Rejoice, the Weekend is here!

Happy Friday to everyone.  This weekend is hopefully going to be a great weekend.  My day has started wonderfully, with class that went well.  We really just discussed and went over our papers.  Then I ran some errands, and went to chapel.  I ate lunch and now I am just waiting for 1:30 when I go get my oil changed.  Then after that it is Prof and Stein which is always something to look forward to.  I mean its free beer plus fellowship.  Tonight we also have Isofest.  Our dorm is called Isolation dorm because when they originally build the campus all the buildings that make the quads were connected except the dorm.  It has since been shorted to Iso dorm.  The fest tonight though is a BBQ in front of the dorm, with food and adult beverages.  It should be a great time with us guys just hanging out eating good food, enjoying a cold one, and more friendly fellowship which is always a good thing.  Tomorrow is the Husker Wisconsin game.  I think we plan to watch it on the big screen in Wartburg Hall. I hope my Huskers can play well and pull it off.  I know a lot of people are already counting them out, but I wont say anything until after the game.  Also tomorrow, hopefully I get to see my brother Nathan.  He is in St. Louis for a conference, and were hoping to meet up and hang out.  It will be good to see him again.  I am excited for the next few days.
Last night, after the whole work out thing, it turned out to be a really good night.  The coolest thing was Matt, who is our dorm counselor, (we call him our dorm mom) organized a Bible study for all the guys in our dorm led by Dr. Lessing.  Dr. Lessing did such a good job with the passage and his message for us.  Plus we all joined in a hymn together, just singing A Capella, and it was awesome to hear the pretty large group of all men singing together.  The coolest thing about this place that I love, is how often we all get together and join in praising our God as one voice.  Not very many places do you have the numerous opportunities that we have here.  Praise be to Him!
Then I went on a walk with my friend Eric, who agreed to walk Biscuit.  Now if you don't know who Biscuit is, you are missing out.  He is our friend Hunter's little Beagle pup.  He is not only an awesome dog, but also a babe magnet.  Our other friend Eric, seriously borrows Biscuit every Saturday to walk him though the park to meet ladies.  He has had some success.  I told Hunter he is going to have to raise his renting prices for Biscuit once the guys find out his success rates.
My thought for the day will be short and sweet.  Like I said I am going to get my oil changed today and then need to fill it up with gas.  It is well over the recommended mileage for getting the oil changed but I just haven't had time to get it done.  Plus it makes me mad I have to pay for it to be done, when I have been doing it for free myself the last couple years.  However, much like my car, we ourselves often need an oil change.  Only ours isn't every three thousand miles, but rather daily.  Our oil is God's grace in forgiveness.  When you drain oil out of a car, it is normally so black you can't see through it.  The new oil you put in is gold in color.  This is how confession and absolution works.  We drain out our black filthy sin by confessing it to our Lord, and He pours His golden grace and mercy of absolution and fills us back up.  We certainly could not make it three thousand miles, because in a single day we in our sins turn that gold colored oil back into the black dirty used oil and need it to be changed again.  Lucky for us, Our God, is willing to daily listen to us drain our sins to Him, and He through His Son, daily fills us back up with His golden grace.  Then after I get my oil changed in my car, I need to go get gas.  This is true for us too.  While our daily oil change makes us clean, we still need the fuel to run our engine.  This is His Word and Sacraments.  We receive our fuel from the Lord by reading His Word, eating His body, and drinking His blood.  He not only cleans us, but fuels us as well.  And the best part, it is all free to us.  He gave us a lifetime unlimited free pass card to use every time we want to change our oil or fill our fuel tanks.  He made sure we would never have to pay a dime.  He paid for us with the death of His Son, and gave us our free pass through the resurrection.  What an amazing God we have and serve.  All Praise be to Him!!
Dear Heavenly Father, 
We thank you so much for being the gracious God you are.  You not only cleanse us daily, but also give us numerous opportunities to fuel us daily.  You are so loving and kind, that You even do all of this for us Your children for free to us.  It cost You Your one and only Son's life.  However You took care of Your Son and raised Him from the dead, just as You take care of us and raise us out of our death to sin.  All praise and thanks be to You, our wonderful, merciful, and gracious God.  Through Your Son's most holy and precious name we pray. Amen.     

The things I get myself into!

Good day to you all and what a beautiful day it is.  At least it is here in St. Louis.  Sunny, warm but not hot, slight breeze, just the perfect day to be anywhere other than in my tiny little room writing papers, and yes it's plural.  However, I did smartly place my desk right next to my window so I can sit here with both halves wide open, and at least look out side and hear the wind rustle the leaves in the tree.  They are getting that nice crisp sound to them like they are drying out and going to be falling soon.  I love that because one I am ready for hopefully a few good weeks of perfect fall weather, but also because I am ready for the beautiful, white gift from God to start falling from the sky. (SNOW!!!!) T
Today went well, even though it was a rough start this morning.  I had set my alarm to get up and do some final touches to my Hebrew before class.  However, for the life of me, no matter how hard I tried, my eyes would not hold themselves open.  I even got out of bed and sat at my desk and slept their ten minutes, so I went and took a shower, and I'm not so sure I didn't fall asleep in there as well.  However, I drank my cup of coffee, and headed off to Lutheran Mind. We got our first papers back, and I failed.  However, before you judge me, every one in the class failed, and everyone in that class for the last ten years has always failed the first paper.  It is just their method, even if it is a great paper, they assume there is always something you can improve in it.  I did fail "better" than some in the class I know, if that's the proper way to say that?  Basically I have less mistakes to fix than some.  So that is one of my papers I am working on tonight.  All we really did in class was discuss the papers, and then recovered the idea of our "Hidden God", in a little more detail.  Then I went to Hebrew, and aced my vocab test so that was a highlight of my day.  Then I was all excited for chapel since St. Michael and Angels day just happened to be the same day as communion, plus the hand bell choir was playing, and my friend Lee is in that.  However, my boss asked my to come help with the training session for cashiers for the new cafeteria.  So I went and made money instead of getting to go to Chapel.  Then I was upset because it wasn't even a training session but rather a meeting of all the top dogs deciding what features of the programs they wanted installed and which ones they didn't.  Plus it's just a touch screen cash register very similar to the one I used as a manger of The Happy Chef in Adair.  So I was actually giving them pointers, and the one head guy who is head of all human resourcing actually apologized to me.  While they were on the phone conference with the software guys, I wasn't really paying attention because it seemed like something that wasn't really my call or position to be listening to, and so he slightly rudely told me to pay attention.  Then when I corrected him on one of his ideas, and he realized I actually knew what I was talking about, he apologized.  I try not to let things like that go to my head, but it always good when you can use previous experiences to look smart about something.  Plus like I said I got paid to be there.  Then I went to Pastoral Ministry which was a presentation by Concordia Services Plan.  I felt sorry for the guy because he did have a good presentation and was trying to make it fun and interesting, but since this is the third one THIS WEEK we have had to sit through nobody was very attentive or responsive with him.  Some of us kind of feel like Dr. Utech could be using his class periods better.  I mean we did the math and realized we are paying $61.50 per class period.  So we spent over $180 this week listening to guest speakers.  I mean if they want to do that, I would rather they send us to some big conference where we get fancy hotel rooms and free buffet meals and out of all our other classes for three days.  Plus it just looks like lack of effort on Dr. Utech's part for not having to teach a single thing to us this whole week.  But then classes ended with Greek Readings, with my favorite Dr. Gibbs.  It was a great class, and we covered some pretty in-depth material.  He actually told us we were getting into material that will be covered in our classes the next two quarters.  So he was impressed with how mature our theological thinking is already.  Then after that class as we were walking back to the dorm, President Dr. Meyer stopped about six of us guys and told us we were going to get to learn servant leadership.  We had to help him carry some old heavy windows which took five minutes.  It was easy, but just funny how he worded his use of free labor to be for our benefit.  I really do enjoy every encounter with that man.
The last part of my day, was where my brilliance really shined through!  I am being purely sarcastic for those of you whose computer don't include that font.  I decided I needed to start getting some exercise and being a little healthier man.  I am personally guilt tripped by this area because probably ninety percent of my friends are doing P90X, a very intense workout series.  I know I need to lose weight as well as just get more exercise in general.  So I asked my friend Aaron, who played four years of college football, has lifted constantly in his life since early high school, fit as an ox, and strong as one too, if I, who has not worked out {unless you count golf workouts :)} in probably four years, am fat, lazy, out of shape, and every joint on my body hurts when I even think about working out, could work out with him today!  Like I said, brilliance I know.  Well, I did work out with him and other than a head ache, that burning in my chest, and muscles I forgot I even had screaming in pain, it wasn't too bad.  However, I did warn Aaron that if I can't get out of bed in the morning to make it to class he has to carry me there.  I plan on sticking with his program, called Spartan Warrior Workout--- YIKES!, for a couple weeks and see how it goes.  I am not really concerned with how much weight I can lift or anything like that, but rather just get a little toned, hopefully lose some weight, and get in better shape for sports.  I have talked several of the tennis team guys into beating me, once our courts are finished and back in use.  I say beating me, because while I can usually hold my own on the tennis court, the tennis team had their first meet against a college team the other day and not a single guy lost a single game.  I think they are all pretty good.  So maybe next time you will see me, I will be slender, trim, and fit, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
My topic for today comes from our Greek Readings class.  We just finished translating the Magi story, in Matthew 2.  There are a few pointers I want to make notice of, mainly because Dr. Gibbs made notice of them to us.  The first is that the term "wise men" is completely misleading.  These guys were magicians, sourcers, and even astronomers.  Now, everywhere else we see in the Bible anyone who uses magic, witch craft, or astronomy is the bad guy.  So these guys were not wise men, but rather the witch crafting, star believing bad guys from the east.  Dr. Gibbs also noted that the story proves they were not very smart, let alone wise.  First, they go to Harod, a king with a reputation of not being very nice, to ask him where the new king was to be born.  I mean if you know he has the authority of a king, and does not like it when people threaten his crown, he is probably not the best guy to ask about a new king being born in the area.  And then even after they find the baby Jesus, they are still not smart enough to figure out that going back to Harod would be a terrible idea.  Rather, God must intervene and directly tell them in a dream that they should not go back to Harod.  So these three are not wise.  Then the second item we talked about was if Harod actually thought the King of the Jews was being born in Bethlehem.  Now Dr. Gobbs pointed out that there is nothing grammatical or specific words used to show that Herod doubted it.  However, we do have one pretty good clue, just from knowing the culture of the time that Harod had serious doubts that a new king was actually being born.  Any guesses?  The correct answer is that Harod sent off the three magi without any of his own men.  If he seriously felt threatened that another king was being born to take his throne, he most likely would have sent as least a scribe if not a few soldiers to Bethlehem with the magi to find this baby.  Did he really expect the magi to return, and if he did, why would he want to wait that long to find out if the king exist or not?  So that was just a side note we discussed.  The thing my friend Adam and I talked about as we were translating is in verse 5 and  6.  Harod asks the scribes and priests where the king would be born.  They use prophecy of the old testament (Micah 5) to know exactly where the king will be born.  However, it is not recorded that these scribes and priests take off and go to Bethlehem themselves to worship him.  Dr. Gibbs explained that by saying every narrative has gaps, and only context can once in awhile fill in those gaps.  This is however, not one of those times.  So these are the technical details we talked about with this narrative.  I wont even begin to bore you with all the Greek grammar we discussed within this narrative.  However, the main point that we (Dr. Gibbs, most pastors, and myself) believe that the importance Matthew is trying to show with this narrative is the very fact that I discussed first.  The fact that these three were not wise men, but rather Biblical bad guys is the importance.  Who does Matthew most commonly show Jesus teaching, preaching and spending his time with?  Who does Matthew show most commonly seeing the truth of the Gospel like a light bulb click on above their heads, and worshiping Jesus for it?  The "bad guy"!!!!  Tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners.  These are the people Jesus came to save, and Matthew uses these characters to show that the Gospel is for everyone, and any one is able to grasp the Gospel if the Holy Spirit opens their hearts.  These magi, the bad guys, traveled many miles to come worship the King, and brought Him elaborate gifts.  Now did they believe He was truly the second person in the Trinity?  No.  But they knew He was truly a King, and He was worthy of their praise and gifts.  We must never forget, the Gospel is for EVERYONE!  Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all, believer and non-believer.  Matthew shows us that those we might judge as the outcasts of society, the sinners of our world, are the very ones Jesus came to save.  He uses these examples to remind us all, that we are not to be hypocrites like the Pharisees, but evangelizers of  God's Gospel, to ALL of God's children, even the sinners, and even the ones who have not heard of Him.  This is why Matthew's conclusion to his book, truly is a great conclusion/ wrap up of his entire Gospel account.  He shows us the Gospel is for all, and then ends with the Great Commission!  The Great Commission for review= Matthew 28:19-20 "19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Amen, Amen, and all God's people say and believe Amen. All Praise be to Him!
Dear Heavenly Father, 
We thank you so much that You sent Your Son to save all Your children.  For we are all sinners, unworthy of Your grace and mercy.  Yet through Your Son's death and resurrection we have been washed clean and made anew.  Through Your grace we have been saved and claimed as Your own.  Help us to rejoice, give all thanks and praise to You, and go and spread Your faith.  Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to be with us, guide us, and strengthen us as we do our best to spread Your love and mercy to all Your children, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  In Your most holy and precious name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever more. Amen.  

