America! America! God shed His grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!

 

I recall the time when the British had to surrender to the American forces. The English had all the power, ships, money, rifles, and global resources. How could the British lose?

There were several turning points for the patriots. Going back to the pivotal English mistakes, America won when the colonies had just enough going for their victories. Sometimes I go over those points and wonder how that could have happened, building a global power and establishing freedom.

One of those patriots has been traced to our family (on my mother's side) and that makes the old textbooks especially worthwhile. Christina had to read the entire American History textbook for her class at Augustana College. I asked for it on my own. She said, "That is required! Nobody likes required textbooks!" I read the big book anyway, from cover to cover and enjoyed every page. 

I was especially pleased because the book was not a half-to but a want-to. Christina's dorm friends were bewildered! She got even by taking Greek and by requiring German (her major) for me. 

America is definitely at a turning point. Rush Limbaugh saw that and spoke about it often.

RUSH INTRODUCTION: My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it was published in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words, which you will see evidenced here:

Rush Limbaugh, Senior

"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the Southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

On the wall at the back, facing the president's desk, was a panoply -- consisting of a drum, swords, and banners seized from Fort Ticonderoga the previous year. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the place, shouting that they were taking it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!"

Now Congress got to work, promptly taking up an emergency measure about which there was discussion but no dissension. "Resolved: That an application be made to the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York."

Then Congress transformed itself into a committee of the whole. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud once more, and debate resumed. Though Jefferson was the best writer of all of them, he had been somewhat verbose. Congress hacked the excess away. They did a good job, as a side-by-side comparison of the rough draft and the final text shows. They cut the phrase "by a self-assumed power." "Climb" was replaced by "must read," then "must" was eliminated, then the whole sentence, and soon the whole paragraph was cut. Jefferson groaned as they continued what he later called "their depredations." "Inherent and inalienable rights" came out "certain unalienable rights," and to this day no one knows who suggested the elegant change.

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

There were no trumpets blown. No one stood on his chair and cheered. The afternoon was waning and Congress had no thought of delaying the full calendar of routine business on its hands. For several hours they worked on many other problems before adjourning for the day.

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be US Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers. (It was he, Francis Hopkinson not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag.)

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."

"Most Glorious Service"

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

• Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

• William Floyd, another New York delegate, was able to escape with his wife and children across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees without income for seven years. When they came home they found a devastated ruin.

• Philips Livingstone had all his great holdings in New York confiscated and his family driven out of their home. Livingstone died in 1778 still working in Congress for the cause.

• Louis Morris, the fourth New York delegate, saw all his timber, crops, and livestock taken. For seven years he was barred from his home and family.

• John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

• Dr. John Witherspoon, signer, was president of the College of New Jersey, later called Princeton. The British occupied the town of Princeton, and billeted troops in the college. They trampled and burned the finest college library in the country.

• Judge Richard Stockton, another New Jersey delegate signer, had rushed back to his estate in an effort to evacuate his wife and children. The family found refuge with friends, but a Tory sympathizer betrayed them. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and brutally beaten by the arresting soldiers. Thrown into a common jail, he was deliberately starved. Congress finally arranged for Stockton's parole, but his health was ruined. The judge was released as an invalid, when he could no longer harm the British cause.He returned home to find his estate looted and did not live to see the triumph of the Revolution. His family was forced to live off charity.

• Robert Morris, merchant prince of Philadelphia, delegate and signer, met Washington's appeals and pleas for money year after year. He made and raised arms and provisions which made it possible for Washington to cross the Delaware at Trenton. In the process he lost 150 ships at sea, bleeding his own fortune and credit almost dry.

• George Clymer, Pennsylvania signer, escaped with his family from their home, but their property was completely destroyed by the British in the Germantown and Brandywine campaigns.

• Dr. Benjamin Rush, also from Pennsylvania, was forced to flee to Maryland. As a heroic surgeon with the army, Rush had several narrow escapes.

