Lutheran in the middle

The last poltical statement

2009-09-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

This will be my last political statement mainly because I'm a pastor and I believe my main purpose is to preach the gospel and adminster the sacraments and do pastoral care. I never promote a political party or candidate in the pulpit and I believe there are Christians who are Right-wing Conservatives, Moderates, and Libertarians and yes even Liberals and dare I say even Socialist. Heaven is not just going to be filled with just Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics or just Pentecostals-God is no respecter of persons.
I see a problem in our culture of a sin of polarization which tries to pit people against one another and demonize them without listening to both sides and having a civil debate.
Regarding AM talk(shock radio) and a lot of the pundits on Fox News(about as balanced as MSNBC) Here's some premises from Charles Pierce(author of Idiot America) which I believe apply)
1. The host is not judged by his or her command of the issues but by what moves the ratings needle. (scare us, entertain us....
2. Anything is true if you speak it loudly enough and convince people of the "truth"of it.
3. Fact is that which enough people are passionate convinced of it. (so and so says it)

Now back to the real issue. Do you Love God and your neighbor as yourself? If you don't then I have good news for you :)

Armageddon is now coming! according to e-mail forwards

2009-08-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

The e-mails keep coming... Government is taking over health care with death panels and I get this forward that scared the you-know-what out of me.

