Friday, April 23, 2010

Sendepause

I have to put in a little "Sendepause"  (break in the broadcasting) for half a dozen reasons, all of them good; not to worry.

It did rain here, today, which was wonderful, the last rain having been experienced more than 6 months ago.  We can use more.


I will leave you with a pretty picture for now. 

It is the Sturgeon River which snakes through the Sturgeon County here.  The largest animal I've run into is a moose, the prickliest was a porcupine family.  The beaver I can see about on 50% of the evenings.  Coyotes are everywhere because of the nearby poultry farms.  Sometimes they howl in packs nearby.  I don't know if that's safe or not, but I've walked down there for 20 years.  Somebody once suggested, it should be safer with my border collie along.  Somehow, I could not imagine that.  She was such an easily scared dog.  When the coyotes howled she would press right in on me and start with a deep, gutteral growl, with her head held low.  It seemed kind of primeval.  Or she would sit back with the head up and howl straight into the air, like a wolf.



Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Joint declaration on Justification/Betrayal

http://cyberbrethren.com/2010/04/21/a-betrayal-of-the-gospel-the-joint-declaration-on-the-doctrine-of-justification/
Cyberbretheren has  lengthy post dealing with the joint declaration on justification and how it is a betrayal of Lutheran/Biblical doctrine.  I read it and agree.  I've posted it here, so it's handy.  You may also comment.  For me, today, it connects with the two previous posts I made today. 

When Baptists, Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, etc. speak of a "whole" gospel, they are also getting away from justification by faith alone, no matter how they deny it.  If one reads them, one can see right away that forgiveness of sins is no longer at the heart, but something else.  And that something else varies from person to person and group to group.  Unity is not gained this way.




About the "Gospel" / 2 / N.T. Wright on John's gospel and Bach's opening Chorus to St. John's passion "Herr unser Herrscher"

http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_StJohnPassion.htm

The post on Bach's opening chorus of the St. John's Passion I made during this lent, has received quite few Google hits. I noticed that you can find online a talk by Bishop N.T. Wright (see link above) that talks about Bach's chorus, the gospel according to John and a "whole" gospel.  Yet, he also manages to do this without mentioning the forgiveness of sins.  There is a trend here.  Everywhere I read about the "whole" gospel for the "whole" man, for the "whole" world, or whatever, it's not really about forgiving my sins, not the ones for the today.  The "whole" gospel is so vague, but it really seems to be designed to detract from-- the forgiveness of sins.  A substitution.

(See previous post, also)

About the "Gospel"

Last week, I read a post and commented on it, that proposes that the Gospel has three "centers", being a triad (does this make sense geometrically or theologically?)  I would propose that a thing can have only "ONE" center. The other centers beside Christ's atonement were said to be "repentance" and "transformation".  In thinking about this, Lutherans think really, really hard about the proper distinction between law and gospel and in this "repentance" is according to law and "transformation" would also be "law", not "gospel".   What is gospel, then?  Gospel is the announcement of God's kindness to you, through Christ.

A little devotion from Luther that came into my hands yesterday:

"I don't reject God's kindness.  If we receive God's approval by obeying laws, then Christ's death was pointless."  Galatians 2:21.


Wanting to receive God's approval by our own works though the law is so wrong that the apostle Paul calls this throwing God's kindness away.  It shows not only ingratitude--which is extremely bad in itself--but also shows contempt because we should eagerly seek God's kindness.  Instead, we shove aside kindness, which we receive free of charge.  This is a serious error.  Consider Paul's argument, 'If we receive God's approval by obeying laws, then Christ's death was pointless.'  Paul confidently declares that either Christ's death was pointless, which is the highest blasphemy against God, or Christ's death was essential, and through the law we can have nothing but sin.

