While I was going through my internet file that contains a bunch of German-Lutheran websites. One I got around to viewing was for a SELK church in Berlin, Germany. It is Evangelisch-Lutherische St. Mariengemeinde in Berlin-Zehlendorf und -Steglitz (Evangelical-Lutheran Church of St. Mary in Berlin, Zehlendorf, and Steglitz). Zehlendorf and Steglitz are communities in Berlin, both are southwest of the city-center, past Tempelhof. The Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens is the pastor there.

I first heard of Dr. Martens when I read an article of his that was published in LOGIA a few years ago. I found his essay scholarly and theologically inciteful. I was happy to discover his church on the Internet. He posts his sermons online and even has four or five audio sermons available for listening. I am reading and translating his sermon from June 28, 2008.

Check out the church's site at:

http://lutherisch.de/

Also, The Rev. Armin Wenz is a pastor in the SELK; he is the pastor of Evangelisch-Lutherische St. Johannes-Gemeinde (Evangelical-Lutheran Church of St. John) in Oberursel, Hessen. I have translated some of his sermons.

Check out the church's site at:

http://www.selk-oberursel.de/index.htm

Pastor Wenz obtained for me the SELK hymnal, and sent it to me via a professor at Concordia Seminary in Ft. Wayne. I was so happy to receive the hymnal, and I hav enjoyed using it. It is a great hymanl resource for Lutheran pastors to have.

A third SELK church I surf on the web is Trinitatis-Gemeinde (Trinity Church) in München, Bavaria under The Rev. Frank-Christian Schmitt.

Check out the church's site at:

http://freenet-homepage.de/Trinitatis/

Heilsgeschichte, Part 3

Heilsgeschichte is the understanding that God does redeeming acts throughout history. Numerous examples could be given, but the two big acts were: the Exodus and Calvary.



S. G. De Graaf writes in his four-volume set, Promise and Deliverance: ,,We must not tell chiefly of people, of their faith as an attracting example and of their sins as a repelling example, but we must tell of the revelation of the grace of God in Christ” (Horton, Modern Reformation May/June Vol. 5 No. 3 1996).



Sadly, we don't find this kind of preaching in American churches; Europeans don't find this in their churches either. One of the reasons Europeans have left the churches vacant is because many of the pastors don't preach Christ crucified and risen. Strangely, I've noticed that in America the churches that preach Christ crucified and risen seem to be small and sparsely attended, while churches that preach a different gospel, a gospel of prosperity and positive self-image seem to be large and filled to the max. I know there are churches full of Christians where they hear Christ crucified and risen. I'm not sure why churches that preach a different gospel are so attractive and filled every Sunday. Perhaps American Christians haven't reached the depth of despair that our European brothers and sisters in Christ have reached; or perhaps our general attitude toward ,,me" as the most important person in my life is naturally attracted to the kind of preaching one can find on any Christian TV channel.



I am so glad that Issues, Etc. is back on the air. That show is focused on Christ crucified, and that is nothing other than Heilsgeschichte.



The Bible isn't about me and how I can succeed in life. Yes, there are directives in holy Scripture that tell us to trust in God who will bless us. But the real theme and core of the Bible is about God redeeming His fallen creation from sin. He redeems us in history. The saving acts of God are historical activities; other historians mention them in their histories. The crucifixion of Christ is mentioned by other Roman historians of that era. When we realize that God acts in history (He is immanent in, not transcendant from, our lives and from history), then we realize that He acts in my life. When Christ crucified is preached, then the proper doctrine of the Bible is being proclaimed. God is concerned about me; God died for me; God rose from the dead for me. That's Jesus who did that for me! Christ crucified and risen for my justification is the fulfillment of Heilsgeschichte, and so He is to be the focus of preaching. Jesus just can't be tacked onto a sermon, but Jesus must be permeate the sermon. Walther said that the gospel must predominate the sermon.



