Show Me the Monet! Monet Painting Sells for Record $81.4 Million at Christie’s - Bloomberg

Monet Painting Sells for Record $81.4 Million at Christie’s - Bloomberg:

"Claude Monet’s grain stack painting fetched a record $81.4 million in New York on Wednesday after a 14-minute bidding war.
The 1891 canvas, “Meule,” was offered at Christie’s Impressionist and modern art sale. Estimated at $45 million, it was sold without a guarantee by an anonymous American collector, according to the auction house.
The work last appeared at auction in 1999, when it sold for $11.9 million. The seller acquired it privately in 2002."

'via Blog this'

Do the Babtists Have More Lutherans Than the Lutherans Do?

When Sassy walks me every morning, I have time to think about doctrinal topics. The morning walk is the longest and often the most eventful. People have time to talk and to pet Sassy. Yesterday we saw a minor accident where a woman drove her plastic GM car into a pickup truck. The car's alleged bumper was smashed up. The pickup was undamaged.

I wake up at about 5 AM, drink coffee, and read various news blogs. No Lutheran blogs are left worth reading or mocking - they are too boring to mention.

I insist on some daylight to start the walk, so I have time to get one post done. Today will be the satis est of the Augsburg Confession. Everyone agrees with this, I am sure. ELCA accepts the Augsburg Confession but is not keen on the Book of Concord.

The Augsburg Confession is short, so WELS-LCMS leaders can get through the AC before passing out into their bowls of popcorn and peanuts at the local bar.

Victory of the Lamb, blessed by WELS,
where court appearances for a DUI are
resume enhancers.

The problem is - WELS-LCMS repudiate the Gospel, the Chief Article. They patted each other on their scaly heads and said, "Thank God we teach justification without faith and universal salvation without faith."

Some of the readers have already reviewed Article VII above and are saying, "But the Babtists reject the sacraments as such and only consider them ordinances with effect." That is true, but the Babtists still teach Justification by Faith, the Chief Article, even if their seminary professors flow along with the same mainline drift of apostasy so well established in the LCMS, ELS, WELS, and micro-mini groups.

I am willing to argue that most laity in the "conservative" Lutheran groups are loyal to the Chief Article, by default, simply because it takes quite a bit of brain-washing (or a paucity of brains) to fall for Universal Justification without faith.

Alcoholism is often denounced for the destructive effect it has on the body, mind, spirit, family, and and soul. But nothing keeps leaders in line better than an absence of thought, a neglect of study, and a dedication to Demon Rum. They are one in the spirits.

Splintering Pietists - Victims of Their Own Shunning Rules
One could counter that the conservative Lutherans are not Lutheran at all. Each one has a set of contradictory rules on shunning, which is really their chief article, the master and prince, the judge of all articles.

The Great Walther's example was repeated when ELDONA's bishop began by following a molester of young people, boys in this case. Like Stephan, the LCS bishop was arrested by the police. Although the ELDONUTs teach that it is "unScriptural" to not be in their group, they forget that Bishop Heiser went back to the LCMS and stuck to Missouri like velcro for the longest time. Upon leaving the LCMS with the property of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, Heiser failed to convert his parents (who joined Steve Spencer's WELS congregation) and his own brother, who is Lutheran Brethren  - nevertheless communing in WELS.

If one presses the shun button with so much vigor and Enthusiasm, should not the same bell tolling for others toll also for him?

The larger groups are just as confusing. When Missouri, WELS, and the ELS shun, they shun for life. They do not simply shun the object of their wrath - they shun their target, the spouse, the children, and those unto the fourth and fifth generation. But at the same time, they cuddle with ELCA, find no fault with ELCA, and obey's Thrivent-ELCA's rules for carrying out their many joint ministry projects.

These same greedy leaders, even when sober, see the wrongs perpetrated by ELCA, but they have no issue with Mark Jeske's Thrivent-ELCA projects and continue to promote them with pious glee.

The recent election revealed how tone-deaf the national leadership is, I am told. Even the Left is scolding the Left, which is rare indeed. The denominations, large and small, anticipated this attitude by turning a deaf ear and blind eyes to their membership:

1. Rewarding their fellow drunks and adulterers.
2. Rejecting anyone faithful to the Word.
3. Clawing millions into their pockets in the name of mission, but really in the name of salaries and benefits.
4. Wrecking congregations to get even.
5. Publishing false doctrine by the hundredweight, suppressing and ignoring Luther, their putative doctrinal star.

