Do you suppose this will catch on?

Could change some of that happy clappy music protestants love. I saw this item at Modern Reformation, a conservative Presbyterian publicantion.

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Catholics at worship should neither sing nor pronounce the name of God as "Yahweh," the Vatican has said, citing the authority of both Jewish and Christian practice.

The instruction came in a June 29 letter to Catholic bishops conferences around the world from the Vatican's top liturgical body, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, by an explicit "directive" of Pope Benedict XVI.

"In recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel's proper name," the letter noted, referring to the four-consonant Hebrew "Tetragrammaton," YHWH. That name is commonly pronounced as "Yahweh," though other versions include "Jaweh" and "Yehovah." But such pronunciation violates long-standing Jewish tradition, the Vatican reminded bishops.

"As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, (the name) was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: `Adonai,' which means `Lord,'" the Congregation said.

That practice continued with Christianity, the letter explained, recalling the "church's tradition, from the beginning, that the sacred Tetragrammaton was never pronounced in the Christian context nor translated into any of the languages into which the Bible was translated."

Invoking a Vatican document from 2001, the Congregation reminded bishops that the name "Yahweh" in Catholic worship should be replaced by the Latin "Dominus" (Lord) or a word "equivalent in meaning" in the local language.

Sort of makes you miss Rock of Ages, doesn't it?

Many years ago I heard that "Rock of Ages" wasn't in our hymnal because it had a waltz beat, and of course, dancing was a sin [Church of the Brethren]. Now barking and rolling on the floor is part of some Christian sects. I doubt that this one has made it into too many hymnals, but it is evidence that if the political left is afraid of Christians, they should just move along and look for another boogy-man. If this is what is being raised up, we're all going to the funny farm.

If you feel too serious and kind of blue,
I've got a suggestion, just the thing for you!
It's a little unconventional, but so much fun,
That you won't even mind when people think you're dumb!

Just come to the party God is throwing right now,
We can all lighten up and show the pagans how
Christians have more fun and keep everyone guessing,
Since the Holy Ghost sent us the Toronto blessing!

I used to think life was serious stuff;
I didn't dare cry, so I acted kind of tough
'Til the Spirit of God put laughter in my soul,
Now the Holy Ghost's got me, and I'm out of control!

CHORUS:
Now I'm just a party animal grazing at God's trough,
I'm a Jesus junkie, and I can't get enough!
I'm an alcoholic for that great New Wine,
'Cause the Holy Ghost is pouring, and I'm drinking all the time!

Now I laugh like an idiot and bark like a dog,
If I don't sober up, I'll likely hop like a frog!
And I'll crow like a rooster 'til the break of day,
'Cause the Holy Ghost is moving, and I can't stay away!

Now I roar like a lioness who's on the prowl,
I laugh and I shake, maybe hoot like an owl!
Since God's holy river started bubbling up in me,
It spills outside, and it's setting me free!

So, I'll crunch and I'll dip and I'll dance round and round,
'Cause the pew was fine, but it's more fun on the ground!
So I'll jump like a pogo stick, then fall on the floor,
'Cause the Holy Ghost is moving, and I just want MORE!
Kathryn Riss [who seems to have God-given permission to repost this]

And so many Lutherans don't like the new hymnal. We should be grateful we didn't get this gal on the committee!

Compounding the problem

I receive a monthly prayer list on problem pregnancies. Sometimes I delete it without reading; sometimes I pick one or two and do pray. I don't claim to understand prayer. Some Christians I know report being clear in their answers (yes, no, tomorrow, next year, etc.) All I know is we are told to do it. My prayer job jar seems to fill up just with the people I know or our relatives. Sunday at church I was sitting next to a woman who during "joys and concerns" for prayer, said she was back at Lakeside after a 2 year absense, and was healed of her brain tumor.

