Amen to That!

Do you need a reasonably priced small gift for Christmas, a book maybe?  For someone who is a word nerd, and just a little bit religious?  I’m suggesting “Amen to that! The amazing way the Bible influences our everyday language,” by Ferdie Addis, Reader’s Digest, 2014. 165 pp. (5 x 7 inches, hard cover) $14.99.

I just received it today for review, and am having such fun browsing. Each familiar saying (that perhaps you didn't know came from the King James Bible) includes the appropriate verse reference and several paragraphs of explanation, history and how it is used today. There is also a nice bibliography and index, which are the heart's desire for most librarians (Romans 10:1), even those who are 3 score and 10 (Psalm 90:10).

So for that special someone who is “the apple of your eye,” or “the salt of the earth” for whom there’s “nothing new under the sun,” try this one.

Social justice?

"Jesus was an advocate for social justice." (Council of Churches website) Jesus never called on the Roman government to feed the hungry, take care of the sick, or visit the imprisoned. Nor did he suggest that the Jews break Roman laws to bring in God's justice, a.k.a. righteousness (the only kind of justice noted in Scripture). He never claimed that higher taxes were the solution to people's problems. He didn't suggest putting the government on a higher plane than religion. I can't imagine he would support the U.S. abortion laws putting the convenience of the adults ahead of the life of the child. When he fed the multitude with a few fish and pieces of bread it was a miracle to declare who he was--a few hours later they would be hungry again if it was about food and not the Bread of Life. "Social justice" as it is promoted or explained in many church publications, committees, boards, non-profits and pulpits is warmed over Marxism. In fact, Jesus may have been critical of this entrenched religious leadership that is so cozy with power in high places seeking handouts from the government to do "good works."

12 Reasons Why a Pastor Quit Attending Sports Events

1. The coach never came to visit me.
2. Every time I went, they asked me for money.
3. The people sitting in my row didn’t seem very friendly.
4. The seats were very hard.
5. The referees made a decision I didn’t agree with.
6. I was sitting with hypocrites—they only came to see what others were wearing!
7. Some games went into overtime and I was late getting home.
8. The band played some songs I had never heard before.
9. The games are scheduled on my only day to sleep in and run errands.
10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches, anyway.
12. I don’t want to take my children because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

Sign of the cross

More Christians than not use the sign of the cross as a reminder of who and whose they are. It's a custom/sign that goes back to the very earliest Christian communities. And in those days, it could have been dangerous.

“When, then, you make the sign of the cross on the forehead, arm yourself with a saintly boldness, and reinstall your soul in its old liberty; for you are not ignorant that the cross is a prize beyond all price.

Consider what is the price given for your ransom, and you will never more be slave to any man on earth. This reward and ransom is the cross. You should not then, carelessly make the sign on the forehead, but you should impress it on your heart with the love of a fervent faith. Nothing impure will dare to molest you on seeing the weapon, which overcometh all things.”

– St. John Chrysostom

"The sign of the cross is made by placing the thumb and the first two fingers of the right hand together as a reminder of the Trinity. Touch your head at the naming of the Father, then bring your hand to the middle of your chest (over your heart) at the naming of the Son. At the naming of the Holy Spirit touch your right shoulder and then your left shoulder.

But let us be clear, making the sign of the cross, or not making the sign of the cross, is part of our Christian liberty. It should never be made a criterion for being viewed as more or less confessional, more or less liturgical, or more or less Lutheran. While the sign of the holy cross is the property of each and every baptized child of God, it is up to the individual to determine when and how he or she will use it"

New Direction for Mountview Baptist

Last night as we were driving to The Church at Mill Run (UALC), I noticed the sign of Mountview Baptist Church now said Mountview Christian Church. Thinking they might just be vague about their denominational identity as we are (not identifying MR as Lutheran) I looked it up. But I was wrong; it is now a non-denominational Christian church. They have one of the best websites I've seen recently for a Christian church. Clear, concise, and well written.

Mountview Christian

Chautauqua, New York, beautiful and liberal

Lakeside, Ohio, a few years ago changed its name to Lakeside Chautauqua (which none of us actually use), but it is one year older than Chautauqua, NY. Both were at one time Methodist summer retreats steeped in Christianity and the Bible. I'm not sure when things shifted, but I know that in 1913 there was a Bible Conference at Lakeside, and by 1938 it was called Religion and Life or something like that. Old timers really squealed foul this summer when Lakeside's logo was changed and the cross removed (has since been restored). Here's an article about what has happened at Chautauqua, NY, and although Lakeside is only "interfaith" one week, it's definitely liberal.

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/09/beautiful-liberal-chautauqua

The Nicene Creed and what is unseen

"We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all that is seen and unseen . . ." (Nicene Creed, 4th century) When the congregation repeated these ancient words this morning I thought about our programs on the universe last week at Lakeside. Dark matter. Dark energy. One speaker said there are 10 billion galaxies close enough for the light to get to us, the other said there may be a trillion galaxies. But who's counting. I know the Creator of all things seen and unseen, visible and invisible.

One of the speakers got so excited he shouted, "Hallelujah, can I hear an Amen" while talking about the 300 billion stars in the Milky Way, our galaxy.

Amen!

Horsehead Nebula (gas cloud)

Star Parker has the CURE

It's possible you've seen Star Parker on CNN, TBN, CSPAN, CBN, and FOX News, and once you learned she's a conservative Christian, perhaps you picked up the remote and looked for someone else to discuss the news of the day. But if you're a Democrat, you should also know she's had several abortions and been on welfare so she knows your side of the fence too, even if she jumped it and ran to the freedom of Christ, because that's who changed her life. Today she's head of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank which promotes market based public policy to fight poverty.

I wonder if the IRS has investigated her status--after all, she did leave the system for a better plan and tells others how to do it. That could be a threat to the current administration.

http://townhall.com/columnists/starparker/

The race that counts

There is a fun Run/Walk race here at Lakeside this week-end. Don't forget the big one!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God," (Hebrews 12:1-2, ESV).

What does your church do about abortion?

Priests for Life lists 28 actions priests can take in their local parish. I looked through the list and found ONE thing our church (Lutheran) is doing--brochures (#17) in the ladies' room about a crisis pregnancy center. Some things, of course, we don't do at all--like special masses, holy-hours and rosaries, but we do have sermons, Bible Studies, guest speakers, committees, literature racks, memorials, plaques, newsletters, bulletin inserts, special prayer events, etc. Two things hobble us: 1) our collection plate, and 2) the IRS. I don't think we're that different than other churches.

http://www.exposeabortion.com/


1) Offer Masses for Pro-life intentions. This can either be a "special event" or a regularly scheduled Mass, the intention of which relates to pro-life.

2) Establish a pro-life prayer group in the parish, dedicated specifically to

prayers and teachings on the value of human life.

3) Offer Pro-life holy hours, Rosaries, Scripture Services. Priests for Life provides some devotional materials.

4) Promote the Be Not Afraid Family Holy Hours. For information, contact the Apostolate for Family Consecration, 3375 County Rd.36 Bloomingdale, OH 43910 Phone: 1-800-77-FAMILY.

5) Preach frequently on abortion, both by entire homilies on the topic and by reference to it in other homilies.

6) Include mention of abortion in the General Intercessions at Mass.

7) Place inserts into the bulletin about pro-life. These can be full-page inserts that can be given to the bulletin company in advance, or short (1-3 line) messages. These are available from Priests for Life. You can order a free monthly pro-life insert for your bulletin, which will be sent to you camera-ready. Call American Life League at 540-659-4171 and ask for the "Pro-life Bulletin Board."

8) Present pro-life topics in Bible Study, RCIA, meetings for school parents, marriage preparation, instructions for sponsors, etc.

9) Invite pro-life speakers to make presentations at meetings which people are required to attend, such as those for the parents of school or CCD children.

10) Have special educational evenings with speakers and/or videos.

11) Have a "Life Mission" with a guest speaker/workshops for several days.

12) Use the parish bookrack to make good pro-life literature and tapes available.

13) Use parish bulletin boards inside and outside the Church to convey a pro-life message. Set up a permanent pro-life sign on the property.

