Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog

Stem Cell Vindication

By Charles Krauthammer  November 30, 2007

"If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough."

-- James A. Thomson

A decade ago, Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka) announced one of the great scientific breakthroughs since the discovery of DNA: an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells.

Even a scientist who cares not a whit about the morality of embryo destruction will adopt this technique because it is so simple and powerful. The embryonic stem cell debate is over.

Which allows a bit of reflection on the storm that has raged ever since the August 2001 announcement of President Bush's stem cell policy. The verdict is clear: Rarely has a president -- so vilified for a moral stance -- been so thoroughly vindicated.

Why? Precisely because he took a moral stance. Precisely because, to borrow Thomson's phrase, Bush was made "a little bit uncomfortable" by the implications of embryonic experimentation. Precisely because he therefore decided that some moral line had to be drawn.

In doing so, he invited unrelenting demagoguery by an unholy trinity of Democratic politicians, research scientists and patient advocates who insisted that anyone who would put any restriction on the destruction of human embryos could be acting only for reasons of cynical politics rooted in dogmatic religiosity -- a "moral ayatollah," as Sen. Tom Harkin so scornfully put it.

Bush got it right. Not because he necessarily drew the line in the right place. I have long argued that a better line might have been drawn -- between using doomed and discarded fertility-clinic embryos created originally for reproduction (permitted) and using embryos created solely to be disassembled for their parts, as in research cloning (prohibited). But what Bush got right was to insist, in the face of enormous popular and scientific opposition, on drawing a line at all, on requiring that scientific imperative be balanced by moral considerations.

History will look at Bush's 2001 speech and be surprised how balanced and measured it was, how much respect it gave to the other side. Read it. Here was a presidential policy pronouncement that so finely and fairly drew out the case for both sides that until the final few minutes of his speech, you had no idea where the policy would end up.

Bush finally ended up doing nothing to hamper private research into embryonic stem cells and pledging federal monies to support the study of existing stem cell lines -- but refusing federal monies for research on stem cell lines produced by newly destroyed embryos.

The president's policy recognized that this might cause problems. The existing lines might dry up, prove inadequate or become corrupted. Bush therefore appointed a President's Council on Bioethics to oversee ongoing stem cell research and evaluate how his restrictions were affecting research and what means might be found to circumvent ethical obstacles.

More vilification. The mainstream media and the scientific establishment saw this as a smoke screen to cover his fundamentalist, obscurantist, anti-scientific -- the list of adjectives was endless -- tracks. "Some observers," wrote The Post's Rick Weiss, "say the president's council is politically stacked."

I sat on the council for five years. It was one of the most ideologically balanced bioethics commissions in the history of this country. It consisted of scientists, ethicists, theologians, philosophers, physicians -- and others (James Q. Wilson, Francis Fukuyama and me among them) of a secular bent not committed to one school or the other.

That balance of composition was reflected in the balance in the reports issued by the council -- documents of sophistication and nuance that reflected the divisions both within the council and within the nation in a way that respectfully presented the views of all sides. One recommendation was to support research that might produce stem cells through "de-differentiation" of adult cells, thus bypassing the creation of human embryos.

That Holy Grail has now been achieved. Largely because of the genius of Thomson and Yamanaka. And also because of the astonishing good fortune that nature requires only four injected genes to turn an ordinary adult skin cell into a magical stem cell that can become bone or brain or heart or liver.

But for one more reason as well. Because the moral disquiet that James Thomson always felt -- and that George Bush forced the country to confront -- helped lead him and others to find some ethically neutral way to produce stem cells. Providence then saw to it that the technique be so elegant and beautiful that scientific reasons alone will now incline even the most willful researchers to leave the human embryo alone.

Punctuation Matters

Amazing what a little missing comma can do.

NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA, 29 November 2007 (LWI) - In her evening
prayer, Rev. Dr Gloria Rojas Vargas, president of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH) led others in floating in a
clear bowl of water flowers representing the world's continents.

