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Lutherandom Musings Along Memory Lane (Saturday 2/21/15)

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): I thought this Lent eCard was pretty funny mainly because it's how I imagine the people I'm connected with on Facebook feel about me and my recent comments during this #YOHBT . Then again, I'm sure that's just me "putting the worst construction on things again" I suppose.



8:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN B (BEST OF THE BLOGS):
So, Tanya Nevin (a.k.a. "Sellers of Purple"), posted this on her Facebook page yesterday with the intro "so addicted to tattoos, and being beheaded..." and it's pretty intense (but she's absolutely right and it's quite moving too!): "Would you still get that sick tattoo if you knew you'd be beheaded for it? Would you be putting your spare change in the Tattoo $$ Jar if it meant you'd be burned alive for the mark it got you? What if I said you'd get pulled out of your car, be gang raped in the street, and torn apart by the mob watching -- just because some guy at the stoplight saw that ink when he happened to look over? Would you still say, 'oh my god! tattoos are so totally addicting!' -- like I hear all the time? If you're a Christian in Egypt, that little tattoo on your hand isn't a swirly butterfly or a clip-art flower you found on Pinterest; it's a death sentence. See, for our brothers & sisters on the other side of the world, tattoos are deadly serious. For them, the faded black smudge on the wrist actually represents what they're willing to die for; it represents Someone who was willing to die for them so they could be right with God. The Copts wear the Cross of Christ, and they don't wear it lightly. Every time they catch sight of that ink under their skin, they remember the Someone who took a mark on His own hands long ago. He died with what amounted to railroad spikes being hammered through His hands. He took the nails for their sin, and around the world His followers take the needle for their faith. For that they die. So don't tell me you're so addicted to tattoos, unless you are prepared to be a slave to your ink and die in it's chains."




9:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN C (CONFESSIONAL): 
Here are 8 sermons delivered by Martin Luther for Lent all in one place. Enjoy!



9:30AM DOSE OF VITAMIN D (DOCTRINE): 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Here's what my Lutheran Study Bible has to say about this: "Jesus took upon Himself our status and standing before God's righteous court. He was declared guilty of all the sin and evil in this world. Mankind's sins were charged to the account of an innocent man." It also adds this from the Formula of Concord Ep III 1: "Christ alone is our Righteousness, who is true God and man, because in Him the divine and human natures are personally united with each other." In addition, another Pastor once referenced this particular verse when he wrote: "If the narrative we've adopted says that in order for our relationship with God to be legitimate, our life has to get better, we twist the Gospel into a moral improvement scheme. The Gospel is not 'you must become like Jesus'; the Gospel is 'Jesus became like you' (2 Corinthians 5:21). That's not to say that 'Jesus becoming like you' doesn't change you. It does. But the Gospel is NOT our transformation. The Gospel is Christ's substitution." Yep, that's a heavy dose of "Vitamin D (Doctrine)" right there, but it's something we all need to be reminded of on a daily basis, IMHO.

10:00AM DOSE OF VITAMIN E (EVERYTHING ELSE): Ladies, there's a new website devoted to the women of Lutheranism, to read, comment, and discuss issues having to do with Lutheran theology and the vocations of wife, mother, sister, woman and it's called Sisters of Katie Luther. Personally, I think this is a BRILLIANT idea! So, if you haven't already, then please bookmark it and plan to check in often!
 

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 in your God-given vocations.


Grace and peace to you and yours!



NOTE: I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or a Christian, Candy-Making, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this note, I'm also 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 inconsistent 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 Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). In addition, there are some entries that are a little "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavy influenced by those old beliefs of mine. 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). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse notes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I defer to what other Lutheran Pastors have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries. I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a dude's diary in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). 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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About JKR

Christian. Husband. Father. Friend.

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Thank you for visiting A Lutheran Layman! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question since we do not exercise censorship. We've seen a similar policy with other blogs and it's worth repeating: Please act as if you're a guest in my home, and we'll get along just fine. I think anyone would agree that the kind of back-and-forth that is characteristic of blogs/chat forums and social media is becoming tiresome for all of us. Still, we should confess, edify, and love (and contend and defend when needed). Bottom line? Search the Scriptures! Apply Acts 17:11 to anything and everything you find here and, if you do happen to disagree with something you find here (which is certainly ok), or think I'm "irresponsible" and "wrong" for writing it, then please refute my position by supporting yours with Scripture and/or the Confessions. I don't think that's an unreasonable request, especially for those who identify themselves as "Christians" here, right? Besides, Proverbs 27:17 tells us "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" and 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." If you have an opinion that's great, I welcome it, but try to support it using God's Word. I mean, if the goal here is to help us all arrive at the truth of God's Word (myself included), then it should be easy to follow through on this one simple request (I'm talking to all you "Anonymous" visitors out there). Grace and peace to you and yours!

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