Some teachers categorize various kind of righteousness using distinctions they have made up in their heads.  If these teachers try bring these ideas to theology, they should be kept far away from the Holy Scriptures.  For these people say on kind is moral righteousness, another is righteousness of faith, and they describe others I don't even know about.  Let civil government have its kind of righteousness, the philosophers have theirs, and each person have his own.  But we must understand righteousness the way the Bible explains it.  The apostle clearly says that there is no other righteousness than through faith in Jesus Christ.  All other works, even those according to the most holy laws of God, do not offer righteousness.  Not only that, they are actually sins.

Our sins are so great and so far away from righteousness that it was necessary for the Son of God to die so that righteousness could be given to us.  When discussing theology, don't call anything righteousness that is apart from faith in Christ.

If we tack on things to the Gospel, like your repentance should be there and your improved life and deeds for the community should be there (which they should be, but freely), then we have taken away with one hand what we were trying to give with another.  Now you can't know if it is for you, and if your repentance or transformation is good enough.  The way to deal with this is with a proper law/gospel distinction/application.

Not surprisingly, the post on the triad of the Gospel completely forgot to talk about forgiveness of sins.  I don't want to pick on the writer, but it should be a lesson in what happens when when the Gospel becomes a triad of centers.   Whenever there is need for a "full" gospel, whatever is added on to the forgiveness of sins, will be taking away from forgiveness of sins.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

University of Calgary students threatened with expulsion over graphic images of aborted unborn


Someone, who may or may not wish to remain anonymous, sent me this story with this comment: 

I think the University of Calgary has no idea what it stands for and what to do with the pro-life students, other than to send the goons (lawyers and police) upon them.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Fortney+students+threatened+with+expulsion/2927099/story.htm

I admit the pictures can be unsettling, but so can pictures of holocaust victims, racial strife, etc.  Images speak a powerful message.  Maybe the picture is telling you something.   In the day of images/movies/ games involving gratuitous violence and sex abounding to the extent that we can hardly evade them, we object to viewing images that purvey the truth about invisible slaughter?  Something about specks and logs?

We know what happens to people who speak the truth.  The prophets have always be stoned and the Christ, though perfect ended up crucified.  This is our despicable human nature not wanting to be confronted with the truth or willing to make any changes.  It is not to be condoned in the way a university treats its own students.  We do not live in a totalitarian state.

Christian History Project: The Renaissance


The newest book in the Christian History Project series, researched and produced by the SEARCH  (Society to Explore And Record Christian History), has just come in the mail.  Our Albertan Ted Byfield is the president of the Association.

The Foreword by Ted Byfield begins like this:


"Of all twelve volumes in our series, this one will be, or ought to be, the most discouraging to any practicing Christian.  So much goes wrong in the two centuries it covers.  We haven the appalling spectacle of the Great Western Schism, which for years puts two rival bishops in each diocese and two rival priests in many parishes.  In France we have the unspeakable cruelties of the Hundred Year's War, and a half century later, the appalling spectacle of the Rodrigo Borgia papacy, followed early in the succeeding century by the sack of Catholic Rome by a Catholic army.

In the East the Tartars after nearly two hundred years of bloody oppression are finally driven out, though some see tartar rule as leaving in its wake an indelible cynicism which henceforth coexists with Christian faith in Holy Russia, causing a sort of national schizophrenia to persist right down to the twentieth-first century.  And while Spain is finally reclaimed for Christianity after seven hundred years of Muslim occupation, this victory is offset in the East by the loss to Islam of the great Christian bastion of Constantinople, and the conquest by the Muslim Turks of the Christian Balkans."

Ted Byfield continues by drawing on Chesterton, who explains that Christianity has "advanced from Jerusalem, not by unrelieved expansion, improvement, and ever loftier moral witness.  To the contrary, it has been punctuated by a succession of deaths (he counts five in all), each followed by an amazing resurrection" (beginning with Christ's).   The fourth death was the end of the whole medieval order, which we read about in this volume.  It sets the stage for the triumph beginning in Volume 9, (yet, to be produced), where "passionate Christianity burst out of Europe and spreads to the ends of the earth."

I've read part of Chapter 1, which deals entirely with Dante, the Divine Comedy and "the troubling concept of purgatory". 

