# Frontline Study

> Weekly lessons in theology and public life • Fritz Foltz • Since 2011


## Posts

- [Lesson 25: How Does God Operate Through People?  Part 3](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-25-how-does-god-operate-through-people-part-3/): Both Bob from Italy and Lupe from Bolivia move us to acting for God as service rather than servanthood. Bob speaks of co-operation and individual acts of mercy, such as feeding the hungry neighbor. Some theologians believe we should make co-operation, in contrast to competition, a primary contemporary Christian emphasis. Lupe suggests looking at service [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 24: How Does God Operate Through People?  Part 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-24-how-does-god-operate-through-people-part-2/): Last week I noted that just about every major character who acts for God in the Old Testament is called “God’s Servant”. I suggested Isaiah’s four servant hymns offer the best definition of what that means: God’s servant works for justice, cares for the weak, uses only words not weapons, and suffers for God. This [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 23: How Does God Operate in People?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-23-how-does-god-operate-in-people/): Lupe from Bolivia in the Lesson 20 comments wrote: “The grain of sand has no notion of the beach, the drop of water has no notion of the ocean. They are, for a certain period of time, and so are we. That we suffer and are aware is a gift, of course, with consequences for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 22: How Does God Operate in Natural Events](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-22-how-does-god-operate-in-natural-events/): Let me add another thought before we move on. We used to see meaning in nature and even thought we could discern natural laws which taught ethical principles. So it made sense that we could ask questions such as “How does God operate in natural events?” However, things have changed greatly in the past couple [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 21:  How Does God Operate in this World (Part 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-21-how-does-god-operate-in-this-world-3/): Bob and Myron were discussing which option is more an impediment to Christian faith: 1) God only rarely intervenes in the natural world or 2) God can not or elects not to intervene at all. Both indicated neither option is very satisfactory. I think some of the problem is we inevitably frame the problem as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: How Does God Operate in this World (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-20-how-does-god-operate-in-this-world-2/): Bob offered a pretty thorough list of answers to our question and then refutations of each. There are certainly passages throughout the Bible describing God’s participation in natural events. However, Jesus, our ultimate standard, agrees with our readers who refuse to see God using natural disasters to punish or teach. (Luke 13: 1-5, Matthew 6: [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: How Does God Operate in this World?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-19-how-does-god-operate-in-this-world/): We say God is invisible, but claim he is a person. We do not use empirical science to study God, yet speak of his presence in our world. Many, such as Luther, write God is hidden in our world; however others claim to know exactly what he is doing. Sometimes this is unsettling. For instance, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: What Does God Look Like?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-18-what-does-god-look-like/): When the senior suggested we discuss “What does God look like? What did Jesus look like?” at our next meeting, my first thought was, “This is silly” Then I realized the question probably hid some much deeper concerns. I sent out the following very brief essay which asked the young people to spend time pondering [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: The Last Days](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-17-the-last-days/): Let’s change plans. Juan’s questions, Bob’s observation, and e-mailers’ inquiries reveal people have questions about “The Last Days” Let me make a few short observations in hopes you will respond with your ideas. Juan asks how we discern the “prophetic” aspect in Revelation and the rest of the Bible. I obviously reject the methods of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: The Last Days](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-16-the-last-days-2/): I am simply going to use the discussions of our high school reading group during January and February. Once a month my wife, our youth minister, and I meet with 25 to 30 ninth to twelfth graders. We begin with a fine dinner and proceed to a discussion based on a topic they chose the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Epiphany](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-15-epiphany/): An epiphany is an appearance of God. If the biblical creation is not so much the origin of a cosmos as the start of a history we share with God, you would expect to find a number of these manifestations in the scriptures. You would, also, assume they would convey an insight into who God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Incarnation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-14-incarnation/): Christmas forces us to repent, to rethink all our assumptions about God. We naturally think a god must be completely separate from and absolutely superior to us in all ways. A god is to be a perfect being, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. But incarnation proclaims Immanuel, God as human dwelling among us. (John 1: 14) [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Euthanasia](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-13-euthanasia/): Euthanasia is often defined as mercy killing, meaning a relatively painless death. People use the term for a variety of practices that run from the passive withholding of treatment to the active use of lethal substances or forces to kill. Some are widely accepted, such as giving medications to relieve pain knowing that they may [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Stem Cell Research](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-12-stem-cell-research/): One of the face-to-face classes discussed “Is stem cell research a sin?” thinking it might be less emotionally loaded than the other life issues, such as abortion, in vitro fertilization, contraception, genetic engineering, and euthanasia. People obviously find it easier to speak about using some of the 100,000 or so embryos left over from in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Giving Up Church](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-11-giving-up-church/): Remember, we are using &#8220;Is it a sin?” as a gimmick for examining what is good for self, others, and society. I was surprised that both the face-to-face classes wanted to discuss giving up church attendance and, again, how they handled it. Usually, people make the decision based on “Do I need it?” or ‘Am [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Public Porn](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-10-public-porn/): Last week two of my face-to-face classes discussed “Is it a sin to view pornography in public, especially if children are nearby.” This problem was reported in a Washington Post article “Publicly, a Whole New Lewdness” by Monica Hesse. We started by acknowledging we are saved by grace, God’s unconditional love, so the discussion of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Sin in Our Time](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-9-sin-in-our-time/): It is easy to define sin as not doing God’s will or being separated from God, but what does that mean? If you turn to the Bible you can find rigid laws but also flexible love. You still have what Bob calls “the perennial problem of rigid rules that are generally but not always correct [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Sin in Paul](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-8-sin-in-paul/): Not everyone agrees, but I think a terribly significant change takes place with Paul. He transforms the common story when he moves from a Hebraic to a universal vision. Previously, it was the Exodus that remembered the Jews were slaves whom God rescued. Now it became the Cross when we all were helpless, sinners, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Sin in the Gospels](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-7-sin-in-the-gospels/): Jesus like the prophets sees sin as injustice. The similarity is obvious when he describes the Last and Ultimate Judgment based on giving food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned (Matthew 25: 31-46). Or again when he insists [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Sin in the Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-6-sin-in-the-prophets/): The prophets are obviously important. They wrote almost half of the Old Testament, 17 of the 39 books. They answer the critical question, “If we are God’s people, how come we suffer?”, claiming the people brought pain on themselves by breaking the Mosaic Law and losing touch with God. They must repent and return to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Sin in the Mosaic Law](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-5-sin-in-the-mosaic-law/): The Mosaic Law found in the Torah, the first five books our Bible, spells out in some detail what it is to live as God wills. The First Commandment, “Love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul (Exodus 20: 2-6, Deuteronomy 5:6-11) is constantly cited in the ordinances (D. 6: 4-9, 10: 12). [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Sin in Genesis 2-11](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-4-sin-in-genesis-2-11/): The Bible could succinctly be summed up with: Humans find themselves suffering because of sin; God offers them salvation from this. Genesis 1-11 sets this up by picturing God creating everything good and then four pictures of sin with the suffering it brings. If this is the situation, the good being corrupted, then it is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Creation Now](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-3-creation-now/): I’ve been trying to get beyond the public Christian discussion about creation to what the Bible really says. Quite frankly, I think most of that debate consciously or unconsciously tries to divert us from central biblical teachings. We attack the natural sciences for their take on what happened long ago, so we can continue living [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2:  Creation in the New Testament](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-2-creation-in-the-new-testament/): If you think of creation only as the origin of the physical world, the New Testament has little to say about it. It does speak quite a bit about a broader concept of creation. It builds on the Old Testament’s understanding that God creates everything by uttering words. “In the beginning was the Word, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Creation in the Old Testament](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-1-creation-in-the-old-testament/): We tend to understand the confession “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth” from perspectives that miss its main points. Creationism and Intelligent Design advocates react against modernity and present the confession as a crude, primitive scientific picture. Others read it as a natural evolutionary process ascending from lower to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Love as the Way](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-14-love-as-the-way/): Love characterizes Christian action. It is the way of the Church, the Way to the Kingdom, and the Way of the Kingdom. In fact, it could be considered the Way of God, the logos that John says makes the world go round. It is first the Way of God’s Church. The Beloved Apostle says the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13:  Our Love for God and Each Other](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-13-our-love-for-god-and-each-other/): Bob and Lupe use some good arguments to qualify the way I interpreted God’s unconditional love. As Bob reports, some passages warn we should not use God’s love to excuse all. For instance, the whole point of Jude seems to be his insistence that false prophets will share eternal punishment with fallen angels and other [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12:  God's Love for Us](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-12-gods-love-for-us/): The Bible seems to make a point of dividing God’s love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other. I’ll use the same pattern. God’s love for us is not mentioned much in the Old Testament. Scholars claim Hosea did it first 700 years before Christ. He, also, was the first [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11:  Hope 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-11-hope-2/): Bob’s comment makes a wonderful summary: “The nexus between faith, love, and hope is exemplified by the phrase “what we will be has not yet been revealed.” It is not fully spelled out, but our faith assures us that we will be what God wants us to be, and since he is a loving God, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Hope 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-10-hope-1/): Let’s take a look at “hope” as we continue our study of the triad used to describe the Christian life. For what do we hope? A quick word search finds the object of Christian hope is usually our own resurrections or our sharing in the glory of God, two ways of saying the same thing. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Faith 5](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-9-faith-5/): At the heart of Christianity is, of course, faith in Christ Jesus. John says this means Jesus is the logos, the design, or the explanation of the world. If Jesus is the first thing God created, he becomes the pattern by which everything else is made. He is the key to understanding everything else in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Faith - Biblical Support](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-8-faith-biblical-support/): Let me list the points our discussion has made so far: Faith is trusting God. It includes trusting also the goodness of his creation. That means we must trust God’s love in spite of what we observe humans doing to one another and what we remember they did to Jesus. To trust God is to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Faith - Story and Promise](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-7-faith-story-and-promise/): Let me say more about story and promise. It can be said that the Bible contains God’s story. We are not talking about theological statements, laws or even history. As the Augsburg Confession XX says, faith is not merely knowledge of historical events, even Satan knows these, but a confidence in God and the fulfillment [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6:  Faith 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-6-faith-2/): I closed last week’s post with the question, “What does faith in God involve? What do we trust God to do for us?” None of the responses I received believed faith in God involved expecting God to grant personal requests. For example, Bob wrote, “I think that trust in others is a surrogate for trust [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Faith 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-5-faith-1/): Biblical faith is best defined as trust. To have faith does not mean simply believing God exists or accepting some teaching about him. It is to trust God’s promises. So when Jesus wonders out loud in Luke 18: 8, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”, he could be asking [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Faith and Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-4/): Bob wrote, &#8220;How rarely we start with the admonition &#8216;in all we do and say about this let us always keep the beacons of faith, hope, and love before us to guide us.&#8217; We seem rather to be driven primarily by our prior experiences, predilections, and prejudices to which, in the end, we may give [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Dynamic Interaction](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-3-dynamic-interaction/): Bob has entered the discussion again with his usual critical thought, forcing me to clarify my ideas. He wrote, “I think there is a strong argument that faith, hope, and love endure as constant beacons for the Christian life. Yet for many of us these illuminating beacons do not reveal universal, unchanging answers to the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Past, Present, and Future](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-2-past-present-and-future/): Last week I tried to make the case for faith, hope, and love being a very careful choice for summarizing the Christian life. I’d like to take a few weeks to examine the features that make the triad so important. First, the three proclaim how Christians handle the very basic human activity of relating the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Faith, Hope, and Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/lesson-1-faith-hope-and-love/): For two thousand years theologians have used the words “faith, hope, and love” to summarize the Christian message. It all began with Paul who said in Colossians 1: 4-6 that the triad is the “Gospel” and the “Word of Truth”. Although most theologians claim the three are essential for a healthy life and for correcting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Summary of Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-15-summary/): Looking back over all the biblical pictures of salvation, you find many similarities. For one, they are primarily about healing what is rather than escaping from this world. They reflect our craving for something better than our society&#8217;s suffering. In that sense, they not only report what God promises to do but also point to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: What Buddhism Teaches Christians About Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-14-challenges/): A couple of my face- to- face fall classes used Kristen Largen’s What Christians Can Learn from Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation. In her last chapter she suggests four challenges Buddhism offers to our popular Christian picture of salvation. In many ways, the suggestions simply ask us to recognize parts of our tradition that have always been [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Salvation as a Wedding Feast](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-13-salvation-as-a-wedding-feast/): Although Jesus did not offer a comprehensive picture of salvation, he often referred to it as a dinner. Quite a few times his parables proclaimed the Kingdom of God is something like a meal or a banquet. Almost all his resurrection appearances, surely previews of salvation, included eating with his disciples. He used the symbol [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Christmas Story as Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-11-christmas-story-as-salvation/): I think “The Peaceable Kingdom” and “The New Jerusalem” might be the only detailed pictures of salvation in the Bible. Most of our conceptions have been pieced together from short illustrations. The Christmas Story is a perfect example. Matthew’s and Luke’s versions are quite different, yet still offer the same magnificent picture of salvation. The [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The New Jerusalem as Salvation (Revelation 21-22)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-11-an-urban-paradise/): If Isaiah’s Peaceable Kingdom is the most fleshed out picture of salvation in the Old Testament, certainly John’s New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 is the New Testament’s. The latter offers much the same promises as the former but in an urban rather than agrarian setting. The religious sillies have so misread Revelation that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Return to Paradise](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-10-return-to-paradise/): Many, if not most, pictures of salvation are very general, enabling us to fill them with our own ideas. I am thinking of salvation as God’s will being done. Scholars sometime speak of this as “whatever it is when God has God’s will with you”. A second describes salvation as participation in the life of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: What About Hell?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-9-what-about-hell/): Bob reminds us we can not get way without saying something about hell. As you consider the most typical idea of salvation&#8211; a trip on the up escalator rather than on the down one &#8212; you face a problem. How do we account for the clear expressions in the New Testament of the fate of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Right Question About Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-8-first-ask-the-right-question/): Americans are obsessed with “What must I do to be saved?” I think that is the wrong question. When we ask it, we are very much like the rich young man in Mark 10: 17-28, and Jesus’ response to him is very much what he would say to us. After the man reveals he is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Saved from What?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-7-saved-from-what/): I’ve put aside my original outline and am following Bob’s advice to examine Lupe’s points one at a time. She suggested we might do well asking from what we are being saved and observed that traditional answers fall short. Let me list four different takes on from what we are saved. 1. The first is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Care For All](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-6-care-for-all/): As Bob observed, “Lupe’s comments throw open the gates in defining salvation, using the concept as a key to address some of the core social and theological issues.” I think that is exactly how the Bible uses the idea. For instance, I think she is echoing the scriptures when her reflections of an “unquiet soul” [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: A Bolivian Perspective on Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-5-what/): This week I am posting an email from Lupe Andrade as the lesson. Although it is longer than my usual post, I think it is worth the read. Lupe is the former mayor of La Paz, Bolivia, and has experienced life from quite a different perspective than most of us. She writes, “We have to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: What Does Salvation Actually Mean?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-4-from-when-to-what/): Let’s switch from the when to the what of salvation. This picture plays much the same role as Aristotle’s “Good” in his Politics. Citizens are to discuss what is good for their city and pass laws that lead to it. He would be disappointed with our current campaign that focuses on what is bad in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Resurrection and Salvation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-3-resurrection-salvation/): Some people are having difficulty with my description of salvation as “now and not yet.” Myron says the problem is being conditioned to think of resurrection and salvation as almost synonymous and happening after our deaths. The New Testament agrees the two speak of the same thing, but regards them as more than simply being [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Salvation: Now and Not Yet](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-2-now-and-not-yet/): This should be fun! I got all sorts of responses to our first lesson. Perhaps the one to which I should respond first was the popular understanding of salvation as something that happens after death. My very intelligent class at Good Shepherd reported trouble with the author we were reading, because she spoke of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Are You Saved?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/salvation/lesson-1-are-you-saved/): This will be an online version of a course on salvation I am teaching at two congregations this fall. It will be designed for those who find it difficult to attend a face-to-face class because of commuting or home responsibilities. The classes are using Kristin Johnston Largen’s What Christians Can Learn from Buddhism: Rethinking Salvation. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Participation in Creation’s Redemption - Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-12-participation-in-creations-redemption-hope/): Juan made the perfect transition by citing St. Francis’ prayer, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace”. We have been trained to (mis?)read Christianity primarily as a preparation for an afterlife. In order to appreciate fully God’s love we should be placing more emphasis on participating in the history of salvation here and now. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Community - Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-11-community-love/): Let me build on the very, very fine discussion taking place in “Comments”. Juan laid the foundation observing that our lifestyle gives witness to the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Bob suggested that lifestyle is necessarily divided into worship and ethics. Anne pointed to the need for community, succinctly defining its role as giving support [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Tradition - Faith](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-10-tradition-faith/): I failed in coaxing more readers to make comments. However, I received more rave reviews for the three that did than in any previous week. So I am going to proceed as planned, begin building a lifestyle with hopes that others will join in. That will involve making observations and asking questions. 1. Let’s begin [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9:  A Christian Lifestyle](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-9-a-christian-lifestyle/): Now we are at the hard part. It is easy to criticize the Christian lifestyle of others. It is much harder to draw up one for ourselves. A lifestyle is the description of the way we live. Whether we are aware or not, it reflects our foundational beliefs. To confess belief in God is not [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Power of Positive Thinking - Self Esteem](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-8-the-power-of-positive-thinking-self-esteem/): The fourth feature of a deficient modern lifestyle, the Power of Positive Thinking, also stands traditional Christianity on its head. Robert Schuller calls for a modern Reformation that updates Luther’s. However, he claims it should be based on the believer’s self-esteem rather than God’s grace. He constantly says everything depends on “believing,” but this is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Expect Your Miracle - Magic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-7-expect-your-miracle-magic/): Perhaps the most dangerous contemporary bad doctrine believes faith provides miracles, in the sense that faith makes miracles happen. The salvation of the individual sinner is the greatest one but this is followed by a lifetime of unending supernatural acts. This involves a complete redefining of miracle. Biblical ones are mighty acts serving as signs [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Laws of Creation - Insider Knowledge](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-6-laws-of-creation-insider-knowledge/): In the last lesson I suggested when “The Plan for Salvation” reduces salvation to a four-step technique, it becomes part of the Fundamentalism movement. Although we usually associate fundamentalism solely with the claim that the Bible is free from error, it actually was a 20th century attempt to reduce Christianity to its basic teachings. I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Plan for Salvation - Are You Saved?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-5-the-plan-for-salvation-are-you-saved/): The second unit looks at four characteristics of modern Christian lifestyles that are deficient and even perverted. The first is “The Plan for Salvation” usually presented in four simple steps: 1) God loves you. 2) Sin separates you from God, 3) Make a “decision for Christ” by believing in God’s promise to overcome your sin, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Free Church - The Gracious Lifestyle](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-4-the-free-church-the-gracious-lifestyle/): After 1300 years a revolution took place within the Established Church. The Protestant Movement led to a number of different church types. Some tried to recapture the Countercultural model, some simply to reform the Establishment, and others to develop the new and different. I tried to catch the spirit if not the reality of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3:  The Established Church - The Balanced Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-3-the-established-church-the-balanced-life/): When Constantine accepted Christianity in the 300s, the counterculture community became one of many institutions performing their functions for the common good. This Established Church took the role of providing religion for conventional society. She has been part of the establishment in some form from that time. The Established Church serves sometimes as the conscience [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Counter Culture Church - The Radical Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/session-2-the-counter-culture-church-the-radical-life/): This is the second of the four Christian lifestyles we’ll examine from our past. Remember we are talking about designs for living rather than theologies, histories, or even ethics. Some believe this radical lifestyle is the only genuine one, because it was the first. It is certainly exemplified by the first three hundred years of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Jesus](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-lifestyle/lesson-1-jesus/): Welcome to the new course. It’ll be a little different than the first. I shall try to offer one- page, four- sessions series. Hopefully, that will help everyone to keep up, as the course will work best if we have participants sharing their ideas. The goal is to develop a Christian lifestyle appropriate for our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: Concluding Thoughts on Paul](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-20-use-the-gps/): We’ve come to the end of the online course. I have learned a lot about Paul and also about online learning. A number have asked Frontline to offer more online classes. I suspect we shall, but that we shall keep them much shorter. Scott suggests his group finds this works better. I, also, think it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: Paul and Women in the Early Church](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-19-women-drivers/): My apologies to the Sunday School class at Good Shepherd for reusing a session I thought covered the topic. My apologies to the rest of you for making a longer than usual post. I think the subject warrants it. Whenever Paul is mentioned at mainline churches in the past 30 years, someone expresses distaste. He [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Rules of the Road (Romans 13: 1-7)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-18-rules-of-the-road-romans-13-1-7/): Often our discussions have ended accepting Paul’s positions for the church but asking how they relate to the larger world out there. It is hard enough for Christians to live by love in their private lives, as eyfishpaw and Bob Nordvall remind us. How can we do it in our public lives and how can [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Living the Resurrection Now (Romans 12-15)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-17-special-responsibilities-for-exceptional-drivers-romans-12-15/): The last paragraph of Bob’s comment sets the stage for Romans 12. “Christ lived on earth, died, and was resurrected. Through the Holy Spirit He is among us now. The post-resurrection life is not simply something in the indeterminate future; it is a reality in which we can participate now. Our participation in this life [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Life in the Spirit (Romans 8)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-16-you-do-not-travel-alone-romans-8/): In the last lesson I spoke about “faith active in love” being the best roadmap for living in our time. Paul sometimes describes it as living “in Christ”, sometimes as living “in the Spirit”. He is obviously talking about the same thing. “What is the Holy Spirit?” was a very common question throughout my ministry. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Salvation by Faith Active in Love (Romans 1-8)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-15-the-best-road-map-available/): Romans 1-8 Salvation: by Faith Active in Love I am going to look at Romans as the best road map for the modern age, emphasizing how much better “faith active in love” is than the religious law which has failed us so miserably. It enables us to adjust appropriately to the diverse situations before us. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Paul on Death and Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-14-elephant-in-the-road-i-corinthians-15/): If religions deal with ultimate questions, they eventually have to deal with death. As Paul says, it is the last enemy, the elephant in the room, or to keep our metaphor, the elephant in the middle of the road. No matter what we do, death is ahead. Paul might have put off the task in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Worship and Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 11-14)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-13-keep-control-of-the-wheel-i-corinthians-11-14/): After discussing moral issues Paul turns to worship. Again we see the freedom of the Spirit. Although he speaks of tradition (I Corinthians 11: 2) this does not appear to include a formal liturgy. Five years earlier he said, “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, do not quench the Spirit (I Thessalonians [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Freedom and Its Limits (1 Corinthians 5-10)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-12-dont-drink-and-drive-i-corinthians-5-10/): I have always had a hard time making sense of chapters 5-14. Paul seems all over the place, going hither and yon in his reasoning and counseling. After a lot of struggle, I decided to take Paul at his word. There are no laws. Jesus grants us his Spirit which gives us freedom. The only [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The Cross as Foolishness (1 Corinthians 1-4)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-11-u-turn-i-corinthians-1-4/): Before offering counsel about the chaotic situation in their church, Paul reminds the Corinthians that Christianity looks at things much differently than the rest of their world.  “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…. For since, in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: How to Read Paul's Letters Today](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-10-many-roads-get-you-there/): Rather than plowing directly into I Corinthians, let me speak to the discussion started in recent lessons. As Sarah assured me from the very beginning, the comments have become very significant. I think this is especially important for understanding Paul’s real gift. If we try to apply Paul’s specific counsels to our present situation, such [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Faith Active in Love (Galatians 5-6)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-9-faith-active-in-love-a-busy-highway-galatians-5-6/): It is important to keep reminding ourselves not to expect a systematic theology from Paul. He just does not offer that kind of consistency. Instead we find him applying his gospel rather flexibly to the situation of his churches. In Galatians’ first four chapters Paul speaks of the Cross as an act of love by which God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Justification by Faith in Galatians](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-8-faith-trusting-the-map-galatians/): If scholars are right, Galatians is the second earliest book in the New Testament. It proclaims the heart of Paul’s message, justification by faith. It pretty evident Paul never wrote thinking his letter would become part of our Bible. His emotions almost get the better of him as he defends his authority as an apostle, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: What’s Ahead? (Thessalonians)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-7-whats-ahead-thessalonians/): Thessalonians pictures the church being persecuted for their belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ who shall rule the earth for God. As they wait for him, they live as much as possible in his Spirit, living quietly and loving all. Anne rightly asks how we can understand this in our time 2,000 years [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Paul's Letters: The Real Paul vs. Acts](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-6-letters-home/): Get ready! Luke-Acts acted like a good public relations person who domesticated Paul. He portrayed him as a courageous missionary who suffered constantly in order to move the Church from a small Jewish sect to a large catholic church. We are now going to move back 30 years to see the real Paul as he [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Paul Arrives in Rome](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-5-paul-arrives-in-rome/): Paul makes it to Rome, the end of the road. The writer of Acts appears to be making a point. This last trip under arrest is the longest section of his book, eight chapters, a fourth of the entire work. Paul gets there against all possible odds. He survives attack by a Jewish mob, arrest [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Jerusalem Council Dispute (Acts 15)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-4-a-bump-in-the-road/): Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: On the Road to Damascus](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-3-on-the-road-to-damascus/): Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2:  From Jerusalem to Rome](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-2-from-jerusalem-to-rome/): So far we are just setting the stage for Paul, reminding ourselves what the church was like before him. This gives us some time to register and make some initial comments as we adjust to the technology of an online course. Once we get to his letters, the ideas fly, and the real blogging should [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1:  On the Road with Paul](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/on-the-road-with-paul/lesson-1-on-the-road-with-paul/): I remember it well. It was an embarrassing moment at a social event in the first month of my ministry. A beautiful woman confronted me with, “We would be far better off if there had never been a Paul.” No matter how much I tried to balance her assessment, she persisted in her attack the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: War and Peace](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-14-war-and-peace/): Lupe suggested we have to redefine sin in our time. That is at the back of many of the youth’s discussions. They charge the adult world of ignoring or denying what is going on and so failing to provide ethical insight. A good example is war and peace. The adult society acts as if we [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13:  Handling Sin](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-13-handling-sin/): As I reported last week the Young Adult Reading Group discussed sin for several months. Each meeting they shared their ideas about a topic or two, such as lying on a resume and euthanasia. At the end of the sessions, they wanted to discuss ways for handling sin. My background paper follows. You can check [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12:  Sin](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-12-sin/): David Brooks recently reported on polls that show young people do not have the tools to think or act ethically. He seemed surprised when these surveys reported young people react to moral problems according to whether an option makes them feel good or not. . My response to Brook’s article was “Where have you been?” [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11:  Olympic Athletes and Drug Use](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-11-olympic-athletes-and-drug-use/): Every four years I suggest we discuss an article, “Over the Edge” that Sports Illustrated published in 1997. It contains two questions Bob Goldman asked Olympic-level U.S. athletes every two years since 1982.The first was “If you were offered a banned performance-enhancing substance with two guarantees: 1) You will not be caught. 2) You will [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10:  Is Pat Tillman Saved?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-10-is-pat-tillman-saved/): When the young woman asked the question as a topic for the next meeting, I did not know what she meant. But the group expressed their approval, so I unraveled it before writing the paper that follows. You can read about their discussion in the first comment. Is Pat Tillman Saved? Anna asked a very [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Reading Difficult Bible Passages](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-9-reading-difficult-bible-passages/): As soon as one of the youth said she would like to look at passages in the Bible that are hard to believe, I began to worry.  Was this a way to challenge my interpretation?  Would they take my views home to their disapproving parents? I was afraid they wanted the black and white positions [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Fundamentalism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-8-fundamentalism/): It is well worth reading John and Bob’s online comments as well as Campbell and Putnam’s research.   My son and I came up with the same expectations several years ago when researching how Fundamentalism is a natural danger in a technological society. Too many people in our time think Fundamentalism is about reading the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: A Guide for Christian Politics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-7-a-guide-for-christian-politics/): Way back in 2004, the high school reading groups wanted to discuss why a number of people in our area were acting as if all Christians had to be members of the Republican Party. This is pretty significant, because most people in our county are Republicans and that includes most of their parents. The kids [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Tea Party](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-7/): The responses I received to last week’s lesson all characterized our present situation as fear of losing our way of life. Some spoke of the Christian nation, one of white Protestantism, and another of Roman Catholic culture. It is worth reading Bob’s comment for a fine perspective. I think the high students sensed this way [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Other World Religions](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-5-other-world-religions/): The youth attending our reading groups seem to find Christians groups mean-spiritedly attacking others the biggest challenge to their faith. Remember they choose the next topics at the end of each meeting. During the past two years time and again they wanted to discuss what they regarded as Christian hate groups. Most often these involved fear [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Building Mosques and Burning the Koran](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-4-building-mosques-and-burning-the-koran/): All three of our reading groups wanted to talk about Islam. Last week I reported on the college group’s discussion of Ben Laden’s assassination. That one took place at the end of the school year. At the beginning of the year the high school group wanted to look at building a mosque near Ground Zero [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Ben Laden's Assasination](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-3-ben-ladens-assasination/): Bob is quite right when he warns that our response to the actions of those we oppose too often plays into their hands. You see this in many of our reactions to 9/11. All three of our reading groups repeatedly brought this up. They wanted to talk about Islam more than any other subject, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Speaking For God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-two-speaking-for-god/): All three of our youth groups are very troubled with those claiming to speak for God when uttering hate messages. Twice during the last year the High School Reading Group wanted to talk about Westboro Baptist’s antigovernment protests at veterans&#8217; funerals. I sent the following paper to start discussion for one of those. You can [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Reading Groups](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-1-the-reading-groups/): Many years ago my daughter and son-in-law asked me to lead a reading group for a few high school students. Before long it became apparent many more were interested in discussing their faith seriously. At present 30 plus high school students meet in my home every month,12 to 20 young adults gather every other month, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Reading the First Letter of John](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-18-i-john/): A good way to review the Gospel of John is to take ten minutes for a read of the First Letter of John. It makes very clear what the evangelist is trying to say. It is clear that he is responding to doctrine he feels is false. However, he is not presenting a list of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Jesus Appears by the Sea (John 21)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/john-20-21/): Matthew and Mark report that the message at the empty tomb sends the disciples back to Galilee where Jesus will meet them. Luke&#8217;s version tells them to remain in Jerusalem. At first, John seems to support Luke, seemingly ending his gospel with chapter 20. But then he continues with a Galilean appearance that offers all [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Ressurection I](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/resurrection/): Any casual reader should be able easily to see the extensive differences between the four gospels’ reports about the empty tomb on Easter, even though we hardly ever hear preachers address them. They disagree about both who was there and what was said. But let’s skip these obvious differences. Too often we focus on them [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: The Crucifixion in John's Gospel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-14-cross/): John’s take on the Cross presents a demanding challenge for us all. Mark and Matthew have everyone mock Jesus from beginning to end. Jesus refuses the wine with myrrh designed to lessen his pain. Jesus cries only one thing, “My God why have you forsaken me?” and dies with a loud shout. Luke pictures Jesus [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14-19)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/whatistruth/): John’s Passion primarily involves two long conversations, one at the Last the Supper (14-18) and the second in Pilate’s chambers (18:28-19:16). Together these make up 6 of his 21 chapters. Obviously, they are important. The first begins with Jesus’ proclaiming, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”; the second ends with Pilate asking, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: From Lazarus to the Last Supper (John 11-13)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-13-gods-passion-john-13-1-35-15-12-17/): It’s easy to see John is talking about meaning rather than events. He moves from the raising of Lazarus to Palm Sunday to Holy Thursday skipping all the events recorded by the other gospels. Then he spends almost a fifth of his book with conversation at the Last Supper. He gives us a clue to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Jesus Raises Lazarus, His Friend (John 11)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-12-friends/): You can read John 11: 1-44 as the report of Jesus restoring life to his friend, Lazarus. If you do, you must answer some disturbing questions. What kind of friend delays rushing to heal in order to show off his power? Why do the sisters engage in strange confessions about raising the dead at the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Leadership ( John 10: 1-21)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/good_shepherd/): If John’s unique version of the Love Command is to do as he does (Love one another as I have loved you), then what seems to be a gospel explaining who Jesus is becomes a guide to what we should be doing. What some read as obnoxious egotism becomes radical challenge. John 10: 1-21 That [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Healing](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/healing_of_the_man_born_blind/): John 9 uses the healing of a blind man to support Jesus’ proclamation, “I am the Light of the World.” Its treatment makes clear we are talking about more than restoring sight to eyes, so we can sense and sort out the physical world around us. Healing, also, involves social, mental, and spiritual repair. If [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: The Truth Will Set You Free (John 7-8)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/what_is_truth/): John 7 and 8 picture Jesus constantly on the run, constantly hiding; as just about every group in his society, beginning with his own family, challenges his authority or even attempts to arrest and kill him. Then in the midst of all this, Jesus promises, “The truth shall make you free!” This is certainly a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: I Am the Bread of Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/bread_of_life/): John 6 is built around Jesus’ proclamation, “I am the Bread of Life,” John’s working of the Feeding of the Multitude. His presentation of the Feeding almost parallels the reports of the other three gospels in which the mighty work appears five times. It is obviously very important to the early Church; yet all the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Woman at the Well (John 4)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-7-foreigner-woman-adulterer/): Chapter 4 begins with a tired and thirsty Jesus. John obviously does not think the Incarnate God is a superman. Significantly, his gospel is the one in which Jesus cries, “I thirst!” from the cross. When this Jewish rabbi finds himself alone with a Samaritan adulteress at a well, his conduct flies in the face [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: God as Lover: Nicodemus and Being Born Again (John 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-6-god-the-lover/): In John 3, Nicodemus, a teacher of Hebrew law, comes under cover of night to have a discussion with Jesus. He leaves baffled by Jesus’ words about being “born again,” failing to perceive the deep spiritual meaning. But that is not the end of the story. In 7:50-51, John pictures Jesus reminding his friends, who [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Bridegroom and the Lamb of God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-5-the-bridegroom-and-the-lamb/): In last week’s comments Bob asks the important question about how we should read the differences in the four gospels. Derek responds with his usual critical insights. You can read what they said and contribute your ideas on the site or in my next “Just in Case” email. Let me make a contribution by examining [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Come and See: Meeting Jesus in John 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/come-and-see/): Throughout his book, John proclaims the Gospel is a love story that features the Word, a rational or spiritual principle, becoming human in order to woo his people. What was once an intellectual concept is now a human life. That means we come to God not through a mental process, but a personal experience. Jesus [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Jesus is the Word Made Flesh (John 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-3-john-1-jesus-is-the-word-made-flesh/): What does John mean when he writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Who Is God? (John 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-2-john-1-1-5-10-13-who-is-god/): What is John up to? Seems to me he is tackling perhaps the most difficult problem of Christianity: how to explain what it means to proclaim a human being is God. There is no way you can convey how he does this inside the limitations of an electronic blog, so what I’ll offer is theological [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Why John's Gospel Reads Differently](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/lesson-1-introduction/): As soon as you start reading John’s Gospel, you know you are into something very different. Mark starts with a carpenter having a religious experience and leaving his business and family; Matthew with foreign scholars worshiping an infant the Jewish king is trying to kill; Luke with shepherds of the third shift visiting a son [&hellip;]
