The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for August 31, 2018

Do you ever wonder at the end of the day what you’ve really accomplished? Home for summer from college and seminary, I delivered milk. Early in the morning the truck was loaded with bottles of fresh milk. By afternoon they were gone, empty bottles were unloaded, and there – I see what I’ve accomplished. There are still jobs where you can see what you’ve accomplished, delivery routes, service jobs, construction, and so on, but sooner or later we all look back and wonder, “Is that all there is?” “What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23).

Labor Day is a telling contradiction, we celebrate labor but take time off. The contradiction points to a key biblical truth, we’re saved by grace, by gift, and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9). When work seems futile, why did I bother? the Christian contrasts his chagrin to thoughts of grace, of God’s generous gifts. “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him” (Martin Luther).

Grace is your workplace attitude changer. The Hebrews began their day at sundown. That is, they understood that rest and sleep, grace, comes first, and then comes the morning when you go to work in response for the grace given you in rest. I will serve God by serving my neighbor. “Jesus, in Your name begun / Be the day’s endeavor; Grant that it may well be done / To Your praise forever” (LSB 869, 5).

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers….” (Psalm 37:4, 7). “In the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The Meyer Minute for August 29, 2018

Waking up on this date 50 years ago you would have seen TV reports of rioting at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. “‘(Mayor) Daley had outsmarted himself,’ (Reuven) Frank writes. ‘The demonstrators, knowing where the mayor and the Chicago police had situated the mobile units…came to them…. The next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 27 and 28, more than at any time before or since, a national convention exploded into a national drama. It wouldn’t have happened if television were not there.” And then columnist Neil Steinberg adds, “Echoes of our current day abound.” (Chicago Sun-Times, August 27; 2)

One takeaway is very clear to me, the value of an active life in the institutional church. Social commentators have observed that mediating institutions, like your local church, teach people how to handle powerful personal emotions in ways that contribute positively to community life. From Chicago then to “#MeToo,” “Black Lives Matter” and other movements today, from board rooms to private conversations, from agitated hearts to tweets, we are angry people. Regularly taking to heart the words of Jesus Christ reminds us and teaches our youth how to handle the powerful emotion of anger, and other emotions as well. On the negative side, “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires” (James 1:21). On the positive side, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 2:17-18). That comes to you and me, if not society as a whole, by hearing the words of Him who says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9).

Back then Mayor Daley misspoke: “The policeman isn’t there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder” (Chicago Tribune, August 28; 5). Although institutions didn’t respond properly then, and still often don’t, they are of utmost importance to ordering our life together. I wonder if more people would start coming back to worship if the eternal gifts of Christ were also applied specifically to our day-to-day life?

The Meyer Minute for August 27, 2018

Thursday I was waiting for a red light to change. In front of me is a big brown United Parcel van and to the right is Carl’s Deli, a longtime business near the Seminary. Out of the deli walks a middle-aged woman with a carry-out in a Styrofoam container, napkins on top of the box. Puff of wind and the napkins blow all over the ground. The woman wants to pick up the littering napkins but her hands are holding the carry-out. You could see she is flustered.

I think of getting out to help, but the UPS truck is in front of me and cars were behind me, all of us waiting for the light to change. Look at this! Out of the UPS truck jumps Carolyn the driver, lickety-split picks up the littering napkins, sees the light changing, hops back into the truck and drives forward, all of us getting through the intersection. Carolyn’s deed was selfless, no time for anyone to say, “Thank you.” No one would know, except I’m telling the story.

“‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35-40).

You wonder: Dale, how do you know the UPS driver is named Carolyn? Because the Seminary is on her route, and whenever she delivers to our home she always has treats for Ferdie. That too is an act of Christian love. Christians are always busy doing good works. “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone” (Galatians 6:10). Thank you, Carolyn!

The Meyer Minute for August 24, 2018

Today is a big day on campus, the opening of Concordia Seminary’s 180^th academic year. This year’s academic theme is “Here am I! Send Me” from Isaiah 6:1-8.

“Send us where? Send us to whom? Does the transforming touch of holiness send us to German immigrants in 19^th century America? Does the forgiveness that touches our hearts and lips send us mainly to white Americans? Does it send us to “Christian America” of the 20^th century, where everyone had some nominal understanding of Christianity? When you say, ‘Here am I! Send me” are you looking forward to a country club, maintenance ministry? When Isaiah said, “Send me,” he was not accepting the status quo. He was eager for the future. Holiness shook him to woe, but the forgiving burn of holiness transformed him for mission. Concordia Seminary cannot accept the status quo. Our Lord Jesus bids us go to the world the way it is today. So it is my prayer that this 180^th academic year will shake and send us into the future with confidence and cheerful courage in the Good News of God.” (From my opening sermon)

At 3:00 we will hear an academic lecture as prelude to the rite of blessing for the Kristine Kay Hasse Memorial Library in Fuerbringer Hall. Through the inspiring generosity of donors, Fuerbringer Hall has been completely renovated for the newly-named Kristine Kay Hasse Memorial Library. This leading Lutheran theological research library houses almost 300,000 volumes. The renovation is witness that we dare not be content with the status quo but move forward, again, confidence and cheerful courage in the Good News of God.

