A Great Day

A great day yesterday . . . the Feast of Pentecost with a full Divine Service with processions and incense . . . a narrative sermon which I think turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself!) . . . some visitors that added to our joy . . . welcoming back Grace, who interned in our area last summer and now has a full time job here . . . the wedding of Elizabeth and Rich in the afternoon - not even the severe thunderstorm at the end of the service could remove the smiles from faces . . . and then a wonderful reception with a wonderful family. It made for a long day (which I wouldn't want to do every week!), but a great day. What blessings God continues to show upon us!

A New Twist to Speaking in a New Tongue

From Starck's Prayer Book (p. 101) on Pentecost:

"O precious Holy Spirit, when You have thus worked in me, when You have proved Your power in my weakness, let me also, like the messengers of Jesus after You rested on them, speak with new tongues, so that everyone may hear that the old, sinful, unseemly words (which are so unbecoming of Christians) have now been removed far from my lips. Let all who come to know me see that I have become a different human being, and let everyone perceive that it is all due to You, O Spirit, dwelling in me."

The new language of the new creation? The Gospel.

Last Week's TDP

I'm a bit late writing about this, but two things in the readings from the Treasury of Daily Prayer last week struck me . . .

#1: The writing for Tuesday (p. 294-95) was taken from one of JS Bach's cantatas, about Jesus' Parable of the Dishonest Manager. It is quite a good sermon. It begins: "Make a reckoning! Thunderous word, which even rocky cliffs split open, word by which my blood grows frigid!" He then continues with the preaching of the Law, that we have not been faithful in our stewardship. Therefore, what shall we do when this thunderous word be spoken to us? Yikes!

Ah, but then the sweet Gospel! "But yet, O frightened heart, live and despair thou not! . . . Behold thy guarantor, He hath all debts for thee released! . . . The lamb's own blood, O love most mighty! Hath all thy debts now canceled and thee with God hath settled."

I hope I remember this is here when I next have opportunity to preach on this parable, and use this as a template for my own sermon!

#2: On Friday, the Old Testament reading from Number 12, in speaking of Aaron and Miriam's rebellion, said: "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the people who were on the face of the earth."

If anyone had reason not to be meek, it was Moses! The Burning Bush, leading the people out of Egypt, the signs and wonders done before Pharaoh, dividing the Red Sea, going up into Mt. Sinai - twice, speaking with God face-to-face in the Tent of Meeting. And yet Moses was the meekest man on earth! I think that is stunning. And yet, it makes sense. The closer one is to God, the more one knows his or her own sin, the meeker we must be. How could it be otherwise? Yet meekness is not weakness, but confidence - not in self, but in God. God who will protect, who will provide, who will save. Yet another way in which Moses is a type of Christ.

Memorial Day

Thank you.

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.

Another Semester in the Books

Well, today wrapped up my fourth semester of grad school. Normally that would mark the end of the classwork, but since I am only part time, I have another year+ to go. I am learning a lot and getting a lot better with my languages, which is a good thing. My task this summer is to learn how to read French so I can the proficiency exam in the Fall. Hopefully I can get into a routine and stick to it!

I am looking forward to doing some reading I want to do this summer, instead of school reading. I always have so much of that, its hard to fit in other stuff. But, as usual, this summer will fly by, so I probably won't get as much done as I hope to. In addition to French and reading, I want to translate an article I found in Latin, work on some Advent and Lenten series, put together a booklet explaining what we do in the liturgy, and add a bunch of stuff to our church web site. Already have a couple of weddings coming up, Vacation Bible School, and our family vacation! I'll have to post an update in late August and let you know how I did . . . :-)

For now, I'm just enjoying classes being done! Tonight I'm going to get a beer and watch my Phillies pummel the Nationals again. Roy Halladay is pitching - he's always fun to watch.

Osama Bin Laden

Woke up slowly this morning and watched the morning news programming of Osama Bin Laden's death. To be quite honest, I have mixed feelings about everything, which is, I think, perhaps, as it should be.

In my vocation as an American citizen, I am glad that justice has been served and this man is no longer a threat to our country and to the world. I was a pastor just about 2 miles from NYC on 9/11 and remember what the days, weeks, and months were like after that day. It was not an easy time. I am proud of our military, intelligence people, and presidents (yes, both Obama and Bush) for carrying this out and getting it done. Thank you. You have done your jobs well.

In my vocation as a Christian, I am sad that a man has been lost for eternity. I am also a little uncomfortable with the jubilation over death. I understand it and I am not condemning it. I'm just a little uncomfortable with it. One of the best comments I read about that was from Catholic blogger, Father Z, who wrote:

I can understand the urge to celebrate that a paragraph of a chapter of US history has been brought to an end. I would rather see Americans welcome this news with a quiet nod of the head than with squealing in the streets. It seems to me that his death isn’t something to strut about as if it were a gold medal win at the Olympics.