THE MASKS OF GOD:DRESSING UP WHEN YOU ARE DRESSED DOWN

Paul M. Meier

[Wisconsin Lutheran State Teachers’ Conference. Wisconsin Lutheran High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. October 29-30, 2015]

In the name of Jesus, my sisters and brothers in ministry:

This Reformation Day weekend more than 157 million Americans plan to celebrate a certain holiday, according to the National Retail Federation’s Consumer Spending Survey. The average person participating in the festivities will spend about $74, with total holiday spending expected to reach $6.9 billion1—second only to Christmas.

But I don’t think too many of the 68 million dressing up will be as their favorite Luther character. What do you think are the top-ranked costumes for adults? [Allow for answers] How about for children? [Allow for answers] And 20 million people plan on putting their pets in costumes as well. What pet costumes do you think are the most popular? [Allow for answers]

If you guessed little yellow Minions, pint-size Yodas and pretty pink princesses—along with superheroes, characters from Disney’s “Frozen” and the traditional Halloween fare—you would be correct. The following chart2 lists the top costumes for adults, children and pets:

1 Treacy Reynolds, “157 Million Americans Will Celebrate Halloween This Year.” September 23, 2015. nrf.com. Accessed 10/14/2015.2 NRF 2015 Top Costumes Survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics. nrf.com. Accessed 10/14/2015.

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The Masks of God and the Doctrine of Vocation

People like to hide behind masks, both literally and figuratively, and for a number of reasons. Our God is no exception. The prophet Isaiah once exclaimed: “Truly you are a God who hides himself.”3 But through this hiding God always reveals His goodness and mercy.

Luther called this modus operandi the “masks of God.” He writes:

What else is all our work to God—whether in the fields, in the garden, in the city, in the house, in war, or in government—but just such a child’s performance, by which He wants to give His gifts in the fields, at home, and everywhere else? These are the masks of God, behind which He wants to remain concealed and do all things.4 [emphasis mine]

Take, for instance, the Lord’s Prayer. In it we pray, “Give us today our daily bread.”5 And our Father in heaven answers our petition. He does so by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, and the person who prepared our meal. We can also include the truck drivers who hauled the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plant, the warehouse employees, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, and the lady at the checkout counter. Also playing their part are the bankers, futures investors, advertisers, lawyers, agricultural scientists, mechanical engineers, and every other position in our nation’s economic system. All of these people God utilizes to make sure we’ve got toast with our eggs at breakfast and bread for our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunch.6

But you and I do not just live on bread alone. So God employs many more people in many more professions to make sure that we have all that we need for our bodies and lives.

This isn’t rocket science, although God does bless some individuals with the ability to be rocket scientists. But when God opens up His hand to provide for every living thing,7 people often expect a miracle to occur. They think the clouds will part, the heavens will open, and a bright ray of light will descend upon some great and mighty gift that suddenly appears and forevermore will be the stuff of legend. But that’s not how God works. He wears His mask, all the while inviting you and me to see His loving and caring eyes peering through it. He works behind the scenes, all the while keeping us in the forefront of His mind. He takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. And that’s where you and I come in. God uses our vocations.

The term vocation comes from the Latin word for “calling.” Anytime the word “calling” is used in the New Testament, it refers to the call of faith. Indeed, that is how we use the term when we recite in Luther’s Explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed that the Holy Spirit has “called me by the Gospel.” But then we come to 1 Corinthians 7, where in verse 20

3 Isaiah 45:15 (NIV84)4 Luther’s Works 14:1145 Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:36 Vieth, God at Work, 13.7 Psalm 145:16

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the apostle Paul urges the Corinthians Christians to stay in the “calling” in which they were “called.” Paul explains in the following verses:

Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.8

God has not just called us to faith; He has also called us to a life of faith. Out of justification flows sanctification as the Holy Spirit enlightens us with His gifts for Christian living—a life that in every season and every station of our life is a gift from God.