Acclamation: Free Downloadable Samples Available

Concordia Publishing House through Acclamation provides fresh musical settings of the Propers (Introit, Psalm of the Day, Gospel Acclamation, Gradual, and Hymn of the Day stanza) for choirs and congregations. These settings will be available electronically through the Web for purchase on weekly, quarterly, or annual subscription. Acclamation supports both the three-year and the one-year lectionaries.              

Each component will be based on the ESV translation of Scripture as used in LSB. The music will be easy to learn for both the choir/cantor and the congregation. The ease of use is what distinguishes this item from any other like it out there now presently. I encourage you to look into this resource in order to enhance the Divine Service in your parish.

The Divine Service consists of two main elements: the Ordinary and the Propers. The Ordinary consists of those parts that do not change but become the framework for the congregation, such as the Kyrie, Hymn of Praise, Creed, Preface, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Those items that change from week to week or by season are known as the Propers of the day, such as the Scripture readings, the Collect, Introit, Psalm of the Day, Gradual, Gospel Acclamation (Verse), Proper Preface, hymns, and even the sermon. Because these elements change on a weekly basis, the church choir or cantors is often assigned the responsibility of preparation and presentation.

Truth and Puppies

"The truth is not like a bunch of puppies, running around and you pick the one you like. There's only one truth, and it just came knocking."

-- From the ABS television show Pushing Daisies

(One of the most creatively well written shows I've seen on television in a very, very long time)

Punctuation Matters

I'm reading Eats Shoots and Leaves, a hilarious and powerful appeal to give attention to proper punctuation. Case in point? See the banner below. Note what a difference a missing apostrophe makes?

Luther on Good Works

"Because you have taken hold of Christ by faith, through whom you are righteous, you should now go and love God and your neighbor. Call upon God, give thanks to Him, preach Him, praise Him, confess Him. Do good to your neighbor, and serve him; do your duty. These are truly good works, which flow from this faith and joy conceived in the heart because we have the forgiveness of sins freely through Christ."

Martin Luther, Luther's Works, 26: 133

"Preoccupied" with the Distinction Between Law and Gospel?

I would like to express a fraternal concern with a comment made in the latest issue of Concordia Journal about the Lutheran distinction between two kinds of righteousness. It is said to be a "distinction which has sometimes been neglected or overshadowed by our preoccupation with the distinction between Law and Gospel." (CJ, Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 342).

I'm entirely in favor of a much more thorough exploration of, and appreciation for, the distinction between two kinds of righteousness. That is well and good, but, I'm not in favor of doing this at the expense of the distinction between Law and Gospel.

The Formula of Concord asserts that the distinction between Law and Gospel is a: "particularly brilliant light. It serves the purpose of rightly dividing God's Word and properly explaining and understanding the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles. We must guard this distinction with special care, to that these two doctrines may not be mixed with each other, or a law be made out of the Gospel. When that happens Christ's merit is hidden and troubled consciences are robbed of comfort, which they otherwise have in the Holy Gospel when it is preached genuinely and purely." (Article VI.1).

And again:

"These two doctrines, we believe and confess, should always be diligently taught in God's Church forever, even to the end of the world." (VI.24)

And:

"The true and proper distinction between the Law and Gospel must be taught and preserved with all diligence." (VI.27).

Note also what Melanchthon states in the Apology, Article IV.5-6:

"All Scripture ought to be distributed into these two principal topics, the Law and the promises [the Gospel]. For in some places it presents the Law, and in others the promise concerning Christ, namely, either when [in the Old Testament] it promises that Christ will come, and offers, for His sake, the remission of sins justification,  and life eternal, or when, in the Gospel [in the New Testament], Christ Himself, since He has appeared, promises the remission of sins, justification, and life eternal. Moreover,in this discussion, by Law we designate the Ten Commandments, wherever they are read in the Scriptures."

I would respectfully submit that those who want to rouse interest in the distinction between two kinds of righteousness should avoid speaking in ways about the distinction between Law and Gospel that sound disparaging. I could not agree more with those who have rightly identified a problem in the way the distinction between Law and Gospel has come to be regarded: not as distinction, but apposition in which any and all talk about works is labeled as works righteousness; therefore, all the more reason to make clear what all these distinctions are all about. Here is one of the best articles I've read on the distinction between two kinds of righteousness.

