You’re a Worm

I know we like to think of ourselves as the crown of creation, the greatest of all creatures on earth (Psalm 8:5) – contrary to Hebrews 2:9. But Job 25:6 will not stand for it – calling us instead maggots and worms. And lest we think Bildad got it wrong in Job 25, there is always Psalm 22:6 – “I am a worm and no man.”

Advent begins December 3. It is a time of repenting and fasting that our hearts and minds might be properly prepared for the celebration of Christmas, December 24 through January 6 – the Twelve Days of Christmas and Epiphany. Realizing that we’re worms will go a long way toward helping us fast and repent as we should and get ready for Christmas knowing that as worms we are not worthy of the niceties of life.

Here is how Luther put it in his beloved Notes on Ecclesiastes: “God is such a great majesty in heaven, and you are a worm upon earth. You cannot speak about the works of God on the basis of your own judgment…. [So] don’t use many words, but keep your mouth shut! You will not impose a rule on God” (Luther’s Works 15:78).

      In Kierkegaard’s great 1847 book, Works of Love, he cautions that self-denigration, while good in and of itself, must never be allowed to stymie us – throwing us into “the folly of the moment” (KW 16:23). So keep that in mind too this Advent when you rediscover what you really are.

Pastor Marshall

Lecture Reception

 On November 12th a reception was held for me after the Sunday 10:30 am liturgy to report on how my lecture on Kierkegaard went at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, on November 9th and to field any questions anyone might have regarding it. Thanks so much to all who attended and worked to put on the reception!

     In Northfield I was asked why Kierkegaard didn’t start his own church as Luther did if they were so much alike (as I argued they were in my lecture). Well, first of all, Luther wasn’t planning on setting up a new church but only on reforming the Roman Catholic Church. Secondly, Kierkegaard wanted to restore the New Testament vision of the Church to the church on earth [see my Kierkegaard for the Church (2013) pp. 233, 318 and Kierkegaard in the Pulpit (2016) pp. 65, 356] – specifically to the Lutheran congregations. And finally, like Luther, Kierkegaard cared deeply about, and addressed in detail, such churchly matters as worship, prayer, hymns, confession & absolution, and the sacraments.

     At the reception I also gave my short sermon on Frosty the Snowman and Kierkegaard’s book, Sickness Unto Death (1849). I’ve been reading and teaching Sickness Unto Death for over forty years, and this sermon was a breakthrough for me. Up until writing it this year, I had thought Sickness Unto Death was primarily about the abstractions of sin, despair and the sick self, and how being grounded in God was an antidote to them. But now I see the book as aimed at overturning the calamity of Christmas and its distorted incarnation, by way of sharp, critical preaching. The many criticisms of bad preachers and sermons in Sickness Unto Death are what led me to this view and my Frosty sermon. (Nowhere among the twelve explanatory essays in the Interactional Kierkegaard Commentary on Sickness Unto Death, published in 1987, are these dozen or more passages addressed.) Before this year I had also skipped over them as minor matters in Sickness Unto Death – but not anymore.

 Pastor Marshall

Luther & Beer

“Made from bursting granaries and groaning spice rack, monastic beers were brewed meaty and flavorful…. [Their] goal was quality and self-sufficiency; their batches were small, their brewing time limited by prayer and study. Abbey beers – as many still are today – were rare, available only in limited amounts, and often only at the abbeys themselves. Hops changed all that. If monastic beer has its foundation in cloistered purity, hopped beer was based on trade…. Most important for medieval brewers working outside the church, hops were largely ignored by the faithful. The abbess, mystic, and early Christian botanist Hildegard of Bingen said in her twelfth-century herbal that hops ‘were not very useful.’ They ‘make the soul of man sad, and weigh down his inner organs.’ And so hops fell outside the church’s Gruitrecht [brewing license]. The powerful plant – Humulus lupulus, or climbing wolf [hops]; it spreads vigorously if left unchecked – was untaxed and free for the plucking…. When [Luther and] Protestantism arrived on the scene in the 1500s, the organs of the Catholic Church still controlled, through both symbolism and their Gruitrecht taxes, the bulk of the medieval herb garden, so the new religion, like the age’s burgeoning community of secular, money-minded brewers, championed the hop…. During [Luther’s] first bout with church authorities at Worms in 1521, he sipped from a keg of hoppy bock beer, a gift of solidarity from the duke of Brunswick.”

 [William Bostwick, The Brewer’s Tale: A History of the World According to Beer

(New York: Norton, 2014) pp. 59–60, 62–63.]

