As CPH is busy mailing the new Lutheran Study Bible, I’ve had many questions about it. People ask me, “Pastor, why do we have a new Lutheran Study Bible?” or “Does this mean that this Bible is from a Lutheran perspective?” Good questions to ask, but in order to glean the right answer, we must first understand what it means to be “Lutheran” by definition, and therefore, what we mean by publishing a new Lutheran Study Bible. I offer the comments below from a post from Rev. Paul McCain, that explains it really well:

“Pastor Larry Peters shared a really well done post on his blog site and I’m sharing it here.  I’d chip in here that in fact there is a Roman Catholic Study Bible and a Weslyan Study Bible and an Orthodox Study Bible and The Full Life Study Bible: An International Study Bible for Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians.…you get the picture. Here are Pastor Peters remarks:

The Lutheran Study Bible… now some folks are wondering what that means. Does every church body or tradition have its own take on things in the Bible? Should Methodists only use the Methodist Study Bible… and Roman Catholics their Study Bible… etc. Let me diffuse some of the confusion.

Lutherans do not have their own version of the Bible. We are not a sect or a cult. We do not slant Scripture to fit our theological interpretations. This Lutheran Study Bible does not Lutheranize Scripture or define it according to what Lutherans believe, teach, and confess. What is Lutheran about this Study Bible is that it has drawn deeply at the well of faithful Lutheran scholars and teachers — including Luther himself — to bring out what Scripture says. Period. What Scripture has always said. What Scripture still says. What Scripture will always say.

Unlike another so called Lutheran Study Bible published by a Lutheran body recently in the news, this one, the one published by Concordia, does not change Biblical teaching to fit cultural and philosophical trends, say, about homosexuality. Whenever someone does this, then Scripture becomes a tool toward an agenda foreign and antagonistic to Scripture’s purpose and message.

The Lutheran Study Bible produced by Concordia has ground-up with notes that are distinctively Lutheran, prepared by Lutheran contributors from over twenty Lutheran church bodies. Current Lutheran scholarship, insights from the Church Fathers, and rich devotional commentary provide meaningful perspective for both young and mature Christians. All to show and highlight Scripture’s one story, one message, and one goal — to make known the salvation that God has accomplished through His Son Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and rose again to restore to Him what was lost to Him by sin and death.

So don’t buy this study Bible if you are looking for a Lutheran Bible. Purchase this study Bible if you are looking for Scripture honestly treated, faithfully interpreted, and carefully preserved so that it may speak with its own voice, as it has over time, the saving message of Jesus Christ.”

I got in the elevator the other day after making hospital calls, and a nurse came in right behind me, just livid. She was receiving ‘hate mail’ on her phone from Vikings fans, making fun of her (a Packer fan), that Brett Favre was joining their team. And as the doors to the elevator opened, I think I heard her mention something about Benedict Arnold and Brett in the same sentence.

Now, this Viking/Packer rivalry doesn’t get me upset, since I’m not a fan of either team. But if we were talking Cards/Cubs, THAT would get me going (go Cards!) But I’ve been paying attention to the banter that’s going back and forth and I’m amazed at how quickly hate for a player can turn in to undying love and loyalty once they put on a different jersey. I haven’t seen this much venom turn in to wine and roses since Roger Clemens moved from the Yankees to the Astros!

A buddy of mine posted some t-shirts that are fleshing out this new love/hate relationship, so I’m linking him here. It’s worth a look.

http://www.minnesotalutheran.com/2009/08/vikingpacker-drama-being-fought-out-on.html

And down the road, I guess will see if Farve is the new Fave in Minnesota – or the state pariah, once the season starts.

I used to have the excuse that I didn’t blog because there wasn’t time. Now, add to that the sad admission that I didn’t know how to log in!

WordPress changed their format and for the life of me I couldn’t find the ‘log in’ link.

I found it…now if only I could take care of the first excuse I  have with blogging!

What a crazy week…seems like celebrities are dropping like flies, and in a world where most people no longer have the generational memory of a death impacting our nation, such as the assassination of President Kennedy, it seems celebrity deaths hit those people harder. Such was the death of Michael Jackson, the so-called “King of Pop”.

I admit it – I was really in to Michael Jackson when I was a yoot (that’s ‘youth’, for those of you who haven’t seen My Cousin Vinny). I remember my first record purchase was “Off The Wall” (they’re like giant Cd’s to those who don’t know what a ‘record’ is), and I once spent my entire Christmas Eve listening non-stop to my brand new LP of “Thriller” (LP means “Long Play”, where big records played at 33 1/3 RPM and SP, “Short Play” records were at 45 RPM, or “45’s”) . You’d be hard pressed to find another performer who impacted Pop and R&B at the level he did.

But for all my interest and enjoyment of MJ in the days of “Thriller”, when MJ went off his rocker around the release of “Bad”, I lost interest in MJ. And I mourned his downward spiral in the media and the man he had become – lonely, depressed, and possibly much worse.

