The Lutheran Zephyr

Daily Lectionary online?

I like the new list of Daily Readings based on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that is found in the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship (this daily lectionary, released a year ago, is also available for purchase from Augsburg Fortress).  I read these texts as part of my daily prayer routine.  From the Augsburg Fortress website:

Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday reading ahead. Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest on what they heard at church. Includes daily readings for the full three-year lectionary cycle.

Each day has an Old Testament and a New Testament reading.  The same psalm is read for each of the three days prior to Sunday, and a different psalm is shared by the three days following Sunday.  Thus each day has three readings.

I have not found a website where this daily lectionary is available in electronic form.  Most of the online daily lectionaries that I found are based on the Book of Common Prayer two-year cycle.  The ELCA's daily reading website is based on the RCL, but posts only one of the three readings and offers no general index. 

The permissions for reproducing the RCL are murky (I'm not sure that I can reproduce the lectionary here, since this is not a church website).  But if there were a church out there who was interested in posting the daily readings charts . . .

Cana Adele, Child of God

Today my daughter was baptized.  It was a wonderful celebration - my wife presided, godparents (four of them!) and family surrounded her with love, and the congregation welcomed her into the church.  Add to that a nice reception at the church and pizza back at home on an unseasonably warm late November day, and it was a great day to celebrate the things God is and will do through Cana.

Yet I would be remiss if I did not admit to some curiosity - doubt? - about what it is that happens in baptism.  Is baptism a symbol, a ritual that gives life and gesture to what God has already done in her life?  Put another way, was this event purely social in nature, a rite of passage, a ritual of introduction into a community of shared values and beliefs?  Or is baptism a true means of grace - an event through which God acts in a unique and timely way?  In this way, are the water and words of this sacrament hokus pokus, a significant act of immense proportions that somehow affects a dramatic change in the child's relationship with God and with the faith community?  What does this baptism mean?

I can analyze and deconstruct baptism, reducing it to mere human creation and opiate for the masses.  But I wont.  Whether baptism is a symbol made of human hands, or a true bath from the hands of God, it is for me a holy moment when the promise of God is spoken.

For without the Word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a "bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit," as St Paul says to Titus in chapter 3."
- Martin Luther's Small Catechism, Baptism (from Wengert/Kolb translation of The Book of Concord)

Baptism is a holy moment, a grace-filled water of life, a bath of new birth in the Holy Spirit.  I know that God has blessed my child since before she was formed in the womb, and will continue to bless her whether or not she is baptized.  But she is baptized, and I pray that her baptism will be a comfort to her as it was to Luther, who said in his Large Catechism

We must regard baptism and put it to use in such a way that we may draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and say: "But I am baptized!  And if I have been baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body."
- Large Catechism, Baptism 44 (from Wengert/Kolb translation of The Book of Concord)

She is baptized!  She has received the bath of new life, and heard God's words of promise.  On this she can most certainly depend and draw strength.

As if we weren't white enough

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, evidently identifying a lagging demographic in its church membership numbers, has established an association for European Americans (news article here).  That's right.  In a denomination that is the cultural progenitor of Garrison Keillor's Lake Woebegone, we need an association to support and encourage the cultural faith expression of European Americans.  Google News could find only three news articles related to this visionary, bold, prophetic act.  The ELCA News Service failed to send out a press release announcing this great new initiative.  Oversight, I'm sure.  *CORRECTION: There was an official press release about this new association - link here.  My apologies.*

One of the many reasons this is a lousy idea is that now, with their own cultural association, white Lutherans will now have another reason to fool themselves into believing that everyone in the church has equal voice.  Perhaps white folk have felt left out - there's a group for the African Americans, for the Asian Americans, for the Native Americans, for the Middle Eastern/Arabs, and for the Hispanics.  Now, there's a group for the European Americans, who have until have been denied a seat at the multicultural table.  I guess that we European American Lutherans have a cultural heritage that we desperately need to uphold and maintain in this church in the face of cultural domination by, uh, well, white people.  I get nervous when white people in this country feel the need to get together to rally for their cultural heritage.

The Lutheran Church is itself a European Cultural Association, a celebration of a European Christian heritage, a powerbase of white men.  We can pretend that the Lutheran Church is somehow culturally neutral, and that culture comes to bear only through the bureaucracy of the Multicultural Ministries office, but that would be disingenuous.  European culture is everywhere in this church - from its structure to its music to its liturgy to its teaching style to its preaching to the color and cultural heritage of 96.98% of the people in its pews . . .

