Saint Matthew's

A member of Saint Matthew’s reminded me of the front page article in today’s Bergen Record – an abortion clinic in Englewood had to close its doors because anyone going there could get sick. To put it in an easy to understand way, the Englewood Center for Women is a pigsty. It is filthy. Instruments used at the clinic may not have been sterilized.

The saddest part of this story is that this clinic is one of the largest abortion mills in New Jersey. When over 10,000 children are killed each year at this clinic, we should all run to the bathroom and throw up. On average each day, 27 children are aborted at this clinic.

My heart breaks. So should yours.

I’ve been listening to the Glenn Beck show on XM Satellite Radio (XM 165) for the past couple of mornings and caught a sliver of his CNN Headline News show last night. I really like Beck’s radio show and his TV show is pretty good. On my schedule, I think his show is a keeper – Glenn to Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity – nine hours of very good talk shows a day. They definitely make the day go by fast.

The Supreme Court will take up a case out of Wisconsin where a group of anti-religious zealots are suing the government because they contend that President George W. Bush’s ‘faith-based initiative’ shifts taxpayer monies to religious organizations. President Bush believes that there are areas where religious groups serve the greater good much better than a government program. His idea was to allow religious institutions to apply for federal money to pay for social programs that they offer. For example, soup kitchens run by churches could apply for federal money to help pay for their program.

Previously, religious organizations were shut out from applying for this money. The Freedom for Religious Foundation sued the government not as an organization, but as “taxpayers,” in an effort to get around a federal law requiring only taxpayers to sue the government over its spending initiatives. That is what this case is all about. Can a group masquerading as individual taxpayers sue the government over this program?

The Supreme Court hears the case today.

Personally, I have a weak stomach when it comes to churches receiving government money. I have this fear that the government will always pile on requirements that would stymie our role as the Church of God.

Two of my brothers in Christ (fellow 2005 graduates of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne) had wonderful sermons this past week. This isn’t saying that they don’t have wonderful sermons all the time…but this week, with the issue of temptation and our reflection on our suffering Savior this Lent here at Saint Matthew’s, these sermons truly focus us on our Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect life lived for us. First, Rev. Jared Tucher from Trinity Lutheran Church in Gillette, Wyoming.

When we are attacked and accused, we trust in Christ, who saved us by His perfect obedience, suffering, and death.  When the devil tempts us to sin, we trust in Christ and His Word of truth.  When the Law accuses us of sin, we trust in Christ and His perfect obedience.  When death demands our life, we trust in Christ and His innocent suffering and death.

Second, Rev. Joel Dietrich from Zion & Christ Lutheran Churches in Clinton and Chestnut, Illinois (though I can’t remember offhand whether which church is in what town and I’m too lazy to check):

My brothers and sisters in Christ when you get upset with being unable to defeat temptation and the devil on your own…do not give in. Jesus has gone in our place under the Law and fought real temptation for us. Christ is our substitute, not just in his suffering and dying, but also in his perfect active obedience. We are saved by the blood of Jesus, who is innocent of all sin. of Christ’s active obedience, God forgives our sins and credits Christ’s righteousness to us. When attacked and accused, we trust in Christ, who saved us by his perfect obedience, suffering, and death. When the devil tempts us to sin, we trust in Christ and his Word of truth. When the Law accuses us of sin, we trust in Christ and his perfect obedience. When death demands our life, we trust in Christ and his innocent suffering and death. Our Savior knows what it is to be tempted. He willingly faced temptation by our enemy, the prowling lion, and he did it for our salvation. He won the battle, and his victory belongs to all who trust in him. Amen.

Also this week, Rev. James Douthwaite of Saint Athanasius Lutheran Church in Vienna, Virginia had a magnificent sermon on the Temptation of Christ. I have it in my email box and I can’t seem to log on right now. When I get to it, I’ll upload it. It is just wonderful.

