The Madman Returneth

Remember the guy who hijacked our Sunday school class that one time, to tell us exactly why and how we're all going to hell? It has been almost two years since we've seen or heard anything from him, so I was hoping he'd forgotten we were out there on the hill, minding our own business as good little Lutherans do.

Alas, no. He has not forgotten. He stopped by today for another round of harassment. Thankfully I was out of the office and didn't have to deal with him face-to-face, but he left me a letter. I found it on my desk when I came in for tonight's soup supper. Once I realized what it was, I went out to the kitchen to ask the women who had been at the church all day making soup about who brought it and how they acted. Sure enough, it was "some guy with a big beard" but he thankfully didn't cause any problems or try to pick a fight with them, he just dropped the letter off for me. It wasn't addressed to me personally, just in an envelope labeled "for the pastor," so I'm sure it's a form letter he's inflicting upon all of us in the Valley this Lenten season, full of ramblings about the paganism of the Julian calendar and how we're all going to hell because of how we observe Easter.

Take a deep breath and do it with me now:

S I G H

Man it's crap like this that makes me pray, "Jesus, I love you, but please save me from your followers."

In stark contrast, the bishop's presentation was awesome tonight, as he beautifully explained the Lutheran understanding of the Word.

[At this point I was going to be all cool and link to the ELCA page where it talks about the three-fold nature of the Word, but I can't seem to find the page that says it. You'd think it'd be under the "what we believe" section, but I can't find it there; I know it's in the constitution but I can't find a way to link to the constitution, my computer keeps trying to download it instead. . .so, in case there are any curious non-Lutherans out there reading this, essentially we believe the Word is first and foremost Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh who was with God and was God from the very beginning; but the Word is also the proclaimed word, the spoken word, often heard in worship but able to be heard just about anywhere: in a hospital, at a deathbed, on a baseball bench, while riding a subway - anywhere the Word slays the old sinner and raises him or her up to new life as a saint, that's the proclaimed word; and finally, the holy scriptures, which are the words about the Word, and which, like the manger, cradle the Christ, the living Word. The bishop explained it all much more eloquently than this, and with aid of cool graphics, but now you know the jist of what he said.]

Ok, it's time for sleep. G'night.