Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane (Saturday 1/3/15)

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 more than others 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 too.

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! Ok, so it's really not all that "cool" or "original" or "fun" to be sure, but it will be our new tradition here, and I'll try to make it worthwhile too. So who's with me then?

Please keep in mind, it won't be 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 which include 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). For the most part, these will be things I either bookmarked, read, wrote down, and/or simply couldn't get to myself during the week. 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" when all we want is some "cartoons," right? Let's get the show started already, shall we?

8:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN A (AMUSEMENT): In case you're wondering, this is my goal for 2015. Happy New Year!


8:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN B (BEST OF THE BLOGS): One of the blogs I try to read regularly is Esgetology written by "the pastor at Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia" and there "you will find here some of my sermons, along with theological ideas and quotations." He recently published a piece titled "Top 14 of 2014" and it's PERFECT for our "Dose of Vitamin B (Best of The Blogs)" section this week.


9:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN C (CONFESSIONAL): Last year, a new acquaintance/friend of mine (thanks Facebook!), Nathan Redman, wrote this thought-provoking piece appropriately titled "New Year's Repentance Resolutions" to commemorate the start of the New Year in 2014. It's short, sweet, and to the Confessional Lutheran point. Enjoy!


9:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN D (DOCTRINE): I found myself meditating upon a couple of verses from Ecclesiastes and their relationship to marking another start of a new year. Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (ESV) "9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, 'See, this is new'? It has been already in the ages before us." Here's what The Lutheran Study Bible (TLSB) has to say about these verses: "Generations, winds, waters, and even heavenly bodies simply repeat their circuits. We keep searching for something new with meaning and purpose, but life has meaning only through the redemption in Jesus Christ. The old falls and reappears as something new to a new generation. In contrast, in Christ we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). John of Damascus: 'God being perfect becomes perfect man, and brings to perfection the newest of all things, the only new thing under the Sun, through which the boundless might of God is manifested. For what greater thing is there, than that God should become Man?' (NPNF 2 9:45)". Still, as good as all of that is, I really like Martin Luther's comments on these two verses: "This passage creates very great difficulties for the sophists, because they read in Sacred Scripture that many new things have been done. For example, the nativity of Christ is something new, and it is a new thing that His mother was a virgin. Again (Isaiah 65:17): 'I create new heavens and a new earth'; also (Revelation 21:5): 'I make all things new'; and again (Numbers 16:30): 'The Lord creates something new on the earth.' These passages caused them to perpetrate enormous kinds of nonsense as they sought to harmonize what Solomon says here with what these passages say. But this happened because of an ignorance of Solomon's way of speaking, because they did not pay attention to what he means when he says under the sun. For if you take this to refer to the things and works of God themselves, it is not true; for God is constantly doing new things. But it is we who do nothing new, because the same old Adam is present in all of us. (Luther's Works 15:20-21)".


10:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN E (EVERYTHING ELSE): Here's what I wrote and published last year at this time in a column titled "The Law-Gospel-Law Nature of New Year's Resolutions (And Why You Should Resolve To Do Away With Them)" for New Year's Day 2014.

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

In a Lutheran Layman's terms, you've been fed a balanced spiritual diet this morning so I hope you're full and wide awake and ready to face the day.


Grace and peace to you and yours!


NOTE: As you know, I am a newly converted Confessional Lutheran who recently escaped American Evangelicalism a little over a year ago. 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 our Confessions and Lutheran doctrine (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and point us back to) so that I can correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1). Finally, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier pieces I wrote on this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that category since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a "Book of Concord" containing our Confessions even existed. In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by common Evangelical concerns/criticisms that aren't that big a deal for us Lutherans. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because we now have this disclaimer and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Finally, please know that any time we engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible unless otherwise noted. Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Grace and peace to you and yours!

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