Friends in Christ,
503 years ago this month, the mighty, mercurial, and sometimes-mad mountain of a man from whom we have inherited a slab of really great theology and the handy term, “Lutheran,” hammered (or used sticky-tack, maybe?) one of history’s most famous documents to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany and forever altered the way people understand God (short version: God comes out looking a lot less mean and spooky than he had previously). That famous document was called, The 95 Theses. If we are finally able to get confirmation up-and-running this month, this will be one of the first things I will talk about with the kids. So, if you have a child in this age group and they come home after class enthusiastically blabbing about “Pastor Phil talking about 95 feces tonight,” now you have a little heads-up. We were talking Lutheran theology, not bodily…well, you know.
Fast-forward now ten years (still no internet) and we find Martin Luther older, wiser, and a whole lot less popular with the Pope in Rome. Oh, and deeply entrenched in a pandemic! I am not making this up. In the years around 1350, the Bubonic Plague ravaged Europe and killed off about a third of the population at the time. It was utterly devastating, but eventually receded, only to show up again in roaring, take-no-prisoners fashion, almost a couple hundred years later. And by the summer of 1527, it had found its way to Wittenberg and to Dr. Luther and his people.
The Plague, to Europe: Hey everybody, I’m back! I had so much fun the last time that I decided to do another world tour. Now, if I can just get you all to skootch together like sardines, take off your masks, start shouting, coughing and sneezing in each other’s faces, I’ll take a nice picture of your BIG group. Oh, and we’ll use those nice coffins over there as props. Now hold that pose for three hours and make sure you keep coughing. Have a nice day! Wherever plagues and pandemics come from, apparently they don’t have our best interest in mind.
But get this: when a fellow pastor came to Luther for advice on how to handle the plague and be a good leader and example to his people, Luther wrote a fairly practical little pamphlet entitled, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague. If there would have been a CDC back then, Luther would have been a board member. Here’s what Luther wrote to that fellow pastor…
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order to not become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.”
One of Luther’s much more famous writings, published about 7 years before this little pamphlet was published, is called, “The Freedom of a Christian.” Freedom has been a pretty hot topic during these COVID-19 days, hasn’t it? Luther would have some interesting things to say to us if he were here today as well, especially since there is nothing in that above quote that talks about his individual rights, but everything to do with his trust in God and his ferociously compassionate concern for his neighbor.
His treatise on freedom is long, but in a nutshell, Luther talks in the document about how our freedom in Christ through the Gospel also connects us and binds us to our neighbors. The good news of our faith is that Jesus Christ has made us free through his death and resurrection, completely and utterly free: free from sin, death and the power of the devil. And free to stop worrying about trying to earn God’s love or make ourselves worthy in God’s eyes. Christ has accomplished that on the cross for us. But Luther also goes on to talk about how we—Christ’s disciples today--are called to use that freedom not by turning inward towards ourselves (Incurvatus in se; Latin for “curved inward”), but by turning outward, in loving service to our neighbor, following the example set forth by Jesus Christ. Freed in Christ to serve our neighbor, we might say.
God knows we’re all fed up with this current pandemic; I know I am! I see the weariness on people’s faces. I feel the frustration rise up in me when someone says to me for the umpteenth time, “I’m just SO over COVID,” or “You know this isn’t any more serious than the flu, don’t you?” And I can’t wait to write a newsletter article one day without using the word COVID in it. Ugh!!
We’re tired, you and I. But now is not the time to let down our guards. I’m guessing by the time Luther wrote that brief little instruction to his friend, he and his people had gotten pretty tired of the Bubonic Plague as well. And that was long before—200 years or so-- anyone could pin their hopes on something called a “vaccine.” So, hang in there. Read that advice from Uncle Marty again: trust God, take the necessary precautions (even if you don’t think they’re necessary), and keep being vigilant, thoughtful and safe. Your neighbor is depending on you. And so is Jesus.
And now back to Confirmation: What does it mean to be a Lutheran? “I SHALL FUMIGATE!!!!” “And um, er…BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH!” Hey, how about I leave you with a little October challenge? I might see if the confirmation kids are up to it, too. See if you can use the words “fumigate” “Reformation” and “plague” in the same sentence before the month is over. Let me know how it goes and I’ll try to work on prizes. Apparently, they’re still out of sanitizing wipes, so maybe I’ll get some suckers. Confirmation kids like suckers.
