Yes, they are absolutely adorable

and I might just be a LITTLE prejudiced. My four grandchildren enjoying a tea party.

Random thought from today's homily

Pastor was explaining a bit about dropsy, that it's what we call edema. It occurred to me that there is a massive unity then between the two parts of that Gospel in Luke 14:

There are those who experience a physical dropsy or edema, a swelling in the body of fluids.

There are those who experience a spiritual dropsy or edema, a swelling of the soul in pride.

He came that we might be healed from both, and to heal us from both He humbles Himself to the way of the Cross where His heart is pierced that water and blood might flow out, squelching in His humility our silly swellings of pride. And when He reaches us His body and His blood at the table, He guarantees already our future bodily healing and begins already the healing of the soul by the gift of His own humility.

Liturgical Thought for the Day

Crossposted from my Facebook page:

Said to a friend of mine: 'The problem with you liturgy guys is that you're stuck in the past.' 

Um, exactly wrong. The liturgy is all about the future: it's the celebration and very gift of the future age reached to us in the present for us to live from. It's not that the use of the historic liturgy binds you to the past. Oh, sure it joins you to the community of those who throughout the ages have lived, quite literally, from the age to come. But it is Contemporary Worship by its very definition that is intrinsically time-bound and possessed by a myopic approach that chains you to the sad world of the present, and suggests that the present suffices! 

The New Rules

Folks, I simply don't have time or energy to engage in internet arguments, particularly those from folks who strike me as simply being contentious. So, if your response strikes me that way, it's going to just disappear. No explanations, no debate. It just goes "poof." I figure folks are more than welcome to set up their own sites and argue to their hearts' content. But not here. I'm happy to try to answer any honest inquiries as time allows, of course.

Kevin

Big belly laughs... the way his eyes would vacate when his mind was processing data... ridiculous amounts of White Castles to get us through the annual school board budget fiasco... an unfailing gentleness... the post-school board meeting over beer in the garage... the day we ate together at the Mexican joint in Clayton and laughed our way through lunch... the horrid hole from the brown recluse bite... Bopper and Kevin deciding to give each other a bear hug with me in between at one of the girls' volleyball games... the sheepish look when he knew he was supposed to and he hadn't (usually CHURCH!)... My friend, you will be missed indeed. Rest in peace!

Catechesis on AC XXIV

Selections from AC XXIV:

Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence. 2 Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved,.... 6 No one is admitted to the Sacrament without first being examined. 7 The people are also advised about the dignity and use of the Sacrament, about how it brings great consolation to anxious consciences, so that they too may learn to believe God and to expect and ask from Him all that is good. 8 This worship pleases God ...Paul severely threatens those who use the Eucharist in an unworthy manner, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).  Therefore, when our priests were warned about this sin, private Masses were discontinued among us, since hardly any private Masses were celebrated except for the sake of filthy gain....But Christ commands us, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Therefore, the Mass was instituted so that those who use the Sacrament should remember, in faith, the benefits they receive through Christ and how their anxious consciences are cheered and comforted. To remember Christ is to remember His benefits. It means to realize that they are truly offered to us.

In the name of the Father...

The accusation was: "You guys got rid of the Mass!" That is, the changes that the Lutherans had introduced into the liturgy were of such a kind and weight that their opponents actually thought they destroyed the liturgy itself. The Lutheran response was little short of "Hogwash. That is a lie. We've done nothing of the kind."

To prove their point, the Lutherans insisted that they KEPT the Mass and that they observed it with the highest reverence. They could even honestly protest that they still used most of the ceremonies, in other words, the human customs that have been added to the Supper's celebration across the centuries.

Of course, what Lutherans DID do was to dump the prayer that surrounded the Words of Institution. Not that most folks noticed, because it was, after all, prayed in silence by the priest as the choir was singing the Sanctus and Benedictus. The only point at which the people even connected with that silent prayer was when the bells were rung, signaling the consecration. And yet this was prayed in silence as well. They only knew it had happened by the priest elevating the consecrated host first and later the chalice. This prayer asked for things which failed the Scriptural litmus test. Asking God to be gracious to us because of the surplus merits of various saints (a massive pile of which were named out), asking God to accept the sacrifice that we were offering and make it availing for those for whom it was specially offered, and so on.

In a nutshell, the problem with the prayer was that it read the Words of Institution backwards. Not God saying to us: "Take, eat, drink, for you." But us saying to God: "Here, you take and then bless us on account of this." Do you see the massive difference? When God was trying to give us a priceless gift, we're shoving it back up to heaven!

Lutherans have NEVER disputed that the very sacrifice of Calvary (as a noun) is what is present in the Supper. What we dispute is that the pastor or the pastor and the people sacrifice (as a verb) this to God, even in some unbloody and mysterious way. Jesus didn’t say: “Take and offer!” He said: “Take and eat for here is the sacrifice I offered once and for all on Calvary’s tree, and now I give it to you for your forgiveness for you to receive, believe, and rejoice in.”

No, we could justly protest. We keep the Mass. We have no intention of letting go this ancient and lovely liturgy, even if we do dispense with a prayer that's been in it for a long time. We recognize that not everything that grew on that liturgy over the centuries is of equal value or worth. Some things ended up actually obscuring of the gift itself, and so  these have to go. Like doing the whole liturgy in a language no one understands. Or like treating the human ceremonies as if they were more important than the actual gifts of God. Or offering to God what He is trying to give to us. But anything that extolls and confesses what God is up to when He summons His people together to give them the memorial of the new and everlasting testament of their Divine Redeemer, all that we rejoice to keep.

Or at least we did and we still say we do. If we are not observing the customary ceremonies with the highest reverence, the solution is not to conjure up some ceremonies and reverence. The solution is to stop and take thought again of exactly WHAT and WHO is present in the consecrated elements and WHY He comes among us in that mysterious way. Then to weigh what best confesses His presence and the gifts He brings. That will always land you back in the liturgy again, because it's just hard to come up with a better way to confess this than all those previous generations of Christians have done. This is liturgy not as legislation or the Augsburg Confession as some canon law; this is liturgy as prayed version of the Church's confession of faith.

Look, if on the altar and in your hand and in your mouth is the very body and blood of the Eternal Son, through whom you and this entire creation came into existence, who in the fullness of time was born of the holy Virgin, taking on a human nature, that once hung upon Calvary's cross, suffering and bleeding, to wipe out your sins, that rose from the grave to free you from death, and even now sits at the right hand of the Father ruling all things, that will appear in glory at the Day of the recreation, if all that’s so, then highest reverence simply follows in all our receiving and handling of this astounding gift.

In the name of the Father…

Interesting

To wit, we all were under sin and punishment. He Himself, through suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross.—Chrysostom on Colossians 2. 

I think someone forgot to tell him that the fathers don't teach the Western heresy of penal substitution....

Today's Catechesis

On Augsburg Confession, Article XXIII:

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

An old joke. Two young catholic lads see a Lutheran pastor walking down the street in his clerical collar and one cheerfully calls out: “Good morning, Father!” But his friend whispers in his ear as they pass him: “That man’s no Father; he has three kids!”

Is that okay or not? Pastors being married and having families, I mean. Obviously it was in the New Testament. We heard it today from St. Paul. “Husband of one wife” (which also implies that he’s a man, not a woman; at least it would have implied that when it was written!). “managing his household well. With all dignity keeping his children submissive.” But at the time of the Reformation this was one hot issue. 

Rome had long enforced the discipline of their clergy not being married.  By the time of the Reformation that discipline had calcified through long custom to be regarded as sacrosanct, so that a pastor marrying and having sexual relations with his wife was regarded as a sin and scandal. 

And what did the Church get for setting aside the Word of God on this and trying to come up with a better way? What the Church always gets when it presumes to know better than the divine Word. Disaster and scandal. Our confessions allude to the scandals and make it clear that the recent child abuse and such have long, sad histories. In His Word, God reveals that He made us sexual beings. He made us to be drawn to the opposite sex and to long for the gift of children. Marriage, contrary to what people think today, is not a human construct, something we dreamed up. It’s a divine gift. And to squelch the gift as though we could do it better another way always invites all kinds of heart-ache and trouble. You know the truth of that. You know that every time you’ve tossed a clear word from God and turned to your own way, it only brought sorrow. The Reformers ditched this hurtful tradition.  They restored the ancient practice of allowing any who did not have the gift of celibacy to embrace the gift of marriage. 

The Reformers could do this with a clear conscience because they were blessed to have some very clear words of God to guide them on this matter. The big cheeses in the church, the Church hierarchy, could holler and scream and stomp their feet all they wanted, insisting that married priests weren’t allowed. The Sacred Scriptures trump any tradition of the Church every single time. And the Scriptures are clear that pastors may be married, that denying marriage is actually a doctrine of demons. 

And think of this: since the Pastor in his office represents not his own person but the Person of Christ, who is the Bridegroom of His Church, the married Pastor serves as an icon in his relationship to his wife, of what Christ is to His bride, the Church. You know how Paul unpacks the Gospel itself from the relationship of husband to wife in Ephesians 5. He loves her, He gives Himself up for her, He sanctifies her by cleansing her with the washing of water through the Word so that He can present the Church to Himself as His bride, flawless, no spot, no wrinkle, no blemish. Gloriously perfect in His eyes. And that’s how husbands are to love their wives. Even and especially husbands who are called as pastors. So a man leaves his Father (think incarnation) and His mother (think at the cross) and is joined to His wife. Think new Adam where His side is pierced and out flow the blood and the water, the Eucharist and Baptism, whereby the Lord’s bride is formed. A profound mystery, says St. Paul, and it refers to Christ and the Church.