Languages!

Hello everybody.  Today was a pretty decent day.  I did go out to karaoke last night which was fun.  Then I got up at six this morning to write the one page paper I forgot we had to do for class.  Then went to my class, which was history.  We dove in and started talking about Augustine.  It was a good lecture and really getting into the meat of the class so it is a lot more fun now.  Then after class I went back to my room to slept until chapel, and ended up sleeping through chapel and lunch.  I woke up five minutes before class and seriously thought about sleeping through it too.  However, I drug my lazy butt out of bed, and went to class.  So far for the first four weeks I have perfect attendance in all my classes.  Which for those of you who don't know my undergrad attendance record, this is actually quite a feat for me.  One semester in undergrad it took me ten weeks until I finally had a perfect week of class attendance.  Some of you may think that is terrible, but I thought it was actually quite brag worthy since my lowest grade that semester was a B in Hebrew II.  However, since this is now graduate school, I am going to try my hardest to have perfect attendance all three years of classes.
Then our second class was Pastoral Ministry which was just another guest speaker.  This guy was from CTCR.  CTCR is Commission of Theology and Church Relations.  It is a special group set up by the synod convention since the early 60's, that write and publish resourceful brochures and pamphlets discussing and helping with our doctrine.  They do several other things too, but the publications are their biggest resources to churches and pastors.  So it was a pretty interesting presentation.  Then I had to go back to my room to change and headed back to the Sherbrook Village Nursing Home for another day of visits.  I volunteered to talk with John, a man we walked past in the hallway.  I pushed him in his wheelchair down to the family room and visited with him for almost the full hour.  Now this wasn't as exciting of a visit as last week but was still good.  He began by telling me about how his church has two services.  One in English, and the other in Slovak.  He then proceeded to tell me how his parents came over from Austria Hungary in 1912.  Between his parents, school, and church he learned English and Slovak, as well as some German too, while he was growing up.  This was a cool story, except he went on to tell me this one story over and over for the entire hour.  I really didn't mind and just listened the entire time well he kept telling me it.  He did throw in a new detail each time, which made it a little more interesting.  The one thing I really noticed was that everything was in the present tense.  Now after parsing so many Greek and Hebrew verbs, verb tense is something I notice now more than ever.  He talked about his parents and siblings and childhood as if he was still that little boy learning three languages at once.  He talked like his parents were still alive, and as if his entire past, present, and future was all talking place that very instance he was talking about it.  I had a good talk with Rev. Roger after my visit.  Rev. Roger explained it like this, our memories are organized and filed away by event and time like a filing cabinet.  His memory is all those events and times just in one big mess like a pile of photographs.  You see bits and pieces of several different events all at once.  He told me that my visit with John was a very therapeutic thing for him, because he mostly just sits by himself and lives in his own mind.  So anytime he has a chance to visit with someone and get those things out of his own mind, it is good for him. Then I remembered that while I am there to learn, it is more important that I am there for the people I am visiting with rather than for myself.  I felt like I should go visit with John for another hour and listen to his story a few more times just to give him some one to talk to.  He was a nice guy with a great sense of humor and I did appreciate getting to spend time with him.  It also reminded me that God's Gospel needs to be taught and spoke in all languages.  I even included that in my closing prayer, how no matter what language we speak, we can use that language to praise and worship our magnificent God.  Then Rev. Roger told us four guys that he is genuinely impressed with us.  He said normally out of the groups that he gets assigned, one or maybe two of the guys stand out as above average.  He told us all four of us are a notch above any average he has seen.  He even told us he was bragging about us to some of his pastor friends.  So that is always a good feeling to know someone notices we are just generally friendly and Spirit-inspired people.
So the title "Languages" isn't about my Greek or Hebrew, even though I do need to translate both of those subjects yet tonight, but rather about no matter who you meet, or how many languages they speak, I hope and pray we can all speak one language and that is the language of the Holy Spirit.  For just as the birth of our Church on Pentecost, even still today, all people of all languages need to know the truth of Christ and the love and mercy of our God.  All Praise be to Him!
Dear Heavenly Father, 
Help us to remember that no matter what language someone speaks, he or she is still Your child and needs to know Your Word and truth.  Please with the help of the Holy Spirit help us to always share the comforting, saving message of You and Your Son Our Savior.  Through You all things are possible, and all things are always in Your control.  For this we praise You and give thanks to You for having mercy on us Your sinful children.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.     

Luther's a Genius!

Greetings to everyone. I know I haven't written in a couple days, but I just discovered I am all of a sudden two weeks behind. So catch up is the name of the game now. It's not that I haven't been keeping up, it's more that the professors gave us an easy first couple of weeks before unleashing the full work load on us. So now the reading begins, and the papers, and tests, and all the fun stuff of graduate school.

