God's Ways

God's ways are truly not our ways.
We get things upside down all the time, sort of like this sign I found in the heart of our small town. I wondered as I took this photo if anyone else noticed that the sign was pointing in the right direction but the "directions" were turned on their head? No matter, the human eye can read things upside down and sideways and even backwards when we have to. . . a gift God gave us to discern things when they aren't quite right, I suppose.

This week's lesson from Luther's sermons comes to us from Luke 18: The Pharisee and the Publican. Sometimes our piety gets the best of us. . . we get judgmental about our "faith" and stoop to comparing it to the faith of others as if there was some cosmic measuring stick that we could audaciously hold up to the faith of others. Only God knows our hearts. Humility is a gift of the Spirit and of a contrite heart.

Luther writes: Here again we have a picture and an example of the divine judgment on saints and good people. Two extraordinary persons are presented to us in this Gospel; one thoroughly good and truly pious; and one hypocritically pious. But before we take up the example and consider the terrible sentence, we must first notice that Luke here makes the impression as though righteousness came by works. For Luke is most accustomed to do this, as when we at present preach that faith alone saves, he observes that people are led to desire only to believe, and to neglect the power and fruit of faith. This John also does in his Epistle and James, where they show that faith cannot exist without works.

Thus Luke, in the beginning of his introduction, would speak as follows: I see indeed that many have preached how faith alone saves, by which they have brought the people to strive for a fictitious faith; hence I must also speak of works by which they can be assured of their faith, and prove it to the people by their acts. Consequently it sounds as though Luke everywhere taught that righteousness came by works; as you have recently heard: Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; and, make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. And here it appears as though the publican had obtained his goodness by praying and smiting his breast. So this Gospel appears as though we should become good or pious by our works. 

How does our piety get the best of us at times? 

Chime in here and as always if you want the full text of this sermon shoot me an email and I'll send it to you.

Yours in Christ,
a.

Faith and Hope

Seeing is believing we often say. But how do we see what is sometimes right in front of our eyes and yet we are blind to it? So much in our daily vision goes unnoticed. So much of what we "see" we take for granted. For instance, this past week I took a renewal CPR class and the instructor said, "Do you know where the fire extinguishers are in this place?" My answer was yes, but only because I had that sort of an awakening at home once when something caught on fire on the stove. "Where is the fire extinguisher? I know we have one," I thought in a panic at the time. There's a name for this phenomenon which happens to us concerning all manner of items in our lives: Observational Blindness. Think about the last time you purchased a new car. . .once you drove it off the lot, you began to see identical cars all over the place. Same color, same model, same interior. You never noticed all of them before and what you bought you probably thought was unique. We don't always SEE what is right in front of us because we simply are not aware that it is there.

Faith is like that. Before we really SEE that Jesus is right in front of us, along side of us, behind us, and with us, we fail to see his presence in our lives. It's not that he isn't there, it's that we don't recognize him- like the story from  Luke 24 as two disciples walked with Jesus all the way to the town of Emmaus. They didn't recognize him. They couldn't understand why he seemed to have no idea what had transpired over the past days. But it was in the meal that took place as they almost let him go on without them where they saw who he really was. In the bread and wine they experienced his full presence. He opened the scriptures to them and they knew! 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for says the writer of Hebrews. What do you hope for? It's not an intellectual question; it's a practical question. You find yourself hoping for something all the time if you pay attention to your emotions: good health, renewed relationships, strength in the face of adversity, value, love, passion, employment, a child, you name it. To not hope is to be dead. Hope is part of being human and we hope in FAITH. Our hope is not an empty hope but rather a hope in what we know God will provide in God's good timing because it is his good will to give us the kingdom. Faith tells us that God is on our side, always and forever, even when we cannot see him, even when he seems absent or distant. Faith is the conviction of things unseen. It is a mystery, it is free falling into God's loving arms, it is reckless abandon in the face of our Creator. It's not rational or logical or sensible even. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the thing about it is, faith is almost impossible to explain (especially to those who do not believe), and it is not something we can will for ourselves. 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for--- they will come to us in God's good time and pleasure.

It is the conviction of things unseen--- if we could see it or conjure it up for ourselves it wouldn't be faith. 

Have a blessed week! Keep the Faith!

Pastor Amy

This post is part of an ongoing series for the disciples and friends of Trinity Lutheran Church, Monroeville, Ohio. Each month they receive a memory verse to ponder and make their own as a part of their commitment to spiritual growth and maturity.