• John Martin, a Tory in his views previous to the debate, lived in a strongly loyalist area of Pennsylvania. When he came out for independence, most of his neighbors and even some of his relatives ostracized him. He was a sensitive and troubled man, and many believed this action killed him. When he died in 1777, his last words to his tormentors were: "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it [the signing] to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country."

• William Ellery, Rhode Island delegate, saw his property and home burned to the ground.

• Thomas Lynch, Jr., South Carolina delegate, had his health broken from privation and exposures while serving as a company commander in the military. His doctors ordered him to seek a cure in the West Indies and on the voyage, he and his young bride were drowned at sea.

• Edward Rutledge, Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Heyward, Jr., the other three South Carolina signers, were taken by the British in the siege of Charleston. They were carried as prisoners of war to St. Augustine, Florida, where they were singled out for indignities. They were exchanged at the end of the war, the British in the meantime having completely devastated their large landholdings and estates.

• Thomas Nelson, signer of Virginia, was at the front in command of the Virginia military forces. With British General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, fire from 70 heavy American guns began to destroy Yorktown piece by piece. Lord Cornwallis and his staff moved their headquarters into Nelson's palatial home. While American cannonballs were making a shambles of the town, the house of Governor Nelson remained untouched. Nelson turned in rage to the American gunners and asked, "Why do you spare my home?"They replied, "Sir, out of respect to you." Nelson cried, "Give me the cannon!" and fired on his magnificent home himself, smashing it to bits. But Nelson's sacrifice was not quite over. He had raised $2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When the loans came due, a newer peacetime Congress refused to honor them, and Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died, impoverished, a few years later at the age of 50.

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

RUSH EPILOGUE: My friends, I know you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence somewhere around the house - in an old history book (newer ones may well omit it), an encyclopedia, or one of those artificially aged "parchments" we all got in school years ago. I suggest that each of you take the time this month to read through the text of the Declaration, one of the most noble and beautiful political documents in human history.

There is no more profound sentence than this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."

These are far more than mere poetic words. The underlying ideas that infuse every sentence of this treatise have sustained this nation for more than two centuries. They were forged in the crucible of great sacrifice. They are living words that spring from and satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human spirit.

"Sacred honor" isn't a phrase we use much these days, but every American life is touched by the bounty of this, the Founders' legacy. It is freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/pages/static/my_father_s_speech

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Vimeo Tape - Holy Communion, New Year's Eve, 2021

 Holy Communion, New Year's Eve, 2021

Vimeo Tape

7 PM Central; the slider can be moved to the beginning of the tape.

Link below -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61kc3MFqBdE&t=2930s

Berean, Luther, KJV, and Shakespeare

 

The Bereans were so keen on the Word of God that they searched over Paul's work to make sure it was true. There are few Bereans like that available today.

Luther was so knowledgeable and powerful in his work that he shaped the German language, a masterpiece by itself, thanks to his abilities. He was so concise in his language that his German of today still remains, though very much altered by the corruption of so many languages, attempts, and twists.

The King James Version is very special in gathering the text and working it over until it was as perfect as could be. The editors were the greatest of their time. One indication is the murder of its brilliant initial translator, William Tyndale. 

William Tyndale was murdered for working on the English Bible, but his work was embodied n the King James Version.

 

Tyndale and the KJV editors established their Bible, which was so effective and useful that the KJV remains the best and most loved English version to this day. 

In the 1960s we were still being trained in Shakespeare in the high school. One teacher had us recite 100 lines of poetry to stay in the class. Shakespeare was studied in the classroom and offered for us (expected) in a live performance. 

Compare that to all the "cool stuff" promoted today. 

The ongoing use of the KJV is a way to keep up the language and the precision of Biblical English, but more importantly, it is the purest form and the most loved.

Revelation 1:8 - I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending...

