Pastor Mark Sell shared with me a summary of his presentation on the January 21, 2010 Supreme Court (SC) ruling in the case CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION. This is getting a lot of play because of corporations funding campaign speech. That is not the big news, and if it were the news, probably wouldn’t appear here. Rather, the big news centers around the word “person” and how it is defined and used. This has monumental ramifications on all of U.S. society and in the historic Christian Church. So, with his permission, Pr. Sell:

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Law & The Courts

The real issue is the word person, meaning, “That which subsists of itself.” Stay with me. I know it seems quite “egghead,” but it influences every legal transaction in our country. The recent ruling begins to return to the historical definition of person, That definition was in place for most of Western civilization until the 1973 Roe v. Wade SC decision. (The thrust was a states’ rights issue along with privacy, but it is also seen to impact the legal definition   of a “person.”)

According to the law, a person is that which subsists of itself. It is a definition that assumes and substantiates the unique individual “thing” or entity. This is why a whale is a person, a plant is a person, a corporation is a person, and a human is a person—that which subsists of itself. It defines an individual who/which has legal (philosophical and medical) standing.

When the psychological definition of person became the foundation of law, it confused many of our legal decisions and therefore confused the moral ramifications of persons. Of course, the most detrimental ramification of the Roe v. Wade definition of person to our society and subsequent legal decisions was the effect on the person in the womb and the culture war that has ensued.

If you change the individualistic definition of person, that which subsists of itself, then you can do the same outside of the womb if the psychological criteria are not met. The implications of this extends from birth to death.

Humans are also persons in the law—in and outside of the womb. If a young or old human person doesn’t meet our psychological definitions,  the law can change their legal standing and, thus, their importance to the society medically, philosophically, and educationally.

This is why we now face not only decisions about the person in the womb after 1973, but now also persons outside of the womb. Euthanasia, assisted suicide, marriage, family, individual rights, and so on, are all controversial issues today, when in the past, they weren’t. It’s because we are asked, “What do you mean by person?”

The One, Holy, Christian and Apostolic Church

The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity is understood as one God in three persons. What is the meaning of person in the Trinity? Again, “That which subsists of itself.” The three persons of the Trinity are unique individual persons, not based upon a psychological definition, but upon the historic use of the word person. This is foundational to the Scriptures, creeds, and what we confess as Christians about the Holy Trinity. Of course, the very foundation of our Christian faith is the person of Jesus Christ, the God/Man, who subsists of Himself.

The personhood of Christ is why we confess that Jesus died on the cross, not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost. The latter are different persons—they subsist of themselves.

The consequence of the Roe v. Wade definition of person has terribly influenced all of Christianity because, especially in American churches. It has allowed the psychological definition of “person” to influence who Jesus is and how we practice the teachings He fulfilled from the Old Testament and was in the New Testament and how He continues to be present in the Word and Sacraments.

This is why the Holy Christian Church is part of our culture war of “persons.” Not only is every human on the line, along with marriage, abortion, children, but most importantly our salvation in the person Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

The fury is really over the definition of person, even though it is starting with “corporations” who are persons in the law and who thus have free speech. However, this return to the historic and common use of the term person is an earth-shattering shift for the good of our society and the Church. The historic use of person is the definition the Christian Church uses when she speaks of the three persons of the Trinity. Roe v. Wade was based upon a psychological definition of person, not the historical “uniqueness” of personhood. Roe v. Wade destroyed the Trinity, along with millions of babies.

The Particulars

CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
No. 08–205. Argued March 24, 2009—Reargued September 9, 2009––Decided January 21, 2010

ROE v. WADE, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
410 U.S. 113
ROE ET AL. v. WADE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF DALLAS COUNTY
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF
TEXAS
No. 70-18.

Roe v Wade: Entire decision

Pastor Sell has promised to attend to the comments. So, if you are so enclined, feel free to engage him.

Gesimatide, the three-Sunday long season between the Transfiguration of our Lord and Ash Wednesday, is the Church’s journey down the mountain of the Transfiguration to the valley that is Lent. Read more here.