Are we "preoccupied" with the distinction between Law and Gospel? If we aren't, we certainly should be. And this does not in any way preclude us from learning more about, and deepening our appreciation for, the distinction between two kinds of righteousness.The distinction between Law and Gospel is the key to properly understanding the Sacred Scriptures; and therefore the key to understanding the two kinds of righteousness.

Latest Developments in State Church of Finland

Latest developments from Finland:

Two separate developments were made public yesterday in Finland, creating a wonderful (sic!) irony that accurately describes the state of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland:

(1) Pastor Jari Rankinen, who has been under investigation by the cathedral chapter of the archdiocese of Turku for a good part of this year, on account of his refusal to share an altar with ordained women, has been suspended, both from his position within his congregation and from the pastoral office for three months for that crime, pending any appeal he may launch. He is the second pastor, following Vesa Pöyhtäri of Oulu diocese last month, to face suspension for non-co-operation with female pastors. Pastor Rankinen's appeal to his Word-bound conscience was not considered a valid defence.

(2) Pastor Leena Huovinen has been named Pastor of the Year by the Pastors' Union, the professional body for Lutheran pastors in Finland. Earlier this year, Ms. Huovinen came to nationwide prominence by openly admitting that she has blessed same-sex unions on her own initiative. For her, to act thus is a matter of conscience.

Please pray for pastors Rankinen and Pöyhtäri, their congreagations, and for the whole, sorry Church of Finland.

Tapani Simojoki

Sign of the Times

Christmas is the time of the year when peace and brotherhood are celebrated. That's the whole point, right? Well, a Presbyterian Church, (PCUSA), is hosting an event that is in perfect harmony with this view of Christmas. Is this what plays in Peoria? Must be! To which, I say in my heartiest Scrooge-voice, "Bah! Humbug!"

Merry Christmas is Everywhere!

My colleague, Rev. Robert Baker, has produced a magnificent book for children and their families to help them sort through the thorny issue that is ever increasing: a purposeful choice to ignore Christmas in our society. It is titled, What Happened to Merry Christmas. Please check out his blog site, and ... consider purchasing the book for your parish, children, grandchildren. It is a very interesting site with all kinds of news and information on issues related to Christmas. With a keen focus on the Gospel, the book is an encouraging word to help children recognize that in spite of our culture's increasing attempt to take Christ out of Christmas, the signs and symbols of Christmas remain all around. Here is a screen shot of Pastor Baker's blog.

Arcangelo Corelli

If you are familiar with the movie Master and Commander you might  recall that the soundtrack is particularly spectacular. It is a mixture of  original score work, with a wonderful mixture of pieces of classical music. I was familiar with most of the pieces, but the one that I found particularly haunting was a piece by a composer of whom I had never heard before: Arcangelo Corelli. The golden-locked gent you see here is he. OK, so "big hair" was popular in his day, among men. His work was foundational for later Baroque composers, including our own J.S. Bach, as well as Handel, Vivaldi and others.

The piece that I find so hauntingly beautiful is this part of his Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 8 in G Minor, "Fatto per la notte di na tale."

There are not many of his works extant, or even known. But I enjoy the ones that are. You might too.

This is not right

It is November 17th and:

1) I just finished doing the summer yardwork, in a t-shirt and shorts, and worked up a good sweat.
2) I have to cut the grass ... again ... "one more time" ... again. [Actually son #1 and #2 do].
3) I broiled myself today trying to wear a sweatshirt.
4) I stupidly wore my jacket in the car and had to turn the AC on.

The leaves are almost gone, and it still feels like summer around here.

Don't tell me there is no such thing as global warming!!

Here's what is going to happen. We are going to go from 68 degrees high, to a big high pressure system bringing cold winds down from Canada, plunging us into the teens, and we are going to be slammed with a big ice storm. Just watch. It will happen. Last time it happened people around here had their power knocked out for up to three or four weeks.

