Happy Reformation Day!

A Mighty Fortress is our God! A Bulwark never failing. Our helper, He amid the flood, of mortal ills prevailing... His kingdom is forever!

In these last days of great distress grant us, O Lord, true steadfastness, that we keep pure till life is spent, your holy Word and Sacrament.

Though with a scornful wonder men see her [the Church] sore oppressed - by schisms rent asunder, by heresies perplexed - though there be those that hate her, false sons within her pale, against both foe and traitor she ever shall prevail.

By all your saints in warfare, for all your saints at rest, your holy Name, O Jesus, forevermore be blest. For you have won the battle that they might wear the crown and now they shine in glory reflected from your throne.

Lord, may your soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, fight as the saints who nobly fought of old. And win with them, the victor's crown of gold! Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine. We feebly struggle, they in glory shine. Yet all are one in Thee for all art thine! Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song. Then hearts are brave again and arms are strong! Alleluia, Alleluia!

Jesus still lead on, till our rest be won. Though the way be dark and cheerless, we will follow calm and fearless. Guide us by Thy hand to our Fatherland.

O Savior rend the heavens wide! Come down, come down with mighty stride...O come, lead us with mighty hand, from exile to the promised land!

And in case it is necessary to cite source information, I'm fairly sure that all of those in some translation or another can be found in The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, The Lutheran Service Book, or "A very, very old Methodist Hymnal whose name I can't remember." However, all are compiled in an unpublished work - The Anthology of Sarah's Memory. This is an exclusive "nonpublication" accessible only upon request to the compiler.

At Nick's Request

(drum-roll please)

Again, through that ancient and sophisticated method of determining personality, we have discovered on a festive occasion, that all people are not as they sometimes seem. Deep secrets shall we reveal. Prepare to be enlightened by Apples!

Nick:

squeaky clean
dysfunctional
dreamy
stereotyped

Anna Ha:

dramatic
creative
stunning
cranky
comfortable
comical

Snap:

dull
cosmic
spunky
complicated

TQ:

corrupt
cool
confused
cosmopolitan

A Trustworthy Saying (or "I feel like doing a little exegesis")

Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful --

for he cannot deny himself.

Amen!

Is not that last sentence especially a great wonder? It means so much more than simply that God will be faithful to us. He will be faithful why? Because He cannot deny himself! What does this mean. God has made us part of Himself. That can sound so trivial, but think about it! So much a part of God that to deny us would be to deny himself - that's how the Eternal Creator sees me and you. Is there any pain we feel that He does not? Is there any sleepless night that He does not also keep vigil? Is there any longing hope which He does not also either delight to fill or share our ache at it's delay or denial, though the denial may be for our good? When we laugh, does the Divine Trinity not laugh with our joy? When we hurt our neighbor, does He not take both the blow and the sentence for it upon himself?

Would a man willingly cut off his arm? Would he strike himself? Would he inflict hurt or damage upon his body? God has made me part of himself. Why should I fear that he will harm me? Why should I fear that he will deny me my heart's longings? God cannot do to me without doing to Himself. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us, how much more will he, along with him, freely give us all good things?" (paraphrase)

All Humanity is united to Deity in Christ. God's flesh has taken upon itself all human woe. Deity has died. And it is not as though in taking upon himself humanity that Christ took up a burden which he set down in his resurrection or discarded in His ascension. Humanity is part of His very Being. God is Flesh. His Flesh is God. And that Flesh is in me! God is in me - not just some vague spiritual force within my heart but in my very flesh. When Christ gives us his Flesh to eat, he gives us divine humanity to eat. We are joined not just to Christ's divinity but to his humanity in a real way. We share his humanity, not as one shares a cookie - by dividing or getting a piece of, but by being, by incorporation into, by receiving substance. It is truly no longer we who live. Christ has taken on our flesh and he puts his flesh on us. We are "little Christs" - Christians. Our bodies are sanctified for the resurrection because they are Christ's body. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. That life is both our spirit and our body for now God is not only spirit, but body.

When Christians say that Christ lives in them I wonder if we really understand what they are saying. Do we often think that God's indwelling is only an incorporeal peace which is sometimes felt or an inward nudge when making a decision, or a prick of conscience? Is it more than that? Could we possibly speak of God dwelling in our body as well?

And I ramble. I was only going to post a verse and get back to homework. Now I've rambled on to uncertainty. Ah well, I forget where I was going with all that, and I'm not sure I haven't speculated too much anyway, but I haven't posted anything for a while, so I will foolishly post without proofreading and editing four times.

Fiziks and Phood

Just because Snap posted on Physics and Anan posted on food. Therefore, I must be fully justified in posting on...

PI! Or Pie! Or Fi!

So here's the problem. I've got this friend and I can't stand up to it. I like it. It likes me. It makes me happy when I've got it but not happy after it's gone. I know I spend way too much time with it, but I can't seem to walk away and refuse it's call. I give in...just this once...I'll quit tomorrow. But tomorrow it is there, wearing the same sweet perfume, adorned with the same light brown jacket over smooth colorful shirt. And I furtively tiptoe over and snatch it up. It is my enemy-friend. To take a literary quote out of context I might suggest that, "it is precious to me though I buy it with great pain." Fi for shame!

Who is this friend?

Pie. Cream pie, Apple pie, Blueberry pie, Peach pie, Cherry pie, Chocolate pie.

Pie has a friend who often tags with it and from whose grasp I have an equally hard time escaping. It is called Ice Cream.

I wish the normal staple foods in the cafeteria were always as tasty as the deserts.

Pie and Icecream may not seem as significant as Isildur's bane, but they can kill just as surely, though more slowly. Even fair Exercise coupled with Salad cannot always restrain these two. Have any of ye noble persons any noble advice on this noble subject?

But that is surely ridiculous, is it not? I wonder what crazed college student wrote that?
Oh wait!