Joining the Conversation Luther Started on the Ten Commandments

My sister, Jamie Kuiken, has kindly taken up my request for others to join in this conversation. Please go to #5 to see her addition.

There is a move today throughout the USA to mandate the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and other public spaces which violates the freedom of religion provisions of our constitution. But, if the Commandments are to be posted, then let them be posted with addenda.

Because I am Lutheran and Martin Luther provided explanations of the Commandments in his Catechisms, I almost always think of them as something that comes with commentary. Timothy Wengert^[1] points out that the explanations were not intended to be the final statement on the catechism. Instead, Luther intended his comments to be a conversation partner for those who studied the Ten Commandments. In the spirit of continuing the conversation, I include addenda later in this piece to encourage your response and invite you to join me in considering how the Ten Commandments relate to 2025 and life in the United States. My reference for this conversation is A Contemporary Translation of Luther’s Small Catechism: Study Edition, by Martin Luther, trans. Timothy Wengert, Augsburg/Fortress 1994.

Before writing my addenda, I considered the legal precedent of the Code of Hammurabi from the late 18^th century BCE. It was already recognized in the Old Babylonian Empire (Persia, now Iran) before Moses brought the divinely given Ten Commandments to the nascent wilderness community in the Sinai Desert.

The prologue of the Code declares that these laws are set down to “prevent the strong from oppressing the weak”[2]. Just as The Commandments echo the laws of Hammurabi, God gives them not only for the good order of God’s people but to “prevent the strong from oppressing the weak”. Luther, in the Large Catechism, also realized that the poor and the oppressed had a special place in the commandments.[3] In striving to follow the Ten Commandments today, we endeavor to maintain good order in our society and seek to fulfill the maxim that “a great nation is known by its care for the weak and most vulnerable.”

This social contract to protect the weak and the vulnerable from the oppression of the powerful and the wealthy—principles our founding fathers fully appreciated—is at the core of governance. The US constitution provides for three co-equal branches—legislative, executive, and judicial. The checks and balances the three branches provide are to ensure these protections. Or at least that was the intent. Instead, the distinctive powers of each of these branches of government are currently blurred. The language and action of the day is focused on executive power and greed and ignore preventing oppression of the weak. The intent may even be purposely oppressing the weak.

    1.        You shall have no other gods.

What is this? (What does this mean?)

We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. When God’s love and justice for the world challenges worldly and national powers, we are to choose God over those powers and act in accord with God’s love and mercy for the marginalized of the world over satisfying the personal financial and power concerns of government and business leaders.

2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.

What is this? (What does this mean?)

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise, and give thanks to God.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Using God’s name to swear to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, while planning to subvert its authority for the purpose of diverting monies and power to the privileged, not only violates and blasphemes the trust of the people but constitutes a blasphemy against God. Two recent examples, out of many, include:

1) revoking birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and

2) dismantling policies and programs enacted by the legislative branch.

These actions in turn devastate much of the social fabric that U.S. citizens, including those who are citizens through birthright, and our global neighbors depend on like Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, and the Department of Education.

3. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise God’s Word or preaching, but instead keep that Word holy and gladly hear and learn it.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. We are to use God’s name in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving for God’s activity in our lives. Christian symbols, including Sabbath, the cross, and being chosen, should not be used for power and greed but should instead serve God and our neighbor. For instance, Sabbath, whenever observed, if used as an ostentatious act of piety, allows political figures, when they hear a bishop of the Church proclaim God’s love and mercy for God’s people, to condemn God’s messenger of faith, hope, and love. This reaction does not keep the time holy but shifts the focus away from God and God’s intentions for God’s people and places the center of attention on human concerns of power and the egocentric agenda of the person of the day. It both repudiates God’s words and obstructs learning and hearing gladly the tidings of great joy.

