New Pope, New Hope... for a Lutheran?

Sooooo... this old grumpy, religion skeptical Lutheran boy is impressed.  The Pope process is less than transparent.  As a Lutheran we stick our chins out at a lot of things Roman Catholic and pridefully show disdain for certain aspects of Roman Catholicism like saints, and Popes and the elevation of Mary to a Deity and praying for the dead... but we fail to mention that we adopted 90% of it whole cloth and in truth, Luther never wanted to leave but in his arrogance could not countenance that what was then the churches leadership did not embrace his version of God’s all encompassing Grace.

Of course as Lutherans we seem to have lost that.  Our leadership and the conservative Lutheran blogosphere which seems to govern our churches theology and doctrine are much more concerned about who their Pastors and laity are praying with than to be too concerned regarding something as silly as God’s Grace.  It has rarely been more important for our Missouri Synod President to appear on TV with cardinal Dolan and decry how Obama is the anti Christ and President Harrison referred to his testimony before Congress with the Roman catholic Bishop as a martyrdom.  Tears in my eyes for his suffering.  

The Catholics have been suffering hugely with their well publicized scandals which they have handled, for lack of a better word, poorly.  Benedict was a dogmatic Pope who embraced high church, wanted to bring back the Latin Mass (the language of Christ I think if it wasn’t German) and looked with at best a jaundiced eye on Vatican II.  But, for whatever reason he stepped aside.  The College of Cardinals for whatever reason was led to chose this very conservative but apparently very Jesuit Argentinian and this man, for whatever reason took the name of St. Francis as his own which holds as much symbolism as anything he could have led off with.

He is a VERY conservative guy.  He is said to dislike the “social justice” arm of Catholicism and signed a document stating that being worthy for the Eucharist includes accepting the churches stance on abortion.  But he is a Jesuit and he cares about the poor to his core and he might end up being a radical voice of God’s Grace and love from Rome.  The National catholic Reporter stated that “At a meeting of Latin American bishops in 2007 Bergoglio said "[w]e live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most, yet reduced misery the least" and that "[t]he unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers".  That is a heavy statement.

But words are just words.  I am a huge fan of Maundy Thursday where as Lutherans we celebrate the only commandment given us by Christ, that we love one another the way he loved us.  Catholics celebrate Holy Saturday as we prepare for Good Friday and Christ’s suffering and death on the cross.  Evidently there is a Vatican tradition of the Pope doing a foot washing on that day.  Christ of course washed the feet of his disciples prior to going to Gethsemane and surrendering to Judas and the mob.  Foot washing is beautiful in it’s humility and it is hard to envision any act of service more intimate.  It is my understanding (which is limited since I am of course a Lutheran) that the Pope would wash the feet of leaders of the church.  Men.  Men of station. Christian, righteous, pious, men.

But not Francis!  Francis goes to a prison.  Francis does not just visit the people in prison.  Francis goes and he washes their feet.  He washed the feet of prisoners.  he washes the feet of Muslims.  He washes the feet of... (gasp)... women.  This is not the way of the modern Church.  Our leaders like to make rules.  They like to make doctrine.  They like to enforce doctrine.  They enjoy sitting in their enclaves making edicts and then going out to visit the faithful.  Not that they are not happy when their flocks serve, so long as they serve with the right people, and of course if you Lutheran’s, so long as you do not worship with those people.  Some things are not to be tolerated.

But not Francis.  Francis goes to prison and serves the needs of the forgotten.  The needs of the lost.  The needs of the evil, broken sinners.  Francis went and served people like me.  I know I have quoted it before but Bruce Cockburn, Canadian rocker of may years, retold the nativity of Christ in his song “Cry of a Tiny Babe”, and he sings “It isn’t to the palace that the Christ Child comes, but to shepherds, street people, hookers and bums.”  Amen a

nd God Bless our new Pope.  He might not be the head of my church, I might not think he is infallible, I am sure he will take positions that offend and disappoint me but God Bless the new Pope this Easter and all my Catholic brothers and sisters for finding a man who with a humble act of mercy gives me new hope.

Happy Easter and God’s Peace.

Thanks GIVING! Weekend Address

My fellow diners. Lincoln did it. He was a Republican, how hard can it be? At Glendale Lutheran our now retired Pastor Steve Albers used to read Lincolns Thanksgiving Day Proclamation every year. I internalized it, loved it, got sick of it, and came back around to it again. It is a pretty nice piece of writing:

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

There is much to be Thankful for this year. We are bringing troops home from over seas. The NBA season was delayed and almost canceled. The Republicans are debating every few nights and it is proving that the scariest ones, really are the scariest ones and as divided as we are, we really do not want obviously crazy people running the government. The Democrats should be doubly pleased because the only candidate who could obviously beat Obama, John Hunstsman has been abandoned by the party and the press. It has been a mild fall. Hurricanes have not been an issue. Corn prices are at a record high which is good for farmers and perhaps will make high fructose corn syrup too expensive to put in everything. According to the government more than 91% of us are employed. The economies sluggish pace, still appears to be a pace going up. Fewer Americans are killing one another. The show “Charlies Angels” was canceled. Indeed a great number of blessings.

