The Midnight Icha-peek

I am going to work through books of the Bible on this blog, interspersed with the usual news items (also called lies and slanders). The denominational news productions are blander than banana pudding, so I have to give the real news from time to time.

I am thinking - The Pastoral Epistles - for a start.

Nostalgia for the Good Old Days, Which Were a Lot Better in Many Ways

 

We suffer today from the church structures coveting and imitating big business. There is a deliberate connection with Peter Drucker and other fads, such as mission vision statements. But I have already written about the ecclesiastical wannabe executives.

One person, who has published hundreds of books, suggested I talk about the way we were. What were the strengths of the earlier generations?

The two main strengths were the use and memorization of the Bible, and the traditional hymnal. Today the Bibles are getting worse every year and the hymnals are equally bad. The latest Teufel-book weighs a ton but is lite in doctrine, lusting for modernism and Calvinism.

Biblical use is the victim of these glad-handing, earnest salesmen of the latest thing. The power of the Bible comes from realizing that the Scriptures are God speaking to us. Not only that, every verse contains the power of the Holy Spirit acting on us when we hear it, read it, or remember it. 

A generation or two of ordained morons has taken away respect for the King James Version, the most precise translation of the Testaments and also the most reliable. The modern New Testaments have hundreds of deliberate erasures and blatantly false - but ever-changing - paraphrases.

Awe and respect for the Holy Bible lends itself to reading and memorizing. Our great grandparents had tiny Bibles and small hymnals they could carry, read, and memorize. The hymnals often had no notes, but the old-timers knew the tunes. What good is an anchor weight hymnal with 900 good, horrible, and mangled songlets? 

If the object is to please and motivate, why not copy the fight songs of the Big Ten football teams? Hymns should be modeled after the Psalms and the poetry of Revelation, not the Top Thirty. The purer the communication of the Biblical message, the more effective it is.

But that is not to say that the result is always positive. Those who reject and make fun of the Scriptures (including the KJV haters) harden and blind themselves through the efficacy of the Word of God. 

The dilution of the hymns - and worship - goes hand-in-claw with the goals of their Father Below. The church shrinkers have the humility and compassion of a Chinese warlord. They permit no objections or corrections. They must win at any cost, and they have. 

However, the technology they love so much can place a traditional church service into any online device. The Word cannot be fettered. 

Inherit the Wind, Radicals

Proverbs 11:29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.

Bishop Megan Rohrer has resigned her position (1) after getting rid of an opponent in a recent election and (2) drawing her former church into court over daycare center funds in that church, Grace Lutheran in San Francisco. The ALPB Discussion Board has doubled-down on its Ovaltine orders as it discusses in minute detail what they do not understand or refuse to acknowledge.

I expect Rohrer will be in the news for a period of time. ELCA Presiding Bishop and Ex-bishop Rohrer are products of the 2009 ELCA convention which went against the rules they set for ordination back in 1987, when the Lutheran Church in America, The American Lutheran Church, and Seminex merged.

In ELCA, those excluded by the rules were welcomed into the church body as ordained pastors. One of those pastors, very active in the ALPB Discussion Board (10,000 comments) was arrested some time ago. My classmate at Yale Divinity, Stan Olson, was part of the rules change and welcoming the previously excluded. He got to write the Come Back to ELCA liturgy. "Awww,"(dabbing my eyes). 

This commentary may seem obscure and vague, and it should be. I have followed the debacle since 1987 - 35 years - and it only grows worse.

WELS ran out of Germans, so they embraced ELCA - via Jeske - with the expected results. Thank you, Thrivent, another merger of losers.

ELCA Bishop Megan Rohrer Resigns in San Francisco. Today's Icha-peek at Midnight

 Megan Rohrer, who seems to smirk in every photo, attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls.