INSIDER ALERT!
The entire U.S. financial system recently came within 3 hours of total and complete collapse.
Our new president – faced with a depression-leveleconomic collapse – has set aside 80,000+ returningtroops from Iraq for "domestic emergencies."
Here's why savvy Americans are urgently rushingto become more self-reliant before the"you-know-what" hits the fan.
Dear Fellow Concerned American:
This briefing is a critical, time-sensitive warning. Please read what I am about to say carefully, because your very life may depend on it.
A whole lot of already shell-shocked people are going to learn the hard way that the veneer of “civilization” is far thinner than most realize.
U.S. Preparing a Military Responseto Coming Social Chaos
As the shocking confidential information contained in this briefing shows, the threat of social meltdown and chaos is so large a domestic law-enforcement arm of the U.S. military (referred to by The Army Times as the "Consequence Management Response Force") has been created to deal with what U.S. officials believe to be a coming, unprecedented wave of massive social chaos.
Later I'll show you why many Washington insiders (including officials directly involved in homeland security) are personally making emergency preparations for social chaos. In addition, outgoing Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Brad Sherman that so much financial mayhem lies ahead U.S. troops may have to impose martial law to deal with social unrest.
Yes, U.S. Officials Are Quietly Preparingfor BIG Trouble Ahead
A new report by the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute states flatly the U.S. military must prepare for "a violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States" that could be provoked by "unforeseen economic collapse" or "loss of functioning political and legal order."
Late last year, The Washington Post noted the incoming Obama Administration is going to "earmark" at least 20,000 troops returning from Iraq to deal with "domestic emergencies." Since then, the Army Times has broken the story that the domestic emergency army unit has been increased to 80,000 troops, who are being trained right now in Georgia.
In short, U.S. officials expect big trouble ahead — but they are not warning the general public about the danger (much less urge the unsuspecting masses to make basic preparations).
A rare critic of the government's keep-the-public-in-the-dark mentality is former head of the U.S. Commission on National Security, Stephen Flynn. He noted in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial: "Too many officials believe telling the truth to Americans about the risk would set off a nationwide panic. Thus, they keep us sheep in the dark for our own good."
Boiled down, you need a real plan to deal with massive social dislocations that are headed our way. And you need to get started right now, because the government isn't going to give you a heads-up.
My name is Lee Bellinger, publisher of the monthly financial, health, and taxation intelligence advisory Independent Living. In my two decades of publishing discreet information about threats to your liberty, health and prosperity, never before have we produced as important a document as my best-selling Social Chaos Survival Guide: Smart, Savvy Precautions To Make You Self-Reliant in These Dangerous Times.
I want to send it to you FREE because it is my understanding you are a think-outside-the-box, "keep-out-of-the-herd" individualist. I know for a fact you need this information. PLUS, you are eligible to get THREE GREAT BONUS REPORTS, including:
Free Bonus Report #1:Smart Hoarding 101: Do It Right and Save Big Money By Stocking Up on Food, Water, and Yes, Fuel.Free Bonus Report #2:Life-Saving Basics: Make Your Own Antibiotic Alternatives At Home.Free Bonus Report #3:20 Key Insights Smart Investors Use for Successful Crisis Investing and Financial Self-Defense.
Here’s Why Washington Expects to UseTroops Against Americans
Let me get straight to the point about the high probability of social chaos, what it will look like, and what you can do to not be among the millions of unsuspecting Americans who are going to get caught flat-footed.
You see, a government-consumer debt bubble 20+ years in the making is imploding — as desperate federal meddling to stave off financial collapse is "funded" by frantic funny-money printing to shower trillions of dollars over a restive public.
Even "mainstream" financial figures are finally admitting we may be in more than a recession. For example, the CEO of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, recently conceded the U.S. may be descending into a depression.
Until a few short months ago, official Washington wasn’t even using the "R" word. The "experts" are finally fessing up to what the rest of us can already see: Ghost malls springing up from coast to coast, with an estimated 148,000 store closures projected so far for 2009 — including Steve and Barrys, Sharper Image, Wicks, Levitz, CompUSA, Circuit City, Linens and Things, KB Toys, Whitehall Jewellers, and Shoe Pavilion.
Frightened U.S. policy-makers also note a number of giant chains are on the brink of bankruptcy for 2009, including Phillip Van Heusen (IZOD/Calvin Klein), Macys, Office Depot, Pacific Sunware, Bombay Company, Pep Boys, Sprint-Nextel service stores, Ethan Allen, Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, Dillards, Starbucks, the Gap, Footlocker, and Home Depot.
Dire Unemployment PictureForeshadows Social Chaos
John Williams of the authoritative Shadow Government Statistics notes that unfudged, un-manipulated government statistics suggests a whopping civilian unemployment rate of 17% — with a projected total to exceed 30% (during the Great Depression, unemployment approached an historic 25%).
In the U.S., job-shedding has now exceeded post-World War II levels and the January 28 Wall Street Journal warned: "One troubling sign is that the states that were first into recession — those with a heavy concentration of home building and manufacturing — are getting worse, not better..."
In December, the International Monetary Fund's managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned of riots and unrest sweeping through Western countries as lower-income households are beset with credit constraints and rampant unemployment. (Such riots have already caused the government of Iceland to fall and triggered riots in Greece.)
Today's Americans Don't Resemblethe Hardy Depression-Era Generation
Not to be politically-incorrect, but the simple truth is millions of Americans who've never known anything but prosperity and easy-money have a militant expectation that society "owes" them something. And with so many families on the margins of survival already, the speed of the downward unemployment spiral is downright ominous (and unprecedented).
Worse, there are few signs the taxpayer dependents of today have any of the self-reliance skills that saw the hardy Great Depression generation through the tough times.
In fact, there is mounting evidence tens of millions of low-income government dependents and many others infected with a sense of entitlement are prone to crime and violence — especially when it dawns on the masses there are not enough jobs and government promises of "relief" are as empty as the U.S. Treasury is bankrupt.
For example, in response to financially-troubled New York State making minor trims to its budget, an ugly 50,000+ mob took to the streets around city hall to demand higher taxes against the "rich." (Similar protests were mounted in Albany, Buffalo, and White Plains.)
