Five Inches of Rain - And the Squirrels Feast

 "Is breakfast ready yet?"

We had 5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours, with misting and more rain on the way. All my rain-barrels and buckets were full this morning. The birds and squirrels were hungry, so hungry that the juvenile squirrels were eating at two levels, on the Lowe's bird-feeder above and the platform feeder below.

I could not get a good photo inside, so I went outside to try, knowing the squirrels would run. But they did not run away, only around the corner. I caught the same two peeking around the corner to see if they could travel back a few feet and eat some more. The brickwork makes it easy for them to travel along the house, up and down.

They really made me laugh.

The rain beat down the Butterfly Bushes, which are sagging with the weight of the soggy branches. The roses perked up from the rainstorm, and more will be blooming. Although the weather felt wintery this morning, we will contiue to have 70 degree days until the end of October. November and December will also be warm, if Accu-Weather lives up to its name.

The leaves are green on the trees and not falling at any great rate. Fortunately, the pine needles are falling rapidly, so we have plenty to gather for the Hosta garden.

Facebook friends really loved the three dozen roses I gathered for our chiropractor friend, so I will post it again.

 Our Moline thought I ran out of bud vases, but I said,
"No, this was a request for three dozen at once."

 We never get used to the roses.
The front yard is all roses or mulched places
for a few more.

Social Activism and Politics

The Brotherhood of the Kingdom was a small group of men who met to get political activism worked into the mainline denominations. Their victories included the Federal Council of Churches, which changed its name to the National Council of Churches when the FCC was too openly in favor of Communists.

This became known as the Social Gospel Movement, which reached its peak with the Rauschenbusch lectures at Yale on the Theology of the Social Gospel Movement. The name went away, but the agenda did not.

I believe the Methodists had the first social statement denominational statement, which was quite similar to the FCC's statement. The other established denominations followed.

The program of FDR's administration was the same as the Brotherhood of the Kingdom's, Methodists', and FCC's.

Hillary Clinton's background is often listed as Methodist, but one of the pastors influenced her to study the social activist magazine of the denomination.

 "As a teen, she visited inner-city Chicago churches with the youth pastor, Don Jones, her spiritual mentor until his death in 2009." 

She kept those magazines for many years, and they were packed up and followed her on her moves.

“I am grateful for the gift of personal salvation and for the great obligation of the Social Gospel to use the gift of grace wisely, to reflect the love of God and to follow the example of Jesus Christ to the greater good of God’s beloved community,” she said. “That’s what led me to devote my life in the ways I could to serving others.”
http://religionnews.com/2016/09/08/clinton-describes-activist-social-justice-faith-to-baptists/

 A. D. Mattson taught the Social Gospel Movement his
entire time at Augustana College and Seminary.

In a similar way, the Church Growth Movement is no longer a popular term, but the agenda is so pervasive, no one needs to use it anymore. The Protestant denominations have taken over the agenda and the pathetic theology behind it, without questioning it.

If someone thinks that going to a mainline church - or any other church - has no influence on and individual, look at Hillary Clinton as an example.

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1908 Methodist Social Creed[edit]

The Methodist Episcopal Church stands:

For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life.

For the principles of conciliation and arbitration in industrial dissensions.

For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, injuries and mortality.

For the abolition of child labor.

For such regulation of the conditions of labor for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community.

For the suppression of the "sweating system."

For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practical point, with work for all; and for that degree of leisure for all which is the condition of the highest human life.

For a release for [from] employment one day in seven.

For a living wage in every industry.

For the highest wage that each industry can afford, and for the most equitable division of the products of industry that can ultimately be devised.

For the recognition of the Golden Rule and the mind of Christ as the supreme law of society and the sure remedy for all social ills.

