In WELS - They Make a DUI the Bartender at the Worship Conference

MARYLAND: Diocesan Standing Committee asks Hit-and-Run Bishop for her Resignation
By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
January 28, 2015
The Diocese of Maryland has asked Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook to resign from the Diocese of Maryland following a hit and run accident resulting in the death of a cyclist.
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has requested Heather Cook's resignation as bishop suffragan in a letter sent through her lawyer on January 27. On Dec 27, 2014, Heather Cook hit and killed cyclist Thomas Palermo, 41, and has been charged by police with vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence, and texting while driving, among other charges."

It was clear that our lay and clergy leaders on the Standing Committee felt that the best interests of the diocese would be served were Heather to resign. Since this does not impede the Episcopal Church's investigation into the matter, it is my hope Heather will see the wisdom in this recommendation," said the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, bishop of Maryland.
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is acting as swiftly as it can in the context of the Episcopal Church's disciplinary action, Title IV, currently underway. While Cook cannot resign her orders as a bishop while the disciplinary process is underway, nothing prevents her from resigning as an employee of the Diocese of Maryland.
You can read the Standing Committee's letter here: http://latestnews.episcopalmaryland.org/ or here:
http://latestnews.episcopalmaryland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/letter-to-bp-cook-01-26-2015.pdf

Controversy Is Good - Separating the Good Flour from the Wormy Flour

Synod President Matt Harrison ordered his Steadfast pals to erase evidence of
malfeasance in regards to sex offender Darwin Schauer.
And the "Steadfast" editors did erase the evidence.
I do not want to be a member of a synod like that.

Synod President Matt Harrison:
When a public teacher on the roster of Synod can without consequence publicly advocate the ordination of women (even participate vested in the installation of an ELCA clergy person), homosexuality, the Errancy of the Bible, the historical critical method, open communion, communion with the reformed, evolution, and more, then the public confession of the synod is meaningless. I am saying that if my Synod does not change its inability to call such a person to repentance, and remove such a teacher where there is not repentance, then we are liars, and our confession is meaningless. I do not want to belong to such a synod, much less lead it. I have no intention of walking away from my vocation. I shall rather use it and, by the grace of God, use all the energy I have to call this Synod to fidelity to correct this situation. 

Matt Harrison

***

GJ - Luther made a great comparison, which resonates with bakers. He called doctrinal controversy separating the good flour from the wormy flour. 

Pantry moths are often called flour moths because they love to start out in flour, spreading to anything organic afterwards. If a food source has been invaded, it has to be thrown out, because those buggers lay 300 eggs at a time. One flour moth may be cute, but having their webs and carcasses and everything else around is more odious than a Church and Change gathering.

Like Changers, the moths are easily trapped with sex. Put some pherome on stickum, and the male moths are stuck fast, dreaming of romantic nights, but fluttering away in frustration and hunger.

The position of the LCMS, WELS, and ELS is that discussion is harmful to Holy Mother Sect. Anyone who wants to discuss issues, crimes, abuse, false doctrine - banished and slandered six ways from Sunday.

One pastor in WELS held to the correct position on the efficacy of the Word. After WELS got rid of him, he was not even allowed to commune, even though his former DP had agreed with that position (not that Mueller really meant it). So this kindly man - who never blogged - eventually got communion before he passed away. He asked me how he might get some emotional support from the synod he served all his life. I said, "Murder your wife. WELS will back you 100%." He knew what I meant about William Tabor and Al Just. He wrote back, "No, I love my wife."

I even asked Mark Schroeder to do something about it, during that brief time when Schroeder contacted me about this and that. He responded, "No."

I think it is time for a lot more controversy. You will not see it at the Emmanus Conference, because only one side will be represented. ELS Pastor Jay Webber came to an earlier one anxious to sell his version of UOJ. He tried to influence another pastor by saying, "Greg Jackson has a demon. Do not listen to him."

