As I've said before I am a psychotherapist who does drug and alcohol treatment. The who and the where are not important to this blog right now. As I do this job, trying to get kids and adults to move toward sobriety, it's become crystal clear to me what a psychologist, a theologian and some good friends have hammered into me these last 30 years that "father is more important than you and I will ever know, Steve". An example of the importance of father drove this point home the other day. Below is a note taken from a number of clients that have a particularly bad addiction. I've rolled information from these clients up into one person for anonymity sake. The stories are virtually the same and the reaction to being told about father and belonging are exactly the same. The long term outcomes vary somewhat as they do when dealing with the human psyche but the truth still lies deep in what happened the other day.
…once again J was concerned with the therapist’s opinion and seemed very concerned that the therapist didn’t believe J was clean and sober. The therapist commented on clients concern. There seemed to be some power struggle over whether the therapist believed the client. After finally understanding there was this struggle the therapist stepped out of the struggle by commenting on the client’s process, by stating that the client was very concerned about how important people in his life perceived him. The therapist interpreted that J felt like (s)he was very disappointing to mother and always felt guilty for it. The therapist also interpreted that it sounded like J’s father was not emotionally involved with the client nor had father ever been involved. Client confirmed this by stating that the father was never in J’s life. J dismissed father’s involvement because father had never been involved and J “…just never cared”. The therapist took J to task on father having no impact on J’s life and stated J had been greatly impacted by the lack of father. This therapist told J not to dismiss the lack of father quite so quickly. The client further discounted father’s lack of physical and emotional presence in life until the therapist interrupted and said it’s the father that causes the child to feel belonging. “You have never felt like you belonged, J”. The client immediately broke down weeping.
The idea of belonging is, I believe, innate in each of us. We are social creatures who need to belong somewhere. God created us this way. He says, “…It is not good for man to be alone….” It was the beginning of communion with one another, the beginning of belonging. The Father God gave this to us in the beginning and it is our father’s that give this to us with their voice and presence from before we are born.
On subsequent visits I was able to talk more about father and finding father. There we were disagreements about being able to trust men and father substitutes. There is a deep residing anxiety that is because of a lack of father in these clients’ lives. There is the constant fear of disappointing mother and God. I find this permeates fatherless men and women. There is boundless needless guilt, shame, fear and approval seeking behavior. I have worked with these clients for a while and there is more work to be done. ”…the need for father is more important than you and I will ever know Steve…”
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Not so much...
Whoa! I haven't written anything since February. Time flys when you're having fun. I am caught up in the mundane as life presses on and I must earn daily bread for my boy and me. I've found something very cool between my son and me. We are playing golf. We've played twice this summer and it's been wonderful. He kicks my ass. He hits a longer ball and it's consistently straighter than my shots. That's not all though, what is cool about our time is that we are totally relaxed together. It is a completely non-anxious time of just walking together and being together with out the life lessons...uh or without me vocalizing any life lessons or me vocalizing much of anything. I am quiet except for the occasional attaboys. He is quiet except for the same and for an occasional question or statement about life, school or whatever. I love it. I am totally relaxed with him and he is completely relaxed around me.
Well, that's it for this entry...oh wait there is one more thing. I have two discoveries; one is The Dangerous Book For Boys. This is a must have for every guy, father and son. The other is The 4 Hour Work Week. They are not my discoveries but I have read them. I'm getting them both for my son and myself. Okay, that's it for this time around. See ya in the funny papers.