There is no need for a European American association within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The whole concept makes my skin crawl.  I am disgusted.  Today, I am ashamed to be a (European American) member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Rome's Finger Wagging

The Archbishop of Canterbury was at the receiving end of the Pope's wagging finger yesterday as they met during Archbishop Rowan's first official meeting with Pope Benedict (news report here).  As much as I admire the Roman church, their arrogance is an impediment to the Gospel and church unity.  It's as if the Pope, whenever he sits at a table, assumes for himself the seat of honor, rather than the lowest seat (Luke 14:7-14).

On Marriage

Two interesting articles appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer today:

• More and more, French go about life without marrying (courtesy the Washington Post)
• 4 in 10 babies in US born to unwed mothers (courtesy the Associated Press)

The first article reports that marriage is on a steep decline in France and in other European nations.  A noticeably increased number of couples are living together, buying property together and having children together, though choosing not to get married.  From the article:

Sandrine Folet and Lucas Titouh have two children, a stylish Paris apartment, and a 15-year-old partnership.

They have no intention of getting married.

"We don't feel the need to get married," said Folet, 36, who has known Titouh, 40, since she was a teenager. "I don't know many people in our age group who are married." . . .

. . . The trend in France is driven by a convergence of social transitions in both the demographic and cultural landscapes, including this generation's nearly universal estrangement from religion, especially the Catholic Church.

In a related article on the next page, federal health officials reported yesterday that births to unwed mothers is on the rise in the United States, even as births to teenage mothers had declined. 

Births among unwed mothers rose most dramatically among women in their 20s.

Experts said the overall rise reflected the burgeoning number of people who were putting off marriage or living together without getting married. They said it also reflected cultural changes that make having a child out of wedlock more acceptable . . .

. . . More single women in their 30s and 40s, hearing their biological clock, are choosing to give birth, she said, and younger women are not as worried about being unmarried.

And just because a mother is not married does not mean the father is not around, Ventura noted. She cited 2002 statistics showing that about 20 percent of all new mothers under 20 were unmarried but living with the father at the time of the birth. That was also true of about 13 percent of all new mothers ages 20 to 24.

Marriage is on the decline.  Though this is not encouraging news, I do not think this is such a horrible thing.  Don't get me wrong - I think that marriage is a powerful and needed building block of society, and I am a fan of marriage.  But marriage is not the only building block of society.  Our society will not spiral into never ending decay because of the declining marriage rate (there are other reasons we may be heading into never ending decay).  I am postmodern enough (and just plain realistic enough) to recognize that it is altogether possible for couples to have healthy relationships and raise families without being married.  Many couples do so every day across this country.  Marriage is no guarantor of morality, stability or sanctity.

Yet I can hear the conservatives gnashing their teeth, tearing their garments, and heaping blame on liberals for the falling marriage rate.  But do not worry.  They have a powerful ally on their side.  The church?  No.  I said powerful.  Who is this ally?  The $72 billion/year wedding industry.  Just wait for the strategic alliance between James Dobson's conservative advocacy group Focus on the Family and David's Bridal, one of America's leading bridal retailers . . .

To be fair, Americans gave about $88.3 billion to religious organizations in 2004 (more than we spent on weddings) - stats available on Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving website - and most religious groups support and advocate for marriage.  But somehow I believe that the for-profit wedding industry could do more to encourage marriage than could the disparate religious groups to which Americans variously adhere.

(The ELCA has several paragraphs dedicated to marriage in its 1996 message on sexuality entitled Sexuality: Some Common Convictions.  Though I think the section on marriage is a little thin in this document, I appreciate the honesty, integrity and reality with which it is written.  This, and all of our Lutheran social statements, are written with a keen appreciation of the inherent brokenness of people and their relationships.  Marriage is also part of the ongoing conversations about sexuality, Journey Together Faithfully.)

Of course, for a growing number of Americans their own wedding is one of the few times in their lives that they participate in a religious ceremony.  That's regrettable, for several reasons.  Why do non-religious people feel a need to celebrate their marriage with religious signs and symbols, when these signs and symbols otherwise have little meaning for them?  Are they being unduly pressured by society or family to do something they don't believe?  I'd strongly encourage such people to be honest with themselves, go to a justice of the peace to be legally married, and celebrate their marriage in a way that best fits their beliefs, their personality, their love for each other.  You don't need religion to get married.