In just the last year, when fuel prices were soaring and metals such as platinum were exploding, gasoline thefts across the nation became rampant. Copper was being ripped off from construction sites, pipes were torn out of abandoned houses and catalytic converters containing trace elements of platinum were being shanghaied from parked cars all over the country.
Of course, the possibility of a full-scale depressionary unemployment is just one "trigger" threatening to cause society to come completely unglued.
The Wheels Almost Came Off the Carton September 18, 2008
Just last September 18, for example, the entire U.S. financial system nearly collapsed — coming within hours of unprecedented panic withdraws from U.S. banks and money market accounts totaling $5.5 trillion (well over a third of the nation's entire annual economic output).
The chairman of the House capital markets subcommittee, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, recently spoke on the record about the little-known episode, noting "Five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the economy of the world... it would have been the end of our political system and economic system as we have known it".
During the September 18 crisis "episode", the Treasury Department's emergency pumping of $105 billion into the financial system failed. It was only after Treasury abruptly announced it would extend existing federal guarantees of $100,000 deposit insurance to $250,000 that the crisis abated (which is fortunate given the feds are already so awash in red ink they would have trouble covering such large losses no matter how many dollars they print).
Rep. Kanjorski's nightmare scenario almost became reality: Suddenly inaccessible ATMs, frozen bank accounts, retirement funds, savings accounts, and small business payroll bank accounts. This near-total collapse of the U.S. banking system happened right under the nose of the media. Almost no one even knew anything out of the ordinary was going on — the point being you can't count on the media to give you early warning of things to come!
Systemic Collapse is a Real Possibility:Other Shoes Are Getting Ready to Drop
It is far too dangerous to ignore the growing signs of impending national social chaos. Even after absorbing some of the unsettling facts in this briefing, you need to act calmly and decisively make sure you can get the things you need and protect what’s yours — with undertones of frantic — while you still can. The signs of trouble abound.
Congressional Quarterly notes that pension fund losses are about to spill out onto the front pages — with nearly as much financial exposure as that which brought down America's banking giants.
It has not made much news yet, but the pension funds of millions of retirees is down by a whopping $1.9 trillion. This is why cities such as Philadelphia are quietly seeking federal money to bolster pension funds which CQ notes are 60% invested in the stock market — which itself has collapsed by a catastrophic 50% in just the last 18 months.
Not to scare the pants off you, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has quietly informed Congress that the "insurance" agency for private pension funds, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, is at high risk of failure. (This will not become a "crisis" until desperate people start trying to tap early retirement money that is not there — for now the looming pension catastrophe remains a "dormant" threat).
Worse, the former head of the U.S. Comptroller General Office, David Walker, essentially told Congress (before resigning in disgust) that the Social Security "Trust Fund" is a vault of IOUs; and Medicare will soon be effectively bankrupt.
State Governments Are BecomingToo Broke for Law-Enforcement
The American Association of Architects' historically-reliable construction index has plunged 34.7% — a grim indication the commercial real estate market is the next shoe to drop, which analyst Mike Larson forecasts will lead to an "unstoppable chain reaction of bankruptcies."
The reason I bring this up is because 46 states are already experiencing major budget shortfalls. And yet it is taxes from U.S. commercial real estate on which local and state governments depend to fund fire, police and social services. (Not to mention major insurance carriers — many of which are going to go belly-up when the full extent of the commercial real estate bust hits their reserve portfolios.)
States such as California and Kansas don't even have enough money to send out tax refund checks (much less properly fund police departments) and are coping with the biggest annual job loss in a single year since 1945 (down 2.8 million jobs in 2008 alone).
The Washington Post notes two out of three large police departments in U.S. cities are already reporting budget cuts and hiring freezes, even as 233 departments told the Police Executive Research Forum that they are noticing a major "uptick" in property crime which they attribute to financial unrest.
The National Center for the Victims of Crime reports a whopping 24% increase in calls from October 2007 to October 2008 as "job losses and economic stress factor into increased violence."
In addition, cash-strapped states have been forced by collapsing tax revenue to release hardened criminals back into society, noted the Post. On February 21, The Charlotte Observer reported on a disturbing trend which is going on all over the country: Major budget cuts for jails even as criminality is on the rise.
The Observer story cited the closing of a youth detention center for violent offenders, an all-too-common "low-profile" budget-cutting practice going on all over the country.
More Evidence the You-Know-Whatis Going to Hit the Fan
Think about the widespread collapse of order and emergency services in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — except on a national level. The implementation of gun-confiscation laws, looters and thugs terrorizing the elderly with impunity, besieged hospitals without power, doctors and medicine. People forcibly herded into "containment zones" and denied access to food, water, and medical attention. At least 45 patients died in one city-run hospital after being abandoned by doctors and staff.
More recently, a simple fuel pipeline break in America's barely-functioning, antiquated energy infrastructure spawned major gasoline delivery disruptions throughout the entire Southeastern Seaboard region. For over six weeks, drivers could not find gasoline except by standing in line for hours to get just a few gallons of fuel.
The recent regional collapse of the U.S. fuel infrastructure is a major warning sign that the energy supply chain is stretched dangerously thin — which combined with financial unrest has the strong potential to create major disruptions in the food supply chain (most population centers have only three days of food available to the public through supermarkets — meaning panic runs on food are a distinct possibility as the potential for social chaos continues to mount).
If you think these scenarios cannot happen in the United States of America, talk with anyone who has ever been in the path of a hurricane. They will confirm that by the time the general public catches on to the danger, getting everyday items such as gasoline, batteries, plywood, medicine, water, and food becomes next to impossible. Social services, police protection, public transportation, and highway systems become next to useless.
When the Police AbandonLaw-Abiding Neighborhoods to Mobs
And don't even get me started on police protection. Past riots in Washington DC and Los Angeles portend a disturbing pattern when social chaos overwhelms order. The police almost always "pull back" and abandon entire neighborhoods to vicious mobs.
