Non nobis - “not to us [be the glory].” The world is filled with people who say the opposite: “To us be the glory; to me be the glory.” If we’re honest, that’s who we are, deep down. What a gift, to learn from early childhood to sing the opposite: Non nobis - “not to us,” Domine, “Lord” - Sed nomini tuo - “but to Your name” be the glory….
Read MoreIf you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do?
You could try to have fun. Eat your favorite food. Play a game. Watch your favorite movie one last time.
Maybe you’d try to finish up something left undone. Make sure everything was put in order. You might even have some things to get rid of. Things you don’t want anybody else to see. Things that would embarrass you….
Read MoreWe think report cards really matter. But in the end, not as much as you think.
Grades count for something when you’re applying for high school or college. But if you graduate from the most prestigious school, what will it gain you? What really counts?
Read More“Why won’t there be food in heaven?” a student asked me recently. I reminded this thoughtful child that in the kingdom of God our bodies will be resurrected, and the Bible often talks about God’s kingdom as a feast. And then I asked, “What made you so sure there wouldn’t be food?”
“Because the Bible says we won’t hunger or thirst.” Ah! Yes, I see why you might think that. But you see, it’s not eating and drinking that’s the problem, but a world where people suffer.
Our world is infected with sin, and corrupted by death. So when the Bible says, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore,” it’s describing a world where people don’t starve, where people have clean water to drink….
Read MoreAfter sitting through dozens of graduation speeches that were a terrible waste of time, the brilliant educator and critic Neil Postman wrote the sort of commencement address he wished would be given but never is. In it he talks about two groups of ancient people, the Athenians and the Visigoths. This is because, Postman said, you soon must align yourself with the spirit of one or the spirit of the other. You must choose between the Athenians or the Visigoths.
Read MoreDo you believe in monsters?
Our word monster comes from the Latin monere, which means “to show” or “warn.” I’ve never seen for sure, but I suspect that monster stories arose to warn people about dangers in general. The monster put a scary, if imaginary, face on the general danger that is outside the safety of home and village.
So our history is filled with monster stories: Leviathan, the sea monster; Cyclops; Beowulf’s Grendel; up to more modern monsters like Tolkien’s Smaug.
Read MoreWhat are we here for, at Immanuel Lutheran School? Our goal as pedagogs is to ago the paidoi, to lead the children to their goal, to their completion, to their perfection. We ourselves are not there, but we are on the path. And this path leads to the kingdom of God, the perfection of the world in the regenesis of the human race. All the subjects—math and literature etc.—are to be employed with nurturing the conscience and shaping the heart. We are preparing our young men for the moment Salome salaciously presents herself and now a decision must be made. We are preparing our young women to not be Salome.
Yet there is something beyond morals here, and obedience to the God-given conscience. There is also preparation for the moment after the moment, the time when we’ve stepped off the path our pedagogs mapped out for us.
Read MoreMusic not only helps us memorize the text of hymns and the words of stories but it also reminds us of the content of those hymns and stories by way of a simple melody. And the remembrance of those hymns and stories leads us to contemplate their subject, in this case the object of our worship and devotion—Christ.
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