ST. NICHOLAS FAIRE

Sunday, December 10 from 4:30pm to 7:30pm

 In a week or so we will be gathering in the “transformed” Parish Hall to celebrate St. Nicholas Day by hosting an event to commemorate the generous spirit of St. Nicholas.  His many acts of charity are legendary.  All proceeds from this Faire will be donated to the West Seattle Food Bank and the West Seattle Helpline.

    Here’s a sampling of the gift baskets that will be available to bid on…….

Children’s Books                Mariner’s Gear                     Warm Weather Gear

Beer & Wine                       Gardening                            Baked Goods

Seahawks Gear                   Olive Oil/Vinegar                 Ceramic Items     

U of W Gear                          Painting Supplies                        Handmade Quilts

Pasta & Sauce                     Outdoor Accessories            Linens/Pillows

Kitchen Gadgets                          Tools                                    “Hello Kitty”

Holiday Items                     Wine Glasses                        Baking Tools

Storage Containers                 Art Supplies                      Ice Cream Sundae Items

ETC!                                   ETC!!                                   ETC!!!

    Plus gift certificates to many local restaurants and businesses like JAKS, Elliott Bay Pub & Brewery, Husky Deli, NW Art & Frame,  QFC, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, West Seattle Nursery, Starbucks,  Barnes & Noble, Target,  Bartell’s,  Junction Hardware, Pagliacci Pizza, Spiros, Amazon,  West Seattle Wine Cellars, Admiral Theater, Pegasus Pizza, Duke’s, Salty’s, ITunes, Staples, Cupcake Royale, ETC!,   ETC!!,    ETC!!!,     ETC!!!!

    But in order for it to be a success, we need every member to participate and commit to helping in some manner.  The sign-up sheets will in the hall between classrooms C & D until Sunday, December 3rd.  If you missed them and still are able to help and/or contribute in some way, please contact me (Larraine 206-937-6740).  We have tried to make supporting the Faire approachable and within reach. There are still a few ways each of us can help - make  money donations (make checks payable to First Lutheran Church of West Seattle, and note it is to be given to the St. Nicholas Faire),  and help during the Faire.  But the most important way to support this event is to come and bring your family, friends and neighbors, and do your Christmas shopping. 

    The St. Nicholas Faire has a dual purpose – it benefits 2 very deserving extended ministries, and it allows us to have a “party” together with family and friends – while supporting our neighbors in need from our community.  Now that’s a WIN! WIN!

So please plan to come and join in the celebration.

DON’T MISS IT!!!!!

                                                                                                Larraine King

Join us for the Four Sundays of Advent

Sundays:    8:00 am Holy Eucharist, in the chapel

 10:30 am Holy Eucharist, in the nave

  8:00 pm Compline, in the chapel

THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD

Celebrate with us the great Christmas feast of our Lord's Nativity. 

May these days fill your prayers with thanksgiving and blessing. 

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve

Liturgy of Lessons, Carols, & Holy Eucharist

11:00 pm Holy Eucharist, in the nave

Monday, December 25, 2017:

Christmas Day

Festival Liturgy & Holy Eucharist

10:30 am Holy Eucharist, in the nave

Tuesday, December 26, 2017:

St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

11:45 am Holy Eucharist, in the chapel

Wednesday, December 27, 2017:

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

11:45 am Holy Eucharist, in the chapel

Thursday, December 28, 2017

The Holy Innocents, Martyrs

9:00 am Holy Eucharist, in the chapel

To end the 12 days of Christmas be sure to join us on –

Saturday, January 6, 2018

The Day of Epiphany

11:45 am Holy Eucharist, in the chapel

4105 California Avenue SW      Seattle, WA  98116

206-935-6530          www.flcws.org       deogloria@foxinternet.com

Saint Francis Statue

We thank Doris and Chuck Prescott for the gift of our Saint Francis statue (35 inch high concrete figure), installed in the courtyard next to the church lounge by Dale Korsmo and Pastor Marshall. Our statue has him holding two birds, which is fitting since he preached to them and in 1980 was proclaimed patron of ecology by Pope John Paul II [Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (1982) pp. 43, 5].

