I wanted to say more on Sunday during the sermon...

Friends in Christ,

I wanted to say more last Sunday during the sermon, but I ran out of time.

I have posted here a quote from Father Robert Capon, an Episcopal priest who has written a number of excellent commentaries on the Four Gospels. I have read many of his books and use his commentaries (where appropiate) when I prepare to preach.

I was directed to this quote from Capon by Rev. Brian Stoffregen, who has written many fine commentaries on the Four Gospels as well. You can find Stoffregen's commentaries at www.crossmarks.com.

I love the quote from Capon. He is rock solid as a theologian, and he doesn't mind telling the church to stay on message, that is, preach the Good News of God in Jesus Christ through the forgiveness of sins.

In Easter joy, Pastor Grant


Here is a quote from Robert Capon (Hunting the Divine Fox: An Introduction to the Language of Theology, [pp. 132-3] republished in The Romance of the Word: One Man's Love Affair with Theology [p. 345])to help us understand the nature of forgiveness and being the church.
... The church is not in the morals business. The world is in the morals business, quite rightfully; and it has done a fine job of it, all things considered. The history of the world's moral codes is a monument to the labors of many philosophers, and it is a monument of striking unity and beauty. As C.S. Lewis said, anyone who thinks the moral codes of mankind are all different should be locked up in a library and be made to read three days' worth of them. He would be bored silly by the sheer sameness.
What the world cannot get right, however, is the forgiveness business – and that, of course, is the church's real job. She is in the world to deal with the Sin which the world can't turn off or escape from. She is not in the business of telling the world what's right and wrong so that it can do good and avoid evil. She is in the business of offering, to a world which knows all about that tiresome subject, forgiveness for its chronic unwillingness to take its own advice. But the minute she even hints that morals, and not forgiveness, is the name of her game, she instantly corrupts the Gospel and runs headlong into blatant nonsense.
The church becomes, not Ms. Forgiven Sinner, but Ms. Right. Christianity becomes the good guys in here versus the bad guys out there. Which, of course, is pure tripe. The church is nothing but the world under the sign of baptism. ...

We Easter people have been sent to forgive sins.

Earl, this one's for you...

Last Sunday my sermon began with a bit of an introduction to the Gospel according to Luke, since we're just beginning a new liturgical year with the season of Advent and our Gospel for the year is Luke. I know I covered a little more ground than was helpful for some folks - but several people also said they were actually going to go home and READ Luke. Not too bad. It is the longest of the gospels, but it's still only 24 chapters - you can do it!! I also promised to write a blog post with what I shared about Luke's Gospel, so here you go:

The same author who wrote Luke also wrote Acts, so it's not a bad idea to read them together. They were written anonymously, but tradition holds that a Gentile convert to Christianity, a physician named Luke wrote them. Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul (see Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24) and in parts of Acts the narration shifts from third person to first person plural - "we." These passages are Acts 16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-18 and 27:1-28:16.

The Gospel according to Luke can be outlined broadly in four sections plus the wonderful ending. Chapter 1 - the middle of chapter 4 tells of predictions of births (John and Jesus), the births (John and Jesus) and has people breaking into song all over the place- kind of like a Broadway musical.

The second section, from the middle of chapter 4 through chapter 9 tells about Jesus' ministry in Galilee.

The pivotal verse in Luke is 9:51, when Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem." From then on there's no turning back from the cross. Many of our favorite parables and stories about those Jesus came to save - the lost, least, little, last and dead - are told in this section, from 9:51 - to the middle of chapter 19.

From Luke 19:28 to the end of chapter 23 Luke tells about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, his last meal, betrayal, arrest, trial and execution.

Good thing the story doesn't end there! Chapter 24 tells about the empty tomb, men in "dazzling clothes," Jesus joining disciples on the road to Emmaus and his ascension into heaven.

Seriously, the best way to "get" the story is to read it! Or find someone to read it to you!

Other things that make this Gospel unique: the geneology of Jesus lets us know that Luke understands Jesus as the savior of ALL people, not just Jews, since he traces Jesus' lineage down to Adam (unlike Matthew, who starts with Abraham and gets to Jesus). In Luke, people call Jesus "Master," a Greek title, not "Rabbi," which means "teacher" in Hebrew.

All those rulers who get listed over and over are meant to help us know WHEN things happened, since there was more than one calendar operating at the time. Some are Roman rulers, some are Jewish political leaders, some are Jewish religious leaders.

I could keep going, but have a feeling I could get boring...
I suggest:
1. Read Luke
2. Then read Acts
3. If you don't have a study Bible with good introductions to each book and good foot notes, get one. I use The New Oxford Annotated Bible and The Lutheran Study Bible from Augsburg Fortress. Grant mostly uses the Harper Collins Study Bible.
4. If you're really intrigued, consider a commentary. Pastor Grant and I might be willing to loan you one...
5. Join a Bible study - and if we don't have one that fits your schedule, let me know and we'll start one that will!
6. Check out Enter the Bible, from Luther Seminary. It's a great site to learn more about the Bible generally, and specifc passages more particularly. And if you want to hear some of what we use in sermon preparation, check out Sermon Brainwave, also from Luther Seminary.