A question of Holiness, so to speak

I have been having an on going conversation with a member that goes something like this, "The altar is the holiest place in the church for it is where God resides and from where He comes to give His people His gifts." The question then is asked, does that mean that the balance of the space is not as holy and then by default that the gathered saints are not as holy as say, the pastor or others who might serve within the Chancel? The answer I give is that all is made holy by God's presence and His gifts bestowed, i.e. holy absolution, preaching, Holy Supper but they are certainly not as holy as God even though He makes His temple within them and washes, speaks, feeds them holy.

I am not saying this well to reduce some concern and thus would one or several of you clarify this for me. I say that the altar is the most holy place, the chancel being the space in which the altar stands is also most holy and thus the pastor vests to come into the most intimate presence of God. The nave is holy for God goes out to His people to make them holy. When they come to the altar rail to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus they are in the most holy and intimate relationship with God this side of glory as in His Supper heaven and earth come together.

Does this somehow make them less holy or others more holy? How might this be said in a better way or more clear and proper way. Please help! Thank you.

What Am I? I know, but do you?

For your consideration and discussion.

What am I? I am a parish pastor of the LCMS. When discussing Church and Ministry, what really am I? American Lutheranism has a convoluted grouping of theories and explanations to try to describe what exactly is going with the office of the Public Ministry -- even amongst where the various Blackbirds come from.

I know what I am. I am a bishop.

Plain and simple. I am a bishop. I am the overseer of the Christian Community of Lahoma, OK. I have an altar which I am to attend to - by virtue of my own call to my office as bishop. I am what 1 Timothy 3 is talking about when Paul says, "If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task." It's bishop, it's episcopos.

But here is the problem I see - we have lost the understanding of a bishop as fundamentally a pastor tending to a flock of Christians and substituted the later development of a bishop as an overseer of a bunch of priests and congregations. A bishop isn't an administrator, a bishop as described by Paul isn't a paper pusher - a bishop isn't the person who shuffles the priests under him around, exercising earthly, structural power in the Church. A bishop is one who is the chief steward of the mysteries of God in a place.

Should I ever have an assistant pastor, who can do all the things I can, but is subordinate to me at this congregation - then he would be a presbyter (or a priest, if you will). He assists.

If there were to be one who serves as a member of the clergy who is appointed to do works of service, to aid in distribution, and perhaps even to learn the art of preaching so as one day to hold the office of presbyter or bishop - this would be a deacon (you know, either a stand alone deacon, or a seminarian).

These are the Scriptural categories - and the problem is our language, our terminology doesn't match up. And of course, the reason things don't match up is because we are so concerned about who gets to put people into what office. We need to have some "superbishop" putting folks in - no, we need a majority vote - no we need a consistory or synod of bishops who tend to themselves -- to which I say, I don't care. Let a man be mediately called into which ever office it is peaceably, in good order, and with the consent of those being served. But when they are properly called - they are what they are - bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, with the duties and obligations placed upon them by the Word of God.

We do not need some overarching structure to reintroduce "bishops" - we have proper bishops already. We don't need to have a congregational polity to protect us from the tyranny of bishops - we have proper bishops already. We aren't arguing about the ministry - we've abandoned the scriptural idea of the ministry to fight over the table scraps of earthly power attempting to impose our sinful will over others.

Tend to your altars, you who are bishops! You who are assistants and thus presbyters - assist your bishop in the service for the people! You who are deacons, serve with care and compassion, and if you are studying, study diligently!

But, what of "Associate Pastors" -- eh, you have co-bishops. Awkward, but hey, share and play nicely.

But what of cities where there are multiple congregations - can't there only be one bishop? If the congregations are one entity, sure. If they are separate houses - no, each gets a bishop. Now, if we wanted to be organized amongst ourselves where there would only be one bishop in the town (or region) and only one proper congregation with multiple locales of worship each headed by the presbyter - so be it. But if we are separate congregations - eh, lots of bishops - and there's nothing wrong with that.

