Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane (Saturday 11/9/2013)

Remember when Saturday mornings used to be so much fun when you were a kid?

For me, I'd usually stay up as late as I could the night before (after what I thought was such a "hard" and "long" week at school), and then sleep in as late as I wanted to on Saturday morning.

The best part? Whether Dad would make us breakfast or not (his French Toast!), the even better part of my Saturday mornings growing up was plopping myself down in front of our TV to watch cartoon after cartoon! You know, the kind that were only on once-a-week and not available in an instant through YouTube and/or Netflix?

I thought about that recently and decided it might be cool to come up with a new weekly tradition of sorts for us adults to enjoy each and every Saturday morning now that we're all grown up (ok, at least some of us anyway). I mean, isn't it time for us to look forward to Saturday mornings again?

Besides, it will be good for us to recall that childlike faith in fun and laughter if only for a few moments each week. You'll remember that laughter was for Luther a sign of divine grace and also an antidote against the devil.

From the very beginning, humor had been a theological topic for Martin Luther, embracing the dramatic scope of his whole world view. He himself explained: "When I was unable to chase away the devil with serious words of with the Scripture, I often expelled him with pranks." And so this unique concept is born! Who's with me?

No, it's not flashy, and it will hardly grab and hold your attention like a classic episode of the Care Bears, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, or Voltron would, but these "Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane" should satisfy the Confessional Lutheran's appetite for a balanced breakfast that includes your VDMA Vitamins like Vitamin A (Amusement), Vitamin B (Best of the Blogs), Vitamin C (Confessional), Vitamin D (Doctrine), and Vitamin E (Everything Else).

Each Saturday morning, God willing, I'll do my best to share some of the things I remember coming across in my unpredictable journey through Cyberspace during the week (hence, the "Along Memory Lane" part). Of course, this is also where the things you send me via email (if any) will show up too.

Ok, enough with all the commercials! Let's get the show started already, shall we?

8:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN A (AMUSEMENT): The world praised "The People's Pontiff" this week (Pope Francis) by acknowledging that "he may delight the world by veering from Vatican script on such issues as gay marriage, abortion and contraception, but will he change the ancient church?" -- as if all of those are "good" things for a Christian. Isaiah 5:20 comes to mind for some reason. Anyway, it made me recall this video from The Lutheran Satire. As is usually the case most weeks, this reality would be hilarious if it weren't so downright tragic.


8:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN B (BEST OF THE BLOGS):More of a "secular" flavor than a "spiritual" one, but it does involve this nation's idol of choice and the true god they worship each and every Sunday. You can read about it here. Guess my Dad was right to call the NFL the "National Felons League" like he has for years now. Nearly all sports contain a measure of violence. Most competitive sports involve one person or team exerting physical superiority over another person or team. Still, in no sense can intentionally pummeling and injuring an opponent in an athletic competition be glorifying to God.


9:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN C (CONFESSIONAL): "The office of deacon is not the service of reading the Gospel or Epistle, as is the custom today, but of dispensing provisions of the church [Kirchenguter] to the poor in order that the priests, freed from the burden of temporal provisions, may more diligently and freely attend to prayer and the Word of God. For, as we read in Acts 6:3, the deacons were appointed for that purpose." (Babylonian Captivity of the Church, 1520; Halle 19:140).


9:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN D (DOCTRINE): Matthew 18:15-20 says, "15 'If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.'" It's the "If Your Brother Sins Against You" passage of the text, or a passage that's always a good one for us to prayerfully consider again and again. I like what the Lutheran Study Bible has to say about this: "Jesus commands the Church to do all it can to regain an unrepentant sinner. To humbly and lovingly speak to such a brother or sister is to follow the example of the shepherd who searched for one lost sheep. Christ has promised to stand behind the actions of the Church in either forgiving or refusing to forgive sins. We need personally to cherish His gifts and to present His Law and Gospel to anyone caught in the grip of sin. Through the precious gift of forgiveness, the door of Heaven is opened to each repentant sinner. Loving Lord, help me to act as my brother's keeper, even as You care for me and keep me by grace. Amen." Amen indeed!


10:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN E (EVERYTHING ELSE): Matthew Vandeputte is a Photographer who just published this time lapse video on YouTube with the following description: "This past year I've been shooting more than ever, and more than ever I've been shooting all over the globe. I lost count on the amount of sunsets, sunrises, moonrises, starry nights, cloudy nights, hyperlapses, timelapses, image sequences,...I captured, compiled and edited. After weeks of editing and reviewing and re-editing after input from friends and colleagues I finally finished my Motion Timelapse 2013 showreel. I shot well over 100000 images in between Belgium and Australia, using unreleased footage that was shot from over a year ago up until last week." Of course, any time I see something like this I immediately think of Romans 1:18-23 that says, "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." No, God is not visibly present, but the universe shows His existence and nature. Nature testifies to God's existence and character. His "fingerprints" are everywhere! Creation demonstrates that God truly exists.

Sorry, but that's all I have for you this week.

In a Lutheran Layman's terms, now that your belly's full and you're wide awake, go outside and play, but play nice and never, ever bend the rules just to get along (Galatians 1:10).

Grace and peace to you and yours!

[NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is not consistent with Lutheran doctrine -- in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word -- so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray. Thank you in advance for your time and help. Grace and peace to you and yours!]

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