I started a new blog for our congregation. The desire is that it will become a place for my members and others to go for information, to ask questions and find answers. I may cross post from time to time. But if you’re interested, stop by and give it a gander. Make some suggestions. Ask questions. We’ll see if it takes off at all.
Oh, by the way, it’s called The Shepherd’s Staff and is located at www.shlcfayettemo.com. See you there!
I have always been a fan of house. Now Wilson’s getting into the act. Well, he has been for quite some time, but this one I just loved. Quite frankly I’ve never seen the attraction to people like this. I’ve always equated them with the WWF. It might look cool, but how gullible do you have to be?
Let’s see, it’s a post from July and I’m just now reading it??? I’ve got to start doing a better job of posting.
http://housemdiv.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-faith-healers-suck.html
Perhaps I should repent for such crude language, but my vocabulary leaves me when I see articles about faith healers.
When asked to present evidence of the healings, (Todd) Bentley promised to give "Nightline" the names and medical records of three followers who would talk openly about his miracles. He never delivered. Instead, his staff gave "Nightline" a binder filled with what he says are inspiring miracles, but with scant hard evidence. It offered incomplete contact information, a few pages of incomplete medical records, and the doctors’ names were crossed out.
The saddest thing about our poorly catechized populace’s desire for temporal miracles is that these kind of miracles are not the greatest thing Christ has done for us.
And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he then said to the paralytic—"Rise, pick up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. – Matthew 9:4-7Never mind that the "miracles" Bentley offers don’t even work. To dust our bodies will return, so why seek to fix your body at the expense of your soul?
We are all broken. Sinful. Undeserving of eternal life. The forgiveness of our sins by the death of Christ is much more valuable that fixing what ails us, no matter how much we suffer right now. Our suffering is temporary, a blink compared to the time we will spend with our Father in heaven.
Our pain and our sin has been borne on the cross. At the last day the dead will be raised, incorruptible. Our ailments will be gone. God will have no part of imperfection, and we will be perfect, clothed in righteousness. That’s something Bentley could never offer.
Father Hollywood hits the nail on the head in this post as he talks about the Office of the Holy Ministry. Here's what he has to say in part:
I've run into this problem from time to time, both within the LCMS and from without. I've really run into it now that I'm a worker/priest. Too often my Call at SHLC is viewed as "another one of your jobs" as if it was on par with what I do the rest of the week.
Read what Father Hollywood has to say. He says it much better than I do.
I haven't posted on this blog very often. With everything that's been going on, I've opted to spend more time with the other things in life. But now things are beginning to slow down, so I'll try and post a bit more often.
So what's been going on? Well, not much, and quite a bit. The kids are all continue to shoot up. Josh is approaching 6', but still is barely over 120 lbs. He just finished his third year in cross country lettering for the third time as well. When you watch him running, it seems that he's so much smaller than those he competes against. His track coach still has high hopes for him saying that Josh won't really be grown into his body until he's in college. I'm quite proud of the way he fights through the wind and the hills and his continued improvement. Now he's starting basketball and hopes to get some play time on varsity this year.
Rachel seems to be topping off at 5'8". She just finished softball with the second highest batting average on the team (she got beat out by 0.003 for first). She has improved greatly over her previous year and is doing quite well. This year you can tell that she is much stronger, especially after her back surgery almost two years ago now. She has also started basketball which continues to be her favorite sport.
Zach just finished his first year of middle school football. He was the quarterback and did quite well. The varsity coach was quite impressed with his arm and how he handles himself under pressure. Carolyn doesn't handle herself quite as well when he's under pressure, but his team was fun to watch this year. They ended up 4-2 for the season with one of the defeats going to a team who's seventh grade is bigger than Zach's whole school. Zach has also begun basketball practice. There's 23 or so kids who went out for the team this year and Zach will be part of the team that goes to all the games.
Becca is now taller than Zach (much to his chagrin). She played some softball this summer and has also started playing basketball. (Can you tell that we'll be running all over the place again this winter?) She's looking forward to being able to play sports for the school next year where she wants to play volleyball as well as basketball.