14) Make pro-life resources (Precious Feet Pins, Bumper stickers and Buttons, Pro-life Bank checks, etc.) available to the parishioners. You can get order information from Priests for Life (888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400)

15) Add the words "born and pre-born" to the Pledge of Allegiance when it is recited in the schools and at other functions.

16) Sponsor a pro-life essay/poster contest among the children of the school and CCD programs. Display winning posters in the school or in the Church vestibule, and print winning essays in the bulletin.

17) Have readily available at all times concrete information about alternatives to abortion. Place one of more of these numbers on the cover of your parish bulletin as a standard item. Get this information to women in need, to local doctors, and to the secular press. Some of the national hotlines ready to help women anywhere in the country are:

CARENET/HEARTBEAT 1-800-712-HELP

CRISIS PREGNANCY HELPLINE 1-888-4-OPTIONS

BIRTHRIGHT 800-550-4900

PREGNANCY HOTLINE 1-800-848-LOVE

BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES 1-800-238-4269

NURTURING NETWORK 1-800-TNN-4MOM

SEVERAL SOURCES FOUNDATION 1-800-NO-ABORT

AMERICA’S CRISIS PREGNANCY HELPLINE 800-67-BABY-6

GOOD COUNSEL HOMES 800 723-8331(Answering machine for this number after business hours.)

18) Have information available on post-abortion healing programs like Project Rachel. Call 414-483-4141 or 1-800-5-WE-CARE.

19) Bring people out for a Life Chain or peaceful prayer vigil on the street or at an abortion mill.

20) Encourage a parish pro-life committee to form and grow. Give it constant encouragement.

21) Commission the pro-life committee at a special liturgy. Priests for Life provides a suggested prayer for such a commissioning.

22) Read good books and periodicals on the issue, consult with experts, and take advantage of resources provided by the local diocesan pro-life office, the Bishops' office for pro-life activities, and Priests for Life.

23) Have a plaque or monument erected in memory of the children in the community who died from abortion. Have a school yearbook dedicated to those killed by abortion.

24) Establish some sort of memorial to mothers who have been killed by their abortion. A list of the names of some of these women is available either in printout or poster form. Contact Priests for Life for information.

25) Call for special parish days of voluntary prayer and fasting to end abortion.

26) Establish a parish pro-life newsletter for the parish or community.

27) Participate as a parish in the National Night of Prayer, held each December across the country to pray for an increased respect for life. For information, call Anne in New York at 516-234-6921.

28) Take part in The Gabriel Project, a pastoral program whereby the local parish directly assists pregnant mothers. Contact Priests for Life for more information.

Bernadine of Siena, May 20

Whether you're Protestant or Catholic, a "saint of the day" book is an inspirational daily read. Most of these people lived and worshipped before the splits in the church. May 20 is Bernadine of Siena. I think what impressed me about him was he could draw crowds of 30,000 when preaching about sin and vice. No loud speakers, no apps on cell phones, no cameras held up to catch his photo. (no port-a-potties) When he told people to throw their gambling tools into a community bonfire, the manufacturers of playing cards complained he was ruining their livelihood. But in many of our churches we see his work on vestments and paraments. He's the one who promoted the IHS symbol, the first 3 letters of Jesus' name in Greek.

"Worship" is one of those pesky exceptions about not doubling the p. I have to look it up when I use it. The rule is, most verbs ending in ‘p’, like develop or gallop, after an unstressed vowel, have no doubling of that final consonant in standard received British English or American English. But there are exceptions: worship, handicap, kidnap.  I have no idea why.  Just one of the joys of our spelling system.

According to Wikipedia “A Parament or Parement; (from Late Latin paramentum, adornment, parare, to prepare, equip), a term applied by ancient writers to the hangings or ornaments of a room of state. Later it has referred to the liturgical hangings on and around the altar, as well as the cloths hanging from the pulpit and lectern, as well as the ecclesiastical vestments and mitres. In many usages, it is synonymous with altar cloth.”

You may recall (or not) there was a mini-scandal about the IHS being covered up and replaced by the Presidential symbols when Obama spoke at Georgetown (a Catholic university) in April 2009. Just the beginning of many such incidents involving religion. Factcheck confirms this.

Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind Gaston Hall stage. The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they’ve done for other policy speeches.

Very much the monarch.

From George Washington's speech to the Delaware Indians, May 12, 1779

Brothers: I am glad you have brought three of the Children of your principal Chiefs to be educated with us. I am sure Congress will open the Arms of love to them, and will look upon them as their own Children, and will have them educated accordingly. This is a great mark of your confidence and of your desire to preserve the friendship between the Two Nations to the end of time, and to become One people with your Brethren of the United States. My ears hear with pleasure the other matters you mention. Congress will be glad to hear them too. You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast, that nothing shall ever be able to loose it.

Link

The ascension of Jesus in the creeds

Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after he rose from the dead (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:1-11) , so that would be May 9, however, we're starting a new sermon series at UALC, so today's topic was the Ascension in the creeds (next Sunday is Ascension Sunday in the church calendar). There are three creeds accepted by all Christian churches (Apostles, Nicene and Athenasian), and the ascension of our Lord phrase is in all of them. " He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;" "and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;" "He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;".

http://www.rca.org/page.aspx?pid=2765

Creeds, Book of Concord

St. Cyprian, Ch. 27

Chapter 27

Let us rouse ourselves in so far as we can, most beloved brethren, and, breaking the sleep of old inertia let us awake to the observing and keeping of the Lord's precepts. Let us be such as He Himself ordered us to be when He said: 'Let your loins be girt, and your lamps brightly burning, and you yourself like to men waiting for their Lord, when He shall come from the wedding, that when He comes and knocks, they may open to Him. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He comes, shall find watching.' We ought to be girt, lest, when the day of departure come, it finds us burdened and entangled. Let our light shine forth in good works and glow, so that it may lead us from the night of this world to the light of eternal brightness. Let us always with solicitude and caution await the sudden coming of the Lord, so that, when He knocks, our faith may be vigilant, ready to receive from the Lord the reward of its vigilance. If these mandates are kept, if these warnings and precepts are maintained, we cannot be overtaken while sleeping by the deceit of the devil; we will reign as vigilant servants with Christ as our Lord.

About Mary

The last few mornings I’ve been watching “Catholic Canvas” on EWTN which is an explanation of the art of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums. I had known about the restoration of the frescoes, but the restoration of the tapestries is less known (at least to me).   The cape that appears to surround God in the most famous panel of Michelangelo (God reaching to touch Adam’s finger with his other arm around the baby Jesus), says a doctor, is a model of the human brain.  My minimal understanding of perspective puts me in awe of the “foreshortening” of his style, where the viewer looks up and the figures move into our space, with arms and legs and clothing hanging down.  Michelangelo knew his Bible and Christian theology. But you can’t watch much EWTN without a lot of “Mary,” adoration and stories completely unfamiliar to Protestants—at least this Lutheran.  We Lutherans give Mary a lot of attention at Christmas as an obedient, chaste young woman, and some at Easter as a grieving follower of Christ, but otherwise, not so much.  I was looking up a quote of St. Leo today, one of the few Popes ever elected who was not a Bishop, who had to deal not only with barbarian invaders of the Roman empire, but terrible fights within the church.  I came across this interesting item about Mary as the Mother of God.

Pope Leo wrote many letters and instructions in his lifetime. 140 of these letters and numerous sermons he preached exist to this day. He is known as one of the prime witnesses for the Primacy of the Pope and his authority to lead the Catholic Church. This was a controversial fact and in great dispute in his day. One of his greatest writings is known as the "Tome of St. Leo" and was a defense of the belief that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. This defense of the Incarnation of Jesus also had implications on the Church's understanding of Mary. The Church Council of Ephesus had debated the identity of Jesus and it's discussion was based on the role of Mary, was she "Christokos", i.e., the mother of Jesus the man, or was she "Theotokos", i.e., the mother of God. The sway in the Council was about to declare that she could only be the mother of the human part of Jesus, but this would imply a split in the reality of Jesus. For this to be a fact, Jesus would have only been human until his birth when at that moment the divine took form in the newborn human. Thankfully, the people of Ephesus intervened and refused to allow the Bishops to conclude their vote. They had a powerful attachment to Mary as she had spent her last years of life on this world in their city. The Council was deadlocked until delegates from Leo arrived and announced by his letter that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. This belief, would later become a formal part of our Nicene Creed. When the letter was read the delegates declared that truly "St. Peter speaks though Leo."

http://www.stleo.com/Patron.htm

Today all Christians  agree on the Nicene Creed; those on the fringes who do not may still argue about the divinity and humanity of Jesus. That he was born human and became divine is just one of the many heresies still floating today. Thank you, Pope Leo, for battling both the outside evil and the inside fighting.

