A Lutheran School Memory

 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Galatians 5:17

Luther states in his commentary of Galatians: "These two leaders, the flesh and the Spirit, are bitter opponents. Of this opposition the Apostle writes in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: " I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into the captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" 

Mark* was only at our school for one year. Much of that time was spent in the principal's office. He never went to church and he never made an attempt to do his memory work. When the teacher asked for certain Bible verses, he was always the last to find it. Rarely would he complete a Religion assignment. He usually complained the loudest when it came to attending chapel. Yet, when he thought no one was looking, he would open that Bible. He would sing along in chapel if he thought he could get by unnoticed.

I honestly do not know what happened to Mark. I have not seen or heard from him for many years. Of this I do know, while he was at out school he heard the Word of God. The Pastor, teachers, and students demonstrated the love of Christ. He was taught Law and Gospel. It really illustrates to me the importance of the Lutheran school. I believe in those little attempts the Holy Spirit was working in him. We could all see the resistance, but in those little moments we could see the love of Christ shining through.


*Not his real name. 

Tired

Time to rest.

Our 4th and 5th grade teacher

does some really cool things...

Poison Tongue

267] Those, then, are called slanderers who are not content with knowing a thing, but proceed to assume jurisdiction, and when they know a slight offense of another, carry it into every corner, and are delighted and tickled that they can stir up another's displeasure [baseness], as swine roll themselves in the dirt and root in it with the snout. 268] This is nothing else than meddling with the judgment and office of God, and pronouncing sentence and punishment with the most severe verdict. For no judge can punish to a higher degree nor go farther than to say: "He is a thief, a murderer, a traitor," etc. Therefore, whoever presumes to say the same of his neighbor goes just as far as the emperor and all governments. For although you do not wield the sword, you employ your poisonous tongue to the shame and hurt of your neighbor.

I was just reflecting on how easy it is in the midst of friends and colleagues that it is to be like those swine that Luther wrote about. How easy it is to get embroiled in things that truly hurt our neighbor. It is one of those things that makes working in a church a little like Mos Eislely Spaceport. As Obi-Wan Kenobi stated in Star Wars, "Mos Eisley Space Port. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.We must be cautious.:

In the midst of that also comes the redemption and that is found in Psalm 119; the way our tongue is healed. While we need that eighth commandment which disciplines and unmasks our sinfulness, we also have God's assurance that with the Holy Spirit we can rise past that and rise to this:

¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause, 

   but my heart stands in awe of your words. 

¹⁶² I rejoice at your word 

   like one who finds great spoil. 

¹⁶³ I hate and abhor falsehood, 

   but I love your law. 

¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise you 

   for your righteous rules. 

¹⁶⁵ Great peace have those who love your law; 

   nothing can make them stumble. 

¹⁶⁶ I hope for your salvation, O LORD, 

   and I do your commandments. 

¹⁶⁷ My soul keeps your testimonies; 

   I love them exceedingly. 

¹⁶⁸ I keep your precepts and testimonies, 

   for all my ways are before you.

  

 ¹⁶⁹ Let my cry come before you, O LORD; 

   give me understanding according to your word! 

¹⁷⁰ Let my plea come before you; 

   deliver me according to your word. 

¹⁷¹ My lips will pour forth praise, 

   for you teach me your statutes. 

¹⁷² My tongue will sing of your word, 

   for all your commandments are right. 

¹⁷³ Let your hand be ready to help me, 

   for I have chosen your precepts. 

¹⁷⁴ I long for your salvation, O LORD, 

   and your law is my delight. 

¹⁷⁵ Let my soul live and praise you, 

   and let your rules help me. 

¹⁷⁶ I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, 

   for I do not forget your commandments.

Dang

We must, therefore, impress it upon the young that they should regard their parents as in God's stead, and remember that however lowly, poor, frail, and queer they may be, nevertheless they are father and mother given them by God. They are not to be deprived of their honor because of their conduct or their failings. Therefore we are not to regard their persons, how they may be, but the will of God who has thus created and ordained. In other respects we are, indeed, all alike in the eyes of God; but among us there must necessarily be such inequality and ordered difference, and therefore God commands it to be observed, that you obey me as your father, and that I have the supremacy.From Luther's Large Catechism-Fourth Commandment

While grocery shopping today, I actually pulled out my cell to call dad. I was shocked at the action and overwhelmed because I knew I could not talk with him.I used to call him while I was grocery shopping so that we could argue and discuss interesting things while I was doing the mundane task of shopping.

I can't recall the trigger that caused me to want to talk to him except that it has something to do with the Civil War. Dad loved Civil War history. Strange how random bits of information conjures such an emotional response. I fought back tears and put on a look that dared someone to say something. 2011 was such a difficult year in which I saw my father go from good health to suffering and finally death. I am reminded of Walt Whitman's Poem 1861:

ARM'D year! year of the struggle!

No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you, terrible

   year!

Not you as some pale poetling, seated at a desk, lisping cadenzas 

   piano;

But as a strong man, erect, clothed in blue clothes, advancing, 

   carrying a rifle on your shoulder,

With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands with a

   knife in the belt at your side,

As I heard you shouting loud your sonorous voice ringing

    across the continent;

Your masculine voice, O year, as rising amid the great cities,

Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you, as one of the workmen,

    the dwellers of Manhattan;

Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and 

   Indiana,

Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait, and descending the 

   Alleghenies;

Or down from the great lakes, or in Pennsylvania, or on deck

   along the Ohio river;

Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers, or at 

   Chattanooga on the mountain top,

Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs, clothed in blue, 

   bearing weapons, robust year;

Hard your determin'd voice, launch'd forth again and again;

Year that suddenly sang by the mouths for the round-lipp'd 

   cannon,

I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year. 

 

Thoroughly

"Did you brush your teeth thoroughly?"

"Yes daddy, thorowee."

"What does thoroughly mean?"

'I don't know!"

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Dad used to say the same thing to me. 

Church Council Meetings

sound something like this...