March for Life 2018

Not as many folks I knew at the March this year. And it was a bit more chaotic at the beginning than usual. But the weather was better than usual and we eventually caught up with the main group, so all is good. If you went, I'm glad you did! If you did not, plan to come next year. If you're not from around DC and need assistance, just let me know. :-)

A couple of pictures . . .

The "green hats" on the move!

The LCMS at the Supreme Court.

Society of Saint Athanasius

Our first year seminarian and his wife, our fourth year seminarian and his wife, and our future seminarian and his wife?

Picture taken at. Rev. Dr. Arthur Just's home in Ft. Wayne, during a reception he hosted for those attending the symposia at the seminary this week. How neat to see them all together!

And if you want to know more about the Society of Saint Athanasius (SSA), click here and flip to page 28. Basically the SSA are pastors and congregations that pledge to support their seminary students and get them through seminary debt free. These seminarians then do the same for their seminarians, and on and on. I'll be happy to tell you more if you contact me. :-)

Just wish I was there enjoying the week with them . . .

Crazy Weather

OK, so how crazy is the weather in the DC area? Well, if you scroll down this blog, you'll see a screenshot of my phone which shows the temperature on Sunday, January 7th as 0 degrees. 0, as in zero, nada, zip, goose egg, no degrees at all, not even one.

Today? A mere five days later? Guess what the temperature is?

Crazy. Just crazy.

And tomorrow we'll be back down to freezing again.

[Sound of head shaking . . .]

Good Quote

"The word of Christ is the testament, the elements the sacrament."

Kenneth Hagen, "From Testament to Covenant in the Early Sixteenth Century" 

in The Word Does Everything (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2016), 84.

"It may well signify, however, that just as this pledge of the promise of Christ is elevated in order that the people may thereby be inspired to faith, so the Word should be preached publicly to the people in order that everyone may hear the testament and see the pledge, and through both be attracted and aroused to faith and strengthened in it."

Martin Luther, "The Misuse of the Mass (1521)" in Luther's Works, Vol. 36: Word and Sacrament II

(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959), 183.

Monday Morning Coffee

Well, time for an update . . .

Now that the Christmas season is past and Epiphany is upon us, time to reflect a little . . .  It seems like Christmas went by so fast this year. Maybe that's because we really didn't have a 4th week of Advent, but just a couple of hours! It was a good Christmas, though, and nice having the family together and in church together. I know that as my children keep growing and getting older, those times will start getting less frequent.

My father has been staying healthy of late. That's good! We had a nice little Christmas celebration with him on Christmas night. He couldn't open his presents by himself this year - needed help. But he appreciated having us all there for a little while. Then after Christmas we started decorating the white board we have in his room (which we update every day with the day and date, so he'll know) with pictures of the 12 Days of Christmas. Here's the final result:

What do you think? :-) Some of the artwork is mine, some my wife's, and some my sister's. We got a little inventive at times! But it was fun.

We've also had quite the cold snap here in Northern Virginia. Normally our temperatures here are like a roller coaster, but the past couple of weeks has just been cold. Here is a screen shot from my phone yesterday:

Yup, ZERO degrees. Now, I'm not sure it was really quite that cold where I was - it didn't feel like zero. And while I know that for you guys in Minnesota and Chicago and the like, this isn't that big a deal, it IS here in NoVA.

In other news, we got the good news that the permits have been received for the repairs on our church building and work should begin imminently. So if they don't take too long, we might be able to get back in soon! That would be great.

Finally, some pictures from Christmastime . . .

With Mrs. Peasant at "Zoo Lights" at the National Zoo. My daughter's chorus sang there that night. If we look cold, it's because we are!

Our tree this year.

My girls.

Family Photo after Divine Service on Christmas Day.