Harrumph!

Firewire Target Disk

Mac migration update: Using the fantastic Firewire Target Disk functionality, I just finished tranferring all 40 gigs of music over to the new MacBook Pro. Now, where to back it up?

Want to free up 4-5 gigs on your Mac hard drive?

Use the free utility "Delocalizer" to erase all the languages that come built into your Mac OS. Just save the ones you know you are going to use. I kept only German. This is the best of these utils I've seen since it automatically keeps US English and dumps everything else that you choose.

Macintosh Goodness

I received a new MacBook Pro 17" laptop with Aperture installed, and, of course, Leopard. A comment that no doubt means nothing to non-Mac users. It's a Mac thing. You wouldn't understand.

The Deed is Done: Norway Votes in Homosexual Clergy

The Norwegian State Church has, as of today, voted to ordain actively homosexual persons as pastors. This signals the yet more complete collapse of the state church as a genuinely Lutheran Church in Norway. May God strengthen those who continue to oppose these evils and remain steadfast in His Word. A friend sent me this note: "Pro-homosexual ordination forces won a final vote by 50-33 in the Church of Norway's assembly today (16 November).  The measure removes the bar to ordination of practicing homosexuals, permitting "local option" on the question for now. ["Local option" is, of course, the standard revisionist ploy until they consolidate their position.]"

If your Norwegian is serviceable here is a link to a story on the web.

Luther on Preaching About the Life of Christian Renewal

From Martin Luther:

No one should at the same time say yes and no about the same thing, unless he be an utter ignoramus or a desperate scoffer.

That is what my Antinomians, too, are doing today, who are preaching beautifully and (as I cannot but think) with real sincerity about Christ's grace, about the forgiveness of sin and whatever else can be said about the doctrine of redemption. But they flee as if it were the very devil the consequence that they should tell the people about the third article, of sanctification, that is, of the new life in Christ. They think one should not frighten or trouble the people, but rather always preach comfortingly about grace and the forgiveness of sins in Christ, and under no circumstances use these or similar words, "Listen! You want to be a Christian and at the same time remain an adulterer, a whoremonger, a drunken swine, arrogant, covetous, a usurer, envious, vindictive, malicious, etc.!" Instead they say, "Listen! Though you are an adulterer, a whoremonger, a miser, or other kind of sinner, if you but believe, you are saved, and you need not fear the law. Christ has fulfilled it all!"

Tell me, my dear man, is that not granting the premise and denying the conclusion? It is, indeed, taking away Christ and bringing him to naught at the same time he is most beautifully proclaimed! And it is saying yes and no to the same thing. For there is no such Christ that died for sinners who do not, after the forgiveness of sins, desist from sins and lead a new life. Thus they preach Christ nicely with Nestorian and Eutychian logic that Christ is and yet is not Christ. They may be fine Easter preachers, but they are very poor Pentecost preachers, for they do not preach "about the sanctification by the Holy Spirit," but solely about the redemption of Jesus Christ, although Christ (whom they extoll so highly, and rightly so) is Christ, that is, he has purchased redemption from sin and death so that the Holy Spirit might transform us out of the old Adam into new men-we die unto sin and live unto righteousness, beginning and growing here on earth and perfecting it beyond, as St. Paul teaches (Rm 6- 7). Christ did not earn only "grace," for us, but also "the gift of the Holy Spirit," so that we might have not only forgiveness of, but also cessation of, sin. Now he who does not abstain from sin, but persists in his evil life, must have a different Christ, that of the Antinomians; the real Christ is not there, even if all the angels would cry, "Christ! Christ!" He must be damned with this, his new Christ.

Martin Luther, Luther's Works, 41:113-14

Comment Moderation Back On

Comment moderation is now back on due to the fact that a comment was posted here overnight containing a link to an unsavory Internet site promoting a "lifestyle" that is contrary to the Sixth Commandment. I simply can't have that. I will however continue the open comment policy as previously announced, provided comments comply with the "Comment Policy" posted to the right, as per the usual. Thanks for understanding.