Well, that's it for this entry...oh wait there is one more thing. I have two discoveries; one is The Dangerous Book For Boys. This is a must have for every guy, father and son. The other is The 4 Hour Work Week. They are not my discoveries but I have read them. I'm getting them both for my son and myself. Okay, that's it for this time around. See ya in the funny papers.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Wednesday Night Wrestling
As I've indicated in previous posts my son is 15 yrs old. Like his father, he is not a student in the academic sense although, he could be if that's what he wanted. He is very bright. He is bored with most classes in school. It's not that he can't do the work he get's "A"'s when he decides to sit down and get "A"s, but he is bored. There is little social interaction in class and one has to sit, forever, and listen to some schmoe blab on and on about what seems like useless crap. How do I know this? I use to go to school too and I know exactly what he is going through, at least with regard to that stuff. Anyway, Wednesday night he was at my house spending the night. It was the night before his math test and he had math homework to do. He did not want to do his home work nor did he really want to study for his test the next day and he was bored. I was on the computer and he was bugging me. He was hanging on me, shining lights in my eyes etc. I know, he wanted attention...blah blah blah. No, he was stalling and not doing what he needed to do. He needed to do his homework. He was also challenging dad. He was trying to pick a fight with dad. Which is the point of this post.
My son is at an age where he is in the nietherlands of childhood and adulthood. He is competitive, masculine, independent, bright and he was feeling his "oats". He wanted/needed to challenge dad. He had to see where he stood with me; "Does pop still have the moxie?" It's always a guess as to what the teenage boy is asking for, hell it's always a guess as to what any child is really asking for but as a parent I just gotta pick and go with it. I've guessed wrong once or twice before and my son has proven to be resilient. All kids tend to be surprisingly resilient. Me being anxious and wringing my hands does more harm than good. Oh ya I've done that, too. It did no good. Yep, I've made a lot of mistakes as a parent and I will make a lot more before I'm done. But I digress. Let's see where was I...oh ya, my son full of oats wanting to challenge me and I decided to take him on this time. He threw down the gauntlet and I accepted the challenge. I learned a couple of things. First, I learned my son is very very very strong. Woof. But I also learned that I did the right thing, this time. Sometimes boys just need to know dad is really present and strong.
Sometimes teenage boys are looking for dad to step in and say: "ENOUGH!". Dad needs to be dad and be a hard wall for the child to bounce off of, then the kid feels contained and safe. There is timing in this and there needs to be wisdom and a whole lotta lucky guessing. It's not done every time for most kids and it's not exactly clear when the dad is suppose to take up the gauntlet. So, if you are wondering when your time will come just know it will. And, if you miss it once or twice it will come a bunch more times. So, there is no need to watch for it or be anxious that you've missed the window. Just know that when the time comes it's okay to wrestle.
The actual Challenge took all of about 5 minutes. My son would play, polk and threaten. I asked him if he really wanted to go down the path he was aiming to go down and he polked and pushed somemore. I took that as a yes. So, we got into a wrestling match. Like I said earlier he is very strong but so am I plus I have about 100 lbs on him. He fought hard used all he knew from wrestling and after getting very tired and making me tired he decided; "yep, dad still has what it takes to be dad." He was angry at dad the rest of that night and the next morning. No he didn't do his homework nor did he study. That really wasn't the point of the exercise. He tried to blame me for lack of study saying I kept him from it by wrestling with him. I laughed and he knew he couldn't get away with that excuse either (another test and push). My son's school work is his responsibility and there are natural and imposed consequences if his grades reflect a lack of studying.
He still pokes and pushes and he will continue to do so and I will continue to push back when I think it's necessary but mostly a little less than before. He will be 18 in 2 1/2 years and legally an adult. He will want me to be dad still and I will be dad but it will look a little different than the way it is now. I do it differently than the way I did it before. The whole aim of my job as dad has been and is to get him to find his place in adulthood. I brought him into this world now I owe him his life.
My son is at an age where he is in the nietherlands of childhood and adulthood. He is competitive, masculine, independent, bright and he was feeling his "oats". He wanted/needed to challenge dad. He had to see where he stood with me; "Does pop still have the moxie?" It's always a guess as to what the teenage boy is asking for, hell it's always a guess as to what any child is really asking for but as a parent I just gotta pick and go with it. I've guessed wrong once or twice before and my son has proven to be resilient. All kids tend to be surprisingly resilient. Me being anxious and wringing my hands does more harm than good. Oh ya I've done that, too. It did no good. Yep, I've made a lot of mistakes as a parent and I will make a lot more before I'm done. But I digress. Let's see where was I...oh ya, my son full of oats wanting to challenge me and I decided to take him on this time. He threw down the gauntlet and I accepted the challenge. I learned a couple of things. First, I learned my son is very very very strong. Woof. But I also learned that I did the right thing, this time. Sometimes boys just need to know dad is really present and strong.