Now, why do I write about other pastor’s sermons? There are many clergy within the LC-MS who proclaim the Word of God clearly and do touch the hearts of sinners. When we’re talking about churches in the LC-MS who are doing sermon series on sex, it is always nice to see that there are some pastors who ground their messages in Christ.

The Detroit Free-Press reports today about an LC-MS church in Michigan that goes a little bit beyond what one expects from a church in this synod. The pastor is preaching a Sunday sermon series on sex.

Pastor Tim Kade and the newly formed Epic Church in Rochester Hills, Michigan, are trying to reach out and talk to their community by discussing issues that are usually taboo in a church service. Through the season of Lent, Pastor Kade is focusing his Sunday sermons on the topic of “Pure Sex.” His sermon titles are as follows:

February 25: The Greatest Sex You’ll Ever Have
March 4: The Bedroom: Battleground or Playground
March 11: Real Desperate Housewives
March 18: Porn: What’s the Big Deal
March 25: Sex Ed: Teaching Children About Sex
April 1: Affair-proofing Your Marriage

After hearing of these sermon titles, some have gotten a little upset that Pastor Kade will be spending time on this overall topic. They aren’t happy that his church’s website appears less “traditional” and deals with a greater focus on the sex-thing rather than on the God thing. In a sense, a church promoting ‘sex talk’ does sound that the church is a little bit off the reservation, doesn’t it?

His sermon series is described as such on his website:

Sex wasn’t invented in a dark alley behind a pornshop. It’s part of God’s design. Did you know that the Bible is very open and frank about sexual matters? In fact, this may shock you but…God wants you to have GREAT SEX. In this series, we’ll ask questions and begin to unravel the myths and confusion about sex.

While this sermon series may offend, I want you to take a step back. The issue of sex is one that our society discusses ad nauseam. Our television shows, movies, music, you name it are all dealing with sex in a purely secular manner. The culture is selling a notion that everyone who wants to have sex should have sex. We are now living in the Condom Culture – as long as you have one, you can have sex. In general, parents are scared to deal with this issue. Instead, many are relying on public schools and doctors to relay sex-information. And what are their children receiving in this “education?” 

They are getting the message that sex before marriage is fine…as long as your doing it safely. These education experts are telling parents that, “It’s just hormones,” while 14-year old girls are getting pregnant and having abortions. To parents of male children, society says it’s in their genes to want to ‘do the deed.’ Throughout the late 1990s, we had a president and his political supporters defending his inability to be faithful to his wife and lying to a federal grand jury. Their common refrain? “It’s all about sex, sex, sex.” And now, New York City is handing out condoms in the subways.

Heck, recently I had a meeting with a 24-year old woman who was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease in her throat, but yet this unmarried woman said she was practicing “safe sex.”

Society is giving people a free pass when it comes to sex. If it feels good, just do it.

Why can’t the church respond forcefully to this message of promiscuity? While I am not that thrilled with the way Pastor Kade is doing it (uh, the website, the feet), I have to give him credit for at least trying to engage the debate and bring God back to the table.

FINALLY … I’ve updated the sermon page with this weekend’s sermon.

UPDATE: I have to add something to my sermon. As I was preaching the sermon tonight, I felt that the sermon was missing “it.” And I realized what “it” is. You’ll have to come to church tomorrow to see what “it” I am talking about. Not that “it” is going to change the sermon dramatically. But you’ll understand why “it” was added.

Tim McGirk over at Time Magazine reports the following: James Cameron, the producer of the mega-hit “Titanic,” is back … and this time, he’s aiming his movie cameras at Christianity.

In a new documentary, Producer Cameron and his director, Simcha Jacobovici, make the starting claim that Jesus wasn’t resurrected –the cornerstone of Christian faith– and that his burial cave was discovered near Jerusalem. And, get this, Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdelene.

No, it’s not a re-make of “The Da Vinci Codes’. It’s supposed to be true.