Sunday I went to my field work church. I sat in with the youth group led by Pastor after church. I realized I still do not have an overabundance of patience for Junior High kids. I mean it went really well, except for one thing that really got under my skin, but Pastor did a great job of just listening and then kept right on going. We were right in the middle of the discussion talking about some really great stuff, when one kid raised his hand and proceeded to tell how his friend stepped on a plastic toothpick at a party the night before. That unleashed every story all the other kids had about stepping on nails and so on. It was just a huge sidetrack and distraction. So I decided when I am teaching youth group or confirmation, I am going to make a policy. If you interrupt the discussion for something that does not pertain to the discussion in any way, I will assign that student a one page report on how their story that was so important can be related and applied to the topic we are covering due the following Sunday. I mean these kids meet one hour a week to discuss the Bible and God together, they have the other 167 hours a week to talk about everything else. I told this to my friend Aaron and he told me I was being a little harsh and I might not get kids to come to my youth group if I did that. He told me a good leader can allow something like that to happen and calmly move things right back on track where you were. Pastor did get them back on track but it took him a few minutes. I guess this is just one area I am going to have to work on. It mainly bothers me because those kids know they are interrupting but simply just don't care. Then we went to lunch with Pastor like normal, and headed home. I worked Sunday night bar tending. It went well, not quite as many kick backs this time, but still enjoyed a glass of wine and all the cheese one could eat.
Yesterday went well. I had Hebrew readings which was just like always. Then at Pastoral Ministry, we had a guest speaker from Clinical Pastoral Education. It is an awesome program that works with seminary students and chaplains in training on counseling, visitations, and all the areas they feel the seminary does not cover very well. To be fair, we are only required to take one counseling class while we are here. So the guy gave a really great presentation on how they use their curriculum to take your personality, your theology, and your knowledge and skills, and combined them all into Pastoral Competence. It sounded like a great thing, and I truly think it would benefit all pastors to have more training in counseling and clinical care. However, it's another 650 dollars per credit hour and minimum is 16 hours a week. I love how all these programs that will make our pastors better at their jobs are too expensive and time consuming for them to properly take advantage of. Basically in my mind, it would be like telling a lumber yard telling a carpenter, "We have two saws. One is the electric, computer programmed saw. It will make any cut, any angle, on any material at the push of a button. It's a million dollars and you have to wait a year to get it. Or we have this hand saw that will cut any angle you hold it at, and is strong enough to get through almost any material. It's only a thousand dollars and you only have to wait two weeks to get it." Any good carpenter would prefer the best tool available and be best equipped for any job. However, he can't put himself that far into debt and that far behind schedule or he will never make it. That's what this program is. It puts a seminary student already in debt up to his eyebrows deeper in debt and takes more time. But it will better prepare you. I think the only way I would even consider it is if after my vicarage I found out I am just absolutely terrible at counseling and visits. Then I might realize I need this program to be an efficient pastor. However, until I try and find out I need help on vicarage, I am not going to put myself deeper in debt and further behind schedule. Then we had Greek readings. It was such a great class. My Greek is coming back to me pretty fast, and Dr. Gibbs is just an incredible man.  He asked us a question, and when nobody answered, he used a Texas/Hick voice and said, "You boys look like a bunch of cows staring at a new gate."  That was one among many things he said during class that had us laughing out loud.  He is also one of the smartest men ever, but so humble you would never know he is a graduate school professor with his doctorate.  Anything you want to know about the Bible, he could most likely not only tell you the story, but know exactly what book and chapter it is in.  However, he is the first to admit when he doesn't know something for sure.  A few questions that that get asked, he will answer with the fact that he has an idea but isn't sure enough to give to us as an answer.  However, I am certain every one of those questions he goes and looks up and finds out the answer.  He just makes a class like Greek Readings something to actually look forward to versus Dr. Adams who makes Hebrew Readings the most dreaded class all quarter.  

Then last night I went down to the close by coffee house with a few guys to work on homework.  It is a nice little place to listen to some good music, and read a book or do your languages.  I have been enjoying a cup of hot chocolate at nights when I study.  I realize I am changing here.  Some might say for the better, some might say for the worse.  When I read I like to put on my classical musical playlist that I am in love with now, pour a short glass of white wine, and just read.  I made the joke to my friend Aaron the other day, that liking classical, drinking wine, and reading is not Kevin Richter, so I had better go find him.  While I do miss the redneck atmosphere of Sparetime, the towny bar in Seward, and drinking Busch Lite pitchers or John Daily's, I do enjoy my new playlist and single glass of wine too.  I would just really enjoy those two more without the reading part.  But I try to limit my wine nights to one or two a week, so the other nights I put on some good hymns or Glad (A Capella Christian Group), and enjoy a nice mug of hot chocolate.  I had to find something enjoyable to mix with the reading or else I wouldn't do it.  

Today I went to Lutheran Mind this morning.  I want this class to be required for everyone not just Seminary students.  It is not too complicated, I know everyone could get it, and it is something that our church needs to know, but does a terrible job of teaching.  It also proves Luther was a genius, of course it helps the name of the book most recent we are reading is titled The Genius of Luther's Theology, but for good reason.  I will discuss part of our class lecture as my thought for the day.  Then I spent the rest of the day at chapel, lunch, my room, and work.  I laid down to read after lunch and made it a whole two pages before I fell asleep.  I did wake up in time to get some done before I had to go to work.  Now I am doing the rest of my homework and writing this.  I am going to try to slip down to the local bar for karaoke because it's Jeff's birthday and he wants us to all go sing to him.  I told him anyone who wished my singing upon them for their birthday present, must have gotten some really terrible gifts as a kid.  But I will go for a little bit, try to get out of singing, and then come back and go to bed.  

The Lutheran Mind topic today was the two types of righteousness.  Now this is a concept I had been taught a little bit in confirmation I do believe. However, I am pretty sure I have not heard anything about it since then.    If you are looking for some good reading, I would suggest at least the first few chapters if not the whole book of The Genius of Luther's Theology.  It talks about how correct Luther got his idea of two kinds of righteousness.  The book defines being righteous as being the people God envisioned when He created us.  Dr. Beirmann defined it in surfers' usage.  When one surfer says to another surfer, "Dude, that was righteous!"  he is saying you did that exactly how it is meant to be done.  So when we use righteous, it simply means doing exactly what is meant to be done, doing it exactly right.  He also used a car as an example.  A rust bucket that has a stains on the seat, and dents on its body, can still be righteous.  If it starts every time you turn the key, and it always gets you from point A to point B, it does exactly what it was created to do.  It is righteous.  Luther said there are many different types of righteousness.  Political righteousness can be one.  When we pay taxes, obey the law, vote as informed voters, and stay connected to what is going on in our politics, we are functioning as Citizens of a "polis" (Greek word for state), then we are politically righteous.  Academic righteousness exists too.  When we go to class, have done the readings, written our papers, turn them in on time, listen and respect the professor, and study and do well on the tests, we are functioning as students were meant to function.  Now both of these examples fit into active righteousness.  It is righteousness that we control and do ourselves.  When you get into faith, or Christian righteousness it is one hundred percent passive.  This is very unique to Lutheran Doctrine alone.  Most all other denominations and religions would not say that Christian righteousness is completely passive.  Dr. Beirmann went on to explain how most other faiths believe we do indeed receive grace from God, but then we must use that grace given to us to climb the ladder or staircase.  Climbing this staircase is done by our efforts with the help of God's grace, which is why it is not purely passive.  (He used staircase simply so he could say staircase to heaven and chuckle.)  He also went on to explain this is where Catholics came up with the idea of purgatory.  When a Catholic is using the grace he or she receives from God to climb that staircase tying to reach God at the top, but dies halfway up where does that person go?  He was at least climbing so he doesn't deserve to go to hell, but he didn't make it to the top, so he can't go to heaven.  This is where purgatory comes in.  Now he explained purgatory in a way I had never heard before, but it goes right along with what I have heard.  I had always heard purgatory taught at hell's patio.  It's still a terrible place to be, full of pain, suffering, and fire, but not actually hell.  The point of purgatory is you have to finish paying for your sins before you can go to heaven, so this makes sense.  Dr. Beirmann described it as actually going a specific part of hell, only with a release date.  You go there, pay for the rest of your sins, and then when your release date arrives you can go to heaven.  

This is just a side note, but it is really a huge coincident.  The day we talk about purgatory in class, I see my friend who is a Catholic had a Catholic Apologetic video on his Facebook page about purgatory.  When I watched it, I at first got seriously mad.  Then I had to calm myself down and realized that this guy on the video trying to prove purgatory and even my friend who put it up are not to blame.  They are simply defending the faith they have been taught, and they do believe it to be true.  However, I seriously got a physical pain in the pit of my stomach for these guys.  In my mind they are believing a corrupted truth of God.  I even had to text my brother and talk to him about it, and he gave me some really good pointers that helped calm me down, so thanks to him.  However, it still has been bothering me all day that these other faiths think it is up to our own efforts to be saved.  To me this directly takes the glory out of Jesus' death and resurrection.  In my mind I see these other faiths as saying, "well thanks Jesus, I think it's really cool you left heaven to come to earth and take on flesh, be tempted, hated, mocked, beaten, and killed only to prove You are God by rising again.  And  I appreciate Your grace You give me, but I can handle the rest.  I'll use Your grace for an aid, but I'll make the real climb myself."  Again though, they are just defending the faith they have been taught like I am trying to do.  And they believe their faith is pure truth just as I do.  I mean if you don't believe what you believe is true, why would you believe it?  But it was weird that they both happened in the same day.  

So back to what Dr. Beirmann was getting to was this idea that Lutheran doctrine believes it is purely passive.  However he did state that he believes there is no such thing as Lutheran doctrine.  Now don't make him out to be a heretic until I finish.  He said he doesn't believe there is truly Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran or any denominational doctrines, but there is one true doctrine we are all trying to find.  God created the world, but He created an ordered world.  He had a design and plan.  How God made this world work is the one truth we are all searching for as our doctrine.  Now again, this goes back to we each believe we have found a more true version than the rest, but we are trying for that one true doctrine.  Luther believed he had found a more true version of that doctrine than the rest and I agree with him.  This gets into my saying earlier Luther was a genius.  Luther didn't believe in a staircase that we climbed to get to God.  He discovered this before he nailed his 95 thesis on the church door.  He was so concerned with wither he was good enough for God or not, he was serious wrestling with himself, when he realized there is no way to prove if we are ever actually going up that staircase or not.  How can we prove we are using God's grace and climbing the staircase?  How can we ever know for sure wither we have done enough to get to heaven or if we will spend time in purgatory?  This is where he realized we can never be good enough to make it up to God.  There is not a dang thing about us that makes us good enough to climb the first step, let alone the amount of steps it would take to get to God.  We, as sinners, can not move up.  God knew this, and instead of saying, "try harder and get to Me", He sent His son down to us.  Jesus took flesh, walked this earth, was tempted, mocked, beaten and killed on a cross.  He rose three days later!  Alleluia, this is our Easter Joy!  From that point on God has constantly sent His love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness down to us through the cross.  That is why our Christian or faith righteousness is purely and completely passive.  We do nothing to earn or deserve it, but rather just receive it because we are baptized children of God.  We receive it, soak it up, and live in our Easter Joy!  This is passive righteousness.  Our passive righteousness is our relationship with God. We are righteous in our relationship with Him when we are functioning as He intended us too with Him.  He intended for us to receive His grace, know we are not worthy, and we can do nothing but receive it from Him and then give praise and thanks back to Him.  All the other types of righteousness fall into the active righteousness.    

