925 North Forest St., Bellingham, WA 98225
phone: (360) 734-7180 fax: (360) 734-0788
www.centrallutheran.net; email, office@centrallutheran.net
119 years of faith in the heart of Bellingham
WORSHIP SCHEDULE 8:30 AM traditional, 11 AM contemporary, 9:45 AM fellowship and Sunday school for all ages See inside for a schedule of special Advent/Christmas events
Orthodox: Part 3—Science
(The New World next month)
When studying history, it is easy to focus on a single event
as if it happened in a vacuum—that is, alone and independent
of all other events. Most events, though, are influenced by
many sources, some of which may seem unrelated or insignificant
at first. Many events influenced the developing Reformation
movement and continue to affect an understanding of orthodoxy.
One of those influences growing out of the Renaissance was the
development of the scientific method. Science in this sense
includes the tangible sciences as well as the intangible sciences,
such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology. Although it
is always hard to pinpoint a precise moment for the beginning
of an era, the shift from the “Renaissance Era”
to the “Modern Era” is denoted by the beginning
of the scientific method.
Prior to the Reformation, science threatened the church’s
understanding of God. God was the answer to all things unknown
or not understood. The church’s vision of the world limited
scientific discovery and often led the church to persecute scientists
whose findings did not fit into that religious worldview. It
was feared that the more science understood, the less God would
seem powerful and in control of creation. The Reformation was
driven by intellectuals who understood science as a division
of theology—a way of understanding the workings of God’s
creation—not as in competition with theology. There remains
even to this day a holdover philosophy that one must choose
science or God within both religious academia and scientific
academia. However, there is a connection between the development
of the Reformation and the development of scientific discoveries,
and discussion of which permitted or influenced the other more,
but for this discussion of orthodoxy, simply acknowledging the
connection is sufficient.
The scientific method developed simultaneously with scientific
discoveries. Essentially, what developed was a science of how
to do science and how scientific discoveries were to be understood
as sources of information about creation. Many people, including
Luther himself, began to apply the developing scientific method
to scripture and theology, because scripture and theology were
seen as primary sources of information about God’s design
for creation. Luther insisted on the study of scripture in the
original languages and on the division of the church’s
theology between scriptural sources and traditional sources.
As the science of literature continued to develop, the new science
was applied to the scriptures also. At its most developed level,
the scientific study of the scriptures includes not only original
languages, but the sources of those languages, the handing down
and development of oral histories (ancient stories passed down
from generation to generation by word of mouth) into written
histories, the value of other ancient language sources, the
distilling of many sources into a single writing, and the handing
down of written histories. Style, type, and intended use of
books of the Bible were also studied, because it was believed
that these scientific discoveries affected how books should
be interpreted. Linguistic studies can date when a book of the
Bible was written by discovering when its vocabulary and syntax
were used and ceased to be used in contemporary literature.
All of these scientific methods of studying the scriptures were
combined under the label: “historic-critical hermeneutic.”
These discoveries were compared to the modern discoveries of
archeology and anthropology in order to better understand each.
The Bible was subjected to the same tests of truth as were the
legends and mythologies of other religions. The scientific method’s
discoveries challenged much of the “traditions”
of the church and beliefs in God that were not supported by
the scriptures. Some of the results of the scientific method’s
approach to scripture and theology greatly improved the teaching
of the gospel. By better understanding the promises of the gospel
apart from the cultural setting of the gospels’ authors,
biblical scholars freed the gospel to be proclaimed to different
cultures. By discovering the different styles and types of literature
contained in the Bible, scholars could better understand whether
a particular passage was intended to be proscriptive, prescriptive,
or descriptive. Some of the discoveries shattered the non-biblical
and extra-biblical teachings of the church. Indeed, the whole
of the scientific method promised to reveal the truth of the
pure gospel; to truly proclaim the core of orthodox theology.
There are three notable risks to orthodoxy created by the scientific
method and the modern era: cosmology, mythology, and epistemology.