Why do we say Amen?

This is in the Catholic catechism, but seems to be the same for all Christians.

"Why do we say "Amen" to the profession of our faith?

We say Amen—“Yes”—to the profession of our faith because God appoints us witnesses to the faith. Anyone who says Amen assents freely and gladly to God’s work in creation and redemption.

The Hebrew word amen comes from a family of words that mean both “faith” and “steadfastness, reliability, fidelity”. “He who says amen writes his signature” (St. Augustine). We can pronounce this unconditional Yes only because Jesus in his death and Resurrection has proved to be faithful and trustworthy for us. He himself is the human Yes to all God’s promises, just as he is also God’s definitive Yes to us."

John MacArthur's anti-Catholicism

What's the current flap about John MacArthur, an evangelical pastor, I wondered? So I googled what he said about Catholics and the Pope. Actually, there were so many entries going back 7 or 8 years, I couldn't even find the reference I was looking for and had to go to his website and click on his blog. If Christians wonder why youth, gays, non-Christians and young families are leaving the sanctuary and Sunday classroom for feel-goodism, Eastern meditation routines and la-la spirituality, they only need to look at their own nasty in-fighting and name calling. And he calls his web site, "Grace to you?" I wonder if this Bible believing teacher/preacher has heard of St. Jerome? Does he know that before the canon, there was tradition, liturgy, priests, bishops? His rants are like people libeling their great grandparents whom they never met. Evangelicals believe in the pope--the one they see in the mirror every morning.

J.S. Bach Day

Today may be Presidents' Day (Washington's Birthday Observed), but yesterday at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC), Lytham Road, it must have been JS Bach day. For the Prelude we enjoyed Prelude in F Minor; the Offertory was In thee O Lord have I put my trust; and the Postlude as we left the sanctuary was Salvation unto us has come. Allan Willis, organist, Paul Ulring, Senior Pastor, preaching at the traditional services.

Eat your hearts out contemporary service worshippers.

Why did Catholics support Obama

Fifty seven percent of practicing Catholics (attend mass at least once a week) voted for Romney.  Forty three percent who call themselves Catholic but rarely attend services, voted for Obama, the pro-abortion president. Every U.S. Bishop opposed the HHS mandate,  and it clearly looked like Obama stabbed them in the back after they’d supported him on immigration, taxes, etc.  But they just couldn't fight the fact that Catholics have been primarily Democrats for way too long.  I can’t imagine that they couldn’t see this coming when they supported a pro-abortion candidate in 2008.  So that also means that 43% of practicing Catholics think it is OK for Catholic charities and schools and hospitals to go under because of Obama's mandates.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/02/15/why-did-so-many-faithful-catholics-vote-for-obama-again/

The Book of Judith films

Protestant Bibles don’t contain the book of Judith, although it was part of canon for the Eastern and Western Church until the Reformation.  (and still is for Caholics and Orthodox Christians). It seems, though, St. Jerome had a bit of a struggle—I looked it up and he had to translate from the Chaldean texts to Latin.  (We saw his cell when we were in the Holy Land.)

There is a web site that focuses just on Biblical films, Bible Films Blog. It is amazing, or maybe not, how many films have been made about Judith.  The author, Matt Page (UK), is going to be writing about Judith the next week or so, and begins with a collation of all the films he could find, and the first 3 are silent films.

He lists 13 films about Judith—it has everything for today’s audience; religion, sex, violence, and politics.

Instead of tossing a garter

Try footwashing.

"Matt and Julie married last week, and when the time came for the garter to be removed, Matt did something unexpected. As Julie sat in her chair, Matt approached her with a water basin and a towel. With perfect tenderness, he humbled himself and made a beautiful gesture of his service to her.
As husbands and the spiritual head of our households, we are called by Christ to imitate the same dedication of service to our wives. Service doesn’t simply mean helping out, but means humbling ourselves, putting our wives before us always, and heroically attending to her needs."

Abby Johnson on the Sandy Hook murders

"I watched a child fight for his life in his mother's womb. I watched him curl up his body in an attempt to protect himself from the abortion instrument. I watched him attempt to move away and try to get find a safe place. Then I watched his body twist and turn like you would ring out a dishcloth. I watched his arms and legs detach from his body. I watched as his perfectly formed backbone crumbled underneath the powerful suction.

How can I compare the shootings in Connecticut with abortion? Because just like these children who were killed violently in their school, thousands of children are killed violently in their mother's wombs. These unborn children are frantically trying to save their lives before they are killed. There is no difference...except for the number that are killed EVERY DAY.

20 children are killed and it is called a massacre. 1.2 million children are killed in a year and it is called a "medical procedure" and labeled as "choice."

Yes, what I am saying may not be comfortable. But the tragedy of abortion is very real to me. I have seen the terror of the unborn. It is time for us to stop being so uncomfortable with the truth and start shouting it from the rooftops."


Abby formerly worked for Planned Parenthood and now is a Pro-Life Advocate.

Baptism

I heard today on Catholic radio that a baptism administered "in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer and of the Sanctifier" is not valid. So I looked it up; it was decided in 2008. Liberal Christians who are afraid of words like Father and Son or masculine pronouns, have invented this.

Even the Pope gets edited and corrected

I was reading Joan's Blog from Rome (she comments on EWTN and Catholic radio) and noticed this comment, and realized that even the Pope gets edited.

"I remember one of the first times that Benedict XVI spoke off-the-cuff in a general audience. It was January 31, 2007. He had dedicated the general audience catechesis that day to, in his words, the “three of the most important companions of St. Paul in his missionary teaching of the Gospel: Barnabas, Silas and Apollos.”

In the column I wrote on that day’s general audience, I wrote: “Benedict XVI noted that there were differences, contrasts, between Paul and Barnabas at the start of the second missionary journey because Barnabas wanted John Mark as a companion, whereas Paul did not, and the two separated.

“Then, briefly putting his prepared speech, he said, in impromptu remarks, ‘Even between saints there are differences, lack of harmony, controversies. I find this very consoling because we see that saints don’t just ‘fall from heaven’. They are like us, with complicated problems. Holiness is not never having made a mistake or sinned. Holiness grows with the capacity for conversion, penitence, the willingness to start over, above all in the capacity for reconciliation and pardon’.”

As we watched the Pope on television, all of us in the press office were taking notes, recording, etc. I remember sitting with Daniela Simpson of AP that day (I was writing, she was recording) and when the Pope said those words, we just looked at each other, and commented, “Didn’t the Holy Father have a remarkable way with words when he ad-libbed!”

Not long afterwards, when the Holy See Press Office official bulletin came out, none of the off-the-cuff remarks could be found. We asked the director, Fr. Lombardi, what to do and he said we had an obligation to report what we saw and heard and had recorded. We also knew that Vatican Television (and anyone subscribing to CTV feed, like EWTN) would have the full story.

We later learned that staff in the Secretariat of State watch the papal audience each week and “clean up” his ad-libbed remarks – sometimes to make them “more grammatically correct,” at other times, to simple “better” or improve on the papal phrasing.

But there are two things wrong with that.

One, how can you “better” or improve on Pope Benedict’s off-the-cuff phrases?

Two, in changing the Pope’s words, you change what he said, you change the truth. In addition, you do an injustice to a brilliant theologian, thinker and speaker."

What to pay your church musicians

Check here for details.

WEDDINGS

Service fees are $100-$350 (service only)
Wedding rehearsal with bridal party is $50-$100/hour.
Additional rehearsals are $30-$50/hour.
The current, federally approved business standard mileage rate for reimbursement of business travel is charged if visits to church for practice, rehearsal, and service exceed 20 miles per round trip.
The charge for contracting singers/instrumentalists is $15-$35/person hired.

