Boasting

For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,
not of works,
lest any man should boast.

So the question in chapel, as we discussed this verse, was "Can we boast?" The children's answer was NO.

This seems a reasonable answer, especially for us who know that Pastor usually wants the answer to come straight out of the text. Oh, how often someone will give a correct answer and he'll say, "Yes, that's right, but give me another way to say it, using the language in the text itself."

But the answer this time was YES. In Galatians Paul writes, "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Isn't that an antiphon or versicle or something during Holy Week? I can't remember for sure, but I suspect that is why it came up in connection with this week's verse.) Oddly enough, the other place where Paul talks a great deal about boasting is in 2 Corinthians. There it is about boasting in his infirmities (which might also be called "the cross") that we might boast in God's mercy and grace.

God Provides

Our verse for this week is from Ephesians 2:
By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast.

Pastor has been persisting in asking what the that refers to. Answer: and that faith is not of yourselves. Even faith is a gift of God, and not something we do.

Similarly, I noticed something in Sunday's [3-year] reading from Acts. The story is about Philip preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch. The story starts off with an odd little geographical detail about where the story was happening and tells us "This is desert." Those kinds of details aren't put into the Bible just to satisfy our curiosity or give us an education about Social Studies.

I think a person could make an analogy to the unbeliever being in a wilderness or desert. But what I'm noticing is more direct -- there isn't water in a desert. Luke makes sure to tell us upfront that Philip and the Ethiopian are in a waterless place. And yet, eventually they come upon water, and the Ethiopian requests baptism. Not only did God create faith where there was none (as Paul tells us in this week's Bible verse) but also God ensured that there was water in that desert so that His sacrament could be administered.

Mandatory Kindergarten

The Wisconsin legislature is considering AB 119 and SB 89. State law mandates school attendance from age 6 to 18. This bill, while not changing mandatory attendance age, would require attendance at a kindergarten program prior to enrolling in 1st grade. This would be true for both public schools and charter schools. If this bill passes, the same attendance/truancy laws would apply to 5-yr-olds (who are not even required by law to be in school) as apply to older students. I just find it hard to imagine that parents could be jailed for keeping a sleepy and/or overwrought 5-yr-old home from school. But then, we don't trust parents to know when a 10-yr-old should be kept home from school.

Still, ... 5-yr-olds being prosecuted for truancy???

More information available at WPA's website as well as how to find your legislators.

Matthew 20:12

In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the owner of the vineyard pays the same wages to those who worked all day, to those who worked a half-day, and to those who worked only an hour. The complaint of the men who began work in the early morning was, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day."

I usually hear the parable explained with several different points. First and foremost is that God's grace is given abundantly and generously, even though we might think it's unfair. Many pastors will point out that "cradle Christians" should rejoice and not begrudge the grace given to those who come to faith late in life or on their deathbeds.

But think about the charge. What is the complaint, really? "Hey! I've been a Christian all my life, and I think I deserve something more than that guy who was a Christian for a week before he died." Okay, that betrays a lack of love. And it betrays a sense that the person thinks he's earned whatever God has to give him. But it also betrays something else that I've never heard mentioned.

What does it say about my perspective of my Christian life? Doesn't that complaint come off as though it were something I'm enduring and that there is no joy in it? I mean, think about it this way:
"Hey, I'm ticked. I've been eating fresh strawberries and alfredo seafood and cantaloupe and hotfresh cinnamon bread and blueberries and teriyaki steak all my life. And that other guy has been eating gruel and soda crackers all his life up until the last week. And now the master is going to bring both of us to his feast? That ain't fair: I deserve better than he gets." I mean, really now, how stupid is that?

Granted, the theology of the cross is real. There is suffering in the Christian life. And yet, those who have been lifelong Christians have known the sweetness of His love all along. They have come to His Supper week in and week out for decades. They have prayed to Him and heard His answers. They have soaked in the sermons full of mercy and kindness. They have again and again absorbed those dear words of forgiveness. He has sustained them through their trials, and given them temporal blessings too. And we begrudge the late-in-life convert for missing those things?

