Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

It is on God’s Word alone that we will one day be judged, so it must now guide our faith and life. If we allow it to light our path continually, we will not go astray. And if we have strayed from the path out of weakness, this light will always bring us back. Therefore, we must let the humble prayer of faithful Samuel be our prayer as well: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.”—God Grant It!, p. 440. 

Lewis

I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he is really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries.’ In that sense it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say good is everything and heaven is everywhere.—Business of Heaven, p. 134

[He’d read his Thompson, no? 

‘All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.

All which thy child’s mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:

Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’]

Catechesis: On Predestination

He [God] will also strengthen, increase, and support the end of the good work that He has begun in them, if they cling to God’s Word, pray diligently, abide in God’s goodness, and faithfully use the gifts they have received.—FC SD XI:21

Lewis

Because we love something else more than this world, we love even this world better than those who know no other.—Business of Heaven, p. 130.

Catechesis: Adiaphora

We also believe, teach, and confess that at a time of confession, when the enemies of God’s Word want to suppress the pure doctrine of the Holy Gospel, God’s entire church, indeed, every single Christian, but especially the ministers of the Word, as the directors of the community of God, is bound by God’s Word to confess the doctrine freely and openly.—FC SD X:10

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

It is not the hearing of the sermon that saves a person, but the doing of what was preached, the keeping of the Word. In short, the doing of the Word is faith.—C. F. W. Walther on James 1:22ff. (God Grant It!, p. 425)

Patristic Quote of the Day

These are the voices of the church from which every church had its origin; these are the voices of the metropolis of the citizens of the new covenant; these are the voices of the apostles.—St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.5

A very happy Mothers’ Day…

…to all the wonderful moms I’ve known. Particularly my own, Mildred Hume Mastin Weedon! She was a remarkable woman in so very many ways. I realized with shock today that in this picture of us together, SHE’S the same age I am now. Wow. How did that happen? She was a big old tease who, like all her family, loved to laugh! She poured out such love on all her children!

And then my “other” mom: Joanne DeVries, who was as much a good friend as a mom. We had so very much fun together across the years! 

Also to my wife, Cindi, who just continues to be THE super mom par excellence. 

To my two daughters and my daughter-in-law, each of whom approach motherhood in their own unique way, but in their different approaches each being a blessing to my sweet grandchildren.

To my sister, Marie (usually just called Sissy), who was like a second mom to me. I remember her and Jimmy picking up after the first day of kindergarten, just days before their marriage. Can’t even count the number of trips they took me on when I was little! 

To my “Church” moms: Mil Gerni (Burlington), Wilma Henke and Clara Wehrend (Hamel), all now deceased, but like my own mom, never forgotten!  Each of these ladies felt zero compunction about giving their pastor “a talking to” when they felt it was called for, and I remain grateful for them all!

This Week’s Numbers

Summary for this week (Monday through Friday)

Miles walked: 25 (a bit more than 5 miles per day)

Times running down and up the staircase in our house: 130+ (keeps heartrate up while I walk!)

Pushups: 15,000

Pull-ups: 372

45 lb. KB swings: 372

High Intensity Interval Training: 1 hour (1/2 Tues; 1/2 Thurs)

As I told Craig today, one of things I really look forward to in retirement is being able to do my workouts without concern about fitting it around my work schedule. As I said in post a few days ago, I don’t ever want to do the workout prior to doing, but I sure do love how great it feels when it’s done!

A Joyous Cantate

as ten young people were confirmed in the holy faith. Here is the opening procession in which the Confirmands follow the cross as the congregation sings St. John of Damascus’ hymn: “Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain.”

This morning, as I fixing the coffee…

 Moonset. 

Then as I was enjoying my coffee…sunrise. 

I am in love…

…with my new Bible. It was very (as my kids would say) “spendy,” but it’s so worth it. I now have a beautiful ESV with Apocrypha in genuine calfskin leather.  And the Apocrypha is NOT stuck at the end, but placed squarely between the Testaments, exactly where Dr. Luther put it in his Bible. I’ve become increasingly leery of having “study notes” supplied by a publisher in a Bible, and I’m pleased to say this one has only the ESV textual notes and within the margins the wonderful Cambridge system of cross-references. It’s not quite as comfortable in my hand as my KJV with Apocrypha (which is just the perfect fit). Preserving the ESV’s layout of poetical lines also means that the print had to be a tad smaller. But for anyone who is looking for an ESV with Apocrypha (remembering that all Lutheran Bibles originally had those books included), this one is simply top notch. 

On Bodily Discipline

1 Corinthians 9:27 (ESV). But I discipline my body and keep it under control…

My body doesn’t like working out. My body prefers sitting in a chair and mindlessly surfing the internet or reading a good novel or binge watching something. But what my body prefers is something that gets regularly ignored. Some years ago I got into the habit of working out (especially M-F). When I was working at the International Center, my noontime workout was how I kept my sanity! I used to joke: Oh, I work at my gym. They’re amazing! They provide an office for me for use before and after workouts.

It took some thinking when I started working from home again, trying to decide the best time to workout. It didn’t seem to work to do the same noontime slot. So I shifted to early morning. Usually I have my cup of coffee and enjoy the sunrise, pray from The Treasury of Daily Prayer with Cindi, pray Matins (using the KJV schedule), do readings from Book of Concord and some devotional material (currently Lewis and Walther) and then finish up coffee and puzzles (yes, addicted to Wordle, Worldle, Quardle, Knotwords, Blossom, and Nerdle). Then before anything else, it’s time to workout, time to make the old bod do the stuff that it doesn’t ever want to do, but which ends up giving me tons of energy and makes me feel so much better.