In addition to marriage, many people who are otherwise not religious feel the need to have their children baptized.  Just yesterday a woman at my daughter's day care, after hearing me tell about my daughter's upcoming baptism, said to me, "Gosh, I haven't gotten my child done.  Perhaps I can come to your church to do that?"

My point is this - I do not want to discourage people from celebrating their marriage in church nor from baptizing their children.  However, I want these people to know that they do not need the church for their marriage to have legitimacy or for their child to have a good life.  I want them to know that they have permission to not come to church to celebrate rites of passage.  Church blessings at a wedding and the baptism of children are practices of faith for people of faith.  If you are not a person of faith then I would ask, why do you want to do this thing at church?

I regret that vestiges of Christendom continue to exert a significant cultural pull in our society.  Once upon a regrettable time, the church was the one and only power in town.  But that is not the case any longer, thank God.  Our society and our church are better for it.  But the vestiges linger.  And that is our challenge - to navigate, discern, and remove those meddlesome vestiges that interfere with people's live, our civic life, and the life of our religious communities.

Europe doesn't get it

As much as I admire much of Western Europe's cool stance toward the Iraq War and their keenly global and socially-aware outlook on affairs, one thing they don't understand is freedom of speech and religion.  Cities and countries throughout Europe are legislating bans or significant restrictions on the Muslim custom of wearing burqas, a woman's garment that covers nearly every inch of her body, including her face (news article here).  In a country - the Netherlands - where I can legally smoke dope and hire a prostitute, a woman is not allowed to cover herself in obedience to her religion's teachings?  What's wrong with this picture?

I'm no fan of the burqa or of the conservative reading of Islam that calls for such practices, but I'm less a fan of governments that cannot allow its people to dress, pray or practice faith as they wish.  It is in many of these same countries that hate crimes against Jews are on the rise.  Hmmm . . . anger toward the Jews, laws restricting the Muslims . . . this sounds like the worst of Martin Luther's 16th century vitriol.  I'd hope that in 500 years our European brethren have learned a thing or two about honoring minority peoples in their midst.

Concerned about "Indian gambling"

The ELCA Church Council has asked several groups within the ELCA to examine and study the issue of "Indian gambling" (press release here).  The ELCA is generally opposed to gambling, so I am not sure why legal gambling in casinos owned and operated by Indian tribes would be any different.

• In its social statement on economic life entitled Sufficient Sustainable Livelihood for All, the ELCA expresses "opposition to lotteries and other state-sponsored gambling because of how these regressive means of raising state revenues adversely affect those who are poor."  Take away the references to the state and this statement describes an opposition to gambling because of its adverse affect on those who are poor.
• The ELCA's congregational study on gambling raises many concerns about the social and moral questions surrounding gambling.

If the ELCA is generally opposed to gambling (as we can surmise by the above statement), why would it take a different approach to Indian gambling?  The ends - that of improving the economic life of an Indian tribe - shouldn't justify the means, it seems to me.  Perhaps a statement on Indian gambling could

• express in unambiguous terms the church's opposition to gambling;
• recognize the economic and social plight of Indians; and
• express regret that Native Americans have so few options for economic development and improved social welfare.

I don't see how we as a church can endorse gambling for Indians when we (and many advocates for the poor) are critical of gambling's regressive social impact.  I hope that in this study we can express compassion for the plight of Native Americans while simultaneously recognizing that gambling disproportionately and negatively affects the most vulnerable and poor members of society.

Franklin D. Fry, Rest Eternal Grant Him, O Lord

Franklin D. Fry, pastor and untiring leader of the church, has died (ELCA press release here).  The son of the former President of the Lutheran Church in America, Pastor Fry was a compassionate and dedicated saint of the church.  I had the pleasure of working with him a few years ago on a fundraising project at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and I am grateful to have known him.

Rest eternal grant him, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon him.

We Don't Hate the Mennonites Anymore!

The Lutherans - at least, the ELCA type - have formally rejected the hyper-critical, Reformation-era condemnations of Anabaptists put forth by Luther, Melancthon, and others (read press release here).  Evidently, we no longer believe that the government should persecute protestants who believe in adult baptism.  Whew.  What a relief.  No word yet on whether the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, or the Canadians still support police action against the Mennonites.

I do not want to belittle the importance of renouncing the sins of previous generations, but can we get back to the 21st century?  Thanks.

Lutheran News from Papua New Guinea

The Lutheran Church may be shrinking here, but in Papua New Guinea they are seeking to open a new Lutheran university.  News flash here.  Gotta love Google News (search term "Lutheran").