Last day of the month...more boring fitness

Stuff. Just to keep myself honest. The month of August saw 4,200 pushups; 260 pullups; 400 KB swings; and four sprint sessions and just some other running sessions for the fun of it. Ended up buying an Apple Watch with blow money this month, and was delighted to find out it reads VO2Max. According to that, during my sprint running, I ended up with 43.4 VO2Max, which according to the charts I consulted on the internet puts my oxygen capacity at average for an 18 year old, but top of the line for a nearly 60 year old. Love this workout routine and am so glad I finally found it, after floundering a bit when I started working from home.

Luther and Lewis

Just as God in the beginning of creation made the world out of nothing, whence He is called the Creator and the Almighty, so His manner of working continues unchanged. Even now and to the end of the world, all His works are such that out of that which is nothing, worthless, despised, wretched, and dead, He makes that which is something, precious, honorable, blessed, and living.—Martin Luther, Magnificat, AE 21:299

The difficulty of converting an uneducated man nowadays lies in his complacency. Popularized science, the conventions or ‘unconventions’ of his immediate circle, party programmes, etc., enclose him in a tiny windowless universe which he mistakes for the only possible universe. There are no distant horizons, no mysteries. He thinks everything has been settled. A cultured person, on the other hand, is almost comopelled to be aware that reality is very odd and that the ultimate truth, whatever is may be, must have the characteristics of strangeness—must be something that would seem remote and fantastic to the uncultured.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 222.

Patristic Quote of the Day

The Lord, who often spoke with modesty, obscuring his own glory, speaks here in a way so as to establish the opinion of those who were amazed at his authority: “I will. Be clean.”—St. Jn Chrys. Hom 25 on St. Matthew

Catechesis: Lord’s Prayer, Fifth Petition

It is not as though He did not forgive sin without and even before our prayer.... But the purpose of this prayer is that we may recognize and receive such forgiveness.—LC III:88

This should serve God’s purpose of breaking our pride and keeping us humble.—LC III:90

In short, if God does not forgive without stopping, we are lost.—LC III:91

A Joyous Answered Prayer

One of the hardest days of my life was putting my only grandson, my daughter and wife on a plane to fly to my daughter and son-in-law’s new church out in North Carolina, some 14 hours away from us. I remember sitting here in my living room and watching the sun sink on the wall, and my own spirits sinking right along with it. They were sooooo far away. Things got slightly better a few years ago: my son-in-law accepted a call to a dual parish in northern Wisconsin. It was 8 hours away, which was much closer than the 14! But still so very far. And BRRRRR. Northern Wisconsin. We visited one Christmas holiday and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such bitter temperatures and snow. Well, today Dean announced that he’d accepted a call to Dieterich, Illinois, a mere 90 minutes away from us and from Dean’s family. We’re over the moon! Family holidays become a possibility again for the whole extended clan. And the parishes are both beautiful (one of them is home to our friends Candy Esch and Heather Goeckner) and instead of squeezing into a parsonage that really was never meant to accommodate a family their size (WI), they’ll be in a nice sized parsonage like they had in NC with plenty of bedrooms. Thanks be to God. We are so, so thankful that this call came their way and we pray God’s richest blessings upon Dean as he ministers there. Welcome back to Illinois, Herberts!!! And grandkids, when you coming for a visit???

Daily Office Update

There are many options available for those who wish to pray along with the Church’s daily offices. One can use Treasury of Daily Prayer for this, though as Pr. David Petersen noted years ago, that book is pretty much designed to be a single office book, and that indeed is how my wife and I have settled into using it. There is the lovely Brotherhood Prayer Book which gives one a maximal Gregorian experience with a Lutheran accent. Various individuals have published Breviaries (office books), including For All the Saints from American Lutheran Publicity Bureau and Concordia’s older volumes: Daily Prayer by Robert Sauer and The Daily Office by Herbert Lindemann. 

I wanted to share in this post how I’ve sort of settled into praying the Office, and it’s not from any of those books, oddly enough. It’s a strange combo of my Bible and my Phone (and before I got that new Bible I wrote about a while ago, it was just my phone!).  

