Christmas Cup vs. Coffee Cup

It amazes me at times, the controversies that develop. One recent one centers around Starbucks and their red Christmas season cup.

As you can see, it is a plain red cup with nothing else on it except the Starbucks symbol. Why is this a problem, you ask? Thanks for asking. Christians have become upset that there is no mention of Christmas, no Holy Family, no "Merry Christmas" or any other symbol of Christmas on this cup. The problem with this is that this means that Starbucks is attacking Christians and trying to remove Christmas and by virtue of that action means that they are trying to remove Christ from Christmas. We can't have that!

I have read arguments put forward. I have watched a video where a man (and to be honest, I have no recollection as to who he is) advocated telling the staff when they ask for a name to put on the cup, to say your name is "Merry Christmas." The reason? So that Merry Christmas will be on the Starbucks cup.

Is this really an issue worth all the time and press? Is it really worth Dunkin' Donuts weighing in with their Christmas cup?
As you can see, Dunkin' Donuts holiday cup is blatantly Christmasy and therefore means they support Christ and Christmas and everyone should buy their coffee from Dunkin' Donuts this year.

Really? I mean, really? Is this really an issue? Is this an attack on Christianity and on Christmas? Or is it a secular company meeting the needs of the people who buy their overpriced coffee at this time of the year? I don't think Dunkin' Donuts cup is any more Christmasy than Starbucks. It has a donut as a "wreath" and it has green and red "JOY." Is that Christmas? A donut as a wreath is Christmas? Or is it the word "joy" that makes it Christmasy? If you ask me, there is no difference between Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. Both are secular companies selling coffee to people during the Christmas season.

Can we, as Christians, dictate to Starbucks what their cups should look like at Christmas? If we can demand that, can't the Muslim demand that they make cups to reflect their feelings at Christmas, which is that they want nothing to do with Christmas at all. So remove the cups! But wait, what about Hanukkah? And Kwanzaa? What about the atheist? What could they demand to be put on the cup? Merrry Un-Christmas?

Folks, get a grip! Starbucks is not a Christian Church, selling coffee to Christians in order to make a confession of faith which states that they believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God incarnate. Starbucks is a company out to sell you coffee at some ridiculous price in order to make money. What color their cup is, what is on their cup, is no reflection on anything. If they were to make their cups with snowflakes on it, would that make you happy? Or would that not be Christian enough?

How about this? Instead of getting upset with Starbucks, why not avoid buying that coffee and taking the money that you save and put it to use helping out the local food pantry in buying food for families that have none? Or maybe, instead of hanging out at Starbucks on Sunday morning, why not go to your house of worship, spend time worshiping the Christ of Christmas and studying His Word? We have coffee at our Bible study. It doesn't cost you anything and is served in, gasp, a plain white cup. Oh no! Now the Lutheran Church is attacking Christ by not having anything Christian on the cups. Really? That is the same silly argument that is made against Starbucks, and the Lutheran Church IS Christian. Why don't we have "Merry Christmas" on our cups? Why is not the Holy Family on what we serve our coffee in?


Let me ask you this: Can you expect a non-Christian company to profess Christ? Of course not. Can you expect a Christian to profess Christ? Yes indeed. So are you confessing your faith in Christ? When you complain about the cup, are you telling the person you are complaining to, "Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He loves me so much that He came into the world as a child, born at the time we celebrate as Christmas. I love Him so much that I spend every day in His Word and talking to Him in prayer. I worship Him every week as I attend worship at (here place the name of your church, that is, if you can remember where you worship). I would like to invite you to come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior." When was the last time you did that? If not, then perhaps the problem isn't the fact that Starbucks is using a plain red cup, but the problem is that you, as a Christian, are waning a secular company to tell people about Jesus so that you don't have to. It isn't their job. They are in it for the money. It is your "job" as a Christian to be telling others about Christ. Are you?

Let's quit arguing about the cups used by companies that are out to get our money and let's start living, talking and acting like the Christians we are called to be.

Merry Christmas! I know, it is early, but you are already getting your red cup from Starbucks and your white "JOY" cup from Dunkin' Donuts so I figure you want to hear that greeting already. (By the way, I got so busy writing this blog that I forgot to drink my tea, the tea I made, which I am drinking in a non-Christian cup that has a picture of a train on it. Gasp! Don't worry, I still believe in Jesus.)

Turning the World Upside Down

I have read this before. This isn't the first time that I have spent time reading the book of Acts. Don't ask me why I returned to it this time but I have. Every time that I read one of the books of the Bible, I run across something that really strikes me, something that I have read before but didn't take notice. This time I did.