Carolyn and I continue with our current employment. She's been at ABC Labs in Columbia for a bit over a year now. She's been quite busy, putting in quite a few hours making deadlines, but she enjoys the work and the people she's associate with. I've been with Central Technology Services for over a year as well and continue to enjoy my work as well. I'm also still pastoring the good people at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Fayette, Missouri part time.
Well, that's what's been going on. As you can see, we're usually quite busy, but that keeps us out of most trouble. 
This morning, before I headed out to prepare for the church, I was looking around at various blogs. One thing that I noticed on the side of several of the blogs was an advertisement for the Wittenberg Trail. I can’t tell you a whole lot about it at this point, but I’m running into names that I haven’t seen a quite a while. The first comment I received on my Home Page was from Ste Emily. I fondly remember “conversations” I had with her when I was a young, um, er, new pastor. I learned much from her and have missed the conversations we have had. I’m looking forward to touching base with many old friends.
It seems that something is afoot at the Synod once again. If you go here you can view a financial report from KFUO for both the AM and FM bands. It looks like someone has been cooking the books to justify the removal of Issues, Etc.
I was saddened to hear that the Synod, in it’s infinite wisdom, decided that "Issues, Etc." would be removed from the broadcast waves. It is not around here, so I tended to listen to the podcasts. I’ll miss the banter and solid theology that was promoted there. If you want to hear what the Wall Street Journal has to say about it, go here.
UPDATE: I wrote this last night, but had Internet problems.
Today has been a pretty good day, as far as Saturdays go around here. I was able to sleep in (woke up around 7:45) and took Zachary to breakfast at Bob Evans. Once a month I take one of the kids out for breakfast for a little one-on-one. We had a nice chat and he caught me up on all the things that are going on with his friends, teachers, school and the like.
This afternoon, Josh and I went to the Missouri vs. Kansas State game. It was going to be an ugly game. Two of our starters are (probably) out for the season. One for getting his face broken in a fight earlier this week (literally…He’s gone for four to six weeks). The other was arrested last night (I don’t know for what). The first half was what we were expecting. Mizzou had moments when they would get within a couple, but by halftime, they were down double digits. Then they started a comeback. Slow at first, but good solid defense won the day, and they ended up winning in the final seconds of the game.
After that I came home and decided to get started on the taxes. I don’t know if it happens to you, but as soon as I load up the program, everyone needs something right now. It can’t possibly wait until tomorrow. You see, I get a bit edgy when I’m working on finances and the like. I start to get short with the kids and with Carolyn. What has been a good day quickly took a turn for the worse.
We’ve been studying confession and absolution in Bible study lately. It’s a topic that everyone “knows all about,” but yet seem to never want to take advantage of. “I can go straight to God for forgiveness.” “It’s between me and God.” I’ve said it myself before, and know how hard it can be to confess my sins out loud.
Tomorrow we’ll hear the words of absolution from the pastor, as from God Himself. We’ll here the proclamation of the Gospel in the sermon. We’ll receive the very body and blood of Christ, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. These are all ways that we hear, feel and taste the love of God for us. But I also need to hear that forgiveness directed individually to me. Just as I need to hear Carolyn tell me that she loves me, I need to hear it from God Himself through His pastor.
I think I’ll give my CC a call. It’s been far too long.
Yesterday my oldest son turned 16. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long ago since I was a first-year seminary student trying to wrap my head around Hebrew. I can still remember him in his little airplane hanging from the doorway bouncing up and down for hours. Now he’s thinking he’s going to get a set of car keys (like that’s going to happen!).
Joshua has turned out to be a fine young man. He’s a sophomore now who is quite busy with athletics. He lettered in Cross Country for the second year in a row and is now playing JV Basketball. On top of that, he’s in the top five of his class in grades. Going to parent-teacher conferences is a joy as we get to hear all the good things his teachers and coaches have to say about him. Indeed, we have truly been blessed.
Happy birthday Josh! We love you.
