Saint Matthew's

If you haven’t checked your calendar, Ash Wednesday is just three weeks away.

I was at church this morning preparing for Morning Prayer when I started to think about Ash Wednesday and Lent, and then my mind wandered onto the topic of the imposition of ashes.

Historically, the Church has imposed ashes on the foreheads of penitent sinners at the start of Lent. In Holy Scripture, specifically in Old Testament times, repentace was often marked by sackcloth and ashes. All we have to do is to remember the story of Jonah when he warns Ninevah of their sinfulness that the people turn from their evil ways, and to show their repentance, the people put on sackcloth. We can go further back into the Old Testament to the opening days of the world when the Lord tells Adam that because of his sin, "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Following the ascension of Jesus, the Church began using the symbol of ashes to mark the beginning of the season of Lent, a time of prayer and repentance for sin. The reason for the imposition of ashes was not to prove to the world that the person went to church, but to symbolize in a very visual way the consequences of sin: "for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The ashes symbolize who we are – sinners who will return to the dust from whence we came.

But within the Lutheran Church, we have fought a battle over whether what we do in church is "too Roman Catholic." This is not a new phenomenon – it is a battle we have been fighting in the church since Martin Luther and the start of the Reformation. Some during Luther’s day wanted the church of the Reformation to completely split from the Roman Catholic church in practice. They wanted the church to start fresh and leave the "old" behind. In our day, there are many Lutherans who still accept this notion of the church.

But that understanding of "Church" betrays what Luther’s Reformation was all about. It wasn’t about throwing out the baby with the bathwater and starting new as radical reformers supported – the Reformation was about reforming the church, eliminating those practices which were not in accordance with the Gospel. Luther actually kept many of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church; he cleansed the church of those practices that pulled the Gospel away from the people.

Luther’s understanding of the church that bore his name was not to create something new, but it was to keep a rightful practice and understanding of the Gospel in the church. He never wanted to leave the Roman Catholic Church and prayed that one day Rome would be acceptable to the reforms that he and many of his supporters believed in.

Ashes aren’t too Roman Catholic. Ashes are a symbol of who we truly are – sinners in need of a savior.

Powered by Qumana

Have you checked out the daily chapel services at Concordia Theological Seminary via their website? They are terrific and faith-strengthening.

Powered by Qumana

David Bell, writing in Sunday’s L.A. Times, thinks the US overreacted after Osama Bin Laden’s soldiers of death killed nearly 3000 Americans on September 11, 2001. He says that our reaction was completely out of proportion to what was truly inflicted upon our nation that day.

Tell that to those New Jersey families – including one here at Saint Matthew’s – who lost loved ones that day, not only at the World Trade Center, but also on United 93 that took off from Newark International Airport.

Powered by Qumana

This weekend, our Gospel reading is from Luke 5 where Jesus tells Simon (Peter), after Simon and his fishing mates pull in a huge catch of fish after Jesus tells them to drop their nets, that they were to become fishers of men.

One of the important aspects of sermon preparation is that sometimes English translations of the Holy Bible don’t truly explain fully the meaning of a particular word. We usually use the words "fishers" or "catchers of men" when we translate Jesus’ statement to Simon. The reason is simple: both words can be tied into the fishing aspect of the situation.

But there is more than just translating the Greek word as "catchers" or "fishers." A deeper understanding shows that the word we usually translate as those mentioned actually is a compound word – two words combined into one. Individually taken, the words can be defined as follows:

"Living"
"Catch or take"

So when we are talking about Simon Peter and the disciples becoming "fishers of men," it really means that the disciples were to become those who would catch or take the living. Looking at this word in this way, it opens the door to a deeper understanding of the power of God’s Word, in this context, and in this story from Luke. The disciples were to go out to the people of God and cast the net of the Word and catch those living in darkness and shining the light of the Gospel on them. They weren’t just fishing, as we learn in Sunday School. They were doing more.