This beautifully sung and recorded CD by the Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary includes:

* Matins (Tracks 01–08)
* Vespers (Tracks 09–14)
* Morning Prayer (Tracks 15–21)
* Evening Prayer (Tracks 22–29)
* Compline (Tracks 30–38)
* Litany (Track 39)

Evening and Morning: Music of Lutheran Daily Prayer is a wonderful complementary product for user of Treasury of Daily Prayer.

List of tracks:

Want to know more about the Kantorei? Check out this post at CyberBretheren.

Examining site statistics

This weekend is the 1^st anniversary of Blog My Soul’s move to WordPress. So I thought I would share with you some of the stats for this past year.

Top Posts and Pages in the Last 12 Months

Ukrainian Bishop uses Treasury of Daily Prayer

Who are the guardian angels?

Prostate Cancer Journal: You’re Going to Do What?

Prostate Cancer Journal: Today I take the test

How Lutherans Worship – 2 Making the Sign of the Cross

What are Ember Days

Happy Anniversary

Prostate Cancer Journal: Positive for Cancer

Sermons & Devos

How Lutherans Worship

Google Analytics was installed in May. Since then there have been 2,771 visitors to the blog with 68% being new visitors and 31% of you being return visitors.

Thanks for a great year! I hope to see you again in 2010.

“Singing the Faith is a DVD-based study of the history of Lutheran congregational song. It “invites viewers and listeners to discover God’s Word proclaimed in a rich heritage of music that faithfully confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
“It is a study of the history of Lutheran congregational song – an accessible educational tool for teachers and students, pastors and congregations, parents and their children. “

www.singingthefaith.org

We’ve been looking forward to it for awhile, and now it is available on CD: Evening and Morning: The Music of Lutheran Daily Prayer.

This beautifully sung and recorded CD by the Kantorei of Concordia Theological Seminary includes:

Evening & Morning from CPH

* Matins (Tracks 01–08)
* Vespers (Tracks 09–14)
* Morning Prayer (Tracks 15–21)
* Evening Prayer (Tracks 22–29)
* Compline (Tracks 30–38)
* Litany (Track 39)

Evening and Morning: Music of Lutheran Daily Prayer is a wonderful complementary product for user of Treasury of Daily Prayer.

Matins te Deum (sample audio)

Christmas Is for Giving

Titus 2:11-14

Perhaps you’ve seen some of the ads for high-end Christmas gifts this year and shook your head in disbelief—the custom made guitar for $12,000, his and hers sport aircrafts for $250,000, the special edition Jaguar XJL for $105,000, or the handbag with matching boots for just under $3,900 (Neiman Marcus 2009 Christmas Book).

And you have certainly heard the reports of our troubled economy: unemployment rate of 9.4%, mortgage foreclosures rose by 23% over the 2008 rate, homelessness and use of food pantries has nearly doubled in some areas.

It may have occurred to you that we live in a world that has gone completely mad in its values; that in over 2,000 Christmases we still have not caught on that name of the game of life, as God wants it lived, is self-giving in love.

So we have come here to this quiet church this cold and rainy evening to sing and say and hear and do all those things, that especially on this Holy Eve, bring us as close to the mind and heart of God as we can hope to get on this side of heaven; and try to see clearly just what God, our Father, wants us, His children in Christ, to know and do.

As is often the case with the Scripture readings for the great feasts of the Church Year, the Gospel for Christmas tells the story, the narrative of the event, and the Epistle concerns itself more with the meaning, the significance, of the Christ event. The traditional Epistle for the late service of Christmas Eve is Titus 2:11-14. In his letter to young pastor Titus, the Apostle Paul sets down in one sentence the central meaning of the Holy Nativity that we celebrate this evening—the truth that Christmas is for giving. St. Paul writes:

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹²training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14

Yes, Christmas Is for Giving

Whether you make one word or two out of the end of that short sentence, it is true. Christmas is forgiving: Christmas is God forgiving man the mountain of his sins and declaring us sinless because of the sinless God-man Jesus Christ. And Christmas is to be us forgiving our fellowman as we has been forgiven. And Christmas is for giving: God giving His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. Christmas is Christ giving Himself into both life and death so that lost sinners might have victory in both life and death. And Christmas is man giving himself in eager devotion to God who has revealed Himself in Christ as gracious and loving. And Christmas is Christians giving themselves in loving concern for all those whom God has loved, whoever and wherever they may be.