Norma A. Boeckler's Concordia Open University - South India

 

Today's post is all about Christian Art and the ways in which the Gospel is projected across the world. I never had any skill in art, so I signed up for computer skills instead. Unfortunately, actual artists participated in the class and left most of us in the dust. However, that gave me the urge to do more with computers, copy and paste, and sending out into the blogosphere.

I insisted on Norma Boeckler using her artistic skills for the computer, and it never stopped after that. 

5,300 views of the latest page - and still counting.

It took me only a few seconds to copy the forlorn bear and send his sad face around the world. A lot of classical artwork is shared across all the boundaries, and many are used with stipulations.

A few examples belong with the writing and other works serve to enliven the message with colors, styles, and creativity. 

 Egypt

I am in Norma Boeckler's Egypt, looking out the window at the unrelenting snow in Minnesota. The couple is looking into the sunset and making us feel we are in another land.

 

Scriptures And Craving

 

I have read a ton of nutrition books and one of them is the most effective for me - a simple matter of craving (a life-long hobby). Dr. Joel Fuhrman is my guru for that simple matter.

As he wrote with simplicity - we often do not enjoy foods which are new to us, so we cater to those items which make us desire them. 

The irony for this error is our craving for chocolate, sugar, salt, desserts, fast foods, pizza, desserts of all kinds, crackers, popcorn, barbeque steaks and many more. Now you are hungry, maybe even starving (as we call craving).

I had Fuhrman on my bookshelves but did not read it. However, once I did (after being shocked by a diabetic reading), I devoured every page of the book. In steps for three years I removed most of the processed, sugared, oily, salt, fat foods, I lost 60 pounds (slow over 3 years). I also lost my craving for most of the fattening foods, craving for what really helped.

Scriptures Also Cause Craving 

When Used Wisely

When I was baptized, soon after birth, I listened carefully to the words spoken, the Gospel and the Promises. My mother was especially kind and eager to help my gradual steps forward. She taught Sunday School, helped me on the piano, and taught me the 23rd Psalm. Many decades later I read her those same words as she died.

I was baptized with the King James Version and came back to that Bible many years later. New translations were like candy, often given away, but they achieved many levels of ruin the Book.

The turning point came from a Lutheran layman who said, "Greg, I like your Christian News articles, but why are you not using the KJV?" 

I did not have a KJV disc for the computer, so he gave me one. Making the KJV 100% - except for easy quotes - I used the best and most accurate Bible from that time on. 

I found using the KJV a delight, because those older words, which are few, are much more precise and melodic than than the junk food of fly-by-night Bibles.

Bethany members and friends know. BibleJohn and his sainted wife loved to see boxes and boxes of KJVs in all forms (but never) diluted. He made changes to an area where people craved getting a new KJV, a small KJV, a prison KJV, and a super-giant KJV. BibleJohn's funeral was an ornament to his energy and love for the Scriptures.

Colossians - So Clear And Filled with Wisdom

 

The Colossians graphic is so beautiful in words and art that I had to feature it.

Colossians 3:16-17

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Paul's words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, are short, condensed, and clear, as if he had to get everything across to his people. Being far away certainly made him long for the friendships and faith from a distance. 

One way to get to know  a portion of the New Testament is to think, "I know this book but not to well," or even "What is this short and clear booklet?"

2 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

Collossians 2:3-9

3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

 

The young ones catch on fast!

Every time!

I had trouble getting the computer camera to be angry with the computers. The same equipment worked another way when I used them before.

"Woe! Woe! Thrice woe!" That is Shakespeare, I think.

My response was to let the new response work on the software. The trial lasted about one second on each computer. 

"Aha!" That coincided with the recent, silent improvement. 

I found a photo of Augustana College, Rock Island, which reminded me of my alma mater not letting me use the camera in the library, a place where I had read and glued many times. We had no computers then. I repaired worn out library copies as part of my income. 

The Denkmann Library in the background is now listed as a "building."

What Matters - No Matter What the Age or Content!