Sometimes teenage boys are looking for dad to step in and say: "ENOUGH!". Dad needs to be dad and be a hard wall for the child to bounce off of, then the kid feels contained and safe. There is timing in this and there needs to be wisdom and a whole lotta lucky guessing. It's not done every time for most kids and it's not exactly clear when the dad is suppose to take up the gauntlet. So, if you are wondering when your time will come just know it will. And, if you miss it once or twice it will come a bunch more times. So, there is no need to watch for it or be anxious that you've missed the window. Just know that when the time comes it's okay to wrestle.
The actual Challenge took all of about 5 minutes. My son would play, polk and threaten. I asked him if he really wanted to go down the path he was aiming to go down and he polked and pushed somemore. I took that as a yes. So, we got into a wrestling match. Like I said earlier he is very strong but so am I plus I have about 100 lbs on him. He fought hard used all he knew from wrestling and after getting very tired and making me tired he decided; "yep, dad still has what it takes to be dad." He was angry at dad the rest of that night and the next morning. No he didn't do his homework nor did he study. That really wasn't the point of the exercise. He tried to blame me for lack of study saying I kept him from it by wrestling with him. I laughed and he knew he couldn't get away with that excuse either (another test and push). My son's school work is his responsibility and there are natural and imposed consequences if his grades reflect a lack of studying.
He still pokes and pushes and he will continue to do so and I will continue to push back when I think it's necessary but mostly a little less than before. He will be 18 in 2 1/2 years and legally an adult. He will want me to be dad still and I will be dad but it will look a little different than the way it is now. I do it differently than the way I did it before. The whole aim of my job as dad has been and is to get him to find his place in adulthood. I brought him into this world now I owe him his life.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Fathers Catechizing Their Children
I have a dive buddy who has been Catechizing his daughter since she was still in her mommies womb. Yes, the infant in the womb hears the father's voice (See previous articles). My friend is a pastor who lives in Texas now. His pregnant wife sat church and heard the Word preached so did his daughter!!! Every Sunday daddy put the Word of God into his daughter's ears and it continued even after her birth. When my friend was pastor of a church in Southern California I would go over to his house for lunch or dinner and hear his 2 year old daughter pray and sing blessings over the meals. She had learned parts of the small Catechism and she was saying them at the table. She's been memorizing the Small Catechism and scriptures. He is training his daughter.
The reason I bring up my friends ways of parenting is because I am seeing the results of what he is doing and I like it. I, on the other hand, have not been so diligent in teaching my son. Now, my son is 15 and it is a bit of an up hill battle to teach him. I think it would have been better to teach my son when he was younger.
Fathers, I'd advocate reading scriptures and the Small Catechism to the kids when they are still in the womb. You will form a habit and through out their lives they will be hearing the scriptures. It will make it easier on you and them to learn about Jesus.
Two more things I've learned along the way: (1) I don't expect the child to just know stuff after just one telling. I have learned that there are years of telling. The goal is for the child to know when he is grown up. You are preparing him for adulthood. (2) I have learned not to be too anxious about stuff regarding my child. It's not for me to be anxious and fretting. That tends to be more of a mother thing.
Fathers, I am not saying all of this as law or as a wagging finger. I want to pass this stuff along as stuff I've learned along the way. It's stuff I haven't done well and stuff I am still learning. It's stuff taught to me by a company of men.
The reason I bring up my friends ways of parenting is because I am seeing the results of what he is doing and I like it. I, on the other hand, have not been so diligent in teaching my son. Now, my son is 15 and it is a bit of an up hill battle to teach him. I think it would have been better to teach my son when he was younger.
Fathers, I'd advocate reading scriptures and the Small Catechism to the kids when they are still in the womb. You will form a habit and through out their lives they will be hearing the scriptures. It will make it easier on you and them to learn about Jesus.
