Falling in Love with Falling in Love. One of Those $5 Roses from the Gurney Offer

When you combine Moonstone with Marilyn Monroe how can you help but create a star? We guarantee you'll "fall in love" with these full, shapely blooms of exhibition form. The pure pink color softens to white on the outer petals and on the reverse to give the flowers a surreal glow. The strong rose and fruit fragrance is downright heavenly. The upright plants stay tidy and compact. Just right for tucking right up front in the flower border. Large dark green foliage clothes long stems perfect for cutting. Flower Size: 5-7". Fragrance: Strong rose and fruit. Hybridizer: Carruth, 2007.

The Edmunds photo captures the white contrast, Falling in Love.

Let us start with a major blooming cycle, so good that I asked Mrs. Ichabod to see the first two blooms - Falling in Love. The photo above does not do the rose justice, which is true of all rose photos. The best portrait never captures the subtle colors.

Marilyn Monroe Rose

Moonstone Rose

The story behind planting this rose will impress the flintiest heart in Lutherdom. I bought 10 roses for $5 each from Weeks Roses via Gurney's. They only promised two of each, a variety of colors.

When I took roses to Ecclesia College, I cut the ones in full bloom or ready to bloom. I soon heard the registrar's office was keen on roses, so they got regular deliveries of whatever roses were ready. The assistant kept asking for one rose again and again, "Pink and it smelled so good."

I thought the rose died at one point and I almost pulled it out entirely, but it was still alive and had its tag - Falling in Love. Keeping those tags in place is a chore, and I often do not bother.  I looked up its description and realized that was the rose she kept looking for. First year bare root roses leaf out, bloom, and take some time to bloom again. The roots are getting established and - in my case - the sod is turning into compost.

The assistant loved the rose without knowing the name, but the name fit - she was engaged to be married, a situation that developed that year. We attended her wedding and saw the old and young college crowd. I told the bride the name of that mystery rose.

For the rose garden we decided to grow one row with the same name and characteristics. The garden began with a variety and we still like that, but the advantage of several bushes of the same variety is putting together a good bouquet all alike or contrasting with white rose. That was my plan with white (John Paul II) and red (Veterans Honor) but the John Paul roses do not last well when cut. Growing on the bush, John Paul roses are heavenly and have a good fragrance.  Most roses outlast JP in the vase, so I may look for a better white rose. Oh the hype!

On a hot, sunny day, in the perfect place to show off, Falling in Love burst into bloom, two roses together. Aww. I will get a photo tomorrow, plus progress photos of various plants.

KnockOut roses are the easiest to abuse,
as so many are eager to prove.

K Mart Rose Killers
I stopped by K Mart to look around. Outside were plants roasting in the sun, on sale perhaps. All the roses were KnockOuts, not in bloom but with all the petals off. I touched the soil - hard as a rock. They were trying to sell dead KnockOuts for $16 each. Anything above FREE! was too much.

Recent Developments
The Elephant ears have reached the surface and are ready to inspire and intimidate the neighborhood.

The mature tomatoes have ripened into a deep red. I have to serve the slugs some beer tonight in hopes they will stay in the bowl long enough to be devoured by some night creature - a raccoon, a dog, or some other varmint.

All the berry plants - especially pokeweed - are doing well and ready to fruit.

Poison Hemlock
My giant beneficial bug plant is indeed a Poison Hemlock, a toxic member of the carrot family. Fortunately my explorations have not caused an allergic reaction to it.

The plant is crawling with mature and young ladybugs. Tonight I spent some time watching them from a few inches away. Tomorrow I will put on my bunny suit and dispose it as toxic waste.

A good covering helps when getting rid of Poison Hemlock.
The clothing is washed immediately after.

Rose to Water Pails - Tansy to Mulch. Neighboring Gardeners

Giant Alium bulbs are fun to grow.

I have my eyes open for things to give to Almost Eden Gardens and Nursery. For instance, I have Giant Alium (garlic) finishing, and some giant Elephant Ears starting to grow. Sharing bulbs gives him a chance to try some plants without spending extra money. The Alium has doubled, so I can divide it. The Elephant Ear bulbs have to be pulled in the fall, so I should have something to share there.

Tansy is reputed to repel flies.

