St. Mark’s Lutheran

Readings
Job 19:1-7,14-27
Acts 13:13-25
John 9:18-41

Meditation
Today’s passage gives us a really neat view of the the Jewish synagog roots of our worship life. On the Sabbath day they went to the synagog…after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagog asked Paul & Barnabus to exhort the people. A gathering, reading of the law which we would term the OT lesson, a reading of the prophets which we would term the epistle lesson and an exhortation or what we call a sermon or a homily is you have a catholic upbringing. That’s the core of worship life. Reading from the written Word and the speaking of the Oral Word applying it to our communal lives and times. Everything else is adornment. The people of God, or the people of Israel gather to hear the Word.

And that is what Paul does. Paul retells the salvation story to those people of Israel and the God-fearers (gentiles) in their midst. God made a great people and took them out of bondage. He guided them and let them go astray under conquest and judges and kings. He promised an everlasting throne to David, and established that throne in Jesus. Of that one, Jesus, all the law and the prophets, including John the Baptist, the one who lived in our own time, they all testify to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises and of all Israel.

May the Lord grant you the times and the ability to read, hear, ponder and inwardly digest His Word for your lives.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 16:16-22 Job 17:1,13-16
Acts 13:1-12
John 9:1-17

Meditation
Barnabus was from Cyprus (Acts 4:36), and at least now he is the elder of Paul and Barnabus. We say that - Pual and Barnabus - but here God sets aside Barnabus and Saul. Barny and Saul set off for Cyprus. Even prophets and teachers are not always above being homesick or a little bit of nepotism. That is probably the last decision the Barnabus gets full reign on. They preach their way accross the Island and straight to the capitol city or Paphos. That is Paul if his letters are any hint. Go to the center. Go to the heart of the matter.

And the Spirit throws them before princes - one proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. Somewhere in this post is a boundary marker found in Paphos with his name. Paulus has a staffer interestingly called Bar-Jesus (also elymas). Same as in our day, in the absence of a firm belief in the creator God, things from horoscopes to psychics to meditation on your inner light find there way into our lives. When those large crowds from all over follow Jesus in the gospel, obviously some of them went home and told tales (although Jesus is a common name). For a charlatan to take the name Bar-Jesus surely was play off of that fame. Saul set this guy straight. He blinds him for a time in front of Sergius Paulus.

From this story Saul goes by the name Paul. Jews often has hebraic names (i.e. Saul) and greek names (i.e Paul), but this is an interesting story. Did Paul become Paul in light of or in honor of his convert?

In the end, I read the story as speaking of transitions. Barnabus and Saul, teachers and prophets at Antioch, become Paul and Barnabus, apostles of the church. The magician becomes blinded and the smart man under his sway sees the light. The Word of the crucified one goes into the courts of an important proconsul. The story of Peter we have been hearing changes over to the story of Paul. Transitions. What transitions are we going through that we need the apostles’ guidence?

May the Lord grant you His light to see your way through transitions.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 14:1-22
Acts 12:18-25
John 8:47-59

Meditation
I’m sure today’s reading in Acts has some deep theological meaning. It probably has to do with the juxtaposition of Herod not giving glory and dying and Barnabus and Saul completing the mission of mercy to the Jersusalem church (the Antioch greek church had taken a collection) and the Word increasing. Those against the Word perish while those with it have life. As I said, I’m sure there is something to make of it, but there is something more interesting. Herod dies, and this text says why. He didn’t give glory to God. It is very specific, an angel of the Lord struck him. How and why is this story in Acts? The scene plays out between a delegation of Tyre and Sidon and Herod - no apostles, maybe no christians. Why does Luke tell us this? Josephus, a Jewish writer who was also a Roman, tells the story. Herod wears a silver cloth into the meeting. The sun glints off it so bright that he is hailed as a god. Immediately he fell ill and died. Josephus, from a completely secular viewpoint, confirms the story the Luke writes, except that Luke gives the explanation. The Bible does this on several occasions. It inserts stories or place names or rulers like time and reality markers. The entire trek of the exodus is recorded. We can’t identify most of the places, but they were ment to be found. The Assyrians and the Persians play roles in the OT. Secular history doesn’t really know why they rose and fell, but the OT says they did so to fulfill God’s purposes. Here we have Luke inserting one of those rulers and stories. Josephus records it becuase of the odd nature. Luke says it was for the glory or protection of God’s name. There are just enough of these reality markers, that say - look, this is real, not just myths or pious stories, what this book records is the real history of God’s plan of salvation. In that way, I think today’s lesson was written more for us later believers than the early one’s. Our natural worldview is more precise or critical than theirs. We need these confirmed remiders of what to them were just events they lived or that were passed down.

