Hymns for May 4, 2008 -- the Sunday after the Ascension

How Lovely Shines the Morning Star              TLH 343

See the Conqueror Mounts in Triumph           TLH 218

Alleluia! Sing to Jesus                                        HS98 851 or LSB 821 (Tune Hyfrydol as in TLH 423)

Let us ever walk with Jesus                                TLH 409

I’m But a Stranger Here                                       TLH 660

 

Earthday

"Earthday" brought up some interesting theological discussions.

One politician, for example, said,

“The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.”

Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded. …

Of course, the global warming controversy has yielded even more discussion about the theological implications and demands of care for the earth.

A brief analysis of the situation, including the fact that we have just had the coldest winter in a century, was posted by Josh S at Cruising down the Coast of the High Barabaree:

No one seems particularly interested in the fact that we experienced the largest single-year global cooling on record last year. Of course, if you're revised your gloom-and-doom label from "global warming" to "global climate change," you can still fit this into the paradigm of "Toyota is going to kill us all with their damn dirty Tundras." Now of course, over the next ten years, we could experience enough average warming to bring us back to the brink the Day After Tomorrow nightmare world we'd been always just on the brink of experiencing, but we don't really know.

From my own perspective, I have two governing thoughts:

1. The climate has always been in a state of flux. A static view of the world--even of its general statistical properties--is simply wrong.

2. Humans are part of nature, not external to it, and the elements of an ecosystem are always changing it. "Man" is not the antithesis to "nature."

That doesn't mean we can't change things in a way that's really, really harmful. Mercury in the rivers and cadmium in the soil are really, really bad things. I would suggest that we should leave the mountains where they are, too. Hunting animals to extinction just because we can is probably unnecessary. However, one of the facts of our world is that humans build cities and farms, and they burn things to get energy (combustion just isn't going away, folks). Sure, we can build and burn smarter, but we're not going to somehow do it so brilliantly that the world is going to to turn into a static system, or that its continual change will somehow have nothing to do with us. We are facts of nature just as much as volcanoes, hurricanes, and predator migration are.

So I guess all I really want to say is that I see no moral imperative to eliminate man's effect upon the environment, because it's simply impossible. I do think we should be smart about how we do things, but that doesn't mean frenetically searching for the world's "pause" button.

A good, more thorough, discussion of Environmentalism and a Christian view of Ecology is discussed by David Rossow.

27 April 2008 Hymns

I am Content!  My Jesus Liveth Still         TLH 196

Crown Him with Many Crowns     TLH 341

Like the Golden Sun Ascending  TLH 207

What a Friend we Have in Jesus  TLH 457

Hymns for April 20

John 14:1–14   [I am the way and the truth and the life.]

 

With High Delight LBW 140

You are the way; through You alone LBW464

Built on the Rock the Church shall stand LBW365

The Son of God goes forth to war LBW183

Praise the Almighty LBW 539

 

New Chess Club at Concordia

The Pastor's personal interests are showing themselves. (But I must say, it was not my idea.) Concordia will be the host of a new Chess Club.

Details about its formation, direction and events are posted at a new blog that I have set up for the Knights of Concordia.

Helps and references for the chess coaching I will be doing (talk about the blind leading the blind!) will be posted at my other new blog, Bishop's Game: Introduction.

Make sure to look at the side links for the new posts or click the top banner to go to the front page after reading the introductions.

Oprah's Religion

Is Neo-Gnosticism -- no longer Christianity:

Watch this video and see the apostocized Oprah attack the weakened faith of a woman who is genuinely having pangs of conscience over the false doctrine that the has been reading in Eckhart Tolle's book (endorsed by Oprah and now #2 on Amazon):



Pray for this young woman and all others who are being deceived by this New Age, Neo-Gnostic darkness that masquerades as light.


The timing of the TV show, at least in the Chicago area -- Oprah’s home turf -- has a whiff of morning service. It’s an hour-long ritual each weekday at 9 AM., adding up to a lot more pulpit time per week than the average pastor enjoys, and in front of a lot bigger congregation. (Oprah herself used to attend a large Chicago church -- Trinity United Church of Christ, pastored by Jeremiah Wright. But according to Wright’s secretary, Janet Moore, Oprah hasn’t attended in 12 years.)

