Truth!

I haven't posted much lately. Been catching up on things after the end of school - things both of home and church. But I saw this on another blog and thought it an excellent comment. It is from a Roman Catholic blogger (Fr. Z), so for your church, just replace the word "priest" with "pastor" and it works just as well.

Do you want to know what true clericalism is?

The worst manifestation of clericalism is when priests “clericalize” the laity. That is nothing less than a signal that the priest doesn’t think lay people have their own dignity as lay people. In order to “be something” or “participate”, lay people have to do what priests do. Priests think they they make lay people a little better, because they have made them more like themselves.

Vile.

Boo-rah! All the baptized have their own vocations to live in that are important and valuable and where God wants them to be His representatives. As I tell my Bible classes, this world would be a terrible place if everyone was a pastor - terrible! For who would run the country, who would sell the goods that we need, who would manufacture, etc. All these are important. Let us help all people see how they serve God in their callings, where they are, and come to the Divine Service on Sunday to receive the gifts of God they need.

A Flood of Posts!

I posted a bunch of things today . . . finally getting around to it!

My post on "Virgins Again!" was picked as a "Blog of the Week" by Issues, etc. Thanks Jeff! Very cool.

Also wanted to point out a new blog for your consideration, from our Synodical President and his staff. Click here to check it out.

Where ya' been?

I was asked the other day why my blogging has begun to crawl. The short answer is: my blog is at the bottom of my priority list. When I get busy, the blog gets put off. And I've been *very* busy, between a new semester at school with two very demanding courses, trying to do lots of Latin translating in preparation for my competency exam on October 12th, lots of pastoral visits and stuff at church, our campus ministry ramping up again, and family obligations. Nights have been late, mornings early, and sleep in short supply. So . . . I'll try to blog a bit more, but no guarantees!

Change and Updates

I've updated my blog a little and changed the look. I've seen others use this template and I thought it looked nice. I've also fixed some broken links and added some new blogs to consider. Hopefully I'll keep up with this part of blogging a bit better. Enjoy!

Comment Moderation ON

I am sorry to have to do it, but I have turned comment moderation on for this blog. For a while now, I have been having trouble with spam comments that I have to go in and delete (bunches of chinese characters). That's why if you look back at some posts, you'll keep seeing comments that have been deleted. I would like to contact Google/Blogger about this, but they do not provide for feedback - at least, that I could find. So, until they stop, I'll moderate.

A Good Post on Pentecost

Greg Alms has a good little post on Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Go read it here.