Bloghardt's Reflector
“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I
do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in
the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives
to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
"I've got another confession to make..." there is no one more arrogant and
self-promoting than myself. At least, no one that I have met. So,
this is a condemnation of myself and not anyone else...
When I first saw the
Lutheran Carnival announcement, I was
initially excited. What a great idea! What great possibilities!
Imagine a place where all the good Lutheran blog posts were collected.
Talk about a great place to learn.
Then, I saw you had to submit your own articles and I thought, "What a great
opportunity for people to see the great things I have on my blog." Then, I
hesitated for an instant. Who's this about?
There is a certain reveling that we do in the church about our own
popularity. There is a boasting that we do about who we are. Do you
know what I'm talking about? It's the desire to be first amongst equals, a
concern with how many people are looking at what I do, how many people visit MY
site, how many are looking at ME when I do whatever it is I am doing.
There's a name for this: idolatry.
There is the Gospel and there is the promotion of self. The two are
antithetical. They are opposites. The Law is all about what I
do. The Gospel is what Christ did and does for me.
It would be one thing if the Carnival went out and found articles to post.
Having Bloghardt submit his own postings and then using any post submitted just
makes me question my sinful motives. I'm not saying that y'all cannot
submit your own good Lutheran blog-articles, I just know how sinful Bloghardt's
heart is. There are faithful pastors and laity with godly intentions that
submit articles. But, then there is Bloghardt (grin).
So, perhaps, we should give the task of promoting our blogs to someone else.
Let them take whatever articles that we write that are full of the Gospel and
truth and submit them.
This is not, "Oh look how pious Bloghardt is.. he's against self-promotion."
Nope, this is all about eyes being taken off Bloghardt.
And with me out of the way comes the Gospel: Jesus had mercy on us,
despite our self-promotion and our pushing ourselves to the front of the line.
He didn't promote Himself for us. He ran from such things. He who
was above all things, made Himself last for us, setting His face to suffering
and death on the Cross for you and me.
That's our joy, our salvation, and our boasting.....
"But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal.
6:14)
Edited on: September 06th, 2005 11:26 pm
Comments:
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 4:12 pm by CKirk
How much of this same thought process should be in the mindset of a church wanting to reach out to the community? Should they take an ad in the paper? Send out fliers? I really curious...
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 4:44 pm by revcwirla
Let's face it. Blogging is already an ego-trip. Which, of course, is why Zill has not been heard from for 157 days. He's on an ego fast.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 6:15 pm by Bloghardt
Soon to be Mrs. Schellenbach,
Promotion of self and promotion of church are two different things. Don't you think?
One of the great joys of being in robes is to get out of the way. It's not about the man, but about the delivery of the Lord's gifts. The robe gets the man outta the way.
Contrast Cwirla celebrating the Lord's Supper in robes and him doing it in a fancy-smancy suit.
(What a funny picture)
HT wants her blogs and forums advertised. We want the website to have traffic. Perhaps we should get a volunteer to do just that.... someone to do nothing but advertise HT. Just a thought....
That sounds like a fun job for a Triplet or Femlem, doesn't it?
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 7:24 pm by Stan Lemon
Rev. Cwirla,
You are sooooo right! Blogging is an absolute ego trip. Worse though is the fact that so many are willing to feed our egos, or for that matter give a hoot what we have to say. 
Pax,
- Stan
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 7:40 pm by CKirk
I guess a better question would be then: How do you promote the church to others? I have seen signs such as "Open Doors. Open Hearts. Open Minds." (UMC) I have seen signs such as "We don't preach guilt" (Non-denominational). I have seen signs that say "Free Breakfast before Church" (non-denominational). Even a "coffee" or "fellowship" hour. All seem to put the focus away from Christ. How should we advertise our churches? Should it just have service times? I agree advertising our churches is different from promoting self, however, the two can sometimes get confused. How do we keep from crossing the line?
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 9:52 pm by john pawlitz
Forget blogging, you might as well say that promoting the gospel in general is an ego trip: Who are you to preach the Word of God?
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 9:58 pm by john pawlitz
btw...I don't mean that whatsoever...I only stated it because I thought it sounded ridiculous.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 10:09 pm by Bloghardt
Don't back down... John.
Can we preach for our own gain? To catch the attention of others?
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 10:10 pm by john pawlitz
Bloghardt...the game's up...now you really know why I haven't gone to a sem...pietistic conscience.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 10:15 pm by john pawlitz
"Can" in the sense that it is possible, but "cannot" in the sense that is is not permissible. I suppose.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 10:21 pm by john pawlitz
or is it permissible?--way too much stream of consciousness.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 20th, 2005 at 11:58 pm by john pawlitz
I suppose one would want something more substantial...
Preaching the Word of God is an office. If unrighteous men fill that office, God does not therefore punish the people, so long as the office applied, which is to say, the gospel is preached in all its truth and purity and the sacraments administered rightfully.
If some view the office as an object being to administer something other than the right worship of God, then they err. For instance, the office cannot administer views about morality and preach moral deeds without failing to offer the right worship of God. It is simply impossible. If the office exists to do something else, why should it work at promoting morality? If the office exists to administer the righteousness of Christ, then how can it supply that by concern for human righteousness. Nevertheless, people will suppose that the office exists for purposes other than Christ's righteousness. But they are wrong, and the viewpoint that it does have a purpose and that this purpose ought to be perpetrated by the words and deeds of the officials who fill that office must be freely expressed and fully allowed.