Places To Buy Roses

Local gardening shops may be good for roses. I used them for late season bargains in the past. If you want specific roses, buying bare root roses from the Internet is the way to go. Some of then also offer potted roses as well - something I have not had shipped to me, but they can be found. No one should fear bare root roses. They are easy to start and grow.

Regan Nursery - They have the best, most organized, illustrated list of roses. Browse fragrant varieties, colors, etc. They provide a run-down with photos of the characteristics of each rose. These California roses came to me bare root, rather beat up, heated on a long trip, so I soaked them in rainwater a long time and pruned them top and bottom. No other roses started growing so fast - and they lasted well too.

Jackson and Perkins - They are the biggest and have the latest award winners.

Edmunds - They have more varieties.

Weeks - They are wholesale. I bought twenty $5 roses from them via Gurney's offer. They all grew very well.

Antique Rose Emporium - Olde roses are featured, and they have the best record for being hardy and fragrant.

Direct Gardening - DG has a wide variety of plants. They are the place for Mr. Lincoln for $8. Their plants tend to be tiny, such as the Rugosa rose twigs I bought, but one took off and is still a bargain for the total $6 price for six. I am very happy with their Cat Mint I bought for almost nothing. Their clearance sales are worth considering.

Another approach is to google "search _____" with the type filled in. That is how I found Seven Sisters rose for a classmate.

All the vendors stand behind their produce when the plant fails to grow. That will happen with bare root roses.

Soaking in rainwater or stored water, plus pruning, will solve most problems.

Ichabod the Glory Has Departed - Five Million Views

Somebody - stop Ichabod.

I am not sure how to report 5,000,000 views. The blog statistics have varied greatly in the last few months, from rather slow - about 2,000 views per day - to riotous levels, 33,000 on one day. They go down and back up again, too.

I assume that Internet software and possible hacking attempts have raised the numbers to the stratosphere. However, the number was almost 5 million anyway, so that is enough for me.

Four million views in 2015.

Three million views in 2014.

Two million views in 2013.

 Tell me more.

Symon Scheiwe‎ to Confessional Lutheran Fellowship

comments by Rolf Preus, missing the point.  The question is on why WELS is not in fellowship with LCMS.  How did "shunning" become a Lutheran idea?


Rolf Preus The speaker is from ELDoNA, Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America. I became familiar with the ELDoNA some years back. They have taken a very strong stand against the doctrine of "objective justification," the teaching that God, for Christ's sake, has justified the whole world. "Subjection justification" is the teaching that the only way anyone can receive justification is through faith alone. Both the LCMS and the WELS teach both objective and subjective justification. A WELS pastor who was kicked out of the WELS for denying objective justification joined ELDoNA and soon afterward ELDoNA publicly attacked this doctrine. While there are many sincere people associated with ELDoNA, I would urge confessional Lutherans to avoid them on account of their false doctrine concerning justification.

[Confidential to Rolf - Please read the definition of the Chief Article in the Book of Concord. Thanks.]

ELDONA and the Rolf Synod -
Rolfians went back to the ELS.

ELDONA was silent for a decade on justification,
in fellowship with the Rolf Synod,
and suddenly against OJ and SJ.

Reading Some Quotations by the Notorious, Evil Wilhelm Loehe

I inherited the Wilhelm Loehe book from a member. Here are the basics -

The Word Remains - Selected Writings on the Church Year and the Christian Life, Wilhelm Loehe. Emmanuel Press.

Paperback, 140 pp., 8″ x 5″, 2016
ISBN 978-1-934329-12-5

From the back cover: Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (1808-1872) was a parish pastor for thirty-five years in the German village of Neuendettelsau. While he was known there as an exceptional preacher, liturgist, teacher, and Seelsorger, his work and influence also extended far beyond his own congregation. Löhe had a keen interest in mission work and was instrumental in sending missionaries to North America and other continents. In addition, his desire to carry out Christian labors of love for those closer to home—caring for the body as well as the soul—led him to found an institute in Neuendettelsau to train deaconesses to perform acts of physical mercy.

This collection of excerpts comes from Löhe’s extensive writing on mission, pastoral theology, history, and liturgy. Originally published in German in 2008, The Word Remains is the English translation of a delightful book that gathers his profound wisdom into one small volume, making it well suited for devotional reading. In these pages, Löhe articulates the confessional Lutheran understanding of the church year, the Word of God, and matters related to the Christian life: faith, prayer, fellowship, worship, creation, and hope. In addition, the biography by Hans Kreßel and the appended essay by John T. Pless give insight into Löhe’s life, the context in which he lived, and his lasting influence.