Megan's books on Amazon.com

Washington Post on Rohrer Resignation

Religious News Service on Rohrer Resignation

Council of the Local Synod Backs Rohrer

Slate article - Link only

San Fran Article below:

SAN FRANCISCO

S.F. transgender Lutheran bishop resigns amid controversy over removal of pastor

Rev. Megan Rohrer of San Francisco, who made history last year as the first openly transgender person to be elevated as bishop in the country’s largest Lutheran denomination, resigns amid a controversy involving allegations of racism in the removal of a pastor. 

+++

From Facebook

 Bishop Guy Erwin was propelled into a pastoral role so he could quickly be named a bishop. From there he was elevated to president of the United -but fractured - Lutheran Seminary.

Cross-dressing is a feature in WELS prep schools, college(s), and seminary. Ask the DP who once was the GA Pope at Mequon.

Sassy Sue Is about 14 Years Old

 

Sassy: Still Waiting - 

Foster Owner's Story

 This rescue photo of Sassy captivated us.
I wanted another Cattle Dog after we lost Sackett to cancer. Sassy Sue is now about 14 years old.

From Sassy's Foster Mother
I stood on the curb at my house and watched my current foster dog, Moxie, drive away with her new family. Moxie watched me from the window of the car, looking confused. At that moment I felt waves of emotions wash over me. First, happiness, after all she had found her forever home. Next came the sadness, tears began to well up in my eyes. I was about to lose a part of my family. And finally, relief. I sighed deeply as I began to think about how me, my husband, and our dogs would spend a much appreciated break from the demanding work of fostering dogs.

I smiled as I headed back to the animal shelter where I work. But as I walked through the door at the shelter my smile faded. There she was: my new foster. I knew it from the moment I saw at her. She was on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, tail tucked completely under her, her eyes wide with fear. She was shaking and every now and again she would let out a little yelp. The man on the other end of the leash continued talking to my co-worker but his voice was just noise to me. I was completely focused on this scared, wonderful, little girl that needed my help. I began to wonder what her life had been like. Did she like children? Did she like other dogs? Did she like to camp or hike or swim? I knew that the answers to these questions would come soon enough, as I had already decided that she would come to stay with us. I quickly snap out of my daze when I noticed something wrong with her back right leg.

I manage to ask, “What’s wrong with her leg?”

“Oh she got kicked by a horse in April,” he replied.

“April? But this is August,” I muttered.

“I know, but we just couldn’t afford the medical care,” he replied.
Such a common answer in my field of work but for me heart wrenching to hear. I began to fear for this little dog’s well being and worry about what the future might hold for her. I scooped her up and took her to the shelter vet right away. The x-rays revealed a compound fracture that had been healing improperly for several months and the doctor informed me that the leg couldn’t be saved. I buried my face in this beautiful little dog’s fur and began to cry. Tears of joy? Tears of sadness? I’m not sure which it was but I suspect it was a little of both.

Sassy, at the very young age of a year old, had her leg amputated later that week and came home with us a couple of days later for a long road of recovery. She was amazing! She put all her trust in us and ran that long road to recovery in a very short amount of time. She quickly learned to walk using three legs, and then how to jump onto the couch using three legs, and then how to jump into the bed using three legs. She continued to amaze us when she chased the other dogs around the park, went on long walks with her foster doggie siblings, and went swimming at a local lake. But we knew that she would be just fine when she went hiking with us and literally had a tantrum when Mark tried to carry her up a very steep hill. She was going to do it by herself. That has pretty much been her attitude during the whole ordeal, it Sassy’s way or the highway.

Mark and I consider ourselves very lucky to have met Sassy and to be able to care for her. For all the things that we may have taught her during her stay with us, she has taught us just as many. Among her lessons: perseverance, trust, confidence, the ability to overcome, and the ability to smile when things aren’t so great. All lessons that each and every one of us should practice. I know that those waves of emotions will wash over me once again when Sassy finds her forever home, but that’s why I do it. Fostering can be the best and the worst feeling. But every time she looks up at me with those big brown eyes I know she is grateful for what I was able to do for her and I look forward to the day I stand on the curb, tears welling up in my eyes, watching her drive away with her new family, with that incredibly silly grin on her face.