Don't Let Anger Cause You to Sin

Luther in his sermon on Matthew 5: 20-26 speaks about how anger is our hearts is the same as breaking the fifth commandment. Jesus taught this to the religious leaders of his day who were happy to stick to the "letter of the law" and not the spirit of the law which Jesus hereby expands to include anger and the sins of anger. My how this convicts us! Read a part of it:

This Gospel we have fully and sufficiently explained on other occasions, when treating of the entire sermon of Christ, which Matthew the Evangelist records in three chapters; for today we will take a part of it, where Christ expounds and explains the fifth commandment. For here we observe first, that Christ attacks a sin called anger, which is very common and powerfully rules the world.
And it is not one of the gross, public vices punished also by the world, but one of those fine sins of the devil that do not want to pass for sin. For they sail under false colors, so that no one can rebuke and punish them. For instance, pride will not be called pride, but truth and justice; envy and hatred do not want to be reprimanded, but rather extolled as being true earnestness and godly zeal against wickedness. These are really the two colors the devil carries in his realm, namely, lying and murder, which in the eyes of the world claim the honor and praise of being holiness and righteousness in the highest degree. 

If you want the rest of the sermon, email me or post your email and I will send you a pdf of the entire sermon. 

What do you think about this anger thing?? 

Have any struggles with it yourself?

Learning from Luther: Week of September 9, 2013.

From Martin Luther's sermon on St. Stephen's Day:
In order, however, that we may all take our doctrine out of the Gospel, the Lord has given us here a lovely picture and parable of what he does for the sake of faith and believers so that I do not know of a more beautiful passage in all the Scriptures. He spoke in his anger and indignation very severe words to the Jews in this chapter, and pronounced his terrible woe upon their unbelief; therefore he does, as angry men are accustomed to do, and speaks to those ungrateful of his good acts and good will in the strongest terms possible; namely thus: I would gladly have imparted the heart in my body to them etc. Thus also the Lord here, in the most hearty way possible, emphasizes his good will and favor to the Jews, and says he would have gladly been their mother hen had they wished to be his little chickens.
20. Oh man! note well these words and this parable, how he pours it forth with great earnestness and with his whole soul. In this picture you will see, how you are to conduct your self towards Christ and to what end he is of benefit to you, how you should make use of him and enjoy him. Behold the hen and her chickens, and there you see Christ and yourself painted and portrayed better than any painter can portray them.
21. In the first place, it is certain that our souls are the chickens; and Satan and wicked spirits are the buzzards in the air; with only this exception that we are not as wise as the chickens to flee under our hen. The spirits of Satan are more subtle to rob us of our souls than the buzzards are to steal the chickens. Now it was said before in an Epistle how it is not sufficient that we are pious, do good works, and live in grace. For our righteousness cannot stand before God’s eyes and judgment, much less our unrighteousness. Therefore I have said: Faith, if it is true faith, is of such a nature that it does not rely upon itself nor upon the faith; but holds to Christ, and takes refuge under his righteousness; and he lets this righteousness be its shield and protection just like the little chicken never trusts in its own life and efforts, but takes refuge under the body and wings of the hen. 

How does this metaphor of Christ as mother hen touch you?

Oh! we must remain in Christ, upon Christ and under Christ, never stray from our mother hen, or all is lost. St. Peter says in his first Epistle <600408>4:8: “The righteous is scarcely saved;” so hard it is to abide under this hen. For many different temptations, temporal and spiritual, tear us from her; as the Psalm above points out.
24. Now notice how the natural clucking hen acts; hardly any other creature is so anxious about her young. She changes her natural voice and takes a pitiable and complaining voice; she seeks, scratches, and calls her little chickens; when she finds anything, she does not eat it herself, she

leaves it for her little ones; with all earnestness she battles and cries against the buzzard, and spreads her wings out so willingly and lets her chicks crawl under and upon her, and gladly suffers them to .stay there. This is indeed a lovely picture. So it is also with Christ. He has changed his voice to a pitiable tone, has sighed for us and preached repentance, pointed out to everyone their sins and misery, he scratches in the Scriptures and calls us unto them and permits us to eat; he spreads his wings with all his righteousness, merit and grace over us, and takes us so lovingly under his protection, warms us with his own natural heat, that is, with his Holy Spirit, who alone comes through him, and fights for us against the devil in the air. 

