President’s Report… by Cary Natiello

A Not So Good Trend?  Our general fund giving through March 2021 was $65,500 against a budget amount of $58,500 (does not include designated giving).  As explained last month, the overage is due to two gifts given in February that were pledged amounts for the first 6 months, or for the whole year.  If we spread those February gifts out across the applicable time period, giving would be $13,800 less through March.  And, if we continue at this exact pace for the full year we would see envelope giving of ~ $207,000, which is tracking below our target of $215,000.  If that occurs, we will have an approximate deficit of $27,000 for the full year as opposed to our planned $19,000 deficit for the year.  At the same time we are evaluating some very expensive building maintenance needs.

     The good news is that we still have a significant cash balance in our checking so we remain on solid footing in the near term.  We will continue to monitor our finances closely and keep you updated.

     Helping Others:  A friendly reminder that many people in our community continue to struggle to just meet the basics of living.  Some organizations that continue to need our help and are part of our extended ministries are:  Foss Home (ELCA), Operation Nightwatch, Mary's Place, Welcome Table, and our Agape Fund.  If you would like to learn more about any of these organizations, please contact Pastor Marshall.  Thank you to those in our congregation who are able to offer some additional support to local community organizations that are dedicated to helping others on a daily basis.  

     Safe Opening:  As of the writing of this report, the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in King County for the past two weeks was hovering around 200.  The State threshold between phase 2 and 3 is 200.  By comparison, in February this number was under 100 and declining.  Unfortunately, we are further from our safe reopening target of <50 now than we were in February.  I am hopeful that with more people having access to and getting the vaccine that the number of cases will again start to decline, and that we may be able to resume indoor worship services by June or July.  Before we resume indoor services, information will be mailed to your home giving you detailed information about what to expect during the service, expectations for your attendance, and other precautionary safety steps being taken to protect your health & safety.  More details about resuming indoor services were provided in last month’s issue of The Messenger.

     Church Membership:  According to a recent Gallup Poll, Americans' membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend.  In 2020, only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.  Gallup concludes that, “The U.S. remains a religious nation, with more than seven in 10 affiliating with some type of organized religion. However, far fewer, now less than half, have a formal membership with a specific house of worship.”

     There are many theories about why this is happening, and it makes for interesting reading, but do we really care about this?  In some ways yes, and in some ways no.  Obviously, membership in our church is what sustains our building and its contents, as well as our pastor and staff.  Without our members we would have no financial support and First Lutheran Church of West Seattle would no longer be able to sustain itself.  But if there is one thing our congregation understands it is that numbers don’t matter.  Instead, the dedication and devotion of our members to our church is what matters.  We value the focus on the Word, and not what is comfortable and easily accepted.  We are a congregation of believers in the Word…The Law and Gospel.  We accept Jesus Christ as our one and only savior, and our intercessor before God.  In preparing for Pastor Marshall’s 2021 evaluation, I have been studying, The Fatal Vice: Standards for Judging Lutheran Pastors adopted by the Church Council in 1994.  In the book, the Lutheran master, Joseph Sittler is quoted as saying the church in our time, “is going to be smaller, leaner, tougher company….The way for the church now is to accept the shrinkage, to penetrate the meaning and the threat of the prevailing secularity, and to tighten its mind around the task given to the critical cadre.”  Now, isn’t that hitting the nail on the head!?

     Thanks be to God for the wonderful members of First Lutheran Church of West Seattle.

     God’s peace to you, and I pray we will be able to see each other in person soon.

Stewardship

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The Importance of Giving

Giving.  I think we would all agree that this word represents one of the pillars of our Christian faith.  Yet are we acting upon this?  There are many ways to give to our church and, in turn, to our local community.  This seems all the more relevant to me as I notice a growing and thriving city where the great wealth and prosperity is contrasted by poverty and homelessness like we have never seen before.  Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the need to give greater.  Although we have not been to church in over a year (hard to believe, I know) the financial needs of our church are just as great.  Remember, by giving to the church, we are not just helping our beautiful church thrive, but we are also helping our community thrive.  Giving can occur in other ways as well.  Whether that be by donating funds to the food bank, volunteering at a shelter, or using your talents to lift others up.  Doctors and nurses can help by volunteering to care for those in need of medical care, lawyers can help by counseling those in need of legal help, and contractors can help by building homes.  The list could go on and on. 

     Please consider giving to our church and to our West Seattle community.  God Bless.