Cameron thinks he can prove that Jesus was never resurrected. He claims to have DNA evidence. This is a disgrace of monumental proportions. But let him spend his money and waste his time. He is trying to destroy Christianity. But Cameron will fail miserably, just like the Da Vinci Code book failed to destroy the Church of Christ.

The more archaeological evidence that is unearth proves more and more that Christianity and its Jewish roots as found in Holy Scripture are true. But we don’t need archaeology to prove anything. We have faith. We trust God and His Word, not the words of Dan Brown or the pictures of James Cameron.

Ever the showman, (Why does this remind me of the impresario in another movie,”King Kong”, whose hubris blinds him to the dangers of an angry and very large ape?) Cameron is holding a New York press conference on Monday at which he will reveal three coffins, supposedly those of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. News about the film, which will be shown soon on Discovery Channel, Britain’s Channel 4, Canada’s Vision, and Israel’s Channel 8, has been a hot blog topic in the Middle East (check out a personal favorite: Israelity Bites) Here in the Holy Land, Biblical Archeology is a dangerous profession. This 90-minute documentary is bound to outrage Christians and stir up a titanic debate between believers and skeptics. Stay tuned.

Yeah, stay tuned.

Ugh. Putting the final touches on my weekend sermon here in church when the annoying little Weatherbug alert begins to chirp: Bergen County is now under a Winter Storm Watch for Sunday evening into Monday morning. The possibility of 4 to 7 inches of snow has been raised by the fearless weather forecasters.

What does this mean? Church is still on for Sunday … don’t worry about that. And don’t blame “I’ve got to go get milk” for a reason for not coming to church tomorrow. The storm is going to hit in the evening.

However, if you are a little nervous about driving at all tomorrow, come to church tonight.

That’s right – we begin our Saturday night service at 6:30pm.

Our original thought was to start the service at 6:00pm, but we schedule some events here at Saint Matthew’s on Saturday evenings beginning at 5:30pm. We’d be cutting it way too close if we started at 6. So, we bump it 30 minutes later to 6:30pm.

Since this is a new service here at Saint Matthew’s, I don’t know how many people will actually show up tonight. But we will keep it going … and going …. and going. Offering additional worship opportunities is always a good thing.

For some reason, I can’t seem to get a sermon on paper today. I went out on a couple of visits and since returning, my mind has been frozen (and it has nothing to do with the weather). I’ve taken a break. Checking email, I came across the following. Take a moment to click to the next page and read it…very cute.

(more…)

Haworth continues to fight an orthodox church from building in their community.

Now out in Wayne, the town is fighting a request to build a mosque/community center.

Both religious groups are claiming bias as a reason for the community’s rejections.

It is agreed that if both facilities were constructed, they would be monsters in their residential communities. Wayne contends that the land the mosque is proposed to be built on is too hilly. Plus, they’ve come up with something different: They want to condemn the property and take it by eminent domain and keep it as open space.

It does raise a lot of interesting questions, one of which sticks out in my mind. What if someone wants to start a church in a residential community — shouldn’t the proposed church and its construction fit within the planning patterns set down by a town’s Planning Board? Churches and religious groups have to take a step back when they very easily claim discrimination when a town rejects a ‘house of worship’ construction proposal. You can’t just drop a church or a mosque into a community that would dramatically change the character of a neighborhood.

In a hypothetical sense, what if one day we here at Saint Matthew’s decide to tear down our church and rebuild, expanding our sanctuary and adding on new classrooms and offices? If we were to tell the town we are going to tear down our existing building and build a much larger and taller structure that would dwarf all the homes nearby, shouldn’t the town have the right to tell us that the building is too tall and is out of character for the community? We should be able to work together with local officials to ensure that any construction meets with the planning outlines that the town has enacted.

The same should be for new ‘houses of worship’ construction. You can’t just build anywhere. And you can’t blame religious persecution when you’re told “no.”

