In Praise of my Kantor

Back home from our celebration of Laetare and I realized I have never said a word about our wonderful Kantor, The Reverend Dr. Daniel Reuning. He is a wonderful musician, Bach scholar, leader of The Bach Collegium, and guardian of the faith. In that later role this morning, he changed a word in the hymn "Jesus, Priceless Treasure" to express proper Lutheran theology. The line in the fourth stanza read "Jesus is my pleasure/Jesus is my choice". Lutherans will be among the first to tell you that God does the choosing, so he simply changed the line to "Jesus is my joy". And so He is, as is this church, which nurtures me in so many ways. Additionally, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" was our prelude this morning. I am a happy man.

Tomorrow is Laetare Sunday, the last Sunday in Lent. "Rejoice, oh Jerusalem...rejoice with joy!" The purple vestments and paraments have been replaced with rose as we look ahead to glorious Easter. I will welcome it. I battle with depression and have been going through a rough patch. It actually began when I had my kidney removed and subsequently retired. I don't deal with idleness and tend to become agoraphobic, not even getting to church. Ouch! The last few days though, God has blessed me more than usual and I have been able to make the morning Eucharist services and Thursday evening's Mass. All wonderful. God has blessed me richly by bringing me to Redeemer, it is my new family. Father Petersen and the rest of the Rudisillians have adopted and accepted me, warts and all. We are a rag tag bunch: gun toting conservatives, radical homeschoolers, Bach scholars, seminarians, converted Jews, all coming together in our love for the Lord and of worship. And worship we do, seven days a week! Our services are reverant, glorious, and historically Lutheran, I am thrilled. It is what I have been looking for a long, long time. I so tired of having to explain myself and defend my beliefs in the Theology of the Cross. So, take a short break from Lent and REJOICE JERUSALEM!

Advent will soon be upon us and coming up is the last Sunday in the church year. Advent is a time of preparation, to get myself ready once again for the coming of our Lord to earth as a helpless baby. Each year brings new depth to this great remembering of that world changing event. Even though is a penitential season, as church, we are not fasting. Instead we are feasting and having fellowship on Thursday evenings. I am somewhat sad that we will stop celebrating Matins for a period, but thrilled that throughout Advent, we will have daily Eucharist services. It is daily confirmed that I made the right choice in joining Redeemer. I wish that I could close on this house so that I could buy furniture and really celebrate Christmas in the way my parents taught me. Next year for sure.

Home At Last

After forty-five years, I think I'm finally (back) where I belong. I took so much for granted growing up that I thought after seventeen years I was ready for the world away from my church cocoon. I was very wrong, not prepared at all and maybe I am one of those people who should never stray too far away from the influence of my church. I became convinced some time ago that I should have gone to a Lutheran college. Anyway, over the past years I have been edging back to where I started and it feels good.
I ran across a letter I started a year or so ago and think I should post it:
This is a plea to all the liturgical churches: stop hiding your light. Stop trying to be the mega-church around the corner. Recognize your rightful place within the bride of Christ. I am both sickened and saddened by the direction of modern Christianity. Its almost exclusive focus is on the self, the individual. It's in the sappy music. It's in the pap filled Christian book store around the corner. It's in thousands of Christian pulpits. And, it's driving me crazy. Not only have these churches co-opted the the historical term "evangelical", they have convinced the world that their often heretical brand of Christianity is the main stream of Christianity. This self-help style of Christianity is not only unbiblical, but often no Christianity at all.
I know, I know...other than that, how do you feel?

