Northwoods Seelsorger

After it arose in an on-campus Bible study, my daughter suggested that I address the question here in a blog article. Since the Northwoods Seelsorger loves the opportunity to ruminate on deep theological issues, he couldn't resist the temptation to oblige. The question at hand - "Did God harden Pharaoh's heart?" - presents one of the classic dilemmas of biblical interpretation: the potential contradiction. I say 'potential' because it appears as such without taking into consideration the entire context of the passage in question, as well as what has historically been called the analogy of scripture (or analogy of faith), that is, the interpretive rule of allowing the entirety of scripture to interpret and inform itself. In the book of Exodus we read of how Pharaoh, supreme leader of Egypt, is progressively offered the mercy and grace of God through the ministry of Moses, only to spurn it in the end in confirmed unbelief. Specifically, it is said that...

If you enjoy keeping up with religious news around the country and world, you would do well to check out the Religious News Service blog . Especially noteworthy is the recent addition of their daily "religious round-up" which presents a quick summary of newsworthy items of interest through the world, along with links to the full stories. Of particular interest to me this week was Thursday's article "Is religion a dead beat?" Apparently major newspapers continue to drop religion beats as budgets suffer in this down economy: "Newspapers across the country have been eliminating their religion beats," Stern wrote Tuesday on his Journal News blog, called Blogging Religiously. "It seems that religion is seen as a ‘soft news' beat and a luxury at a time when newspapers are emphasizing breaking news on their websites."

As pastors we often complain about the burdens and dysfunctions of the church. Dealing with sinners in a sinful world presents untold challenges and frequent heartache to those who serve. Many a day we simply wish to quit and leave it all behind. Unfortunately the dark side of church life and the realities of our people's struggles too frequently predominates in our minds. It clouds over the joys and blessings that come from the Lord of the Church who has given us an incomparable privilege to labor in His vineyard as undershepherds of the Good Shepherd. So today I wanted to simply pause in my own journey to give thanks and reflect on the equal, if not surpassing, number of blessings overlooked in the process of slogging through the difficult labor of shepherding the church. This morning I made a visit to the local hospital to see a mother and her newborn child. It occurred to me in leaving that as a pastor I have the unique privilege of entering into the most private moments ...

According to Jon Coyne of Jesus First , this past year's cycle of district conventions demonstrated a rare image of harmony in Synod. He pointed to the election of the district president by affirmation in the California-Nevada-Hawaii convention as a prime example of "speaking as one in a positive way." With the election safely passed, he further remarked that "The days of that convention flew by without the discordant sounds of argument and contentious vote." Now I am the first to be pleased with meetings free of rancor and disagreement. After all, as a pastor, I have lived through too many of these. On the other hand, I must wonder if a meeting completely free of disagreement is always good. By this I mean that when a meeting "flies by" without a single dissenting vote one begins to question whether anyone is paying attention. So often I have seen meetings begin and end quickly without any questions for the single reason that it was late and ...

The other day when I went to the hospital for a visit I naturally turned into the reserved spot for clergy. However, I wasn't sure what to do when I got there since they had painted these nice new handicap symbols on the pavement right on that spot. To the left of this picture there is another sign indicating that handicap people were to park to the left with an arrow pointing in the opposite direction o f the "Clergy Parking Only" sign. Faded handicap symbols were also still visible on the pavement in front of that sign, so that now all four parking slots seemed designated for handicapped only. When I brought this dilemma up to the folks inside they theorized that maybe this was only for handicapped clergy. Ok......

March of Dimes, CROP Hunger Walk, Muscular Dystrophy Telethon - staples of the community-wide fundraisers many of us experienced annually in our youth. As American as mom and apple pie. They all seem innocent enough; just a sincere desire to help the less fortunate who suffer from disease, disability and disaster. Recently the CROP Hunger Walk came across my desk once again and I became curious about its background. Where did it actually originate? Is it connected with some church organization? I knew so little about it. For those who have been curious about the same questions and may be thinking of participating, the following is provided by way of disclosure. CROP Hunger Walk describes itself as "Neighbors walking together to take a stand against hunger in our world. Together we raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger-fighting." Fair enough. Sounds like another relief organization. CROP, by the way, is not a ...

Popular opinion would claim that denominational loyalty has been declining for decades. We see our young people grow up, move away, and too often drop out of the church of their youth for other faith groups. Friction over communion fellowship, especially within conservative Lutheran circles, demonstrates that many people see little value or purpose in such distinctions. Church signs reveal much about this seeming decline as the denominational label is reduced, hidden, or dropped entirely to appeal to a broader range of unchurched or church-shopping visitors. Recently, as many are aware, the ELCA made the headlines of the major newspapers when they approved the full inclusion of openly gay pastors. Yet one wonders: How many people in the pew paid attention enough to really care? And how many congregations within that denomination shrugged off the decision as something far removed from their little corner of the world? Will this decision create a ripple or a tidle wave of desent...