The Difference Between Public and Private

I think sometimes that in Confessional circles we have abandonned the distinction between public and private (I'm not doing to go and deconstruct why at the moment, rather just noting that this is the way it is). There is such a strong emphasis on the rights and dignity of the Pastor - the one who holds the Office of the Public Ministry - that we can neglect the duties of any Christian within their vocations in the world.

Over at Beisel's blog there is a discussion on "Absolution" - which is what got me thinking (and I'm not posting a link. . . I'm bad with that and that's why the blog roll is there to your left). There is a lot of a desire to make a firm, hard distinction between the Absolution which a Pastor declares and the Absolution/Forgiveness (slashed as there is debate as to what it really is) - which is something that Luther doesn't do.

If I may make an analogy (no, you can never do theology by analogy - oh shut up, I'm dealing with a concept!) As a Father, you have the responsibility of protecting your family. Indeed, you are to provide for and secure your home - and if someone were to enter your house with ill intent towards your family, it would be your duty to prevent this villain from his heinous acts. But you aren't a thereby a policeman - who have been placed into the Public Office (hence - Police OFFICIER) designed for the protection of not just their private property and family but the Public at large. Indeed, the police are to assist and come to your aid in your own defense of your own family and home - but you still have that responsibility as well.

Likewise Fathers and Pastors. There is great significance that Luther designates that the Head of the Household is to teach his family. But aren't Pastors "preachers and teachers"? Yes - but that doesn't mean the laity sit on a block of ice just waiting for the Pastor to arrive and make everything all right. Now, ought a father expect his pastor to be able to aid him in teaching - indeed, might he reasonably expect his pastor to provide a multitude to classes dealing with teaching? Yes - but still, dad's got to see to his own family - that's his job.

All Christians are instructed to forgive. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. And I'm sorry, when Jesus says, "Go forgive" you are supposed to go and forgive people, and it actually is real forgiveness. However, what a Pastor does is different - not in what it is (it is still forgiveness spoken by God's command) - but in scope. A Pastor does this forgiveness publicly - in worship - and also by making himself available not just to a select few but to any and all who desire forgiveness. What we refer to as "Private Confession" is actually an exercise of the Public Office - one of the Public comes to the Public servant of God for aid and comfort (although it is called Private as what is discussed is not to be divulged). All Christians are expected to be able to speak the things of the faith - but a Pastor is to be able to provide assistance in their own speaking (Pastor, a neighbor asked X - what do I say?) and also to be a person to whom folks with question can be directed.

(Now for a bit of deconstruction) - I know many pastors have been sorely abused and treated as though they were of no importance. But the response to this is not to say, "I do things you can't you and in no way do, I am different from you." Being different doesn't command respect. Rather the response should be, "God has placed me into this Office where I am to be your pastor - and as such I am to speak God's Word publicly. If you don't like it, your problem is not with me, but with God. In fact, you yourself agreed publicly that God sent me here when you called me. As such, you're beef isn't with me, but with God - and you need to think and sort that out." Throw them to the word - and let them be broken upon it. If you can't throw them to the Word - then repent of your own actions, for you ought do nothing apart from the Word.

That's easy for you, Brown, at your cushy parish, what have you suffered? Little compared to some - but I have had to teach about respect for the office - which as far as I can tell has been strongly lacking since the 70s when they removed a Seminex guy - and as is demonstrated that they nagged my predecessor into early retirement. We teach, and we focus simply on God's Word. We don't elevate ourselves - rather we must decrease that He may increase. And then let them rail against God if they will.

A Small town pastor

How come things like this aren't in pastoral practice classes?

I just spent an hour and a half standing out in the rain. Why, you ask? Because I got a phone call at 5:50 from the Sherriff's department letting me know that some kids had driven into our fence at the Cemetery (from the inside) and wanted to know what I wanted to do.

So I spent an hour and half up there. It was sheer stupidity - town kids lost on a country road, looking for a place to turn around - and instead of just doing a three point in the nice, heavily gravelled driveway, they figure they'll just loop around through our completely unpaved cemetery -- thing is, the exit gate was closed - so what do they do? Cut along the side of the fence. . . on the side of an oklahoma hill - that is full of red, Oklahoma Clay - in the middle of a rainstorm.

Into the fence they go. Aparently at 10:30 last night. Long night of waiting for them - as the cops hear that there are people out to vandalize cemeteries, and the cops spotted people at the other one east of town, so la policia are all out that way.