There is also a little something on the Knights of Rhodes, to whom I skipped forward to, because Bror Erickson, who translated Bishop Bo Giertz' "The Knights of Rhodes", a Christian historical novel, (who graces this blog with some comments here) and others, might find it interesting.

"Towards the Mediterranean coast, however, the Ottomans began encountering an enemy they could not defeat:  the Knights Hospitaller, who had retreated to the island of Rhodes after the Crusades.  For the next two centuries the invaders would try to destroy the Hospitallers, and would fail.  In their final encounter at the mid-Mediterranean island of Malta in 1565, the knights, although vastly outnumbered, would in effect doom the Ottoman dream of re-conquering Spain and taking Europe from the west." (p. 118,119)

I am mentioning the Knights of Rhodes because I just read the book.  Overall, I've been thinking that our society should revisit the crusades and the times more thoroughly.  We know barely anything about them, but keep throwing them out as if they were some kind of argument, without discussing anything or knowing much.  Perhaps, a movie series could be made of it. 

Lately, we have seen soap opera type treatment of historical times in the HBO series "Rome" and the CBC series "The Tudors".  Though the treatment with its indulgence of images of sex and violence, could be deemed unnecessarily explicit, at least someone is dealing with the history.  Perhaps, a slightly more tasteful series could be made of the late middle ages, including the crusades, the renaissance and the reformation time.




Monday, April 19, 2010

Sunday



Some of the neighbors seem to have congregated with their horses on the open space next to our house.  It has been very warm.  The Bruderheim farmers are quite distraught.  It is already so dry they wonder about seeding.  We haven't had enough precipitation winter/summer for years now, even the trees are supposedly sustaining damage everywhere.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Ezra Levant on oil policy

http://ezralevant.com/2010/04/protecting-canada-from-obama.html

In "Protecting Canada from Obama",  Ezra makes some interesting comments about the Alberta oil sands.  Apparently, he is also writing a book about oil policy.  In the article there is also mention of the little town of Bruderheim, where we go to church,  proposed starting point of a pipeline to the West coast for shipping to Asia.

The whole area here is in suspended animation to see if the oil sands up-graders will go ahead.  Announcements are expected.  If they were to be built they would be less than 10 km from my house. 

http://issuesetc.org/2010/04/08/4236/--Easter hymn/ Pastor Weedon

http://issuesetc.org/2010/04/08/4236/

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While doing my "manual labor", yesterday (I think I'm too sore to do much more today :)),  I was listening to Pastor Weedon's discussion of the Easter hymn "Jesus Christ is risen, today."  Was  THAT EVER NICE.  It is about 50 min. long, but he did a wonderful job mining the hymn and the whole Easter message.  If you want someone to know about Easter, send them this talk.

As an aside, I have never listened to anything by Pastor Weedon before, and it was surprising to me that he was so very bubbly. I had to smile through the whole discussion.  In fact, since the i-pod was on replay, I listened to it more than once.  It made the work go better and I still learned something each time.

You might think with all that discussion of liturgy that one usually reads from Pastor Weedon, he would be a little drabber and esoteric.  I really would have thought so.  But I am finding more that liturgical people are not approaching drabness in any dimension.  Instead they seem to exude a wholesome joy and abandon and strength.  While they like uniformity in worship, they are not afraid to be themselves.

We don't want to generalize.  Everyone is completely different from everyone else and needs to work with the gifts that are given to them and come across different and that's ok.  The worst thing would be to fake something and everyone has better and worse days.  Still, when something is there, it is there.  When you have that bedrock of solid worship practice and you can worry a lot less about other things.

On another note, in relation to a discussion I was having last week with LP on Extra Nos, last week, I noticed, too, that throughout the whole discussion, Pastor Weedon never once used the word "faith" or "believe", which LP thinks some people are allergic, too.  I was thinking about that.  To urge someone to believe or not.