FUNERALS

Service fees are $100-$225 (service only)
Rehearsals $25-$100/hour, depending on the difficulty of the music and the participation of choirs, soloists, or instrumentalists.
The current, federally approved business standard mileage rate for reimbursement of business travel is charged if visits to church for practice, rehearsal, and service exceed 20 miles per round trip.
The charge for contracting singers/instrumentalists is $15-$35/person hired.

Thanks to our pastors at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church: Brodie Taphorn, Eric Waters, Buff Delcamp, Paul Ulring, Dave Mann, Dan Clark, Scott Ford, and David Drumel. We appreciate you.

Guest blogger Michael Levin on Zig Ziglar

The next-to-last time I saw Zig Ziglar, I was one of 17,000 in attendance at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, where he was speaking as part of a program of superstars, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Joe Montana. He was onstage accompanied by his daughter, Julie Ziglar Norman, because Zig had suffered a fall a couple of years before that and nobody wanted him to fall again, especially onstage, and especially in front of 17,000 people.

On April 15, 2011, I saw Zig again, this time for lunch, with his daughter Julie and his son Tom. From 17,000 down to four. If you love Zig Ziglar as I do, you can readily understand it was one of the greatest thrills of my life.

Zig Ziglar is one of the greatest motivators, authors, sales trainers, and inspiring figures the world has known. Millions have read his books and listened to his recordings, and they became, as a result, better salespeople, better spouses, better parents, better people. His mellifluous baritone echoes through the mind of anyone who has listened to him speak. His values harken back to a better world, where integrity was the watchword, where faith mattered, and where sales was a profession in search of a champion.

Zig was their champion. He grew up one of twelve children during the Depression, on a farm in Yazoo City, Mississippi, and his father passed away when he was five years old. By age six, Zig was earning his own money, and selling, mowing lawns. He used that money to buy his first suit, which he wore to church. By the time I met Zig face to face, he had been selling—lawn mowing services, pots and pans, sales training, personal development, and the ideas of his Holy Bible, for 79 years. “You must be married,” Zig said, as we were introduced. “I can tell by how nicely you’re dressed. Only a married man could dress that nicely.”

At lunch, Zig leaned over to me and said, quite seriously, “Never say anything negative about yourself.” It sounds so obvious, but we all do it all the time. If we don’t see ourselves as wondrously made, as Zig likes to quote from the Bible, who will?

I asked Zig what caused him to make the transition from sales training to motivational speaking. His son Tom explained that Zig studied the success of his students, and he realized that only 20 percent of it was due to technique. The other 80 percent was due to reputation and character. So that’s when Zig began to focus on those issues and not just talk about selling.

But don’t estimate old Zig on sales. He’s forgotten more about sales than most of us will ever know. One of his most enduring stories involves his son Tom, who at the time was contemplating a career as a professional golfer. Zig and Tom were playing a competitive round of golf and Tom needed a long putt to drop in order to win the hole. He made the putt, and then he asked his father, “Dad, were you rooting for me?”

As only Zig can say, in that honeyed Southern drawl, “Son, I’m always rooting for you.”

As massive as Zig’s audience was, the publishing industry didn’t think him worth a shot when he wrote the book I found many years later in that furniture store, See You At The Top. By then, Zig had been providing sales training to the Mary Kay Company. Mary Kay Ash was such a devotee of his, Tom told me at lunch, that she told Zig that if he were to self-publish the book, she would buy the first 10,000 copies. Those initial 10,000 sales mushroomed into millions upon millions of books, since Zig has now authored 26 books in all.

I had the extraordinary privilege of editing Zig’s last book Born To Win. I’ve edited or coached hundreds of writers, and it was an uncanny, almost out-of-body experience instead of quoting Zig to people, talking directly to Zig, and making suggestions—how dare I?—to improve his manuscript.

It means the world to me that I was able to meet him face to face at lunch with just him, his two grown children who work with him, and me, and tell him that he made me a better salesperson, a better husband, a better father, a better believer, and a better man.

As I headed out to drive to the airport, Zig took me by the hand and cautioned me to drive carefully.

“After all, most people are caused by accidents,” he warned, with mock solemnity.

New York Times best selling author and Shark Tank survivor Michael Levin runs www.BusinessGhost.com, and is a nationally acknowledged thought leader on the future of book publishing.

Observed at the coffee shop today

“What do you say!” she barked loudly to her small daughter who had just received her do-nut. “Thank you,” the little one meekly replied.

I know I did that to my kids too back in the 1970s, which is probably why I noticed (could hear myself) but gosh, it grates on my old ears now. It kind of smacks of “Everyone look at me, I’m teaching my kid good manners (by being rude to her in public).”

We had a lot of help becoming the crass, rude, it’s-all-about-me people we are today. Here’s my own assessment.

Prayer and Bible reading were taken out of schools incrementally, which removed any thought that there was an over arching system of justice or wisdom above Me. Today you can’t even pass out red and green M&Ms at a school “holiday party.”

A War on Poverty was launched which drove men out of their children’s lives and diminished respect for marriage, which in turn removed tacit authority of parents. A single mom making $29,000 a year, can boost her income to about $69,000 through government benefits like housing allowances, EITC, SNAP, etc.

Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) took the Catholic church in a different direction, with much misunderstanding and craziness, and the Protestants just followed along. Happy clappy songs and sloppy loopy teachings have replaced sound doctrine and good liturgy in all Christian denominations.

With falling standards among Christians in the 60s and 70s, divorce, contraception and abortion became the trinity of free and/or marital sex and shacking up. What’s the point of modeling good behavior?

Boomers came of age—got themselves into all sorts of messes, including war protests and Marxism. Resulted in a lot of them becoming academics and passing it along to Gen-Xers and Next-Gen. They became sappy grandparents with low to no standards.

That’s a lot to read into a rude parenting style, but words have consequences to the 3rd and 4th generation.

Thank you!

Thank you, Brodie Taphorn, Eric Waters, Buff Delcamp, Paul Ulring, Scott Ford, Dan Clark, Dave Mann and Dave Drumel, who pastor our 9 services at our 3 campuses of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church.

Polygamists wait to see the outcome of gay marriage shift

Polygamists. They are waiting in line for us to change the centuries old rules for marriage. And why not? What's so sacred about the number two in sex and definitions of marriage? Many people are serial spouses now. Why not 3 or 4 men if 2 men is OK? It will just add a few pounds to the Social Security Handbook which already has 2700+ rules. So if you think your church has settled this issue , and you're patting yourself on the back because your congregation is so open and welcoming, think again. "Beneath the sensationalism, there lies a real question. If Americans increasingly value their rights to privacy and liberty above historical social norms, then why should the state not legally approve other unconventional domestic set-ups?" And of course, evenutally using the word "unconventional" or even "couple" would than become hate speech. [quote from Washington Post article, Oct. 5, 2012]

And after that hurdle, you'll need to be looking at age, and biological relationships. With contraception, abortion, artificial insemination taking the place of marital sex and the biblical purpose of marriage (children, procreation), why not marry your sister or brother, or your mother-in-law?

Black Saints, Mystics, Holy Folk (The Ancient African Liturgical Church

Black Saints, Mystics, Holy Folk(The Ancient African Liturgical Church, Vol. I) - Video - Catholic Online

Coptic Christians are in great danger today due to uprisings against our current administration.  Pray for their safety.  They have been repressed for years by Muslims.  Christians were in Africa a thousand years before they made it to Scandinavia.  Jesus lived in Africa. Learn the history of the church in Africa.

Sunday July 29 at Lakeside

Great sermon by Pastor Irwin Jennings (retired Methodist pastor and father-in-law of the President of Lakeside) on difficult material this morning. King David having an affair with Bathsheba and then plotting her husband's death. 2 Samuel 11. Wow. They sure didn't cover up sin in the old Bible stories, did they? There is forgiveness, but there are consequences, but it works out in God's plan. This is the messy family line from which the Messiah came to us for our sin. Wonderful music with guest musicians (a family) from North Carolina.

No matter the topic, it must be tough to compete for attention with blue skies, a gorgeous lake, and the sailboats drifting by. But it is a wonderful spot for church services.

Let's raise up missionaries for Oregon and Maine

Recently my husband attended an afternoon meeting with a lovely couple from Campus Crusade who are raising support to help prostitutes in India get off the streets and into employment, and in the process hopefully bring them to Christ.

