The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for August 31, 2020

My mind doesn’t rest, but often it’s slow to catch on. Daughter Katie was here from Washington, D.C. and daughter Liz and family came over Saturday afternoon. It was Diane’s birthday. When son-in-law Darren walked in, he immediately told me about a shooting. They had gotten off the interstate and were waiting for a light to change when they heard shots coming from the Waffle House, not far from their car. Everybody ducked down in the car and Darren drove away as quickly as he could. So I’m listening… 

Not long afterwards, Christian and Connor, ages 14 and 11, are sitting on the couch near me. Their eyes were vacant. I said, “You look tired.” They were but, closer to reality, they were stunned by what had just happened. “Where’s Oma, your mom and Aunt Katie?” “They’re on the front porch talking about the shooting. My slow mind got it, and this Monday I’m brooding over it. 

Being near gunfire is totally unprecedented for our family, but what about children growing up with shootings all around them? A report from August 13 said that 98 children had been shot in St. Louis in 2020, 14 had died. Looking at today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I saw no report of the Collinsville shooting, no doubt because a St. Louis police officer had been shot Saturday and died Sunday. Scanning other news this Monday morning, the Chicago Sun Times reports that 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, 10 died. I get it, but don’t know what to do about it. 

“In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?’” (Psalm 11:1-3). 

Confrontation is obviously not the answer; it escalates tension and increases the chance of more violence. This crisis is bigger than blaming the other political party. Social unrest is going to continue. Friends, I don’t have a happy bottom line this morning. Only this: “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (Psalm 11:4-5).     

The Meyer Minute for August 28, 2020

The faithful member of a comfortable suburban parish volunteers at an inner-city church’s program to help kids read. Jesus says, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43). 

A person is going through a rocky time in marriage. A mutual attraction arises with a coworker, but the spouse backs away. Why? The echo of Jesus’ words, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). 

A middle-school student resists peer pressure to experiment with drugs and sex because he/she takes confirmation vows seriously. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). 

Frustrated he can’t hold in-person worship services and regular church fellowship, a pastor creates new internet offerings and makes special efforts to stay in touch with members. He does this because Jesus’ words are heavy on his heart, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). 

A single parent frazzled by work and bills, still takes time to teach her children faith and say bedtime prayers. Why when you’re so tired? “Let the little children come to me” Matthew 19:14). 

These are Christians living what Jesus teaches us all. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). Key is “for my sake.” Carrying the cross is more than coping with illness, unemployment, or interpersonal problems, or what have you. It’s Jesus’ cross we’re to carry in our own problems. That means living as Jesus teaches us, to do good to others, to live holy lives, even if that brings slander, shunning, or suffering. “If anyone would come after me….” “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). Peter objected, just as we’re tempted to mute our confession to avoid hardship, but these words from Sunday’s Gospel teach that it’s in the challenges and problems of daily life we show Whose we are. 

“The love of the cross, born of the cross…turns in the direction where it does not find good, which it may enjoy, but where it may confer good upon the evil and needy person” (Martin Luther, Heidelberg Disputation, 28). 

The Meyer Minute for August 27, 2020

“Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). Isn’t that the truth!  

Hurricane Laura pounds the south with wind gusts up to 150 miles per hour and predicted storm surges called “unsurvivable.” Wildfires continue to destroy homes and devastate lives in California. Social injustice surfaced by the treatment of George Floyd, Jacob Blake and others results in legitimate protests but also illegal violence and willful destruction of property. And the pandemic has taken some 180,000 American lives, brought the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, while political partisans dither. Whoa, Jesus, you’re right about today having problems! 

I’m trying to make sense of it all. It seems that these tragedies are of two types, some caused by nature and others caused by mankind. There is a human factor in weather and wildfires, how we sometimes populate and build unwisely in certain areas, but still nature does what it does. Tragedies like Kenosha can only be attributed to humans. Economic disparities, social injustice, and lawlessness are contributing causes, but they do come from us humans. The only common denominator I know for natural and human tragedies is sin. Yes, that old fashioned notion that we’re in rebellion against our Creator and there’s a price to be paid. “The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin” (Galatians 3:22). Mankind is obviously under sin, and nature too is in “bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21). 

Some traditions in Protestantism emphasize the sovereignty of God. “There is absolutely nothing that happens in the universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority” (Christianity.com). OK, plenty of Bible passages support that, but is that the main takeaway about God? It’s not very inviting, is it? I find this more helpful: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief…. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3-4). The Gospel is less the sovereignty of God and much more His saving us sinners, giving us hope in today’s sufferings, and final deliverance when He takes us to our heavenly home (1 Peter 1:3-9). “The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Galatians 3:22). 