Cosmology, the study of the universe, shares with the scientific
method the division between the tangible and intangible areas
of study. Part of cosmology studies the source, nature, and
state of the physical universe. Another part of cosmology studies
humankind’s place in and response to the universe. More
than a holdover of the old church’s anti-science attitude,
cosmology raises the question, Given all we now know about the
cosmos, does God exist? There is no scientific method type proof,
to be sure. But is there a scientific need for the existence
of God? I was at a conference that presented the science of
electronically mapped brain functions. We were shown the science
of where “faith” events happen in the brain. Is
faith just a mental function? From a scientific point of view,
should faith be intellectualized, purified to a basic set of
precepts and concepts for the “intentional scientific
evolution of humankind”? The fallacy is that while the
scientific method may be used to study and define the action
of faith in the belief in the existence of God, it cannot place
a value upon that belief. The fact that science can neither
prove nor disprove the existence of God doesn’t mean that
God does not exist—it means only that science can neither
prove nor disprove the existence of God.
Mythology is the study of explanations and the sources and
development of those explanations. A myth is an explanation
of why or how something does or doesn’t exist. Myths can
be as simple as children’s stories teaching ethics, and
as complicated as the logic defining mathematical formulas and
equations and theories. From the scientific method perspective,
any and every explanation can be categorized as a kind of myth,
and its source determined. The scientific method of studying
the Bible as mythological literature tested the accuracy of
the historical data contained in scripture, both compared to
archeology and compared to other, similar faith literature.
For Old Testament biblical research, events which determined
the identity or presence of the Jews were studied. Myths that
were determined to be faith-based but not fact-based were classified
as “historically untrue.” Those teachings were devalued
or dismissed. Myths that were determined to be faith-based and
fact-based were classified as “historically true.”
For New Testament biblical research, the value of the myth was
determined by the accuracy of the source—that is, did
the myth come from Jesus or one of the disciples? If the scientific
method determined that the source was someone other than Jesus
or the disciples, or developed from Jesus or the disciples,
or from an independent source, those teachings were devalued
or dismissed. The fallacy here is that the study is about the
mechanics and content of the literature compared to other sources,
not about the validity of the scripture for faith. Not all “myths”
are equally true, nor should they all be equally valued or discounted.
Epistemology is the study of how people know—that is,
how people understand and relate to reality. It is the question
of what is reality and how can we know it? At the core of reality
is truth. Scientific methods, both ancient and contemporary,
depend upon the current epistemology to determine accuracy and
truth. During the Renaissance, knowledge was changing from superstition
to “modern” thought. The understanding of “truth”
was changing from the subjective (what I “felt or believed”
caused what I thought was reality) to the objective (what others
could replicate equally by sense and observation). Scientific
discoveries and the ability to “scientifically prove”
a theory became the standards of knowledge in the western cultures
of Europe and North America. Philosophy took almost two hundred
years to understand the shift in knowledge, and theology took
even longer. Today, philosophy is just beginning to recognize
the failure of modern thought. Einstein warned of the failure;
pop philosophy calls this failure the butterfly effect. The
fallacy is that current knowledge is always based on and defined
by the current form of knowledge. This is called a closed or
circular logic system (philosophy=tautology). One cannot objectively
study the accuracy of the current knowledge system while using
that same knowledge system to study it. One must be able to
study the system from outside the system. This means that we
can effectively study an old system of thought only by using
a new system of thought. The modern scientific method could
test the accuracy of the superstitious method, but it cannot
test itself. The loss of the definite true or false calculations
of cause and effect of the modern scientific method was replaced
by relativity of truth in the post-modern scientific method.
Today, philosophy still has not defined what reality in relativity
is and has not defined what post-modern truth is. Theology still
wants to talk about an absolute, unchanging God.
The risk to orthodoxy of the modern scientific method is not
the nature of the tools of the scientific method but how the
tools are used. When any tool becomes self-authoritative, that
tool becomes a religion unto itself. Religious truth is not
found in the scientific method. The consequence of failing the
risk is to be caught up in an unchangeable tautological logic
(or knowledge system). The tools themselves are powerful, even
mesmerizing. Orthodoxy is about the first teachings; about God’s
self-revelation in and through creation and most ultimately
(which is beyond absolute) revealed in the person of Jesus of
Nazareth.