I watched the new channels’ coverage of his death last night, and was struck by some things:

- Tons of people holding some variation of a vigil, mostly at the hospital where he died or around his ’star’ on the walk of fame

- People making ‘altars’ with candles and flowers

- People in so much shock it was like they didn’t know where to turn and couldn’t believe MJ was dead

Interesting that the world paid so much attention to the King of Pop and openly mourned him, but the world paid so little attention to the King of Kings and laid him in a borrowed grave. Interesting that our world claims to be more and more secular and wants nothing to do with God but when a crisis of any magnitude hits, they collectively make ‘altars’, light candles and put out flowers. Interesting that the world doesn’t know where to turn when a life is lost, not knowing to turn to the Lord of Life.

If a person’s hope and joy was in the King of Pop, then there are no solid answers to bring hope when the King of Pop is gone. If a person’s hope and joy is in the King of Kings, Who announced His coming with a star, not on the walk of fame, but in the heavens itself, and Who rose from His borrowed grave 3 days later, then that’s the kind of hope that lasts. And that’s something to sing about.

Last night’s episode of Jon & Kate Plus Eight was pretty hard to watch. Two people, after 10 years of marriage, deciding to end it. It was heartbreaking, because even though I haven’t been an avid follower of the show, you could see the warning signs. It made my wife and I stop and think about what we’re doing right and what we could do better after 10 years of marriage ourselves.

People have asked me, “What happened between those two?” I’ll offer a humble observation or two:

- No telling how much stress it added to their marriage when every aspect of it was filmed for the world to see. Few people could handle that kind of scrutiny and survive it.

- For the most part, Jon didn’t step up to be the servant-leader God called him to be. And that means ‘giving himself up for his spouse’ the way Christ gave Himself up for the Church.

- Kate was far too much of a usurper of Jon, treating him like a doormat. I visibly jumped on the episode where Kate slapped Jon and told him to ’stop being a victim!’

- Both put their kids as their top priority. At first blush, that sounds right, but it’s not. Otherwise, that priority should have drawn them closer, not further apart.

When a child was born in to a family in Old Testament times, it was not the parents’ task to have their world revolve around their child. When a man and woman married, at that moment, they were a family. Let me say that again – they were already a family, joined to the Lord in a covenant of service to their spouse. Children were a blessing – not a mandate to be called a ‘family’.

But when a child was born, it was the child’s task to see how they fit in to an already established family, not the other way around. The child saw how to serve by how the father served the mother’s needs and the mother responded in kind by taking care of the father’s needs. The child knew they belonged to something bigger than themselves: to their family, then their tribe, then their nation. To put it simply: The Lord was the Sun, the parents, the Earth, and the children, the Moon.

Too many marriages fail today because when a child or two are born, the marriage becomes all about the kids – they become the Sun. And then, the kids grow up and the stresses build, and people divorce while the kids are home, or they kids leave home and the husband and wife can’t remember why they married in the first place, and divorce.

Now, I’m not saying to neglect your kids in order to have a good marriage. What I am saying is we need to understand where a child fits in to our families, and that our spouses need and deserve attention and honor. If you change the planet assignment in a family, and you change the entire family – and not for the better.

Fathers, if your priority is your children alone, and not your wife first, your children ultimately suffer for it, because your daughters are learning what kind of treatment they can expect from their future husbands and your sons are learning how to treat their future wives – as second class citizens in a family unit. Wives, if your priority is your children, and not your husband first, your children suffer for it, because your daughters are learning that husbands are peripheral and not necessary beyond procreation, and sons learn to be peripheral husbands and doormats, rather than partners.

So, when Jon & Kate both say their children were their priority, they might have had good intentions, but they were doomed from the moment they put that as their priority and didn’t do the task of honoring one another first. My prayers go out to them, as they learn to re-evaluate where their family will go from here.

Rather than keep rattling on about this, I offer today’s devotion from the Meyer Minute about marriage, families, and the priorities we need to set:

Hi, Christian here!  Opa was grumpy yesterday.  Grumpy grandpa.  He got sad when he read the newspaper.  “It’s official: TV’s Jon and Kate will divorce.  The parents of 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets announced their separation on Monday night’s episode of their TLC reality show….  Jon and Kate said they keep their home in Wernersville, Pa., and would alternate the days they will stay there with the children.”  (USA Today, June 23; D1)  “Opa, what does ‘divorce’ mean?  ‘Alternate days?’  Why?”

Opa put that paper down and picked up another.  Sad face went to scowl.  “Matthew McConaughey and his girlfriend, Camila Alves, are expecting another baby.  Writes McConaughey: Camila and I are expecting our second child, bringing more life into the world, making more to live for.  The future looks bright as the family grows.”  (Omaha World Herald, June 23; 2E).  “Now what, Opa?”  Opa sang, “Will you still need me when I’m 64?”

Then Opa read, “Ryan O’Neal plans to marry Farrah Fawcett, who is struggling to overcome cancer.  The 68-year-old actor said…he asked his longtime companion to marry him, and ‘she’s agreed.’  O’Neal said they will tie the knot ‘as soon as she can say yes.’”

