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I’m not exactly sure how we got on the subject. I think we were trying to get the idea of working across to the Kindergarten son in the vain hope of picking up his room. 6 yr old – “Where does the money come from?” 1 step forward, 5 steps back, sigh…
Biblical Text: Mark 1:14-20 I think it is sometimes difficult to relate the call to discipleship we hear in the gospels to our lives. These are men (and women) who literally dropped their nets. How do you proclaim that without completely gutting it or spiritualizing it too much? The epiphany season’s texts give us some insight. God meets us where we are at. The specific call to discipleship, when God passes by, is different for everybody, but it has a couple of things that are the same for everybody. 1) We are all being made into fishers of men. All disciples are called to be part of the mission of God which is to save sinners. 2) Part of being made into fishers of men is finding our identity not in our nets or our family or our boats or any of the variety of things that define us. The disciple finds their identity in Christ. 3) Finding our identity in Christ means being part of the body of Christ – the church. We are all equally sinners at the foot of the cross. All equally saints washed in the blood. We have the same baptism and eat the same holy food. Wherever you are at – and God condescends to us where we are at – you can be on that discipleship walk. Dropping the things that now define you is just as radical as dropping the nets. Podcast: Play in new window | Download We’ve been singing a song this week in the preschool, and the kids have really been enjoying the actions. It’s from The Mailbox website. I wanted to share it in case you want to sing it with your children!
(Sung to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”) The snow is on my [head].
Biblical Text of Sermon: John 1:43-51 The modern world is one full of distractions. I’m the geek that as a kid you could find reading an encyclopedia. My schoolmates were sure that “Encyclopedia Brown” was biographical. But today I find myself reading a few pages and flitting off to something else. And the Kindle doesn’t help with that. That approach to spirituality and religion goes no place good. Oh you can fool yourself into thinking that you are getting a broader view or are just sharing in the wisdom. The problem is that everything else out there is a shadow compared to the reality of Jesus Christ. That is the Father’s Epiphany to us. Things we saw glimpses of elsewhere we see the fullness of in Jesus. And it takes time to incorporate an Epiphany – sometimes an entire life. Not the least because it usually demands that we change something in ourselves. To accommodate what we have become comfortable with to what Jesus intends. That is ultimately the question of discipleship. Do you want to stick around, go deep, to see the greater things of Jesus? Or is the world’s buffet too tempting? Podcast: Play in new window | Download Pointed out by Prof. Tyler Cowen…
That is the tip of the spear of American social problems. And I’d say at its core I’d say it is a spiritual problem. Can you have a materialist philosophy and an egalitarian social structure? John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Here is the Supreme Court Ruling (unanimous, 3 differing opinions) in favor of Hosanna-Tabor LCMS vs. EEOC representing a teacher. Seeing that the LCMS general counsel represented Hosanna-Tabor, I’m guess they would largely agree with this that this represents a great victory. And I don’t disagree that religious liberty is an important thing. . . . → Read More: A Supreme Court Decision – I guess a victory of sorts It may not feel much like Winter in the Rochester area so far, but here at St. Mark’s Preschool we’re learning all about this cold, snowy season! Since we got back from Christmas break, we’ve been reading books about Winter, including “Snow Bear,” “A Hat for Minerva Louise,” and “Biscuit’s Snowy Day.” The children’s favorite activity over . . . → Read More: Wonderful Winter! This was the Google Icon this morning. It is sometimes interesting who they pick, but today’s was fascinating. Here is the Wikipedia entry for Nicolas Steno. Here is the Catholic Encyclopedia Entry. What a fascinating life. Lutheran, World Class Scientist, Convert, Priest, Bishop, Pious Ascetic, Missionary, Tragic Death. This quote found in . . . → Read More: Google Serendipity In David Brook’s column an interesting wrap-up. Liberalism has not expanded because it has not had a Martin Luther, a leader committed to stripping away the corruptions, complexities and indulgences that have grown up over the years. If you’ll forgive some outside advice, President Obama might consider running for re-election as Luther. It’s not enough to pick a . . . → Read More: Martin Luther Sightings My family is in mourning today. The Steelers lost. In a Steelers household that just means you remove the gold. (Which was already gone from buying all the black and gold crap…) Now for a little confession. You can’t help but love the way Tebow plays the game. Man, you’d love to . . . → Read More: Thoughts on last night’s game |
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To play this entertaining game, give each child a small piece of cotton batting to represent snow (we used cotton balls). Lead students in singing the song while they hold the batting on their heads as indicated in the first line. Sing repeated verses of the song, changing the name of the body part and encouraging youngsters to place their snow accordingly.