Remembering the Victims of Communism

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.  We should never forget why it was built and why it fell.  Remembering where we came from will tell us who we are.

The above video is an interview with author and historian Lee Edwards about the creation of the Victims of Communism Memorial dedicated to those who perished under Communist regimes between 1917 and 1989.

Fall of the Berlin Wall: the moment the barriers came down:

Approximately 2000 years ago, one man tore down another wall on a hill in Jerusalem.  That wall also separated a land of freedom from a land of slavery.  Actually, it was a curtain, and by his sacrifice he tore it in two:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.  At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  [Matthew 27:50-51].

Remember.  And tell the good news.

Who Builds the Church?

It is not we who build.  [Christ] builds the church.  No man builds the church but Christ alone.  Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it; for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it.  We must confess—he builds.  We must proclaim—he builds.  We must pray to him—that he may build.

We do not know his plan.  We cannot see whether he is building or pulling down.  It may be that the times which by human standards are times of collapse are for him the great times of construction.  It may be that the times which from a human point of view are great times for the church are times when it is pulled down.

It is a great comfort which Christ gives to his church: you confess, preach, bear witness to me and I alone will build where it pleases me.  Do not meddle in what is my province.  Do what is given to you to do well and you have done enough.  But do it well.  Pay no heed to views and opinions.  Don’t ask for judgments.  Don’t always be calculating what will happen.  Don’t always be on the lookout for another refuge!  Church, stay a church!  But church: confess, confess, confess!  Christ alone is your Lord; from his grace alone can you live as you are.  Christ builds.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  (Reading for October 23, Treasury of Daily Prayer, 840-41).

Holy Voices of All Saints

Happy All Saints Day!

The saints on earth and those above
But one communion make;
Joined to their Lord in bonds of love,
All of His grace partake.

— The Lutheran Hymnal, “The Saints on Earth and Those Above,” 478:1.

Hark! the sound of holy voices
Chanting at the crystal sea,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord, to Thee.
Multitudes which none can number
Like the stars in glory stand,
Clothed in white apparel, holding
Palms of vict’ry in their hand.

They have come from tribulation
And have washed their robes in blood,
Washed them in the blood of Jesus;
Tried they were, and firm they stood.
Mocked, imprisoned, stoned, tormented,
Sawn asunder, slain with sword,
They have conquered death and Satan
By the might of Christ the Lord.

Marching with Thy cross, their banner,
They have triumphed, following
Thee, the Captain of salvation,
Thee, their savior and their King.
Gladly, Lord, with Thee they suffered,
Gladly, Lord, with Thee they died,
And by death to life immortal
They were born and glorified.

Now they reign in heavenly glory,
Now they walk in golden light,
Now they drink, as from a river,
Holy bliss and infinite.
Love and peace they taste forever
And all truth and knowledge see
In the beatific vision
of the blessed Trinity.

God of God, the One-begotten
Light of Light, Emmanuel,
In whose body, joined together,
All the saints forever dwell,
Pour upon us of Thy fulness
That we may forevermore
God the Father, God the Spirit,
One with Thee on high, adore.

— The Lutheran Hymnal, “Hark! the Sound of Holy Voices,” 471:1, 3-6.

Notes: The picture above is of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in downtown Appleton, WI.

Hallowe’en Moon

Those waves in the video are from billows of rising air heated by the sun.  We see this effect above fires, and a similar effect causes the stars to twinkle.  The moon’s movement from left to right in the picture is caused by the earth’s rotation.

When Jesus was on earth, he looked at the same moon and the same stars.  Happy Hallowe’en and All Saints Day.

Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:
“O sun, stand still over Gibeon,
O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,  [Joshua 10:12-13].

Therefore, we sing to God:

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise…

When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet.  [Psalm 8:1-6].

The son of man and the son of David is Jesus.  He is the reason God cares for us, he atoned for our sins, and as a man he has been made ruler over even the stars.  About Jesus, God says:

I will not take my love from him,
nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.

I will not violate my covenant
or alter what my lips have uttered.

Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
and I will not lie to David—
that his line will continue forever
and his throne endure before me like the sun;

it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky.”   [Psalm 89:33-37]

Jesus reigns forever, and all creation sings:

Praise the LORD from the heavens,
praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars.   [Psalm 148:1-3]

Amen.

Photographic Interlude

May God bless you.

So I hated life

So I hated life.

— Ecclesiastes 2:17.