New Church

It's been since Easter that I've written anything to the blog and so much has happened that I should have posted. I left Oregon on a wild drive to Indiana that included almost running out of gas sixty miles from anywhere and a breakdown in Wyoming. My oldest son, Jeremy, came out to Oregon and drove back with me. So now I am in Fort Wayne, the city of my birth and first seventeen years. But it is forty-five years later and things have changed. I am in the house that I am buying, the closing keeps getting held up, so I am paying rent until the close. In the meantime, I have been holding off buying furniture, so the house is largely empty. On the other hand, it's warm and dry.
After some church shopping, I have joined Redeemer Lutheran, part of the English District of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church. It is a church I have been looking for for some time. I have long felt the LCMS was a liturgical jewel and couldn't figure out why they weren't touting that instead of chasing the church growth movement. Redeemer is a church that is all about liturgical worship in the Lutheran tradition. I have know about it for since I was in high school with "Liz" Lindemann, daughter Redeemer's pastor at that time. The current pastor, Rev. David Peterson is committed to Lutheran worship in it's finest form. I have started going to Morning Prayer daily at 7:10, which I assume we'll keep up until Advent, when we start having daily Eucharist at that time. I feel very blessed to be part of a church community that so honors the Lutheran tradition.
I haven't really made any friends, yet, but I think that is largely my fault. I tend to isolate, instead of joining groups of folk with similar interests. With God's help, I can change all that.

Post Easter

The week after Easter, is always a time for me to catch my breath. Lent builds to a climax, a nadir of emotions on Good Friday followed by the high of Easter's joyous celebrations. It's like the catharsis in Arisotle's definition of a good play. Anyway, I am glad to sit back for a second and have time for a less intensive look at the past weeks.
My relocation plans are on track. The inspector I hired found little wrong with the property, although the non-working doorbell was almost a deal breaker. The few small items he found, the seller has agreed to repair. Now, I'm trying to be in contact with the lender so I have no cash surprises at closing. I may have found a buyer for my fifth wheel. I had hoped to be able to give it away, but I think it would be financially imprudent to do so. Realism once again rears its ugly head.
For the first time in 62 years, I am starting to worry about my health. Most would say its about time. I finally realized that I want to enjoy my new home and the many activities available to me. In many ways, I have been in the desert and returning to Fort Wayne will be a rich oasis. Oh, I realize, it's not all that, but compared to where I've been the last fifteen years it will be astonishing. Oregon is amazingly beautiful, but so is the Midwest in a different way. Honestly, I have never really felt at home here. Maybe I won't feel at ease there either, but I must try. I know it will be closer to the way I've lived for most of my life and the community religious atmosphere will be more comfortable than here. There is both a large Lutheran and Catholic presence here, so worshiping in the historic liturgical tradition is not regarded as unusual. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that schools, government and many businesses still observed the practice of closing on Good Friday at noon and most churches held services at noon, many with ceremonies extending till three p.m.. I am now praying daily for both wisdom in my health and the successful outcome of my relocation plans.

Holy Week, 2010

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! The ancient words announcing the empty tomb. Today it is Easter. Our church was overflowing. Hallelujah!
Holy Week was a long one with a bad cold in the early part of the week. Maundy Thursday, my church did a Seder meal and I fixed lamb, roast vegetables, and the charoset for thirty people. This was followed by our Maundy Thursday service. Pastor had asked me to come up with a liturgy for the service and he surprised me by deciding to use it, so had to do a lot of reading that I didn't feel up to. I will hate to leave this little church in Sutherlin, it is full of dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
I will be moving back to the city of my birth and early years, Fort Wayne. Although, I've been planning it for a while, it seems like it is happening all too quickly. It will be interesting to be back in the land of Lutherans and Catholics, both of every stripe. Fort Wayne, as a community still observes Good Friday closings and most churches had services from noon to three. Yesterday, I had a minor anxiety attack about the upcoming house buy and move. Why can I never seem to accept that it is all in God's hands? I have so many doubts.
Learned yesterday of a new oratorio which sounded very interesting. It probes the more human side of Mary, especially. We don't know much about her, but if one thinks about it, even if she freely acknowledged Jesus as God's son, she must have wrestled with her anger over his crucifixtion. "Why my son"? Because He was her son, too. I have never thought about this too much, but how she must have struggled. She must have been proud to know that He was the Chosen One, but what a price for a mother. And though Jesus knew what He must do, to see His mother in anguish, must have been especially horrible.