I was reading in Acts 17, about Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. Something was said about them (though they couldn't find Paul and Silas and had Jason dragged before the magistrate instead) there in Thessalonica which had also been said in Philippi. They said, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also..." (Acts 17:6 ESV).

They have turned the world upside down. That is exactly what the Gospel does. It turns the world upside down. It is confusing to the world, to the unbeliever because it takes and changes everything. In Christ, a person is given forgiveness. This seems so wrong. It is undeserved and unmerited, and yet it is given to you. Forgiveness is given not because you have earned it, nor have you deserved it. It is given entirely and completely by the grace of God. It is a free gift, given through Jesus' blood and merit.

More than that, faith in Jesus is a free gift, given by the Holy Spirit. It is only when the Spirit moves in your heart and brings you into that relationship with Jesus Christ that you can say, "Jesus is Lord." This makes no sense. It turns our world upside down. "I should be able to bring myself to faith," we think to ourselves. But we can't. The Spirit must change our hearts and lives.

He does this (and this really turns our world upside down) through His Means of Grace - Word and Sacraments (Baptism/Lord's Supper). He works through these means to bring us to faith and keep us in the faith. Now that really turns our world upside down. The Spirit works through means, through word, through water & word, through bread and wine? Impossible! But that is exactly how He works.

And there we are, facing the same thing as the people in Philippi and Thessalonica. Our world is turned upside down by the message of the Gospel. How do we respond? It through them into a frenzy, facing something they couldn't comprehend or accept. You? Me? What does it do to us?

It turns my world upside down. And I am glad for it. I praise God that my salvation does not rely upon me and my actions. I give all glory to Jesus Christ for saving me. I lift up the Holy Spirit as the One who has worked in my heart and life, and continues to work in my life.

A world turned upside down. That is truly what we need today.

Weeding the Garden

It is that time of the summer when the weeds begin to grow in earnest. It isn't that they haven't been growing up till now. They have. It is is just that at this point in the growing season, there are several things that have happened that make the weeds more prevalent.

Early in the growing season, it was easy to hoe the ground to keep the weeds from taking hold. The plants that are part of the garden were small. It was easy to get between the rows. So hoeing was easy and readily done. The ground was also not quite so hard. The heat of the summer hadn't dried out the ground. Nor had the rains come and packed down the earth. So hoeing was not difficult. IT could be accomplished in a short time and with little effort.

But now, the ground is different. There has been heat (not as much as usual but it has still happened) so the top has hardened. The rains have come - boy have they come! June was one of the wettest on record here in the Troy and metro area. And then there was the time away. First the vacation and then the LWML convention - both in the month of June.

So what happened to the garden. After the early June hoeing, it stopped. I didn't have time to hoe while VBS was going. Then I left for the LWML convention in late June. The plants had grown to where there green beans made it hard to find the rows and the zucchini and summer squash had grown large enough that it is difficult to see the ground underneath the leaves. And I just didn't get out and do the work that needed to be done.

So this morning, as I looked at the garden, I thought to myself, "Boy, those weeds have really begun to grow and take over the open ground. The egg plant was surrounded by grass and weeds. The tomatoes were overcome by the Bermuda grass with it's tendrils reaching out from the yard into the garden area. The grass has grown tall under the blackberry bushes. And overall, it looks like I have my work cut out for me if I am going to keep my garden weed free. Perhaps I can talk Penny into...well, maybe she and I can both work in the garden.

This got me thinking (does that surprise you?). This last week the Supreme Court brought the full force of the federal government into the issue of same-sex marriage. It is now legal for same sex couples to get married. This is an attack on the God-given gift of marriage of one man and one woman in marriage. Many people have responded to this decision. There have been cries of anguish from the many Christians as they realize that the Christian Church will be forced to perform same sex marriages. (There will be a whole host of penalties forced upon the Church when it doesn't perform these ceremonies, all of which are intended to either force the Church to leave behind the God-given direction on marriage found in the Word or to close their doors. Satan rejoices!) There were cries of joy from those who support same-sex marriage. People changed their profile pictures on Facebook to be rainbow colored in support of the decision. (I am still not sure how the symbol of God's promise became a symbol of man's sin. Once gain, Satan giggles with glee).

So how did the garden get me thinking about same-sex marriage? This is like the weeds in the garden. This last week was like me this morning looking and realizing the weeds were taking over. I will have a lot of hard work to try to get rid of the weeds. And in reality, the weeds will continue to be a part of the garden until the growing season is finished. Then the weeds will continue after the plants have been pulled up. In the end, After I have removed all the plants in the fall, I will need to spray the garden with weed killer in order to finally get rid of the weeds.