$15.00

---

I have to caution all readers. Loehe is evil, because Christian News says so. And Pastor Otten is against Loehe and his followers because CFW Walther - aka The Great Walther - was Loehe's opponent (except when asking for property and money).

The bill of indictment is included in the top graphic, and it is grim indeed. Loehe never kidnapped anyone, while Walther kidnapped three - two minors and his own bishop. Walther founded only one seminary, Concordia in St. Louis, but Loehe founded two - Concordia, Ft. Wayne and Wartburg in Dubuque, Iowa. Worse - Loehe donated Ft. Wayne to the Missouri Synod and kept up his financial support, as Walther asked.

Loehe was lax in discipline, because he did not organize any mobs, threaten, rob, or kidnap a bishop. Walther did that in fine style and emerged in the carefully manipulated history of the LCMS as a great hero. Anyone today who gives a pile of gold, even stolen, is awarded a doctorate in Missouri, following the example of Dr. CFW Walther.

Loehe remained a parish pastor while doing all his work and organizing five (5) world mission societies. Walther did what was best and had himself promoted to the presidency of the LCMS and its seminary at the same time, leaving parish work behind for the greater glory of Missouri.

My counter-polemic against Loehe is a little satire, funny because true, about the way Missouri treats its hagiography. Walther must come out on top because they are all Waltherians - at least they think they are.

In fact, Loehe organized the first parishes and they asked the Perryville cult about joining them. Loehe trained good leaders who contributed greatly to the early synod. The main historian for this information is Ludwig Fuerbringer, writing about Frankenmuth and Ft. Wayne. I highly recommend his two little books - Eighty Eventful Years and Persons and Events. Fuerbringer was the nephew of The Great Walther and consequently kept his silence about the early history, as Uncle CFW wished.

The Word Remains is a great book to own, because it offers selections from Loehe's writing and a brief biography. Loehe was clearly a parish theologian, very much like Luther in his concise statements about the faith and basic Christian doctrine.

Ironic indeed is this fact - Loehe contributed much that is positive to the LCMS today. And yet, Loehe triggers anxiety and fear in the Missouri snowflakes who must denounce their actual Founder in order to prove loyalty to Walther, a loyal disciple and enforcer for the abusive bishop - until the time was right for a takeover.

This fine and concise statement is a reflection
on the Chief Article - Justification by Faith -
but the Olde Synodical Conference today is united
by ELCA's Pietistic UOJ.

Changing the Schedule - Creation Gardening Is Next

Norma Boeckler designed this cover,
with a photograph from her garden.

My Moline classmates and Facebook friends have been commenting on the posts about roses and asking for the gardening book, so I am finishing Creation Gardening as quickly as I can. The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine will be completed later.

The gardening book will be in full color, including the interior, and available at the author's price.

Norma Boeckler has published a number of books 
and is now helping others complete theirs.

Unusual Rose Choices - Make the Neighbors Beg for More

Double Delight must be ordered early,
because the supplies keep getting sold out.

My high school classmate wanted to know how to find a family favorite, an antique rose named Seven Sisters. I found it quickly through the Net and advised her, "Order online, because that is the only way to get the roses you want."

A nearby nursery will probably have KnockOuts, because they are so popular right now, but only in the numbers they care to order. The same is true of hybrid tea roses, the favorite ones selling out fast.

I am listing a few names to get people thinking about what they want to plant.

Double Delight is varied in color and also fragrant. Treated well, the rose really produces blooms. In New Ulm, I dedicated one planting area to Double Delight, daffodils,and garlic chives, with wood mulch over the entire planter. I had about six of the rose bushes in one area, and everyone enjoyed the display.

 Barbra Streisand

Mixing up colors is fun, so Barbra Streisand adds a distinct shift toward lavender and purple. Big Purple is another possibility. I planted Streisand in the fence garden, and the rose is always quick to bloom.

 Paradise

As one friend warned me, "Roses should not be planted under a maple tree." I suggested the pertinent facts to Mrs. Ichabod, but she wanted 20 $5 roses planted there. Our Army Ranger neighbor pruned the maple, decimating it like it was an enemy regiment. All the roses have done well there, getting early morning and mid-morning sun. Paradise blooms again as soon as I cut blooms.