      Even though Martin Luther knew it was a mistake to

think that Saint Francis (1182–1226) could save us from our sins (Luther’s Works 22:330, 369, 27:141, 30:322), he still “revered’ him for preaching Christ (LW 22:65). For, indeed, Francis “wisely said that his rule was the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (LW 44:255, 22:264). That’s because Francis knew he didn’t have anything of his own to “set against the wrath of God” (LW 26:459). So to turn Saint Francis into a god like many of his followers have done is a horrible mistake (LW 9:54, 12:284, 16:245). For “Francis is not Christ” (LW 22:461). Following him, then, apart from his great faith in Christ (LW 22:273), would only lead at best to a “sizzling heaven” (LW 23:34).

      Luther thought Francis should have given up on self-flagellation and instead taken up the “nettles and thorns” of marriage if he wanted to be spiritually purified (LW 60:279). But Luther liked that Francis knew the importance of good hygiene (LW 28:274) and the mandate to give money to the poor (LW 30:42). But he warned against trusting in that example (LW 52:271). Francis is not to be followed, Luther argued, but only praised and honored for the gifts God gave him (LW 52:192). He is not unerring like the Bible is (LW 39:193). So his own opinions – like all of ours – are but stench (LW 22:271). Therefore all saints – Francis included – cannot intercede for us before God (LW 22:368).

      Luther was distressed over the way Saint Francis’ followers – mostly within the Franciscan Order – ruined his rule and way of life (LW 44:268). They bizarrely thought his underclothing was sacred. They also thought that if they draped their cowls over the dead they could save them (LW 41:128). But most of all – due to their vow of obedience – they would not oppose the Pope for his unfaithfulness (LW 36:190).

      So when you look at our Saint Francis statue, thank God for him, as one of our brothers in the faith, who “echoes” Christ in a most exemplary way (LW 22:446). And by so doing, may you also want to do that, and with God’s help bring it about.

On Luke 18:24–25

“Aside from love, which we may assume everybody except heart-numb psychopaths covet in one guise or another, average Christianized Americans (with whom I’ve a whole abattoir of bones to pick) really desire two things: they want to get rich and they want to go to heaven. (Apparently in that order.) And this despite the fact that their very own Lord and Savior explicitly warned that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven [Luke 18:24–25]. What’s up with that? Do they think Jesus was joking, just kidding around? Or does each would-be wealthy Christian believe that an exception will be made in his or her case; that at heaven’s gate his or her accumulations of property and cash will elicit a knowing sympathetic wink – as the needle’s eye is temporarily widened to let him or her squeeze through?”

[Tom Robbins, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life

 (New York: HarperCollins, 2014) p. 20 –

and pp. 252–53 on how Robbins himself has resisted this temptation.]

Only $58.00

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Donating to the IRC

Over the last couple of years, our congregation has been learning about and contributing to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) (rescue.org). It is a long-standing and prestigious, worldwide relief organization. Currently, in our area, it is resettling many refugees from the Middle East in south King County.

     At this time a $58.00 donation can supply tuition, books and other supplies a girl needs to attend school for a year in Afghanistan, Congo or Lebanon. Write a check out to the church and we will get it to the IRC for you, or contact them directly yourself. Either way it would be a noble thing to do – helping girls attend school in places where they are regularly left out.

The Church Council

Faithfulness in Our Stewardship

Moses proclaims: “You shall take some of the fruit of all the fruit of the ground,

which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God gives you.” 

“Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand,

and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.”

                                                             (Deuteronomy 26:2, 4)

When we give to our church or other places where people in need are helped, we are thanking God for this journey to the promised land.  We are giving thanks for the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  May we keep this in mind as we plan our giving to the church over the next year.

     Thanks be to God!

                                                                                 ─Melanie Johnson, Church Council

Ecclesiastes 7.14

Monthly Home Bible Study, December 2017, Number 298

The Reverend Ronald F. Marshall

Along with our other regular study of Scripture, let us join as a congregation in this home study. We will study alone then talk informally about the assigned verses together as we have opportunity. In this way we can "gather together around the Word" even though physically we will not be getting together (Acts 13.44). (This study uses the RSV translation.)

We need to support each other in this difficult project. In 1851 Kierkegaard wrote that the Bible is "an extremely dangerous book.... [because] it is an imperious book... – it takes the whole man and may suddenly and radically change... life on a prodigious scale" (For Self-Examination). And in 1967 Thomas Merton wrote that "we all instinctively know that it is dangerous to become involved in the Bible" (Opening the Bible). Indeed this word "kills" us (Hosea 6.5) because we are "a rebellious people" (Isaiah 30.9)! As Lutherans, however, we are still to "abide in the womb of the Word" (Luther's Works 17.93) by constantly "ruminating on the Word" (LW 30.219) so that we may "become like the Word" (LW 29.155) by thinking "in the way Scripture does" (LW 25.261). Before you study, then, pray: "Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in Our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen" (quoted in R. F. Marshall, Making A New World: How Lutherans Read the Bible, 2003, p. 12). And don’t give up, for as Luther said, we “have in Scripture enough to study for all eternity” (LW 75:422)!

