church tagged posts

If your church is giving you grief, watch this….

The time for lamenting has come to an end.  Take up the Gospel and follow……

The Gospel is always trouble and causes RageQuit!

Failure mode is an engineering term, but it is the standard by which american ‘churches’ operates.

1. Who are the unchurched?
2. After Texas gave New Mexico to the USG for a tax write-off, the NM chamber of commerce began to refer to NM as ‘the land of enchantment.’  Don’t get me wrong, NM has a particular familial hold on me.  On the other hand, the chamber of commerce (where ever it exists) is a nest of orcs.  Now it seems that some of the ‘enchantment’ has moved eastward into west Texas.  Small people with magic rings have come under the ‘all seeing eye of Sauron.’
3. On the subject of Tolkien and language.
4. What was once ‘word-smithing’ degraded ‘journalism’ is really a battle for the language.
5. Of course, ‘journalism’ should be treated like the mouth of Sauron (watch the end of the negotiations).
6. Churchian evanjellyfish fool!  (Great title).  I doubt this is the way the battle is joined.
7. Since I am coming out of my winter library, it seems appropriate that there is a purpose to being well read.

Be well.

SDG

Merciful Lord, we beseech Thee to cast the bright beams of Thy light upon Thy Church; that it, being instructed by the doctrines of Thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may attain to the light of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigheth with Thee and the Holy Ghost; ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

SDG

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stoned them which are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, enven as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Grant, O Lord, that  in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of Thy truth we may stedfastly look up to heaven and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of Thy first martyr, Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to Thee, O blessed Jesus, who standed at the right hand of God to succor all those that suffer for The, our only Mediator and Advocate, who livest and reighnest with the Father and the Holy Ghost; ever one God, world without end. Amen.

SDG

Back in 2013, The Outlaw Monk posted:

Get over yourself! Realize that Christ’s mission was to save the whole world, not just you. As a follower of Christ your commission is to help the poor and feed the needy, not to go around telling people how great your life is because of Jesus. Instead of preaching your personal testimony, preach the Gospels and the good things that Christ did for all of us—that is the definition of evangelism.

SDG

3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.  3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.  3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.  3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”  3:20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”  3:21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours,  3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all belong to you,  3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Grace and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• Our epistle reading is an example of a literary unit that is broken apart at interesting places.
• We can only ask what does the epistle say; what does it mean; and what does it do?
• Here we have Paul continuing to admonish good Christians that are full of pride, license, jealousy, selfishness and … well you know…
  • Just like us!
• But Paul knows that appealing to the Corinthians to be moral is not the solution to their problems.
• No, the evangelical solution is forgiveness in the Gospel.
• He (and we) begin today by being reminded that the foundation of life is
  • “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8)
  • that foundation is Jesus Christ.(3:11)And upon this foundation, God in His mercy has created little temples to Himself….that is you and I.
• He puts Himself in these little temples as
  • ‘…God’s Spirit dwells in…’ them (3:16)
• God also posts a warning sign outside of these temples
• Anyone that destroys this temple will also be destroyed.
  • By the way, this is a warning to others as well as ourselves.
  • Do not destroy yourself with by following false teachers & false leaders.
• We, of course, are smarter and more clever than these poor wretched Corinthians.
• We have two-thousand years of information to make us wise beyond any first century cretin.
• God laughs at our craftiness and you will too!
• Listen to these absurdities, you hear them all the time;
  • “Everyone is a winner!”
  • “All the men are handsome and all the women are beautiful!”
  • “All the children are above average!”
  • Perhaps funniest of all; “Hope has returned!”
  • Oh yes, ‘there’s a new dawn a’ coming’ and
  • Utopia, the promised land, is just around the corner.
• In my neck of the woods, there are two towns; Tarpley and Utopia.
  • Tarpley advertises itself as “Not Quite Utopia”
  • Tarpley would be St. Paul’s kind of place.
• Don’t listen to that stuff!
  • The snow job of the ‘wise’ is to get you to believe what they say…
  • They are liars and murderers because they are the children of devil.
  • God says, “…that they are futile.” (3:20)
• Forget what the wise leaders say, it doesn’t matter….
• Quit fussing over the little things, because,
  • “…all things are yours…”(3:21)
• Now let’s not strip our gears
• Paul shifted the whole focus of his words
  • Stay with us……
• All things are yours because;
  • He was with God in the beginning.
  • Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
  • In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.(John 1:2-4)
• AND…
  • “…he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (Eph. 1:4)
• As baptized children of God…
• Jesus Christ has taken you for His own
• You can’t escape!
• You little temples…you….
• Jesus Christ has taken you for His own; and
  • “Christ belongs to God.” (3:23)
• As such, today you will receive all things…
• the body and blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
• because you are His.  Amen

SDG

LORD God, see that we do not put our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully protect us with your power and defend us against all adversity.

LORD IN YOUR MERCY
Hear our prayer

ALMIGHTY God, you have given eternal salvation to those who believe: Hear our prayer for all who are sick: We ask for your mercy and healing so that they may rejoin us in giving thanks to you.

LORD IN YOUR MERCY
Hear our prayer

CREATOR God, you ordered the universe according to your will: Deliver us from chaos by convicting our leaders that they might repent and restore to us free and responsible government that we may be a people of peace, order and humility according to your will.

LORD IN YOUR MERCY
Hear our prayer

O LORD God Almighty, who removes ideologues and quiets the noise and turmoil of the masses: We ask you to disperse those that create mischief and bring an end to their violence: Remove the unjust from leadership and prevent the revolutionaries from causing trouble: remove all envious and malicious preoccupations and bind all the wicked, so that the whole world may be at rest before you.

LORD IN YOUR MERCY
Hear our prayer

LORD of host, who has gathered your angels under the leadership of Michael: We ask you to send your guardians to protect, defend and lead all of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith.

LORD IN YOUR MERCY
Hear our prayer

LORD God of passion, who sent your evangelic angel with the Good News of the birth of Christ: Give voice to your angelic evangels; those pastors, ministers and chaplains; that they may speak your Word of forgiveness and salvation to your people and all those who believe.

Hear us, merciful LORD, in these our humble prayers, which we offer to you in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

Amen.

SDG

Over at Social Matters, Nick B. Stevens has written: The Search for Religious Relevance (or How I Missed my First Anniversary)

Now, all of this should be obvious to those who attend Lutheran Churches.  However, in recent conversations and in observing recent events, it would seem that it is not as obvious as it seems.

Except for the remnant, all would be lost.

SDG