Often the request on the pregnancy list is about someone who is going to have an ultrasound. This often influences decisions. This month included situations like 4 children, single mom wants abortion; doesn't know who the father is; and victim of domestic violence. Occasionally, the woman is ill or has been raped or is actually a child herself, but that's rare. Decisions were made that resulted in a baby and now there's a problem. This is the one that really puzzles me, and shows some confusion about values.

college couple (not married); 5 wks; both come from Christian homes; want abortion because they don't want their families to know they have been sexually active; refused ultrasound

It's like the guy who has an affair but doesn't use a condom because it's against his religion. Duh! If you think your parents don't want you having pre-marital sex, what will they say when they find out you aborted their grandchild?

In the 10 Commandments we are told to love God and our neighbor, but then instructed to HONOR our parents. That goes beyond love, and is a requirement even if we got parents who don't deserve any honor, who are mean, or stingy, or who will stop paying tuition. This is such an important commandment that it is the only one with a promise attached.

So this young couple are the ones I'll pray for on this list.

Musings of a Medical Missionary

Some at UALC have been on medical mission trips. I was really touched by this story of the need for a current oncology textbook in the Ukraine told by a medical missionary. The book arrived too late for the child with HIV, but it opened the door for the Good News.

The Hope and Change theme

Barack Obama certainly isn't the first politician to take a biblical theme and run on/with it, and he won't be the last. The Bible is full of great truths, ideas, stories, parables, miracles and romances which have been used by capitalists and kings, socialists and school teachers, writers, artists, poets, and musicians, slaves and slavers, and even Marxists and fascists over the centuries. But there is one basic truth from Genesis to the Revelation, and it's all about the HOPE.

Christianity is an Easter religion. Easter celebrates HOPE, and in order to participate in this HOPE, the individual needs to change. In the New Testament, the word HOPE refers to the future, not only the HOPE of everlasting life, but the HOPE of resurrection from the dead, the HOPE of a new body like the body of Jesus, the HOPE of being in heaven forever with the Lord. Lots of religions have references to an afterlife, but in the Christian faith, the human body is so important to God because of his intentions at the Creation, He continues to use it even after death on this planet and realm. After all political boundaries and even the earth itself have passed away, we still have this HOPE. This HOPE written about in the New Testament doesn't depend on a nebulous, vague speech of a Chicago pol scrolling across a teleprompter, but a real solid foundation of fact. Our HOPE of a heaven where we dwell with God in a physical body rests upon what happened here on earth in the person of the Lord Jesus. His resurrection is the assurance of our resurrection. Obama can't take that away from us and refashion it into a social justice, namby-pamby temporary band-aid, the hope of a different job, or a housing project that will be torn down in 25 years. It's not the change in a McCain or Gore carbon cap or exchange running after green votes which is going to diminish your life style. No, this is real change--the change that the Holy Spirit will make in the believer, grounded in the HOPE.

Cross posted from Collecting My Thoughts

The Catholic left flees its roots

A former Kerry worker cheers the rush to Obama, after all there's more to Christianity than saving the unborn, not experimenting on embryos and respecting God's plan for marriage, right?

One of the groups to emerge from the welter of concern after the ’04 election was Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Executive director Alexia Kelley, a veteran of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, who was exposed to the Catholic social justice tradition while studying at Harvard Divinity School, thinks organizations like hers resulted from “a common desire among Catholics to have a united voice and message.”

She and others believed “the notion of the common good is absent or eclipsed in the public square. We have something to offer our politics, which is so divided and based on the ‘you’re-on-your-own-mentality.’ ”

Catholics in Alliance is one of the broadest coalitions to materialize, and it strives to be one of the most bipartisan of the new breed. Kelley insists that the church’s social tradition arcs over party lines and that the common good should provide common ground for discussion. It, along with Network, organized of the Convention for the Common Good.

And some of us Christians think there's more to the faith than 1960s retread social justice.

Blogger dot com problem

I haven't been able to get into my regular blog, Collecting my thoughts, so I looked at the help page at blogger.com and saw this message

Some blogs have been mistakenly marked as spam. Affected users are not able to post to their blog and received an email indicating Blogger classified their blog as spam. We are actively working to correct the issue.

Next they should check out whether the blogs being blocked have political content and if so, who is doing the mischief.

Then I checked a few other sites and they say the problem is SiteMeter.com and if you have that on a blogspot url, they aren't working together. The suggestion is to remove SiteMeter. I can try that, but hate to, since I like that feature.

