More on Metro NY Synod II

Looks like Metro NY passed the resolutions. I have only read about it on the ALPB forum and the details are not there. I'll post information as I find it. This could throw the ELCA into a constitutional crisis.

---Katie

More on Metro NY Synod

Here is a letter Pastor Rob, who often comments on this blog, wrote:

Dear Bishop Bouman,

Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have just received word that your synod will have a special assembly to discuss matters pertaining to the ordination of practicing gay/lesbian clergy. My prayer is that this assembly will not decide to bless what Scripture clearly rejects.

I am aware that you and I are on opposite sides of the fence. I agree that there will come a time when orthodox Christians and revisionists will have to part company, as many are now doing vis-a-vis LCMC and other church affiliations. Yet there is more at stake here than simply a parting of the ways if the synod you serve decides to move in the direction of ordaining practicing gay/lesbian clergy.

First, consider that blessing gay and lesbian clergy who practice homosexual sex will be a defacto recognition of same-sex unions and the blessing thereof, which Recommendation number 2 prohibits. You will be going against Scripture, and therefore making the case that Scripture ought not to be the final authority over matters of faith and life. This would be a violation of the Lutheran Confessions, as well as 2,000 years of Christian teaching on sexuality. Your synod would put itself outside the pale of Christianity, and would be apostasizing itself. As bishop, you are called to work in such a way that this does not happen. I urge you now to take up that calling and help put a stop to this slide towards a different faith than the one handed down by the saints.

This leads me to the second point, an issue that I realize is not at all palatible, but nonetheless necessary for us to discuss. We need to consider that any move towards blessing same sex unions and allowing for the ordanation of practicing gay/lesbian clergy would mean placing a stumbling block before our brothers and sisters in Christ and leading them to damnation. Remember the word of Christ, "If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a mill stone tied around their necks and be thrown into the sea." If the Synod acts to overturn the measures adopted at the National Convention, it will be leading others to their eternal doom.

Brother, please consider these things. I realize that you will not agree with much or all of what I have written. Yet you must know that the ramafications of your syonds activity will have wide ranging repercussions that go far beyond the splitting of the church. What your synod does or does not do will have eternal consequences upon the souls of all people, no matter what their sexual preference.

You and your people are in my prayers. The Lord guide your conversation, and bring you to a conclusion that is pleasing to the Christ and will bring true redemption to the lives of those to whom we witness.

Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Robert Buechler, Pastor

Trinity-Bergen/Faith Lutheran Parish

Starkweather, ND

This was printed with permission...thankfully we do have orthodox pastors in the ELCA still.

---Katie

Check this out.

I got this in my e-mail today. Shocking. I went to the site to remove my information.

It is unbelievable that with so much concern about identity theft that this website would exist.

Be sure to read the info on the Drivers License

Check your drivers license for yourself. You can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security! Privacy, where is our right to it?

To find your personal driver's license, just enter your name, City and state.

After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked
"Please Remove".

This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement.

http://www.license.shorturl.com

---Katie

Wilma damage

Click on the title for the Miami Herald site where you will find an excellent photo essay showing damage from Hurricane Wilma.

---Katie

We Survived Wilma

Thankfully, we only had a wet, dark and windy day. The most excitement we had here was when we heard a crash outside (the dogs went nuts) and discovered a dead branch had fallen from one of the large oaks out back and nicked the edge of our covered patio. No damage, just noise. We have not redone the patio since the three hurricanes last year, so it would have been no great loss anyway. It leaks like a sieve during heavy rain - it was old to begin with and the hurricanes did it in.

Now the weather is beautiful and cool. The windows are open, AC is off for the first time since May. All is well with the world. (At least here; I hear things are not so good south of us. Keep them in your prayers and send money....)

---Katie

And the Beat Goes On...

Unfortunately this is just not going away. Look what the Metro New York Synod is calling for a special meeting to discuss:

SA2005.5.5.

2005-C To Support, Encourage, and provide equitable candidacy and disciplines processes for Gay and Lesbian Members of the Metropolitan New York Synod

Click on the title to get to the web site.