So, people loved by God, no, marriage is not something sordid and sexual relations between husband and wife is not something dirty and defiling that we need to keep the clergy away from. No. Let them lead the way in showing that marriage is holy and splendid and a gift of God. Let them serve in their love of their wives as a mirror of the love of Christ for His Church. 

"That man isn’t a father. He has three kids." Maybe he’s no Roman Catholic priest, but he’s a man under obedience to the Word of God and freed by it to receive and rejoice in all the gifts that God has for His people, including the gift of marriage. 

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Where'd he go?

He's got his fingers busy typing, trying to finish up a book by a deadline for CPH. No blogging or FB or even ALPB until the book is DONE. Then I'll be back. Till then, the Lord's richest blessings to each of you visitors!

A Paleo Triumph

I DID it! I ate chicken livers. Cindi made them smothered with onions. No, not quite as tasty as the chicken curry she served over cauliflower rice with veggies, but it was still, well, eatable. An organ meat consummed. How about that? Mark Sisson, I'm making slow progress. 

What a Wonderful Saturday!

After that cold bout, it feels GREAT to have some heat and warmth. Cin and I had breakfast, coffee, and Treasury this a.m., and then headed out for a long and leisurely walk up to the farm.

Oh, and most hysterical: Sawyer's FactTime this a.m. He's colored on himself with markers. Two tatoos, he informs us, just like Nana. We about split a gut.

Got back and she cut my hair (I LOVE haircut day...I keep trying to get her as excited about it as I am!). A bit more coffee and then pool time. First I vacuumed, while Cindi pulled stuff out of the garden (eggplants, tomatoes, cucumber). We floated a bit. Drank some NorCal margaritas (gosh those are perfect in the heat!), and then some more floating. LPR was playing and we got to hear We All Believe, All Glory be to God on High, and E'en So. Could life get better? A bit of leftovers for lunch.

Cindi's planning on tackling some weeding. I reminded her that the last time I assisted her in this chore she lost her hibiscus (come on, in early spring it LOOKS like a weed). So I'm going to find something else to occupy my time. And then some more pool time after a bit of break from the sun.

More Pics from Gottesdienst, St. Louis

You really missed a great conference if you weren't at this Gottesdienst extravaganza. Of course, the worship was refreshing and joyful, but the presentations and discussions were outstanding. Pr. Larry Beane, Pr. David Petersen, Pr. Heath Curtis...each delivered thought-provoking papers, and the open disagreement about how to proceed in the panel discussion toward the end, was actually quite illuminating. Adam as head of the three hierarchies: husband, priest, king. A letter from Madison to our very own St. Matthew's in Manhattan. The pre rehearsal rehearsal for the wedding. Keep your eye out on Gottesdienst Online to see if the papers are posted.

Busy!

Friday, Bekah and I headed to NC for Flynn's baptism. Long drive, but we got in before dark. Was so great to see my beloved again and the Herberts. Baptism was at early service Sunday:

Was great to visit with Jim Huffman, Lauren's godfather that day too. Missed Amy, though. 

Monday we were up early and off to home. Got in at 5:30 and the Beanes and Dave joined us for supper at 6:45. Leo took advantage of the pool while the grown ups visited. 

Tuesday was Gottesdienst conference on marriage with several outstanding presentations and worship opportunities. 

And then had great visit with Pr. Loesch.

Missionary Orientation wraps up tomorrow with another great group being sent forth. Divine Service is at 2! Join us if you can. 

You know my favorite part of Missionary Orientation?

Chapel! Chapel with the sounds of CHILDREN!!! The most unnatural thing about Chapel at the Synod's International Center is how quiet it usually is. All adults. Blah. I love these weeks when young people are all over the building AND making noise in chapel. And to think these kids will grow up on the mission field and will always be marked by that experience. So very exciting indeed!

Blown away

I was utterly blown away by receiving this at the Making the Case Conference in Collinsville this past weekend:

I am humbled beyond words to be in the company of such men as Dr. Feuerhahn and Pr. Klem Preus. And I want to THANK Issues, Etc. for providing an ongoing catechetical forum and for allowing me to teach on the subjects of liturgy and hymnody which are so dear to me. Today marks the 29th anniversary of my ordination into the Office of the Holy Ministry. It's been an overwhelming blessing to me to share the joy of Christ's forgiveness in preaching and prayer and song. 

Welcome, Joshua Flynn

Born early this morning to Lauren and Dean Herberts, our fourth grandchild and second grandson. He'll be known as Flynn. And here he is wrapped in a blanket his Nana made him:

Logitech, welcome back!