But how can you be a bishop without clergy to oversee. . . because a bishop's oversight is of the sheep, first and foremost. That's what it is to be a bishop - and this is what we have forgotten. Be bold in your office, and point to Christ who is the true bishop.

Pre-Seminex Cinema

Here is some video from the 1973 LCMS convention at New Orleans, with some narration.

It sure is interesting.

HT/The Rev. RLHIV

The Communion

Offered for your consideration, comment and correction:

The communal nature of the Sacrament does not derive from the communal gathering of the Church; but, rather,

The communal nature of the Church derives from the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament.

Wisdom and Eloquence Conference

The "Wisdom and Eloquence" conference offered last week by Father Petersen was wonderful. It is a cross between a Higher Things conference and a weekend Bible retreat. For three days we worshiped, studied and played. It was wonderful to see so many children as I am certain they out numbered the adults 4-1. Worship three times each day with the Sacrament every day was very refreshing and healing. The plenary with Father Bender was not only enlightening but it enhanced ones own ability to teach the Catechism. The sectionals provided a wide variety of topics that brought forth lively discussion and learning. The evening "fun" brought home simple yet fun ways to enjoy the family and family time.

All the way around it was done well and I highly recommended it for those who can get to Ft. Wayne for three days in August as I hope and presume it will be again next year. Check out Father Petersen's blog at http://redeemer-fortwayne.org/blog.php and you can see what went on.

Thanks again Dave, it was a pleasure and a privilege.

Marriage in 2010

If you want to get a sense of that the world considers to be marriage with a bit of religion thrown read this. It is a nightmare on so many levels, one does not even know where to start. This is the world, and it is a mess.

A Bible Recommendation

One would think that the last thing we would need is another Bible - especially given 2008's being nicknamed The Year of the Study Bible. The LCMS was only slightly late to the party with CPH's well-received The Lutheran Study Bible (TLSB) being released in 2009.

But the Apostolic Bible, 2006 edition, edited by Charles Van Der Pool, is not a new translation nor a "study Bible," but rather a reference tool that I have found very helpful. It weds the Greek New Testament to the Greek Old Testament of the Septuagint.

The Septuagint (LXX) is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament made by Greek-speaking Jews around 250 BC. For the most part, it is the version of the Old Testament that is quoted by the New Testament (which was also written in Greek), the version in use in the days of the early church. This early Greek translation is a huge help to understanding the Hebrew Old Testament - which can often be open to various interpretations. The LXX is a window into how the Jews who awaited the Messiah, as well as the Christians who proclaimed Him, read and understood the Old Testament.

A well-known illustration involves Isaiah 7:14. This is a Messianic prophecy that speaks of a virgin giving birth. The Hebrew word rendered "virgin," however, literally means "young girl" or "maiden." Technically speaking, עַלְמָה (almah) doesn't really mean "virgin." Some critics claim that Christians are reading into Isaiah's text and finding a prophecy about Jesus that doesn't exist.

However, we can see how Jews from even before the borth of our Lord interpreted almah in this context by how it was rendered into Greek: παρθένος (parthenos), which does mean "virgin" in the literal and technical sense.

Another example, given in the Apostolic Bible's introduction, involves 2 Cor 5:21, in which St. Paul describes Jesus becoming "sin" for us - which can certainly cause Christians to scratch their heads. The Greek word is ἁμαρτία (hamartia), which, when cross checked into the LXX, such as in Num 6:14, we see the word being used not only for the word "sin" but also meaning a "sin offering." This helps us understand how St. Paul understood the word in a Christological sense.

The Apostolic Bible is actually several resources in one. It has a helpful introduction, the Septuagint Old Testament (without getting into all the nitty gritty about which texts were used - you can read about all of that here), the Greek New Testament (I thought it was the Nestle-Aland text, but it doesn't actually identify it as such), an English-Greek index, and a Lexical Concordance.