I get there, along with one of the Elders - and the driver is freaked. Did I mention that when the Sherriff's deputy got there he was 10 minutes from going off duty and was just finishing up the paper work from his 11 hour shift? He pointed out that if charges were pressed, they would be felony (the state of Oklahoma does not take kindly to people messing with cemeteries.

So, at the request of the town cop - who was worried that the 3 passengers weren't taking this seriously - more elders show up, we pace, we wait, cops ream them all out - and then they agree to come back and work for the Church to fix whatever (45 minute put the fear into the other kids). So the kid's SUV is still there - with the mud there's no way we can pull it out. It will stay there until it is dry - and then all four of the kids will come and get everything cleaned up and smoothed out and tidied up at the cemetery. If it ever stops raining.

But no one died, no one is in the hospital (at least that I know of), and I'll have a nice story to share when I visit my little old ladies this afternoon. Oigh.

Truth #10

10 - A pastor should never try to be liked or try to be disliked.

This is something I like to just keep in mind when I make decisions. It isn't my job to try to be liked or disliked. These are two pitfalls that exist. The first is much more obvious - if I make decisions just so people will like me and think, "Oh, that Pastor Brown, what a nice guy" - I'm not doing what I should. If I'm trying to make people like me - then I'm manipulating them (or one could say seducing them) and the focus shifts to me. Even more insidious is the simple fact that it won't work. Not everyone at a congregation wants or likes the same thing - so if you are trying to make everyone happy, you'll be talking out of both sides of your mouth. Only Christ and His Word is to come out of your mouth, and that straight, right down the middle.

And there is the otherside - a pastor shouldn't try to be disliked. Some people rub us the wrong way. It happens. We are not to act to "show them" or put them in their place. Now, we may act in spite of their dislike (in fact we have to), we may upset people - but that should never be our goal. We aren't children to be poking our brother or sister to annoy them - we should be the voice of logos instructing in wisdom. Which means I can't take anything personally. I must disattach myself from the criticism I receive for doing my duty. Of course, I ought to do that for all criticism that is unfounded, but especially in my office as Pastor.

My job is to serve - not please, not tweak. Keep your eye to the task.

A decent fellow from St. Louis?

And in Oklahoma, to boot? Can it be? Indeed, all things are possible through Christ! Thus, feel free to check out this blog - http://pastorsblog.redeemer-enid.com - it is the blog of Christopher Hall - and he does indeed hold to Christ and Him Crucified (although I apparently can't hold to one font).

Truth #9

Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9. . . .

9 - Sin desires to be lord - love serves the neighbor as though he were the Lord.

Quite often Pastors will make a big deal over the fact that as Pastors we stand and we speak in the stead of Christ - and rightfully so. We live in a land of protestants who deny the power and efficacy of the Word so it is vital for us to emphasize that we speak "in the stead and by the command of [our] Lord Jesus Christ."

However, what we must equally remember is that we are not to be lords - for that is the way it is among the gentiles (and no, Jesus was not giving permission for the Gentiles to lord it over one another). My duty is not to make people do what I want them to do. My duty is not to make my congregation look and act the way I want it to be. Fundamentally I am not in any, way, shape or form try to be master over the lives of the people in the Congregation.

Rather, I am to serve them.. And I have a very specific service - I serve them by preaching the Word and Administering the Sacraments. Now, in such capacity, there are times when I am to tell them that they are doing wrong (I do preach and speak the Law) - but outside of that I may not bind them (I may give advice, which they are free to ignore).

This is a hard attitude to maintain today, especially in the democracy-gone-wild church we have today. The same holds true for the way the people are to view their pastor - the congregation is there to serve and support the pastor so he may go about his task. However, the assumption is sometimes falsely made that if a pastor serves the people, then the people must be the lord of the Pastor (after all, they pay his salary, they can do what they want!). "Let us sumbit to one another out of reverence for Christ." That is forgotten all too often. And Pastors often get beat over the head for this.

So, how ought Pastors respond? I will hear Pastors lament the lack of respect for the Office. Allow me to ask the question. Is there a person who lacks respect for you and your office who has proper respect for other people? The problem rarely is a lack of respect for the "office" - it's a lack of respect. Period. It's not that they desire to be Lord over YOU - it's that they desire to be LORD, period.