Roundtable 28: Monastic Vows

A new conversation is underway over at the Blog of Concord.

Voices Raised to the Glory of God

I'm tempted to say that if these tremendously beautiful renderings of powerful hymns and chants don't move your heart to joy and praise of God you are a block of stone, but that would perhaps be rude.

Te Deum

Lord, Let At Last Thine Angels Come

Abide With Us

Care to help promote the Book of Concord?

If you would like to help me promote the Book of Concord to John Q. Public, send me an e-mail message:

boc1580@aol.com

I'll let you know how.

Thanks!

Pet Peeves: Here are some of mine, what are yours?

For fun, let's have a conversation about peeves. I define a "pet peeve" as something that irritates the daylights out of you, even though you know the irritation might border on the near irrational.

Here are some of mine:

1) Rude drivers.
2) People who drive under the speed limit in the fast lane.
3) Being late [oh, how I hate to be late!].
4) Lack of common courtesy, such as "please" and "thank you."
5) Meetings for the sake of having a meeting.
6) Having my little morning rituals thrown askew.
7) Interruptions when I'm really concentrating.
8) People who treat other people rudely.
9) Bad coffee, which means, most coffee brewed at any church event or location.
10) Poor customer service.
11) Bad service in a restaurant.
12) Arrogance.
13) Confusing the proper use of "I" and "me." Drives me nuts.
14) People who correct people who misuse "I" and "me."
15) Comb overs. If it's gone, it's gone. Stop pretending! You are not fooling anyone.
16) When I'm too lazy to get out of bed early and get exercising.
17) Laziness in others.
18) People who delegate up.
19) People who are always looking to make excuses and blame others.
20) People who fail to give credit to others.
21) The fact that I do not read as much as I want to.
22) Hymns played without any rest between verses to breath.
23) Hymns played like they are all funeral dirges.
24) Organs played too loudly in church.
25) Shoes that are not clean and shined, mine included.
26) Women who dress in a slutty fashion (sorry to be rude about it).
27) Anytime I behave like a horse's rump toward anyone.
28) Having a messy/disorganized desk and/or office.

What are some of your pet peeves?

Lesbian Pastor Tests ELCA Celibacy Rule

And it continues in the ELCA.

News Flash: The St. Louis Rams did Not Lose Again Today!

Of course, they did not have a game today, but...hey, you've got to take whatever good news you can find.

Does the Gospel Excuse Sin?

As readers of this blog site know, a topic that has had my attention for quite some time is the problem of an aversion to sanctification that has taken hold in certain quarters in Confessional Lutheranism. It is a subset of Gospel reductionism, and a sad legacy of those years in our Synod when there was active and open denial of the third use of the law. Under that influence there developed unfortunate views of Christian sanctification. Also there are those who appear to think that the best antidote to legalism is a certain kind of antinomianism. I've noticed for many years that there are those who go so far as to think that since Pietism is a problem, a demonstration of impiety is the solution: coarse language, crude humor, making fun of people, drinking to excess, etc.

It is a sort of pendulum move. If there are Christians who lose sight of Christ and the Gospel in their quest to be about good works, there is this odd notion that the way to counteract that is attempting to reduce the entire Christian experience and life to a rather formulaic, rote articulation of the doctrine of justification and denunciation of works righteousness. The proper distinction between Law and Gospel has come to be understood to mean that a sermon should not speak about the Christian's life transformed by the Gospel. I've been told by several Lutheran pastors that any sermon that ends with any mention of works thereby fails to distinguish between Law and Gospel. I find no evidence for this position in the Scriptures, the Lutheran Confessions, or any of our Lutheran orthodox fathers, including Luther, down to our own time with Walther. It is a legacy of more recent Lutheran speculation, not historic Lutheranism.

