"Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants." --comedian Kevin James, star, The King of Queens sitcom

MIZPAH

This coming weekend at The Virginia Military Institutute is a big one: Ring Figure Weekend. This is the time in a cadet's time at The Instititute in which at a formal dance the cadet receives his/her class ring. It is a ring designed by each class in the Second Class or the Junior year. And receiving the ring is next to graduation in terms of importance for a VMI cadet.Yesterday I read the history of the VMI ring and Ring Figure on the Institute's web-site http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=7689. Though the November custom of Ring Figure was not solidified until 1928, the first ring is pictured above from 1848. As a pastor, it was the word on the ring that grabbed my attention: Mizpah. Mizpah is a Hebrew word from the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures, first recorded in Genesis 31: 49 and it means "watchpost". It was the pillar that the patriarch Jacob erected as a sign of the covenant between he and his kinsman Laban. And on that occasion Jacob said, "The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other. It just so happened that when I read that yesterday I was teaching that chapter as part of my lesson for the Confirmation class. The lead-up to the stone pillar, Mizpah, briefly put is this:

Jacob had a twin brother Esau. Esau was older, literally by a heel (Gen. 25: 26). Later, Jacob tricked his brother out of his birthright. Then with his mother Rebekah's help, Jacob tricked his Father, Isaac out of the blessing that should have gone to the oldest (25: 27--34; 27: 1--45). And Esau vows to kill his brother Jacob (27: 41) Again, with Mother's help, Jacob flees to Haran, way to the north to live with his kinsman, Laban. Jacob falls immediately in love with Laban's daughter Rachel. He wants to marry her (29: 1--6). Laban says on one condition: you work for me for 7 years. Agreed, said Jacob. At the end of the seven years, at the marriage feast, Laban veils his other daughter Leah and Jacob sleeps with her! Laban had tricked him. And yes, this is in the Bible! (29: 17--30). So Laban says, if you still want Rachel...work for me for another 7 years. Jacob does. After 2o years, Jacob finally tricks Laban out of his wealth: sheep, goats, camels and with his wives and their 11 children, flee from Laban. Laban goes after him with the intent of bodily harm (31: 29) but the Lord tells him do nothing to him, neither good nor bad (31: 24). So they have quite a frank discussion...after 20 years of bad blood (31: 25--42). Laban suggests they make a covenant between them. They do. They pile a heap of stones together and call it Galeed, "heap of witness" (31: 46--47). And a pillar: MIZPAH. "The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other." But note: between Jacob and Laban it is cautionary not comforting.

In this year's second class, as Pastor for Lutherans and other Christians on Post, I have had the priviledge of serving the Word and Sacraments since their Rat year the following who will receive their ring this weekend: Jessica, Kate, Matt, Andrew, Brock, Edmund, Berley and Jonathan. And from this class, I have had the honor to teach Andrew instruction into the Lutheran Church and Brock has begun Instruction.

The Lord in His Word is cautionary...as it was between Jacob and Laban. Laban and Jacob probably could not trust each other away from one another. Not everything had gone well all the time. And the Word of Lord, even when it is cautionary can be comforting...as on the first ring at VMI. The Lord watch between you and me, when we are absent one from the other. I hope this prayer becomes yours as brothers and sisters in Christ. The "watchpost", the Mizpah, is the Lord's place in our lives by His grace upon the Cross for us all: to watch between us. He is our watchpost. In the Lord alone, can we be reconciled: for this BR ("brother rat") is also one for whom Christ Jesus died (cf. 1 Cor. 8: 11). In the Lord, you have been given much and I applaud your achievement this weekend!

And truly, we are to keep the watch: watchful for His coming, watchful in prayer, looking out for each other and alert to His Word for us in Holy Communion. And in the Lord I thank the many members of Good Shepherd who have kept watch over you in their homes. The Lord watches over you. He is the Rock, the strong Pillar...and so my prayer for you, Jessica, Kate, Matt, Berley, Jonathan, Brock, Andrew and Eddie is summed up in that one word:

MIZPAH!