In the case of the 1992 Los Angeles Rodney King riots (as Caucasians and Asians were hunted down, robbed, and slaughtered), the police hunkered behind their defensive cordons as the murderous racist rage unfolded — the only outside contact law-abiding victims had in the riot zone were with intrepid news helicopters hovering overhead, broadcasting the racial pogroms on live TV.
You may even remember the only community to come out unscathed were sections of Los Angeles populated by Asian merchants — who fended off the mobs by placing shooters on the roofs of buildings within their defense perimeter. These heroic Korean merchants successfully protected their families, shops and homes. All because they knew how worthless bureaucrats truly are and made their own preparations. Where are you in this process?
The coming social chaos will magnify these problems a thousand-fold. In short, it is extremely important to be one step ahead of the general public during an unfolding crisis. And at least three long steps ahead of the government's draconian, blunderbuss, freedom-stealing response.
Government Deliberately Keeps Public in theDark About Multiple Threats to Public Order
Some Americans have learned from past history and are quietly making basic emergency preparations for social chaos. Private gun sales at all-time record highs. Safe makers and alarm and generator installers have never been so busy. Not even close.
Highly successful financial players such as commodities genius Jim Rogers now openly says the U.S. is heading for an inflationary holocaust.
Which is why, for over a year — as confidence in the U.S. financial and political system continues to evaporate — physical gold and silver have been flying off the shelves — not just in the United States but all over the globe. The unavailability of physical gold and silver has become so acute that major U.S. mints have either curtailed or stopped taking orders for new coins.
The Washington Elite Are QuietlyMaking Themselves More Self-Reliant
Now I want to share an important personal insight with you that will probably never make the news. You see, I belong to two Washington, D.C. membership organizations which date back to the 1800s — with members that include a smattering of cabinet officials, members of Congress, mid-level federal managers and many, many, retired former insiders.
This is how I first learned that many top-level Washington insiders — many of whom have been directly involved in developing the Homeland Security Department, do not have confidence in government preparations for social chaos.
I know this for a fact, not just because of my conversations with club members. I am also an acquaintance with a private contractor who has a booming specialty business which does nothing but work in posh DC neighborhoods, installing emergency back-up generators, freezers for food, and safes (Even a quick review of the DC yellow pages suggests that installing emergency generators and other survival precautions has become a prospering cottage industry in the Washington area.)
As one of my very best Hillsdale College professors would have mused: "What would lead so many influential Washington insiders (who are in a position to know) to seek out ways to become so much more self-reliant than the average citizen?"
Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney’sChilling Prediction
Of course, financial mayhem may be the least of America’s problems. Right after leaving office, Vice President Dick Cheney warned of the possible deaths of "perhaps hundreds of thousands of Americans" in a terror attack using nuclear or biological weapons. "I think there is a high probability of such an attempt," the straight-talking Cheney warned during an interview with Politico.
An important item buried deeply in The Washington Post recently noted there are already 20,000 commercially-available labs in the world where a single person could synthesize any existing virus. In those same 20,000 labs, five people with $2 million can create an advanced pathogen—meaning a virus that will be able to infect even those people who have been immunized with conventional vaccines, and kill perhaps a million of them.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson confessed to a reporter he "worries every single night" about a possible bioterror attack on the U.S. food supply. "For the life of me," he said, "I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is the easiest thing to do".
Two Categories of People:The Prepared vs. the Clueless
Whatever form the "triggering event" takes, not only will millions of Americans suddenly discover they are completely on their own, they will be completely unprepared for the government’s draconian response to social chaos.
So there are two categories of people in America right now: Category 1 are the millions of clueless who blissfully assume their political overlords are going to take care of them. These are the people most likely to get caught flat-footed when all hell breaks loose. Category 2 are prudent, savvy people who are taking basic steps toward making their families and their households more self-reliant.
You should know most people in "Category 1" probably don’t agree with me. After all, reliable polling suggests some 70% of Americans have a bliss-like faith our new President Barack Obama and his top Congressional allies (like Barney Frank) are going to stop the unfolding depression. Forgive me, but I am not drinking the kool-aid.
There was no shortage of people who disagreed with me in 2007, when I warned my subscribers to get out of the U.S. financial sector on grounds it was destined to collapse. At that time, millions of people were reassured by their Wall Street-paid brokers and Wall Street advertiser-dominated TV financial "news networks" — such as CNBC — that all was well.
In fact, in those days anyone who dared suggest the mighty U.S. financial system is a house of cards took a big chance of being dismissed as "perma-bears", nay-sayers, and yes, even unpatriotic!
Confession Time: This Information isNOT for Most People
Look, if you are among the 70% who believe Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats are going to "fix" the U.S. financial system with their trillion-dollar+ special-interest spending orgy, then you should stop reading this letter right now because there is little or nothing I can do for you.
That's because my 2009 edition of Social Chaos Survival Guide contains my very best in-depth information — strictly for our most serious, answer-seeking subscribers who want to delve into the nuts and bolts of protective actions you need to take now.
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Calm, Decisive Steps Toward Self-Reliance Are an ABSOLUTE Must
Every U.S. family should have a copy of this manual I want to send you. All of its contents have been specifically designed for the unfolding crisis window we find ourselves in today. There is no other "how-to" manual like it anywhere else — because almost no one foresaw this financial crisis, much less develop a comprehensive plan for weathering it and not getting crushed by the government's inevitable blunderbuss, freedom-destroying response.
The Social Chaos Survival Guide provides a comprehensive, doable, and financially sensible plan to survive any emergency and the likely draconian response envisioned by federal and state government planners.
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Thank you Bob Livingston and Liberty Digest. I am now digging a bunker under my home.