The Scriptures rightly teach that the office is a noble calling (or whatever that adjective is to be translated.) It is possible to affect nobility by being a lawyer, a politician, a doctor, a teacher/professor, a soldier, and many other find occupations. Society is so dependent on these positions, we are almost like slaves. Unless they provide what we need, we are screwed. However, it is not the case that they may therefore corrupt the office, like, say, the antichrist. What they *can* do is suppose themselves to be better than they really are, by not realizing that it is God's grace that matters. We should not believe God's grace less or more by our participation and/or involvement in administering sacraments/preaching the Word. The grace is still God's not ours. Nonetheless, the people are so dependent upon the Word of God, that it is easy to sneer at them. This unhappy pride is wrongheaded, but as long as it does not interfere with the execution of the office, cannot corrupt the office, which is given by God, not the silly men.
I would venture to say that it is wrong to preach with the absurd egotistical motives. However, it is not therefore impermissible, for even St. Paul seems to say as much. It is great benefit for people to hear the Word of God. However, if someone maligns the office itself, by failing to preach the Word of God or not administering sacraments, then that habit is to be broken. The difference is that personal character (or lack thereof) does not itself affect the quality of the office (the preaching and the administering). Nonetheless, it would therefore only be reprehensible if we wished to stop the preaching and administering--a silly notion due to how necessary these things are. So it is bad to reprimand a person for preaching "for the wrong reasons" because what they are doing is so beneficial despite them.
However, inevitably more dangerous is he who preaches the wrong doctrine for the "right" reasons. In any case, the overall effect of my thoughts is very little towards anything besides the office itself. The motivation to preach the gospel is fine, so long as the actual gospel is preached. Nonetheless, if men wax petty--should we be surprised?--just let them preach the gospel. One need not participate in saturating oneself with giddiness over a supposed power one wields over the crowd. If you weren't there, someone else probably would be, for that is the nature of the crowd. The benefit of the office is that it takes that human filth and raises it by the Word of God. It has nothing to do with the person who effects those benefits by his labor, because apart from Christ, those labors would be futile anyway.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 21st, 2005 at 12:46 am by Bloghardt
158 days of zill-freedom!
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 21st, 2005 at 7:06 am by Schellenbach
Well thought-out, John.
Go to Seminary. The Church needs men who can think like you.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 21st, 2005 at 8:02 am by Rev. Todd Peperkorn
All of our righteousness is as filthy rages. If you do it, you're an egotistical sonofamethodist. If you don't do it, you are a Pharisaical sonofananglican. Confess the faith. God will deal with your stinky motivations.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 21st, 2005 at 8:30 am by Ron Olson, the Terrible Swede
Pr. Borghardt, have you expressed your concerns with Dan the Geologist and Intolerant Elle? I believe their intent was to increase readership and not egos. I'm sure they will be very receptive of your ideas.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 22nd, 2005 at 1:06 am by Madre
Stan Lemon stated on his blog, in response to Ron's identical question there, that he did contact Dan and Elle and it was the case that articles can only be submitted by the authors/bloggers. I hope that policy changes.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 22nd, 2005 at 5:31 am by Ron Olson, the Terrible Swede
Thanks, Madre, but I directed the question to Pr. Borghardt.
'Cause I'm Easy Come, Easy Go
Posted On: August 22nd, 2005 at 10:48 pm by Luscious Lieschen
Padre,
I really appreciated the message. That is something that everyone struggles with in their own lives. Just reading that post made me recognize my own idolatry. By the way, I miss my youth group already-- I haven't even been gone for a week yet. I'll catch ya later.
~L
P.S. I'm listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 1:35 am by Orycteropus Afer
My thoughts ran too long to post and I also wanted to get both sides of the discussion out in the open blogosphere, so I have a response at Aardvark Alley
Orycteropus +
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 1:48 am by elle
Thanks for bringing this up. You people made me think a lot harder about the carnival than I anticipated. I posted a response and hopefully a satisfactory explanation of why we went the route we did at the Lutheran Carnival Blog
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 9:23 am by elle
Thanks for bringing this up. You people made me think a lot harder about the carnival than I anticipated. I posted a response and hopefully a satisfactory explanation of why we went the route we did at the Lutheran Carnival Blog
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 1:21 pm by elle
Thanks for bringing this up. You people made me think a lot harder about the carnival than I anticipated. I posted a response and hopefully a satisfactory explanation of why we went the route we did at the Lutheran Carnival Blog
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 26th, 2005 at 5:14 pm by Lisa Stapp
Let's face it. Blogging is already an ego-trip. Which, of course, is why Zill has not been heard from for 157 days. He's on an ego fast.
I liked this! May I steal it as my excuse for not keeping up with my own blogs?
Re: Concerning Self-Promotion & the Gospel
Posted On: August 27th, 2005 at 9:54 pm by Josh S
Or...if you have a blogpost you'd like people to read, you could just send in the link and spare us the morbid introspection.