Wiki:

Tansy can be used as in companion planting and for biological pest control. It is planted alongside potatoes to repel theColorado potato beetle, with one study finding tansy reduced the beetle population by 60 to 100%.^[6][15][16]

In England tansy is placed on window sills to repel flies; sprigs are placed in bed linen to drive away pests, and it has been used as an ant repellent.^[17]

In the 1940s, distilled tansy oil mixed with fleabane, pennyroyal and diluted alcohol was a well known mosquito repellent; collectors were paid five cents a pound for tansy in full bloom.^[6][18] Research has found that tansy extracts do indeed repel mosquitoes, but not as effectively as products containing DEET.^[6][19] In 2008, researchers in Sweden investigated the use of tansy to repel ticks, showing a 64–72% repellency for each oil constituent.^[20]

I ended up with 5,000 Tansy seeds, which mystified him until his farmer's wife mother told him about the herb. I did not need 5,000 so he got the bulk. When I asked for some of his wood mulch from chipping a tree, he drove two front end loader buckets full to me. That was a small loader, but it was so much better than wheelbarrowing the stuff across a large field.

The painter, whose wife got roses on Mothers' Day, gave me five-gallon pails for hauling water, following me to the rose garden to hand them over.

Meanwhile, our helper came over to patch up the mulch in the rose garden, where patches of grass or weeds broke through. Weeds love mulched, earthwormed soil as much as roses do. All we need to do is hide the sun from them and turn them into compost.

Sound Doctrine
False doctrine grows well where sound doctrine has taken root. Interest in spiritual matters grows and people with their own agenda take advantage.

The false teachers of mainline Protestantism have been almost unopposed. They do not need to be invited. They blow in with the wind, like weed seeds. Or someone leaves a deposit, with fertilizer, like a bird, and the new dogma takes root. False doctrine grows abundantly with big taproots or prolific seed production  - or both. But false doctrine is sterile.

People think of many healing and beneficial bug plants as weeds, but they contribute without doing harm. The Creating Word gave us most of our medicines in herbs that thrive in bad soil. Deadly Nightshade has an ugly berry and is toxic to farm animals, but the plant produces a stomach medicine.

Some plants are just toxic. I was following the growth of a beautiful member of the carrot family. The carrot family carries its seeds in the form of an umbrella. This plant was more of a cluster and continued to grow taller. I tried various names - even my neighbor was puzzled.

• Not Queen Anne's Lace - blooming too early.
• Not quite Angelica - some wrong characteristics.
• Not Fennel - no licorice aroma.
• Not Celery, Not Parsley. None of those nice smelling family members.
• Not Poison Hemlock - no purple splash. Wait a minute. There are purple splotches near the bottom!

I showed the suspect plant to Almost Eden. He pointed out all the baby ladybugs on it. "Don't be in a hurry to get rid of it." I went back to the comparisons, including another evil  plant - Cow Parsley. Everything pointed to Poison Hemlock, especially its attraction to beneficial bugs.

For example, poison or spotted hemlock (Conium maculatum), a native of Europe, and a similar North American species, spotted water hemlock (Cicuta maculata), are both exceedingly appealing to beneficial insects of all sorts. They are found across the entire North American continent, but both are incredibly poisonous to humans and livestock, making them a very bad selection for the insectary border (just ask Socrates—he was executed by being forced to drink a concoction of poison hemlock). Both plants are also considered noxious invasive weeds in many regions. However, these species are very valuable nectar and pollen sources for numerous beneficial insects and—even though you probably don’t want them in your yard or garden—a roadside patch can provide food for many beneficials.

Walliser, Jessica. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1532-1537). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

Attractive to baby ladybugs - that  is a strike AGAINST the mystery plant. 

In another study, begun in 1928 and lasting thirty-three years, researchers documented more than fifteen thousand insect parasitoids present on several hundred different plant species in central Illinois to examine what kinds of plants attract what kinds of insect visitors. They found that the plants with the most parasitic wasp species present were members of the carrot family (Apiaceae)—with an average of twelve parasitic wasp species per plant species! Other important plant families for these parasitoids were the aster family (Asteraceae), the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae), the pea and bean family (Fabaceae), and several others. The carrot family is so important to parasitoids because members of this family have those open, exposed nectaries. The other plant families frequented by parasitoids had more concealed nectaries and so were found to be more attractive to certain wasp families but not others. The ten plant species that hosted the largest diversity of parasitic wasp species offered nectar that was easily accessed by wasps with all sorts of different mouthparts.