- [The Sower: Proper 10  (Pentecost 8)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-sower-proper-10/): Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, “The Sower and the Setting Sun” played a very special role in my ministry. The artist wrote frequently that it was his first effort to use extravagant, bold, contrasting color to express emotion. You can almost feel the heat of the sun beating out from the canvas. You experience the exhaustion [&hellip;]
- [God’s Beloved: Epiphany 3a](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/gods-beloved-epiphany-3a/): This is a very special day for me. In November 1999, I began to feel ill in the middle of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. In four days, I had heart bypass surgery. For the first time in my life, I faced the reality of my own death. After two months recovery I returned to work on [&hellip;]
- [Words, Words, Words: Proper 18B](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/words-words-words-mark-7-31-37/): Why did Jesus heal the deaf man? What went through his mind when people brought this broken soul to him? Mark indicates he was inconvenienced; not prepared for this intrusion, but he sighed deeply, took him away from the crowds and healed him, with the admonition at least to keep it quiet. What did that [&hellip;]
- [Hermano- The Most Dangerous Word: Proper 12B](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/hermano-the-most-dangerous-word-proper-12b/): Behave as if you believe. Part of me wants this very much, because it is the way to the fullness of God. But another part resists. “Behave as if you believe” are very dangerous words. They remind me Tennessee Williams’ wonderful play, “Camino Real” where Gutman, a portly man in a white suit, panics when [&hellip;]
- [Women in the Church, Mothers’ Day: Pentecost](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/women-in-the-church-mothers-day-pentecost/): It is Pentecost and Mothers’ Day, a good time to remind ourselves we are in the middle of the biggest revolution of all time. It sometimes pits one half of the world’s population against the other. Thank God it is a bloodless. Of course, I am speaking of women’s liberation. It is only in the [&hellip;]
- [Emmanuel: Fourth of July](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/emmanuel-fourth-of-july/): It is the Fourth of July, the day our nation sets aside to remember the birth of our freedom in 1776. The celebration has always been associated with the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. We often forget this document is primarily a long list of reasons why we were separating ourselves from the British [&hellip;]
- [The Hallelujah Chorus: Proper 4](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-hallelujah-chorus-proper-4/): St. John never wrote a birth story. Instead he celebrates God becoming human by singing the first Christmas carol. His song claims that this birth overcomes the darkness of this world and enables us to become children of God. Repeatedly, he says it makes available grace upon grace. In many ways grace is Christianity’s gift [&hellip;]
- [Sunbury Marching Band: Palm Sunday](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/sunbury-marching-band-palm-sunday/): It’s hard to believe Jesus’ disciples can praise him as God’s Messiah, shouting, “Holy, Holy, Holy. Hosanna to the Son of David” on Palm Sunday and then abandon him on Thursday night. It seems impossible that the crowd can cry, &#8220;Bless is he who comes in the name of the Lord” on Palm Sunday and [&hellip;]
- [God Eats With His People: Proper 13](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/god-eats-with-his-people-proper-13/): For several years my parish trained first year field workers for the seminary. They usually sent us their most difficult students. One of those was Heikki Ausiku, a pastor from Namibia. You might remember South Africa controlled this Lutheran nation, forcing apartheid on its population. Heikki was sent to the seminary to learn English, so [&hellip;]
- [The Impossible Dream, Fathers’ Day: Proper 6](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-impossible-dream-fathers-day-proper-6/): Jesus’ name for God was so important the Bible keeps the original Aramaic word: “Abba”, “Abba”, an intimate form of “father.” Suddenly every father becomes a model for God- either a good model or a bad one. Faith Ann learned that the hard way fifty years ago at Church camp. Because she was our best [&hellip;]
- [Reformation Sunday](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/reformation-sunday/): We Lutherans set this Sunday aside to celebrate our roots. We remember from where we came, so we can understand better who we are. We do that this year mindful of the recent Pew Foundation report that indictaed 20% of Americans now claim they have no religious affiliation. These “Nones” are predominately young people and [&hellip;]
- [Heaven on Earth: Easter 6C](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/easter-6c-heaven-on-earth/): This is “Come Dream With Us” Sunday at Trinity. The congregation is meeting to share their dreams about the future. All three lessons include visions of what is to come. It’s a good time to remember how important dreaming is. Real creativity comes when we let ourselves go and use our imaginations to picture what [&hellip;]
- [Shhh!  Jesus Steps Out of the Tomb: Easter 2C](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/easter-2c-shhh-jesus-steps-out-of-the-tomb/): If Matthew, Mark, and Luke thought Peter’s confession was central to the Gospel proclamation, John believed Thomas’ confession was even more important. He originally ended his Gospel with the colossal, “My Lord and my God.” This was the most far reaching confession in the Bible, perhaps the first time anyone proclaimed Jesus divine. Yet we [&hellip;]
- [Wise Men Search for the Baby: Epiphany](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/epiphany-2013-wise-men-search-for-the-baby/): Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth on Epiphany. Their equivalent of our Christmas Eve service sometimes involves the Wise Men’s search for the baby Jesus. In the dark of the night very tall, very black monks dress as the Magi. They then go through the village, stopping at every hut, knocking at every door. Very [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 21: Conclusion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-21-conclusion/): Bob suggested another challenge to Christian Ethics might be that people who certainty. I got that all the time during my ministry. Many said they missed the old days when you were told what was right and what was wrong. “At least, you knew what you were supposed to believe in those days,” they said. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: The Greatest Challenge to Christian Ethics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-20-the-greatest-challenge-to-christian-ethics/): A couple weeks ago Derek asserted that the problem in Christian ethics is not so much Christians arguing with the world as Christians arguing with each other. He suggested the Bible does not help much, because all groups cite scripture passages that support their positions. He pinpointed the contemporary Church’s biggest embarrassment, which I think [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: The Right Questions](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-19-the-right-questions/): In last week’s comments, Don pushed us in the right direction when he observed that we ask the wrong question by responding to Jesus’ “return good for evil” with inquiries about self-defense. Anne, Bob, and Derek already started us in that direction with their objections to the passiveness we usually associate with nonviolent resistance. Quite [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: How Do You Stop a Bad Guy With A Gun?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-19-how-do-you-stop-a-bad-guy-with-a-gun/): Let’s use Christian ethics to examine Wayne LaPierre’s claim, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I think the first observation would be this goes far beyond gun control, as it exposes perhaps the basic problem in our culture, the belief our salvation depends [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: John’s Christian Ethics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/johns-christian-ethics/): You could make a case that humanity’s greatest problem is fear. We do not follow Jesus, because we are afraid to let go of what we mistakenly think gives us security. Our authorities, even the best, work to keep us in fear, because if we are afraid, they can pretty much do anything they please. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Paul’s Christian Ethics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-16-pauls-christianity/): Bob, Rita, and Derek all observed we do not base our lives entirely on what Jesus said in the Gospels, because we are sinners and live in a sinful world. From the very beginning, Christians understood this. They struggled with what Jesus’ words meant in this interim period between Jesus’ lifetime and the establishment of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: The Simplest Christian Ethic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-15-the-simplest-christian-ethic/): The simplest Christian ethic is based on what Jesus said and did. It begins by believing Jesus said exactly what he meant. It discerns that he lived by what he said. And it assumes if we are to follow him, we are to do the same. Other New Testament writers and the early Church pretty [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Jim Wallis’ Ten Personal Decisions](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-14-jim-wallis-ten-personal-decisions/): The rest of the course will focus on Christian ethics. In a sense, it will try to answer the question Derek advanced last week, “How do Christians participate in a society that not only does not accept its values, but often opposes them?” Many argue Christians should confine themselves to their own small groups at [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: A Politics of the Common Good <br />(Sandel, Chapter 10)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-13-a-politics-of-the-common-good-sandel-chapter-10/): Sandel ends his book championing a new politics of the common good, and suggests four possible themes that would support it. Citizenship, sacrifice, and service. He writes &#8220;If a just society requires a strong sense of community, it must find a way to cultivate in citizens a concern for the whole, a dedication to the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Community Loyalty (Sandel, Chapter 9)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-12-community-loyalty-sandel-chapter-9/): If I asked you who you are, chances are you would describe yourself with a list of the groups to which you belong: your family, neighborhood, ethnic group, town, and nation, as well other social affiliations. Sandel claims these communities shape our ethics as much, if not more, than abstract rational reasoning or voluntary choices. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Aristotle’s Justice (Sandel, Chapter 8)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-11-aristotles-justice-sandel-chapter-8/): Aristotle believed humans are political creatures by nature. He thinks this is apparent when we see how our speech enables us to relate to one another quite differently than beasts or gods. Politics not only gathers us into communities for defense against foreign powers, but also for using rational speech rather than physical violence to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Is Affirmative Action Fair? <br />(Sandel, Chapter  7)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-10-is-affirmative-action-fair-sandel-chapter-7/): Rawls acknowledges after we establish a fair situation, it immediately is lost as factors such as birth, education, talent, skill, and situation come into play. The question becomes whether we simply accept this or seek some compensation for the weak. For example, are affirmative action programs a form of justice? Is promoting equality by giving [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9:  John Rawls-- Equality for All (Sandel, Chapter 6)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-9-john-rawls-equality-for-all-sandel-chapter-6/): We’re looking at how we find the moral principles to determine what is right, just, and good. Kant believed we could this with human reason alone. Theoretically, every rational individual will come up with duties natural to all people. John Rawls, probably the most distinguished writer on justice in recent time, sees the same limitations [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8:  Kant: Absolute Law (Sandel, Chapter 5)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/lesson-8-kant-absolute-law-sandel-chapter-5/): If the first question in ethics is whether there is justice or right written into all things out there, the second is how do we know what that is. So far Sandel has tried to show utilitarianism, libertarianism, and the free market are helpful as guidelines, but their advocates ultimately rely on other principles and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: What is the Free Market?<br />  (Sandel, Chapter 4)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-7-what-is-the-free-market-sandel-chapter-4/): As I read Sandel, I constantly ask myself, &#8220;What is the free market?&#8221; Almost all his examples and arguments assume it is lurking in the shadowy background to make sure its role is considered. Yet although Sandel continually refers to it, he never really defines what the free market is. What is the free market? [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Free Market and Paying for Pregnancy (Sandel, Chapter 4)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-6-the-free-market-and-paying-for-pregnancy-sandel-chapter-4/): Sandel’s second test of the approaches he has examined so far concerns paying someone else to carry your baby. He begins with the Mary Beth Whitehead case in which a couple makes a contract for someone else to bear their child. When the mother reneges on the contract, the courts have a tough time deciding [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Free Market and Volunteer Army  (Sandel, Chapter 4)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-5-the-free-market-and-volunteer-army-sandel-chapter-4/): The big question in modern ethics is agreeing on what is just in a pluralistic, often democratic world. How do we determine the right thing to do, if we all do not accept the authority of a king, a god, or some common values? The modern answer is often to turn in default to the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Libertarianism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-4-libertarianism/): Traditionally those doing ethics began with principles and then dealt with exceptions. They might declare “no abortion” and then cite exceptions, such as rape, age, and danger to the health of the woman. We have problems today, such as governmental gridlock, when we believe acting on principle prohibits any exceptions. Utilitarians and libertarians generally avoid [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Utilitarianism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-3-utilitarianism-sandel-chapter-2/): Sandel first takes a look at utilitarianism, the way our modern society usually does ethics. (See Chapter 2 of his book.) In the past we determined right and wrong by using laws or principles to evaluate an action. You did not kill, because there was a law that prohibited it. Today, utilitarians decide by measuirng [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: What are Ethics?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/class-2-what-are-ethics/): When I began my face-to-face classes by asking how many ethical decisions they had made that day, I received a variety of answers. Some felt these were confined to big questions that demanded carefully considering the proprieties and priorities of the options before taking action. Others believed just about all their acts involved some form [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Moral Crisis](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/christian-ethics/the-moral-crisis/): Why is Michael Sandel’s introduction to ethics the most popular class at Harvard? What led “China Newsweek” to name Sandel the most influential foreign figure of the year 2011? How come my classes report using Sandel’s book has provoked some of our most exciting discussions? I suspect the answer has something to do with the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Funeral Practices](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/bodily-resurrection/lesson-4-funeral-practices/): One of the wonderful functions the traditional Church plays is to mark life’s passages. In a society in which many people have nobody to share their celebrations and griefs, the Christian community blesses birth with baptism, the transition into adulthood with confirmation, the start of a new family with marriage, and death with the funeral. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Resurrection of the Body](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/bodily-resurrection/lesson-3-resurrection-of-the-body/): Each Sunday many of us profess we believe in the resurrection of the body. We assert Jesus was resurrected in body as well as spirit. He ate with his friends, allowed them to touch him, and showed them the marks of his crucifixion. The resurrected Christ was the same person who loved them during their [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Natural Death](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/bodily-resurrection/lesson-2-natural-death/): Another practical concern related to the resurrection of the body is what modern technology has done to our concept of natural death. Most of our customs about the end of life were based on accepting God’s will for our natural deaths. Suicide was a major sin, sometimes defined as the unforgivable sin, because it rejected [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Cremation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/bodily-resurrection/lesson-1-cremation/): One of the most frequent questions asked throughout my ministry was whether cremation was acceptable. So when one of our participants suggested we look at it and other end- of- life issues, I welcomed the chance. The issue centers on our belief in the Resurrection of the Body and illustrates how theological and practical issues [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: So Where is the Basis for Ethics Found?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-19-so-where-is-the-basis-for-ethics-found/): I began suggesting people often claim they go to Church to find a basis for ethics. Public figures on television often try to show their morality by reporting, “I grew up in Church.” I then suggested these people are often speaking of learning laws that are taught at Church, laws they can take with them [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Does Jesus Base Ethics on Laws of Creation?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-17-does-jesus-base-ethics-on-laws-of-creation/): Last week, I suggested that people who are going to church to find a basis for ethics are often disappointed when they find churches do not agree on fundamental laws. In fact, the seekers often believe some of the laws they hear are immoral. The churches seem to reflect the many different stories in a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16:  Law - The Basis for Ethics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-16-basis-for-ethics-law/): Another practical reason people give for going to Church is the desire to find moral guidance. They believe religion provides a basis for ethics and send their children to learn right and wrong as they did. For most this means learning laws, such as the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, and Jesus&#8217; call to love [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15:  Forgiveness – A Way to Healthy Relationships](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-15-forgiveness-a-way-to-healthy-relationships/): There are two ways to understand forgiveness. The first focuses on it as a law that calls on us to repress our natural human instincts in order to do what God wants. It usually ends up either dividing people between those who obey and those who do not. Or, it promotes confession of sin over [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14:  Gratitude-- Finding Time to Give Thanks](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-14-gratitude-finding-the-time-to-give-thanks/): If you read much about thanksgiving, you constantly come across statements, such as &#8220;Ninety-nine percent of the time, we have an opportunity to be grateful for something. We just don&#8217;t notice it. We go through our days in a daze… The gifts or blessings of life are always there but if we are not aware [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Creating and Finding Sabbath – <br />Finding God in All the Noise](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-13-creating-and-finding-sabbath-finding-god-in-all-the-noise/): One of the best talks I ever heard was at Muhlenburg College and was given by an Episcopalian bishop. It was entitled something like, “The Future Health of Our Society Will Be Dependent on Observing the Sabbath.” His point was that the only way to cope with the way our technological society controls us is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12:  A Healthy Life Style](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-12-a-healthy-life-style/): A third practical reason some people go to church in our day is to find a healthy life style. This is new. In the past, spirituality prepared for life after death and often even meant a self-denial that included self flagellation. It could destroy rather than promote physical well-being. Today spirituality has become a way [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The Battle for God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-11-the-battle-for-god/): I immediately found myself in the middle of conflict as I began writing about the third practical reason people go to Church, the search for a healthy lifestyle. Traditionalists hammer this new spirituality with its wellness theme as promoting &#8220;what I want rather than what God wills.” They advocate returning to supposedly eternal laws that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: A Nourishing Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-10-a-nourishing-community/): I began my ministry at a time when the liturgical renewal was urging congregations to celebrate Communion every week. Coincidental with this was the house church movement in which small groups began sharing meals and and conversation. Sometimes this was done as an extension of the local parish and sometimes as a replacement. How interesting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Church is Not a Family of Families](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-9-church-is-not-family-of-families/): Last week I used the model of family for Church. After all Jesus did speak of God as father and others as our brothers and sisters. And the early Church did live in a lifestyle we associate with the family. However, when I spoke of extending the family, I came mighty close to falling into [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Nurturing Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-8-nurturing-community/): Let’s resume examining Practical Christianity, that part of the Christian life that does not necessarily involve the supernatural. In my ministry, I found many people came to church or sent their children, not because they wanted to worship, but because they sought a community that would give meaning to their lives&#8211; a place where they [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-7-community/): The third practical way Christianity offers for overcoming suffering and evil is a loving, sharing community. Lupe observed suffering can be made “less terrifying when families envelop each other in love.” Certainly the New Testament sees this extending beyond the biological family to the entire Body of Christ. One of the many places Paul mentions [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Return Good for Evil](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-6-return-good-for-evil/): I have been suggesting that following the way of Christ has practical applications in our everyday life. We are now at the tough one. If God heals by forgiving sin rather than damning us all to hell, then we overcome the suffering of evil in the same manner&#8211; returning good for evil. This is the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-5-hope/): Hope, the third theological virtue, is based on God&#8217;s promise to make all right in the future. I am suggesting it has a practical side-affect that is helpful in overcoming personal suffering. Hope gives us confidence that God is working with us to overcome suffering and make a better world. Because there is so much [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Three Christian Ways](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-4-three-christian-ways/): I have been using 2000 year-old biblical language to lay our groundwork. Bob reminds us we often must translate this into contemporary concepts by noting that science teaches us natural diasters are not “evil.” Lupe suggests more helpful biblical language used by the Gospel of John to describe evil as darkness that is overcome by [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Cause of Suffering](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-3-cause-of-suffering/): After writing, “Suffering is inevitable for all, but some suffer more, and some feel the pains of life more deeply than others, or so it often appears,” Concordia asked, “Is there a point or purpose to any kind of suffering? Does suffering build character?” The answer to those questions is essential for understanding our way [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Overcoming Suffering](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-2-overcoming-suffering/): The course will look at some of the components of Practical Christianity, sometimes described as the art of Christian living. It will begin examining how Christianity offers a way to overcome suffering, whether this is from natural disaster, social injustice, or personal problems. God obviously does not promise to shield us from the suffering caused [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Practical Christianity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/practical-theology/lesson-1-practical-christianity/): Obviously, the first task is to define what I mean by Practical Christianity. Not so obviously, the second is to point out this is a very controversial subject. When I speak of Practical Christianity I simply mean what faith offers for everyday living here and now. People used to speak of it as “Applied Christianity”. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: The Last Days](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/faith-in-the-headlines/lesson-16-the-last-days/): This is a topic that continually comes up, primarily because it is always in the headlines. It is about some nut case gaining news coverage by insisting he has figured out a date, a strange sect committing mass suicide, the Y2K scare at 2000, advertising for a movie, a televangelist charting earthquakes as signs, another [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 49: What is Islam?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-49-what-is-islam/): Before starting a new online course, let me offer few words about Islam. Lately people have been asking if there something about it that fosters the violence of its radical fundamentalists. I often ask the same thing about Christianity that I regard as a loving peace movement. It is easy to come up with scholarly [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 48: Electronic Conversations](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-48-electronic-conversations/): Let me first summarize the responses to how the church can foster conversation and then make a few observations about religious use of electronic communication. Conversations with Myron lead me to speak a few words about Islam next week. Then we’ll begin a new course on “Salvation&#8221; in October. Anne welcomed a chance to discuss [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 47: Conversation in the Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-47-conversation-in-the-community/): I hope you remembered we are trying to make a list of ways the church might foster creative conversation, I can not report on our progress until next week as I am on vacation. However, let me offer some of my experiences. The first that pops to mind are the High School and Young Adult [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 46: Conversation in the Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-46-conversation-in-the-community/): Yesterday I worshiped at a Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I left elated having heard a fine sermon and participated in a beautiful liturgy. However, as the day progressed, I became more and more melancholy. When I reflected on why this was, my thoughts went back to the worship that I came to see as the epitome [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 45:  God's Word is Spoken](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-45-gods-word-is-spoken/): Last week I suggested the Bible presents Christianity as an ongoing two- way conversation between God and his people. Lupe responded with an email that covered very well what I intended to say this week. I suggest you read her observations in the comment I added to last week’s post. She acknowledged the power of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 44: Conversation as Discernment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-44-conversation-as-discernment/): As Bob makes clear, it is easier to make conversation around the meal a symbol than to implement it as an activity in any large gathering of the Church. However, I still think it deserves consideration in our time. The Bible presents Christianity as an ongoing conversation between God and his people. God communicates through [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 43:  Conversation as Discernment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-43-conversation-as-discernment/): My observation that Christian conversation and especially that which takes place around the communion table might be the most helpful way to discern God’s Word drew a number of responses. All of them expressed hope for this kind of creative conversation, but also disappointment that it is not happening. Myron observed, “Most of the &#8220;conversation&#8221; [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 42:  How Do We Determine God's Word - Community 4](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-42-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-community-4/): When I began my ministry in the early 1960s everyone was talking about Eugene Carson Blake’s proposal for uniting the Church. He urged mainline Protestants to unify before they began trying to reconcile their theological differences. His point was once we obeyed the New Testament call for one Body in Christ, we would become family [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 41: How Do We Determine God's Word - Community 3](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-41-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-community-3/): I find myself unable or maybe unwilling to do much while on vacation. So I decided to simply suggest you read this piece by Dorothy Solle that Sister Rita sent me. Dorothee Sölle was a free thinking German theologian who died in 2003. She spoke out against the Vietnam War, the arms race of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 40: How Do We Determine God's Word - Community 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-40-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-community-2/): As Juan observes about history not being objective fact but a story continuously retold to make sense of our present and future, so too custom is an ever-changing guide to the Christian life. The community is continuously retelling it to find both the continuity and the creativity she needs. I find the best model for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 39: How Do We Determine God's Word - Community 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-39-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-community-1/): Finding myself on vacation, I plan to be more anecdotal in the next couple weeks. Well, perhaps it has to do with more than my vacation. I think we have come to where we truly live our lives. That means speaking of experience more than theology. When I want to check whether an inspiration is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 38: How Do We Determine God's Word - Clergy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-38-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-clergy/): Christians often check their inspiration with clergy. I was always being asked questions such as “Is it all right to cremate?” or “Will the Lutheran Church support my conscientious objection to the war?” At the beginning of my ministry people were seeking continuity with tradition they regarded as the wisdom of the past. I was [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 37:  How Do We Determine God - Ceremony](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-37-how-do-we-determine-god-ceremony/): We often overlook how ceremony determines what we regard as God’s Word. We learn a great deal of our Christianity by using the liturgy every week and reliving the Church Year annually. This ritual establishes the habits of the heart by which Christians live, sometimes unconsciously; and comes to serve as one of the standards [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 36: How Do We Determine the Word of God - Custom](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-36-how-do-we-determine-the-word-of-god-custom/): Bob and Juan’s comments have led me to change my schedule for examining how we determine if our inspirations are worthy to be judged God’s Word. Bob continues to remind us there is always going to be differences of opinion, especially in our time of radical democracy. Juan, representing thoughtful evangelicals who are pretty much [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 35: How Do We Determine God's Word - Creed](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-35-how-do-we-determine-gods-word-creed/): With all the focus on the Bible (canon) we often pass over how the creeds go even further in determining what is and what is not the Word of God. In some ways the canon is like the Constitution and the creeds like the Bill of Rights. The early Church kept adding phrases to the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 34: How Do We Determine the Word of God - Canon](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-34-how-do-we-determine-the-word-of-god-canon/): The early church’s most obvious standard for controlling charisma is the canon or Bible. She approved certain sacred writings as norms for judging other versions of God’s Word. When I read how much the excluded gospels move from the fantastic to the bizarre, I appreciate her wisdom. Most people seem to believe the books of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 33: How Do We Determine the Word of God - Charisma](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-33-how-do-we-determine-the-word-of-god-charisma/): Paul includes the “utterance” of wisdom and knowledge among the gifts of the Spirit or charismas (I Corinthians 12: 4-11). Over the years these have been described as just about any kind of direct inspiration- from a person feeling something inside her is saying to take a certain action- to a television preacher claiming he [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 32: How Do We Determine God's Word?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-32-how-do-we-determine-gods-word/): Throughout our history the Church has determined what it accepts as the Word of God by balancing many elements of tradition: charisma, canon, creed, clergy, ceremony, custom, and community. She is constantly correcting the problems that develop when one or more of these gets out of balance. For instance, the Reformation attacked the Roman Church’s [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 31: How God Operates Through Words](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-31-how-god-operates-through-words/): I was going to demonstrate what I believe is the essential message God speaks in the Bible. I decided yesterday’s sermon does that for me. So here it is, a little longer than the usual lesson, but… When Jesus was baptized the writers report the heavens were torn apart, God’s Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 30:  How Does God Operate Through Words?  Part 4](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-30-how-does-god-operate-through-words-part-4/): Bob suggests we’ll always have false prophets, because we’ll always have people looking for religious interpretations that support their preconceived ideas and prejudices. I think we are bound to have more, because of the way modern media uses words. We are leaving the age of the printing press when people saw books as “hard copy’ [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 29: How Does God Operate Through Words? Part 3](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-29-how-does-god-operate-through-words-part-3/): Two weeks ago I suggested present day false prophets are either liars or bull-shitters. Bob added a third category- the truly stupid. Last week Myron agreed that “an informed consumer” is our best hope in overcoming these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and “money-grubbing televangelist charlatans”. Obviously, the three of us do not like false prophets. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 28: How Does God Operate Through Words?  Part 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-28-how-does-god-operate-through-words-part-2/): Last week Bob commented, “How do we separate these false prophets from those who truly proclaim the word of God? I think to do so we have to have a conception, an overall picture, of what Christianity truly is… So from the Bible, other religious writings, sermons, prayer, discussions, etc. each of us must decide [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 27: How Does God Operate Through Words?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-27-how-does-god-operate-through-words/): Enough about God operating through natural events and people! Let’s get to the bottom line. God operates in this world primarily through words. The religions claim words provide our contact with God. The ancient Vedas of the East say, “On the spoken word all the gods depend, all beasts and men, in the word live [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 26: How Does God Operate?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/doctrine/lesson-26-how-does-god-operate/): I can best explain my position on suffering by enclosing below a short paper I wrote decades ago to start discussion at a Lutheran conference. I think the Christian faith is contrarian by nature. We have some trouble seeing that, because it is so closely aligned with Northern American society. Most of the time I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Seventh Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-7-the-seventh-commandment/): Neither shall you steal&#8230; Down through the ages most people realized there were many different ways to steal. It can be done in our society by sticking a gun into someone’s ribs and demanding their money or by setting conditions in which a vulnerable person ends up owing you money. Both involve putting one of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Sixth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/sixth-commandment-not-commit-adultery/): Neither shall you commit adultery. The first task is to define what adultery is in our time and place; no easy task. It used to be having sex outside of marriage, the presumption being there was always the chance of impregnation so the responsible act was to give a promise of faithfulness before engaging in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Fifth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/fifth-commandment-shall-not-kill/): Exodus and Deuteronomy: &#8220;Do not murder.&#8221; Martin Luther’s explanation: &#8220;We should fear and love God that we may not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every need.&#8221; Jesus’ comment: &#8220;You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, &#8216;You shall not murder&#8217;; and &#8216;whoever [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Fourth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-4-the-fourth-commandment/): Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The questions I got about this one each year in ninth grade catechism class were “How [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Third Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/the-third-commandment/): Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Second Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-2-the-second-commandment/): You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. The ancient Israelites took this so seriously that they did not even utter God&#8217;s name in fear that they might use it incorrectly. They would insert &#8220;Lord&#8221; instead of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The First Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-1-the-first-commandment/): I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. The command goes on to prohibit making graven images, a command that might appear to be simpler than it really is. It certainly does ban worshiping [&hellip;]
- [Introduction to the Ten Commandments](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/introduction/): All Christians, all Jews, and even all Muslims agree the Ten Commandments are a basic statement of how to live according to God’s will. The disagreements come with how to codify these into specific laws. For instance, in our time you could argue all religious people are pro-life even though they do not agree on [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Loving Your Enemies](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/loving-your-enemies-2/): I regard what follows as one of the best sermons preached in our history. It was delivered on Christmas 1957 at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King wrote it while in jail for committing nonviolent civil disobedience during the Montgomery bus boycott. I post it as a supplement to our study on [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: For What Are You Willing to Die?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-9-for-what-are-you-willing-to-die/): The question is a good way to end our consideration of Christianity as a peace movement. The fourth of the weapons that Revelation offers might well be the critical one. Christians not only are to unveil the truth, speak God’s Word, and pray constantly, but also to be ready to give their lives for the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Proclaim God's Word and Praying](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-7-proclaim-gods-word-and-praying/): The Book of Revelation based the Christian peace movement on the truth of God’s Word. Believers could uncover truth by using God&#8217;s Word as a standard, but also by remaining in contact with God through prayer. In previous lessons, I maintained the Church is having trouble finding her voice in our present society. Her traditional [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Unveil Truth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-8-unveil-truth/): Strange as it might seem, I regard the Apostle John&#8217;s program in Revelation as the most coherent statement of the Christian peace movement. Although it uses mysterious apocalyptic language; it clearly lays out only four weapons available to believers: 1) Unveil the truth, 2) Proclaim the Word of God, 3) Pray, and 4) Lay down [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Does Nonviolence Work?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-6-does-nonviolence-work/): We ended the last lesson suggesting we need a new story if we are to stop the cycle of war begetting war and violence begetting violence. You hear that same call implied when Roman Catholic statements observe, &#8220;Whatever good we hope to achieve in modern warfare is always outweighed by the destruction to human life [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: What is the Present National Story?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-5-what-is-the-present-national-story/): Abraham Lincoln probably articulates the story by which our nation now understands war in his Second Inaugural Address. It is very much like the one Derek posted earlier in this study. Lincoln called war a mighty scourge that God applies as penalty for sin, in this case slavery. He cautioned, &#8220;Let us judge not that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: What Do Christians Expect From Our Churches?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/lesson-4-what-do-christians-expect-from-our-churches/): Perhaps it is time we recognize the Church is a peace movement. God comes to Father Abraham disgusted at the violence that has damaged his creation. Lamech epitomizes the brutality when he brags to his two wives that he has killed a man for wounding him and a young man for slapping him. After his [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: What Do Christians Expect From Their Governments?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/just-war-doctrine/): Martin Luther defined the relationship between church and state with a two kingdom doctrine. The standard of the Church is love as she inspires people by proclaiming the Gospel. The norm of the government is justice as it defends people from evil. Although many scholars believe this led to a separation of powers that enabled [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Does Peace Begin With Me?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/peace-begins-with-me/): Recently I received a long Facebook post from a young man who grew up in our congregation and now serves as an officer in Iraq. He was responding to the incident when a lady in a burka was thrown out of a Trump rally after she stood up. I received the post while pondering why [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Is Peace Possible?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/is-peace-possible/): When I was growing up, my assumption was that history involved periods of warfare followed by periods of peace. I believed that one of the goals of Christianity was to lengthen the peaceful times. Although I was not certain any of the conflicts after the Second World War were warranted, I swallowed hard and chalked [&hellip;]
- [Introduction: Peace](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/peace/introduction-peace/): One of our young men training to be an Army Ranger remarked it’s a real dilemma trying to reconcile Jesus telling him to love his enemies and the Army teaching him to kill them. 