Business as Usual

2009-08-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

Shelia gave me the link to this hilarious Onion story.

I should read this at the Church Council LOL.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/god_makes_surprise_visit_to_local?utm_source=a-section

The United States has become one big bad reality show

2009-08-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation and it gives me a little time to reflect on things like faith, politics and life in general. Where is our country headed? I believe we are totally polarized Right vs Left and there is no compromise on either side. I'm not going to put the blame on the Right or the Left but both of them. I believe our media culture has imploded on itself. Our obsession with bad reality entertainment has totally taken over our worldview, politics, religion like sewage.

From the White House on down to both sides of Congress and the shock-jocks of the Right have dumb us down so bad that civil debate and discourse is nothing more than a loud and irritating shrill. I'm looking for the bouncers from the Jerry Springer show to separate the Fox news hosts from the MSNBC hosts. How did it come to all this?

As a pastor, I'm not supposed to endorse a political party and right now I'm glad I'm registered Independent. I pray that this country can debate issues with respect and honor differences.

All I can say if you don't believe in sin and hubris then you have not been paying attention.

I was harassed by a conspiracy theorist

2009-08-02T04:56:00.000-07:00

I was at the Back to school event in our area handing out notebooks to children and families with information about our church when this strange guy came up asking questions. "I don't go to church."he said. I thought well maybe this guy has been burned out by hypocrites, legalists, and institutional forms of religion. He said; "I've got my bible at home to read. I don't need the church."

Being a little irritated at his condescending manner I said "Why not?" He said, "Are you non-profit"?I said, Yes, we are a church! He screamed "Then the government can tell you what to do!"

This guy went on and on with the most outlandish conspiracy theories that would make Alex Jones look almost normal. He argued and argued and I finally said, "You are a conspiracy nut!"He walked away and started talking to the women at the Immunization booth something about the government giving everybody the microchip or something like that.

Prayer in times of darkness

2009-07-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

O Lord Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.

By Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Politics of Sin

2009-07-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

The glamour and the bright lights and the politics of sin,The ghetto that you build for me is the one you end up in,The race of the engine that overrules your heart,Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it,Pretending that you're so smart.-Dead man, Dead man-Bob Dylan: http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/dead-man-dead-man

Bob Dylan once said that, "politics is the instrument of the devil." Sometimes I tend to agree. I have a love/hate relationship to politics. You might say, "Being a pastor-preacher is like being a politician." Well, if you are Mike Huckabee, John Hagee and Pat Robertson then you are right-on. However, a Pastor's role according to Historic Lutheranism and most Catholic and Protestant churches is to preach the Word(gospel),adminster the sacraments, provide pastoral care but also like Hebrew prophets speak out for justice and defend the poor and voiceless. This is where it gets political and dangerous especially if you are in a middle or upper class congregation. There is an old saying "Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable" that is what pastors are called to do and if you are a Christian and follow Jesus expect the same if not worse.

Ok I'm chasing rabbits and kind of getting off subject here. Politics! Yeah right like Republican, Democrat, and Independent. Who does God favor? Anybody with any common sense knows that God does not have a political affiliation. Wait a minute I remember as a child there was this group called the Moral Majority which later became the Christian Coalition that proclaimed Christians were Republicans and the Democrats were not. They not only brought us Ronald Reagan but the two George Bushes. There are now Christian Libertarians and can you believe there is a Religious Left. You can blame them for Obama. Ok we can blame you for Bush.

To be honest this political infighting is tiring me out. I'd rather preach the gospel and just retreat on issues of race, poverty and such. The main message of Christ is that he is the Way, Truth and the life but it seems like many don't really believe that and we can't even talk like brothers and sisters in the faith because we disagree in politics.

44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these,(AC) you did not do it to me.
Matthew 25:44-45

The Gospel of Hate

2009-07-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

I turned on Am radio and heard Rush Limbaugh say that Obama is an angry black man but the only anger I hear is from white guys on my radio and tv. What's with this? I turned on the religious AM station and John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone says that we need to get back to the God of the Old Testament where there are no second chances only one chance and zap you are burnt up with his huge congregation loudly applauding with handclaps and amens.

I see more Fred Phelps "God hate fags" stickers than God loves stickers. This is the gospel of hate.

Question: Why Ecumenical? What's that?

2009-07-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

I know I should just put the word "Christian" but sadly when people see that they wonder if I'm one of those type Christians and there are all those stereotypes of the religious Right and hypocrites. You put "Ecumenical Christian" then you are labeled a liberal and that is a dirty word in our society even though we have a liberal president. This is not about politics though. Ecumenical according to Websters means 2 a: of, relating to, or representing the whole of a body of churches b: promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation.
Christians are not supposed to be sectarian but sadly many are. If you don't believe exactly like their group does then you are going to hell. This is why yes I'm Lutheran but I'm an ecumenical Christian meaning I have brothers and sisters of all types.
I also will not make a judgment on those of other faiths or no faiths that is God's business. God has some pretty big shoes to fill and I'm not going to attempt to fill them even though many have tried to.

I can't sleep blog and sermon.