There are times to speak about "believing" and times not to speak about "believing".  Pastor Weedon's talk was so solid and full of scripture, imagery and joy, to the extent that if I had not believed before,-- I think he would have definitely talked me right into believing.  I really think so.  I think I would have said right away:  where can I go to church?  All without urging us to believe.  I can see that there is a skill in this and a depth of focus on Christ, what he has done and what it all means and how it was foretold and expected.

To urge someone to believe comes into the picture at other times.  Most of all it comes into the picture when you are speaking with someone who does not dare to believe for himself, someone who is discouraged, perhaps is sort of believing but isn't sure he is believing, or isn't sure what he is supposed to believe in.

Some people worry that  urging someone to believe is to put another stepping stone into the picture, similar to decision theology.  This is a valid concern.  "You must believe or you are not forgiven", presented in a way that produces a type of torture.  It is true.  We must believe.  But believing is not a work we can perform or choice that we can exercise.  It is the proclamation of God's favor or the expectation of believing implied in it, which elicits the belief.

By the way of analogy, when we fall in love,  and I have read SCIENTIFIC studies on this (not in Chatelaine), the chemistry happens  when you can sense in the other person that you are special to them.  It is a feedback cycle.  I can tell you like me and you can tell that I like you and it gets stronger and stronger.  Nobody can tell you to fall in love, but you can confess that you are in love.  Similarly, you cannot command someone to believe, but you can confess that you believe.

It does no good to demand love or faith, it has to be inspired.  But sometimes, someone needs to be helped to see that they are loved and that they can and should love back.  Similarly, there are times, when someone needs to be helped to see what God has done for them and that the proper response is faith and love and that it is possible for them because the object of their love is so great and help and mercy has been announced for everyone including them.  Or you are simply discussing the content of the faith.

So I think there is a time and place to discuss faith and urge "believe" and a time not to.  The trick-or-treat analogy several posts back, also dealt with this.


Maybe this woman is listening to the same podcast as I?  The things you can find on google images.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Gorgeous weather

Very nice and warm today.  Plenty of manual labor which is good for us.  Listening to my i-pod.  There must be 100 discs and 50 podcasts on it.  All these years there was no time to listen to one's CD's.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Bavarian Hymnal / 4

I'm on page 1120, where there is still this introduction to the worship service.

Regarding the invocation.

"'In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit'.  This is the guiding sign and measuring stick (?)  (Vorzeichen und Massstab).  God himself meets us in the divine service, in human words and signs.  What we experience, hear and see, directs us beyond the visible.  The divine service directs us to watch everywhere for signs of the presence of God."

Is this all true, but too vague again?  And what is "Vorzeichen und Massstab" supposed to mean?   It does not really say anything.

In our hymnal it says that "all may make the sign of the cross in remembrance of their baptism."

There was a time, where making the sign of the cross is "too catholic" to do.  I, myself, have to say, I have not been able to get myself to do it often in public, though I will do it in private prayer.  It is good to have this teaching to go with the practice:  in remembrance of baptism, which is that it was God himself who made a beginning with you, who saved you even there.  Not something bland or non-descript, not just a "sign" either.  But the actual doing with the word together.  It has been done.  You have been baptized.  If you can't believe much else at certain points in life, this will always hold and you can always go back to it.  God has made his beginning with you and made you his child.

In the service, too, we remember that it is God who has made a beginning with us and assures again and again.  And we are in the company of the fellow-baptized, a whole community.

I think that is more succinct and comforting.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Bavarian Hymnal /3


It may not be very legal to reproduce this much, here.  Sorry, I don't even know where you could buy one of these.  I'll look around.  I walked into a book store in Aschaffenburg (RC country) and asked if they had anything by Martin Luther.  They had nothing except the great big Bible.  And they had a hymn book.  Which is more than one could expect to find at say the big store around here, which is Chapters, or any evangelical book store.  So I bought the hymn book.  I've told this story before.  I've also gone to the big book store in Red Deer, Parable Christian Market Place and asked for things from CPH, specific titles, and, of course, they carried none of those.  

