St. Antony’s Cave

  The following is a letter I sent to The Lutheran Witness in reference to an article in their February 2008 edition.  I don’t think it will see the light of day, so I thought I would give it some here.

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I once observed in a paper on another subject that one of the most frustrating things to hear when asking for directions is, “You can’t get there from here.”  What? Aren’t all roads connected?  There has got to be some way to get from where I am in physical space to another physical space.  True enough about physical realities, but there are some spiritual realities you can’t get to from where a person is at the moment. (more…)

    One of my favorite apocryphal stories about Jesus goes like this:  Jesus, Mother Mary, and Joseph are fleeing the wrath of King Herod heading for Egypt. They are all riding on the back of a donkey. Joseph becomes impatient with the slow progress of the beast, and he begins to dig his heels into the animal. This doesn’t do any good, so he resorts to whipping the plodding donkey saying, “You stupid, good for nothing donkey!  Don’t you know that you are carrying the Christ-child? Don’t you realize that Herod is out to slay the child? Don’t you know that you must hurry or he will catch us?” Just then the Lord gives the donkey the gift of speech. (more…)

That Kenny Rogers is a talented singer/song writer.  He sings of war causalities, “Ruby,” racism “Reuben James,” and love burning “Something is Burning.”  He paints when he sings.  Well something is burning in the LCMS and I think it’s our theology.

The presidents of our two seminaries have now said that they find nothing “inconsistent” with Scripture in the Ablaze! movement.  This is a pretty hearty endorsement.  Not only is there nothing muddleheaded or false, there is nothing even “inconsistent” with Scripture.  Surely they jest, or they don’t read the same Scriptures I do.

Take “Fan into Flames.”  From the Synod’s own web site we read, “This effort reflects the urging of  St. Paul to young Timothy to boldly use the gifts that God conferred on him.”  What ‘effort’ is being referred to?  Again from Synod’s web site, “Fan into Flame is the capital fundraising campaign endorsed by the 2004 Synodical Convention that will secure $100 million in new money (over and above current World Mission budget) to help reach the Ablaze! goals.”

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