This shows the way in which we are to respond. We do not become abusers ourselves, but rather we uphold the dignity of our Office by proper service, and we teach on love and respect - not to ourselves, but to the neighbor in general. Otherwise we just seem self serving - but if we demonstrate that there is a lack of love and respect towards "others" - repentance will generate an increase in love and respect towards the Pastor as well. And also, when you beat the protestant out of the. . . I mean instruct your people on what is meant by the idea of the "means of Grace" and foster an appreciation for these means, respect for the man whose duty it is to deliver these means will increase as well.

This is slow, and one will get kicked in the teeth for it. But one will teach - and that is part of the service we give.

Brown's Dictum of Theological Freedom

It's not another truth of practical theology, but rather a dictum or saying inserted into our normal line up - and it goes as follows:

What is not commanded in Scripture may not be commanded; what is not forbidden is Scripture may not be forbidden.

This is simply an extension of the idea of Sola Scriptura - that we place ourselves under Scripture as our authority. If Scripture doesn't say, "You must" we cannot say "you must". If Scripture doesn't say "Thou Shall Not" we cannot say "Thou Shall not." Within this boundary, this set of things neither commanded nor forbidden, there is freedom.

Freedom is not always used wisely. We may debate about how people use their freedom, we may counsel them against using their freedom in a poor way - we may even ask them if they are using the pretense of freedom to hide something which is blatantly contrary to Scripture - but we cannot speak beyond the Words of Scripture, for where Scripture is silence, we cannot speak authoratively - for without the Word we have no authority whatsoever.

This is hard. People use their freedom poorly. People act out of ignorance, people act ineffciently. But the alternative is worse. The alternative is rank legalism where the mandates of men take equal place with the Word of God. And if we look at our history, the road to theological hell was paved with good intentions. Mandating a pennance was at first just to make the Lasped prove their devotion -- soon it was a terror. Allowing the Pope to speak authoratively beyond Scripture looked as though it would establish unity - instead it created tyrrany and split the Church multiple times.

People will use their freedom poorly. Weaker brothers will act out of ignorance, and stronger brothers will act out of misplaced pride. We must allow neither folly to become entrenched and "law". If there is no freedom, there is no Gospel (which is free from the works of the Law), there is no love (for love casts out fear, and if we act out of fear it is not love), there is no worship (for God has set us free to worship Him without fear). Freedom must be maintained.

Nativity of John the Baptist – June 24th, 2007 – Luke 1:57-80

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +

We are told in the Scriptures that John the Baptist was conceived right around 6 months before Jesus, so for many, many centuries, the Church has observed today, June 24^th, right around 6 months before Christmas, as the day to celebrate and observe the Nativity of John the Baptist. And it is an insightful day. While John’s birth isn’t as important as the birth of Jesus, we see and learn much about the Christian faith from the words that are spoken at John’s birth, the song of Zechariah known as the Benedictus. Let us see what we learn from Zechariah’s song this day.

When John is born, his father Zechariah is silent. He isn’t silent because he is speechless with wonderment at the beauty of childbirth. No, no, Zechariah is silent and has been silent for 9 months because 9 months ago he had run his mouth. An Angel of the Lord had come to him in the temple and told him, that even though he was old, as was his barren wife Elizabeth, that Elizabeth would conceive and give birth to the promised forerunner of the Messiah. And Zechariah drops the ball. Zechariah says, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” How shall I know this – that’s an old way of saying, “how can this happen?” Angel, you are out of your mind. Zechariah disbelieves, he rejects the word that was spoken to him – and it was even a good word, it was good news. Zechariah, God is going to bless you! Yeah, right, and just how is God supposed to be able to pull that one off?

Do you see and understand the disrespect that Zechariah has? He’s not amazed, he’s snide and cynical and disbelieving. And God’s angel calls him on it. “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring to you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” A punishment that fits the crime. Zechariah doesn’t believe the Word which was spoken to him, and so Zechariah loses the ability to speak.

So, let me ask the question. How often do we act like Zechariah here? How often do we become snide and cynical towards God’s Word? Are we tempted to disbelieve the promises of God? He will support us, but then bad weather, rough spots in life come, and we doubt and grumble about God. Or perhaps we are more commonly tempted to disbelieve the promises of God as they apply to our neighbor. As my old Pastor in Norman reminded me, forgiveness is a great idea until you have to do it. Forgiving your neighbor is hard, we prefer grousing and hating. Whenever you hate your neighbor, whenever you bear grudges against them, you are saying that Christ didn’t die for them. How can I know that I should love them? Sin is nothing less than rejecting the Word of God – and when we sin, we become silent, we cease speaking rightly of God, we cease telling the good news.