Same-sex marriage didn't just happen last week. Same-sex relationships didn't just start last week. The attack on the God-given plan of marriage didn't begin last week. Like the weeds, this has been going for quite some time. Christians have often turned a blind eye, been too busy and just didn't care what was going on. The attack on marriage began when we said it was all right for heterosexual couples to engage in sex outside of marriage. When the 60's brought the free sex culture into the mainstream, the attack was begun. When Christians sat back and didn't say anything when couples began living together outside of marriage, the attack became more intense. As it became acceptable for divorce to take place, no fault and easy divorces, it was being said that marriage was not sacred (I know there are many reasons that people have been divorced, but remember, that is not what God intended!). All of this was by heterosexual people, not same-sex couples, that this attack on marriage was taking place. We were saying, "Marriage is sacred, just not that sacred. It is only a piece of paper after all. Why do we need to be married to engage in sex, to live together, to separate from each other." And the sacredness of marriage was being taken apart. The weeds were growing and taking over.

Then the Supreme Court said it was legal to have same-sex marriage. And Christians cried "Foul!" But wait, this is just the result of the Christian Church not weeding the garden all along. These weeds were there but we sat back and did nothing. We actually accepted the dismantling of marriage by heterosexual people but then are upset when homosexual people take marriage apart even further.

So where do we go? We return to the Word of God. We begin to work to clean up the understanding of marriage in Church and society. Will it be possible to return to a Biblical understanding of marriage? Honestly? No. (Are you surprised by that?) Why? Because when people taste the forbidden fruit they do not want to return to the way of the Lord. This will only be cleared up when the Lord returns on the Last Day and separates the sheep from the goats. And know this, it will not be based on how you were in marriage but how your heart is in relationship to Jesus Christ.

There will be heterosexuals in heaven and in hell. There will be homosexuals in heaven and in hell. What is the determining factor? It isn't did you hold to the sanctity of marriage? It will be, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior." Salvation is still based in Christ and not in our actions.

More thoughts to come.

Morality

Yes that says "morality" and not "mortality." It is easy to get to the two confused. One talks about the way we live and the other talks about the fact that we might not live at all. I would like to address the former and not the latter. But in the end, the one leads to the other according to our Lord or perhaps it would be better to say a lack of the former leads to the latter. Let me explain.

I was reading about the recent vote in Ireland to may same-sex marriage legal. It was an overwhelming vote of 2-1 to legal same sex marriage. I was reading the BBC report on what took place and this sentence struck me: "In Ireland debates about morality tend to be rooted in religion. The discussion about same sex marriage was no exception." I would have to agree with most of this statement. The part that threw me was when in said "debates about morality tend to be rooted in religion." I would have to say that discussion about morality "should" be rooted in religion but in reality they "tend" to be rooted in emotionalism.

What I mean by this is that when one discusses such moral issues as same-sex marriage, abortion, safe sex, race, etc. it is the emotions that tend to guide the discussion. When talking about abortion, the question is asked, "Do you think that an unwanted fetus should be brought into this world only to be abused or neglected by the person who has no time to have a child in her life? Don't you think the woman has the right to do with her body what she wants? Are you trying to tell her how to live her life and what to do with her life?" In the discussion on sex outside of marriage the question is asked, "When two people love each other they should be able to express that love fully and completely in any way that they desire. Who are we to tell someone that they cannot make love with the one they love. Would you want someone telling you that you can't make love to your husband/wife? Why should you tell someone that they cannot make love to the one they love?" That same argument can go with same-sex relationships. "Don't you think that a couple that loves each other should be able to show that great expression of love by being able to marry?"

In the end, the question that trumps all other questions is, "Don't you love that person? Don't you want what is best for them? Then why would you refuse to allow him/her to (fill in the blank)?" It is no longer about what is morally right or wrong but about how you feel about the situation. If you feel it is right, it is right. But you better not feel that it is wrong, for then you unloving, uncaring and a radical right wing person who doesn't care about the other person.

Notice what is missing from the discussion - what does God say? While it says in the article that discussion on morality in Ireland "tend" to involve religion, I would have to say that discussions about morality in the USA "avoid" involving religion. No longer is it asked, "What does God say about this issue?" Even when the question is raised, the answer is given, "How can we know for sure?"