Walliser, Jessica. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1522-1529). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

False Doctrine Must Be Removed
Like the Poison Hemlock I am growing by accident, false doctrine must be removed. Poison Hemlock kills from the feet up, so the victim knows he is dying. The plant must be carefully cut down and its base poisoned with Roundup.

WELS - ELCA - LCMS - What could possibly go wrong?

Walmart Shareholders Meeting - A Dream Come True for the Booze Brothers. They Missed Seeing Their Fave No-Talent Singer-Dancer, Katy Perry

Katy Perry

Little Ichabod and I went to the Walmart Shareholders Meeting, which  combines their business meeting with an entertainment extravaganza. They keep one guest secret  from everyone, and that star sings at the end of the meeting.

I was curious why the normal line-up during the meeting was not long on celebrity. In the past many of the entertainers were nationally known (perhaps more in my generation). Finally, I said, "Is there a mystery guest?" LI did not know.

I remembered Celine Dione singing in the past, coming out at the very end while people went nuts taking photos.

Pretending to close the meeting, Katy Perry's make-up was advertised in a video and she strolled out with her dancers to do a three-song set. I said to LI, "The Booze Brothers dream come true!" That explained where the entertainment budget went. One can only imagine what makes her successful in a land gone to the dogs.

Geena Davis in a League of Their Own

We arrive early at the monthly Saturday Morning Meetings. Very early. At one meeting we sat behind the Walton (Walmart) heirs and top executives. I have talked to two of Sam Walton's children, Alice at the museum and Jim after a meeting. The family owns 51% of the stock, which comes from Walton planning his estate early and dividing the shares.

So - one meeting we were in the row behind Geena Davis, who was introducing the annual Bentonville Film Festival.

Hugh Jackman was very kind to a little girl who brought him a card during the
Christmas meeting. He greeted the family afterwards and stayed
to shake hands with those, like us, who wisely stayed around to say hello.
He is the only celebrity guest to do this - ever.

We watched Hugh Jackman leading the Christmas carols at a December meeting and shook hands with him afterwards.

Anderson Cooper came to one meeting to promote his autobiography. Once again we were front and center. We are in so many reaction shots at the meetings - cameras aimed at the crowd - that I advised LI to look toward "our" camera to avoid the monitor-stare look.

Arnold Schwarzenegger never stops entertaining.

We were fairly close to Arnold at another recent meeting. He loved telling stories about how films get made. Some fans know that he is famous for going to Walmart at all hours and buying large quantities of stuff between takes.

We spoke to Google's VP of global sales, Philipp Schindler,
after another meeting. 

WELS Is Blessed with Notorious Liars Like VP Joel Voss. The New DP is Michael Jensen, Western Wisconsin District

Scott Barefoot posed with Joel Voss and someone else.

Report from the District Conventicle -

"There was open laughter when Voss said that WELS was blessed to not have any major doctrinal disputes. Open laughter."

Pin the tail on the felony district. 

A great ice-breaker for synod beer parties!

1. Which one has the love letter pastor protected by the DP and CP?
2. Bonus - which state is he in?
3. Which district is the Anything Goes District?
4. Bonus - which city in that district has the highest percentage of drunks?
5. How many districts was Pastor Tabor in?
6. Where are the best liquor party/women's retreats?
7. Name the DP who has lost or kicked out the most congregations.
8. Bonus - identify the connection between Tabor and his doctrinal expert.
9. Which district is host to Fuller Seminary, their favorite school?

Voss preached at St. Paul in German Village (Columbus, Ohio).
It was the big Reformation service for the area.
He could not be found, because he was watching Green Bay on TV
somewhere in the building.

Abundance of Rain - Indifference

We get plenty of rain that starts in Oklahoma, which is OK with us - and the rest from Texas, drawn up from the Gulf of Mexico. Last week we had a series of showers, all less than predicted, but still abundant.

I parked the wheelbarrow under the eaves -  and it was full. Four rain-barrels filled. The litle wastebasket also filled.

The transplanted Butterfly Bush kept showing signs of wilting before the roots had a chance to build up again. Before the rains, I kept extra rain-barrel water for the plant, and used it often. Now it looks as green and perky as the big brother plant, which is nine feet tall. The larger plant gets stored rainwater and the murky water left in the birdbath that I converted from a children's swimming pool.

When the rain is plentiful, gardeners who save the extra rain wonder what to do with so much. Several inches of rain mean there is no need to water for a while. If it continues to rain and mist, day to day, water is delayed even more and the storage containers fill to overflowing.