I just watched about a half an hour of an American Christian preacher having a crusade in Uppsala, Sweden. I recently read an article that said Sweden is one of the most secularized countries in the world and has the worst church attendance. The Church of Sweden (which is officially Lutheran) has essentially collapsed because Heilsgeschichte is not being preached from the pulpits. Well, this American preacher was going on and on about God. He tacked on the name of Jesus a few times, but he never got down to the real message of Christ crucified. The Swedes don't need a prosperity/positive self image gospel proclaimed to them, but they need a Christ crucified for their sins preached to them. Then, and only then, will the Swedes come to faith and seek out those few churches that actually preach the gospel in all its fullness and sweetness. And when more and more of them clamor for pure gospel preaching, then the Church of Sweden will (hopefully) get back on track and take Heilsgeschichte seriously.

Independence Day and Embassy Opening

July 4th is an important holiday in America. We celebrate with cookouts, fireworks, and patriotic music. This is great. I also set aside a few moments every July 4th to read the Declaration of Independence. It is one of the foundational documents for our country.

Today is also a special day for American-German relationships: the newly built American embassy opened today in central Berlin. The embassy has now returned to its old home next to the Brandenburg Gate.

Here's an article from Deutsche Welle: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3461973,00.html

On June 12, 1987, Pres. Ronald Reagan gave his historic speech at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin. His most famous line was: ,,Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Read his entire speech here: http://www.presidentreagan.info/speeches/brandenburg_gate.cfm

Reagan's speech captured the heart of July 4th and the Declaration of Independence. He spoke about freedom, a freedom that America desired a divided Germany and a divided Berlin to have. He reminded the Germans: You have a friend in America. They still do; and we still have a friend in Germany. There are many cultural and political ties between our countries, ties that have lead to freedom in Germany and other countries around the world. Reagan said it best in his speech: ,,Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor."

And now there is a U.S. embassy on the site of the previous embassy, next to the Brandenburg Gate, show-casing the friendship and the freedom that German and Americans have long enjoyed together: June 12, 1987; October 3, 1990; July 4, 2008.

Are you supporting Issues, Etc.?

Yesterday afternoon, Issues, Etc. returned to the AM airwaves and the Internet. You can also download episodes from iTunes.

The Issues, Etc. website is http://issuesetc.org/index.html

I had the time to listen to the broadcast live from their website (3-5 p.m. CST). A couple of times I lost the feed, but was able to get it restored a few minutes later each time. I downloaded the episode this morning so I could listen to the parts I missed. The show was excellent, especially the discussion with Dr. Carl Fickenscher, who is a professor of homiletics (preaching) at Ft. Wayne Seminary, on the gospel. I have heard Dr. Fickenscher present several times at different synodical events over the last decade; he has always been a wonderful presenter.

If you are a long-time fan of Issues, Etc. or become a new listener, please consider supporting the show with donations. Issues, Etc. is now completely independent, and self-sufficient from the LCMS, and the show needs the support of churches and individuals to remain on the air and pay the salaries of Todd, Jeff, and other staff.

The postman arrived early today, but later I will walk across the street and mail my donation I have made to Issues, Etc.

Heilsgeschichte, Part 2

Johann K. von Hofmann (1810-77) coined the term ,,Heilsgeschichte”, but the principle or theme seems to have been used by all the prophets and apostles who wrote the Old and New Testaments (Francis Pieper derogatoratively called Hofmann an ,,Ich-theologe” – a theologian focusing on the Christian self). The Heilsgeschichte concept was used in Medieval Europe and the Reformation. In the 1950s, Heilsgeschichte was used in Old Testament studies as a theological principle, reading Scripture as the story of God’s redeeming acts in history.

Four theologians are credited with emphasizing various points that would eventually be collected under the Heilsgeschichte umbrella: Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Joachim of Floris (1135-1202, Italian mystic and theologian), Johannes Cocceius (1603-69, Dutch theologian), and Johann Bengel (1687-1752), a Lutheran pietist minister. Joachim presented the view of ,,three ages”: the ages of the Father (OT), Son (NT, specifically from Jesus to 1260), and Spirit (1260: when mankind was to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message) [Wikipedia]. Cocceius developed covenant theology: before as much as after the fall of man, the relation between God and man was a covenant. The first covenant was a Covenant of Works. For this was substituted, after the Fall, the Covenant of Grace, necessitating the coming of Jesus for its fulfillment (Wikipedia). Bengel's contribution was his devotion to the historical-grammatical method of reading the Scriptures.