Lately, I’ve been doing a circuit in the house. By the time I’m done, I’ve climbed down and up the stairs 24 times, and walked all around the interior. I start off with 25 pushups. Walk around and down. Do anywhere from 5 to 9 pull-ups and 5 to 9 45 lb. kettlebell swings. Then run up the stairs and back into my study to record this. Then I walk around again, sprinting up and down the stairs, and maybe catching a drink of water. Then time to do pushups again. That’s my regular Monday to Friday. Add to this, I aim for at least five miles walking each day (and hit that most days). So this week, thus far, I have walked about 25 miles, done 1200 pushups and 320 pull-ups and kettle bell swings each. I’ll rest Saturday and Sunday (though will try to get the walking in) and then resume again next week. And then there’s Tuesdays and Thursdays! That’s when I do what my body does not merely dislike, but actually “loathes, despises and abominates” (anyone recognize that?): 30 minutes of high intensity interval training. I do that using the Apple Fitness app. It’s a killer. I have a love/hate relationship with trainer Jamie Ray.

The cool thing is that discipline, as many have noted, has a way of spilling over in our lives from one area to another. So from exercise to sleep, from sleep to dietary choices, from dietary choices to financial decisions, and so on. But I think it makes great sense to start with disciplining the body, making it do hard work, and ignoring its pleas for “hey, let’s take it easy” and “lighten up, will you?” I think it’s simply a great place to start. I know that I cannot imagine a life now where my workout wasn’t a regular feature of my week. And let me stress that at the beginning of regularly working out, it was nowhere near the intensity I’m doing now. What matters is making that body MOVE and ignoring it’s whiney “but I don’t WANT to.” What matters is to learn to say, “Tough, body, YOU are not in charge; you WILL do as you are told. Got it?”

P.S. One more thing my body doesn’t particularly enjoy? Cold showers. But I end every shower with over a minute of nothing but cold water hitting the skin all over. Like the workout, despite the body’s protests, it ends up making you feel simply great!

Patristic Quote of the Day

Everywhere creation offers obedient service to its Creator. The stars indicated his birth; clouds overshadowed him in his suffering, received him in ascension, and they will accompany him when he returns for judgment.—St. Bede, the Venerable, Commentary on Acts 1.9b

Proverbs 4:18

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. 

Pastor Matt Ruesch Interview

Pr. Ruesch knocks it out of the ball park in this wonderful interview with Dr. Shawn Baker. Check this out! 

Lewis

We are taught that the incarnation itself proceeded ‘not by the conversion of the godhead into flesh, but by taking of manhood into God,’ in it human life becomes the vehicle of Divine life. If the Scriptures proceed not by the conversion of God’s Word into literature, but by taking up of a literature to be a vehicle for God’s Word, this is not anomalous. —Business of Heaven, p. 118.

Patristic Quote of the Day

It is perfectly evident that the church is one in all its saints and that the faith of all the chosen is the same, of those who preceded and who followed his coming in the flesh. We are saved through faith in his incarnation, passion and resurrection that have been accomplished.—St. Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels, 11.5

Catechesis

This personal union does not exist nor can be thought of without such a true communion of the natures. Nor just the mere human nature—whose property it is to suffer and die—has suffered for the sins of the world, but the Son of God Himself truly suffered. However, He suffered according to the received human nature. In accordance with our simple Christian faith, He truly died, although the divine nature can neither suffer nor die.—FC SD VIII:20

Patristic Quote of the Day

It was certainly a great and indescribable source of joy, when, in the sight of the heavenly multitudes, the nature of our human race ascended over the dignity of all heavenly creatures. It passed the angelic orders and was raised beyond the heights of the archangels. In its ascension, our human race did not stop at any other height until this same nature was received at the seat of the eternal Father. Our human nature, united with the divinity of the Son, was on the throne of his glory.—Pope St. Leo the Great, Sermon 73

Catechesis

Consider this majesty, to which Christ has been exalted according to His humanity. He did not first receive it when He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He received it when He was conceived in His mother’s womb and became man, and the divine and human natures were personally united with each other.—SD VIII:13

Lewis

It is his [St. Athanasius’] glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains when those times, as all times do, have moved away.—Business of Heaven, p. 117. 

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

For whoever has truly recognized that he has earned hell with his sins cannot possibly be dissatisfied his lot, however unfavorable it may seem. He must remember that no matter the circumstances, they are better than he merits. As the book of Lamentations expresses it, “Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?”—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 394.

Patristic Quote of the Day

He said, ‘Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name beginning from Jerusalem.’ The disciples could not see this. They could see Christ talking about the church that would be. When Christ said something they could not see, they believed him. They could see the head, but they could not see the body. We can see the body, but we believe about the head. They are two: husband wife, head and body, Christ and the church. He showed himself to the disciples and promised them the church. He showed us the church and ordered us to believe about himself. The apostles saw one thing, but they did not see the other. We also see one thing and do not see the other. Having the head there with them, they believed about the body. Having the body here with us, we believe about the head.—St. Augustine, Sermon 229.1

Patristic Quote of the Day

Although he did taste food after his resurrection, it was not in obedience to any law of nature. He did not feel hunger, but at the appointed time, he confirmed the truth of the resurrection by showing that the flesh which had suffered and that which had risen were the same.—St. John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith 4.1

Good Reminder for All (but especially pastors!)

Do not fail to weep and mourn with those who mourn. Do not hesitate to visit a sick man, because for such deeds you will be loved. In all your affairs, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin.—Sirach 7:34-36

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

The sorrow with which they [true Christians]are continually visited is the means God employs to keep them with Christ.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 392.