Category Archives: For Pastors Only

For Your Christmas Eve/Day Preparation – Danger Close

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

‘Danger close’ is what a solider radios to the fire control center if he is calling in artillery or an air strike on a position close to friendly troops. One of the items I share below can get a pastor … Continue reading →

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Blessing for A Confessional Pastor

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

The only blessing I know is the first stanza of the Irish one.

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On Exploded Ordinance

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

If you drive about a major military installation, you will find signs warning you to be aware of live ordinance. An EOD, Explosive Ordinance Disposal, officer told me in 1993 that every year around Fort Hood someone is injured or … Continue reading →

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Is This Confessional Lutheranism? A Critique of Confessing the Gospel, Volume I

Posted on May 28, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

              The following is based on a presentation to my Bible Class on April 22, 2018. It was suggested that I put it in a blog. I would like to think I have refined it and not watered it … Continue reading →

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Neither a Doctor’s or an Actor’s Look at Calvary Does it Justice

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

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 … Continue reading →

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Politics and Peeing on New Hay – Rerun

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

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 … Continue reading →

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A Modest Plea for Retaining the Holy Ghost

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

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 … Continue reading →

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What do Seminex, Kloha, and ELDONA have in common?

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

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 … Continue reading →

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Finally Free

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

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 … Continue reading →

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Why a Good Host Doesn’t Use the Word Host

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

Here is a letter – surprise, surprise – that wasn’t relegated to the trash can by its receipts. The The Lutheran Witness published it in the October 2017 issue.

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