I think the complaints of the vineyard workers --and the complaints of Christians like them-- betray an idolatry of the self-centered life. If what I want more than anything is to indulge myself, to be lazy, to live for my own self, and to care nothing for my Savior, THEN I have a complaint against the master of the vineyard.

Is it really that unbearable, that intolerable, to be a Christian for your whole life?

Holstein vs Jersey

Back when I was wishing for enough stability that I could justify a small cow shed and a family cow, I wanted a jersey. Less milk, about right for a family. Richer milk, so there'd be butter and cream. But I learned something else today that nobody ever mentioned in polite company. (Who said this blog was polite company? Nobody, right?)

Jerseys poop less.

A neighbor milks Jerseys. They've taken in some loaner Holsteins. And they say the new cows poop like crazy. They say it takes twice as long to clean the barn after milking now that they've added a few Holsteins. Another reason to keep a Jersey on my wish list.

Of course, when I asked last week at town hall about regulations regarding chickens, they told me "No livestock on less than three acres." So I guess my Jersey continues to live only in my dreams.

Unavoidable Suffering

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2)

So, either you are cut off and thrown away,
or you are cut for the sake of trimming and eliminating the dead wood.

Looks like there's no avoiding the snips.

My Kombucha's Air Flow

When Barb got me started on kombucha, she told me I needed to brew in a bowl with a wide top. She was brewing hers in mixing bowls. I didn't want to go out and spend money on Pyrex mixing bowls, and I wasn't about to tie up the few I had from Nanna for a week at a time. What would I serve salad in? What would I use to make granola? So I resorted to wide-mouth canning jars, covered with a cloth to cut out light. It worked decently enough. I've been making kombucha for five years now, and in "full production mode" for about three. Using sun-tea jars (the kind withOUT the spigot!!) had been working okay.


But something changed. I had to throw out a whole batch last week. It just wouldn't finish brewing. That set me behind. And now this week, well behind what we need, it seems that another batch is going to be stubborn. I anticipate that I may have to pour that one down the drain too. (Silver lining: it ought to be excellent for the septic system!)

Last week I purchased more "cracker jars" from Walmart. Those have served me well. There is proportionately more air space at the top of the cracker jars than there is for my sun-tea jars. But I sure would like to know why my taller jars worked for so long and no longer do.

Bethany Lutheran College

I love this place! (The price-tag scares the dickens out of me, but that's another issue.)

I can't put my finger on what it is, but the college is just wonderful. The buildings and the landscaping are gorgeous, but that's window-dressing. The bulletins and newsletters are never filled with goofy weirdness (which is something we see altogether too often in some other alumni material that arrives at our house).

Gary and I drove to Mankato this weekend to pick up a bunch of Paul's stuff so that he'd be able to transport himself and his remaining stuff home in a sedan after finals this week. Walking around campus, meeting his friends and some of the staff and profs, I can't get over what great people he's been living with this past year. I am so impressed with the way the adults interact with the kids in the hallways, in chapel, in the cafeteria, etc. The students aren't stick-in-the-muds; they're fun people; but they are also polite and engaged and ... well... really super. Chapel isn't quite what I'd want for it to be --using Matins or some versicles would be really nice-- but nevetheless, chapel is better than might be expected from certain other Lutheran colleges.

Now, if Paul can get through one more year without the student loans getting too large, by 2010-11 he'll probably be getting all sorts of student aid as did his older siblings.

Overflowing

Oh, the sermon yesterday was wonderful. At the moment, I can't recall which things actually came out of Pastor's mouth, and which things were just barely touched on but were especially picturesque for me because of some recent conversations.

Pastor was talking about how the person who is joined to Christ is filled with His love and mercy and grace, and that love cannot help but overflow to the people around us.

Some Christians worry that we need to spend more time telling people how to be good. But I'm still picturing that cup. If a person isn't constantly being filled up with Jesus and His forgiveness, then the forgiveness won't just naturally spill out all over to the place to other people. Then, maybe, good works do become a chore. Then, maybe, there needs to be some concentration and effort expended on trying to be good. But when a person's self-righteousness is smashed, and the absolution is bestowed frequently and massively and abundantly, it can do nothing but spill out. And the more the person's "cup" is filled up with forgiveness, the more will spill out in service to the neighbor.