- [Hopes and Fears](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/hopes-and-fears/): We gather to celebrate another Christmas, to proclaim the wondrous gift, to acknowledge the hopes and also the fears that are met in this birth. In the silent darkness of this night, let us consider the hopes and fears of this world. In the stillness of this night, let us imagine that we are in [&hellip;]
- [Angels](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/angels/): We have come once more to hear the story of Jesus’ birth. We have come to remember the turning point, when God came to rule his world, to make right what has gone wrong. We gather in darkness, listening for promise, the slightest whisper of hope. The story begins with Mary’s Song, “God scatters the [&hellip;]
- [Here I Come!](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/christmas/): All Advent, we have been praying, “Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Stir up your power, O God, and come.” Now on Christmas Eve, we hear God’s reply, “Okay. Here I come.” We jump back. We are afraid. Will we be able to control God if he really does stir up his power? [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The Resurrection of the Body and the Life Everlasting](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/the-resurrection-of-the-body-and-the-life-everlasting/): The creed ends with the affirmation that we shall share Jesus&#8217; resurrection. Although there is some concern about when this will take place, there is agreement that Jesus’ resurrection appearances, as recorded in the Bible, indicate what ours shall be like. The gospels begin by anticipating our following Jesus in the near future. In fact, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Forgiveness of Sin](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/the-forgiveness-of-sin/): At first, it might seem strange that belief in the forgiveness of sins appears so prominently in the Creed. Sin is not a popular topic in the modern world. To acknowledge a mistake is a sign of weakness. A failure is simply a learning experience on the way to success. We should be emphasizing the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Alive In The Spirit](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/lesson-9-alive-in-the-spirit/): Christians believe the Risen Christ is still among us. The Creed lists several ways this takes place in its third article that describes the work of the Holy Spirit. Whereas the Old Testament claims that Spirit filled certain leaders, the New Testament proclaims Pentecost made Christ available to all believers. Significantly, the article first mentions [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Resurrection is Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/resurrection-from-the-dead/): Most of us can’t help ourselves when we speak the last part of the Second Article, “On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.&#8221; Conditioned by simplistic popular ideas, we think [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Descended into Hell](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/lesson-7-descended-into-hell/): A close examination of this phrase can help us gain some perspective on what is involved in using a 2000 year-old creed. When I was young, I thought it meant I had to believe in hell. That made me uncomfortable in high school when I heard evangelists like Billy Graham base their ministry on the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Jesus Suffered](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/jesus-suffered/): The next portion of the second article also emphasizes Jesus was a human with all of our limitations. &#8220;He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried&#8221;. There is nothing make believe here. Jesus dies. And before he dies, he suffers, alone. Two of the gospels picture him dying while believing he has [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5:  Is Jesus Special? How?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/jesus-is-human/): Creeds are not complete statements of what we believe. For the most part, they state positions the Church has taken on controversial issues. You see that easily when you examine the second article. It skips from Jesus&#8217; birth to his death, saying nothing about his ministry. Apparently, the reason is  because believers in those days [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: All Creation is Interrelated](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/all-creation-is-interrelated/): When we confess belief in a loving God who creates everything good, we acknowledge all things are unique and interrelated. Francis&#8217; encyclical puts it this way in #86. &#8220;We understand better the importance and meaning of each creature if we contemplate it within the entirety of God’s plan&#8230;The spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Creator of Heaven and Earth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/creator-of-heaven-and-earth/): The second observation we should make is that the creed speaks of the creation of heaven and earth. These few words make some significant points. First, God creates place. Perhaps the central point of Francis’ encyclical is that the earth is our common home. The pope emphasizes this reality is more important than any idea. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Almighty is Father](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/god-the-father/): To confess “I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth&#8221; is to take a significant position in the modern world. One way to highlight this is to consider the implications in light of Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si.” The first thing that jumps out is Almighty God is described as Father. Modern [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: What is a Creed?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/creed/what-is-a-creed/): Before we examine the Apostles&#8217; Creed, we had better remember the roles creeds play in the Church. Obviously, the first is to state what an individual believes. &#8220;Credo&#8221; is &#8220;I believe.&#8221; That is not to claim the creed summarizes a person&#8217;s faith. It addresses items that have been controversial. Many essential items, such as Jesus&#8217; [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Preparing for the Pope's Trip-- Reformation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/preparing-for-the-popes-trip-reformation/): Most Protestants grew up believing we were not Roman Catholics, because they worshiped Mary and did whatever the Pope told them to do. When pushed, we would insist these are just two examples of how Roman Catholics do not follow the Bible. It did not help when our friends pulled out their catechisms to look [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Preparing for the Pope’s Trip-- Church & State](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-13-preparing-for-the-popes-trip-church-and-state/): >Francis&#8217; trip reminds us how much the papacy is involved in church-state relationships. He will be addressing the U.S. congress as well as the United Nations Assembly. He, undoubtedly, will be accompanied by the Vatican ambassador to the U.S. Government. A great deal of the Pope’s power developed after Constantine legitimatized the Church in the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Preparing for the Pope’s Visit-- Curiae and Bishops](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-12-preparing-for-the-popes-visit-curiae-and-bishops/): Last week, I wrote of the tension between the Pope being regarded as the first among equals and a supreme monarch. This week, I want to delve deeper into the conflict between the Roman Curiae and the College of Bishops. In order to understand what is going on with Francis, you have to understand this [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Preparing for the Pope’s Visit-- The Bishop of Rome](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-11-preparing-for-the-popes-visit-the-bishop-of-rome/): With Pope Francis visiting the USA from September 23 through 27, it might be well to remember a bit of the history behind the papacy. A good place to start is remembering the Church established an official clergy to check the abuse of those claiming God was speaking directly through them. Without denying the possibility [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-10-community/): From the beginning, a critical question has been who speaks for God. God relates to us primarily through words, so determining who is his spokesperson in every situation is pretty important. Sometimes God speaks through one person, the prophets being our prime examples. But an even more significant instance is proclaiming the Gospel to a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Tradition](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-9-tradition/): My life has paralleled the growth of the modern Evangelical movement. I heard the canned introduction of so many of their spokespersons so many times, I would mouth it as they began their pitch. “I am not educated, but I know what the Bible says…” From their point of view, the Bible is God’s voice [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Leadership](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-8-leadership/): Who speaks for the church in society? If you are a Roman Catholic, you might point to the leadership, if a Lutheran the scriptures, and if a Quaker the community. Even Pope Benedict, a pretty conservative Roman Catholic, acknowledges different voices speak for God in different historical periods. He thinks it is the hierarchy&#8217;s responsibility, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Technology - Mobility](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-7-technology-mobility/): I was standing at a rest stop on I-95 south of Washington, watching six lanes of traffic zooming at 70 miles per hour. When I asked my wife what people who lived 100 or 200 years ago would think if they could see this, she suggested people living 50 years ago would be overwhelmed. We [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Powers](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-6-powers/): One way to understand the relationship of state and church is to look at what Paul says about Principalities and Powers. We usually dismiss this, because it employs strange words that seem to speak about ancient ideas. In the first chapter of Colossians, he speaks of Christ as &#8220;the image of the invisible God, the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-5-technology/): No matter how many traditional religious and ethical arguments one group makes, a second group maintains the primary function of both ethics and religion should be reducing and eliminating suffering. If technology offers us a way to do that, we should use it, they suggest.
- [Lesson 4: Self-Denial](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-4-self-denial/): Remember when I announced I was going to do something on church and society, Lupe and Myron offered some examples that have to be addressed. Lupe pointed to the death of hundreds of people in Pakistan who died of thirst during the Ramadan fast. Myron sent a New York Times article about India&#8217;s prime minister [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Global Economic System](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-3-the-global-economic-system/): Certainly a major factor Christians have to consider when making decisions in our modern world is the global economic system. Electronic media and computing enable us to engage with people we do not know on the other side of the earth, and we have used this primarily for economic transactions. This has brought new challenges [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Sensus Fidei](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/lesson-2-sensus-fidei/): Lupe mentioned the situation her son faced when on assignment for the World Bank in Pakistan during Ramadan. With extremely high temperatures, over 700 people died observing the fast that includes not drinking water during daylight hours. Does following God’s will include this kind of renunciation?
- [Lesson 1: History](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/chapter-1-history/): Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment introduces a new stage in the ongoing conversation between Church and Society.
- [Lesson 15: Make Christian Community Your Reference Point](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-15-make-a-real-contemporary-christian-community-your-reference-point/): Boy, this one has some catchy adjectives. We are not to join just any church, but a &#8220;real&#8221; one that is relevant to the &#8220;contemporary&#8221; situation. In fact, it replaces &#8220;church&#8221; with &#8220;community,&#8221; implying it should not simply be a place where people go to worship but a gathering of persons who interact with one [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Choose Productive Nonviolent Vocations](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-14-choose-productive-nonviolent-vocations/): As I write this lesson, politicians are debating whether they would have invaded Iraq, if they knew what we know now. The discussion began as a question from the press to see if they could connect Jeb Bush with his brother. When his answer was controversial, they began asking many candidates the same question. As [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Do Nothing from Prestige Alone](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-13-do-nothing-from-prestige-alone/): I was amused when I looked up the origin of &#8220;prestige.&#8221; Apparently it goes back to a French word for a conjuror&#8217;s tricks or illusions. And in some sense, all prestige has an element of deception about it. None of us is all that different from another. This became evident when I found myself dining [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Pay Attention to Beauty](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-12-pay-attention-to-beauty/): Too often, paying attention to beauty is regarded as a luxury in our society. People think only the affluent have time to appreciate the beautiful. Every one else has to spend all their time earning a living in order to feed their families. This kind of thinking denies the ancient wisdom that a satisfying human [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Live as Tenants of a Small Planet](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-11-live-as-tenants-of-a-small-planet/): When I was growing up, I would never have thought to include this in a Christian lifestyle. People were starting to limit the size of their families, but not because of the world’s limitations. But by the time I was called to my second parish, we were discussing world hunger, overpopulation, and pollution. Even then [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Live Below Your Economic Peers](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-10-live-below-your-economic-peers/): Why would anyone choose to “live below your economic peers?” I can think of two reasons. The first is simply to make a Christian witness that you can do it and still live a satisfying, happy life. The second is that, for most of us, it is far healthier than always working for more, more, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Building a Modern Sabbath Lifestyle](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-9-a-modern-sabbath-life-style/): As I was writing these lessons, my thoughts continually returned to the Company of Kirkridge. This small, mostly lay Christian community gathered people from across the Northeast twice a year to support one another. At one of those meetings, we broke into small groups to update our discipline. Gathering as one, we compiled the following. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Sabbath as Promise, Not Just Memory](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-8-promise/): As I noted in the sixth lesson, most of us believe a primary element in a modern Sabbath life style would be worship in a Christian community once a week. At that time, I focused on “remembering” the stories from our tradition. However, the Christian life involves promise as well as memory, hope as well [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Sabbath and Justice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-7-justice/): I am writing after a night of rioting in Baltimore. The television is playing in the background, so that I hear pundit after pundit speaking of justice. Each has a different take on what that means in this situation, largely depending on her perspective. Two of the best recent pieces on the Sabbath see it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Remembering as a Sabbath Practice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-6-remembering/): Let&#8217;s take a few weeks to construct a 21st century Sabbath life style. That will mean discussing a modern application of the reasons the scriptures offer for observing a special day of the week. Some of my friends still practice a day of rest. They remain in bed until mid morning, take time to read [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Sabbath and the Loss of Blue Laws](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-5-gods-word/): If you ask Christians my age to identify big changes that affected the Church in their life times, I bet most would mention elimination of the Blue Laws. Just about all of us remember with warmth when civil law prohibited business on Sunday and families used the day to practice their values. Of course, we [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: How Jesus Kept the Sabbath](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-4-jesus-and-sabbath/): I think the comment John posted last week captures the gist of Jesus’ words concerning the Sabbath. He wrote, “The wealth we experience is embarrassing. Yet we always want more and find excuses not to give it away or find some reason why our less fortunate are not worthy. We must pray for strength and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Sabbath, Wealth, and Rest for the Land](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/sabbath_redistribution_of_wealth/): If you had any doubts about the Sabbath commands being more than setting aside a special day for worship, take a look at how the commandment is explicated in other parts of the Torah. Exodus 23: 10-12 expands it to include the land, wild beasts, and the poor. “For six years you shall sow your [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: What the Torah Says About the Sabbath](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-2-torah-law/): Our project is seeking ways to observe the Sabbath Way of life in our technological society. Let’s begin by looking at the two versions found in the Ten Commandments. Respected scholars claim we should regard these as teachings or guidelines rather than as laws. Exodus 20: 8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Introduction to a Sabbath Way of Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/sabbath/lesson-1-introduction-2/): I have attended many, many academic talks. An Anglican bishop at a Muhlenberg college commencement gave the best I&#8217;ve heard. He argued observing the Sabbath as a way of life enabled Christians to live with integrity in our technological society. In fact, he went on to suggest the Sabbath was the key to healing our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Faith, Hope, & Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-10-faith-hope-and-love/): One of the biggest dilemmas in our time is deciding what we should be doing. Science shows us what is going on, but not what should be changed. The present gridlock in government only reflects how much our society cannot move beyond the status quo. Sometimes we justify our inactivity by claiming our actions would [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Incarnation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-9-incarnation/): After looking at the creation stories where Nature is declared “good,” then Visions of Hope where redemption includes the restoration of the proper relationship between God, humans, and Nature, and Torah Law that describes how we should be treating Nature; it becomes pretty clear we are a part of Nature. We often think this is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Visions of Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-8-visions-of-hope-2/): It is not only the ancient Torah Law that teaches us to respect Nature. Biblical visions of hope picture God, humans, and Nature in perfect harmony when God redeems his creation. If that is the way things will be, then we should be acting to help bring this about here and now. The first of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Torah Law](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-7-torah-law/): I have been surprised that so many responses to this series on Nature refer emotionally to climate change. They argue either that we are not following the data or that we do not have any conclusive data presently. None of our readers who contacted me argued we can go on raping Nature any way we [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Nature as Creation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-6-nature-as-creation/): Let&#8217;s look further at what the Bible says about nature, beginning with the creation stories. Most people have been so confused by the absurd Fundamentalist controversies that they are not even aware there are more than one. The longer and most complete ones are Genesis 1:1-2:4a, Genesis 2:4b-3:24 , Psalm 104, and Job 38-41, but [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: What is Natural?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-5-what-is-natural/): Most of us act as if there is some kind of natural reason, even if we are not conscious of what we are doing. We find ourselves declaring, &#8220;Everyone knows&#8230;&#8221; , assuming what makes sense to us makes sense to everyone else. We sense there must be a natural law ingrained in nature. Some Roman [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Evolution](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-4-evolution/): I don&#8217;t seem to hear preachers or politicians talk about a seven-day creation of the universe in recent years. Instead, fundamentalists have turned to evolution. They insist the Genesis picture demands God creates fully-developed species, clearly separated from one another. Of course, they use much more emotionally laden language, such as, &#8220;I refuse to believe [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Universe](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-3-the-universe/): Some think the vastness and seemingly indifference of the universe challenges Christian teachings about God’s concern for humanity and our infinitesimally tiny earth. They accuse us of imposing the meaning we want on the totally materialistic world. In fact, they often claim God&#8217;s Word is the voice of those in power. We&#8217;ve all heard tales [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Beginning Insights](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-2-beginning-insights/): It&#8217;s helpful to remind ourselves that Nature can be defined from different perspectives (e.g. as universe, world, or creation). We can talk of the universe, my world, and God&#8217;s creation. Each use different language types. The scientific speaks of vast stars and galaxies, the poetic of a beautiful starry night, and the theological of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Questions About Nature](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/nature/lesson-1-questions-about-nature/): Probably the greatest challenge to Christianity in our day is people’s absorption in their jobs, their play, and anything else that allows them to ignore meaningful conversation and profound thought. Close behind is the churches’ inadequacy in addressing troubling questions about the suffering of innocents and our relationship to nature. I’ll try to deal with [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: A Community of Friends](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-11-a-community-of-friends/): The biggest and most significant response to this series has been Christians who report they felt excluded every time a pastor described the Church as a &#8220;family of families.&#8221; On the other hand, I also heard from pastors, who like me, realized the limitations of the description but could not come up with anything better. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Early Christian Meals](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-10-early-christian-meals/): In the last lesson, I suggested conversing over fine food and drink might be the best way to promote friendship in our day. In this one, I’d like to support the thought by showing how important this is for Christianity. Meals played a major role in the Old Testament. There was Abraham and Sarah offering [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Promoting Friendship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-9-promoting-friendship/): So how can we promote the important elements of traditional friendship? We obviously cannot force people to enlarge their circle of friends by preaching at them. Robert Putnam, famous for his book Bowling Alone, felt the answer was to develop new forms of volunteer organizations that would pull people away from their televisions and out [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Self Denial](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-8-self-denial/): The model for friendship is found in John 15: 12-17, right in the middle of Jesus’ words about love. He claims we are now friends, because he has shared all he knows with us. He then goes to say the epitome of love is someone who gives his life for his friend. Jesus recognizes sharing [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Way to Wisdom and God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-7-way-to-wisdom-and-god/): If asked to define friendship, most people say something about sharing. Few would include anything about friendship being a way to knowledge. We think of friends working or playing together, but seldom sharing ideas in order to educate themselves. Yet, this idea is common in many ancient writings. Augustine in his 398 AD Confessions described [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Sharing](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-6-sharing/): When I at first asked my face-to-face discussion groups to define friendship, I got the answers I expected. They seemed to say the same things as early Christian writers. For instance, they echoed what Ambrose wrote in 340 AD: “Friends open their hearts to each other, sharing their deepest thoughts, their hopes and fears, their [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Christian Friendship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-5-christian-friendship/): Whenever I spoke of the Church as a “family of families,” I heard from singles, couples without children, and same sex couples. They all said such language made them feel excluded. I understood what they meant, but could never come up with better imagery. After all, the Bible calls God &#8220;Father&#8221; and other Christians &#8220;brothers [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Legal Friendship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-4-legal-friendship/): Marriage is fast becoming another new form of friendship. It is quite common to hear someone speak of their spouse as their best friend, something that would have sounded quite strange when I was growing up. But today, our society regards marriage as little more than legal friendship. In the first lesson, I mentioned sociologists [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Facebook Friends](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-3-facebook-friends/): Supposedly, I have 48 Facebook friends. I can easily pick up more by accepting the invitations that daily arrive on my e-mail, often from people I have a hard time identifying. And, of course, I can unfriend any of the 48 by simply pushing a button. These Facebook friends are another example of modern negotiated [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Professional Friends](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-2-professional-friends/): Last summer, I participated in a conversation that illustrates the current situation of friendship. A man sat down beside me and revealed he worked at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas. When I asked what he did, he hesitated. &#8220;It is hard to explain,&#8221; he responded. &#8220;Many people can not understand. I am a friend.&#8221; [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Changes in Friendship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/friendship/lesson-1-changes-in-friendship/): When I was growing up in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, people spoke of &#8220;family and friends.&#8221; I had all sorts of &#8220;family&#8221; throughout the small city. When we would gather for annual reunions, we would be joined by some of the few who had moved away to seek their fortunes. I could also point to many &#8220;friends&#8221; [&hellip;]
- [Shout It From The Rooftops](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/shout-it-from-the-rooftops/): Matthew 10: 26-31 Have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body [&hellip;]
- [Turn The Other Cheek](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/turn-the-other-cheek/): The temptation is to give a polished sermon that glosses over the meaning of all these basic but difficult texts. I am going to offer instead a rough Bible study that I hope will allow Jesus’ challenge to shine through. First the Gospel. Turn the other cheek and love your enemy. Luke shows this is [&hellip;]
- [Stop Fooling Around](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/stop-fooling-around/): For several years I have been trying to lead one of my favorite people into the ministry. I have been extremely sensitive to his needs, letting him work as slowly as he needs through all the obstacles and questions. I have been subtle in my prodding, very gentle. Recently, he came to tell me he [&hellip;]
- [Karen and Jan’s Wedding](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/karen-and-jans-wedding/): Ruth 1: 16-17 Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you  or to turn back from following you!  Where you go, I will go;  where you lodge, I will lodge;  your people shall be my people,  and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die—  there will I be buried.  May the Lord [&hellip;]
- [At the Mount of the Beatitudes](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-beatitudes/): I preached this sermon last January during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with people from Good Shepherd Lutheran in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We were on the spot at the the Sea of Galilee where many believe Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount. We had just been to Caesurea Philippi where Peter confessed Jesus to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Creed](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-13-creed/): We often forget creeds are ways to read the Bible. When the early Church disagreed on which parts were important and how to handle contradictions, one thing they did was to develop creeds. We sometimes see creeds as dividing people by laying rigid lines between who belongs and who doesn’t. Surely, they were used that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Bible](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/the-bible/): Last week, I suggested the church of the future might well be a community of friends who gather face-to-face to share a lifestyle that suits following Jesus in our time. Every indication points to these groups engaging in more Bible study. However, I think the emphasis will be on honest sharing rather than dogmatic teaching. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-9-community/): When I ask people why they come to church, the answer I almost always receive is “community.” If I continue with, “What about right doctrine?” I usually get laughter. That does not mean that people do not appreciate good theology; just that their highest priority is to be around people who practice the Christian life [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Music](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-8-music/): One of the big topics in church circles is whether we should use “contemporary” music and liturgies. My ministry was pretty old-fashioned in that area. However, my sons-in-law have both “contemporary” and traditional services, so I have had over a decade of observing both from the audience. That experience convinces me that we shall see [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Church-State Relations](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/church-state-relations/): Last week I suggested that, in a hundred years, pastors would not be regarded as agents of the state when officiating at weddings. I imagine the relationship between Church and State will be changed in many other ways by then as well. The Church probably will follow the lead of corporations that feel no need [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Women](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/women-in-the-church/): Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear someone on a news program comment, “I grew up in the Church. The Church is very important to me, but…” It very obvious that the speaker no longer worships, yet misses something she associates with that life. The “but” indicates one of the reasons she [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Staff II](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/church-staffing/): Let’s look further at the two creative congregations’ staff lists (Trinity, Mount Joy and Good Shepherd, Gaithersburg) for clues about the future church. The first thing you notice is their length. Even though they are large churches, they have more than the usual number of paid pastors and lay ministers. This reflects a trend toward [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Staff 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-4-staff-i/): I consider my two son-in-laws’ congregations to be cutting edge. A number of their practices indicate where the Church is going. Even a quick look at their staff lists gives you some clues. (Good Shepherd,Gaithersburg,MD. and Trinity, Mount Joy, PA ) The first thing you notice is their lengths. Many are paid part time clerical [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Youth Groups](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-3-youth-groups/): If recent refusals of denominations to finance their seminaries are self- defeating, the tendency of many to neglect youth work is just as silly. It is certainly a factor in the lack of young people at our worship services. I have some idea what is going on as my wife and I have hosted high [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Ecumenical Seminaries](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-2-ecumencial-seminaries/): Several decades ago some writers observed progressives in all denominations are more comfortable with progressives in all other denominations than they are with conservatives in their own. Chances are this situation foreshadows what lies ahead for the American Church. It also captures the sense of the comment Derek made last week. Although our church bodies [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Future Organization](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/the-future-church/lesson-1-future-organization/): A Sunday School class in one of my sons-in-laws’ congregations was discussing the relationship of the Roman Catholics and Lutherans. A question arose why there was not more unity after 40 years of theological discussions that concluded agreement on just about all issues. These were topped off with a Joint Declaration on Justification, the very [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: What a Johannine Church Looks Like](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-of-john/johnnine-church/): We always hear we need authority in order to keep unity in the Church. Those making the claim usually mean they have the proper theology to which everyone else must conform. However, this kind of authority has done little to heal the divisions in the Body of Christ and, for the most part, has led [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 23: Pope Francis’ “Rejoice and Be Glad”](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/pope-francis-rejoice-and-be-glad/): As I read the Pope’s recent exhortation Gaudete and Exsultate, I was struck by how much it echoes our search for a modern Christian love narrative. Although he presents it as a call to holiness in today’s world, he repeatedly describes holiness as love. He writes, for instance, “Holiness is nothing less than love lived [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 22: Love is Imitating God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/love-is-imitating-god/): I can’t stop exploring what might be a modern Christian narrative based on love, because I am learning so much from the conversation. I especially have been surprised at the rich interplay that has taken place online. Remember my son and I write about the limitations of electronic communication. Although I stand by our observations [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 21: Christ is Risen](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/christ-is-risen/): Every Easter, we shout “Christ is risen!” to each other with great joy. Chances are, we have a pretty good idea of what we mean, even though we would have a difficult time putting it into words. Most attempts at theorizing sound like nonsense in the modern world. Where is the right hand of God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: Resurrection Appearances as Love Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/resurrection-appearances-as-love-story/): When I was a parish pastor, I felt a great challenge preaching the sermon on Easter Sunday. I realized that this might be the only time a large number worshipped all year. I also knew from experience that some of these were listening to hear if the church offered them any meaning and purpose. And [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: The Passion Narrative as Love Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/the-passion-narrative-as-love-story/): Holy Week and Easter highlight the importance of a Christian narrative. Christians around the world observe these sacred times by participating in a story that has changed lives for 2000 years. Of course, there will be attempts to explain what has happened and is happening by referring to theological doctrines. The Church has continually tried [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Environment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/environment/): Certainly a modern Christian narrative must include our relationship to the environment. Right now, the conversation addressing that issue in our society and the Church rages around the argument about humanity’s role in climate change. Like so much in our current culture, decisions about actions are presumed to be based on scientific findings rather than [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Faith, Hope, and Love In Decision Making](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/faith-hope-and-love-in-decision-making/): It’s fine to speak of Christianity being unconditional love all the way down. It’s exhilarating to read St. Isaac of Syria write of even Hell being filled with God’s love. However, it is frustrating when various Christian groups totally disagree on what comprises loving actions in real life and death situations. And it is downright [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Incarnation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/incarnation/): I always thought of myself as a member of the &#8220;theology of the cross&#8221; school. Paul and Kerry, through brief exchanges on this site, have helped me see the limitations of this tradition, how it has led too many people to put themselves down as contemptible sinners unworthy of God’s grace. At least in our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Concerns About Christian Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/concerns-about-christian-love/): I had originally decided to use Dr. King’s sermon in order to take a three week vacation break and was thoroughly unprepared when so many people sent me probing responses. They seemed to indicate a desire for conversation about how Christian love applies in our modern situation, as every one brought up specific problems, particularly [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Christian Love Involves Suffering](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/christian-love-involves-suffering/): I have been receiving so many thoughtful responses to Dr. King’s sermon that I decided to address them in the lesson next week. However, I thought it would be helpful to present his conclusion before doing that. Everyone of the responses acknowledged Jesus called on individuals to return good for evil. Almost all questioned how [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: How We Love Our Enemies](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/how-we-love-our-enemies/): I’d like to continue citing Martin Luther King’s sermon, “Love Your Enemies,” because it describes forgiveness as an inherent characteristic of the Christian love narrative. Whenever I hear the most powerful man in the world claim to love everybody and in the next breath brag he can not think of anything he has done for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12:  Why We Love Our Enemies](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/why-we-love-our-enemies/): Throughout my ministry, I have repeatedly reread two works in addition to the scriptures: Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov and Martin Luther King’s &#8220;Loving Your Enemies.&#8220; Both express the love narrative I think the Church desperately needs to use in understanding and identifying herself. The latter is a sermon Dr. King wrote while jailed for committing nonviolent civil [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Love As A Change Agent](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/love-as-a-change-agent/): A terribly significant reason for modern Christians using the love narrative to identify and understand themselves is usually ignored. When people rather blandly proclaim &#8220;God loves you, love one another,&#8221; they are usually thinking of love as not insisting on your own way or compassionately caring for other people.  Most regard this as the tolerance [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Love Narrative and Conventional Wisdom](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/the-love-narrative-and-conventional-wisdom/): Many of the best Christians I know have been accused of not knowing how the world operates. In truth, every one of them knows all too well how things work. They just think Jesus shows a better way. Conventional wisdom that passes for sophistication nowadays is really pretty cynical and fatalistic. It believes science’s ability [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: New Love Narrative](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/new-love-narrative/): Before turning to the specific contents of a modern Christian narrative, it might be worthwhile once again to point out that this in no way distorts the Gospel message. To give thought to words and ideas that make sense to people living in our time is not a surrender to worldly values or agendas. It [&hellip;]
- [The Phone Call](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-phone-call/): I found drama a very effective way to poclaim the modern Christian narrative. I cannot remember the situation when I wrote this the following dialogue sermon for Christmas Eve. I do recall a number of people reported it spoke directly to them. In fact, one said hearing it was a life changing experience. The Phone [&hellip;]
- [The Refugees](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-refugees/): I found drama to be an effective way to proclaim the modern Christian narrative. The following is a dialogue sermon I prepared for Christmas Eve during a period when the federal government was speaking against accepting refugees from wars we waged. It would work just as well in our time as the government has taken [&hellip;]