Two more things I've learned along the way: (1) I don't expect the child to just know stuff after just one telling. I have learned that there are years of telling. The goal is for the child to know when he is grown up. You are preparing him for adulthood. (2) I have learned not to be too anxious about stuff regarding my child. It's not for me to be anxious and fretting. That tends to be more of a mother thing.
Fathers, I am not saying all of this as law or as a wagging finger. I want to pass this stuff along as stuff I've learned along the way. It's stuff I haven't done well and stuff I am still learning. It's stuff taught to me by a company of men.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
"Hi Jan The View From Her , yep it’s me again. Version 2.0 oh goodie, I just love this kind of dirty talk! I wish I hadn’t gotten sick over the weekend for a couple of reasons but one was to respond to your first post about creativity, boredom and worship.
You make some good points about creativity and connecting with God. You state that boredom is the problem. I think boredom stems from the way we think about Christianity and just what church and worship are supposed to do.
I participated in and worked for Young Life. Young Life leaders worked very hard to make sure kids didn’t get bored. The leaders came up with lots of new and spectacular ways to keep Young Life meetings creative and to keep kids attention. I remember the Young Life leader, when I was in high school, said he would eat a live gold fish if we could double our Young Life club attendance in a week. We did and one innocent gold fish found out what the intestines of one Young Life leader looked like (shudder). Another, leader in a different club got up and said he would shave his head if the club kids would, whatever the challenge was for that year; he went around bald for a while. It was all very creative; the talks at the end were very creative and funny. The kids loved it all and flocked to club meetings. The Gospel was spoken. The focus was Jesus. It was truly a work of genius for getting kids into the faith.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of us who grew up expecting Church to be just as entertaining as Young Life. We wanted church to make us emotionally high, hold our interest and help us emotionally to connect with God. We grew up thinking the only way to connect with God was through feeling connected. The emotional connection was the only way we knew to have meaning in church and not be bored. The camps were designed to give us an emotional connection and a high but, that had to be constantly renewed. If we didn’t feel emotionally connected then somehow we were backslidden. We had fallen away from Christ, which would lead us to another conversion experience. I don’t remember how many times I rededicated my life to Jesus or converted again and again and again. All of it was a lot of work. Whew!!!
Young Life was generally the last time we heard about the work of Christ for us. After that church was all about how we needed to be more like Jesus. The Church had 10 steps, 7 principles, 16 habits and 40 days of purpose to be more like Jesus; the husband, the wife, the business man and whatever…(Sorry but I worked for Focus on the Family for many years and I got a snout full of that stuff). *Much of this doctrine in evangelicalism originated from Erasmus a Catholic Priest/Theologian and a contemporary of Martin Luther’s in around 1524. Erasmus wrote; The Freedom Of The Will. He argued that individuals were saved by a combination of God’s mercy and man's efforts. Erasmus said, the bible was God’s guide to a better life style. Erasmus’s focus was on the need for human effort.
Many of us got lost because we failed. We failed to meet the steps, the principles, the habits and the purpose. We were folks from Focus, from Young Life and many others of us from along the way.
I think here is the crux of the problem. I will define the problem as the objective church vs. the subjective church. Some have put it in terms of the Reformed ( a 500 year format) vs. the Evangelical (the 50 yr format). Some haven’t defined it as impartially. Both sides are guilty of labeling each other more harshly with lots of grenade lobbing at each other. I want to put this discussion in somewhat more neutral terms but it is obvious I want to argue for one over the other. I think the way I’ve labeled the differences are “more neutral”.