And so it is the Gospel, not the Law, which makes us good.

Beauty

I love violets!


This is what I'm looking at as I wash dishes ...


... and hang laundry on the clothesline.

Product Registration

Oh, I seldom fill out those little white postcards that come in the package with appliances and electronics. I guess I always saw them as one more way for companies to snatch your name and address so that they could send you junk mail and phone you and try to sell you more stuff.

But yesterday changed my mind.

We received a letter in the mail addressed to the former owners of the house OR "current resident." It turns out that our refrigerator is being recalled. A component of the compressor has been discovered to be causing fires. The repairman will be here on Wednesday. In the meantime, though, I'm nervous. Granted, the fridge is 4-5 years old, and it's no more dangerous today than it was last week when I didn't know about the problem.

But now I know.

Our smoke alarm hasn't worked properly since we moved in. A new one has been duly purchased and installed!

And from now on, privacy issues or not!, I will fill out those little product-registration postcards so that the manufacturer can hunt me down when there's a recall.

How the Holy Spirit Comes

The Large Catechism teaches us that where the Word is preached, and only where the Word is preached, there is the Holy Spirit. Even life-long Lutherans have a problem with this sometimes; we want to think the Holy Spirit comes to our feelings, or zaps us with power, or kinda sorta not-exactly-magically works in us. But our Confessions teach that He works through the Word alone.

In recent years, Pastor has been pointing out places where inspiration results from the Word given earlier. For example, Simeon knew that Jesus would be in the temple because of what he'd heard via the shepherds and Zechariah. Zechariah's song at the birth of John was very similar to one of the psalms. Mary's song (the Magnificat) is remarkably like Hannah's song. And so forth.

So what do we hear in Acts 1? Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit is poured out. Interestingly enough, what are the disciples doing during those ten days? They are in the temple. They are immersed in the prayers and in supplication. Even here, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did not come beaming magically through the air, but He came with and through the Word.

The New Star Trek Movie

We recently saw an advertisement for this month's Star Trek movie. Certain people who are related to me are very excited about the release of this movie. But it's new. It's different. I'm not into "new and different." So I see this picture of some guy in the movie. And what do I complain to Andrew?

"That's not Spock! That's just some guy pretending to be Spock!"



Oh, good heavens -- I have lived with my geeky family too long! (And Andrew is still laughing at me.)

Chicken

Hit the jackpot at the grocery store yesterday: found some already-frozen (can't be refrozen) chicken breasts getting close to expiration date for ONE DOLLAR per pound. That's cheaper than apples or spinach. Guess what? I brought home a lot of chicken breasts. We had chicken for supper. I put a dozen big breasts in the crockpot yesterday afternoon. This morning I pulled them out to cool enough to debone.

And suddenly I have kitty friends who think I'm so wonderful, and don't I think they're so wonderful? Smooch smooch smooch. "I'm such a good kitty... don't you want to share your chicken?"

The Count of Monte Cristo

I'm bad. I never read the book. We watched the movie, though, the other night, and it was GOOD. We especially liked Richard Harris (the true Dumbledore) playing a fellow-prisoner alongside the main character.

I loved the first Dumbledore.

Eating Meat

Charlotte's Web was copyrighted in 1952. It's been a long time since I read this; I think the older kids read it on their own instead of having it be a read-aloud. Maggie and I started it yesterday.

The story begins with 8-yr-old Fern begging her father not to kill the runt of the pig-litter. She says that he wouldn't have killed her if she had been born particularly small. The dad tries to explain that that's different; Fern is a person. But she says that doesn't make any difference. And there is no answer to her claim.

Later in the story, when one of the sheep tells Wilbur that he's being fattened up, the phraseology is that the people are going to "murder" him in late fall. The word "butcher" is not used. It's always "kill" or "murder."

Ten years earlier than Charlotte's Web was the movie Bambi where we learned about evil Man in the forest who shoots innocent animals and sets fire to their homes.

The PETA-type people have been working subtly for many decades. Their work is finally paying off. Small wonder that things are finally falling into place so fast that it seems there's no way to stop it.