Thanks to Pastor Rob for the tip.

---Katie

When is a life not worthy of life?

I am working on a paper for an ethics class. I am looking at "life at the margins of life" - people who are close to death, people who are just born, but severely disabled, infants in utero who have been screened and found to have a potentially serious defect...then I found this article over at worldmagblog.com:

The Abortion Debate No One Wants to Have
Prenatal testing is making your right to abort a disabled child more like "your duty" to abort a disabled child.

By Patricia E. Bauer
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; A25

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- If it's unacceptable for William Bennett to link abortion even conversationally with a whole class of people (and, of course, it is), why then do we as a society view abortion as justified and unremarkable in the case of another class of people: children with disabilities?

I have struggled with this question almost since our daughter Margaret was born, since she opened her big blue eyes and we got our first inkling that there was a full-fledged person behind them.

Whenever I am out with Margaret, I'm conscious that she represents a group whose ranks are shrinking because of the wide availability of prenatal testing and abortion. I don't know how many pregnancies are terminated because of prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome, but some studies estimate 80 to 90 percent.

Imagine. As Margaret bounces through life, especially out here in the land of the perfect body, I see the way people look at her: curious, surprised, sometimes wary, occasionally disapproving or alarmed. I know that most women of childbearing age that we may encounter have judged her and her cohort, and have found their lives to be not worth living.

Click on the title to read the rest.

How many of us would abort a child if we knew that it was going to be a serious burden for the rest of his or her life? What about those parents who talk about the joy that a disabled child has brought to the entire family? Will those people who allow their defective children to be born and to live (yes, some parents let their defective newborns die of intentional medical neglect in the hospital) be shunned for bringing a less than perfect child into the world?

I find this issue extremely peturbing.

---Katie

Ghost Pictures

If you like ghostly things, click on the title and check out the top ten best ghost pictures. Cool. If you are easily spooked, just skip this one.

---Katie

A Good Reason to Turn the Light on for Those Nocturnal Bathroom Trips

I have to say this is the sort of thing that gives me the creeps. I have always been paranoid about snakes or rats coming in through the toilet. I guess it can really happen. This is from the Times in London.

WHEN residents in a block of flats saw a 10ft boa constrictor slithering from their lavatory bowls, their claims were treated with scepticism. They resorted to placing bricks on lavatory lids after the snake put in several surprise appearances. Now the flat-owners have been vindicated: one brave resident trapped the giant reptile during a night-time confrontation in his bathroom. He managed to coax the snake, named Keith, into a bin, ending a two-month reign of terror at the flats in West Didsbury, Manchester.

Keith had been living in the flat's’ sewage pipes and is thought to have been abandoned by his owner, evicted for owing £5,500 in rent. The possibility that the snake was left on purpose in revenge for the eviction has not been ruled out.

Although the snake was spotted several times, no one had had the courage to try to catch it. Some treated the “sightings” with suspicion.

Firecrews were called when a bleary-eyed resident went to the lavatory in the middle of the night — and came face-to-face with the snake. They used fibre-optic equipment to check the drains and plumbing but found no trace of the reptile.

However, another resident was confronted by the snake when he found it on his bathroom floor on Saturday evening. The 19-year-old man put a bin on its side and the snake crawled inside. He then placed a lid on the bin and called the RSPCA.

David Fitzgerald, who owns the flats, said: "“I think he was quite surprised to see the snake there looking back at him. He raced down to the garden and got a concrete block, which he used to cover the toilet seat."

Mr Fitzgerald confirmed that a former resident, who was forced out in August for rent arrears, had owned a 12-year-old snake. An RSPCA spokesman said that it was not uncommon for smaller snakes to be found in household sewage pipes, but the discovery of a 10ft boa constrictor was "“quite out of the ordinary”."

Shudder.

---Katie

Wow! Wilma breaks the record!

Click on the title for a cool graphic.

Wilma now holds the record for the lowest barometric pressure ever! Also, I think, for the fastest strenghthening from a tropical storm to a cat. 5. And she is expected to hit....Florida! Wheee!