Such teaching was revolutionary in Luther’s day. Already by the fourth century Christians, aided by the church, tended to think that those who served in the church had a “higher” calling than laypeople. Over the centuries this false notion took shape and by the Middle Ages morphed into the monstrosity of monasticism. Now Luther comes along and correctly teaches that all vocations are equal, that all callings in life are blessed by God. Not only did this have an impact on the Christian individual, it also impacted the Christian way of life. In 1520 between six and ten percent of the whole population of Germany were priests, monks, and nuns. They had their own courts. They did not pay taxes. They did not marry. Only one generation later those numbers dropped by two-thirds. Monasteries and convents were almost entirely closed, and the vast majority of clergy had married. Rarely are social changes more dramatic.9

And yet our semi-Christian society still struggles with such status. Today the term vocation has taken on a common meaning as another term for a job, such as in “vocational training” or “vocational education.” And when we hear the word “calling” used in contemporary conversation, it usually refers to the work of the church, such as a “higher calling” (notice how we’re once again ranking professions). However, these terms are two sides of the same coin. The biblical concept of vocation or calling, when properly applied, affects all walks of life equally. Vocation destroys the man-made distinction between sacred and secular for the Christian as every God-given calling becomes a holy and fruitful field for God-given fruits of faith that honor our Savior and benefit our neighbor. In other words, there is holiness in the Monday morning at work and in the Friday night out with friends, not just on Sunday mornings in the pew.10 Or to paraphrase a quote attributed to Luther: “What God wants from a Christian shoemaker is well-made shoes, not shoes with little crosses on them.”11

8 1 Corinthians 7:21-24 (NIV11)9 Steven Ozment, Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution (New York: Doubleday, 1992) 25-27. Cited in Placher 206.10 I am deeply indebted to Professor Richard Gurgel and his WLS Summer Quarter course, “Preaching Sanctification in Ways That Honor Gospel Predominance,” for this and many other fine points.11 Quoted by James D. Lynch, “Finding Vocation in the Corporation” (Journal of Lutheran Ethics 3:6, 2003). Cited in Paustian, 1.

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But if we don’t put an emphasis on called workers, won’t the church’s spiritual leadership dry up? Look at the shortage of principals, pastors and other male teachers in churches and in Christian schools today. Shouldn’t we be stressing the sacred occupations over the secular?

Truly “whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task,”12 but just as all callings are equal in God’s eyes, so also are all callings gifts from the Lord—provided they are God-pleasing callings.13 Therefore, since gifts from the Lord are never given by us, only received, thus it follows that we do not choose our vocations; God calls us to them. In other words, just as nature abhors a vacuum, so also does God fill every vacancy. Consider your parents and your country. You did not choose them; you were born into them. Even the church in which you serve God deserves the credit. As the English scholar Samuel Johnson once noted, “The church you were raised in was the church in which God placed you.”14

But weren’t we all asked as a child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Don’t we have a choice when it comes to our profession? Maybe I wanted to be a professional football player, but I could barely get off the line of scrimmage in high school. Maybe I desired to be an astronaut, but I stink in math and physics. Perhaps I strove to be a brain surgeon and make lots of money so my dad could retire early (actually, he wanted this one for me), but I can’t stand the sight of blood.

My friends: God made you who you are; by Him you are fearfully and wonderfully made. 15 God put you in the right time, place and setting and gave you all your gifts, talents and abilities. Therefore it goes to show that ultimately all our vocations—indeed, all our help—comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth16 and the Maker of you and me.

Now, as good little Lutherans, we ask: What does this mean? What does this mean for me and my vocation? Three points to ponder. First: See Christ in me. Our Lord delights to live out His life through you and me, as the apostle Paul says of both himself and us: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”17

You know how little kids see the pastor up in front of church with his robe on and often mistakenly think he’s God? Well, what do you suppose happened one Sunday morning as my father, a pastor, and I, a seminary student at the time, led worship? After the service, one of the mothers approached me with a big goofy grin, pointed to her four-year-old daughter and said: “She thinks you’re the son of God.”

12 1 Timothy 3:1 (NIV11)13 Prostitution and drug dealing would be examples of professions not called by God due to their promotion of and profiting by sin.14 Quoted in Vieth, God at Work, 51.15 Psalm 139:1416 Psalm 124:817 Galatians 2:20 (NIV11)

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Now that certainly was a humorous misunderstanding, but it wasn’t too far off the mark for not just me personally but for that little girl and for all of you as well. Each one of us is so very special to our heavenly Father that He not only calls us to faith to have His very own Son live within us, but God also loves us so much that He permits us to be His mask in our calling to serve others.