Week I. Read Ecclesiastes 7.14 noting the line God has made the one as well as the other. What does this sound like? On this read Isaiah 45.7 noting the words weal and woe. Why does God do both? On this read Matthew 10.29 noting the phrase without your Father’s will. What does this mean? On this read Hebrews 2.8 noting the line left nothing outside his control. Are we unable, then, to thwart God’s will? Is it impossible for us to go against God’s will in any given situation? Does God determine everything that happens? On this read Ephesians 1.11 noting the line who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will. How are we then to approach God? On this read Psalm 46.1–4 noting the words God, refuge, strength, present, help, fear and glad. Where does our joy and gladness come from if God does all things, both good and bad? On this read Psalm 145.17 noting the words all, just and kind. Does that settle it for you? If not, why not?

Week II. Read again Ecclesiastes 7.14 noting again that same line God

has made the one as well as the other. Does that also mean that we can always tell what God is up to if he’s in control of everything that happens? On this read Deuteronomy 29.29 noting the words secret and revealed. Why aren’t we able to understand everything that God does? On this read Isaiah 55.8–9 noting the words thoughts, not, ways and higher. So if we can’t understand everything that God is doing, how can we be confident that what’s happening is right and we should accept it? On this read Psalm 62.8 noting the line trust in God at all times. Read also Psalm 62.1 noting the line for God alone my soul waits in silence. What justifies this capitulation? On this note the question, Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars? in Job 39.26. What do you make of that? Does that put you in your place? On this read Job 40.4 noting the two lines I am of small account, and I lay my hand on my mouth. What do you think of that?

Week III. Reread Ecclesiastes 7.14 noting again that same line God has made the one as well as the other. Is it right then that we shut up and accept whatever is as being God’s will? On this read Ecclesiastes 7.13 noting the line who can make straight what he has made crooked. Read also Matthew 6.27 noting the phrase add one cubit. Now we might quibble over adding a cubit or so by some means other than being anxious. But there Job 1.21 stands to make us reconsider: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Where would our imagined contributions figure in there? If nowhere, then what’s left? On this read James 4.14 noting the line you are a mist. Read also Psalm 39.5 noting the line every man stands as a mere breath. But shouldn’t we protest? Shouldn’t we rebel? On this read 1 Peter 1.24–25 noting the line the grass whither and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. So what good would our naysaying do?

Week IV. Read Ecclesiastes 7.14 one last time noting again that line God has made the one as well as the other. Does that mean that prosperity and adversity are the same, if God makes them both? On this read Revelation 3.19 noting the line God chastens those whom he loves. Why would he do that? On this read Romans 5.3–5 noting the words endurance, character and hope. Is that good enough? But what about prosperity, then? On that read 1 Corinthians 16.2 noting the words prosper and contributions. So prosperity differs from adversity in that it leads to social welfare, whereas adversity leads to character formation. How then shall we regard the two? Should we rejoice only in prosperity (following Ecclesiastes 7.14)? Or should we also consider the same for adversity (following Ecclesiastes 7.14)? On this read Ephesians 5.20 noting the line always and for everything giving thanks. That would make it sound like prosperity and adversity are on the same page. Do you agree?

With the Mind:  Readings in Contemporary Theology

3-5 pm in the Church Lounge, Saturday, December 23rd

The book for December is The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind (2010) by Alister McGrath, professor of theology at King’s College, London. McGrath writes this book to show the right place for reason in Christian living. On the one hand he argues that we are not required to displace or degrade the “human mind; rather, human reason is illuminated and energized through faith so it may transcend its natural limitations” (p. 58). But on the other hand he also shows that “no conceptual matrix, religious or secular, can fully cope with the immensity and complexity of our experience. Life is indeed a mystery, something that cannot be contained with a constraining theoretical cage” (p. 68).

      A copy of this important book is in the library. If you would like to purchase one for yourself, contact Pastor Marshall. Feel free to attend our meeting when we discuss the right role for reason in Christian living.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

DECORATING SIGN UP LIST:  Please sign up if you are able to help with decorating this year.  Immediately following the 10:30 am liturgy on December 24th the decorating will begin.  Snacks will be provided in room C.  The more people who sign up and help the faster we’ll all be able to enjoy our families and return for our beautiful Christmas Eve Service.

