Happy 90th Birthday!

Monday was Grandpa Peasant's 90th birthday. He really didn't need many presents, so we decided to thrown him a fancy dinner party on Saturday night with some other "mature" members of our church. I am happy to report a good time was had by all. Here are some pictures:

First, here is the menu.

The birthday boy with honored guests.

Carving the Prime Rib.

The birthday boy with his cheesecake and "90" candles.

With the servers and cooks.

Time for the Walk-Run-Ride for Life Again!

Saint Athanasius will again have a team participating in the Assist Pregnancy Center's Walk-Run-Ride for Life, to raise money for the important work of saving babies and helping mothers in crisis. Help us raise money for them! Sponsor us! Click here to go to my fundraising page. Then scroll down a little and click on the "My Team" tab to see the whole Athanasian team, then sponsor either me or any or ALL of our participants. Thanks in advance for your help. The past few years our team has placed third in fund raising - let's see if we can do better this year. (Is that a theology of glory? Maybe, but it's for a good cause :-)

Ash Wednesday Surprise

Imagine arriving for the Divine Service on Ash Wednesday and finding . . .

. . . part of the chancel gone

. . . new carpeting cut and lying loosely about

. . . new lighting being installed

. . . construction stuff lying around

. . . dust and dirt everywhere

. . . and a workman who upon questioning says: "Oh, didn't they call you?"

AAHHHHHHHH! NO THEY DIDN'T!

And people wonder why I have gray hair.

Yes, this is the one of the joys of not having our own building to meet in. The Adventists from whom we rent space decided to renovate their church and did not tell us.

Now, you might be asking, don't you have a contract? Yes, yes we do. It says we pay a certain amount on money for use of the building on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. And yes, last night was Wednesday evening. Our night. We pay for it. Why were they there? Why did they even think they could be there, tear the place apart, and just give us a phone call the day before and we could just up and move our service? Why?



(crickets)



Sadly, this is not even the first time they've done this to us. If we had another location we could rent for anywhere near the same price (which still isn't cheap, but everything else in this area is really expensive!) we'd move. But for now, we're kind of stuck.

So we have to suck it up.

But it would be so nice . . . so nice to just be able to go to church on a Sunday morning or a midweek service and not have to set everything up, and not have to wonder: what surprises await us today?

Sigh.

Fortunately, we arrived early enough to make do, clean up, and set up for church. It was hectic and tight for time, but we did it. And the workman was very nice and helped us as well.

But this is where God has put me, to preach to these people and give them His gifts. To labor under this burden of church-homelessness. So here I stay. And the people are wonderful! I wouldn't trade them for the world. Just wish we could afford our own place.

Someday. Maybe. Someday.

Petition Thrivent

I do not hold out much hope for Thrivent anymore. Ever since AAL and Lutheran Brotherhood merged I believe the organization has been in a steady downhill slide, accelerated now by the removal of Lutheran from its name and mission and recent revelations of its funding of abortion providers. But it won't stop there - funding for other charities that conflict with our Lutheran Confession will likely follow.

However, a petition has been started to ask Thrivent to establish policies that disallow pro-abortion groups from receiving funding and to allow pro-life groups to continue to receiving funds. CLICK HERE to view the petition and sign it. And help us spread the word to get many more signatures and let Thrivent know that we are not happy with their policies and direction.

Catching Up, Snow, and . . . Really?

Well, as the title says: Catching up. No, not on my work! That will never happen. By here on the ol' blog with what's been going on . . .

Last week and a half were pretty busy. A couple of deaths, and then a funeral, a memorial service, and an interment in three different states kept me hopping! But it is so great to preach the Gospel at such times, and focus so clearly on Christ's victory for us over what defeats us. "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Next, it is snowing again today. Pretty much everything is closed or cancelled today. So a day to watch the beauty of the snow falling out the window, and to watch the birds coming to our feeder to eat and our bird bath to drink. They're fun to watch.

And finally, in the "What were they thinking" department . . . my mother-in-law got my daughter (8 years old) a "Bible Word Search" puzzle book for Christmas. She got it out over the weekend and starting doing some. And then we found this page:

Really? Do we really need such a page in a kids word search book?

A Open Letter on the Term "Homophobia"

Can we please stop labelling everyone who disagrees with homosexuality and who does not accept, embrace, and encourage it as “homophobic?” Just because someone has convictions against something or does not believe in something does not make them “phobic.” I happen also to think abortion is wrong, but that does not make me “abortiophobic.” I don’t believe in unicorns, but that does not make me “unicornphobic.” But you know what? I can still be friends with people who have had abortions and believe in unicorns!

Didn't we used to be a people that could disagree about things and discuss them civilly? But that no longer seems to be the case. I believe something, you believe something different. You can disagree with me. That’s fine. Why vilify one another? Why not discuss it? Have a conversation about it? Instead, the label “homophobic” is slapped on. All that does is shut down and avoid any dialogue that could happen. It is a way of saying “I’m right and you’re wrong. I’m not afraid and you are. Case closed. Change!”

Are there some people who are really, in the true meaning of the word, homophobic? I’m sure there are. But most of us aren’t. We just believe something differently than you. So can we please stop the castigating of anyone who says anything you happen to disagree with?

Snow! and Happy Birthday

Last week we got some more snow, I think almost a foot. I like living in a place where there are four season and having snow in the wintertime. Though I must say that I was very grateful for my son who helped me shovel out! The snow was pretty wet and heavy, but we got it all done, and then had time to build a snowman, who turned out pretty good, I think!

We also built a snowdog (a snowman's best friend!), and if you look closely you can see him just a little in front of his snowmaster.  :-)

In other news, today is my daughter Sarah's birthday. She turns 16 today! So Happy Birthday! I'm proud of you and love you very much.

More news: I already reported that my son had been accepted into one college - last week he received another acceptance letter, from Old Dominion in Norfolk, VA. So he's two-for-two so far! Now we're waiting to hear from the other three schools he applied to, and then we'll try to figure out how to pay for it!

And finally, I received a phone call this week from a long lost friend, the Very Rev. Gerald Sudick, the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church across the street from me when I was in New York. He finally retired and moved down close to me. So one day soon we will get together, enjoy a bottle of wine, and talk about old times.