See you in Church
Pastor Tim
Update
from Kids’ Central Preschool
by Miss Angie
Greetings from Kids’
Central Preschool! We have had a busy November. We started off
with our first ever Preschool Sunday on Nov. 8th, a field trip
to the movie theater, and our Thanksgiving feast. We studied
the letters G, H, I, and J and learned about David and Goliath,
Baby Moses and Moses and the burning bush, and Jonah and the
whale. We had special visitors our friends from Japan who showed
us origami and wrote our names in Japanese!
We will be having an equally busy December. We will have our
first Christmas Preschool Program on Thursday December 17th
at 6pm. Everyone is invited. This is the time we get to share
“our rendition” of our Lord’s birth. It is
a really special evening seeing this great miracle portrayed
by our little friends, and singing with them and their families.
Come join us!!
We will be learning the letter
K, Jesus is King, for the week of December 7th. The week of
December 14th it will be all about the miracle of Jesus’
birth and Christmas break. Our last day of school for Christmas
break will be December 18th and we will return January 4th.
We would like to thank everyone
for their continued support of our school; we have been given
many recycled items. We also received some Family Christian
Book Stamps; these were used to help purchase a Little People
Nativity Scene. The nativity will be very helpful in class to
tell the Christmas story, let the children tell the story, and
help get us ready for our upcoming Christmas Program. [See related
article about how you can help the preschool.]
Once again thank you and a
blessed Merry Christmas to all of our family here at Central
Lutheran Church!
Upcoming Christmas Events
at Central
Christmas Decorating Party:
A work party to “dress” the church for Christmas
will be held on Saturday, Dec. 5, starting at 9:30 a.m. in the
narthex. Many hands will accomplish all the decorating in a
short time. This event will be followed by a potluck lunch.
Come to either or both parts, and for any length of time you
are able.
Women’s Candlelight Communion
Service: A lovely evening of carols, fellowship, and
cookies (bring cookies to share, if possible): Dec. 15th at
7:00 p.m. (Sorry, no boys allowed.)
Kids’ Central Preschool Christmas
Program: Dec. 17th at 6:00 p.m. Three- to five-year-olds
perform their rendition of Our Lord’s birth. Could there
be anything cuter? Equally cute:
Sunday School Christmas Program:
Come see Central’s amazing, talented kiddos perform at
either service on Dec. 20th.
Christmas Caroling to Our Shut-Ins: Come help us spread holiday
cheer and remind our shut-ins that we love them. Wear your best
Christmas sweater! Dec. 20th - time TBD. Caroling will be followed
by a soup potluck at Central.
Youth Ice Skating Party:
Dec. 23rd- time TBD. All kids welcome, ages 1-101.
Christmas Eve Worship: Family
Service at 5:00pm and Candlelight Service at 11:00pm.
Christmas Morning Worship:
10:00am. Open your presents early, and then go to church to
celebrate the greatest gift of all.
Christmas Gift Ideas
As you think about Christmas gifts for family members and friends,
consider skipping conventional presents this year and instead
giving ELCA “Good Gifts.” As examples, in countries
served by the ELCA World Hunger program, your $50 gift could
buy a goat or provide adult literacy training or immunize a
child against preventable diseases such as measles and tetanus.
To see all the possible “Good Gift” ideas, check
out www.elca.org/goodgifts; then visit www.elca.org/goodgiftscards
for cards and creative ways to announce your gift. You can make
a difference in the world!
Whatcom Chorale Concert
On Sunday December 13 at 3:00 P.M. the Whatcom Chorale will
present Carols and Lullabies from Two Continents at First Congregational
Church on Cornwall in Bellingham. Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony
of Carols” and Conrad Susa’s “Christmas in
the Southwest” will be performed by the ninety-voice Chorale
and distinguished guest instrumentalists. Tickets ($15, Seniors
$12, Students and under eighteen $5) are available at the door
and at Village Books, Piper Music, Everybody’s Store and
Downtown Renaissance.