As I prepare to write the annual family Christmas letter (I believe my son Jon took it over last year) I can really contemplate that despite all the negativity. Despite Glenn Beck predicting the end of the civilized world due to the dreaded and un-named “them” and the even more suspicious “they”... our democracy still stands free and America is still the most blessed country on the earth. Despite the inability of congress to do anything. Despite our President’s inability to lead on economic issues... I and my family are still eating, driving, working, sleeping in a warm, secure, gun free house. I am blessed with friends and acquaintances who tolerate me, amuse me and sometimes banter with me. I am, a lot to tolerate.

Once again despite the ravings about to come about this years “war on Christmas”, I continue to be allowed to worship at Glendale Lutheran Church with my family and my other Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim brothers continue to worship unmolested (with a few sad exceptions) as we, and they please. The ability to exercise freedom of religion is such a gift and it is not that way in all parts of the world and we should be very, very, thankful. We also are blessed with opportunities to serve other people every day and all of us have the talents and possessions to share to make other people’s burdens easier and that is a huge blessing.

I am pleased to have a newish band that I like named Dawes.

I am especially blessed by the tolerance of my wife and children...and the aforementioned friends.

I am really thankful we got most of the family over, our bird turned out OK and we had an awesome day.

I am thankful to catch up a little at work.

I am thankful that Michigan beat Ohio State.

I know it has not been a great year for everyone. I work every day with people who have literally had the shit kicked out of them economically but I am blessed because even these people, staring financial ruin in the face, are able to wake up every morning, put a brave face on and go out and do what they can to take care of themselves and their families. And in this great country they are able to. With all of the divisiveness, with all the harsh partisanship and name calling and petty bickering at every level of government and politics, this is a time to reflect on how blessed we are to live here. How blessed we are to fight with words instead of guns. How blessed we are to worship free. How blessed we are to gather with our families and be Thankful, for one long weekend every year, and have that spirit of gratefulness which God wishes we could muster every moment of every day.

So on this Thanksgiving day weekend I am thankful to God for the sacrifice of his son for my sins. I am thankful to and for my immediate and extended family. Life is good. Have a beer and go to bed.

Message From The Other Side

Soooooo.... as I was wisely waiting for 6:00 to come yesterday evening I was with my family, out to dinner and clutching my Mac Book (TM) to my breast when suddenly the beam of light came down through the roof of the bar where we were drinking beer, eating 5 pounds of chicken wings and (sadly) watching NASCAR on the bars big screen. I of course had been expecting it which was why I was clutching the computer to my breast as I drank my bottle of Busch and ate chicken wings awkwardly with one hand. My family, used to my (for lack of a better word) foibles) made no comment and other than the awkward stares from other people in the bar it was a nice evening.

Once the beam of light hit I was able to see that my plan had worked and I was able to bring the computer up into the firmament with me so that I could keep up this memo as i observe the end times down below. It was a little awkward in the bar in that the beam of light came only for me. I had suspected I was a better (truer, moraller, more rightouser) Christian than the rest of my family and felt a pang for them as I was lifted up, wondering for a moment whether it reflected poorly on me since my wife and children were not going to be saved but than i remembered that God was perfect so he clearly would not have made a mistake and they must have been much worse people than they were letting on.

There were very few other beams of light coming up from the south county of St. Louis which also did not surprise me. I believe my numeroligist compatriots predicted only about 200,000 of us would be going. That had always seemed light to me in light of the fact that there are about 7 billion of us here and God was generally so just and loving but once again, I am sure he had it figured out. One beam of light did hold my dog Lola, a sweet but stupid beast. I looked for a beam of light containing my other dog Lily and than thought...”not so much”. Lily had of course led an evil and selfish life. Looking down and taking it in, it seems that my family is handling my departure remarkably well. My wife just refers to it as “my little stunt” and after trying to negotiate the bill at the bar down due to my absence the family went home and watched TV and drank some wine.

There appears to be a remarkable lack of lava, fire pestilence.... Even war seems to have taken a break. I am sitting somewhere... and I am sitting comfortably although there does not seem to be a chair. In prep for this moment I had researched where I would be going on Wikipedia which described the firmament as follows:
“The firmament was a great tent-like[8] ceiling made of solid crystalline material,[9] which might be pierced by skyscraper and gimlet.[10] It had many windows, some of which opened and closed for the sun and moon to travel through[11] or to let water, which was held above, fall through as rain.[12] On top there were also warehouses of snow and hail.[13] Stars were small objects that were attached tenuosly to its surface.[14]”.
Right now I am getting none of that. My retarded dog is sitting at me feet. The dog is slightly agitated and is drooling and shedding. I do not see a lot of other people who I know although no one seems particularly Beattiffic.

