This is what happens when you don't understand what "FAITH" means! A Lutheran would know better than to try a silly stunt like that. ¶ 8/30/2006 04:58:00 PM 0 Comments
Well, for a while there I thought I was the only one going with this take, but my good friends on the looney-right are in with me this time :-) ah well, such is life. ¶ 8/30/2006 12:50:00 PM 0 Comments
Just as I assumed yesterday would be the case "they" are ignoring the obvious. A guy from Afghanistan, no doubt a Muslim, drives from the East Bay, goes 40 miles, all the way out to the famous Jewish Community Center in San Francisco and then rampages around the area running over people and the story is all about how he was just a poor disturbed mentally ill young man. Gee, how did I guess that would be the spin? Maybe it's because the propaganda outlets of the Empire are so easy to predict, after all they are staffed by government appointed drones without any creativity or imagination! Bah!
I am now more convinced than I was yesterday that this was intended as an attack against Jews, an ineffective, bungled, foolish attack, by an idiot, but what other possible reason for the location he chose, so far from his home, could there be? The SF Gate claims there was "no pattern" to the attacks and cites as evidence the fact he ran over various ethnic and racial group members. I figure he just ran over whoever he could after he got started in the area of the Jewish Community Center and didn't have time to single people out that much, a car is big weapon, not that easy to be real pinpoint like you would be with a rifle.
No pattern. Bah! ¶ 8/30/2006 08:21:00 AM 0 Comments
Judges 7:19-8:12
Acts 3:12-26
John 1:29-42
Psalms for today
Morning 146 Evening 147
Higher Things reflection for today:
Did you know that the earliest editions of the Small Catechism, first published in 1529, had pictures? Each section of the Catechism was accompanied by pictures printed to aid the people who were studying it.. The picture accompanying the Third Commandment depicted a congregation listening intently to a preacher while, through the window, a man is seen gathering wood.
This image gets at the heart of what the Third Commandment is really all about. The problem wasn’t merely that the man was gathering wood on a Sunday. The problem was that, by doing so, he was neglecting to gather with God’s people to hear the Word. By including this picture alongside Luther’s explanation to the Third Commandment, we see quite clearly what it means to “despise preaching and His Word.”
Gathering wood wasn’t the man’s sin. His sin was neglecting to receive the Lord’s gifts, delivered through the mouth of His pastor. Jesus’ disciples were once caught red-handed plucking grain on the Sabbath. The Pharisees accused the disciples of violating the Third Commandment. In response to their accusation, Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
The opposite of the Son being the Lord of the Sabbath is you trying to “lord” over the Sabbath for yourself. We try to be “lords” of our own faith, thinking that we’ve received enough Jesus and will do just fine on our own for a while, staying busy with other things, getting some extra work done, sleeping in, or whatever else might otherwise occupy a Sunday morning. This is “despising His Word” because it loses sight of His Word as a sacred gift, freely given and received in faith.
Every Sunday you hear the Lord’s Word read and proclaimed. When you respond, “Thanks be to God,” this “thanks” acknowledges that you have received His gifts: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Every “Amen” following the baptismal words of the Invocation, Benediction, the conclusion of prayers, or hymns acknowledges that the Lord’s Words do not waver but truly deliver the gifts they promise. Don’t fool yourself! The Old Adam likes to try to become “lord” of his own Sabbath. But our gracious giver, Jesus, delivers all of Himself to you each Sunday and, as is His way, keeps giving you more. In faith we respond, “Amen.” In the name of Jesus. Amen.
¶ 8/30/2006 07:56:00 AM 0 Comments
