Life Has a Way of Getting Busy at Times

For those of you who still check in here from time to time - my apologies! As a father of three (who have all been sick at one time this week!), a full-time parish pastor, and a part-time circuit counselor, life recently has been a bit complicated and busy. As much as I love to write, these responsibilities have always taken first place.

Next week my eldest daughter and I will be traveling to the seminary in Ft. Wayne for the Confessions Symposium. I normally go for the whole week, but considering the overall costs and the local challenges of late, it seemed best to shorten my stay this time around. However, there will be plenty of time to take in all the exhibits and book displays (never to be missed!!). I heard from Pastor Bender that his catechetical institute is releasing the second volume of Dr. David Scaer's works, and that CPH has also recently released a book on women's ordination, Women Pastors? Women's Ordination in Biblical Lutheran Perspective ($26.99). You can read more about the book in this brief description at CPH. I hope to secure a copy of both before I leave.

I will also take along my laptop and plan to leave a few summaries of the sessions on this blog as I am able. I suspect that my daughter, who has a blog over on the Higher Things site called Here I Stand, will also post, in case you would like a college student's perspective as well. Although she is currently a pre-vet student at UW-River Falls, I think that maybe I can still sway her to a church work vocation :)

If you would like to actually read the presented papers for yourself, they are normally posted on the seminary's website (along with papers going back as far as 2001.) A list of some of the speakers and topics, as well as links to posted papers, can be found here. However, I would wait until later on Tuesday to see anything posted for this year. The theme for the exegetical symposia is: "Atonement for Sin in the Scriptures: Challenging the Modern Dismissal of this Biblical Theme." For the confessions symposia the theme is: "Atonement: Biblical, Confessional, Ecumenical Perspectives."

I hope that I run across some of the readers of this blog in Ft. Wayne this week. Say hello if you recognize my face from the picture on the side.

God's blessings during this holy season of Epiphany!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical Roots of the Warham Guild Hood

Image
In doing just a little checking on the internet, it's interesting to see how the Warham Guild hood, which I have as part of my STM degree attire, is actually a throwback to the Medieval hood. One article notes "the work of the Warham Guild in its imaginative renderings of medieval hoods" (reference is from here ). Again, here is my hood: The Medieval hood, which was originally a very practical outer garment to cover a person's head and shoulders, protecting both from the elements, bears striking resemblance to this revived form: This hood was also a part of the garb of monks in that era. The Medieval hood, in some cases, also had what is known as a "liripipe," a long tail hanging from the back of a hood. You can see the modern stylized version of this on my own hood. From an article on "Academic hood development" we read that "By 1463 the favourite dress of doctors was the hood with round bell-shaped cape, and the lir
Read more

The Firefighter's Cross

Image
[Note: A similar article to this will be shared with my department at their next meeting. During this Lenten season when we are meditating on the significance and meaning of the Passion of our Lord and the Cross at Golgotha, it seemed like one way to offer a witness to the department that captured their interest and yet was not too heavy.] [Editorial Note: In response to a recent comment on this article I have made some changes to the original version of this article especially in regard to references to the so-called St. Florian's Cross. For any confusion the previous unreferenced information may have caused I apologize. I hope that the changes are satisfactory.] THE STORY OF THE MALTESE CROSS In many ways the familiar symbol to the right requires no explanation. It is the universal insignia of firefighting nationwide. Yet the precise origins of this symbol are less clear. The most popular explanation proposes its beginning in the far distant past of medieval Crusaders fi
Read more

KFUO-FM Sale: Editorial from Board of Directors

October 9, 2009 Letters to the Editor St. Louis Post-Dispatch 900 N. Tucker Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63101 RE: “Missouri Synod agrees to sell KFUO” - Oct. 7, 2009 Dear Editor, The ongoing news coverage of the sale of KFUO-FM has been disappointing in its lack of completeness. There is significantly more to the story than has been reported. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s (LCMS) Board of Directors is elected by convention delegates and is responsible—on behalf of the 2.4 million members of the church—for conscientiously evaluating the assets of the church to determine how best to use those assets to further the proclamation, mission, and ministry associated with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Synod’s board has been open about its intentions regarding the disposition of its FM station. Since as early as February 2008, this item has been on the board meeting agenda. Board minutes are made public by posting on the LCMS Web site and summaries are reported in the board’s insert “Board
Read more