The subjective church is about the ministers and/or me doing stuff so we can connect to God better or feel more connected. It’s about us going up to God, notice hands in the air reaching for God, heads and faces tilted up toward God. Even the words and notes in the music are designed to bring out emotion in the worshiper. It’s all done to create mood and “connection” to God. It is a move going up toward God. The preacher’s sermons in the subjective church are basically, “what can I do for God?” “How do I please God?” “How do I become more Christ like?”. “How can I get God to say, at the end of my life, ‘thou art my good and faithful servant’?” (See Erasmus). So, it’s about me making steps toward God. Further, creativity in worship in the subjective church leads to all matter of things besides James Taylor songs for worship. It can go to the ridiculous, such as Old Testament liturgical dance for worship. Bye the way, that was David dancing naked before God. I wouldn’t be opposed to that kind of worship necessarily depending on who was doing the dancing etc. given that I am a healthy heterosexual male, but I don’t think it would exactly help me worship God. Hey, guy here and a sinner to boot. Now lest any of you try to point a pious finger at me you’d better be ready with that first stone, not have a giant log in your eye or be dead, because I am really really good at nailing pious folks to the wall with law. Trust me! (In the most ominous tone I can muster)
On the other hand, the objective church member’s worship has corporate confession, liturgy, hymns, Law Gospel Sermons and the body and blood of Jesus put in their mouth and ears, week after week after week. I know, it sounds pretty boring. But if we are in a historical church of the reformation then we realize or we are supposed to realize, we can not connect to God but He has already connected to us and does so each week. It’s not about what we do or what we do to be entertained. It’s about Christ who has already connected to us. It’s done through the same boring stuff; the liturgy, confession and absolution, the hymns, sermons and communion and they are all done for us. It all works through the Law and the Gospel. The Law and the Gospel are each distinct. They both have different tasks toward the same goal. They are separate but both must be there and in a certain order.
We are confronted with the law in the worship service and in daily devotions. It happens in the liturgy, in the hymns and in the beginning of the sermon. It happens through out the service except at the end of the sermon. That is reserved for the Gospel only. We are supposed to see our failure in spades by the law’s condemning nature. Corporate confessions, the daily readings of the law, the preacher putting the law portion of the Word into our ears each and every service is a mirror to show us our sin and our need for Jesus. The pastor tells us the law and how we have broken each of the Ten Commandments. He reminds us of our duty as Christians and how we should live as Christians. If we are honest with ourselves this condemns us because we realize we can’t even live the good Christian life. We just don’t have the power and we are failures at the principles, the habits, driven purposes, etc. and we know that; “…we are sinful and unclean” and we deserve God’s eternal damnation. This is all in the law portion of the sermon. It’s now that we are ready to have the Holy Spirit drag our sorry kiesters to the Cross-, and for God to connect to us. Then comes the really good news in the Sermon, we are told of Christ’s rescue, Tolkein calls it the U-catastrophe. At the last minute Christ has come in, fought the fight and won the battle for us. As for the emotional subjective stuff I can tend to weep, when the law has really done it’s work and I see my self for the really bad egg I am then I hear the Gospel. But the point is Jesus has already done all the creative connecting stuff for me and to me. Just like He has done everything else for me. Just like the Holy Spirit does all the Sanctification stuff for me. It’s all done for me ‘cause I can’t do it myself. Scripture says I am dead in my sin. I picture a cadaver on a slab. I ain’t moving come hell or high water unless Jesus does it for me.
Jesus fought the fight and brought the whole kit and caboodle to us. He’s connected to us. The connection is all Him, it’s not something the pastor, the music minister, or whoever has created for me.
Let me just say another reasons the liturgy is there is that it protects me from a bad sermon. The liturgy is scripture chanted, sung and or spoken. If the preacher goes awry… Which sometimes happens. If he doesn’t do what he is called to do then there is at least the liturgy. It is scripture both the Law and the Gospel. The mirror is held up and forgiveness is proclaimed.
Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
My church does have its 6:23 (Romans 6:23) service on Sunday nights. It’s a bit more for the creative types. There is “worship music” and hymns but the band is in the back of the sanctuary. It’s a little too much for me but the folks that talked pastor into having it are more comfortable there. They all come from the Calvary chapels and such later converting to Lutheranism. It’s still liturgical, sort of…and the pastor preaches a great law gospel sermon. Anyone is welcome.