Which leads to our second point: See Christ in others. Our Lord delights to receive our service as if it was done specifically for Him! In the Gospel account of the Sheep and the Goats, on the Last Day King Jesus will place us at His right hand and say: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.… For whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”18

Luther’s famous vocational comment rings so very true: “God Himself is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.”19 Whether we are serving a milkmaid or a mailman, the governor or a prisoner, a poet, a peasant or a child, through our God-given vocations we not only show our love for our neighbor but we also show our love for our Lord.

Our third and final application is this: That you are a teacher is not a mistake; God has called you and equipped you to serve in this vocation. God has also equipped you to serve in the home in the vocation of husband or wife, parent or child, or single person. God has equipped you to serve in government in the vocation of citizen at the local, state and federal levels. God has equipped you to serve in the church not only in the vocation of teacher but also as a communicant member of a congregation, along with all the opportunities it affords. And God has equipped you to serve the greater good, which Luther calls “the common order of Christian love.”20 Recall the Table of Duties Luther inserted into his Small Catechism. Reflect upon the fact that Luther called them “Holy Orders”—the very words people back then used to call the monastic life.21 And, equipped with your God-given abilities, remember this: “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.”22

Halloween isn’t just this weekend. Halloween is all the time as God hallows us, His saints, with our many and varied vocations. Before we consider three of those masks which God calls you as teachers to wear, I will now give you a couple of minutes to write down on the very sparse presentation outline in your convention booklet all the vocations God has presently called you to serve in the following five areas: home; work; government; church; and in general, such as your avocations or hobbies. When you’re done, take a break and talk to your friends for a bit. And when you hear the music, you’ll know the presentation is about to continue.

18 Matthew 25:34,40 (NIV11)19 WA 44,6. Cited in Wingren, 9.20 Quoted in Vieth, The Spirituality of the Cross, 98.21 Schroeder, 8.22 Wingren, 10.

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MY VOCATIONS

Home Work Government Church In General

The Teacher as Farmer

[After the break, the presenter returns dressed as a farmer and plays a combination of “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” and the theme from “Green Acres” on the organ.]

Certainly I don’t have to tell you that being a teacher is more than just being an educator. One faculty lounge actually has this sign prominently hanging on one of its walls:

If a doctor, lawyer or dentist had twenty-five people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for ten months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.23

Every day you have the potential of being called upon to serve as an actor, friend, doctor, nurse, coach, finder of lost articles, money-lender, taxi driver, psychologist, salesman, politician, and probably a whole host of other jobs of which because I’m not a teacher I am unaware. But two of the three masks of God which you as teachers wear that we will particularly focus on this morning actually stem from your conference’s theme and Scriptural reference. The first is a farmer.

Colossians 2:6,7 states: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” In your vocation as a teacher, God calls you to serve as a farmer in the classroom when you build “strong roots for tender shoots.”24

Now what exactly does a farmer do? Perhaps the best description of a farmer that I ever heard came at a most unlikely time. During the fourth quarter of the 2013 Super Bowl, the voiceover was that of Paul Harvey in the following commercial:

23 Kathy A. Megyeri, “I Touch the Future.” Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, 324.24 “Strong Roots for Tender Shoots” cradle roll packet. Available from Northwestern Publishing House (1999, rev. 2012).

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And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon – and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain’n from ‘tractor back,’ put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pick-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life ‘doing what dad does.’” So God made a farmer.25

The apostle Paul uses farming allusions as he discusses the function of Christian ministry in 1 Corinthians 3. While writing primarily about the preaching ministry, it is also applicable to the teaching ministry. First Paul discusses the frustrations that can be a ministerial hazard.

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?26

25 Paul Harvey, “So God Made a Farmer.” Speech delivered to the Future Farmers of America in Kansas City, MO in November 1978. Commercial incorporating this speech presented by Ram Trucks on February 3, 2013 on CBS. www.youtube.com/watch. Accessed 10/14/2015. 26 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 (NIV11)

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A famer would never think to give a newborn calf a bale of hay to eat. Their stomachs are too sensitive; they need their mother’s milk at first until they are old enough to be able to digest solid food. Likewise, the Christians Paul was dealing with in Corinth were still beginners in Sunday school, but they thought that they belonged in adult Bible class.27 Their spiritual immaturity was causing divisions within the church.