Yes, my freezer is full of ice cream I bought on sale, so if the power goes out, come on over!

---Katie

Don't expect the gun grabbers to tell the truth...

Interesting editorial in our local paper regarding the Brady campaign in Florida:

It's Open Season on Truth

It's tourist season. Can we shoot them?

This is what the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence would have you believe. The Brady Campaign has very publicly promoted its efforts to warn innocent tourists that their lives are in danger if they choose to vacation in the Sunshine State. This propaganda campaign was sparked by Florida's passage of a self-defense act, which took effect Oct. 1.

It goes without saying that the Brady Campaign opposes any law that expands an individual's right to use a handgun, even for a legitimate purpose. However, in this case, when it was unable to defeat legislation by political means, it decided to attack Florida's tourist industry. Make no mistake, despite the Brady Campaign's assertion that its goal is simply to alert travelers, this campaign is clearly designed to punish Florida for passing the new law, by scaring off tourists who are vital to the state's economy.

The Brady Campaign plans to place advertisements in travel sections of several newspapers throughout the United States and abroad, announcing that Florida's "Shoot First Law" has taken effect. "Thinking about a Florida vacation?" the advertisement asks. "A new law in the Sunshine State authorizes nervous or frightened residents to use deadly force."

Is this true? Well, maybe, if the "innocent tourist" decides to attack a Floridian with sufficient force to create a reasonable belief that the use of equal force in self-defense is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm. If the Brady Campaign's advertisements keep this type of "innocent tourist" away from Florida, then I applaud the effort.

But this is not the purpose. The purpose is to cause fear. The Brady Campaign does not publicize the fact that the law only allows the use of force by a person who is first "attacked."

------

I remember a number a years ago when it was open season on tourists in Florida. The "bad guys" knew that tourists were not likely to be armed and were, therefore, defenseless. Which is, by the way, how the gun control folks would like to keep us. Now, with our concealed carry laws, which permit not only Florida residents to carry a concealed weapon for protection, tourists can protect themselves as well, as long as they have a permit from their state which is reciprocal with our state. What the Brady Bunch won't tell you is that our crime rate went down significantly when our concealed carry law was passed, as it has in every state where laws have been passed to allow citizens to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves. Of course, that is truth that must be supressed.

The next law to be considered that will protect our right to keep and bear arms is one which will prevent employers from forbidding their employees having a weapon locked in their cars on company property. Many employees cannot carry a weapon for protection on the way to and from work or transport a weapon in their vehicle to take to the range after work because it is against company rules to have any weapon on company property even if it is properly secured in a locked vehicle. Companies think this will keep some nut from coming into the business and shooting up the place. What they forget, like most gun control advocates, is that criminals don't care about the laws or rules. Of course, the media is giving us headlines like "Law Would Allow Guns at Work!" Like folks are going to be strapping on their Saturday night specials and strutting about the office....

sigh

---Katie

Should we go to the ELCA youth gathering?

Frankly, I love San Antonio. I would love to go. But I have reservations. Here is a letter from a pastor who has similar reservations:

Todd, Heidi, and Bill,

Thank you for the recent invitation to attend the Pastor'’s Academy as part of the national youth gathering in 2006. It is a gracious offer. Including time with Roland Martinson, complimentary registration for myself and my wife, and housing at a reduced rate suggests a deep commitment to growing a youth presence in our church. But your invitation puts me in a dilemma. Though I am highly supportive of family and youth ministry (my D.Min. is in the area of family systems), I look toward ELCA sponsored youth events with some concern and wariness.

A little about St. John Lutheran in Columbia, MD: This past spring we had 81 kids in confirmation. We routinely have 250 or so children in programs on Sunday morning. As you can imagine, they represent a wide spectrum in family health: some traditional nuclear families, blended families, a growing number of single parent households, and grandparents raising their grandchildren, mostly in response to their own substance addicted children, etc. We are working toward a number of initiatives to help build healthier families. We provide leadership to synod wide youth gatherings and programs. Our Family and Youth Pastor is currently working toward a D.Min. through Fuller Seminary in the area of creating healthy youth and is part of a county wide "“Search Institute"” partnership that is seeking to work with a wide variety of institutions and agencies. We do not approach this ministry in a trivial manner.

