Bless we the Lord!

It is a strange concept, come to think of it. We often speak of God blessing us in manifold ways, but how can we mortals offer any blessings to God? Folks did it quite regularly in the Old Testament (Gen 24:48; Deut 8:10; Josh 22:33; 1 Chr 29:10, 20; 2 Chr 20:26; 31:8--and many times in the Psalter). Blessing of God is a little easier to understand when it appears in "the blessing formula": "Blessed are you, God." This blessing formula occurs twice in the Bible (1 Chr 29:10 and Ps 119:12), begins at least one of the standard Eucharistic prayers, and is very common in synogogal worship today. This blessing formula does not say who does the blessing, but it recognizes God as one who is to be honored, praised, thanked, and exalted--that is, blessed.

The solution to this mini-dilemma of how we can bless God comes in 1 Chr 29:10: "David blessed Yahweh before the whole assembly, and David said, 'Blessed are you Yahweh, God of Israel our ancestor, forever and ever.'" David blessed God by pronouncing the blessing formula, and I suspect that what is explicit here is implicit on all the other occasions when humans blessed God. When we hear that people in the Old Testament blessed God, they were implicitly pronouncing the blessing formula in regard to God. The next verse in Chronicles explains what such blessing means: "To you Yahweh belong greatness, and power, and honor, and splendor, and majesty, indeed all things in heaven and earth." The doxology appended to Matt 6:13 in many late manuscripts of Matt 6:13--and in every one of our recitals of the Lord's Prayer--is based on this verse, 1 Chr 29:11.

Whether or not the following articles bless the Lord, they do offer manifold blessings to us!

Martha Ellen Stortz explores the way Christ dwells in us through the Eucharist and the way we dwell in Christ through our baptism. Through the Eucharist we take Christ's body into our own and become what we eat. Through baptism we are taken up into the body of Christ. Through both of these sacraments we are enabled and empowered to reach out of ourselves and toward the neighbor and into the world. When Thomas insists on touching the wounds of Jesus in John's Gospel, he understands the wounds as central and essential in any estimate of Jesus. Similarly, Juliana of Norwich desired to share Christ's sufferings and to receive three wounds: true contrition, natural compassion, and unshakable longing. The meal of the Eucharist nourishes us with Christ's body and blood, it is food that is not simply eaten but shared, and it is not finished until we have reached the hungriest mouth in the world. In baptism we move forward only by returning to its promises. Baptism adopts us into a cross-cultural and cross-pollinated family of the children of God. Through baptism we are the body of Christ in the world, his hands and feet.

Joel N. Lohr examines how Paul's tentmaking affected his relationship with and ministry to the Corinthians, the meaning of 1 Corinthians 9 in its context, and Paul's decision to remain financially free from the Corinthians. Paul's tentmaking trade enabled him to identify with the lowly and exhort the socially elite to do the same thing. Tentmaking was long, hard, noisy, and dirty work--with low pay. This work choice was at a great cost to Paul, but he thereby provided an example for the Corinthians to follow. Paul had discovered freedom but was willing to forfeit his rights for the sake of the gospel. Paul was proud that he had made the gospel free. He was pleading with those in the upper strata of society to give up their freedoms, as he had, in order to remove division within the church. In imitating Paul's example the strong identify with the weak and, in turn, imitate Christ.

Pamela Cooper-White reviews a collection of essays by Lutheran college professors dealing with religion, the arts, and imagination. The reviewer identifies herself as an Episcopal priest, interested in postmodern, psychoanalytical, and feminist theory, but with many ties to the Lutheran tradition. The review is as broad as are the insights in the various essays. She gives particular attention to the views of Carol Gilbertson on the relationship of literature and religion in the classroom. (Gilbertson was once the chair of LSTC's Board of Directors.) The author notes that dramatic readings of the Gospel of Mark allow audience members to reenact their own struggles in those of the disciples. She also affirms that from a psychological point of view we cannot exclude our own psychological needs or our "countertransference" in relation to the experience of music as we perform it or experience it. Of course, music does not always move us in ways that feel good or are uplifting. Paul Beidler notes that the reiteration of any moment in time necessarily disconnects it from the immediacy of that experience. The author laments the lack of sustained attention to the visual arts, architecture, film, dance, and other forms of art in this collection. While the authors are homogeneous, they evoke a host of questions, indicating the importance of this publication.

David J. Lull addresses once again the biblical passages dealing in one way or another with homosexuality. The passages from Romans 1 condemn passions and desires that are excessive, exploitative, and violent and that lead to decadence, but these warnings apply to people of every sexual orientation. Homosexuals are no more prone to such behavior than heterosexuals are. Four traps attend discussion of this issue. The first trap is the assumption that homosexual love and committed relationships are only about engaging in genital sex. The second trap is that one side or the other can win the battle over the Bible if they just craft the right exegetical and hermeneutical arguments. Both the United Methodist Church and the ELCA have reaffirmed their commitment to a unity in Christ that transcends and encompasses differences of opinion on sexual issues. The third trap is to talk about the issue of homosexuality, because this strategy keeps many gifted and loving persons in our midst out of sight and mind. The fourth trap is legalism. Organizing one's life around law has not produced, and cannot produce, the righteousness that is the goal of life. Paul offers instead a life immersed in and infused by Christ's faithfulness. Even advocates for the ordination of homosexuals in committed relationships can fall into the trap of legalism. A focus on local discernment and on Christ alone offers genuine promise beyond our churches' debilitating impasse.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name" is the way the psalmist begins Psalm 103. Verse 20 ups the ante by offering a command to the angels, "You bless the LORD also." The psalmist closes Psalm 103 with an apostrophe to all created things that they should bless the LORD and then signs off by exhorting himself to bless the LORD one more time. Our usual liturgical response to all this blessing of God sounds a little tame to me: "Thanks be to God!" Inwardly, from now on, we might be tempted to swing into the blessing formula and say: "Blessed are you, Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who...."

Ralph W. Klein, Editor

P. S. With this issue we are renewing a former popular feature of Currents, a back page editorial by one of the presidents of the three seminaries that support and promote our journal. In this issue, President Phyllis Anderson of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.