Many readers could already be growing weary of the rain and snow comparison to the Word of God in Isaiah 55.
However, one reader wrote to kid me about emptying the rain barrels again. I do that to discourage mosquitos, but also to double down for the thirsty roots.
A neighbor said, "No one else on the block has rain barrels." I responded, "No one else has roses in abundance." I cut them and give them away, making them even more abundant, the Enchanted Peace now seven feet tall with 10 roses on one thick stem. John 15:1ff.
The thunderclouds rolled in and started to rumble, like an orchestra getting ready for the symphony they will play. Everyone's grass will be green because of the nitrogen compounds - lacking in bleached city water - making the plants and trees grow.
I woke up to more rain, enough to make the dogs signal, "No morning visit, maybe later." They are asleep now, waiting for exercise romps later.
The rain has an effect, impossible to ignore, making plants, weeds, trees, moss, fruit, and vegetables grow in abundance.
When I read the latest from various Lutheran sects, I wonder, "Has anyone shoved a shovel into the soil and counted earthworms? Do they know how plants green up and grow fruit, flowers, and seed?" I ask because their memory work in dogmatics textbooks has made them dry and pedantic, victims of "Repeat after me."
Did you know that snacks, coffee, and soft drinks are effective in building a congregation? Notice that I did not say - "effective in teaching faith, forgiveness, and fruits of the Spirit." They just want numbers -
- faith in Jesus Christ makes them uncomfortable,
- the leaders think the Word needs help, more entertaining, more relevant to daily felt needs.
Let's Avoid the Repeat After Me of the Seminaries
Seminaries like to have their boys and girls, smells and belles, repeat the same phrases. Latin helps dazzle the resonance coming from the flash card holders. Let go of the quia, quatenus, and 18 solas.
The entire Bible is one unified and harmonious Book of the Holy Spirit. Luther and the German Reformation taught this from their knowledge of the original text.
The sects and Rome had to have their opposing teaching, to show they were different from the Evangelicals (the original name for Lutherans) and from the Protestants (another original name for the Lutherans, plagiarized by the non-Lutherans).
Because the entire Bible, both Testaments but not the apocrypha, is linked together by the Holy Spirit, all the verses, words, chapters, and books belong to each other and shed light on the rest.
Just as one congregation can put together enough people to build a church, so each part of the Bible strengthens the rest and is illuminated in turn.
The Bible is the only book where God speaks directly to us. We can be confidant that His Word always has an effect on us.
It helps to pick one book, but it is not mandatory.
- Proverbs is full of practical wisdom. The section on hussies, if read, would save millions of marriages.
- The Psalms cover every aspect of our spiritual lives - thanksgiving, prayer, sorrows and griefs, forgiveness and grace, Messianic prophesies (not in the LCMS NIV Psalms), and Creation.
- The Gospel of John is not only a summary of Matthew-Mark-Luke but also a valuable collection of Jesus' most important lessons.
- The Apostle Paul wrote a theology book, Romans, that teaches Justification by Faith throughout, and offers wisdom for the Faith for all time.
