Emblem of the Society of the Holy Trinity

A TAGLINE HISTORY

“The Office of the Keys should be exercised as some ministry needs to be Exorcised”. (START through October 2006)

The tag line is this Lutheran's cry of frustration about Bishops who refuse to exercise every aspect of their ministry, especially calling to account and enforcing discipline on wayward clergy. Some of those wayward clergy have become so infected with the spirit of postmodernism and outright hedonism that I believe Exorcism may well be the only cure.

“If false accusation weren’t a problem it wouldn’t be in the 10 Commandments.” (October 2006 - March 2008)

In late September 2006 I was informed of a vendetta launched against me by a former colleague who sought to strip me of some professional credentials. The matter was not brought to conclusion in my favor until June of 2007, and even then the former colleague persisted in pressing his malicious false claims.

“Waiting for Godot and searching for Avignon.” (March 2008 - August 2008)

I’m not really a fan of Camus other than for his phrase il faut cultiver votre gardin; however, the notion of being in exile, expectationis for God to break through once again rings well with the most ancient Creed and the final hopes of St. John Marantha! As for Avignon; well, I’m basically declaring myself to be in schism/status confessionis from Bishop B. Penrose Hoover, the Lower Susquehanna Synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and its PC-laden Evangelical Lutheran Worship. So I am searching for the antiPope--whether he be LCMS, LCMC, AMiA, Anglican Use Rite, or Antiochean remains to be seen.

“Sarah Palin: A REAL woman, not an empty pantsuit.” (August 2008 - Election Day 2008)

Barack Øbama = Empty Suit. Hillary Clinton....does she wear anything other than pant suits? Sarah Palin is the antithesis of both!

“Dies Irae, dies illa” (ELECTION NIGHT, 2008)

From the Latin Requiem Mass; translated, “Day of Wrath, O Day of Warning”

“BHO: I'd rather defy than deify.” (November 5 - Thanksgiving 2008)

The early adulation of the President-elect verged on breaking of the First Commandment.

“Red & Blue B. Hussein Obama posters make great kindling!” (Thanksgiving 2008 - Inauguration Day 2009)

I lit one to kindle the woodstove on Thanksgiving Eve. Made me feel REAL good!

“Adjutorium nostrum (+) in nomine Domini.” (INNAUGURATION DAY 2009 -)

Time to get over the anger and disappointment over moral failures in so many institutions and individuals (thanks, Kolokotronis!);
time to return to Psalm 146:3 “Put not your trust in rulers nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them;
time to return to the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar from the Tridentine Mass (used in the 1958 Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal): translated,
“Our help is in the name of the Lord”.

Designed by Dr. Martin Luther, the Luther Coat of Arms has become the world-wide symbol of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, commonly known as the Lutheran Church.

This explanation is the gist of a letter written to his friend, Herr Spengler, town clerk of Nuremberg.

The Luther Rose:

* "The first thing expressed in my seal is a cross, black, within the heart, to put me in mind that faith in Christ crucified saves us. 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.' Now, although the cross is black, mortified, and intended to cause pain, yet it does nor change the color of the heart, The Luther Rosedoes not destroy nature (i.e., does not kill, but keeps alive). 'For the just shall live by faith,' by faith in the Savior.

* But this heart is fixed upon the center of a white rose, to show that faith causes joy, consolation and peace.

* The rose is white, not red, because white is the ideal color of all angels and blessed spirits.

* This rose, moreover, is fixed in a sky-colored background, to denote that such joy of faith in the spirit is but an earnest beginning of heavenly joy to come, as anticipated and held by hope, though not yet revealed.

* And around this groundbase is a golden ring, to signify that such bliss in heaven is endless, and more precious than all joys and treasures, since gold is the best and most precious metal. Christ, our dear Lord, He will give grace unto eternal life."

Martin Luther

Keep a good Lent

That line appears beneath the "Lutheran Ping" banner from Ash Wednesday until the Easter Vigil. But the line is not one that I can claim as original.

During my ministry I have been blessed to serve beside some truly excellent colleagues, among them, the late Reverend David Hoh, who entered into Life on Christmas Eve of 2005, and whose newsletter meditations had oftentimes assisted my inspiration. Pastor Hoh had commented in one newsletter that although we often consider the Church Year to be like a circle, an endlessly repeating cycle of feasts and fasts, in reality it is more like a spiral staircase: the progression ‘round and ‘round accompanied by a constant vertical motion. That motion is the constant growth, maturity, and aging that is our mortal human condition.

So we do not approach each Christmas, or Lent, or Easter, as the same people that we were a year before; nor shall we approach them as the same people again hereafter. Each year brings with it fresh triumphs and tragedies--each new beginning offers new challenges and chances.

I credit Pastor Hoh for the thought that we should commend one another to “keep a good Lent”. The Lenten season really does not have a greeting, like “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.” So, he proposed, we should greet (and exhort) one another to “keep a good Lent.”