- [Between the Walls](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/between-the-walls/): I found drama was an effective way to present the modern Christian narrative. Below is a dialogue sermon I wrote for Christmas Eve during the Viet Nam war. Between the Walls (Lines are spoken seated on chairs on either side of the altar. The dialogue is slow, somewhat hushed, with long pauses.) P &#8211; John&#8230;.John&#8230;.John. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Conversation and Dialogue](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/conversation-and-dialogue/): We have come to the last of the five reoccurring themes that I found when hastily rereading the documents of Vatican II. Although my intention was simply to refresh my memory, I was pleasantly surprised to find the five could serve as the framework for a modern Christian narrative. Each addresses our present societal problems [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Unity in Diversity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/unity-in-diversity/): The call for unity in diversity emerged as one of the hallmarks of Vatican II. It was used in a variety of contexts during the Council and remains a helpful guideline for a servant church speaking to a global society. I think it initially appeared in the first session when discussing the liturgy. Maximos IV, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Dignity of Humanity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/the-dignity-of-humanity/): I am increasingly convinced Vatican II was able to lay the groundwork of a new Christian narrative for our modern age, because for the most part, it looked at our situation with a simple honesty. That honesty recognized the narrative the Church has used to identify and understand herself has changed throughout history. Consequently, it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The New Age](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/the-new-age/): Several times a day, friends lament that they are unable to talk about important issues with people who hold opposing views. Today, one reported that Thanksgiving was awful, because family members got angry discussing politics. Another said bridge club has become uncomfortable, because you have to avoid so many topics that have become divisive. In [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Life as a Reality Television Show](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/life-as-a-reality-television-show/): Years ago, students of technology warned that everything in a technological society becomes entertainment. Usually they were speaking about the evening news, and their prescience is downright obvious there. Today, news has become 24/7 entertainment, political talk show hosts rationalize their inaccuracies by claiming they provide entertainment and not news, and every network is open [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Servant Church](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/the-servant-church/): I am going to lay out two dominant narratives that the Church has used to understand and identify herself in the past 500 years. More importantly, I am then going to suggest a new narrative offered by Vatican II. I hope you and I will keep in mind my belief that narratives always need correction [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Christian Conversation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/christian-conversation/): Perhaps I got ahead of myself last week. I spoke of the need for a new Christian narrative in our technological society and suggested that Vatican II offers us groundwork for developing one. Incidental to that, I observed that I feel the narratives by which Lutherans and Roman Catholics have identified and understood themselves for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: A New Church Narrative](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-narratives/a-new-church-narrative/): In marking the anniversary of the Reformation, it became clear to some of us that 500-year-old narratives really do not serve our mission to proclaim the Gospel in our own time. That has put me on a kick to consider what might be a possible new narrative to which I hope some of you will [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Sacrament of Holy Communion in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-sacrament-of-holy-communion-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): Understanding Luther’s understanding of the Sacrament of the Altar has become more relevant recently as many churches engage in a largely unnoticed ecumenical movement toward full communion. The term is almost a play on words as it primarily means efforts to develop complete relationships. However, the first steps have been official statements that two denominations [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Sacrament of Baptism in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-sacrament-of-baptism-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): You get an idea of the critical role played by the sacraments in Lutheran thought by examining Article VII of the Augsburg Confession. It defines the Holy Christian Church as “the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel. For [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Lord's Prayer in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-lords-prayer-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): I am going to examine the primary thoughts that appear throughout Luther’s explanation. You can study his treatment of particular petitions here. Perhaps the first thing that jumps out is Luther’s use of justification by grace through faith alone. His treatment of every petition assumes Jesus’ declaration that God knows our needs before we ask [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-third-article-of-the-apostles-creed-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): This is one of the best statements of Luther’s signature theological principle, justification by grace through faith alone. Implications of the doctrine have permeated every other explanation in the Small Catechism. At this place, we get the full effect. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-second-article-of-the-apostles-creed-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): Luther’s explanation is a beautiful short statement of the Gospel. He conveys the unbounded joy associated with this good news by placing it in the context of an individual hearing it for the first time. All seems to have been done “for me.” There is pure relief that everything is going to be all right. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The First Article of the Apostles’ Creed in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-first-article-of-the-apostles-creed-in-martin-luthers-small-catechism/): Luther’s explanation of the Creed’s first article is another classic. He uses everyday language to interpret creation as God’s ongoing action to provide for all our needs, protect us from all dangers, and preserve us through all changes. This is far from the deism most of our contemporaries associate with creation in which God sets [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Ten Commandments in Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-ten-commandments-in-luthers-small-catechism/): I do not intend to examine every part of the catechism. You can do that yourself here. Instead, I shall highlight some of the more important parts of Luther’s explanations, especially emphasizing some of his distinctive insights. He numbered the commandments just as he was taught in the Catholic Church. The first three included those [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The First Commandment in Luther’s Small Catechism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/luthers-small-catechism/the-first-commandment-in-luthers-small-catechism/): Being that this is the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting the 95 Theses Against Indulgences, I plan to offer two series on the reformer this fall. The second will expand on a lecture I am giving at La Roche College on November 1, 2017. It suggests that the Lutheran and Roman Catholic narratives these [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: An Advent Sermon Reflecting Revelation Teachings](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/an-advent-sermon-reflecting-revelation-teachings/): I preached this sermon the Sunday after one of the first major terrorist attacks in Europe. I was attempting to place this in the context of the Advent theme focusing on Jesus’ Second Coming. The sermon also incorporated the baptisms being celebrated that day. Let’s start with an old trivial pursuit question, “What do angels [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14:  Gettysburg and Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/gettysburg-and-revelation/): One of the questions Revelation raises is, “For what should we give our lives?” Martyrdom is a primary feature from the beginning to the end of the book. The Apostle warns dying for the Pax Romana serves evil. Even though the empire claims to be founded on law, it really depends upon the military suppressing [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Reasons for Reading Revelation (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/reasons-for-reading-revelation-part-2/): Let me continue mentioning reasons I find important for reading John’s Apocalypse. Close after the Prophet’s broadening our concept of church-state relationships and narrowing our definition of the Christian community, I would place enhancing our understanding of prophecy. A good half of the Old Testament books are the prophets. Obviously, prophecy makes up a great [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Reasons for Reading Revelation (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/reasons-for-reading-revelation-part-1/): For approximately half of my life, I thought we all would be better off if the Church had never included Revelation in the Bible. Then a friend, who became ill, asked me to teach his seminary course. Although he had written a respected commentary, he suggested I do my own research before consulting with him. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The Wrath of God in Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/wrath-of-god-in-revelation/): Revelation throws together, without any rhyme or reason, just about every theological vision of the future being discussed in his day. That, of course, entices us to find our favorite and read the prophesy entirely from that perspective. It is easy to see how the “religious wrong” do this when they make John’s promise into [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Religious Implications of Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/religious-implications-of-revelation/): In the last lesson, I suggested John’s take on the relationship between church and state in his time offers us some help in our own situation. Many of us are seeking new approaches after losing confidence in the two-kingdom theory. The prophet also confronted a government that tried to silence or control the voice of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: The Political Implications of Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/political-implications-of-revelation/): At first, it seems John sees the relationship between the church and state differently than Jesus and Paul. Jesus, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tells Christians to give Caesar what is Caesar’s in response to a question about paying taxes. In John, he tells Pilate that he does not pose a threat to the Roman [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/new-jerusalem-in-revelation/): If one part of prophecy is explicating God&#8217;s promises with visions of the future, John offers one of the most beautiful in all history. God himself wipes away the tears of those who have suffered with the Lamb. The Divine speaks for the first time, comforting his people with the words, &#8220;I am making all [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Last Judgment and Millennium in Revelation 19 and 20](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/last-judgment-and-millennium-in-revelation/): John has treated us to three versions of the Tribulation. Now in these two chapters, he offers at least two Last Judgments. Two obvious ones employ an Armageddon battle to eradicate evil powers and people. The second of these adds an admissions test based on record books kept in heaven. Two questions arise as you [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Judgment of Rome in Revelation 17, 18, and 19](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/judgment-of-rome-in-revelation/): Anyone who studies the development of Revelation as if it were a scholarly work or, for that matter, an unfolding or prediction of future events has to be pulling out their hair as they exclaim, &#8220;Oh no, here we go again.&#8221; The opening of the 7 seals brought us to the moment when Jesus should [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Bowls in Revelation 12-16](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/lesson-5-the-bowls-in-revelation-12-16/): The Tribulation&#8217;s purge of evil ends with the bowls, the third set of seven visions. Nobody is saved in this one, because only those who know the truth but still refuse to worship God are left. At this point, John completely removes the veil over the Roman Empire by revealing that it is completely controlled [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Seals, Trumpets, Interludes in Revelation 6-11](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/seals-trumpets-interludes-in-revelation-6-11/): When the veil is lifted from heaven, John hears that Jesus began the final stages of salvation at his Ascension. The prophet is among those who think this necessitates a period of Tribulation. It helps to remind ourselves what this entailed, as it is here that most people have trouble with Revelation. The tribulation purges [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Heavenly Court in Revelation 4 -5](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/heavenly-court-in-revelation-4-5/): These two chapters lift the veil from heaven so we can see first hand what is happening there. When an angelic voice calls John and places him in his prophetic trance, he finds himself in a throne room at the time of Jesus&#8217; ascension. The prophet describes incredibly magnificent cosmic phenomena and wondrously strange creatures [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Seven Churches of Revelation (Chapters 2 and 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/seven-churches-of-revelation/): Any decent understanding of Paul&#8217;s letters begins with an appreciation that they were written to particular congregations in a specific historical period. They were preserved in scripture, because the apostle handled their problems in a manner that remains relevant for us. So, too, any meaningful interpretation of Revelation depends on discerning the situation John was [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: An Introduction to Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/revelation/introduction-to-revelation/): I decided to write a short series on Revelation after a number of onliners indicated that they were not aware that the book charted the fall of the Roman Empire. Once you begin reading it this way, it offers another perspective on the relation of church and state. Most of us think Paul&#8217;s instruction in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Truth and Virtual Reality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-virtual-reality/): Looking back over this series, I realize how much I was compelled to continue, because the news every last morning provided a new set of lies spewed out by public officials to whom we had given our trust. That compulsion also was fired by the large number of people who repeatedly told me this disregard [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Truth and Revelation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-revelation/): The Bible describes salvation as God’s attempt to save humanity from self-destruction and sees this, in part, as unveiling the truth that humans fail to discern. From beginning to end, two of the primary ways the scriptures explain our failure are that our violence and greed get in the way. The prophet John attempted to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Truth and Honesty](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-honesty/): Try as hard as I might, I find I cannot let go of this rather disjointed investigation of truth. Every time I think I find a way out, another unanswered question disturbs me. My intention was to slip away with a lesson on truth and irony, perhaps beginning with E. C. Bentley’s “Between what matters [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Truth and the Unified Theory](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-the-unified-theory/): Recently, a wonderfully kind young man, whom I respect greatly, was explaining to me why he was not religious. He indicated he thought scholars would come up with a unified theory in the next 25 years. Obviously, he regarded me as an old, traditional kind of fellow who lived in the past as he gently [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Truth and Love (Part 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-love-3/): If the history of humanity is read as the search for truth, and if that search involves making common sense of the kaleidoscope of sensory data that constantly bombards us, and if making common sense involves coming to agreement on not only fact but also the meaning and purpose of those facts, and if our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Truth and Love (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-love-2/): I find that I have trapped myself, and you, by examining the conflict between power and love during Holy Week. The church year narrative uses this period to present the ultimate confrontation of these truth claims. Current news reports remind us we find ourselves in the same situation in real life. The Holy Week narrative [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Truth and Love (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-love-1/): More than ever I hear from friends in academia, business, and government that they are accused of not knowing how the world operates whenever they advocate for options including sharing and caring. The accusation always implies that a loving action is naive, because only power brings success. We are dealing here with two fundamentally different [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Truth and Christian Half Truths](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-christian-half-truths/): My initial plan was to offer a brief response to what modern election campaigns have done to our understandings of truth and falsehood. That all went up in smoke when fake news and alternative facts became tactics for governing. Just last week, Time magazine&#8217;s feature article examined the effects of a president who openly acknowledges [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Truth and the Crisis in Language (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-the-crisis-in-language-2/): In the last lesson, I suggested the crisis in language that has led to our present inability to separate what is true and false in public conversation might have first been observed in Orwell&#8217;s political newspeak and Ellul&#8217;s technological commonplaces. I think the crisis deepened with what Uwe Poerksen (1995) labeled “plastic words.” These are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Truth and the Crisis in Language (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-the-crisis-in-language-1/): Because we are confronted every blasted day with a new manipulation of truth, it might help to trace the development that has led to this perilous situation. Many believe it was first brought to our attention by George Orwell who introduced “newspeak” in his novel 1984 (1949). This is a fictional language created by the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Truth and Righteousness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-righteousness/): Any lengthy discussion of truth probably contains a reference to Diogenes walking around Athens with a lamp to search for one honest man. Chances are that is about as far as it goes. Few realize the Greek thinker was a Cynic who thought truth involves how you live as well as what you say. He [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Truth and Digital Humanity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-digital-humanity/): We are just beginning to appreciate how much the huge databases modern technology makes available are affecting our thoughts about truth. Most of us are aware that merchants use them to sell their products. If we look for a pair of shoes online, ads for others pop up on our Facebook for several days. We [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Truth in the Gospel according to St. John](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-in-the-gospel-according-to-st-john/): It does not take long to see that John&#8217;s Gospel speaks directly to our situation. In one of its critical scenes (John 18), Jesus and Pontius Pilate face off over the definition of truth. The confrontation could have taken place in our own White House. Pilate asks Jesus if he is a threat to his [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Truth and Political Correctness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-political-correctness/): A few weeks ago, Father Jude reminded us that the given in a democracy is a reasonable, educated audience. &#8220;Absent that as the valid context, free speech in a democracy is just so much noise, at best, and, at worst, a detriment.&#8221; Knowing Jude, I am sure he did not mean that all reasonable and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Truth and Facts](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/truth-and-facts/): At first, I was taken aback when people read last week&#8217;s lesson as a political statement. My intention was simply to point out that a healthy society depends on being able to trust that people are telling the truth. The political examples were meant to show ours is ailing. This week, I wanted to suggest [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Trust](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/truth/trust/): The present concern with fake news and a post-truth culture goes deeper than we usually acknowledge. I pulled out some quotes from Sissela Bok&#8217;s 1978 book, Lying, that I used when writing about trust decades ago. She wrote that “trust in some degree of veracity functions as a foundation of relations among human beings: when [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: God, Truth, and Reality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/god-truth-and-reality/): Sister Joan ended her book with a reprise of the monastic vision found in the Benedictine Rule. She emphasized it offers a practical way to live the Gospel now by discerning God&#8217;s presence in all creation. I understand that as perceiving the design running through all creation is the love we know in Jesus Christ. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17:  Peace- Sign of the Disarmed  Heart](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/peace-sign-of-the-disarmed-heart/): About half way through the chapter, Chittister wrote that being at peace gives &#8220;the courage to evaluate what is patently wrong but never open for discussion.&#8221; As soon as I read her words, a brash comment made by an executive of an arms company several decades ago came to mind. We were at a meeting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: The Way of Conversion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/the-way-of-conversion/): I was recently at a conference where a female Roman Catholic scholar who had worked in ecumenical relationships for decades revealed she was finally beginning to appreciate that the most important first step in healing our broken Church was coming to appreciate each other&#8217;s languages. Her thoughts popped into my mind as I was reading [&hellip;]
- [What Does the Future Hold?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/what-does-the-future-hold/): This is a paper I offered to the Adams County Torch Club on December 15. It prompted a lot of discussion. I found myself reminding people several times, &#8220;Now remember I am a Christian.&#8221; I have a feeling we shall all be acknowledging that a lot in the coming few years. I wrote this paper [&hellip;]
- [Christmas is Always](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/christmas-is-always/): This is an article Kerry Walters, one of our participants, wrote for the Sunbury Daily Item on December 24. Kerry publishes a weekly column &#8220;Faith Matters.&#8221; His messages always speak to me. I hoped this one would do the same for you. Come to think of it, read first a quote he posted on Facebook [&hellip;]
- [An Advent Vision of Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/an-advent-vision-of-hope/): The following is a sermon I proclaimed on the Second Sunday in Advent. The lesson was Isaiah 11: 1-10. I hoped it would speak to the present situation in the Christian community. Advent is special this year. We are all looking for hope, and Advent is the season when Christians talk about hope. It is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: New Christian Communities](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/new-christian-communities/): I promised to share some of my friends&#8217; understanding of modern Christian community. Kerry Walters is a retired philosophy professor whose words often appear in the Huffington Post. I think his following Facebook post speaks for itself. I&#8217;d be interested in hearing your critique of his understanding of the Church. Why I am an American [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Stability](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/stability/): If my first attraction to the Benedictine Rule was its hospitality, my second was its stability. A pastor easily felt the impact of the mobile technology at first offered and then demanded. Children leaving town for college, exciting vocations, and big time salaries brought new opportunities. However, before long, opportunity became demand as there were [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Obedience](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/obedience/): How in the world do you handle obedience in today&#8217;s world? Supposedly, freedom means we respect no person&#8217;s authority to tell us what to do. Yet we are continually forced to comply with the demands of the system. And we all suspect there are some Wizards of Oz back there manipulating the whole thing, even [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Hospitality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/hospitality/): I first read the Benedictine Rule at the very beginning of my ministry. I remember being impressed that the porter was to treat every one who knocked at the monastery&#8217;s door as if they might be Christ himself and that special attention was to be given to the poor and the pilgrim. Two weeks later, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Giftedness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/giftedness/): In 2000, Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone. It has quickly become a classic for understanding modern American community. His thesis is that our nation has lost our sense of the common good, because technology inherently promotes radical individualism. He used the breakdown of voluntary groups such as bowling leagues, social clubs, fraternal organizations, and churches as [&hellip;]
- [Chapter 10: Leisure](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/leisure/): The media greeted the 70s with more than the usual number of articles on what the future held for the next ten years. As a young pastor, I read as many as I could thinking they might indicate how I should be preparing to minister. As I remember, number one on every list predicted the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Common Housing Movement](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/common-housing-movement/): I am going to take time off from Chittister to acknowledge the wide variety of responses I have received to the recent lessons. Obviously now, as in the past, there have always been efforts to find better forms of community. Our participants reflect the usual positions, running from the need for correcting the present system [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Work](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/work/): The classic definition of economy was the management of the family or community that makes sure everyone is treated with dignity and has enough. We find ourselves in trouble because the model of the economy, that served us well in the past, no longer works in a technological society. That model believed work bestowed dignity [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Balance and Moderation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/balance-and-moderation/): The first thing mentioned by my class in Montgomery County, Maryland was how the Rule mandated treating work tools just as meticulously as worship articles. The group was surprised that a monastic community would think work was as important as worship. One of the members referred to the 31st article that reads, “Regard all utensils [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Humility](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/humility/): My first response to Sister Joan remains that she seems to be writing about the self-evident. My second is she confronts exactly what is wrong with our present society. Her take on humility that she designates as the lost virtue is a perfect example. Once you examine what she, Benedict, and Jesus say about humility, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: God’s Presence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/gods-presence/): I really experienced what St. Benedict meant about the importance of conversation in any Christian community while teaching Sunday School last week. I was pointing out how much Luke-Acts associated the Holy Spirit with speaking boldly. A good one-third of this action-packed history, over 300 of its 1000 verses, are speeches. Some participants responded by [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Radical Individualism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/radical-individualism/): I am having a terrible time writing this series. I have studied, examined, and lived Christian community for such a long time that I do not know where to begin. As many of you know, my partners, Ed Keyser, Tim Braband, and I very consciously tried to build a congregation based on the vulnerability of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: New Models](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/new-models-of-christian-community/): A change seems to have taken place in the relationship between church and society. Although it was long coming, most of us did not pay much attention until the recent presidential campaign. It was taken for granted that church and society had a congenial working relationship. Many even spoke of the church as the cutting edge [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Church Community in History](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/lesson-2-church-community-in-history/): Let’s take a quick look at various kinds of Christian community that have been practiced in our history. Most forms that served well in one period no longer worked in later ones, at least not in their original shapes. Even though I am only capable of offering a rough account, I hope to supply some [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The First Christian Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/christian-community/the-first-christian-community/): A number of my friends are raising questions about Christian community. They are finding our present forms fail to enrich, nourish, or inspire their lives. Many are frustrated after having tried one congregation after another. Our conversations have convinced me that they are not antichurch. They are genuinely seeking to live with integrity in a [&hellip;]
- [Half Truth: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/half-truth-god-helps-those-who-help-themselves/): &#8220;God helps those who help themselves.&#8221; That&#8217;s today’s half-truth. The problem of a half-truth, of course is that it is not the whole truth. It is only part of the story. At first a half-truth sounds like something we believe but once we give it some thought, we are not quite sure what we are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Eucharist as Ritual](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-9-eucharist-as-ritual/): The most important challenge for a Eucharist liturgy is to express a community meal rather than an institutional ritual. The Church has not always done a very good job with this one. Too often, the service is regarded as fulfilling requirements that enforce the authority of the institution. Only those commissioned by the authorities are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Eucharist as Thanksgiving](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-8-eucharist-as-thanksgiving/): The official title of the communion meal is the Eucharist, a Greek word meaning thanksgiving. By examining how this title applies we can learn a lot about the sacrament. First, thanksgiving is given a prominent place in the official account of the last supper in I Corinthians 11. That account is the basis of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Eucharist as Remembering](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-7-eucharist-as-remembering/): In our technological society, we forget how important remembering the past is for keeping our balance in life. Faith, hope, and love have always been used to summarize how Christians make decisions. Faith primarily is trust in the story that begins far back in history. Hope is the promise God makes in that story. Together, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Eucharist as Eating Together](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-6-eucharist-as-eating-together/): The sacraments taken together express the fullness of the Christian life. Baptism welcomes us into the community that shares meals with each other and God. Although this might appear to be nothing extraordinary to an outside observer, the Church proclaims it the primary means by which her resurrected Lord is present among them. Just as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Baptism as Ritual](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-5-baptism-as-ritual/): Back in seminary, quite some time ago, I read an account of an early baptism. My recollection is that it might have been the earliest detailed rite that has come down to us. The candidates had been extensively prepared. Although they could participate in the early part of the worship service, they had been dismissed [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Baptism as Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-4-baptism-as-community/): Baptism marks the entrance into a new community that follows Jesus. One of its primary features is welcoming believers to the Lord&#8217;s table. The modern church makes a huge mistake when it fails to make this the boundary for who participates in its meal. As soon as you deny baptized people from other church bodies [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Meaning of Baptism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/lesson-3-the-meaning-of-baptism/): Early Christians felt baptism was so important they built their houses of worship near running water whenever possible. Those who have visited ancient churches in their travels have seen many were constructed right over springs so that baptisms could be performed with living water. The importance of the sacrament is also reflected in the New [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Sacrament as God’s Bodily Presence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/sacrament-as-gods-bodily-presence/): The sacraments remind us that Christians claim that God is more than spirit. Although most of us can remember having defined God as a spirit at various times, the Church has insisted God is a person. And we all know a person is body as well as spirit. I can appreciate what our theologians are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Sacraments as a Means of Grace](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/sacraments/sacraments-as-means-of-grace/): Talking to Derek last week, I was reminded that I wanted to push myself to look at the commandments and sacraments from a modern perspective. All of us are conditioned to use old concepts when speaking of ancient traditions. They roll off our tongues without much thought. There is certainly no great harm, except when [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Final Words](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-11-final-words/): Jews speak of the 10 as the 10 Words rather than the Ten Commandments. The first word is “I am the Lord your God” and the second, “You shall no other gods before me.” The rest follow naturally, both those on coveting gathered into the 10th word. Their understanding is helpful in a number of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Tenth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/tenth-commandment-do-not-covet/): Neither shall you desire your neighbor&#8217;s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. This last commandment is a little troubling, not in its call for respecting other people&#8217;s personal property, but rather in what it includes on its list. I suspect all right thinking people [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: The Ninth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/lesson-9-the-ninth-commandment/): Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s house. If you were examining the commandments for the first time from a purely intellectual perspective, chances are you would notice that respect for personal property plays a primary role. One prohibits stealing. Depending how you number them, either two or a very lengthy one prohibits coveting your neighbor’s [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Eighth Commandment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/ten-commandments/eighth-commandment-false-witness/): Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. Sisela Bok once wrote that truth is as essential as the air we breathe and the water we drink. She claimed if we cannot believe other people are telling the truth, our society collapses and we return to a world of anarchy. Her thoughts reflect the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Stranger](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/the-stranger/): Every time I think I am leading a discussion on Barbara Brown Taylor’s Holy Envy, I end up talking about the tribalism in our present society. For instance, last Monday night, our symposium began noting the things we admire in Judaism. Early on, people spoke of their respect for the family, the people, the race. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Holy Communion During the Pandemic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/lesson-9-holy-communion-during-the-pandemic/): While reading Holy Envy, I kept asking myself why I liked the book so much. It is obviously well written, easily read, but hardly profound theology. Instead, it is just as she promised, a simple report on how the experience of her college religion classes corresponded with her own over several years. In the end, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Religious Truth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/religious-truth/): Taylor obviously supports John Hick’s call for a Copernican revolution in theology that would place God at the center and Christianity among the great religions orbiting around God. She significantly restates this with Absolute Truth at the center and “people of good faith with meaningful perceptions of that truth” orbiting. This provoked a member of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Christianity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/christianity/): One of the most unsettling conversations in my lifetime took place around 20 years ago with a professor at our local Lutheran seminary. He reported his job was much more difficult, because his first-year students never had a college freshman Bible course. In the old days, those preparing for the ministry usually attended a church-related [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Islam](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/islam/): My Monday night symposium responded to Taylor’s Holy Envy by asking about the function of religion in a culture. It’s a complex question. On the one hand, religion supplies meaning and purpose for a society. In this role, it expresses the standards by which its people and institutions evaluate themselves. On the other hand, it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Judaism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/judaism/): I am amazed how focusing my mind on some issue brings together different parts of my life. While thinking about Buddhism, I realized that many of my friends blended their Christianity with Buddhist thoughts and practices. Then when I turned to Judaism, I remembered the large number of my friends’ children who had married Jews. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Buddhism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/buddhism/): I am not sure whether any of my friends would call themselves Christian Buddhists; but in the “if it works for you” world in which we live, some certainly could be regarded as such. They talk of complementing their Christianity with Buddhist practices and understandings, describing these as improving what they perceive to be shortcomings. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Hinduism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/hinduism/): I do not regard this as a series on world religions so much as some insights for Christians living among other religious traditions. Taylor describes this as allowing holy envy for some things in other world religions to transform her love for her own. In that spirit, I want to focus on Taylor’s use of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Holy Envy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/holy-envy/): Barbara Brown Taylor addresses the pluralism in our society by writing about her experiences teaching World Religions 101 classes. She traces leaving parish ministry after feeling empty, entering the classroom to find meaning, and finally returning to her faith refreshed and strengthened. Taylor assumes religions are different ways to view reality, speaking of them as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Make Faith Great Again](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/make-great-again/): If you asked me to list the two major dangers presently facing the Church in the United States, the first that would jump into my mind would be the lack of young people worshiping.  The second would be Evangelicals and conservative Catholics championing Donald Trump. Certainly, you could also mention incompetent, self-serving, and immoral leadership, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Concluding Thoughts on God's Presence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/concluding-remarks/): I find my present thought always reflects what I have just read or what my friends who gather regularly in my home want to discuss. That leads me to think life, at least my life, is truly an ongoing conversation. That conversation caused me to ponder God’s presence about three or four months ago. It [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: God’s Presence in the Christian Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-the-christian-story/): The Bible’s core tradition proclaims God is a divine person who encounters chosen people in history. This engagement is described with great care and imagination. God comes as angels, a burning bush, volcanic fire, inspired prophets. Always the emphasis is on the message, not the messenger. God is painstakingly identified with the Word of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: God’s Presence Everywhere and in Everything](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-everywhere-and-in-everything/): Although the Bible finds God’s presence primarily in the story told by a particular people about themselves, it also includes a more general picture in which God is embedded in his creation. You see that in the Wisdom tradition (Proverbs 8: 22-31), the logos theology (John 1: 1-11), various sayings of Jesus, and Paul’s use [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Two Theories of God’s Presence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/two-theories-of-gods-presence/): In some sense, understanding how God is present among us is more important than believing God exists. There is little or no significance in affirming a deity unless you can identify how this impacts your life. The Old Testament acknowledges this with many complaints about God being absent and not answering the cries of his [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: God’s Presence in Creation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-creation/): When I came to Gettysburg, one very brilliant seminary professor made fun of those who talked of finding God in nature. He accused them of being pantheists who mistook beauty for divinity. At his worse, he suggested they engaged in touchy-freely religion that had nothing to do with the Christian story. He was reacting to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: God’s Presence in Historical Events](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-historical-events/): It is Christmas Day, an appropriate time to acknowledge God is present in historical events. Our worship every Sunday recognizes this in special happenings. We read scriptural reports on God’s actions throughout the history of salvation. We profess in the creeds events in Jesus’ life. Hopefully, the pastor offers a sermon that proclaims how God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: God’s Presence in Other People](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-other-people/): As I implied last week, I began this series thinking it would be short and sweet. My intention was to focus on how God is present among us in the words of the Christian story that enable to perceive him all around us. I still think that is extremely important. However, every time I thought [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: God’s Presence in the Word (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-the-word-2/): As usual, writing these lessons has taken me where I never expected to find myself. When I started the series, I fully intended to examine all the different ways that God is present in the Word. That would have been pretty easy as I am somewhat &#8220;known for&#8221; reminding people how important the spoken Word [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: God’s Presence in the Word](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-the-word/): I belong to a tradition that claims God is primarily present among us in the spoken Word. It acknowledges the importance of the sacraments, but thinks they are ordinary water, bread, and wine unless accompanied by the Word. So, too, it recognizes the Bible as God’s Word in a secondary sort of way until someone [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Presence in Baptism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/presence-in-baptism/): I’ve been suggesting that our primary two considerations about the divine presence among us are God’s promise and our accurate testimony. A sacrament by definition involves the promise of God’s presence. Baptism, like Communion, is a means of grace because Jesus promised that he would be there participating in the action. The Church witnesses to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: God’s Presence in the Communion Meal](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gods-presence-in-communion-meal/): If you asked most Christians about God’s presence, I suspect they would think you were talking about the Sacrament of Holy Communion. That is a good thing in as much as the meal is the central act of our worship and therefore should be where the divine is most manifest. However, it is also terribly [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Presence as Promise](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/presence-as-promise/): This series has not gone as I expected. My original plan was to critique as many theories about God’s presence in this world as I could find. I was thinking of word and sacrament, grain of the universe, Body of Christ, and that sort of thing. Things ran amok when I began by reading Ellul [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Question of God’s Presence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/the-question-of-gods-presence/): As I have previously confessed, these online lessons have addressed my own questions. Finding myself recently echoing the psalmists’ pleas for God to speak up and reveal himself in our present brutal society, I decided to do a series on God’s presence. As I was preparing by reviewing Jacques Ellul’s book, Presence in Modern Society, [&hellip;]
- [Gandhi Letter to Hitler](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/gods-presence/gandhi-letter-to-hitler/): A friend sent this letter Gandhi sent Hitler at Christmas in 1940. I think it is worth contemplating with an open and honest heart. It reminds me of an article my son and I read in Foreign Affairs while writing our book. It documented that far more international and national conflicts have been settled by [&hellip;]