In fact as I look into the distance I see a lot of people hovering up in the sky, stretching and generally looking confused and the group seems rather uninspiring and perhaps... sketchy. Looking down I see that things seem to be going particularly well down on earth. Although I do not see them in the firmament with me it appears all of the announced Republican cantidates for President other than Ron Paul are gone. Al Zurkowi...gone. Muammer Khaddafy...gone. Looking to my left I see a guy who I recognize from his publicity stills as Kim Jon Il and behind him and to his left is...Bashar Assad. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was left behind, Khameni was up here with me. Every principal of Goldman Sachs was with me as were the oil company Presidents and that is what sealed it.

The dawning recognition that 200,000 of us were “raptured” and the rest of the world was left behind and it was becoming pretty clear that the world was getting along pretty well without us. I was looking with some concern and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then it did. And God took Joplin.

***

So it is all funny and in good fun until life interposes itself. Global warming and our hoggish lives moves the jet streams north and Missouri becomes Arkansas and everything including the end of days becomes less funny because for 150-200 of my fellow Missourians, when the count comes in, it was the end of days. And that...that is what pisses me off about this awful, self righteous posers who believe they know God’s plan. Only God knows his plan. But if you have your heart open you can discern God’s plan for you and it is a markedly nicer plan than the life you are living. I know God’s plan for me and that is despite all my weaknesses, petty cruelties, limitations and stupidities... he can do great things with me. And he is. And he will. And I will live forever with god in heaven and hopefully too with my family and dear friends. And these people who claim to know the plan for the end of days... they cheapen it. They demean it. I know I am going to live forever in heaven with God. I would just assume that everyone I know do the same. I think that is God’s plan.

GET ANGRY

Sooooo.... I am ANGRY! And you should be ANGRY too. Then we can be ANGRY together! There is so much to be angry about. Mexicans taking our jobs! BIG Government! High Taxes! Limited business opportunities! Unemployment! Under employment! The government take over of healthcare (OBAMACARE!)! The United Nations! RICH LIBERALS! The conspiracy to trample on the Constitution! PROGRESSIVES.....FOR GODS SAKE PROGRESSIVES! MAIN STREAM MEDIA! Blame Stream Media! Lame Stream Media! The attempt to muzzle FOX News!! Creeping Socialism! The decline of American Values! People who question “American Exceptionalism”! There is just so much to be angry about and seeming so few exclamation marks. But EVERYTHING needs to be in bold type and end with an exclamation point because we are ANGRY!

Why would we not be angry? We live in the strongest, freest country on earth. A country so embarrassingly blessed with natural resources, clean water, tillable land, coal, oil, gas, timber and a temperate climate that it is as close to paradise as any geographical place on earth. But lets forget about that! Everything is bad! And it has to be changed and it can only be changed if we get ANGRY! If we forget that besides being blessed to be Americans, alive at this great time in history, that we also are blessed by a just and loving God who sent his only son as salvation from our sends. LETS FORGET THAT AND BE ANGRY!

And lets feed our anger by listening to angry people who think as we think, or perhaps are even more angry then we are so that we can feel like we are really not THAT angry. And lets blame people. Lets blame the past administration. Lets blame the current administration. lets blame, politicians, liberals, conservatives, Tea Party people, Progressives, Jews, Christians, Muslims, the damned Sufi Muslims, blacks, whites, yellow, brown, tan and magenta. Lets blame them because OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED! And it is all their fault!

None of it is my fault! I am angry at all these people who have made everything so bad. by being angry i am going to get something done about it. By getting together with other people who are angry we will elect people who are different. People who are accountable. People who will not do whatever they need to do to make sure they stay in power and perpetuate their own families well being. People who are going to be “different”. People who are... not people. Until we elect someone who is not a person, we will not be happy.

We will continue to be angry about the tax code. We will realize that there ca be no free market with this bastardized amalgam of social engineering that seeks to reward behavior government wants to encourage. And we will do NOTHING about it in our anger because we still want the breaks which are good for us! We just want the other guys tax breaks taken away. They make us angry! We must scream about the sanctity of capitalism while insisting that the government subsidize ever Wal-Mart with a TIF and every wind farm with subsidies and price fixing.

It never ends, the things to be angry about. The things that divide us. The things that diminish us as a people. The things that make us smaller. Pettier. Hateful. Bitter. Alone, even in a mob. So we live in the greatest, most blessed Democracy the world has ever known with a higher standard of living than our much applauded founding fathers could have ever dreamed of and we scream about watering the tree of freedom with human blood. Because we are ANGRY!