All Things Jesus Has Done

One of last week's Bible stories ended with John's statement that
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25)

And today's Bible story (Acts 1) begins with Luke telling Theophilus about the former account (the Gospel According to St Luke) that he made of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.

I find this fascinating. On the one hand, John says there's no way to write down everything Jesus did. And yet Luke says that what he recorded in the Gospel was ALL that Jesus began to do and teach. Some have mentioned that Luke says in Acts 1:1 that the word "began" is there, and that is definitely important. But I'm also thinking that there is a unity, a wholeness, a singleness-of-purpose, to which Luke is referring.

Luke DID record "all" that Jesus taught and did: the miracles/signs, the doctrine, the suffering and death and resurrection. And yet, as John notes, not every individual event could be recorded. That fact, however, does not detract from the truth that Luke recorded it all.

I think this says something about Jesus' work, as well as about the Scriptures.

Jean Styles

Given that I wear only jeans, I shouldn't expect them to last forever. I owned three pair of pants, and in the space of two weeks, two of those pairs became worn/torn enough to be unwearable in public. I mean, like, they were only about 4 or 5 years old, which means each pair had been worn about 450-500 days. How dare they wear out already?!!

Hating shopping with a passion, I got online and discovered that my favorite jeans are no longer manufactured. Boy, I couldn't find anything without Spandex. Okay, okay, I'll order two with a little bit of stretchiness to them. But I made sure to buy the high-waisted ones. When they arrived and I tried them on, I discovered that the "high-waisted" jeans don't even come up to my belly button. I can't even imagine what I might've found if I'd chosen the hip-huggers or the low-rise jeans.

After a couple of weeks of wearing these, I'm beginning to tolerate the style. But they are not flattering. I am not a chubby person by any means, but this style makes me look like I have love-handles bulging at my waist. And Gary said the jeans make me look pregnant. (He's right.) If these jeans make scrawny ME look fat, why does a normal woman buy these? How does this company stay in business?

Eventually I discovered that Lands End has some high-waisted jeans that look like they might actually come all the way up to a person's waist, and they're all-cotton and no spandex. I might have to find space in my dresser drawers for a fourth pair of jeans.

Who Did More Work?

Let's say I make a list for myself of today's jobs:
brush teeth
drink a pint of water
take my vitamins
eat breakfast
clear table from breakfast
get dressed
do a 10-minute grammar lesson with kid
grade an algebra worksheet
cut bread for sandwiches
make sandwiches
clear table from lunch
wash dishes
brush teeth

Let's say my neighbor's to-do list for today consists of painting the living room. She does it.

Who did more? I crossed 13 things off my list. She only crossed 1 off her list. If we were working in the private sector, should I be paid more because I finished more tasks than the other gal did? Seems pretty obvious that the answer should be NO. But sometimes it doesn't work that way in real life. Sometimes racking up the numbers takes priority over a genuine assessment of the work that was accomplished. But why should that surprise me? It's the way things work in public schools and the way things work in government. Why would it not eventually spill over to private business and even the church?

Unwobbly Table

Nanna and Gramp had a table that was passed on to Aunt Mary's family, and then on to my parents, and then on to me and Gary. I remember as a kid being told not to bump the table: don't want to spill the milk, or jolt the table while Mom was writing checks to pay bills. Mom said she got crabbed at for the same thing when she was young too.

We're not using that table any more for eating; when our chairs died, the style of the new chairs wouldn't fit under the old table. But we do have the table that was the coffee table in Nanna & Gramp's family room. We kids would sit on the floor and play at the table while the adults talked. There were magazines on the table. The ashtray for Gramp's cigars was there. I remember gathering around that table while Gramp read the Bible to us. So the table has some good memories. We put longer legs on it when we moved, and we've been using that table in our kitchen for most of our meals and much of our schoolwork. But boy, oh boy, it is WAY wobblier than the rectangular table we used for so many years.

Today Gary took some of the scrap wood left over from deck-spiffing last summer and made a sturdier stand for the table. We put a full glass of milk on the table and purposely bumped the table ... and the milk stayed in the glass! This is awesome!