And we do the same in our day. We, too, are catchers of the people of God, using the Word of God. It isn’t because we do such wonderful evangelism that people come to God’s house, but simply due to God’s Word that ties up those living in darkness and opens to them the light of the salvation offered through Jesus Christ.

Powered by Qumana

Have to say – I love FiOS from Verizon. I have both their Internet and TV offerings. They completely blow away Cablevision in terms of speed (Internet) and offerings (TV). Oh, and their collective price is still cheaper than Cablevision’s iO and Optimum Online services. Not that I have that much time to watch TV, but on Sunday night I had a real chance to put FiOS TV to the test. They just offer a lot of channels at a terrific price. They have Video on Demand that offered a lot of things (their Music Choice videos on demand was cool). FiOS is missing one channel I like: MSNBC. Hopefully, in time, they will add it to their lineup. But as long as Fox News and CNN are there, my news tastes are satisfied. My new favorite TV channel, it seems, is Sleuth – the NBC-Universal mystery channel. I laughed a bit as I watched "Miami Vice" this past weekend, seeing all those cheesy 1980s hair cuts and flashy clothes. It just may be me, but the music made that show.

Powered by Qumana

This was a busy weekend here at Saint Matthew’s!

On Saturday, we held our annual Chinese New Year’s Dinner (though, a little early this year). We had over 72 people in attendance and everything went wonderfully. The food was excellent and the entertainment – photos and a video of a recent trip by a member of our congregation to China – were spectacular. It was truly a fun time.

This year, we did something a little different: we offered wine on our beverage table. I was a little nervous at this, not knowing if it would go over with some in the congregation. To offer any kind of alcoholic beverage was a major change here at Saint Matthew’s. This made our move to printing out the entire service in our weekly bulletin seem minor. Historically, these types of events were "BYOB" (bring your own bottle). However, the change seemed to go over well: we ran out of wine!!

And as soon as the clean up was over, thoughts already went to our next dinner event on Saturday, February 10th when our youth group – the SMYGs – will hold their annual Valentine’s Spaghetti Dinner. Tickets are $12.00 for adults; $6.00 for children. Our chefs are already in the kitchen preparing tomato sauce (or gravy, as we called while I was growing up). I will be making something. I have had a couple of ideas, just haven’t narrowed down my list. I don’t have a lot of time to figure it out. To get tickets, leave a message in our church office @ (201) 262-5092. Or come by church this Sunday and pick them up!

Sunday came a few hours after clean up and we held our regular Sunday morning service. As a mea culpa, I completely changed my sermon late Saturday night/ early Sunday morning. Tore up my original copy, deleted it of my MacBook, and literally started from scratch. I think my second shot was much better.

And then Sunday afternoon came and I had a few visits. By 4:30pm on Sunday, I could crash.

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend of fellowship and fun. Can’t beat that with a stick!

Powered by Qumana

Oh, you can’t make this up: New Jersey government has warned squirrel hunters here in Northern New Jersey not to eat squirrel more than once a month. Why? The little animals may be contaminated because of a local Ringwood toxic waste dump.

This, of course, begs the question: who hunts squirrels?

I’ve been behind on reading through my Google Reader lately. This morning I tried to catch up and came across this post from Andrew Sullivan. He links to a video where a “Christian” singer declares – with a catchy background tune – that “God hates fags.”

There has to be a sickness within some Christian “faiths” that causes people to act like this. That is why we always have to keep our eyes on the ball — on the cross — if we are to understand what God “hates” and what (or who) God loves. God “hates” one thing: sin. But God loves us sinners. The singer in the video kind of forgets this.

God loves all of us, His Creation, more than anything we can imagine and did everything (read: sending His only begotten Son to die for our sins on the cross) to rescue and save us from sin’s destructive power that tears us away from our Creator.

Our God reached down to us at the incarnation and showed the world His power and His love for all people. For God did not just send His Son to die for those “righteous” people, but for all sinners.