Will you ever look at chickens the same way again? 

How is the church like a mother hen as well? 

This week's sermon from Luther comes from the Day of St. John the Evangelist. The text is John 21: 19- 24. 

Luther's words:
When Christ asked Peter three times whether he loved him, and Peter answered three times, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,” he commended unto him three times his sheep and said: “Feed my sheep.” Immediately afterwards he announced to Peter his death, and says: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” Closely joined to this is to-day’s Gospel: “Follow thou me,” as if to say: Since this is to be your lot, ponder it well and follow thou me and yield willingly to death. It is evident enough that this following signifies his death, and all the disciples understood it so, and it is a lucid and easy Gospel. 

How is following Jesus a following unto death?
What is put to death in our baptism and in our obedience to Christ?
Does it feel like a death? Or is it more like something is coming alive in you?

Week of August 25th Learning from Luther

This week's sermon from Luther is about prayer. 

He says that the first requisite for true prayer is faith in the promise of God. He wants us to pray and he promises to answer. How have you struggled in your life with this basic idea of faith that God will indeed answer? How has that made your prayer life wax and wane?

Sermon Fifth Sunday after Easter: John 16 (for the full text email me at pramylittle@gmail.com) 

1. In this Gospel we have a promise and Christ does not only promise, but he even swears that our prayers shall be heard; but through himself as mediator and high priest.
2. We should pray that we may have peace through faith, which St. Paul says, is a true and perfect peace.
3. When Christ says: “These things have I spoken unto you in parables (dark sayings), it is as much as to say, hitherto you have been unable to understand my Word, it all appears to you dark and hidden; but the time will come, when I send the Holy Spirit, that I shall speak plainly by my Spirit, that is, publicly in your hearts, of the things that belong to my father. So the sum and substance is, that without the Spirit one does not understand the Word. 

Thursday: Learning with Luther, What We Are to Look For in the Gospel

It's an interesting question: 

What shall we look for in the Gospel? 

Something pretty to look at while you ponder. . . 

If you had to answer it on your own, what would you say??

Here's what Luther has to say on the subject:
And the Gospel is nothing more than the story of the little son of God and of his humbling, as St. Paul says, <460202>1 Corinthians 2:2: “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” 

I have mentioned all this, gracious lord, because it is my purpose to inscribe this book to the sovereign of those people who are of my blood, and that it may not be deemed peculiar that I, contrary to the usage of the world, have not begun with the oldest but with the youngest lord of the family. For the nature of this book, in which the littlest and youngest has been pictured, demands that the introduction be like the contents. And I do not only wish to talk of this doctrine of the Gospel with words of mouth, but also wish to write a booklet concerning it. For it is necessary for the lords in this world, who live continually in the prerogatives and respect of their high position, to think at times, according to the Gospel, that they are nothing before God, and that it is as necessary for them to think of this as it is for the others. 
---

The Last shall be first, the first shall be last; the wise, will be foolish and blind and the blind shall see. 

Why is this such a "curse" to our human nature? Why is it so difficult to wrestle with and come to terms with?

Have a blessed day. Share this with those you know want to dig deeper and let's keep the conversation going!

a.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Learning from Luther

We continue with Luther's letter to Elector Frederick who has asked him to write a church postil (commentary of sorts) on the Lectionary texts:

Luther wrote: "I hope, however, that I shall do enough, if I uncover the purest and simplest sense of the Gospel as well as I can, and if I answer some of those unskillful glosses, in order that the Christian people may hear, instead of fables and dreams, the Words of their God, unadulterated by human filth. For I promise nothing except the pure, unalloyed sense of the Gospel suitable for the low, humble people."

How often do we try to make the Gospel more difficult than it has to be? It is so simple! Luther, his commentary on 1 Peter, said the pure gospel is spiritual milk. To go deeper into the Gospel when one is a ready and willing disciple is the "wine" of the cross. That is where we engage with the text and Christ and share in his suffering. 

How have you experienced the "pure gospel" as well as the "wine" of suffering?

