“Look to the rock from which you were hewn,” is a call from Isaiah 51:1. Israel was to look to Abraham and Sara from which the Promised Seed came and therefore their righteousness did. In popular parlance it means to look back to where you came from. Contemporary worship of every stripe, every denomination, and yes even the oxymoronic non-denominational, Continue reading
Neither a Doctor’s or an Actor’s Look at Calvary Does it Justice
I’ve read the 1963 work A Doctor Looks at Calvary; you’ve probably watched Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion and while a medical doctor in my congregation says that the book is accurate and those who have watched the movie say the same, I don’t think either do it justice. Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Worship, For Pastors Only
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A Janus-faced Synod
There are words in English that mean two different things. For example, ‘bolt’ means both secure in place and to dart away. ‘Dust’ means to both remove material and spread material. ‘Trim’ means to both add and to take away. ‘Cleave’ means to separate and to adhere firmly. The technical term for such words is contronym. The popular name for them is Janus-faced words from the Greek god Janus that had two faces looking in opposite directions (Crazy English, 86-90). Continue reading
Politics and Peeing on New Hay – Rerun
This is not deja vu. You might have read this in May of 2008; you could have read it in 1998. Think of this as my Carthago delenda est. I am republishing because both at the district and synodical level the political machinations begin, and I find myself asking myself for the umpteenth time: if the “wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20), can the politics of men? Greater minds than mine have believed and said, “Yes.” Well, Cato’s call wasn’t heeded till after he died. Continue reading
A Modest Plea for Retaining the Holy Ghost
To paraphrase Luther, the Holy Ghost Himself remains without our prayer or my plea. My pleas is for using the title Holy Ghost as opposed to Holy Spirit. Yes, I know the Greek and Hebrew are better translated ‘Spirit’ not ‘Ghost.’ Yes, I know you have to explain to a kid what’s all this about a Holy Ghost, and therein lies the basis for my plea. Continue reading
Posted in Families, For Pastors Only
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What’s all this fuss about Self-Identifying?
I think the fuss started when the leader of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP stepped down after self-identifying as a black person. You can, indeed, should and must, self-identify your gender, and a pox on your house if you are only binary in this regard. You have to accept the full scope of identity captured in the acronym, while new to me as little as 3 years ago now rolls off the tongue, LGBTQ. And why is there such a fuss over this? Pastors have been dealing with this for centuries. Continue reading
Posted in Families, For Anyone who dares
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What do Seminex, Kloha, and ELDONA have in common?
The answer to this query comes from me, but it is based on an article written by the Reverend Doctor David Scaer. It is good to know not everyone is asleep at the switch at the seminaries, not everyone is willing to set silently by as the theology of Seminex walks the halls of conservative Lutheranism again unmolested. Continue reading
Playing First Century in Red Pantaloons
Krister Stendahl, a Swedish Lutheran theologian, gave a lecture at an Episcopalian seminary in 1982. It was on Romans. I was in attendance. I remember thinking either this man is too smart for me to understand or so stupid he ought not to be believed. Continue reading
Finally Free
For 34 years AAL, then Thrivent for Lutherans, then Thrivent for Christians provided me with a desk diary each year, gratias, free of charge, on the arm, or maybe not. It was always in varying shades of red except in 2005. Then it was purple or if you’re hyper sensitive to church colors, violet. Continue reading
Posted in For Anyone who dares, For Pastors Only
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Halloween: Not Just for Pagans Anymore
This is a bonus blog. It’s a sermon from the year 2000. It’s always on my website, but because the pamphleteers are out again trying to bind the consciences of Christians, I’m reposting it here. Continue reading
Posted in Families, For Anyone who dares, General
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