There is no better boon for gardeners. Rain is liquid fertilizer, the gentlest and best, life-giving for the plants and for the soil creatures that thrive when their thirst is satisfied.

Below is a summary of the nitrogen cycle.

The Nitrogen Cycle

• All life requires nitrogen-compounds, e.g., proteins and nucleic acids.
• Air, which is 79% nitrogen gas (N₂), is the major reservoir of nitrogen.
• But most organisms cannot use nitrogen in this form.
• Plants must secure their nitrogen in "fixed" form, i.e., incorporated in compounds such as:
  • nitrate ions (NO₃⁻)
  • ammonium ions (NH₄⁺)
  • urea (NH₂)₂CO
• Animals secure their nitrogen (and all other) compounds from plants (or animals that have fed on plants).

Four processes participate in the cycling of nitrogen through the biosphere:

• nitrogen fixation
• decay
• nitrification
• denitrification

Microorganisms play major roles in all four of these.

Nitrogen Fixation

The nitrogen molecule (N₂) is quite inert. To break it apart so that its atoms can combine with other atoms requires the input of substantial amounts of energy.
Three processes are responsible for most of the nitrogen fixation in the biosphere:

• atmospheric fixation by lightning
• biological fixation by certain microbes — alone or in a symbiotic relationship with some plants and animals
• industrial fixation

Atmospheric Fixation

The enormous energy of lightning breaks nitrogen molecules and enables their atoms to combine with oxygen in the air forming nitrogen oxides. These dissolve in rain, forming nitrates, that are carried to the earth.
Atmospheric nitrogen fixation probably contributes some 5– 8% of the total nitrogen fixed.

Industrial Fixation

Under great pressure, at a temperature of 600°C, and with the use of a catalyst, atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen (usually derived from natural gas or petroleum) can be combined to form ammonia (NH₃). Ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer, but most of its is further processed to urea and ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃).

Biological Fixation

The ability to fix nitrogen is found only in certain bacteria and archaea.

• Some live in a symbiotic relationship with plants of the legume family (e.g., soybeans, alfalfa).

  Link to a discussion of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes.

• Some establish symbiotic relationships with plants other than legumes (e.g., alders).
• Some establish symbiotic relationships with animals, e.g., termites and "shipworms" (wood-eating bivalves).
• Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live free in the soil.
• Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria are essential to maintaining the fertility of semi-aquatic environments like rice paddies.

Biological nitrogen fixation requires a complex set of enzymes and a huge expenditure of ATP.
Although the first stable product of the process is ammonia, this is quickly incorporated into protein and other organic nitrogen compounds.

Decay

The proteins made by plants enter and pass through food webs just as carbohydrates do. At each trophic level, their metabolism produces organic nitrogen compounds that return to the environment, chiefly in excretions. The final beneficiaries of these materials are microorganisms of decay. They break down the molecules in excretions and dead organisms into ammonia.

Nitrification

Ammonia can be taken up directly by plants — usually through their roots. However, most of the ammonia produced by decay is converted into nitrates. Until recently this was thought always to be accomplished in two steps:

• Bacteria of the genus Nitrosomonas oxidize NH₃ to nitrites (NO₂⁻).
• Bacteria of the genus Nitrobacter oxidize the nitrites to nitrates (NO₃⁻).

These two groups of autotrophic bacteria are called nitrifying bacteria. Through their activities (which supply them with all their energy needs), nitrogen is made available to the roots of plants.
However, in 2015, two groups reported finding that bacteria in the genus Nitrospira were able to carry out both steps: ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. This ability is called "comammox" (for complete ammonia oxidation).

In addition, both soil and the ocean contain archaeal microbes, assigned to the Crenarchaeota, that convert ammonia to nitrites. They are more abundant than the nitrifying bacteria and may turn out to play an important role in the nitrogen cycle.

Many legumes, in addition to fixing atmospheric nitrogen, also perform nitrification — converting some of their organic nitrogen to nitrites and nitrates. These reach the soil when they shed their leaves.

Abundance
Our basic human failing is taking abundance for granted. God provides the abundance to such an extent that we assume it will always be there. Looking back, we can see that a subversive president and a subservient Congress can wreck a country in eight years or less.

Reversing the damage is like cleaning up after a tornado and flood. Some people want the perfect presidential candidate, but that person is not going to repair the damage by himself.

