Bruce Church - McCormick Seminary's Big Waste of Money

Bruce Church has left a new comment on your post "Domino Effect at LSTC When McCormick Seminary Pull...":

Lately, Dr. Jackson has blogged about bad news of McCormick seminary, LSTC and Pacific Lutheran Theo Sem. I thought it was worthy of note that Pacific and LSTC charge the least of all the Lutheran seminaries, about half of what the LCMS Concordia seminaries charge. Naturally, they are in financial straits. Instead of sending their faculties to learn about CG from Fuller, they ought they ought to be sending their admin people to the Concordia seminaries to learn how they charge so much and still have anyone left attending. I think each seminary needs its own Walther-type mythography to get them through the lean times. Concordia Seminary--St. Louis is even paying for the Walther movie to be sent to all LCMS congregations. I'm sure the cash-strapped seminaries will be reading up on their alumni and founding fathers pronto looking for some story to sell, and to make a documentary about. Of course, the Walther story is so long ago, is it even relevant anymore? It's about as distant as, say, President Washington and Benjamin Franklin are to modern Americans:
http://www.scribd.com/bruce_church/

How McCormick got in trouble is through something Dr. Jackson has railed about in the past: a bond issue, issued through the State of Illinois.

Now, if one has to guess which seminary building was extravagantly overbuilt and got the seminary into trouble, which one would it be: a dormitory, a gym, a library, classroom space, or the administration building? You guessed it! The president and staff wanted to work in the lap of luxury so $22 million of the $30 million bond was spent on an airy admin building, and the rest on dormitories where the students are no doubt packed like sardines, and they probably have thin walls one can talk through. The building cost 3.3 times as much per square foot as average office space in the city of Chicago, and 3.8 times as much as in the suburbs.

McCormick built the extravagant building at 5460 S. University Ave in the middle of the joint campus, and now they have to sell it and that will break up the campus and put commercial traffic through the campus, which is probably why both the McCormick and LSTC presidents had to resign. Of course, they aren't selling the dormitories since they actually need those, and they'd only be suitable for low-rent housing anyway, but the admin building was unnecessary space especially in the age of paperless offices.

Here's an article from a trade paper that has the details--a Chicago real estate mag:
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20090617/CRED03/200034441/debt-challenged-hyde-park-seminary-puts-building-on-the-block

Saddled with $30 million in debt from an ambitious real estate program, a Presbyterian seminary in Hyde Park has put its six-year-old administration building on the market.

McCormick Theological Seminary is offering the 42,000-square-foot, three-story building at 5460 S. University Ave. for sale or lease. The property includes a large underground parking garage.

The property cost roughly $22 million to develop in 2003, a sky-high price of $524 a square foot.

The seminary, founded in 1829, financed the construction project and the renovation of two nearby student housing buildings with $30 million in long-term, federal tax-exempt bonds issued through the Illinois Finance Authority.

But now, the bond payments of $1 million a year are a burden for an institution with an $8.2-million budget for the 2009-10 school year.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4621481/Chicago-Office-8-8-08

Pictures of the extravagant administration building:
http://www.ascribehq.com/building-schools/portfolio/1051

Get the McCormick spin on the situation:
http://mccormick.edu/content/financial-faq

New McCormick president:
http://mccormick.edu/news/frank-yamada-elected-mccormicks-tenth-president

Street view of block on which the new building is (up the block on the left):

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=5460+S.+University+Ave.,+hyde+park&fb=1&gl=us&hnear=0x8808a12005cd0adf:0x3c7e3fa7f48922cb,Beloit,+WI&cid=0,0,14796266492643631019&ei=eM_iTdXMMIautwfuoOWEBw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQnwIwAA

Chicago city office space goes for $158 per foot, and
suburb space goes for $137 a foot:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4621481/Chicago-Office-8-8-08

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GJ - Bruce Church has outdone himself in research this time. I performed a desultory search on these topics and found little more than PR releases.

This shows how much is available on the Net for those who have the skills and make the effort.

McCormick once had some famous liberal Biblical scholars and a tidy fortune behind it in the beginning. This illustrates how self-centered administrators can run anything into the ground. I am not exactly sad. All the mainline denominations (including WELS and Missouri) were debtors to Knapp's double-justification.