- [God Cleanses Ten Lepers](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/god-cleanses-ten-lepers/): NB: I decided to post this sermon as it is somewhat of a response to the lessons on Bonhoeffer.  A friend challenged me to address the present political situation in a sermon to a peace church. This was the result. Luke 17: 11-19 &#8212;  On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Final Thoughts on Bonhoeffer](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/final-thoughts-on-bonhoeffer/): I really have been overwhelmed rereading Bonhoeffer. As I have repeatedly reported, I was not that impressed when I first studied him in divinity school. At that time, I was caught up in the civil rights movement and naively felt we had learned how to speak truth to power. Now, I feel he has a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7:  Letters and Papers from Prison (Part 4): Conclusions and Consequences](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/letters-and-papers-from-prison-part-4-conclusions-and-consequences/): Throughout his writings, Bonhoeffer repeatedly contends the Church must commit herself to living in complete honesty and by the standards found in the scriptures if she is to save the world from self-destruction. Only in this way can she avoid the sickening religiosity that ignores the real dangers in a modern evil culture. In the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Letters and Papers from Prison (Part 3): The Real Meaning of Christian Faith](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/letters-and-papers-from-prison-part-3-the-real-meaning-of-christian-faith/): The second chapter in Bonhoeffer’s proposed book on religionless Christianity in our world come of age examines the real meaning of faith. He repeatedly claims this demands the absolute honesty of repentance that admits our failures and accepts divine guidance as well as an accurate reading of the Biblical message. The latter acknowledges that the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Letters and Papers from Prison (Part 2): Stocktaking of Christianity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/letters-and-papers-from-prison-part-2-stocktaking-of-christianity/): I thought the best way to report what Bonhoeffer meant by the need for a religionless Christianity in this world come of age would to be to use an outline he himself provides. At one point in the Letters, he reports he wants to write one more book, no longer than 100 pages with three [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Letters and Papers from Prison: Observations](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/letters-and-papers-from-prison/): My primary goal when I started rereading the Letters was to examine what Bonhoeffer means about the need for a religionless Christianity in our world come of age. He repeatedly claims that this demands brutal honesty in reading the scriptures and analyzing our society. It’s obvious he thought his two years in prison forced him [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Ethics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/ethics/): Bonhoeffer’s arrest prevented him from finishing what was meant to be his greatest work. Back in seminary, I rather hurriedly read what we have of the Ethics as an academic study and was unimpressed. I reread it in the past few days as a historical statement and found much to ponder and admire. In fact, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Cost of Discipleship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/the-cost-of-discipleship/): I first read The Cost of Discipleship my first year in divinity school when a classmate, Gene Outka, who went on to teach ethics at Yale, recommended it as something every Lutheran pastor should read. It was good advice. Bonhoeffer laments that the Church has made Luther’s justification by grace through faith into a doctrine [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/bonhoeffer/life/): When Paul suggested we do something on a Lutheran theologian and mentioned Dietrich Bonhoeffer, my ears went up. A number of my other friends have named him recently when discussing how the church should relate to government activities they think are unchristian. Lutherans have special problems, because Luther’s two kingdoms theory makes obeying the ruling authorities [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Opposition to Pope Francis](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/opposition-to-pope-francis/): As I wrote this series on the theology that informs Francis’ papacy, I became more cognizant of the opposition that has risen against him. I knew it was there, but did not comprehend how deep it ran in certain groups or the strategy these used in attacking him. In closing this series, I want to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Spirit in Daily Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/holy-spirit-in-daily-life/): My plan was to spend the summer casually examining Pope Francis’ theology. It seemed an easy assignment, simply posting summaries of readings I have been wanting to tackle. Those hopes for some quiet academic study quickly went up in flames. Some respondents vociferously chided me for passing indifferently over life-and-death issues. Their chief argument was [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Terrorism and Commodification](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/terrorism-and-commodification/): As just about every US citizen is discussing the mass murders, I find it helpful to see them as a new form of terrorism found in our technological society. Placing the killings in this context gives me a realistic perspective for engaging in the gun control, mental illness, and Christian teaching debates swirling around us. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Christian Influence in the Economic System](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/christian-influence-in-the-economic-system/): Mark, perhaps our only economist, suggests our present problems have more to do with sinful human nature and abusive political power than economic theory. While reading his comments,I realized John, a model in sustainable agriculture, has been saying pretty much the same thing. For that matter, most of the comments can be read this way. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Totalization of the Economic System](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/the-totalization-of-the-economic-system/): Last week, I claimed that Christians should always be prophetically critiquing the economic systems in which they find themselves, primarily asking if these protect the weak. I also suggested the form of global capitalism presently being practiced in our society is found wanting in this regard. It is not that people have grown more greedy, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Christian Economic Thought: An Introduction](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/preliminary-remarks-about-christian-economic-thought/): I was ready to leave this series. Usually a number of my friends will discuss the lessons either by email or face-to-face. This time I was hearing from nobody. That was a big disappointment, because I felt the perspectives from theologians in the Southern Hemisphere were extremely challenging, especially when we in the US are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Preference for the Poor](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/preference-for-the-poor/): I have been using long documents issued at the conferences of the Latin American bishops to illustrate Pope Francis’ thought. Both are heavily influenced by the theology of the spirit that primarily comes out of third world countries. I decided examining these was worthwhile, because the Pope has often spoken for many of us. Beyond [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Reform for a New Situation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/reform-for-a-new-situation/): I ended the last lesson reporting that the Latin American bishops with whom I associate Pope Francis’ theology of the spirit think the times call for institutional and pastoral reform. There are two ways to understand reform. The first sees it cleaning up corruption and the second making changes needed in a new situation. Both [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The New Evangelization](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/modern-evangelism/): John’s comment after last week’s lesson offered an important qualification. He observed that becoming a voice in the political conversation is essential in our time but serving the needy as caring individuals is still more important. That distinction accurately indicates how Pope Francis&#8217; Theology of the Spirit moves beyond Liberation Theology by carefully modifying its [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Liberation Theology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/liberation-theology/): There is no doubt that Pope Francis’ theology of the spirit is an outgrowth of the liberation theology prominent during the middle of the last century in Latin America. He literally echoes the preference for the poor that they advocated. Many of you might remember this group featured priests gathering the poor for small group [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Theology of the Spirit](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-spirit/theology-of-the-spirit/): Many of us think Pope Francis serves as a much-needed model of the faith in our time, at least in his words and personal examples. Obviously, some of his witness has been thwarted by the very institutional structures that he identifies as outdated and irrelevant. I’d like to spend some time examining the Theology of [&hellip;]
- [Sodom and Gomorrah  (Genesis 19: 1-11)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/sodom-and-gomorrah-genesis-19-1-11/): My wife helps me write sermons. Last week, she came home saying I should incorporate something about Service Week. “How am I going to do that when I promised to preach on Sodom and Gomorrah?” I moaned. And then, as if that were not challenging enough, she came a second time saying I should mention [&hellip;]
- [A Sermon for Maundy Thursday](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/maundy-thursday/): The Passover celebration is a family meal that begins when the youngest child asks, “Father, why is this night different than other nights?” The Father then tells the Exodus story as simply and clearly as possible, so that even this child can understand. &#8220;There was a time long ago when a mighty nation, who thought [&hellip;]
- [Celebrating Affirmation of Baptism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/pentecost-confirmation/): When Jesus was baptized, the writers report the heavens were torn apart, God’s Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, and a voice pronounced, &#8220;You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” The message was clear: God loves Jesus, and his Spirit will fill Jesus’ life so that he can perform mighty deeds and [&hellip;]
- [Easter On The Road To Emmaus: The Dawn of a New Day](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/easter-road-to-emmaus-dawn-of-a-new-day/): In my denomination, we pretty much just celebrate on Easter Sunday. We read about the empty tomb, loudly proclaim, “He is Risen” to each other, and do a lot of singing. We wait until the following Sundays to reflect on what all this means. Then we take time to ponder Jesus’ appearances among his first [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 25: The Christian Voice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/christian-voice/): After much discussion, I have decided to give in and admit talking about the common story of Christianity is not helpful. As many of you have pointed out, there are just too many incredibly divergent claims out there. Instead, I shall speak about the book’s understanding of what the Christian voice should be in the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 24: Getting Real](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/getting-real/): Last week I wrote that a proper understanding of faith, hope, and love provides a common story for the Church by acknowledging our real life connections to community, nature, time, and place. I quickly got a marvelous critique from Lupe that raised three challenging questions about the relevance of my thoughts. The first two stem [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 23: Connections](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/connections/): The last two chapters in the book examine further how technique has damaged culture by removing things from their real-life contexts, how faith, hope, and love correct that for the Church, and how this enables the Church to offer much needed guidance to culture. In one of my face-to-face classes, I suggested that the customs, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 22: The Passion Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/passion-story/): The Gospel of John changes the love command from &#8220;love your neighbor as you love yourself&#8221; to &#8220;love your friends as Jesus loved you.&#8221; When John has Jesus put it this way at the Last Supper, he immediately makes the Passion the best expression of Christian love. All of the many atonement theories that attempt [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 21: Friendship](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/friendship/): At the end of his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis suggested we use a spiritual rather than a technological paradigm in working with the environment. One thesis of our book is we do well to do the same in all personal relationships. I think of a paradigm as the theoretical perspective or framework we use to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: Modern Charity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/modern-charity/): Last week, I examined the basic Christian message or Gospel that proceeds from the statement “God is love.” Perhaps trying to be too clever, I suggested everything else is commentary. My intention was simply to make clear that this message is always changing as it is applied to the particulars of the situation being addressed. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: Christian Love (part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/christian-love-2/): When I first tried to summarize the chapter on love last week, I wrote, “The seventh chapter of the book maintains that Christianity is all about love overcoming the violence of this world and that everything else is commentary.” I stewed about that for some time and finally changed “love” to “God’s love.” It better [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Christian Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/christian-love/): The seventh chapter of Faith, Hope, and Love in the Technological Society maintains that Christianity is all about God’s love overcoming the violence of this world and that everything else is commentary. It also asserts we are already in a place in Paul Wildman&#8217;s description of the techno-utopian-drift where our dependence on technology has severely [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Techno-Utopian-Drift](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/techno-utopian-drift/): Franz and I intentionally used the term “vision of the future” for hope’s promise. Nonetheless, my discussion groups frequently characterized it as utopian. An online conversation with Paul about what he calls techno-utopian-drift, or TUD, convinced me to examine further society’s growing dependence on technology. Both of us believe it is important that society makes [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Hopes and Fears](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/hopes-and-fears-2/): People are really worrying about the future. That’s what I found in all my classes from the high school, the young adults, the three more mature, and the online ones. When we discussed hope, all spoke in one way or another of fearing the future. Some seemed to live under constant threat. A lot of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: The Beloved Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/the-beloved-community/): I have been trying to show that our visions of the future impact the way we live in the present. The responses I have been receiving reflect the discussion that has taken place ever since the first century. They range from &#8220;needing to wait&#8221; because there is no way we can realize the promises now, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: The Just Society](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/the-just-society/): The Just Society is the second vision on which our hope is built. In it, God promises he will bring the day when all people will treat one another fairly. The promise goes beyond fairness, however. It involves a distributive understanding of justice in which each person has enough. Like all other visions of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: The Peaceable Kingdom](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/the-peaceable-kingdom/): Christian hope is based on God’s promises about his future actions. The resulting visions inspire our loving actions in the present. Isaiah’s beautiful picture of the Peaceable Kingdom serves as the model for the first vision. Its promise addresses one of history’s most poignant expressions of humankind’s lamentation at the ever-present threat of war. No [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Christian Hope (1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/christian-hope/): The visions of the future associated with Christian hope are quite different than those of technology. Like every proclamation of the Gospel, they call believers to loving action in the present time. The two technological visions that Franz and I suggested, on the other hand, make no demands except patience. “Technological expectation” is a determinism [&hellip;]
- [Herod (A Sermon)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/herod/): Matthew 2: 16-18 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been [&hellip;]
- [A Child is Born to US (A Sermon)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/a-child-is-born-to-us/): Isaiah 9: 6-7 For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will [&hellip;]
- [Wise Men Search for the Baby (A Sermon)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/wise-men-search-for-the-baby/): This season has always been a time of searching. My favorite example is an Ethiopia custom that is acted out every Epiphany. These very tall black men dress as Wise Men to go through the villages in a search for the baby Jesus. In the middle of the night, they stop at every hut, knock [&hellip;]
- [The Hallelujah Chorus (A Sermon)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/the-hallelujah-chorus-and-grace-a-sermon/): St. John never wrote a birth story. Instead, he celebrates God becoming human by singing the first Christmas carol. His song claims that this birth overcomes the darkness of this world and enables us to become children of God. Repeatedly, he says it makes available grace upon grace. In many ways grace is Christianity’s gift [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11:  Hope (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/hope-part-2/): Last week, I critiqued the picture of the Technium that one of the main characters in Dan Brown’s latest novel, Origin, predicts will begin in 2050. The Technium would be the perfect setting for a post-truth age. There is no need for truth or values, meaning or purpose, if science-based technology provides endless opportunities for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Hope](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/and-love/hope/): A friend suggested Dan Brown’s latest novel, Origin, deals with science challenging religion much as our book does. When I took a look, it was obvious Edmund Kirsch, one of the main protagonists, is based on the futurist Ray Kurzweil whom we use as the epitome of technological expectation. Kirsch predicts the beginning of a new [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Faith (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/faith-2/): Last week I described faith as trusting the God found in the common story proclaimed by the Christian community. I boiled down that Gospel to God’s promise to be active in history, rescuing the creation from self-destruction and especially, humanity from the suffering it inflicts on itself. My Monday evening discussion group accused me of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Faith](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/faith/): One way to read the Enlightenment Project is to see it placing decision making in the hands of individual persons rather than established authorities. Integral to this is investing power in knowledge tested against reality and experience instead of laws imposed by aristocracy and clergy. The scientific method, technological innovation, and democratic government now associated [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Faith, Hope, and Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/faith-hope-and-love/): One of the major challenges confronting the Church is how we should be proclaiming the Gospel in this new electronic age. Last week, I suggested the first big step to resolving this question is gathering believers in person-to-person conversations. To that end, I have gathered 5 symposiums that have met regularly for at least two [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Christian Words in the Electronic Age](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/christian-words-in-the-electronic-age/): Scholars usually speak of 3 momentous stages of language: the spoken, written, and electronic word. Each has distinctive characteristics that most of us readily recognize. Each has consequences for religion as well as culture. In the age of the spoken word, persons communicated exclusively person to person. Because most of this was face to face, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Words](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/words/): Even the ancients understood the essential role language plays for humanity. Genesis 1 acknowledges a rather sophisticated grasp of this when it portrays God using speech to create all things. It appears to build on the realization that speaking is always an act of creation and defines this action as naming and creating order out [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Loss of Community and Tradition](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/loss-of-community-and-tradition/): The online comments have represented the two primary responses I have been getting to the first chapters in the book. The first, voiced by Lupe, Paul, and Don, rather powerfully express how people have used God’s Word to oppress and massacre. The second, posted by Derek, readily agrees we are seeing the loss of caring [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Online Christian Communities](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/online-christian-communities/): I always shudder when theologians predict we shall all be worshipping in online churches before long. I imagine they are trying to show that they are on the cutting edge of history. However, I doubt if they have given much thought to the limitations of electronic communities. When my son and I studied online churches [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Technology as a Biblical Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/technology-as-a-biblical-power/): Last week, I described our life in a technological society that integrates tools and techniques in sophisticated all-pervasive systems. Although these systems have brought us tremendous benefits, they have also created an environment that pretty much demands compliance with their features. When making decisions in the past we had to consider the effect on other [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/technology-and-society/): One of the theses of our book is that modern science-based technology has created a society that offers a new kind of challenge to Christian thought and practice. In the past, we thought of technology primarily as using tools to overcome human limitations. Over the years, we added technique, an orderly, step- by- step way [&hellip;]
- [Introduction: The Blessed Ambiguity of  Words](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/blessed-ambiguity-of-words/): This series follows some of the thoughts in Faith, Hope, and Love in the Technological Society, the book that my son, Franz, and I recently wrote. One of its main theses is that God speaks to us when members of the community converse about their religious experiences and insights. The assumption is that these conversations [&hellip;]
- [Introduction: A Summary of the Book](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/summary-faith-hope-love-technological-society/): I plan to begin the lessons based on the book Faith, Hope, and Love in the Technological Society next week. Of course, I hope that you will buy a copy for $25 from Amazon (just click on the book; a portion benefits St. Judes) or for $20 from the publisher, Wipf and Stock, at 541-344-1528 [&hellip;]
- [Introduction: A Few Preliminary Thoughts](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology/introduction-faith-hope-love-technological-society/): I have three face-to-face study groups, all of which begin in October, so I am going to mark some time before starting the next online series. Because I plan to use the book my son and I recently published in all four groups, coordinating the lessons will make my life far more manageable. With that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: Church and State](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/church-and-state/): Let’s end this series by reminding ourselves there is no one biblical position on how God’s people should relate to the political state. Beyond that, the Bible offers no approved Christian relationship. Instead, we find a variety of perspectives that change according to the situation. Paul says to obey the Roman Empire; John says to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: The Political and Technological Environments](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/political-and-technological-environments/): Father Jude caught my attention when he described the State as being the environment in which the Church exists. He reported that he framed his argument this way in order to make clear the Church has to play by the rules of the State. Be assured, he is speaking about the Church as a human [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Freedom of Religion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/freedom-of-religion/): I think the widely ignored freedom of religion movement indicates the problem Christianity faces in a modern democracy. People in my circles thought the advocates were a paranoid minority of various church bodies. Now those paranoids control our government. Let me chart what I think developed in my lifetime. When I entered the ministry, pastors [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: The Church’s Damaged Voice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/churchs-damaged-voice/): Remember this series has tried to focus on the Church’s role in a democracy. I began with two assumptions and two related questions. The first assumption was that, at least presently, we are not sure what the relationship of Church and State is. The consequent question was whether the institutional church really has a significant [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Your Responses About Abortion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/responses_about_abortion/): I have been impressed with the conversation that has taken place here around abortion. It reminds me of the public discussion fifty years ago when the issue first went public. In those days, many of us were enriched by people freely sharing their insights. I found that happening again as I read your comments. Let [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Pro-Choice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/pro-choice-position-on-abortion/): The Pro-Choice group agrees readily with the Pro-Life group that life is a gift from God to be cherished and protected. They emphasize, however, acknowledging the sanctity of life must include considering the quality of life. The Christian love that cares for each person as a child of God always involves being willing to share [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Pro-Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/pro-life-position-on-abortion/): Let’s look more closely at the Pro-Life position in order to better critique it. This group is founded on the longstanding conviction that all human individuals regardless of physical or mental health have a fundamental and equal worth. This includes the fetus, because it has the potential for birth. To abort for any reason is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Pro-Life and Pro-Choice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/pro-life-and-pro-choice/): Reviving any creative conversation about abortion has to begin with appreciating the two positions that presently divide the Church. The Pro-Life group champions a concept of eternal law that maintains the sacred nature of all human life. Believing life begins at conception, they insist that the embryo, fetus, and newborn must always be treated as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Why This Obsession With Abortion?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/why-this-obsession-with-abortion/): Shortly after I was ordained I was surprised when a fishing buddy compared himself to another friend with the words, “He is not a real Christian. He believes in abortion.” I was speechless. I had never previously heard my friend express one thought about religion. But even more, although I had written papers on the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: So What?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/so-what/): My son likes to add an addendum titled, “So What?” to academic work. I felt compelled to do that after so many respondents reported they agree completely that money controls our society but are not sure that we can do to correct this. That is especially difficult when the Church’s voice in our democracy seems [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Market Totalitarianism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/market-totalitarianism/): I decided to begin this series with industrial capitalism, because I thought it would be the least emotional of the issues Christians should be addressing in the present democratic society. Right off the bat, Lupe challenged me by reporting she was growing more and more angry about the “substitution of money for God…the elevation of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Regulation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/regulation/): I have been assuming that the Christian voice in our secular democratic society must deal with reality, and in our time and place that is the capitalistic economic system. That does not mean that capitalism is a Christian program. Even a quick scan of the New Testament finds Jesus warning that you cannot serve God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Technology and International Corporations](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/technology-and-international-corporations/): One of the goals of the Christian voice is to uncover the truth that society ignores. For instance, it should acknowledge the role modern technology and international corporations play in monetary wealth becoming the only standard of our culture. The public conversation overlooks how both have very quietly and perhaps even unconsciously so disarmed traditional [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Sharing Risk](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/sharing-risk/): Let’s examine the Church’s voice in our democratic society that many think presently champions an inverse of Christian values. Last week I suggested that entails asking what the Church has to say when economics is allowed to trump every other authority so that monetary wealth becomes the only standard of human success. We could begin [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: How Did We Get Here?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/how-did-we-get-here/): About fifty years ago, Harvey Cox wrote an article entitled something like “The Free Market as God.” I remember participating in one rather intellectual discussion of it. That was about it. Things have changed. Nowadays all sorts of people are lamenting that wealth has become god. And they are not advocating an abstract hypothesis but [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Wealth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/christianity-and-wealth/): My intention is to examine some of the peculiar issues Christianity faces in our present democratic society. I planned to start with the complicated role industrial capitalism plays and was re-reading an email from Lupe Andrade in preparation. Before starting to write, I picked up Kerry Walters’ daily commentary written for the Holy Spirit Parish [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: What Is The Message?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/what-is-the-message-church/): The royal wedding that united Prince Harry and Meghan Markle offers a good source for examining the content of the Christian message in a democracy. Many, including myself, thought it offered hope to our society that seems terrified of the future. Others accused it of promoting only an emotional utopianism that ignores Jesus’ teachings. The [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Who Speaks for the Church?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/who-speaks-for-the-church/): The problem becomes even more complex when you ask who speaks for the Church in the cacophonous public conversation taking place in modern democracies. I was quite naive when I suggested the Church is one voice among many in these days. There are all sorts of voices claiming to speak for Christ out there, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Conversation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/the-public-conversation/): Last week, I suggested one of the big questions challenging the Church is finding her role in a democratic society. For starters, I claimed we had to acknowledge that we are only one among many voices in the public conversation. Perhaps the next step is to examine the nature of the present discourse. Many claim [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: One Voice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/democracy/democracy-one-voice/): If love is to be the foundation of a modern Christian narrative, it will have to address some critical issues, such as abortion, family values, industrial capitalism, climate change, and religious freedom. But maybe the first question to be tackled is, “What is the role of the Church in a democracy?” In recent years, people [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Resurrection According to Luke (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-according-to-luke-part-1/): After examining what Paul, Mark, Matthew, and now Luke say about resurrection, you get the idea that we are looking at the development of a narrative rather than a report of historic events. For instance, Luke makes additions that seem to compensate for Christ’s failure to return when expected. After Jesus is raised, he appears [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Resurrection According to Matthew](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-according-to-matthew/): The key to reading Matthew is to realize that he is &#8220;Mark plus.&#8221; He includes the entire book of Mark almost word for word. The plus is the addition of teachings and parables that pictures Mark’s worker of mighty acts as a teacher of higher righteousness. One effect is to alter the focus of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Resurrection According to Mark](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/the-resurrection-according-to-mark/): You have to be somewhat surprised by Mark’s short terse account of the Easter story. We heard from Paul about 30 years earlier that there was an official list of people to whom Jesus appeared after his execution. You would expect these would play a prominent role in his gospel. Instead, Mark adds a new [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Earliest Passage on Resurrection](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/the-earliest-passage-on-resurrection/): Any biblical understanding of resurrection should start with a careful reading of I Corinthians 15. This long and detailed chapter is our earliest attempt to explain what happened after Jesus’ execution and burial. We usually read it in light of the accounts in the four gospels, but I am inclined to think a more honest [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Let’s Get Biblical About Resurrection](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/lets-get-biblical-about-resurrection/): Recently, my son, and my beloved brother in Christ with whom I shared 35 years of ministry, died within days of one another. Needless to say, I have been pondering resurrection. One thing has become glaringly clear. Although ”God raised Jesus from death” is the central proclamation of the Christian faith, we pretty much avoid [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Joseph (Genesis 37- 50)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/joseph-genesis-37-50/): Ever since seminary, I have been aware Genesis is a series of stories put together by an editor or editors. I also early on recognized that the Joseph story is the most beautifully written in the book. This is the first time, however, that I noticed the editors seem to have laid out a plot [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Jacob (Genesis 28-33)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/jacob-genesis-28-33/): As I said last week, Jacob was a scoundrel and because of that, he spends a great deal of the biblical accounts running away from the trouble he has created. I wonder why people don’t t ponder what his story says about God. Twice he cheats to steal the birthright that belongs to his brother [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Patriarchs (Genesis 24-27)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/patriarchs-genesis-24-27/): God is often identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Bible. Abraham and Jacob are especially associated with the beginnings of the Hebrew people. Isaac almost serves as a link between the two. Abraham is presented as the founder of the Jewish nation and Jacob as the father of the 12 [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Near Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/the-near-sacrifice-of-isaac-genesis-22/): A straight reading of the chapter has God testing Abraham by seeing if he will kill his beloved son. Scholars differ widely on what to make of it. Some think it indicates the great demands God makes on us. Some think it describes how God provides animal sacrifice to cover human sin. And others even [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: God’s Promise to Abraham (Genesis 12-22)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/gods-promise-to-abraham-genesis-12-22/): Chapters 1- 11 could be regarded as the introduction to Genesis. The plot begins with Abraham in chapter 12. In fact, if you looked at the story that runs through the Bible, these chapters could serve as the setting for it as well. God begins saving his creation with Father Abraham. One of the best [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5:  Evil Pervades (Genesis 6:1-8:19)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/evil-pervades-genesis/): It seems strange that Noah and the Ark ( Genesis 8:20-9:28) has become a beloved children’s Bible story. You have to question what we are teaching our young people. Sadly, it is usually presented as a precaution about being good so God does not punish you&#8211;  something like behaving or Santa Claus will not bring [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Consequences of Humanity’s Failure](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/consequences-of-humanitys-failure/): Genesis maintains when we are not in a proper relationship with God, all other relationships are corrupted. That pertains to humans as well as all other parts of the creation. The narrative labels violence as the big sin. Humans were vegetarians until Noah’s time when God made allowances for violently killing and eating other living [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Humanity’s Failure](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/humanitys-failure/): After examining the goodness of creation and humanity’s task in caring for it, Genesis spends several chapters on our failure. Again it is clear we are not dealing with historical events so much as the meaning of ancient stories that try to express humanity’s alienation from God. The rather bizarre narrative and four stories maintain [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Humanity’s Task (Genesis 1:16-31 and especially 2: 15-17)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/humanitys-task-genesis-116-31-an-d-especially-2-15-17/): Although the ancient stories felt all parts of creation were good and worked together according to God’s design, they focused especially on the relationship between the divine and the human. In the second creation story, the human was to till and care for the garden. In the first, he was to operate as God’s agent [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Creation, Not Accident  (Genesis 1 and 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/creation-not-accident-genesis-1-and-2/): An honest reading of the creation stories quickly reveals the authors are not interested in particulars. Once you acknowledge that there are two very different, even contrasting accounts right next to each other, you recognize the editors are not trying to write accurate historical accounts. They are obviously more interested in what the ancient stories [&hellip;]
- [Introduction](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/genesis-for-today/introduction-2/): Let’s do a series on what Genesis has to say about our present situation. We tend to think of the Bible as beginning with the Genesis creation and ending with Revelation&#8217;s last days. Then we remember it is really a library with books gathered in categories. When we do that we can consider that we [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: Summary](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/gospel-community-summary/): Perhaps it is time to wind up this little experiment. Five months ago, I set out to discern some marks of a gospel community. At the time, I was not sure where I was going. People kept telling me the church had changed drastically since I retired twenty years ago. Many were no longer worshipping, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Communion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/communion/): The church has always maintained that one place where the Risen Christ encounters us is in the Eucharist. In the gospels, Jesus was constantly sharing meals and this has continued with his coming to us in the Communion meal. One of our readers, Paul,  has observed that my treatment of this challenged two theories of [&hellip;]
- [Christmas](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/christmas-3/): It’s Christmas time. Time for one of my favorites: The Conclusion to W.H. Auden’s “For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio.” NARRATOR: Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree, Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes Some have got broken and carrying them up to the attic. The holly and [&hellip;]
- [Christmas](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/christmas-2/): It’s Christmas time. Time out for one of my favorites. “The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Eating Together, part 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/eating-together-2/): After receiving the response to last week’s lesson, I decided to comment further on eating together as a mark of the church. It was an easy decision as I think it addresses one of the biggest spiritual problems in our time, the failure to eat meals together even with our own families. Certainly, as the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Eating Together](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/eating-together/): Another mark of the church evident in the Gospels is eating together. Luke points to that in Acts when he describes the early church worshipping at the temple on the Sabbath and sharing meals with each other in their homes on Sunday. That practice developed into the sacrament we know as the Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Community Beyond Family](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/community-beyond-family/): It is obvious one difference between Jesus’ community and the modern Church has to do with his band treating its members with the intimacy usually associated with the biological family. They shared their money and loved unconditionally as would be expected in most families. As soon as we recognize this, many of Jesus’ tough sayings [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Love Enemies](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/love-enemies/): My intention was to draw up marks of a gospel community, intending to come up with characteristics of a community that followed Christ Jesus. It seemed simply common sense to begin with accounts of what Jesus himself identified as his message. It quickly became evident to me that a primary mark of Jesus’ message and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Sharing Wealth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/sharing-wealth/): After reading the gospels, you realize the early church understood their relationship with the Risen Christ meant they could continue enjoying the community they shared with Jesus of Nazareth. Even a casual reading of the first chapters of Acts indicates this is what happened. The Jerusalem community is pictured going together for worship in the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: What the Church Is Called to Do Now](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/characteristics-of-gospel-community/): I suspect most people think the role of the Church is to offer the means of grace made available by Christ Jesus. They associate this primarily with local gatherings where people worship but also with the larger, even international institutions to which these belong. Some might also speak of the Church as a theoretical body [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: The Gospel Community in History](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-community-in-history/): Last week, I suggested there is a subversive aspect to the Gospel. “Counterculture” might be a better word as it conveys promoting values that are counter to those of the establishment but not necessarily working actively for its overthrow. Even better would be “prophetic” if it conveyed using Jesus’ teachings to critique society. Certainly, the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Community in the Gospel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/community-in-the-gospel/): Let’s get back to defining the Gospel in preparation for thinking about what a Gospel Community might be in our time and place. I started doing that by trying to identify the common features in the four gospels and Paul. Then I got diverted when I naturally turned to John 3:16 which many regard as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: More on Heaven](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/lesson-9-more-on-heaven/): I was surprised when last week’s diversion brought even more comments about heaven. After sharing them in conversation with friends, I‘ve decided this is a bigger issue than I thought. I was chided good-naturedly for not realizing there are plenty of Christians who do believe in a pre-Copernican concept of heaven. At least, they think [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Gospel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-2/): This one is late because I was caught off guard. I thought it would be easy to dash something off quickly, then I sent last week’s short essay to a list of people with a paragraph that included “Remember all four (gospels) were written before the Copernican revolution. Let me look next week at ways [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Gospel According to John](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-according-to-john/): Remember I am looking at the four gospels, one at a time. Doing that with John, you quickly see quite a difference from the other three. John offers intellectual reflection. If the others express Jesus’ oneness with God by proclaiming him God’s Son, John portrays him as the incarnation of the Word. Usually, I would [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Gospel According to Luke](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-according-to-luke/): If Matthew adds mercy to Mark’s power, Luke goes a step further and presents the Gospel as grace. Right from the beginning, the message is a gift to those regarded at the far end of God’s care. It is good news to the poor, not the poor in spirit. It is addressed to women as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Gospel According to Matthew](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/gospel-according-to-matthew/): If you only read Mark, you would think that the Gospel is primarily about God purifying his creation. That’s good news for people who unjustly suffer. However, from this perspective, it is easy to think God is a judge whose goal is to separate good from bad in order to cast out and destroy evil. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Gospel According to Mark](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/gospel-according-to-mark/): I set out to examine what a community built around the Gospel would be like in our time and place. It made sense to begin by defining what the Gospel is. Last week I looked at Paul’s description. This week I want to see what Mark, the first of the four evangelists, says. I decided [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Gospel According to Paul](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-according-to-paul/): I’ve been messing around for days trying to come up with an academic key to what Paul means by the Gospel. I tried all the usual ones, like our Lutheran understanding that he is all about justification by faith. Each time I ended up conditioning my ideas with “yes, but…” Then I realized that everything [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Defining the Gospel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel/): The Gospel is like the breath we Christians draw into our bodies. It gives us life. It permeates everything we do, every decision we make, every word we speak. Yet, it is difficult to grasp. I am writing this series as I have written every series— to discover who I am, what I believe, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Gospel Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/gospel-community/the-gospel-community/): There has always been some controversy about the nature of the church. When I entered the ministry about 60 years ago, an Evangelical pastor friend of mine described the controversy as  a tension between those who see the mission as calling people to accept Jesus’ offer of eternal life against those who try to provide [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Trust](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/trust-2/): I decided to do this series when so many of my friends were in a quandary about talking to people on the other side of our deep cultural divide. Many could find no way to have decent conversations with lifetime time friends or family. All were worried about their inability to talk about community issues [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Gay or Straight](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/gay-or-straight/): I was the kind of pastor with whom people shared their inner, often hidden lives. Early on, I became aware that almost everyone struggles with sexual issues in one way or another. I also came to realize people&#8217;s public personas were often just the opposite of their real selves. For instance, someone who was always [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/black-lives-matter-or-all-lives-matter/): I think I have been resisting this lesson. Being very active in the civil rights movement most of my life and raising a Haitian son, I was afraid I was too emotionally involved to trust my understanding of what is happening. Yet the only way I could ex[plain the great conflicts in our society was [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Racism and Sexuality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/racism-and-sexuality/): It made sense, even though it shook me up, when James Davison Hunter observed race has replaced abortion as the great divider since he wrote Cultural Wars in 1991. It rings true because the media daily reports efforts to support or oppose racial equality. It is upsetting because Hunter sees a greater threat for violence [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  11: Responses to the Abortion Lesson](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/responses-to-the-abortion-lesson/): My attempt to come up with some guidelines for moving beyond the abortion stalemate did not work very well. I received three kinds of responses. The first felt my effort to be carefully neutral ended up being irrelevant. Lupe, who has spent time as a political prisoner and journalist, knows far better than I about [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Pro-Life or Pro-Choice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/pro-life-or-prochoice/): A start to resolving the conflict would be an agreement to converse with one another using creative healing words and to do so as a family that is committed to working things out. The conversation would not be an abstract discussion of natural laws or eternal truths, but an attempt to improve a disturbing situation [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Confession or Denial](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/confession-or-denial/): I had hoped to come up with some insights that would help break the gridlock in the discussions about abortion, human sexuality, and racism. After struggling a couple of months, I found myself suggesting we should simply work harder in practicing compassionate love and using creative, healing words. That certainly would go a long way. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Words or Guns](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/words-or-guns/): Ever since I suggested last week that the most important contribution Christians make to overcoming the deep divisions in our society is compassionate love, significant events seemed to affirm or challenge my assertion. The very next day an editorial was published in our local newspaper that demonstrated how severely alienated we have become. The writer [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7:  Where do we go from here?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/where-do-we-go-from-here/): Where do we go from here? I thought I might have come up with some new proposal, program, or opening by now. Instead, I feel I am pretty much where I started. That is not to say I am frustrated; only that I have come up with nothing new. After much reading, I have found [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Culture or Politics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/culture-or-politics/): As I was trying to understand what happened to cause our deeply divided society, I came across a Politico interview with James Davison Hunter of the University of Virginia Advanced Studies in Culture. It was regarded as an update on the book, Culture Wars, that he wrote in 1991. Hunter attributes our experience of violent [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Love or Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/love-or-power/): I decided to start this series when I found myself growing extremely uneasy with Christians using militant language. I was increasingly hearing religious spokespeople speak of Jesus as a warrior fighting for us in a cosmic war between good and evil. This extended to many of them picturing the Christian life as primarily battling adversaries [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Suffering](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/suffering/): I got diverted last week. The thesis in the back of my head has been that either-or discussions in a technological society call for new perspectives. Technology makes for so many new possibilities that our concept of reality changes. We no longer see things black and white but rather in all shades of grey. I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Speaking the Message of Peace](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/speaking-the-message-of-peace/): I am looking for a way to peace in our deeply divided society. Just about everyone recommends conversation and that is exactly what seems impossible in our present situation. That really came home last week as I was reading responses to last week’s lesson while listening to David Brooks’ Yale Divinity School lecture “The Crisis [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Us or Them](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/us-or-them/): About a dozen years ago, a friend who is a respected diplomat told me even though I might not agree with politicians on the other side of the aisle, I nevertheless should respect them for trying to work with us for the good of the country. Last week, he said he now thinks the nation [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Either... Or](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/either-or/either-or/): A frequent response to the series on Fratelli Tutti was “How can you have dialogue in the present situation?” People appreciated the Pope’s calling for creative conversation but observed he did not have it in his own church. They felt the conservatives are just waiting until he dies so they can replace him with someone [&hellip;]
