What I Did On My Summer Vacation

In our catechism we call the world a “vale of tears” and in the 23^rd Psalm “the valley of the shadow of death.” But even men on death row laugh sometimes and today was one of those days.

This blog finds the missus and me in Daphne, Alabama. Sad to say but this is the first time we’ve returned since the death of my dear brother-in-law, the Rev. Father Thomas August Tews, on April 13, 2007. For the last 20 years we’ve come down at least once a year and sometimes several times, but a combination of exhaustion and business at home kept us away till now.

It’s difficult without Tom here but we are very close with his wife Marty and their children and grand-children, and so we’ve looked forward to this trip since the possibility first arose. Though it’s been a tough year of adjustment for us all, especially for Tom’s immediate family, everyone down here seems to be coming along.

The weather is beautiful compared to home! Up north it’s gray and in the 50’s they tell us but here it’s been sunny and in the 80’s since our arrival. The humidity is mild so there’s much to be enjoyed. Our trip is mostly R&R. Yesterday it included mother’s day lunch at Cracker Barrel and a walk home from the restaurant with my nephew and great nephew while the others drove. We leisurely ambled on dirt roads, past large, lush and aromatic yards, and through pecan and bamboo groves. The walk was Eden-like in grandeur. The colors, smells and feel of the air in southern Alabama is very different from that of Cleveland, Ohio.

In spite of our bereavement, today was a great day to be alive. After getting up early and supplying my wife and sister-in-law with fresh Wal-Mart donuts (which Tom always bought) I made 80 mile drive to Crestview, Florida to meet my friend Father Robert Lydick of Panama City, Florida. Crestview is half way between Daphne and Panama City. Though on vacation I needed his expertise on some chaplain matters. He himself is not a chaplain, but as a solid Lutheran pastor and retired law enforcement officer I knew he would be the man to best advise me on the matters at hand. We conducted our business at a picnic bench in a small pavilion in the Crestview Wal-Mart parking lot. God’s work knows no bounds. Who could have known the glorious theological work that was going on in this ordinary place, things the angels themselves long to look into. (1 Peter 1:12)

Having conducted our business Fr. Lydick mentioned that Father Vance Tech was the Lutheran pastor in Crestview. I’d known Fr. Tech for several years via email and we met face to face last year at Tom’s funeral. Like Fr. Lydick he too is a faithful servant of Christ in preaching the Gospel and reverently administering the Sacraments according to the Lord’s own command. I asked Fr. Lydick if he would call Fr. Tech and if they both had time, we’d have lunch and drinks. Fr. Lydick called all three of Fr. Tech’s numbers and couldn’t raise him, and so we decided to try to find his house. Fr. Lydick had been there a few times but wasn’t exactly sure where it was. After about 10 minutes, however, we found it, the one with the Ron Paul For President sign on the lawn. I don’t like or trust a single politician, but of them all, I distrust and dislike Ron Paul the least, and so I was glad to be at Fr. Tech’s house for his politics as well as for his theology and friendship.

We knocked for quite a few minutes but there was no answer. The car was in the drive and the dog in the back yard so we were a bit confused. As we were about to leave the door opened. It was 11:00 a.m. and we had awakened the good Father from his well-deserved sleep on this Monday morning. But he was most happy for our visit and asked us to wait for a moment while he got dressed. Once inside Fr. Tech gave us a tour of his house and yard. He’s has three wonderful and peaceful hobbies: art, music and gardening. He lovingly described many of his plants, trees and flowers and told us a story about each.

The tour complete, we headed for the nearest sports bar for brunch and a few social drinks. Pity us being the very Heart of the bible-belt. The brothers ordered beer and I asked for Scotch, but was informed that this sports bar only serves beer and wine. I’d never heard of such a thing, but Puritans are Puritans.

In any event we polished off a large number of chicken wings and talked theology, specifically about what’s wrong with the Synod’s Ablaze program. The reason for our discussion is that all the District pastors and their leadership have been ordered to attend what is, in essence, a fund-raising rally for the Synod under the guise of Ablaze. My advice was: don’t go. Sometimes the best way to preach the Law, and this is definitely what our Synodical leaders need to hear, is by one’s conspicuous absence. We discussed the entire fallacy of today’s mis-guided mission thrust, and the fact that Evangelism is properly conducted on Sunday mornings within the context of the Mass. In the Mass the Gospel is preached in its truth and purity (this is Evangelism) and the Sacraments are administered according to the Gospel (this is evangelism). Other than parents raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, laymen are neither Called nor qualified to deal with people’s spiritual matters, much less force Jesus down their throats. Rather it’s the job of every Christian to conduct his varied vocations in a Christian manner, and to support the church in the work which God has given it to do in respect to non-Christians and Christians alike.