Indeed, how can we know for sure? Through His Word. That is how we know for sure. But can't it be interpreted differently? Sure it can. The reason it is interpreted differently is because we twist and turn the Word of God to fit our situation and when it disagrees with our situation, we ignore it and deny it all together. The people who are in support of same sex marriage accuse Paul of being homophobic (which takes everything he writes out of the discussion) and state that the words of the Old Testament are truncated and no longer applicable to today's world. At that moment, the Word of God is thrown out the window and the discussion returns to emotionalism. It goes back to how you feel about the situation and the only accepted way to feel about it is to accept it. To deny abortion, same-sex marriage, living together outside of marriage, and a whole host of other moral issues means that you are (once again) unloving, uncaring and a right wing radical who doesn't care about the other person.

No longer does the words "Thus says the Lord" carry any weight. No longer is the Word brought forward unless it can be twisted to fit the current moral situation. No longer is morality decided by the words, "I am the Lord" (spoken by God in His Word). Now it is decided by majority vote and by highly emotional discussions. It is legal and right for a same-sex couple to be married because we voted and it is right. No longer does what God say matter.

Morality - leads to mortality. Or perhaps I should say that sinful morality leads to mortality. Because of sin, we are mortal. Because Adam and Eve ate the fruit, we are mortal. Because our lives are guided by sin, we are mortal. We die because of sin. "The wages of sin is death." Why do our loved ones die? Because sin has corrupted our very being and leads to death. That sin leads to warped morality that leads to mortality.

Thanks be to God that He has sent His Son to be our Savior, to pay the price of our sins, to set right our foolishness and to give us forgiveness, life and salvation. Discussions on morality should involve religion but in our world today, they don't. Welcome to the 21st century.

It Makes Me Think

This last weekend was the 7th Sunday of Easter. With this, the Easter season comes to a close. This coming weekend we celebrate the wonder of Pentecost. For most Easter has already faded into the background of life. It isn't an intentional thing that people do. I don't think there are very many Christians who consciously say, "I don't want to celebrate Easter any longer. It happened. It is over. Let's move on." I would imagine that if asked, most people would say that they hadn't even given it much thought at all. When they come to worship and hear the announcement: "The first reading for this, the 7th (or 2nd or 3rd or 5th) Sunday of Easter is..." they probably think to themselves, "Oh yeah, it is still the Easter season." So why do we forget about Easter so easily?

Life. Life gets in the way. Unless you are one of us preacher types (I mean that in the kindest way, speaking of pastors and other church professionals who spend our days leading people in the way of the Lord), you have a life outside of the church building. I imagine that you enjoy worship (I hope you are attending worship where you do enjoy the time you have in worship, whether it is traditional Lutheran, high church Lutheran or contemporary church Lutheran). Worship is that time when you can join with your fellow Christians in praising the Lord with words of songs, hymns and spiritual songs. It is a time when you can be fed from Word and Sacrament. It is a time when the pastor can proclaim the Law and Gospel in a powerful, uplifting sermon. It is a place where you can join your heart with other believers in words of prayer. Worship is that time that takes us away from the pressures of the common life.

But life gets in the way the rest of the time. You have to get up and go to work. The kids need to go to school and because it is the end of the school year, there are field trips, game days, special lunches and a whole host of other events that demand your time and attention. (Believe it or not, that is what happens in a pastor's household too!) Then there is the yard that needs attention - grass to mow, weeds to pull, ground to till, garden to plant, flowers to end and a whole host of other outdoor things that need to be done as spring turns to summer and the days get longer and warmer. Don't forget to wash the windows, clean the house and take care of the general needs of the family that never seem to stop.You know what I am talking about - life.

Life continues on it seems so hard to remember that it was the 7th Sunday of Easter. The celebration continues on, even now, 40+ days after Easter. How can you celebrate when you have all those other things going on?

And I think, that is exactly why our Lord came into this world as a man, taking on that which we face each day. He faced it. He had the pressures of day-to-day living. Moving from place to place, town to town, situation to situation, Jesus understands exactly what you are going through. This one is sick. This one is suffering. Don't forget the leper who is dying and the woman caught in adultery.Plus the pharisees who wanted to trap Him and the chief priests who wanted to stop Him from teaching and preaching. Then there was...the list could go on. Jesus understands the life you live. That, my friend, is why He came. He knows your struggles. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your (gasp) sin.

That is what makes Easter so absolutely wonderful. Even if we get busy with life and forget that we are still in the Easter season, the outcome of all Jesus did still is the same. Your remembering or your forgetting because of life, doesn't change what He did for you. He lived, died, and rose again for you, for your salvation, to give you what you need - forgiveness, life and salvation. Even if you forget because you are busy, that doesn't mean you have lost those gifts He has given you. It just reminds you that is why we go back to worship week after week - because we do have lives that cause us to let this great news slip from the front part of our thoughts. We return to worship to be reminded that our Lord loves us and hasn't forgotten us in the midst of our lives.