The devil is collecting rent on the apostasy he so richly rewarded in the past. One mainline seminary after another is collapsing into a name, a foundation, and fond memories. The Syn Conference seminaries are in exactly the same condition as their fellow mainline schools, for the same reasons.

As 29a reminded me, the former leaders of the LCA (Crumley) and ALC (David Preus) are both sorry they got the ELCA merger going. Now it is too late, using human methods, to turn back the implosion and meltdown.

So 29a asked me, "Will Valleskey and Bivens live to regret what they have done to WELS?"

One does not repent when every single person in the world is justified before birth (first trimester, no less).

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The property cost roughly $22 million to develop in 2003, a sky-high price of $524 a square foot.
The seminary, founded in 1829, financed the construction project and the renovation of two nearby student housing buildings with $30 million in long-term, federal tax-exempt bonds issued through the Illinois Finance Authority.

But now, the bond payments of $1 million a year are a burden for an institution with an $8.2-million budget for the 2009-10 school year.

"We are simply spending a disproportionate and, unfortunately, growing share of our resources on occupancy-related costs," McCormick President Cynthia M. Campbell says in a message on the school's Web site.
Making matters worse, the school's endowment, which provides 70% of its budget, has fallen 30% because of the financial crisis, Ms. Campbell's message says.

McCormick intends to stay in the South Side neighborhood. But to cut expenses, the school is also terminating an agreement with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago to share the operating costs of a separate, three-wing building at 1100 E. 55th St., which is owned by theLutheran school.

Read more: http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/article/20090617/CRED03/200034441/debt-challenged-hyde-park-seminary-puts-building-on-the-block#ixzz1Ns8JLwcs

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McCormick Seminary says:


"What does this all mean for McCormick’s relationship with LSTC?
We, of course, cannot speak for LSTC, but they are dealing with many of the same issues and questions that we have tackled in recent months. In fact, our conversations with LSTC initially focused on how we might merge or otherwise develop a completely integrated administrative and academic structure. For a variety of reasons, it became clear that such a merger was not a viable alternative for either LSTC or McCormick. LSTC, as part of the Lutheran church-wide system of theological education, has other partners with which it can and does work. They have a wonderful educational program and good leaders, and it is our expectation that LSTC will also emerge from all of this a better and stronger institution.

McCormick and LSTC remain in partnership, most notably in the joint ownership and operation of the JKM Library. JKM is a nationally recognized resource for theological study that continues to serve students of the University of Chicago Divinity School and all members of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools. Through this and other resources, McCormick and LSTC continue their proud legacy of developing leaders for the Church."

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GJ - Merging the two might have meant McCormick dying with LSTC, the Lutheran side dragging down the Presby side of this marriage. To preserve face, many mainline seminaries have merged into others, until they have four or six in one, with high tuition, endowment funds, posh faculty salaries, and very few students.

Domino Effect at LSTC When McCormick Seminary Pulled Out of the Marriage?Curriculum Interruptus

Improperly handled compost could drive away current and potential students,
except for the hippies, who would not notice.

LSTC News Release

LSTC's President Reflects on McCormick Theological Seminary's Decision

Posted Jun 3, 2009

Following the May 13-14, 2009 meeting of the Board of Trustees of McCormick Theological Seminary and its decision to pursue an “orderly disengagement” from the real estate portion of its relationship with LSTC, President James Kenneth Echols said, “LSTC will always give thanks for the partnership of the two schools in the ministry of theological education that began in 1975. The seminary also regrets the strained financial circumstances that have led McCormick to make its decision."

LSTC’s Special Finance Task Force, appointed by the Board of Directors in November 2008, is currently assessing the impact of McCormick’s orderly disengagement which will take place as early as June 2010. The Task Force is developing plans that include potential building reconfiguration and new campus partners and working in other areas to strengthen the seminary.

