Why? Why?

I'm going to try to tackle a subject about which I know very little.

Church-ness.

Yesterday I posted that we joined a new congregation. If you've been here for any length of time, you know that we are Missouri Synod Lutherans. Years ago, when I was a baby, my parents attended ALC Lutheran churches. I was baptized at this one, and remember attending this one when I was as young as 2. It was where I was confirmed, married, and we had three of our children. John was baptized there. When we'd been married about 6 years, the ALC ceased to exist, becoming part of the ELCA. Our congregation at Prince of Peace enthusiastically joined the ELCA, and we continued in that branch of Lutheranism for about 5 years.

Not long after our kids started school, we noticed some failings in our local public school system, and moved them from that system to a Lutheran school. In time, we realized that, theologically, our family agreed more with the LCMS than we did with the ELCA, and we made the leap to yet another synod. This was not done lightly, nor without much conflict. We actually lost friends when we did this, as they saw us, in their eyes, becoming "narrow minded" and "insular." It was not an easy time, or a comfortable one, but then, matters of religion never are. If they were, I've always figured, that would be a tip-off that we might be going the wrong way. The Devil never makes trouble for people who are heading in his direction, after all. The sticking point for us was the inerrency of Scripture. (How do you spell that word that means "no errors"? Spell check is no help!) When we started hearing, "Well, God didn't really mean this," we headed on down the road. And it's been a blessing for our family to have done so.


The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, it turns out, has conflict within it's own ranks. Gee, there's a surprise. The Church is full of sinners. Whoda thunk? There are liberal theologians in the LCMS, very conservative ones, and everything in between. We've always fallen somewhere in the middle, influenced, no doubt, buy those years in the ELCA. (For the non-Lutheran, this "alphabet soup" of synods is really confusing. I am sorry, and you are to be commended if you've followed along this far!) Dealing with the conflict in the LCMS has been a point of growth for us, something that has pained us and nurtured us at the same time. The congregation in which we have been worshipping for the past 13 years is on one side of the conflict. We always felt that we should shop, worship, work, and "hang out" in the community where our post office is located. Over the years, it has been a joy to do so, to have the people ringing my groceries ask me about my church, because I'm "the customer," and not, "the church lady." Lately, though, we've been increasingly uncomfortable in this congregation, where worship seems something to be "gotten done with," some families seem more "worthy" than others, and, in the words of a 16 year-old, the pastor "doesn't have any respect for the Sacraments." When the 16 year-old is your daughter, you take those words seriously.

So, yesterday, we stood up in front of another congregation and promised to support the pastor and the work of that group of Lutherans. We're not silly enough to believe that this place won't have sinners, conflicts, and troubles of it's own. But the pastor has respect for the Sacraments, and that's a good place to be. Besides, he thinks our daughter is pretty cool. We do, too, and it's important to us that she see respect given where it's due. So a new adventure begins for us. Just when we were beginning to think we were old enough to avoid adventure....

Wake, Awake

Today, just for grins, we changed church membership. It is the Last Sunday of the Church year, and we're starting something new. But not entirely new. John and I (he in 1981, me in 1959) were both baptized on this Sunday, also called Christ the King Sunday in the synod that baptized us (which doesn't exist anymore.)

So it's no wonder that I like this hymn!

Saturday Farm Report

Yep...I'm back! At least for today.

Today was a busy, tiring day in which we accomplished many things. Our grandchildren are here, visiting their dad. We visited a bit this morning, and then Mary and I headed out to the feed store and a driving lesson. She's been through drivers' ed, and was planning to get her license this week. Last week, however, she told me that she doesn't feel as confident as she'd like, so we're doing a little more practice. She worries too much; she does fine! Even in her little Ranger, which is a stick, she handles herself well. She's a decent driver, and, with a little time, will be a very good one.

