This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "culture"
It used to be Awesome, but now I Want…
A few weeks ago I changed my schedule to having Mondays off instead of Fridays. There are some good benefits to it: it makes the work week feel longer for some reason; Fridays are great days to get things done here at the office, where it is nice and quiet; people who need things usually wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to ask me, and with this schedule I have an extra week day to help them. But I can already tell that the charm will wear off eventually. It will soon enough be like all things. Starting out a joy, then becoming something enjoyable, soon enough it becomes worn and comfortable, then the flaws appear and something new begins to hearken. That fancy new phone? That brand new car? That cute new blouse? That adorable … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Things I Do to Stay out of Trouble
Apparently my Easter sabbatical needs to be over. A couple of people I had no idea read this asked me what was happening here and when I would post again. I guess I have six readers instead of the four I thought I had. But their remarks got me thinking about the blog. It’s gone through quite a few changes since I started it. From obscurity to almost-obscurity, from WordPress to Blogger and back to WordPress–and back to being a pretty quiet corner on the ‘net. For a time I was working hard to make it more popular, and it worked when I posted controversial things, but I found it juvenile to chase ratings and hits, so I stopped. Readers left, too. Ce la vie. So where is it going now? What … Read entire article »
Lost (and Found–at least for Sayid. Or Maybe Not)
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 … Read entire article »
Evangelical (Catholic)…Really!
Someone wrote an essay once–I wish I could remember who and credit him–which asked this question: “Pastors hear people complain that our worship at times is ‘too Catholic.’ Why do we never hear people complain that it is ‘too Protestant’ or ‘not Catholic enough’?” We need to remember that the Lutheran Reformation is just that: a reformation, not a renovation or rebuild. The Lutherans sought to fix what was in error and keep the rest. Indeed, the Confessions argue at many times, Lutherans are not innovators and are truly of a piece with the Catholic Church–only without the medieval errors and such. This is the foundational identity of the Lutheran Church, what our pastors are supposed to believe, teach and confess…and what our congregations are supposed to believe, teach and confess. Yet that’s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
H1N1, Nasty Viruses, the Common Cup, Jewish Heredity and Reason Versus Faith
A few days ago I pulled a long quote from Pastoral Meanderings and now have included the link to his post. At the risk of being a one-note Betty, he posted todayregarding the Common Cup and disease tranmission, including summaries of actual, honest-to-goodness medical studies. It is excellent, and you should read it. But I have one thing to offer. Isn’t it funny how a pastor can tell a person, “You cannot get sick from drinking the blood of Jesus Christ,” and people will wonder. But when a scientist says, “The probability of disease transmission using a common cup at religious services is as close to zero as possible and presents no genuine risk to participants,” people believe them? Why is it that medicine often carries more cache than theology? Here is another example. I … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
75th Anniversary and Oktoberfest Weekend
Redeemer’s 2nd Annual Oktoberfest begins tomorrow at 11am and goes until the food is gone. It’s shaping up to be tremendous fun. This year we sold advance tickets and have already sold the same number of meals that were served last year, and the committee has done an exemplary job in planning, decorating and putting everything in place. This is day one of our 75th Anniversary celebration. Sunday brings a guest preacher, Rev. Richard Peckman, the longest-serving pastor and oldest active pastor in our history. Between services we will be enjoying a continental breakfast, video slideshow of pictures throughout Redeemer’s history and a few letters of congratulations. All our choirs will be singing as well. I can’t say enough good things about the groups that have planned these events. Glory be to … Read entire article »
Filed under: The World
Abortion on TV?
Creative Minority Report discussed “The Abortion Episode” of The Family Guy that was too controversial for FOX to air. At first I thought of one of the pro-life episodes of The Simpsons I saw the other night, when Springfield tried to ban children. A memorable line from that one, said to a mob of citizens, “Now let’s go kill all the kids….. ‘s stuff!!” But in his post, Matthew Archbold goes on to this more serious angle, and I think he’s right on the money: I think for too long we’ve been told that abortion is too incendiary to discuss. It’s too hot a topic. Can you think of any other issue where Hollywood says this is “too hot a topic” to exploit for profit? The reason for the silence is not … Read entire article »
Death of Small Towns
In the last post I may have implied that my town is one of the many that are slowly dying. Is that true? Enid certainly has seen more prosperous days. In many ways we have never recovered from the oil bust of the mid 1980s, at least compared to Oklahoma City, which today is growing by leaps and bounds. Compared to surrounding towns, Enid is thriving. They are textbook cases of rural decline. I think Enid is holding its own. What I wrote about yesterday can be seen in every large city, if you look in the right neighborhoods. In small cities like Enid (pop. 45,000ish) you just don’t have to look as far, and the strories of the golden years are closer, just next door. That the way of men, of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Me Forbid that I Feel Uneasy!
People are scared of religion. Religious people are scared of religion. They are frightened to submit, to be in a mystery, to have the weight of God pressing down on them at temple (church) and in their homes. They are frightened of serving. They are frightened of ritual as religious rituals. Keep the 7th Inning Stretch and the chants and the wave. Keep your bells and vestments away. They don’t want a God who is other than us. Jesus was a man, so He must have been a dude, too. Muslims do scary religious things like chant and bang their heads on the ground. So do Jews–or at least they did. So do Orthodox Christians, unless they have succumbed too much to American Protestantism. When it happened in Ft. Wayne, Western-style, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Are References to Viagra Appropriate in a Devotion?
Pr. Rossow reports some sad news of the quality of the opening devotion at the Northern Illinois Convention, including sexual innuendos: The opening devotion of the Northern Illinois District (NID) convention included a couple of off-color references. When he was called on it, the presenter confessed the error before the whole convention and was given forgiveness by the District President. The whole thing was really weird. In the end, I think it illustrates all too poignantly how the new way of doing church promoted by President Kieschnick and many other leaders of the synod, has brought the world into the church. (Read the rest here) The opening worship at our Convention was LSB setting III. Chanted. Well, most of it chanted. Pr. Nehrenz (elected 2nd VP at the convention) did not chant … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
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