It can be good to hear things like this in the Bible because being sick and tired of life is something that happens to us all.  It’s hard to function when you feel like that…

On top of the pain and boredom, there’s also the fact that there is so much injustice and revolt…  What was the purpose of all this?

The preacher has seen it all.  Even the loneliness that chills and isolates a person.  “Woe to him who is alone when he falls!”  (Ecclesiastes 4:10).  And there’s so little we can do about it, not even for ourselves and our faults.  What’s crooked can’t be made straight again.

That’s exactly the way it feels when a person gets old or tired or depressed or maybe is still young but has no goal or desire or maybe just pressured by his own inexorable clear sight that sees through all the humbug in everything.

All this is described in the Bible!  It’s there so we will know it’s something God recognizes and cares about.  Even those who are tired of life are included in God’s mercy.  Their needs and thoughts are inscribed in God’s Book because they’re written in God’s heart.

There are a hundred reasons to be tired of life.  There’s just one reason, however—that’s better and more important—to have the strength to get through life cheerfully.  That reason is Jesus Christ.  Just because there are so many reasons to despair, we’ve received this one tremendous reason to trust, despite everything and in the middle of everything that seems so hopeless.

— This is an excerpt from To Live with Christ by Bo Giertz, currently my favorite devotional book.  (“Devotion for the Wednesday after fifteenth Sunday after Trinity,” 598).  To Live with Christ is currently on sale for an excellent price.

Light Bulbs vs. The Nanny State

As an amateur photographer, I can attest to the inferior quality of CFL light.  They give off an unhealthy looking green glow, and have ruined many a photograph.  Compact Florescent Lights have good uses, but we should not ban beautiful incandescent lights.

If the government is going to start outlawing beautiful objects just because they allegedly consume too much energy, then there are many things government could outlaw: holiday lights, water fountains, fireworks, beautiful architecture, etc.  Banning these inventions might save energy, but what would be the effect on our quality of life?

This country needs to return to the often misunderstood and forgotten concept of freedom.

First Fall Colors

They say the Autumn colors won’t be as vibrant this year.  Says who?

Autumn is a yearly reminder that this world is having its season, but it will come to an end.  On the day Christ returns, the sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and the starry host will fall like Autumn leaves.  (Isaiah 34:4).

Already, we see the colors changing.

I am often amazed by the rich blue of the Autumn sky, and assume it has something to do with the lower angle of the October sun.

blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD …
He will be like a tree planted by the water …
its leaves are always green.  [Jeremiah 17:7-8].

On the day Jesus returns, the season of Adam will end, and the new season of Christ will begin.  His season will never end.  His leaves will never fall.

In heaven stands the tree of life.  It bears “twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.  And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse.”  (Revelation 22:2-3).

This tree is the cross of Christ.  The prophet said, “Cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree” (Deuteronomy 21:23), but Christ is raised, and death is swallowed up in victory.  The curse is lifted.  We designed the cross as an instrument of torture and death, but Life himself hung on that tree; and since “a tree is recognized by its fruit,” the cross is a tree of life.  (Matthew 12:33).

Once in history, God said, “Do not let man reach out his hand to eat from the tree of life,” but now He says, “Take, and eat.”  This is “given for you.”  (Genesis 3:22, Matthew 26:26, Luke 22:19).  The Lord’s Supper is the actual fruit of the tree of life, given to you, today.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

Apocalyptic writing is best understood when we interpret it in the light of the past.  It tells us to fear God, not man, because “man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”  (Proverbs 16:9).  Consider Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as recorded in the book of Daniel, chapter two:

‘You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance.  The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.  While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands.  It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff …  The wind swept them away without a trace.  But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.’  [Daniel 2:31-35].

According to Daniel, the great statue represents the empires of mankind, starting with the gold head that  represented the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar.  (Daniel 2:38).  The two silver arms represented the dual Medo-Persian Empire, which was larger than Babylon, but not as brilliant.  The bronze torso represented the Greek Empires started by Alexander the Great.  And the two iron legs represented the Roman Empire:  Iron symbolized strength and longevity.

The feet of iron and baked clay represent a divided kingdom.  (Daniel 2:41).  Unlike the previous great imperial powers, which were very centralized, Western civilization has always been divided.  “And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united.”  (Daniel 2:43).  Daniel prophesied that this kingdom after Rome would “have the strength of iron in it” and would “be partly strong and partly brittle.”  (Daniel 2:41, 42).  And, we see in our world that some countries are strong like iron while others are as weak as baked clay.