My friends, there is something we can never lose sight of: We are still sinners … all of us. And we daily are need of reflecting on our sin and asking God for forgiveness. To those evangelicals who kind of miss the point and think that sexual sins are the only sins God “hates,” well, I say they need someone to clarify what Holy Scripture actually says. It is sinful to take God’s Word and use it for hate.That is why church is supposed to be a haven for sinners. It is where we come to receive our Lord in His Word and His Sacrament and most especially receive the forgiveness our Lord Jesus earned for us at the cross. The church is not a specialty house that rejects sinners. It is the place where sinners come to receive forgiveness.

powered by performancing firefox

For about a month, our sermon page has been giving me fits. I’ve tried to fix it. I’ve gone balder trying to figure the problem out. This morning, because of some small miracle, it is at least working again, though it isn’t completely fixed. This past Sunday’s sermon is up there now. Tonight’s Midweek will be up this afternoon.

I received an interesting email from someone who I met while on a visit several months ago. The names have been deleted, but the text remains:

Dear Pastor Iovine,

…My son ——– has been using the phrase “you suck” and “suck it” whenever he gets angry at someone. I sat him down and told him that it isn’t nice and he should not use those types of words. But he keeps using them. My husband and I have punished him, but even that hasn’t stopped him. We have stopped him from watching a wrestling show where wrestlers have used this phrase to get the crowd excited. Wha(t) can I do to get him to stop using that vulgar phrase.

From what I remember from our meeting some months ago, this child is only 6 years old. To run around using those words is truly not nice. If he got them from a wrestling show, then the parents did the right thing in prohibiting him from watching it. I did a little Googling (actually, Goodsearching) and I found that World Wrestling Entertainment has two on-screen characters who use one of those phrases in their entrances AND the company sells shirts and knick-knacks adorned with the same aforementioned phrase.

When I was growing up, if I was caught using phrases like those, my parents had a bar of Ivory soap waiting me. And believe me, it happened only one time. I don’t remember the particular circumstances, but a bad word slipped through my lips. First, my dad grabbed me (because he heard it) and then my mom came and dragged me into the bathroom. I don’t know what was worse: watching my mom put the soap in my mouth and seeing the anger over my “bad word” usage or the fact that the soap was in my mouth. In today’s age, my parents would have been brought up on child endangerment charges.

(more…)

The NY Times this past weekend fronted a story in their Sunday magazine basically raising the question about what is known as post-abortion syndrome – when women who have had abortions suffer from some kind of depression months or years after having the procedure. The reporter – Emily Bazelon – is quick to point out in the article that many in the scientific community reject this “syndrome,” but reality Bazelon tells a different story.

I’ve counseled a couple of women here in the Northern New Jersey area who have suffered some sort of depression that they claim stems to having an abortion in their past. Not to get into specifics of the cases, these women are suffering from a profound sadness that they killed their child and that God is angry at them. While there are different circumstances in the cases in which I have dealt with, the reality remains that many women find themselves facing the hardship that they indeed killed a child that was growing inside of them. It is truly a painful and heart-wrenching process to get beyond this reality.

For me, it has only been a tiny handful of cases. But for this new pastor, to have non-members of my church seek out counseling for the pain associated with abortion has to signal something. It may not be all women who suffer from this syndrome, but some women clearly do. Instead of minimizing the effects that abortion can have on women, as some in the scientific community appear to want to do, they should be helping these women as they battle the demons of abortion in their minds.

Check the article out. It is eye-opening.

Yesterday, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer.

His doctor said he has a tumor on the lower portion of his colon. At this time, it is unknown what type of cancer it is or whether it has spread. The doctor explained that my father has one good thing on his side: my father hasn’t lost any weight in more than a year. He said this a hopeful sign, but nothing concrete.

Next up – my father meets with a surgeon to schedule to get the tumor out. It is possible that within a week to a week and a half, that tumor will be long gone from my father’s body.