In prominent display on the second floor of the library, you find our mission. “Concordia Seminary serves church and world by providing theological education and leadership centered in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the formation of pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.”

Thank you to all who in various and many ways support this mission of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Meyer Minute for August 22, 2018

It’s orientation week at Concordia Seminary. One theme new students are hearing about ministry is to be out of the office and with people, not only with Sunday worshippers but also out and visible in the community.

A co-worker told me her sister had fallen out of the habit of church attendance. When a house guest wanted to go to church, the sister went with. Their Sunday experience was a good one. Sometime later the lapsed church-goer bumped into the pastor at a store. He was dressed in casual, summer clothes. He remembered her name and visited with her…but not about church. It was simply a genuine, “how are you?” conversation, no sales pitch for going to church. That convinced the woman to start going to church again.

“Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies…. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. ‘The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?’” (Martin Luther in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Life Together,” 17-18).

I’ve heard of “country club” congregations where the pastor’s priority is in office and church but not out with people. David Reid, once a chaplain at Edinburgh, described such a pastor. “His gospel would be chaste, pure, and untrammeled with the world, that is quite true, but how out of touch with things that matter.   When asked how he liked his new parson, an old Scot said that he supposed he was all right, in the main, but six days he was invisible and the seventh day he was incomprehensible.  It just won’t work to shut ourselves off on these tight little islands. (Carlyle Marney in For All the Saints, II, 776)

The Meyer Minute for August 20, 2018

Declining church attendance is a fact of life for many, if not most congregations. Yesterday’s Gospel was about Jesus’ experience with declining attendance. His congregation balked when He said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Seeing them doubt, He doubled down. “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (John 6:51, 62) Not a feel-good move, Jesus! “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Today’s decline in church attendance may be different in that people aren’t wrestling with the hard teachings of Jesus, but decline is still decline.

By coincidence I’m on a Bible study this morning on KFUO-AM, and we’ll discuss another hard saying. “If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment…  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 11:26-27, 31). Regular attenders who have professed the truth of Jesus but slip into the spiritual indifference of our times are starting to chuck their only hope when they become lackadaisical about worship. Dumb, sinful too.

When Jesus’ attendance dropped, He didn’t condemn those who left but asked, “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67). Peter said, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). I doubt Peter understood everything Jesus had said but he stayed because of Jesus. My first job as someone who still goes to church is not to complain about others but keep foremost in mind that I need Jesus, hard sayings as well as Gospel comfort. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” (LSB 686, 3) And it’s the hard sayings that sharpen the sweetness of the Good News.

The Meyer Minute for August 17, 2018

Ever walk around wondering what to do about your problems? While visiting Katie and family last month, we went to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. Brookside Gardens has a labyrinth. It looks like a patio, but it’s designed for meditation, a spiral path that you walk toward the center. As you walk you are supposed to disengage from your daily worries and focus your mind on what’s most important. This particular labyrinth has a plaque telling how to do it.

"Before you start your walk you may want to pause and take a few moments to quiet your mind and release the thoughts and feelings that are distractions of everyday life, so that you can focus and be present in the moment…. As you begin your walk, find your own pace; pause for reflection whenever you wish. Be open to any insight or feeling you may have. When you reach the center, be still and aware of what thoughts or feelings you may have. Stay as long as you wish. Using the path, the journey out from the center can be seen as a return to one’s life. Reflect on any insight with a sense of empowerment and a refreshed spirit."

Did you catch how it tells you to focus on yourself? That’s spirituality today, the answer is within me. Christian meditation is different because it focuses outward to God who meets and leads us through Jesus Christ. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:7). Dr. Travis Scholl, my colleague at Concordia Seminary, writes about the Christian use of a labyrinth. “The path of the labyrinth is Christ. Christ is the path. Because he is the path…any one of us can find him in the singular walk that is our own life. Or rather, he finds us. Come, follow me.” (Intervarsity Press, 2014; 43) Have a great weekend, thinking about life, simplifying life, as you walk  the path of Christ!

