Christmas 2003

You know that solid crack when a cue ball breaks the 15 racked balls, sending them in all directions? I wonder if anything like that was sensed when Ed Schroeder punned on John's word for the Word (monogenes: "uniquely begotten") as having to do with Jesus' genetics. Whether or not, one ball sent flying is Cathy Lessmann's equally playful corner shot below. Under the form of the 6-part Crossings prism, she looks at the whole human situation, both pre-Gospel and under the Gospel, in terms of genetic inheritance.

But there is more. On the way to the pocket, her analysis became a whole sermon, exploring the thought even further. That sermon, as you will see, must have gotten other people rolling. Maybe you, too.

The last piece in this issue is a down-to-earth example, as the Word Himself came down to earth, of what happens when the Word gets people rolling. My friend Jared, an advocate (lawyer), has learned not only to enter pleas for his clients, but also to make pleas to them for the healing of their own lives. In that, he so much resembles his older Brother as to make us suspect they share the same gene pool. In fact, I will call the next shot: God, with the help of siblings like Jesus and Jared, is going to run the table.

tbcm

• C is for Cueball
  This crossing of John 1:1-18 is based on and incorporates a previous analysis by Ed Schroeder in which he explains: "One of St. John's key terms in this text is MONOGENES (4 syllables, MO-NO-GE-NES, hard 'g' in the third syllable), the word John uses for Jesus being God's 'only begotten, uniquely begotten' Son. The notion of 'genes,' as we now use that word in English, is indeed there in the Greek term, I'm told. Jesus's genetics, his genes, are 'one of a kind.'"

• R-O-S is for Reflecting Our Source(s)
  Divine Gene Therapy John 1:1-18

  (Preached at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 5, 2003, the second Sunday after Christmas.)

  I want to begin by thanking you once again for this opportunity to share God's good news here at Holy Trinity. It seems as though this has become a habit --I'm asked to preach somewhere around Christmas, either right before or right after. This year, I'm especially glad that the day I was asked to preach is today because I love today's gospel lesson.

• S-I-N-G-S is for Spiritual Incarceration Needs Gospel Strategy
  When I got to the monthly gathering of the Lay School of Ministry where I teach, I picked out the dinner table where Jared Redfield, a favorite student who graduated last year, and a lawyer, was seated with his wife Linda, who will graduate this year, and another member of their church who is just starting. They were discussing the Lutheran church and our trouble evangelizing, both simply inviting people to church or actually telling unchurched people about our faith. Jared, who parts his reddish hair in the middle, and lets it go a little long in the back, said that Lay School should help. I asked him to be specific, and am glad I did, because I got the wonderful report that I am here sharing with you.