Bye the bye, there are a few folks who are far clearer about this stuff than me and below are some links that might be helpful.
www.markgalli.com/galliblog/?p=60
www.internetmonk.com
www.surfoutsider.net
www.oldsolar.com/currentblog.php
www.rantingreverend.blogspot.com/2006/06/soli-deo-gloria.html
*Modern Reformation, A Time for Truth, 15th anniversary Issue, January/February 2007. “Was Martin Luther A Born-Again Christian?” Rick Ritchie (Rick Richie is the publisher of his own online magazine and has a blog linked to his magazine.
You make some good points about creativity and connecting with God. You state that boredom is the problem. I think boredom stems from the way we think about Christianity and just what church and worship are supposed to do.
I participated in and worked for Young Life. Young Life leaders worked very hard to make sure kids didn’t get bored. The leaders came up with lots of new and spectacular ways to keep Young Life meetings creative and to keep kids attention. I remember the Young Life leader, when I was in high school, said he would eat a live gold fish if we could double our Young Life club attendance in a week. We did and one innocent gold fish found out what the intestines of one Young Life leader looked like (shudder). Another, leader in a different club got up and said he would shave his head if the club kids would, whatever the challenge was for that year; he went around bald for a while. It was all very creative; the talks at the end were very creative and funny. The kids loved it all and flocked to club meetings. The Gospel was spoken. The focus was Jesus. It was truly a work of genius for getting kids into the faith.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of us who grew up expecting Church to be just as entertaining as Young Life. We wanted church to make us emotionally high, hold our interest and help us emotionally to connect with God. We grew up thinking the only way to connect with God was through feeling connected. The emotional connection was the only way we knew to have meaning in church and not be bored. The camps were designed to give us an emotional connection and a high but, that had to be constantly renewed. If we didn’t feel emotionally connected then somehow we were backslidden. We had fallen away from Christ, which would lead us to another conversion experience. I don’t remember how many times I rededicated my life to Jesus or converted again and again and again. All of it was a lot of work. Whew!!!
Young Life was generally the last time we heard about the work of Christ for us. After that church was all about how we needed to be more like Jesus. The Church had 10 steps, 7 principles, 16 habits and 40 days of purpose to be more like Jesus; the husband, the wife, the business man and whatever…(Sorry but I worked for Focus on the Family for many years and I got a snout full of that stuff). *Much of this doctrine in evangelicalism originated from Erasmus a Catholic Priest/Theologian and a contemporary of Martin Luther’s in around 1524. Erasmus wrote; The Freedom Of The Will. He argued that individuals were saved by a combination of God’s mercy and man's efforts. Erasmus said, the bible was God’s guide to a better life style. Erasmus’s focus was on the need for human effort.
Many of us got lost because we failed. We failed to meet the steps, the principles, the habits and the purpose. We were folks from Focus, from Young Life and many others of us from along the way.
I think here is the crux of the problem. I will define the problem as the objective church vs. the subjective church. Some have put it in terms of the Reformed ( a 500 year format) vs. the Evangelical (the 50 yr format). Some haven’t defined it as impartially. Both sides are guilty of labeling each other more harshly with lots of grenade lobbing at each other. I want to put this discussion in somewhat more neutral terms but it is obvious I want to argue for one over the other. I think the way I’ve labeled the differences are “more neutral”.
