Northwoods Seelsorger

 I just visited the local military show south of me, and one of the highlights is making my rounds of the vendors.  Every year I find some militaria treat.  I never served in the military, although my father was a career veteran of over 20 years, as was my father-in-law.  My father served in both WWII and Korea, so I'm always on the search for items related to his time of service.   Although I didn't start out collecting knives, this trip added two to my modest collection, and they are both military related.  The first is what is known as the Camillus U.S. Military Utility Knife , or sometimes known as a "Demo Knife."  I actually now have two, as one was inherited from my father.  When I saw a vendor selling a few of these, I was excited.  I can't say I've seen these at these events before.  According to an online video they were discontinued in 2007. The main blade is stamped with the date of manufacture, which is helpful for deter...

 I was privileged to hear the author, Dr. Ordway, offer a lecture on Tolkien at Nashotah House Seminary, in April of this year. At the lecture I purchased her book, Tolkien's Faith, and have been working on it off and on now for at least four months.  It took a while, in part, because I have a tendency to read more than one book at a time.    I have been interested in J.R.R. Tolkien for a number of years and was already working my way through his magnum opus, the Lord of the Rings for the second time twenty years later. Thus, I was was pleased to learn more about his faith, something not readily covered in summaries of his life and work and not always obvious in his popular writing.  Although baptized within the Anglican Church in South America, he was subsequently raised in the Roman Catholic Church in England following his father's death.  His mother also passed away relatively early, and so his upbringing fell to Fr. Francis Morgan of the Birmingham Ora...

   Recently, due to the influx of conservative Mennonites and Amish into my rural community, I have begun to reflect on the conflict between traditional culture and what I call "the ever-evolving culture."  I am reading extensively now on Amish history and practice, trying to better understand my new neighbors.  Yet as I do I realize parallels to my own struggle within the Lutheran church and its divergent 'cultures.'  My traditional, rural parish still reflects the worship and practices of previous generations. We use hymnals. We follow the established liturgies. We sing the 'old' hymns. But the lure to newer and more progressive parishes looms large.  Some churches cater to this increasingly casual culture, offering a 'style' of worship that has easy access and little demand.  It is well suited to a generation that eschews anything formal, preferring to dress down and enjoy church much like one might enjoy an outdoor music festival on a ...