May the Lord make plain to you his salvation and the markers he has placed in your life.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
1 Comment »

Readings
Job 13:3-17,21-27
Acts 12:1-17
John 8:33-47

Meditation
I’m afraid that I can be overly serious most days. My mother always said I was forty by the time I was 12. First child syndrome I guess. Today’s lesson takes a small break from heavy examples. Luke has been telling the story of the early church, and it is filled with grand sermons, martyrs, visions, healings and miracles. All of them treated very seriously. As I read it, today’s lesson captures a little bit of the whimsy and just amazement of even those who were living the story of the early church. Today we find a naked Peter in prison between two guards and in two chains. An angel comes an nudges Peter, wake up sleepy-head, get dressed and put your shoes on. Just like you would say to a small child. The whimsy comes in Luke’s description of Peter. He did so, but he did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. Finally after passing two guards and the iron gate gate the city Peter comes to himself and says, “wow, that really happened.”

The sense of ‘this can’t be true’ continues with the maid at the house Peter runs to. She sees Peter at the door. She fogets to let him in and runs to the residents - “Peter is outside.” The first reaction is, “you are nuts.” But the maid continues to hold it. The second reaction is the next logical one (especially to those of the 1st century). Well, he’s already dead, it’s Peter’s angel/soul/ghost/shade. Meanwhile, Peter is outside knocking. Hey, I’m still here. How about you let me in? The people in the house finally let him in and they are all babbling. Peter quiets them down and tells his story.

It is a funny story and it lets us know a little about what the early church thought about the events. If they didn’t live them, they wouldn’t have believed it either. The story goes back to being serious at the end though. Peter tells them to tell James. That could be James the brother of Jesus, or it could be the James the brother of John who was reported as killed at the start. We don’t have the report of what happened next. Did John Mark have to tell Peter, James is dead? We just get - he departed and went to another place. That strikes me as real. Stuff happens that we get all excited about. We are having a great time, and then something is said. That something ends the levity and says time to move on. That something doesn’t cancel the wonder and whimsy we experienced, but just reminds us of the nature of things in a fallen world. The question is, do we accept the end and move on to another place, or do we stay and try to keep the party going past its expiration?

May the Lord give you plenty of moments of whimsy between the tougher reality.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 12:1-6,13-25
Acts 11:19-30
John 8:21-32

Meditation
How much do we care about what takes place in other congregations? And what do we care about? Do we have any obligation sister congregations? The reading in Acts today is descriptive, by that I mean it talks about how the early church approached major questions. It is not necessarily prescriptive, by that I mean that we are bound as a law to follow it. Even though it is not prescriptive, it does come from the inspired and apostolic example and is meant for our teaching, it is worth understanding. We have seen with Cornelius and the Ethiopian the Word reaching beyond just Jews, although both of those were ‘god-fearers’, a special class. Now we see the Gospel starting to go out to the ends of the earth. Some of those evangelizing spoke to the Greeks in Antioch, and a great number believed. Here is where those first questions come in. Did the Jerusalem church, undergoing persecution (remember Stephen), yawn or say not our problem? No, news came and they sent Barnabas. He main message was two-fold: 1) remain faithful to the Lord and 2) with steadfast purpose. He wanted to be sure the doctine was correct and that they were practicing it. He went beyond that though. These were greeks. They would not ‘know the scriptures’ which at the time were the OT. Barnabus goes to Tarsus and brings back Saul to Antioch. Barnabus not only checks on the teaching and practice of the church, but goes and finds a geat teacher to guide them in the future. The early church most definitely care about sister congregations. Specifically they cared about their teaching first and their practice. What are practices that congregations could follow today that might carry out this ministry? Does you congregation have any interesting ones? Is something like this possible in protestantism which mostly operates as individual congregations? Some questions to think about on a minister’s Monday off along with everyone else on Labor Day