At the same time, I continue to read with dismay of the strong pro-gay and lesbian advocacy on the part of our ELCA youth ministry leaders. There's really no other way of saying it, but regardless of events and "“the vote"” this past summer in Orlando, given what I have read, I am not willing to place our growing and prevailing congregation and their families at risk by having them attend an ELCA youth event. I simply cannot trust what they will be taught and what they will experience. Perhaps when I hear our denomination take a strong and supportive stance toward creating emotionally and spiritually healthy traditional families, I can encourage our participation. Alas, we did not just spend 2.3 million on that effort, but in exploration of something very different.

It sounds like you are expecting a great crowd of kids and adults. More power to you and to them. As in all the ministries I lead, I cannot lead were I am not willing to go. I wish it were possible for me to, in good conscience, send our youth to San Antonio. I cannot.

Peace,

Dr. Brian Hughes
Lead Pastor
St. John Lutheran Church
Columbia, MD

I encourage you to add the link above to your bookmarks. There is lots of interesting discussion going on over at the ALPB Forum.

---Katie

We have used up all the hurricane names for the year. Does that mean we can't have any more?

This one is predicted to hit Florida. Yipee.

Go away Wilma!

---Katie

Do Boys Need a Dad?

I think so...but as a single mom friend of mine says, "No dad is better than a bad dad." I know several boys being raised by single moms who have dads that would be extremely destructive if they were in the picture (crackheads, etc.). But is it a good idea for women to make a conscious choice to produce children knowing that a dad will never be in the picture? To have sons who talk about their "seed daddies?" Ick. This cannot be good.

Click on the title to read Rev. Albert Mohler's review of the book, Raising Boys Without Men.

Here is an excerpt:

So, how does Drexler explain the fact that boys without fathers want a dad? "It's only natural to long for what you don't have," she claims.

But Drexler doesn't end with this dismissive (if utterly unconvincing) assertion. She goes on to argue that boys raised by moms alone are likely to develop a superior masculinity to that of boys with fathers. "Sons have a hard time accepting those characteristics in their fathers that cannot be changed, and even into adult life spend enormous amounts of energy wishing, hoping, fantasizing, and trying to transform their fathers into the loving models they never were and most likely can't be," she insists. Once again, Drexler's logic crosses into absurdity. She focuses on the virtues of highly motivated "maverick moms" and on the liabilities of dead-beat dads and simply chooses not to acknowledge the obvious benefit boys receive by the presence of loving, masculine, supportive, normal fathers.

------

So, I guess we could just keep men around as sperm donors because we certainly don't need them to help raise the children. Of course, what does that mean for these boys of "maverick moms" when they reach adulthood? Will they be accepting of the theory that they are not needed to help raise the next generation?

And with cloning becoming a real possibility in the very near future, might we not need sperm at all? Perhaps we can keep men in zoos or something. (That was sarcasm in case you are one of the sarcastically-impaired.)

Double sheesh.

---Katie

Our bishop congratulates Abbas

From A Conservative Lutheran:

Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and president of the Lutheran World Federation, recently met with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority (see the ELCA news service article at http://www.elca.org/news/releases.asp?a=3203 for a reporting of the meeting). At that meeting, “Hanson congratulated Abbas on the withdrawal [Israelis from Gaza] and noted that ‘much has changed and much remains.’”

And, of course, as you have read a little about in this blog, the Palestinians then proceeded to sack Gaza.

Click on the title.

---Katie

A Conservative Lutheran

This is a blog you might want to bookmark. Gary Schnitkey is documenting the left wing political action of the ELCA. I plan to read it every day!

---Katie

Things I Have Learned From My Children

I know this has been around awhile, but it is my all time favorite forward. A friend sent it to me this week, so I thought I would share:

Things I've Learned From My Children

1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they ignite.

3. A 3-year olds voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 room.

5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh," it's already too late.

