What's in the Creed

Many segments of Christendom care a lot about sanctification.  They often spend more time talking about how a person becomes holy than proclaiming that a person is declared righteous because of Jesus' blood shed on the cross.*

So what do we find in the Creed? 

In the Apostles' Creed, we pray "I believe in ... the forgiveness of sins."   In the Nicene Creed, we pray, "I believe in ... one baptism for the remission of sins."  But no mention of my progress in holiness. 

I suspect that means something.





* Footnote: Now, by no means am I saying that sanctification is unimportant.  I am saying, however, that if the focus is genuinely on the call to repentance and  justification, sanctification will of necessity follow, even without anybody haranguing people to be holier.

Is Profanity Sinful?

For some unknown reason, out of the blue, one of my co-workers begged me (out of the bosses' earshot) to say a naughty word on Tuesday.  "Please?  I never heard you say anything bad.  Please, just one bad word?" 

"No," I answered, confused.

"Please?  I've been having a really bad day, and that would just cheer up my whole week.  For me?  Please!"

"Why?" 

"I just want to hear you say a naughty word."

I was lost as to where this came from, and so was my partner that day.  We thought our co-worker was being quite silly.  Eventually, she suggested, "Hell?  Could you say 'hell' for me?" 

Now, I don't know about you, but to me, hell is not a swear word.  Think about it: the word is a theological term and is even in the Creed.  Confused that she would ask for that word, I asked, "Hell?"  She giggled maniacally and then asked for "another" swear word. 

When she finally went back to her area, my partner-for-the-day suggested to me, "But 'hell' isn't really a swear word, is it?" 

"No.  It's a place." 

"Yeah, that's kinda what I thought."

So I have been thinking about this interchange.  I knew she would pester again for a swear word.  And sure enough, she has. 



I really don't know what I think about whether profanity is sinful.  I do know that cursing and swearing is sinful: the second commandment tells me that.  But the profanity that is merely "coarse language"?  I've heard discussions about why it is sinful and about why it's not sinful.  I've heard discussions about whether "gee whiz" and "golly" and "darn" are sinful, and other arguments as to why they're not sinful.  And honestly, I just don't care.   Those conversations always seem to end up steeped in legalism or antinomianism.

But here's what I noticed.  My co-worker does think profanity is sinful.  She may think that she doesn't; after all, she is not opposed to cursing, swearing, and profanity coming out of her mouth occasionally.  But there is some drive in her to get me to say something "naughty."  Isn't that a tacit admission that she thinks it would be sinful of me to toss out some of those four-letter words?  And here's what I'm wondering: If even the world, in all her revelry and self-indulgence, considers profanity sinful, would that mean it is?

When the Laundry Met Up with Gasoline

Sometimes you think something goes without saying. But it doesn't. Thus Maggie ended up with gasoline all over her best pair of jeans, because I failed to tell her that you can't be squeezing the gas pump when you take the nozzle out of the gas can.

If I knew then what I know now, I think the jeans would have gone straight into the trash. It probably would have been cheaper to replace them than to try the variety of remedies I attempted. So here's my conclusion based on all sorts of failures:

Don't immediately bring them home and soak them or pre-wash them in the wash machine. Remember? Oil and water do not mix. Even soaking them in very soapy water won't do much. Besides, if you try to wash the jeans first thing, you'll just contaminate your washer with gasoline. Then not only do you have to clean the clothes, but you have to clean the washer too.

Coco-cola is effective. One bucket with the jeans jammed into it. A 2L bottle of real Coke poured over it. A good long soak. That sucked a lot of the odor out of the jeans. A second 2L bottle for a few more hours helped even more.

Hanging outdoors! The gas will evaporate into the air. I'd already tried various cleaning methods when Jenny advised me to air the jeans. It happened to be a rainy day. Y'know how rain does a better job of washing your car's windshield than does the windshield washer fluid? Well, between the fresh air and 24 hours of drizzly rain, the stint on the clothesline pretty well eliminated the rest of the gas-stink.

Dawn! I can't use Dawn in the kitchen: it eats up my hands and leaves itchiness and raw skin and sores. But in the laundry room! Oh, Dawn in the laundry room is my new BFF. Dawn doesn't just cut chicken grease off your dinner plate. It gets grease stains out of clothes. It cleans mozzarella and marinara off Mr Pizza-Pants' work clothes. Undiluated Dawn in copious quantities cuts right through gasoline in your daughter's blue jeans.

Next time I'll know what to do.
But there'd better not be a next time....

