Humpty Dumpty As UOJ Theologian

The UOJ Enthusiasts have taken their cue from this literary figure:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

See Extra Nos for evidence.

Mid-Week Lenten Service, Because We Are Not an Emerging Church, 7 PM Central

By Norma Boeckler


Mid-Week Lenten Vespers


Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central

The Hymn # 436 The Lord’s My Shepherd 1.3
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 23 p. 128
The Lection The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #149 Come to Calvary’s 1.5

The Sermon – Confession and Betrayal

The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45

The Hymn #161 Hosanna 1.8



Confession and Betrayal

In the lesson for tonight, from The Lutheran Hymnal’s Passion Harmony, we have the contrast of confession and betrayal.

Overall the disciples display their human weakness in being afraid, timid, silent, and ready to run. That should not be alien to us, because we all go through the same experiences in various ways, especially in relationship to the faith.

The disciples were not lost to Jesus. They were strengthened and sent out after His resurrection and ascension. There is a difference between them and Judas.

Judas lost his faith altogether. Various motivations are offered for Judas, including his desire to force a Messianic battle between Jesus and the Romans. His secondary name “Iscariot” may be a clue. There was also a “Simon the Zealot.” A lot is made of those associations with the future revolt against Rome.

Such ideas make for interesting books, but no enough is known to say the disciples included potential members of the Zealot revolt. We do know the Jews clobbered the Romans in one battle, and that made them think they could drive Rome out of Israel. The final result, about 40 years after the resurrection, was the destruction of Jerusalem, followed by another revolt and destruction many decades later (Bar Kochba Revolt).

The key spiritual issue is the loss of faith by Judas. He became an unbeliever and betrayed Christ for some silver coins. Ever since the name of Judas has been associated with betrayal of a friend. Everyone knows a Judas is a someone who will betray his own friend for money.

A Judas goat is the animal trained to lead sheep up to the conveyance that will take them to the slaughterhouse. The Judas goat walks up the ramp and down again. The sheep walk up and wonder what happened to their friend the goat.

The disciples were weak in their faith, but that is true of us all. Weak in faith does not mean lacking in virtue, lacking in merit. It means not trusting God in all things. Jesus said, more than once, “O you of little faith!” And yet, even a weak faith receives the blessings of the Gospel.

Someone who is weak in faith may be strengthened by many different trials.

The worst are those when a supposed friend is willing to be a Judas for a better position in the church. Or that person may gain the approval of others for behaving that way. There is a reason we are compared to sheep so many times in the Scriptures. “All we like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way.”

If we give up on the Gospel because of the weakness of man, we are even weaker than those who seem to be belly-servers (Romans 16:25) at the time. The Gospel has such a powerful effect that the moment it takes root and provides a blessing to people, Satan rushes in to exterminate it and drive the flock away.

Wolves from the outside and the inside scatter and devour the flock. But there are remedies.

Church leaders are often wolves rather than shepherds. Their job is to drive the predators away from the flock and feed the flock with the Word. The Gospel Promises are the green pastures (Psalm 23) but the Word is also a sword and shield, protection against the evil foe.

Lupine leaders do not do their jobs. Oddly enough, the big, old, mainline churches call their leaders “bishop,” a good title, and fit them with a shepherd’s crook, a perfectly good symbol of the office. They parade as overseers (bishop in Greek) and shepherds (pastor in Latin) but they betray Christ in their daily conduct.

The ELCA and Episcopal bishops are busy suing their own brothers in the ministry, although some Episcopal bishops are willing to risk everything and leave their apostate group. No serving ELCA bishop has done this, so far.

The betrayal of those people over there should be no comfort to us over here. The same tendencies are found everywhere.

When people trust in gimmicks rather than the Gospel, is that not also a betrayal like that of Judas? When they silence anyone who questions their betrayal, is that any different from the leaders who shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”?

There is an enormous gap between being weak in faith and showing our sinful timidity and being bold in denial of the truth. Those who deny the Gospel even while they claim the Gospel, are always bold, proud, stubborn, and unwilling to bend.

The weak in faith “tremble at God’s Word” instead of the bishop’s crook. They know their shortcomings and confess them. They ask for guidance. They seek and find comfort in the Word of God and His promise of forgiveness in Christ.

Jesus came to seek the lost, to heal the wounded, to lead His flock, those who hear His voice and rejoice at its sound. He knows His own and they know Him. He leads them to the paths of righteousness, through faith in Him.

UOJ Stormtroopers Downunder, Where Women Glow and Men Chunder

Extra Nos is the central meeting place for UOJ Stormtroopers. MDiv classmates Jay Webber (Little Sect on the Prairie) and Paul McCain (LCMS) are dodging issues about their peculiar opinions.

I need to find my loving pigs graphic again, where I show how Pietism unites UOJ, Church Growth, and Receptionism.

Needless to say, neither Paul nor Jay has ever done anything against Church Growth.