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Phil
(As posted in October 2020 Newsletter)
503 years ago this month, the mighty, mercurial, and sometimes-mad mountain of a man from whom we have inherited a slab of really great theology and the handy term, “Lutheran,” hammered (or used sticky-tack, maybe?) one of history’s most famous documents to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany and forever altered the way people understand God (short version: God comes out looking a lot less mean and spooky than he had previously). That famous document was called, The 95 Theses. If we are finally able to get confirmation up-and-running this month, this will be one of the first things I will talk about with the kids. So, if you have a child in this age group and they come home after class enthusiastically blabbing about “Pastor Phil talking about 95 feces tonight,” now you have a little heads-up. We were talking Lutheran theology, not bodily…well, you know.
Fast-forward now ten years (still no internet) and we find Martin Luther older, wiser, and a whole lot less popular with the Pope in Rome. Oh, and deeply entrenched in a pandemic! I am not making this up. In the years around 1350, the Bubonic Plague ravaged Europe and killed off about a third of the population at the time. It was utterly devastating, but eventually receded, only to show up again in roaring, take-no-prisoners fashion, almost a couple hundred years later. And by the summer of 1527, it had found its way to Wittenberg and to Dr. Luther and his people.
The Plague, to Europe: Hey everybody, I’m back! I had so much fun the last time that I decided to do another world tour. Now, if I can just get you all to skootch together like sardines, take off your masks, start shouting, coughing and sneezing in each other’s faces, I’ll take a nice picture of your BIG group. Oh, and we’ll use those nice coffins over there as props. Now hold that pose for three hours and make sure you keep coughing. Have a nice day! Wherever plagues and pandemics come from, apparently they don’t have our best interest in mind.
But get this: when a fellow pastor came to Luther for advice on how to handle the plague and be a good leader and example to his people, Luther wrote a fairly practical little pamphlet entitled, Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague. If there would have been a CDC back then, Luther would have been a board member. Here’s what Luther wrote to that fellow pastor…
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order to not become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.”
One of Luther’s much more famous writings, published about 7 years before this little pamphlet was published, is called, “The Freedom of a Christian.” Freedom has been a pretty hot topic during these COVID-19 days, hasn’t it? Luther would have some interesting things to say to us if he were here today as well, especially since there is nothing in that above quote that talks about his individual rights, but everything to do with his trust in God and his ferociously compassionate concern for his neighbor.
His treatise on freedom is long, but in a nutshell, Luther talks in the document about how our freedom in Christ through the Gospel also connects us and binds us to our neighbors. The good news of our faith is that Jesus Christ has made us free through his death and resurrection, completely and utterly free: free from sin, death and the power of the devil. And free to stop worrying about trying to earn God’s love or make ourselves worthy in God’s eyes. Christ has accomplished that on the cross for us. But Luther also goes on to talk about how we—Christ’s disciples today--are called to use that freedom not by turning inward towards ourselves (Incurvatus in se; Latin for “curved inward”), but by turning outward, in loving service to our neighbor, following the example set forth by Jesus Christ. Freed in Christ to serve our neighbor, we might say.
God knows we’re all fed up with this current pandemic; I know I am! I see the weariness on people’s faces. I feel the frustration rise up in me when someone says to me for the umpteenth time, “I’m just SO over COVID,” or “You know this isn’t any more serious than the flu, don’t you?” And I can’t wait to write a newsletter article one day without using the word COVID in it. Ugh!!
We’re tired, you and I. But now is not the time to let down our guards. I’m guessing by the time Luther wrote that brief little instruction to his friend, he and his people had gotten pretty tired of the Bubonic Plague as well. And that was long before—200 years or so-- anyone could pin their hopes on something called a “vaccine.” So, hang in there. Read that advice from Uncle Marty again: trust God, take the necessary precautions (even if you don’t think they’re necessary), and keep being vigilant, thoughtful and safe. Your neighbor is depending on you. And so is Jesus.
And now back to Confirmation: What does it mean to be a Lutheran? “I SHALL FUMIGATE!!!!” “And um, er…BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH!” Hey, how about I leave you with a little October challenge? I might see if the confirmation kids are up to it, too. See if you can use the words “fumigate” “Reformation” and “plague” in the same sentence before the month is over. Let me know how it goes and I’ll try to work on prizes. Apparently, they’re still out of sanitizing wipes, so maybe I’ll get some suckers. Confirmation kids like suckers.
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Phil
(As posted in October 2020 Newsletter)