The Lutheran Podcast
I'm Rev. Eric Wolf, a pastor, writer, and musician.
I've previously posted almost exclusively sermons, but I'm writing a book called Myth of a Dying Church, and am now also posting episodes about the topics in and related to the book.
I believe strongly that the task of preaching is to engage Scripture as a mirror held up to our lives so that we can confront what we see with integrity. This image we engage helps us to understand what it means to be Children of God; gain perspective of what it means that our primary citizenship and allegiance belongs to God’s Kingdom; and discover how the love of God transforms what we see when we look at ourselves, the people in our lives, and the world that God so loves.
The Lutheran Podcast
Led Away From Temptation to Take the Hard Road to Justice (Matthew 4:1-11 Lent 1)
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote in his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” that his opinion had become that the white moderate was the biggest obstacle to the cause of justice for black and brown people. He defines them, not by their ideology, but by their actions that frustrate the advancement of civil rights and prolong the suffering of black and brown people because the white moderate is more devoted to “order” than justice; prefers a negative peace which is lack of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; approves of the cause, but not direct action; sets a timetable according to a myth that liberation must wait for a “more convenient season”.
In a season of temptation to leave well enough alone, the Church is called to stand at the front of the cause of justice to be, in King’s words, the headlights rather than the tail lights on this ride to justice.