Contrition at LutherQuest (sic)

Jojakim Dettmann (Random_layman) Senior Member Username: Random_layman Post Number: 3668 Registered: 5-2006

Posted on Friday, April 17, 2020 - 12:18 am:       Also, Apostolic Lutheran low church worship is online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep5RQriEUMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SsGcxtWI6k Now that most pastors are doing video services, I wish I hadn't written badly about Gregory Jackson years ago. The reduction of everyone to a similar status is humbling.

Top Link on Ichabod Masthead - Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog

 Bethany Lutheran Hymnal

Every time you click on the Bethany Lutheran Hymnal link at the top of the blog page, an angel interrupts Mark Jeske solemnly declaring, "We ran out of Germans."

When the room goes silent, the angel says, "But we will never run out of the Means of Grace."

My Newspaper Route and LCMS-WELS-ELS

 "Lenski is not good on justification" means in WELS - Lenski teaches Justification by Faith, not Halle University's world absolution without faith - OJ.

Sassy and I pass about 30 homes on our morning route, where I also serve as newspaper boy. Only two homes get the Sunday paper and only one gets the daily as well. The cost for the daily paper is $360 a year. Both subscribers are retired, but the paper is tossed on the edge of their driveway, where it cannot be seen or easily retrieved in bad weather.

I walk the paper to the door - no trouble. Early on, Sassy signaled me to do that, by looking at the paper, smiling, and looking toward the door.

The daily newspaper will no longer be printed (only web published) and the Sunday paper will be printed outside the county. Many people have said they will cancel the Sunday paper and never subscribe to the web version.

No one else has the temerity to toss goods somewhere in the lawn or driveway. Packages come to the door and the doorbell is wrung. (No, I spelled it right. The button does not yield its sound easily.)

The synods operate just like the local newspaper. They do as little as possible for as much money as possible. The Corona lock-down revealed that most local pastors did not have the energy to host a complete service with an original sermon online.

Luther and Lenski taught the same thing - the Church is built on the preached Word, not gimmicks and circus entertainment. Now that people are aware, from being at home, of so many worship opportunities, what will bring them after the Peace of Wuhan Treaty is signed?

That is just as true for the denominational colleges. Why should parents have to pay for athletic teams, substandard dorms, and fancy buildings when their children just finished the year online? One university switched 20,000 local students to online in a matter of so many days. That is because most of their students were already online.

By providing laziness and asking for money all the time, the Synodicals are riding their congregations downhill, enjoying little work for a lot of cash and benefits.

The LCMS-WELS-ELS pastors have:

1. Neglected original sermons based on the text, unique to each man, not plagiarized from buddies or celebrity Enthusiasts.
2. Failed to visit the sick and shut-in, a primary duty for pastors.
3. Refused to teach beyond the denominational output of educational materials.
4. Aimed at being popular rather than faithful.

Norma A. Boeckler - Church of the Augsburg Confession.

 Paul McCain - Concordia Publishing House, LCMS.

Fun with Hymns and Gardening - Morning Breaks Upon the Blog

I began yesterday with adding more hymns to The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal blog. Some advantages are:

1. The public domain hymns are easy to read.
2. The details about each hymn are included.
3. Famous and unusual authors are highlighted and grouped - who knew that Ken, How, and Wordsworth were bishops? You do now.
4. Famous translators are also grouped - Winkworth, Neale, Loy.
5. Many graphics from Norma A. Boeckler will be added.
6. The melodies and alternates can be linked on each page.
7. Hymn stories can be copied from The Lutheran Library.

Sassy and I enjoy early mornings, sometimes hours before Dawn, the rosy child of Morn appears. I fix pour-over coffee as the best beverage for writing, reducing typos, and enjoying life. I was talked into reading The Monk of Mokha, a non-fiction book built around the latest trend in varietal coffee. That only intensified my interest in coffee.

After I reached 50 more hymns, the gardening crew and Ranger Bob converged. Sassy was in her glory, greeted and fed her favorites by Bob, petted and admired by the crew. 

We had Calladium and Stella D'Or to plant, a large pile of weeds to remove. I did my share on weeds and pollen. Clouds of the dust came up and I felt that for hours. 

I order bulbs and share them, so the crew is watching Crepe Myrtle leafing out, roses growing, and adding Glads, Calladium, and Star of Gold (Stella D'Or). 

Bob came back with wood mulch and orders for military books. He said, "I know cars, but this guy finds the books I want for $1. I have a whole library now." Our latest find on the Net was Yeager's autobiography for $1 plus shipping. Bob has resisted buying Soviet ship books, which start at $600 used. 

Recent garden growth:

• The Bee Balms are popping up all over.
• All roses are leafing out.
• The Joe Pye Weeds jumped up.
• Daisies are forming their green.
• Cinnabon shrubs are budding.
• Chaste Tree is budding.
• The Iris row is ready to bloom.

The Creation Garden is a reminder that God accomplishes everything through the power of His Word and in His time, not ours.

Another lesson is from Brorson's Behold a Host Arrayed in White -

Then hail, ye mighty legions, yea,

All hail! Now safe and blest for aye,

And praise the Lord, who with His Word

Sustained you on the way.

Ye did the joys of earth disdain,

Ye toiled and sowed in tears and pain.

Farewell, now bring your sheaves and sing

Salvation's glad refrain.

Swing high your palms, lift up your song,

Yea, make it myriad voices strong,

Eternally shall praise to Thee,

God, and the Lamb belong.

It is far too easy to say, "I bought those plants and now they are gone, all this wasted time and money." That has always happened, and if all our plants and seeds grew lavishly, the gardening companies would be limping along instead of selling us new hopes and dreams. 

There is a reason why I get 50 gardening catalogs each season. Some of them bear fruit and I order plants from the hopes and illusions the lavishly illustrated magazines fostered. All we had to do was wait for a little more rain and sun for many past projects to leap from the cold, damp soil. Hope springs eternal, but especially from the efficacious Word.

Clethra was promoted from the back garden to the rose garden, for several reasons. One is its appeal to butterflies and all beneficial insects. But the top reason is its ethereal fragrances, sweet and cinnamon, which floats along each zephyr.