A principle of Alcoholics Anonymous is living one day at a time. Not bad advice also for us temporarily living under the consequences of sin. “Your heavenly Father knows. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:32-33). Jesus, I'm giving You today's troubles.

The Meyer Minute for August 26, 2020

I was once with the late Senator Conrad Burns of Montana. He said, “Do you know the greatest question ever asked? ‘Who do you say that I am?’” (Matthew 16:15). That question was in last Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” That ancient version of modern polling drew various answers, and then Jesus zeroed in, “But who do you say that I am?”  

Preaching several years ago in North Carolina, my theme was, “It’s a great time to be the Church.” After the service, an older woman asked, “How can you say that?” She had a point. Older people have seen “Christian” America disappear. Decades ago, people knew they should go to church on Sunday mornings; whether they went or not is another question. Decades ago, people knew the main characters in the Bible; today they don’t know key biblical persons, including Jesus. Decades ago, public morality followed the Ten Commandments; today not. That was “Christian” America, when the messages of the Church and public culture were largely complementary to one another. “Christian” America is gone and it ain’t coming back. 

There’s a silver lining in this cloud, a sliver of light so bright it changes Church people’s attitudes. We are learning anew, or for the first time, that the Church is about Jesus Christ. It’s not about having privilege in society because of who we are. It’s not about public morality. It’s not about Martin Luther or John Wesley or the Pope, or whatever person your denomination holds up. It’s about Jesus Christ. Oh, in “Christian” America Jesus was known. Most people knew the church’s message about Jesus. Again, whether they believed it or not is another question. What’s so great about today, and I’m saying this out of my own faith struggles, is realizing anew that Church life is all about Jesus. His light illuminates all the corners of personal and public life. It doesn’t go the other way, Jesus being defined by whatever personal or public things are dominating our thoughts and media. 

We who are older grieve what’s been lost in American and church life, but we should not grieve as people who have no hope. If we truly believe that Jesus is raised, exalted, and with us in today’s profound changes, then it is a great time to be the Church. “Who do you say that I am?”    

The Meyer Minute for August 24, 2020

“Let none of you suffer…as a meddler” (1 Peter 4:15). 

That’s worth pondering. Social media is filled with unchecked destruction of reputations. Partisans bring out truth or dirt on their opponents. For example, one congressman tweeted, “Do your wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat.” The line between public and private is not always clear but in this case the House Ethics Committee thought it was clear and admonished the congressman. A question is not whether some charge is true but rather this: Who appointed you to reveal someone else’s personal matters?  

Imagine no police department (I’m not talking about defunding the police). Imagine no state or federal prosecutors, no grand juries, no trials with strict legal procedures. That was Rome when Peter wrote; there was nothing like our civil service. So, how were issues of right and wrong, of actions good or harmful to the public welfare addressed? By informers, “delatores” in Latin. An individual would present truth or lies about someone to his patron, who then could haul his opponent into court, where trials were wild compared to America’s strict standards. If the patron won, the patron and informer could make big bucks, but the loser was often exiled or executed. If the patron lost, he and the informer could suffer the same fate. Making someone else’s secrets public was part of Roman culture. So, Peter says, “You Christians are called to be different!” “Let none of you suffer…as a busybody.”  

“It is a common plague that everyone would rather hear evil than good about their neighbors…. To avoid this vice, therefore, we should note that none has the right to judge and reprove a neighbor publicly, even after having seen a sin committed, unless authorized to judge and reprove. There is a very great difference between judging sin and having knowledge of sin. You may certainly know about a sin, but you should not judge it. I may certainly see and hear that my neighbor sins, but I have no command to tell others about it” (Martin Luther, “Large Catechism”).  

Unlike ancient Rome, the American system gives us ways we can report wrongs to authorities, but it’s not through social media. “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:16). Inquiring minds may want to know, but they shouldn’t get it from followers of Jesus. 

The Meyer Minute for August 21, 2020

Tips for Christian discernment about political conventions and promises: 

“Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1). God instituted government, whatever form it may take, for the care of all people. Government is important to the quality of our lives, but government is not our Savior. 