- [Our Fear Of Death: A Holy Week Sermon](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/our-fear-of-death/): &#8220;I intended to introduce a new series this week but decided to add a sermon before doing that. I had to prepare a homily for Holy Week and found myself constantly going back to responses I received after last&#8217;s week&#8217;s lesson. Certainly, one of the lessons we should have learned from the pandemic is how [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Love Casts Out Fear](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/love-casts-out-fear/): Let’s end this look at “Fratelli Tutti” by acknowledging the importance of Pope Francis’ contention that kind, gentle love is the way to social friendship. His critics recognize, rightly I think, that he is rejecting their picture of Christianity battling against forces of evil out to destroy the Church. He does not see his task [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Violence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/violence/): One of the gifts that Francis brings is his proclamation of nonviolent love. There are two versions of Christian action out there presently. One regards it as redemptive compassion and the other as aggressive warfare. The former sees the history of salvation as God and his people working to overcome the damage humans do to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Globalism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/globalism/): If the most controversial part of “Fratelli Tutti” is its economic critique, Pope Francis’ promotion of global friendship is second. In some circles, being a globalist is almost as bad as being a socialist. One of the biggest conspiracy theories thrown around by the &#8220;religious wrong&#8221; warns believers that any call for worldwide organization is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Political Economy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/political-economy/): Undoubtedly, the most controversial part of Fratelli Tutti is its economic critique. Although he might not label it as such, the Pope recognizes we operate in a political economy. Kurt Anderson uses the term in his Evil Geniuses to indicate people, not the market, decide how an economy operates. He argues those who call for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Transcendental Values](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/transcendental-values/): We expect a Pope to talk about transcendental values, but until rather recently, we would never hear him put these in a democratic context. Popes expounded eternal truths entrusted to the Christian church. They might speak of them as natural reason but assumed they were revealed to special, authorized, devout, right-thinking males. The voice of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Common Good](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/the-common-good/): I was surprised, even startled, at the response to last week’s lesson. I thought I was laying the foundation for examining Pope Francis’ ideas about social friendship. I simply wanted to maintain that he built on the definition of love in Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan in constructing an institutional ethic. However, everyone latched [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Cultural Warfare](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/cultural-warfare/): You can readily see the division that splits every major Christian body in the response given this encyclical. The Pope’s belief that Christianity is primarily about relationships is very evident in this letter about social justice. He repeatedly speaks of the need for unity. His critics want no part in this, because they believe doctrines [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Fratelli Tutti](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/fratelli-tutti/fratelli-tutti/): I intend to examine Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, in the next few weeks believing that he offers an extremely important guideline for our troubled times. People have pretty much missed the challenge he makes to world views taken for granted in our current society, perhaps because they have difficulty getting beyond the burdensome [&hellip;]
- [Paint Yourself Into the Nativity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/paint-yourself-into-the-nativity/): Shortly after we were married, Faith and I purchased a wonderful reproduction of Hugo van der Goes, “The Adoration of the Child Jesus.” It is a triptych done on three wooden panels about eight inches high which we have set on our mantles, tables, and desks. For 47 years, it has been at the center [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Summary of Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/summary-of-theology-of-the-cross/): Let’s be honest. I started this series after trying to understand how so many people could support leaders who profess and practice values I regard as unChristian. I had noticed that a theology of the cross, a central part of my Lutheran background, was conspicuously absent in everything I was reading. Now after investigating this [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Love in a Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/love-in-a-theology-of-the-cross/): If Christian love is unconditional, it is also ubiquitous. St. Paul describes it as the only virtue that is essential in all Christian actions. In I Corinthians 12- 14, he is describing the Church as a community in which each individual shares her spiritual gifts with others. In the very middle of the passage, he [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13:  Love in a Theology of the Cross (Grace as Charm)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/love-in-a-theology-of-the-cross-grace-as-charm/): Once we define Christian love as unconditional compassion and unconditional forgiveness, we recognize it is gracious. Christians have no trouble speaking of God’s love as the grace that saves us. We are hesitant, however, to see our own loving behavior as grace that transforms the world, especially since Freud created a culture of suspicion. Nonetheless, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Love in a Theology of the Cross (Forgiveness as Transformation)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/love-in-a-theology-of-the-cross-forgiveness-as-transformation/): Understanding Christian love from the perspective of the crucifixion highlights Jesus’ most radical words. Compassion becomes unconditional compassion. Love your neighbor becomes love your enemy. The same goes for forgiveness, the second characteristic. Hearing Jesus pray from the Cross that God would forgive his executioners reminds us that during his ministry he advocated forgiving our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Love in a Theology of the Cross (Compassion)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/love-in-a-theology-of-the-cross-compassion/): Lupe has prompted me to make clear that I do not mean to advocate 16th century concepts. When I refer to Martin Luther’s theology of the cross helping me understand the problems of the contemporary church, I don’t mean much more than the need to consider the implications of Jesus’ crucifixion when talking about Christian [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Two Christianities](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/two-christianities/): About ten weeks ago, I started using a theology of the cross in an attempt to understand the deep divisions in our church and society. I consistently found myself examining two different kinds of Christianity whose characteristics could surprisingly also be applied to the divisions in society. One group described our relationship, whether with God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: God in a Theology of Glory](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/god-in-a-theology-of-glory/): Early in my ministry, the Lutheran Church asked me to investigate the growing Pentecostal movement. With very little effort, I found myself quickly making friends and participating in groups at every level. When I shared my final report, many of them appreciated everything but one aside I made near the end. In it, I expressed [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: God in the Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/god-in-the-theology-of-the-cross/): Many theologians maintained it was impossible to have faith in God after the Nazi genocide of six million Jews. How could God allow the German nation to slaughter his chosen people? Ivan, in The Brothers Karamazov, claims you don’t have to go that far. The abuse and murder of just one innocent baby speaks against [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Prophecy in a Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/prophecy-in-a-theology-of-the-cross/): Two flawed pictures of the crucifixion are blunting the church’s message in our time. The first presents Jesus as a sacrifice enabling humanity to escape a fallen creation. Anyone who is willing to believe this and accept the deal escapes the last judgment and is taken to live with God in Heaven as the evil [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Truth in a Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/truth-in-a-theology-of-the-cross/): When I graduated from seminary, the question was whether there was a place for religion in the new age of science. We thought we were entering a period when we could make all of our decisions based on facts, not superstition. Some of my friends were working on getting computers to speak with one another. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Future in the Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/the-future-in-the-theology-of-the-cross/): Our modern technological society has a problem with the future. All it has to offer is more and better technology that supposedly will enable us to do whatever we desire. That usually is attached to having more wealth. The goal is prosperity and the assumption is once you have enough, you will begin to use [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Suffering in a Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/suffering-in-a-theology-of-the-cross/): The other day my wife and I were on our daily walk on the college campus when a man without a mask approached us. He stuck out because wearing one is compulsory in that area. As he passed, he said quite emphatically, “God protects ME.” He apparently felt he was making a witness for Christ. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Uncertainty in a Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/uncertainty-in-a-theology-of-the-cross/): A late friend who was a world class theologian used to insist that relevance is not a theological category. He had studied under Karl Barth and believed theology begins and ends with the Word of God, not the human situation. I would argue theology is useless unless I can relate it to my everyday life. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Freedom in the Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/freedom-in-the-theology-of-the-cross/): Freedom has become a big issue during the pandemic. Many politicians claim refusing to wear masks is your patriotic duty for it opposes authoritarian mandates. They call on their followers to choose to live as free people. Some water down their position  by rationalizing that the COVID virus is not as deadly as scientists maintain, but [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Luther’s Theology of the Cross](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/theology-of-the-cross/luthers-theology-of-the-cross/): The pandemic has brought clarity to the current situation in Christianity. As it rages on, it has become apparent there are two incompatible camps not necessarily identified with denominational boundaries. One of these consistently speaks of fighting a battle against evil and clearly regards the other camp as the opposition. The anger and threats being [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: Ambiguity in the Pandemic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/ambiguity-in-the-pandemic/): I started this series because everything I was writing at the time only made sense in the context of the pandemic. Any consideration of a theological or ethical proposal ended up being tested by how it worked in the present situation. I decided I might as well turn it around by examining the new problem [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Abortion in the Pandemic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/abortion-in-the-pandemic/): It is amazing how the abortion battle has surfaced during the pandemic. In my area of the country, people who refuse to wear masks use it to defend themselves against accusations about not caring for other people. They argue their strong stand against abortion proves they protect lives. Too often, that claim is followed by [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Death of Despair in the Pandemic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/death-of-despair-in-the-pandemic/): Without a doubt, the pandemic has forced us to face our mortality. In the past, we talked about the threat of nuclear or climate disaster, but it was always in the abstract. We could easily dismiss it as only a possibly and move to our next task. Now suddenly, day after day, our deaths confront [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Electronic Separation (Online Baptism )](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/electronic-separation-online-baptism/): Yesterday I participated in an electronic baptismal service. At the appropriate time in my live-streamed worship, a recording of a baptism that had taken place the previous week was played. The father, mother, child, and godparents were gathered in the nave around the baptismal font. A retired pastor officiated from his home. The parents wanted [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Electronic Separation  (Online Communion)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/lesson-14-electronic-separation-online-communion/): I expect we all know life after the pandemic will feature a lot more electronic communication. Zoom is here to stay. I reluctantly have come to accept this after sharing conversations with my sons-in-law while we vacationed together. Both pastor very fine Lutheran congregations and are preparing for a different kind of ministry. People are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: Uncertainty](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/uncertainty/): As some of you know, Stephen Hawking in 2000 spoke of the 21st century promising to be an age of uncertainty. He was speaking about the possibility of discovering a unified theory that would go beyond what we consider the basic laws of science such as gravity, the laws that govern matter and provide meaning [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Resolving Differences](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/resolving-differences/): Throughout the pandemic, I constantly have been asked two questions: “What can we learn to make things better when things get back to normal?” and “What can we do to facilitate a healing dialogue between the two warring political or religious groups?” I have come to think these are not helpful, even though I presumed [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12:  A Christian Response to  9-11](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/a-christian-response-to-9-11/): As we ponder actions appropriate for responding to the current pandemic, it might be helpful to think of what might have been a Christian response to the 9-11 terrorism. The Company at Kirkridge gathered after that life-changing event to discuss elements of an authentic faith after that tragedy. We had all read some Huston Smith [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: A Christian Lifestyle](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/christian-lifestyle/): In response to Paul’s request for actions that Christians could take in the pandemic, I decided to repost the “Lifestyle of the Company at Kirkridge.” It was my alternative community for many decades. Over those years the discipline of the Company changed to keep in tune with the times. Constant was meeting with the group [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: So What?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/so-what-2/): Paul responded to my last post suggesting it is time to talk about steps we can take in order to address the present crisis. He agreed it is important to share the narratives that give meaning and purpose to our lives. However, there comes a time to get down to action. Otherwise, he wrote colorfully, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Foreign Invasion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/foreign-invasion/): Hundreds of heavily armed men and women invaded Gettysburg, my hometown, on July 4. They occupied sacred land and patrolled battlefield roads seeking the enemy. When asked why they came, they readily claimed to be patriots who were preserving our heritage. In fact, they were responding to a social media post supposedly from ANTIFA that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Fairness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/fairness/): The pandemic immediately revealed it is not realistic for our society to base all its decisions on the economic market. As soon as the crisis hit, we began talking about the right for all of our citizens to food, housing, medical care, and a basic income. Without much reflection, the government quickly sent emergency funds [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Justice in the Beloved Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/justice-in-the-beloved-community/): As Dr. Martin Luther King maintained, you cannot deal with systemic racism without also addressing the economic and military problems smoldering in our society. All three exploded under the conditions of the present pandemic. Poor African and Hispanic neighborhoods were afflicted much harder than others by the COVID-19 virus. The George Floyd murder forced us [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Systemic Racism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/lesson-6-systematic-racism/): It has become evident that we are in the midst of a history-changing moment. Young people of all colors are demonstrating for Black Lives Matter. Adults are examining their naive belief that society has been improving steadily in spite of some minor setbacks. Many are opening their dictionaries to find out what “systemic” means when [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Online Courage](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/online-courage/): It was a strange week for the online Church. Last Monday night, the symposium that normally gathers in my home discussed the relationship between church and state over Zoom. As we were winding down, a number of the members asked why most pastors refuse to speak truth to power. In the few minutes remaining, a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: A Faustian Bargain?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/a-faustian-bargain/): As I write, the relationship between church and government is being maliciously manipulated. Popular public figures on both sides are using each other to get what they want. And, the deals being made threaten our souls. In order to understand how we got to this place, I find myself recalling what I have experienced during [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Trust... In Government](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/trust-in-government/): The pandemic has brought into focus all sorts of societal problems. The last lesson discussed only the large number associated with Smithfield Foods. Most of these have been festering for decades. The question is whether the pandemic will bring them to a head in a way that incites creative response. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: What We Have Learned](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/lesson-2-what-we-have-learned/): In a time when the Christian voice in the public conversation is babel and even cacophony, those struggling to follow Jesus must strive to be radically realistic. Jacques Ellul often describes this as being decisively honest. That would involve acknowledging the lessons that the pandemic has taught us and then making appropriate changes in our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Situation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/pandemic/the-situation/): I really ended the series on world religions because I was getting all sorts of emails that implied it was a good subject, but somewhat irrelevant in the midst of the pandemic. Along with this, I kept feeling a need to recognize what is going on in Christianity during this crisis. In general, the situation [&hellip;]
- [Addendum: Sick Christianity](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/addendum-sick-christianity/): After I posted a lesson entitled “Sick Religion” a few weeks ago, one of my best friends asked when I would have the courage to attack the real sick Christians among us. I was taken aback because I felt that was exactly what I was doing. I consider myself a lifelong student of false prophets [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Religious People, Not World Religions](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/religious-people-not-world-religions/): I began this series wanting to share Barbara Brown Taylor’s experience about how the study of other world religions enhances the way we practice Christianity. Her findings were similar to my own, and I felt that she responded honestly to the situation most of us confront in this pluralistic global society. I end it realizing [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Religious Language During the Pandemic](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/religious-language-during-the-pandemic/): Just a few quick words on religious language. Barbara Taylor Brown repeatedly speaks about the difficulty of understanding the religious language used by other world religions. Conversely, she observes once you do, you discover a lot about your own. My own experiences bear this out. Often when working on Lutheran Roman Catholic ecumenical activities in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Healthy and Sick Religion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/world-religions/healthy-and-sick-religion/): Throughout her book Holy Envy, Barbara Brown Taylor cites Rabbi Jonathon Sachs to support her call to appreciate the insights and practices of other religious teachings and practices. Each time she did this, I found myself evaluating what I regard as healthy and sick religion in our present society, even though neither of these scholars [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Jesus’ Teachings in the Election Campaign](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/jesus-teachings-in-the-election-campaign/): Many of us have become very upset watching politicians weaponize Christianity as the political debate has become a political war. People claim their party speaks for Christ. Some churches even consecrate a candidate supposedly chosen by God to save our nation. We find ourselves in a situation where the way you vote determines whether you [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8:  Romans 12 as Summary](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/romans-12-as-summary/): I was first drawn to examining judgment when seeking a new way to describe what might help us overcome our society&#8217;s deep divisions. I thought maybe talking about making good judgments would distract us from simply arguing about our differences. It might lead to new insights rather than the defense of old ideas. When I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: False Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/false-prophets/): If having good judgment includes weighing what others think, some standards are needed for doing this. There are all sorts of bad ideas out there, including strange conspiracy theories. This is nothing new. The Bible continually offers standards for judging false prophets. It’s worth reading 10 Ways We Can Recognize a False Prophet, as it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Good Judgment is Communal](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/good-judgment-is-communal/): Good judgment when making decisions involves, to some degree, consideration of the common good. This does not negate the singularity of every situation but recognizes that everything is also related to everything else. A judge representing the people in a criminal or civil court primarily offers a verdict in a single case, but that judgment [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: What Makes for Good Judgment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/what-makes-for-good-judgment/): I’ve been looking at the different meanings of judgment in hopes that they might offer some clues to helping us move beyond our society’s deep divisions. It is not that they make a different argument but that they come at it from a different perspective that encourages us to work together. For instance, claiming that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Technology and Accountability](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/technology-and-accountability/): Looking at judgment stems back to a conversation over twenty years ago. My son and I were writing something about technology and religion, which prompted me to ask my wife what she thought was our greatest loss from the tremendous growth in modern technology. Without hesitation, she answered, “Accountability.” I was fascinated partially because being [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Judgment as Accountability](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/accountability/): Although the Bible defines judgment primarily as the ability to discern God’s will in different real-life circumstances, it also uses the term to evaluate how accountable we are in living this way. Most Christians associate the term with this second meaning. At least in the US, God is described as a judge we must satisfy. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Biblical Judgment](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/biblical-judgment/): Many want nothing to do with the church anymore because it is so judgmental. They remember religious leaders in their youth talking as if life is only preparation for a Last Judgment that decides whether you’ll spend the rest of eternity in comfort or torture. Everything was about taking a test of accountability that absolutely [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Rethinking Judgment in a Divided Society](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/judgment/judgment/): As I tried to decide on the next series, I kept asking myself what we need right now and what Christianity offers us. I asked with some anxiety, thinking we are in changing and often scary times. All sorts of conspiracy theories are thrown around, accusations that other people are deliberately lying, and outrageous claims [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: Conclusion (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/tech-and-culture-conclusion-2/): I found it hard to end this series because something new was in the news every week. Although I had written on technology and religion most of my life, I constantly encountered stuff I knew nothing about. Things are changing so quickly and convoluted that I found discussing the situation with others at any depth [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: Conclusion (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/tech-and-culture-conclusion-1/): For decades, I have thought that all of our modern problems stem to some degree from the conflict between culture and technology—the two offer completely different understandings of human life and decision-making. Technology defines truth as the accumulation of information. The more facts determined by science, the closer you are to truth (usually designated as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 17: Juridification](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/juridification/): Many years ago, my son Franz and I did a study on juridification. Chances are you never heard of the term, as it doesn’t appear in many dictionaries. Juridificatiion is the attempt to codify into law every conceivable human transaction and establish appropriate penalties for all transgressions. We supposedly would no longer need courts, juries, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Education](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/education/): The cultural battles in school board meetings across the nation reflect the tension between culture and technology we have been examining. Communities have always used their educational systems to teach their cultural values. The fights occur because we have significant disagreements about what these should be. Much of the problem stems from technology creating a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Participate in Embodied Communities](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/participate-in-embodied-communities/): Technology and culture offer different approaches to decision-making. Ideally, a community uses technology as a tool for solving certain kinds of problems. Sadly, in modern times, it has been applied to situations that demand more than statistical reasoning, leading to the loss of certain important cultural values. Eileen suggested one way to counter that is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: The Need for Culture](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/the-need-for-culture/): A number of people have asked the same kind of question my good friend Myron poses in the following paragraph. I&#8217;ll try to find an answer. “I have been wrestling with how to define the culture that is under siege by AI and just what exactly is the threat. It seems to me that culture, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: The Loss of Culture](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/the-loss-of-culture/): When I started this series, I was still determining exactly where I was going. Then, I was supplied with an example every week that led the way. Last Tuesday, it was the ad introducing Apple’s new iPad Pro. It was immediately withdrawn when people objected to its content. However, I think it accurately conveyed how [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: AI Now](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/ai-now/): My son and I wrote about artificial intelligence about 30 years ago. At that time, scholars discussed its effects on society. Some felt we were entering a transhuman stage in evolution. Our group was more concerned about warning that too much reliance on AI would lead to significant losses, especially in the arts and ethics. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: What is Artificial Intelligence?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/what-is-artificial-intelligence/): I want to return to Ira‘s observation that we are talking about many different understandings of artificial intelligence because it is basic to what I am finding. The individuals to whom I talked certainly did not share the same concept, but neither did the articles or studies I read. Some referred to any task performed [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/the-dangers-of-artificial-intelligence/): Before addressing Ira’s observation that society&#8211; and we ourselves&#8211; are talking about many different understandings of artificial intelligence, I’d like to look at important recent events while they are fresh in our minds. They clearly contrast the present state of human and artificial intelligence in a way that highlights the contributions and threats of AI. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  9: The Limits of Artificial Intelligence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/the-limits-of-artificial-intelligence/): My limited knowledge of artificial intelligence is pretty much based on conversations with a computer engineer friend 30 years ago. He described his work as developing software to make a machine think like a human. I’m not sure he ever totally agreed with me, but after a while, I suggested he had reversed his task. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Artificial Intelligence on Church Decline](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/artificial-intelligence-on-church-decline/): So far, I’ve looked at global technological systems to understand the major developments in human evolution taking place around us. You could also use artificial intelligence. Again, people seem to sense its impact but have difficulty explaining exactly what that is. We are amazed when we read something written by a machine, but we are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Cooperation - Collaboration](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/cooperation-collaboration/): Several years ago, I attended a peace church conference. Surprisingly, I did not find a lot of emotional piety but rather profound thought, even when asked questions such as “Is there a better way to preserve the community than shunning?” However, I was most impressed with a discussion about the need to make cooperation the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Overcoming Technological Violence](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/overcoming-technological-violence/): Rebuilding culture is not something that is consciously done. You don’t gather people to design a culture. It naturally develops over many years as guidance for a group’s life. In an oral society, culture is the lifestyle and customs resulting from living together geographically. These are enforced and sustained by leaders, group pressure, and foundational [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  5: Rebuilding Culture](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/rebuilding-culture/): I’ve been implying that we must build new or rebuild old cultural values lost by relying on technological systems. This assumes a very loose definition of culture as shared meanings and purposes that bind us together and guide our social relationships. The loss occurs when technological systems provide what we need or think we need [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  4: Social Effects of Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/social-effects-of-technology/): I’ve been arguing that modern technology brings us many marvelous comforts and capabilities but also erodes traditional culture&#8217;s benefits. When people use technology to solve all their problems, culture becomes irrelevant. Let me go over some of the things lost. Culture provides guidance in social relationships. Technology focuses on overcoming our natural human limitations. It [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Unrestrained Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/unrestrained-technology/): Traditional culture provided all sorts of guidelines for relating to our neighbors. Some of you have questioned if there was ever such a thing. You argue I should recognize the US has never had a common story. In the past, our democratic government has simply been able to prevent our present cultural wars. Perhaps then [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Definitions](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/definitions-technology-culture/): I think I got ahead of myself. Responses to the first lesson indicate I should define what I mean by culture and technology. In the past, a community was associated with a culture. That culture was not something consciously built but an understanding that developed naturally from living together. That is not to say everyone [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Technology and Culture](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/technology-and-culture/technology-and-culture/): A member of our Science, Technology, and Society group from South Korea mused that he belonged to three different cultures during his lifetime. The first was the traditional Korean in which he grew up, the second was American after the war in 1953, and the third was the technological in recent decades. He argued technology [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Summary of the Future Series](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/summary-future/): Many work for peace, justice, and love. Karen asked if Christian faith offered optimism that is worth the time and effort. I think she was expressing the frustration a lot of us are experiencing. We felt we were overcoming our past shortcomings. We had elected a Black American president. We had a viable woman candidate [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Hope for Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/hope-for-love/): The third major biblical vision of the future is the promise of love. Let’s use Martin Luther King’s teachings to examine it. He specifically relates hope to the modern situation in the USA. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, the vision is the Beloved Community. He begins by describing it as “I have a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Hope for Justice](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/hope-for-justice/): A second vision of the future prevalent throughout the Bible is God’s promise of justice. It’s important to understand we are talking about justice not law. Ours is a society of law that tries to provide fairness and equality in resolving conflicts between individual people and groups. The justice vision promises a caring community that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Hope for Peace](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/hope-for-peace/): Most of the Bible was written to people who did not seem to have a future. Faith in God offered hope against hope (Romans 4:18). That faith was informed by stories that often included promises about the future in which peace, justice, and love prevailed. These promises offered encouragement for pursuing those visions in the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Is Humanity Progressing?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/is-humanity-progressing/): What seems to be the initial biblical scenario did not work out. Jesus did not raise the dead and then return with them to establish an eternal kingdom on earth. At first, believers were told to wait patiently. Some still do. However, most modified this vision of the future. Believers supposedly enter some kind of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Biblical Scenarios](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/biblical-scenarios/): There are a number of scenarios for the future in the Bible. Sadly, popular Evangelicalism has promoted those that do not offer much hope for 21st century believers. For instance, the Risen Jesus returning on a cloud assumes an ancient cosmology in which God resides in a heaven above and comes down to earth to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Hope and Prophecy.](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/hope-and-prophecy/): I was not sure where to go from here. I began with Karen’s question of whether faith offered a healthy optimism about positive change in society. After looking at how this was asked throughout the Bible, I elected to reduce it to whether there is even a future considering the violence of society. My first [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Christmas Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/the-christmas-story/): Let’s examine how the question about the future is handled in the Christmas story. Matthew and Luke ask how there can be a child in the future if there is no sexual relationship. How can there be a future if the imperial empire forces a woman to travel in the final stages of pregnancy? How [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2:  Biblical Questions about the Future](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/biblical-questions-about-the-future/): The goal was to find some help from Christianity in answering the question, &#8220;Is there a future in light of the present world situation?&#8221; The first thing that struck me was that the fatalism many of us fight is derived from what is happening around us. How can you be optimistic, considering what is happening? [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Is There a Future?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/our-own-moment/the-future/is-there-a-future/): Karen echoes what I hear from many friends when she writes, “Maybe we need to explore healthy optimism as a positive result of faith. I feel overwhelmed by the events of day-to-day living that make it feel like there is little likelihood of positive change coming. It is often hard to keep showing up and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Woke Christianity  and Reality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/lesson-8-woke-christianity-and-reality/): I started this series by observing many of my friends were asking “What exactly is woke?” After about two months, I am willing to define it as awareness, a basic value in all the great world religions. They all claim to discern reality that is described as facing the truth, providing a healthy way of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Woke Christianity and the State](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/woke-christianity-and-the-state/): Last week, I suggested we are in a cultural revolution in which people turn to name-calling and invoking God when rational arguments fail. One reason I decided to write on Woke Christianity is I’m surprised that more people are not in an uproar over the misuse of God in this conflict. MAGA claims our nation [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  6: Woke Christianity and Cultural Revolution](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/woke-christianity-and-cultural-revolution/): Last week a dear Black American friend said she regretted not being able to use Woke any more. She was referring to politicians making it a term of derision but also all sorts of other causes including themselves in a part of black culture. Hearing her say this made me aware how involved the issue [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Woke Christianity and Sex](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/woke-christianity-and-sex/): Last week I asked our Sunday School class what Christianity had to stay woke about in church history. In no time they came up with antisemitism, racism, and feminism. That last one has been front and center lately. I always start trying to understand what is going on by remembering what happened in the New [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Woke Christianity and the Jews](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/woke-christianity-and-the-jews/): Let’s see where we are so far. My goal is to provide some insight since woke is increasingly being used by politicians as a derogatory label for their opponents. It’s hard to nail down the term’s core meaning because they are most interested in its emotional connotations, especially those conveying disloyalty. I am suggesting the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Woke Christianity and Racism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/christian-woke-and-racism/): If religion is by nature &#8220;woke,&#8221; the spiritual wakes us up to what is hidden and sometimes upsetting about ourselves and our institutions. This applies even to the church. We can begin examining how this works with racism from which the term comes. Back in the 1930s, the Black American singer Lead Belly talked about [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Religion is Woke](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/religion-is-woke/): All the great world religions could be said to be “woke” in the sense that awareness is a basic teaching. They all claim to discern reality. That might be described as facing the truth, providing a healthy way of life, bringing us into harmony with the grain of the universe, or doing God’s will. In [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: What is Woke?