Simultaneously, the seminary is implementing its new strategic plan that will guide LSTC into a bright future. The plan includes having the faculty review the institution’s degree and non-degree offerings to ensure that LSTC remains on the cutting edge of what the church needs to form gifted LSTC students to be faithful and effective missional leaders proclaiming Jesus Christ in the 21^st century. President Echols noted that, “LSTC is uniquely positioned and strategically located to form the next generation of leaders, and LSTC is committed to doing just that. For in a great city, a great Christian tradition deserves a great seminary!”

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Wikipedia:

After the Young Lords take-over and facing a dire financial situation and declining enrollment, McCormick sold the Lincoln Park campus to DePaul University and moved to the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, in 1975. This move divested the institution of infrastructure while reinforcing its commitment to urban ministry. Sharing facilities with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), McCormick began to help foster important ecumenical cooperation between the Presbyterian and Lutheran churches. In 2003 McCormick reinforced and recommitted itself to its ecumenical partnership with LSTC by building a new building situated on the LSTC campus.

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GJ - McCormick Presbyterian Seminary sold its campus after the Young Lords takeover and financial difficulties. They put a building on the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago campus and merged the libraries. I think Roman Catholics threw a weak seminary in too.

LSTC saw their president resign - no plans announced for a young, apparently single Black man with a Yale PhD. McCormick has a new president - the first Presby sem president who is also Asian.

If I am wrong about any facts, Bruce Foster will jump onto email about it. I will be happy to fix up factual errors.

The McCormick-LSTC arrangement seems to have misfired, as most coop and merger efforts do.

Brett Meyer - On Joe and Lisa Krohn Being Kicked Under the Bus

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "WELS Advice - "Write a Letter" - Will Get Y'all E...":

This is additional evidence that in the Lutheran Synods, Justification by faith alone is anathema to their man-made false gospel of Universal Objective Justification. They have gone about to establish their own way of righteousness which is not the righteousness of Christ, of Holy Scripture which is clearly and fully explained in the Lutheran Confessions. Holy Word Lutheran Church is an active church in the (W)ELS. Continued existance as a (W)ELS church without retracting Word and Deed on this issue establishes this action and confession of doctrine as accepted by the entire (W)ELS church body and of those associated with it. This includes the enabling and psuedo conservative President Schroeder and the COP.

This is nothing short of a replay of the carnage enacted at Kokomo years ago, when the (W)ELS established JBFA as anathema and persecuted Christ and His Church.

It is a sign of the times, and we should expect nothing less from those who are in the church but are not of the Church.

May Christ's blessings, the comfort of the Holy Ghost and the providence of God the Father be with Joe and Lisa during this and other trials as they, by God's grace and mercy, endure in the one true faith unto life everlasting.

By the grace of God, in Christ alone,
Brett Meyer


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GJ - Kudu Don Patterson's behavior is just as bad as Deputy Doug Englebrecht's. Patterson wants to be the next DP in Texas, which shows the WELS leaders are all cut from the same piece of burlap.

WELS/LCMS Favorite Training Center - Willow Creek -Partners with Far Left Sojouners, Jim Wallis.WC Also Subordinates Men to Women in Leadership, Mandates Feminazi Translations

Here is the link about Willow Creek.

Lynne Hybels

The "greenest" church on the planet? Scripture as it relates to the Palestinians? Fighting American "racial injustice"?

Meet the latest addition to President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House group already replete with advocates for using religion to advance "social justice."

In January, Obama named to his faith council Lynne Hybels, a leader of Willow Creek Church, an inter-denominational, multi-generational megachurch located in a Chicago suburb.

The church is led by Hybels' husband, Bill, a social justice advocate who created the Global Leadership Summit, an international Christian group.

Lynne Hybels' official title at Willow Creek Church is Advocate for Global Engagement. She is also a regular contributor to the progressive Sojourners magazine, the publication of a ministry by the same name professing a devotion to the pursuit of "social justice."

Are you ready to resist the 'Green Dragon'? The environmentalist movement is one of greatest threats to society and the church today.

Sojourners was founded by Jim Wallis, who is also a member of Obama's faith council.
Hybels and her husband are deeply involved in Sojourners initiatives and participate in the ministry’s events.


Hybels is a regular traveler to the Middle East.

