“Venus and Mars and Percy Jackson?”

There is a movie out right now called “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” which has the teenage son of a Greek god and human mother on a quest to save the world. Well, it is very entertaining, but entertaining fiction, to be sure. I have been fascinated since childhood by the ancient stories of the Mediterranean people trying to make sense of the world before Christianity arrived with its answers. And that reminded me that we have two subsequent months that honor Greek/Roman ideals – love and war: Venus and Mars. You might even remember that several years ago there was a series of books about “Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus.” I actually think we humans are all probably from both Mars and Venus.
Last month was the big Love festival of Valentine’s Day, and Love moved through the culture – music, movies, money. The goddess of Love, called Venus by the Romans or Aphrodite by the Greeks, ruled the nations’ attention. We will shortly be entering March (named for the Roman God Mars, called Ares by the Greeks -- the god of war). Are we similarly dominated by war? There is a war, a couple of wars, half a world away, often called to mind only when we hear of soldiers who are wounded or killed in action or civilians caught in the combat crossfire. And we are still in the middle of Lent when we remember the war that is internal for many of us, a war that the Apostle Paul noted: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Roman 7:19)

This two-fold, Love-War, Good-Evil, are realities indeed for human life. We do not need a modern half-god, half-man like Percy Jackson to solve the problem. And the Greeks and Romans though instructive do not solve things for us. So, we have a good Lutheran concept that recognizes “Simul justus et peccator” – simultaneously saint and sinner – the very human nature we share, the very human nature that the true God, true Man, Jesus Christ solved for us, a solution we ponder in the Christian faith which has made its way beyond the Mediterranean to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas – that is, to us!

So, we draw close to the end of the Lenten season in March (this month of warfare) and we look forward to the Easter promise, when Divine Love erupts from the tomb in April! “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 24b,25)

Ash Wednesday 2010

This year my Lenten Wednesdays will emphasize basic catechetical themes -- Confession, Sacraments, Creed, and Lord's Prayer. Today, for Ash Wednesday, we began appropriately with Confession. I read a portion of Martin Luther's Large Catechism, in which he addresses the need for Confession. I appreciated his reminder that the Reformation maintained the practice of Confession but shifted the focus from the abrasive scrutiny of the soul in pursuit of every transgression (large, small, and minute!) to an emphasis on the liberating freedom of forgiveness. It is a powerful gift of God to release us from guilt, worry, and animosity between ourselves and other Christians.

Susan Briehl's 2010 Hein Fry Lecture on Feb. 12

Rev. Susan Briehl presented the 2010 Hein Fry Lecture at 1:30 p.m., Feb. 12 at Texas Lutheran University. It was an "exciting" ride leaving the Dallas snow and ice that morning to drive the 250 miles down there. But the journey was smooth and the presentation ("Hearing the Word: Teaching the Bible in the Parish and Beyond") was encouraging. Pastor Briehl, an English major in college who took a Bible literature course from "the Lord" (her teacher's name was Dr Lord!), has a wonderful way of presenting with almost hymnic or poetic words as well as directly to the issues. I hope I can incorporate even a portion of the ideas in my regular Sunday morning Adult Bible Study.

Olympic Celebration

Tomorrow the Olympics are officially beginning with the Opening Ceremony. I will probably watch, though I cannot imagine the Canadians trying to match the pageantry of the Chinese opening just two years ago. Whenever the Olympics are held nowadays, I remember our family's journey a dozen years ago to Atlanta. (See photo!) What a wonderful opportunity -- gathering so many from throughout the world in peace for a moment. That Olympic ideal has existed since the ancient Greek games -- but the ideal has been disrupted: the bombing in Atlanta just days before we arrived and, of course, the horror of Munich in 1972.
I treasure that photo from my family trip to Atlanta as it captures a moment of celebration, joy, and common adventure. I treasure the Olympic ideal of celebration, joy, common adventure, and peace. And I lean on God when the realities of this world disrupt our ideals. May the Lord's peace reign, especially in Vancouver.

The Lovely Bones movie

Yesterday, technically my day off, I went to see a movie that ostensibly dealt with a religious topic: life after death.
First off, the movie just tore my heart out. As the involved father of an out-going daughter (like the deceased movie narrator character), I was just deeply saddened by the harsh reality that is child abduction and murder. Peter Jackson successfully explored that and dissected the family fraying that could accompany it. (And I thought Wark Wahlberg was fine in the role, contrary to many critics.)
The heaven part, the unsettled spirit part convinced me much less. The whole "in between" place part was not successful for me, though it allowed the story to progress well. I must remember it is fiction, but for an America that is less and less connected to the church and its teachings, the "in between" could serve as a confusing after-death image. After leading over 60 funerals and having a personal relationship with the surviving families in almost all those situations, I believe that an "in between," even to pursue justice, is not the desire. What the faith allows us to say is that God is now in charge when all else is loss, guilt, gone, pain, sorrow. The world offers little consolation, an "in between" even less. I prefer to share I Corinthians 15:19 -- "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied."