Prepare Ye

While we may not always be where we want to be, and we man not have all of the people with us whom we want, We give thanks and praise to our Creator for giving us all that we need. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Thanks to Crystal Cheats at YouTube & pinnacleproducts.webs.com

Professors who are ordained Pastors giving unmerited gifts of grace to unworthy students. Sure, all of the stuff is still due, but its due a week later, and we all know what can get done in 7 days! Heck, 6 days and take one off!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I was invited to talk to the Junior Class here at THE LTS about CPE and when I finished, I realized I may have been a little on the dark side while talking to them. Chatting with some of them, and some of my classmates later, I guess my dark was not quite descriptive enough. I didn't have fun during CPE. I don't think anyone does, but my CPE at the Chocolate Factory was really tough. I'm still dealing with my dad's death and spending the summer in a hospital away from family was not my favorite idea. But the experience was good for me. It made me confront some issues, raised a bunch of others, and has some issues that I'm still coming to grips with. While writing a reflection paper on CPE, I found I wrote a couple of sentences that made me confront feelings I hadn't expressed or really acknowledged. Things I haven't shared much because it is still too sore. Sooooooooooo, maybe I wasn't the one to talk to a bunch of nervous, up to their eyeballs newbies w

The other best thing about Seminary this weekend ... I receive an official letter from my synod. I have been positively endorsed. To translate from Lutheran ... I'm doing well, they're proud of me and want me to go on internship somewhere. To quote London Tipton ... "Yeah Me!"

The best thing about Seminary ... is the mutual shared suffering. A discussion during the lunch about how long it has been since we've had to write a research paper. One of my classmates asked me a question about how to write one, and I stopped her before she got started. I said it has been a "long time" for me. She (she's a neo-pipeliner TM - someone in Seminary after just a few years in the world) said, "The last time I wrote one was my junior year in high school." I replied, "My last research paper was my junior year in college, and you were probably eating paste." She looked at me with a puzzled look. I said, "What were you doing in 1985?" She realized she was in kindergarten and admitted a craving for paste. What was really nice (and polite) was the true pipeliner not getting engaged in that part of the conversation because she would have been only a gleam at that time. And we all are dreading the 10+ page research papers that are s

This is another great devotional from Pray Now from the Church of Scotland. Relationships of Power - Sarah and Hagar Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her as you please.' Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. - Genesis 1 Prayer Power, for us, is such a tricky business. We ascribe it slickly to you - God of power and might - And instantly you challenge us, Revealed in the flux of worldly power As the powerless, crucified God. But power, and who has it, still shapes our relationships - our lives. We expertly read its flows, its peaks and troughs. A shake of filings on a sheet of paper reveals the field of a magnet. A sprinkling of people in a story Reveals to us the field and play of power. We are not innocent, or naïve, where power is concerned. It is Sarah's house; she writes the rules, sets the emotional thermostat. That is power! The power to make life hell - albeit from sheer insecurity. Hers is the present, and hers th

The best thing about going to a Seminary (especially THE LTS) is the people. People who truly appreciate you, and make you feel appreciated.

I received a phone call today informing me that my candidacy committee has endorsed me, which means I am approved to go on internship and continue my call to ordained Word & Sacrament ministry. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

One of the programs I used to coordinate in my previous life was a sports competition between my hometown and a city in Canada. We would get together during the fall and winter to plan what we would do next year and how to fix what went wrong the previous year. Usually, some of the Canadians would come sporting a felt poppy. I found out they were celebrating Remembrance Day, when the (first) War to End All Wars ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Sting - Children's Crusade Young men, soldiers, nineteen fourteen Marching through countries they'd never seen Virgins with rifles, a game of charades All for a children's crusade Pawns in the game are not victims of chance Strewn on the fields of Belgium and France Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade All of those young lives betrayed The children of England would never be slaves They're trapped on the wire and dying in waves The flower of England face down in the mud And stained in the blood

You can always find someone to talk to. Or listen when you need to talk. Or to whom you can listen when they need to talk. Y'know that whole pastoral care thingy.

I'll post the results from the Luther Bowl 2008 as they happen & I get back to my computer. DIVISION A 9:00am - Gettysburg 24 - Chicago 18 10:10am - Philadelphia 22 vs Virginia TS 14 11:20am - Gettysburg 20 vs Philadelphia 14 12:30pm - Chicago lost to VTS 14-12 1:40pm - Chicago beat Philadelphia 2:50pm - Gettysburg beat VTS 18-6 DIVISION B 9:00am - Trinity Lutheran 8 - Southern 18 10:10am - Trinity Episcopal 22 vs Union 14 (in OT) 11:20am - Trinity Lutheran 8 vs Union 16 12:30pm - Trinity Episcopal beat Southern 1:40pm - Trinity Episcopal beat Trinity Lutheran 2:50pm - Union beat Southern The Championship Game Trinity Episcopal beat LTS Gettysburg 14-6. Congrats to the Kneelers!

This may turn out to be a running series ... or a not-so-good that fades like the leaves from the trees. The best thing about seminary is that when you sneeze, dozens of people say "God Bless You." And sometimes they do it even when you don't sneeze.

Barack Obama Remarks after the New Hampshire Primary on January 9, 2008. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes we can. It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation. Yes we can. It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights. Yes we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed west

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord , the Lord 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, s

No matter what they are saying, my thoughts on how each campaign feels about their chances can be determined by their election night plans. Barack Obama is planning a giant rally in Chicago's Grant Park. John McCain is NOT GOING TO HIS OWN PARTY at a Phoenix hotel. Tickets are limited. Instead, he will make remarks to just a few reporters.

Each month, I write an article for my home church back in Michigan. I used the article this month to think through some of the things I have been learning this semester. It's a mix of Pauline exegesis, Confessional theology, mission strategies and putting 2 + 2 together. [Paul speaking to Peter] But we have always known that no person is justified by works of the law, if not through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And even we have faith in Christ Jesus so that we are justified by Christ’s faithfulness and not through works of the Law because of works of law no one will be justified. – Galatians 2:16 One of the wonderful experiences here at the Lutheran Theological Seminary is when the subjects we are studying in one course spills and blends over into others. The doctrine of justification by grace through faith is one doctrine that has been soaking up all of my courses. Three courses in particular: the Lutheran Confessions, Studies of the Epistles and Mission Strategies, have cov

A couple of weeks back, I responded to a request by the Matthew 25 PAC to send an email to James Dobson's Focus on the Family after his repulsive "Letter from 2012," which was his piece of fiction about how an Obama presidency would lead to the end of civilization as we know it. (But I thought Dobson wanted to hurry on the End Times? No, that's Hagee. I get my mega-conservative cultists confused.) I got a very condescending auto response back. I responded, but after a week have heard nothing. That's probably because it went nowhere. Dr. Dobbie's website contains NO EMAIL addresses. If you want to tell them something, you can only do it through their limited feedback system, or snail mail. A telling way to tell you they don't want to hear from you. SO ... here's my initial letter, their response and my comeback. Initial letter Pastor Dobson, While I respect your use of your call to be a prophetic messenger, but your absolute rejection of even the most