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/woke-christianity/what-is-woke/): Many of my friends at some time in the past year have asked, “Exactly what is ‘woke’ anyway?” It’s usually in response to politicians using the term in a derogatory way, in mockery as if something “woke” is silly or in anger as if it is dangerous. My understanding is “woke” goes back a long [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Two Surprises](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/two-surprises/): I had two surprises doing this series. The first was I did not anticipate how comprehensive compassion was going to be. I started out simply seeking a broader Christian approach than nonviolence for resolving our society’s conflicts. Compassion expressed empathy but also a desire to alleviate the situation. It went so far as being willing [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11:  Karen Armstrong -  Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/lesson-11-karen-armstrong-twelve-steps-to-a-compassionate-life/): I decided a good way to bring this series together was to reread Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. Many regard it as the classic treatment of compassion in our time. My guess is many, if not most of our readers resonate with her position. Armstrong believes compassion is the basic teaching of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson10: Compassion in the Atonement](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion-in-the-atonement/): The most difficult theological task is explaining the atonement. There have been many theories, but none are completely satisfying in our day. I was surprised how frequently I turned to compassion in the past few months when trying to understand the crucifixion. It at least offered clarity missing in the traditional explanations. During the same [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Compassion as Willingness to Suffer](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion-is-willing-to-suffer/): Right from the beginning, I regarded compassion as more than being emotional about something. I thought it could be a guiding light in overcoming our divisions because it involves empathy that considers what the other person or group thinks. It didn&#8217;t take long to realize the term is more complex. In the Bible, compassion not [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Compassion as Guiding Light in Change](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion-as-guiding-light-in-change/): I have been considering how compassion might be a guiding light for overcoming the deep divisions in our church and society. Underlying this quest is the conviction that we are in one of the major periods of change in human history, one that rivals the first-century birth of Christianity, the fourth-century adoption as the religion [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Compassion for the Religiously Abused](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion-for-the-religiously-abused/): Early on I realized some people thought I could do no wrong because I was ordained.  Of course, others disrespected me for the same reason. Still, I realized  I could manipulate this first group if I wanted to. Three of the gospels report  Jesus had compassion on these because religious authorities in his day did [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Compassion for the Economically Oppressed](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/lesson-6-compassion-for-the-economically-oppressed/): It was time to start applying the study to our situation, so I tried to imagine what would move Jesus to compassion in our time. After the obvious needs of the sick, injured, and grieving, those neglected and hurt by the economy immediately came to mind. Jesus would certainly have something to say about our [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5:  Forgiveness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/forgiveness/): I am still amazed by what I learn when writing these studies. It’s hard to believe how much I missed in 86 years! For instance, last week, while pondering the Buddhist image of compassion as longing for oneness, it became very apparent this makes forgiveness a necessity. At about the same time, I found over [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Longing for Oneness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/longing-for-oneness/): Barbara inspired me to read John Phillip Newell, who writes about the need to reconnect with compassion in Rebirthing God, Christianity’s Struggle for New Beginnings. He echoes many of my friend&#8217;s concerns that we have a fossilized church that talks about God but fails to provide spiritual experiences of the divine. Newell focuses on Aung [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Transformation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/transformation/): Arguments about Christian characteristics in the New Testament follow a common pattern. Although they discuss particular specifics, they regard a transformed life as the essential factor. Paul  is very explicit about this in Romans  12: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  2: Compassion in the Bible](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion-in-bible/): The language scholars report there are a number of Hebrew words that can be translated as compassion, and beyond that, these same words are also expressed differently depending on the context. Often mercy is used, but also graciousness, healing, steadfast love, and loving-kindness. These frequently describe God and Jesus but, interestingly enough, seldom humans. I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Compassion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/compassion/compassion/): A lot of people have talked to me about the violence series. They are concerned about the acceptance of physical force and inflammatory language in our present society. At the same time, there was some uneasiness about seeing nonviolence as the response. Some questioned if it is sufficient to cover the need to offer some [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Nonviolent Revolution](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/nonviolent-revolution/): A lot of us were hoping human civilization was finally getting violence under control. The civil rights movement staged a largely non-violent revolution under Martin Luther King in the US. Decolonization was achieved under Gandhi with little bloodshed in India. Articles were published reporting non-violent revolutions achieved their goals more frequently than wars if people [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Guns](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/guns/): Let me report my personal experience with guns. I grew up in northern Pennsylvania, where there was a lot of hunting. I never heard anyone speak of a gun as a defense weapon until I went to divinity school. When working for a church in Bridgeport, CT, I noticed a very fine member had a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Violent Language](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/violent-language/): If faith assumes the transforming power of love, then the question becomes, &#8220;Where do we begin to overcome violence?&#8221; It’s not hard to know how Jesus answers. He always advises beginning with yourself. It’s also probably safe to think he would counsel starting with what you say. The power of words is central to his [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Fatalism  and Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/fatalism-and-technology/): I sensed a fatalism in response to the lessons on just war theory. There was a lot of “yes, but…” reactions, comments such as “I don’t think there is anything like a just war, but I am in no way a pacifist” or “I have always regarded myself as a pacifist, but events lately have [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Just War Theory (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/just-war-theory-2/): Let me ask some questions that I think demonstrate the limitations of any just war theory in our time. 1) Many of the those who read last week’s lesson reported they did not believe there was anything like a just war. They considered themselves conscientious objectors. Is that a moral position? Is it the only [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Just War Theory (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/just-war-theory-1/): Christians have two options when it comes to war. They can either be strict pacifists, or they can espouse a just war theory. The latter is not that easy. Certainly, one of the most difficult ethical issues is drawing up moral guidelines for fighting wars. At every step, you must prevent national self-interest from trumping [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Violence in  Christian History](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/violence-in-christian-history/): If you believe, as I do, that Jesus defined the Christian lifestyle as nonviolent love, you have to contend with all the times his followers acted violently in the name of love. That involves asking when, if ever, a historical situation might justify using physical force. Most importantly, it calls for discussion seeking to discern [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Nonviolence in Jesus’ Gospel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/nonviolence-in-jesus-gospel/): Many of us are offended when modern-day apostles picture Jesus holding a gun or wearing a military uniform. Admittedly, Jesus comes across as extremely forceful when he cleanses the temple and speaks harshly defending himself or warning about an impending judgment. However, his lifestyle and teaching are overwhelmingly nonviolent. He never advocates physically attacking others. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Violence in the Old Testament](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/violence-in-the-old-testament/): Whenever the modern prophets look for scripture to support their calls to violence, they turn to the Old Testament. Many take that for granted, believing that part of the Bible presents a violent God who commands his people to viciously destroy their enemies. You certainly could get that picture if you read only accounts of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Nonviolent Kingdom of God](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/violence/the-nonviolent-kingdom-of-god/): After looking at the Christian Nationalists, I thought a short series on violence might be in order. It’s bad enough that our society has little idea of how to handle the problem. Now we have many in the Church advocating the use of physical force in the name of Christ. A starting point might be [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Conclusion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/conclusion/): Let me conclude this series by referring to an article Don sent me: The New Apostolic Reformation drove the January 6 riots, so why was it overlooked by the House Select Committee? by Rick Pidcock. It traces in great detail how Christian Nationalists were deeply involved in the insurrection and wonders why the select committee [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Overcoming Our Political Divisions (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/overcoming-our-political-divisions-2/): When I began this series on the church and politics about 3 months ago, I am not sure I even knew the term &#8220;Christian Nationalist.&#8221; As the media has recently discovered this group, more and more people have become concerned about their activities. So many, in fact, that I have never had so many people [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Overcoming Our  Political Divisions (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/overcoming-our-political-divisions-1/): Just about every time I’ve spoken about Christian Nationalism, people ask how are we ever going to heal the political divisions afflicting our society? They are especially concerned because many believe it cannot be done without violence. Some even talk of civil war. I found myself wondering about that question at the annual Martin Luther [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Christian Nation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/christian-nation/): I was about to move on to something else when some of you asked more questions about Christian Nationalism. Thankfully, it has become a hot topic as people are finding it is a greater threat than we imagined. At the same time, Fred and Myron sent two articles that are very helpful. The first identifies [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Religious-Political Alliance](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/religious-political-alliance/): I was drawn into this series primarily to see what to was going on with Christian Nationalists. These people seem to be breaking the rules pertaining to the separation of church and state. I found this cherished separation depended on practical agreement more than political theory. The government controlled the numerous religious communities by granting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Freedom of Religion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/freedom-of-religion-2/): Any talk about church and politics after the Enlightenment has to look at the expectation that governments will protect freedom of religion. You get an idea how important this became when the founders of the US made their first amendment to our constitution the right to freedom of speech and religion. Since then, the role [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: American Exceptionalism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/america-exceptionalism/): The esteemed Pew Research Center reports 45% of Americans think we should be a Christian nation. Admittedly, there is a variety of ideas about what this means. However, it is especially significant against the background of American Exceptionalism. This is the belief that the USA is superior to other nations and called to lead them [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Conservative Roman Catholicism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/conservative-roman-catholicism/): Three weeks ago, I included conservative Roman Catholics in a list of Christian Nationalists. I want to take that back. At the time, I had no idea how outlandish and dangerous these new groups are. Conservative Roman Catholics are responding to the same social changes and also challenge the way our democratic government is trying [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Evangelical Christian Nationalists](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/evangelical-christian-nationalists/): Surprisingly, I had the same experience exploring Christian Nationalism in Evangelical churches as I did the New Apostolic Reformation in Pentecostal churches. In both, I began wondering from where these people came and found they were groups with whom I had contact in the past. I thought they had disappeared because they were so outlandish. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The New Apostolic Reformation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/the-new-apostolic-reformation/): This is probably the most extreme form of Christian nationalism. Like all the others, it assumes the church is under attack, and it calls for much more aggressive reaction. Christians must take over every area of society by replacing those presently in control with true believers. In fact, it claims this is necessary to pave [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Christian Nationalism](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/christian-nationalism/): The separation of church and state that historically has been a cherished principle of the USA is being severely threatened. The media pictures Church leaders laying hands on political candidates and popular pastors speaking prominently at campaign rallies. Election committees regard religious groups as critical voting blocks. Then Pew Foundation’s recent study of religion in [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The History of Church and State](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/the-history-of-church-and-state/): If the Bible can pretty much be read as God’s Word speaking truth to human political power, Church history is more diverse. It offers a variety of relationships in different periods. Before  we examine what is going on in the present, it would be helpful to trace very quickly what went on in the past.  [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Bible is About Politics](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/the-bible-is-about-politics/): When I entered the ministry back in the early 1960s, pastors were warned not to get too political in the pulpit or they would lose their tax exemption. John Kennedy was elected president after promising his Catholic faith would not influence his politics. And everyone I knew tried to separate church and state. Then all [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Conclusion (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/conclusion-part-2/): After three months of fairly intensive study, it is probably time to end this series. If I had to mention one take-away it would be our present inability to dal adequately with the mystery of a pregnant woman carrying a child. Many in the Pro-Life camp speak of the unborn child as an independent person [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Conclusion (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/conclusion-part-1/): Looking back over this series, it is evident that abortion has become the focus of society’s struggle with modern technology. The most evident form this has taken is through the “Make America Great Again”(MAGA) movement. However, there are all sorts of reactions to the way technology has challenged traditional values. Many conservative Churches describe it [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: When Does Life Begin?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/when-does-life-begin/): A few of you asked  about the official position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America concerning when life begins. That was the question we were asking in the 1960s. When we were unable to  find consensus, we did the best we could with the compromise of Roe vs Wade. Now, many conservatives are insisting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: What is Life?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/what-is-life/): The present abortion debate taking place in our society revolves around the question, “When are we dealing with a life that should be protected by civil law?” Answering the question adequately involves some understanding of what comprises life. We seldom talk about that because we assume everyone knows or at least senses what life is. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: The Role of Technology](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/the-role-of-technology/): Back in the last century when ministeriums discussed their differing viewpoints in hopes of finding a resolution for the community, this joke was often told: “Three people discuss abortion. A man says he does not believe in it, because his religion says it is wrong. A woman says she does believe in it because her [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Freedom of Religion Argument (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/the-freedom-of-religion-argument-2/): I ended last week questioning whether the abortion issue should be a matter of civil law at all. It could be argued that passing laws that support either position imposes religious teaching on the other. In that sense, it breaks the first amendment that grants minorities the freedom to practice the faith of their choice. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Freedom of Religion Argument (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/the-freedom-of-religion-argument-1/): Freedom of Religion has been associated with the abortion issue from the very beginning. Both sides use the First Amendment to support their positions. It began with Pro-Life advocates claiming they were denied freedom when they were forced to act against their beliefs. The often-used example was a Roman Catholic doctor or nurse forced to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: A Critique of Pro-Choice Arguments (Part 2) - Women’s Rights.](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/critique-of-pro-choice-arguments-2-womens-rights/): Last week I suggested Pro-Choice adherents appeal to real-life experiences and women’s rights. Over and over, I read women claiming that Roe gave women rights that the Supreme Court removed. Sometimes the rights are spelled out with regard to “My Body, My Choice,” meaning the issue concerns the woman’s person so they have the right [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Critique of Pro-Choice Arguments (Part 1) - Situation](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/critique-of-pro-choice-1-situation/): When I read Pro-Choice supporters, I do not find involved philosophical or public policy arguments. Instead, the writers appeal to real-life experiences, especially those that involve themselves, their families, or their friends. The issue is personal and emotional as they tell stories of abortion being available to women in need. They also refer to women’s [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: A Critique of the Pro-Life Argument (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/a-critique-of-the-pro-life-argument-2/): Last week, I suggested the Po-Life argument makes me feel I am engaged in an abstract, academic, moral dissertation rather than an attempt to solve a real-life human problem. I find resorting to moral absolutes represents Kant more than Jesus. And I wince whenever advocates preclude intelligent conversation by claiming it leads to an inevitable [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: A Critique of the Pro-Life Argument (Part1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/a-critique-of-the-pro-life-argument-1/): A Pro-Choice woman’s claim, “My body, my decision,” is hardly a complete ethical argument. Like many moral decisions we make in real life, it maintains that there is nothing better. In that sense, it is a rejection of the Pro-Life propositions. That means we should examine closely what those are. The most cogent presentation I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Let’s Start with Jesus](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/lets-start-with-jesus/): It’s pretty obvious abortion is the main issue dividing the Church in our time. The Body of Christ is split apart over a question that people acknowledge Jesus himself never addressed. This omission indicates that first-century people did not see it as a major problem. However, it also invites us to imagine how Jesus might [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: "The Church“ and Abortion](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/abortion/the-church-and-abortion/): &#8220;I decided to begin our series on abortion with an article written by Michael Cooper-White, the president emeritus of United Lutheran Seminary in Gettysburg and director of Lutheran Formation at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also reports for the Gettysburg Times and published this piece on July 11, 2022. It is not [&hellip;]
- [Asking Too Much of Christianity?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-and-society/asking-too-much-of-christianity/): Paul suggested I do a few sessions on abortion. I’ll start next week. In the meantime, I decided to use the following Facebook post by Kerry Walters as a transition. Kerry was a very respected and beloved philosophy professor at Gettysburg College. In his retirement, he serves as the pastor of the Holy Spirit Parish [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: Resurrection has Begun](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-has-begun/): Some of the most emotional and contentious debates I have had with other pastors and theologians have been about what exactly happened on Easter. Some feel there is no Christianity without a resurrection in which Jesus of Nazareth is literally brought back to walk bodily among his followers for 40 days. Others believe we are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Resurrection Raises Persons](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-raises-persons/): Let’s answer the two questions with which we began: Is there a life after death for me? Shall I be with my loved ones who have already died? In the New Testament, the question is whether those who have died will be able to enjoy the future beloved community God promises. It answers that God’s [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Resurrection Makes All Right](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-makes-all-right/): I began this series by suggesting most of us associate resurrection with questions about whether there is life after death and if there is, whether we shall enjoy the presence of our beloved. I probably should have added that some have fears about some sort of last judgment. I decided I would begin addressing the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Resurrection According to John](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-according-to-john/): The entire gospel of John can be read as a discourse on what Jesus’ resurrection means for us. John’s Jesus of Nazareth bears little resemblance to that of the other three evangelists because it is nothing approaching a historical biography. It only makes sense if you see it as a rereading of events in Jesus’ [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Resurrection According to Luke (2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/resurrection/resurrection-according-to-luke-2/): Last week, I noted Luke presents quite a different version of the universal resurrection than Mark and Matthew. This week, I want to examine how he likewise makes significant changes in how Jesus’ resurrection has been reported. You still have the empty tomb, but it simply indicates Jesus is alive. There are no instructions for [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Pope Paul VI and the Civilization of Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/civilization-of-love/pope-paul-vi/): Pope Paul VI introduced the phrase “civilization of love” in a 1970 Pentecost address. His attempt to implement Vatican II’s changes must have been successful, because Pope John Paul indicates it was the preferred term for the church’s social doctrines in his day. Subsequent popes used it, as they had to critique controversial issues.  In his Pentecost address, Pope Paul addressed the cry for peace raised during the Cold War arms race. Lamenting the deep divisions in our world, he stressed the unity bestowed by the Holy Spirit.  He first referred to the New Testament church that included Jews and Gentiles from many nations. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/civilization-of-love/civilzation-of-love-and-vatican-2/): It’s pretty clear that the concept of the “civilization of love” grew out of the Popes’ desire to answer the call of Gaudium et Spes. That document was groundbreaking in the historic shift that took place at Vatican II. It challenged the church to engage in dialogue with modern society rather than impose doctrine on it.  Although the term itself is not found in the document, the ideas, vocabulary, and outlines used by the popes are.&nbsp;Gaudium et Spes&nbsp;opens with “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age&#8230; are the joys and hopes, the griefs and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Civilization of Love](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/civilization-of-love/lesson-1-civilization-of-love/): The term “civilization of love” first caught my attention when I read the conclusion of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. Although I knew I had seen it previously, this was the first time I realized it was more than a passing thought. I was even more surprised to learn that every pope since Vatican II has used it. I was intrigued, wondering if they were laying the foundation for a major historical change. Describing our goal as the Kingdom of God has become awkward because of its connotations of monarchy, top-down control, and a next-life location. “Civilization of love” certainly facilitates answering the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: What We Learned About Forgiveness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/lesson-7-conclusion-to-forgiveness/): I decided to write this series after being disturbed by powerful people claiming forgiveness is for losers. People around me also seemed to have difficulty saying, “I’m sorry!” or “Please forgive me!” And of course, my Roman Catholic friends were not going to confession anymore. After two months of paying closer attention to what is happening, two new insights stand out. The first is how much forgiveness is woven into every part of the faith. In the past, I thought of it as a passive reaction that maintains a personal relationship. Forgiveness extends mercy to individuals who hurt us, overcoming offenses [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Forgive and Forget](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/lesson-6-forgive-and-forget/): You often hear people say they’re willing to forgive someone who offended them, but they’re not going to forget what they did. Their intention is to make clear they’re not naïve. Forgiveness will not open the way for the offender to hurt them again. Some believe this is not real forgiveness. They argue you must forgive and forget for the action to be complete. Supposedly, this is what God does, and he expects us to do the same. I imagine they are trying to say real forgiveness leaves nothing in the past that would diminish your relationship in the present. It [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Cheap Grace vs. Costly Forgiveness (Bonhoeffer)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/lesson-5-cheap-grace/): Dietrich Bonhoeffer is usually cited for drawing our attention to cheap grace. He defined it as “preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance… grace without discipleship.&#8221; He was criticizing the Lutheran church for not opposing the Nazi regime. Most of its pastors argued that God called them to preach the Word and offer the Sacraments, but to leave politics to the state. Bonhoeffer felt this was abandoning the prophetic role and wrote, &#8220;Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.&#8221; Some feel we are [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Forgiving Oneself](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/lesson-4-forgiving-oneself/): Having established that forgiveness is an intrinsic part of Christian love, I’d like to look at some of the issues. The first is the ability to forgive yourself. Even though you might be convinced God has absolved you, it’s impossible to move on unless you’re also then able to forgive yourself. The theology underlying the sacrament of confession recognizes this. It maintains confession involves examining your past thoughts and actions, feeling contrition or sorrow at those which offended God and other people, resolving to avoid these in the future, confessing them openly, receiving absolution from God, and then performing some form [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Forgiveness in the Bible Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/forgiveness-in-the-bible-story/): Having looked at the prominent place of forgiveness in Jesus’ message, we should open up our study to the entire Bible. It, of course, deals with the relationship between God and humanity and, consequently, the way humans relate to each other. The Bible&#8217;s story assumes humans refuse to understand what’s good for them. They reject God’s friendship and guidance and thereby deny reality. Genesis offers four stories to illustrate this: the Garden of Eden, where they chose to make their own ill-conceived laws; Cain and Abel, where jealousy incites a man to murder his brother; the Tower of Babel, where a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Jesus on Forgiveness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/jesus-on-forgiveness/): Jesus’ ministry highlighted forgiveness. The Old Testament law and prophets certainly recognized God&#8217;s mercy and lovingkindness at various points, but Jesus went much further. He proclaimed God as Father far more than as king. Teachings like the Prodigal Son pictured Him as obsessed with saving his wayward children. Indeed, his interpretation of the law is so demanding that you realize your own need for forgiveness. If the command “Do not murder” implies not even being angry with your brother, you obviously fall short. His interpretation also indicates that you must forgive others. Returning good for evil, turning the other cheek, and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Need for Forgiveness](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/forgiveness/the-need-for-forgiveness/): Our society has pretty much lost the value of forgiveness. Well, people do forgive one another, but it is an act between individuals that signifies regret for something they have done. Saying you are sorry is only a small part of the Christian meaning. Jesus spoke of forgiveness bringing radical change into a person’s life. When Christians describe Jesus dying to bring forgiveness of sin, they are speaking of a decisive transformation of history. Talk about God saving the world refers to a forgiveness that rescues humanity from self-destruction. From one perspective, the entire Christian life is forgiveness. Love includes mercy [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Church and Politics (Update 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/church-and-politics-update-3/): Another impactful change in just the last 5 years is the ability to hide one’s identity. That is evident in the present use of masks in public life. We got used to seeing people with their faces covered during COVID. Even though government regulations requiring these became controversial, we still expect people with communicable illnesses to wear masks. However, we also see citizens hiding their identities when taking political action. For instance, the federal police force, ICE, considers masks part of its uniform. White supremacist organizations parade in DC wearing masks. And it’s much more common for people to hide their [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: Church and Politics (Update 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/church-and-politics-update-2/): Last week, I argued that one reason it is difficult for Christians to respond when events around us cry out for prophecy is that the wall between church and state has been severely damaged. Let me analyze a rather crude example to illustrate another cause. For some reason, probably because I read right-wing publications, I receive two or three short AI videos featuring Jesus and Donald Trump daily. They present the two in all sorts of scenarios, from calm conversation to quiet walks in the woods to wild motorcycle rides. Jesus often has his arm around Trump. They sometimes shake hands, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  14: Church and Politics (Update 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/church-politics/update-to-church-and-politics-1/): In the past, I wrote a series on religion and politics in which I spoke of the wall between church and state being porous in ways that benefit both sides. Not being established, the church can support the government when warranted and prophetic when necessary. I ended up warning that the new Christian Nationalist movement threatened to destroy that working relationship. Much of the study looked at how these churches and the MAGA movement fed off one another. It was in 2022 when Trump seemed gone. I argued this religious movement had taken advantage of his presidency to gain strength and [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Big Question](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/the-big-question/): A week ago, I intended to answer the question “How do we overcome our conflicts and recover our decency?” in my study. I found myself casting aside one draft after another, feeling my answers might be correct, but they surely came across as trite. None captured the emotional despair of my friends who were really asking,“ What do you do when those you think are dead wrong have no interest in working together for a common good?” Many find the divisions in our society are exactly what they want. The conflicts enable them to wield great power. They create a standoff [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Hitting the Bottom?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/hitting-the-bottom/): The pope’s latest encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” is subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” That is what the rules of civility do. They provide guidelines for safeguarding the human person. To be civilized is to protect the weak from being abused by the strong. To be truly human is to respect the dignity of every individual. Pope Leo claims this will be ensured if we choose a civilization of love that serves all people rather than a culture of power in which a few control everyone else. He builds on Pope Francis’ insistence that church teaching [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Accountability](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/accountability-2/): During this series, readers reported on the loss of civility in driving, sports, and especially social media. Last week I focused on public and private conversation. All observed that a change had taken place. There is less decency today than there used to be. We have to ask what happened. My personal experience attributes it to a loss of accountability. When I was young, I was constantly impressed by the responsibility for my actions. My relationship with God was bound up with doing what I was supposed to do. I felt I was constantly being watched by God. In truth, I [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Proverbs](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/proverbs/): The closest thing to the “Rules of Civility” in the Bible is the Book of Proverbs. The “Rules” are supposedly the guidelines for success that George Washington used. Proverbs are purportedly those recorded by King Solomon from his experience. The two documents share many of the same guidelines, such as taking the lower seat, letting others speak of your prominence, and associating with good people. However, I am more impressed that both focus on the importance of speech. Most of the “Rules” and “Proverbs” deal with how we speak to one another. Both recognize that our humanity depends on our use [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Rules](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/the-rules-of-civility/): The first and the last of George Washington’s “Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” pretty much capture the spirit of the other 108. Number 1 is “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” Number 110, “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.” The document applies these to all sorts of situations and circumstances such as business and recreation, meals and other social gatherings. Many rules are very simple such as not eating with your mouth full or interrupting [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Rules of Civility](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/civility/rules-of-civility/): I became fascinated with rules of civility when reading Amor Towles’ book of the same name. One of the main characters tries to make it in Manhattan by using George Washington‘s “Rules of Civility &amp; Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Apparently, our first president wrote this down when he was a teenager, perhaps simply as an exercise in penmanship. Many think it signifies the standards he maintained throughout his life, as he epitomized the respect for others emphasized in the rules. My first reaction was a smile, but it was quickly followed by recognition that we have lost much of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: Repentance and Immigration](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/concluding-with-immigration/): Let me end this series using immigration to illustrate what I&#8217;ve found. I chose the topic after a number of you said you would appreciate a theologically informed evaluation of the Trump administration. It seemed that repentance, viewed as rethinking, might do that. What started out as an examination of current events always developed into a recognition of our checkered past. For instance, once you start exploring our present abuse of immigrants, you soon become aware of the ups and downs in treatment throughout our history. We passed laws that terribly mistreated immigrants, rescinded them, and then passed another batch of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  10: Repentance and the 250th Anniversary](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/repentance-and-the-250th-anniversary/): One of the reasons I chose to write about repentance was the fear that we would hear a lot of bad theology as we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Most of those planning and participating in the religious events are prosperity gospel preachers. One of them is President Trump’s personal adviser, Paula White, whom he appointed to head the new Department of Faith. She claims that to oppose any government action is to oppose God’s will. This is exactly the opposite of Jesus’ intention when he said the first step in following him is to repent and believe the Gospel. He [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Rethinking Nature](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/rethinking-nature/): In a modern technological society, rethinking our relationship with nature is critical. Living most of the time in an artificial world, we tend to lose contact with our natural environment and with that, an appreciation of our dependence. In the past, technology provided tools that helped us live in harmony with nature. Tools protected us from its threats; tools enhanced its benefits. Shelter kept us safe from storms; equipment helped us take advantage of growth. Rather recently, humanity began thinking that the power of modern technology enables us to control, rather than coordinate, with nature. That power has bought great security [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Repentance in a Global Society](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/global-society/): A major factor in our present inability to establish a common understanding of truth is certainly globalism. In the past, geographic separation resulted in different lifestyles developing in the eastern and western worlds. You see that in their religions: Judaism and Christianity in the west, Hinduism and Buddhism in the east. It was also apparent in recent opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. The one in Asia featured massive groups performing amazing synchronized dances and exercises. The one in Europe focused on individuals featured for their unique ability. Modern technology has overcome the geographic distance. It used to take months or [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  7: Rethinking Truth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/rethinking-truth/): We are looking at Jesus’ observation that those who want to follow him have to repent. Becoming a disciple entails rethinking the way you’ve been living. This series explores various ways we can rethink what’s going on around us. Certainly, one of the issues where we see a lot of rethinking these days is truth. It became a major issue in journalism some years ago, when Fox News argued that it could not be sued because it offered entertainment, not information. That highlighted the fact that different news agencies were offering their parochial perspectives on current events and eventually developed into [&hellip;]