Word Alone Newsletter

A Lakeside friend noticed my "Digging for the pony. . ." blog essay on the ELCA sexuality statement in the printed Word Alone Newsletter. Look through the archives--it's an interesting publication even if you aren't a Lutheran. All mainline protestants are going through the same battles.

My final paragraph where I urge UALC to leave ELCA was deleted from the reprint.

I don't know what our congregation (UALC) is waiting for--it took this sexuality task force seven years to write a mish-mash and hodge podge and submit it to the people of God as a serious work. Every paragraph looks like the sentences were drawn from a hat of former reports and pasted to a page. It is an insult to our common sense and a travesty of our faith. It's time to go. It really is. These people will not back down; they'll just wear us out.

Update on Monica Durban

Last winter at church we were told about a family who had been visiting our church, the Durbans. Their 20 year old daughter Monica was near death after being hit by a drag racer on her way home from work. I put her name in my prayer job jar and sent several cards and notes to her parents. Today I came across an update of her situation in the Columbus Dispatch. She is slowly recovering from massive head injuries.

Durban's once fast-paced life has slowed to baby steps. She is undergoing physical rehabilitation to learn how to walk again. A rod props up her crushed left leg while hunks of metal hold together her shattered right heel.

The traumatic brain injury she suffered apparently still plays tricks. "My hand hurts so bad, daddy. Love it," she says, asking her father to rub her hand. There's nothing wrong with her left hand or wrist. Her brain, though, tells her it hurts.

Monica's strength is amazing, her father Lee Durban says. The neurosurgeon gave her a 200-to-1 shot of survival.

"For six-weeks plus, you think you have an absolute vegetable. It's a hell you can't describe. But we're past the miracle and piling miracles on top of miracles," he said of his daughter's ongoing recovery.

I will continue to pray for Monica and her family. This is a very long road.

Now that's preaching!

The Brethren genealogy listserv provides some entertaining reading from "the old days." Here's an item from 1914 recalling how things were 40 years before in Iowa--

"The winter of 1873 and 1874 was not severely cold,
with very little snow. IRA CHASE, a Brethren minister
from South Dakota, came to our neighborhood and
opened a revival meeting in the school house. The
elder was one of the 'hollering' kind. No person could
go from the meeting and say that they did not hear
what the preacher said, for he usually could be heard
for one-half mile. Elder Chase was a good man as well
as a good speaker. His sermons began to take effect.
People came for miles from every direction. The school
house could not hold one-half of the crowd. A collection
was taken up, teams were dispatched for lumber, one
end of the school house was moved out and the sides
were built in to double its former size. All of this was
done and not a meeting missed. Something over 80
people were converted or went to the mourner's bench.
During one of the elder's sermons he designated the
locality as Pleasant Valley, which name it carries to
the present time.


LeMars, Iowa Sentinel, Jan 9 1914

Expanded the building, renamed the town and 80 souls saved, too!

Top 10 Christian sites in Italy

Zondervan Publishing House publishes general travel guides called, "The Christian Travelers Guides" series. For Italy it suggests the top ten of many

1. St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City
2. Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
3. Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper in Milan
4. Holy Shroud in Turin
5. Dome of the Florence Cathedral
6. Piccolomini Library in Siena
7. San Clement in Rome
8. Santa Maria Dei Frari in Venice
9. San Brizio Chapel in The Cathedral of Orvieto
10. Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna

Blogging will be light while we enjoy our tour.

Save the Children

needs to get back to the business of well, saving children. I'm really disappointed to learn that it has jumped on the childhood obesity bandwagon. We absolutely do not need one more bloated government program for food that feeds farmers and bureaucrats! Read Junk Food Science. My husband and I sponsored and corresponded with a boy from Ecquador for many years. We hope we made a difference in his life (although one time I was watching a TV program on volcanoes and a man with that same name was killed).

Are we watching the end?