Christianity is experiencing quite a drop off in Maine and Oregon according to some recent figures. Perhaps we could shore up the churches here. It's not as dramatic, but it might be a lot less expensive to turn the trend here at home rather than to have to start over in 50 years.

Envy, one of the seven deadly sins

Envy is one of the 7 deadly sins--something all Christians used to know, determined in the 6th century and popularized by Chaucer in the 14th c. The rest are pride, lust, anger, gluttony, greed and sloth. Envy is at the root of President Obama's campaign.

The Rhine flows into the Tiber; a history of Vatican II by Fr. Ralph M. Wiltgen, S.V.D.

From a website
http://www.catholicfreeshipping.com/Products/cfs_rhflintibyfr.html

”Unbiased, definitive, popularly written history of Vatican II. Tells it like it really happened. Filled with facts. Totally absorbing. Shows the efforts of the "Rhine Fathers" to take control of the Council. Crucial to understand what is shaping the Church today. TAN Books. This is an unparalleled eyewitness account of just what transpired at the Second Vatican Council. The author's integrity and objectivity won him exclusive interviews with a great number of the Cardinal and Bishops, whatever their allegiance within the Council. The title neatly sums up the fact that Vatican II, and the documents of Vatican II, were shaped largely by the liberal ideas of the Fathers from the Rhine lands.

In The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, the strategies of the liberals in promoting their ideas come through on every page. Father Wiltgen's journalistic masterpiece shows clearly the two main theological forces that were at work in the church before the Council, during the Council, and after the Council, and which remain very much at work in the Church today. Here are the actions and actual words of the famous personalities of the Council, including Cardinals Ottaviani, Frings, and Suenens; Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre; Fathers Karl Rahner, Joseph Ratzinger, and Hans Kung-and of course, Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. This book is essential for anyone who would understand the new orientations which came to the fore with Vatican Council II-including the famous "Spirit of Vatican II"-orientations which have led to momentous destruction and unprecedented changes in the entire Roman Catholic Church. Important reading!”

From another website
http://www.aquinasandmore.com/catholic-books/rhine-flows-into-the-tiber/sku/18690

In The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber, author, historian, journalist and eye-witness to the events, Fr. Ralph M. Wiltgen, presents to the modern reader a history of that council that is at once factual, authoritative, fair, objective, impartial, thorough, and completely interesting. As amazing-and at times even incredible-as are some of the facts that he brings to light, his most important contribution for us today is the fact that he focuses on the role played by that coalition of liberal bishops from the countries bordering the Rhine River in assuming command of the direction which the Council took-and thereby, which is crucial, of the direction taken by the commissions set up in the aftermath of the Council. These commissions "implemented" Vatican II and were responsible for interpreting the recommendations of the Council in their practical and pastoral applications.

Written by a professional historian who daily published a news service, in six different languages, of the proceedings of the Council (through his Council News Service, which went out to over 3,000 subscribers in 108 countries), The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber gradually emerged from the welter of literature about Vatican II as the authoritative, popular history of that Council.

As the author explains in his preface, he had access to "all official correspondence, documents and working papers received by the Council Fathers from the Council's Secretariat," as well as to "all correspondence and documentation sent by the Rhine group to its members, as well as additional documentation from other groups," etc. In addition to this, Father Wiltgen also interviewed two Council Fathers each day during the 281 days that the Council was in session. From all this in-depth exposure to the official proceedings and behind-the-scenes aspirations and maneuverings, he was in a providential position to gather the facts he has so capably recorded in this masterful and absorbing account of Vatican Council II.

The Church stands eternally in his debt for writing this book, and whoever would understand the issues and forces that are still shaping the history and direction of the Catholic Church in our day simply must read The Rhine Flows Into the Tiber.

Catherine Booth

I've been enjoying "Martin Luther had a wife," and "Harriet Beecher Stowe had a husband," a two in one special by William J. Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 1983 (Christian Herald Family Bookshelf edition). Petersen, former editor of Eternity Magazine, is an excellent writer, and each marriage is presented in an entertaining and interesting style. The fifth selection in the first book is about William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army.

Catherine Booth, who wrote many of her busy husband's sermons, was criticized by a male preacher for speaking from the pulpit. (1858) She responded with a 32 page rebuttal.

History of the Booths here.

I see from browsing Google that Petersen also wrote a 2-fer on C.S. Lewis and his wife and Catherine Marshall and her husband plus one on Johann Sebastian Bach and his wife, which includes John and Polly Newton, Johann Sebastian and Magdalena Bach, George and Mary Muller, Hannah Whitall and Robert Pearsall Smith, and Francis and Edith Schaeffer. Petersen's stories are a wonderful way to learn history and to build faith, because all these people had numerous challenges.

Christians in Arab countries

"In Muslim lands and Muslim minority communities around the world, radical Islamist tendencies following, or imitating, Wahhabism have gained new energy in the aftermath of the faded "Arab Spring." As the pro-democracy mobilizations in Arab lands have resulted instead in victories for the radical Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, and with the increasing prominence of radical groups in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Yemen, an Bahrain, Islamist victories have coincided with a new offensive among South Asian Muslims by Deobandis, precursors of the Taliban, and allied with the Saudi Wahhabis.

In Nigeria, a similarly extremist, Wahhabi-oriented group, the "Boko Haram" [literally, "Western Education is a Sin"] has spread terror, especially targeting Christians, across the Muslim north.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, "Boko Haram" has murdered 1,000 people since its appearance in the country in 2009; is crossing Nigeria's borders into the neighbouring state of Chad, and threatening Niger and Cameroon -- as well as having links with Al-Qaida in the regional branch of the terror-force founded by the late Osama Bin Laden, which claims the entire Islamic Maghreb, or western North Africa,

Nigerian Islamist fanatics have demonstrated two features in common with Saudi Wahhabism: hatred of Christians and contempt for women. The contempt for women is exemplified by marriages to underage females by the former governor of Zamfara State in northwestern Nigeria, and now a federal senator, known as Sani: Alhaji Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura."

Source

UALC Spring Concert

Last night the Lytham Rd. Choir of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church presented "In His Footsteps," a spring concert of gospel, classical and folk. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, Oh what a foretaste. . . Thank you, Brian Carlton, director, and all the wonderful musicians. We appreciate you!

Church news out and about

Interesting statistic heard during the 8:15 service (traditional with liturgy, creed, confession, organ, hymns) this morning. Our service has the lowest numbers, but the best attendance. If we were in church today, chances are we were there last week and the week before.

They announced in church today that Dolly Denman had died. Oh my! Heaven is in for some fun, bright colors and singing. Until a few months ago when she was diagnosed with cancer she was singing in the UALC choir and another community choir. She was no longer driving, but Curt and Barbara, her neighbors, brought her to church faithfully. It doesn't seem all that long ago I remember her riding her bike to church--which probably wasn't safe even for a teen-ager let alone a senior citizen considering the distance and busy route. I figure her death has freed up the angels that must have stopped traffic or sat on the fender guiding her. Dolly and her husband Chuck who died a few years ago were so enthusiastic about Marriage Encounter they must have brought hundreds into the movement back in the 1980s. Their Christmas letters were worthy of the archives. We'll see you later, old friend.

DENMAN Dolly Denman has completed her journey through this mortal life and stepped into eternity with Jesus. Remaining are daughter, Diana; sister, Sandy; nephews, nieces, and friends. Memorial service May 14, 10 a.m., Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, 2300 Lytham Road.

Congregational meeting for Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (UALC) at 12:30 today at the Mill Run campus (Hilliard, Ohio); light lunch. We have a slate of nominees for Council and Nominating Committee to consider and will vote on recommended amendments to the North American Lutheran Church (NALC)'s constitution and full communion relationship with the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, the largest Lutheran church denomination in Africa.

Heard on Catholic radio yesterday morning (no source given): "The third largest religious group in America is "fallen away" Catholics." In fourth spot must be "fallen away" Protestants (Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutheran, Brethren). Maybe they're all just trading places?

The Armenian Genocide--1.5 million

BEIRUT: On the 97th anniversary (April 24) of the Armenian Genocide, 5,000 people are expected to protest Tuesday in front of the Turkish Embassy in Beirut against Ankara’s refusal to recognize the mass killings as genocide.