Interfaith Coalition News
“Sounds of the Season”: Tickets are on sale now
at the Mount Baker Theatre ticket office for the Friday, December
18, performance of “Sounds of the Season.” Enjoy
an evening of multigenerational family entertainment by local
performers in this Christmas-themed variety show to benefit
Interfaith Coalition of Whatcom County and the Bellingham Food
Bank. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show cost $10. Performances range
from dancing to vocal and instrumental music and are sure to
please theatergoers of all ages. Thanks to the sponsorship of
this community event by Alliance LLC, every dollar raised will
provide support to Interfaith Coalition’s homeless housing,
health care, and senior outreach programs. Donations of non-perishable
food items will be accepted in the main lobby to benefit the
Bellingham Food Bank.
For more info, contact Lori Polevoi, Interfaith Coalition of
Whatcom County, 360-734-3983.
Interfaith Coalition Coat Drive: This fall, we provided winter
coats to a greater number of people in need in Whatcom County.
Thank you for donating a winter coat and bringing some much
needed warmth to others this fall. Coats were distributed by
volunteers to our neighbors in need. We appreciate your commitment
to this program and are humbled to experience the gratitude
in words or expressions of those who benefit from your efforts.
It is heart-warming to witness coats no longer needed by members
of your congregation benefiting people who are delighted to
receive them.
Thank you and warm wishes this Thanksgiving season,
Laura DeRose Harker, Executive Director
Updated
Altar Flower Policy
1. Select the Sunday(s) you wish to give flowers.
2. Write your name and phone #/email address on the designated
line of the flower chart in the narthex.
3. Unless otherwise instructed, the office staff will automatically
order two fresh flower altar arrangements on the Tuesday before
your Sunday from Johnson’s Floral. Total price for the
arrangements is $30 plus tax.
Johnson’s will send a bill directly to the address the
church office has on file for you. If you would like to order
the flowers from a different source or bring in your own arrangements,
please contact the office well in advance to arrange a time
to pick up the vase liners.
4. The church office staff will contact you before your Sunday
to ask what you would like mentioned in the Sunday bulletin
regarding the flowers. (For example: The flowers in the chancel
are given to the glory of God by _____ in honor of/in loving
memory of/in thanksgiving for________.)
5. You may take the flower arrangements home after the Contemporary
Worship Service (which concludes about 12:00 p.m.). Please plan
on either bringing your own vases to transport the flowers home,
or take the flowers home in the vase liners and return those
liners to Johnson’s Floral (121 W. Magnolia St.) before
the next Wednesday.
The mission of
Central Lutheran Church
is to be a church so deeply and confidently
rooted in the gospel of God's grace,
revealed in Jesus Christ,
that we joyfully give ourselves in witness and service.
Newsletter Deadline
Please note that the deadline for submission of articles, letters,
information,
or reports for the church newsletter is the 20th of each month.
Help Our Preschool
Don’t forget that there are lots of ways we can all
help raise funds for the preschool without spending any additional
money. Please consider participating in the following:
*Albertsons Community Partners: Donate up to 4 percent of
your total grocery bill—again, without paying anything
additional—to the Kids’ Central Preschool, KCP
(Community Partners ID# 49001023311). Register your Preferred
Savings Card at www.albertsons.com/cp and the money will automatically
be contributed by Albertsons.
*Login to OneCause.com before you do your online holiday shopping.
Earn up to 8 percent of your total purchases at over 900 merchants;
simply designate KCP as your “cause.”
*Magazines make great Christmas presents! Go to www.magfundraising.com/CentralLutheranPreschool,
and 40 percent of your total magazine purchases will go directly
to KCP.
Open Letter from Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop,
11/19/2009
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Sisters and brothers in Christ of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America,
I greet you with the words of the apostle Paul to the Romans:
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Romans
5:1-2a).
Where does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
stand today? We stand together in God's grace, but we are not
standing still. We proclaim Jesus Christ and are fully engaged
in this mission by actively caring for the world that God loves.
God's mission is serious work that calls for serious commitment.