Once we have received and soaked the grace of God, and go back to our everyday life here on this earth, we then begin to use active righteousness.  This is our political, academic, family, and so on righteousnesses.  These righteousnesses all have to do with our relationships with our neighbors.  We have relationships with all of our family, friends, coworkers, and even our earth and its features, and these relationships fall into active righteousness.  Luther called our passive righteousness (our relationship with God) our vertical righteousness, and our active righteousness (our relationship with all other creations of God) our horizontal righteousness.  This is where "good works" come in to play for Lutherans.  It is not for our vertical righteousness with God we do them, but for our horizontal righteousness for our fellow neighbors that we do them.  We are righteous in our horizontal righteousness when we are the best citizen, husband or wife, father or mother, employee or boss, son or daughter, and neighbor we can be.  This is why we strive to be as good as we can, we strive to do our best, we strive to live a moral life.  It is because we want to be righteous, and need to be righteous in both kinds of righteousness.  We can not have one without the other, and the two compliment each other.  This is what Luther meant by two types of righteousness, and it is why Lutheran's do not believe in purgatory.  Our relationship with God is our purely passive righteousness, and our relationship with all of God's creation is our active righteousness.  I truly hope you were able to follow all of that and it made sense.  If not please call me or email me, because I do not want you to be confused and get the wrong idea from this.  So the next time we are going five miles over the speed limit, or we realize we have had quite a bit to drink but are still thinking one more wont hurt us, or we don't do the chores our spouses or parents ask us to do, remember we want to be righteous and need to live in our active righteousness.  Dr. Beirmann ended the discussion by saying that at the end of everyday we can look at the fact that we probably failed to be perfectly righteous in our active righteousness; however, we remember that we are still forgiven, baptized children of God who receive His grace and mercy and can soak up that passive righteousness and praise Him for the Easter Joy that comforts us each and every day!  All Praise be to Him!

Dear Heavenly Father,

We know that we most certainly do not deserve and are not worthy of Your grace and mercy.  However, You still chose to send Your Son to die and rise again for us.  He died to pay the ultimate and complete price for our sins.  We can rejoice that we are Your baptized children.  Dead to sin through Christ's death on the cross, but alive to Christ through His resurrection.  Now that we have this Easter Joy, let us daily remember to praise and thank you.  Also Lord, let us live a life that is righteous to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Let us live in Your world as the moral, faithful beings You intended for us to be.  We pray all of this and all other prayers and concerns on our hearts through the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior.  Amen.      

    
       

Where does the time go?

God bless your Saturday.  I can't believe my last post was Wednesday and it is already Saturday.  It doesn't seem possible two days could go by that fast and that busily.  Thursday I went to all four classes, although I was tired because my friend talked me into going to trivia night with him Wednesday night at the bar that is close by.  It was a lot of fun, but I should have been in bed.  It was alright though because I had all my homework that had to be done done.  So I went to Lutheran Mind, which has proven itself to easily be my favorite class.  We discussed the difference between Primary Theology and Secondary Theology.  Primary Theology is the relationship we have with God, and how we use and interact in that relationship.  Secondary Theology is simply words and thoughts about God.  If that doesn't make sense, ask me specifically and I while give you the fuller definitions.  LM is one of those classes I never walk out of saying, "well I already knew that."  It always leaves me thinking about and pondering on what we talked about, seeing if my mind can actually makes complete sense of what we learned.  Then Hebrew readings, which was boring as always, but still necessary I guess.  Then I went to chapel which was good especially since it was communion day.  I did; however, make one small mistake during the service and several people sitting in the pews around me gave me grief about it.  During the Service of the Sacrament, when the Pastor reads, "By the eating and drinking of this meal, we proclaim the death of our Lord until He comes again."  The congregation responds with, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."  Well I decided to throw in an extra "Amen" at the end.  So when everyone else said, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus", and went silent, my loud voice bellowed out the extra Amen! at the end among the silence.  A few people turned around and looked at me, and I am sure my face was a little read.  Then later when people started asking if that was me who said that, cause they thought they recognized my voice, I admitted it was me.  I explained that I just really meant it when I proclaimed Come, Lord Jesus.  I did feel a little silly, but it was a minor mistake to make.
After Chapel I went Pastoral Ministry where Dr. Utech proceeded to make me laugh, but realize some serious business once again.  He made me laugh because he said he was going to hurry through the day's lesson, because he had to start with all law and finish with gospel.  He had to hurry because he was worried that if we ran out of time, only hearing the law, we might be depressed or think less of him.  So he wanted to make sure he got to the Gospel and left us on a high note. He was talking about being "called" into the ministry.  He said that some guys who feel "the call" feel like God has already told them they are ready to be pastors and the four years of the Seminary is just one big hurdle they have to jump over for no reason.  These guys he told us are unteachable.  He also explained how some guys who would make very great pastors don't come to the seminary because they haven't felt "the call."  Now he was not saying God doesn't lead us to the ministry by interacting in our lives and letting us know it's what we are meant to do.  However, if you have to feel an inner emotional feeling of the "call" it makes it purely subjective which is not always a good thing.  How do we combat the ELCA women pastors who wholeheartedly believe they have been "called"?  Dr. Utech said none of us have had an inner call.  We may have had experiences in our life that lead us to believe we are meant to be pastors, but it was not the burning bush inside us telling us to go free His people.  (Reference to Moses for those of you who didn't catch that.)  He said, using scripture (primarily 1 Timothy 3, and Titus) we see it takes three things to bring a man to the seminary.  The first is a desire to be a minister for God.  If you don't have the desire, you wouldn't be here.  The second is you either have or are learning to have the characteristics of a pastor according to 1 Timothy 3.  And the third is encouragement and support.  Even if one had the desire and the characteristics to be a pastor, he wouldn't make it very far with out a support group of people behind him.  Encouraging him he can do it. I had to stop and realize while I have the desire and am learning the characteristics, it was mostly the third that got me here.  I have been blessed with such a large and faithful support group always backing me up.  Even my friends who are not Christians have always supported me, and told me they can see it's what I am meant to do.  Any time I have even slightly doubted my ability, there was a friend, a family member, or a professor who showed me I was a big dumb idiot to doubt the Lord's ability to use me.  I want to thank each and everyone of you.  If you are reading this, I know you have and still do support me in my journey to be a called servant of the Lord.  If you didn't you wouldn't be reading this.  So I do sincerely thank you for everything you and every one who has always been there for me have done.  I seriously would not be here with out you.  That was the Gospel he left us with, and it truly was a high note for the rest of the week.  Dr. Utech also assigned a program to us, that at first I didn't think was going to be a good thing.  I really thought it would be one more inconvenience in my week taking up time. However, it truly has been a wonderful thing.  Dr. Utech assigned us into groups of four and told us we had to meet three times outside of class in our groups.  We were just meant to talk, study scripture, discuss classes, and pray with each other.  He said he wants us to learn to rely on our brotherhood of fellow pastors, and learn to be a united group who can turn to each other for help, guidance, and prayer.  My group is three great guys.  One is my buddy Hannemann, one is a guy who lives in Iso dorm with me, and the other is a married guy in his forties.  They are all great guys, and we just meet the three times right after Pastoral Ministry class.  We mostly discuss classes, money, and just life problems or blessings in general.  We have really gotten to know each other, but still learn something new each time.  We talk for anywhere from five to twenty minutes.  Then we always end in prayer.  It really is a great thing, and I see why he does it now.
My final class was Greek Readings.  Dr. Gibbs lead us through the assignment, and that was fine.  However, he did invite us to join a pretty cool activity.  It was at 8 A.M. this morning so I didn't make it, and wasn't quite sure if it was something I wanted to do, but it sounded cool.  I know it is something I should have went and done, stepped out of my comfort zone and experience something new.  However, I didn't get up for it.  It is a group that goes to the one Plan Parenthood office in St. Louis that still does free abortions.  They take the large group and just peacefully stand on the sidewalk praying for those who go in.  The group leaders have special people ready to talk with any girl who stops to ask questions about why they are there and why they are promoting life.  This group goes about once a month I guess, and they invite us seminary students to go with them to experience it.  He said they do every once in a while get a girl who goes in, but comes back out to ask questions and ends up leaving without having the abortion.  It is truly a miracle that these people give up their Saturday mornings to do this noble act of fighting for life.  If they invite us Seminary students to go again, I do plan to go at least once and experience what they do.  I do want to keep these people in my prayers as well, to help strengthen them while they are serving the Lord. I kindly ask you pray for them too.
Yesterday was a great day.  I went to my one class.  It was History class, and we finally started talking about History.  We discussed the fall of Jerusalem and the Council of Nicaea.  It is a great class because while there is serious theological importance to each event, we do not get into that, but rather focus primarily on the historical importance of the event.  I like this, one because I am a history buff, and two because it always makes the events more realistic.  I remember that these were real people and real places, rather than just a theological debate that helped shape our religion.  So it was a good class.  I didn't do much during the day other than take a nap and hang out with friends.  Then Yesterday evening I worked.  We had to set up the big stage in the front of the chapel.  I was second in command for this project that I had never done before, because my boss designated it to be my responsibility every time it needs done from now on.  It isn't hard, and actually is really good, cause that is pretty solid job security.  I think I have a pretty good job that will be great hours and relationships for the next couple years.  I am glad the Lord blessed me with that.
Then last night I went to the bar with some of my friends because it was one girl's birthday.  It was so much fun, we all had a blast.  I thank the Good Lord for my ability to make friends where ever I go.  I do not think life would be as good as it always is for me, if he had not blessed me with the people he blesses me with everywhere I go.  He truly is too good to me.
This morning I woke up, watched a movie, did a little homework, and am now writing this.  Tonight we plan to go watch the Huskers of course.  Even with the cost of this place, and the harder homework of reading and languages, I can't imagine my life anywhere but here.  I was so anxious and nervous to come here, thinking of any excuse I could to get out of it.  However, now that I am here, I realize it is going to be a great part of my life.  I felt the same way going to college, in a different state, where I knew absolutely no one.  I didn't want to leave my friends, I was worried it would not be good.  However, Seward was the best four years of my life.  I have so many great memories and friends for life from that place.  I should have known better than to think this place would be any different.  Each and every day the good Lord not only provides for me, but seriously spoils me as well.  I certainly do not deserve anything He gives me, but through His gracious mercy, His never ending Love for me, and unlimited forgiveness for me, I may one day go home to Heaven, drop to my knees, and after there is not a tear left in my body from crying for such joy, I will look up at Him and tell Him how truly sorry I am for being a sinner, and thank Him for ALL He has done for me.  I can't even imagine the chills that will be running through my body.  How anyone can ever live life not knowing the joy of our Lord, not having the hope of eternal Life, I will never know?  But since I do have that hope, and know I am saved, I want to live a life full of Primary Theology.  Talking to God, receiving His Sacraments, knowing Him through His Word, and sharing His Gospel with everyone I possibly can.  That is using and interacting in the relationship we have with Him, started by the Father, saved through the Son, and made possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.  All Praise and Glory be to Him, Three in One, forever and ever.  Amen.
Two Prayers by Martin Luther, that we pray together:
Merciful Father, everlasting God, who didst not spare Thine own Son but didst deliver Him up for us all that He might bear our sin on the cross, grant us that our hearts never fear or become discouraged in this faith, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen. 
Lord God, heavenly Father, from whom we so superabundantly receive all manner of good without ceasing and by whom we are daily so graciously protected from all evil, let us through Thy Spirit wholeheartedly recognize all this in true faith that we may thank and praise Thy gentle goodness and mercy both here and hereafter in eternity, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen. 

