And without working for it, either. Here’s the difference in profits between Exxon and the Government on a gallon of gas. HT: Carpe Diem
Tagged: Big Government, Gas, Taxes
Fun Fun Church canbe Fun! Another religious riff on Friday (see previous post), but in this one they seem to really think it’s a good idea! The sad thing is that while Rebecca Black needed a little help from the autotune, this poor girl needed it the whole way through. Honestly, can no one sing anymore?
As much as I would like it to be gone, Rebecca Black’s Friday has been stuck in my head for awhile. (Thanks, Trent. Jerk. [Just kidding!]) This video won’t make any sense if you haven’t heard the original. But if you have, this will crack you up. [Warning: it's totally irreverent. Which is kind of the point.] HT: Jesus Needs New PR
Tagged: Friday, Good Friday, Rebecca Black, Satire
The LCMS gave us an Easter Monday treat today: a new website. It looks wonderful – far superior to the repulsive colors and near government-like inefficiency and obscurity of navigation. This is something send someone to without cringing in embarrassment. Nice work, Mother Ship! UPDATE: As Pr. Weedon pointed out, this is really cool.
Tagged: Missouri Synod
There are wise words for a new pastor’s wife to be found here on “things the sem didn’t tell you,” but even better is a priceless, anonymous comment on that post: Our ” 2 year plan” for our first call turned into a 25+ year plan as we are nigh onto decades. I am pained to even write these words, but in retrospect, I can’t help but think (with shame and some degree of self loathing ) how God was also grimacing as we came into this our “first call”. I can only imagine what He would have said to us (and perhaps He was trying to tell us, had we not been so full of ourselves), it would have probably gone something like…
Tagged: ministry
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! About a week and a half before the first Easter, a friend of Jesus died, a close friend. His name was Lazarus. Lazarus had two sisters, Mary and Martha, who also had been devoted disciples of Jesus. When Jesus finally arrived at their home in Bethany, just two miles from Jerusalem, there is mixed reaction; they do not understand why Jesus did not come sooner. The mourners are hurting, confused; everything they knew and trusted has been thrown into chaos. Christ did not comfort the mourners with platitudes about how everything would turn out fine, or how God needed another angel. No, when Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, He wept. His tears were for…
Tagged: death, Easter, Resurrection of Our Lord
Great Vigil of Easter 2011 Rejoice this night, O Christians! For you were slaves, but for your ransom God gave His Son! Rejoice, Whitney, for on this holy night all your sins are washed away! Rejoice, Whitney, and Lee, and Anne Hayes, and Kevin, for this night the bounty of the Lord’s Table is opened to you! Rejoice, all you whose innocence has been lost, for tonight in Christ it is restored! Rejoice, all you who have been downcast, for tonight our Lord invites you to share His joy! For this is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead! Rejoice, for God has remembered you sons and daughters of Adam, into whom He breathed the breath of life in the beginning.…
Tagged: Baptism, Confirmation, Easter, Easter Vigil
Brilliant observation from Fr. Schmemann: All of civilization seems to be permeated with a passionate obsession to stifle this fear of death and the sense of the meaninglessness of life that oozes out of it like a slow-dripping poison. What is this intense conflict with religion, if nothing other than a mindless attempt to root out of human consciousness the memory and concern with death and consequently the question: why do I live in this brief and fragile life? -O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?, pp23f That, I think, is an important question for the church to answer in her Good Friday and Easter preaching.
Tagged: Alexander Schmemann, death
N.b. I did something unusual for me, in preaching on a Bible verse not read in the service (Mt. 26:31). It’s part of the Passion readings of Matthew and Mark. I used it to bring our observance of Lent to a conclusion and clarify some of my own struggles during this season, leading from there to particular thoughts on the Sacrament of the Altar inspired by Luther’s famous saying, “This Sacrament is the gospel.” The institution of of the Lord’s Supper is a major theme of this holy day. “All of you this night will be made to stumble because of Me,” Jesus said to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. These words are prophetic, and they are about the Twelve; Jesus…
Tagged: Disciple, Holy Communion, Holy Thursday, Lent, Luther, Real Presence, Thomas Aquinas
It seems as though Lent is a season of intensified assault by the devil against the Church and her pastors and people. I have experienced increased spiritual difficulties during this season, and I know many of my brethren report the same. It would be easy to chalk our troubles up to stress, grumbling parishioners, expectations we pastors put on ourselves for the season, or the coincidence of other family, physical, or emotional difficulties combined with the church’s busiest season. But I do not think that’s it. Other times of the year are busy. Troubles and heartache don’t follow a calendar. But Lent is different, and I am coming to suspect that as the church reads for the first three weeks of Lent about the…