faith

A Lenten devotion…..

March 23, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth Leave a Comment

Excerpt taken from “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” a devotional booklet for Lent written by Pastor Bill Cwirla

The wounds of apathy afflict us. Lazarus lay at the gate of a man who had all the resources in the world to help him. He likely saw Lazarus as he was dining in luxury, but his apathetic heart, hardened by greed and unbelief, would not reach out to the beggar, whose only physicians were the dogs licking his sores.

We, too, have callously looked on the beggar lying at our gate. We have averted our eyes, turned our heads, and closed our pocketbooks to Lazarus in his need. Perhaps we have justified ourselves by saying, “The state should do something,” or “Lazarus must have done something to deserve this. Why doesn’t he go and get a job?”

We have also been Lazarus in our own way, ignored in our time of need. The need may have been slight-a small favor at an opportune moment. Or the need may have been great–a family illness or crisis. We may have been let down by those close to us, even our congregation of pastor. The wounds of apathy hurt more than the need itself.

Apathy to others is the result of our humanity’s self-orientation, our “taking care of number one.” The condition comes inherited from Adam and Eve, who hid from God and blamed each other in their self-centeredness. Martin Luther called original sin “the heart curved in on itself.” Consumed with self, we are apathetic to others, without compassion, feeling, and understanding.

Jesus, in His humanity, has turned our humanity right side out to God and to neighbor. His is the compassionate heart of God, beating with undeserved kindness for the sinner in need. In our repentance, God breaks our stony, apathetic hearts and replaces them with new hearts that beat in sync with the heart of Christ. He forgives what we have failed to do, and He makes something good out of the wounds of our apathy.

Pastor Cwirla is an excellent bible teacher. He is often interviewed on my favorite radio show Issues Etc and recently did a series on the parables. Listen here and enjoy!

…….and this baptism now saves you……..

March 17, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 14 Comments

I like to preface any attempt at theological discussion with this; I am not a Bible scholar, have not been to seminary, do not know Greek or Hebrew, and am utterly unqualified to be held as an authority on scripture. I do not represent the Lutheran church and do not presume to any biblical scholarship. I love discussing theology. I read alot and listen to hours and hours every week of solid christian talk radio. My circuitous route through fundamentalism and evangelicalism and now Lutheranism has given me an interesting perspective on a variety of doctrinal issues. I would love your input and discussion and my intention with posts like this is to inform you of commonly held Lutheran doctrine and to encourage you to think and search the scriptures in your own quest for truth.

First Peter 3:21 states “this baptism now saves you”. Titus 3:5 states that ‘he saved you by the washing of regeneration’. I grew up learning and memorizing the scriptures early in life and I never knew those particular scriptures were there until I became Lutheran. Lutherans believe and teach infant Baptism and in my journey from evangelicalism to lutheranism, this teaching was the hardest for me to grasp. I had been taught the ‘believers’ baptism’ and that baptism is an outward demonstration of an inward change; that baptism did not impart any gifts to me but instead was my way of showing the world my obedience to Christ.

The first issue I’ll address is the concept of original sin. Most confessional christians will agree that the Bible teaches that we are born dead in our trespasses and sin. We inherited the sin nature from Adam and are therefore sinful from our birth. Furthermore, often in the old testament, when the Lord’s judgement reigns down on the people of Isreal, the children are included in that judgement. (Ex. 11:5)(I Sam.15:3). And if they are included in God’s judgement, musn’t they by necessity be guilty of the original sin nature? There does not seems to be an age of ‘accountability’ when these judgements were given. The children and infants faced judgement along with their parents. If you agree that we are born totally depraved but do not believe in infant baptism, then what is the ‘protection’ for children who die before they reach the alleged ‘age of accountability? Most christians would say that God just saves them anyway…..even though they are born into original sin. If you would concede that point then you would concede that God could indeed give that child the gift of faith in Christ….as that is what required for salvation.

Moreover, Lutherans would contend that the Bible teaches that that very faith is something only God could give us, as we are dead in our trespasses and sins. So if God could give a small child faith in those circumstances, then why could he not impart that same faith to an infant in Baptism? The water in and of itself does not impart salvation, but the Word of God combined with the water wields the saving power. God often uses common human elements to impart His gifts to us. And though He accomplished salvation for us on the cross over 2000 years ago, how does that salvation ‘get’ to us, for lack of a better word? We apprehend that His scriptures teach they ‘get’ to us through His means of grace; Baptism and the Lord’s supper. Does this negate grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? No. In short, faith receives the gifts God gives.