Sister Anne

Greetings to you all in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.  The time from yesterday's blog until now has been absolutely delightful and full of blessings from the Lord.  Even now writing this as I sit and listen to some new classical music I found that I absolutely love, I just feel like God could not bless me more than He already has.  Yesterday I worked the bar tending gig, which turned out to be an awesome job.  All we did was stand there and open beer bottles or pour wine as they went though the line.  It was completely open bar, so there were also no tips.  However, we did get free food and a few free beers while we worked, and then after work they let each of us take some of the beer and a bottle of wine home with us.  They also gave us ALL the leftover food, which I can not explain how much there was.  We filled the back of the gator, and took it our dorm and just put it all in the lounge for all the guys to eat.  I felt like Santa on Christmas delivering that much food to a bunch of poor graduate students.  It was a wonderful gift, and I appreciated the beer and wine as well.  Heck, the food, beer, and wine would have been enough incentive for me to work the afternoon, let alone all of that plus my pay check.  They do treat us very well, and I have probably the coolest boss ever.  Then, remember how I told you I am slowing losing my memory, well I completely forgot about the Grand Torino event.  However, I did get an important letter wrote, as well as a paper.  So my time was probably better spent.
This morning I woke up to Hannemann knocking on my door.  I forgot chapel was earlier than normal, and I am glad he came and woke me up because I definitely wanted to go.  I showered quick and walked in just a little late.  The pastor preaching had an amazing sermon, but it was an interactive sermon.  I'll explain in a second, but I ended up up front at the alter with him and some guys.  His sermon was all about how the Pharisees and Chief Priest had disciples that would train under them, and then eventually become teachers themselves with their own following.  Jesus was a different type of teacher with a different type of disciples.  Instead of His disciples becoming a teacher themselves with their own following, they were always Jesus's teachers teaching everyone to follow Jesus not them.  His main point that he did an awesome job of, was that even though we are pastors and servants or followers of Jesus, we can not let ourselves get so busy telling others of Jesus that we forget to follow him ourselves.  It was a great point with some great dry pastor humor, but really drove home the point we must set aside time to be followers of Jesus ourselves before we can lead others to Him.  He demonstrated this by asking two guys to follow him.  He then told them each to grab one person to come with.  He then showed how even as you invite new people, you do not say follow me, but rather follow Him with me.  He did this a few more times until one of the guys asked me to follow him with them.  He lead us all up to the alter and had us in front of the congregation under the giant hanging cross, and pointed up and basically yelled FOLLOW HIM!.  He ended it by explaining that until the very end of time when Jesus comes back, we must follow Him.  Only when we are reclined next to Abraham and all other members of the Church Triumphant can we relax and stop following Him.  Because then, and only then are we in the comfort and safety of being home in Heaven.  It was an awesome sermon and I am so glad I did not miss it.
However, I did have to chuckle as I realized I was one of the guys who was brought to the front of the church and used as an example of following Jesus, when I was late because I almost sleep through chapel.  One of those times you just look up, and say, "I hear Your hints dear Lord."  Also one quick side note, about pastors' dry humor.  As I was working the registration desk yesterday, the girl who was working it with me and I realized that there is a requirement to being a pastor.  Not only must a pastor have an incredibly dorky, corny dry sense of humor, but he must also laugh at all of his own dumb jokes.  Seriously, I think it's part of our formation, that they drain us of our actual sense of humor, and fill us full of lame jokes that we actually think are funny.
Then after chapel I went to Dr. Meyer's presentation on "You're All Wet!"  It was a seminar about preaching to your baptized congregation and was actually really good.  Once again, the more I get to know Dr. Meyer, the more I realize he is an awesome man.  I can't wait to have class with him my fourth year.  Then lunch, some homework in my room, and then the big anticipated module of Nursing Home Ministry.  The four of us guys who are doing the module together all talked on the way there and realized we were all a little nervous.  We went around in the car and each said a prayer of comfort and peace.  Then when we got there, we talked with Rev. Roger a little, before he walked us down the hall and randomly found people he knew would be good ones to talk to and dropped us off individually.  I was third in order, and got to meet a wonderful lady.  Her name was Sister Anne, and she was a Catholic nun of sixty years.  We had such a pleasant visit for almost the entire hour.  She asked me about everything from my family and schooling to why I chose the ministry and how I liked the seminary.  She told me all kinds of cool stories about her life as a nun and about her life at Sherbrook Village Nursing Home.  She let me know our visit time was up when she asked me if I prayed.  I obviously answered yes, and she said she would let me close our talk with prayer.  I prayed for both of us, and she thanked me for the "beautiful" prayer.  She told me I would make a great pastor.  I felt lucky that we actually had more to talk about when I let her know half of my extended family is Catholic and my Great Aunt is actually a nun.  She was a wonderful lady to talk to and she set the bar for this module pretty high.  However, I thank the Lord I got to talk and pray with her, and just spend time with her.  Praise be to Him it went well.
I also bought my first clerical shirt today.  It was free thanks to a coupon from the Lady's Guild of the Seminary.  I tried it on and was impressed with how old I looked in it.  Now I never look good in anything I wear, so the clerical was no different but it did send a chill down my back to see myself actually looking like a pastor.  It kind of scared me a little to think of being out in the church all on my own, no longer able to say I'm only a seminary student, I can't answer that question.  So I put it in the back of my closet and will leave it there until I graduate.  I know quite a few first years who are already wearing them to their field work church.  If that is want they want to do, I guess more power to them.  I simply do not believe in it.  A lot of that comes from Grandpa who I know does not approve of students wearing them, but I do feel even if he was ok with it, I would still be against it.  I mean first year medical students don't get to walk around the hospitals in white coats.  Why?  Because they ARE NOT doctors.  Training to be a doctor or a pastor does not make you a doctor or a pastor.  So I do not judge or comment on the guys who do wear them, and I do know some field work pastors actually do require them to be worn.  Thank goodness my pastor does not require me to wear mine.  I just think we are going to be wearing those shirts the rest of our lives.  What is the hurry to start wearing them now?  I will not wear one unless forced to until I am a called and ordained pastor.  If others want to, good for them, but I feel like they are sending the wrong signal.  However, again like I said, this is just my personal feelings and to each their own.  Now you could say Kevin, you dress in golf shoes, polo, and glove every time you go golfing but you are not a golfer so what's the difference.  I will say you are right I do dress like a golfer even though I can not claim to be one ;), but my golfing ability has no direct effect on the eternal placement of anyone's soul.  Unless of course I hit somebody with my golf ball and send them to their eternal resting place!  Sorry, see there is that pastor's corny sense of humor, I do apologize.
My thought for the day comes from Dr. Meyer's presentation.  He was talking about how so often pastors' sermons are either directed at the unbeliever, even though his congregation is full of baptized people, or else they are so over done or written in such a literally fashion that they rush right over the tops of the members heads.  He admitted that when he goes to church and listens to the sermon he listens for the WIIM.  This stands for What's In It for Me?  He wants some personal direction or meaning from the sermon.  He noted that most adults pay attention to children's sermon's and then drift off in their own mind during the real sermon.  We as pastor's need to preach to the baptized, but make it clear and applicable to them.  I really enjoyed this, because I think a lot of times new seminarians try to write these fancy elaborate sermons to show how smart they are.  That's fine, we have been going to school twenty one years or longer by the time we get out in the preaching world, we want to show we learned something.  However, all the sermons I have written have been fairly simple to grasp the concept, just trying to put a new spin or emphasis on the text.  I loved Dr. Meyer's quote, "I tell my homiletic's class they need to write children sermons on steroids."  I really like this, not because I think parishioners are stupid, but because the Gospel really is simple enough for children to grasp, so why do we try to make it so difficult for adults to understand.  The quote he used that I really want to talk about when you read the text and start preparing your sermon the first step is discovery.  Discovery is hitting on the right things to say.  He did mention this is the hardest part of preparing a sermon.  Because each text could be taken several different directions for a sermon, with different focuses, but can you as a pastor find the discovery?  Can you find the right things to talk about that your congregation needs to hear at that particular time.  I am so excited to start homiletic's class.  I do realize most my sermons will probably be torn to shreds by the professors, but I am still excited to start writing sermons and figure out how to write GOOD ones.  So that is my thought for the day, if you go to church every Sunday and find yourself not paying attention to the sermon or just can't completely understand what the pastor is trying to preach on, tell him to work on his discovery.  Ok, so maybe don't just tell him that, but I do encourage you to go talk to him and tell him the sermons are over your head.  You go to church to hear the word and grow in your faith.  The pastor should not judge you and I would hope he would be only grateful to sit down with you and help you grow in your faith, if you tell him you aren't getting anything out of his sermons.  When a math teacher gives his class a presentation, if you didn't understand it do you just sit back and remain confused, or do you go ask him to explain it a different way?  I encourage you to never just sit back and be confused about your faith.  Please go talk to that pastor and ask him to reexplain it and help you get it.  I sincerely hope my parishioners will do that for me someday.  And even if you do understand what he was preaching on, remember as Dr. Rossow preached in chapel today, never let your life get to busy to follow Jesus.  Only when we are in the comfort of Heaven can we relax, but until then, look to the cross, look to the empty tomb, and follow Him.  In our Easter Joy we daily celebrate, in our daily celebration we remember our mission here on earth.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
I thank you so much for such a wonderful past couple days completely full of Your blessings.  I definitely do not deserve all that You give me.  I especially thank you for letting my experience with Sister Anne go so well, and ask that as I continue this each week, they may all go as well as today.  We come together in Your name, thanking You, praising You, and asking You to continue to bless each of us as You already do.  Let the rest of the week go as well as the first half has.  Lord You Gospel is simple, but Your Word is not always exactly clear.  Be with us as we study Your Word, strengthen our faith and never let us forget the power of prayer.  For truly if You are for us, who can be against us?  Lord in Your most Holy Precious name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray and praise.  Amen.    