I am not sure what exactly Augustine's contribution was to Heilsgeschichte; perhaps it was just his overall theology.

The Heilsgeschichte concept developed in the Erlangen school, with its emphases on Biblical hermeneutics, confessional ecclesiology, our communion with Christ as a starting point, and Scripture as witness to God’s redemptive acts in history (The Encyclopedia of Christianity).
Hofmann coined the word ,,Heilsgeschichte” in 1841. Individual theologians like Adolf Schlatter (1852-1938) kept Heilsgeschichte prominent, as in the design of Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (The Encyclopedia of Christianity). Oscar Cullmann (1902-99) brought Heilsgeschichte to its fullest expression and, with pupils and allies, its peak of influence in Biblical and ecumenical theology (The Encyclopedia of Christianity).

Still more to follow ...

The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession

On June 25, 1530, in Augsburg, Germany, the Lutheran princes signed their names to the Augsburg Confession. Thirteen years had past since The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther -- Augustinian monk, priest, theologian, and professor -- had nailed his 95 Theses to the church doors of St. Mary's Church in little Wittenberg.

Some Lutheran churches still set aside this day as the day when they confirm new members in the fellowship of the Christian faith. What a wonderful connection to be made between new confirmands confessing their Baptismal faith on the same day when princes confessed their faith before the Holy Roman emperor and the assembled state and Catholic representatives. Those princes, like Luther and other Reformers, put their lives on the line that day.

Tonight our weekly Bible study continued to read and work through the Augsburg Confession and its Apology. We've been at it for at least nine months now. We recently finished Article 4 on justification. We spent at least 3 or 4 months unpacking that article alone in the Apology. We are currently on Article 11: Confession (of sins).

I am truly thankful for the faithful band of Christians who come out week after week to study the Augsburg Confession and the Scriptural doctrines of the Church. God has truly blessed us with these confessional writings that even 478 years later focus our attention on Christ crucified for our sins and risen for our justification. Eternal life is ours through Christ alone!

May God help us to follow the example of the Lutheran princes, who at Augsburg put their lives, their finances, their citizens, their states, their reputation, and their faith on the line. They trusted in Christ alone, knowing that whatever happened to them in this earthly life it could not and would not separate them from the eternal life in heaven that Christ promises at His return when He raises our bodies from the grave to live with Him and all the saints forever and ever.

Happy Birthday Lutheran Church!

P. S. What a fitting day for the German national team to advance to the Euro 2008 Finals! Das is sehr gut!

Heilsgeschichte

I mentioned ,,Heilsgeschichte" (salvation history) in my sermon last Sunday. I thought I'd flesh out the concept a bit more, since I utilize it often in sermons.

I don't know a whole lot about the historical background of the concept. The basic premise I've seen is that the the term was used in Old Testament studies in the 1950s as a theological principle, reading Scripture as the story of God’s redeeming acts in history. That's a fairly decent understanding of the term, but I suspect there is more historical background, and I intend to do more research on it.

I found a website that had a few paragraphs on Heilsgeschichte, and I translated them from the original German. Here is a paragraph that gives a brief summary of the principle. It is from

http://www.geistigenahrung.org/ftopic9637.html

,,The salvation history covers the Christian faith, and is centered (,,fullness of the time” Gal. 4.4; Eph. 1.10) spatially in the Roman province of Judea and temporally in the first decades of the Christian era in the life and deeds, the crucifixion and resurrection, of Jesus of Nazareth. The creation story of the Bible with the fall into sin are regarded as the announcement and preparation of salvation history, especially the story of Israel from Abraham to Moses (Exodus), David, the Prophets until the Babylonian Exile, and the rebuilding of the temple. The history of Christ is regarded as the ,,last time” or ,,end time,” for the gospel comes to all people until the number who are saved is fulfilled and the Christian Messiah Jesus Christ will come again in glory (Messiah, final judgment, eschatology, apocalypse)" (Geistige Nahrung).

More to follow ...