Christmas is Forgiving

St. Paul wrote Titus of the grace of God that had appeared in Christ for the salvation of all men. It is a blessed Christmas truth that in the Babe of Bethlehem the grace of God became embodied. God’s love became localized in time and space, manifest, evident, visible. What had always been the attitude, the disposition of God toward men, now became personified in the swaddled shape and form of a newborn child. Who could then, and in the 33 years that followed, fail to get the message—that God loves the world and has put Himself into Christ to reconcile the world to Himself? This is truly the unspeakable love, the indescribable Gift. The robbed One makes restitution. The offended One seeks out the offenders. The hurt One initiates healing. Christmas is the Feast of the Divine Gift Exchange. We are to see and know the grace of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich forever.

God gave His great forgiving Gift for a purpose—to bring salvation, redemption, and restoration. Jesus came to earth not on a sight-seeing tour of creation, not for a causal visit, not as a curious tourist, not on a pleasure trip, but on a grim, serious, costly mission—nothing less than the deliverance of the whole human race, every man, woman, and child, our deliverance from everlasting damnation.

God’s Christmas gift to the world was not a cheap, mass produced item to be found in every superstore and mega mart, but a singular one-of-a-kind, lovingly crafted gift stamped with the Maker’s mark. It is not a family gift for an intimate circle, or a company’s gift for a favored few; it is a universal Gift for “all people,” says St. Paul. Yes, thank God that Christmas is forgiving—God forgiving a world of sinners through a child in a manger destined to be one day the Man on the cross declaring God’s forgiving mission finished, completed.

Christmas Is for Giving

But the Christmas Eve Epistle speaks not only of forgiving but of giving—of giving up, renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions, and of giving oneself to self-controlled, upright, and godly living. St. Paul spoke of those who have really gotten the Christ message as people who have been cleansed, purified, and freed to give eagerly of themselves in good works.

Christmas is to mark not only a birth but a rebirth, a regeneration of faith and love. There is to be fresh renunciation of all that might rob us of the inheritance reserved for us when our Savior will appear again in glory, and there is to be renewed attention to all the concerns for which Christ gave Himself while on His earthly mission, a mission He has entrusted to you and to me and to all who call Him Lord.
God’s creative power in Christ was intended to bring into being a unique people with a passion for doing God’s will—not exquisite fragile works of art to sit on exhibit, or beautiful piece of architecture to be admired from afar, and certainly not curious museum pieces from antiquity with not relevance whatever to the present age, but rugged tools, human instruments aching to be used, even to the breaking point, by the One whose body was broken to make all people one with Himself. Yes, Christmas is for giving: giving of oneself, first in devotion and gratitude and praise to a gracious, forgiving, giving God, and then for self-giving in love to met all the needs of people in desperate need above all else of the knowledge of God’s love in Christ.

So the first Christmas is gone forever. Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper, the inn guests, the town that was that night, the stable, the shepherds—all as they were know on earth are gone forever. But the heart of Christmas, Christ Himself, is still with us. Tonight, as we gather to hear His Word and tomorrow as we again gather to receive His Holy Supper, Christ comes to us and gives Himself, to you and me, and to all who receive Him in repentance and faith. And He is eager to give new love and strength that will empower us to forgive one another in love and to give ourselves in greater devotion to His cause.

It is probably impossible for any of us to come to a Christmas Eve service without recalling Christmases past—family who have celebrated with us, other congregations where we might have attended or belonged, family and friends who are now absent from among us—all these things and maybe even more crowd our memories tonight. The Christmas Eve Epistle reminds us that we should make the most of Christmas-present in forgiving and self-giving, looking ahead to the final Christmas when our Lord will appear again to fulfill all our Christmas hopes and dreams forever.

First preached at Emmaus, St. Louis, MO
December 24, 2009
Lightly adapted from a sermon by Norman D. Kretzmann

Had the opportunity to visit with Todd Wilken on Issues, Etc. on the subject of Ember Days and repentance. The link to the streaming audio is here.