Generally, and in politics specifically, we are attracted to what we judge good and worthy. Just as we have our affinity groups, our Facebook friends, and so on, our political preferences reflect how we see ourselves. In preferring those who reinforce our attitudes and conducts, we tend to justify before ourselves and God who we are and how we live. This is what we sinners naturally do. 

Jesus says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). Unlike human preferences for what we like, God’s love seeks to bring good to people rejected by majority society. In Jesus’ visible ministry those were the “tax collectors and sinners.” Today they are immigrants, homeless, addicts, incarcerated, unknown victims of crime, and all marginalized by life. 

Political campaigns and agendas seek power for their purposes, and their purposes may be admirable, fulfilling purposes of God’s institution government (Romans 13:4). The Church operates differently. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45). 

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:28). Christians see the neighbor in every individual marginalized by society, but a Christian also understands that our neighbor includes fellow citizens whose life, property, and well-being are threatened and even destroyed by others. In this difficult public policy debate, Christians can see both sides. God’s love through us “would not merely point to that which is bad in people as an end in itself, but move toward thinking creatively about appropriate ways to bestow that which is good in them” (Leo Sanchez, “Beyond Facebook Love,” in “Let the Gospel Lead,” 96).   

Today’s partisanship is distressing but points to the privilege of living in a participatory, representative democracy. Alexander Hamilton wrote, “What is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” (“Federalist, 51). I thank God for the insight Scriptures give in trying to discern how to think in today’s partisan times. I hope you do too. 

The Meyer Minute for August 19, 2020

Books are my security blanket. They’re outside me, like a child reaches for a blanket for comfort, so that I can reach and hold and know all will be well. But when a child can’t find his “blankie”? That’s how I’ve felt these last months with books boxed for moving. “Where’s Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris? She has something I need to read again.” Or, “Dang, can’t find Starcks Prayerbook.” Yesterday I got enough work done on new bookshelves that I can now have my blankie close. 

It’s devotional authors who especially speak to this child. Like Brother Lawrence: “All things are possible to him who believes, yet more to him who hopes, more still to him who loves, and most of all to him who practices and perseveres in these three virtues. All those who are baptized, and believe as they should, have taken the first step on the road to perfection.” (The Practice of the Presence of God, 67) 

Like Os Guiness, devotional with the insights of scholarship. “In short, the modern world quite literally ‘manages’ without God. We can do so much so well by ourselves that there is no need for God, even in his church. Thus, we modern people can be profoundly secular in the midst of explicitly religious activities. Which explains why so many modern Christian believers are atheists unawares. Professing to believe in supernatural realities, they are virtual atheists; whatever they say they believe, they show in practice that they function without practical recourse to the supernatural…. The call to follow Jesus Christ runs directly counter to this deadly modern pressure toward secularization.” (Os Guiness, The Call, 149)  

Like Oswald Chambers: “Anything that savors of dejection spiritually is always wrong. Dejection springs from one of two sources—I have either satisfied a lust or I have not. Lust means—I must have it at once. Spiritual lust makes me demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Who gives the answer.” (My Utmost for His Highest, February 7) 

Richard Baxter, Herman Gockel, the German Gesangbuch (hymnal), For All the Saints, and oh so many more. Their writings exude Scripture, and so send me back to the Bible to see new insights that this rube had missed. I was honored to be the president of Concordia Seminary, but it was the most demanding job I’ve ever had; time with my books was limited. Now I can reach for my blankie, seek God, and yes, be with Diane. 

The Meyer Minute for August 18, 2020

Social justice is not a major emphasis in my denomination. What we do emphasize is God’s justice for individual sinners, that the death of Jesus satisfies the just requirements of our Creator upon the rebellion of His creatures against Him. Because of Jesus’ passion, God graciously credits the merits of Jesus to those who say, “This then shall be my only plea: Jesus hath lived and died for me” (Lutheran Service Book, 563:5). That God accepted the payment is signaled by the resurrection of Jesus. This is justice, righteousness is a synonym, for the individual, but what if believing individuals don’t receive justice on this side of eternity? Scripture says, “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19). 

Because Christian faith should be “active in love” (Galatians 5:6), a believer’s view of justice is enlarged beyond personal issues to selflessly serving people in society, hence “social” justice.” Beyond a prayer, I don’t know if many congregations in my denomination spoke to events following the unjust treatment of George Floyd. If social justice wasn’t on our screen, it has to be now. My considered opinion is that we should fortify our souls for more social unrest. Don’t put your hopes in the election. “Put not your trust in princes” (Psalm 146:3). Here’s a quotation from longtime investor Jim Rogers. “We’re going to see more and more social unrest throughout the world because we have an artificial situation where a lot of money is being printed and yet most people, many people are not participating in the recovery that everybody hope for.” (China Money Podcast). Unless people believe they’re getting a fair economic shake, there’ll be trouble. The current success of the stock market comes from unprecedented amounts of money being printed by governments and central banks. Unless there is prudent policy and action by people “above our pay grade,” sooner or later social unrest will increase. 