Tim Allen, Church Council

Coetzee’s Jesus

by Pastor Marshall

Noble laureate, J. M. Coetzee (b. 1940), has done the Church a favor in telling the story of Jesus in an odd, indirect way in his recently completed trilogy – The Childhood of Jesus (2013), The Schooldays of Jesus (2016), and The Death of Jesus (2019). These quirky books might just be what’s needed to draw secular people to the Biblical Christ who don’t mind living with “a culturally hegemonic notion of a closed immanent order” (Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, 2007, p. 774).

            What makes these books so unsual is their indirection. Over seven hundred pages of narrative are named after Jesus in the three titles of this trilogy, but Jesus isn’t mentioned directly on any of its pages. The story doesn’t take place in Israel but in some unknown Spanish speaking dystopian land. The main characters are not Jesus, Mary and Joseph, but Davíd, Inés and Simόn. Neither is the Biblical chronology followed. This trilogy is also strange for what it leaves out – the miraculous birth of Jesus, his baptism, his parables, his miracles, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. Even so, there are still Biblical references – many of which are indirect. Most of the reviews of this trilogy have been secular, leaving aside its Biblical content, due probably to the absence of Biblical names and places. But if you’re going to see the favor Coetzee has done the Church in his trilogy, then you’re going to have to review its Biblical material. And those indirect references are actually an unsung virtue of his narrative. That’s because by not identifying those Biblical references directly and clearly, the reader can be carried along by them, when otherwise it wouldn’t happen for lack of interest. That textual subtlety is carefully crafted in this trilogy and is a large part of its literary achievement. Less is deifintely more for Coetzee. And it’s precisely that trait which makes this trilogy suited for secular minded people – whether they know it or not.

            In the first book I found over fifty Biblical allusions. Leaving them out would distort the book. A central one is Mark 3:35 where Jesus says – “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” That verse is alluded to when Simόn says that “the three of us are family. Of sorts” (C228, 260). It’s also there when Davíd says to Simόn – “I don’t like Inés. I don’t like you. I only like brothers. I want to have brothers” (C270). And I see it working when Inés chastises Davíd when leaving the town of Novilla – “You can’t just invite every stranger you meet to come with us” (C277). Davíd’s disregard for his adopted family and blood ties also runs throughout the entire trilogy (S16, 37, 81, 131, 257, D4, 31, 85, 135, 157, 161, 193). Several other less central Bible verses are far more direct – being close to exact quotations: Matthew 4:4 – You shall not live by bread alone (C36); John 11:26 – You shall never die (C133); Matthew 18:3 – Become like children (C143); John 3:4 – Can one enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born again? (C148); Luke 9:58 – The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head (C187); Matthew 16:16 – Who do you say that I am? (C193); John 14:6 – I am the truth (C225); and Matthew 7:7 – Seek and you will find (C246).

            Another central verse in this first book is John 9:39 – “I came that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” This verse is tied to Davíd’s favorite book, Don Quixote (1605) – or An Illustrated Children’s Don Quixote (C151–54, 166, 218, 226, 227, 229, 246). In that western classic, Quixote famously thinks he’s fighting giants when they are actually windmills (Don Quixote I.8). Problems with perception run throughout this Spanish masterpiece. And John 9:39 also cares about perception and illusion. Who can see and who is blind? Who is distracted and who remembers what’s important? Jesus is famous for saying – “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:6) (D183). The six year old Davíd is also concerned with getting it right. Struggling with Don Quixote he blurts out – “He’s not a windmill, he’s a giant! He’s only a windmill in the picture” (C153). And on the reality of fictional characters, Davíd asks Simόn – “Why do you say there is no Don Quixote? There is a Don Quixote. He is in the book” (C226).

      In the second book Davíd moves with his family to another town in order to escape from being forced to attend regular public school. This book, unlike the other two, begins with a direct quotation from Don Quixote in the original Spanish, which I translate as – The second part of any book is never any good (nunca… buenas). And sure enough, central to this book is a terrible murder of passion (S128). Davíd likes the murderer, and can hardly fathom why he killed the woman he so dearly loved, his heart being “a dark forest” because of it (S220) – reminiscent of Jeremiah 17:9. Dmitri, the ruthless killer, tries to explain to Davíd that his actions are intrinsically inexplicable – that he went “berserk” (S134, D181). But he does know that he has to repent, say he’s sorry for what he did, and he does (S146, 240) – following Luke 13:5. This entire second book then, revolves around Romans 7:15 – “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (S147). Unlike everyone else, Davíd has mercy on the killer, accepting the mystery of his wrong-doing (S250, ~D181) – as he continues “to hold his hand” while others castigate him (S252).

