The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for January 31, 2018

One of the pleasant little things about this time in our marriage – Diane and I will celebrate our 45^th anniversary in June – is teasing each other. I regularly tease her about misplacing her keys, her wallet, her phone, her whatever. Yesterday she got me back. Within minutes I said I couldn’t find my notebook or my hat. With only a few words, Diane zinged me back.

Read this conversation between two women (with names strange to our ears). It was written by the poet Theokritos in the third century B.C.

Gorgo: Is Praxinoa in?

Praxinoa: Gorgo, my love, what a long time it’s been since I saw you—yes, I’m in. I’m surprised you made it, though. (To her slave) Eunoa, go and get a chair and cushion for the lady.

Gorgo: Oh, don’t bother, I’m quite all right.

Praxinoa: Sit down.

Gorgo: What a silly thing I am! I was nearly crushed alive getting here. There are chariots, boots, and men in uniforms everywhere. And the road is endless. You are always moving farther and farther away.

Praxinoa: It’s that stupid husband of mine. He buys this house out in the wilds—it’s not even a house—it’s just a hovel—purely to stop us from seeing each other. He’s spiteful, just like all men.

Gorgo: You shouldn’t talk about your husband like that when the baby’s here. You see how he’s looking at you. (To the baby) Don’t worry, Sopyrion, sweetie, she isn’t talking about Daddy.

Praxinoa: Heavens above! The child does understand.

Gorgo: Nice Daddy.

Praxinoa: The other day I told that Daddy of hers to pop out and get some soap and red dye and the idiot came back with a cube of salt! (In Robert Garland, “Ancient Greece”)

Whether it’s in the store or around the house, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). Why watch reality TV when we live reality?

The Meyer Minute for January 29, 2018

“Hi, Connor! Glad to see you.” “Hey, Opa. Can I have a popsicle?” “Well, I don’t know. Did you ask Oma?”

“Connor, ready for Thursday?” “Yup.” “Tell our friends what we’re doing Thursday.” “Opa and I are going to have our heads shaved.” “Not just you and me. About 30 of us from the Seminary. Tell our friends why.”

“We’re having our heads shaved to raise money to fight childhood cancers. It’s called St. Baldrick’s, and we’re all going to go bald. When people sign up to sponsor us, the money helps fight childhood cancers.”

“How’s your fund-raising going, Connor?” “I’m ahead of you, Opa. I’m going to beat you!” “Oh, is that what you think? Think you’re going to beat the Ops? Go get a popsicle out of the fridge.”

OK, he’s gone, can’t hear me. This is the seventh year the Seminary has hosted a St. Baldrick’s event and over those years we’ve raised over $50,000. If you can help us this year, it will be appreciated. It will especially encourage a child and family struggling with the dread disease of cancer. Since Connor is raiding the fridge and out of earshot, let me say I’d be very pleased if he got more donations than his Opa. That would make us both smile. Here are the links… 

Thank you.

Connor

Dale

The Meyer Minute for January 26, 2018

Years ago I attended a men’s prayer breakfast. Mr. Larry Carlson was the speaker. He was director of Youth Haven, a Christian nonprofit organization that operates two ranches, one in Arizona and the other in Michigan – and, by the way, they take no government money. At these ranches, the staff ministers to children ages 7 to 12 who come from the worst imaginable family situations. One child, after hearing Larry Carlson talk about Jesus, came up and asked, “Why did Jesus’ parents give Him a swear word for a name?” Don’t laugh. We religious people are tempted to be smug in our beliefs and to look down on others. Pharisees are not extinct. What does Jesus say? “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

When Mr. Carlson shared that story, he went on to explain to us that everything in the young lives of these children has been damned. In so many families, Jesus Christ has been misused to cuss out the wife, to cuss out the husband, to cuss out the police, the company, the neighbor – and Jesus Christ was used to cuss out the young, impressionable child. Youth Haven is serving seriously disadvantaged children who will never be able to repay them. Serving people who will never be able to repay us. Get it? The promise of the resurrection at the end of time, the promise of the heavenly banquet where we unworthy sinners will be guests – that is repayment enough.

Adapted from “In All Good Works Increasing” in “Word Alive,” my new collection of sermons available from www.tripillarpublishing.com

The Meyer Minute for January 24, 2018

May be it’s just me, but I grow more and more tired of hearing people’s opinions and problems. Facebook friends, do I really need to know your children have the flu? Tweeters, do I really care what you think about Trump or Schumer? In my job I’m bombarded with religious opinions and pontificating, some thoughts insightful, many not. Am I getting weary of life, or is God leading me to wisdom? “Vanity of vanity! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

“There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). People hustled their opinions in antiquity, whether anyone wanted to hear or not. The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, “This year has raised a fine crop of poets; there was scarcely a day throughout the month of April when someone was not giving a public reading” (Letters 1.13.1). A few decades later the poet Martial wrote, “You read to me while I am standing, and read to me when I am sitting; while I am running you read to me, and read to me while I am…. (Bathroom word!)” (Epi. 1.3.44). You see St. Paul in Athens, Acts 17, and everyone is giving their opinion and judging others. What if they had smart phones and ear buds?