The second issue is that of free will. Lutherans believe, teach and confess that our ‘wills’ are dead in sin just like the rest of ourselves. We basically have a ‘free won’t’ not a free will, at least when it comes to spiritual matters. God must enliven us by His word so that we may receive His gifts. Does this mean that if we are baptized as infants God has coerced us since we did not get to ‘choose’ Him? No, He has merely removed our natural-born resistance to Him through His gift of faith to us. The scriptures are rife with examples of infants and children who have faith. (Jn 1:12-13, Phil. 2;13, Matt 19). Does this require that we participate in any way in our salvation? Does the fact that a child is eight years old and seems to know right from wrong mean he can fully comprehend spiritual matters? Hardly. Even at that age, we can likely agree that faith is given as a gift to him which it will take him a lifetime to grow into. And I can attest from many years of experience with my own children that those cute cuddly little ones are evil through and through. And we all need the gift of salvation sooner rather than later.

Thirdly, baptism is instituted in the New Testament as a means of grace. The Jewish people included children as part of God’s salvation by circumcising their infants on the 8th day as commanded by God. This was the entry point into God’s family……at 8 days old. So when Paul says in Col.2:11-12 , “that in Him (that is in Christ) you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision and you were buried with Him in baptism”, the Jews knew full well the meaning of that. They were accustomed to children being incorporated into God’s family. John 3 clearly states that you must be born of the water and of the flesh. Pastor Wilken from Issues, Etc put it this way, “If infants and children are not accountable and are not in need of the gifts given in baptism, then why do they die? The wages of sin is death. Those wages have been paid for by Christ. We partake of that redemption through baptism. The vast majority of believers over time have practiced infant baptism and still do today. It is first mentioned in writings from as early as the 2nd century. Only in the last couple hundred years did the teaching of a believer’s baptism emerge. Baptism is the new circumcision. It is how we are ‘marked’ as ones who are in Christ.

It comes down to this. Is salvation my work or God’s work? Do I contribute anything to my salvation? Does it depend on my sincerity or my level of faith? Or must I trust completely in Christ…..in His work and His gift……. to do for me what He has promised, regardless of age. We believe that it is fully God’s work and that He can impart that gift to an infant in the same manner that He can impart it to an adult. Christ left us with these words, “Go therefore into all nations and make disciples, teaching and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Who is included in this gospel message? All nations. All people. Even babies. They had been included all along as part of God’s redemption. The Word of God from the beginning has had the power of supernatural creation. Of the universe. Of man. Of faith. Faith is God’s miraculous gift to us at any age.

Do I doubt that God actually does something in baptism or that He actually imparts to me forgiveness and salvation by these common elements of water and bread and wine? All the time. But His promises are stronger than my doubt. I cling to His promise. To His miracle. It crushes my need to be rational and logical. The gospel of Christ is foolishness to the world. There is nothing in christianity that neatly ‘makes sense’. As C.S. Lewis says, “Christianity is precisely the story of a great miracle.” And if you remove the miracles, you have removed the essence of our faith. To paraphrase and quote Lewis:

It (christianity) has those odd elements that ‘real’ things have. Remember the very curious process by which we acquire our natural life…a process involving pleasure, pain and often danger. It’s a process you would never have guessed. “Now the God who arranged that process is the same God who arranges how the new kind of life-the Christ life- is to be spread. We must be prepared for it being odd too. I cannot see why this (baptism and the Lord’s supper) should be conductors of the new life. But He did not consult us when He invented sex; as has not consulted us either when He invented this.”

For informative talk radio on the subject, I highly recommend this segment.
And comments are open, so chat away!