I begin with Matins with its opening versicles, and then pray the Psalms assigned for the morning from the monthly Psalter (this is the genius of the Book of Common Prayer, and you can find it in Treasury). I pray these from the King James Version, and have my Bible marked with where the Psalms begin and end, morning and evening. Then I read the first assigned reading from the Original King James Version Bible Reading Chart. It’s usually a chapter from the Old Testament, sometimes from the Apocrypha (and usually so on saints days, such as the Apostles’). After reading that chapter, I pray the Te Deum Laudamus. Finishing that I turn to the second assigned reading, again, usually a chapter. In the morning, this will come successively from Matthew-Acts; and then repeat in the course of the year. After reading the second chapter, I pray the Benedictus. Then I use Lutheran Prayer Companion (most often the electronic version) to offer up the prayers for the day (two morning prayers and then a prayer based on successive petitions of the Our Father). The collect for grace and the benedicamus round out the office. I have, of all things, a spreadsheet on my phone with the appointed Psalms and Bible Readings for the month. I’m slowly filling it out. It makes it very simple to double check that I’m praying the correct Psalms and readings.

Sometime post 3:30 p.m.., I’ll pray the evening office. And here it is the same: Opening versicles from Vespers, the monthly Psalter, the first reading from the Old Testament (mostly the next chapter from the morning) or Apocrypha, Magnificat, the second reading from the Epistles or Revelation, the Nunc Dimittis, and then usually just the Kyrie, Our Father, and Collect for Peace, closing with the Benedicamus. I actually usually reserve the Evening Prayers (two for each day from Lutheran Prayer Companion) for sometime closer to bedtime.

I’ve found it a joyously simple way to stay rooted in the Daily Office. It’s true that it short-shrifts the Hymns, but I do occasionally throw one of those in too, particularly the daily hymns from the Lutheran Prayer Companion which mirror in many ways the traditional Breviary hymns for each day. I’m curious if others have adapted a way of praying the office that has proven beneficial to them?

Luther and Lewis

In Christ, as I have said, they are all alike. Grace is granted equally to all and brings full salvation to each individual, as the highest and most common possession; thus whoever has Christ has everything. And there will be a distinction in glory with which we shall be adorned, and in the brightness with which we shall shine.—Martin Luther, Conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, AE 21:294

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying ‘all’ does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St. Augustine [note: today is his commemoration] says somewhere, ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.’—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 219

Patristic Quote of the Day

But most of all they were astounded at his authority. For when he said these things [in the Sermon on the Mount], he did not refer to another, as even the prophet Moses did, but everywhere he showed that himself was the One who had the authority to decide.—St. John Chry. Hom. 25 on St. Matt.

Catechesis: Fourth Petition of the Our Father

When you mention and pray for daily bread, you pray for everything that is necessary in order to have and enjoy daily bread. On the other hand you pray against everything that interferes with it.—LC III:72

In short, this petition applies both to the household and to the neighborly or civil relationship and government.—LC III:73

There is, indeed, the greatest need to pray for earthly authority and government. By them, most of all, God preserves for us our daily bread and all the comforts of this life.—LC III:74

[Satan] also prevents and hinders the stability of all government and honorable, peaceable relations on earth. There he causes so much contention, murder, treason, and war.—LC III:80

He wishes that we pray for these goods in order that we may recognize that we receive them from His hand and may feel His fatherly goodness toward us in them.—LC III:83

Patristic Quote of the Day

He says this (Matt 7:13,14) not because the Lord’s yoke is rough or his burden heavy but because there are a few who wish their labors to end. They do not put their full trust in the Lord when he cries, “Come to me, all you who labor, and I will give you rest....” Hence the humble and the meek of heart are named at the very beginning of this sermon. But because there are many who spurn this smooth yoke and this light burden, it comes to pass that the way that leads to life is demanding and the entry gate is narrow.—St. Augustine, Sermon on the Mount 

Luther and Lewis

[On the Golden Rule] It takes a good teacher to condense and summarize such a long-drawn-out sermon in such a way that everyone can carry it home with him, be reminded of it daily, and see what is missing in his whole life; for he has it written in his own heart, and in fact, in his whole life and activity.—Martin Luther, Sermon on the Mount AE 21:236

St. Augustine and Rousseau both write Confessions; but to the one his own temperament is a kind of absolute..., to the other it is ‘a narrow house too narrow for Thee to enter—oh, make it wide. It is in ruins—oh, rebuild it’...—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 218

Catechesis: Third Petition of the Our Father

For our flesh is in itself lazy and inclined to evil, even though we have accepted and believed God’s Word. —LC III.53