The subjective church is about the ministers and/or me doing stuff so we can connect to God better or feel more connected. It’s about us going up to God, notice hands in the air reaching for God, heads and faces tilted up toward God. Even the words and notes in the music are designed to bring out emotion in the worshiper. It’s all done to create mood and “connection” to God. It is a move going up toward God. The preacher’s sermons in the subjective church are basically, “what can I do for God?” “How do I please God?” “How do I become more Christ like?”. “How can I get God to say, at the end of my life, ‘thou art my good and faithful servant’?” (See Erasmus). So, it’s about me making steps toward God. Further, creativity in worship in the subjective church leads to all matter of things besides James Taylor songs for worship. It can go to the ridiculous, such as Old Testament liturgical dance for worship. Bye the way, that was David dancing naked before God. I wouldn’t be opposed to that kind of worship necessarily depending on who was doing the dancing etc. given that I am a healthy heterosexual male, but I don’t think it would exactly help me worship God. Hey, guy here and a sinner to boot. Now lest any of you try to point a pious finger at me you’d better be ready with that first stone, not have a giant log in your eye or be dead, because I am really really good at nailing pious folks to the wall with law. Trust me! (In the most ominous tone I can muster)
On the other hand, the objective church member’s worship has corporate confession, liturgy, hymns, Law Gospel Sermons and the body and blood of Jesus put in their mouth and ears, week after week after week. I know, it sounds pretty boring. But if we are in a historical church of the reformation then we realize or we are supposed to realize, we can not connect to God but He has already connected to us and does so each week. It’s not about what we do or what we do to be entertained. It’s about Christ who has already connected to us. It’s done through the same boring stuff; the liturgy, confession and absolution, the hymns, sermons and communion and they are all done for us. It all works through the Law and the Gospel. The Law and the Gospel are each distinct. They both have different tasks toward the same goal. They are separate but both must be there and in a certain order.
We are confronted with the law in the worship service and in daily devotions. It happens in the liturgy, in the hymns and in the beginning of the sermon. It happens through out the service except at the end of the sermon. That is reserved for the Gospel only. We are supposed to see our failure in spades by the law’s condemning nature. Corporate confessions, the daily readings of the law, the preacher putting the law portion of the Word into our ears each and every service is a mirror to show us our sin and our need for Jesus. The pastor tells us the law and how we have broken each of the Ten Commandments. He reminds us of our duty as Christians and how we should live as Christians. If we are honest with ourselves this condemns us because we realize we can’t even live the good Christian life. We just don’t have the power and we are failures at the principles, the habits, driven purposes, etc. and we know that; “…we are sinful and unclean” and we deserve God’s eternal damnation. This is all in the law portion of the sermon. It’s now that we are ready to have the Holy Spirit drag our sorry kiesters to the Cross-, and for God to connect to us. Then comes the really good news in the Sermon, we are told of Christ’s rescue, Tolkein calls it the U-catastrophe. At the last minute Christ has come in, fought the fight and won the battle for us. As for the emotional subjective stuff I can tend to weep, when the law has really done it’s work and I see my self for the really bad egg I am then I hear the Gospel. But the point is Jesus has already done all the creative connecting stuff for me and to me. Just like He has done everything else for me. Just like the Holy Spirit does all the Sanctification stuff for me. It’s all done for me ‘cause I can’t do it myself. Scripture says I am dead in my sin. I picture a cadaver on a slab. I ain’t moving come hell or high water unless Jesus does it for me.
Jesus fought the fight and brought the whole kit and caboodle to us. He’s connected to us. The connection is all Him, it’s not something the pastor, the music minister, or whoever has created for me.
Let me just say another reasons the liturgy is there is that it protects me from a bad sermon. The liturgy is scripture chanted, sung and or spoken. If the preacher goes awry… Which sometimes happens. If he doesn’t do what he is called to do then there is at least the liturgy. It is scripture both the Law and the Gospel. The mirror is held up and forgiveness is proclaimed.
Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
My church does have its 6:23 (Romans 6:23) service on Sunday nights. It’s a bit more for the creative types. There is “worship music” and hymns but the band is in the back of the sanctuary. It’s a little too much for me but the folks that talked pastor into having it are more comfortable there. They all come from the Calvary chapels and such later converting to Lutheranism. It’s still liturgical, sort of…and the pastor preaches a great law gospel sermon. Anyone is welcome.
Bye the bye, there are a few folks who are far clearer about this stuff than me and below are some links that might be helpful.
www.markgalli.com/galliblog/?p=60
www.internetmonk.com
www.surfoutsider.net
www.oldsolar.com/currentblog.php
www.rantingreverend.blogspot.com/2006/06/soli-deo-gloria.html
*Modern Reformation, A Time for Truth, 15th anniversary Issue, January/February 2007. “Was Martin Luther A Born-Again Christian?” Rick Ritchie (Rick Richie is the publisher of his own online magazine and has a blog linked to his magazine.
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