McCain supported the biggest church growth location near the Purple Palace, St. John Ellisville (The CORE of Missouri - yes, that bad) and Heresiarch Al Benke. But McCain rejoiced in pulling the rug out from under Robert Preus.

Jay had no trouble working with Shrinker Floyd Luther Stolzenburg via their Church Growth buddy Roger Kovaciny. Stolzenburg was kicked out of Missouri "for cause," forced to resign. The question was not "who and for how long" but "how many and what ages?" In truth, Webber was against working with Stolzenburg until Jay was on the receiving end of the money from that Masonic congregation.

When I asked an ELS list-serve about Floyd never helping with the pro-life counseling agency in Columbus, in spite of his record of meddling in everything else, the list-serve went nuts and shut down. Rule Number One - never ask a serious question in the Little Sect.

UOJ dissolves the conscience but sanctimony remains.

LP asked me why these people are having so much trouble about UOJ. One reason is their theological immaturity. They have not done any study since seminary and it shows. They are still at the repeat-after-me level of education, the goal of parochial schools.

Another reason is the construction of their house of cards. UOJ is a bundle of contradictions and evasions. When someone pulls away one little card (efficacy of the Word, Means of Grace, the work of the Holy Spirit), the UOJ palace falls down.

Book salesman Paul McCain is now so hyper that he lets loose against me, very ad hominem, on Facebook and goodness knows where else.

McCain likes to warn people, but he and Otten agreed on one thing - neither one worked secretly with the other to get Al Barry elected. Both denied it publicly after bragging about it to me. That would make Paul McCain a ...

Birds and Bugs

Starlings are beautiful, clever, and voracious eaters of bugs and weed seeds.

Cardinals are shy, favoring seeds to open with their powerful beaks.

Bluebirds are so cute that they
have people buying mealy worms for them to eat
and birdhouses to live in.
Arkansas hosts them year around.

Birds like to raise their young at a time when the bugs are going crazy in their reproductive cycle. The explosion of bugs provides a banquet for the next generation of birds. One could say the birds keep the insect population lower or the bugs make the bird population higher. The relationship is one more example of an infinite number of dependencies in Creation.

Mourning doves are seed-eaters. They make a milk out of seeds and feed that to their young.

A blend of food will attract the widest variety of bird species. Some foods enjoyed by foods include:

1. All seeds, but especially sunflower seeds.
2. Berries, fruit, citrus.
3. Suet.
4. Bread crumbs.
5. Food up on trays or near the ground. Many put the ground food somewhat above the ground, perhaps on a window screen, to keep it dry.

All birds want fresh water for drinking and bathing. Multiple baths will encourage more birds. Dripping water will entice them to come. A large container with a very slow drip will appeal to birds, who tune in to the sound of moving water.

A variety of plants will house, feed, and shelter birds. Every tree is a feeding station for birds.

A trashy yard is good for birds. They like long grass, quiet places for nesting, bushes, trees, bamboo, flowering plants, compost areas, branches on the ground, and dead trees. An ideal location includes a broad grassy area, woods, and water.

Meet the Hero of Composting

These look like red wigglers,
often sold commercially as fishing worms.

Earthworms are all muscle, so they are mostly protein. They grind up soil, digest dead organic matter, and produce perfect manure for potting soil. They are unique in having glands that produce calcium to sweeten the soil. They like sweet soil, and they make it sweeter. Almost all plants grow best in sweet soil, the exceptions being the acid-loving plants like hydrangeas and blueberries.

When earthworms die, they add nitrogen to the soil. While they live, they add it in the form of liquid and solid waste.

Thoroughly modern, they are bisexual, each one have a male and a female gland. They line up like elevens and later an earthworm egg rolls off the outside. Each egg contains many babies. The mature worms are quite fragile and die easily from heat, sunlight, or a lack of water. The eggs survive almost anything, so the spread of compost means the growth of the earthworm population.

The digging and tunneling of an earthworm is very important to the garden. Earthworms pull organic material down into the soil, digest it, and deposit their manure (called castings) in the soil or on top. Their castings are perfect for plant growth, so this must have been planned by the Creator. If not, the plants must be grateful for the cleverness of their vermicular friends. Who better to live near the roots than a guy who aerates the soil, builds tunnels for rainwater to seep down, fertilizes the soil, and leaves dozens of children to continue the work?

Many people make fun of the lowly work of the earthworm, but up to a million worms might be at work in a fertile acre of ground. They collectively move about a ton of soil a day, without damaging the growing plants. They deposit an enormous quantity of castings per year.

Charles Darwin studied earthworms for 40 years and gave them credit for burying ancient monuments by adding a little soil each year to the top. Sadly, he missed entirely the agricultural value of the earthworm.

One of the prevailing myths of gardening holds that sand added to clay soil will make the clay easier to work. Ha. The best addition to clay soil is compost, because compost will multiply the earthworm population and mix the humus material with the clay.