Such a “baby food” ministry continues today when members pit one pastor against another, when students pit one teacher against another, or even—heaven forbid!—when one of your students gives you a great big bear hug and then says, “Teacher, I love you more than my mommy because you care more about me than she does.” But what about when at a parent-teacher conference you, the teacher, are blamed for the failure of their child, your student, even though that child is receiving little help or guidance at home? Or how about that gorgeous Sunday afternoon when your child approaches you as you’re seated at the dinner table strewn with papers to correct and lesson plans to prepare and asks you to come outside and play, but when you say you’ve got too much homework to do your child stomps out the room shouting, “You never have time to play with me! You care more about your students than me!”—who’s the immature one there?

As Christians living in a sinful world, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you when Satan tries to make you pit your vocations of teacher and parent against each another, or by tempting other parents—or even other teachers—to shirk their vocation so that you or someone else close to you has to pick up the slack for them. Satan hates it when Christians are glimpses of Christ to one another in their vocations, especially in the home. And so he will make at as difficult as possible for us to properly balance our callings as teacher and parent. Satan may give us extra work in parenting someone else’s kid when God clearly hasn’t assigned us that role. And when one teacher handles these dual callings better than another, Satan may even instill jealousy into the mix.

But the apostle Paul alleviates our frustrations with the only viable solution—that of Christ. After all, we are all His brothers and sisters. Therefore, we are all on the same team. We all have the same goal: having the children God has entrusted to us as a parent, a teacher, or both grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ28 and in the wisdom and reason which only He provides. And with Christ working in us and through us, we can properly carry out our vocations of teacher and parent individually, when they overlap, and when they involve other teachers and other parents. That is the encouragement Paul gives us with the farming illustration in the following verses:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is

27 Toppe, 34.28 2 Peter 3:18

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anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.29

Farmers can plant as much seed as they can afford. They can irrigate and fertilize as much as they want. But only God can grow the harvest. In much the same way, as teachers God has given us students to teach, and as parents God has given us children to raise. When we neglect our vocations, we may stunt those seedlings. But when keep Christ, our charges and our coworkers in mind as we carry out our callings, watch the Lord grow the harvest!

The following object lesson happened at a small private school located within the charming confines of a three-story stone mansion. (I’m guessing it’s not a WELS school, unless St. Marcus has taken over the Pabst Mansion.) Each morning at nine o’clock all the students gathered in the Great Room for what a teacher there called a “metaphysical warm-up” in preparation for the day. Fifty-three children, ranging in age from three to seven years, sat on child-sized colorful chairs or in sun-flooded patterns on the thick carpet. Each bright face was illuminated by positive thoughts and feelings as he or she eagerly anticipated the morning’s songs, words of encouragement and thought for the day.

One morning the headmistress made an announcement to all the children gathered. “Today we begin a great experiment of the mind, of your mind.” She held up two small ivy plants, each potted in an identical container. “Here we have two plants,” she continued. “Do they look the same?” All the children nodded solemnly.

“We will give the plants the same amount of light, the same amount of water, but not the same amount of attention,” she said. “Together we are going to see what will happen when we put one plant out in the kitchen, on the counter, away from our attention, and the other plant right here in this room on the mantel.”

She placed one plant on the white wooden ledge, then led the children en masse to the kitchen where she sat the other plant on the white counter. Afterward she led the parade of wide-eyed youngsters back to their places in the Great Room.

“Each day for the next month, we shall sing to our plant on the mantel,” she said. “We will tell it with words how much we love it, how beautiful it is. We will use our good minds to think good thoughts about this plant.”

One of the smallest children jumped to her feet. “But, Ma’am, what about the plant out there?” She pointed a stubby finger toward the kitchen.

The headmistress smiled at all her charges. “We will use the kitchen plant as the ‘control’ in our great experiment. How do you think that will work?”

29 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV11)

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“We won’t speak to it?”

“Not even a whisper.”

“We won’t send it good thoughts?”

“That’s right. And then we’ll see what happens.”