I’m traveling……

March 10, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 74 Comments

Guess where I am today? I am guest posting at Lyndsay’s site, the dear sweet soul who designed my blog. She is a beautiful, very pregnant mom with quite a creative flair. So after you read this prayer, just click on over and visit us both there. K? I know, I’m so bossy today.

excerpt from the Lutheran prayer book:

Send me, O Lord, into the tasks of this day with a rejoicing heart. Teach me to labor diligently, to eat and drink to Your glory, and to think and plan to the ends You have laid out before me. That I may be truly fitted for the day, remind me again of the mighty work of my Savior, Jesus Christ, who redeemed me and in whom my sin is forgiven and my place with You forever assured. Impress upon my heart this day that while there is nothing holy about my life, my speech or my faith without Your grace and mercy surrounding me, that with You I can faithfully help my neighbor and be of service to him. Teach me to look upon my life today as yet another opportunity to serve my fellow man. Let me see in the routine of my daily tasks, in the need of my family and those who depend on me, in the want and struggle of the world about me, the good work You have prepared in advance for me to do. Grant that I may be ready to forgive, earnest in rejoicing with those who are happy, quick in sympathy, and zealous in bearing the burden of my neighbor, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

comments closed for Lent

Thoughts on the Proper distinction between Law and Gospel

March 1, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 24 Comments

Do you have a visceral reaction when you see the Ten Commandments posted in public? Are you an advocate for having them posted in public places, with the thought that it somehow constitutes a sort of victory for christianity? Maybe I’m just a particularly sinful example of a christian, but my visceral reaction to seeing the commandments posted is guilt and shame. I look at the list and don’t get very far down until the ‘law’ accuses me. I have been a very poor keeper of God’s law and I don’t particularly like the visual reminder of my failure. What’s more, I often wonder how the average Joe walking into the courthouse feels about the public display of this law of God? Does it move him any closer to God’s love and redemption? And why have we chosen this particular ‘word’ of God to hold up for the world to see and ponder?

Only since I’ve become Lutheran have I been able to admit my ‘disdain’ for the public display of the commandments. Lutherans teach that the only way to properly interpret the holy scriptures is to properly distinguish between law and gospel. In brief, the law is God’s moral law that has been written onto our hearts and that is summarized by the commands that we are to love the Lord with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. The gospel is the good news of Christ’s all availing sacrifice for us by His death on the cross. The law demands perfection and brings death. The gospel proclaims forgiveness and gives life. The law accuses us of our complete failure to please God while the gospel announces that Christ has pleased God perfectly for us. The law tells me what I must do; the gospel tells me what Christ has done. The law, when properly preached and taught, pins me to the ground….leaves me no way of escape and forces me to see the reality of my complete depravity and wickedness before a holy God. The law has done it’s job when it has crucified me and left me for dead. The gospel of Christ then breathes new life into me with the sweet taste of forgiveness and absolution. Another has paid the price for my sin and He alone, because of His own death and resurrection, has become my atonement. But there can be no life until we have first been killed by the law. It’s a theme throughout scripture. Death brings life. The first shall be last. Scripture is nothing if not a paradox.

And lest I haven’t convinced you yet of the death that the law brings, read over the commandments. Have you broken them today? I, for one, have broken most of them. I have envied and lusted and coveted and according to Jesus’ definition, I’ve even committed murder. Most of us probably rarely make it through breakfast without butchering 8 out of 10 of the commandments, if we were honest with ourselves. So, why then, would God give us a list of rules to follow that He knew we couldn’t follow? Would He ask us to do something which He knew full well we could never do? Yes, in fact, He would. He would give us a list of laws to show us beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are incapable of keeping them. Any of them. Let alone keep them perfectly, as Jesus so eloquently insisted.

So when I see christians demanding that the 10 commandments be posted in public places, I wonder why. If we were going to post something about our faith, wouldn’t we want it to be the good news of Christ’s forgiveness? And do we want them posted because we wrongly believe that we are actually keeping them? The law of God alone, stripped of the gospel, does not produce faith. If we feel we are keeping the law, we become prideful like the pharisees. And those of us who know we’re not living up to God’s standards begin to despair. The law can never bring life even if it serves temporarily to control behavior. Only the gospel of Jesus can bring life. But we won’t know that we need Him so desperately without a harsh presentation of how miserably we’ve failed to measure up to God’s standards.

In a perfect sermon, these two go hand in hand; held in paradoxical tension. In most sermons I’ve heard over thirty years of being a Christian, the law was usually watered down to a more ‘keepable’ level and the gospel was presented as somewhat conditional upon my sincerity. Or even worse, after the gospel was presented, an altar call was given where I now need to come forward and pledge to do X,Y, and Z. The good news that was given to me was then partially taken away. God wants to gospel to have the last word. For ‘the gospel is the power of God unto salvation’.