Firm in the Faith

You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Jesus' name means "the Lord is salvation." That means we are not. Salvation is entirely from Him, and not at all from us.

Even when we believe that Jesus has done everything to save us, the adamic nature manages to twist "faith" into "my believingness" by which we are saved. (I guess that's what it is to be simultaneously saint and sinner: we trust in Jesus, and yet at the same time we refuse to let go of our own works meriting something, somehow, some way, even if only a smidge.)

"The God of peace Himself will sanctify you wholly and keep your spirit, soul, and body sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it." He will do it.

We sing in "Jesus, Priceless Treasure,"
Pain or loss or shame or cross
shall not from my Savior move me
since He deigns to love me.

Why will the cross of affliction not tear me away from my Savior? Because I love Him so much? Because I'm a good Christian? No. Because HE condescends to love me.

The catechism quotes Titus chapter 3: "... so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." This is a trustworthy saying!

And what else does Paul call a trustworthy saying? "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Sinners? He saves sinners? For real? Wouldn't it make more sense if God helped the good people? Trouble is, sinners are incapable of keeping themselves firm in the faith.

But with God, all things are possible. And His reputation is on the line. "He who called you is faithful, and He will do it." He will!

Scary Beards

Alia doesn't want to talk to Papa or hug him or let him kiss her.

A few weeks ago, Alia mentioned to her mommy that "beards are scary." Oh. Gary grew his winter beard to keep his face warm when he's walking outdoors in the wind. And that's about when Papa changed from a super guy to Someone To Be Ignored.

Alia doesn't have much to do with Uncle Philip either. He too "has a scary beard." Come to think of it, she's not real keen on Pastor either.

Pogonophobia.



When it's time for Gary to shave off his beard in another two months, I think he ought to let Alia watch him do it. Might it help? Or is there no reasoning with an unreasonable fear?

Sunday Afternoon

Too many good options. First on the calendar for today: a homeschool get-together where I'd get to see a precious friend that I almost never see ... and my god-daughter and her sibs. Second on the calendar for today: the husband of an online acquaintance was being installed in a nearby congregation. Could I fit them both in? Would I regret it tomorrow if I tried to cram too many events into one day?

Both slots were usurped.

Paul called last night at 9:30. From Atlanta. He'd arrived in in the States from Haiti, but foul weather screwed up the flights back to Minnesota. The airline figured they'd fly him and Kristen (the other person from MN who went on this trip) to Minnesota by way of Milwaukee. Oh, but they'd have to be in Wisconsin overnight. Milwaukee? Really? That's the plan the airline came up with? Woo hoo! "Mom, do you think you could pick us up at the airport at midnight?" Yes, as a matter of fact, I think I can pull that off! Woo hoo!

Quick nap. Drive to the south side in the middle of the night. Pick up two "kids." (Yes, I know they're grown-ups. I'm old. It's my prerogative to call them kids for another 40 years.) Four more hours of sleep. An hour of trying to drag myself out of bed. Church. Then home for lunch with the crew.

And how many were in the crew? EVERYBODY. Philip usually comes over for Sunday dinner. Rachel & Matt happened to be in town this weekend, and they consented to join us for lunch. So Katie's family came over too. Gary and I were trying to remember, and we think this might be the first time the whole family has been together in one place since Zoe was born. And Kristen was a joy to have with us too.

After some naps and visiting this afternoon, we deposited Kristen and Paul at the doors of the airport, assuming that the black ice on side-streets is nothing that impacts the airport runways.

I can't believe it! All the kids in the same church at the same service this morning! All the kids at the same dinner table at lunch today!

That's good stuff.

Psalm 107

Have you ever noticed the pattern in Psalm 107? There are four different sections in the interior of the psalm: those who are lost in the wilderness, those who sit in darkness, fools in need of healing, and those who are overwhelmed by the wind and waves.

Each section starts with their angst and their need. Then we hear "Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distresses." We hear what God did for them. Then again we have repetition: "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Each section then has one verse of conclusion.



I don't know why I think that's so nifty. I probably read the psalm a couple of dozen times before I recognized the pattern. But now there's something about it that thrills my heart.  (I guess you can laugh at my oddities now. Oh well, I still think it's really cool. And I thought maybe somebody out there somewhere might also be tickled to see the pattern.)

Plumbing

In past years, reading history to the kids, I remember my shock at the reaction of people when toilets were invented. "What? You'd do THAT in your house? Oh, it would stink. Clean people wouldn't give up their outhouses."