The commemoration will kick off with a Mass at the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate in Antelias, north of Beirut, at 9:30 a.m. Following the Mass, which is expected to gather around 10,000 people, a prayer will be said for the souls of those who were killed in the tragic events.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Apr-22/171002-5000-to-protest-on-97-anniversary-of-armenian-genocide.ashx#ixzz1snkpUnXE

As Hitler was planning to invade Poland:

Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter—with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It’s a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me. I have issued the command—and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad—that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formation in readiness—for the present only in the East—with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks to-day of the annihilation of the Armenians? —p. 11–12 What about Germany?

The abortion that didn't happen

His mother was a professional basketball player who was scheduled for an abortion, then prayed to God for guidance, got a pretty clear answer the next day in a sermon at church and cancelled her appointment at the abortion clinic.

“JaVale McGee is 7 feet, with a 7'6½" wingspan and a 31½-inch vertical leap, unfathomable for a man his size. At 24, he can tap the front of the rim with his forehead. He can slap the top of the square with his palm. He can dunk a cookie in a bowl of milk 11 feet off the ground. When McGee was at the University of Nevada, an opposing player once explained to his coach why he couldn't guard him: "He jumped over me."

Read the whole story and how she told JaVale.

Bonhoeffer at Union Seminary 80 years ago

Accustomed to the rigors of German scholarship and theology, the visiting young student Dietrich Bonhoeffer not yet 25 writes in 1930 about his colleagues—faculty and students—at Union:

“The theological atmosphere of the Union Theological Seminary is accelerating the process of the secularization of Christianity in America. Its criticism is directed essentially against the fundamentalists and to a certain extent also against the radical humanists in Chicago; it is healthy and necessary. But there is no sound basis on which one can rebuild after demolition. It is carried away with the general collapse. A seminary in which it can come about that a large number of students laugh out loud in a public lecture at the quoting of a passage from Luther’s De servo arbitrio on sin and forgiveness because it seems to them to be comic has evidently completely forgotten what Christian theology by its very nature stands for.”

“Things [outside the seminary] are not much different in the church. The sermon has been reduced to parenthetical church remarks about newspaper events. As long as I’ve been here, I have heard only one sermon in which you could hear something like a genuine proclamation, and that was delivered by a negro. . . One big question continually attracting my attention in view of these facts is whether one here really can still speak about Christianity. . . There’s no sense to expect the fruits where the Word really is no longer being preached. But then what becomes of Christianity per se?”

The American seminaries had, of course, taken their lead from the 19th century German theologians, even though as Bonhoeffer noted they were not even up to the level of the fundamentalists they ridiculed. America had long since lost the fervor of the “awakenings” that had shaped it, at least in the seminaries. At that time, Hitler’s small party was gaining ground in Germany. Germany has since recovered from that disastrous time—at least politically and economically. I’m not sure the American mainline churches have been able to expunge the demons of the liberal seminaries.

From p. 105-6 of Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas

Cross posted at Collecting my thoughts

Do couples still get married in churches?

                        

Recently at our Faith of our Fathers group (FOOF) at the UALC Mill Run church we were discussing the removal of most religious/Christian content from public education textbooks and courses despite its inclusion in the founding documents. But maybe we should be looking closer to home.

Today I picked up (free) a copy of Columbus Bride at Giant Eagle. You'd be hard pressed to find any religious content in the wedding photos--hardly even a church or cathedral. Lots of country clubs, old barns, the Atheneum (which has sort of a faux chapel), Franklin Park Conservatory, old wineries, city streets, parks, and party barns. Maybe it's the interior of the modern churches which look like theaters and party houses--so why not just rent one or take the photos outside?

When we were in Russia in 2006 we saw so many weddings in the public square--in front of government buildings, fountains, parks etc. They had 70 years of Communism. What's our excuse?

                

Cross posted at Collecting my thoughts

Wash my dirty feet, Lord

Jesus, my feet are dirty. Come even as a slave to me, pour water into your bowl, come and wash my feet. In asking such a thing I know I am overbold, but I dread what was threatened when you said to me, “If I do not wash your feet I have no fellowship with you.” Wash my feet then, because I long for your companionship.

—Origen (c. 185–254)

Yoga and Christians

“As we know, yoga is the Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind and will or a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and wellbeing.“ Urban Zen Foundation

“Yoga is a spiritual practice, and can be a pathway to good physical health but has nothing to do with giving up one’s own religion.” Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind," Jesus

Science and the Bible

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1. "Quantum physics is based on the idea that information can be created completely spontaneously, namely without any preexisting information." Sometimes these scientists try too hard to explain things.

Soapbox Science

Who is your neighbor?

In the Lutheran liturgy each Sunday we confess: "We have not loved you [God] with our whole heart: we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves." Most Christians abstractly realize the woman they meet on the street who is mentally ill or unemployed or selling her body is their "neighbor" and they know they have a responsibility toward her whether or not they act on it or ignore her. And if the woman is obviously 8 months pregnant, they may even figure out the baby is their neighbor too. But what if the baby isn't so visible--say, the disheveled woman or college student or well-dressed lawyer is only 4 months pregnant. When do the unborn lose their "neighbor" status in Jesus' command?

When the news came out about the HHS mandate to religious institutions to cover "reproductive health" in their health insurance plans, I began asking some questions about Christian churches and organizations that already go far beyond the Obama mandate--all the way to abortion for any reason, even gender selection, which is the policy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Then I began wondering about our donations to the organizations that help the poor and afflicted, like Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio. So I contacted them, and much to my dismay learned that yes, it does include abortion in its employee health insurance. So today I sent a note to a prominent Lutheran:

Dr. Kurt Senske serves as Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Social Services of the South (LSSS) and as Chair of the Board of Directors of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a Fortune 500 financial services organization. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Lutheran Services in America, which has more than 300 member organizations and a combined budget of over $8 billion.

"Dear Dr. Senske--I see you are CEO of LSSS and on the Board of Directors of Thrivent and Lutheran Services in America. What is the abortion coverage for your employee health insurance? Here in Ohio LSS covers abortion. The ELCA mandates it for its synod churches' employee insurance. To what extent are you personally involved in this?"

U.S. Catholic Bishops letter against Obamacare mandate

By googling today, I found out that ELCA, the former synod of UALC, 1988-2010 (we are now North American Lutheran Church) also mandates insurance coverage for its employees (and I’m assuming the member churches) that includes abortion for any reason, even gender selection and coverage of same sex partners. We Lutherans in the pew were not told that, although it may have been discussed when the merger took place in the 1980s. So I shouldn't be surprised that the average Catholic who attends Mass and maybe occasionally goes to confession is clueless about the contraception mandate that was included in Obamacare and now being forced on Roman Catholic employers.

I think that would have been a better reason to leave ELCA than the non-celebate gay pastors who were defying their ordination agreement induced sexual statement that the synod rammed through.

The usual wordy gobble-de-gook from ELCA which seems to be brevity-challenged
Exposing the ELCA by a very unhappy former member, but it does address the abortion/insurance issue
Catholic Phoenix
Pregnant Pause

James study by Beth Moore

Some in our Beth Moore class [James] have sighed, "Ah, vintage Beth Moore." Not in my opinion. It is Beth Moore mixed with higher criticism. Her daughter Melissa, who now has a divinity degree is helping her with the writing. See pp. 80-81 of the workbook where she says the Jewish Christians didn't have the canon and therefore use of "Word" in James was referring to Mosaic Law. Huh? They had eye witnesses (including James, the brother of Jesus), they had the Holy Spirit. God's Word travelled a missionary journal all the way to the British Isles without an official canon--I think it's probable that James knew which Word he was talking about. God's revealed Word of Scripture doesn't depend on writing it down any more than the revealed Word in Creation or the revealed Word in the Incarnation did. She's so close to teaching that our pitiful good works added to Jesus' perfect work is what transforms us, I can hardly keep my coffee from spilling on the page!

Here's where the Lutheran liturgy is a helpful reminder. After confessing we haven't loved God with our whole heart or our neighbors as ourselves, the pastor reminds us that in his mercy, God gave his son, AND FOR HIS SAKE, forgives us.