Symposium!

Hello to every one.  This week is crazy busy with Symposium going on here at campus.  The theme this year is "The Art of Preaching."  As Dr. Gibbs said, it sort of pertains to our future careers, just a little though.  I also want to quick catch up from the past few days as I have been too busy or just to tired to write.  I know I am following out of my daily habit, but I will try to keep up with it.  Sunday I read for the Old Testament and Epistle lessons for my field work church for the first time.  I will now continue to read the lessons every communion Sunday.  I got several compliments on being loud enough and clear enough to hear well, so I hope to continue to do well with those.  Then we went out to lunch with Pastor again.  It is a great lunch plus the conversations almost always have to do with what is going on with the church that week, so it is a great way for Pastor to mentor us and just great bonding time.  Then I took my usual Sunday afternoon nap, which I have to after the huge meal we eat with Pastor, and then woke up to do homework.
Yesterday, I only had two out of my three classes.  Hebrew and Pastoral Ministry.  Hebrew I like less and less each class.  One, I don't feel like I am learning anything in class, because we do all the translations on our own before class, and then in class just very quickly go over the translations followed by a very, very long, dry, boring history review by Dr. Adams about how or why that text changed over the years.  However, it is just one of those classes you have to get through; they can't all be fun.  Then Pastoral Ministry we had a guest speaker from Transforming Churches Network.  He gave an awesome presentation explaining how they get churches who are only inward focused to see their role as mission servants and turn those churches' focus outward.  He had some great ideas with some awesome stories from churches they have already worked with.  So it was good to hear there are resources available for churches who struggle with being able to see outside of their own four walls.
Today and tomorrow all classes are cancelled for Symposium.  This morning, I worked the registration desk from 7:15 to 11:00.  I didn't get to go to chapel or the first few speakers of Symposium, but I am making good money.  I work as a bartender this afternoon so I am getting more hours, plus hoping for some good tips.  I will go to the one speaker this afternoon, and then have almost all of tomorrow to go to it.  Tonight is a group thing I really want to go to as well.  Dr. Lewis, a Greek professor loves to use movies as ministry.  I think this is awesome cause I love movies and have always wished there was a way to use movies for more Bible Studies and adult classes.  He is showing Grand Torino and then going to break it down on how it can be seen as ministry.  I have seen the movie, but it is a good one so I will go as soon as I get off work and watch the end of the movie and then I really want to hear his break down on it.
I start my Nursing Home Ministry tomorrow.  I am excited for it, but at the same time a little worried.  I have no problem talking with senior adults, but some times I can't understand some of them, and I feel bad when I don't get what they are trying to say.  Plus I have this feeling that these are all mostly people who have lived in the city most of their lives.  At least when I have visited with senior adults in Iowa or Nebraska, I was able to talk with them about growing up on farms.  I didn't grow up on a farm, but know enough about what farm life is like that I am still able to communicate efficiently with them.  But I am just a little worried about what happens if we run out things to talk about.  Also, I want to end with scripture and a prayer if they are ok with it.  However, I am not one who is good at knowing which passage to read or just being able to refer to a passage that deals with what were talked about.  It is one thing I majorly need to get better at while I am here is to learn exactly where things in the Bible are better.  So I will be praying continuously that the Lord blesses me with a positive experience tomorrow, and I trust He will.
I am realizing I really need to carry a note pad with me at all times and write things down.  My memory has gotten so bad already, it is not funny.  I hear somebody make some unique comment that I think is an awesome way of putting something, and when I get back to my room to write about it, I can't remember what he or she said.  Pastor said something Sunday that had me thinking and I even thought, "that is blog worthy!"  But after my nap, Sunday night I couldn't remember it or even what it was about for the life of me.  The same thing happened with something Dr. Hermann said in class Friday too.  My desk and the wall above my desk are posted with post it notes, because I found that is the best way for me to remember everything these days.  Some days I look like I have gone insane in my little room with so many post it notes everywhere!
I finished the book Loving the Church You Lead by David Hansen.  Great book and even though it is based around being for Pastors, it would be good for anyone who works or serves on any part of the church to read.  He breaks "love" into four types and explains how each one must be used.  He also gives some warnings for ways a pastor should not love his church.  The part I really liked about it was he used real life examples from his own ministry.  Now I do not believe he is a Lutheran Pastor, or certainly not a LCMS, if he is, because any time he references to pastor, he uses him or her.  However, he has some great examples of each type of love, that show why only that certain type of love could be used, and why love must be present to be successful.  So it is another book I would recommend for you to read, and it is a quick 150 page read.  His final example is about a little ninety year old lady that belonged to his church but she didn't come because she was blind.  So he would make home visits with her.  The first time he went there, she was out side chopping wood with an ax.  He has a good sense of humor, and how he describes the experience of seeing a blind ninety year old lady chopping wood made me laugh.  He talks about how their first visit she wouldn't let him touch her or give her any help.  She didn't believe in love because the Bible never uses the word love, it uses the word charity, and she didn't need anyone's charity.  She wouldn't let him chop wood for her or anyone else help her.  He went on to explain how he would go about every other week and see her and bring communion to her.  Finally, when the house started getting messier and messier, and she was getting weaker and more fragile, he was finally able to insist he go chop wood and bring it in the house for her.  She grudgingly let him.  He said he chopped wood for an hour, let her feel some of the pieces and then went back out to chop again for another forty-five minutes.  He filled her porch as full as he could with wood for her.  The next time he went he suggested she receive meals on wheels.  She exclaimed she wouldn't because that one step away from the "garbage can" (nursing home).   She thought families put people in nursing homes so they could forget about them and not have to worry.  Her only family was in Canada and she told him she didn't need them anyways.  The story goes on for quite a while, but he ends it with how she eventually got meals on wheels, let him come chop wood for her, let some of the church ladies come in and clean for her, and eventually ended up in the nursing home.  He ends the story by telling how he had gone to the nursing home to give her communion, and when he left he gave a big hug, and said, "I have a lot of charity for you."  She smiled really big and said, "that's good, people need a lot of that."  It really got me.
Here is this ninety year old lady who had worked hard all her life, always been independent, taken care of herself.  Even with her old age and blindness, she lived by herself, chopped her own wood, and took complete care of herself.  She was so against the idea of love or friends she wouldn't even let the pastor touch her on the shoulder when he came to see her.  She saw love as charity and pity, and saw family as some one who wants to get rid of you.  All it took was one pastor who went regularly to see her, and treat her how she wanted to be treated, slipping in just as much love as she would let him each time.  His constant care and little hints of love was finally able to open her up to the point where she could see she needed love.  From a touch me not (as my family calls my sister and one brother who are not overly affectionate) to a lady who smiles after a hug and word of love.  It is amazing how the Lord uses His servants to affect and touch all His children.
It makes me sad, that she went ninety years missing out on that feeling of being loved.  However, it makes me so happy that she finally felt it before it was too late.  It reminds us all that we all need love.  God put us on this earth as His children that He loves.  Not only does He love us, but He wants us to love Him AND to love each other.  He put a desire for love in our hearts.  Why do you think there are thousands of movies based on the idea of people falling in love?  Why do we all, even atheist struggle to measure ourselves compared on how many people we have in our life?  We are hardwired and programmed to crave love.  The Lord did this because He loved us so much, He wanted us to know how it felt to love and be loved.  We are all in this life together, God has given us each other as brothers and sisters to love each other, and to keep each other true to our love of the Father.  Remember we are only able to love, because He first loved us.  But He has given us the ability to love Him back and to love each other.  I hope and pray no one ever misses out on a single day of feeling loved.  If you know of anyone who is missing out on that wonderful feeling, the feeling that you know someone cares and is always there for you, please extend a loving hand to that person.  Extend a loving hand to everyone you meet, to make sure no one ever misses out on a chance to feel loved.  And then love your Lord, by thanking Him for the love you have in your life.
The story of Kathryn, the blind elderly lady, is really the story of humanity.  We rebel against God and convince ourselves we don't need His love or care.  We tell ourselves we can manage just fine on our own.  However, when tough times come, and we actually aren't able to take care of ourselves, we learn and remember why we worship the God we do.  He is always there for us, the Holy Spirit is in our hearts, giving us the ability to open up to God's love.  He paid the ultimate price to show us how much He loves us.  He sacrificed His only Son, to show each one of us "touch me not's" that no matter how hard we resist His love, He still loves us and has paid the price for our sins.  Through Jesus, we know the love He has for us.  Through Jesus, we are able to show that love to others around us.  Through Jesus, we are able to receive hugs, smile, and know we are redeemed children of God, who is truly the only one able to satisfy our hearts desire for love.      
Dear Heavenly Father, 
We thank you so very much for love.  You first loved us as Your children, which allowed us to love each other.  You loved us enough to send Your Son, to show and teach us Your love.  You sent Your one Son to save us from our sins, purely out of Your love for us.  Let us never forget the love You have for us, let us never forget to love You back, and let us never forget to show each other the love You showed us.  Lord, let me be able to share Your love with everyone I meet tomorrow at the Sherbrook Nursing Home, and let it be a positive experience.  We also pray that You be with those who don't know Your love.  Help all Your children who do know Your love, to reach those who do not.  Let us all join together in Your love at home in Heaven someday.  We pray all of this and all our prayers through our ever loving God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Three in One, now and forevermore. Amen.  