8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9. A six-year old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old.

11. Playdoh and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12. Super glue is forever.

13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool, you still can't walk on water.

14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15. VCRs do not eject PB&J sandwiches, even though TV commercials show they do.

16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18. You probably don't want to know what that smell is.

19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

20. The fire department in Austin,TX has a 5-minute response time.

21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24. The mind of a 6-year old is wonderful. First grade...true story:

25. 60% of men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

---Katie

Wear red on Friday!

Support our troops by wearing red on Fridays! The "silent majority" is going to show support for our troops by wearing red every Friday...will you join in?

---Katie

Could it be about saying "no?"

Would you provide alcohol for your kids and their friends if it meant keeping them off the streets and out of bars? Susan Reimer thinks that she might consider making just such a "pact with the devil" if it meant keeping her daughter safe. What about just saying no - and stop enabling a lifestyle that sees drinking as a necessary part of life? But no:


Anheuser-Busch has begun a public service campaign this fall titled, "Prevent, don't provide."

It is aimed at parents who provide their underage children with alcohol or allow them to drink in their homes. According to the beer maker, two-thirds of teens get their alcohol from their parents or other adults, including derelict characters willing to take their $5.

I understand why such a campaign is important, but do you understand how parents like me might make pacts with the devil? How it stops being about legal or illegal and starts being about something far more frightening?

I was never one of those parents who served beer to underage kids or who let them have parties in my house. But do you understand how I might have been? How I might happily have traded a six-pack for a set of car keys and the guarantee that everyone would be sleeping it off in my basement?

Do you understand how I might want to be the den mother on a spring-break trip to good, old, boring Florida? Do you understand that sometimes it isn't about legal? It is about living.


I am not anti-drinking; in fact, I think our draconian laws regarding alcohol are detrimental to our children's attitudes toward drinking. I think parents ought to make the decision as to whether their children are allowed to drink a glass of wine at the dinner table - it really is not any of the government's business how we choose to teach our kids about alcohol, as long as we are not harming the rest of society by unleashing little drunkards on said society. Which, by the way, is the current situation despite the laws. I would never, however, consider providing alcohol to kids still under the supervision of their parents. I can't imagine how I would react if someone did that with my kid...well, maybe I can. I was so angry when I read this column, I imagined things like lawsuits and prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law. Why can't we parents support each other in teaching our kids to be moral and temperate instead of caving in to the culture? I guess Susan provides her daughter with a prescription for the pill and clean needles.

Sheesh.

Click on the title.

---Katie

You, too, can be a Democrat!

Sorry to say it, but I stole this off of Free Republic:
(with apologies to my Democrat friends who really do know how to think!)

How I Became a Thinking Man

Written by Carlos Lopez
Saturday, July 17, 2004

It started out innocently enough...

I began to think at parties now and then--to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone--to relax, I told myself.

But I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home.

One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my mate about the meaning of life, but she just spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job.

I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in.

He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. ''Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?'' it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

Now I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today, I registered to vote Democrat!

YOU, TOO, CAN BE A DEMOCRAT

---Katie

For those of you who miss the days of the Clinton White House...

Here is something you might want to consider. Click on the title for a lovely addition to your decor.

Wasn't there some silver missing after the Clintons left the White House?

This is just one of those things that make you say, hmmm....

(As my parents used to say, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The Clintons are truely classless.)

---Katie

What of the church?

A mailing from Word Alone:
(Please note the bold text in the article. I think that says it all for me. ---Katie)

What of the church?

by Pastor Randy Freund

When speaking of the church, Article VII of the Augsburg Confession puts it succinctly: "This is the assembly of all believers among whom theGospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments areadministered according to the Gospel."

This seems simple enough. In fact, I have heard some argue that this is so simple and clear that we should stop "quibbling" about theology and get on with the mission of the church. I will start with the last part of that statement, with which I am in full agreement. It has much to do with my own interest in forming an association of confessing churches as proposed by several renewal groups within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I have served as head of a task force looking into starting such an association within the ELCA.

