The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for July 29, 2016

I see it when our seminarians get out of the classroom and visit mission sites. I’ve experienced the feeling myself. When you learn about people who are working, sometimes against great odds, to share Jesus, it puts new energy into your beliefs.

That kind of inspiration comes in the most recent newsletter from POBLO (People of the Book Lutheran Outreach). A mother and daughter, Muslims, had grown up in the Middle East. “‘Sana’ and ‘Naureen’ (names changed) had limited but very positive exposure to Christian faith for decades back home. As girls, they had both attended Catholic school. They had a few Christian friends. They had been able to go to a church, but only sporadically. For years they had wanted to know more, to learn more, and to be connected to Christ, but it wasn’t possible. The lack of religious freedom in their country and at home prevented them from pursuing Christ. Sana and Naureen loved Jesus, but simply lacked the chance to learn about Him.”

When they came to the United States, new contacts with Christians led them to POBLO missionaries, to the instruction in the faith they so desired, and on June 2 they were baptized into the Body of Christ. Said Naureen, “There are no words to express how I feel.” How does a story like that not make you think, How can I help reach someone for Jesus?

Diane and I will be off until August 15^th. We hope you also get some R & R this summer!

The Meyer Minute for July 28, 2016

“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).

Yesterday the funeral service for Ralph A. Bohlmann was held in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on our campus. Dr. Bohlmann was the seventh president of Concordia Seminary, 1975-1981, and the ninth president of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 1981-1992. In his personal life he was devoted to his family. He and his late wife Patricia, married 53 years, had two children, Paul and Lynn, who survive.

In his public life he was a churchman worthy of esteem. Not every minister is a churchman. Not everyone receives respect despite the inevitable disagreements that come in life and in sometimes fractious churches, but President Bohlmann was highly respected. He was a kindly person. He was an academic, a graduate of Concordia Seminary and Yale University, but his knowledge was always intended for the people of the church. He was animated by a thorough knowledge of Scripture and the confessions of the Lutheran Church and strove to be winsome and inviting, never using the teachings of the church to put others off.  Some people say, “Deeds, not creeds” but President Bohlmann showed his beliefs in a life of selfless service.

St. Paul said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). By God’s grace, President Bohlmann’s life and service are worthy of imitation. I pray that today’s seminarians and tomorrow’s pastors will be comparable churchmen.

The Meyer Minute for July 27, 2016

“What’s that?” I asked as Diane and I were walking near one of the Seminary’s dining halls. I was curious about some herbs, plants about three feet tall and dark purple. “Amaranth,” she said. This may strike you as strange, but I was delighted to hear “amaranth” and always thrill to see those plants.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). That word “unfading,” your heavenly inheritance is “unfading?” The original Greek word is amaranton. The herb was named “amaranth” because its flowers do not lose their color when they are cut and dried. Amidst all the comings and goings of daily duty on campus, here is a reminder of heaven.

“It fadeth not away. No spot of sin nor sorrow there; all pollution wiped away, and all tears with it; no envy nor strife; not as here among men, one supplanting another, one pleading and fighting against another, dividing this point of earth with fire and sword… There no cloud shall come betwixt them and their Sun; they shall behold him in his full brightness forever. As there shall be no change in their beholding, so no wearinesss nor abatement of their delight in beholding. ‘Reserved in heaven for you’” (Robert Leighton, 1613-1684).

The Meyer Minute for July 26, 2016

Diane and I are following the political conventions. We’re following more closely than most people but still change the channel in disgust. Republican or Democrat, how much of this can we take?

Last night my White Sox beat the Cubs in the first of a four-game series. If you grew up in Chicago, as Diane did, or in Chicagoland, as I did, you know in your gut this is more important to the cosmos than the Donkey vs. the Elephant. Don’t say, “I like both teams.” Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.”

Why do we leave serious matters for diversions like sports? Because we’re not machines. God created us to live in paradise, and we did until sin entered the world. Wars and holocausts, divorce and divisions… we weren’t designed for that. Sin and evil has corrupted the image of God in which humanity was created. We wear down. The Creator’s Word recreates humanity. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Matthew 11:28).

What’s your diversion? Sports, hobbies? Healthy life needs margins, ready ways to cope. It’s part of Sabbath living and the image of God being recreated in us, living in God’s garden (see Genesis 2:15). “He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

The Meyer Minute for July 25, 2016

“Hi, guys! I’m still smiling about our overnight trip to Great-Grandma’s. Connor, tell our friends what we did.”

“We drove to her house in a U-Haul and got dressers for our bedroom.”

“I have to say, you and Christian really worked hard. You both did most of the work. You loaded the dressers onto the truck at Great-Grandma’s and then unloaded them with your dad at your house. I didn’t do very much”

“You drove.”

“But you did get me in a little trouble with Great-Grandma.”

“Opa, huh?”

“Well, Connor and Christian, you both made your beds in the morning. I don’t remember that I ever did that.”

Silence.