Change of Pace

Hello everyone.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  My Friday was a pretty good day.  I didn't get much production accomplished, but it was still good.  I didn't get much sleep Thursday night, which is getting to be a  pattern I need to break.  So I got up early to do my homework for Friday morning's class.  I got it done, went to class, and then came back to my room and went back to bed.  I slept until one thirty.  Then I got up and went to prof and stein.  For those of you who don't know, prof and stein, which happens every other Friday afternoon, is when all the students and faculty are welcome to the cafeteria for keg beer together.  They had Schlafly's Octoberfest which is a very good beer.  Then they always have one of the professors get up on the "soap box" and talk about something outside of their area of expertise for 15 minutes.  It's really just about getting together with your professors and talking with them outside of class over one or two beers.  That's suppose to be the point anyway; however, there was one guy who ended up drunk and I guess that's a pretty regular thing for him. It's kind of sad he has to turn a great thing into something negative, and I will be very upset if they stop doing it because of him or others like him.  Then we got three cars full of guys and went out for supper at Chick Fil A, which is always good.  When we got back we watched the end of the Preachers (our seminary mascot) soccer game.  Then we went to wine whine.  For those of you who don't know what this is, the language students started a pretty cool thing.  During the summer, those taking Greek would get together on Friday nights, since they were the only students really here, and whine about Greek while enjoying a glass of wine.  The tradition continued so now every Friday night at one of the married guy's houses normally, we get together with different wines and just mainly talk and hang out with a little whining about classes and homework.  It is just one more way we have found to build community life together with alcohol in moderation being included.  It is really good for me, because most of you know I like to drink and don't always have the best self control when I do.  However, these events are teaching me very quickly how to enjoy one or two drinks and calling it a night.

This morning I slept in until noon, and then got up and started some laundry, did the dishes, picked up my room a little bit, and did a little reading.  Now I am typing this before the Husker game starts.  The change of pace title refers to my Saturdays though.  Especially last year when I lived in the house, I got a pretty regular routine of cleaning and chores in the morning, and then college football the rest of the day.  Now I still try to do what cleaning needs to be done, but I feel lucky if I get to watch my Huskers play.  I don't get to watch any other games.  A lot of that having to do with the fact that our lounge still doesn't have cable, and even if it did it is normally full of guys who are not interested in football.  Crazy I know guys who would rather watch Star Wars than college football?!  I don't get it either, but to each their own.  

I wanted to go back over my questions on Thursday's text.  If you don't agree with me or want to discuss anything with me feel free to email me at richterk@csl.edu.  

My answers: ( I will repeat the questions too)

1. Do you see a progression, or shift of movement throughout the Psalm? 

Yes I saw a progression or shift of movement.  I saw a time line played out in this psalm.  In the beginning it speaks of Moses and Israel, the ancient history of God's people, then talks about His love and compassion and His act of removing our sins which is JESUS who came after Israel.  Then it talks about God's children which I see as the collection as a whole, all of us from the beginning of time until the end of time as one group.  Then it shifts to Heaven and Angels which points to eternity.  So I see the story of God's people before Christ, the story of Christ, the story of us who have been redeemed while still here, and then the story of the second coming and all of us going Home playing out in order in this text.  

2. Other than this being a prayer of thanksgiving, do you see an overall theme here?

The theme goes along with the progression.  The theme is the story of Christ being our Redeemer and Savior. From the beginning of God's people who were sinners, to us who are still sinners, we have had our sins removed from us through Christ.  The theme is the story of what Christ did for us, and then us giving Him thanksgiving back for it.  Now I am sure this theme could probably be found in every psalm, but it is definitely easy to see in this one.  

3.  Verses 8 through 12 would not be true with out what?

This I was just using to prove my theme.  Verses 8 through 12 speak specifically of God's compassion and mercy on us His fallen creation.  The removing of our sins, through Christ, because if He didn't do this, we would all be bound for Hell.  By His love, grace, and mercy alone we are saved.  These verses just poetically speak that truth of Christ. 

4.  Who is this verse most comforting to? Are you included in that answer?

This text is most comforting to "those who fear Him".  I just wanted you to catch that phrasing and think about what it truly means.  We must fear and love God,  fear Him because He is a just God, has all authority and power to send us to Hell, and is our only final judge.  However, we must love Him because even though He is just and has the power to send us to eternal Hell; through His Son, we have been saved, and have been washed clean of our repented sin which makes our judgment less scary.  Wither you are included in this or not is a personal question you have to answer.  Do you fear and love Your God?  I hope and pray You do.

5.  What life applications can we take from this psalm?

The biggest life application I see from this text is when we are constantly reminded what Christ has done for us, we should always remember to give Him thanks and praise.  What else do we have to offer Him other than our genuine prayer of thanksgiving, our faithful song of praise, and our devotion to always share His name.  With the help of God, I hope we are are able to do all of these daily. 

Dear Heavenly Father, 

The psalm we have read reminds us that from the day Your creation fell into sin, until even today, You have never given up on any of us or forsaken us.  Yet daily You remind us of all You have done for us, daily You remind us, that even though we fear you as a just, judging Lord, we can still love You.  Because through Your grace and mercy, and the death and resurrection of Your Son, we are washed clean and made new.  We can come to You in prayer, and some day stand before Your judgement knowing Your name has been placed on us, and we have been called home to You.  Let us never forget to come to You with thanksgiving and praise.  Let us be You witnesses that live Your faith and love, showing others how great a God we all have.  In the only name that can ever save us, give us peace, and bring us home to You, Jesus Christ, we pray.  Amen.    