4. Honor your father and your mother.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Certainly, for good order in the family and society, someone needs to be in charge. We recognize that authority as father and mother and others in authority who would guard and protect us, but, as Luther states in the Large Catechism, this authority does not excuse selfishness and tyranny.[4] Parental authority in the family is then to reflect God’s authority over creation—an authority that is ready to establish healthy boundaries and willing always to forgive humanity’s violations of that authority, even to dying on the cross.

5. You shall not murder.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Our country has perpetrated genocide on the Native American people and stolen their land.

We have allowed and perpetrated the placement of people into chattel slavery which stole their lives and labor, worked many to death, denied them personhood and citizenship, and obstructed their access to education and reduced their ability to accumulate wealth equity in our nation.

When we send refugees back to countries where there will be certain death and when we cut budgets that endanger health and lives, the suffering and death that result is murder.6. You shall not commit adultery.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Loving and honoring one’s spouse through being faithful to her or him “as long as we both shall live” is a part of the vows that most of us promise before God in our marriages. Yet, news coverage shares stories of many of the wealthy and powerful oftentimes treating this idea of fidelity as an archaic, plebian concept.

More than that, Scripture repeatedly claims worshipping other Gods as adultery (e.g., Jeremiah 31). In the same way, swearing a loyalty oath to any person who demands that you act contrary to God’s plan of proclaiming good news to the poor, liberation to the captive, restoration of sight to the blind, release to the oppressed, and announcing the day of God’s favor (Luke 4, Isaiah 61) is also committing adultery.

Between the issues of marital infidelity which is a violation of vows and the lack of reverence shown to God in the lust for wealth and power, why do we trust any promises made by our philandering government leaders? What power and authority are we willing to cede to the chief executive officer of our country? Have we failed to recognize our first commitment is to fear, love, and trust in God?

7. You shall not steal.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor use shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, to obtain it for ourselves, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.

Addendum: 

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. The Bible demonstrates that if we have more than we need and then do not share the abundance of treasure with neighbors who are destitute, then we are stealing from the neighbor. This is the lesson of the man who built bigger barns (Luke 12) and the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16). When a government intentionally cuts programs for the weak, the poor, and the vulnerable in order to give greater tax benefits to the wealthiest and more powerful, it is stealing, not only financially.

When the government ignores the needs of “those who have their backs against the wall: the poor, the dispossessed, and the disinherited” (echoing the words of Howard Thurman), instead of proclaiming good news, our government is building a bigger wall of exclusion. Against this bigger wall, the government allows those who are rich and powerful to arrange the people they disregard to await the firing squad. In this way, all that they have, even their life, liberty, happiness, and dignity, can be stolen.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. In today’s world I find it difficult to put a positive construct on the comments of our present national administration. Their words are repeatedly disparaging and deceitful. At best, they are half-truths spoken to purposely mislead the hearer. At worst, they portray problems we face, as a nation, as caused by DEI policies, intentionally being racist (targeting minorities), ableist (disparaging people living with disabilities), sexist (legislating against women and transgendered people), and classist (defunding needed programs for the poor people). These statements are hateful and dehumanizing because they are false and should be publicly named and confronted.

For example, people living with disabilities and minorities were not responsible for the horrific aircraft crash in Washington D.C. Blind people regularly use the word “seeing”, as seeing fraud. The fact is, there are many minority people and people living with disabilities who are not only qualified but over-qualified for many jobs they hold or apply for. They are hardworking and ready to work. They only need the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable. Competency can only be demonstrated through employment. Instead of demeaning people living with disabilities, people of color and those for whom English is a second language, and people who are not of the male gender by publicly humiliating them and falsely challenging their work and value to our government, we should recognize the value of the talents and gifts of all people.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. Our leaders want what we do not have. They covet and choose to illegally and even violently take what belongs to others. Martin Luther King, Jr. often claimed that the three evils of the world are poverty, racism, and violence. He further named violence as including colonialism, segregation, and militarism.

