Happy Birthday!

My littlest is three years old today! The time has surely flown by. She has truly been a blessing from God to me and my family. Te Deum Laudamus! (My Latin teacher will be happy with that!)

Why?

I find it somewhat ironic that for the Festival of the Reformation, there is no reading assigned from the Old Testament - this is replaced by a reading from Revelation 14. That is fine, but what would Luther, good Old Testament scholar that he was, say about that?

Things that make you go hmmmmm . . . 

Yes!

I haven't blogged in a bit - my brain has been void of thoughts and I've been busy and tired with all sorts of things, including learning Latin. But I had to put a word in this morning for my Phillies! R.I.P. Dodgers, Torre, and Manny. And if our pitching holds up, I like our chances in the Series. 

Dentist Shortage

I went to the dentist today. We always talk a lot, and he was telling me about a seminar he went to where they were told of a looming dentist shortage - too many dentists retiring or leaving because of injury (lots of repetitive stress injuries), and not enough new dentists to fill the void.

Hmmm. This sounds to me exactly like what we are being told about pastors. Many are retiring or leaving because of abuse or burnout. An interesting commonality that deserves more thought.

My dentist went on to say that what is beginning to happen is that those who are not fully trained as dentists are beginning to do some of the work - like "cleaning clinics" and "denturists" to simply clean our teeth and make dentures. But, he said, while these may do fine at cleaning and making dentures, these folks are not trained to see and treat many other problems that a dentist is, like mouth cancer. There is a great danger looming here, he said.

Hmmm. This sounds to me exactly like what we are beginning to do with pastors. Those who are less than fully trained are beginning to do some of the work - but what is the great danger looming here for the church? Are the classes and training these folks are missing not really important (why do fully trained pastors have to take them then?), or could a "cancer of false doctrine" begin growing in the spiritual lives of people and churches that these good-intentioned-but-not-fully-trained folks are not trained to understand?

So, my dentist then said, the government is probably going to try to encourage and help folks to become dentists, probably by tax breaks or credits.

Hmmm. Here's where the similarity ends, for what is the LCMS doing? The funding for our seminaries and student aid is not being increased (the seminaries have received very little to no funds from the synod for a while now) to help folks become pastors. Instead they are touting and encouraging the "lesser training route." My dentist can see the great danger looming. Do we?

Cool Tool

You may have seen ultrasound pictures of babies in the womb. They usually look grainy and shadowy and hard to see. A few years ago, 4D ultrasound technology came out, which shows the baby much more clearly. Now, GE has posted these pictures on the web so that you can see the development of a baby from 6 weeks on. There is also information there about what develops when. There is a lot of evidence that education of women considering abortion prevents many abortions. Perhaps this can be a good tool for us to use in the fight for life - to show that yes, this little life in you is a real baby.

HT: World Magazine

How?

How do I fall behind so far, so fast?

To Mercy or not to Mercy, That is the Question

Rev. Matt Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care, has started a blog. Check it for good quotes and stories of relief that is being done around the world. Matt is a big proponent of the role of showing mercy in the pastoral office. I do not disagree.

However, I have found it is not as simple as that. For the line of those who would take advantage of mercy is long and filled with all sorts of people. How does a pastor decide who to help with the limited resources we have? Are some needs greater than others? More important? Is it first come, first served, and when the money runs out, that's it? How do we know when a shyster is asking for what he does not really need? I wrestle with these questions a lot. I want to help folks who ask for help, but I find myself growing more cynical - especially when I am taken advantage of. Often times when I help one person, word spreads quickly and I get a bunch of phone calls at once, making me suspicious whether these folks really need help or not.

It happened again last week. I believed someone who said they needed help, but I have come to the conclusion that I was suckered. Do I stop helping people? No, I cannot do that. Am I angry? Probably a little. Those funds could have helped someone who really needed help. But I find myself praying that this person - though I believe he was dishonest with me - needed this money and that God will use this for good somehow.

But you know, we do it too, don't we? We take the good and gracious gifts of God and abuse them. We often ask for what we do not really need. We don't deprive others, for God's resources are unlimited, but I should not be so quick to condemn what I see also in myself. And so I'll work at that plank in my own eye, pray for mercy for them, and for forgiveness for myself. And I'll keep helping folks, for we have been so richly blessed . . . and I know will be in the future.