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If this pans out it doesn’t take a genius to see that it will revolutionize medical ethics. Lord help us! For you non-Lost viewers I will not bore you with a long post, but will give a few spoilers on last night’s episode. Be warned. One thing I enjoy about Lost is the amalgamation of spiritual references the show does not shy away from. No, Otten would not endorse it. It is not a Christian allegory and borrows heavily from science, paganism and so forth. But Christian themes abound. Sayid had a sort of baptism last night, which actually killed him…until he rose again. The connection with Romans 6 was pretty apparent to me. Then there is the tension between Jacob and Ben. Jacob was a god to Ben, and when he lost faith because Jacob wasn’t responding, “killed him.” Redemption and change is a major theme of the show. I suspect the developments with the dual-Universes depicted last night will highlight that, along with the exploration of our free will. (And no, it is not a Lutheran version of free will, but we can all get over it). Ok. These brief and shallow thoughts are over now. If you really want to read about all the spiritual and literary connections in the series, I recommend reading Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly We’ve entered the season of Pre-Lent, for those of you who don’t follow Vatican II. In other words, Lent begins in sixteen days and now is the time to begin preparing for that. Preparing to prepare for Easter, if you want to think of it that way. So how do you prepare for Lent? First, remember that repentance, prayer, fasting and charity are not optional for Christians. We do not earn favor with God for doing these things, but our Lord says that these are what his disciples do. Even though we should be doing these things all the time, in Lent we ramp them up or do these things more intentionally. Second, get ready now. Pray and consider how you are going to incorporate more fasting and prayer into your day. Take stock of your time and activities and figure out what you can change. In my case, I’ve been wasting a little too much time on the computer in the evenings and not doing things I want/should be doing. Third, prepare for the Fast, which in the Western Tradition is basically 1.5 meals per day (1/4 breakfast, 1/4 lunch, 1 full supper, no meat on Wednesdays and Fridays). Giving up certain luxuries and bad habits is also good. But whatever you plan, talk to your pastor first. He can provide some guidance. Don’t do too much; don’t try it all this year, but do a little more than last year. If you plan on giving up things, begin weaning yourself now. It will be easier when Ash Wednesday arrives. You get the idea. Pre-Lent is a gift for the church. Use it. God is good and merciful and does not treat us as we deserve. Repeat as necessary several times an hour. We’re studying Romans in my adult Bible study. We’re about four chapters in and have stalled out a little, due to the very insightful comments and questions I’ve been getting. But yesterday was a kind of watershed event for me. The questions raised really got me thinking on the nature of faith and our response in a way I’ve never experienced before. Here’s an example: At the seminary Prof. Eickmann said ths gospel is like a man walking down the street. A stranger comes up and hands over a check in the amount of $2 million. The man must now deposit the check, having faith that it is good and use the money, or the man must decide that it is a hoax and throw the check away. But as the check is genuine, we can say that the man is a millionaire, even if he never deposits the check. Likewise, God has given us forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death is for all. But salvation is a matter of trusting this grace of God–depositing it, as it were. So. Yesterday discussion flowered out of this “parable” and I began to wonder about some of the implications of this, and as it relates to Christ’s parable of the talents. My questions for you: 1. Is this parable/analogy accurate? 2. What implications do you see from this? 3. How does it affect justification? Because sometimes a video of someone destroying their kitchen is what eases the pain: My friend and colleague Mason Beecroft apparently gave the most controversial presentation at the recent LCMS Theological Convocation on Worship. Doesn’t surprise me. He’s a great guy (this is not a non-sequitur). So what did he say? What was the problem? His conclusion was nothing radical. Every congregation ought to use the LSB, i.e., the hymnal and liturgy from the most recent service book published. But the how and the why is what rubbed many the wrong way. He is sacramental. He is pre-modern. He believes what the Lord says in a way that frustrates the neo-literalist, historical-grammatical fundamentalists, evangelical practicalists in our midst. Ignore that last sentence if you don’t know what it means. But do read what Pr. Beecroft posted today. Here’s an excerpt:
And this one, which provides some more editorial comment.
This has got to be a hoax. Please, Good Lord, make it be a hoax. HT: Hollywood I think Facebook and text messaging is ruinging ruining my blogging and thinking skills. And typing skills. |
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