The Clem: The Blog: The Truth

Shhhhh, I can't hear myself think

2012-01-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

"The cell phone relieves us of the obligation to face those around us, but also prevents us from being by ourselves. This is not to say that past generations were staunch in their solitude; it was probably always difficult to go off on one’s own, perhaps more difficult in some ways that it is now. But they did not have so many societies to grab, so many messages blinking and jangling throughout the day. When two people said goodbye after meeting, they would walk their separate ways without being able to talk to anyone else immediately. They could reflect on their meeting with the person, prepare themselves for what they had to do next, or simply enjoy the walk. We have not given up quiet walks, but the sidewalks are noisy with cell phone conversations rushing by. It is hard to go anywhere – to a library, store, park or restaurant – without seeing phones out and illuminated. What we miss are the minutes between conversations, not only ours, but other people’s. Those minutes may have been peaceful or fraught with anxiety, but in any event they are scarce now."

– Republic of Noise: The loss of solitude in schools and culture by Diane Senechal

Five Resources for Lutheran Educators to Own and Read

2012-01-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

1. William Fischer’s Teaching Law and Gospel
“It is true that threats and the demands of the law may get results, even outward obedience. But it does not prompt the good works that are pleasing in the sight of God. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ fills the sinner’s heart with such gratitude that he desires to obey God’s commandments. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding. –Psalm 119:32

2. A Subscription to Good News magazine

“When the devil continues to afflict you, trying to convince you that your past sins have not all been forgiven, do not become discouraged and full of despair. Consider the possibility that you are looking inward, focusing on your problems, your failures, and little or not at all on how God seeks to help you, as He says, ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool’” – Isaiah 1:18 as found in Issue 30: Encouragement

3. Rev. Daniel Preus’ Why I am a Lutheran: Jesus at the center

“We do not need to live in uncertainty regarding what is true about God and our faith in Him. God does not give us truth simply so we can be correct in what we believe. God does not give us truth so we can know that we are right and those who disagree are wrong. God does not give us truth so we can ‘win the argument.’ Jesus, the Son of God, did not take on human flesh, did not become one of us, simply so we can know what is true. John tells us in his Gospel that when Jesus came into the world, He was full of truth and grace (John 1:14). Jesus brings truth for the sake of grace, that is, for the sake of God’s undeserved kindness.”

4. Dr. Gene Veith’s The Spirituality of the Cross

“If faith is not a decision nor an experience nor some inner work, and if salvation is totally the work of God, it would seem that faith too must be the work of God.

So how do we attain a saving, life-changing faith?
The answer, in Lutheran Spirituality, has to do with the so-called means of grace. We are connected to Christ and the Holy Spirit works both faith and good works in our lives by means of the Word and the Sacraments.”

5. C.F.W. Walther’s Law and Gospel

Eleventh Evening Lecture: (December 5, 1884.)

“Many solemn warnings against false teachers are found in Holy Scripture. One of the most solemn of them, if not the most solemn, is that found in Jer. 23, 22, where the Lord says regarding false teachers: “If they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” This shows that by teaching false doctrine a preacher may keep the souls entrusted to his care from being converted and — a result awful to contemplate! —will cause them to be eternally lost. True, the people who permit themselves to be led astray by false teachings are lost by their own fault; for in innumerable passages of His Word, God has with great earnestness warned men against false teachers and prophets and has minutely described them. Any one, then, who despises these warnings will in the end have to blame himself amidst the wails of the hereafter. Still, this does not exculpate the false prophets and teachers who proclaim false teachings. On the contrary, their guilt is increased because they did not only choose the false way for themselves, but also pointed that way to the souls entrusted to them… How will they quake with terror when the souls without number whom they have led astray and whose hearts they have poisoned will stand in the presence of God! On that day every false teacher will wish that he had never been born and will curse the day when he was inducted into the sacred office of the ministry. On that day we shall see that false teaching is not the trifling and harmless matter that people in our day think it is.”