Having had a very enjoyable and satisfying time it was time for me to return to Daphne, but the brothers insisted that I not leave till I got the Scotch I had originally sought. I conceded and we found the place that appeared to serve drinks, it was a restaurant with bar. We sat at the bar and ordered single malt Scotch but were informed that this bar only serves beer and wine. Foiled again by pietism. We asked the barmaid if there were any place in Crestview FL where one could quench his thirst for Scotch and were directed to a place called Cash’s. We went. When we walked in I leaned over to Fr. Lydick, the former Federal Law Enforcement officer and said: Bob I think we’re might have to fight our way out of here. Cash’s was the caricature of a Southern bar. Smokey. A genuine redneck with a tee-shirt that said on the back: Neanderthal Man. Next to Neanderthal man was a wiry little hillbilly whose feet didn’t even reach the bar’s foot rest. I immediately nick-named him: Shorty. He was no doubt a mean drunk who carried a knife in his boot. Down a couple of stools was a probably young woman who’d spent too much time in a bar and didn’t look so young any more, she too no doubt a champion scrapper. Other characters were there as well. We three pasty white tourists didn’t stand much of a chance. But all my “awfullizing” was for nought, we safely got what we came for. We even hit the jackpot because today was two for one day at Cash’s! I didn’t need two Scotches but I took what was given and drank a bit of it. More theology and general guy expatiation occureed. We once again remembered my dearly departed brother-in-law Father Tews. We remembered too that after the funeral luncheon, Fr. William Parsons broke out a bottle of Irish Whiskey in Tom’s honor and Fr. Wes Kahn poured the bottle’s final sip into the ground so that Tom could join us in our remembrance, and in our praise to Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25-27), and who gives wine to make merry the heart of man. (Psalm 104:15).

This is the guy version of a sewing circle I guess. We left Cash’s without incident, dropped off Fr. Tech at home (who hopefully went back to sleep) and proceeded to the Wal-Mart where my car was parked. We said our good-bye’s. I thanked God for these brothers and for this day and made the 80 mile drive back to Daphne on I-10 West with the windows open, Country Music on the radio (what else can you get in the South besides radio preachers…ugh!) blue skies, and gorgeous sunshine. I didn’t want the drive to end. I thank God, too, that we’re Lutherans and not Pietests who, even in the vale of tears, can laugh at life and laugh at death, because in Christ, our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life!

Edward's Baptism

Today Edward P. was baptized in the name of the Triune God at Christ Lutheran Church. His sins were forgiven, he was dressed in the righteousness of Christ and a place was prepared for him in heaven.

Today God made many good promises to Edward, to be his Lord in time and in eternity. Edward will never walk alone again through the valley of the shadow of death. He's now a marked man, marked by the blood of Christ to be His own, to live under Him in His kingdom, and to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness. The same promises that were made to each of us at the font, where were were united to the death and resurrection of Christ.

Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. (Psalm 40:16)

Is The Price Of Gas Too High?

Here's why.

Shadow Government Statistics

You may enjoy Shadow Government Statistics. The organization claims to give the real numbers, the ones the government won't. Knowing the vagaries of government, I give SGS credence.

I think personal experience will confirm the fact that consumer price inflation isn't the mere 4% the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims, but rather more like the 12% that SGS reports.

Check it out for yourself if you like.

Is More Liquidity (monopoly money) The Answer

Here's a brilliantly simple article explaining our current ecomomic woes, and what the answer is and isn't in order to cure them. The early part, in which he refutes Friedman, isn't that important, but the later part is good.

Also keep in mind that when the Fed and like-minded economists talk about "liquidity" you can freely substitute the word "cash." However this cash is nothing more than play money because it's arbitrarily created on the Fed's computer system. It's not real.

The Fed keeps trying to fill up a bucket that has a great big hole in it, with imaginary money.

B. Hussein Obama Is Not The Sharpest Knife In The Drawer

Is it just me, or is B. Hussein Obama of less than stellar intellect? It seems to me that the man can't string two intelligent sentences together. He doesn't even sound intelligent when he reads from the teleprompter. I don't remember ever hearing a man use so many words to say nothing. He's the classic "empty suit," worse even than John Kerry. Indeed, I wonder if he's ever a real person, or if might be just a hologram.