 Early on I asked Sassy to guard the car while I ran into a store or the post office. She always took the driver's seat and loved the attention. When driving, she sat behind in the Town Car. Her window worked best, so she got special attention at drive-throughs and part of my cone. She signaled her need for the rest of the cone by tapping me on the shoulder. Her Sassy Sue and Friends blog has almost 50,000 views.

 Sassy tolerates her Voyager. She likes rides, especially ones that stop at a McDonalds. We sing together as we go. She barks the chorus.

Mr. and Mrs. Robin in the Bird Bath

 Robin, by Norma A. Boeckler

I cleaned off - with Dawn - the garbage barrels and rinsed out the two bird baths on the ground - former kiddie pools. I always put the shallow one on a slant so the birds can land on the dry side and go to the bathing side. They are suspicious of something completely full.

I looked out the kitchen window and saw two robins facing each other. One (Mrs. Robin) was motionless and facing the other (Mr. Robin) who was having a great time bathing in the shallows.

Birds have to have baths and preen their feathers for flight. They need something above ground to finish, when they preen.

Mrs. Robin was silent and not moving while Mr. Robin dipped his head in the water, shook some over his body, and then splashed his tail feathers. Then he shook himself and started over. Each time Mrs. Robin remained fixed in that spot and not moving at all.

Mrs. Robin - "Are you done yet?"

Mr. Robin - "Just one more time. The Ichabode has a new spa for us." Splash splash.

Mrs. Robin - "Same one. Are you done yet?"

Mr. Robin - "One more time. I am getting all the grit and dust out." Splash. Splash.

Mrs. Robin - "I could use a bath too. Are you done yet?"

Mr. Robin - "OK. One more splash and I can do my preening. Oh, wow, feel so good. I will look 10x more handsome now."

Mrs. Robin - "Jump on the low branch and give me some room. The kids will be chirping for lunch."

Mr. Robin found his low branch and began preening. Mrs. Robin took his spot and enjoyed her own shower.

Food as Medicine

I remember the day when a customer asked for various diet sodas (none stocked) and settled for six chocolate cream-filled berliners. I was an active participant in this vocation.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, treating food as medicine. Of course, all food has medicinal value, but some is bad medicine, the rest are good medicine.

This morning I had a can of garbanzo (chickpeas) mixed with various frozen vegetables, cooked on a natural gas stove. Garbanzo provided the complete protein and fiber, plus other nutritional ingredients. The frozen vegetables this morning were:

• Chopped frozen collard greens,
• Green and red peppers, plus onions,
• Peas,
• Mushrooms, and
• Canned tomato paste for flavor and low calorie nutrition.

There are lots of choices in these categories, such as adding milled flax seed, walnuts or almonds, and side dishes of oranges, apples, prunes, and blue berries.

Everything listed so far has lots of nutritional across a broad spectrum of low-cost food. One should price a quarter-pounder versus the same money spent on frozen vegetables. No one can eat a quarter-pounder worth of frozen chopped collards. That is also equal to four (4) cans of garbanzo beans. The quarter-pounder is mostly fat and salt, with sugar added - because we all love the sugar-fat-grease  foods.

Panera is a fun place for breads and desserts. They go stale quickly so they must be eaten quickly (my excuse). Bread products are close to dessert. A breakfast of toast, butter, and black coffee has very little nutrition but lots of calories from flour and butter, even without jelly. Cinnamon invites sugar, which may already be in the bread and coffee

Several people have been changing more habits than nuns before a Day of Obligation. They feel much better from eating good food, and they lose 15 to 30 pounds without much trouble. These are some habits which are natural for me now:

1. No ice cream or desserts, with very few exceptions. I did not have any ice cream from December until the trip to DC. Someone enticed me to eat ice cream and dessert twice.
2. I weigh myself almost every day. That is encouraging and sometimes a warning. From 224 pounds to 195 is fun, and I enjoyed the cooking practice,
3. Usually, I have much smaller portions of whatever I eat, which comes from eating slowly.
4. I am getting more exercise all the time, which burns the fat. Anyone taking away fat, sugar and white foods (white flour, white rice, white whipped cream) will benefit.
5. I am much more careful about the foods I eat and favor the low cost frozen items over the salty, greasy, and sugared ones.
6. No more take-home colas, yes some McDonalds with Sassy Sue. Infrequent fast-food stops. No hard candy. No donuts. Very little chocolate.