It's a whoppin' 1 degree this morning.

I am thankful today for indoor plumbing that flushes.

New Stove ... and other stuff

I should have realized sooner. But I finally got the message when it took four hours to roast a 3# chicken. We spent two days shopping for a stove, both in stores and online. It was delivered when I was at work one day.

The first thing I noticed was that it sits against the wall. The old stove had a flat back, which meant it had to sit in front of the gas pipe and the electrical outlet. But this one is somewhat concave on the back, so that the plug and the gas pipe fit where the indentation is. There's no longer a 6" gap behind my stove. This means the stove door is nearly flush with the cabinet-fronts. It also means bottles of olive oil and spatulas are not diving to the floor behind the stove.

Second thing I noticed: light. I crab at people to turn the lights on "low" on the stove vent. The [not inexpensive] LED light bulbs last much longer if they're on "low" instead of "high." Once we got the new, white stove, I thought people were running the lights on "high." They weren't. Y'know, you learn things about lightwaves in your physics classes, but it still astounds you to see the difference in brightness when you have a white stove versus a black stove.

Third thing I noticed. The knobs for the burners are in different places. I suppose y'all should be placing bets on how long it will take me to burn down the house. I get so frustrated with a pot taking forever to come to a boil ... and it turns out I've got fire on an uncovered burner while the pot is sitting in an unheated spot. Yikes! I've gotta work on that!

Fourth thing I noticed (and maybe even better than the first thing I noticed) -- it cooks so nicely. The first batch of bread seemed exquisite. I attributed that to chance. But the second batch of bread rose beautifully, with a lovely crust, no cracking, no toughness. Hmmm. Maybe there was more wrong with the old stove than I had realized.



On the day the stove was installed, we found water in the basement. It's happened twice. Both times were with a hot load of laundry. No leaking when the shower is used. No leaking when the kitchen sink is used. No leaking when the laundry is set to "warm." Now, how can the water heater know to leak onto the basement floor only when the washer is turned on to a hot load? With some detective work, we are suspecting that there's a problem with a valve. I'll have to do some more sleuthing, including turning on the washer and sitting there with my eyes constantly on the water heater for 20 minutes or so. Not the most exciting spy-work. But we're on our way to solving the mystery.


Picnic lunch last week at work. Seriously. Outdoors. Picnic blanket. Sack lunch. Magazine. Granted, I was wearing my coat, but I had no mittens or hat, and wasn't in the least bit chilled on my face. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. The snow came the next day.


We found a buyer for the car. We'll be making the transaction on Saturday. I hope it serves him well. And I hope the van gives us a few more good years.

Car stuff. Large appliance stuff. Doing a little shopping for a suit for a massive-chested young man. Hoo boy. No wonder I haven't had time to blog. Now we're on to more suit-shopping and figuring the taxes and a couple of editing projects. And I really ought to teach Andrew to drive stickshift. (How do we make it all slllllooooooww dooowwwwn?)

Second String

What a fun movie! Thank you to whoever recommended Second String. It's got all the feel-good aspects of a typical sports movie that shows a win for the underdogs, as well as making you smile at creative, thinking-out-of-the-box problem-solving. The story may be a bit predictable, but it makes you laugh and cheer, and that's a good thing.

Craigslist

Wariness reigns.

We finally took care of the hauling job that's been on hold until after the holidays. So the van is now expendable. We cleaned both the van and the old car. I posted them on Craigslist. And now I have to wonder.

Several people offered to buy the van, sight unseen. Suspicious? Yes. Some of them were from other states, and not even neighboring states. Even more suspicious? Yes.

Because people often wonder why a car is being sold, I mentioned that we bought a newer vehicle because our two were very old, and now one of the old ones has to go. I had three offers to buy both my Camry and my van. "Excuse me. Did you people read what I wrote?"

The van was totaled four years ago. We bought it back from the insurance company. I made sure to state clearly that the van had a salvage title, and why. I had people from Illinois interested in the van, even though you can't license a salvaged vehicle in that state. Fishy? Yes.

I feel rude, but I haven't responded to most of these people who claim to be interested in my cars. I don't want to give them my email address; I don't want to give them my phone number. I called one from my tracfone which is nearly always turned off and which has no voice-mail. I set up a new hotmail account which I used to respond to another inquirer. I hope my suspicions don't prevent me from recognizing when a normal person from around our normal area is looking for a car for normal reasons. This fishy stuff gives me the creeps.

Sojourners

As we were studying 1 Peter this morning, we came upon the verse (2:11) where Peter refers to us as sojourners and pilgrims.