In March, she keynoted a conference in Bethlehem called "Christ at the Checkpoint: Theology in the Service of Peace and Justice." She wrote about the experience in a Sojourners magazine article entitled, "Jesus-Focused Conversations in Occupied Bethlehem."

According to its own description, the Bethlehem conference was meant to "equip the global church to understand Scripture as it relates to the Palestinian context, and to discuss the theological importance of Peace and Justice in an Evangelical context."

One year earlier, she signed a letter to Obama, entitled, "Christians Support Bold Action for Holy Land Peace Campaign" calling for an immediate deal to create a Palestinian state.

The letter urged U.S. engagement with a "Palestinian unity government," a reference to a unity deal the Palestinian Authority had inked with the Hamas terrorist organization.

The letter had one sentence noting Palestinian rocketing on Israeli towns, but the majority of the text decried purported Israeli actions, including settlement growth , as "rapidly diminishing any possibility for the creation of a viable Palestinian state."

The letter demanded an immediate end to the Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Israel has said the blockade is necessary to ensure Hamas cannot rearm itself.

A review of Hybels' Sojourners magazine articles finds a focus on issues of race and the Middle East. Titles include, "An Apology to My Muslim Friends," and "Racial Reconciliation: A Necessary Conversion."

In the latter article, Hybels wrote against what she deemed the "reality" of ongoing "racial injustice" in the U.S.
"In 2001, my husband Bill was jolted out of racial complacency," she related. "Through books he read and conversations he had with African-American pastors, he was broken by the reality of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S."

Continued Hybels: "He describes it as having a kind of 'second conversion,' where the scales fell off his eyes and he suddenly saw with horrible clarity of something that broke the heart of God and ought to break his heart."

In one article, Hybels argued the church should be used to fight so-called global warming.
In a blog posting entitled, "Beyond Charity: Living a Life of Compassion and Justice," Hybels writes at Sojourners: "The battle against injustice is a tough and ugly war. While I am proud that Willow has entered that war, the truth is we have just begun to fight. …

"I look forward to the day when we as a church will be known for being the greenest church on the planet, not just because we enjoy the beauty of God's creation, but because we know that climate change is a justice issue," she wrote.

Indeed, her church is at the center of using faith to fight so-called social justice. Hybels herself established a church board for Middle East engagement. She writes on her website she is an advocate for "Comprehensive Immigration Reform."

With her husband, she addressed a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees in October 2009, arguing for comprehensive immigration reform.

Hybels and Wallis are the latest in a list of progressives to grace Obama's faith council.

WND reported Eboo Patel, also a member of the White House faith council, declared that everything he was taught about Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson and American "fairness" and "equality" was wrong.

WND also reported Patel, a Muslim activist from Chicago, compared al-Qaida to what he called Christian "totalitarians" in the U.S. and Jewish "totalitarians" in Israel.

Earlier, WND reported Patel is deeply tied to Weatherman terrorist group founder Bill Ayers. Also, Patel blasted what he called the "myths" of America – describing them as beliefs that the country is "a land of freedom and equality and justice."

With research by Brenda J. Elliott

Read more: White House pushing churches to be 'green'? http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=302981#ixzz1NloZLYyv

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GJ - I did plenty of research on Satan's Snakepit, and I also went there. I finally found a cross in the basement. As one Icha-wit asked, "In the storage room?"

One WELS pastor told me that the mission board paid all his expenses to study at Willow Creek.

NNIV - WELS Does Not Admit Giving Up Adam - Now Symbolic, Plus Feminazi Language

Revised Bibles strive for balance

On 400th anniversary of King James version, new Catholic, Protestant versions released - Kicking Jimmie under the Bus

Deirdre Dempsey

Douglas J. Moo - Idiot

Click to enlarge

During last year's Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, at a special viewing for the local Jewish community, two women stood confounded before the reproduction of the famed Isaiah scroll.

Troubled by the translation of Isaiah 7:14 that said a messiah would be born of a "virgin," they quickly sought out a docent.

That's just one interpretation of the Hebrew word almah, the docent, a prominent Jewish educator, told them. Many scholars, he noted, translate the word as "young woman."

Two new English revisions of the Bible - the New American Bible published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Zondervan and Biblica's New International Version favored by most Protestants - are out this spring, each presenting the almah translation differently.