The Feast of Pentecost, 2022

The Feast of Pentecost, 2022

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Feast of Pentecost service link

Bethany Lutheran Church, 

10 AM Central Daylight Time

The melodies are linked in the hymn name. 

The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.

• The melody site is linked here.
• TLH Lyrics are linked to the Bethany Lutheran Hymnal Blog

The Hymn #1         Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty    
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world: Hallelujah!

Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Psalm. Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

O God, who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual 

Gradual

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: 

and Thou renewest the face of the earth. Hallelujah!

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful: 

and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

The Gospel 
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 224   Luther - Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord 

Who Are the True Pentecostals?

The Communion Hymn #227       Come, Holy Ghost, in Love 
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #309       Kingo - O Jesus Blessed Lord

In Our Prayers

• Medical treatment - Lynda Roper, Pastor Jim Shrader and his wife Chris, Kermit and Maria Way, Howard Hagar, Callie and her mother Peggy, C., and many others - peace and comfort.
• Alec Satin published the KJV book online and several people asked for the KJV print version. Thanks to gifts, free books are sent each time. See the Sower and the Seed, Matthew 13, Mark 4.
• Pastor Jackson was nominated for teacher of the year, education department, at UOP.  

KJV Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

 From Norma A. Boeckler

KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

Pentecost Monday Text
KJV John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Who Are the True Pentecostals?

KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

Introduction

The Missing Concept Today

The only way to read the Bible is to treat it as the true Word of God, which Jesus Christ promised would be true forever. " Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

The Jewish tradition is to copy the Old Testament word for word, syllable by syllable, counting the words and letters to make sure each book is copied exactly.

The Majority (aka Byzantine, Traditional, Stephanus, Ecclesiastical) Text of the New Testament has 5,000 witnesses, all in agreement. 

Tischendorfians have two versions of the New Testament, not in agreement with each other - 

1. Codex Sinaiticus conveniently "discovered" by the Count, which was white leather and supple at first, stained and discolored later. Born in the 19th century.
2. Codex Vaticanus, about 40% different from Sinaiticus, held by the papacy and dismissed as a fraud by Erasmus.

Should not these precious books (codices) have hundreds of exact copies? They have none. If they are called "the oldest copies of the New Testament," why do they not have existing copies? 

The Beck/Otten Bible, NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV, New KJV - etc - have notes at the bottom of the New Testament pages, with words similar to this - "The oldest manuscripts omit this verse" or "omits these verses." The publishers do not name Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in these margin notes. Who supports cutting out these key verses about faith in Christ and His divinity? - ELDONA, ELCA, LCMS, WELS, ELS, CLC! They support and promote the false editions of the Bible and cannot tolerate the King James Version.

This great Promise from Jesus means the Father and Son will dwell in the person who loves Christ. So where is the Spirit in this Promise, fellow Pentecostals?

The Holy Spirit always works through the Word, and the Word is never without the Spirit. Jesus said very clearly in John 16 - the Spirit will convict the world of sin, because they do not believe on Me. When that Promise and warning are ignored, the work of the Holy Spirit is forgotten and there is no fruit of the Spirit. So these days, people have the Spirit without the Word and the Word without the Spirit. Both are wrong and contrary to the Scriptures.

Today we will get rain (so they say) and that rain will change the color of the soil, form pools for the animals drinking and bathing, and make the garden burst into bloom, the crops grow and flourish. God promised, like the snow and rain, His Word will never return empty, but will accomplish His purpose, and prosper His will. Isaiah 55:8f.