I am not so anxious to use the demon card. I say, "Listen to Jay's nonsense. Read his paper. Underline the most contradictory and anti-Christian parts. Let the discussions begin - by email, face-to-face, on blogs and websites, in magazine articles and books."

What do these two have in common - Mark Jeske and Robert Schuller?
They are both New Agers, selling snake oil and fading away fast.

Garnishing the Yard with Bird Baths and Solar Lights

My bird baths are not so elegant,
but they are filled with happy starlings.

Yesterday I added four little bird baths on the ground and filled them with water. The starlings began to splash in the bird baths and jostle to get in. Once in, they pushed each other out after a few splashes, got pushed out, and looked for a way back into the spa.

As I pointed out to Mrs. Ichabod, the baths are far more important than food. The birds need a place to bathe and preen their feathers. Starlings can find their own food in the spring, but they still enjoy competing with each other for the suet and cracked corn.

I put the cracked corn on four levels - the top of the old wooden filing cabinet, on the dry or protected shelf below, in the drawer, and the ground. The best part of this comedy is having a squirrel pop into the drawer to get some food. He will always sit on the drawer lid to have a good lookout for danger. When he heads inside to look around, a startling will glide in to land on that same spot where he eats his food. The squirrel pops up at the starling, "Get off my food drawer!" and the starling darts away.

I used to give the squirrels a fresh ear of field corn each day, but I switched to the composite ear, which they do not favor. In the last few days I saw one, then two perfectly clean cobs on the ground where I put food. Could they have brought old ones back for a refill? When I put the fresh corn on the ground to feed them, the squirrels took the full cobs away. They are clever beggars and thieves. If they were humans, they would make ideal Planned Giving Counselors (estate robbers).

My first thought about this is - trim around each one?
Maynard G. Krebs would not approve.

My solar lights in the crepe myrtle failed after one year, so I bought a new set that lasts all night -using a very slow blink. That made me think of using a longer string on the backyard fence, at least on Mrs. Wright's side.

I unraveled the bundle  of lights outside, when they arrived, and wondered, "How will I keep these lights from sagging on the fence?"

There is always twine, but that would rot as the soaker hose is used and the sun hits the fibers. I began to untangle about 50 feet of lights and look for something to hold them in place. Aha! The tiny lights fit into the fence apparatus every few feet, pointing some of them down. The rest lined up like soldiers along the top. That only took a few minutes, and they were working as soon as the sun began to set.

I asked Mrs. Ichabod to look outside, and she saw the entire fence top lit up.

I said, "The vines will grow up around them and be backlit at night." She immediately responded, "You can pick peas in the dark now. No trouble." Chris is so practical. Notice the all-important pronoun - you. Not "we can pick peas at night" or "I can pick peas at night," but "You can pick peas at night." And I probably will, until longing turns to loathing and I beg our helper to pick all he wants, day or night.

One last string will garnish the back fence; all the trees are solar lit. "What about the roses to be planted along Mr. Gardener's fence?" you wonder. I found some stand alone solar spotlights at Walmart that I can use there. They can be planted in the mulch and trained on the roses.

These can be pushed into mulch individually or in groups.
I am still using some from at least 10 years ago,
the same ones I used around the swimming pool.

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PS - Fellow Garfield Grade School student Lawrence Eyre wrote on Facebook about bringing a magazine to John Deere Junior High (1960) concerning solar power in the future. Later we were at Yale Divinity, but not at the same time, and another Garfielder was at the Yale School of Music. We were from the same neighborhood around the grade school where my mother taught.

The prophet Lawrence Eyre:
"September 1960, John Deere Junior High School, Moline, Illinois. A bespectacled, buzz-cut boy, left hand holding note cards filled with facts and forecasts from a Popular Science magazine article, stands and enthusiastically delivers his first speech in Mrs Sandstrom's 7th grade classroom: "In the future, the world will be powered by the sun...." More than half a century later, I am still that boy, waking each day thrilled to witness long-ago dreams becoming reality around the world. It is a privilege to live in these brightening times."