 The Christian Faith

I enjoy talking to members and friends - about current events, Biblical doctrine, and relationships. Like many people, I have lost interest in the corporate lives and dramas of denominations. That does not mean I oppose structures - only that members and clergy are going off in different directions, away from the Christian Faith. 

As I wrote before, the King James Version is the Christian Faith, the best expression of God - most precise, most reliable, and most trustworthy. I was shocked as a boy hearing (from my mother) that the liberals changed the Virgin Birth of Christ.  (Isaiah 7:14) into a young woman. That change was the doing of the apostates, because they rejected the divinity of Christ. Needless to say, my mother was shocked.

Many years later, my mother passed into eternal life, in our sunny Phoenix living room, as I read Psalm 23  to her from my KJV. She had no reason to abandon the best English Bible, which is still dominant today. Variations in the new versions and even back to some older attempts - that is enough to make me dizzy. Why dwell on the second best, or the changing best, or the amplified invented best?

The earliest New Testament authors, motivated by the Holy Spirit, taught the Christians and wrote down the manuscripts with exceedingly precise works. They also translated them into favored languages and preserved them. 

There is a vast collection of materials that show the precision of the good manuscripts, but the snarky know-it-alls like to make fun of anything that is not traditional, not precise, not protected through the faith of Christian scholars (like Luther). 

Corporations

My generation was happy to find new, inventive, and bizarre Bibles. "Every one will love this one?" So they say.

No matter what the good intentions are, church corporations will gather together to provide a product, which has worked well for the corporations. 

The products today are 99% not working, not working well at all - except for Mennonites, who emphasize marriage (gasp!), babies (gasp!), and their Christian Faith (what!?).

The people who inform me agree that the Corporations are losing their precious numbers, which they hope are window-dressing. The Church Growth fanatics landed squat on the Corporations, gleaned what they could in money/property/prestige, then collapsed. They are hot air balloons leaking air and sinking slowly down.

Is the Focus Too Narrow?

 

The focus on national news is now Minnesota, freezing cold, and "how did we get this way?"

Journalism is a term adopted from Latin - and increasingly flexible. Journalism began originally as "a writer of things," not the facts, but more like "my diary." Yes, I took journalism at Regent U. and other places, way back to junior high school, many times later through religious printing presses.

I heard about Columbus, Ohio, long before the Twin Cities had a similar concentrated area and world-wide attention. I thought it was strange and wrong to sweep in a section of people and own the property. Already next in the news will be various states where the same kind of errors have been made and the solutions questioned. 

I suggest paying attention to various large state populations where the same errors are being addressed and often denied. 

The Two Natures of Christ are clearly revealed in this passage, and yet the Mainline Denominations (denying the Holy Trinity) refuse to acknowledge this miraculous passage. One of many clear passages brings down and nullifies the Scriptures. Readers can easily point out the "wisdom" of the Left as the rejection of the Word of God. Journalism is usually a little more than a "writer of things."

This Is Our America

 

The wheelchair is waiting behind the 104 year old WW 2 veteran, who played the sax beautifully. 104-year-old Dominick Critelli, a World War II veteran, performed the national anthem on his saxophone - with gusto!

Reviewed the 2021 Vimeo This Morning

 

 Luther's Works were prolific in the earliest days of the printing press, a combination that changed the West completely.

I picked a Vimeo video tape, 2021, but I want to do more for the future. We have gone from IBM to Vimeo to Zoom. YouTube alone might work.

I wonder how well this works already -

Click here for the latest YouTube Videos 

St. Stephen's Day - Video Tape of Complete Service.

 

 Veteran's Honor was placed on the altar, a few years earlier.

Click for St. Stephen's Day - The video tape came from several years ago. This includes the liturgical service and Holy Communion. The slider can move forward the first "9 minutes" to get started, because the camera was already running.

In our prayers - Alicia Meyer, Lori Howell, Lito and Family.

