The Shaw Experience
I just got back from visiting one of our members in her home; she is recovering from hip replacement surgery, and not able to come to church with regularity yet. I had the honor of officiating at her second husband’s funeral, and then his interment at Arlington National Cemetery, a year or two ago. Today she told me about her first husband’s funeral, and what a small world life in the LCMS is: Chaplain Jonathan Shaw, who now attends Immanuel while stationed at the Pentagon, was the pastor at Our Savior in Winchester when her first husband died. Apparently he told her at that time, “You MUST sing, ‘Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart’ at the funeral” (spoken as a command). I’m used to him saying things like that to me, but not many people could get away bossing around his parishioners like that. I love it. If you know him, can’t you just hear him saying that?
So on Sunday, Ch. Shaw is teaching my Bible Class, on FC II, Free Will. It was too late when I started writing them down, but his entire class is peppered with military analogies. In the midst of this intense theological discussion, he keeps talking about “artillery barrages,” troops being “decimated,” using phrases like “pound sand,” and the like.
Mostly I use stupid puns and talk about football, which is a sad insight into my small mind. With Chaplain Shaw, blowing things up is always in the background, even when the topic is the Bondage of the Will. It is truly a great thing being in a parish where people like him are always floating around to keep me sharp.
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Free will and pounding sand…..that’s hilarious!
Luther liked to use military analogies in describing the work of the Law. He employed spiritual weapon systems to leave no self-righteousness standing.
For the Gospel, however, Luther did not use weapon system analogies (at least in my reading of him). The Gospel, working without any compulsion or coercion, was for Luther a simple story of a little David and of His fight for us.
Yes, the inimitable, unsinkable, undaunted, unforgettable Jonathan Shaw is always quite capable of making me smile.
Isn’t he due for a promotion soon, like, to full colonel?