Alburt Mohler once again does a fine job of analyzing the situation:

The Church of Oprah Winfrey--A New American Religion?
Tuesday, November 29, 2005

....Marcia Z. Nelson sees Oprah as a major American religious leader. In The Gospel According to Oprah, Nelson presents her as the symbol and catalyst for a new American religion. "Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, film producer, and philanthropist, is not ordained. She is neither preacher nor religious professional. Yet her multimedia empire, built over two decades, has given her the scope and stature of an influential leader. Oprah has a prominent pulpit from which to preach," Nelson insists. Oprah's television audience of ten million (according to Nielsen ratings) and her magazine readership of 2.7 million together represent a massive media phenomenon. As Nelson explains, "Oprah's whole enterprise, which includes many media that provide platforms for her gospel as well as sources of income, is vast." Nelson's book represents an effort to understand Oprah Winfrey as an exemplar and prophetess of a new form of American religion. In reality, Oprah is probably best understood as a
highly-talented representative of the religion of positive thinking that has
shaped American culture for at least the last two centuries. In this role, Oprah
continues and extends a line of religious thought that replaces the transcendent
with the temporal and looks for fulfillment and success as the goods of a
satisfying life.
Marcia Z. Nelson is a writer who covers religions and spirituality. Watching "The Oprah Show" is, Nelson insists, something like attending a worship service. "Go to this house of worship and sit down for an inspiring hour that will engage you and give you a lift," Nelson encourages. "An hour-long show five days a week adds up to a lot more pulpit time per week than the average pastor enjoys, and Oprah commands a lot bigger congregation."
Nelson is candid in dealing with the way Oprah repackages spirituality. "She translates what religions would term transcendent into something that is inspiring but secular. She would call it a vision of possibilities. She has tried to develop her own unique language, which means talking about values in a secular and inclusive sense in a religiously pluralistic country."
The Oprah phenomenon is based in self-disclosure, confession, testimony, and talk--lots and lots of talk. Episodes of "The Oprah Show" often deal with abuse, frustration, and the search for fulfillment. Guests are routinely encouraged to confess their wrongdoing, claim their promise, and move into a new phase of their lives, empowered and encouraged by Oprah and the experience of sharing their inner lives with millions of television viewers. In this sense, Oprah's television show promises something like a secular catharsis--complete with Oprah's validation of their problems, their desires, and their self-analysis.
Oprah Winfrey's approach to life centers in self-analysis and positive thinking. Of course, material abundance also plays a part. "Oprah believes in abundance, a concept not generally associated with religion," Nelson acknowledges. "A lot of people think of religion as requiring asceticism and poverty--giving up goods, denying personal desires. And for good reason." By offering a seemingly endless array of product recommendations and endorsements, and by filling her magazine with advertisements for expensive products and services, Oprah clearly associates the good life with material fulfillment.
In keeping with the theme of positive thinking, and with the ideology of spiritual movements of this kind, Oprah's secularized spirituality includes few rules or moral judgments. "Oprah is famously nonjudgmental and empathetic," Nelson explains. When Oprah refers to God, she is clear to insist that this means no specific god and entails no particular theological commitments. In other words, "God is acknowledged as necessary, but the language doesn't insist on that. It's soft sell."
As Nelson understands the Oprah phenomenon, forgiveness is at the center of Oprah's message. Nevertheless, Oprah offers forgiveness without atonement. Confession of inadequacy is presented as a sufficient remedy for sin and wrongdoing. God is effectively out of the picture as lawgiver or judge, and there is no room for the cross of Christ as atonement for sin.
"Oprah's 'New Age' talk about spirit was part of her ongoing, ever evolving attempt to find the right words for teachings she learned through religion,"

New York University professor Paul Vitz once observed, "Contemporary psychology is a form of secular humanism based on the rejection of God and the worship of the self." In her substitution of psychology for theology, Oprah has become a high priestess and icon of the psychologization of American society. When she features prominent New Age figures on her television show, she helps to mainstream New Age influences and philosophies among millions of Americans. Her substitution of spirituality for biblical Christianity, her promotion of forgiveness without atonement, and her references to a god "without labels" puts her at the epicenter of a seismic cultural earthquake.

Oprah's newly-packaged positive-thinking spirituality is tailor-made for the empty souls of our postmodern age. She promises meaning without truth, acceptance without judgment, and fulfillment without self-denial. Marcia Z. Nelson is certainly right about one thing--Oprah Winfrey's "congregation" cannot be ignored.

I am hoping to review an e-book on the Oprah Religion phenomenon. It is sufficient to know for now that her spiritual leaders are nothing more than repackaged Gnostics and Buddhists. Consider the danger.

UPDATE: Oprah now declares, "We are God"

Hymns for April 13

Here are the hymns we will be singing for Sunday, April 13

 

The King of Love My Shepherd Is                   LBW 456

Do Not Despair, O Little Flock                           LBW 361

The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll not want            LBW 451

 

Good Easter Children's Books

Our Easter has been enhanced by good children's books. We began collecting children's books even before we had any children. These more recent books have impressed us with their beautiful illustrations and Biblically sound text.

At the right is an Easter book from Gennady Spirin. It is beautifully illustrated, draws from the King James text, and is on sale at christianbook.com for only $5.

Also inspiring is the stained glass artwork in this book at the left by Fiona French. Again it follows the Authorized Version of the Scriptures, but the art is inspired by the stained glass windows of English cathedrals. Stained glass has been used for centuries as a way of carrying the gospel to the young and the illiterate with beauty and dignity; French's book captures the churchly elegance of stained glass and employs it well for telling the story.

Once again, this book is a remarkable bargain at christianbook.com for only $3.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!