Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Thought for the Day.

Martin Luther
"It is impossible for law and grace to exist together. Either we must be justified by faith and lose the righteousness of the law, or we must be justified by the law and lose grace and the righteousness of faith. It is a bitter and tragic loss when we retain the law while losing grace. On the other hand, it is a blessed and saving loss when we keep grace while losing the law.

"Seeing that Paul set this forth with the greatest care, we must unremittingly labor to show clearly the difference between law and gospel. This is very easy so far as the words themselves are concerned. For who does not see that Hagar is not Sarah and that Sarah is not Hagar (Gal 4:21-31)? Or that Ishmael neither is nor has what Isaac is and has? That is easily determined. But in profound terrors and in the agony of death, when the conscience struggles with the judgment of God, then to be able to say with firm confidence: 'I am not a son of Hagar, but of Sarah, that is, the law does not apply to me at all, because Sarah is my mother, who gives birth, not to slaves but to free children and heirs'--this is the most difficult thing of all."

Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

From Scott Murray's Memorial Moments for today.


Friday, June 04, 2010

Sad News from Finland

Let first say I'm sorry that I've been slow with posting. There are only so many hours in the day and the challenge of pastoral ministry in a large congregation with a school has been significant.

So what makes me break my silence? A post on Paul McCain's blog on the sad state of affairs in world Lutheranism. Sometimes it makes it difficult to say that I'm Lutheran. So here it is:


It was depressing watching her, during the ‘campaign’, squirm and prevaricate when asked about the Virgin Birth: “Well, it’s in the Creed and I happily say the Creed in church, but it’s not a doctrine that’s central to me. I’m not really sure what it means.” (My paraphrase) Then again, none of the candidates (2 women and 5 men) was able to recite the Nicene Creed from memory when cold-called by a journalist. Dark times!