May the Lord bless your day off and grace your labor and thought in visiting and in your chosen vocation.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 9:1-15, 32-35
Acts 10:34-48
John 7:37-52

Meditation
We hear an echo of the Ethiopian and Philip. The eunuch’s question was, “Here’s water, what is to prevent me from being baptized?” The eunuch knew there used to be a wall, a law separating him from that washing. Now Peter asks, “Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these people?” There used to be a firm wall to Cornelius. That is why he was called a God-fearer. He believed, but could not be received into the assembly of Israel. Now, after Christ has torn the temple veil, after Christ has fulfilled the law, is there anything that forbids baptizing, forbids bringing these people into the assembly? No! In Christ there is no Jew or Greek. It is not that the catagories ceased, but that Christ fulfilled them. In Christ we find our common new humanity. And Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

May God remind you of your baptism and keep you in the new creation.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 8:1-10, 20-22
Acts 10:17-33
John 7:14-36

Meditation
Evangelism is a odd thing. The typical corporate response is to set up a “spear-catcher”. One of the group has to tell the bad news about the quarter or the event, and that person catches the spear because the messenger is always shot. After that sacrifice, the higher-ups can look good talking about the plans, visions and what-not to make the future look better. The guys in charge give the bad news to lower totem pole people and keep the good news. God did the opposite. He proclaimed that we are all sinners, and He caught that spear, a centurion’s spear right in His side. He then tells us to go and tell the good news of forgiveness. God’s ways are not ours.

Evangelism is also odd in who is prepared to hear the Word. Would a Gentile Roman Captain living in Caesarea have been Peter’s first choice for evangelism. Probably not. In fact Peter even admits that he would not be there at all except for a vision. Yet, Cornelius was prepared while those with the revelation and the law were not. We just don’t know who God has prepared to hear his Word.

But the point for the disciple is that when called you respond. God has prepared things in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10). We can throw off that planning, it is called sin, but the better spiritual path is to say yes, however reluctantly. Peter, why he is often an example, he just goes. And it is not like we are sharing bad news. The law is on everyone’s hearts. They know they are sinners. What they don’t know is the gospel. Jesus lived and dies and rose for them. Jesus took care of that sin. We get the message of a solution.

May you recognize and respond to the various good works that God has planned for you in advance.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Job 7:1-21
Acts 10:1-16
John 7:1-13

Meditation
The text in acts today is frought with danger for the culture of today. The event told by Luke between Peter and Cornelius is basically the pattern for every change that would break a specific passage of scripture. The early church was basically Jewish. While Jesus would confront the Pharisees about legalism, he was still on observant Jew. The natural inclination would have been that being a Christian also ment being a Jew. We’ve seen how the disciples still gathered in the temple. And here we see Peter saying no to “unclean foods”. Peter receives a vision - “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” With that vision the future course of Christianity is set. Paul will be preaching the cermonial/civil law free gospel, and Peter will eventually side with Paul, on the basis of this story. One modern application of that story would be (I’m sure has been) in regards to homosexuality. I think it would be fair to say that the vast majority of Christians would prefer to err on the side of what looks like love and welcome and affirm homosexual activity. And people like Bishop Robinson of the Episcopal church and others step forward and claim, usually under the title of “being prophetic” or “using the prophetic voice”, that God is calling the church to welcome these acts - just like God was calling Peter to accept the that the food had been made clean. It is a wanted and seemingly logical application of the story until you consider the impacts. Who is prophetic, or who gets to make these claims? What is the judge of authenticity? Lutherans will hold up the written Word, the Bible, as the final authority, but these prophetic claims are essentially attempting to alter the bible (Romans 1:26-27 is pretty clear). The question is fundamental. Do we believe in the ‘apostolic church’ of the Nicene Creed, Paul’s message of the Gospel in Galatians and Jesus warning about relaxing the law (Matt 5:19), or do we believe in universally authoritative ongoing revelation or prophecy? The apostles spoke for the universal church. Today we do not have living apostles, but we have their written words. There are all kinds of things in that Word that we might not like, but that is the authority revealed to us - the Word is where we find the promises, the gospel. When you try and alter one, you lose the other.