This is my example of practical politics - taxing garage sales. I remember when Congress suggested taxing garage sales so that taxes were withheld at the time of the yard sale and sent to their greedy coffers. The outrage was so great, so universal that the plan was dropped immediately.

The same thing happened with the government idea of  withholding the tax on passbook savings as the interest accrued: floated as a concept, killed when national fury erupted. Now we have no interest to add up and very little money in savings. Obama passed a national, unlimited tax nicknamed ObamaCare, and the GOP did nothing to stop or reverse it.

The country will not change for the better as long as we let a radical minority dictate policy for the majority.

Likewise, the fever for electing the right Synod President in Lutherdom is irrelevant as long as factions control the practical outcome. The Wisconsin Synod is completely controlled by false teachers whose passion is justification without faith and Church Growth. They dominate all the leadership positions and skim all available money for themselves. SP Mark Schroeder is either the cause of this debacle, as their Manchurian Candidate, or the product of it, bowing the knee to the Jeske Crime Family and kissing both cheeks to honor the Godfather of Thrivent.

The solution is to write a letter to Christian News? Herman Otten promotes justification without faith and sells the Valleskey Church Growth textbook. The FBI can raid WELS headquarters and Otten will spike the story or soft-pedal it on page 17.

Back to Creation Gardening
So - now I have full rain-barrels in the backyard and roses needing some help in the front yard. The rain I have is very much like the Means of Grace. All I can do is distribute this rain, because God has provided the blessings inherent in the rain. There is nothing I can do to invent or manufacture rain. The new science has shown that chemical nitrogen, fixed by man, is vastly inferior to what rain or bacteria can manufacture.

I have been coveting water-pails, but they were often a separate item when stopping at Lowe's or Walmart. My jerry-built solutions, like  a wastebasket in the wheelbarrow, were sloppy and impractical.

Last week a neighbor made a point of thanking me for the Mothers' Day roses. No, I did not write about this neighbor so far. We had along talk in his front yard while his sons played with Sassy. He decided I could use paint-buckets in gardening, and I thought that would be great, when he was able to find  some clean ones from his business. After a while we finished talking and Sassy headed for home, 1/2 block away. I was just inspecting roses when he caught up with four paint-buckets, perfectly clean, with handles, each one carrying five (5) gallons. You thought "one gallon, big deal," didn't you.

That will be my job today, Most of the lagging roses have leafed out now. I will give some promising green canes another prune and extra rain water. If they fail to come out of dormancy, they will be replaced by Edmunds Roses. The new ones will be soaked in rainwater and planted.

Gardener Accused of Dumping Rainwater
No one has accused me - I just like the phrasing. There are times when I have had so much rainwater in the back that I wanted to get rid of it fast - before the next rain. That meant starting with a clean barrel and providing some plants with triple rain:

1. Before the rain,
2. During the rain, 
3. With more stored rainwater to follow.

The chief recipients are the nearby Butterfly Bushes, new tomato plants, Hosta from Mr. Gardener, roses along Mr. Gardener's fence, the Honeysuckle vine, Ederberries, and the Blueberries.

The plants are green and lush from the abundant rain and extra rainwater.

Email Addresses

Someone said my email address was difficult to find.

1. Here is the busiest and the easiest one to get lost in - chemnitz@cox.net. Best avoid that one.

2. This one seldom gets personal email and hardly anything else - bethanylutheranworship@gmail.com.

3. This one is probably easiest to remember - greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com

The initials stand for Walmart's motto, Every Day Low Prices. They often say - ee dee ell pea at Walmart meetings. That is the address I am posting at the top of the blog. Note the period after greg and after jackson.

One savvy blogger noted that gmail does not recognize the periods. Therefore,

gregjacksonedlp@gmail.com

also works. My geezer eyes prefer the periods, but that is an Adiaphoron for Google.

When one email disappeared into the spam folder, I began looking through spam in both my current email addresses and found several messages I did not know were there, including a series that wondered where I was when I was thinking the individual suddenly stopped writing.

The Second Sunday after Trinity, 2016. Luke 14:16-24

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time

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

The Second Sunday after Trinity, 2016 

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

The melodies are linked in the hymn name. 

The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.

• The melody site is linked here.
• TLH Lyrics site is linked here.

The Hymn # 361                                O Jesus King 

The Confession of Sins

The Absolution

The Introit p. 16

The Gloria Patri

The Kyrie p. 17

The Gloria in Excelsis

The Salutation and Collect p. 19

The Epistle and Gradual

The Gospel

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!