Though I am clearly not interested in a new "institution," I think Alvin Rogness was asking the right questions about the unique calling of the church years ago. "Is there any institution that can take the place of the church? If it fails, who will pick up its mission for the world? From the time of Christ, the church has been commissioned to tell the story of God. Its mission is to bring [man] into responsible and grateful fellowship with God. Its task is to put [man] under the command of God and to nestle [him] in the care of God. Neither government nor labor unions nor any other institution in society is dedicated to this task. If the church does not do it, it will not be done."

Getting on with the mission of the church is, of course, our most basic and urgent calling. Who will tell the story of Jesus if we don't? So then what of theology and "quibbling?"

Theology and the mission of Christ's Gospel are inherently linked.

In the very simple statement of Article VII, which is quoted above, two words stand out. One is "Gospel" and the other is "purity." Here is where the task of theology is more than mere "quibbling" among learned theologians. Both within WordAlone and in renewal movements not associated with WordAlone, we have heard the warnings of "another" or a "different" gospel. Given Paul's warning in Galatians 1, this is a serious charge. But whenever the justification of the ungodly gets replaced with the affirmation of the unrepentant, one is dealing with another or a different gospel. Sorting this out is the important work of
theology.

The second word (purity) doesn't make theology's task any easier. Comedy and tragedy come together when we sinners start to imagine that any of us can concoct a pure church. As Luther put it: "Farewell to those who want an entirely pure and purified church. This is plainly wanting no church at all." So what does it mean for the Gospel to be "preached in its purity?" To a great extent, again, we rely on the important task oftheology.

All of which affirms an invitation to come the fall WordAlone theological conference where we will take up theology's task as it relates to the church. What can you expect if you come to the
theological conference and stay for a meeting to form the association, Nov. 6-8 at Brooklyn Park Lutheran Church, Brooklyn Park, Minn.?

The speakers will be engaging and challenging—Dr. Dennis Bielfeldt, Dr. Mary Jane Haemig and Dr. Cynthia Jurisson—and will draw us into deeper reflection around the question: "What does 'church' mean to Lutherans?"

Bielfeldt is a professor of philosophy and religion at South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D. Haemig is an associate professor of church history and director of the Thrivent Reformation Research Program at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. Jurisson was a professor of church history at Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, most recently.

If your church has joined the association of confessing churches or is thinking about it, their talks and the meeting's workshops and seminars will be especially informing and inspiring.

And after the main theological presentations on Sunday and Monday, Nov. 6-7, the first meeting of the members of the churches of the emerging association will begin.

We will envision together what association of confessing churches can look like and do. There will be a vote to form a steering committee to continue the work begun there in Brooklyn Park. The task force formed by WordAlone last spring to look into an association has recommended for voting status, "Anyone who represents a church that has joined the association or expects his or her church to come into the association may vote" during the association's plenary sessions. All participants will have voice.

The association meeting also provides WordAlone members the opportunity to meet people who may have not attended WordAlone events before, but who are very interested in learning more about and becoming involved in renewal and mission through an association of confessing churches.

Hope to see you at Brooklyn Park Lutheran Church!

(Anybody interested in going? ---Katie)

The OK suicide bomber

Since the Mainstream Media sees nothing interesting in this story, the bloggers are having to keep up with it. Gateway Pundit is doing a good job. Click on the title and keep your powder dry.

---Katie

Suicide Bomber tried to buy Ammonium Nitrate

I guess he was getting ready to take up farming - not!

In case you don't remember, AN was a major component of the bomb that was used in Oklahoma City.

I am the only one noticing the deafening silence from the mainstream media? We have our first suicide bombing in the US and - nothing!

Click on the title!

---Katie

You can rest easy...

...knowing your tax dollars are well spent. Or, well, spent, anyway.

An Alaska Airlines 737 received a creative new paint job, compliments of - you! $500,000 of compliment. I knew you would be proud! Click on the title!

---Katie

Uh Oh

It looks like we have our first official suicide bombing in the United States. Notice the singular lack of coverage on our mainstream media outlets. Click on the title for the article.

---Katie