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from the district pastor ...

Rev. Mark Jamison

A good place to begin our discussions about a House of Studies is the expected outcomes for our ordained ministry.  To start our discussion, I propose the initial expected outcomes:

1. To demonstrate a knowledge of the traditional Lutheran scriptural hermeneutic of law and Gospel, and the Bible being the subject of interpretation not the object of interpretation that can be manipulated by the latest most fancy gadgets of the professional Biblical Scholars guild. In other words, Scripture interprets us more than we interpret it even if that causes us some discomfort. This means that we hold to the authority of God's Word in the clear plain sense of the text as an authority that stands over against us making truth claims on our lives. This presupposes one knows both the limits and helpful uses of the methods of Biblical scholarship.
   

2. To demonstrate the ability to distinguish between law and Gospel in a sermon text.
   

3. To demonstrate the ability to distinguish between law speaking and Gospel speaking in sermon rhetoric, knowing that Gospel speaking is the use of unconditional promissory language declaring the forgiveness of sins, Christ's love, mercy, and giving of himself for help, strength, and liberation from sin's power to sinners. Law speaking is the use of language that exposes our sinfulness and need of a Savior and drives us to the mercy of God in Christ.
   

4. To demonstrate the ability to exegete texts as a theologian of the cross, meaning that one understands Christ took on himself his own harshest words of judgement that he uttered in the Scriptures for us when he died on the cross, and that is the only hope sinners have. It also means asking of each sermon text what is there ("here") that Christ had to die for, and lastly knowing that God puts to death the old sinful self and raises up people of faith in a new creation as sinners are crucified with Christ through the means of grace.
   

5. To demonstrate the ability to write and preach a sermon in a clear, effective, and understandable way.
   

6. To demonstrate the ability to use the law/Gospel dialectic in pastoral and spiritual care, and to know the difference between pastoral care and pastoral counseling.
   

7. To demonstrate basic listening and care-giving skills.
   

8. To demonstrate  the ability to lead public worship in a clear, effective way .
   Having started our discussion with preparing pastors, next time we will discuss outcomes for training laity to preach and lead worship ("pulpit supply").

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THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION: The Son of God
Mark Jamison                                

Article 3 of the Augsburg Confession is entitled "The Son of God", and deals with both the person and the work of Christ. Its basic content was a restatement of the themes of the great Christian ecumenical creeds: the divine and human natures of Christ joined in the unity of his one person, his sacrifice on the cross for our sins reconciling us to the Heavenly Father; the descent into Hell; the resurrection; the ascension to heaven; his rule in the lives of believers through the power of the Holy Spirit; and his final return as judge of the living and the dead. The Lutheran Confessors were not trying to establish any new ground breaking understanding of Christ. In fact just the opposite. The were trying to prove they were faithful to apostolic and early church teaching about Christ.

It is interesting to note that the confessors, based on Scripture, do not separate the person of Christ from his works or benefits. Jesus was on a mission for the kingdom of God. Christ the giver then cannot be separated from his gifts. That mirrors the Incarnation. The Incaranation itself happened so that God would reconcile sinners to himself. The Roman Catholic Church of 1530 could find no fault with this article. But the article was not intended to argue with Rome about Christ. The same can't be said of Zwingli, one of Luther's more vocal theological opponents. Zwingli couldn't quite wrap his mind around the unity of both the divine and human natures of Christ. He ascribed different aspects of Christ to either one nature or the other, but never to both natures. For example, it was only the human nature that died on the cross, instead of the Son of God dying. For Luther and the Confessors since the two natures were in real unity all that happens to humanity is ascribed to divinity. Moreover, if it was only the human Jesus that died for the sins of the world, then God has not acted on our behalf and solved the problem of sin and death for us, and Christ would be no savior. Nothing less than the comfort and assurance of the Gospel and salvation was at stake for the Lutheran Confessors in insisting on the unity of the two natures. Scripture does not speculate on how the two opposite natures of Christ can be united. It merely confesses the unity. The Lutheran reformers would demand no less of Zwingli and his followers.

This is a theological divide that has not gone way in almost 5 centuries. The dividing line is still clearly seen in the understanding of the Lord's Supper between those churches that confess the sacraments as means of grace and those who don't. But to say finite earthly things can't bear the divine and give gifts is a denial of the Incarnation at the same time. Article 3 makes it very clear. The Son of God did not become human for the fun of it, but to be a "sacrifice for all actual sins" and to "reconcile the Father to us." A Jesus who just shows up at Holy Communion in the mind or memory, but doesn't do anything to help us or give us anything is no savior. If that were really the case there would be nothing for faith to trust in and therefore, faith could not exist. The Incarnation means you can't separate the giver from his gifts.

Article 3 gives us a point of contact with the unchurched. We can say to them that God became known in a real, personal way by becoming a real person. God also gives himself in real personal ways by coming to us through human words, and in stuff we can taste, touch, smell, and see. Faith actually has some things it can attach itself to. It isn't just left to the imagination to reach out and find and come to God. It is God who comes to us. Baby Boomers are probably the first generation of Americans who as adults have understand the enormous psychological power of words. Pop psychology has at least done that much good for us. Boomers may also be the first generation where it has been the widespread practice for fathers to hug their sons and tell them they love them. Boomers understand the creative power of words and touch. Their kids understand these things even better than they do. It may not be such a stretch then to say to those outside the church in Jesus you see a God who speaks love, whose touch heals, and who they may know in human words and stuff they touch, taste, and feel, and in the consolation and encouragement of other believers in times of suffering. God doesn't leave us up to our own devices to come to him. The Incarnation means it is just the opposite direction. He comes to us.

Rev. Mark G. Jamison is the District Pastor of the Augsburg Lutheran District, and the Senior Pastor of Hope Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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