“And, this takes the cake, Christian, when we were about to drive home, you left a note and a dollar bill for Great-Grandma. You gave her a tip! I never did that.”

Silence again.

“True story, and I’m proud of you guys. You remind me of a Bible passage. ‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.’ Love you!” (Leviticus 19:32; NIV)

The Meyer Minute for July 21, 2016

What does it mean to be human? That’s a question we probably don’t think about too much. After all, we’re busy doing human things, like working and relaxing, worrying and rejoicing, being sick or healthy, young or old, and so on, things famously spelled out in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. When I was a kid we had a school book “Think and Do.” Underneath all the human things we do, there should be some basic thought about our nature as humans.

Religion lays many commands on us, things we should do. Without thinking about who you essentially are as a human being, your attempt to do what is commanded by God will be like attempting assembly without the instruction book, frustrating, even futile. “Heap up, therefore, all the imperative verbs (from the bigger concordances if you like) into one chaotic mass, and provided they are not words of promise, but of demand and law, I shall say at once that what is signified by them is always what people ought to and not what they do or can do” (Martin Luther in Kolb, “Bound Choice,” 155).

Commands come from someone in a position to command. God can command because He’s our creator; we are His dependent creatures. We can’t do God-pleasing things without thinking constantly of our dependence upon Him. “The bedrock in Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty…. a sense of absolute futility – I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says – Blessed are you.” (Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest,” July 21).

The Meyer Minute for July 20, 2016

There’s been a stir whether or not Mrs. Trump’s speech was in part stolen from a speech by Mrs. Obama. I’m not losing any sleep over that, but I get concerned when I hear that ministers take sermons from others and pass them off as their own. “Thou shalt not steal.”

“Plagiarism is the dishonorable act of passing someone else’s words off as your own, whether or not the material is published” (Lynne McTaggart, New York Times, March 16, 2002; A27). A minister in suburban Detroit was suspended for plagiarism. Another in suburban St. Louis resigned. While the vast majority of pastors write their own sermons, there are some who admit behind closed doors that they steal “for Jesus’ sake.” Enoch Oglesby of Eden Seminary “says that while deliberate deception is unethical, there are common stories and concepts that contribute to the great good and need not be attributed” (Gerald Zelizer, USA Today, March 27, 2002; 13A).

One of the best things a congregation can do is set aside time for your pastor to read and study. A minister needs to wrestle personally with the great questions of theology, so that his words to the congregation ring true and authentic. Finding the time is a perennial challenge. One of my seminary professors said there was a medieval book of sermons from which a priest on Saturday could take his sermon for Sunday. The book’s title was “Dormi Secure,” “Sleep Soundly.”

The Meyer Minute for July 19, 2016

What do you choose to fear?

I didn’t ask, “What do you fear?” We have many fears, and some of our fears help us. It’s a good thing that a child learns to fear the hot stove, but a leper has no feeling and can be burned. The Creator wired us to fear, but sin has corrupted our feelings. So, what do you choose to fear?

The president of Turkey just survived an attempted coup. Long ago Jerusalem was abuzz with talk of conspiracy against King Ahaz, but God told the prophet Isaiah to redirect his fears. “Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary….” (Isaiah 8:12-14).

Whatever fears churn about you, you can feel ultimate safety in the fear and love of God. “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:11, 15, 18). “Perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 John 4:18).

Fearful people need you to be calm. Whom do you choose to fear?

The Meyer Minute for July 18, 2016

And now Baton Rouge. Some sections of “The Great Litany” seem most appropriate for church and nation as our way of life is under attack.

“Remember not, Lord Christ, our offenses, nor the offenses of our forefathers; neither reward us according to our sins. Spare us, good Lord, spare thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and by thy mercy preserve us forever. Spare us, good Lord.

“From all evil and wickedness; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; and from everlasting damnation, Good Lord, deliver us.

“From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice; and from all want of charity, Good Lord, deliver us.

“From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord, deliver us.

“From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and commandment, Good Lord, deliver us.

“From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion; from violence, battle, and murder; and from dying suddenly and unprepared, Good Lord, deliver us.

“Son of God, we beseech thee to hear us. O Lamb of God of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon us.”

 

The Meyer Minute for July 15, 2015

Have you ever been seized with the fear that there might be nothing after this life, that your death will be the end, that you will be no more?

“Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). In the beloved story of Mary and Martha, the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Jesus invites us to trust beyond “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4). Jesus’ words take us past the shortness and futility of daily duties. What comes from His lips, in spoken Sunday words or read during the week, speaks to our yearning for more than today’s work and worry. God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Come out of the kitchen of duties, sit with Mary, and forget yourself so you can hear Jesus. “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Jesus and His words are “the good portion which will not be taken away.” “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

“How were Mary’s thoughts devoted her eternal joy to find

As intent each word she noted, at her Savior’s feet reclined!

How kindled her heart, how devout was its feeling,

While hearing the lessons that Christ was revealing!

All earthly concerns she forgot for her Lord

And found her contentment in hearing His Word.”

(Lutheran Service Book, 536, 2)