Praise be to Thee, O Christ!

The Nicene Creed p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #371                          Jesus Thy Blood                       

 Wedding Attire

The Communion Hymn #564     O Trinity of Blessed Light

The Preface p. 24

The Sanctus p. 26

The Lord's Prayer p. 27

The Words of Institution

The Agnus Dei p. 28

The Nunc Dimittis p. 29

The Benediction p. 31

The Hymn #660                            I'm But a Stranger Here           

KJV 1 John 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

KJV Luke 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Second Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee, that through Thy holy word Thou hast called us to Thy great supper, and we beseech Thee: Quicken our hearts by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not hear Thy word without fruit, but that we may prepare ourselves rightly for Thy kingdom, and not suffer ourselves to be hindered by any worldly care, through Thy beloved Son. Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

 

Wedding Attire

KJV Luke 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 

One thing should strike us about the Great Feast Parable - this is a concrete comparison and not an abstract one. Objections to Biblical teaching are abstract and often use newly minted words. But Jesus taught with concrete examples from ordinary life and His own Creation. If we cannot learn from Creation, then we might pay attention to parallels with ordinary life.

No one had trouble with Holy Communion until the Reformation, when those who opposed Luther found an agenda they could promote. Zwingli and later Calvin wrote against it, and others did as well. The idea was always to make Holy Communion only symbolic, just a ritual. In doing so, they thought they refuted Roman dogma. But they were like the man, as Luther said, who saw his brother attacked by a bear. He grabbed his knife and stabbed, killing his brother instead of the bear. So these supposed anti-Romanists attack the wrong thing and effectively kill the efficacy and purpose of the Lord's Supper.

A certain man...

Everyone can see this is a parable, one with everyday comparisons. "A certain man" signals that this is a parable. As a teaching of Jesus in His own words, we should pay attention to it. 

When people appeal to authority as a logical fallacy, they pick their own authority and skip the true source, the Word of God, which judges all authorities. In addition, they use a reverse version of this, saying, "I don't agree with you." I have said to many, "But that does not matter. Do you agree with the Scriptures and as a Lutheran, with the Book of Concord?"

Secondly, as a parable, this ranks as teaching by Jesus that was explained thoroughly to His disciples. It was not supposed to be so obvious that any dabbler could deal with it.

A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 

We can all relate to this, because it is saying that the Gospel is a gracious invitation. Who would not accept an invitation sent when they are hungry - at supper time? The Jewish people hungered for righteousness. They knew the Scriptures but often missed the main point. And yet, at the time of Jesus, there was so much longing, so much hunger, that they flocked to Him to hear the Word from him rather than the scribes and Pharisees.

This is a parallel to what the Fourth Gospel states - that Jesus came to His own people, and they did not receive him (believe in Him).

18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 

The rejection of the invitation is shown to be ridiculous, because each excuse is shallow and ridiculous. One has to go look at some land. One has to test-drive his oxen. The last one has just married.

As Luther noted, this parable is a rebuke to the Jewish leader who tried to show off and preach better than Jesus.

Luther:

10. Following this address one of them who thought himself much more learned than Christ the Lord, begins to say: “Oh, how blessed is he who eateth bread in the kingdom of God.” As though he would say in his great wisdom: You make yourself unprofitable enough by your preaching! If it would depend on preaching, I can do that, too, even better than you; for I consider this a truly great sermon: “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.”
11. Christ replies to him: Yes, says he, I will tell you how blessed you and your comrades are: “A certain man made a great supper, and bade many,” and they despised it and would not come. This blow was meant for him. As though he would say: You say much in the words, that he is a blessed man who eats bread in heaven! Oh, but you are in very great earnest! What an excellent holy man you are, namely, you are one of those who are invited and yet do not come. These are hard, sharp and terrible words when rightly considered; for he is speaking to real thorough-going rogues, who sat about the table, not because they wanted to learn anything, but in order to observe him closely to see by what means they might come to him and take him. To those he spoke this parable: “A certain man made a great supper.”

So these people who excuse themselves are the Jews invited to believe every since Abraham, since that patriarch was and is the model of justifying faith. The Gospel invitations are all those predictions and blessings in the Old Testament. People think of the prophets as warning them about their sins, which is true. Those sins - like ours today - came from lack of faith. The condemnations were intended to warn the Jewish people away from all the consequences of their lack of faith, such as chasing after the carnal pagan religions around them. But they were also promised the Messiah, and their response was to get rid of the prophets who annoyed them so much.