So I say, memorize the commandments, teach them to your children, but take them down from the public square. And put up a cross or better yet, a crucifix. At least there’s hope in the cross.

Ironically enough, these very Lutherans who claim that God’s law properly interpreted cannot bring life, are also very serious about learning and memorizing God’s law. His laws are the perfect recipe for harmony and peace in this life….if we could only keep them. And despite the fact that we cannot, one can only get to that complete realization by trying. So the more I know and attempt to practice God’s law, the more it convicts me and shows me my sin. Also of note, is that Moses, who brought God’s law to the people of Isreal, was never allowed to enter the promised land, while Joshua, whose name means Jesus, led God’s people into Canaan. I say all that to say that we’re teaching our girls Luther’s small catechism. They’re still working on it, but I thought you’d enjoy hearing their recitation of the first five commandments and their meanings.

I also have very good news for you……Taylor’s CD’s are in. If you left a comment on this post, email with your address and I’ll send you a CD. If you did not leave a comment on that post, well shame on you. But I’ll gladly you send you one for $7 including shipping. Just send me an email with your address.

Have a blessed Lord’s day on this first Sunday of Lent.

Love and hugs and showers of blessings! Also go to my tumblr site and check out some fun craft room ideas. I see painting in my future.

The Season of Lent and learning from my Father………

February 24, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 23 Comments

“Lent begins with this realization. That we are a people in exile. That we are wandering far from our true home. And thus the beginning of repentance isn’t merely the terror that one finds in wandering in a strange land; the beginning of repentance is homesickness…..Lent teaches us to fess up to how often we settle down in the land of our exile as though it were our true home; attempting to still the yearning the Spirit has created by throwing at it physical or psychological pleasure, and how it never works.” courtesy of Pastor Will Weedon

Lent is a 40 day period leading up to Easter that is characterized by prayer, reflection, repentance and often fasting, then culminating in the celebration of the resurrection and the feasting of Easter. It roughly mimics the 40 days Christ retreated to the wilderness and wrestled with the devil. Many evangelicals reject ‘lenten’ observance because it’s just too Roman catholic and because there is no mandate for it in scripture. As a former evangelical, I can say that I’ve spent 30 years enjoying the ‘feasting’ of Easter without the penitential and preparatory time of Lent….and I wish I could go back and change that. I find that one of many benefits of following the traditional church calendar and being in a liturgical church is that nothing gets overlooked. It’s a methodical way of proceeding through the scriptures and it prevents such things as quickly glossing over the celebration of Christ’s resurrection without spending time in quiet reflection of His death on the cross, the mental anguish and suffering which took place while he was in the wilderness, and the details of the events of His life during Holy Week. It’s like walking in ‘real time’ with Him during the last weeks of His life. Is Lent discussed or commanded , per se, in the scriptures? No, but penitence and fasting and prayer are…..and what better time to observe a more rigorous christian discipline than as we reflect upon the last days and weeks of the life of Christ.

And we all practice degrees of discipline already. Lent is the spiritual equivalent of physical exercise for the body. The body gets stronger when we demand much from it….not when we always ‘give in’ to what it wants. The same is true in disciplining our children. Because we love them so much, we demand what is best for them….which is often not what they, in their immaturity, want for themselves. In C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain, he puts it this way:

“It is for people whom we care nothing about that we demand happiness on any terms; with our friends, our lovers, our children, we are exacting and would rather see them suffer much than be happy in contemptible and estranging circumstances. God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense………The Church is the Lord’s bride whom He so loves that in her no spot or blemish is endurable.”

Though the analogy breaks down when taken to extremes, God compares our relationship to Him to that between a parent/child. And Lewis, in his book, compares our being brought into God’s family to a very ‘badly brought up boy’ being introduced into a decent family. When they see traits in this child that are detestable, Lewis says ‘they not only hate it, but they ought to hate it. They cannot love him for what he is, they can only try to turn him into what he is not’.

…we are at present, creatures whose character must be, in some respects, a horror to God, and as it is, when we really see it, a horror to ourselves.”

God our Father, despite our unloveliness, has given us everything we need and has clothed us with the righteousness of Christ, but we, like Adam, want to ‘clothe’ ourselves. Lent is a time to strip down; to take off the filthy clothes of our own righteousness and to let our Father give us from His hand what He knows we need.