Our government chooses to continue to take land from those who lived here first. Because of national and personal greed, it manipulates land policies to allow the rich and powerful to obtain the riches of the land without honoring the land or its people.

Our present administration lusts after many foreign lands viewing them as something we should possess rather than countries inhabited by self-determining people. We look for ways to be able to call Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Gaza ours, and for Canada to become our fifty-first state. We attempt to coerce Ukraine to give us its rare metals without proper compensation. We are willing to trick or deceive our neighbors and make false legal claims to what we want to have as we attempt to plunder, conquer, and pillage.

10.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What is this? What does this mean?

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not entice, force, or steal away from our neighbors their spouses, workers, or livestock, but instead, urge them to stay and remain loyal to our neighbors. 

Addendum:

We place God above all things because God calls, names, and claims us as God’s children. What a different place we would be in today if we did all that we could to help other nations keep their people safe. That, of course, was why USAID was formed, but we know what happened there.

Our covetous behavior now advances a policy of new colonialism, theft of land, people, and their gross national product (wealth). This coveting leads to the greed that steals land, heritage, and livelihood. This coveting will remove an entire people from their land in order to create a grand resort which will be coveted by nations around the world. We have elected leaders who covet being coveted.

What then does God say about all of these commandments?

God says the following: “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

What is this? What does this mean? Answer:

God threatens to punish all who break these commandments. Therefore we are to fear his wrath and not disobey these commandments. However, God promises grace and every good thing to all those who keep these commandments. Therefore we are to love and trust him and gladly act according to his commands.

Addendum:

We know that violence begets violence. We know that once life threatening circumstances enter family systems, it can take years to find our way back to healthy, loving and trusting relationships. Therefore, in these closing words, we are given the opportunity to envision a different world than the one we live in. With these commandments we are given the opportunity to regard them as both personal guides and as a fence that “prevents the strong from oppressing the weak.” Will we keep silent and let the violence of colonialism, segregation, and militarism rule and destroy us as a nation? Or will we seek the grace of God, that is, God’s undeserved love, mercy, and forgiveness, as we look for ways to serve, support, and defend our neighbors. Yes, in these commandments God gives us the choice. 

 

Note: Luther uses a common form of the Decalogue that does not always correspond to the texts of either Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5 in the Luther Bible. As a result, some later editions, including the Nuremberg editions of 1531 and 1558, correct the text here and elsewhere according to the biblical text.

(rev. 2/28/2025)

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[1] Wengert, T. J. Martin Luther’s Catechisms: Forming the Faith (pp. 33–34). Fortress Press, 2009.

[2] Durant, W. Our Oriental Heritage. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

[3] The Book of Concord. Edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000. See especially LC, Ten Commandments, 246–47, in BC, 419.

[4] Ibid. See especially Luther’s comments in LC, Ten Commandments, 167–78, in BC, 409–10.

Barefoot in the Dark

Wednesday in Holy Week

John 13:1-5, 12-15 (NRSV)       Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

 

After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

In Jesus’ day, feet were more visible than they are today. People did not wrap their feet in socks and shoes. If they wore anything, they wore sandals. Yet, most authorities say that the majority of people walked bare-footed.

This meant that peoples’ feet were always dirty. And as any of you who live on farms know, we leave our barn boots on the back porch for a reason. No wonder the polite thing to do was to have one of the servants wash the feet of visitors to the house—after all you never know where those feet have been.

It would have been proper for one of the disciples to have washed Jesus’ feet, but here we see the order of the world being turned upside down. Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and tells us that we should do the same.

There are going to be some dirty, stinky jobs that are going to need to be done for the health and welfare of God’s community. So let’s step up and be prepared to work. We can’t look for someone else to do the job for us. In his paper on Christian Liberty, Luther says, “We are to be Lord of all, servant to none, and servant to all and Lord of none.”

We can never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is our Lord, and we know this because he loved all he met, even you and me.

