Faint praise?

The columnist George Will tells the story of the new pastor in town, who conducted a funeral on her first day in office. Because she did not know the deceased, she asked after the sermon if anyone would like to say a word in praise of him. After a deafening silence, a voice from the rear of the church yelled out, "His brother was worse!"

One hopes that something more can be said about us at the end. One of the authors in this issue moves beyond such faint praise to speak of new songs that enlarge our understanding of God. Two others, in quite different ways, offer their praises for the theology of Jesus in Mark, still our lead Gospel for the rest of the year. Another discusses leadership in the church, for which there is often little praise but which, transformed, might help all the people of God to offer their praises in the church and in daily life. A final essay addresses an ethical question that in the context of praise reminds me of Martin Franzmann's singing about "each life a high doxology."

Robert L. Foster believes that new songs offer an opportunity for worshipers to embrace a renewed sense of identity, shaping the people of God into a more faithful image of the Creator. A plea for new songs might find biblical grounding in Psalm 96. By presenting a new vision of God and the world, Psalm 96 urges the people of God to adopt new ways of thinking and interacting with God and the world. God is a God not simply for us but also for the nations. Yahweh deserves great praise because of God's grandest deed, the creation of the heavens. The nations are invited to bring gifts to the sanctuary because God reigns over the world. Yahweh seated in the sanctuary, reigning over the nations, now comes to set his reign in motion in justice. New songs take the traditional affirmations about God and set them forth on a grander scale, giving a new perspective on God. The nations are part of the larger congregation, at least potentially. A world groaning under the weight of injustice lifts up a shout when Yahweh moves to reestablish justice for all the peoples, who are indeed God's peoples. The traditional people of God find themselves decentered in Psalm 96; as they move from the center they make way for the other. The plea for new songs envisions an expansion of the gospel for all peoples.

Edward H. Schroeder takes issue with some of the essays on Mark published in Currents in December, 2005. He argues that the kingdom of God--in Luther's Large Catechism and in Mark for that matter--has to do with God's reconciling regime-change with sinners. The agenda of peace, justice, and the integrity of creation is the stuff of the daily bread of human life. We pray for both of these benefactions in the second and fourth petitions of the Lord's Prayer. In both petitions we are still petitioners to the one God, who has different agendas. The first agenda deals with salvation in the presence of God and the new creation; God's care for the old creation is his left-handed activity in the presence of humanity--that is, it deals, in short, with ethics. The point is developed through an examination of the twelve references to the kingdom of God in Mark. There is no hint in Mark that the kingdom Jesus is enacting is the agenda of peace, justice, and the integrity of creation. Instead, it has to do with ransoming, and with salvation in the presence of God. Of course, there is concern for ethics in Mark, too, but apart from the salvation that Jesus offers there is no Christian ethics.

Barbara Rossing shares a sermon on Mark 10:17-31 (the Gospel for Pentecost 19) that she preached at the Lacrosse Area Synod. She treats the story of the rich man who had "kept" all the commandments in his quest for everlasting life but, when told to sell what he had and give it to the poor, went away weeping. The rich man and we today are afflicted by "affluenza," a deadly combination of affluence and influenza. Rossing understands this story as a kind of healing account that makes the key to the rich man's healing redressing the economic balance, the injustice done to the poor. At the eucharistic table Jesus offers the cure: "Take and eat. Let go of your possessions. Come find true treasure."

Paul F. Goetting analyzes various leadership styles and their effects on those who are being led. Leaders can be coercive and authoritarian, benevolent and authoritarian, consultative, or collaborative. It is probably more important how people perceive us as leaders than how we describe ourselves as leaders. The leader's style, also in the church, affects the way people will participate in decision-making processes, how they handle conflict, how they are ready for change, how they feel they and their opinions are valued. Good leaders, in business and also in the church, one expert says, are self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy--a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. In these days when conflict is rife in national churches, regional judicatories, and local parishes, it is good for leaders to assess their own leadership styles and, in baptismal renewal, work for self-change.

Karl A. Kuhn studies the recent interpretation of Romans 1:26-27 in regard to the issue of homosexuality. He is not convinced by Robin Scroggs's proposal that this passage deals primarily with pederasty or by David Frederickson's understanding that Paul is referring to excessive sexual passion. This article itself emphasizes the notion of God's continuing instruction through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Scripture portrays God's instruction as ongoing and dynamic: Law in the Old Testament, for example, is always intersecting with life as it is, filled with contingency and change, with complexity and ambiguity. For Christians the law's development can be seen in the Sermon on the Mount, Mark 7, Acts 15, and Paul's letter to the Galatians. Jesus' and Paul's recasting of God's Torah mark dramatic examples of a canonical witness to the process of unfolding law. The real norm is the continuing ministry of the Spirit that leads us to understand more deeply what it means to be God's people and to embrace God's reign among us. Those who embrace the Bible's story as their own need to reflect continually, together with other believers, about what it means to live as those who are shaped by this story.

I believe that God has created me, sustains my body and all its parts, provides me abundantly with daily necessities, and protects and preserves me from all danger. All this, Luther said in his explanation of the First Article of the Apostles Creed, God did out of pure, parental, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part. And then added: For all of this I am bound to thank, praise, serve, and obey God.

And our lips and our lives say: This is most certainly true.

Ralph W. Klein, Editor