We will be talking this semester about the scripture, and how to apply it to your life. Accordingly your task for this week is to find a news item of your choice, and reflect on how you might be able to seek guidance from the scripture about the issues in the news item.
As you are aware the date and time for confirmation classes has been set for this semester at Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00. There will again be 12 class sessions, beginning on Thursday February 1st, and concluding Thursday May 10th. Exact dates of the classes can be found on the syllabus.
Looking forward to the summer, a time will be scheduled for the congregation’s examination of the confirmands, personal statements of faith will be drafted, and interviews with the pastor will be conducted in preparation for confirmation on Reformation Sunday, October 28th 2007.
In Baptism you were made a member of the church, the body of Christ on earth. An in confirmation you are being made full adult members of that body, with full rights and responsibilities. You are expending considerable effort to become a part of the body of Christ.
Your task for this week is to think about and write about what it is that the church is, and why people, like yourselves expend so much time and energy in the church, the body of Christ.
This week in class is devoted to reviewing what we have done this semester, and to answering your questions.
So your blog assignment for this week is backwards – it is your turn to ask me the question.
This week is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a secular holiday, who’s most salient features include gluttony, and football. Thanksgiving is not a day recognized on the Christian calendar as a part of the church year. Despite this however, many churches, including ours, mark the day by holding a worship service.
Your question: Why do churches celebrate Thanksgiving, a secular holiday, and do you think that a worship service is the most appropriate way for a church to celebrate thanksgiving, or is their another activity the church could be involved in that would be more appropriate?
A week ago, a woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori took office as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She is the first woman to hold the title of presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA).
More information regarding her appointment to this office can be found at the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/04/woman.bishop.ap/index.html
Knowing that the ELCA has ordained women for over 30 years now, but that no other American Lutheran church body, (such as the Missouri Synod) does so, your task for this week is to consider the practice of female ordination, and explain why some churches might not permit women to be ordained, while other churches, including the ELCA do.
Keep in mind that the ECUSA and the ELCA are almost sister church bodies, and have agreements in place making it possible to exchange clergy. In other words, a Lutheran pastor may serve as a priest in an Episcopal church, and vice versa.
Recently, an influential pastor of a large church in Colorado was removed from his congregation due to what is described as “sexually immoral conduct.” More about the story can be found at the following link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/05/haggard.allegations/index.html
The question for you to consider this week is this: Is one sin greater than another?
If so, then why is “sexually immoral conduct” worse than some other sin, and yet better than a different sin?
If not, then was it appropriate for this pastor to be removed from his position? Would it be appropriate to remove the pastor if instead of sleeping with a prostitute he had received a speeding ticket? What about if he had killed someone?
When formulating your answer, keep the following three things in mind:
1)
John 8:2-7 (NRSV) “Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?†They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.â€
2) The “icky ness†of “sexually immoral conduct” is irrelevant.
3) Either side of the question can be both right, and wrong.
Last week we talked about the difference between Law and Gospel, and how to identify something as one or the other.
Your assignment for this week is to identify 3 things that you have heard religious leaders, or contemporary culture identify as Gospel, that are really Law. You need to be specific about the “thing†idea or statement, and you need to explain how that thing represents “Law†and not Gospel – as well as identify who it is that has identified this law as Gospel.
For example: Many people identify Santa Clause as an example of the Gospel, or good news. They do this because they believe the gifts they receive from Santa Clause are free. The truth is however, that Santa Clause is an example of Law – because Santa Does not offer you a free gift, Santa offers you a reward for good behavior. Santa says, “If you behave, then you will get a toy.†The “If, Then†formulation being a classic means of identifying the Law.
You may not copy other people’s answers – so if someone before you has used one of your examples, you need to find a new example. It pays to answer early.
This week marks the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan.
The first part of your assignment for this week is to give a BRIEF description of what happens during Ramadan, and what significance Ramadan has to the followers of Islam. You may find the following link helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan
The second part of the assignment is to consider, as Islam and Christianity are related faiths, if there is a Christian holiday or season that is in some way similar to Ramadan, and state how so.
In your assigned reading for this week from Martin Luther’s sermon “How Christians Should Regard Moses†you read that Martin Luther believes that the 10 commandments do not apply to Christians, and that Christians are not bound by the 10 commandments. Yet Luther also included the 10 commandments in the small Catechism, and suggests in this sermon that Christians should keep the commandments.
The first part of your assignment for this week is to explain Martin Luther’s reasoning. Why does Luther think that the commandments are important if he also thinks that the commandments do not apply to Christians?
The second part of the assignment has to do with the contemporary fight in America over the placement of copies of the 10 commandments in public places. Many people who identify themselves as Christians, feel that the 10 commandments should be placed in a variety of public places like court rooms, libraries, and public parks for example. If, as Martin Luther suggests, Christians are not bound by the commandments, why then would Christians advocate for the public display of the commandments, particularly in places where non-Christians would encounter them?