Prayer

Thank you for your love and concern, Lord. Thank you for caring for us enough to even wash the stink from our feet. May we always know the fresh-smelling cleanness of life in your presence. Amen

PERFECT, Matthew 5:38-48

As we come to the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew, roughly 1/3 of the way through the Sermon on the Mount, we encounter some of the most difficult language thus far. “Do not resist evil doers.” Really? I am just going to say that this is a less-than-helpful translation from the Greek. The people who heard these words first had a great advantage.

1. They knew the times they lived in; therefore, they did not need to have the context of the times explained to them.
2. They understood Jesus’ words and didn’t have to have them translated.
3. They knew that just these eleven verses were not the whole sermon. They knew more was coming that would more fully explain what it meant to live in the kingdom of heaven, and
4. They didn’t have someone standing in front of them trying to explain what Jesus meant without the context of the whole sermon.

So, as we come to the end of our reading of Jesus’ words for us in Epiphany, understand that we will be coming back to other parts of his sermon throughout the year. Indeed, part of the sermon is assigned for Ash Wednesday, just a week and a half away. These words will continue to challenge us as we wrestle with what it means to be the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

Before talking more about Jesus, let me tell you a story. Emma stood in the middle of the room screaming with tears running down her face. Her mother came into the room and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Johnny hit me,” Emma shrieked.

“She hit me first!” Johnny retorted.

“That’s enough.” Mom said. “Say you’re sorry to one another and give each other a hug.”

Emma and Johnny looked at each other for a long time, and then each of them mumbled, “I’m sorry.” Then they hugged. As they hugged, Johnny whispered, “Tattle-tail,” and then he began to squeeze as hard as he could. Emma held her breath and started to get a little red in the face, but stubbornly refused to say anything. Finally, Johnny released her. Emma stepped back and kicked Johnny in the ankle as she appeared to lose her balance from the hug.

Mom said, “That’s better. Now play nice. Lunch will be ready soon.”

As she left the room, Johnny picked up a block and threw it at Emma. She ducked the block, and, putting her head down, she butted Johnny in the stomach. Suddenly, a hand grasped each of them, and Mom’s voice, no longer conciliatory, said, “That’s it. Go to your rooms and don’t come out until you can be friends again.”

Be honest. Don’t you wish that the problems of Syria could be solved this way? Or, don’t you wish the issues surrounding our last election could be solved like this?

Now I could tell you that the whole argument got started because Johnny broke Emma’s favorite crayon, or I could tell you that Emma wouldn’t answer Johnny when he asked her what she was doing, but little of that will change the fact that Emma and Johnny are living in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (plus a little interest) world. It is this tit-for-tat world that Jesus wants to address.

“Stop escalating the violence!” Jesus says. Understand that Rome is in power and returning punch for punch with Roman power will only get you crushed. Power does not rest in muscular strength, power rests in endurance and peace. Therefore, when the Roman soldier tells you to carry his load for a mile, smile and carry it two miles. If you show that you are willing to carry the load, you take away the soldier’s power over you.

“Yes,” Jesus says, “there is evil in the world, but if you are my follower, then you do not need to respond to evil with evil’s methods. Instead of responding to evil with evil, respond in a way that recognizes the person in front of you as a person. Treat that person as you would like to be treated, because, if what you see before you is an enemy and that person is stronger than you, then you are always going to be crushed.”

This is the beginning of what Gandhi understood. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. understood. If Gandhi had organized an army to fight the British, we would be living in a very different world today, but instead, Gandhi chose to turn the imperial power of the British against itself.

Martin Luther King, Jr. did not organize people around him with great speeches of strategy, planning the overthrow of white privilege and power. He spoke to the nation with words of hope and vision. He did not speak of strategy but of dreams. How differently we would have heard “I have a strategy…” rather than “I have a dream…”.