Our IT people want to teach me how to use the Cloud. Do I really want to store and access more information? A bit perhaps, but more I want wisdom. Do I really need to get all the data? Some, but I need more of the divine. Do I want more incoming or more inner peace? “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud…” I’ll bet you a young person hears that and immediately thinks of the IT Cloud. “A voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him’” (Acts 9:7). Yes, I am weary of much in life, and that’s a blessing. Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Let’s listen to Him.

The Meyer Minute for January 22, 2018

The government shutdown with its display of raw human nature prompted me to pull a book of prayers off the shelf. Peter Marshall was Chaplain of the United States Senate from 1947 until his sudden death in January, 1949. His prayer to open the Senate on February 19, 1947 seems timely for Congress today.

“Our Father in heaven, we pray for the members of this body in their several responsibilities. Help them in their offices, in committees, and, above all, as they meet here in legislative session. May they never forget that what is said and done here is not done in a corner, but always under Thy scrutiny. May they feel the weight of their responsibility before Thee, and remember the influence of a good example, that all who come to this place may have a stronger faith in government of the people, by the people, for the people. May the senators so speak and act that all who wait upon them and serve them may be inspired, rather than disillusioned, by what they see and hear and are asked to do. Lord Jesus, make Thyself real to these men, that each may feel Thee sitting beside him, and hear Thy voice, and win Thine approval in all things. So help them, God, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

When TV cameras show you the Senate chamber, you see to the far right of the podium two large double doors. Immediately to the left of those doors is a leather chair. That’s the chair of the Senate Chaplain. You usually won’t see him sitting there because the Chaplain has many more duties than just the opening prayer. Chaplains in both houses lead Bible studies, give spiritual counsel to members of Congress, their families, staffs, and to the Capitol Hill police. With the shutdown and the raw display of human nature, let us pray for the chaplains and their ministries to those who should lead us.

The Meyer Minute for January 19, 2018

My message Sunday on The Lutheran Hour will be about Millennials, that generation of people between 22 and 35-years-old. You’d expect I’ll be talking about them, but Millennials don’t want to be talked about. They don’t want to be lectured to. Most of our Seminary students are Millennials and they get frustrated when older generations talk about them. They want us to talk with them, to hear where they’re at and then hear our stories.

Ted and Chelsea Doering are Millennials who have written a new book, “The Myth of the Millennial.” From Concordia Publishing House, it’s well worth reading. They describe myths about their generation and offer suggestions. One suggestion is mentoring. The Gospel for this Sunday tells how Jesus spent time with Peter and the others. While He preached to large crowds, He spent a great amount of time with just a few disciples. He was in fact mentoring them in the faith. Older generations look for a silver bullet, some program that will bring Millennials into the church. Sunday’s Gospel shows how Jesus was one-on-one with Peter and the Twelve, and – this is interesting – Peter mentored Mark, whose Gospel will be read Sunday.

Ted and Chelsea write: “Why mentor? Why even try to pass knowledge on to the next generation? Because we imitate those in the faith who came before us. Scripture is full of men and women who mentored the next generation…. Mentorship is a gift of age…. Others have grown wise through the years (and) have the knowledge and ability to pass on what they know to the next generation” (160-161).

What young person can you meet where they’re at, listen to them, and tell them all that God has done in your life?

And… Happy Birthday to my brother Bruce. You’re no Millennial!

The Meyer Minute for January 17, 2018

I recall a conversation from the early 1970’s. Talking with a member of our congregation in Venedy, I asked where he had grown up. Myself a transplant from the Chicago area, I assumed he had grown up in a different town and moved to little Venedy for whatever reason. He pointed and said, “I grew up in that house,” a house about two doors from where he now lived. An entire life lived in a couple houses in a town of about 125 people. I wondered then, and still do today, how does being bound that way affect a person’s outlook and faith?

