The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for September 11, 2020

Pastors are working on their sermons today, the anniversary of 9-11. Terrorism continues. Civil unrest is increasing. Political campaigns are tearing us apart. The economy will never be the same. Almost 200,000 of us have died. Wildfires are destroying the west. If America was united after 9-11, it’s not now. We seem to be deconstructing the democracy our ancestors labored to build and bequeath to us. Pastors, don’t tell us we’re sinners, as if that’s some revelation. We’re being beat up by sin and evil. Explain, please, where God is in all this. 

For thousands of years people have wondered about the source of evil. The ancient Greeks, the well spring of our western civilization, believed evil came either from fate, the gods ordained our troubles, or that evil came from bad and ignorant human decisions. The Christian Bible doesn’t probe the origin of evil but does teach us how God is at work. The Law of God, all His ‘thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots,” explains what’s going on, not to beat us up but to bring us to righteousness, to life the way it should be, the life we yearn for. “The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith” (Galatians 3:21-25). 

As a population, we are “imprisoned…under sin.” Has despair ever been so great in our country? About increasing rates of suicide, Shannon Monnat of Syracuse University ways,  “There are many reasons to suspect that suicide rates will increase this year too, not just because of Covid-19 but because stress and anxiety seem to be permeating every aspect of our lives” (Alex Tanzi and Wi Lu, Bloomberg). 

Ancient Greeks gathered for dramatic performances of tragedy. We’re seeing tragedy in our time, played out in many scenes. Let our sermons Sunday give us heart that God is indeed present, leading us to righteousness. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his troubled times, “May God in His mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may He lead us to Himself” (“Letters and Papers from Prison,” 369-370). 

The Meyer Minute for September 4, 2020

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). 

Normally we use Labor Day weekend to get together, barbeque, and transition into fall. We’ll still do that in some measure, given Covid-19 restrictions, but this weekend should be different. Yesterday the Department of Labor released its weekly unemployment report. All told, 29.2 million Americans are receiving unemployment assistance. Only 42% of jobs have been recovered since the pandemic began (AP, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 4; A14). Other years we’d flip a burger with little thought about jobs. This Labor Day weekend should be different. 

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” applies first to what you say in court, but we also use the Ten Commandments as file folders. We gather all that God teaches us about a given topic under the heading of a commandment. Let’s ask if we’re giving false witness about work. Michael Sandel: “From the end of World War II until the 1970s, it was possible for those without a college degree to find a good job that enabled them to support a family and lead a comfortable, middle-class life. That is more difficult today. Over the past four decades, the earnings difference between high-school and college graduates—what economists call the ‘college premium’ – has doubled.” Sandel writes this has changed how we think about work. “The valorization of those who score well on standardized tests and go on to college or university implicitly disparages those without such credentials. It tells them that the work they do, less valued by the market than the work of professionals, is a lesser contribution to the common good.”  

You see how the Eighth Commandment applies? Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Your neighbor is that person without a degree, that person in a pay range judged less important, but in fact a neighbor whose work may be doing more for our community than some college grad in a cubicle. No wonder many people are angry. Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild: “You do not recognize yourself in how others see you. It is a struggle to feel seen and honored” (Michael Sandel, The Atlantic online; September 2). Did Jesus say, “Whoever would be great among you must have a college degree and make lots of money?” No, Jesus’ great ones serve others (Mark 10:42-45).  

The old wily foe uses our unexamined assumptions to undermine the ways of God. I’m thankful for my education but I’m no better than anyone else. 

The Meyer Minute for September 3, 2020

“In him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). That’s an astonishing claim, and it’s especially challenging for us Christians as we go about our daily routines. Going to work, going to school, going to the store – whatever “going” means these days – do I somehow see Jesus in everything? Can’t say I do, which is why this astonishing verse is also aspirational. Until we see Him face-to-face, we’re still growing in seeing Jesus as the center of all things.  

That’s not just my challenge, or yours. We also look to other Christians to show us the centrality of Jesus for our daily lives. For example, consider counseling. Because we’re flesh and blood creatures, counselors are important. Your pastor invites you to spiritual truths for this life and the life to come, but on this side of eternity we often struggle, and sometimes struggles get messy. With their special training in mind and body, counselors can help us sort things out. So, on Sundays we hear the pastor announce the forgiveness of sins, but during the week we continue to experience guilty and fearful emotions. Both are true. God completely forgives us for Jesus’ sake, but we’re still flesh and blood humans, hard-wired to our feelings. It is what it is. 

Dr. Rick Marrs has written, “Making Christian Counseling More Christ-Centered.” Because most pastors are not certified as psychological counselors, we often suggest a parishioner see a Christian counselor, but what does “Christian” mean? Nice and positive? Dr. Marrs takes it deeper. He says some “Christian” counselors often work this way: Jesus made you a Christian but now I’m going to tell you what you should do about your trouble. That’s a Law-based approach to counseling. “Do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28). A Gospel-based approach says Jesus forgives and loves you just as you are, but even more. He is present to help you in your struggle. In other words, true Christian counseling brings flesh and blood psychological truths to bear but does so in this unique context: “In him all things hold together.” 

“Word and Work: An Intersection” is a Concordia Seminary program. You can find episodes at scholar.csl.edu/wordandwork/. The audio is streamed every Thursday at 2:00 at www.KFUO.org. In today’s episode, I enjoy a conversation with Dr. Marrs. Much counseling, he says, is horizontal, about troubles in our interpersonal relationships. Christian counseling introduces the vertical as well. God in Christ comes to you in your suffering. “In him all things hold together.” 