      This mystery theme is also taken up in the dance school that Davíd attends as well as in his study of mathematics. At the school a sharp distinction is made between dancing and marching (S71, 208). Even though dance isn’t part of the story of the Biblical Jesus, it is in the extra-canonical book of The Acts of John where Jesus says that “whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass” (M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, 1966, p. 253) (S246). Dance for Davíd is a revelatory, trance-like experience (S70), similar to those trances in Acts 22:17 and 2 Corinthians 12:2. And as far as math goes, in Davíd’s hands it is more than counting and calculating but communing with heavenly constellations (S62, 69, 244).

      And there are also direct Biblical quotations in this second book, again of a secondary nature: Luke 15:23 – Killing the fatted calf (S86); Matthew 17: 27 – You’ll find a coin in the first fish you hook (S105); John 3:8 – The wind blows where it wills (S173); Jeremiah 31:34 – Forgiven and forgotten (S221); Matthew 5:40 – Take my coat too (S223); and Matthew 25:30 – You’ll be cast into utter darkness (S249). All of these verses are part of the “religion of the stars” that Davíd learns at his dance school in Estrella – the town of stars (S74).

      In the last book the ten year old Davíd dies of a rare disease (D49, 58, 60, 141, 175, 188) which throws his legacy into question (D103, 129, 155, 162, 175, 184, 186, 190, 195, 197). Who will tell his story and what actually is it? Most who knew Davíd couldn’t say. The closest that they get to it is that he championed bravery (D47, 55, 87, 112, 195, 197). But even that doesn’t seem to capture his message (D85, 104). This is close to what Luke 18:34 says, that the followers of Jesus “understood none of these things; his sayings were hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” And yet the message was formulated and sent out. That wobbly basis for the written message made it possible later to say in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 that it was “not the word of men but really the word of God which is at work in you.”

      As for Davíd dying of some unknown disease instead of on the cross, this echoes Matthew 8:17 that Jesus “took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” And yet when asked, Davíd says his disease isn’t “transmissible” (D57), which weakens the connection with Matthew 8:17. And yet when trying to figure out why Davíd got sick, we’re told that it was “as if he had been slapped by a giant hand” (D50). This is close to Isaiah 53:4–5 that “he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.” That small line about being slapped doesn’t cover all of the ground in Isaiah 53:4–5, but it does allude to it.

      This last book also has some direct Biblical quotations: Matthew 2:18 – Slaughter of the innocents (D17); Matthew 16:25 – Whoever would save his life will lose it (D20); Matthew 20:25 – Don’t lord it over others (D21); Exodus 3:14 – I am who I am (D35); Matthew 27:25 – His blood be on us and on our children (D39); John 20:17 – Don’t touch me (D46); Matthew 27:26 – They scourged Jesus (D52); Luke 4:23 – Physician, heal yourself (D90); Matthew 3:17 – In whom I am well pleased (D108); and Luke 9:60 – Leave the dead to bury their own dead (D187). All of these verses indirectly fill out the end of Davíd’s life giving it some sort of Biblical patina.

      This trilogy makes three indirect points about Jesus that can be elaborated upon for those whose interest has been piqued. In the first book Jesus is counter-cultural both socially in rejecting his family, and perceptually in taking up the little noticed. A book that pursues this is Resident Aliens: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition (2014) by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon. In the second book the mystical is accentuated in unexplainable evil and in ecstatic expression. This non-evidentiary viewpoint is analyzed in Alvin Plantinga’s modern masterpiece, Warranted Christian Belief (2000). And in the last book the sacrificial death of Jesus is covered. This is developed in great detail in The Glory of the Atonement (2004), edited by C. Hill and F. James – upholding “the reconciliation of God to us and us to God” (p. 452). The complications in sharing this message are magisterially discussed in The Enduring Authority of Christian Scriptures (2016), edited by D. A. Carson. These three points could well have been Davíd’s message.

      The characters in this trilogy are “amusing but grave, likeable but dislikeable, right but wrong, they’re all filled, at once, with veracity and consternation,…. wholly believable [but not] wholly understandable” (Will Forrester, Los Angeles Review of Books, May 26, 2020). Because of that we’ll probably never know for sure the message of this trilogy. And could that be because Coetzee’s narrative also shares in the Bible’s occasional way of speaking with, what Martin Luther long ago thought was, “the smallest possible number of words, like a view through latticework”? (Luther’s Works 1:282).