After I got my first iPad, I saw the keyboard that a friend of Dean's had and fell in love with it. A logitech. I got one and it worked well. Then when I bought a mini, I ended up buying the keyboard to go with it from logitech. It took a bit of getting used to, but soon I was flying along on it. Small keys ended up being no problem at all. Probably helps that I have small fingers!

But alas, a drop or three and it would no longer hold my iPad mini upright. I had to get rid of it. A couple months ago I tried out a couple different options, and ended up taking one of them back (the Zagg, it always typed double letters) and bought a cheaper model. It worked okay for a while. And then IT started the double letter thingy. I tossed it and have been using the keyboard on the screen, which I really, really do not like.

Today Cindi surprised me with an early father's day gift: A NEW LOGITECH! YEAH!!! I've been typing up a storm since she gave it to me. It is really the very best little keyboard. And I'm going to try really hard NOT to drop this one...

I really DO love music...

...and the way it accompanies the heights and depths. This past week I played for a wedding last Saturday (including a risky Trumpet Voluntary from memory that actually did fly!), then for a service on Sunday, then for chapels last Thursday and Friday at the International Center, then for a funeral today of one of the sweetest and most wonderful ladies it has even been my privilege to know (during that I accompanied David as he sang Fleischmann's outstanding "Little Lamb"), then for service tonight, and will play (God willing) for service tomorrow.

I love music beyond words, but get more than a tad nervous at public performance. Still, there is something so awesome about assisting the people of God in offering their sacrifice of praise. The joy ends up outweighing the terror.

AND every once in a while there's a hymn that gathers into itself the heights and the depths and offers a a glimpse of sublime glory. I got to play such a critter twice today: "Lord, Thee I Love." Truly one of my all time favorite hymns; indeed, my favorite of all the favorites.

And what a joy to play! There is something about pulling back at the start of stanza three and then letting all heaven break loose with the "And then from death awaken me..." Only, the organ can't make the sound big enough, bright enough for that moment. But it can give a foretaste of resurrection joy.

Which is all a way of saying: Thank you, dear Lord, for the gift of music! For the songs of Your Church to accompany and accomplish our journey through the ups and downs and finally home to You.

"And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isaiah 35:10

"Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend, and I will praise Thee without end."

33 Years

That's how long Cin and I have been married as of today. And we've been friends for the past 44 years, and this year we both turn 55.

We had a hoot of a conversation this morning thinking of all the weird things we've done that we'd never have believed we would ever do when we were just getting married. It's been a wild and crazy ride, but wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Cindi, you're the only person in all the world that I would ever want to make this journey through life with! Love you!

Thursday's Chapel

Daily Prayer for Morning, p. 295.

Psalm 29

A reading from Romans 11:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

This is the Word of the Lord. R.

Glory. It’s a word we throw around quite a bit in the Church. And that’s meet, right and salutary since, as St. Paul notes: All things are from Him and by Him and for Him to Him be GLORY forever!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Blessed are You who created us, the source of our being.You continually sustain our life and give to us all good things for us to enjoy just because You are our Father and You love us. And in His temple all cry GLORY!”

Glory is our way of saying: “What a God you are! Who’d a ever thunk it! Your mercy is over all that You have made. And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Thank you for loving-kindness, for not dealing with us as our sins deserve! And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Thank you for Your love, for sending us Your Son, for making Your Son our brother, and for His blood that covers the sin of the whole world in Your sight and sets us free! And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Praise be to You for the gift of Your Spirit so that we can believe in You and know You and love You and serve You and even reign with You! And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Hallelujah for the world that is coming, for the Appearing of Christ, for Love burning up and destroying all that is not love, for a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells, for death’s defeat and the grave’s reversal. For an eternal home where there are no more good byes and all tears are wiped away by a nail scared hand. And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is our way of saying: “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You blow us away with Your tender kindness! You are an abyss of forgiveness, an unfailing fountain of pardon, a Trinity of persons that is a Love that is beyond all height, depth, breadth or any measure we can think of. And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Glory is way of saying: “We’re out of words. We’re astonished and humbled and filled with over flowing joy. And in His temple all cry GLORY!!”

Oh, you can do better than saying it. You can sing it!

Glory be to God the Father! – LSB 506

Our Father…

Our Father...

Glory, forever and ever!

Glory to You, King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Glory to You!

Glory to You for the promise that You welcome our prayers, that You invite us to cast on You every burden of our heart.

Glory to You for the people you’ve given us to love and whose burdens we now raise to You: Felicia, Allen, Jan, Cindy, Pastor Christiansen and Lori, and for all who cry out to You for healing and for peace.

Glory to You for the love that enwraps us and holds us. Bring us finally to share with all Your saints the Feast that never ends, to hear with our ears the triumph song, and to see with our eyes the face of Mary’s Son, our eternal King and will all those in the temple to cry: Glory!

I thank You…

Let us bless the Lord. R.