Election Results

"FIRST OF all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in
every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth." 1 Timothy 2: 1--3

When I was a pastor in Norfolk, VA, (most of my members were active or retired Navy) during the Clinton years, we prayed for the President as the Scripture urges us to do. A church member said to me, 'Do we really have to pray for HIM?' I said, Yes. Here in Lexington, VA, during the Bush years, a member said to me...guess what? 'Do we really have to pray for HIM?' I said, Yes. I can disagree with the President (and the Congress!) but we must pray for our government. When St. Paul wrote the above, he was praying for Caesar. We can even say the Lord put the king, the president, or the prime minister into that office. Not because of his/her policies but as the Lord’s way in this world to have temporal peace:

For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been
instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists
what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no
fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his
approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do
wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of
God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer.—Romans 13: 1--4

In my opinion, the Scripture has a view of a limited role for government: to implement the law as curb to our propensities toward sin and evil and promote the common good. Why? So that the Church and our fellow citizens, “…may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.” The devil wants chaos and disorder so that the Gospel be not heard. This is what the President is elected to do for our good. And he is the Commander-in-Chief no matter what. So we must pray for him and our government and our nation and their sworn duty to implement the rule of law in one of the greatest documents in human history:
The Constitution of the United States of America.

A Post-Script: And I remember as a 6 year old watching black and white TV and scared as I saw the evening news reports on Walter Cronkite/CBS News of police and dogs and fire hydrants opened upon Negro civil rights marchers in the South in 1960s who at the time were prevented from voting. Negros were beaten, killed, terrorized, could not go the same schools as whites and were regularly called the ‘N’ word. It was wrong. It was evil. There is nothing good about doing evil. And now 50 years later…a Negro has been elected President. For instance: Do you really think Germany will ever elect a Turkish citizen as Prime Minster any time soon? And we can disagree with the President (even if he is black or white, a man or a woman, a Christian or not), satirize him and if he does not do the job to which he will swear to do the day he is inaugurated, we can vote him out. But we must pray for him. We are blessed to live in the United States. God save the State!

Martin Luther's Commentary on Psalm 136

The 136th psalm is a psalm of thanks and is perhaps the text to show priests how they should sing and preach. Namely, they should sing and preach of God and His wonderful deeds, that He is gracious and merciful and a true Savior. Therefore, in each verse the psalmist repeats the line, “His steadfast love endures forever,” with which the psalm is nearly overwhelmed. Truly nothing but grace, not human works or doctrines, should ever be preached. For human works and words have done no wonders such as these. They are not deserving of this worship, but rather only the grace and pure goodness of Him who gives all. Gift! Gift, he says! Gift—free of charge! And Christ also stands hidden in the phrase. Such doctrine keeps in the people a pure faith and a right understanding of grace and the forgiveness of sins, against the rebellious and stiff-necked work-saints.

From Reading the Psalms with Luther (Concordia Publishing House/2007)

What’s that Smell?!

In the “Only In America” section of a recent issue of “The Week” news magazine, there is this:

A Massachusetts church is encouraging worshippers to bring
their dogs with them. The Rev. Rachel Bickford of the Pilgrim Congregational Church says the “woof ‘n’ worship” services will include the prayer, “Dear Lord, please make me the person my dog thinks I am.” Bickford said it won’t matter if the service ends with poop in the pews. “Dogs bring such hope in a world where we’re surrounded by such hopelessness,” she said.

I do not disagree with the diagnosis of hopelessness…but Fido as our hope? Dummy me, I thought Christ is our hope! (see Romans 5:1-2; 8:24; etc.) A congregation needs to bring in the dogs to have hope? What is being preached or taught in that congregation? Or, Who is not being preached and taught for the hopeless and tempest tossed? Something stinks here and it isn’t from Fido. Then I read recently that Bishop Gene Robinson of Vermont (you know: the Episcopalian who divorced his wife and left his family to live with his male lover and still is a pastor and a bishop) was ‘married’ to his male lover this past June. The Bishop said afterwards, “I always wanted to be a June bride.” I just don’t think that smells right. And so we too in our denomination are keeping up with the trends: the third, count it third, sexuality study is due to be released next year, in the current cloning of those studies (there were two before this series of three, if memory serves) for one purpose only: so we can encourage our sons to be “June brides”. (This news and insight courtesy of Fr. Neuhaus in a his recent column in 'First Things')

Something stinks here and it isn't from Fido!