“Connor, what’s with Opa?”  Connor said, “Ma, Ma!  Da, Da!”  Then Opa smiled.  “That’s right Connor.  16-months old and you understand.”

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Copyright © Dale A Meyer 2009

There seems to be a trend of late in American Christianity, where Law and Gospel has been relegated to “prosperity” and tries to soften how sinful we are and how much we need a Savior. Case in point: a time when I guest preached at another congregation. I had just finished my sermon, covering our inherent sinfulness and how we deserve nothing from God, but in His mercy He sent His only Son to die a death He didn’t deserve to save us from sin. I sat down, and the music director said something to the effect of, “Yes, we might make mistakes, and there’s days we do bad things, but that never kept Jesus our Friend, Jesus away from us, and aren’t we blessed to have a loving God like that?” And looked straight at me, almost chiding me for daring to say we are bad people who need a Holy Savior.

That, folks, is called “the theology of glory”, where someone takes Law and Gospel, the basic parts of our unworthiness of salvation before the pure and holy God, and waters it down to “you’re bad…but not THAT bad”. The music director hit on the basics of the Americanization of Christianity – that we do the best we can, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and God covers the ‘gap’ in Jesus. The more ‘good’ stuff you do, the better things work out for you, and if you come up short, God will love you anyway. Sounds like a spin on works righteousness to me.

This is why Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, and others like them are so popular. Sinful ears love to hear they’re not ‘that bad’ and can make God work for them if they do the right things. And if God isn’t all that mean and would never send someone to hell just for being a ‘little bad’, then God can also serve as a ‘cosmic slot machine’ – do the right things, say the right words, pull the handle – and presto! Prosperity! This false gospel is leading so many astray. There’s a great article I read recently that states this issue wonderfully. It’s a bit lengthy, but well worth the read:

http://www.wscal.edu/resources/MichaelHorton_GloryStory.php

God forgive them for taking the sweet message of the Gospel and turning it in to Christless Christianity – a message that has no hope and makes idols of ourselves.

For you baseball fans, be on the lookout for a 17 year old major league baseball player in 2010 (he’s 16 right now). His name is Bryce Harper and nothing short of a prodigy. He’s got a gift and has opted to go to his local community college in Las Vegas and get his GED. By that time, he’ll be eligible for the draft (most likely 1st pick) and probably get to play for the Senators.

At first, I thought this was crazy. A 17 year old playing pro ball? Then I read the article below:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Why-I-mostly-support-Bryce-Harper-s-decision-to-?urn=mlb,170270

The author makes a compelling argument, especially regarding the prep we give to tennis, skating and hockey athletes, practically strapping on their gear from diapers on to get them ready for their sport. The concern I have is the same concern he expresses in his article: we already have so many parents convinced their kids are ’special’ and have ‘uber-talent’, when they really aren’t and don’t. Now, we’ll have these same out-of-touch parents trying to groom the next Bryce Harper, with no real perspective on their child’s abilities.

I don’t fault the Harpers for this – they’re obviously not wrong about their child’s abilities.

It’s wonderful to be surprised back-to-back when you have a family movie night! As most of you know, I’m a movie buff and Netflix has been a real treat for our family. Here’s two that you might have missed that I’d recommend:

Australia – Entertainment Weekly panned this film, almost coming right out and calling it ‘underwhelming’. I thought it was like going to a three act play (hence, the 2 hr. 45 min. running time) that centers around a high-society Brit who goes down under to save her deceased husband’s cattle spread. It has western adventure, intrigue, race relations and tensions, all set within World War II. One word of caution: The PG-13 rating is aimed mostly towards the setting and the social view of Aboriginals in that era and the hardships so many endured, so it can be emotionally upsetting for kids under 13.

Taking Chance – I watched this during Memorial Day Weekend. It chronicles the true story of a Marine who volunteers to take a soldier who was KIA to be laid to rest Stateside. Somehow, it manages to avoid the political minefield and instead lifts up the soldiers who give their lives for our nation’s freedoms, along with all the men and women who honor the fallen by the incredible amount of care that is shown to them. You will be humbled after watching this film. I cried like a baby through most of it, so have tissues handy.

I came home the other day and our oldest was sitting on the floor singing to Brett the “ABC’s”. When, all of a sudden, he broke out in to a HUGE grin! I kept making Addisyn sing while I went ’shutter-happy’ with the camera. I can’t believe life flies by so quickly – it seems like we barely got him home, and he’s already smiling, developing his own personality and preferences, etc. He’s such a joy and it’s going by too fast. It reminds me to stop and take in each moment while I can.

As most of you know, we’ve been blessed with a ‘little man’ in our home! Brett and Mom are doing wonderfully, and this Easter Season I’m reminded once more that God’s blessings truly are ‘new every morning’ and ‘great is His faithfulness’! Thanks to so many who’ve wished us well since we’ve been home. We can’t thank you enough. Now, comes the new routine, but at least I’ve had some training with the other two. We truly are blessed!