They come on this, the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, viewed by many as the single most important book published in English.

Decades in the making, these new editions - much like the exchange at the Isaiah scroll - reflect the power of such words, for Christians and non-Christians alike, and the personal attachment to them thousands of years after their writing.

They also provide some insight into the scholarly balancing act between accurately imparting the meaning of the words and retaining some literary rhythm and beauty, all while making the Bible accessible to new generations of readers.

"The idea of accessibility is very important to us," said Deirdre Dempsey, a Marquette University professor of Old Testament and ancient languages who served on the board of editors for the New American Bible.

Retired Milwaukee Bishop Richard Sklba also worked on the Bible.

"We want it to be faithful to the text, but at the same time render it into accessible language," Dempsey said.

Gender-inclusive language

Both revisions take advantage of advances in Biblical scholarship, including translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and reflect contemporary meanings of words.

In the Catholic Bible, for example, "booty" becomes "spoils of war" and "cereal " is now "grain." The NIV substitutes "foreigner" for "alien" and, to describe those crucified alongside Christ, "rebels" instead of "robbers."

Some changes were an attempt at more gender-inclusive language (occasionally at the expense of correct grammar, a linguist might gripe), and the rephrasing of some long-revered passages have rankled traditionalists.

Both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Council on Biblical Man and Womanhood, a Kentucky-based organization that promotes the leadership roles of men at home and in the church, have criticized the NIV's inclusive language as going too far.

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod raised concerns early on about the gender-inclusive language and other changes - such as substituting "young woman" for "virgin" - that might dilute Old Testament references seen as prophesying the coming of Christ.

But after careful scrutiny, it determined the NIV, the most widely read Bible today, remained the best translation for use in its publications, said the Rev. Paul Wendland, president of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon who headed the WELS translation evaluation committee.

In the end, it was the Catholic Bible that replaced "virgin" with "young woman," but referenced the alternative translation in its footnotes. The NIV retained the "virgin" and footnoted "young woman."
"I think even that (footnote) might cause concern with some people," Wendland said.

The NIV was last revised in 1984 and the New American Bible's Old Testament, the portion that is new in this revision, in 1970.

The independent efforts involved thousands of hours of work and a combined total of more than 200 scholars who consulted the original texts in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Changes were made judiciously and not without considerable debate.

"It took a 70% vote of the committee to change something in the NIV," said Douglas Moo, a professor of New Testament at Wheaton College who chaired the NIV's Committee on Bible Translation. He noted that 95% of the NIV remains unchanged. "We have great respect for what the translators did then."
Likewise, the revisions for the Catholic Bible were reviewed to ensure they corresponded to Catholic doctrine, Dempsey said.

The two versions remain fundamentally different; the Catholic Bible includes several texts in its Old Testament that are not part of other Bibles.

It's not immediately clear how widely the new Bibles will be used, at least initially. There are no immediate plans to introduce the new New American Bible into the Catholic Mass. So, for now, it is likely to be used primarily for Bible study and in schools, according to Dempsey. And many churches have struggled during the economic downturn, and don't have the disposable income to replace Bibles, even the popular NIV, in the pews.

King James endures

Both translations have been released during the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, revered still for its literary and cultural contributions, if not its often archaic language and syntax.

In the case of the NIV, that's hardly a coincidence, Moo said. "Our fundamental motivation is to get more people interested in the Bible, and with all the attention the King James Version is garnering, it's a good time to mount that kind of campaign, whatever that version might be," he said.

For such an old tome, the King James Version - which was never used by Catholics - still gets a lot of buzz. Events are scheduled around the world this year to honor, examine and discuss it. As for proof that it remains relevant: It has its own Facebook page.

Considered by some to be divinely inspired, the King James' impact is hard to overstate, according to scholars. Most subsequent versions derive from it - if not directly, then from the translators' intent to craft a Bible in the language of the day.

It was so dominant for 350 years that the King James influenced much of American culture, from religion to politics to literature and more, said Thomas Kidd, senior fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University.

"When they listened to Patrick Henry's 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death' speech, or Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech, the audiences would have known they came from the Bible," Kidd said. "It builds a kind of cultural unity when so many people have one, sacred text."