Anyhow, this is the introduction to Divine Service, as they say in English, "Gottesdienst", in German.

I like the picture.  You see nothing in the way of theology of glory there, just a being served and refreshed.  Refreshment for the wandering pilgrim, and tired he looks.  A meeting between us earthlings and the spiritual, the unseen world, the eternal.  Great choice, though perhaps vague.

The Bible verse is Matthew 18:20.  "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them".  

It then has 18 pages of instruction on how the service is structured and why, etc.

What happens in the service?
Christian congregations in all the world celebrate it.

In their languages, with their songs, with their prayers and expressions, Christian congregations in all the world celebrate the divine service.  Within it essential things happen for the faith and for the church:  the word of the Bible is heard and explained and the sacraments are distributed.  However, even with different expressions of celebration, the divine service connects worldwide Christendom and is a sign of "ecumenism"  (unity?).  

This is also quite nice, but I'm thinking is it a goo idea to say "word of the Bible", rather than "word of God"???  Maybe it's ok for a simple introduction, but one would really like to elaborate.

Personal address within the community

In the divine service the Christian congregation gathers.  It is an expression and experience of community, into which God binds us.  At the same time, we also come as individuals.  We each bring different things to it, learn different things, take away different things.  As individuals we are addressed within the community, meet each other and come to our own selves.

This is nice, too.  We are together, but as individuals.  It's the beauty of knowing yourself accepted by God, that you also can know the entire community and others accepted by God.

Jesus invites

"Come to me all, who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Matthew 11, 28.  Jesus invites all the people.  And he promises:  "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them."  What Jesus did then, also happens today in the service:  inviting, strengthening, comforting and healing, correcting and demanding.  All areas of human life with its bright and dark sides find their place here and are expressed here before God.

That's also very nice.  But by now, I'm wondering that I've heard nothing about the forgiveness of sins.  I survey the next several pages of what happens in divine service and find nothing about forgiveness of sins. I also see again references to the "word of the Bible", not "the word of God."  It also says nothing about Christ substitutionary death.  It speaks about the cross, which is "a proclamation of Christ, the crucified, the salvation of the world, 1. Cor. 1:23."  That's as clear as it gets, in these pages.

I think while it is all good, it could all be stronger and clearer.  People can read into some of that what they like.  Is that rest, that Jesus invites to, not also that of a clean conscience made so by forgiveness.  I've heard nothing about forgiveness.

So much for today.

P.S.   The book can be bought at Amazon.com, here.


Monday, April 12, 2010

Faith is like a Trick or Treater's bag/ The Fire and the Staff

Again, you will know already,  we're reading "The Fire and the Staff" by Klement Preus.  Martin is having me read it out loud at night, he is enjoying so much.  Hence, I will be on a thorough second reading.  I could just fold and say, Oh, there we go everything is settled and solved; well done Klement Preus (it would work for me;  I'm not really a very rebellious creature, just want to speak my mind.)  But I'll give it some push back in future posts I'm thinking.

The analogies, examples and humor are really very good.  Below, I've typed out an example of an analogy.  This is mostly for L.P. at Extra Nos.  I've tried to post it there, but as previously when I've tried to post a longer comment to Australia it got lost in the world wide web somewhere.  So it's typed here and can try over without typing it once more, as I just had to do. 




Trick or Treat

Faith is like trick-or treating.  "Trick or treat!" Those were great words.  they still are.  they are words of kids either greedy or full of trust.  The words conjure memories both painful and pleasant.  i suppose that a literal interpretation would be that if you do not give the kids some candy, they will push over your outhouse or throw eggs at your car.  but that's not what the words mean.  They simply mean; "We think that you are going to give us some candy."