- [Love Like Jesus](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/sermons-shelves/sermons/love-like-jesus/): from John 13: 1-17, 21b-35 Very early in my ministry, I learned that many people have great trouble with the kind of confession we used tonight. They reported that when they were teenagers, facing all sorts of questions about self-worth and having sexual thoughts and feelings that made them uncomfortable, confessing that they were by nature sinful and unclean led them to believe they were terrible people. Some felt confessing sin damages the self-respect and confidence they need to enjoy life. At the time, I thought one way to counter this was to emphasize that the great commandment is really about [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  6: Repentance and the Economy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/repentance-and-the-economy/): People on both sides of the political spectrum are calling for a rethink of our economy. Those on the right believe we have been drawn more and more into a socialism in which freeloaders milk the system. In many ways, MAGA really means &#8220;Make America Rich Again&#8221; and believes the way to do that is to return to a free enterprise system that removes regulations and ends programs designed to help the vulnerable. Those on the left believe we must rethink an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. They think we must protect programs that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Repentance and Just War](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/repentance-and-just-war/): The fundamental ethical principle is “Do not kill.” It addresses the fundamental human problem: the disagreement between two individuals. All morality is the conversation that follows. Just War Theory is one part of that conversation. Some participants insist that “do not kill” says it all. They declare themselves pacifists and refuse to engage in warfare of any kind. Many cite Jesus accepting death rather than defending himself and teaching that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Christians have taken that position and refused to shed blood for 300 years. When we were given a voice in the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Repentance and Confession](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/repentance-and-confession/): We have a hard time with confession these days. Traditionally, it served as the first step in repentance, acknowledging our failure to fully live according to the Gospel. Both John the Baptist and Jesus called people to repentance. The gospels picture them as prophets who ask us to rethink the way we live and change our ways. Luke contrasts their messages. He paints John as far more judgmental when he invokes the law. Jesus is more gracious as he appeals to the heart. Yet, Jesus is more radical. John tells people to give away a coat if they have two, while [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Repentance and War](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/repentance-and-war/): I found this so important, I decided to send it on in this lesson. An outlandish hope by Roy Howard In our Sunday School class, we are exploring the work of theologian Stanley Hauerwas, through a small collection of his writings with the title Jesus Changes Everything. It’s a bracing book, as Hauerwas himself is known to be. Unflinching in his assertions, he invites a conversation, even an argument, to clarify one’s own convictions and the reasons for them. Though I don’t mimic his style, I have learned a great deal from him over the years and continue to do so [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  2: Rethinking Values](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/rethinking-values/): I decided to write on the need for repentance when reading Jacques Ellul’s Theology and Technique. The statement that stopped me short was, “The principles, values, and morals taught to children are in contradiction to what is demanded of adults.” My first reaction was “Yes, this is definitely true”; my second, “This is a critical matter in any society”; and my third, “This calls for a lot of rethinking.” I immediately thought of Robert Fulghum’s book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It reminds us that simple lessons we are taught very early in life, like “sharing, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Repentance Means to Rethink](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/repentance/to-rethink/): One of the best sermons I ever heard was delivered by H. Richard Niebuhr when I entered divinity school. I can still see and hear him musing in the pulpit. He began simply saying, “Repent…. to rethink. Repent … to rethink. To repent is to rethink.” Once that sunk in, he elaborated with different ideas. To repent is to rethink. The Christian message is not what we hear from society. To follow Jesus is to rethink the values on which you base your life. To repent is to rethink. The Christian continually grows. To follow Jesus is to constantly rethink your [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: I am Spiritual](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/i-am-spiritual/): Let me end this series by noting again that people mean all sorts of things when they try to define spirituality. That goes for academic writing as well as personal identification. When they say, “I am spiritual” they mean anything from being emotional to the passionate practice of a religion. Considering that this is such an elastic word, perhaps the best thing I can do is simply explain what I mean when I say, “I am spiritual.” It’s my way of declaring I am sincerely trying to live by the gospel Jesus taught and lived. Because I believe he personifies God [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Need for Community](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/the-need-for-community/): A missing element in spirituality today is community. Throughout the ages, many individuals have written about their spiritual thoughts and experiences, and almost all, in one way or another, were connected to a community of faith. Yes, there have been hermit monks and isolated mystics, but overwhelmingly, being spiritual meant participating with a certain kind of group. In fact, most people who spoke to me personally about significant spiritual experiences in nature, music, yoga, or meditation related them to their religion. Their church gave them words to explain what took place. What happened reinforced what they already believed. A community is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Spirituality as Meaning and Purpose](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/meaning-and-purpose/): Although I’ve gone all over the place with this study, I’ve found only vague descriptions of spirituality. Let me humbly attempt my own. Traditionally, people have spoken about five areas of the human life: physical, mental, emotional, ethical, and spiritual. Although they overlapped, you could assign functions to each. The spiritual dealt with meaning and purpose. It connected to something greater than oneself, such as the community, a cause, or the divine. This relationship supplied the beliefs that directed the other areas. Throughout most of human history the spiritual was informed by an established religion. It provided the spiritual values considered [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Questions about Spirituality](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/questions-about-spirituality/): I have written and put aside five essays for this post. Each time I finished one, someone brought up concerns I had not addressed. I finally decided to simply report what friends were telling me, as their questions seemed more important than my intellectual answers. They reveal we are in a period of great change. I have never had so many people talk to me openly about what they believe or do not believe. Usually, creeds are mentioned, but rituals and social positions come up as well. I also have never had so many people report having life-shaking religious experiences. They [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Spirituality in a Modern Technological Society](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/spirituality-in-modern-technological-society/): I started this series hoping to understand what people mean when they use the word &#8220;spiritual.&#8221; Many who say they want no affiliation with an established religion still consider themselves spiritual. Some theologians predict that churches will become spiritual centers in the future. I found myself getting very uneasy about this and couldn’t figure out why. When I examined biblical and church history, I found that the word signified different movements and exercises at various times. However, none of them seemed to relate to how it is used today. This has convinced me that you have to take into consideration the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Spiritual in Church History](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/spiritual-in-church-history/): Throughout the years, being spiritual has usually referred to experiencing God’s presence in one&#8217;s life. When the early church spoke of Jesus’ Spirit living on after His death, they meant more than merely recalling past experiences and reports, more than simply adhering to what He taught during His ministry. They insisted that after the resurrection, the risen Christ was present among them, still guiding in ever-new directions. The situation changed when the Church became an establishment of the empire during the 4th century. Many identified themselves as Christian by accepting particular doctrines and practicing certain rituals. In reaction, some individuals moved [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Spirit in Paul](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/the-spirit-in-paul/): I am trying to develop an understanding of spirituality that makes sense in the 21st century. I started by examining what the Bible has to say. When I reached the New Testament, I found that Luke-Acts, John, and Paul make a significant point about Jesus’ resurrection, releasing the Holy Spirit in a new way. Paul refers to the Spirit in so many different circumstances that it’s hard to grasp a basic meaning. I find some coherence by examining the three places where he elaborates at length: Romans 8, Galatians 5, and I Corinthians 12–14. Let me offer a quick modern summary [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Spirit in the Gospels](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/the-spirit-in-the-gospels/): If you had asked me a year ago what it means to be spiritual, I would have begun discussing different classifications of life, such as physical, mental, and spiritual. Then I would’ve attempted to describe the characteristics of each. Over the past year, I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the number of people in various situations claiming to be spiritual. My interest was aroused because they usually did not include the characteristics I would list. I decided a good way to begin sorting this out was to see what the Bible said. Quite frankly, the Old Testament added to the confusion. It [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Spirit as Word](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/the-spirit-as-word/): Spirit is one of the most constant terms in the bible. It is used for God. It is used for humans. It is used to express the relationship between the two. Yet like the air we breathe, it is so prevalent we seldom notice it. In fact, Scripture often portrays the spirit as the air we breathe. God bestows it as the life force energizing our bodies. Sometimes this is described as God sharing God&#8217;s Spirit with us, giving the human spirit, or life itself, a divine quality. The spirit is especially associated with speech. In the first creation story, the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: The Basic  Meaning of Spirit](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/the-basic-meaning-of-spirit/): Biblical scholars typically begin their discussion of &#8220;spirit&#8221; by cautioning that there is no consistent meaning throughout the Bible. They then most often describe how wind and breath are used at the most basic level. This relatively simple perspective uses the wind to describe the presence of God. The first creation story in Genesis begins, “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.&#8221; In the third chapter of John, Jesus says. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/faith-doctrine/spirituality/spiritual/): I want to lay a foundation for examining spirituality. Mental activity has broken down to support the competing ideologies in our present social conflict. Although “spirit” has always had a multi-dimensional meaning, I felt it still had the potential to bring together diverse attitudes. The aesthetic seemed able to discuss differences without descending into chaos. When I started jotting down all the ways the term &#8220;spiritual&#8221; is used today, I began to question my optimism. People use it to describe anything from being moved emotionally to communicating with God. Apparently, even most people who claim to be non-religious nevertheless consider themselves [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Summary of Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/summary-of-prophets/): I was surprised that the first thing that jumped out at me when I reflected on this series was how much the religious and political authorities resisted the message of the prophets. Admittedly, at the invitation of some of our readers, I was reading their comments, focusing on what they said to our current political administration. Nevertheless, it was evident that we’re not experiencing anything new. Priests and kings try to silence prophets. I always thought of the law and prophets complementing one another as a good summary of the Old Testament. I saw the law representing an approved record of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Modern Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/modern-prophets/): Except for a very few small sects, prophecy as an office in which a person received a message directly from God disappeared from Christianity for 2000 years. The institutional Church used canon, creed, educated theologians, and consecrated authority to discern what God was doing and evaluate individual spiritual thoughts and experiences. Then suddenly in the beginning of the 20th century, movements broke out seeking certainty in the face of the relativism of science and other forms of secular reasoning. Fundamentalism has received the most attention. It used a particular understanding of the Bible to judge truth in all areas. Just as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11: New Testament Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/new-testament-prophets/): Prophecy moves in a very interesting direction in the New Testament. A good third of the Old Testament, 17 books in all, are records of prophetic visions. There is only one in the New. That seems strange when the main character is portrayed as a prophet. Jesus is executed by the religious and political authorities for speaking truth to power. His resurrection authenticates that he speaks or God. Yet he is very seldom given the title prophet. The only other prophet prominent in the testament is John who wrote Revelation. He, like Jesus, suffers for speaking truth to power. He is [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Prophet Jesus](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/the-prophet-jesus/): The one thing all religious people can agree upon about Jesus is that he was a prophet. Even Muslims believe he spoke on behalf of God. Like the Old Testament prophets, Jesus insisted that worship is useless if one does not live according to God’s ways. He went so far that his picture of the Last Judgment is based on whether you care for the needy, not whether you worship the true God. And his best-known parable features a foreigner taking care of a needy man while those going to worship pass by. I have been using the Old Testament prophets [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Isaiah (Part 3)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/isaiah-3/): Isaiah chapters 56 &#8211; 66 were written by a third member of Isaiah’s school to those who returned from the Babylonian Exile. The expectation was that once they’d come home, the nation would unite, the people would prosper, and their suffering would end. When this hope was not fulfilled, the priests and government officials blamed interracial marriage. They commanded Jewish men to divorce their foreign wives who were supposedly corrupting the race. It sounds an awful lot like what we Americans hear to justify getting rid of immigrants. Third Isaiah opposed this, claiming that the temple was meant to be a [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Isaiah (Part 2)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/isaiah-2/): Chapters 40 through 55 contain some of the most beautiful and oft-quoted passages in the Bible. They record how Isaiah’s school interpreted suffering in the sixth century BC. Two hundred years have passed since the Assyrian Empire conquered Israel and besieged Judah. Isaiah had assured them their suffering would end if they began living by God’s ways, and he promised God would send a righteous king to help them do that. Two hundred years have passed, and they’re suffering more than ever. The Babylonian Empire conquered Judah, destroyed their homes, and carried their best people into captivity. Second, Isaiah mentions that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Isaiah (Part 1)](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/isaiah-1/): The Book of Isaiah records perspectives of a prophetic school over three different periods: the 8th century BC, when the Assyrian Empire invaded, about 200 years later, when Israelite leadership lived in exile under the Babylonian Empire, and at least 50 years later, after the Persian Empire allowed them to return home. People in all three asked, “If we worship the true God, why are we suffering?” The suffering was related to the hardships associated with warfare, including having your homes destroyed, your food stolen, and your life controlled. Isaiah’s answers helped them maintain their faith. The first 39 chapters respond [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The Minor Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/the-minor-prophets/): Looking at the other prophetic books individually doesn’t help much in trying to figure out what we should be doing in the 21st Century. Jonah is obviously another fictional story like those in Daniel, written to encourage people to obey God even when the situation seems hopeless. We get the point, but are hardly inspired to act or think when a critical part involves living in the belly of a whale. Ezekiel is a series of visions of the supernatural, also like those in Daniel, used to impress upon believers that God is in charge, even though a foreign empire claims [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Daniel](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/daniel/): The Old Testament prophets try to explain how their God can be supreme while other nations, who worship different gods, continually defeat and control the Israelites. Their attempts sometimes produce inconsistent pictures of God. In one paragraph, he brings judgment on all the people because everyone sins; in the next, he is saves them because he loves them so much. Much of this can be reconciled by noticing their arguments use the hyperbole of the day. Daniel, on the other hand, creates greater problems that have haunted Christians to this day. His supernatural explanations often deny historical evidence. That does not [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Jeremiah](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/jeremiah/): When I started this series exploring what Old Testament prophets have to say about the present political situation, I was afraid that I might force the issue. It turns out there’s no danger of that as the current administration does something every week that the prophet I’m studying directly attacks. For instance, this week I have been hearing from pastors who are experiencing pressure to keep politics out of their sermons. At the same time, I’m finding just about every one of Jeremiah‘s prophecies has political implications. Every day the news has been filled with reports of the government forcing the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Hosea](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/hosea/): Although Hosea proclaimed judgment against God’s people at around the same time as Amos, he certainly offered more hope. In fact, his ideas lay the groundwork for Jesus’ ministry. Hosea links divine judgment much more to Israel’s seeking security from alliances with the political empires of the day. One of his images is of her flitting back and forth like a silly bird between Egypt and Assyria. Relying on this kind of power will lead to the horror of war, when she will see the enemy beat the heads of her children against rocks and rip open the pregnant women. From [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Amos](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/amos/): Let’s start with Amos. We know very little about his life. He shows up at Bethel in the northern kingdom of Israel, proclaiming God‘s judgment right before Assyria crushes her. Because he is from Judah, the king’s priest tells him to go home where he belongs. Amos responds that he is just an ordinary shepherd whom God called to speak for him. He is likely the first to put prophecy into writing. If you read his text aloud, you sense that it is an oral pronouncement. When the prophet says, “Thus says the Lord”, he literally means God is speaking through [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: The Prophets](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/prophets/the-prophets/): In this series, I plan to examine the teachings of individual prophets, paying special attention to what they say about our present political situation. I think it’s safe to say that few of us know much about the prophets. I often even forget the names of all the minor ones. Yet 16 of the 39 Old Testament books are prophets. The four major ones are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel. The 12 minor prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The Bible arranges them by size. The longest, Isaiah, appears first and the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 23: Summary of Biblical Stories](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/summary-of-biblical-stories/): I wrote this series explicitly to examine biblical stories from the perspective of the American political situation. I wanted to test my perception that the Trump administration creates big problems for those who accept Christian teachings. Lutherans are reluctant to speak against the political order because our founder taught a doctrine of two kingdoms. Supposedly, God rules the earth through the church, which proclaims the Gospel of love, and the government, which uses violent means to hold evil in check. Even though we can see the danger of maintaining an unconditional separation of church and state in the rise of the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 22: The Lamech Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-lamech-story/): We don’t hear much about Lamech. The Bible only gives him a few paragraphs in Genesis 4. Nonetheless, I think he’s extremely important because he is used as an example of the evil that permeates creation before Noah’s flood. Supposedly, God gets so upset with the violence that fills the earth that he decides to start all over. Lamech’s example is a grossly unfair retaliation. He brags to his wives that he has killed a man for wounding him and a boy for slapping him. A good case can be made that this is a fundamental problem threatening the human community. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 21: Solomon’s Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/solomons-story/): The biblical story of King Solomon leaves readers with many questions. It exalts him as the epitome of wisdom, but you have to ask why, if he was so wise, did his policies lead to the revolt of ten tribes and the breakup of the united kingdom. It also praises him for building the first temple as if he was extremely religious. However, you have to wonder about his faith when he later turns away from the Lord and allows all sorts of pagan practices. There’s nothing terribly profound in these questions. Scholars have been asking them for some time. They [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 20: Balaam’s Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/lesson-20-balaams-story/): This fable-like tale (Numbers 22-24) makes a number of points with great humor. Balak, the King of Moab, wants to stop the invasion of the Israelites. When it is apparent his army is outnumbered, he tries to employ Balaam, a freelance prophet famous for destroying people by simply cursing them. Balaam initially refuses, because he knows God has blessed the Israelites. However, the king eventually promises so much silver and gold he agrees to meet him in person to see what kind of deal can be made. On his way, the angel of Lord with a drawn sword in his hand [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 19: The Story of Mary Magdalene](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-story-of-mary-magdalene/): The story of Mary Magdalene seeps into non-biblical actions and writings. She is given a significant feast day in the church calendar, Mary Magdalene, Apostle. This is based on the high honor of being the first to receive a resurrection appearance in which she is instructed to tell Jesus’ brothers that he is risen (John 20:11-18). As a result, she is called the apostle to the apostles. The Bible further describes her being healed and subsequently joining the women who followed and financially supported Jesus’ ministry. She is also mentioned as being present at the Savior’s crucifixion and burial. Her prominence [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 18: The Philemon Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-philemon-story/): Friends, here is another sermon aligned to the series. Chances are, most of you have never heard of Philemon. One reason undoubtedly is that it is a very short letter, only 25 verses tucked between Titus and Hebrews at the back of the New Testament. Philemon, the leader of a house church, has asked Paul, a prisoner in Rome, to return his slave Onesimus. This little note is Paul’s reply. Christians have tended to ignore the letter, because it has been used in the past to support slavery. Confederates would cite Paul’s words in Colossians 3 and 1 Corinthians 7 that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  17: The Josiah Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-josiah-story/): King Josiah might be the most underrated person in the Old Testament. Only he and Hezekiah are described as righteous kings after David. Yet hardly anyone has ever heard about him. His claim to fame is leading a MIGA (Make Israel Great Again) program in the seventh century BC. I thought it might be interesting to compare his with our present MAGA movement. His story as told in scripture (II Kings 22, 23 and II Chronicles 34, 35) is quite fascinating. He began to rule in 640 BC at the age of eight after the assassination of his evil father, Amon. [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 16: Gideon’s Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/gideons-story/): The story of the ancient judge Gideon is one of my favorites. Midian oppression has driven the Israelites into hiding. God answers their cries for help by calling Gideon, the weakest member of the lowest clan, to leadership. He wants to make clear that he saves them, not their own strength. First, God demonstrates in numerous ways that Gideon is truly a doubter and a coward. Then he whittles the army from 32,000 down to 300 men. All those who fear are sent home, as well as those who refuse to drink water like a dog. The 300 are spread around [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 15: The Joseph of Arimathea Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-joseph-of-arimathea-story/): This is a sermon I recently offered that fits into the series. It asks what we know about Joseph of Arimathea. The quick answer is “not much.” There are all sorts of legends, from his being Jesus’ uncle to his being the first to carry the Gospel to Britain. He is sometimes associated with the search for the holy grail and sometimes credited with miracles performed using vials of Jesus’ blood. Every one of these is preposterous. Even the few sentences in the Bible are confusing. Joseph appears once in all four gospels. Two wrote that he was a member of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: The Story of the Prophet John](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-story-of-the-prophet-john/): Although we usually think of conservative Evangelicals and Roman Catholics as supporting Donald Trump, most of the Christians he counsels are Pentecostals. They are the ones we see gathered around to lay hands on him as God’s chosen. Most Christian Nationalists also exhibit Pentecostal features. Prophets in the New Testament and modern Pentecostal churches receive direct messages from God in the vernacular rather than glossolalia (tongues). The most famous of these is John, the prophet who wrote the Book of Revelation. His story involves being sent into exile for conveying charismatic visions in which God instructs Christians to oppose the Roman [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: The Phillip Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-phillip-story/): I pulled up this 12-year-old devotion to help write about Phillip. Thinking I could not do any better, I just decided to use it. Besides that, because it predates the Trump reign, it reminds us that our problem has to do with more than one human. Acts 8: 26 The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: The Paul Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-paul-story/): I imagine most of us know that the church used Paul’s letters to develop a theology around Jesus’ life and teachings. Although those letters address specific concerns in particular churches, they do assume a rather coherent perspective. Most of the people in my parish appreciated Paul. However, some berated him over two matters. The first was that he imposed an orthodoxy on the church that silenced other interpretations. Admittedly, the Church has used him that way at times. However, we can thank God it was he and not most of the others. His theology actually encourages different viewpoints. It ultimately rests [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 11:The Peter Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-peter-story/): We all know Peter as the outspoken fisherman who is the first to recognize Jesus as the Christ. Although he was a leader among the apostles, he denied knowing Jesus after his arrest. Then, in a famous resurrection appearance, he was forgiven and became the spokesman for believers at Pentecost. Almost overlooked is his opening of the Church to Gentiles. The story is so essential that it is carefully repeated in Acts 10 and 11. Often called the Gentile Pentecost, it features the Spirit calling Peter to proclaim the Gospel to the household of the Roman centurion Cornelius. The Spirit provides [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: The Pentecost Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-pentecost-story/): Pentecost is the New Testament creation story. The Spirit of God moves to bring order—or perhaps it’s better to say it reorders or heals the corrupted creation. Pentecost addresses the themes I found in the Old Testament stories. Admittedly, I read those stories from the perspective of our present political situation. However, the fact that Pentecost picks them up would seem to indicate they are central to our message. Everyone, even the least important, receives the Spirit that unites them as brothers and sisters. They understand one another as if they speak one language. There is no longer the babel of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: The Elijah Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-elijah-story/): I decided to examine Old Testament stories to counter Christians who are using their faith to endorse self-serving MAGA programs. For the most part that has worked out. A good portion of the stories call God’s people to care for the poor and extend kindness to foreigners living among us. They picture believers resisting the greed of the rich and speaking truth to the politically powerful. At the same time, the stories create problems in two areas. There ia no effort to control the male domination that afflicts them then and us now. And they often present killing and genocide as [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: The Esther Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-esther-story/): When I reread the story of Esther this time, I was constantly reminded of the cowboy movies that were a big part of my childhood. Every Saturday afternoon, my parents would give my brother and me 12 cents, and off we went to the big social event of the week— the 2 o’clock movie at the Rialto theater. Almost all of our young friends would be there. This storyline in the movies was always the same: the introduction of a good guy whom everyone loved, followed by the introduction of a bad guy whom everyone hated. The bad guy threatened some [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: The Story of Ruth](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-story-of-ruth/): As I wrote previously, some in our discussion group were troubled by the way women were treated in the ancient stories. Others suggested they had to read these in their historical contexts. When things got pretty emotional, we decided to continue by reading Ruth and Esther. My confidence in having a good grasp of Ruth was challenged when reading Josh Scott‘s book, Context. He examines popular teachings that are often taken out of context and misread. One of his examples is using Ruth’s promise to Naomi as a wedding vow. When doing this, we miss what the Bible is trying to [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: The David Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-david-story/): I come away with a different impression of King David every time I read his story. I imagine that is because current events draw my attention to one of the many layers of historical interpretation we find in the Bible. This time, I kept seeing similarities with Donald Trump. Although the texts are doctored up, it is evident he was a warlord who used power to get what he wanted. That went beyond his mighty men slaying significant numbers in battle for him. When he uses his authority to seduce Bathsheba, they arrange for the death of her husband to cover [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: The Moses Story - Part 2](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-moses-story-2/): The Moses story is not only that God frees the Israelites from slavery and genocide, but also that he creates a nation by giving them their own land and teachings about just ways to live in it. I was caught off guard when discussing these social teachings in our Monday night gathering. My intention was to indicate they provided some guidelines for discerning God’s Word in our time. Ancient people were starting to perceive the orders of creation that make for a healthy society, such as insisting on two witnesses and limiting retribution to an eye for an eye. Participants argued [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: The Moses Story - Part 1](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-moses-story/): When I began looking at Bible stories to help us understand our present situation, I never expected how much they addressed our problem with immigration. Just about every ancient story faced the problem of living as aliens in a foreign land because famine or suffering forced God’s people to leave their homes. For example, Moses&#8217; story has people who came to a foreign land because of famine-induced suffering. The most important workers in the Old Testament were slaves, and they were facing genocide in Egypt. God led them to a new land. The richness of ancient tales maintains the mystery of [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: The Joseph Story](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/the-joseph-story/): We usually pass off the Joseph story as a clever children’s tale. In truth, as written in Genesis 37-50, it is a rather sophisticated attempt to understand God‘s participation in our world. We still ask the questions it addresses. It quickly becomes apparent that this is a retelling of Cain and Abel, which describes the enmity between farmers and shepherds as a corruption of creation that sometimes led to brothers killing brothers. However, God’s affection for the world he created now moves him to save people threatened by this violence. He acts to rescue the favored brother Joseph and his people, [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2: Creation 2 - What We Are To Do](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/creation-2-what-we-are-to-do/): Another feature of the Genesis and Johannine creation stories that is usually overlooked is the importance of words. God creates by speaking. The good order of creation has all living beings in conversation. The corruption of the order is illustrated by the inability of competing cities to share the same language. Genesis ends with words of forgiveness that bring people back together again. All of this is in contrast to the Babylonian stories that picture a violent creation that emanates from the body of an evil god who a good god slaughters. Our God simply speaks, and it is so. The [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Creation 1 — Who We Are](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/scripture/biblical-stories/creation-1-who-we-are/): This new series will be based on fundamental Bible stories. In a time of severely divided Christianity, turning to the Bible helps us remember who we are, what we believe, and what we are to do. That’s especially important when so many active Christians no longer know the scriptures. Let’s start with the creation stories in Genesis 1-3 and John 1: 1-18. It is very clear these are not meant to be scientific accounts, as the two stories with a reversed sequence of events are placed side by side. We also do not want to get diverted from the basic story [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Might Makes Right](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/might-makes-right/): David Brooks recently wrote, “Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes might makes right.” That provides a good wrap-up for this series. I come away thinking most Americans seem to believe only one thing. Might makes right. Over 40 years ago, in his classic After Virtue, Alastair MacIntyre foresaw this could happen. He argued that a community’s ethics depend&nbsp;on sharing a common story that defines what is good. When it loses its story, it loses its moral guidance. After reading MacIntyre, I remember mentioning in a conversation that we no longer shared a common story when few people knew the [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: Power Over Nature](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/power-over-nature/): Power is simply the ability to do something. I decided to examine it to better understand our society’s acceptance of an abusive form. Public figures profess absolute power, enabling them to do whatever they want, even to define what is right or true. Private individuals think freedom gives them the power to say or do anything they please, even to take advantage of those weaker than themselves. It did not take long to realize there is a relationship with the earth-shattering changes made by modern technology. Throughout most of our history, technology focused on nature. It helped us protect ourselves from [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Living under Oppressive Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/living-under-oppressive-power/): Most of the Bible is addressed to people who lived under bad government. With very few exceptions, the kings and emperors who had power used it to take advantage of them. In response, biblical ethics offered practical advice about coping with evil rulers who abuse their subjects. For example, if you read the Sermon on the Mount in its original context, it talks about realistic ways to handle cruelty from the occupying army. If a foreign soldier slaps you hoping to show his power over you or even to provoke you into a retaliation that would lead to your arrest, you [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  6:  Efficiency](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/efficiency/): One of the first things that MAGA did was establish a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That sounds like a good thing. We want to use power with little or no waste. However, my ears go up whenever I hear the word. I think of Jacques Ellul and Ivan Illich observing everything in a technological society is reduced to one value alone, efficiency. It focuses on solving the one particular problem at hand, ignoring all else but the easiest path to what you want. That works solving materialistic and economic problems. However, it is very limited when it comes to human [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  5: America First](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/america-first/): Recently, I again heard politicians using “America First” to express their positions. At first, I assumed it referred to buying American goods to support American businesses. We should be willing to pay more so our friends have jobs. However, eventually I realized MAGA was using the slogan to express restoring US world dominance. “America First” referred to ”American Exceptionalism” that means everything, from God chose us to lead the world to we deserve to lead because we are better than other people. Politicians usually mean we have the power so people had better do what we want. This new bombastic, aggressive [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Fear and Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/fear-and-power/): The nation is reeling after just three weeks of the Trump administration brandishing naked power. Many citizens are trying to figure out how we got to this place as if knowing might contribute to overcoming the violence. When I ask about this, I remember a visit to the South several years ago. All the conversation with retired white wealthy businesspeople and bankers was about guns. One entire evening was spent discussing the best revolver for a woman. When I asked my friend the next morning why he carried a weapon, he quickly replied, “I want to be ready when they come [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Cooperation and  Sharing](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/cooperation-and-sharing/): ”Love your neighbor” could be rephrased “Masters, &nbsp;act as servants.” If we have power over others, we are to use it to care for them, not to take advantage of them. Thinking about this brought to mind two ethical observations that rang true 25 years ago and still do today. Both were propositions about changes needed in our society as we approached the millennium. The first was at a Peace Church conference where the presenter proposed that the big ethical challenge in the next century would be replacing competition with cooperation. He claimed winning has become the ultimate value for judging [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2:  A Biblical  Perspective on Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/a-biblical-perspective-on-power/): Let’s take a preliminary look at what the Bible says about unconditional power being a human problem that could destroy the world. It’s an idea found from beginning to end in the scriptures. Hopefully, we can find some guidance for handling the present threat. The danger is usually personified. Way back in Genesis 4, Lamech, the father of Noah, brags that he has killed a man for wounding him and a young man for simply striking him. This becomes the illustration of violence used to explain why God devastated creation with the great flood. The story goes on to say that [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 1: Truth to Power](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/ethics-justice/power/truth-to-power/): I had decided to do a series on the Christian concept and use of power. People say they no longer feel safe, and their fear seems to explain a lot happening all around us. For instance, I think the slogan that has headed Donald Trump’s home page for years best explains his election. It reads, “They are coming after you. I am only standing in their way.” The lessons and carols during the Christmas season reinforced my decision with their emphasis on the Holy Family&#8217;s helplessness. However, their repeated proclamation that Christ comes to bring peace convinced me to delay until [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 14: The Christian Concept of Government](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/the-christian-concept-of-government/): There is no such thing as a Christian concept of government if you’re referring to a political system. In both the Bible and church history, you can find everything from theocracy to foreign empire. In the former, God rules without any sitting government. Leaders are called forth when conflicts arise, whether external as war or internal as individual discord. In the latter, outsiders inspired by other gods rule. There is also no such thing as one kind of Christian political attitude. It can range from obedience to rebellion, depending on the situation. You could argue that there is a Christian principle [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 13: Christianity in a Constitutional Democracy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/christianity-in-a-constitutional-democracy/): As I said last week, one of the questions that emerged when looking at the presidential election through the eyes of Jesus’ teachings had to do with the role of the church in a constitutional democracy. Is an election an opportunity to enact Christian values into civil law? Put another way: Is an election a chance to impose Christian values on a society? Put another way: Is an election an opportunity for evangelism? Or even put another way: Does an election decide where the churches should stand on controversial issues? Obviously each question demands further discussion. However, in the past my [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 12: Whose Freedom?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/whose-freedom/): I constantly asked two questions as I examined the past election campaign against Jesus’ teachings. The first concerned our present understanding of freedom, and the second concerned the role of Christianity in a constitutional democracy. Let me talk about the first this week. In the past, civil rights movements relied on the Constitution to support their efforts to provide protection and opportunity for the disadvantaged. Freedom for all was understood as the goal in an ongoing process of bringing justice for Blacks, LGBTQ+ persons, the homeless, and whoever needed it next. During the recent campaign, the eventual winners claimed the Constitution [&hellip;]
- [Lesson  11: ABATE on Leadership](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/abate-on-leadership/): At one time, I was the unofficial chaplain of our local Abate chapter (Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education). That involved burying young men who were killed riding motorcycles. One of the perks was getting to know Redman, who taught me valuable lessons about leadership. I often reflect on them when trying to understand how Trump could ascend to power. For instance, he knew which members of his club could contribute to its leadership and which needed to be told what to do. As a good leader, he respected both. Redman made sure he listened to what the first group said [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 10: People are Policy](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/people-are-policy/): In the past week, people have been asking why Donald Trump is nominating people who are not capable of running their assigned agencies. One way to understand this is to recognize that Project 2025 concludes by reminding its readers that people are policy. The idea is that the president&#8217;s first job is to choose people committed to following his agenda. That would be a commitment to the second of the project’s four guiding principles: dismantling the administrative state. The nominees were not picked to run their departments; they were picked to tear them down. Supposedly, that is to eliminate the inefficiency [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 9: Project 2025](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/project-2025/): I’ve received far more responses to this series than any other in 20 years. Almost everyone in the past week believes we must prepare for a very threatening future. Indeed, a good beginning is trying to understand what is going on. Once we grasp that, we can ask how Jesus’ teachings guide us. With that in mind, I read Project 2025. That is quite a task—over 800 pages detail precisely what the next conservative president should do in every executive agency and department. I came away convinced that Trump’s administration would attempt to implement this program and that this would indeed [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 8: What Do We Do Now?](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/lesson-8-what-do-we-do-now/): I waited to write until after the election knowing that the outcome could make a big difference in our life together. Our nation will never be the same again. All morning long, I’ve been hearing from friends, mostly pastors, who also believe we are in very critical times. All are calling for compassion that might enable our divisions to heal. At the same time, they counsel not backing down, whether that means speaking up for our values or witnessing to them by the way we live. There is a general consensus that we must be ready if Trump does what he [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 7: Pastoral Letter from Bishop George Lucey](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/pastoral-letter-from-bishop-george-lucey/): Below is a slight abridgment of a pastoral letter sent by Bishop George Lucey to his people in the American National Catholic Church. It provides excellent guidance for us all as we approach the election. “Long ago, I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done and must show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. ”Zechariah 7:9 Called to Be Witnesses of Christ in a Time of Division Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we approach another season of political [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 6: Bonhoeffer](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/bonhoeffer/): I had to do some research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer last week. It was very unsettling because it quickly became evident that he was facing very much the same situation we are. True, he opposed Adolf Hitler, but that involved opposing the German National Christian Church, which heralded his rise. In many ways, this group produced Hitler by providing the program he used to obtain and sustain power. It was an ecclesiastical party that tried to control the German Church back into the 19th century. It called for Christians to be manly and tight for values they claimed were Jesus’ teachings. These [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 5: Immigration](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/immigration/): Since day one of his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump has used immigration to play on people’s fears and present himself as the only one who can save them. He blames immigrants for taking our jobs, raping our women, murdering our children, and destroying our country. In 2024, his rallies focus almost exclusively on this. In the last one I watched, it was his only topic as he spoke with huge posters of two criminal aliens behind him. Immigrants serve as a perfect object for the paranoia floating around these days. When listening to Trump, I am constantly reminded of an accomplished [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 4: Christians Gave Us Trump](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/christians-gave-us-trump/): Like so many others, I have been concerned with the lying in the election campaign, but perhaps even more so with the terrible exaggeration used to justify the lies. Claiming this is the most important election in American history—or even world history—is incredibly self-centered and far from reality. Claiming one administration is good and that the other is evil invites violence. An election contest has become a war. Much of the blame rests not on the politicians but on the Christians who provided the context supporting this exaggeration. Bringing God into the picture transformed the situation into a cosmic battle between [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 3: Christian Political Principles](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/christian-political-principles/): A traditional Lutheran response might think my contrast between Jesus’ teachings and the way Donald Trump presents himself at his rallies and on social media is unfair. It would see comparing religious and political programs somewhat like comparing apples and oranges. The Church proclaims the Gospel, and the government provides order. Jesus’ teachings were not political, but nevertheless, they provided standards for the church’s expectations of government. This is especially important in our modern democratic society, where politics permeates almost everything. I was preparing to present some of these expectations when Paul Wildman posted “John Wesley’s Manifesto.” It is a list [&hellip;]
- [Lesson 2:  Christian Characteristics and the Election](https://frontlinestudy.com/shelves/church-public-life/jesus-teaching-and-the-election/christian-characteristics-and-the-election/): I was surprised at the response to last week’s lesson. I don’t think I ever had so many people write or speak to me about what I posted. Quite frankly, I expected dead silence. Obviously, many share my concerns about the presidential election. Let me reiterate what prompted me. Believe it or not, I think I might have watched every Trump rally. I have also checked his social media posts at least three times a week. I am fascinated because I can not believe what I hear and read. With this in mind, I read the four gospels in one sitting. [&hellip;]

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- [Author](https://frontlinestudy.com/author/): The Rev. Frederick (Fritz) A. Foltz Education: B.A. Gettysburg College M.Div. Yale Divinity School D.D. Gettysburg College Fritz is Pastor Emeritus at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where he served in an experimental co-pastorate for 35 years. He is a member of the Company at Kirkridge, a disciplined community that explores contemporary models for the Church, has been involved in ecumenical relationships, especially with Roman Catholics, and publishes on the effects of technology on Christianity with his son, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology.
- [About Frontline Study and Its Author](https://frontlinestudy.com/about/): Frontline Study is a ministry of the Rev. Frederick &#8220;Fritz&#8221; Foltz, D.D. Fritz is an ELCA Lutheran pastor whose entire pastoral career was spent at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He studied at Yale Divinity School, then in 1967 was called to St. James alongside the Rev. E. Edward Keyser to lead an unusual &#8220;team ministry,&#8221; a co-equal pastorate the two ran together for 35 years, reportedly born out of a shared love of fly-fishing. They retired jointly in 2002, capping the longest pastoral tenure in the church&#8217;s 200-plus-year history. In 1996, Gettysburg College awarded both men honorary Doctor [&hellip;]

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