Saturday, December 16, 2006

Busy Christmas Season

It's been very busy for us. My wife went to the states for an unexpected trip. I had the opportunity to be a single dad for a week. The biggest principle that got me through successfully was knowing that if I had a moment to sit down or to rest something wasn't getting done!

I also had the opportunity to help produce and sing in a choral presentation of selections from Handel's Messiah. I also started co-teaching an evening marriage enrichment class.

By God's grace, we made it through very well. I need to update the Lutheran carnival to read include a reference that I mistakenly deleted. I just have to go back and find a reference to the site, which is giving me some problems right now.

No snow yet. It's been unseasonably warm. But word is there's a cold air mass currently over China of its heading our way and once again severe winter will begin in earnest! The kids are really ready for the snow. Today they were sledding down a hill on the grass.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Lutheran Carnival XXXVIII

This Carnival hails from (now) snowy Northern Japan. An interesting local legend holds that Jesus actually escaped Crucifixion and took up residence near here. We don't yet have pictures. We actually tried to go when the fall colors were in bloom and road construction kept us from our destination. (Normally not being able to read Kanji isn't a problem because most signs are annotated in English. But, in this case, the detour signs didn't have any English and we got a bit lost. Thankfully GPS got us back home!)

I'm a little early, but Sunday is a work day for me and Monday is quite busy. (Especially with singing in a choir that will be presenting The Messiah next Saturday!)

We leap into the carnival with two excellent entries by Kelly Klages. The first, at Kelly's Blog, shows two pages of Lutheran and Reformation themed Stamps. (Make sure to click on the images as they open into very high resolution photos showing great detail!) Kelly especially points out "the illuminated cover page from Luther's German Bible, an Olaus Petri stamp from Sweden, and some Papua New Guinea stamps."

Kelly's second entry, at Confessional Lutheran Ecclesiastical Art Resources (CLEAR), contains an engaging discussion on the devotional use of prayer beads. Perhaps tactile, physical devotional aids would enrich your devotional life!

Orycteropus Afer invites us for a stroll along Aardvark Alley. Clement of Rome "is remembered for establishing the pattern of apostolic authority that governed the Christian Church during the first and second centuries." Check out his biography to learn more about how the Apostolic era found expression in later church history.

Recalling more recent history, the Aardvark looks back at Thanksgiving 2006 looking at godless thankfulness and noting an inconsistency between celebrating family and holding pro-Abortion views.

Enquiring spirits want to know! And Ask The Pastor supplies the knowlede. A dedicated Christian who regularly tithes based on salary wants to know if a Christian should tithe from profits gained from selling a house and business. Read the answer for an insightful response!

A second question at Ask The Pastor continues an engaging look at Who Speaks Christ's Forgiveness?

Finally, Random Intolerance has a couple of entries. The first deals with a topic on everyone's mind: Winter Weather. Why is it that meteorologists have such a hard time with the white fluffy stuff?

And the last entry for this edition of the Lutheran Carnival: Elle showcases the diversity of Thanksgiving meals partaken at a zoo.

Peace!