Thursday, April 15, 2021

Rain To Follow New Plants Planted

Joe Pye Weed, enough to rename the rose garden 

The postman only left a gardening packet today. That was it. "Only one?" I wondered. 

Christina and I were going to Walmart. She wanted a haircut, so I went inside to get her. The garage door was open and the postman left a surprise - a large box from Growers Exchange. They pack plants the way people pack prized china.'

The haircut went well and we headed home. The weather was already changing, with a steady cold wind suggesting a long rain. Soon I was in clover, literally, sitting on a bed of clover planting the Joe Pye Weed in the back yard.

Questions

"Joe Pye is a weed?" Yes, that is the name, but the plant grows in one spot and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. It must be ordered before spring to beat the rush.

"Joe Pye grows 9 feet tall?" Yes, the Pyes began shading the roses quite a bit last year, so I am pruning them back in the front yard - somewhat.

Carbon Cowboys say, "Leave living roots in the ground as long as possible." The perennials come back every year, so they are a major addition to a garden. As they grow stronger, they improve the soil and rain penetration into the soil.

Earthworm Count

The traditional measure of good soil is an earthworm in every shovel of soil. I enjoyed digging deep little holes, each handful of soil holding at least one earthworm. The rain will further fatten the new red wigglers.

I soak all new plants in rainwater, so they can reverse the dehydration of shipping. Growers Exchange packs them in perfect shape with plastic to hold in moisture. I gave them all a bath anyway, so they would start out strong. After eight (8) of them were in the ground and staked - to mark them and warn clumsy feet like mine - I poured 10 gallons of rainwater on the bunch, gently and precisely.

We should get rain tonight and plenty tomorrow. All day I will be enjoying the work done outside by the nitrogen rich storm, tons falling down, absorbed by wooden and organ mulch.

Ranger Bob, Sassy and I had coffee before the planting began. A juvenile rabbit began to cut across the rose garden as we watched. Bob ordered an immediate attack, but Sassy knew better. The rabbit was alerted and double-timed to our neighbor's yard.

Sassy barked sharply at Bob, so I told her to come over for some petting. She likes to be asked, so she came over and got a thorough fur massage from Bob. That was a fun day, marked by a phone call from good friends.


Hawk on the bird feeder (garbage barrel). He sat there a long time and watched me like a...



Abraham in Hebrews and James. The Bible Book
- The KJV Reborn for Those Who Love the Word of God



Abraham in Hebrews

            Hebrews is the most eloquent book of the New Testament, constantly referencing the Old Testament. Genesis 15:6 is fulfilled in this unique way –

Hebrews 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Centuries before King David, the Promise was given to Abraham. Centuries after David, the Promise was fulfilled by the Son of David, the Messiah. The Two Natures of Christ are clearly taught and the Virgin Birth implied in this passage. From a purely human standpoint, the entire New Testament was not based upon Adam, Moses, or the prophets, but upon Abraham – because he was promised to be the forerunner of the Kingdom of Christ and believed that Promise could miraculously overcome the frailties and infertility of old age. He believed and was counted forgiven by God.

Melchizedek

            Hebrews gives more space to Melchizedek than the rest of the Bible put together. This caused all kinds of speculation about Melchizedek throughout the ages.

Hebrews 7 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Lenski’s concise summary is excellent:

The genealogies of Jesus, that of his legal father in Matthew, that of his physical mother in Luke, extend back to royal David and back of that, the former to Abraham, the latter to Adam, and nowhere are there any priestly ancestors; his tribe is that of Judah and not of Levi. The sudden way in which the Scriptures draw back and close the curtain on Melchizedek is the divine way of making him a type of Jesus, the King-Priest, who, like Melchizedek, stands alone and unique in his priesthood and is absolutely distinct from the long Aaronitic succession of priests. Hebrews, p. 213.

Briefly, the lesson in Hebrews 7 is that Christianity does not depend on the Levitical priesthood of the Jews, so the believers should not depend upon or look to Jewish traditions making them the true Christians. In fact, sects and splinter groups still go back to what was left behind, adding required works to guarantee salvation, as Paul feared would happen. Abraham’s unique gift to Melchizedek is a foreshadowing of Jesus as the Great High Priest. Lenski:

The Jews as well as any other readers of this epistle were mistaken if they believed that the laws regarding the Aaronitic priesthood were unalterable and thus also made that priesthood unalterable. These laws rested only on the priesthood. When this priesthood was set aside, the laws of necessity went with it. “Completion” had to be attained; God could not permit inadequate means and laws concerning such means to stand in the way. These means and these laws served their temporary purpose; and when the time came, they had to be changed for something that would be permanent, complete, eternal. Hebrews, p. 224.

Lenski is very much like Luther in his unified approach to all of Scripture, as distinct from the use and abuse of isolated verses and half-verses to argue a point opposed to the Chief Article of Christianity.[1]




The Faith Chapter

            Hebrews 11 is properly called the Faith Chapter for its emphasis upon faith, and Abraham is given a paragraph to emphasize his trust in God, against all human reason:

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

Whatever Abraham accomplished came by faith in God, so he established an earthly estate - and with Sarah, the future of believers, too numerous to count. And yet he also took, by God’s command, his only son to be sacrificed, to teach all those who followed what it can mean for God to give His only-begotten Son. The ram which replaced Isaac on the altar was like Christ on the altar as the substitute for our sins, both the victim and the priest.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Abraham in James

            James 2 contains a passage which the works saints try to kidnap for their benefit. This is good for the logical fallacy of emphasis, so often exploited by false teachers.

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

The author was not presenting an argument against Paul, but showing that as a believer, Abraham obeyed the command of God. We could alternately write that faith without works is not genuine faith.



[1] Almost anything can be proven with the careful selection of verses and wrongful selection of topics. As Luther wrote, the Bible is a book for heretics.



Transparency - The Lutheran Hymnal


The TLH lectionary has some quirks, such as providing the Introit for each Sunday but not the Gradual.

Fortunately, the Lutheran Librarian, aka the Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry, provided a Word document with the variable elements for the entire church year. 

Copying the Introit, Collect, and Gradual is easy for each Sunday, and that adds to the Scriptural content for each Sunday. 

The historic liturgy was not invented by Luther but developed directly from Old Testament worship. "Always the same" is not true of the liturgy. Most of the worship service changes from week to week, and the standards can be replaced by hymns for that portion - such as the Gloria in Excelsis, Creed, Offertory.



I like having the entire service, including the sermon, reproduced on the blog, almost completely - or at least linked. The blog edition (emailed as a Word document) is a portable hymnal. The video is posted for each service, on the Ustream website, on the blog, and on Facebook.

In contrast, when I have been at non-Lutheran services, there is a lot of banal repetition. One choir sang the same word over and over. I saw one women standing up, writhing around, making terrible faces. I thought she was sick, then realized she was dramatizing the repetition of a single word. At what point does that become entertainment or a search for talent?