But for Zechariah the day of John’s birth comes. For 9 long months Zechariah has been silent, saying nothing. And the boy is born, and everyone wants the little kiddo to be named Zechariah. And when Elizabeth says, no, no, his name is John – the name given by Gabriel, they ignored her. You name a kid after someone in your family – they’ve got no relatives of this name. Elizabeth must be getting batty. And so Zechariah comes and he gets a writing tablet and writes “His name is John.” And at that moment, Zechariah can speak. Zechariah believes what was spoken to him, believes the Word of God, and his tongue is loosened, and Zechariah may speak once again.

And what does Zechariah say? Listen to his words. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our Father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. Zechariah’s words are all about what God does. The one who disbelieved that God could give him a child now proclaims what God has done. God visits, God redeems, God raises up salvation, God speaks by the prophets, God saves from the enemy, God shows mercy, God remembers His Covenant – in fact, it’s the Covenant that God swore, God delivers us. What do we do? Um, we are saved. We serve after God has done all this stuff that lets us serve Him. What Zechariah speaks is completely about what God has done.

Dear friends, Zechariah speaks the Gospel. When we use the term Gospel, when we use the term good news, we are referring to those things that God has done for us. If it’s about what you do, it’s not Gospel, it’s not good news. If you are doing it, it’s not news at all, it’s your actions. But we are a church of the Gospel – our focus, like Zechariah’s, is not upon what we do, but upon what God has done. Our focus is declaring what God has done for His people. Now, there is a terrible desire to abandon the Gospel even by well meaning Christians. The Gospel doesn’t seem to have all that much flash. It doesn’t seem to have all that much snazz sometimes. And so, we want to shift the focus onto ourselves. We want to turn Church into the place where you get practical advice, where you learn how to be a better person, how to have a happier life. We want to turn Church into a giant self-help club where we might as well sit around and discuss the latest book on Oprah’s reading list. But Zechariah had 9 months of silence to think about it – he understands what’s going on. The focus is upon God and His Word. Don’t name the kid after me – it’s not about me. It’s about God – hear what He has done. Our words, our focus – it is to be on God. God is the one who redeems His people. That’s what Zechariah shouts out – look, God indeed remembers His promises, look, God is showing us mercy. If we only listened to Him we would see this, we would understand this. Therefore I will speak and proclaim God’s Word so that you might hear and understand.

And then Zechariah addresses his son John. You can almost see old Zechariah holding up his son and saying these words to him – And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His was, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Is this not amazing? Even when Zechariah turns to his son, looks upon his son with that pride that only a father can have – what’s Zechariah’s focus? Is Zechariah’s focus upon John? Nope – John, you’ll be called a prophet – but here’s what you will do. You will prepare the way of the Lord. You will preach about the messiah and forgiveness to God’s people – in fact, your whole life will be nothing but pointing to the coming one, the Messiah who comes after you. And this is in fact what John does – on Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry announces that the Lord is Nigh. When all the world was cursed by Moses’ condemnation Saint John the Baptist came with words of consolation – with true forerunner’s zeal the greater One he named. John’s focus would be upon Christ.

Likewise, dear friends, we are to point to Christ. All our actions are to be ones that point to Christ. Paul when He preaches, preaches about what Jesus does. We here, the same thing. When you teach your kids – you teach them what Jesus has done. When you tell your friends and neighbors, you tell them what Jesus has done. In all things we point to the Cross – see, the promised Savior has come, and He has suffered and died for your sins – you are forgiveness, your sin is no longer held against you, it is destroyed and done away with. Christ Jesus has put it to death. There is salvation, salvation that comes from the forgiveness of sin.

Now, there are times in this life when Satan tries to pull us away from this. There are times when we sin, when we stumble and err. In response to this, God calls you to His house, where He remembers the oath He swore at your Baptism to be your heavenly Father. This is where God remembers that His Son has indeed won your salvation – and so the Father gladly gives you the forgiveness of sin. Indeed, He raises up for you not a horn of salvation, but a chalice full of it, full of the life giving blood of His Son. Everything that Zechariah speaks of here is given to us in God’s House – every promise of life and salvation which we share is dispersed here in God’s House – and indeed we are guided into the way of peace.