I had to do some homework about Andover Newton, because these mergers and changes get so complicated. My memory was correct - that the Calvinist Leonard Woods Senior was the first theology professor at Andover. His son was the rock star Leonard Words Junior, who translated the Knapp lectures from Halle University, established to teach Pietism (soon after the bastion of Rationalism, rejection of the Word). Junior explained the opaque language of Knapp as teaching Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. 

These terms may not have originated with Junior, but we know this famous book was so influential that Walther approved the terms when they began appearing in Germany. The two terms - OJ and SJ - slowly became canonical and blessed by CFW in the LCMS, WELS, and ELS.

Recently, Jay Webber declared that Luther taught a term - Objective Justification - which did not even exist until long after Luther died, long after the Book of Concord was published. Luther was quite the prophet, to teach something that did not exist as though it did exist.

21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 

Who would reject a gracious invitation with such rude, flimsy excuses? And yet they continue to this day. People cite their bad experiences with their parents or a minister or a denomination, as that mattered in terms of faith in the Savior. Anyone can cite as as many excuses, and ministers can add many more. People should be overwhelmed with gratitude that there are any ministers left who believe in the traditional teaching of the Christian Faith. The modern theologians and the denominational executives are apostates who hate the Christian Faith.

More importantly, the greedy, dishonest, and criminal clergy are rewarded for their apostasy and behavior. Those who want the riches and glory of the world, as Jesus was offered in His temptations, are eager to bow down and worship Satan. They will not die for the Faith, but they will kill for their synod's corrupt leaders.

The Gospel moves on. As Jesus is teaching in the parable the Gospel invitation was extended to those never considered by Jews to be part of the Kingdom. That would mean us! And now that the West has been rewarded by the blessings of the Gospel, it is moving on among the poorest nations.

24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

Sometimes the Word emphasizes works, and at other times faith, but the decisive term in the entire Bible is faith.

As the Matthew 7:15ff passage teaches us, the good tree can only bear good fruit, and the bad tree only evil and corrupt fruit.

Any gardener can say, the battle against weeds is constant and never won. The weeds grab the good soil, the rain, and the sunshine to overwhelm the good plants. I have roses with grass growing right up through the plant, so I have to cut the grass carefully and deny it sunshine to sprout again.

Some weeds are so robust that they grow 9 feet tall, spread out their seeds, dominate the country they adopt, and produce horrible rashes when touched.

The believer still has sins, but they do not dominate and destroy, as we see happening with so many today. The unbeliever may strive to show off his great sanctity, but that by itself is an affront to God, as if a human's pretended righteousness is better than God's, which comes from faith in Christ alone.

Luther:

35. But how shall we be constrained, as God does not want any forced worship? He constrains us by having the Gospel preached to all men: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Here he shows us both heaven and hell, death and life, wrath and grace, and reveals unto us our sins and ruined condition, so that we may be awakened on account of it, because we hear that a man as soon as he is born, naturally belongs to the devil and is condemned. This is part of this constraint, by which one is terrified at the wrath of God and desires grace and help from him.

36. When this has taken place by preaching and the hearts are thus stricken and awakened, he then desires that we should preach thus: Dear friend, do not despair because you are a sinner and have such a terrible sentence passed upon you; but do this, go forth and be baptized and hear the Gospel. Here you will learn that Jesus Christ has died for your sake, and has made satisfaction for your sins. If you believe this, then you will be safe against the wrath of God and eternal death, and you shall eat here at this glorious supper and live well, become hearty and strong.

This Is a Feast That Feeds

Holy Communion is not abstract, but concrete. It is both symbolic and real at the same time. Holy Communion symbolizes the Last Supper and has us re-enact that pivotal event. Christ instituted it, so the Sacrament is very important.

The power of this Sacrament is the Holy Spirit in the Word. What God promises is true - these ordinary elements, consecrated, are also the Body and Blood of Christ, given for the forgiveness of sin.

We say Sacrament because Communion  combines the Word with earthly elements. Supper is a good term. If we become weak from lacking food, how much more important is it to feed the soul so that we do not become weak in faith?

This feast depends on the Word and faith. God has the Word preached to strengthen faith and enjoy the invitation, trusting in the Spirit's work. Notice how powerfully people argue against this - to no avail. The use up 100 times the energy to say this cannot be so and to condemn those who agree with the simple and plain language of Jesus.