This revelation becomes powerful to us as we look at the past and see it fulfilled in our history.  It doesn’t reveal the future so much as it reveals to us that God is in control.  In this way, God assures us that his Messiah is coming and his coming will be awesome.

After our divided kingdom, the final kingdom to appear in the dream is the rock that is not made by human hands.  It hits the feet, destroys the entire statute, and replaces it by filling up the whole earth.  (Daniel 2:34, 35).  “In the times of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.”  (Daniel 2:44).

Did Nebuchadnezzar learn anything from his dream?  Well, the next part of his story is about the image of gold and the fiery furnace.  Nebuchadnezzar promptly erected a statute that was made of gold from head to toe, and ordered everyone to worship it.  He was trying to show that his golden kingdom would last until judgement day.  He did not learn.

We learn from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that no matter how man rages, or how much power he has, he cannot frustrate the will of God.  Babylon fell.  Rome fell.  And our divided world too will fall.  Therefore, we should not put our hope or trust in the things of this world.

Apocalyptic writing is clear about only one future rule: that of the Messiah.  (Isaiah 9:7).  The purpose of apocalyptic writing is not really to warn us about Greece or Rome or even a future world government, but rather it is to warn us about God, his judgement, and the need to believe in him for our salvation.  Jesus is coming again.

copyright © 2001 Rick T. @ vdma.wordpress.com

Notes:  This article was first published in the St. Peter Church newsletter, June-July 2001 A.D.   Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, New International Version © 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society.

The Lutheran Study Bible, a First Look

The regular print edition of The Lutheran Study Bible is a beautifully bound book.  It is a big book, about the same size as the Treasury of Daily Prayer; however, the print is much smaller and the paper is thinner than the Treasury.  The print for the abundant notes below the Biblical text is especially small.

There are many beautiful illustrations.  The picture below depicts the baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the Book of Matthew.

This picture also shows how easy it is to see right through the thin paper, even two pages ahead.  The thinness of the paper, ink gloss, red lettering of Jesus’ words, and small print make the text difficult to read.  Also, extra care is needed when turning pages so as to avoid ripping or wrinkling the paper.

Even though the paper is thin, the content appears thick.  This book is billed as the first genuinely Lutheran study Bible in the English language, and that alone should earn it some praise.

However, the danger of any study bible is that the study notes and translation could cause the readers to read into the Biblical text what is in fact not there (eisegesis).  For example, the English Standard Version (ESV) translation of 1 Corinthians 11:8-10 & 14-16 from The Lutheran Study Bible says:

8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.  9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.  10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels…

14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?  For her hair is given to her for a covering.  16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

Here are the study notes for verses 14 & 15:

11:14 nature.  No Scripture passage teaches this, nor is Paul appealing to the created order.  Instead, as in v 13, he calls them to consider how things are in their culture.

11:15 covering.  Summarizes vv 9-12 and 14-15, pointing out that the practices of Roman culture regarding head coverings and gender distinction are in harmony with God’s will…

Paul discusses our creation and the created order, and appeals to “nature itself,” however, the notes conclude that Paul is actually writing only about Roman culture and not nature.  Over the last 90 years, many prominent American women cut their long hair, not just as a new style, but as an expression of liberation.  Is it possible that “nature itself” means nature and not just culture?

Has the Church always interpreted “nature itself” in verse 14 as culture?  Or is this an innovation?  Notice Jesus’ hair in the drawing above.  (We do not know how long Jesus’ hair was).  Samson had long hair, but he was a Nazirite from birth (see Numbers 6 and Judges 13).  Was a Nazarite’s long hair also a sign of authority on their head (i.e. their vow)?

In an interesting WELS Q & A regarding the translation of the Greek word gune in 1 Corinthians 11, the WELS answer expresses concern, not only with the ESV’s arbitrary translation of gune as both “woman” and “wife” in the same passages, but also by inference the LCMS’ theology regarding the roles of men and women.  (The NIV, KJV, and NKJV all use only the word “woman,” in 1 Corinthians 11, not “wife”).  The Lutheran Study Bible is billed as the first genuinely Lutheran study Bible, but it is also distinctly Missouri Synod Lutheran, and the Missouri Synod has women serving in positions of authority over men in some of its congregations (for example, as authoritative voters and congregational presidents).

Compared to the other highly anticipated and recently released books from Concordia Publishing House, this is the first that I’ve found difficult to read and recommend.  There is a larger print edition available.  In summary, this is a good book at first look, and the pictures are beautiful, but its theology and translation may be a bit off in places, and reading the regular print edition is hard on the eyes.