He looks urbane, but he's all style (if you like the metro-sexual look) and no substance. But his handlers have made him sound like a wind bag.

He may be a shill to make us like Mrs. Clinton better, and if the grand battle within the party is orchestrated for that purpose alone it wouldn't surprise me.

Yet no one frightens me as much as Michelle Obama. She's not a hologram. She's an angry black female. If I could read her mind, and in that cavern found out that she was in favor of blacks enslaving whites, it wouldn't surprise me.

Those are my current political thoughts. They've risen to the level of making me blog, and I don't like to blog.

None of this actually troubles me since I don't have a dog in the fight. I will vote come November because I believe it's my duty as citizen, but it will be for whoever the third party/candidate is, however hopeless his chances, even if it's Ralph Nader.

The Good Shepherd - A Sermon For The Third Sunday Of Easter

Christ Lutheran Church
April 6, 2008

Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our text for the Third Sunday of Easter is St. John 10:11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

You can fight nature all you like, but you can’t win.

A woman can’t be a man, and a man can’t be a woman. You can complain and politic about it all you like, and in our demonic day you can even have a sex change operation…but you can’t win. Men will always be men and women will always be women, because that’s what they are.

Similarly a cat cannot bark and a dog can’t meow. Nor can you jump off a cliff and flap your arms hoping to fly like a bird. It won’t work, because we are what we are, and that’s all we can ever be.

This is what we learn from our Lord’s words today: that sheep stray because they’re sheep; the wolf attacks because he’s evil; hirelings run away from danger because they’re hirelings; and the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep because He is our merciful Lord, and we belong to Him.

As we hear our Lord’s words in John chapter ten the first thing we should recognize is that Jesus here makes Himself the fulfillment of the 23^rd psalm. He declares Himself to be the true Shepherd of Israel who leads Joseph like a flock. He declares Himself to be God and that’s good. Good for us! Because in Christ God is truly with us and there’s no better, safer or happier place to be than with the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

Please notice that there are four characters in today’s parable: the sheep, the wolf, the hireling and the Good Shepherd.

We are the sheep. There are many word pictures the Bible uses to describe our relationship to God but this has always been a favorite. Not only for those who know the pastoral life but even in the concrete jungles, people still understand this picture, and still love to think of themselves as sheep with Jesus as their shepherd.

But there’s a problem with sheep…they love to stray! That’s what sheep do. I’ve heard it said that sheep are dumb animals others have told me they’re intelligent and so I really don’t know the answer to that question. But dumb or smart there’s one thing that sheep do best and that is, stray. Why do they do this? Because they’re sheep and that’s what sheep do.

The prophet Isaiah confirms this when he writes, “all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone each to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” And David verifies the same thing in the last verse of the 119^th psalm where he writes, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.”

What does this mean in spiritual terms?

It means that our natural inclination is to leave the safety of God’s fold in order to play with wolves. Instead of being sober and vigilant as Peter urges in his first epistle, instead of regulating our lives by the ten commandments we long to experience every temptation the devil brings our way. We find it glitzy, fulfilling, exciting and easy to leave the paths of righteousness and to enjoy the pleasures of sin for as long as we can possibly get away with it.

But dancing with wolves is dangerous business.

What’s at stake? Nothing less than a wasted life and the privilege of spending eternity with the devil in the lake of fire. Straying from God’s commands is not something to be taken lightly, our temporal joy and our eternal happiness depend on us leaving sin behind and returning to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.

In the Lord’s parable, the wolf is the devil. Scripture teaches us a lot about the devil. We learn that he’s bent on the suffering and ruin of God’s people. While our Lord is merciful and compassionate there’s nothing the devil likes better than to see men anguish and cry out in despair. He loves it when we become addicted to deadly substances which ruin our lives and the lives of those around us. He loves to see blood in the streets, white hot anger, raw hatred, fighting and discord. He approves of robbery, rape, murder and suicide. He thinks greed, theft and extortion are wonderful. He thinks highly of sexual promiscuity, which is no doubt his best selling product of all time. In short nothing makes him happier than to steal us from God, kill us, butcher us, sift us like wheat, devour us, spit us out and then move on to his next victim.

