17 March 2024

The Great Passion: St. Matthew’s in English

Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion was originally written to be performed in the Good Friday Vespers liturgy. I did not know that there was an English version of the Passion until today! It’s available in either Apple Music or Spotify (just search for St. Matthew’s Passion; Jeffrey Skidmore). And if you’d like to learn a bit more about the Passion, here’s a fine article.

15 March 2024

Thanks to Darlene and Philip Cawthon…

…for sharing this beautiful picture with me. It's looking from Dr. Lee Maxwell's grave back to the old St. John's Lutheran Church in Maryville. Lee served there as pastor for many years, and was preceded there more than a century before by none other than the great Friederich Lochner. It's also the mother parish of St. Paul's in Hamel. Sadly, the church was closed a few years after Lee's death.

26 February 2024

A taste of Paradise…

…that is what I think every time we are blessed to visit Mexico. Here are some pics from our latest adventures: 















14 February 2024

Remember, O Man…

…that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.



11 February 2024

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

A good thought for holy Lent, whose arrival is so soon:

“The one who knows that the enemy stands before the gates and straightway lets him enter the city; the one who has been warned of the descending steps of sin but does not heed the warning; the one who knows what is the armor of faith and has been clothed with it but does not use it to repel the evil spirits, mocks and despises the good gifts of the kingdom of God more than the heathen. The violent conflict with shame, dread, and hesitation that always rages in his heart before a Christian consents to sin, in contrast to the easy course of a ‘child of the world’ does not lessen the grievousness of that sin but makes it worse.”—Adolf Köberle, Quest for Holiness, p. 214, 215

I am thinking about rereading the entirety of the book again for Lent. His information on the spiritual battle is so sorely missing among us. 

And…

…I got a little grandpa snuggling in Winnie Mae, our youngest grandchild (#13):



It was a little early

But we had a birthday party for this young man who turns 1 on Tuesday:


Happy birthday, Emmett William Ibisch!

Quinquagesima

 


07 February 2024

Patristic Quote of the Day

What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification on the basis of merit derived from works performed beforehand, because the gift of justification comes only from faith.—The Venerable Bede, ACC NT XI:31. (Emphasis added)

03 February 2024

OMAD

This week Cindi and I went back to OMAD (one meal a day). What a difference it makes in our schedule! I find myself so much more relaxed not having to think about the extra meals (no prep, no clean up!) at breakfast and lunch. And if I eat my 1.5 to 2 lbs of meat at dinner, I don’t even think about food till dinner time the following day! Today’s feast was awesome. Cindi did up half a tenderloin she had found on sale.  I stirred up some alfredo while she was frying the meat. I have definitely decided that I prefer the alfredo on tenderloin to hollandaise. That was dinner: a plate of tenderloin and a bowl of alfredo to spread on top, and it was totally satisfying and majorly yummy. Then after dinner I grabbed myself a cup of decaf tea with a splash of raw milk as we engaged in that stupid game of Liverpool. You know who won. AGAIN. Lois and I wonder why we even play. But the tenderloin she made was so delicious that I almost didn’t mind her winning. Almost. 

01 February 2024

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

Man cannot save himself, but he can destroy himself… The “I will” comes from God, the “I will not” from man’s own free choice. Acceptance is not earned through merit but is a gift; perdition is not the result of fate but of sin. In the final judgment, men are placed at the right hand of the Judge; they place themselves at His left.—Adolf Köberle, Quest for Holiness, p. 143, 144. 

25 January 2024

Patristic Quote of the Day

What is this? ‘That God,’ he says, ‘gave His Only Begotten, His genuine, beloved Son, for us sinners, burdened with myriad sins and pressed down by so many offenses. He not only freed us from sins but also made us righteous, imposing nothing burdensome, toilsome, or painful, but seeking faith from us alone. He made us righteous, holy, declared us sons of God, showed us heirs of the kingdom, wrought us fellow heirs with the Only Begotten, promised resurrection, incorruption of bodies, companions with angels, surpassing all reason and understanding, a dwelling in heaven, and communion with Him and the Holy Spirit, pouring out grace on us here already. He freed us from the devil’s dominion, delivered us from demons, abolished sin, obliterated the curse, shattered the gates of Hades, and opened Paradise.—St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Glorying in Tribulations

24 January 2024

Patristic Quote of the Day

‘Not only these things do I say, which I mentioned, such as that we were sanctified, justified, through the Only Begotten, that we enjoyed grace, peace, gift of forgiveness of sins, communion of the Holy Spirit, with all ease, without toil, and without sweat, through faith alone, [but] that the Son, the Only Begotten, was sent, that He gave both present and promised glory, incorruption, resurrection of bodies, an angelic end, conduct with Christ, dwelling in heaven. For he presented all these in saying, ‘And we boast in hope of the glory of God.’—St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Glorying in Tribulation