Remember, this is a reference work, not a Bible one would tend to pick up and read. It is an interlinear - which means that under each Greek word (or word group) is a literal English word-for-word translation. In addition, a modified word-numbering system (a variation of the Strong system) is used. Some may balk at the interlinear, but once again, this is a reference work, not a "reading Bible" - though the English text does include helps so that it could be read as a cogent translation in a pinch. The numbering system helps people not familiar with the Greek alphabet to navigate the Lexical Concordance. I find it a nice feature that will hopefully encourage the study and use of the LXX by everyone and that people are not put off if they have not studied Greek.

The English-Greek Index allows one to look up an English word and locate the Greek word or words - along with their numbers - that correspond to the English. From there, one can locate the word in the Lexical Concordance to locate all uses of that word - in both the Old and the New Testaments.

By making use of seven columns, the Lexical Concordance contains a head-spinning amount of entries. Words appearing 50 times or more do not appear in the Lexical Concordance (and they are listed on page xiii of the introduction). At a glance, the Lexical Concordance shows where, and how often, such words are used. It makes it easy to cross between the testaments and draw them together.

I have found the Apostolic Bible to be invaluable for preparing for Bible class and sermons. It not only helps narrow down often-subjective Hebrew words, it helps illuminate the Christological continuity between the Old and New Testaments.

You can download the entire book - Introduction (14 pages), the Old Testament (1242 pages) , the New Testament (372 pages), the English-Greek Index (88 pages), and the Lexical Concordance (366 pages) for $15. The format is an easy-to-navigate (and read) PDF. You can print a page or two, or even the whole thing, as you see fit. And when you buy the download, you get a $15 off coupon to purchase the print edition (which makes the download a freebie if you buy the book).

The basic paperback (which I find to be quite rugged) is $40. If you desire, you can get various leather covers - and the prices are not bad. I went with the basic format, and find it to be just fine for my purposes.

On the downside, I have two gripes: 1) No Apocrypha. The LXX includes the Apocryphal books, but the Apostolic Bible omits them, and sticks with the canonical order of the King James Version. 2) The Greek letters do not include the typical accents (nor the breathing marks over initial vowels), but instead places a dot over the stressed syllable.

But all in all, this is a fantastic resource. It is useful beyond what I imagined, is priced right, includes the PDF format that resides on my computer, and is a quality-made book that (as far as I can tell so far) is fastidiously accurate.

--- Rev. Larry Beane

A Question for the Blackbirds

With apologies for not passing this on sooner:

With respect to pastoral care of couples engaged to be married, should both the bride and groom be communicate memembers before the pastor marries them, or may a pastor appropriately marry them if only one is a communicate member? In the latter case, is it necessary that the other person at least agree or promise to attend the next new member catechesis class?

Bizarre Random Question of History

Alright, bizarre random question of History. How does the idea of clergy wearing hats (the Bishop's Miter in particular) develop, especially given that whole idea of men not covering their heads in worship? Does anyone know this bit of history?

Gospel fail

--- Posted by Rev. Larry Beane

Blackbirding a Blackbird on Polity

Another Blackbird, the Rev. Tim May, has an excellent reflective essay on his blog regarding polity in the life of the church, especially in light of the upcoming convention of the LCMS.

It is not to be missed!

So, I hope Fr. Tim doesn't mind his blog being blackbirded by a fellow Blackbird. And lest the grammar police come knocking at my virtual door, according to Messrs. Merriam and Webster the word "blackbird" can indeed be an intransitive verb.

Thoughts upon editing an Ascension Transferred Sermon

I think I have keyed upon the main difference between American Protestants and Lutherans - how to tell if you are thinking like a Lutheran.

The Protestant will read the Scriptures to see God the Father - what He wants them to do, how He wants to bless them, etc.

The Lutheran will read the Scriptures to see Christ Jesus - that He must die and rise for our forgiveness as we hear in Luke's account of the Ascension.

And here's the test. When you hear "God" - do you think first of Jesus or the Father? When you hear "Lord" - do you think first of Jesus or the Father?

We ought think first of Jesus - He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one goes to the Father but by Him. Protestant theology pays this lip service too often - Lutheran theology strives to delight in this.

Thoughts?