Extra Sleep

Howdy.  I know I missed another day of writing.  However, here is the story.  Last night I went to work.  Oh yeah I suppose I should probably fill you in in that too.  A lot has happened in the last two and a half days.  First off, the sad news.  One of my fellow class mates withdrew from the seminary Wednesday.  He was here over the summer doing classes, and the entire time he was struggling with if he really wanted to be here or not.  He finally decided this place wasn't for him at this time in his life.  He is a good guy and my prayers go out to him.  Also he is an Iowa boy.  He was also the guy ahead of me at work, because I was just a fill in guy when they needed me.  Well since he left, I got his job, so now two afternoons every week I work general labor.  So I worked Wednesday, and actually had to work decently hard cleaning all the wood work in the offices they just remodeled, and then move desks.  I worked Tuesday for him because he asked me to, but that was before I knew he was withdrawing.  Since I had to work Tuesday I didn't get to play flag football which was a major downer, other than the fact it was really hot that afternoon.  However, we did get done with our work early so I got to go watch my team play.  I need to switch my work schedule though, or else I am not going to get to play any flag football, which would be very sad.  But back to Wednesday, I was tired from work.  Then when I got done, I ate supper with the guys in our dorm lounge.  After that I went to my room to study, and I could not stay awake to save my life.  So I decided to lay down for an hour nap.  I was awaken by my friend Aaron knocking on the door.  I was in such a deep sleep, when I awoke I thought it was the next morning already.  See Aaron comes down most mornings to get some coffee from my coffee pot and then we go to class together since we have the exact same schedule.  So when I heard the knock and then his voice I thought it was time for class.  It took me awhile to get my wits and realize it was still that night.  I was going to do homework after he left, but laid back down which was my mistake.  Luckily I had set my alarm for the next morning in time to get up to do my homework before class, because I slept the rest of the night.  So the good night sleep was good, and I still got my homework done before class.  So that is why I did not write last night.  
I also still need to tell you about Tuesday's small Bible study group for chapel.  It was good, although out of our fifteen only seven showed up.  And three of the seven were faculty and staff, leaving only four students there.  However, it was good and we made the most of our time.  We covered Matthew 21:23-27.  It is where the chief priests question the authority of Jesus.  It is a great text, and we had a great Bible Study over it.  Maybe this weekend I will add a post of our notes and what we talked about in this text, it's meaning and application.  So that was good.  Yesterday we had communion for Holy Cross day.  Normally our communion is on Thursdays, except for weeks with Holy days.  When I went up for communion the choir was singing a hymn a capella and in the original Latin.  Plus they were singing it at a very slow tempo.  So as I knelt at the Lord's Table, receiving the very Body and Blood of my Lord Jesus Christ, in, with, and under the bread and wine, listening to them sing so sweetly such a beautiful song of praise to the Lord I was receiving....! I was almost in tears.  It was amazing, and the whole service was very well done.  I really do enjoy our chapel services daily, and as Dr. Burreson always says, this is the one time in our life we have worship available six days a week.  All Praise be to Him!
Yesterday's classes were Historical Theology, which the professor didn't even show up for.  He had his TA lead us in a class project over critical thinking. And then also Pastoral Ministry which we discussed almost too thoroughly the exact definitions and  implications of ministry with a little "m" versus ministry with a capital "M". Not that interesting, especially when one kid asked a hypothetical question and wouldn't let it go after that.  However, I feel I still learned some good things about why our church does the things the way it does.
Today's classes were interesting.  Lutheran mind was first a refresher on oratio, meditatio, and tentatio followed by further explanation of theology of the cross.  Some times in that class, I really have to stop and struggle to wrap my mind around what they are teaching us.  However, I have to keep in mind they are trying to push us to the very boundary to see how we react, and if we really believe the very nitty gritty that our Lutheran Synod believes.  So it is good for my brain to get out of its comfort zone and do some serious thinking.  I like it actually, its challenging but in a fun way.  I do have a very unique story from that class today though.  I sat next to a second career guy.  He was a Lutheran school teacher for thirty some years before finally deciding to come here.  He is a great guy, and has always hinted towards his family history being a little different but never goes into details.  Well today, when I was talking with him one on one, we actually ended up staying late after class and talking.  His family history is just a little different alright!  His grandfather was in World War I.  He was in a fox hole with some guys from his unit.  They just finished saying the Lord's Prayer, and a shell hit their fox hole and killed most of the guys in it.  He was spared, but went on to see churches bombed and burnt during the war as well.  After the war he denounced God and said one could not exist after what he had seen.  He died sadly enough still not accepting there is a god.  It goes on, by this guy in  my class telling me his mother was a Lutheran in Germany during World War II.  His father was an SS soldier for the Nazi party.  He said his dad's fellow soldiers used to publicly make fun of him and his wife saying, "Look at the Nazi with a Communist wife!"  I never knew this fact, but in order to be an actual member of the SS party, you had to sing an oath denouncing your Christian faith.  This guys father was a Catholic, and refused to sign that decree.  Because he would not sign against his faith, he could not be an actual member of the official SS Party even though he was an SS soldier.  Since he wasn't in the party he could never rise above Private first class.  He was never allowed to be even a Corporal let alone an officer.  This guy went on to tell me that his father was captured by the Allies, and escaped with some of his SS unit members.  When they escaped and where headed back to their own territory, his father realized how terrible the SS actually was and decided it wasn't a good thing to be a part of.  Now he didn't finish his story so I don't know if he left the SS or what happened, but he survived, stayed with his Lutheran wife and brought his family over to America eventually.  He also made a comment, again no details, on the fact that how his mother and father met was quite unusual.  I mean talk about a past!  An atheist after WWI, and an SS soldier in WWII, and he ends up graduating from Concordia Seward Nebraska, and is now a first year at St. Louis Concordia Seminary.  The Holy Spirit is one heck of a hard worker.  An I was blown away that Hitler made his SS party denounce their faith in writing in order to be part of the party... talk about the Devil at obvious work, besides the Holocaust.  This guy wants to write a book about his family history, and I strongly encouraged him to because that is a book I would read.
My other classes today included both Hebrew and Greek readings.  I realized I retained a lot more of my Greek than my Hebrew from undergrad which surprised me because I always enjoyed Hebrew more.  However, I greatly despise Hebrew now, and actually kind of slightly enjoy Greek.  Crazy how that happened, but a little bit of it might have to do with the Greek professor being an amazing man with a great sense of humor.  My last class was Pastoral Ministry in which we finished our ministry definitions, and moved on to our Missouri Synod history.  It is quite the fascinating story, that I had never heard.  Not all of it makes our church foundation look that great, but the founding fathers were sinners just like us.  It was a pretty interesting little tale, that I might type up into a little short story if I can ask Dr. Utech what references he used for his information.  It is something all Missouri Synod Lutherans should know, because it is quite impressive.
I also went to my Institutional Module today for orientation.  I am at the Alexian Brothers with Sherbrook Village Nursing home.  An institutional module is just more field work but at some place besides a church.  The options were like nursing homes, hospitals, jails, and such.  I really wanted the jail because jail ministry does interest me.  Who needs the Lord more than people who are trapped in a cell of their own sin, and also literally in a cell because of their sins?  However, that one wasn't available, so I got the nursing home which I think will be just as good.  Now you may already know Alexian Brothers is a Catholic organization of Brothers who serve the sick and dying.  They have a pretty cool history going clear back to the Black Plague.  I am there with three other guys that I already knew from Seward, so that was good.  The chaplain we are working with is a little different guy.  I truly think he has the Holy Spirit working in him, and he is a good guy.  He is not Lutheran, basically because he is not anything.  He was baptized LCMS, converted to Baptism after college to keep his job as musical director at a Baptist Church.  Went to Eden Seminary which is sponsored by the United Church of Christ, and was a parish pastor to two Methodist churches.  He is now a chaplain to all residents of the nursing home, no matter what religion or denomination they are.  He has a little different outlook and philosophy than Lutherans obviously, but did admit he goes to a Lutheran church and the pastor there is probably his closest friend.  I am guessing its ELCA Lutheran, but could be wrong there.  Again, I do think he has the right intentions for the people he serves, and definitely is passionate about making those people feel as good as he can.
He was telling us how he has such a problem with getting Perish pastors to come visit their parishioners.  One lady went four years without communion and cried when she finally was able to join a Lutheran service and receive it.  He calls pastors weekly that are close by asking them to stop and visit the residents, but unless they have a specific parishioner there, they don't feel it is their  job to.  I hope I never get that attitude.  I know calls to the hospitalized, shut-ins, and nursing home residents may take quite a bit of time, but it is an important task of the pastors role.  I, growing up in an elderly neighborhood and growing up always visiting with the elderly, I love to go visit with senior adults (as Rev. Roger called them).  I hope it always stays a priority with me, because I know how lonely they get in those type of places and one visit even every other week can make a world of difference not only with their morale, but definitely with their spiritual health.  I think I am going to really enjoy the next eight weeks of going there and spending time with the residents.  It will mostly just be one on one time with random residents, and then if they are willing end with a short devotion and prayer.  I think I am going to spend the majority of my time just trying to listen to them tell their story.  I love learning about people's lives, especially those people who lived in a different time from me.  Then I plan to ask if it is ok to end with a scripture reading and prayer.  Nothing deep theologically, just let them receive the Word and let it speak for itself.  Then prayer because that is always important with me.  I hope it is a great experience, and I think it will be.  I ask the Lord to let it teach me, and be a growing opportunity in both my education and faith.
One cool thing that happened tonight when a bunch of us guys were sitting around just finishing up our individual suppers in the lounge and a few guys were there studying too.  As we were in mid conversation, one guy interrupted and said Dr. Meyer is coming in.  Dr. Meyer is our seminary's president and the more I find out about him, the more I realize he is an amazing man.  He just casually walked into the lounge, sat down and started chatting with us guys.  He asked how we liked our dorms, and school year so far.  He said he was out walking with his wife and dog, when his wife noticed us through the window so he came in.  He asked if we liked the improvements to the dorm, which we used as an opportunity to slip in the fact that we still don't have cable.  We are guessing that will be fixed very soon by the face he made.  He then proceeded to pick up the Greek flashcards and go right through them with ease.  He was just joking and laughing with us.  It's not every school you get to hear your president making P.G. 13 jokes with random guys in the lounge.  I thought it was very impressive and what a great example of the message he preaches to us about being friendly and kind to all.  
Ok, so I know this is getting long, but it is two days worth.  I know I probably still have more to fill you in on, but its getting late and I need to read a little more before I go to bed.  So I am going to just wrap up with a quick word of scripture, maybe some study questions for you to ask yourself and ponder upon, and then a prayer.  I will also ponder upon my questions and maybe give my own insights to them in tomorrow's post.
Scripture reading is Psalm 103.  I'm not going to type it out because I want you to go open your Bible and read it.  Even if you don't have a Bible, you are reading this on the internet, so you can go to Biblegateway.com and read it on there.  So no excuses.
Questions just to think on or discuss with whoever you do devotions with:
1.  Do you see a progression, or shift of movement throughout the Psalm?
2.  Other than this being a prayer of thanksgiving, do you see an overall theme here?
3.  Verses 8 through 12 would not be true with out what?
4.  Who is this verse most comforting to?  Are you included in that answer?
5.  What life applications can we take from this psalm?

Two prayers by Luther we pray together:
Behold, Lord, here is an empty cast that needs to be filled.  My Lord, fill it.  I am weak in faith; strengthen me.  I am cold in love; warm me and fill me with fire that my love may flow out over my neighbor.  I do not have a firm, strong faith; I doubt at times and cannot fully trust God.  O Lord, help me; increase my faith and trust for me.  In Thee is locked the treasure of all my possessions.  I am poor; Thou art rich and art come to have mercy upon the poor.  I am a sinner; Thou art righteous.  I pour forth a stream of sin; but in Thee are all fullness and righteousness.     
O Lord, I am Thy sin; Thou art my righteousness.  Therefore I triumph and am secure; for my sin cannot overcome Thy righteousness. nor can Thy righteousness let me be or remain a sinner.  Blessed Lord God of mine, my Mercy and my Redeemer, in Thee only do I trust; never let me be ashamed. Amen.