I had an interesting experience with the KJV book, which Alec Satin added to his online Lutheran Library. I posted the link all over Facebook. Soon my friend (back to 4th grade) asked for a printed copy, followed by several more people and then by a Canadian. 

 If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

How can anyone despise and ignore the Words of Jesus and expect anything more than the wages of apostasy? - earthly approval, heavenly shunning. Because the Word belongs to God alone, it is dangerous to play with it - like a toy - and expect anything other than bad results. That is how rationalists are created, by planting doubts instead of teaching faith in Jesus Christ. Then the rationalists spread their doubts to feel more in harmony with the crowd.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Prior to keeping the Word is loving His Words, and loving the Words of Jesus comes from faith in all He did and said in His public ministry. The heretics (the term means another teaching) take away from the complete Gospel. As one Lutheran writer said, the sects are like insects who sit on one part of a plant and think the whole plant is theirs. So the heretics take away, for the most part, and deny those things from Jesus that they dislike - such as "This is My Body." Or they emphasize the Spirit apart from the Word.

A sect Bible will take away from the Scriptures and ignore what they want forgotten.

The modernists/rationalists take away the Spirit and consider the Bible a very interesting and lucrative object to exploit. They laugh at or scowl at parts of the Bible they choose to emphasize.

About 40 years ago, narrative theology became popular and would not go away. There is the God story, your story, my story, and our story. The obvious beauty in this story is making everything subjective and not subordinate to the Word of God.

Throughout the Fourth Gospel, Jesus emphasized that everything came from God the Father and also that He, Jesus, was in complete harmony with the Father. Another way to say this is to express how Jesus is the voice, will, and gracious attitude of the Father in heaven. Where there is unity, the sceptics promote disunity. 

25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 

The three years with Jesus was intense in learning His Word and seeing His miracles. The loss was profound when He died on the cross. But the Resurrection and Ascension showed them what the entire ministry meant. And they were to be the foundation of world missionary work, with Christ as the cornerstone.

How could they replace their Teacher? They could not, but the Holy Spirit would give them everything they needed to know. Their sermons doubtless crackled with power, as the Word was energized by the Holy Spirit. The local ministry, 

• firmly establishing the Jews in knowing the Messiah, and some Gentiles through those miracles, 

became a world ministry through the apostles.

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

The last phrase troubles people because so many "scholars" have made what is clear to be unclear. As Lenski says, this is Jesus the God-man, facing arrest, torture, and death. In this way God the Father is greater, which is not a contradiction about the Three-ness of the One God, or the unity of the godhead. A church a few blocks away from here has one God, the Holy Spirit. Ironically, they call this Unity, which it is really disunity.

The disciples should be rejoicing about the ultimate triumph, but they were overwhelmed by the coming loss and not fully aware of the divine power. The Scriptures show us the disciples in their humanity so we would be less inclined to bow to statues of them instead of observing (guarding) the Words of Jesus.

29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

Nothing can steady us more than these words. Jesus has already told us the future, which is established and real. As these things happen, we believe all the more.

Here is one example - When the truth is taught us, those parts of the Bible we did not understand or ignored are suddenly highlighted and explained. It is so remarkable that we are stunned that we did not see it. That happens to pastors and teachers as they study what they must proclaim. That happens to the laity when puzzling passages are illuminated by other passages of the Bible. That happens with children who realize their parents were teaching these truths when they were young.

If we love the gracious, forgiving, and compassionate Son, the Father will love us, too. No one can condemn the Father for giving us a raw deal when the Son is viewed as He is - always as anxious for us as we are for Him. 

We Are Watching a Movie

My first visit to a television studio was a shock. The room was shoddy, not at all the way people imagine.

If a group of people comment on a movie at a popcorn carpeted movie theater, they have many different opinions about the show. Some might even say, "Were we watching the same film?"

Watching the news on TV is exactly like watching a movie in a darkened theater. It is hypnotic, like a dream, and completely deceptive, leaving an impression.