It is sometimes hard to imagine what a world of de-escalation might look like, and so I wish to share this story with you. In the early days of the Massachusetts Bay colony, John Winthrop noticed that his wood pile was diminishing much faster than he thought it should. Suspecting someone of stealing wood from his wood pile, he was enraged. So, he decided to wait in the shadows one night to see who was taking his prized wood. Around midnight, one of the men from the colony who had fallen on hard times, showed up and started to load up some of the wood. Stepping out of the shadows, John Winthrop said, “Friend, I see thou hast need of wood, and I have plenty. Help thyself to what you need.” John Winthrop wrote, “In this way, I ended the thievery.”

God has given us so much—enough to share. I know that there are times when that sharing makes us feel uncomfortable, but, when we remember that God’s abundance is for all of creation, not just those who believe, or not just for those who believe like us, we begin to have a glimpse of God’s amazing love for all of God’s people and the privilege we have been given to share the news of God’s love—a love that reaches beyond the category of enemy to person; a love that goes beyond our differences and embraces our common needs; a love that does not objectify those around us with labels of black and white, male and female, old and young, gay and straight, abled and disabled, Republicans and Democrats, residents and foreigners, English-speaking and some other language, Lutheran and pick your denomination, but as children of God’s loving creation. Christ died once for all. And we build on that foundation waiting to be tested.

The Lord told Moses to tell the people, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord, am holy.” Indeed, we are separate from the world because God is separate from the world. We are “In the world but not of it,” as Luther has said. And we are perfect as God is perfect—not perfect in the sense of being without sin, but perfect in the sense that we are complete, whole, what God has created us to be. We are one in Christ.

As we have heard in the Sermon on the Mount these last few weeks we are blessed, not by our own work, but in Christ’s love; we have been assured that our saltiness is restored in Christ, and our light shines out in Christ; our righteousness is fulfilled in Christ; and we have learned the ways of Christ; so now we find that our wholeness, our holiness, our perfection, is not from us, but from Christ himself.

As we are gathered in worship today, hear these words of Christ for you.

“You are blessed, that is, you are assured of God’s presence in your life. Christ is with you.”

“You are the salt of the earth and light to the nations.” That is, you are essential qualities needed for the body of Christ to continue in health and to thrive.

“Your righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.” That is, through Christ, all things are possible and our ability to raise people up from the valley of the shadow of death’s darkness into the resurrection of Christ’s light is our mission and ministry by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

And having learned what it means to be followers of Christ, “Do not escalate the level of violence in the world. Be wholly perfect as your Father in heaven is wholly perfect.”

Where Do We Stand? Matthew 4:12-23

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” (Martin Luther King, Jr).

If there is a common theme in the readings today, it is transition of power: How do we go about it and how do we live in it? Where do we stand in the times of challenge and controversy?

We hear words of hope in a short passage from a much longer poem in the book of Isaiah. The land that has been cursed, Zebulun and Naphtali, which was captured by Syria, shall be the site of new hope. The rod will be broken, the yoke and burden of slavery, will be lifted as it was in the day of Midian. This day of Midian is the final battle where God’s people were set free from the Midianites to enter the promised land and God’s favor again. It is the song that is ready to announce that the leader that will arise will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty Lord, Prince of Peace.” It is an amazing time of change with the transfer of power going from the oppressor to those who have been oppressed. Those who live in the shadow of death will now experience the light of new life—a victory for God’s people. It is a time of challenging the social order and the controversy over who are God’s chosen people.

From 1 Corinthians, we hear that there is conflict among the people of Corinth. It is reported by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling. Some are claiming greater authority in the faith because they have been baptized by important leaders within the Church. This early conflict centers on whose teaching they will follow. Some of the people are following Apollos, some Paul, some Cephas aka Peter, and some are claiming Christ.

Paul’s observation about the controversy of who to follow is as cryptic and concise today as it was almost 2000 years ago: Christ is not divided. We are not baptized in the name of our pastor nor in the name of our denomination nor in the name of government leaders. We are baptized in the name of Christ. We are baptized into Christ’s death and raised up with him into a new way of living together. The power and authority of our lives has been transferred, from us and our imperfections, to the perfect one who makes us right with God, the one who died upon the cross for us.