When the Federal Council of Churches adopted the social creed in December 1908, they added the following phrase at the end:

To the toilers of America and to those who by organized effort are seeking to lift the crushing burdens of the poor, and to reduce the hardships and uphold the dignity of labor, this Council sends the greeting of human brotherhood and the pledge of sympathy and of help in a cause which belongs to all who follow Christ.^[3]

Too Many Turtles on Fenceposts

"If a Turtle Is on a Fencepost, Someone Put It There"
This quotation has been attributed to various people, so it must be true.

When fenceposts are garnished with turtles out to infinity, a lot has been going on. Some wonder if there will ever be a return to normal.

One example - out of many - is the lack of sermons today. In place of sermons are little talks that do not demand much of the minister or the congregation, and both parties seem pleased. 

Writing is a function of thinking and directly related to speaking. Those who do not prepare a written text are going to fill the air with words and say little. One solution is for them to read or memorize something from another person. The trouble is, no matter how clever it is, the sermon does not belong to the individual - nor do the thoughts.

This situation has developed because congregations, denominations, and seminaries have so little trust in the sermon that it has become the least important part of worship - or in reality - the entertainment seeker service that replaced worship years ago.

Community of Joy in Phoenix was one of the largest congregations in America. This quasi-Lutheran congregation put all its emphasis on professional musicians, so every service was a showcase for one famous act or another. The congregation no longer exists, swallowed up by an Assemblies of God church.

When the Fuller-trained minister got rid of the professional music, the membershp faltered.

Preaching office or fashion show?
This pose explains it all.

Luther - The Predigtamt - The Preaching Office
Luther referred to the pastoral office as the preaching office - Predigtamt. All of the work of the Christian Church is done through the Word, and Luther placed a special emphasis on the proclamation of the Word as the most important part of this.

Luther's sermons are easy to obtain, from many collections, but it takes time to develop a capacity to understand and appreciate them. Most ministers are being fed a diet of baby food by the denominations, so Luther only appears to be difficult. In fact, Luther says more in a paragraph than most say in a year of preaching.

One approach might be to pick a paragraph and develop those thoughts for a sermon.

Warning - Luther always preached Justification by Faith, so the UOJ Snowflakes are going to melt down if they expose themselves to the heat and warmth of Luther's sermons. 

The style of Luther's sermons is almost always an examination of each verse of the text. Sometimes he picks a theme, but usually he explains the text from a variety of perspectives, using his great grasp of the entire Bible to show how all the verses relate to each other.

True, his sermons are a definite problem for those who want to preach universal absolution without faith, because Luther always preaches about the importance of faith and how the Gospel creates this active and energetic force from God.

False teachers also stumble, fall, and hurt themselves when they see Luther identifying and describing false doctrine.

If Lutherans read a Luther sermon each week, they would have to ask themselves if they follow Luther or their denomination's favorites - Craig Groeschel, Leonard Sweet, Andy Stanley, and Rick Warren.

I had an epiphany when I studied the Social Gospel Movement (political activism through the church). I realized the Lutheran Church in America was recycling the Social Gospel of Walther Rauschenbusch, complete with the liberal German rationalism behind it.

At a retreat, Franklin D. Fry (son the first LCA president) used an example from the Social Gospel Movement. "Should we bind the wounds of the man beaten on the road to Jericho or make the road to Jerico safe?" I asked if he followed the Social Gospel Movement. "No!" So I asked, "Why did you use the classic example from the Social Gospel Movement?"

As Luther fans recognize already, the Good Samaritan is not a parable for do-gooder social activists. The Good Samaritan is Christ and His work through the Means of Grace. Fry's question was intended to make people feel good about salvation by works.

Church historians can explore further and see how the Rauschenbusch approach doomed his denomination and seminary, only to have it repeat itself in Church Growther Babtists like Warren and Stanley.

Suggestions - 

1. Ministers should read a Luther sermon each week and post it to their blogs or Facebook pages. 
2. Ministers should also quote Luther often. 
3. Ministers should provide Luther's works for his members.

Notice I did not say "Lutheran" ministers. All ministers should. In the past every denomination recognized Luther as the premier Biblical expositor and preacher.