Day Two of Conference

Day two of my conference in the books. It was a good day. We met only in the morning and had the afternoon off. There were some fun things planned, but I came back to the hotel and worked on French. Had a good dinner followed by Evening Prayer and good fellowship time afterward.

Today is the final half day. I will be leading a discussion on Private Absolution again this morning and am interested to see where the brothers want to take the discussion. If they don't, I'll talk about a recent book that is pushing for the return of "conditional absolution." I don't agree with him, but sympathize with where he coming from and why he has taken this direction. One question that arises from his book is: How normative is history? Just because our Lutheran forebears did something, does that make it "Lutheran?" Even more important, does that make it good?

After lunch, I drive back to Philly to have dinner with my Dad before heading home. Hopefully the drive will be easy. I've enjoyed my time here with the brothers, but it will be good to get home.

Father, fathers, and more

Well, I'm in northern Pennsylvania attending my circuit pastoral conference. I'm glad to be here. I've haven't been able to come much the past number of years due to my school class schedule. But now that I've completed my classwork, I can adjust a bit and start attending. It is good to be back with the brothers again. (They are the "fathers" in my title. There are some 12 of us here. A couple couldn't make it.) I led a discussion yesterday on "Luther and the Sacramentality of Absolution." It went well. Lots of good thoughts. Tomorrow I'll be up again and we'll talk about the more practical and pastoral issues dealing with private absolution. My only complaint is the driving. The traffic jam yesterday trying to get up here was terrific - and to add insult to injury, there was absolutely NO work being done in the lane closed in the "work area!" Then, after our time together yesterday it was a rather long drive to the hotel - which is closer to the church we'll be at today, but I was kinda tired last night.

The "father" in the title above is my father, who I spent Sunday night with on my way to the conference. He is becoming much more forgetful and lacking ambition. So I think we'll have to step up efforts to move him closer and give him more help and oversight. So sounds like it will be a busy time coming up and a busy summer doing that.

What's the "more?" Well, all the stuff that's been happening since I last posted, which has been some two weeks. Lots happening, just haven't been motivated to write and post.

+ I'm moving forward on my comprehensive exam bibliographies. I have one completed and ready for signature, one almost done, and one still in progress. Hopefully soon. Then I just have to read it all and be ready for my exams in the fall!

+ The Walk-Run-Ride for Life on Saturday was, well, interesting. Why? Well, the ride itself went fine. But getting there . . . I left my house keys on the roof of the car. On the drive there, I heard something hit the side of the car, but it didn't enter my mind what it was until we were farther done the road. So, since they fell off close to home, I called my wife and had her go out and look for them so I wouldn't have to backtrack and be late. Thankfully, she found them. A little bent, but still in tact!

Well, that's must be it for now. Time to shower and get ready for the day.

Warming a Pastor's Heart

So we're all packed and almost ready to leave Higher Things, when a young lady who attended one of my breakout sessions on Private Absolution came up to me and told me that it was her favorite session of all that she went to, appreciated it greatly, and - here's the good part - that she went to Private Absolution for the first time that night! :-) Awesome.

Private Absolution

Kudos to my District President for making Private Absolution available at the Convention before the opening Divine Service on Monday night. I took advantage of this opportunity (and really needed it!), and then was privileged to serve as a Father Confessor for my fellow pastors and laity in attendance. What a blessing this is! To hear the absolution applied to me individually. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity when they can, and if your pastor does not offer it - demand it! (Don't worry - he will be delighted at your demand.)

The only drawback at the Convention was the logistics. The chapel where we met the first day and for the opening Divine Service did not have a very good place for this. We found two rooms, but access to them was in the front of the chapel. While this didn't bother me, it may have inhibited others. In the future, I hope we will continue this practice at all District functions and I hope we will have better locations, that we may better encourage others to take advantage of this.

Truth

In the liturgy for Private Absolution, the line that always gets me is this one: "I have lived as if God did not matter and as if I mattered most." I almost don't need to say anything else. This seems to sum it all up. All the rest of the confessional liturgy and my own confession of sins is simply an elaboration on this one statement - although it is good that I examine myself and confess my sins specifically. But there, in that one line, is a summary of both tables of the Law and the heart of the matter: I do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and my wrong fear, wrong love, and wrong trust cause me to be and do what I should not.

As much as I hate to acknowledge that, how good it is to do so, and to receive the unlimited grace and forgiveness of my Saviour. And I look up at the cross and see how that statement is true not only of me, but also of my crucified Lord - who lived as if being God did not matter (Philippians 2:6) and was hanging there for me, because I mattered most to Him. And so in Him, everything is changed. In Him, I am restored and forgiven. In Him, I rise off my knees in the resurrection of forgiveness from the death of my sins, to live a new life. How great is that?