Damping down the appetites

Recently I was looking at a "commitment" leaders in public ministry were to sign at an Illinois church. It covered everything from eating/shopping addictions to illegal drugs to abuse and lying. 8 of the 10 were concerned with physical appetite. Although it was to be used for scheduling "counseling," I can't even imagine how it could be used against a volunteer or employee. What would the pastor do if someone actually signed the statement that he used illegal drugs, or had fondled a child? The pastor obviously felt a duty to open someone else's eyes and conscience. Shoddy workmanship, falsifying time sheets, bank robbery, embezzlement, copyright violation, etc. weren't listed, but could be included I hope under "other sins that compromise your Christian walk." I wonder if they had a lawyer look it over.

Hymn singing

On hymns: "The birth of Jesus was announced in song, and the last act of worship of our Lord and his disciples was the singing of a hymn. Sacred song, rooted in the Hebrew tradition, occupied from the first a preeminent position in Christian worship. The earliest hymns were psalms and canticles. Initially the people sang them, though by the fourth century in the East, and by the seventh in the West, they had become part of the liturgy and a matter for the clergy and the choirs. Not again until the time of the Reformation was the hymn restored to the people as their rightful heritage in worship." From Service Book and Hymnal (Lutheran), music edition, 1958, p. 285

Work on this hymnal began almost 70 years ago--Lutherans were from many traditions, languages and ethnicities, but they managed to include nearly 80 American authors. Explanations and history in old hymnals are very interesting. It's a tremendous loss to just use words cast on a screen. You miss so much information.

Advent Meditations from the writings of Henri Nouwen

I can't imagine a Roman Catholic congregation, say St. Agatha's or St. Andrew's located near-by in Upper Arlington, selecting an advent devotional booklet prepared from the writings of Martin Luther or John Calvin, but Upper Arlington Lutheran Church distributed "Advent Meditations from the writings of Henri Nouwen," a prominent Roman Catholic priest who died in 1996. Even if he weren't Catholic, when his writings are sliced and diced and packaged like this, they make no sense. For example:

"Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there." What does that say? What does it mean? Could you rephrase it? Could you apply it?

"Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of hope alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us." I don't know where your hope is, but mine isn't in the Christian community. My Christian community isn't why I can "live with courage" or "live without surrendering to powerful forces seducing me toward despair." Huh?

After observing that Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah were all waiting, Nouwen says, "We too can wait only if what we are waiting for has already begun for us." I think I understand all the components of this essay on waiting, seed, growing, nurture, promise, but why does the actual Bible make more sense than the meditation on it?

The problem here, is the problem I have with most writing by Catholics. It's very pretty; it's devotional; it's awe inspiring; some is even powerful. But there's no gospel. That's where the power is; that's our hope.

The clarity of Luther's voice is surely apparent in his Advent and Christmas preaching - the Lord's Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem, the preaching of John the Baptist, the annunciation, and the nativity. Showing remarkable theological insight and pastoral warmth, Luther crafts vivid and graphic pictures of the meanness and misery of the biblical stories of the Lord's birth. All the great themes of Luther's theology - incarnation, justification, the "happy exchange," sacraments, the theology of the cross - are present in these sermons. Advent and Christmas evoke the best in Luther's preaching as he proclaims Bethlehem's crib in light of the cross. Ulrich Asendorf rightly notes that "Luther's Advent sermons are a microcosm of his spiritual world."
Ulrich Asendorf, "Luther's Sermons on Advent as a Summary of His Theology," in A Lively Legacy: Essays in Honor of Robert Preus, edited by Kurt Marquart, John Stephenson, and Bjarne W. Teigen (Fort Wayne: Concordia Theological Seminary, 1985), 13.

St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen

St Basil the Great (330 - 379)
Basil was born in 330 at Caesarea in Cappadocia, of a Christian family. A brilliant scholar and a virtuous man, he started by becoming a hermit but was made bishop of Caesarea in 370. He fought against the Arians and wrote many notable works, in particular the monastic rule that bears his name and which many monks in the East follow to this day. He was also generous to the poor. He died on 1 January 379.

"The Longer Rules and The Shorter Rules," pp 99-103 of Masterpieces of Christian Literature

St Gregory Nazianzen (330 - 389)
He was born in 330, near Nazianzus. He travelled widely in search of knowledge. He followed his friend Basil into the wilderness, but he too was ordained and later made a bishop. He was elected Bishop of Constantinople in 381 but because of the factional fighting within the Church he retired to Nazianzus, where he died on 25 January 389 or 390. He is known as “Gregory the Theologian” in honour of his learning and eloquence.

"Five Theological Orations," pp 113-117 Masterpieces of Christian Literature

See also "The Cappadocian fathers" in The Story of Christian Spirituality, pp 130-

Stalin's 'Railroad of Death'

Bringing the Gospel to Siberia

The Form of Prayer for the Ordination of a Deaconess

Book 8, Section III, XX of Apostolic Constitutions

XX . O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and of woman, who replenished with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna, and Huldah; who did not disdain that Your only begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in the temple, ordained women to be keepers of Your holy gates—do Thou now also look down upon this Your servant, who is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Your Holy Spirit, and cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7:1 that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her to Your glory, and the praise of Your Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to You and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

Issue 101 of Christian History is on Healthcare and hospitals in the mission of the church. There is a small article on Deaconesses on the front lines of care in the early church. Other women mentioned in this issue are Margery Kempe, an English lay-woman who wept for Christ's passion, and was known for devotion and intercession for the sick and her charitable acts; Paula and her daughter Eustochium who spent their wealth founding monasteries and helping the poor, and Fabiola, a Christian widow who founded the first Christian hospital.

I'm pro-life, but. . .

This just doesn't sound like good holiday table talk to me.

The holiday dinner table offers a natural forum for congenial (hopefully!) conversation about current events and issues. Defenders of unborn human life should be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Here are some suggestions to help you effectively discuss abortion with family members and friends who may not share the pro-life view.

I don't know anyone who doesn't have a pretty firm idea on where they stand on abortion. That said, the ideas presented in this article are good for discussions--with strangers.

A pro-life conversation guide.

Haiti's national holiday

November 18th is a major national holiday in Haiti (my husband has been on 5 mission trips and loves the people), commemorating the Battle of Vertières, in which the army of the escaped slaves conquered the last remnant of the French army. Dave Mann, our pastor who serves there, says it's the only enduring successful slave revolt in the history of the world, and it was against one of the strongest military forces of the world at the time, that of Napoleon Bonaparte.

And look at Haiti today, compared to countries whose governments or colonial powers which freed their slaves or serfs due to moral outrage or pressure from Christians and folded them into the economy. The Haitian slaves knew they wanted something elusive, like "freedom." However, they didn't have much cooperation of powerful forces in other countries which also had slaves and feared revolts--like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, etc.

And even if they had, they didn't know how to run the plantations or cities or schools or the government and army. They soon occupied the mansions and consumed the wealth of their former masters, put brutal dictators (lighter skinned than the masses, but still African) in charge who again stole their much reduced wealth, and sunk into poverty that exists to this day. Even so, the faith in God of the Haitian
people would put their wealthier neighbors in the U.S. to shame.

This moment in history brings to my mind today's "Occupiers," vague on the concept of freedom, naive about economics, offending all forces around them that might be more reasonable, and consuming their movement from the inside, but unlike the devout Haitians, they have no faith in anything higher than themselves.

Dave Mann with student choir, 2007, at Institution Univers, Ouanaminthe, a private Christian school.

Getting the Bible into Heart Languages

Yesterday I received mailings from two Christian organizations I support, The World Mission Prayer League, and Lutheran Bible Translators. What amazing people and ministries! Just a few stats to illustrate their importance: There are 6,800+ languages in the world. There are about 340 million people who speak the 2,000 languages where there are no translation projects yet. 1,211 language communities have access to the New Testament, and 457 language communities have the entire Bible in their "heart language." It's very difficult. Imagine Psalm 23 in languages with no word for sheep, or the message of Jesus with no word for forgiveness!

My friend Anna Wan told me something Communism and Chairman Mao did for Christ. He standardized the language--Mandarin. That made the Bible much more accessible and Christianity is growing quickly in China, although they are still a persecuted minority. However, there are almost 36 million Chinese whose heart language is Xiang and there is no Scripture in that language.

