As we approach the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, I recall my earliest experiences with this season in the Lutheran church.

Emmaus Lutheran School in South St. Louis enrolled students from kindergarten through the eighth grade.   Many of those students were of German heritage and attended Emmaus Lutheran Church.  A typical method of teaching in the 1950’s was memorization.  At Emmaus we had to memorize Bible verses, prayers, Luther’s Small Catechism, and the hymns of Lent.

A few of the favorite hymns back then included, Jesus, I Will Ponder Now; Jesus, Refuge of the Weary; Christ, the Life of All the Living; Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted; Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed; Go to Dark Gethsemane, and several others of the same ilk – all dealing with the suffering and dying Christ.

Ask me to recite a verse or two of one of these hymns, give me a few moments to refresh my memory, and I can repeat them to you without missing a beat.  That’s not bragging, but only getting back in touch with the strictness of my German Lutheran upbringing at Emmaus Lutheran School where many of the students were blonde-headed and blue-eyed, all the teachers were dedicated to the LCMS parochial school system, and classroom discipline included pulling your hair, being struck by a wooden pointer, or writing I will not talk five hundred times on notebook paper.  No after school detentions back then!

Anyway, getting back to Lent…I recall Pastor Wilson’s famous I am Pontius Pilate sermon.  That was the first time I ever heard a sermon in the first person singular.  No, Pastor Wilson did not dress up like a first-century prelate, but the serious tone of his sermon made a lasting impression on me.  And as a child I began to understand the more somber nature of the season of Lent as we moved to Good Friday with a sense of repentance. 

Emmaus Lutheran School was always closed on Good Friday.  We were expected to attend worship on Friday evening, listen to the Passion narrative with reverence, and of course, sing a few of those Lenten hymns.

But I recall that on one Good Friday, I had the first practice of the baseball season. I caught a bus to the park where practice was held.  My dad picked me up when practice was over and then we picked up delicious fried fish from a local restaurant. As a Lutheran (my day was Roman Catholic), I was not required to eat fish on Good Friday, but since we lived in an area with many Roman Catholics, we joined in that tradition and ate our share of fried fish on this holy day.

Do you remember the season of Lent from your childhood?  What practices did you observe?  Do you still practice them today?

In the February, 2012 edition of The Lutheran, Pastor Robert Blezard reminds us that in this holy season we encounter God’s grace.  We are encouraged to fall into the river of God’s grace.  In more recent years, Lutherans have renewed the practice of observing Lent as a way to remember the water and Word of God’s grace in Holy Baptism.  Thus, the theme of Lent can be one of renewal as we ponder anew the life-giving water in this sacrament.

Perhaps this Lent we will not only sing the Lenten hymns of our childhood, but also include songs of Holy Baptism as we remember the mystery and awesomeness of God’s grace through the One Who went to the cross for us all.

Mardi Gras is huge in Mobile, Alabama.  It’s big business and non-stop revelry as parades and balls capture the imagination of this city in January and February each year.  I know since I lived and served a congregation there from 1990 through 1998.

On Mardi Gras Day several parades in succession provided loads of fun and lots of laugh to the thousands who lined the downtown streets of this Gulf Coast city.  Schools were not in session and state and federal workers took off as well since no traffic was allowed in the heart of downtown Mobile.

Mardi Gras krewe members riding on decorated floats tossed their throws – moon pies, colorful beaded necklaces, and plastic cups - to the crowds some of whom have camped on the side of the street for several days just to get the right place to watch the parades.  My family always arrived on the scene in downtown Mobile in early morning under one of the large oak trees next to the old Episcopal church.

By day’s end all had eaten their fill of moon pies, cotton candy, pea nuts, shrimp, corn dogs and grilled meats.  And, of course, some had imbibed too much on the suds and were on their way to the Ash Wednesday hangover.

On the day following this entertainment and self-indulgence when moon pies were forgotten, beaded necklaces tossed into a drawer, and plastic cups washed and tucked into a cabinet, it was time for ashes, a sign of mortality and dependence upon God for life.  The Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran communities in Mobile distributed ashes on the foreheads of worshippers in houses of worship to mark the beginning of Lent.

Gone were the parades, the throws from krewe members, decorated floats, dance bands from the ball rooms, and hundreds of thousands of people who lined the streets having the time of their life.

I often wondered how many of those folks who joined in the fun on Mardi Gras also joined in the procession to receive ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday.  Some did.  Other went back to their normal routines of life.  It is much easier to take a break to join in some good-natured celebration than to take a break to reflect upon repentance, works of love, and almsgiving – the discipline of Lent.

The journey through the season of Lent leads us to the cross of Jesus Christ where true life is found.  During my Mobile years, I wished and prayed that for many more people the moon pies of Tuesday led to the ashes on Wednesday and finally to the adoration of the cross on Good Friday.

Here we go again with questions of church and state.

The front page of this morning’s Chattanooga Times Free Press featured the headlines, GOP bill seeking biblical displays.  Two Tennessee lawmakers are promoting a legally defensible way to display the Ten Commandments in country courthouses or on public grounds.

I recall the Ten Commandment display issue in Alabama in 2003 when then Alabama Chief Court Justice, Roy Moore, refused the federal court order to take down a Ten Commandments display in a federal courthouse.  He was dismissed for his refusal.

I don’t pretend to know the outcome of this bill nor will I offer a political opinion on this matter.  But here is what I can say from theological perspective.  Back in 1966 one of the predecessor bodies of the ELCA, the Lutheran Church in America, prepared a social statement entitled, Church and Society – A Lutheran Perspective (Check out this social statement and an updated version at www.elca.org.)

In the 1966 version, two terms helped us think about how the church relates to society.  The first term was called institutional separation which emphasized the freedom of both church and state to pursue their essential missions under God.

The other term entitled functional interaction recognized that neither church nor state need to dominate the other, but there are times when church and state are engaged on certain topics of justice.  Thus, the LCA some 45 years ago did not warrant a strict separation of church and state.  In Lutheran theology both church and state are ordained by God (Romans 13).

So, should there be a display of the Ten Commandments in Tennessee courthouses and on other public property?  Tennessee lawmakers are free to debate this issue. It depends on the ethics of each lawmaker and the majority will rule.  I am sure that constitutional scholars will offer opinions about whether or not the display of biblical symbols on public property violates the establishment clause.  And as Christians we are free to offer our opinions as citizens of both church and state.

The Christian Church is called to work for justice and peace in our country and around the world.  It is the Church’s responsibility to teach the Ten Commandments and model its obedience in daily life.  When the state sways from fair and just decisions, the church engages in dialogue with the state and calls the state to live out its purpose for liberty and justice for all.

Institutional separation and functional interaction is one way Lutherans have shared their faith and ethics within society.