Clay soil is very high in minerals and ion exchange, so the addition of compost will make it the ideal medium for almost all plants, thanks to the earthworm.

Sandy soil will not hold water, stay in place, or support demanding plants like corn and pumpkins. Adding compost will mix humus in with the sand, thanks to earthworms. That will hold water in place, keep the soil from blowing away, and feed plants.

Finished composted will be dark, earthy smelling, and full of earth-worms. A compost pile will finish from the bottom up because of the soil creatures working their way up from the soil at the bottom.

Compost Yourself

This compost bin is simple and spacious but should be placed in the shade.

Brett Meyer asked for some material about composting, so I used a gag from Fraggle Rock. When the trash-heap got excited, they said, "Compost yourself."

A compost pile is made from a combination of soil and organic material, usually a mix of high nitrogen items (grass, rabbit manure, chicken manure, weeds) and low nitrogen items (wood shavings, dried leaves, cow manure). One item alone can be composted too, such as leaves, but the typical gardener will want to mix the elements to create a blend that will heat up, break down, and turn into compost soil for a wide variety of uses.

Nitrogen is the building block of all life, basic to protein. High nitrogen ingredients heat up and break down fast in compost, because one type of bacterial will attack it. The heating up tends to kill weed seeds and pathogens.

Various creatures are designed by God to eat and be eaten. For instance, damp compost materials will mold, and some creatures eat the mold. Others rush in to eat the mold-feeders. Many creatures live on rot while many others prey upon those specialists. The earthworm is the last to work on compost, because it cannot tolerate the heating up process.

The life cycle of a good compost pile follows the laws of Creation, with some help from man. The same things goes on all the time without us noticing it, but we can make tons of it on purpose:

1. Create a bin in deep shade with a circle of chicken wire. The bottom and top are left open. The open bottom rests on soil or grass, to speed the process.
2. Layers of leaves, grass, manure, and soil are tossed into the bin. Weeds are no problem. They are full of nitrogen and minerals for the heap. Manure is sanitized by the process and deodorized as well. I would never use dog or cat manure because of shared parasites.
3. Shade is important to keep the pile from drying out. Water is added to keep the dampness close to that of a sponge when rung out.
4. Soil adds beneficial creatures and bacteria.
5. Some aeration is good, but impractical as the help grows in size. In theory, a rotated heap will finish faster. There are tools to facilitate wrenching the back and creating blisters. Or, bamboo poles can be used to create air channels. I let earthworms do their job.
6. The bottom area is finished first and can be drawn out. The clue is the presence of earthworms. They will be busy digesting, adding sweetener to the soil, laying eggs and depositing their own manure. In almost-completed compost they multiply faster than Shrinkers in a dying synod.

Compost gardeners agree that there is never enough compost.

Compost does not have to be dug into the soil. Some people may want to do that because they think back-breaking work is good for the garden. Earthworms will pull the compost down into the top 12 inches of soil. Once that layer is full of compost, the remaining compost on top will act as mulch, protecting the plants from drying out and the invasion of weeds.

Compost has a wonderful earthy smell because of soil bacteria. Compost does not smell like garbage unless leftover food is dumped into the heap. That is a great idea for those who want to breed flies and other vermin.

We knew some city-Mennonites who ran to their "compost heap" and tossed the garbage in from a distance. They were doing it all wrong and likely attracted raccoons, rodents, and other creatures to the garbage pile.

Compost will necessarily spread earthworm eggs to every part of the garden. Red wigglers (which have a lot of names) are the best for this and can be purchased. Dew worms, which are larger and not so red, will also do a good job. The sign of rich garden soil is one earthworm per shovel of soil.

We have composted rabbit manure with soil and had a teaming mass of worms in every shovel. We called it Rabbit-Gro. Mrs. Ichabod thought of placing children's swimming pools under the cages, catching the manure and feeding the earthworms in the soil below. I was the gardener, so I was expected to be shovel-ready at all times.

Another way to create compost on the spot is to place a heavy layer of organic material around plants as mulch. I have used fresh lawn clippings for sweet corn, leaves, newspapers, spoiled hay, and ground up trees. Midland provided free sawdust from their tree removal projects, and I used that around the bushes and other plants. Wood uses up nitrogen at first and then releases it, so it has to be used the right way. I would not mulch a corn patch with sawdust.

After Herman Otten read the Wormhaven book, he used extra copies of Christian News to mulch his new trees. Mulch holds soil moisture in while providing shade for earthworms to work. They hate the sun but like coming up under a moist and shady canopy. Lift up old rotten wood and you will find worms. Leave a stack of newspapers on top of soil and earthworms will gather under it.

The emphasis on rot can promote slugs. One solution is to raise ducks. They seem to be one of the few slug-eaters on the planet. I have had slugs but they never became a problem. They would come up onto a few plants from the mulch and also hide under the cover I placed over some compost. I used an old rug for shade, so slugs rested on the shady side of that rug.