It is nothing but a disgraceful circus. What else would you call it? Anna Nicole Smith’s body is decomposing in a freezer. Her infant daughter doesn’t have a father. Her family and friends are fighting. My skin crawls thinking about the players in this head scratching carnival. The judge … the lawyers … Howard K. Stern. Can it get any worse?

God-willing, someone will come to their senses and end this peacefully. But I have a sneaking suspicion it will not be soon.

Since today is Ash Wednesday, the idea of self-denial is in full bloom. No matter who you talk to, especially to our friends in Roman Catholicism, the matter of denying one’s self something during this Lenten season is a talking point.

 "So, what are you giving up for Lent?"

Last night at Saint Paul’s in Closter, I was joking around with a couple of members of the church, talking about what I should give up for Lent. "I’m giving up whining for Lent," I exclaimed. Then I told them the story that I have tried to deny myself whining for Lent before and failed within hours of the clocking ticking midnight, Ash Wednesday morning. It is not for trying – but when you’re a lifelong New Yorker, whining is almost second nature.

To be honest, I’ve never truly appreciated or understood the motivation of self-denial during Lent. Maybe it was because my friends made it into a joke and broke the rules all the time. You know — "I’ve given up chocolate for Lent." Then they end up sneaking a Hershey bar on Sunday because that is "The Lord’s Day" and that makes it fine.

Traditionally in the western church, Ash Wednesday started a lengthy season-long fast where you would eat two smaller meals that don’t quite equal a full meal, and then for your final meal, you eat a normal portion. However, snacking is not prohibited. On Ash Wednesday, you deny yourself meat. Then through the rest of the season, you follow the portion rule outline. Oh, and you can eat meat.

This self-denial is supposed to make Easter Sunday, when you can return to three full squares a day, something to behold. It is the day the "joy" returns, not just in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, but the return of normal portions.

Plus, this sounds like a great diet. My doctor will like it.

So, the big questions: What if you don’t deny yourself something? Does that make you a bad Christian?

You do not have to deny yourself anything during Lent. You don’t become a ‘less of a Christian’ if your eating a Snickers bar while your buddy is refraining from eating chocolate, caramel, and nuts. This season is one of reflection on sin and on the need for a Savior. Self-denial shows each of us the difficulty of keeping any portion of the Law of God perfectly. If we can’t stop thinking about a Dove bar during the Lenten season, and we crave it constantly, then how can we keep the Law of God at any point in our day. Our bodies rebel from following the Law.

And that is why Easter Sunday is so joyous!! Through our failures and sins, our Lord Jesus Christ comes from the tomb to show the world His victory over sin, death, and Satan. By faith alone in Christ Jesus, our sins and failures are forgiven.

So, if you want, bring a Snickers bar to church tonight. Just don’t wave it under my nose…

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It was definitely an interesting question. This morning outside of 7-Eleven on Main Street, a local guy I know (just because we seem to arrive at 7-Eleven at the same time each morning to pick up the newspaper) asked me a terrific question: “What would you do if A-Rod and Derek Jeter sat in your office this morning?”

Of course, I started out with a typical Yankees fan answer: “I’d ask for an autograph, a picture, and tickets to Opening Day.”

It is an intriguing question because both have been in a type of big-boy squabble for years now. A-Rod, in that now infamous interview in Esquire magazine when Rodriguez was still with the Texas Rangers, questioned whether Jeter was truly the one who stirred the Yankees’ drink and brought those four World Series championships to New York. Jeter was obviously peeved at his former best friend for questioning his ability. And since then, their relationship has appeared icy, if not frigid.

They may smile at each other on the field, but the smiles seem forced.

For some reason this week at Spring Training, and it may be a good starting point if the two of them actually sit down and talk about their issues, A-Rod answered some questions concerning his icy relationship with Derek … and A-Rod was as honest as he has been since arriving in New York. He said that their relationship was different and they weren’t best friends anymore. Yesterday, Derek was asked to respond to A-Rod’s comments, and it seemed to go over like a lead balloon with the New York media.