This message of the cross is challenging and foolishness to those who don’t believe because it seems implausible that one person’s death can have any influence on the living. And, if the cross were the final statement of who this Jesus is, we would all be fools, but the cross is not the final statement. It is the resurrected, living person of Jesus that makes the difference as he continues to create controversy, challenging our lives of comfort and convenience.

In our Gospel reading, with Jesus, we hear that John the Baptist has been arrested. Now it is time for Jesus to take the baton, or the torch that has been lighted by John, and continue the proclamation of the new relationship with God. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” It is time to rethink who and whose we are. It is time to stand up and be counted. It is time to gather all of God’s people and to prepare them for the great wilderness journey, a journey from a world of trying to make themselves right with God through the law to one of living in the righteousness of Christ freed to love our enemy and to pray for those who persecute us. It is a time to challenge the powers of our world and to enter controversial times of peace.

As leadership transfers from John to Jesus, we witness the calling of Jesus’ first disciples: Peter, Andrew, James and John. We witness the power of what a new vision and dream for the world can do for young people who are looking for change. Then with these new disciples, we witness the first fruits of Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry that challenges the world order and initiates the controversy of who this Jesus is.

Today’s stories of transition are not about the good old days: a time that used to be; they are not about recapturing some glory of the past. They are stories of hope, with dreams of a better way of living where our historic prejudices, myths of ethnic superiority, and preferential treatment of the wealthy at the expense of the poor no longer exist. It is not about reclaiming comfort and convenience, but gladly entering challenging times and the controversy that surrounds them.

Although a coincidence, it is amazing to me that these texts have been set aside for us, have been assigned to us, for this week, during the changing administrations in our government, in this time of transition in our lives, in this time of division and struggle. I couldn’t help but think of these texts as I listened to the inauguration of President Trump because of the deep divisions that have created conversational impasses based on who we voted for, seeking comfort and convenience of like-minded people, rather than entering the challenge and controversy of open disagreement for the sake of a common goal.

Let us remember in Martin Luther’s words that we are to be “in the world but not of it.” In baptism, we are of Christ’s body for the sake of the world. We are of the mind of Christ for the salvation of the world. We are of God’s justice and individually ambassadors of it for the peace of the world—but we are not of the world. No, we are not of the world, we are of Christ who challenges the world, raising the controversy of leadership.

We are created in God’s image with the gift of faith. Believing in Christ’s authority and his healing presence, we have the power to be the children of God. When we awaken to this reality, we begin to see that the good old glory days we remember are not the past but the days yet to come. In the body of Christ, in the shadow of the cross, and in the morning of the empty tomb, we must, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, learn to live together as brothers (and sisters) or perish together as fools".

As we learn to live together in the mind of Christ, let us pause for a moment along the sea (of Galilee) to hear Christ’s calling, witness his authority and healing presence, and then proclaim his fulfillment of all righteousness in prayer. Please join me in this prayer I’ve adapted from one written by David Scherer, Contextual Learning Coordinator at Luther Seminary in St. Paul.

God of many languages, speak love to us. God of many nations, welcome strangers among us. God of many expressions, sing joy through us. You are one. We are many. Humble us. Hold us. Save us. Send us. Shelter us and guide us in these challenging and controversial times. Amen.

Do we proclaim a God that is dead?

Before I begin, I ask the forgiveness of all of you who are Johnsons, I have used the Johnson family name in this post simply as a convenience for, as far as I know, not a single person referenced has ever been named Johnson. Given names have also been changed. Any similarity to your own worshipping space should cause you and your worshipping community to ponder what our Christ centered, resurrection proclamation is and how those who do not know our story as well as you do may receive the message of good news we make.