PASTOR MARSHALL’s next four week class on the Koran starts on Thursday, January 4th.  Call the office to register for the class. 

FOOD BANK COLLECTION suggested donation for December is holiday foods.  And, don’t forget to bring a couple of cans of food to the St. Nicholas Faire!

SACRAMENT OF PENANCE:  Sat., December 16th, 3-5 pm.

CHRISTMAS CAROLING PARTY:  Tuesday, December 26th, meet at Christo’s on Alki at 5:00 pm for a no host meal.  Then go caroling to shut-ins in the congregation.  Everyone is welcome to come along.  Please sign up on the list that is posted in the lounge.

Compass Housing Alliance is in need of Christmas gift items for their housing centers for both men and women. Please leave your donations at the office. The items collected will be delivered after Sunday, December 10th.

2018 FLOWER CHART:  The new chart will be up at the end of the month.  Sign up early for the best choice of dates. 

MANY THANKS to the Kahn family and many helpers who arranged for the German food preparation and presentation; David King for the beer and, all those who helped with the clean up for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation reception on Sunday, October 29th.  Also thanks to the Enzian Schuhplattler dancers for an outstanding old world dance presentation.

ROBERT W. JENSON

(1930–2017)

“Perhaps instead of being embarrassed by the Genesis account [of creation], we should be emboldened to emulate its courage, by similar theological appropriation and critique of current scientific opinion and problems – knowing, to be sure, that in a few centuries, if the world lasts so long, our current cosmology and evolutionary theory will seem as quaint as the tale of six days does now.”

[Robert W. Jenson, Canon and Creed (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010) p. 98.]

X  PARISH PRAYERS  X

Remember in prayer before God those whom He has made your

brothers and sisters through baptism.

Sam & Kevin Lawson, Pete Morrison, Mia Schorn, Asha Sagmoen, Melanie Johnson, Marlis Ormiston, Eileen Nestoss, Emma Sagmoen, Jennifer Combs, Celia Balderston, The PLU Lecturers, Tabitha Anderson, Jordan Corbin, Nell & Paul Sponheim, Lee & Lois Snook, The Rev. Kari Reiten, The Rev. Paul Smith, The Rev. Joanne Brown & Kristie, Ion & Galina Ceaicovschi, Nathan & Les Arkle, Margaret Douglass, Chris & Margeen Boyer, Elizabeth Banek, Clinton Johnson, Jeanne Pantone, Diana Walker, Jack & Sheila Feichtner, Michael Simonds, Martin Nygaard, Myra Skubitz, Charles Wilson, Robert Bly. 

     Pray for those mourning over death:  Pray that God will bear their grief and lift their hearts:  Pray for the family and friends of Evelyn Coy on her death.  Evelyn’s funeral and reception are scheduled for Saturday, December 16th at 11 am.

     Pray for the shut-ins that the light of Christ may give them joy: Bob & Barbara Schorn, Chuck & Doris Prescott, C. J. Christian, Louis Koser, Anelma Meeks, Dorothy Ryder, Lillian Schneider, Crystal Tudor, Nora Vanhala, Mildred Nikula, Mary Goplerud.

     Pray for our bishops Elizabeth Eaton and Brian Kirby Unti, our pastor Ronald Marshall, our deacon Dean Hard and our cantor Andrew King, that they may be strengthened in faith, love and the holy office to which they have been called.

     Pray that God would give us hearts which find joy in service and in celebration of Stewardship.  Pray that God would work within you to become a good steward of your time, your talents and finances.  Pray to strengthen the Stewardship of our congregation in these same ways. 

     Pray for the hungry, ignored, abused, and homeless this Advent & Christmas.  Pray for the mercy of God for these people, and for all in Christ's church to see and help those who are in distress. 

     Pray for our sister congregation:  El Camino de Emmaus in the Skagit Valley that God may bless and strengthen their ministry.  Also, pray for our parish and it's ministry.

     Pray that God will bless you through the lives of the saints: Saint Thomas, Apostle; Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr; Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist; and The Holy Innocents, Martyrs.

A Treasury of Prayers

Unto us a child is born. Halleluiah! Unto us a son is given. Hallelujah! Help me, Lord God, that I, being released from my old sinful birth, may be made a partaker of the new birth in the flesh of your beloved Son, and ever continue in the same. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

                                                                       [For All the Saints I:138, altered]