And as Christians we can draw a lot of examples of this righteous anger from Christ. JUST READ YOUR BIBLE! Jesus was always walking around being angry about the government. Being angry at those damn, scummy Samaritan immigrants who were taking good Jewish Jobs. Angry with Ceasar for taxing the hell out of them. Angry with the politicians of the time for executing him. Angry with people who were exposing “social justice” and leaving a corner of their fields for the poor to get some grain! COMMUNISTS Christ would scream and berate them! At least he never got angry at the rich and powerful. They were blessed and they are guaranteed a spot at his right hand in heaven. That is what the Bible says. Right?

So be angry. Be a Christian and be angry. Follow Christs example and be angry and be a victim and complain. Complain from the left. Complain from he right. Stand up, sit down, fight, fight fight.

Ash Wednesday (Adams)

Ash Wednesday....I of course became outraged this morning when Robin Meade on CNN Headline News said that “today is Ash Wesnesday the begininning of Lent when ''Catholics"" celebrate by putting ashes on their foreheads.” First of all I am a Lutheran and we do it too. Now granted we are only Catholic light but there are several liturgical churches like the Anglicans who observe Ash Wednesday as well. Additionally Ash Wednesday is a big day. It is of course the beginning of Lent but without an understanding of Lent you cannot appreciate Ash Wednesday.

Of course for the alcoholics (like myself) it is the day that follows Fat Tuesday but really Fat Tuesday is the day which precedes Ash Wednesday being the last day of hedonistic abandon before the beginning of the fasting and austerity of Lent. That is of course bull shit and so bastardizes the meaning Ash Wednesday and Lent that it disgusts even me.
Many people, catholics and Lutherans and other Christians and for that matter non Christians often give up something for Lent. It is supposed to be an expression of denial to remind us of the upcoming suffering and death of Jesus but it tends to be something very self serving like dieting or giving up cigarettes or something like that. Catholics also have some dietary restrictions during Lent which I know some Lutherans abide by as well. Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence (from meat), and repentance—a day of contemplating one's transgressions. The ashes are sacramentals, not a sacrament. The Penitential psalms are read.

Ash Wednesday is big for me because Lent is big for me. It starts the season of preparation but preparation for what? I think everyone generally views it as a preparation for Easter and Christ rising from the dead. Other people might think it is the penitence preparing for the suffering of Good Friday. I like that better. Good Friday really does cap Lent. Easter is the feelgood pay back. Good friday is the final anguished gush of shame for how sinful we are and how great Christ’s sacrifice was. I am more in line with Catholic’s who say Lent runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday or Maunday Thursday as we call it. I LOVE MAUNDY THURSDAY. One of the things we Lutherans have screwed up is the personal confession and forgiveness of our sins. We do corporate confession and absolution as a group. Very clean but not very cleansing for me. On Maundy Thursday we confess silently and in our Church the pastor calls me by name and reminds me of the forgiveness of my sins and it is very powerful.



I need forgiveness. A lot. it is empowering to know you are sinner, confess and feel the pain and weight of your actions and then go confident of forgiveness. It does NOT EVER free you up to be a sinner but it does allow to accept your sinfulness and know that there is still through God’s Grace a path to redemtion.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are the annual long reminder of our sin and God’s Grace. Lutherans love Lent and I embrace it being here again.

All that having been said I took note the other day...just prior to the start of Lent and it was lisa Loring’s birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

OK....so I am...and have been obsessed with Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family. Originally it was the cheerful Lisa Loring who was really sweet and mainly concerned about her pet spiders and had a cute Marie Antoinette doll which she would occasionally guillotine. Sweet stuff indeed! In the movies of course she was played by the teen (perhaps preteen) troubling Christina Ricci. I will never forget her with Pugsley strapped into the elctric chair and her about to flip the switch explaining that they were about to play a game called “is there a God?” Good stuff.


I think to be fair though I was obsessed be her even in the 1964 black and white show. Seriously, has there ever been a better show then the Addams Family? Gomez. Morticia, Lurch, Pugsley, Thing, Cousin It....even the over the top Uncle Fester. No one EVER wore a mole skin coat as well as Fester. But holding the show and the movie together was always the diminutive Wednesday.

In the series she was just a sweet, inncoent paralyzingly pale girl in pig tails. Dealing with her fat oafish brother who was at best a simpleton. In the movie she was rather...dark. In either case she was awesome. I believe when we go back and review this point in history she will indeed be viewed as...important.



Why isn’t anyone running her for President. Hillary? I don’t think so. Think Wednesday would have any problem with the Iraquis? She would bring Rumsfeld back, not to run the war but to go over there with her and Dick Cheney and just freak everyone out.