I caught a few minutes of the Obama celebrations last night, as he is the presumed candidate of the Democrats. John McCain, the unconservative interloper candidate of the Republicans looks mighty weak and frail, both in thought, word and deed against a young man with no history of doing anything except smoozing with the Chicago machine and various "social justice" think tanks. He's propped up by Move on dot org, George Soros and ACORN, to say nothing of the tenured radicals of the 60s, at least those whose brains have survived the haze of drugs of their youth. I've never cared for Hillary Clinton, but over these past few months I found myself wishing that Thompson or Huckabee or Romney had shown even a fraction of her determination and drive. She out campaigned and out talked Obama at every point, but his machine was stronger than hers, although I don't see a spider's web width difference in their policies and plans.

So I turned to the book of Acts, because none of this is new, it's all there. Nations and leaders rise and fall in God's plan. I am not a dispensationalist; the fascination that some Christians have with the Left Behind series and picking a verse here and there to match up with the newspaper headlines leaves me--well, left out. But the one question I always have, since it only seems to be Americans who get into this, just where is the United States in all the prophecy of end times? Paul probably has the answer, Acts 17:26-31.

He's in Athens and he proclaims the Gospel to a group that might be compared to a lunch bunch sitting around in the Faculty Club at OSU philosophizing over politics, history and biology--most likely they've even bought into man-made global warming and chuckle over Bushisms (the stammering of Obama doesn't bother them). By their own behavior and publications they are admitting they haven't found God, just like the guys Paul encountered that day. Most won't listen to Paul who begins with the announcement that God created the universe, that he is Lord of heaven and earth that they have descended from Adam and they won't find him or serve him with their man made efforts.

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being."(NIV)

If that's not clear enough, here it is in the New Living Translation, a paraphrase which reads like a sermon on the text:

"From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. His purpose in all of this was that the nations should seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist." (NLT)

In short, God is in control; we aren't. And it appears we have frittered away our inheritance and are settling for a false messiah.

Where cross the crowded ways of life

is an urban, gritty hymn, with a "social justice" theme. We sang it this morning in our traditional service, but it didn't seem to fit the sermon theme--Acts 24:10-27, Paul's encounter with his enemies and his imprisonment for the Gospel. You've all heard the tune, I'm sure. If not, sit back and enjoy this--it will come back to you.



There's a long list of humanity's problems in this hymn,

cries of race and clan

noisy selfish crowds

wretchedness and need

dark spaces of fear

paths that lead to greed

helpless children

grieving women

toiling men

famished souls

deep sorrow

multitudes longing

restless throngs

but no solution, no mention of Jesus by name, his miracles, his sermons, the cross, his death for our sin, the resurrection. No gospel. It's Jesus of the tender heart and compassionate face, with tears on our behalf. The writer, Frank Mason North, 1850-1935, offers the familiar "follow the Master" solution, "Till glorious from thy heaven above, Shall come the city of our God."

Except for the music this hymn wouldn't rouse a wild eyed poverty pimping Father Pfleger or a mild mannered conservative Lutheran.

The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage

from The Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal)
Dearly beloved,

We have come together
in the presence of God
to witness and bless
the joining together of
this man and this woman
in Holy Matrimony.
The bond and covenant of marriage
was established by God in creation,
and our Lord Jesus Christ
at a wedding in Cana of Galilee.
It signifies to us
the mystery of the union
between Christ and his Church,
and Holy Scripture commends it
to be honored among all people.

The union of husband and wife in
heart, body, and mind
is intended by God
for their mutual joy;
for the help and comfort
given one another
in prosperity and adversity;
and, when it is God's will,
for the procreation of children
and their nurture in the
knowledge and love of the Lord.
Therefore
marriage is not to be entered into
unadvisedly or lightly,
but reverently, deliberately
and in accordance with the purposes
for which it was instituted by God.

Lutherans could learn from these Catholic Nuns

The Sisters of Mercy are aging, shrinking in numbers and reorganizing in order to have enough members to keep the doors open. They wear contemporary dress and seem to be a social justice volunteer organization. On the other hand, The Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist who do wear the habit are mainly in their 20s and so many want in there is a wait list. Their focus is their prayer life and the Eucharist. The story at Catholic Pillow Fight.