Digging in roses where shallow rose roots dominate the surface - that is not an experience I wish to repeat. However, it worked well, because of previous loads of mushroom compost, red wiggler earthworms, and shredded wood mulch.

Fragrant Cloud is beautiful in form, powerfully fragrant,
and difficult to define in color.

The two most fragrant roses I have grown are Mr. Lincoln and Fragrant Cloud. Stinkin' Lincoln is even stronger in scent than Fragrant Cloud. The old favorite is Mr. Lincoln, which is large fast growing, needing a lot of elbow room. Fragrant Cloud is closer to normal in growth, offering many potent blooms through the summer. The color is not so normal. One magazine called it "brick," and it is brickish but not the common dull color of bricks. When I see the buds forming, there is a red that does not want to be pure red, a color so distinct it should be called fragrant-cloudish. FC is shorter in stem length, ideal for picking the best blooms for individual bud vases.

 Orange is a difficult flavor to reproduce,
a difficult color in roses.
Easy Does It roses start with the orange range of colors,
produce furiously, and have strong stems for cutting.

Floribundas are known for abundant flowers, and Easy Does It delivers plenty of them.

Best and lasting blooms in the vase:

• Veterans' Honor
• Tropicana
• Falling in Love

Fragrance:

• Mr. Lincoln
• Fragrant Cloud
• Double Delight

Color or contrast in the garden:

• Easy Does It
• Pope John Paul II
• Paradise

Easy care pinks, but not everyone's choice:

• Queen Elizabeth
• Pink KnockOut
• Pink Peace
• Bride's Dream

California Dreamin' offers a
palette of soft colors.

Voice Cracking, "I Like All of Them." Today's Roses for North Arkansas Chiropractic

 Tropicana is another long-lasting rose
for arrangements.

Today we brought roses to our chiro. The receptionist is the chiro's mother-in-law, and we often speak about gardening. She really likes purple roses, so I make an effort to get one into the vases. When I pointed out her favorite color, she said, her voice cracking, "I like them all."

Most people say the same thing. I was having trouble getting good rose photos while they were still attached. I learned quickly enough that the Canon will expertly balance light and focus in close-ups in the vase. Similar casual shots on the plant are blurred from the breezes, including my attempts to make them hold still by grasping the stem.

Someone described KnockOuts as "inexpensive roses," but I paid full-price for mine. They are fast-blooming roses, fairly small, no fragrant, but enormously productive when treated right (water and prune). Most people do not prune them, which means they look like gigantic weeds most of the time.

True, KnockOuts are great for color when the roses are left on the plant, but regular pruning is the key for constant color.

Today I will gather the best KnockOuts and put them in their own vase. They have long stems and beautifully formed blooms. I have a large number of pink doubles and red doubles.

I enjoy pruning and I learned, as others have, that the number of snips increases as I do the work. I used to prune mesquite in Phoenix. A few intended prunes ended up a mountain of branches. The same is true of roses, because many death-stars (no petals left, five sepals forming a star) are lurking in the plant.

Today I am writing first and photographing the results second.

Here are some tips for rose-buying next year.

Pope John Paul II
This is a stunning white, fragrant rose on the bush, but not good for the vase. For contrast and astonishing bloomage, one can hardly beat this rose. I would pick this over KnockOuts for a hedge featuring color. The blooms are larger than KOs and will elicit oohs and ahs.

Pope John Paul II received an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame, so don't mind if I just call him Deuce.

Easy Does It
This orange rose is not pure orange but has a variety of colors in each bloom. The production is equal or better than KnockOuts. The blooms are not as long-lasting as many hybrid teas (Falling in Love, Veterans' Honor) but they are still great in the vase. These are double-duty with very strong stems, something often lacking in good roses. They are large, colorful bushes and could be used as a hedge or just in a group for fun (our future plan).

Mr. Lincoln
Insecure about roses? Nervous about your first trials? Avoid all the others and plant Mr. Lincoln. No rose I have grown is so likely to soar out of the soil and produce large, powerfully perfumed flowers that are classic from bud to fading bloom. Their turn toward blue in the vase is also fascinating.

This is one rose where a single stem can be cut with one large bloom on it. Place it in a bud vase, cut to the right length. That rose alone will fill a room with fragrance faster than any other.

Falling in Love has proven to be thorny, fragrant,
and long lasting. No other rose has so many tough thorns.