If we would be Christians, therefore, we must surely expect and count on having the devil with all his angels and the world as our enemies.... For where God’s Word is preached, accepted, or believed and produces fruit, there the holy cross cannot be missing.—LC III:65

The test is to be steadfast and to suffer with patience in whatever way we are assaulted, and to let go whatever is taken from us.—LC III:66

Look, we have in these three petitions, in the simplest way, the needs that relate to God Himself. Yet they are all for our sakes.—LC III:68

BOC Quote

Christ’s glory becomes more brilliant when we teach that we make the most of Him as our Mediator and Atoning Sacrifice. Godly consciences see that the most abundant consolation is offered to them in this doctrine. They see that they ought to believe and most firmly assert that they have a reconciled Father for Christ’s sake, and not for the sake of our righteousness. Yet, they also see that Christ aids us, so that we are able to keep the Law as well.—Ap. V:178

On Reversion

That is, going back. The more I think of it, the more I smile to myself. 

I just ordered myself a brand spanking new Bible. It’s rather compact, but easy to read, and it has the all the books, including the Apocrypha. What version, you ask?

Well, it’s King James. (I actually have a facsimile of the original, but it has numerous odd quirks with typeface and spellings that make it slightly challenging to use. This one is easy peasy). The King James? Really??? 

Really. Like it was yesterday, I remember when I turned ten years old and my parents for Christmas gave me my first Bible. It was, of course, a King James. My mother patiently explained that there are other Bibles that were easier to read by far, but “of course, they’re not the real Bible.” I smile just remembering her saying it. And I remember how I struggled to read it and without much profit! The maps and pics were impressive though. Yet here I am.

For my podcast, I have mostly been using the ESV, but it does get slightly irritating how very often feel I have to go back to the KJV to point out a different way of saying something, usually a way I think better delivers the point of the original. So for my personal Bible reading and study, it’s reversion. 

A friend long ago pointed out to me that these newer versions pop up ever few years and they’re always changing them. With the KJV, he said, you can count on it being the same in 20 years as it is now. He was right.

And incline our hearts to keep Thy law...

Today’s Treasury reading from 1 Kings 8 (specifically vs. 58) reminded me of the Anglican Communion Service in the Book of Common Prayer. After each commandment is recited near the opening of that liturgy, the people respond with a Kyrie and the above petition: “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.” When Solomon is nearing the end of his great prayer, he asks: “May He not leave us nor forsake us that He may incline our hearts to him, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His rules which He commanded our fathers.” What a beautiful prayer indeed: for we cannot incline our hearts one way or another, but we seek from Him the gift of a heart inclined to obedience.

Luther and Lewis

[On Golden Rule] With these words He concludes the teaching He has been giving us in these three chapters, and wraps it all up in a little package where it call all be found. Thus everyone can put it in his bosom and keep it.—Martin Luther, Sermon on the Mount, AE 21:235

In the New Testament, the art of life is an art of imitation.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 217

Patristic Quote of the Day

[On the golden rule]: In this statement Jesus briefly sums up all that is required. He shows that the definition of virtue is short and easy and already known to all.—St. Jn Chrys. Hom 23 on St. Matt.

Catechesis

Because He is God, He also claims the honor of giving much more and more abundantly than anyone can understand. He is like an eternal, unfailing fountain. The more it pours forth and overflows, the more it continues to give. God desires nothing more seriously from us than that we ask Him for much and great things.—LC III:56

Luther and Lewis

What we are discussing here is another kingdom, one which in no way weakens or annuls the other, namely, spiritual life and existence among Christians, where it is forbidden to judge and condemn another. The devil always mixes into such judging to do his work. He gives each individual a high estimate of himself.—Martin Luther AE 21:211

What are the key words of modern criticism? Creative, with its opposite derivative; spontaneity, with its opposite convention; freedom, contrasted with rules.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 216

Patristic Quote of the Day

For the verdict that one’s brother needs a splinter taken from his eye does not come from concern but from contempt for humanity. Even while one is putting on a mask of love toward others, one is actually performing a deed of consummate evil by inflicting numerous criticisms and accusations on close companions, thereby usurping the rank of teacher when one is not even worthy to be called a disciple.... So then, you who are so spiteful as to see even the little faulty details in others, how have you become so careless with your own affairs that you avoid your own major faults?—St. Jn Chrys. Hom 23 on St. Matthew