As a result of all this, it is no wonder that there are Lutheran Christians who regard the Gospel as not much more than a way to be "let off the hook" for personal responsibility for moral, virtuous Christian behavior. I've had more than one conversation with a pastor who has indicated that this is cropping up increasingly in pastoral ministry. A person comes expressing a sense of remorse for a situation but is not capable of recognizing their own culpability for the situation and their contribution to the situation in their lack of commitment to virtue and morality as a Christian living out their lives in grateful obedience to God. They come seeking forgiveness, or perhaps, to be made to feel better, with some sort of pastoral, "Oh, that's ok. You are only human. Don't worry, you are forgiven" when they have no intention to stop the sinful behavior. Simply put, Christ did not shed His blood on the cross to give you "freedom" to live like a pig, unconcerned about good works and living your life to glorify God. Some have even taken to promoting shirts that say "Weak on sanctification." That is as offensive to me as a shirt that would proclaim, "Weak on justification."

The Gospel sets us free from sin, not free to sin. The Gospel liberates us from captivity from sin, but does not excuse a libertine life. The Gospel forgives sin, it does not excuse it. We are justified by Christ's perfect righteousness, but unrighteousness is never justified.

Some might say, "There McCain goes again. Another rant about good works. Who does he think he is?" Who am I? 'm a sinner who daily sins, much, and is in need of forgiveness. I'm a man who loses my temper, who becomes impatient, who says things I wish I would not say, who thinks things I wish I would not think, who does thing I wish I would not do, that I don't even want to do. Who am I? A sinner. Like you. That's why daily I pray, "Forgive us our trespasses." But I do not  want to reach a point where I try to let myself off the hook and say, "Oh, don't worry about the sins in your life. Don't be concerned. Don't try to stop sinning and don't try to live the life to which I'm called in Christ." I hope I'm never not concerned. I hope and pray I'm never not troubled by my sin. For if and when that time comes, I know that the Gospel will not be as sweet and of such joy.

Time and again I encounter an attitude born of an improper lack of teaching about the life of good works to which we are called in Christ. I've run into more than a few earnest Lutheran Christians who actually believe that it is permissible for them to indulge themselves in drunkenness and coarse, crude, vulgar language, enjoying pornographic rap lyrics, and the most vile of movies. Where does this idea come from? Certainly not from the Scriptures, nor the Lutheran Confessions. We Lutherans love the Bible when it talks about justification and forgiveness, but do we love it as much when it speaks specifically to us, as Christians, about the consequences of the new life in Christ? Note the two passages that follow. These are not being written to unregenerate pagans but to those who have been born anew in Christ.

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:1-4)

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)

In Christ, we do strive to obey God and glorify Him with our behavior. Notice: in Christ we do this. We in Christ and Christ in us. We are not concerned about good works to win or merit or earn God's love and favor, but to glorify Him, to thank Him, to praise Him, to serve Him, to obey Him, for the pleasure of it, for the joy of it, for the fact that we are new creations in Christ. 

Update: Thanks to Brian who offered a comment to this post. I went over to his blog site and there discovered a couple quotes by LCMS theologian Gilbert Meilaender that are expressing concerns similar to mine. I've never read Meilaender much at all, to be honest, but it was intriguing to me to read him expressing things I'm wrestling with. I am not at all persuaded that the problem is the Law/Gospel dialectic itself, but very poor applications and understandings of it. Here is what Meilaender has written:

“I want to examine critically a certain understanding of Lutheranism, which (whether our language in that of paradox, of the law-gospel distinction, of the law always accusing, of dialect, or of freedom from the law and critique of any third use of the law) eventually arrives at a kind of practical antinomianism — which is, alas, all too readily accompanied by a strident moralism — but which, were it consistent, would have no reason to pray that our hearts may be set to obey God’s commandments.” (p. 253)

And:

“Not without good reason … has Niels Henrik Gregersen argued that “Luther’s dialect of law and gospel should not be elevated into a theological principle that structures the interpretation of Christian faith from beginning to end.” When that is done, Gregersen notes, we end with a theology that “cannot express the extent to which the New Testament constantly instructs the believer to act according to his or her belief: ‘Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ.’” We need to better than this dialectical Lutheranism. We need a theology that does not invite us to forget that “the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself up for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14), We need a theology that does not invite us to act as if the incarnation, cross, and empty tomb have done nothing new and transforming in history.” (page 263-264)

Source:
From Hearts Set to Obey, chapter 14 of  I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments, edited by Carl Braaten and Christopher Seitz (Eerdmans, 2005).