At first, Zechariah responded to God with disbelief and was struck silent. This ought to remind us of our own disbelief and our own struggles with sin. However, seeing God’s promise come to fruition, Zechariah with his restored voice gladly proclaims what God has done. Likewise, we join in with Zechariah and his son John and all the prophets, we join in with Paul and all the apostles, we join in with the Church at all times and in all places declaring with Joy the salvation that God has won for us by His Son upon the Cross. God keep our voices strong. Amen

A Funeral Sermon

A sermon for Norma Lee Burnett's funeral.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost+

Jerry, Jimmy, Verlin, friends and family of our sister in Christ Norma Lee, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. There is a verse in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus says that He longed to gather the people of Israel as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. When you saw Norma Lee care for her family, you understood this image that Jesus uses. In many ways she was like a mother hen, always going around and gathering everyone together in a most warm and amazing way. The amount of care and compassion that Norma Lee showed to during the course of her life is astounding – especially when it involved children. I have heard that if there was a problem, the solution was to go to Grandma’s house – that’s where things would be taken care of. Now, I only came to know Norma Lee when she was a bit older, not as quick or strong as she used to be, but the care for her family, especially the youngest ones, was clear even to me. She made it clear. I can hear saying, “and Pastor, I told them, ‘we’ve got to get those babies baptized,’” and she said it with such love and passion and fire. The love that she showed was warm and intense and sincere – and I hope you know and understand what a fantastic, awesome blessing to have had that love in your life has been. Not all families are blessed with such a woman to knit them together, to bring them together as your family, as indeed this congregation was blessed with our sister Norma Lee. She showed forth great love.

I also want you to understand what that love was, because it wasn’t the typical self-serving love that we tend to think of and see in the world. It wasn’t just some emotion or feeling that sprung up from with her, it wasn’t something she came up with or she was responsible for. There is a reason why when I was thinking of the way in which Norma Lee showed love to you that I was reminded of Jesus’ words. It is because she showed Christ’s love. As Christians, we are to be vessels, to be conduits of love – the love that God gives us in the forgiveness of our sins by Christ Jesus’ death upon the Cross and by His resurrection is to flow through us. That is what you saw when you saw Norma Lee’s love. That is where it’s passion, that is where it’s strength came from – it was a gift of God to Norma Lee, indeed, it was Jesus Himself working through Norma Lee, to show care to you. At her Baptism, God not only claimed Norma Lee as His own, not only gave her the forgiveness won by Jesus, but also made her His dwelling place so that His love would shine out and radiate from her to you. And this is why Norma Lee was so passionate about Church, about being baptized, about hearing the Word – because she knew that is how she received God’s love, and she greatly desired that you receive it as well, that you continually be showered by that same love that God showed her in Christ Jesus.

This is in fact the same love that Christ Jesus is showing to Norma Lee this very moment. Hear again the words of our Lord Jesus from our Gospel lesson. “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.” The gift of life and salvation that God gave to Norma Lee at her Baptism, the promise He made to be her God has been fulfilled. Just as Norma Lee welcomed you all to her house to show care for you whenever you needed it, God the Father declared her to be His child, and He has called her to His home, to show her love and compassion. Indeed, Christ Jesus has been true to His Word, and He has given His servant Norma Lee rest and care and compassion. Indeed, that same love that Norma Lee showed to each of you she now receives in full in the glorious presence of God. This is why Paul writes to us, “But we do not want you to be unformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” Norma Lee is with God, and when Jesus returns, she will return with Him, along with her Robert and any and all of God’s saints who have gone on before us, for they are with Jesus always. That is what we believe, that is what we look forward – that is why we confess “And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” – for we know that God’s blessings continue on even past our time on earth and on into eternity.

Dear friends, I know that you will indeed miss Norma Lee for what days you have left to you, but know this. Christ Jesus continues to give you the same love that He showed you through Norma Lee, and indeed by the power of His forgiveness He stirs up that same love in you. Moreover, our Lord has promised that He who believes and is Baptized shall be saved – so indeed, because of Christ Jesus and what He has done for both you and for Norma Lee, we are able to look forward to our joyous reunion with her and with all of God’s saints. So then we are right to praise God and give thanks to Him for the gift He gave us in His child Norma Lee.

Thanks to God for Norma Lee

Who always with great zeal

Showed God’s love to her family

Their hurts and wounds to heal

Likewise o Lord now use us

To show to all Your love

Until You choose to call us

To Your great home above. Amen.

