree with his point that "the worship in any part of the Church is the worship of the Church, not just the local congregation." We are all one body in Christ. While moment in time and culture and context creates diverse expressions of worship - and thats okay and actually good right and salutary. Yet there should be an inherent order in worship recognizable by Christians in all places. In other words, Christian worship of the one True God by Christians should generally look and sound and feel at least somewhat familiar. Congregations are not merely "independent cowboys" doing whatever they want. Each congregation is also part of the trans-congregational church - accountable to one another in matters of doctrine and practice.
What do you think?

The New Righteousness

Every human has an innate desire to be righteous - to know that who they are and what they are doing is "right." Feelings of guilt arise when one discovers that what they are doing is not right. But how does one define what is right? How can they know? Each of us has a built in system for this - what we have termed our conscience. But if you spend any time around other people and get to know them, everyone seems to have a defined righteousness for themselves in different ways. Nevertheless, we all seem to have a basic, general understanding of what is right: killing or hurting others is not right, stealing from others is not right, telling lies is not right, and so on.
But when one does wrong, and feels guilt, what can you do about it? Usually, we try to make up for it, to pay for it, to make it right. A hot topic of righteousness in our culture is our personal righteousness with respect to the environment. One of the unintended consequences of the Environmental Movement is guilt - being guilty for our very existence. We humans have to consume part of nature to continue our existence: we breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide, we consume water and food, and we return waste products to the earth. Each of us is responsible in some part for the pollution of the environment. We even have a term for it now: carbon footprint. We are now able to scientifically estimate how much we pollute - we can weigh and measure our guilt. "He who has the greatest carbon footprint is the most guilty and must make it right to be environmentally righteous again" so goes the thinking. And we make ourselves righteous again by buying "green" products, driving fewer miles in cars, recycling more, and the like, to justify ourselves. But how much is enough? How much "green" will make you feel righteous?
Is having an even balance sheet with Mother Nature our righteousness? No, Christ is our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). His death on the cross is what has paid for our unrighteousness - all of it. And his righteousness is given freely through faith in him. And declared righteous by God through Christ and freed from guilt, we are free - free to serve. And freed from guilt, we can freely serve one another and be the stewards of the earth that God intended for us to be. We are free to use it without guilt, but do so wisely. Not to be righteous, but out of love for God and neighbor.

Besides, doesn't the Earth do a very good job of absorbing our carbon footprint? - photosynthesis!

Forty One

Yesterday was my birthday - my 41st. I woke up thinking it wasn't going to be a big deal. But it evolved into something somewhat significant for me. The first moments of the day included receiving gifts from Sheri and the girls: An iPod Touch (how cool is that) and a couple of nice dress shirts with matching ties - very nice. Later, I got to work and at 9:00 am, the entire staff met for our usual Monday Morning meeting. As each staff member entered the room, the told me "Happy Birthday." And then they decided to take me to lunch. Later that afternoon, I opened up Facebook and found that dozens of my friends from all over the country had taken the time to wish me a happy birthday. That evening, I enjoyed a nice dinner at home with my family, followed by phone calls from my sister and from my parents.

I was just going to write off the day as a tick on my personal odometer. But all of these people in my life made it so much more. I am truly blessed beyond imagination. I, a sinner worthy of nothing, have been chosen by my God to be his child through baptism and has called me to be an ordained servant of the Word among some amazing people. My Heavenly Father has taken care of all my needs - most especially the gift of salvation through my Lord Jesus Christ. I have a wife with whom I am privileged to share my life and she shares her life with me. We have been blessed with the gift of two beautiful and incredible daughters. And yesterday, so many people took the time to share in my day.

Forty One isn't so bad after all.

Stephen Ministry in the News

Hope Lutheran Church, my congregation, is a Stephen Ministry congregation. We have a group of Stephen Ministers that extend care in the Name of Jesus Christ - multiplying the efforts of Pastor Ralph and myself.
Click here for a great story published by PBS about Stephen Ministry.

R.I.P.

Abby and Emma and some of the neighborhood kids were all playing early this evening. Abby came running toward our house and said, "I need some tape." And I, of course asked why. She said, "For the roly poly grave. She died." Apparently, they found a dead roly poly and they decided to give it a proper burial. One of the other kids made the tombstone. In case you can't read it in the photo. It says, "Mrs. Roly Poly died here." with an arrow pointing to down to the very spot where they laid her to rest.
I'm pleased my daughters and their peers are realizing their importance as stewards of God's creation.