Yes, it is still Easter. It will be Easter even when Pentecost arrives. It will still be Easter through the long green season that is coming. It is Easter everyday for Christ is alive. He lives for us. (And to think, I had plans to write a whole different thing. Yep, Easter has a way of changing what our plans might be.)

Fiddling while Rome burns

All right, maybe Rome isn't burning but Baltimore sure did last night. Once again, sin has reared it's ugly head and destroyed lives. There was rioting in Baltimore last night. Why? It was following the funeral of Freddie Brown who died from injuries sustained in police custody. What happened to Freddie? I don't know. Did the police cause the injuries? I don't know. But I do know one thing, I will let the proper people figure it out. If there was wrong doing, it should be punished. That is the way it is meant to be.

So why riot and burn Baltimore? There is no reason. Just as there was no reason for the riots in Ferguson. To attack police is wrong. To burn other people's property is wrong. Are the people frustrated? Maybe there are some. I would venture to guess that the majority of the rioters really could care less about Freddie Brown just as the majority of the rioters could care less about Michael Brown. They just used this as an opportunity to go crazy, to burn some things, to attack those in authority, to hurt some people and to, well, let their sinful nature control their lives.

That's right. It is all about letting their sinful nature run amok. Our Lord tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. That is the way of the Christian. We forgive. We uphold. We follow the way of the Lord. There was not a person in the rioting last night that was following the Lord. Were there Christians among the rioters? Probably. And they were sinning. The Lord would tell them to repent of their sins and not return to that sinful action.

This latest round of rioting in our country shows us one major problem - we are leaving behind the Lord. To act in such a way is to turn your back upon Him. You cannot do that and still say, "But I love Jesus." Read 1 John. Study it. Learn from it. We act as the Lord acts. When we fail, we confess our sins. As we confess our sins, we also ask that the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts and change us so that we don't do those things again.

What Baltimore needs is to return to the Lord. What Ferguson needs is to return to the Lord. What St. Louis needs is to return to the Lord. What Troy, IL needs is to return to the Lord. What we all need to do is return to the Lord. Daily we return to (wait for it) the waters of our Baptism. Daily the old sinful man must be drowned in those waters. Daily we need the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and lives. Until that happens, we will see riots in Baltimore and Ferguson and other places. Satan is hard at work.

Christians need to get to work, to share the Word, to proclaim Law and Gospel. Let's get busy.

Confirmation: What does it mean for you?

This coming weekend, April 25/26, 2015, St. Paul's Lutheran Church will celebrate the confirmation of 7 young men and women. What is confirmation? It is a public rite of the church preceded by a period of instruction. It is a "rite," that which the church has formed for a specific purpose. The purpose of confirmation is that it is a public proclamation of the faith of those who are confirmed, giving them the opportunity to confess Christ before man. It is also a time when the young people are making the vow, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and after the time of instruction, that they will remain faithful to the confession that they are making. They ask the Lord to empower them to continue to remain faithful to Christ in word and deed.

The period of instruction that is spoken of in the definition that we had in the opening paragraph is the class in which we study Luther's Small Catechism, going in depth through the 6 chief parts. Do you remember those 6 chief parts? They are...wait, I will not tell you right at this moment in order to give you the chance to try to recall that which you learned when you went through confirmation.

What does confirmation mean for you, a person who has already been confirmed in the Lutheran Church? It gives you the opportunity to recall what it is you confess in your life as a member of the Lutheran Church. In the time of public questioning, as the seven are asked the variety of questions, you can take the time to remember and say, "Oh yeah, that is what I believe and confess." As they take their vows on Sunday morning, you can recall those very vows that you took.

Then it gives you the opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to help you to live in those very vows. You vowed to faithfully worship and receive the Lord's Supper regularly. Do you? You vowed to support the work of the church with your time, talents and treasure. Do you? You vowed to be faithful and not leave this confession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Are you faithful to that confession?

What does confirmation mean for you, a person who has been confirmed in the faith? It means that you are asking the Lord to guide you as you continue to grow in that very faith. It means that if you have failed in living out that faith each day, if you have been avoiding worship, if you have not receive the Supper regularly and frequently, that you confess your sins and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to change your sinful life.

Confirmation is a rite of the church that gives each of us the opportunity to review what we believe, confess our sins in failing to be faithful to the vows we made and be regenerated by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives.

See you this weekend at worship.