It was probably arrogance that prompted me to take one of my calls. Of course I felt called to be there. Of course I thought that we would be able to get along with one another. Yes, I knew that the terms of the call were tenuous. Yes, I thought that the Holy Spirit was leading me to that place, and I thought that I could help these two congregations. They were both experiencing decline, and I thought that I could help them turn that around.

Of course, I was wrong. Whenever God’s work becomes an “I” thing, it is no longer God’s work. I knew that. I believed it, but somehow I didn’t listen to myself or the many mentors and professors and authors I had worked with and read.

Eventually I came to my senses, but by that time all of the great ideas I had had had mostly failed.  So, one afternoon when I sort of knew that my time was short, as my eye sight was going but before it was gone, I went into one of the churches to scream at God, lick my wounds, and seek direction for the future.

This is an old church building by Midwestern standards and it has that wonderful smell that many of these old churches have. Do you know the smell? It is of years of burning wax candles, scented hand lotion worked into the covers and pages of hymnals, of perfume and aftershave, of plaster and carpeting, of dust and mustiness, of wood and metal polish. For me, it is the holy scent of God.

After my initial rantings to God, I started to feel a little foolish. After all God already knew my problems and my shortcomings. I didn’t really need to be explicit, did I? After some time, I started pacing around this very familiar space to calm down, thinking about next steps in walking with God’s people in faith.

I moved from space to space within the sanctuary noticing cracks and chips. Next I stood in front of the stained glass windows surrounding the worship space. I noticed the large windows of the Holy Family on the one side and the Ascension on the other. I thought about how the worshipping community was held in the embrace of these two windows of Christ’s vulnerable coming and his glorious, ascending resurrection promise. I thought of how the baptismal font was centered between the two and how our lives were lived in the tension between those windows in Baptismal hope.

I walked up to the windows that surrounded the altar, and I noticed the themes of the windows that moved from baptism to the cross on the altar and then life in the resurrection. It was amazing and spiritually satisfying until I noticed the panels and plaques on everything. So, I started walking through the church again, paying attention to the memorial signage. As I walked, I thought about many of the churches I have worshipped in, worked in, and served as pastor. I thought about the “edifice complex” that we have and about our need for self-aggrandizement.

At one of the windows I started to laugh. And, whenever I think about it today, I have to laugh again.

I was looking at the window of Jesus being baptized by John. Under every window was a beautiful stained glass memorial panel. This one read “In memory of the Johnson brothers.” At Jesus knocking at the door, it read, “In memory of John Johnson.” I laughed even harder. Under the boat on the sea, with Peter armpit deep in the waters with his hand raised to Jesus and a boat of disciples in the background, “In memory of the Johnson family.” It all became absurd. I knew what the pictures were, and yet, I was being told that these were not the images of Jesus’ life, but rather they were the Johnson family pictures. All the plaques and memorials I had seen throughout my life came flooding in on me and I laughed and laughed and laughed.

I remembered a piano I had to tune that had the plaque “Donated to the glory of God by Johanna Johnson.” It was a good piano in its day, but it was always difficult to tune and no longer held its tune very well. Yet, when the musicians of the congregation wanted to get rid of it, they couldn’t because there were still members of Johanna’s family in the church, and they might be offended. How relieved everybody was when the church had a fire and the piano was damaged beyond repair.

I remembered the baptismal font at a church I served that had a large sterling silver basin. Amid some beautiful scroll work at the bottom of the basin was this message: “In memory of Johannes Johnson.” It was small print until water was put in. Then the water magnified the letters to almost an inch high. I, of course, didn’t realize this until I was in the middle of a baptismal service one day. As I bent forward to baptize the baby, I clearly read the inscription and almost baptized the child in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and you’ve got to be kidding! Johannes Johnson?” I was so shocked that I almost dropped the baby.

One church had a wall filled with the names of charter members and those who had made major contributions (money) to support the ministry of the church. A couple of names were missed. The addition of those names later was not able to keep them in proper alphabetical order. It took hours of pastoral visits and pleadings to get forgiveness from some, and others never did come to worship again.