Why is this so? Because the devil is evil. That’s what the word “devil” means, “the evil one.” He is evil, loves evil and does only evil and it’s not possible for him to do good or to have compassion.

The Bible tells us that the devil rebelled against God from the beginning. That he was a sinner from the beginning (1 Jn 3:8); a murderer from the beginning; and that he’s a liar, and the very Father of lies. (John 8:44) And so whenever we leave the fold in order to play with this wolf there can only be one outcome. As Ben Franklin said: when a lamb and a wolf sit down together for dinner, the menu’s already been decided.

Of all the things that can happen to us in this life, nothing is worse than to fall into the hands of the devil.

There’s another player in our Lord’s parable and that’s the hireling. Hirelings flee when the wolf comes. Why? Jesus answers that question with four words, “because they are hirelings.” The hirelings of our Lord’s day were the Chief Priests, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they represented a religion that excluded Jesus.

They promised people communion with the living God by means of their own righteousness, rather than by Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. They loved the praise of men, and wanted the kingdom and the power and the glory for themselves instead of for Jesus.

In our day there are hirelings, too, both secular and religious.

Modern day hirelings offer us the things which only Jesus can give: safe pasture, spiritual food, a restored soul, goodness and mercy and the promise of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever…but they offer these things apart from our Shepherd and His death on the cross.

Secular hirelings are politicians, community activists, and world improvers, whatever their game might be. They promise to save your mortgage, make the world green and that no child will be left behind. All they ask for in return is your vote, your money, your liberty, your allegiance and your worship. It’s good to be suspicious of people like this because they can’t deliver; and when their nostrums fail, as they inevitably must, and the wolf comes to your door…they’re no where to be found.

Who are the religious hirelings? They’re the churchmen who change the message of the Christian church from our Lord’s death on the cross to some other thing. They lead people in paths of self-righteousness and self-fulfillment or political liberation instead liberation from sin and death by faith in the crucified and resurrected Lord. They turn the church into a circus and promote themselves instead of leading people to Jesus the Savior.

And then finally there’s the most important character of St. John chapter ten and that’s the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep! Dear Friends, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He’s not a Good Shepherd as if He were one of many, but He’s the Good Shepherd, the Bishop of our souls, and there is no other. Why does the Good Shepherd lay down His life for the sheep? Because He’s Good, and that’s what Good Shepherds do. When we say that Jesus is ‘good’ we’re not making an ethical statement, though He was without sin. But we’re saying that He’s compassionate and merciful and that He’ll stop at nothing to save us, to save our loved ones, to save all who are in danger from the wolves and hirelings who would destroy them.

Palestinian shepherds worked hard and faced many dangers for their sheep. Like a mother with small children they must have slept with one eye open, because their sheep were always straying, hungry and or in need of something. Besides this they (the sheep) were in constant danger. Thieves wanted to steal them, sheer them, and make a meal of what was left. The wolf wanted to tear them apart in the cruelest possible manner only to devour them and move on to the next meal. To be a sheep, just like to be a man living in the world today, was a risky business and without a Good Guardian the sheep were in deep trouble. Palestinian shepherds weren’t pacifists. They were armed and dangerous. They carried what the 23^rd Psalm calls a rod. The rod was a weapon used to protect the sheep against its enemies.

And yet for all his dedication it was exceptional that a Palestinian shepherd would have to die for the sheep. His goal was to live for them, after all, what good is a dead shepherd? But with Jesus things were quite different. It was his stated plan to lay down His life for them, so that by His death they might have life and have it to the full. His death wasn’t an unfortunate accident or a political mishap. Nothing of the sort. Rather, God in His infinite wisdom sent the Great Shepherd of the sheep to become “the Lamb of God” who would die to take away the sin of the world, so that we might be redeemed from our straying ways and rescued from the wolf waiting to devour us.

The Rod He used in the greatest spiritual battle of all time was the cross. On this instrument of death He shed His holy blood which is the cleansing and justifying agent to purge our every sin. And now because of the Good Shepherd, and because of His bloody sacrifice, we are safe. He rescued us from the wolf and brought us to live in the sheep-pen of the Church.In the church we are led to the still waters of baptism in which we are born again of water and the Spirit. In the church our souls are constantly restored by the word of pastoral absolution, assuring us that we are the children of God, and that the wolf has no claim on us. Here, in the sheep-pen of the Church our Lord prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, His very body and blood, and promises us that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.