Today, much of the King James seems antiquated and inaccessible, Bible scholars say. That said, sometimes only the King James will do, even for those who cherish it more for its sentimental value than as a tool for prayer or study.

"For beauty there's nothing, in my mind, that exceeds the King James Bible. It makes for such beautiful poetry," said the Rev. Keith Cogburn, executive director of the Lakeland Baptist Association in Milwaukee, who still has the copy his grandmother gave him in the early 1970s.

Cogburn said he was preaching recently from the 23rd Psalm - "The Lord is my shepherd..." - when he paused and thought: Oh, I wish I'd used the King James Version instead.

In other words, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley," doesn't have quite the imagery of "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."

Scholars recognize that kind of linguistic power. And while revisers often try to keep the most memorable passages intact, they still see great value in rendering the Bible in contemporary language.
"Language is always in flux," Moo said. "The importance of having a Bible in the language people understand is precisely what motivated the King James translators in their day. And I think, if they were around today, they would applaud the revisions."

Rogate - The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 2011

Rogate, The Fifth Sunday after Easter, 2011


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time


The Hymn # 202 Welcome Happy Morning 4:28
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #458 Our Father 4:50

The Communion Hymn # 207 Like the Golden Sun 4:76
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24

KJV James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

KJV John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. 30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

Fifth Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, who through Thy Son didst promise us that whatsoever we ask in His name Thou wilt give us: We beseech Thee, keep us in Thy word, and grant us Thy Holy Spirit, that He may govern us according to Thy will; protect us from the power of the devil, from false doctrine and worship; also defend our lives against all danger; grant us Thy blessing and peace, that we may in all things perceive Thy merciful help, and both now and forever praise and glorify Thee as our gracious Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.


Five Parts of Prayer
1. God’s Promise.
2. Faith.
3. Specific petitions.
4. Asking.
5. In the Name of Christ.

Many aspects of the Christian Faith seem similar in various denominations and even in various world religions. This illustrates how people are kept in falsehood by bad doctrine and practice, or bewitched away by seeming agreement.

Luther divided prayer into five parts in his sermon on Rogate Sunday (Lenker edition).

Part One – God’s Promise
The dominant wing of Protestantism today, usually called the Evangelicals, were once called the Arminians. Their religious express is termed Decision Theology, which is easy to summarize:
a. Present the Gospel in an appealing, logical way.
b. Ask for a Decision for Christ.
c. Pray for faith and forgiveness.

As most readers can see, this is wrong on three counts. To begin, conversion and faith begin with God’s Promise, the Word, the Gospel. The message of God’s love and mercy produces and builds faith. The Law prepares us to hear this Gospel, but the truest essence of the Law is not – you are a carnal sinner – but “You trust in your own virtue for salvation and not in the righteousness of Christ.” Therefore, “ye of little faith” is the ultimate Law message, the rebuking Word, which we all need to hear.

The Decision for Christ is also wrong, because conversion is not the result of intellect, will, or virtue. When the Law takes away all our props for false doctrine and fake salvation, the Gospel plants the Word in our hearts. “Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.” (James) A graft is what we see in hybrid tea roses. The wild rose root is the foundation, sturdy and resisting cold, producing unimpressive flowers. The tea rose is cut from its root and grafted onto the wild rose. The coarse nature of the wild rose remains underneath the soil, while the flowering, aromatic tea rose produces flowers and fruit (the rose hip) above.

In the same way, our coarse and unbelieving nature remains, but God Himself grafts the Word in our heart by preaching and infant baptism. From the Word-created faith comes the fruit of the Spirit. If anyone understands this, the Pietist program of cell groups and prayer is nothing more than deceit, fraud, and Law salvation.

“Must” is Law. When a congregation or pastor says, You must enroll in a cell group and meet with them to transform your life, that is man-made law and salvation by works.