After breaking the bank buying horse bedding, steaks for tonight and lunchmeat, we came home to serve that lunchmeat and start our afternoon fun. Over the years, we've collected a nice collection of firewood. It was, however, scattered in various places around the farm, and I wanted it brought together. The boys, who were all home today, helped their dad with that, while I cleaned stalls, stirred compost and fed critters. After work, we all trouped inside for hot chocolate, nachos and salsa, and NAPS. I think the neat woodpile looks lovely, but the loveliest part of the day? That nap!!

Supper was steak, baked potatoes and veggies. After cleanup and jammies, we are now parked in front of Star Wars: Episode V. That's The Empire Strikes Back. It never gets old!!

At the Risk of Being Accused of Irreverence...

Yesterday, of course, was Reformation Day. I know, I know, many of you thought it was Halloween. You were only partly correct.

As I was getting in the car to go to church yesterday evening, I remembered that I had been in those very same jeans when I cleaned stalls earlier in the day. I wondered if it was appropriate to wear the jeans used for barn cleaning to partake of the Lord's Supper?

Then I thought, "Well, yeah. Jesus was born in a barn, after all. It'll be OK."

And then I remembered the comment my dad made whenever we came into the house and left the door open. "Were ya born in a barn?" (He still says it.)

And then, it came to me. The possibly-irreverent thought.

Did Joseph ever say to Jesus, "Hey, kiddo, were ya born in a barn?"

And--here it comes--did Jesus ever reply, "Well, yeah, Dad. Doncha remember?"

Monday, Monday

We made a pilgrimage into Michigan this past weekend, to take our grandchildren to see their dad. He usually visits them here, but we're decided that, once in a while, we will head there so they can see him in his natural environment.

It was quite the trek. We spent about 23 hours this weekend in the car, between the back and forth and a trip to a Halloween party in another city. I really don't want to drive anywhere for a while. Unless it's in a private limo. If I can stretch out, listen to the music I like, or have complete quiet if I want, then I would do it. You know it has to be bad, since I'm a big lover of the Road Trip

But we had fun during those hours when we were out of the car.

This morning, however, I coulda done without. The coffee maker, which has been on life support for a few months now, finally signed it's DNR. For whatever reason, it just didn't brew anything. That is a situation that, in this family, MUST be addressed. Any suggestions for a replacement? This one is a Bunn, very similar to this coffeemaker. It is our second Bunn. I have loved Bunn since I worked, years ago, as a waitress. Fast, good coffee; need I say more? But they are fussy about being cleaned, and I am silly about forgetting that. When they don't get cleaned monthly, they leak, and, once that starts, there really isn't anything to be done. I've also had difficulties with keeping ours plugged in 24/7, which it needs to keep the water hot for providing that fast cuppa. I could be talked into staying with The Brand, unless someone else has a better idea?

Enough for now. The horses have been in since about noon yesterday, and need to be turned out. I want to get garlic in the ground today, and laundry. Oh, the laundry.....

Announcement!!

I am thinking about looking into the possibility of organizing some regular blogging time. Just in case you wondered.

Interesting ...

Up the hill from us sits a pretty house. It's owners are in the Air Force Reserve, and are deployed at the moment. It's been sitting empty for about a year. They keep telling us someone is going to rent out parts of it, but that hasn't happened.

This morning, after dropping Mary off at school, working out, and hitting the fish market, I was sitting in the dining room, reading e-mail and doing some modest web surfing. I kept hearing conversation, music and other sounds. My initial thought was that someone was doing some work at the house on the hill. My secondary thought was that I wished they had picked better music to work by...

When I was done with the e-mail thing, I went out to feed the critters. I realized that the noises I was hearing were coming from our barn, where the radio was turned on. Hmmm...Odd...I hadn't been out there since last night. I asked around, and found that no one else had, either, except Mary, who tells me she didn't turn it on.

That leaves two possibilities. One is that she's not being truthful. However, our oldest son arrived about 1:30am from Michigan, because he left today for his National Guard drill and needed to be here bright and early. He told me that he didn't hear anything when he got here, so that tells me Mary didn't leave it on.

The other possibility is that some animal tripped the switch last night. They probably got the scare of their life! My money is on a raccoon, since the doggone things are always trying to make my life miserable. And that music went a long way toward doing that this morning!!