2009-07-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's late Saturday night and I can't sleep. I'm a lite sleeper. I hear every nook and cranny in this townhome and the wailing cat doesn't help. I don't want to wake Shelia so I go downstairs after swallowing an aspirin and get on this computer. Maybe I'll get tired and go back upstairs.

Oh yeah, the sermon for this week was John 6 about Jesus feeding the five thousand and miracles.

That old song by Jefferson Starship is going over and over in my head. "If only you believe in miracles like i believe, I'll get by or something like that. I could use a miracle right now. it's called sleep. well here's snippet of my sermon:

The gospel of John is often called a book of signs. You see a lot of Jesus’ miracles there. The first sign was the wedding at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. There’s also healings and there is this unbelievable feeding of the five thousand. This is the only miracle story recorded in all four of the gospels sometimes it occurs two times as in the gospel of Mark so you know the early Christians thought this was important.

A large crowd was following Jesus. What were they looking for? More signs, more healings. They were hungry for physical food but they needed more. They needed a miracle. In today’s world you have two extremes those who scoff at any idea of a miracle. Everything must be proven by scientific inquiry. There is no room for mystery...there is no room for wonder...There is no room for creativity or imagination.. There is no room for a God. Everything must be labeled and studied like it was in a science lab. There is the other extreme that looks to God as a slot machine, a genie. One who will give you what you want and grant your every wish and desire. They follow a god of health, wealth and positive thinking not the one who suffered and gave us his life. There is no take up your cross and follow me in their thinking only the pursuit of personal happiness and self-fulfillment.

Miracles do happen. Many times we take the smallest miracles for granted. CS Lewis says miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. Do you believe in miracles? Do you think the birth of a child, a person coming to faith, when a baptism is performed, when we are gathered around a a holy meal or when we are gathered around other believers in prayer, song, or word that a miracle is happening. When you look at creation and realize that God is here. Isn’t that a miracle too?

People were following Jesus because they knew he did miracles and they were hungry. This miracle happened at the Sea of Galilee or the Roman name sea of Tiberius. What is most interesting is this was in the time of Passover. God-fearing Jews went to the temple during Passover. This sounds like a Passover-Exodus story but there is no Moses. The Passover was a festival of national liberation from Egypt. There are feasts originally associated with the sacrifice of a sheep or a goat in the community and unleavened bread to be eaten usually from a barley harvest. Barley was the food of the poor and was needed for substenance. The slaying of the Passover lamb recalled God’s action in protecting the firstborn of the Israelites and the eating of manna recalled God’s nourishment of Israel in the wilderness regarded as bread from heaven. Here is Jesus, the Passover lamb the bread of heaven crossing the sea and on the mountain like Moses when he gave the law. The people did not go to the temple during Passover they came to God’s temple-Jesus-the one prophesied as the prophet who would come that was greater than Moses-fulfillment of all the promises of God-The messiah-God in the flesh.

This is similar to the story of Elisha who fed a hundred people with twenty barley loaves and there was leftovers. Here Jesus fed five thousand with five barley loafs and a couple of dried fish and there was left overs. When I mean left overs- I don’t mean Aunt Sally’s little container of left over cole slaw but an abundance. More leftovers than a Lutheran potluck or any church potluck.

In this story Jesus asks an obscure disciple a question. He asks Phillip who is not known to be a real close disciple like Matthew, Mark, John, or Peter. It says Jesus tested him with a question. Don’t confuse this with tempting but Jesus questions, challenges Phillip. See all these people coming? Where are we going to buy bread to feed them? God challenges us today in the Word as well. Are you listening? Phillip sees the crowd and responds like any rational person would. We don’t have enough money. We can’t pay for that. Sound familiar? Sometimes we just give up and say it can’t be done but with God all things are possible. Maybe we can’t do it but we can tell other people with the help of the Holy Spirit the love of Christ by sharing and finding solutions to their hunger and needs.

Simon Peter’s brother Andrew says, “Well, there’s this boy with only five barley leaves and two fish and just maybe we can give to some.” I can imagine all the others say that’s not enough- oh yeah right. However, Jesus told them to sit down. This was almost like the first Eucharist-holy communion. Jesus fed them. He gave them himself as he feeds us and gives us himself. Jesus took the loaf, gave thanks, then gave it all. They all ate, they were satisfied. There was more of enough. There were left overs-an abundance.

In our society abundance usually means a sign of inheritance or hard work or good luck but here it is a sign of God’s free gift-the miracle of God’s presence- Jesus is more than enough.

If you read on you realize not only does the disciples not get it but the crowd tried to make Jesus into a political celebrity king but he would have none of that. No TV show named after him. Well not yet. The disciples saw him walk on water and were afraid. They don’t get it and they don’t know what to do.

The scripture shows us the way we really are. The word of God is like a sword that cuts and reveals our inner thoughts and feelings. We are exposed, We are just like the disciples and the crowd. We don’t get it and we don’t know what to do with ourselves and what we have. Give it to God. You might not think its much like five barley loaves and two fish but Jesus will bless it and use whatever you have. God is calling you to bless others by what you have. This is the miracle.