Branching out

Pastor Paul Ulring, our senior pastor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, gave the sermon last Sunday at the Mill Run campus sanctuary service on the theme branching out. He first reminded us that the "enemy of the best is the good," (you know you're about to hear you're doing good things but not enough when you hear that). He said "branching out" means that living things reproduce--they have offspring, and if they are churches, they make disciples. Then he suggested we always be prepared to tell "our story"--how we came to know Jesus. Later in the narthex I saw Ruth Foster and told her I remembered how she was part of my story when we met in a women's Bible study called "Harried Housewives" at First Community Church in 1974 and she worked at WCVO. Paul went on to say that UALC has made a commitment to a church plant on the east side of Columbus of $150,000 to help a new congregation get started. This congregation will be part of our newly formed synod, North American Lutheran Church.

I jotted down these four points about branching out:

1) You care about what you pray about.

2) Be watchful and thankful--don't miss opportunities.

3) Be wise in the way you act.

4) Be sure your conversation is seasoned with salt, full of grace.

I sort of smiled remembering that I've heard us admonished before about not being so aggressive with our witness that we turn people off. Really. I could count on one hand the number of times I've heard a witness about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that I thought was over the top. But I myself have missed thousands, maybe millions of opportunities to offer hope, love, justice, peace and a place in heaven to an unbeliever.

Once I found the answer, I had to look it up in a Bible dictionary. These kids' quizes are tough! But found out something very interesting about them: "The Herodians at the time of Jesus were focused on political goals rather than the eternal goals that Jesus proclaimed. They thought Herod might bring temporary peace politically. But Jesus came to bring us eternal salvation, by dying on the cross to pay for our sins."

The Christian left today focuses on political solutions too--George H.W. Bush's thousand points of light program has pushed Christians into the arms of the federal government to create unholy alliances and to forget the gospel.

Father Corapi has left the room

Very few people on Catholic radio had the charisma, charm and story telling ability of Father Corapi. Don't know what happened, and we may never know, unless he tells us in his book.

Fr. Corapi Has Lost It | Blogs | NCRegister.com

The new mass

A scene at the coffee shop this morning

"What do you know about this new mass?" asked the Baptist.

"They've been doing something to get us ready, but I really don't know anything about," said the Catholic.

So the Baptist pushed the morning newspaper across the table to her Catholic friend so she could find out about the new mass.

Catholic Culture : On The News : 'Loyal opposition' to the new Mass translation

It's the tax code that limits free speech of pastors

Lyndon Johnson when he was a Senator got an amendment to the tax code passed in 1954 with no legislative analysis, no committee hearings, and no debate which silenced pastors criticizing specific candidates. . . like Lyndon B. Johnson. For the last 57 years, that amendment to the tax code has scared off pastors from saying anything that might be construed as political--like marriage, abortion, education, etc. Let’s take back the first amendment rights of pastors and churches. (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.)

Appeals Court Rules for Religious Freedom |

Although I'm not sure what "dressing like a Catholic" looks like, this decision looks like a win for Church employers.

St. Catherine and other ministries have the right to employ only those who agree with their religious teachings and apply them to their daily lives. The Court said a contrary result would be “nonsensical,” reasoning that ”Kennedy admits that St. Catherine could fire her for her religion without any recourse. But, by first asking if she would consider changing her clothing before terminating her—i.e., by giving her the opportunity to keep her job—St. Catherine would suddenly open itself up to the strictures of Title VII. Such an approach cannot be squared with Congress’ desire in the first instance to permit a cooperative, accommodative approach to workplace discrimination.”

Appeals Court Rules for Religious Freedom |

Luther and "omne trium perfectum"

I never get tired of reading Luther. Today I noticed in ONE paragraph he used the "rule of 3" 11 times. That would be: "omne trium perfectum" (everything that comes in threes is perfect, or, every set of three is complete). I'd never heard of that rule, but figured it must be out there, so I googled it and found it. Luther's article was on "Christian Freedom" and I assume it was written in Latin, then translated to German, then to English, so that's 3 also!

• victory, salvation and redemption
• has neither sinned nor died and is not condemned
• he cannot sin, die or be condemned
• his righteousness, life and salvation are unconquerable
• [in the wedding ring of faith] he shares in the sins, death and pains of hell of his bride [the church]
• makes them [sins] his own and acts as if they were his own, and as if he himself had sinned
• suffered, died and descended into hell
• his righteousness is greater than the sins of all men, his life stronger than death, his salvation more invincible than hell
• [believer] is free from all sins, secure against death and hell and is endowed with eternal righteousness
• by faith in the Word of life, righteousness and salvation
• he marries her in mercies, righteousness and justice

And those groups of three were inside a power of faith, also three.

John records that "King of the Jews" was written in 3 languages and posted on the cross: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek--the language of the Jews--God's chosen people, the language of the political power of the world--Rome, and the language of literature, art, history, philosophy, science, mathematics, drama and all educated people.

Leaning on the everlasting arms

We sang that old hymn at the dockside service at Lakeside last Sunday, Sept. 4. Published in 1887, it tells of the assurance of God's steadfast care and guidance in tough times, and offers the peace of a relationship with him. I grew up in the Church of the Brethren where I don't recall we sang anything that had a beat--and then in 1974 became a Lutheran and they missed out on those twangy camp songs too, being mostly ethnic Scandinavians (in our synod). The first time I heard it was in Flat Creek, Kentucky in 1956 where my sister Carol was a volunteer church worker through Brethren Volunteer Service. Because she was only 19 at the time, and I was her "little" sister, I was stunned at the level of spiritual and social responsibility she had. Like riding horseback into the mountains to provide Sunday school in areas that had no passable roads; working in the garden and taking care of chickens (and plucking them) for food for the staff (I think there were 5 people living in a little house); helping the local women with sewing and. . . leading hymns like this one. In that area of the country it was sung like a dirge and a capella--not peppy and clappy the way we did it at dockside with an electronic organ. Carol went to be with the Lord in 1996, but everytime I hear "Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms," I think of that amazing, fearless teen-ager. Now I keep track of her 5 grandchildren (4 teens) on Facebook, Will, Jenny, Rachel, Catie and Chris.

Carol's BVS unit 1955. Wearing white blouse, looking between two women in the second row. She also helped flood victims in Pennsylvania, canvassed a neighborhood in Denver for a church plant, and was a "guinea pig" for the NIH. In 1957 she entered Goshen College in Indiana where she got her RN.

Lutheran Book of Worship

At the Lakeside Women's Club booksale August 7 I got an LBW in excellent condition for $.20. I got a "bag of books" for $1, so that made this one pretty cheap. Although our MR campus is not using a hymnal, our LR campus does, and often I see something I want to read, but have to move on in the service.

There is no stamp of ownership, but inside there is a hymn glued to the cover written and composed for the Centennial Anniversary of Emmanuel Lutheran Church. I checked Google, and didn't find a church named Emmanuel founded in 1896, however, it's possible that the hymn was written for another dedication and just added here. Except for a yellow paper clip, there's not much record of use.

We're using an "ecumenical" wording of the Lord's Prayer at the Sunday lakefront services. It was ecumenical and familiar to all as long as there was a tip provided about debts or trespasses or sins. Now evereyone stumbles.

John Stott Has Died

Dead at 90. A writer who helped so many.

From his conversion at Rugby secondary school in 1938 to his death in 2011 at 90 years old, Stott exemplified how extraordinary plain, ordinary Christianity can be. He was not known as an original thinker, nor did he seek to be. He always turned to the Bible for understanding, and his unforgettable gift was to penetrate and explain the Scriptures.

John Stott Has Died | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

A message about poverty for Chrisitans

From a church newsletter. "One in five children in the United States now lives in poverty in our nation, the wealthiest nation in the world. Our faith compels us to speak out and to act on behalf of 'the least of these' (Matthew 25: 40)."

Most children who live in poverty do so because fathers have not married mothers. Very few children of married parents live in poverty.

Why doesn't the church say more about the economic importance of marriage?

Lutherans leaving ELCA

On the hotel porch at Lakeside this summer I struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me. It turns out she is also Lutheran and is familiar with the church where we are members, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. I mentioned that our congregation voted to leave ELCA (the issue--to allow noncelibate homosexuals to serve as clergy), and she said hers did too. Then she noted something I already knew. Most ELCA Lutherans didn't get a chance to vote--some didn't even know anything about it. For the most part, this has been a decision made by pastors. Not to leave or stay, but to even let their congregation know what was happening.