Yes and No to Roses

From bud to bloom,
colors and stages of the rose.

Sassy got to meet her old but young friend, Little Almost Eden - when we walked over to the nursery providentially located at the end of our cul-de-sac.

Sassy saw him riding the front end loader with his grampa, so she turned to me, as Sassy does when she wants to see someone. "You want to see him? Let's go." She trotted ahead of me and checked to make sure I was catching up, the reverse of our walks, where I Iook back to find her on the trail of another squirrel.

Little AE and I talked about Sassy's missing leg and how long he had known her. I said, "You met her two years ago and your Mom said you needed a dog. Your dad questioned that, and soon you had Opie." (Opie is the dog who puts his little muzzle in the air and howls for me to pet him.) Grampa said, "He has grown a lot." I agreed, "You are really a big boy now." Little AE grinned and stood taller.

On the way back I scanned the main rose garden for new blooms. Our nights are cold but the days are sunny and in the 70s. The long rain we had is still producing roses.

I had one group in a vase, pictured on top, and I will gather more this morning, after the sun is up. Photographs will follow - so much work. I have to put the flash drive back in the camera, get photographs with auto-lighting and auto-focus, and put the flash drive in the computer's slot again, to view and use them. I am glad for the time I spent in developing black and white photos - digital makes me thankful for the ease and quality of the photos.

Computers break everything down to 1's and 0's, binary digits or bits. The camera records photos the same way and copies the photos a bits on the computer. The Internet  transmits the 1's and 0's so the designated computer can assemble them at the destination.

Matthew 537 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

But now we live in an age of deceptive language, maximum deniability, and equivocation. Krauth wrote: "Error loves ambiguities."

I have the same reaction to roses as the readers. They stun me every day with their beauty. I never get used to them. Mrs. Ichabod said, "Did you ever dream the roses would be this good?" I said, "I had something in mind, but nothing like this."

I make mistakes with too much water or too little, and some need more attention than they get. Nevertheless, the roses pop out like multi-colored fireworks - reds, oranges, pinks, purples, and whites. I keep thinking in this prolonged summer, "Cut roses and force more growth or let them finish and become dormant?" For now, I am harvesting every rose I can.

The 1's and 0's of computerdom remind me of Creation and Evolution, the two warring philosophies of our age. One or the other explains the data, gathering all the evidence and making sense of the entire file - or server farm full of files. The data  is the same, but the perspective varies. In fact, the perspective can distort the data, deny the facts, and lead to bad mistakes.

My favorite rose question was found on a forum - "I am not getting many blooms. I keep using fertilizer but have no luck. My friends have stopped using fertilizer. Should I switch to their all-natural methods?" The 19th century view of fertilizer as N-P-K made the gardener think the hardware store must be right. The correct blend would give her abundant roses - the facts were starting to wear her down.

Man can pull abundant nitrogen from the atmosphere, change its composition, and make it available to plants. But blind science now realizes this approach is 19th century in origin and 20th century in folly. The 21st century reveals - through science -  the fertilizing efforts of fungi, bacteria, nematodes, and protozoa. Some are starting to admit, the bags of fertilizer hurt the microbes and stunt the growth of the desirable plants.

People state, "Roses are difficult to grow," so I counter their chemical No with Creation's Yes. They could make it difficult with tillers, NPK fertilizer, and various theories of yesteryear. Our helper soaked his roses with fungicide to make black spot go away - and it did. He saw it come back again. My response, "I love fungus and want more of it. I gather rotten wood falling from trees and add it to the garden."

I make rose production easy by using the engineering genius of Creation. If the revelation of God's Creation - in Genesis 1, John 1, and many Scriptures - is true, then God's creatures will do 99+% of the work.  The soil is an essential part of this Creation, and the engineering is flawless, a mechanism for growth and self-repair.

 The base of the Crepe Myrtle bush always
enjoys a healthy and nutritious layer of organic matter
for the winter. Wood mulch, pine needles, and leaves
will pile up to feed a soil population
that will feed the roots all summer.

