Greenwald on Spirituality

  There's a suspect title. Why no warning label? Mordor did that for Mequon students - labeling Justification by Faith as "Misleading!"

An erroneous spiritualism, on the contrary, has relaxed and easy notions about the faith. One of its ready maxims declares, “It matters not what a man’s opinions are, so only his heart is converted, and his practice is right.” It forgets that practice is governed by principles, and that as is the faith, such also are the devotions that spring from it. It is the faith of the Hindu that produces the superstitious devotions of the Hindu; it is Mohammedan faith that constitutes the peculiar religious spirit of the Moslem worshiper; and it is from the true faith of Christ that the intelligent, pure, and Christ-like spirit of the Christian’s devotions springs. The spiritualism that undervalues sound doctrine, that confounds the true and the false, that exalts feeling above knowledge, that places practice in antagonism to principle, that sacrifices the faith in the interest of spirituality, and that considers it necessary to overthrow the pure faith of the Church in order to advance the cause of vital godliness in the Church, is a spiritualism that is erroneous, unsafe, and that needs to be carefully guarded against. However specious may be its pretensions, it is not the true spirituality of Christ and His apostles, or which will promote, in the end, the best and most enduring interests of Christianity, and the Christian Church. Let a man be alike sound in doctrine, devout in spirit, and holy in life, and we have in him the highest and best style of a Christian, after the pattern of Christ, of the Holy Apostles, and of the best and holiest men in all ages of the Christian Church.

From The First Lutheran Diet. “Paper: E. Greenwald: True And False Spirituality In The Lutheran Church.”

Patti LaBelle at Walmart, Cookbooks, Etc

Patti LaBelle is creating a new, secret line of food,
which she told the world-wide audience about at the Walmart meeting.

Team Jackson mustered in three places today for Christmas. First I woke up in the early morning to take Little Ichabod to the Walmart Saturday Meeting.  We always had these once a month, from 2009 on, until the WM schedule changed - about 90 or more monthly meetings in a row. Now they are quarterly WM meetings, so we pencil in the other dates.

Next we met with the Bentonville food headquarters, where some of the Christmas food was being prepared. Finally we teamed up in Springdale for the barbecue, salmon, bacon, and  homemade apple pie. Alex's first question was, "Where's the ice cream?" I said, "A teen now!"

We had a great time talking with our college granddaughters about their cats. They normally have six cats at a time, all rescues.

 I ran into this photo of our chapel when the roses were extra large and plentiful,the year of extended autumn.

Your 5 AM Post on Saturday

 These three profess shock and dismay at the way ELCA carries on, but look carefully at the friends and enemies. They love to work with ELCA and scrape the pro-abortion Thrivent insurance dollars into their pockets. They abhor Justification by Faith and the Means of Grace.

Archbishop Weakland retired in disgrace after being the highly promoted lecturer - with his priests - at Wisconsin Lutheran College. No, he did not retire for that reason.