Four weeks later even the teachers’ eyes were as wide and disbelieving as the children’s. The kitchen plant was leggy and sick-looking, and it hadn’t grown at all. But the Great Room plant, which had been sung to and swaddled in positive thoughts and words, had increased threefold in size with dark succulent leaves that fairly vibrated with energy when addressed with song, word or thought.

In order to prove the experiment—and also to dry the tears of the tender-hearted among the little ones who feared for the life of the other plant—the kitchen ivy was rescued from its solitary confinement and brought to the Great Room to join the other ivy on the mantel, but at the opposite end. Within three weeks, the second plant had caught up with the first ivy. Within four weeks, they could not be recognized, one from the other.

The take-home truth from this object lesson: All things grow…with love.30 As farmers in the teaching ministry, grow your students…with love. As farmers in the parenting ministry, grow your children…with love. And as coworkers for Christ, grow one another…in love.

Again please take out your study sheet from the handbook. Under the heading “Teacher as Farmer,” answer any or all of the following questions:

How has parenting made you a better teacher? How has teaching made you a better parent? In what ways can you better balance being both a teacher and a parent? In what ways can you model parenting to your students’ parents who need it?

Take a couple of minutes to write them down and then discuss them with the person on your left. And again, when you hear the music, you’ll know the presentation is about to continue.

The Teacher as Firefighter

[After the break, the presenter returns dressed as a firefighter and plays a combination of “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” and Paul Desmond’s “Take Five” on the piano.]

The second mask of God which He calls us to wear as teachers which we will discuss this morning is that of a firefighter. Its role is based on the last verse of your conference theme’s

30 Joan Bramsch, “All Things Grow…with Love.” Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, 85-87.

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text, Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” In your vocation as a teacher, God calls you to serve as a firefighter in the classroom when you fight the fires of false doctrine with the fire of the Holy Spirit.

A firefighter has three priorities when arriving on the scene of a structure fire or accident. They are, in order: 1) save lives (first yourself, then others); 2) incident stabilization (put out the fire); 3) protect property. But when on scene you also follow orders. And when the fire chief tells you something, you do it. No matter how big or small the task, it all is important.

Please allow volunteer firefighter Mark Bezos to tell you about a typical fire call and the atypical lesson one can learn from it.

Back in New York, I am the head of development for a non-profit called Robin Hood. When I'm not fighting poverty, I'm fighting fires as the assistant captain of a volunteer fire company. Now in our town, where the volunteers supplement a highly skilled career staff, you have to get to the fire scene pretty early to get in on any action.

I remember my first fire. I was the second volunteer on the scene, so there was a pretty good chance I was going to get in. But still it was a real footrace against the other volunteers to get to the captain in charge to find out what our assignments would be. When I found the captain, he was having a very engaging conversation with the homeowner, who was surely having one of the worst days of her life. Here it was, the middle of the night, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, in her pajamas, barefoot, while her house was in flames.

The other volunteer who had arrived just before me -- let's call him Lex Luther -- (Laughter) got to the captain first and was asked to go inside and save the homeowner's dog. The dog! I was stunned with jealousy. Here was some lawyer or money manager who, for the rest of his life, gets to tell people that he went into a burning building to save a living creature, just because he beat me by five seconds. Well, I was next. The captain waved me over. He said, "Bezos, I need you to go into the house. I need you to go upstairs, past the fire, and I need you to get this woman a pair of shoes." (Laughter) I swear. So, not exactly what I was hoping for, but off I went -- up the stairs, down the hall, past the 'real' firefighters, who were pretty much done putting out the fire at this point, into the master bedroom to get a pair of shoes.

Now I know what you're thinking, but I'm no hero. (Laughter) I carried my payload back downstairs where I met my nemesis and the precious dog by the front door. We took our treasures outside to the homeowner, where, not surprisingly, his received much more attention than did mine. A few weeks later, the department received a letter from the homeowner thanking us for the valiant effort displayed in saving her home. The act of kindness she noted above all others: someone had even gotten her a pair of shoes.

In both my vocation at Robin Hood and my avocation as a volunteer firefighter, I am witness to acts of generosity and kindness on a monumental scale, but I'm also witness to

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acts of grace and courage on an individual basis. And you know what I've learned? They all matter. So as I look around this room at people who either have achieved, or are on their way to achieving, remarkable levels of success, I would offer this reminder: don't wait. Don't wait until you make your first million to make a difference in somebody's life. If you have something to give, give it now. Serve food at a soup kitchen. Clean up a neighborhood park. Be a mentor.