I was exposed to Church Growth long before some of its adherents were potty trained. The cell group concept comes from the Pietists, via the Calvinist who borrowed it from the Church of Rome. I attended a conference where a layman said every good thing in his congregation came from the cell groups. The cell groups showed up for clean up day. The cell groups were the largest part of Sunday worship. The cell groups did this and that. They were the better Christians. The congregation grew because of cell groups and was better because of the cell groups. Anyone can see that this was nothing but righteousness based on works and a veering away from glorifying the Gospel.

No one can pray to Christ without faith in Christ. The trouble with “the sinner’s prayer” and similar devices is that it turns the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel into a two-sided contract, often called synergism: “God has done this for you, what will you do for Him?” The answer is – Make a Decision for Christ, pray for forgiveness, and be accepted into the Kingdom by fulfilling the contract.
The correct answer is – Believing in Christ for salvation is forgiveness of sin. God’s Word has convicted you of unbelief and converted you to faith in Jesus as your Savior. This forgiveness is instantaneous, and from it grows the fruit of the Spirit – which includes prayer.

Law preaching will produce law results, and Gospel preaching will produce Gospel fruits.
The first is showy is some respects, because of all the bragging. The second is unlimited in its effect, although people scorn this God-pleasing way because of the cross which accompanies it.

One of my favorite parts of Pilgrim’s Progress has a man knocking down poor Christian and beating him up. When Christian says, “Have mercy,” the man who represents the law says, “The law has no mercy.” That is why the law salesmen ultimately wind up as atheists or secular saviors, because their own law condemns them so savagely, Since it all depends on them on their works, they demand more of others until their showy bric-a-brac falls apart.

Part Two – Faith
Anyone should be suspicious of those modern Pharisees who spend so much time denouncing faith.

Faith is produced by God’s Word, through the Holy Spirit, not from the efforts of man. The law does not produce faith. Only the Gospel can stir up and renew faith.

When people never progress beyond the immature notions of prayer, they imagine they can make a deal with God. If they do certain good things, or give up bad things, God should do His part of the bargain.

First of all, God does not need anything from us, so such offers are blasphemous. That is because God cares for us and provides for us, even for non-believers. “The sun shines on the just (justified by faith) and the unjust (unbelievers).”

Faith is trust in the goodness and mercy of God.

Part Three – Specific Petitions
The New Agers, taking their cue from Asian religions, confuse people and lead them astray in this part. Paul Y. Cho was quite the rage a few years ago. He demanded that people write down a list, because God cannot answer a prayer unless He has all the specifications. Do not ask for a bike, but for a 15 speed bike with a light, side baskets, etc etc. Name the color.

Luther listed specific petitions in a completely different way. Trusting God, we can take all our needs and concerns to Him, having faith in His ability to do far more than we can ask or imagine. This is the great blessing of prayer, to rely on the Creator of the universe and to see how He answers.

"Take heed, then, to embrace the message of these words presenting the love and kindness of God to all men. Daily exercise your faith therein, entertaining no doubt of God's love and kindness toward you, and you shall realize His blessings. Then you may with perfect confidence ask what you will, what your heart desires, and whatever is necessary for the good of yourself and your fellow-men."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 146. Second Christmas Sermon Titus 3:4-8.

Repeated experience builds our trust in Him. Luther said once, “The longer I live, the less confidence I have in myself and the more I have in God.”

When people are told to demand specific things from God, at specific times, they are tempting God and setting themselves up for a falling away from the faith. God will deny what is demanded, yet supply what is asked.

Step Four - Asking
Prayer means asking. Those who have no experience in prayer do not know where to start. Those who act upon the Word’s guidance take their needs to God and also ask for the needs of others. In asking for others we focus on our neighbor’s needs as well.

The influence of the Gospel in our nation means that people pray for those in disaster areas and also immediately respond to their neighbors’ needs. The mayor of a city near Joplin, Missouri, mentioned her prayers for those in Joplin and also helped organize a semi-truck full of emergency supplies for them.

Step Five – In the Name of Christ
All genuine prayer is in the Name of Christ. Praying without His Name is simply a mockery of prayer. Thus today we have people praying “to whatever god or higher power you believe in” or to ancient pagan gods and goddesses. False teachers use the Christian church as a place where they can recruit for their pagan religion. The feminists of the mainline churches organized a Goddess Worship conference years ago, and that influence continues.