Truth #8

8 - Christians always tend towards legalism or antinomianism.

Our Lord refers to His way as the narrow path. A path that is narrow is easy to get off of. There are two major ways in which Christians step off of our Lord's path. These are legalism and antinomianism.

The first danger is legalism. This we see quite clearly in Scripture, from the Pharisees to the Judiazers and the like. What happens is that the Law ends up replacing the Gospel as the Christian's love. Rather than with joy clinging to the Gospel, our view of the Law can become warped, and we forget the second use - we forget that the Law shows us our sin. When this happens, we slide to legalism. We substitute rules for freedom - we start mandating that the way in which we happen to use our freedom is the best way and that to be a good Christian you need to do X, Y, and Z - where X, Y, and Z may be not drinking, may be making sure you chant, or may even be simply "knowing" that you are a better person than your neighbor. We abuse the Law, and fall into legalism. Legalism is a rejection of the Gospel, substituting self-righteousness for the righteousness of Christ.

The other danger is antinomianism. This is a desire to do away with anything to do with the Law (one might say it is the extreme opposite reaction to legalism) - and the desire is to assert your freedom over and above any and all conventions and rules. With this, people either become incredibly independent (I can do what I want) or incredibly indifferent (what does it matter, we all go to the same place, after all). The thing that antinomianists forget is that to reject the Law and be opposed to the Law is to be opposed to love. The Law is love - and to reject the Law and treat it as unimportant is to reject Love - and hence also the God who is Love and Who makes us to be like Himself - one who loves. Independence destroys love - for it denies that we are beholden to one another. Indifference destroys love because it does not do.

Christians tend to fall to one side or another - legalism or antinominianism (which I know I am mispelling, I think - bind me by your random laws of spelling, will you Webster? I think not!) for one simple reason. We mistakenly react to a wrong view in the wrong way. We see a legalist, and we reject the self-righteous nature - and we are determined to demonstrate our freedom -- and yet we forget to do so in love. Or we see people using their freedom in ways that probably aren't that wise - and so we make more and more rules to be safe, and we shake the finger and wag our tongues - and we fall to self-righteousness ourselves.

The proper solution to both of these issues is not over reaction (which we sinful humans tend to love) but proper Law and Gospel preaching. As in all things where there is a human fault - yes, demonstrate the Law - say you are not fulfilling your duties, say you are overstepping your bounds -- but then the move must be onto the Gospel. Both these two are the common ways of falling off our Lord's path because they forget that He is the Way we are to be on - and they both slide away from the Gospel that Christ Jesus is our righteousness.

Hence, why we must always pray, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."

Truth Number 7

7 - Always look on the dark side of life - do doot, doo do da do da doot (i.e. share in sufferings, don't treat them as petty things).

Our Congregation has a tradition of doing a passion story style crucifixion scene on Good Friday. As I am the pastor, I can't do it, because Good Friday Tenebrae follows immediately afterwards. This is good. Because I am one sick puppy, I don't think I could make it hanging on a cross for 30 minutes without starting to at least hum "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Monty Python.

Oftentimes we think first and foremost of pointing out to people their blessings, of the good in the midst of bad. And quite often, when people are suffering (and sometimes agonizing over things that are quite silly) our instinct is to say, "It's not so bad."

It is for them. Whether they are lamenting something silly and stupid or something everyone would think is devestating - at that moment, they are suffering. While it is true that even in the midst of sorrows God does continue to show blessing - that may not be the teaching that they need immediately. At first they need compassion.

I love the hymn verse "God said to His beloved Son: 'It's time to have compassions. Now go, bright Jewel of My crown, and bring to all salvation.'" Time for compassion - time to literally share in the sufferings that mankind has - to bear up their burdens. As Pastors, we need to be prepared to show compassion - and then when we have shared in their sufferings they will be ready to hear the comfort in Christ we share. If you do not show compassion, then they can write you off - you don't understand, and so your words are pointless. Show them you know their sufferings and even in the midst of them have comfort.

There is a story which I have heard that a young minister attempted to comfort C.S. Lewis at the death of his wife by saying things we better now. Lewis cut him off saying, "No, this is a tragedy." Lewis was right - it was a tragedy, it wasn't the way things should be. Agree, share in the sufferings - and then point to the Father who out of His compassion sent His Son to make things right. Always share in suffering, as Christ Jesus your Lord did.