For the Birds - In the Creation Garden

 Grackles are great at poking their beaks down for grubs in the soil. 

Sassy and I have an agreement. She loves fresh Moist and Meaty food, which is individually packed, and I like cheap birdfood. She wants it fresh each day and not mixed with the older stuff. Just as kids judge ice cream by the color, dogs judge their food by the stink.

So I took a page from Lynda R.'s bird rescue book and put old dogfood out each day, to start fresh for Sassy. She is not subtle. She sits down with one paw on each side of the dish. If she is not in that position, I ask what she wants. She offers me a long, slow, dramatic licking of her chops.

The stale dogfood is now a regular part of the decoration on the two garbage barrels. One is for recycling, the other for typical garbage. The lids are convenient for birds and squirrels, and two separate mealsites.

My most dramatic sight was a bunch of crows (maybe ravens) on the barrels, only a few feet from the kitchen window. They were majestic in size, solid black. I have never seen that branch of the smart, wiley corvid clan so close to me. (They were eating leftover panera bread.) Grackles, yes. Starlings, always. In Midland the crows would leave the ground in the backyard the moment I turned on water in the kitchen.

Needless to say, I was impressed. Likely the cold morning frost made fresh bread seem especially appealing to the crows.

Normally I am seeing squirrels, robins, starlings, cardinals, and snowbirds on the barrels. Starlings own the neighborhood trees, so they are most frequent and fun. One will be eating and his friend will walk over and shoulder him away. So he flies up and lands on the other barrel and stalks some food. They are a riot bathing.

 Starlings really live it up when bathing. I keep two children's pools for all the critters, who add their dust and manure to pour into the back garden.

LCA Wise Saying - "My Ministry There Was To Close That Congregation."

 Now LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC (sic) have joined the chorus.

I was at an LCA meeting where one pastor said, "My ministry there... (pause for effect) was to close that parish." The other pastors nodded in solemn agreement.

Pessimism fuels that kind of thinking - lack of hope based on lack of faith.

The LCA was very thirsty for studies and the wisdom of Fuller Seminary, imbued with gems from Management by Objectives. Nothing kills initiative like a pile of facts and figures from pickleface pessimists with no hope.

Now the synods merging with ELCA (stealth mode) are depressing each other, which is probably good in the long run. As Father Steve Spencer said, more than once, "The only way to fix WELS is to burn it to the ground, destroy it completely."

When chickens are on a burning ship, they look around to see how to keep their tail-feathers from getting singed, if they stand in the right place. They can become a Tetzel and end up with a client list for financial management - all the while serving a "divine call!"

They teach against faith, so they have no faith. The alternative is to trust in the efficacy of the Gospel, a doctrine which no synodical official, professor, or school teaches.

 Let's try that spoiling the Egyptians line again!

From OJ to the Gospel, But Back-Slidden to OJ

Once upon a time, X was smitten with Objective Justification and Church Growth. He was nasty about this little Icha-blog that no one reads, that no one regards as credible. He even wrote on the not-so-secret Church and Change listserve, signing with his initials. But he denied that was his writing, his signature.

The efficacious Word convicted him, because Jesus actually taught, the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, "because they believe not on Me." He and his wife rejoiced in Justification by Faith and defended in public what he earlier had mocked. He wrote friendly emails, but that was not to last.

Like the dentist on the website that few read, except for laughs, he became a back-slider, since his former OJ friends beat him like a rented mule and his brain-washed relatives reached - in love - for the shun button and the Left Boot of Fellowship. Now he is back to his old style, bereft of manners, confusing mockery with Biblical truth.

Now that he is back to his old snakepit, we should ponder - "Is this the basis for a lively and growing community of worship? Or, will they continue to be another pickle factory, where everything is pickled in the vinegar of Walther veneration?

 Why did Walther's kidnapped niece and nephew die in America? From what? He led Stephan's group - after kidnapping his own bishop - and engaged in multiple felonies.

Leander Keyser - On the Basic Error of Modern Missouri

 Leander S. Keyser put his finger on the trouble with the LCMS claw machine.

 "Raised for our justification." Missouri says, "See! Everyone was declared righteous on Easter, Romans 4:25. Never mind Romans 4:24!"

"After writing the foregoing, we read over again Dr. J. L. Neve’s graphic report of the Missouri-Ohio-Iowa free conferences at Milwaukee and Detroit in 1903-4. It would appear that they spent a large part of their time in wrestling over methods of Biblical interpretation. Missouri was against the doctrine of the 'Analogy of Faith;' the others for it. We have no time to amplify on this matter now. For our part, we do not hold up any objective rule by which to interpret Scripture, nor do we feel obliged to “harmonize” the various parts of the Bible; we believe they do not need to be harmonized; they need simply to be understood, and then they will be seen to be harmonious. If God is a unity, His revelation will be like Himself. Therefore our simple hermeneutical rule is to take each passage according to its natural and literal meaning in connection with the context, always reading enough to be sure of the author’s main proposition. By applying this simple rule – it is the rule of all true literary exposition – we do not find one passage of Scripture teaching one thing, and another something else. Of course, no brief Scripture verse teaches all the doctrines of redemption. John 3:16, though called the “gospel in nuce“ says nothing about vicarious atonement or the resurrection. You must go to other parts of the Bible to find those doctrines. But all portions of the Scripture are complementary. One of the strongest evidences of the divine authority and inspiration of the Bible is its organic unity."

From: Leander Keyser. Election and Conversion Available in paperback from Amazon and free ebook from lutheranlibrary.org.

 Keyser also published books on birds.

Sassy's Charm Tour - Greeting Neighbors and Strangers

Sassy had a special day in greeting friends and adding more to her list. She found two new ladies and requested some petting by sitting in front of them, blocking forward movement, and smiling in anticipation.

I always stay back and say, "Sassy wants to be friends." She got the petting and compliments she wanted.

We stopped outside one veteran's home and discussed medical costs. Sassy spotted Pat next door and headed over. We were invited in to see John, who was having troubles with his blood sugar. Pat ordered Sassy over to her. "Give me some love, Sassy." So Sassy walked over and kissed Pat's hand. After some affection, John said, "Where's my girlfriend?" and gave Sassy a thorough pat-down.