The Meyer Minute for August 15, 2018

Will our pets be in heaven? Here’s part of Dr. Fox’s answer in our local newspaper. “My understanding is that upon death, an individuated consciousness, or spirit, becomes part of the universal consciousness or Great Spirit of Native American Indian tradition. In that illimitable realm, we will become one again with all we embraced on Earth as individual souls. I incorporate the animistic and pantheistic aspects of indigenous, ‘pagan’ religious traditions under the banner of panentheism: God in all and all in God,” and on and on it goes (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 19; EV3).

Huh? Still, animals in heaven is a fair question. From Concordia Seminary’s website, concordiatheology.org: “In humanity’s restoration the animal creation will participate as well; in the eschaton (end of time) when humanity is liberated, animals will be, too. Hence Isaiah describes what has been called the ‘peaceable kingdom’ (Is 11 and 65) in terms of humans and beasts living in harmony.” “But even as we identify these similarities or correspondences between humans and animals, we cannot ignore the scriptural differences with regard to their role and telos (goal) within Scripture. Even though they both are ‘living creatures,’ only humans were made by the hands and breath of God. Only humans were made in the image of God, and only humans are given the task of serving as God’s vice-regents upon the earth.”

A Bible class at our church is talking about what heaven will be like? Will animals be there? What will our bodies be like? Innocent questions, but to me they miss the mark. On this side of eternity Christian faith is a mystery but then “we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2; 1 Timothy 3:16). We’ll see Jesus. What more could a believer want?

“And then from death awaken me / That these mine eyes with joy may see,

O Son of God, Thy glorious face, / My Savior, and my font of grace.

Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,

And I will praise Thee without end.”

(Lutheran Service Book 708, 3)

The Meyer Minute for August 13, 2018

Saturday morning I picked up 5-year-old Nick to spend the day and night at our house. Making conversation, I said, “Tomorrow we’ll go to our church.” No answer from his car seat in the back. “Nick, do you like church?” “No.” “Why don’t you like church?” “Coloring, Opa. I don’t like coloring.”

Hmmm… what’s this about? Many churches have coloring kits for little kids, but maybe Nick doesn’t like to color. “Why don’t you like coloring in church?” “Opa, I like fat crayons.” “What kind of crayons do they have in church?” “Opa, they’re beautiful.” Now I’m completely lost. “Nick, then you do like to color?” “Yes, Opa.” “So what’s wrong with coloring at church?” “I want to color at home.”

Nick’s got a point. Why go to church if you can color at home? Adults, especially we who are active in church, imagine we can reason someone into coming to worship. Once during his stay, something on TV prompted Nick to tell me that Jesus wants us to be kind to everyone, even to people who aren’t nice to us. Where’d he get that? Not from the intellectual reasonings of church, but from being touched by the love of Jesus. “And they were bring children to him that he might touch them” (Mark 10:13). You have to wonder if our adult reasonings, well-intentioned as they are, don’t end up doing the same thing the first disciples did, keeping people from the touch of Jesus. Who doesn’t want the touch of love? While Nick was coloring yesterday in church, he drew three stick people, Oma, Opa and Nick between us. He encircled his drawing with a heart, a child’s touch of love.

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them” (Mark 10:15-16).

The Meyer Minute for August 10, 2018

I keep an album of cartoons in my iPad. One of my favorites is a man coming before St. Peter, hoping to enter heaven. St. Peter looks the man’s record up in a book and says, “Actually, you had a pretty great life, but you were looking down at your phone and you missed it.”

Taking time to meditate is not in the spirit of our age. If you’ve ever tried to sit for a time, devices off, doing nothing, you may have found it very challenging. When Diane and I went to visit Katie and her family last month, I was worn down by work and decided the week would be vacation, no emails from the Seminary, sleep as long as I wanted, disconnect. Easier said than done, but I did it. Well, pretty much did it. We get addicted to our digital distractions.

An article in the Wall Street Journal was helpful. Bradley Staats tells the story of Thomas J. Watson Sr., the man who built IBM into a global powerhouse. Mr. Watson got frustrated when good ideas were not being suggested in a meeting. He complained, “The trouble with every one of us is that we don’t think enough. Knowledge is the result of thought, and thought is the keynote of success in this business or any business” (WSJ, July 7-8; C3). That was the same sentiment that Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, my predecessor on The Lutheran Hour, once told me. Dr. Hoffmann said, “You have to take time to think.”

Meditation is time to think. God instituted the Sabbath so that His people would disconnect from work and I’ll add, disconnect from devices to think, to think about ourselves as His beloved redeemed creatures. Elijah heard God speak “in a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). You can be sure Elijah had his ear buds out! Take time to think this weekend.

 

About that cartoon, it was distributed in 2015 by UniversalUclick for UFS, but I can’t decipher the name of the cartoonist.