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 2016

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity, 2016

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

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

Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time

The Hymn #514      God Moves in a Mysterious Way                   

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 #347       Jesus Priceless Treasure

Comfort from the Apostle

The Communion Hymn #246              Holy, Holy, Holy 

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 #649           Jesus Savior Pilot Me  

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

KJV Matthew 24:15 

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

 

Comfort from the Apostle

KJV 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

This letter from Paul is considered his first one that we have. The problem addressed here is that people had questions and anxieties about the end of time. One issue was about people dying before the return of Christ. In that mood of uncertainty and expectation, the loss of loved ones grieved them. Now we have the reverse, as if the world will continue forever. One religious writer said the world was ending and wrote a best-seller - The Late, Great Planet Earth. He bought a Mercedes-Benz dealership, which  is more of a way to prepare forever, since the cars last so long.

However, we have the same issues of grief, since we have more loved ones gone, friends and family, the longer we live. Like all the great passages in the New Testament, these memorable verses come from a problem which was painful then and remain so now. Grief is no less an issue for us now than it was then, and it may be compounded because our culture lives in a state of denial. In fact, that has caused a number of famous studies and works, scholarly and popular, from Freud, who had unresolved grief to the best seller called The Denial of Death.

When an Augustana professor wrote a book called Good Grief, people thought the title was strangely contradictory, but it became a perpetual best-seller in the Lutheran market.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

This clause - if we believe - should not be overlooked. All the apostates warn us that nothing should be tied to faith, because that denies the glory of God. That strange claim really comes from Calvin (founder, Presbyterian Church and other Reformed denominations) - the idea being God is Sovereign. That is a clever ruse, because God pledges His work tied directly to His Word (Isaiah 55), so one cannot bypass the direct statements of the Bible for a pious, fatuous claim.

If we believe - that is an important warning and source of comfort. Abraham is the Father of Faith, because he believed God's Promises. Like others, I thought, "Believed in having children and then enormous numbers after? How is that faith in Christ?" The reason that Abraham was justified is this - he believed in everything included in that Promise, because that Promise included Jesus Christ and all the multitudes of followers who would be part of that great Kingdom through faith.

The Calvinists may have good intentions but they rationalistic foundation leads to pure rationalism and Unitarianism. In fact, many quasi-Christian cults are based on Calvinism and so is modern mainline apostasy. I noticed and learned that all modern theologians (with few exceptions) warn against "making faith a contingency" because that detracts from God's grace. Of course, most people will scoff at that claim, which is absurd and contradictory. Why bother to write thousands of pages of theology? Why write as if faith matters some times, but not in the most basic way?

Paul warns - if we believe. Many do lose faith in the Word, and they lose faith in the grace of God. We worship and study the Word because our fragile nature leads us away from faith. As one mother said about taking herself and her children to church, "I'll pray about it." The longer we are away from the Means of Grace (John 15), the less we trust in Him and the more we trust in ourselves or others, as if we are our own saviors.

If we believe in this greatest miracle of all, that God became man, died for our sins, and rose from death, then we will share in the glory of His return and see that those who died before us are with Him also.

15 For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. 

By the Word of the Lord is Jesus' direct teaching to Paul, so that people realize it is not his speculation. So many crazy ideas would be ended if people relied on the Word instead of the imaginations of false teachers. God does not give us many details about the end, except to tell us we do not know the time. Because of that and relatively few details about eternal life, the false teachers jump in and create more stories that a complete set of Mark Twain, but not as amusing. They lead people astray and say, "Listen to me!" instead of the Word.

Those who are alive at the Return of Christ will see these Promises fulfilled, and they will see sights that no one has ever seen or even imagined. 

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Here is the summary, very brief and concise for something so glorious. As suggested in the verse before, the dead in Christ (believers only) will rise first. In the New Testament, "in Christ" only refers to believers, never to unbelievers. The world is not "in Christ," as claimed by last's year's Emmaus Conference. It is blasphemy to teach such nonsense, and yet the LCMS-ELS-WELS all agree with ELCA on this foundational claim of Unitarianism.

Some phrases are synonymous - the dead in Christ are believers who died earlier. They are also saints (holy), as are all those who believe in Christ. They are the righteous, because in faith they received the righteousness of Christ. 

Pietism and many variations make it seem like this - the really bad people are in Hell and the really good are in Heaven. That leads people to think about salvation as works, earned by works, avoiding sin. That also makes them categorize sins as definitely sending people to Hell, so one must avoid those people, as the Pharisees did. 