Not every day is going to offer us a chance to save somebody's life, but every day offers us an opportunity to affect one. So get in the game. Save the shoes.31

Every day in your vocation as a teacher you have the opportunity to affect not just one life by many. Sure, teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best. 32 And that is your life matters, your faith matters, and your Savior matters.

The apostle Jude was a fiery preacher. In one of the shortest books in the Bible, he urges believers to fight for the faith. He writes:

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 

They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”  These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.33

In these end times, people around us may be having one of the worst days of their lives. Their house may not be on fire, but they are constantly confronted by conflagrations of a different sort. The apostle Paul told young pastor Timothy that in these last days “people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power.”34 One almost becomes numb from the horrible headlines of the ten o’clock news, which usually involves something from Paul’s list. As Jude states more succinctly, they are following their own ungodly desires.

When shots of gunfire ring out in schools, it always is the top story because it always is a tragedy. But the tragedy continues as the news report concludes: “Counselors are standing by to help the students.” And what advice are many of these counselors often giving? Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

In 2005, sociologists of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill released a comprehensive study of the religious views of American teenagers. And what they found was nothing less than shocking. According to Christian Smith, the primary author of this book,

31 Mark Bezos, “A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter.” Presented at the March 2011 TED Conference in Long Beach, CA. www.ted.com/talks. Accessed 10/14/2015.32 Bob Talbert. Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, 319.33 Jude 17-19 (NIV11)34 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NIV11)

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entitled Soul Searching, what most young people today have done is contrived their own personal religion which he terms Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It is a very vague and highly subjective belief in a god who exists but remains uninvolved in one’s life until you really need him. This god wants you to be good to each other and feel good about yourself, for good people go to heaven.35 In other words, these teens believe that they’re okay because it’s all about them—which amount to a whole lot of nothing.

As Christian counselors in the classroom, you have a whole lot more to offer than those pious platitudes. But how can you save others if you can’t save yourself? How can you give others the solid ground of salvation if you’re not on the firm foundation of faith as well? Jude continues in his letter:

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.36

God has truly blessed you that in your vocation as a Lutheran elementary school teacher you are in a godly setting, you teach God’s Word every day and you take time for prayer in the classroom. But do you take time for Bible study and prayer for yourself? As I look back on the first years of my public ministry, I can notice a pattern that during those dark days and weeks and sometimes even months, I didn’t take much of a “time out” with my Lord. That’s the first rule of firefighting: save yourself, then save others.

But as you save others, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spew forth paragraphs from Professor Lang’s dogmatics notes or recite verse upon verse of Scripture. As Firefighter Bezos noted in the video: “Save the shoes.” Jude concludes this section with these words of encouragement:

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.37

Too often many Christians—including pastors and teachers—have either surmised or implied that one isn’t really a Christian unless he or she does personal evangelism. Not to downgrade the critical importance of verbally sharing our faith, since “faith comes from hearing the message,”38 but isn’t showing mercy to our neighbor, as Jude mentions in our text, just as important? Isn’t “saving the shoes” significant?

In whatever calling we find ourselves in—from the basketball court to the food court to the county courthouse—when we perform it in the most excellent way, we are in our own unique

35 Smith, 162-164.36 Jude 20,21 (NIV11)37 Jude 22,23 (NIV11)38 Romans 10:17 (NIV11)

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fashion declaring we have a most excellent God.39 Those around us will take note of it. Some may even ask us to give the reason for the hope we have.40 As we allow our Christian light to shine through our words and/or actions, God-willing, they too will glorify our Father in heaven.41

A class was taking a field trip through the streets of historic Philadelphia. They toured Constitution Hall and Independence Square. When they came to a certain historic home, their guide pointed out a strange plaque next to the front door. “That’s a fire marker,” she said. “You see, in colonial days the fire department was set up a little differently. Each station was linked to a different fire insurance company and each had a different fire marker. So when a fire occurred and the call for help came, all the different fire departments surrounding that neighborhood came with their horse-drawn water tanks to the scene. One of the firefighters would approach the building and find the fire marker. The fire company to whom the owner of the burning building was paying fire insurance would put the fire out.”

