History records that no one took him up on his call. What did happen, however, was tied to the invention of a new fangled piece of equipment: The printing press, a device as important to the 16th century as the rise of the internet in our time. Someone quickly copied the list of theses and yet someone else found a printer willing to mass-produce it. It was widely distributed. What followed was to last a generation and was to fundamentally alter the nature of the church and human history. The Reformation had begun and a simple monk, wracked by fears and doubts concerning God and salvation, and a new piece of technology were to blame for it.

No one could anticipate on All Saints’ Eve 1517 where it would lead or how it would end. In many ways both sides kind of made it up as they went along. What was constant on both sides, however, was that neither seems to have sight of their final goal. One side would not and could not abandon the idea of a united church submitted to the Bishop of Rome, the other side would not and could not abandon the idea of a church united by the preaching of the clear and unadorned or obscured Gospel of Jesus Christ. For both sides it was a struggle over how the question: “What is the church and what is it good for,” was to be answered. One side said: “It is the undivided body of Christ and the pope is Christ’s representative here on earth who continues to lift up Christ’s sacrifice for the world.” The other side said: “It is the body of Christ under the head of Christ alone and it is to tell the world that Christ’s sacrifice has worked the forgiveness of sin and it is to give the world the token of that forgiveness, the sacraments.”

We are obviously the heirs of the latter party in the dispute. But the larger attitude, one seen in both party’s actions during the time Reformation should not escape us. Both had a single goal in mind, they were clear about that goal, and they were not to be distracted from it. The question before us is: “Do we continue the convictions of the Reformers whose teachings we follow and are we as clear about it as they were?” The church, as we see it, is to bring Jesus to the world and the world to Jesus. It is that simple. But, and it is an important “but,” is that what we think we are doing?

And Advent Prayer

Oh come you long waited friend. We want so much to be in your loving embrace. We have sensed your presence now and again. Now, old friend, show us your face and let us hear your voice.
We are hungry for the peace of your kingdom. Let our hearts be your forge where sword becomes plowshare, your pantry where need gives way to feast, your stove where the coldness of the world gives way to your own brilliant fire.
In our days may we be blind to everything but your light, deaf to everything but your voice, and dumb to everything but word. Our lives are in your hand. Amen! Amen! Come Lord Jesus!

I cannot help but think that these gentlemen so many years ago had a better handle on human nature than we do and as a result had a better handle on how great God’s mercy and Christ’s sacrifice really are.

Read on in Peace.

IN CONGRESS
November 1, 1777

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth "in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost."

I came to be a citizen after 20 years as an outsider, an “alien resident.” I came to be a citizen only after watching the principles of “Republic” work in the great state of North Dakota. Yes, it is cold up there and not too many folks live there but it is a place where government, the way Jefferson might well have dreamed of it, still has a possibility to exist.

You see, the state representatives and senators actually lived among the people. They had lunch at the truck stop just north of the intersection of U.S. highway 2 and N.D. highway 3; they had businesses in town; they drove mud caked pickup trucks like everyone else; they talked weather just like everyone else, and they never passed up a lutefisk supper if they were Lutherans, or a sausage and green cabbage supper if they were Catholic, and if they were ambitious they came to both. If they did, that made it difficult to figure out whether they were Lutheran or Catholic and that in turn made it tough to vote because in a pinch you voted for your own kind. But they lived life in full view of the people and they lived like the people. All the servants of the people did that. The judge who swore me in as a U.S. citizen was dressed in jeans and boots until time came to wear that black gown of his that made him look a lot like the Presbyterian pastor over in Towner.

You see, there is no getting elected to office, state or otherwise in North Dakota, unless the people can actually see you and know you, not from the TV but through real contact. They wanted to know that their elected folk were just as cold in the winter as they were. They learned the hard way that laws made in Washington that worked in all the other states of the union often failed to work at all in the Dakotas, starting with the original federal grant program that doled out land to the settlers. A section of land in Iowa or Nebraska earned you a living. A section of land in North Dakota earned you a hard year’s work during which your family starved. So my old North Dakota friends insist that it is their representative’s, senators’, and Governor’s job to protect them from even more nonsense piped into their counties and villages. They want to know that you understand them.

Coming to think of it: We haven’t met. I find that strange. Don’t you? I know, I had no money for your campaign when you sent me that form letter; I filled the propane tank instead. Winter is coming after all. I know, I hung up on your recorded message; I was in the middle of cleaning up after the cat; hairballs, we are seeing the vet tomorrow. So I really do not know you at all, which is sad.

I know: you were hoping that all your commercials that told me how bad your opponent was, would disgust me enough so that I would vote for the party I lean towards. You sure made a point of making that other candidate look like someone who lacked the sense not to park a full manure spreader outside of the barn in January. Coming to think of it: I am surprised that neither of you is in jail, or under court supervision, or at least under psychiatric care. So there you two stood. Both of you had reputation that smelled like Main Street in Mott, the afternoon of the annual 4th of July Buffalo Chip tossing competition. I think the governor actually was in the running to win the Chip Toss one year but then it started raining.

You see, as a North Dakotan, maybe not by birth but at heart, the only way I have to decide who to vote for, seeing that both of you did not show up anywhere I travel and neither of you seems worth a dried up piece of lefse, is by voting for the Lutheran. I don’t make the decision on that party line vote you were actually hoping for. But in case of your race, I did not even know who was what.

If either of you was Lutheran then you both really missed out on that discussion of the 8th commandment during confirmation. I am sure your pastor would have made at least some mention of it during a sermon or two. Coming to think of it, even the priest down at Little Flower Catholic Church, the priest that the bishop imported from Eastern Europe; I think his name was Mrnrvk - used to talk on the radio about telling truth and being graceful in speech. It would make you laugh when the pastor at Bethania Norwegian Lutheran had just gotten off the radio railing about the same thing, but then, they both took their morning coffee at the bakery next to Hank’s hardware and they always sat together and Rose, the state senator’s wife, would serve them their coffee.

You best do some brushing up on the 8th commandment and quick too. How, I ask you, can I trust you to do me a good job in Springfield, Columbus, and Washington if the only side of you that I really know is how nasty you can be in a fight for something you think you want? You see, we learn from North Dakota that what the politicos in Washington or even in Bismarck want usually has ever so little to do with us and we need you to keep us safe from them. How can I trust you to do that after you spent three month making all of us sick with your TV spots?

Down at the bakery, Rose would ask you if she could serve you and everyone knew what that meant: She knew if the coffee was fresh and she would make a new pot if it was not when you asked her for a fresh cup, and she would tell you honestly that you should not have that second pastry because you were busting the zipper on your Carthard jacket already. You could trust her because she would bring what you asked for. She was forthright in what she said, and she never thought it was necessary to tell anyone the dirt on Jeannie who served at the lunch counter. No one ever wondered about what was in their coffee, we did not have to. We trusted Rose and Jeannie.

With you I will always have to wonder. I do not know you, you keep your distance, and I only have seen your worst side: the side that approved that message about you opponent. Now, how can I keep from explaining your actions in an unkind way in the future? But then you missed that lesson on the 8th commandment and you may not know that Lutheran kind of struggle. I guess that distance and behavior of yours will lend itself to a lot of conspiracy theories, some about you, in the near future. I hope you got what you wanted. I wonder if I got what I needed.

There it is. Congratulations again on getting what you wanted. They will swear you in and you can go to work. I hope you will go to work for us. They will swear you in in January I think; make sure you park the manure spreader inside the barn before you leave, or at least leave keys in the tractor.