However the Scriptures teach that believers are in Heaven and non-believers in Hell. To say otherwise is a denying the importance of faith in Christ.

and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

This is the great message of comfort in this passage, that whether living or in eternal life, we are with Christ and not truly separated from loved ones. That means we grieve, but in a healthy way, with faith in Christ and the benefits of belonging to Him.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Believers have a role in comforting others with this comfort, as Paul urged in Corinthians. This is one of our most important duties as believers in a world denying faith and denying grief. People do strange things in their avoidance. Don't talk about it - it's upsetting. Get over it. Don't make me upset about my own grief. And this comes from people with a Christian background. Nothing is better than acknowledging the grief and the Faith that brings us comfort.

Winter Protection for Roses - Easily Done. Warmth and Fertlizer Fall from the Sky

This is an earthworm's view of a rose.
"You did good work, son."

One reader asked about growing roses in Wisconsin. My response was, "I grew them without problems in Minnesota."

Roses are more like peas, not very happy in hot dry weather,  but productive in cool, wet weather. Peas also do well in Minnesota. We used to wave hello to the Jolly Green Giant on the way to Minneapolis and then to the Little Green Sprout nearby. LeSueur Valley is loaded with peas.

I used to astonish people by planting peas in Midland before the last snow. "Snow peas," I explained. Chemists are not necessarily up to date in botany,  I found out.

Which view is best?

For some reason, people cannot grasp that God engineered many plants for cold weather, so they thrive in the cold. Spinach and peas are champions for early planting  - and there are many more in that category.

The main concern with roses is harsh winter penetrating the soil and killing the bud union, where the hybrid upper part is grafted to the wild rose base. However, God has provided a solution, which I used in New Ulm. I circled the rose bed with chicken wire and filled it up with autumn leaves, four feet high. The interlocking leaves create air voids within the pile, perfect insulation to hold in warmth and keep back the drying, frost-biting winds. We had 60 below wind chill one winter. The roses were fine.

Secondly, the leaves keep the soil creatures active longer in the fall and start them earlier in the spring, to help pull the organic matter into the soil. The melting snow and early rains feed this on the spot composting. I found that the leaves matted down and provided great mulch for spring, so I did not rake the leaves away at all.

Readers will remember, I hope, that leaves were knee-high in my backyard last fall. They were almost as high in early spring. As spring progressed and composting took place on the spot, the entire area consumed the leaves until only a thin layer on top of the cardboard at the end of summer. Heavily watered areas sprouted weeds through the cardboard and leaves, but we covered them with new cardboard, waiting for the promised but not yet fallen leaves.

If roses are still mostly covered up in spring, the start of new growth is the sign that leaves can be pulled away somewhat. However, I suggest just pulling them back a bit to let more sun in. The impact of warmth and spring rains on composting is impressive, especially when the leaves had all winter to break down.

Fungus and bacteria are two of the microbes that serve the plant kingdom by breaking down organic matter into useful chemicals for the roots to take up. Chemical gardeners scoff at leaves, "Not enough N-P-K, too much carbon." But carbon is the element fungi need to grow, and they are so addicted they give up any chemical needed - even water - to get their carbon fix.

The white reverse of the pink Falling in Love rose
creates a striped look in the bud,
then a glow to show off the dominant color.
The tiny spider patrols the bloom to capture pests.

So I look forward to neighbors bagging up their leaves to add to my yard, even though I have trees of my own and a blanket of leaves. But I want several quilts of leaves, so I keep my eyes on the curbs for more.

Today I plan to rake needles from my neighbor's pine trees. She uses them for mulch, too, but the trees outproduce her needs and become an annoyance. I will use them to cover parts of the maple tree rose garden that are too eager to support random weeds and the trees planted by squirrels.

 Fragrant Cloud enjoys plenty of rainfall
and stored rainwater.

Veterans' Day - Veterans' Honor Rose

Veterans' Honor rose has been called
the ultimate red rose, a good way to remember
and thank our military service members.

Veterans' Day reminds me of our friend in Columbus who ran out of the LST for each beach landing in the Pacific, carrying a smoke pot to disguise and protect his fellow soldiers. Norm Woehrle is still alive, in his 90s.

I think of classmates from Moline, living and dead, who served in Viet Nam.

At the reunion previous to the 50th, we had dinner with Dave and Linda Pearson. He had a previous health crisis and passed into eternal life not long after that.

Recently, cousin Peter Ellenberger was honored by his peers in the military, just weeks before he passed away. Phone calls to Pete and Helene were routinely fun, even though he had many health problems. We are so glad he was so pleasantly surprised and uplifted by those in uniform.

Someone - not I - won a trophy with
these Veterans' Honor roses.