When I went trick-or-treating for the first time, around the age of 7, I was green, a novice.  My family had just moved to the big city of St. Louis from the country.  Knowing nothing of the rules of Halloween, my ignorance showed.  My costume was cumbersome.  It was cold outside, so I had to wear a jacket over the skeleton outfit.  The string on my mask broke after the fourth house, and I somehow felt obligated not to appear at the doorsteps of any erstwhile donors without a covering, so I held my mask in place with one hand.  At the same time I had tyo go to the bathroom, a condition that worsened as the evening dragged on.  My outfit was all one piece and I could not relieve myself without stripping down to my underwear, a process that modesty precluded.  So, as little boys are wont to do, I used my second hand to hold something else.  but hands occupied, I could not offer my bag to the nice people at the doors who wanted to shower the coveted confections upon all the kids of the neighborhood.  Desperate, I begged my friend, Mark, to get candy for the both of us, and he graciously complied.  Unfortunately, his bag had previously been used by his mother to haul meat  from the grocery store and had sprung a particularly insidious leak.  The evening's efforts were largely lost.

I come from a large family and practiced "survival of the fittest"  where any food not in the five main groups was concerned.  So my sibling shared only enough goodies to forestall the creeping guilt often associated with enjoying themselves too much in the presence of another's pain.  The evening was not at all what it was cracked up to be.  The only happy note was when Mrs. Franzmann, who lived down the street, came by out of sheer pity and gave me a couple of leftover popcorn balls.  I learned a very valuable lesson that night.  The bag is the most important instrument in the trick-or-treater's arsenal.  Without it you are dead.  With it you have everything.

The next year I used a pillowcase and had enough candy to last until Thanksgiving.  I stuffed my face with sweets until my belly swelled and my teeth rotted.  I was the happiest guy on earth and never gave the bag a second thought.

Faith is like a trick-or-treater's bag.  When you don't have it, you are lost.  When you do have it, all you think about is what's in it.  When a person does not have faith, we say, "They are lost.  You can't get to heaven without faith.  Faith is necessary."  but when a person believes, you stop talking about faith and talk only about Jesus.  The way to get a person to believe is not to discuss the importance of faith.  Instead, you have to talk about Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

What do you think of the analogy?  Is it hitting the nail on the head?  What about the conclusion?  Perfect?  or stuff to quibble with?

Bavarian Hymnal 2

Re: confession and absolution.  I read it only very quickly but the link that JonSLC provided in a comment to last post was very interesting.  It shows that there is a varied history to the practice conditioned by various circumstances. 

I am still examining the Bavarian Hymnal though.  It is very beautiful, lovely colors on white paper, just melodies for the first verse, drawings, poems, quotes throughout, all the great old hymns, and many attempts to draw people into the use of it and help understand the service, and so on.


I am kind of stopped on the first page right now. 

It says:  The song portion of the book contains the common treasury of hymns of all the member churches of the Evangelische church in Germany, the  Evangelischen churches of Augsburg and Helvetic confessions in Austria and the Reformed church in the Alsace and Lorraine.  In the extended section you find the songs which find regional meaning in Bavaria and Thuringia.  

What does this mean?  What is the territorial church these days? 

Friday, April 9, 2010

Confession and Absolution as an option.


I'm wondering why in this service in my new Bavarian Hymnal, the confession and absolution is optional to just the alternative of silent meditation, and also why we see printed:  "The Almighty God have mercy on us and forgive us our sins and lead us to eternal life.  Amen." , but for the absolution we have to look to page 675.

Is the confession and absolution integral to our services?  I've been to several services now, where it has been omitted in the LCC.   If the divine service is about our being served by the word of God, then it should really be read out loud, not just meditated, you'd think.

I can meditate on it all week long and every morning new, but in the corporate service, you'd think it would be said out loud.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Brahms and Requiems/Michael Spencer

I-Monk, Michael Spencer died on Easter Monday.  He was only 53 and well-loved and will be sorely missed, having been taken rather suddenly.  I enjoyed reading and commenting on his blog.  I have no idea how he did all the things he did.  We did not agree  with all of  his theology, but he made many think about the right things and he questioned very bravely  many wrong things.  In a sense he was a bit of a giant, speaking truth and allowing people to meet and talk that usually would not.