After the doctor gave my father the news, I immediately went into “pastor-mode,” talking about faith, the importance of a positive mental outlook, and prayer. But I found out something when I said those words yesterday: it is so much easier talking to someone about this who is not your father. The words were heavy coming out of my mouth, and with my step-mother’s persistent and interrupting comments about fighting this ‘thing,’ it didn’t make me feel that what I said made an impact.

Right now, the fear of the unknown is overwhelming every other emotion, not just of me but of the others in my family. I tried last night to relax and get my theological ducks in order so I can tackle this with my father, not just as a son, but also as pastor. But no matter what I tried, everything went back to reality that my father has colon cancer and we don’t know how bad it is. This unknown causes minds to run, where in the course of a few moments you go from daydreaming about all the good things that can happen to all those bad things that can go wrong. Until the unknown becomes known, this type of mental gymnastics will go on.

I ask that you please keep my father in your prayers.

I am a big fan of Fox TV’s “24.” It is one of those TV shows that grabs you by the shirt and keeps you hooked for an hour, and when that hour is up, you long for more.

This weekend, “24″ came back for the season with a two-day, 4-hour premiere (which is available on DVD today with some special highlights for next Monday included) and it came back with a bang. In Hour 4 last night, a suitcase nuclear bomb was set off in Los Angeles. Of course, the intended target was not hit – federal agents stormed the warehouse in Valencia and the terrorists set the bomb off.

To the producers, this was the hook and the “holy cow!” moment that will hook viewers. For me, it was a great plot twist and had me hooked – but then again, I am hooked on this show. (The plot twist of Jack being forced to kill Curtis in order to save a former terrorist leader who killed some of Curtis’ military buddies during the first Gulf War was a stunner – even more than the suitcase nuke!)

But it got me to think: does Hollywood have a responsibility when it comes to what they produce?

OK – I have to lay it on the line - I am not one of those people who blame Hollywood for every bad thing that is out there. When they produce junk and parents don’t care enough to stop their children from watching or listening to it, Hollywood and record producers are going to continue to produce junk. If moms and dads want to be their children’s “best friends” rather than their parents, then we can’t go around blaming Hollywood for corrupting children. Moms and dads have THE great role to play as they raise their children so this junk doesn’t influence them. If children and teens don’t buy and become influenced by the crap that Hollywood produces because moms and dads raised them right, then Hollywood would stop producing it.

To be honest, I listen to music on my XM that is not Christian oriented. But I know enough that this junk is not going to influence me. My mom and dad raised me right.

So last night when I watched the nuke go off on “24,” I saw it as a plot device for an excellent show and not Hollywood teaching terrorists how to blow up a city. It will not make me less fearful of the acts of evil terrorists. Terrorists are evil and don’t watch “24″ to find ways to kill people. When you’re evil, your evil, and you don’t need a Hollywood writer to show you how to be evil.

From the LCMS offices:

63rs LCMS CONVENTION MEETS IN JULY
By Joe Isenhower Jr.

The 63rd Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is set for July 14-19 in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center with the theme “One Message: Christ.” That theme, part of the Synod’s three-point vision statement of “One Mission, One Message, One People,” has the sub-theme: “His Love is Here for You,” based on 1 John 4:9-11.

The Synod convention is “the principle legislative assembly” of the 2.4-million-member church body, according to LCMS Bylaw 3.1.1, which states that its activities include “worship, nurture, inspiration, fellowship, and the communication of vital information.” Elections and action on scores of resolutions are its main items of business.

The upcoming convention’s opening Communion service is set for Saturday, July 14, with Synod President Gerald B. Kieschnick preaching. Worship on Sunday will follow the “Service of Prayer and Preaching” from the Synod’s new Lutheran Service Book.

“Prayer is integral to this convention, as with all that we do,” said Rev. Larry Krueger, assistant to Kieschnick and convention coordinator.

(more…)