All of this “stinks to high heaven” and so does, “…what we have done and left undone”. In faith, Christ Jesus through grace does what no can of ‘Febreze’ can ever do: cleanse us our souls from the stink of wickedness…and it is terrible to return to the stink, on purpose, in any form and not take a stand according to His Word alone. In the quote below, Paul states we are the “aroma of Christ”. Yes, it will stink to some and we will be in conflict. We are called to take our stand firmly in His love and hope alone. And so to others, Christ Jesus is the sweet incense of salvation:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

2 Corinthians 2: 16—17

St. George and Luther and Lutherans Today

This Friday, October 31st is the Feast of the Reformation. On that date in 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses.

For Monday of the Week of Pentecost 24 in the fine prayer book, For All the Saints, is a short biography of Saint George by the Rev. Bruce Wilmot Adams. The selections below are from it. We know the legend that St. George slew a dragon."Legend has it that the city of Silene in Libya was besieged by a fierce dragon. Instead of trying to destroy, tried to appease the beast with sheep and goats. Such fare only increased the size and the appetite of the fearsome creature. After all concessions failed, the king decided to offer the princess--his own daughter--as a sacrifice."According to the legend, St. George slew the dragon and saved the princess.

George lived in the 4th century. The Emperor was Diocletian and his general of the army was Galerius. It seems George knew the Emperor and Galerius, "...under whom he had served during the Persian campaign". George decided to go, "...on a mission to appeal for clemency on behalf of his fellow-Christians."

"Friends begged George not to go, for his own safety’s sake. He replied: 'If you are alive and hear that I am dead, do me the kindness, for Christ’s sake, to take my bones to my native city and bury them there.' George set out on his mission to Nicodemia, accompanied by his servant Passicrates. Because of the killings of Christians in Britain—many of them Roman soldiers—George had by this time resigned from the army."

"Passicrates confirms George’s bold confession, and his appeal for the cessation of persecution. In the name of Jesus, George dared to warn the emperor of the consequences of tyranny. Without compassion, Diocletian had him incarcerated, tortured, starved and beaten. He was later tried by Galerius. After confessing his faith, George was beheaded on Good Friday, 23 April 303 AD...

"As thousands of Christians in the fourth century perished under the emperor, Diocletian, he struck a medal and built a column to celebrate his triumph. On the column he engraved, Extincto Nomine Christianorum—the name of Christ has been extinguished. What self-deception! Diocletian and Galerius died and were soon forgotten. St. George is with Christ (Rev. 7:14), but his name and confession against idolatry and evil continue to stir many Christian hearts and churches across the earth. "

In fact, the first English speaking Lutheran Congregation founded in London in 1762 was St. George’s Lutheran Church.

Besides that obvious connection with the Lutheran or Evangelical Church, there is a more significant connection to Luther and the Lutheran Church today. Rev. Adams wrote:

"(The legendary aspects of St. George) shows up the lie in the willingness of some churchmen who imagine that 'the old evil foe' (Lyric of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" by Martin Luther) can be assuaged through concessions--even endless discussions! Confessional Lutherans do well to remember that Satan thrives on compromise."

We must remember that the first question in the Holy Scriptures is quite early on: “Did God say…?” (Genesis 3:1) Remember: we are the generation that has incorrectly made the noun “dialogue” into a verb. In Adam and Eve’s desire “to be like God” they were pleasing themselves and thereby appeasing the serpent. But the serpent is not appeased. He is ravenous, prowling about, always seeking someone to devour (cf. 1 Peter 5: 8). The real dragon that St. George faced was the denial of Christ Jesus in the idolatry of the state and the Emperor.

Tyrants and tyrannies are more brutal than any dragon could ever be. They can devour whole peoples and nations and denominations. Luther fought the dragons of his time: legalism, works righteousness, confusion of Law and Promise, the idolatry of the Papacy, which all took away and would rob us from the merits and work of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone, by grace alone for terrified sinners. Sinners terrified by those dragons. The dragons could not be appeased. There can no compromise.

Our dragons are some of the same and with them: relativism, secular humanism, and not the proper distinction between Law and Promise, but their divorce. This not so great divorce results in license and immorality. We can not ‘dialogue’(sic) with the dragons. There is only one response to that ancient dragon, the Serpent and it is dogmatic and literal and comes from the lips of our Lord Himself: “It is written”. He said it not one once but thrice (St. Matthew 4: 1-11). Here with St. George and Luther and all the white-robed martyrs we must say, Here we stand, we can do no other. Our conscience is captive to the Word of God alone. God help us.