He had a way of making it happen, though he sometimes shut down conversations and comments we thought we should have been able to make. I almost was moderated a couple of times.  (Only almost.)   But he was an honest, humble, transparent person who knew that his only hope was in Jesus Christ.  Would that somebody could say that about me in the end.  Thanks be to God who can bring us to this grace.

For all mourners, which are many, here is a bit of Brahm's requiem which was performed in Edmonton this Good Friday.  Someone brought me the program, since I had to miss it.  It would have been amazing to go.  On Wikipedia, you can have all the words in German and English, all Bible passages from Luther's translation, as well as the music. Scroll down just a little.  It does not seem the right music for the Kentuckian.  But the words are good for us all.   I will always remember the way he said "I".  I sounded like "AAHH".  When Jesus says:  "Michael Spencer".  He'll say:  "AAHH'm here."

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Weekend notes, Easter.

Easter was duly and joyfully celebrated featuring the three big K's--Kinder, Kueche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church) in a woman's life.  (Other people also have Karriere;  I also always had Klinik.)  One could also add Kuchen (cake).

I don't need to tell you again that Christ is risen.  We've affirmed it a few times this weekend and we did talk about how this is not just some nice religious belief, but we believe it to be an actual fact, and for us, and that there are actual facts in this world, not just illusions and how this is pivotal and how we celebrate it together.


Thank you to Andrea for making the potato salad and arranging the flowers for me. 

We also had a trip further afield into the country visiting lovely people and enjoying a bright and warm day.

 


On the way we listened to a Issues, etc. podcast from last week, Dr. Just's Bible study on the passion in Luke's gospel account.  He focused on how Luke zeros in on how Christ's death on the cross was a noble and innocent death, so that the gentiles would understand.  We, too can learn a few things about suffering in taking all the details under examination.  

It's been a long time that Martin and I had been in a Bible study together, though we have resumed our readings after a time of business and experimentation.  We agree that sticking with the Treasury is best and simplest.  

I'm reading Klement Preus' "Fire and the Staff" which a very kind person sent to us.  It is a very good read and not difficult or slow, rather well peppered with appropriate anecdotes and some very good and subtle humor.  We'll probably be commenting on it.

It was difficult again to celebrate without Stefan.  This will never change.  Young A.M. gave me a big hug when she saw me crumbling.





The two girls are both getting married this summer.  K. on the right will play at Andrea's wedding.  She might want to get this picture for herself here, if she does not have it.





Friday, April 2, 2010

"Surely he has born our griefs..."

This bit of Handel has been turned into rock-like music.  I have to say I  really like it.  And Isaiah!  What would we do without Isaiah.

I went to the interdenom cross walk today because I'm in the choir, who sang "Ave verum corpus" in Latin, which did not do anybody any good, since nobody knows what anything means.  There was also a drama in which Jesus never said anything at all, not even that he was king or truth.  There also was a shocking talk about social justice and rising up against your employer.  To go or not to go to these things?  It gives you a point of discussion with the people along the way.  Ehem,-- like,-- Jesus is king and truth and he died to take away our sins, that was the reason. 

I have to say nobody in our town today said it as well or clearly as Isaiah, who got read a few times, praise God.

Below is high-jacked from Matt Harrison's blog from a Luther sermon.

In recording the events of the suffering of Christ, the Evangelists always repeat these words, 'These things happened so that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled,' for everything that Christ suffered happened in accord with Holy Scripture. for that reason the Evangelists not only record the events of Christ's suffering, but also repeat, 'This happened that the scriptures might be fulfilled.' As though they wished to say, Ask
the prophets about it; they will tell you why Christ suffered. Great and severe is his suffering, his martyrdom, and the cross; but great also is his love, compassion, ardor, and all-encompassing grace toward us, in that the devout Lord and Savior with his suffering and death fulfilled the Scriptures for our sake.

Wir essen und wir leben wohl/ We eat and live the right Easter bread