When I watch movies, mostly 1945 and earlier, I notice the props defying gravity. Someone is packed for a trip, but the suitcases are light as a feather. Boxes are carried as if they are completely empty, because they are. The beautiful landscape is painted. The trip in the car is bumpy because a machine is creating the ride in a fake car in the studio.

People ask me to comment about the TV news. I respond, "I don't watch TV and the news is not news - it is an impression, coming from one of six media giants that control 100% of the news."

Everything has been predicted, but if it is not read from a script read by a good-looking anchor, it does not count as reality. I pay attention to the props, which are as genuine as whipped cream at Starbucks. If people shake off the dream -  waiting for someone to do something, the global trafficking empire will collapse. We will soon forget the ugliness of Oprah, Disney, and what's-his-name. As the Spartans replied to Alexander - "If."

So Much in This One Story - Thank You for Bringing Your ELCA Story to Our Story So We Can Thank Thrivent for Bringing Our Stories Together Whether LCMS, WELS, ELCA, or Artwork

Bekki Lohrmann, ELCA Pastor, LSTC graduate

St. Peter’s by the Sea Lutheran Church

• Contact: 1371 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, San Diego 619-224-2894 www.stpetersbythesea.org
• Membership: 150
• Pastor: Bekki Lohrmann
• Age: 35
• Born: Carlyle, PA
• Formation: Valparaiso University, IN; The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
• Years Ordained: 7

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend preparing your sermon?

Pastor Bekki Lohrmann: I probably put a good five to seven hours a week into a sermon. We use a lectionary, so I always have a text assigned to me each Sunday. Four, in fact: an Old Testament, a psalm, a New Testament, and a Gospel text. The way I preach tends to be full of stories. I might have a theme such as housing insecurity, racial injustice or grief or something like that, but it’s always a theme coming out of the text. I see preaching as this intersection of God’s story, my story, the congregation’s story and the story of the world, coming together in the sermon I deliver.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PL: Our mission statement is, “Seeking and sharing the love of God.” The folks who come here are looking for something — so many of us are looking for that kind of love that will heal, restore and save us from ourselves. People come here seeking that, and receive it in worship, in word, and sacrament, and in the community of friends we have here. In sharing, this church is a smaller congregation, but we have an endowment and so quarterly we make disbursements to everything from Third Avenue Charitable Organization (TACO) at First Lutheran, which does wonderful ministry with the homeless, to our Lutheran camp and Lutheran Refugee and Immigrant Services. We’re always working in partnership with different organizations for all kinds of opportunities for generosity, service and fellowship.

SDR: Where’s the strangest place you found God?

PL: At the deathbed. I wanted to be a pastor, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t cut out for doing funerals, visiting the dying or going to hospitals. It seemed scary and I thought it was pulverize me. Every seminarian in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America does a summer of hospital chaplaincy, and I didn’t really want to do it. I thought it might be my breaking point: Never mind, I don’t think I need to be a pastor after all. I decided I would stay in the chaplaincy program for one week, and after that I could quit. But in that first week, being called into the bedside of the dying or recently deceased, to be with the families, I found God in that work. I ended up loving it – doing the work of accompanying the dying.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PL: We return to God, although I’m not totally sure what that looks like. But we return to our source, to God. The mystery is bigger than I can see this side of heaven. Lutheran doctrine holds there is a heaven and a hell and what we know of Jesus is that when he died, he went to hell. So much of Christian art in history tells the story of Jesus emptying hell, and so it seems that that’s the work that Jesus is about, emptying hell. I believe in free will and that God doesn’t just write the story for us. Whatever God’s intent for eternity for us is one based on love. God is in pursuit of us, to bring us home to ourselves and home to God.

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GJ  - I cried like a little baby, tears came tumbling down my face, tears of laughter that this pastor has so learned so little and spent so much time in college and the Lutheran School of Theology in the University of Chicago.

Why does the U. of Chicago covet thisk LSTC building, which looks like Darth Vader's winter cabin?