May the Lord grant His church the wisdom to listen to His Word.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

My love, my wife and kids are on their way to her brothers for a cousin’s birthday. I am a batchelor for a few days, and falling back into vampire like hours. The olympics aren’t helping as they keep me riveted until mid-night. No good excuse for making a morning prayer an evening exercise. Please forgive.

Readings
Job 1:1-22
Acts 8:26-40
John 6:16-27

Meditation
Oh no, Job. I know that Job fascinates the modern age. The problem of evil and all, but gracefully it has never vexed me. It is a fallen world. The standard answer of we see through a glass darkly has always seemed both true and humble. I will be reading Job, but not commenting on it. I’m sticking with Acts.

Philip and the Ethiopian is one of those episodes that opens a door and just never goes through it. It continues the story of Philip’s evangelization outside of Jerusalem. The church’s tradition holds that this ethiopian went and evangelized the nation. Fitting for one who went on his way rejoicing. This link takes you to the wikipedia entry for the Ethiopian church. That church by the way claims to have the ark of the covenant in the church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. That dedication would seem appropriate also as Mary held the Word in her womb, just as the Ark held the words and manna given to moses. Mary is the fulfillment which the ark forshaddowed, a vessel that carried the divine.

But that is far afield. A door opened by, but not entered by, the scriptures. What is emphasized is baptism. The response of faith is the desire to be baptised. There is always the story of Constantine who withheld baptism until close to death. The conception of baptism was a free washing of sins. Sins after baptism were more serious as your ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ had been used. Thoughts like those border on the magical and abuse the sacrament. The ethiopian as well as every other believer recorded in the NT, if they believed immediately were baptized. The ethiopian even urges it. See, here is water! What prevents my being baptized? In the Jewish tradition there would have been something. This man was a eunuch. Deuteronomy 23:2 would have forbid him from becoming a Jew. He was still going to Jerusalem to worship, but he could never really convert. What prevents my becoming a Christian? He was surely expecting a answer. One that he knew. But Philip baptizes him. The things that separate us from God - taken away in Jesus Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. In Christ we are made whole, no matter what the world has taken from us. The Ethiopian had the faith. Nothing stands in the way. No wonder he went on his way rejoicing.

May you also go on you way rejoicing in the restoration offered through Jesus the Christ.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »

Readings
Judges 18:16-31
Acts 8:14-25
John 6:1-15

Meditation
Amongst the Samarians there is the man called Simon who was a magician, an imposter. And maybe more than anyone else, imposters know the real thing when the see it. Philip was the real thing. He did miracles, not magic. The miracles were for the purpose of building up Jesus and his church, not building up Philip. Simon on the other hand was about building up Simon as in yesterday’s reading, he was saying he himself was somebody great. The Apostles Peter and John come to Samaria to see the new mission field and the success. It is a visit by ‘the names’. And they bless the work that has been done by laying their hands on it. Verse 16 is a quizzical verse and somewhat contrary to our current thoughts. The modern chruch outside of Pentecostalism has been deeply distrustful of manifestations of the Spirit like speaking in tongues. The early church, so soon after Pentecost and performing miracles, expects them every time. So verse 16, becuase the Holy Spirit had not come upon them yet, they had simply been baptized iton the name of the Lord Jesus. Surely the Spirit was present in those believers. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit had just not ‘come upon’ them yet. Peter and John come to correct that. The Samaritans had the reaction as when a Catholic might have an audience with the Pope, or for a long time in the LCMS if you got to meet Oswald Hoffmann of the Lutheran Hour. The Spirit ‘came upon them’ in that blessing. And it was a blessing for them, not Peter or John. But Simon, he wanted that power for himself - So it is that touch that grants these powers. How much for you to give me that touch as well? It could enhance my business. It could help me. - And the Apostles set him straight. You don’t buy the gifts of God. The gifts of the Spirit are dependent upon having the Spirit which guides into all truth in the first place. The Spirit works when and where he pleases always to build up Jesus and his church. The Spirit is not magic, but miraculous.

May you have those free gifts of the Spirit, especially the saving Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tags: Meditation by Parson Brown
No Comments »