“God moves in mysterious ways…” Our troubled present and probably more social unrest to come is an opportunity for congregations to “explain reality theologically,” as Professor Martin Scharlemann put it. Pastors, until God brings us to the full realization of Christ’s righteousness in heaven, help us discern how God wills for us to think and act about social justice here-and-now. Pastors, from your extensive studies in God’s Word, guide us how to love all our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).     

The Meyer Minute for August 17, 2020

Eternal God, our Creator, we call upon You as our Father. We are in great need. For Jesus’ sake, embrace us with assurances of Your love. Give us calm that this pandemic too will pass. Most High, dwelling in light inaccessible but revealing light in our darkness, look down upon us as we are being tested. Receive both our intercession and the groanings of Your Spirit for us in our weakness.  

Bestow mercies upon the reopening of our nation’s schools. However they’re opening, the labors of teachers, administrators, and parents are in vain without Your enabling mercies. Give administrators the courage to set aside their personal preferences, to take to heart the advice of experts, to be regular and persuasive in their communications, and to be at peace with the fallibility of their decisions. Give teachers a deep feeling of calm and hope that they will convey to their students. Keep teachers safe from contagion and persuasive about extraordinary health measures to their not-yet-disciplined, not yet mature students.  

Parents, traditional two-parent homes, and single parents too, carry heavy concerns. You have placed them as Your representatives in the rearing of Your children, for these indeed are Your children, O Creator, our Father. As parents fret over their children’s and their own health, with their employment or lack thereof, with meeting demands greater than their resource, enlighten them hope and the support of Your everlasting arms.  

Give our youth rock-solid confidence that they are loved, come what may, loved by You their eternal Father and loved by their parents. Keep them safe, safe themselves, safe from spreading. And may they know that they are loved by our congregation. Ah, how we forget our Savior’s words as we go about the “adult business” of the church. “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” May we all play our part to lead these children in the footsteps of Jesus who “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.” 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Amen!  

Passages alluded to or quoted: Job 38:4; 1 Peter 1:17; Exodus 33:20; 2 Timothy 1:10; Psalm 11:4; Romans 8:26; Psalm 127:1; Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 27:1; Mark 10:14; Luke 2:40; Lamentations 3:22-25. 

The Meyer Minute for August 14, 2020

Dr. Abjar Bakhou tells about Jason, a committed Christian who witnessed to a middle eastern taxi driver. Jason failed, and the reason is important as pastors prepare sermons and Bible classes and we all seek to grow in knowledge and witness. Jason failed because he used our normal way of presenting Jesus, that Jesus earned forgiveness for our sins. There is right and wrong, there’s sin and punishment but, thank God! Jesus offers us forgiveness. You’re familiar with this way of presenting the Gospel because you’re a product of western culture, but the taxi driver, like an increasing number of people Americans, see life in terms of shame and honor, not in terms of sin and forgiveness. 

In Sunday’s Gospel, Matthew 15:21-28, a non-Jewish woman cries, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” Jesus’ response isn’t about sin and forgiveness but about shame and honor. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” AKA, you should be ashamed of yourself because of who you are. “Lord, help me,” she pleads, but Jesus stays on His talking point. “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  Look at her comeback! “‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”  

“The majority of shame researchers and clinicians agree that the difference between shame and guilt is best understood as the difference between ‘I am bad’ and ‘I did something bad.’   Guilt = I did something bad. Shame = I am bad.” (Brene Brown, Dare to Lead, 128). Jesus used the human sin of shaming people to draw out a statement of faith. The woman’s faith was rewarded, and the disciples were taught the paramount importance of faith in Jesus. “The honor is for you who believe” (1 Peter 2:7). 

Shame and honor easily relate to the forgiveness of sin, which indeed is the heart of biblical faith. When you honor God, you’ll seek to obey Him. When you dishonor God, you’ll disobey His commandments, you’ll sin and need forgiveness. How rich the fullness of the Gospel! Jason discovered that, and awareness of shame and honor can enhance our faith and witness to Jesus.