Listen to the words of this prayer that spoke to me:

Jesus, all the people came to you

Hungry for your words of life

You took the little they had

Blessed their gifts

Multiplied them and fed the crowd.

They had more than their fill much and many were left over.

O Christ

Please take our small offerings

Bless them, multiply them, make them holy

Use us and the gifts you have give us to care for this needy world.

Amen

I'm a bleeding heart Lib-Lutheran-Christian

2009-07-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

What does your heart bleed?

Blogs

2009-07-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

The blogs to the right are better bloggers. Some are Artists, Writers, Pastors, Poets, and Musicians. I like blogs that make me think, ask questions, and also ones that remind me that I am dust among dust and we all share this human condition. We all depend on God for life and meaning.

Christianese-Lutheranese- Being fully human

2009-07-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

I was raised in a Christian subculture. There was Christian music, books, stores, directories, etc and we had our own lingo. We were in our own little group like the punks, the jocks, the hippies, the geeks-nerds, and the list goes on. Only we knew what the words mean. Those on the outside just looked confused and said, "Well, they are just Jesus freaks' or "religious'. They did not have a clue what words like "Born Again", "Salvation", "Baptism', or even what Jesus was really about. They just knew that they were not like us and could never be because we were too perfect, judgmental, and had our lives so perfect and clean or they knew what big fakes and hypocrites we really were. What if we admit that we were human like them and life was messy and uncertain?

I love talking about grace! It's a favorite Christian and Lutheran term but does my neighbor really knows what that means? Grace means God's unconditional love. Have you shown it to somebody today?

Contemporary Worship service?

2009-07-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Lutherans believe as long as the Word is preached(the gospel of Christ is proclaimed) and the sacraments are administered then it doesn't really matter if your service is Traditional or Contemporary. In other words, Organ and choir or a full Rockin band. However, make sure the music does not center on bad theology of Bless me music vs focus on the gospel(God's love in Christ for us-cross and redemption stuff. This is kind of hard with a lot of Contemporary worship or CCM stuff. I'm not the kind to throw the baby out with the bathwater though. It's called Adiaphora(things indifferent). Luther and the early Evangelicals(they were coined that first) saw nothing wrong with Altar crosses, vestments, crucifixes, (The Mass-the Eucharist-Holy Communion-Lord's Supper) and reciting the creeds, etc. He just wanted to reform the church so its focus would be on Christ and the gospel of good news(Unconditional grace for all). If something did not distract or take away from the gospel then it was okay. So this Pastor will be rockin' Saturday night at 5:30 pm at our "Come as you are ' Worship service. Our Sunday Traditional service at 10 am is come as you are as well. Some of the old timers just don't know it yet. Just don't expect a bad variety show with big hair, bad makeup and asking for donations.

Dechurched

2009-07-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

A lot of people in their 20's, 3o's and yes even my age in their 40's do not go to church. I don't blame them. Churches have been tied to bureaucracy, hypocrisy, legalism, and pettiness on non-essential matters. My non-church going believers think God has left the building and they have a point and my Atheists friends doubt God's existence over an institution run by God's followers which is in such disarray.

You might be thinking, "Hey! You are a pastor." "You are not supposed to say things like that."

Luthers theses on the difference of being a theologian of glory and a theologian of the cross is that a theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil but a theolgian of the cross calls what a thing is.

I'm calling what it is. The institution of the church, the community of believers have problems. However, if you are looking for the perfect church or group then you are not going to find one and if you think you and Jesus is enough then you are just fooling yourself. You need community. you need people who will pray and worship with you. Yes we are all sinners, we don't always get things right but neither do you. God is calling us together in Christ.

White Priviledged America wear their feelings on their sleeves while Black America has been struggling through blood, sweat, and tears for equality

2009-07-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

...and they are still fighting to prove themselves even after the election of the first Black President

Racism is sin. I believe it is "America's original sin." Reverse Racism? You got to be kidding me? Poor disfranchised white people. We really have it soooo bad. I wish someone would walk in our priviledged shoes-we have never been slaves, beaten, lynched, denied the right to vote(I'm talking males here), considered an animal and the list goes on.(I'm talking about as a race of people not individually)
Yes our current President is an over-achiever and trying to do too much. Some might make the racist comment that hes's being uppity. Hmmm. Maybe he's trying to prove himself to a priviledged race that doubts that anyone who is of another race can lead us.

The election of the first Black President has exposed us for who we really are. We don't like the racism of our past exposed and this event has not only exposed the racism of our past but the anger, hate and racism of the present.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not idolizing Obama. He is far from perfect and I do not agree with him on every issue. However, he shows us the strength and power of a race of people who have been hated and despised similar to the Jews. He has the chutzpah to stand up to the priviledged!

