Friday, July 1, 2022

Nurturing Rather Than Bullying and Selling

 Bee Balm is slow to get started, but once it is nurtured over time, the plant attracts hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.
 


Our next likely rainstorm is a week away, which is what they told us a week ago. That means a lot of plants are in distress. The new coconut daisies arrived in time to start on rainwater, but now I have to use stored water where the chlorine has evaporated after a day or two.

The fun part of gardening is nurturing plants at the beginning, because they lack roots and need watering. Good results come if:

  1. I water regularly at the beginning;
  2. I make sure the plant is given extra soil;
  3. I add nutrients, such as earthworm compost.

Earthworm compost has double-value. It is a good amendment and soil creatures pull it down for food and thereby fertilize the plant gently.

I look at the synodical system of faux-Lutherans as engaging in bullying and selling. For some reason, the dullest pastors become district presidents and circuit pests. They do not have much upstairs, but they love to bully. The alternatives for the parish pastors are risking their short-temper and flattering them.

The lordly officials have not done any good for at least 50 years, so how do they spend their time? They immerse themselves in projects which keep them from the Means of Grace. 

To make things look good, they sell everyone on spending money in outrageous ways. So much comes from Thrivent, the Wisconsin foundation, and Schwan that they do not care what the plebians say. They are happy to squeeze Grandma for a irrevocable charitable trust, but the big corporate guys have money for them in the biggest buckets.

To avoid offending future pastors, the future clergy are not expected to learn much Greek, Hebrew, or Lutheran doctrine. Even then, few want to attend seminaries with little academic merit.

Etymology defines seminary as -

"plot where plants are raised from seeds for transplantation," from Latin seminarium "plant nursery, seed plot," figuratively, "breeding ground," a noun from seminarius "of or pertaining to seed," from semen (genitive seminis) "seed" (from PIE root *sē- "to sow").

The literal sense now is obsolete; the figurative meaning "place of origin and early development" is from 1590s. The meaning "school for training priests" is recorded from 1580s; the word was used generally in names of places of education (especially academies for young ladies) from 1580s to 1930s. Related: Seminarial.

And what happens to a neglected garden, class?

"It is soon choked with weeds, non-productive, or dried up from lack of water." 

 The tiny Clethra shrub is easily lost to critters, from lack of care and protection. Now one of nine is almost 10 feet tall, even though they started out the size of a pencil.


"What's the Use?" in Gardening


I built up optimism about three days of rain predicted, only to have that turned into 100 degree days likely. That reminds me of similar let-downs. When a new plant is pulled out and eaten by critters unknown, it is easy to say, "What's the use?" 

But, given enough time and a little bit of work, some of the missing plants re-appear. Perhaps some were eaten down to stems but not the roots. Or, they were camouflaged by similar weeds and other plants.

Faithful Lutherans should be discouraged and disgusted by the Calvinist marketing, ever-worsening Bible paraphrases, and atrocious - but over-priced hymnals sold at a dear price - their souls.

The Lutheran Library, started and continued by Alec Satin, is a treasure house of online books, many of them also in print at a low cost. If the ELCA bedmates (LCMS, WELS, ELS) would turn to Luther, Loy, Leupold, and Lenski, they would find out that they do not need to die slowly of their apostasy.

I have always given away sound Lutheran books, and the tradition (or hobby) continues. If there is a book - or group of books - you want to own and study, send me an email. 

Many of them are prints from The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, and some are also from The Lutheran Librarian's collection. Our congregation's VP also contributed boxes of very good and worthwhile books.

I simply send books for free. I cannot promise rapid response and there is usually just one copy of the book or set. 

greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com


 A book blanket - this speaks volumes.

The Latest Newsletter from The Lutheran Librarian - Alec Satin