“Now that would seem like a waste of resources, everyone rushing to the fire and only one company putting it out,” the tour guide continued. “But consider this: If you didn’t pay fire insurance, you didn’t have a fire marker. And with no fire marker, all the fire departments would do is stand idly by and watch your uninsured house burn to the ground.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ: you have the fire marker of faith placed upon your head and heart to mark you as a redeemed child of God, which only God can see and which no one can take away from you—not even the beast Beelzebub. Make sure your family has it. And in your teacher’s calling as firefighter, make sure your students and their parents do, too.

I now ask you to once again take out your study sheet from the handbook. Under the heading “Teacher as Firefighter,” answer the following questions:

In what ways can you better equip yourself to fight the spiritual fires in your life? In what ways can you equip your students to do the same?

What “save the shoes” opportunities can you do in the classroom and/or in the community to let your Christian faith shine?

Take a couple of minutes to write them down and then discuss them with the person on your right. As always, when you hear the music, you’ll know the presentation is about to continue.

39 1 Corinthians 10:3140 1 Peter 3:1541 Matthew 5:16

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The Teacher as Priest

[After the break, the presenter returns dressed as a priest and plays a combination of “For All the Saints” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “The Girl from Ipanema” on the organ.]

The final mask of God which He calls us to wear as teachers which we will discuss this morning is that of a priest. Now you may be thinking, “That’s the pastor’s job to up in front of church.” Let’s hear what one particular pastor has to say about that.

Luther [in a sermon to his congregation]: “Clearly you’ve heard the rumors that the Pope has summoned me to Augsburg. Well, it’s true. It’s true, and I pray fervently he will find no fault with me. But think on this while I am gone: We obsess over relics, indulgences, pilgrimages to holy places. Yet all the time—all the time—there is Christ. Christ here—in every corner, in every hour of the day. He isn’t found in the bones of saints, but here in your love for each other, in your love for one another, in His Sacraments, and in God’s Holy Word. If we live the Word by faith in love and service to one another, we need fear no man’s judgment.”42

What do priests do? Priests are ambassadors for Christ. They serve and sacrifice. They pray and praise. In fact, being a priest is a mask of God worn not only by pastors, and not only by teachers as well. All Christians wear it because all believers are priests. And as the universal priesthood of all believers, we all serve one another in love. But how we serve one another in love—that comes with our own individual and unique callings.

The apostle Peter writes about this in his first letter:

As you come to [Christ], the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.43

Christ is our Cornerstone. He is the One who makes our ways level. He is the One who makes our paths straight. From Him and through Him and to Him are all things—including our vocations. He builds us into His temple. As stones of every color, shape and size, Christ uses our uniqueness to His glory as He fits our individual callings with others’ personal callings to further the work of His Church. And just as He lives, so too are we living, for with every morning comes new callings and with each day brings brand-new opportunities to serve. These are our spiritual sacrifices to Him “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father.”44

42 Schiller, Peter (Director) & Till, Eric (Producer). (2003). Luther [Motion picture]. United States: MGM. Time Frame: 43:14—44:40.43 1 Peter 2:4,5 (NIV11)44 Revelation 1:5,6 (NIV 11)

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But sometimes we get a bad case of the “If only”s: If only…I had the gifts he has. If only…I could do what she does. If only…I could get a call out of here to a place where I really am appreciated.

But who gave man his mouth? Who restores sight to the blind? Who forms and fashions us in our mother’s womb so that the final analysis is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made? Is it not the LORD?45 And if the LORD sees what He has made of us calls this crown of His creation “very good,”46 won’t He also put us in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right amount of gifts surrounded by exactly the right people with exactly the right tools so that our callings in life are also “very good”? The answer is always YES in Christ!

Therefore we can rejoice in our vocations. We can celebrate the callings of our coworkers. We can delight in the service of God’s people not only within the walls of our churches and schools but also within the walls of their workplace, within the walls of their homes, and out in their community. For from the time we get out of bed in the morning to the time we go back to bed at night—and sometimes even the time spent in that bed—these are all callings from God in which we can rejoice and be glad in as we serve one another in love.