We bring all that we are -- especially our rich diversity, our
shared tradition and even our disagreements -- in service of
God's mission.
We go forward in this mission trusting that “God's love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that
has been given to us” (Romans 5:5b). Evidence abounds
of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon us and through us:
• Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Naples, Fla., recently purchased
land for a new ministry center. They also convened ELCA partners,
seminaries, synods, and churchwide staff to envision together
a vibrant, evangelical and multicultural Lutheran presence in
southwestern Florida.
• Our new directors of evangelical mission, based in synods,
are trained and ready to serve ELCA congregations that they
might continue to grow as evangelical centers for mission.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi told Global
Mission colleagues traveling in the region that they are ready
to deepen their relationship with the ELCA so that together
we can more generously and faithfully respond to malaria, HIV
and AIDS. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, ELCA coordinator for the Lutheran
Malaria Initiative, writes, "The ELCA, especially through
the Lutheran Malaria Initiative, will be part of a movement
that changes the world. It's certainly going to change Malawi."
• In summer 2009, 37,000 youth, young adults and adult
leaders attended the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. They
spread throughout the city, wearing orange t-shirts in a witness
of service that touched the hearts of residents and has them
talking still.
• ELCA chaplains Michael Lembke, Richard Brunk and Paul
Dirksmeyer bore witness to God's mercy at Fort Hood, Texas.
They ministered to families, friends and an entire nation grieving
the tragic shootings at the nation's largest military base.
These are just a few examples. Think of the signs of the Holy
Spirit being poured out in your life and in your congregation!
Thanks be to God for this continued outpouring of the Spirit
among us.
When the ELCA Church Council faced the reality of reduced financial
resources for mission, it made a difficult but necessary 10
percent budget reduction. The decision, however, does not diminish
our resolve and commitment to engage together in God's mission
for the life of the world.
We will engage Christ's mission with everyone who stands together
in God's grace, using the rich gifts that the Holy Spirit has
poured into our lives:
• Together we will proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord in worship
spaces and workplaces, in online conversations and around kitchen
tables.
• Together we will develop new ministries in every synod
in multicultural communities and among people living in deep poverty.
• Together we will raise up and welcome faithful, wise and
courageous leaders by sustaining vital and creative seminaries
and campus ministries.
• Together we will send missionaries to accompany new and
growing Lutheran churches throughout the world.
I invite you to deepen this conversation with me in an online
town hall forum on Sunday, December 6, at 4:30 p.m. (CST); check
www.elca.org for more details.
The apostle Paul wrote that where the Holy Spirit is poured out
upon us, hope abounds and hope does not disappoint us (Romans
5:4-5). What a wonderful promise this is as we now enter the season
of Advent! With our hope in Christ, we face the future together
as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, serving the world
that God so loves.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus!
Mission
Sewing
We mission sewing ladies say a very heart-felt thank-you to
the members of Central for your donations of funds and supplies.
You have helped us through the year 2009 as we have continued
this very much-needed effort throughout the world. Our fall
shipment contained the following:
Quilts 110
School Kits 53
Health Kits 52
Layettes 64
Yardage 8 lengths
We were also able to share layette items with Immanuel and
Our Saviour’s Lutheran churches. In addition, we packed
five banana boxes for the Bellingham Pregnancy Center. All this
because we at Central care about others. Thank you for sharing
your blessings.
God’s Work, Your and Our Hands
A memorial was given in memory of Hosea Compton by Allan and
Jeanne Yanco. The following additional memorials have been given
in memory of Mo Galasso: Maverick Applied Science, Inc., Mr.
& Mrs. Raymond F. Palmer, Sr., Helen Hindman and Ethel Nelson,
The Petersen's, The Callender's, the Yanco's, Peggy Carr, Karolyn
Schwartz, Marvin Knutsen, the Grovers, the Kenneys, the Holmeses,
Betty Freeberg, the Willemsens, Joyce Christopher, the Moores,
the Greers, the Davises, Bob Hollister, and the Hennesseys.
Tired of solicitation phone calls—on landlines
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