The Meyer Minute for September 2, 2020

“I felt hopeless. I felt worthless and had panic attacks. I thought that things would get worse. I had very bad and destructive habits and thoughts. I was lost.”  That sounds like an American young person, but no. Let’s call her “Elena,” a 22-year-old woman who grew up in extreme poverty in Macedonia. Her family had lost their jobs and had no wherewithal for themselves, let alone to help her. What would I do? What do you do in your hopeless times?  

“Elena” went to church. That’s saying something. She felt she could go to church, but do people in America who are outside the church feel they can come check us out? Or have we, unintentionally to be sure, sent the message that this place is not for you? Martin Franzmann once preached a sermon titled, “The Man who Went Home with Only a Word in His Pocket.” “Elena” went to a church and they gave her a Bible. “Every word touched my heart. I felt indescribably peace and relief.”  

We need encouraging stories! Thanks to the American Bible Society for the story of “Elena” and many others. Their mission is “making the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so all people may experience its life-changing message.” It makes me wonder, what might happen if churches gave everyone in their neighborhood a Bible or Bible portion, with simple directions for reading?  

Imagine living on $3.00 a day. I can’t. When we complain about how bad things are, there are billions of people around the world who would rise up to condemn us, if they could. $3.00 a day. That was daily life for Francisco and Maria, again, fictitious names. “But you wouldn’t know it from the radiant smiles on their faces. Their lives are full of joy because you help bring them the Bible.” “Every morning, they awaken to the strains of what Francisco calls their ‘radio.’ It’s actually an audio Bible… ‘We don’t know how to read because we are illiterate,’ Francisco says. ‘For us, it is very important to have this audio Bible.’” (American Bible Society, “Good News,” September). 

“To hope grown dim, to hearts turned cold / Speak tongues of fire and make us bold 

To shine Your Word of saving grace / Into each dark and loveless place.” 

(Lutheran Service Book, 585:3) 

The Meyer Minute for September 2, 2020

“I felt hopeless. I felt worthless and had panic attacks. I thought that things would get worse. I had very bad and destructive habits and thoughts. I was lost.”  That sounds like an American young person, but no. Let’s call her “Elena,” a 22-year-old woman who grew up in extreme poverty in Macedonia. Her family had lost their jobs and had no wherewithal for themselves, let alone to help her. What would I do? What do you do in your hopeless times?  

“Elena” went to church. That’s saying something. She felt she could go to church, but do people in America who are outside the church feel they can come check us out? Or have we, unintentionally to be sure, sent the message that this place is not for you? Martin Franzmann once preached a sermon titled, “The Man who Went Home with Only a Word in His Pocket.” “Elena” went to a church and they gave her a Bible. “Every word touched my heart. I felt indescribably peace and relief.”  

We need encouraging stories! Thanks to the American Bible Society for the story of “Elena” and many others. Their mission is “making the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so all people may experience its life-changing message.” It makes me wonder, what might happen if churches gave everyone in their neighborhood a Bible or Bible portion, with simple directions for reading?  

Imagine living on $3.00 a day. I can’t. When we complain about how bad things are, there are billions of people around the world who would rise up to condemn us, if they could. $3.00 a day. That was daily life for Francisco and Maria, again, fictitious names. “But you wouldn’t know it from the radiant smiles on their faces. Their lives are full of joy because you help bring them the Bible.” “Every morning, they awaken to the strains of what Francisco calls their ‘radio.’ It’s actually an audio Bible… ‘We don’t know how to read because we are illiterate,’ Francisco says. ‘For us, it is very important to have this audio Bible.’” (American Bible Society, “Good News,” September). 

“To hope grown dim, to hearts turned cold / Speak tongues of fire and make us bold 

To shine Your Word of saving grace / Into each dark and loveless place.” 

(Lutheran Service Book, 585:3) 

The Meyer Minute for September 1, 2020

You wonder – maybe you don’t but today it’s appropriate – what would the World War II generation say about America’s public life today. Historians mark today’s date, September 1, as the beginning of World War II. I suspect the “greatest generation” might call us naïve. 

The “Book Review” section in Sunday’s New York Times looks at seven books about World War II. Reviewing Roger Moorhouse’s “Poland 1939,” Timothy Snyder writes, “Poland’s decision to resist the Germans in summer 1939, after Austria and Czechoslovakia had yielded in 1938, was of world historical significance. Poland’s resistance forced Britain and France to honor a security guarantee, and thus established the kernel of the alliance that would eventually win the war. If Britain had not joined the war in 1939, it is hard to see how the United States would ever have found a reason to intervene in Europe.” Jay Winik reviews “Countdown 1945” by Chris Wallace with Mitch Weiss. “‘Countdown 1945’ is also a profound story of decision making at the highest levels – and of pathos. The alternative to using the (atomic) bombs would have been for a war-weary America to invade Japan. Yet…the closer American troops got to Japan, the more ‘fanatical’ the Japanese defenders became. American military planners feared that the war could go on not for months but for years.”  

History shows Christians how the horrors of war stand in stark contrast to the justice of God’s ways. “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2). 

Peter Fritzsche reviews “Hitler: Downfall 1939-1945” by Volker Ullrich. “Ullrich concludes this accomplished biography with lessons about ‘how quickly democracy can be pried from its hinges when political institutions fail’ and ‘how thin the mantle separating civilization and barbarism actually is. The history of the Third Reich teaches us about ‘what human beings are capable of when the rule of law and ethical norms are suspended.’” That tells me the stakes in today’s America are high, very high.  

From time to time aged World War II veterans are brought out to reminisce, but younger generations easily pass over their words as merely the memories of old people. We like to flatter ourselves that we know best. History teaches us otherwise and directs us to wiser ways to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).