Want to read more: here is John Harper’s piece in the NY Daily News … here is Joel Sherman’s piece in the New York Post.

To me, at least, the media is jumping on Jeter’s back in this story. When at first, when A-Rod wasn’t all that open to talk about this issue, they were ragging on him. Now that Rodriguez is talking, even speaking in somewhat guarded tones, the media is focusing on Derek. In the Daily News, Harper focuses on what appears to be a character flaw in Jeter — he never forgets, and, if someone angers him, he seems to never want to forgive.

As a clergy person, I would try to get the two to talk about their issues. There is clearly “something” between them – jealousy, on A-Rod’s part; anger, on Derek’s part. They need to talk it out without newspapermen and newspaperwomen or TV cameras looking over their shoulders. They don’t need to publicly kiss and make up, because when they do so, the New York media will question the validity of such an act. But if they are to be anything to one another every again, they must forgive one another.

Central to their problem is the act of forgiveness. It is the hardest thing in life to do. That is why we cling to the cross of Christ where our Lord and Savior won our victory over sin for us. The forgiveness we receive from our Father in heaven is not conditional forgiveness — it is real and everlasting. When our Father forgives, He forgives it all and never dwells on our failures. It is like our Lord lifting us up and cradling us in His loving arms while He whispers those words we long to hear: “My child, you are forgiven.”

Those are the most loving words a child of God can hear. Since we are forgiven, we have to try our best in our walk in life to deal with those who dislike us or hold a grudge against us. We are forgiven of our failures and sins and God instructs us by His Word that we are to do the same. We have to work to find some common ground, even in places where there appears to be no common ground available. And if common ground can be found, then movement toward forgiveness can commence. Remember – loving one’s neighbor as Christ loves us is the one way we redeemed Christians show the love of God in our lives. Heartfelt forgiveness is one plank that can build a stronger relationship between people.

In the situation between A-Rod and Derek, they, too, should come together and talk about their issues. They must be willing to take the first step. But in the end, they have to work on repairing their relationship. Will they ever be best friends again? Probably not. Maybe one day, they can find common ground together and forgive one another.

And yes, if the two of them want to speak, my door is always open.

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I know, the title of this post isn’t very “pastoral,” but the issues raised in this article in this morning’s Bergen Record lead me to that conclusion.

A 16-year old Kearny, New Jersey high school student is suing his school district because a teacher brought religion into the classroom. No one will defend the teacher’s actions – he preached Christianity in the classroom and attacked those who don’t believe in Jesus as people who will be going to hell. Public school classrooms are not for religious proselytizing. This student taped his teacher making the comments and he brought it to the attention of the district who reacted accordingly. Teachers will receive additional training on the proper role of religion in the classroom. They even acted to switch out the students who received the heavy dose of Christian religious talk from this teacher.

But this angered these students. They didn’t want to switch teachers in midyear and they let their classmate and rabblerouser, Matthew LaClair, know about it. He called this treatment “harassment” and is suing the district because they didn’t stop his fellow students from harassing him.

I have one comment to little Matthew: GROW UP!!

In real life, people are going to say and do things you don’t like. You can’t run to an ACLU lawyer everytime your feelings get hurt. The teacher was wrong and the district dealt with it. When you, dear Matthew, anger your friends and they bother you or someone says something you don’t like, don’t go crying to a lawyer to get it fixed. Stand up and deal with it. While your teacher was wrong to do what he did, you’re equally wrong in suing your school district because your friends are mad at you.

It was in our Parish Announcement section of our bulletin on Sunday, but sometimes we can just miss stuff. Tonight at 6:30pm at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church in Closter is holding a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. And with the latest move to push traditional breakfast to the evenings (and move traditional dinner to mornings) in an effort to get people to lose weight, it can’t be bad to have pancakes at night.

I’ll be there at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there.

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