In one of the churches I served, a water fountain (bubbler) was given in memory of those who had died in war. A U.S. flag neatly folded in a beautifully crafted case and a plaque with the names hung above the fountain. When one of the children in the congregation heard that all of the people had died, she refused to drink from it because she was not going to be poisoned.

We want to give of what we have to the glory of God as we sing God’s praises, but we really want that book plate saying in the memory of one of our faithfully departed. Okay, I’m not really opposed to the book plate thing. When my family came to worship, my mother would open the hymnal cover to see who she was worshipping with that week. Sometimes the hymnal was one dedicated in my father’s name (he had died when I was quite young) and she would smile. But when the new hymnals are purchased, do we really need to be concerned that the families who gave those worn out books will be offended if we get rid of them? Do we really need to build a memory hall to include these old relics?

Although we are coming up on 500 years of Luther’s great reformation movement (Lutheran laughter is allowed here), Luther’s protest against relic collections seems to continue in our midst. We even cling to our old reliquary altars with the many drawers and cupboards which were designed to store the relics of the saints and mementos of Christ’s life, maybe even a sliver from the cross.

We say that we are a place of resurrection proclamation and then put the United States flag next to the pulpit or the cross. We claim that our hope is in Christ, that as we have died in Christ so shall we be raised up with Christ, and then we cover our caskets with the United States flag. Really!? Has the flag gained some salvific character I am unaware of?

These are just some of the ways we build museums to ourselves instead of places to celebrate and worship God’s activity in our lives. We give money for the beautification of the worship space knowing that material things wear out. Yet when they need to be replaced, people are offended. In the midst of all of this clamor for recognition we gather in memorial halls, at memorial tables, on memorial chairs, to study God’s inspired word with memorial book plates. We find our way into baptismal living using memorial fonts, hear God’s word from memorial pulpits, celebrate Eucharist at memorial altars draped with memorial paraments using memorial chalices and patens, being fed at memorial altar rails, in spaces protected by the United States flag. It often seems a miracle to me that Christ’s resurrection good news makes it out into the world at all.

I understand and I spiritually depend on, and yet I need to be reminded of, the fact that we worship in a holy space that transcends the boundaries of our lives and cosmos. That we stand on the shoulders of the faithful who have gone before. That we stand with the great cloud of saints worshipping each and every day, Sunday in particular. That we are not alone as individuals or individual congregations. That Christ is not our personal-property redeemer; Christ redeems us. Yes, we need all these reminders, but are the reminders we use helping us to engage the world around us or to run from it?

As I walked around the space that day, I was determined to ask the people of my congregation to tell me the stories of the Johnson family and then to ask them to tell me how those stories helped them speak of their faith today. When I lost my sight, it was determined that I had to leave my call and so those conversations never really got started. I sometimes wonder what would have come of those conversations.

As the liturgical year comes to an end, on the last Sunday before Christ the King Sunday, we will hear Luke’s words recording Jesus’ statements about the temple. We know from other sources that the temple was an architectural marvel, and from a distance it looked like it was floating above the city. One source I read claims that it looked like a cloud crowned by gold with such brilliance that it hurt the eyes to look at it when the sun was shining. No wonder it drew comment.

Yet Jesus was unimpressed. When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another. All will be thrown down.”

With the destruction of the temple, where God’s people thought that God’s presence could be contained, possibly imprisoned, Jesus points to God’s activity in the world, not in an EDIFICE or even a complex of edifices. God’s presence in Christ’s body continues to be among us. We are the parts of Christ’s body, raised up IN Christ to love God and to love our neighbors. We are, in the words of Ephesians, “knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped” for the benefit of our relationship with God and one another. We are called with Malachi to be the messengers of God’s word, and in the words of Second Thessalonians to “Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions [we are] taught.”

Oh yes, that stained glass window of John Johnson knocking at the door? I noticed that he was knocking to get out of the church, not in.