Scent-sational: Insects and Humans Love Them in the Creation Garden. Clethra and Many More!

Sugar Spice, Summer Sweet, or Clethra.

I was casually reading some gardening anecdotes, trying to understand the magic of Clethra. The nicknames should have given it away -

1. Sugar Spice
2. Summer Sweet.

One gardener talked about getting around to a corner of the garden where the Clethra grew and getting that heavenly scent. I decided to move the two little shrubs to the front yard, to discover that instead ignoring the plant, which some vegetation overshadowed.

Then - one day - I knew. I smelled an aroma like cinnamon, though no flowers were blooming. This spring, I caught the other fragrance - sweet. Summer Sweet, Sugar Spice. The butterflies and beneficial insects love the tiny flowers and fragrant bark. A short course in beneficial insects, even if you ignore them. Aim for tiny flowers (mint), fragrant little flowers (Clethra), and giant compound flowers (sunflower).

 Vanilla Spice

Luther's Romans Commentary - UOJ or Not?

bored has left a new comment on your post "WELS - Study the Book of Concord?Better Study  Wal...":

A little off topic but...Here's a passage from Luther that destroys the UOJ interpretation of Romans 5:18-19.

(NAS) Romans 5: 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

Luther wrote:
"(v. 18) Here the Apostle says 'all'; first, because as all who are begotten of Adam are born again (through faith) in Christ; and secondly, because as there is no carnal begetting except through Adam, so also there is no spiritual begetting except through Christ. (v. 19) Here the Apostle speaks of "many" and not of "all" to show that the emphasis is not on the number of the sinners or the righteous, but on the power of sin and grace. If sin proved itself so powerful that a single transgression has perverted many, or rather all, then divine grace is much more powerful; for the one act of grace (Christ's atonement) can save many, indeed all men, of many sins, if they only desire it."
(Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, trans. Theodore Mueller, 1954, Zondervan, pg. 97)

Gottesdienst - The Journal of Objective Justification, Smells and Bells

Objective Justification - the fire in the belly of the smells and bells guys in the LCMS. Below is Beane's conduct on Facebook.

Pater Larry Beane Gregory, please use your own Facebook page for self-promotion. I charge $100 for ads.

You're getting to be like the embarrassing relative that drinks too much at Thanksgiving and passes out on the bed with all the coats on it.

Every family has members who want to hijack every expression of gratitude and joy, every real discussion and lighthearted banter, and even obvious humor, into a self-serving and dour political or doctrinal argument.

Gregory, you need to display better behavior from now on, or you won't be invited back.

To my other guests, I apologize. Hopefully your coats will not require dry cleaning.

 "Stop sending me ads for Opti-fast!"

Everyone had something to say about Pastor Herman Otten, but Matt the Fatt courted the CN editor to become Synod President.

Matt and his groupies went to New Haven, Missouri, to flatter Otten and sing a hymn of praise to him. Apparently, Matt played his banjo and sang. I am not sure because I was not invited. Doubtless Paul the Plagiarist McCain arranged the lovefest from behind the curtain at the Purple Palace.

The author of this doggerel is not listed, but Matt was leading the singing, trying to look cool. He only succeeded in looking like a funeral director one pint over his limit.

Everyone who questions a synod is called crazy. That is routine, because the fat cats cannot imagine risking their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, let alone their Thrivent goodies. I have been called crazy countless times, LutherQuest (sic) is only the most recent case. They erased and apologized when it became clear they were legally liable.

Begging for help, singing a love song, and then singing "insane" and a "liar" and "deceiver" - that shows the quality of leadership Harrison offers.

I used to think that McCain revealed Matt's dark side, but McCain is his doppelgaenger - obsequious when needy, back-stabbing when convenient. They remind me of a statement about Joe Kennedy - "I don't know why he is trying to destroy me. Joe was never a friend of mine."

 Not a photoshop. Repeat - not a photoshop.