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It seems the fad about angels that was so prevalent in the 80’s and 90’s with Sophy Burnham and Touched by an Angel has not diminished much. A reader’s note prompts me to consider that maybe the false teachings about angels have endured long enough to almost become mainstream and accepted by even Christians to be biblical. In part, then, here is the reader’s note and them my response. What do you think?

Afternoon Scot.

… I am hoping that you can help me with a puzzle.

I recently received an email from an astrologer who has told me that I have a guardian angel. This does not surprise me in the least. Recently, I have indeed felt a presence beside me, guiding me through the days and helping give me rest at night. She continues to still my mind when it races and warms me when I feel cold and empty.

What puzzles me is that I cannot find information as to the identity of this archangel: ST. BETAHNY, ARCHANGEL OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Only one website provided a more complete name: ST. MARACHIEL, ARCHANGEL OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

I have always believed my guardian angel is ever-present, and say my prayer every day. I have several guardian angel pins that I wear whenever I am out, most especially when traveling. I wear the pin not as an adornment, but as a visual reminder to me that I am being looked after by Him, and (along with my own good judgment) will be returned safely to my home and family.

Can you provide me with any information about this particular archangel and about ‘divine providence?’

Thanks, Scot, for listening. I look forward to your response.

Hi,

William Blake, Christ in the Sepulcher Guarded by Angels

There is only one archangel named in the Bible, that is Michael. Gabriel, the only other named angel in Scripture is commonly considered to also be an archangel, but that is not explicitly stated in the biblical texts. In the extra-canonical Apocrypha (those books that often appear between the Old and New Testaments) Raphael is mentioned in the book of Tobit. The Ethiopian (Orthodox) Bible’s  extra-canonical book, the book of Enoch, give the name on another angel, Uriel. These two are also commonly considered to be archangels. The extra-canonical books, while understood to be useful for learning, are never considered on the same level as the books of the Old and New Testament which are held to be the inspired Word of God. So, you are left with one, maybe two, identified archangels in the Bible.

Unfortunately, the New Age movement has taken over the biblical teaching of angels and applies the term to everything from one’s emotions and urges to wood nymphs and fairies, and then baptizes this false teaching by evoking the very biblical understanding of guardian angels. Nevertheless, this is not biblical and it is not Christian.

Yes, there are guardian angels. Psalm 91 comes quickly to mind. These mighty beings are God’s heavenly army, messengers sent on our behalf. The New Age movement would fashion angels who hear our voice instead of God’s. Wrong. They would have us believe we can shape them, or influence them to our will. Wrong. They hear only the voice of God, the do only the will of God. Remember, after the fall the angels who did not revolt against God were confirmed (set forever) in their holiness, and as such would hear and do only the will of God.

I am glad you find comfort in your guardian angel pin and that your faith is strong enough to understand what the Bible teaches about the holy angels. For some however, the pin—a product of the New Age fascination with angels—will only speak of the miniaturization of the mighty angels into something that can be manipulated by us humans.

The following prayers, taught to our children from youngest age, certainly teach us a proper understanding of God’s angels working on our behalf:

Luther’s Morning Prayer

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Luther’s Evening Prayer

I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Then go to sleep at once and in good cheer.

Another thing to note is that the angels are neither male nor female, yet in every case when an angel’s appearance is recorded in Scripture, the angel takes on the form of a man.

Back to your question. Who are Bethany and/or Marachiel? Figments of someone’s imagination. But don’t worry. We have a God holds us fast in His love and provides something greater than our imagination could conjure. And this loving God commands His mighty angels concerning you.

Peace,

Scot

The Vatican has announced that Pope Benedict is setting up special provision for Anglicans, including married clergy, who want to convert to Rome together, preserving aspects of Anglican liturgy. They will be given their own pastoral supervision, according to this press release from the Vatican.

Pope announces plans for Anglicans to convert en masse – Telegraph Blogs.

First Things comments:

This is very big. If this reconnection is well-facilitated, we may see the entire African arm of the Church of England (which is currently its most vibrantly-growing branch) cross the Tiber, and that will be a very interesting development, especially as Catholics are exposed to the Anglican-use liturgy, which will remind many of everything they loved about the Latin mass, but in the glorious language of the Anglican liturgy.