Maggie was assigned to an inner-city classroom in the middle of the year. All the principal had told her was that the former teacher had left suddenly, and this was a class of “special” students. She walked in on bedlam, spitballs flying through the air, feet on desks, the noise deafening. She strode to the front of the classroom and opened the attendance book. Next to each name on the list were numbers from 140 to 160. Oh, she thought to herself. No wonder they are so high-spirited. These children have exceptional IQs! She smiled and brought the class to order.

At first, the students failed to turn in work, and assignments that were handed in were done hastily and sloppily. She spoke to them about their innate excellence, that they were “gifted” students, and so she expected nothing short of the best work from them. She continually reminded them of their responsibility to use all the extra intelligence God had given them.

Things began to change. The children sat up tall, and they worked diligently. Their work was creative, precise and original. One day, the principal was walking by and happened to look into the classroom. He observed students in rapt attention, composing essays.

Later, he called Maggie into his office. “What have you done to these kids?” he asked. “Their work has surpassed all the regular grades.”

“Well, what do you expect?” came the reply. “They’re gifted, aren’t they?”

“Gifted? They’re the special-needs students—behaviorally disordered and developmentally disabled.”45 Exodus 4:11; Psalm 139:1446 Genesis 1:31 (NIV11)

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Maggie was puzzled. “Then why are their IQs so high on the attendance sheet?”

“Those aren’t their IQs. Those are their locker numbers!”47

That teacher spoke to her questionable class about the virtue of excellence, and the students responded. In His Word, God tells us that we are royal priests. Now, how will we respond?

Conclusion

[During the conclusion the presenter removes his priestly garb to reveal he is wearing a tuxedo.]

We try to dress for the right occasions. For church we wear our “church clothes,” for work we wear our “work clothes,” for play we wear our “play clothes,” and so forth. But just as we wear the proper physical attire for the situation, as Christians we also wear the proper spiritual attire through our vocations.

Satan would like nothing better than to rip those “masks of God” off of our faith-filled faces. The ungodly world would dress down our God-given callings. And sometimes even our own sinful nature just plain doesn’t want to “wear” them.

But underneath it all there is Christ. He is the method, the means and the motive for a job well done. Therefore we can always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord—whenever, wherever and however that may be—because we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.48 As the hymn writer assures us:

Jesus, your blood and righteousnessMy beauty are, my glorious dress.In these before my God I’ll standWhen I shall reach the heavenly land.49

God bless you as dress up in your vocations so that you too can look like a million bucks!

Soli Deo Gloria

47 Linda Kavelin-Popov. Submitted by Susanne M. Alexander. “The Virtue of Excellence.” Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, 247-248.48 1 Corinthians 15:5849 Attr. to Paul Eber, 1569; tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1869, alt. Christian Worship 608:1.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Canfield, Jack and Mark Victor Hansen, eds. Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul. Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications, Inc., 2002.

Cherney, Kenneth A., Jr. “Hidden in Plain Sight: Luther’s Doctrine of Vocation.” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly vol. 98, no. 3 (Fall 2001), 278-290.

__________. My Vocation in Christ: A Bible Study Course for Adults. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 2004.

Luther, Martin. Selected Psalms III. Luther’s Works vol. 14. Pelikan, Javorslav, gen. ed. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958.

*Paustian, Mark A. “Unleashing Our Calling: Today’s Christians Find Fulfillment in Their Vocations.” Symposium on Vocation: Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wisconsin. September 18-19, 2006. Retrieved on April 6, 2015, from http://wlsessays.net/files/PaustianVocation.pdf

Placher, William C., ed. Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2005.

Schroeder, Jonathan E. “Our Calling: Christian Vocation and the Ministry of the Gospel.” Convention Essay: 60th Biennial Convention of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod Assembled at Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw, Michigan. July 27-31, 2009. Retrieved on April 6, 2015, from http://wlsessays.net/files/SchroederCalling.pdf

Smith, Christian, and Melina Lundquist Denton. Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Toppe, Carleton A. 1 Corinthians. “The People’s Bible” series. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1987.

*Vieth, Gene Edward, Jr. God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2002.

*__________. The Spirituality of the Cross. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2010.

*Wingren, Gustaf. Luther on Vocation. Rasmussen, Carl C., trans. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2004. Previous edition Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957.

* Recommended