It’s like the picture of Stevie teaching Emme to fish. We learn from our Father by spending time with Him. There is much He wants to teach us and much that needs to be changed in us. But more than all that, He wants to give us Himself….knowing that we were created for relationship with Him. And that nothing will satisfy the deepest longings of our soul save Our Father’s perfect love. Lent is time to retreat with Our Father. To confess to Him that we have wandered so far from home and that we have become far too ‘comfortable’ in the pleasures of this life. To confess to Him how utterly dependent we have become on everything, but Him. And He will gladly ‘receive’ us back with open arms……not because we demonstrate to Him our growing discipline and holiness……..but for the sake of Christ……. and Him alone.

A few stray thoughts:

1. Lent is a time for penitence and reflection and the practicing of christian discipline. It does not make God ‘more pleased with me’ and is not a ‘good work’. God is pleased with Christ alone and good works are those things which I give in service to my neighbor.
2. If I purpose to ‘give something up’ for Lent and then two weeks later find that I fail and can’t keep my lenten discipline, God is not disappointed in me. God is pleased with Christ and thus pleased with me when I have faith in Christ. I am a sinner who fails and sins constantly. And my failing is not a surprise to God.
3. If I keep my lenten discipline to the ‘tee’, I must be careful not to try and convince myself that I’m ‘more spiritual’ or holy than before. I have been freely clothed with the righteousness of Christ and am only learning to ‘fit’ into clothes that were given me by God.
4. We must also be careful not to view our discipline as ‘suffering’ and remember that Christ suffered on the cross for our redemption and we do not get to choose our own suffering (by giving up, say diet pepsi for a month).
5. It is a good exercise to occasionally deprive our bodies….to not give in to every fleshly desire. We are so often slaves to our own bodies and teaching ourselves discipline in any area is often met with resistance.

I leave you with another quote from Pastor Will Weedon who kept me from seeing Lent as a season where ‘I work hard to become more holy’;

The holiness into which you seek to grow has already been given to you, whole and entire! It’s yours in Jesus Christ, the gift of His righteousness fully bequeathed you in Baptism, and constantly renewed in you by absolution and the Holy Eucharist. Through these wonderful gifts, we get to GROW in the apprehension of that which is already our own, learning to live more and more from it, more and more from union with Christ and less and less from the old self. So it is not that holiness grows in you; it is that you grow in holiness! Getting used to whom God has made you to be in His Son.
There’s real effort here, of course, but the effort is working at resting in Him who works all things through us. I don’t overcome sin by my willpower (ha!), but by the strength of Him who has united Himself to me.

Among other lofty and likely unattainable goals, I have decided to close comments on most posts during Lent. I got the idea from Jen at Conversion Diary and am already regretting the decision, even as I type it. I love your comments and feedback. You have been such a source of inspiration and blessing to me. Closing comments seems a little scary. How will I know you’re still there? How will I know if you loved the cookie recipe? Well, because I’ve learned that Lent is not an invitation to legalism, I thought I’d give myself permission to open comments when they would likely be helpful to others (and not just a much needed pat on the back for me). So posts such as this one…..where the discussion is often more informative than the post, I’ll leave them open. And when I show you my latest find at the thrift store…..or you need to know what paint color I used, well I guess you’ll have to email or facebook or twitter me. (Right, Jess?) Now, comment while you can! That’s assuming I can figure out how to close and open them!

Lenten prayer

February 23, 2009 by Edie Wadsworth 6 Comments

We girlies made it home safely and are knee deep in laundry and life. My family is the best and I’ll tell you more about that soon. I’m eeking out every spare moment I can to finish The Problem of Pain by C.S.Lewis, which turns out to be great reading in preparation for Lent. I’m still gathering my thoughts…….

and the dirty laundry……

so enjoy this lenten prayer in the meantime.

Lord Jesus, precious Savior, who went all the way to the cross to redeem me, a lost and condemned creature, graciously look upon me in this Lenten season, and let me find cleansing and healing in Your precious blood. My transgressions caused You the agony of the garden. My sins nailed You to the accursed tree. You were forsaken so that I would not be forsaken throughout eternity. Make me see the awfulness of my sin and then Your wondrous love that would not let me die.

Grant that I may ponder day after day upon Your passion. Let nothing distracting take my thoughts from You. Draw me closer that I might find in You forgiveness and peace. Amen.