Hymns for Memorial Day

We're at our cottage in Lakeside, Ohio, for the holiday week-end. Although I always load the car with more books and magazines than I'll ever read (because I'm supposed to be cleaning and preparing for the summer), I scan the cottage bookcase for neglected items. My Lakeside shelves are a bit different than those at home, and one book I have here is The Methodist Hymnal (c.1964). I picked it out of a free box at a book sale about 5 years ago. The Methodists of the 18th and 19th centuries had a huge influence through revivals and the Awakenings on all American denominations. At least until the "contemporary" music took over for Sunday worship, the hymnody of the Methodists bound us all together. The early Lutherans in America absorbed many English hymns into their tradition as they lost their European roots, particularly those written by the Wesleys. This hymnal has about 80 hymns by Charles Wesley and 8 by John Wesley.

Most hymnals have special indices and appendices to aid the musical director or pastor in planning themes. This one has a category "Memorial Day," Although nothing for July 4 or even Christmas or baptism. Since this is Memorial Day week-end (the "real" day is May 30 and there was a bill introduced about 9 years ago to restore it to that date since so many Americans have no idea what the holiday is about) I'll list them. I haven't gone through every tune and verse, but these hymns are rousing and unspecific. I think they could be sung in any country for any war dead.

Eternal Father, strong to save

Father eternal, Ruler of creation

For the might of thine arm

God of grace and God of glory

God of our father

God, the Omnipotent

Judge eternal, throned in splendor

Lord, while for all mankind we pray

Mine eyes have seen the glory

My country, 'tis of thee

Not alone for might empire

Now praise we great and famous men

O God of earth and altar

O Lord, our fathers oft have told

These things shall be

This is my song

Turn back, O man

I don't know how many hymns G K Chesterton (1874-1936) composed--he was a British critic, poet and a novelist--but I think I've read that "O God of Earth and Altar" was a response to the terrible carnage of WWI, where 5-10,000 men could be lost in one battle that won nothing. Don't quote me, because I can't find a source. He became a Roman Catholic late in life.

O God of earth and altar,
Bow down and hear our cry;
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide;
Take not thy thunder from us,
But Take away our pride.
Hymns that include no theology or Christology, no atonement, no resurrection, no gospel, can easily be sung by almost any group or nation or faith because they focus on the general condition of all mankind--faltering rulers, love of money, general nastiness, and pride.

Why Lutherans can't sing

together. These days we're having a musical style problem--our church (UALC) has four--but 200 years ago American Lutherans weren't even speaking the same language. Some Lutheran immigrants didn't have an English hymnal until the late 19th or early 20th century. Here's a very interesting history by Gracia Grindal from the archives of ICM SW Minn. WordAlone Newsletter

"The first Lutherans in this country, those who would regard the Muhlenberg tradition as their own, what became the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA), had been here for several generations when a new wave of immigrants from Germany, Sweden and Norway began landing on American shores. These Lutherans settled in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and later the Dakotas. When they got here, unused to the pluralism of America, they thought the old Lutherans had been theologically corrupted by their American context which they saw, perhaps, most clearly in their English hymnals with hymns by Watts and Wesley, which these immigrants did not recognize as Lutheran.

The new immigrants did not speak English and needed hymnals in their own languages, not the English versions that members of the Muhlenberg tradition had prepared over the years. So the Germans of the Missouri Synod began producing their own materials in their own languages, as did the Ohio Synod, as did the Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Icelanders, and Slovakians. Read the whole article.

Upside down prayer

It's a good idea to get your focus on Jesus first; then get out the laundry list. Start with the cross and resurrection. That you can pray in confidence with no doubt or hesitation.



Martin Luther said many times that prayer was hard work, more difficult than preaching. "Satan resists Christ at all points and would love to keep a person from hearing any Gospel anywhere, from believing and living and doing it. Just so he also hinders the work of prayer, keeps on from gladly praying, and makes it very difficult to get at it; for he knows well what the might and influence of prayer are, knows that Christians have no stronger protection and power against his might."

There's room for you

on the cruise to the Holy Land, March 2009. UALC folks are cruising! We are going and so are a lot of our friends--Cairo, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Sea of Galilee, Antioch, Tarsus, Antalya, Aspendos, Perga, Ephesus, Athens and Corinth. Wow. I'm worn out already.