Luther on Ruth

By Pastor Marshall

When Boaz covers Ruth with his coat in Ruth 3:9, Martin Luther see that as Christ covering us with his righteousness so that our sins are not counted against us (Luther’s Works 25:265). Christ “places his hand upon us,” Luther writes, “and all is well with us. He spreads his cloak and covers us, blessed Savior throughout all ages, Amen” (LW 31:190). Some translations capture this idea well – “spread your wing over me for you are a redeemer” (E. F. Campbell, Jr., Ruth, 1975, p. 115).

     The connection of this verse with the wedding imagery in Ezekiel 16:8 also suggests the connection between Christ and the church in Revelation 21:2 (E. J. Hamlin, Ruth, 1996, p. 45). There Christ covers his Church with his blood and thereby redeems her (Revelation 7:14). Reading Ruth 3:9 in this way shows how it prefigures the central teaching of redemption in the New Testament. On that Luther writes – “Christ’s… suffering is so powerful, so precious, so infinitely valuable in God’s eyes that it covers all your sins, appeases God’s wrath, and overcomes death, the devil, and hell…. for your benefit” (LW 69:270).  

James 2:13

Monthly Home Bible Study, May 2021, Number 339

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 James 2.13 noting the word judgment. What is this judgment? Note in James 4.11–12 that we aren’t supposed to judge others. Note also that this has to do with speaking evil of them. What’s the mistake we make here? On this read John 7.24 about right judgments. Is that too hard for us to do? If so, the judgment needed then has to do with God. On this read James 1.25 and 2.12 noting the law of liberty – as the basis for that judgment of God. And what is it? Read John 9.39 noting the judgment that helps and hinders – giving sight and taking it away. How is that divine judgment? It aids the humble or blind – and thereby frees, but knocks down the proud or those who think they can see on their own – and thereby destroys false freedom. Note also the judgment in John 16.11 against the ruler of this world or the devil. What does it do? See 1 John 3.8 about thwarting or destroying the devil’s works. What is this judgment overall then? On this read John 5.26–29 noting judgment at the end of the world for life or not. See also Matthew 25.46 noting either life or punishment.

Week II. Read again James 2.13 noting the same word judgment. Why does God have to judge us for good or ill? Why not just cancel all comprehensive judgments of us? On this read Romans 2.12 noting the linkage between law and judge. Why are we measured against the law in the end? On this read Romans 7.12 noting that the law is holy, just and good. How does the law help us get into heaven? Note the word righteous in Psalm 118.20 and slaves of righteousness in Romans 6.18. When we are aligned with the law and doing God’s will, then we’re righteous. Isn’t that what Matthew 7.21 says? Now, there’s no other way to find out who is righteous except through judgment – for at judgment what’s hidden in darkness and secret is disclosed, according to Romans 2.16 and 1 Corinthians 4.5. Otherwise the righteous would never be known, and no one would go to heaven. That’s why at judgment we’re repaid in Revelation 22.12; our due is received in 2 Corinthians 5.10; and a crown is bestowed on us in 2 Timothy 4.8. What do these three verses offset? On that read about wrath in Romans 2.5. What differentiates this wrath from the crown? On this note the line every careless word they utter in Matthew 12.36.

Week III. Reread James 2.13 noting this time the word mercy. Are you ready now for Judgment Day? What if you lose your composure when Christ judges you? Or what if you lose track of all the careless things you’ve said? What then? On this read 1 John 3.20 noting how God is greater than your condemning heart. What follows from that? Note the line in Romans 8.1 there is… now no condemnation. How’s that possible? Read Romans 8.4 noting the line the just requirement of the law [is] fulfilled. How does that happen? Read 1 Peter 2.24 noting that Jesus bore our sins on the cross that we might be healed from them. So Christ is punished so that we won’t have to be. Therein lies the basis for the mercy we receive. Do you agree – or not like those in 2 Peter 2:1?

Week IV. Read James 2.13 one last time noting the same word mercy. What keeps us safe from the law somehow ambushing us again and making us guilty all over? First, read Ephesians 5.2 noting that God accepts Christ’s offering deeming it fragrant. So God confirms the sacrifice making it indestructible. Is that what the line Jesus Christ is the same in effect says in Hebrews 13.8? Then read Romans 10.4 noting that Christ is the end of the law. Add to that John 19.30 and the short line it is finished. Both of these also block any reversal of God’s mercy. Does that keep us safe in the arms of God’s mercy – as in John 10.29? Not if the word received in Romans 3.25 is true – as well as provided in Romans 8.17, apart in James 2.26, and confess in Romans 10.9. Are our troubled hearts in John 14.1 finally then at rest?