Learning from Luther: Dedication to Frederick the Elector, 1521

DEDICATION TO FREDERICK, THE ELECTOR,

Before the Postil, or the interpretation of the Epistles and Gospels of the Advent Circle was issued in Latin in 1521, and immediately translated into German.
(for the whole pdf go to http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-8/LIBRARY/LUT_SER1.PDF)

I do not know, most illustrious, most gracious Lord, at whose door I should lay the fault that I, having been hindered day after day through numerous circumstances, have not been able to comply with your wishes. Your Electoral Grace has counseled well that I should turn from the quarrelsome, sharp, and entangling writings, with which I have been engaged nigh unto three years, and that I should occupy myself with the holy and kindly doctrine, beside the work of the interpretation of the Psalter, labor in the interpretation of the Epistles and Gospels (which is called Postil) for the benefit of the ministers and their subjects: you having been of the opinion that I, burdened with such an amount of work, would the sooner attain peace also against the attacks of my enemies. So noble is, according to the peaceful name of Your Electoral Grace, the natural soul of Your Electoral Grace that you have often plainly told me how tiresome the quarrels and useless questions concerning the goat-wool are to Your Electoral Grace. 

How do you think Luther felt as he had to endure the conflict and criticism being thrown at him? Obviously he knew that Elector Frederick didn't like it, but it's almost as if he's saying, "YOU don't like? What about me?" Think of Jesus' words in today's Gospel from Luke 12: I have not come to peace but division.

How is division a part of following Jesus?

How hard is it to endure that division?

Monday:

Luther writes to Elector Frederick, who has requested that he pen a commentary (postil) on the lectionary texts: http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-8/LIBRARY/LUT_SER1.PDF

I myself do not wish to say how I have been affected by these storms and have been kept from my studies, so that I desired to give my flesh and blood free play, yes, have not abstained from answering these evil writings somewhat more pointedly than is becoming to a clergyman. I hope, however, just as I confess my guilt, that I may not reap the displeasure of all those who think differently what fierce Lions of Moab, what Rabsake of Assyria, what evil, poisonous Simei I alone had to endure, to the detriment of myself and of many to whom I might have been of service in the Word of God. In such storms, however, I have always firmly hoped that I would attain peace so that I could comply with the wishes of Your Electoral Grace, through which the mercy of God has, without doubt, done much good to the Gospel of Christ. 
How often do the pressures of life, and the conflicts around us (even in the church, or especially in the church we might say) keep us from serving others? 
Luther confesses that his words to his opponents haven't always been "becoming to a clergyman." How do we get maintain our "cool" in the face of certain conflict?

He goes on: 
But now when I see that my hope has been a very human thought and that, with every day, I sink deeper into the deep great sea, in which there are numberless creeping animals that help one another and are against me: then I also see that the devil with such vexations of my hope had nothing else in view but that I may finally abandon my purpose and would much sooner have to go to Babylon than to furnish my Jerusalem with armor’s nourishment. This is his wickedness. In consideration of it I have thought of the holy Nehemiah, and, forsaking the useless visions of Ezra, the scribe, have begun not to hope for peace, have prepared for peace as well as war, have taken the sword into one hand, to fight my Arabs, and wished to build the wall with the other, in order that I while applying myself to one work only, may not fail in completing both faster. For St. Jerome also says that not to withstand the enemies is just as detrimental to the church, as if we would only build. And the Apostle commands that a bishop ought to be able not only to exhort the people in the sound doctrine but also to convict the gainsayers. I do not say that I think I am a bishop, for I have neither riches nor an island, which in these days constitute the office of bishop; but that he who adminsters the office of the Word of God ought also to be able to fulfill the duties of a bishop, who must be capable with both hands, as Ehud, and able to kill the strong Aeglon with the left hand. 

​What is Luther's Jerusalem? 

What is your Jerusalem?

How does the devil try to stop you from your work?

Learning from Luther

At the prodding of a couple of my friends who are hungry to learn more about Jesus and who are distinctly Lutheran in their self-understanding, I decided to say "yes" to an experiment of online study. I will choose a sermon of Martin Luther, scan the text into a jpeg file and post it here with some questions in the margins. It won't be fancy, that's for sure. But perhaps it will spark some conversation about the discipleship journey we are all on. The first one comes from a sermon of Luther's in 1518 on John 9- The Man Born Blind. Think of the context of this sermon as coming on the heels of that church changing event, the posting of the 95 theses by Luther on the Castle Church Door in Wittenberg, Germany, October 31, 1517. Read on and post some reflections for all of us to chew on. Pass on the link to your friends who might be interested. It will be once a week so we all have time to get to it! This is the first page of it which can be found in LW Volume 51. Email me if you want to full text. . . this is just a teaser.

Blessings!
amy