In this Gospel, we get a glimpse of Jesus taking care of His disciples and praying for them in previous years. Now He will no longer pray for them. They will pray directly to the Father in His Name, and God the Father will answer the way He would for His own dear Son.

Prayer, like the Sacraments, shows how God cares for us. He does not give us one help in our life here on earth, but many helps to keep us within His flock.


Quotations

"Prayer is made vigorous by petitioning; urgent, by supplication; by thanksgiving, pleasing and acceptable. Strength and acceptability combine to prevail and secure the petition."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 107. Fourth Sunday in Advent, Philippians 4:4-7;

"The Lord's Prayer opens with praise and thanksgiving and the acknowledgement of God as a Father; it earnestly presses toward Him through filial love and a recognition of fatherly tenderness. For supplication, this prayer is unequaled. Hence it is the sublimest and the noblest prayer ever uttered."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 107. Fourth Sunday in Advent, Philippians 4:4-7; Matthew 6:9-13

"Take heed, then, to embrace the message of these words presenting the love and kindness of God to all men. Daily exercise your faith therein, entertaining no doubt of God's love and kindness toward you, and you shall realize His blessings. Then you may with perfect confidence ask what you will, what your heart desires, and whatever is necessary for the good of yourself and your fellow-men."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, VI, p. 146. Second Christmas Sermon Titus 3:4-8

"In like manner, St. Paul says that God's ability is thus proved, in that He does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circumstances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to Him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that He will hear us."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 179f. Fifth Sunday after Easter Ephesians 3:20.

"O God, I am Thy creature and Thy handiwork and Thou hast from the beginning created me. I will depend entirely on You who cares more for me, how I shall be sustained, then I do myself; Thou wilt indeed nourish me, feed, clothe and help me, where and when You know best."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1983, IV, p. 206. Seventh Sunday after Trinity Mark 8:1-9

"Only begin this [prayer, self-examination], I say, and see how you will succeed in the task; and you will soon discover what an unbelieving knave is hidden in your bosom, and that your heart is too dull to believe it."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 257. Easter, Third Sermon Mark 16:1-8.

"The Christian's faith trusts in the ordinary means. Prayer is not a means of grace. Means of grace are divine appointments through which God uniformly offers blessings to all who use them. Faith is the means by which the blessings are received and appropriated. God gives us bread, when we ask it, not through the channel of prayer, but through the ordinary channels of His providence. He gives us grace when we ask it, not through prayer, but through the ordinary means appointed for this end, namely the Word and Sacraments. He who despises these will as little have grace as he who refuses to accept bread produced in the ordinary way of nature. Faith asks with confidence, and trusts in the ordinary means of God's appointment for the blessings asked."
Matthias Loy, Sermons on the Gospels, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1888, p. 387.

"His good heart and faith naturally teach him how to pray. Yea, what is such faith, but pure prayer? It continually looks for divine grace, and if it looks for it, it also desires it with all the heart." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 70. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, Luke 17:11-19

"Lord God, Thou hast placed me in Thy church as a bishop and pastor. Thou seest how unfit I am to administer this great and difficult office. Had I hitherto been without help from Thee, I would have ruined everything long ago. Therefore I call on Thee. I gladly offer my mouth and heart to Thy service. I would teach the people and I myself would continue to learn. To this end I shall meditate diligently on Thy Word. Use me, dear Lord, as Thy instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I were to continue alone, I would quickly ruin everything."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 926. W 42, 513 Genesis 27:11-14

Stay at Home, Pastors

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Pastors, Please Stay Home

Congregational members have to come to realize that when the Pastor is gone traveling and attending retreats, seminars, workshops, presenting papers, writing books, conducting webinars and the like, there is also all the prep time that goes into it.  Pastors would have more time to not only visit the sick and infirm, but all the regular members too.  Its been over twenty years since I have had a home visit 'just because'.  Pastors wouldn't have to get their congregations to fork over thousands of dollars to do stewardship if he were home in the first place getting to know all of his flock.  They wouldn't have to turn Bible readings/sermonettes and Bible Class over to layman.  They could be home more with their families.

Want to be real, relational and relevant?  Then stay home, Pastors!