I know racism. I was born in Louisiana. I've seen it and how it separates, categories, labels and divides a group of people who were loved before the foundation of the world by a Savior who came to save us from our sins and bring us all together as one.

Why did I become a Lutheran?

2009-07-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

First, a little background. I was raised Southern Baptist. Believe it or not I have some great memories and then not too many good memories(church splits, fundamentalism, End times obsession, God and Country morphed into one, legalism, Judgmentalism, etc etc.
There are some good Christians who are Baptist. My Dad who was a saint. He loved God, knew his Bible and cared for people and some of my good friends are still Baptists. My Mom is a great example who raised me in a good Christian home. She was actually raised in the Church of God(Anderson, Indiana) and now attends the United Methodist Church.
I was Charismatic for a while. The Charismatic movement was big in the 80's and it hit all churches. The worship was lively and similar to the soul of going to an African American church except the theology in some circles got as kooky as Scientology. You follow a Messiah who gives you health, wealth, and emotional goosebumps instead of following a suffering Savior who died for your sins and rose to give you a new life. There was too much emphasis on the gift of tongues instead of the gospel and every pastor was a celebrity and healer instead of the Great Physician who came to give us life and more abundantly. However, There was great music, passion and I'm sure that God's presence was felt but many in the movement follow a theology of glory chasing after holy laughter, Tv evangelist clowns, and manipultive pastors who build their churches on control and fear.
I was a five-point calvinist once. I had all my theological ducks in a row. I had God in a box and I tried to fit everyone else in it. This box is for the elect who believe God chooses them and this other box is for those who don't believe like us so they are the non-elect. God is in control for sure but according to my theology. I still believe in predestination because its biblical but I also believe that Christ died for everyone in the world and is willing that no one perishes because it is biblical. My TULIP died and I was no longer Calvinist. Predestination is a mystery. All I know is that God loves me, sent his Son to die for the whole world which includes me and rose again to give our lives more meaning.
Why Lutheran? I was told. Why Christian? Some ask me. Yeah I'm tired of labels and all the divisions in Christianity but if I would just join a non-denominational group then it would be just another denomination for me(a further split) and I like the concept of house church and just being called follower of Jesus but wouldn't that be just another split from a split? Do we need more groups and movements?
Because I'm a history lover and love Church history in particular I thought what about the Roman Catholics? If you really are a history major then its there but theres the bit about indulgences for sale, infallible pope, inquisitions, celibate priests and even though I highly respect Mary I just can't pray to her. I know Catholics don't really worship Mary. They ask her and the saints to intercede for them. Protestants de-value the saints too much but there is only one mediator between us and God and its Jesus.
The Eastern Greek Orthodox Church broke away then what about them? They do have history on their side but I see a little more law than grace. Yes it's the grace thing. The gospel of Christ that really saves you. God's unconditional love regardless shown in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Luther never claimed to be infallible. He was a mess. He was mad at God as a priest. He feared God because all he saw was a God pointing at him in judgment. He receieved the gospel of good news when he read in the Book of Romans that righteouness was a gift from God and not something he had to work for. God's gift freely given and Luther did not have do a thing.
Luther was still a mess. He knew that he was accepted by God but Luther did not always practice what he preached. Man, he was angry at the othe Reformers who did not believe exactly the way he believed on Communion and baptism and then he got angry with the Jews because they did not convert. What happened to Grace? God still loved him so and he had it right about many things when he stayed focused on the gospel.

We are all a mess but God still loves us wherever we are or who we call ourselves. I became a Lutheran because of the emphasis on grace and for historical reasons that as far as I can go but that does not mean that I don't worship with other Christians and I will not turn anyone away whatever you call yourself because what would Jesus do?

Why Lutheran in the middle?

2009-07-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is my third or fourth attempt at a blog.
Why call this blog-Lutheran in the middle? Well, Lutherans are somewhat of an oddity in the United States especially in the South where I was born. Are you Catholic? One of those high church Episcopalians? Are you a cross between a Methodist and Presbyterian? Then there's the reaction from my Baptist or Evangelical brothers and sisters-Are you saved? Born Again? and the Pentecostals and Charismatics asking me if I speak in tongues or believe in the Holy Spirit. Finally, there's the non-believers and atheists that wonder if I'm part of the Religious Right or one of those people that knock on doors with religious material either the Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses. What are we? Well we are Christians and we have a lot in common with Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, congregationals, and yes even the Baptists, non-denominationals,Pentecostals and Charismatics. More so with the former than the latter but it is Jesus who is the one who unites us as one.
A Lutheran in the middle. In the middle of the Evangelical sub-culture and the politics of Right and Left. In the middle of the theologies of glory which tries to keep our eyes off of the gospel of Christ(theology of the Cross) and on self.
I'm just a follower of Christ who thinks Luther got it right when he pointed to the scripture and says that it points to Christ. Lutherans don't always get it right but when we stay focus on the gospel then God makes it right.