This week, Pastor has been stressing that point that we are children of God.

So, what do all sojourning children say? What's the perennial refrain from the back seat of the car while you're on a trip? "Are we there yet? How much longer?"

How 'bout that?
It fits, doesn't it?
"Come, Lord Jesus."

A Bumper Sticker

I'd never seen this until last night:

Abortion Is Mean

Yes. I guess it is.

Understanding Derivatives 101

What's played into the spiral of economic catastrophe in our country and the world? When I saw this analogy online, I thought it helped explain a few not-so-simple machinations and the ripple effects ... which wouldn't've degenerated so badly if everybody (individuals, businesses, and government) held to some simple economic principles like paying your bills.

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit ...
She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit. By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern because he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS. These "securities" then are bundled and traded on international securities markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AAA Secured Bonds" really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi. Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons. But, being unemployed alcoholics, they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi's 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community. The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations. Her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion-dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, nondrinkers who have never been in Heidi's bar.

TBR

Jenny and Jane and Katie are gathering To-Be-Read lists. All my smart friends, reading stuff that intrigues me. But my list has to fit around work and homeschooling and garden and stuff at church. Only part of this list is my plan; most of it is merely my wishlist.

Finishing the Mitford series I started this summer.
The rest of Ivanhoe with Maggie.
Luther on Galatians.
Kleinig's Grace Upon Grace
Wingrin's Luther on Vocation
Maybe reading the Anne of Green Gables series with Maggie next.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Forde's On Being a Theologian of the Cross
Maybe some Gillian Bradshaw or Janette Oke re-reads, unless y'all have some suggestions that are like the Mitford books, not too weighty, that can be read for 10 minutes and put down and left for a week before being picked up again.

I know there are all sorts of reading challenges out there for the new year, often with 100 books listed for the year. No way on earth could I do that. I'll be way ahead of my expectations if I read five books this year.

I feel compelled to apologize. Once upon a time I was a voracious reader.

A Story and My Picnics

A picnic blanket lived in the trunk of my car this past year. During my lunch break at work, I would nuke my leftovers (or grab my sandwich and fruit) and then head outside. There's a sitting spot outside, relatively shielded from wind and passers-by. I'd sit in the sun, on my blankie, take off my work-shoes, and read my Backwoods Home Magazine while nibbling my lunch.

I had more picnics this year than any other year in my life. I think I had more picnics this past summer/fall than I had in the last couple of decades put together.

Eventually I noticed that I was reading magazines regularly. (Hey, I was three years behind on my BHM and now I'm only two years behind.) Reading regularly might (maybe? possibly?) mean that I could read a [gasp -- hold onto your hat!] a BOOK.

Jan Karon's Mitford series came out about 15 years ago. Oodles of friends and family had recommended it to me for about 14 and 3/4 years. Now I know why! It was perfect! Short sections, some only half a page, so it was easy to put down when my lunch-minutes were depleted. Funny. Light. Love story without being mushy or indecent. Set in a parsonage in Podunkville. It made my heart rejoice to plunk down on my blankie and eat a big fat tomato sandwich and immerse myself in Mrs Karon's village of Mitford.

Since the weather changed, I haven't continued the series. But in March or April, my picnic blanket and I will be eager to start on Book #4. Only three months to go! It makes my heart pitter-patter just to think of it.

Parthenon

Working on a project to ferret out all the "words" and "preached" and "spoke" in Luke's Christmas stories, I can across the word "parthenon" in the Greek. Parthenon? Didn't recognize it. Well, I mean, in Greek it didn't ring a bell, even though the image of the building's ruins immediately popped into my mind's eye. Turned out that "parthenon" is the word for "virgin," as in, Mary was a virgin, a parthenon.

Looking it up, I found that the pagan temple was so named because it's dedicated to Diana, a virgin goddess who looked after virgins and young women.

Sometimes two different subjects just seem to click into one factoid out of nowhere.

Today's Laugh

The policeman was called to a busy intersection downtown where a mutt was giving birth to puppies. The officer didn't know what to do as the closest thing he had in his ordinance book was to give the dog a citation for "littering."



[groan....]

And Few More Christmas Photos

More Christmas Photos

A purple tutu!



The riding toy wasn't a present. It came out of storage in the garage because it seemed like Zoe might be getting big enough for it. It might've been her favorite thing of the week.



"Uncle Paul, do you know how to read?" He does know how to read! "Read to me."



Handsome!