Psalm 91 - The Universal Prayer

 

Erin Joy wore out the newspaper photographer, trying to get one good photo for the press. Nothing worked until one of us said, in a fake tone of anger, "Erin! Do NOT hold that teddy bear!" Erin wrapped her arms around the teddy bear and grinned at all three of us.

Like Erin Joy's photo nearby, Bethany Joan Marie is always on my mind. There are many soldiers like them, many battles, but always in God's hands.

I chose these photos because Psalm 91 is often called "The Soldier's Prayer." I have often asked Old Testament students, "Which is your favorite Psalm?" Many have said, "The Soldier's Prayer," based on parents or their own military experience.

I often think of the patients and their families.

Psalm 91 is linked on the top of the left column. The Psalm is hanging on the wall of many homes, including the one where I am staying.

KJV Psalm 91

KJV Psalm 91 

 91 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

The Largest Lutheran Seminary - Now Selling Off Both Patches of Land

 

Robin Steinke

Luther Seminary to sell St. Paul's More Nimble campus after 120 years

The seminary was founded in 1869.

Luther Seminary's campus in St. Paul, which has operated for 120 years, will be vacated after the 2026-2027 school year, seminary leaders have announced. 

In a statement Tuesday, Luther Seminary President Robin Steinke said the seminary will be seeking a new space in the Twin Cities area and "shifting to a more nimble model" as 70% of its current students choose online education. 

The seminary's Board of Directors voted unanimously to begin the transition, which will involve seeking a buyer for its 10-acre upper campus in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood. 

+++

Luther Seminary has placed the Lower Campus property—which includes Lauderdale and St. Paul parcels encompassing Northwestern Hall, Stub Hall, and Breck Woods—for sale and is working with CBRE as the real estate broker.

The board approved a future sale of the lower campus in May 2018 as part of an overall campus redesign. The current listing follows a period when the property was removed from active sale due to challenging market conditions. Any proceeds from a potential sale will be reinvested to support the seminary’s mission to educate leaders for Christian communities.

Community members with questions may contact Heidi Droegemueller at hdroegemueller001@luthersem.edu. Please direct any external or media inquiries to Rachel Farris at farrisr@augsburg.edu. Any inquiries related to purchasing the property should be directed to Brian Pankratz, Brian.Pankratz@cbre.com.

Boxing Day - Today - British and Canadian Custom

 

Boxing Day is bound to perplex Americans, but it is honored by Canadians. The day is marked after Christmas Day and known for helping household helpers. Christina thought it was a great idea to visit a couple from my vicarage, and so we went on an icy day when streets were empty except for the sleet falling. I slid down the driveway before I could ring the doorbell, so everyone (except me) was laughing and laughing.

Since nothing really happens in Canada on December 26, the sliding vicar was discussed for a long time afterwards. Christina even asked the older couple for a chance to live upstairs since the seminary duties and degrees were finishing. We were going to fly to England on an incredibly cheap flight because the University of Waterloo club offered an extremely low price for the trip.

Last night, our son Martin was told that he was on the way soon after the two tickets to England were bought. "We can go another time," we imagined. Christina attended her MA degree in German literature at UniWat, and we all enjoyed her honors, Opa and Oma especially. Waterloo Lutheran Seminary faculty paid for my required MDiv stole, which arrived later. 

A few months later, a famous Yale professor was glad to use Christina's research skills at Yale Medical School, where they hosted children's works. I xeroxed next door for the Yale Medical Library, so we often took the little bus together.

The three of us went to Yale Divinity together in the fall of 1972. The first greeter (at the married dorm) was Connie Youngdahl, who said to Christina from the upstairs window, "Are you expecting?" Her husband, decades later, met up with Martin, very considerate.

I put this together last night, for Martin and me - great fun.

The Day Missions Library is next to Yale Divinity Library, where the Revised Standard Version changed the Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14), using the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.

Very little happened at the impressive but ancient Yale Medical Library, on one side. The other, modern side, the latest books, were very small in number, because they were replaced so quickly.