I’m just returned from ten days in Brazil, where I taught a graduate level class at Seminario Concordia in the southern city of Sao Leopoldo. Six hours every day, last Monday through Friday, 21 pastors and I studied First Peter in detail. I presented in English, sometimes we slipped into German, but everything was translated into Portuguese. I also was privileged to attend two Sunday services in two different congregations, one including an ordination, and toured the offices of the Igreja Evangelica Luterana do Brasil. The entire trip was hearing stories, stories of life in a country I’d never visited, stories of pastors with joys and struggles, and the individual stories all converged in our study of the Bible and sharing faith. Truly an out-of-the-box experience that taught me again a basic truth: Little me, big God, big Gospel. Christ “must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Our new curriculum gives seminarians cross-cultural experiences so they’ll grow in appreciation for the work of the Gospel in places unlike they’ve known, but I wonder how many parishioners aren’t growing in faith because they’re content to be bound by their local church experience with no stimulating vision for the world-wide Body of Christ?

The Meyer Minute for January 15, 2018

The late Seminary professor Martin Scharlemann said a pastor’s job is to interpret reality theologically. How then do we understand the following from the December 24^th New York Times?

Roger Ray was a rugged coal miner until he had a devastating accident while deer hunting in 2005. His ATV flipped, ripped open his knee and seriously hurt his back. His treatment included OxyContin, but as Roger’s tolerance for the drug grew, he sought more drugs. His wife Melinda hadn’t done drugs, but afraid for Roger in his loneliness, she joined in. Drugs became their whole life until they decided to change, a miracle in itself. They moved away to start over. Both take suboxone, a prescription medicine to help treat people addicted to opioids. They live on Roger’s disability check of $1240, which never stretches far enough. Is there hope ahead? Roger told Times writer Terrance McCoy, “God, I would love to have a pain pill right now.” (A1, 4)

In 1518 Martin Luther wrote his Heidelberg Theses in which he contrasts theologians of glory with theologians of the cross. “That person deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God through suffering and the cross” (Thesis 20). That’s not our natural way of thinking. Make ourselves look better, rationalize sin and evil, prop others up with religious platitudes… Do and think anything except face up to the hopelessness of our sinful situation. That’s the theology of glory. Contrast the ugly truth of the cross, which is like a mirror showing us our only way forward is death, death to self so that we might rise with Jesus. “The intervention, the cross itself, exposes the absolute depth and hopeless of our (spiritual) addiction” (Gerhard Forde, 26). May Roger and Melinda find their hope in the cross; may we all.

The Meyer Minute for January 12, 2018

Many pastors and faithful parishioners are concerned about declining attendance at worship services. It’s a symptom, I think, of the great changes that have happened in American life. Older people grew up in “Christian” America when congregations had special privileges in society and attending worship was commonly accepted as the thing to do. That’s changed.

We can always learn from studying. In the first century there were two kinds of synagogues. In Israel the synagogues combined religious and civic, political functions. There was no separation of church and state, Jews dominated Israel, and the synagogue was a focal point for community life. Outside Israel, in what is called the Diaspora, Jews were in the minority. Their synagogues were association synagogues, places where Jews could maintain their special identity, hear and discuss Scripture, but also fellowship, share meals, put up guests, and so on. Diaspora synagogues were far more than just places of worship. Much of the early Christian church grew out of those synagogues.

My main project this year is writing a commentary on 1 Peter. Peter describes how life should be in synagogues that believe Jesus is the long-promised Messiah. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:7-11, NIV).

These are unprecedented times for older Christians in America, but not unprecedented. A congregation that takes Peter’s advice to heart should find itself healthy and welcoming to people in today’s less Christian America.

The Meyer Minute for January 10, 2018

Although the first disciples saw Jesus, walked and talked with Him, the focus of His ministry was, still is, words, words teaching repentance, words urging faith, words. How do you spend time with Jesus?” The answer is when you spend time in His Word.

Daniel Doriani is a professor at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. In his essay, “Take, Read,” he identifies three ways people think about the Bible. The first: “The reader is over the text, as critic: The reader has the last word.” A second posture toward the Bible: “The reader is beside the text, in dialogue: The reader has the last word, but hesitates to say so.” Not bad but not the best. The reader still makes the final decision. The third and best posture: “The reader is below the text, in submission: The text, or, the Lord who wrote it, gets the last word.” That’s the goal. It’s our Lord’s Word and we should be obedient to it (See, for example 1 Peter 1:22).

But, quoting Dr. Doriani again: “There is a difficulty with this view. To confess ‘I submit to Scripture’ is one thing; actual submission is another. Sadly, this view can be perverted by this series of notions:

I believe whatever the Bible says.

Whatever the Bible says I believe.

I know what the Bible says.

Therefore, what I believe is what the Bible says.

Therefore, if the Bible seems to say something I don’t believe, it must not really mean that.”

(In “The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures,” D.A. Carson, editor; pages 1140-1141)

Every time you seriously engage the Bible, the Spirit of the living Lord Jesus Christ is present, working deeper repentance and faith in the Good News of God. You and I profess pious things about the Bible but are we obediently engaged with it?