Outer Rim Territories

Musings, ramblings, and nonsense from the fringe of space and time

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America's New Liberals

Beggars All: America's New Liberals: Evangelicals

Evangelicals -- America's new liberals -- have bowed to the idol of cultural relevance and see neither incoherence nor irony in their spring and summer holy days of Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Fathers Day, and above all else, that highest of high holy days: the Fourth of July. They are so quick to brush aside the collective wisdom of the Church handed down (traditio) to us, only to bow to the idols of our culture: So-called sermons about the virtues of mothers, the vices of slacking fathers, the glorious goodness of veterans on Memorial Day, or about the specious notion of "reclaiming America" on the Fourth of July -- these 'sermons' barely give Jesus Christ and him crucified honourable mention, if He is mentioned at all! But such irony should not surprise us. Human beings are, by their nature, creatures that crave tradition, at least some semblance of order, and ceremonies, even if they might claim otherwise. Just look at how nostalgic and even (gasp!) traditional supposedly super-relevant and hip Evangelicals become on Christmas and Easter, holidays that are not in the Bible, by the way. Being creatures of habit, we cannot deny how God made us. So the only real question is this: From whom shall we receive our tradition, order, and ceremony?
Tim the Enchanter gives us a great little post on the purpose of tradition and the consequence of throwing off the traditions of the church. Enjoy!

May 21, 2006
Tom B. said...
Today was Armed Forces Day at church. Pledge of allegiance (but no confession/absolution). Sermon about our duty to country and God (but devoid of the Gospel - and Christ's satisfaction of our duties). In many cases, we Lutherans have taken back the original "Evangelical" moniker - but this time it's the wrong one.