CPH Warehouse Sale 2008

Scenes from the CPH Warehouse Sale held today. Publishing is an interesting business. Do you know of any other business that permits distributors to return products up to a year or more after they have purchased them, at a huge discount? Well, that's publishing; consequently, every year we have items that we offer to the general public at huge savings because they have been returned. Oh, did I mention that the publishing business permits returns of products that are damaged, no matter how badly damaged? Yes, that too. And so we offer gently used materials every year. This is just the way publishing is. Here is how a warehouse sale, both before the crowds rush the tent and then during the sale.

Before the tent is opened.

After the tent is opened!

Don't stand in the way of the folks when the tent first opens.

The sale begins at 8:00 in the morning. Here is the line as it had formed by 7:30. The first people at the front of the tent arrived from Illinois at 5:30. The evening before we let seminarians come and they start arriving at around 2:30 and the tent doesn't open until 4:00.

Music lovers digging through sheet music.

Once people have what they want, they enter the check out tent where they first bring their items to tables with CPH staff members who tally up their purchases. Here is Rev. Benjamin Mayes (left) and Rev. Robert Baker (right) adding up somebody's purchases. Serious business.

   

The Concordia Publishing House Warehouse Sale

Well, time to get ready to head off to the annual Concordia Publishing House Warehouse Sale. I'm bringing along my camera and will get some photos of the event. Last night was the closed sale for seminary students where they line up an hour or two in advance and then stampede in to the academic and professional book tables. Today is the open sale for the general public where they line up an hour or two in advance and stampede every table. I'll be back in touch later today with photos when I have them.

Meeting the Author of Respublica

I finally had a chance to meet in person one of my favorite Lutheran bloggers: Diane Meyer of Respublica. I was attending the second annual prayer breakfast at Concordia Seminary on Thursday, and Diane came up to my table and said "Does somebody at this table blog?" Diane's blog, as I told her, is one of the very best examples I know of, of what a personal blog is all about. Diane engages issues of importance to her family and her community with humor and intelligent analysis. I get a lot of my local news from Diane's blog: highway construction, local politics, best place for hamburgers, etc. She's a good writer and it is a fun blog to read. So, be sure to add Diane's blog to your feed reader.

Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Adventures

Well, it is beautiful and stunning. I'm talking about the latest Apple Operating System for the Macintosh, OS X Leopard (OS 10.5). But it is not without its problems. Seems a certain small percent of people installing it have had problems. I was one of them. How bad? Well, for whatever reason our hardware guru had, finally, to completely reformat my hard disk and do a clean install. Now, a clean install is a good thing every so often, but when you don't plan on having to do a clean install and reformat your hard disk, not so good. And, add to this the fact that it just so happens my company is switching over to a new mail server this week, which is consuming a lot of time and attention of our tech crew, well, it made for nearly three whole days of being without my beloved Macintosh. But yesterday, it came back from the hospital and is now proudly running Mac OS X. It is a beautiful new operating system. The feature that is really, really cool is the ability to browse through the contents of your various folders in the same way you look at album covers in iTune. Really cool. I'm getting used to some of the design tweeks to the system. I really like the way you can preview contents of folders in the dock. And the backup utility included, "Time Machine" is a great solution and help for keeping your hard disk backed up daily, weekly and monthly: all of this is now done automatically for you. Just plug in an external hard disk, and Time Machine does the rest. So, warning to all of you looking to upgrade to Leopard: be careful. An update is due out around Thanksgiving supposedly to take care of whatever the bugs are in the system causing install problems. But if you are a Mac fan, you are going to love the new features. I know PC users are used to all sorts of glitches, problems, crashes and such, but it is so rare on the Mac, when it happens, it is very traumatic. Your sympathy is appreciated. Grin.