Children are not toys

2012-01-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I received God Grant It, a year of daily devotions taken from C.F.W. Walther's sermons. Here is an excerpt from a recent devotion concerning parents’ responsibilities:

What a rich lesson this is for us parents, to whom God has entrusted children as pledges of His love. Mary and Joseph must have carefully raised the holy child in whom the Lord had clothed His glory. They could not imagine that this child would develop by Himself, without their help, and that, without them, God would protect Him. How much more should we recognize our calling to be God’s instruments for the raising of our helpless little ones!

If the parents of the most holy God-man recognized it as their duty to lead Him into the house of the Lord, how much more should we recognize our duty to lead our children, who are sinners in need of grace, to the Lord early on! To be sure, we do not have the power to convert our children, to cleanse their sinful hearts, and to keep them in God’s grace. Nevertheless, we can be guilty of neglect and the loss of their souls. Therefore, we should be God’s handymen in effecting their rescue. Our children are not given to us as toys and pleasantries or as our servants. Instead, they are entrusted to us by God, so that when they know nothing about Him we would lead them to their heavenly Father. God will thus demand from us one day the souls and the blood of our children, saying, “Where are they, My children, which I have given to you?”

It is our first duty as Christian parents that, immediately after the birth of our children, we bring them to the Holy Baptism of Jesus. For He says, “Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). However, this in no way completes the payment of our parental debt to them. No, if our children have been baptized, they then carry Jesus Himself in their hearts, and then, like Mary and Joseph, we each have a little Child Jesus in our house and in our arms. At this point, our heartfelt care for the protection of that child is doubled. The salvation of that precious child is then the object of our daily cares and prayers.

Not only is this a "rich lesson" for parents but it's also a rich lesson for Lutheran educators. As a high school English teacher, I'm responsible for teaching the truths of gerunds and Shakespeare but I'm also responsible for teaching God's Word in all its truth and purity. The oath I took at my installation, where I promised to uphold the truths of Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions and "reject all the errors they condemn," reminds me of the serious responsibilities connected to this hallowed vocation.
God grant it.

"Stubbornly Abiding in the Word" because sola scriptura means exactly that

2011-12-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

I discovered this quote by C.F.W. Walther on a discussion thread at The Brothers of John The Steadfast. Reverend Clint Poppe quoted Walther in regards to a conversation currently being discussed on The Brothers of John The Steadfast. He introduced the quote by emphasizing the need to "stand up for the Truth of God's Word and for the very soul of true Lutheranism."

“Now someone might get the idea that, in that case, it would be better if there were no Lutheran church. Then we could let people in their simplicity and ignorance and they would still not lose their salvation. But thank God that we do have the Lutheran Church to which we can cling, because: (1) False doctrine always keeps on spreading, imbeds itself ever more deeply in the heart, and in the end can cause us to forfeit our salvation in that the error ensnares us more and more. False doctrine is a poison that gradually permeates the entire body of the person who does not cleanse and purify himself of it. (2) How good it is that our Lutheran church stands there with its purity of doctrine, stubbornly abiding in the Word, and raising its voice like a trumpet! That intimidates the sects and enthusiasts, warning them not to go further with their erroneous ideas. Oh, how many Methodists will thank us Lutherans in heaven for always confronting their enthusiastic ideas with the Word of God and chiding them; thereby at least accomplishing this much, that we kept them from sinking deeper and deeper into them! Truly, next to gathering in the individual lost souls around the truth, the primary purpose of the Lutheran Church is to keep on raising the voice of its testimony. Whoever wishes to be a true disciple of Jesus must abide in His Word.” - CFW Walther, Essays for the Church, Volume I, 133 (True Visible Church on Earth)

Unfortunately, many ignore the dangers of false doctrine, false prophets and false teachings. Fortunately, God's Word warns, informs and encourages us to flee from these lies and liars. Fortunately, God's grace through Christ cleanses us from our sin and makes us right with our Creator.

New Year: New Names: Same Plays

2011-11-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

The Lutheran North Freshmen Fillies kick off the season with a road game against the Capac Chiefs on Monday, December 5 at 4:30. If you are thinking about hopping on the fan bus, hesitate no longer. The only experience worse than missing your chance to see the Fillies play, is watching the NBA.
Fillies hoops is exciting because as soon as the corral gates open the stampede begins: shooting, rebounding, defending, running. I want to provide an entertaining opportunity for Freshmen Filly fans.

One way I've tried to make Filly hoops exciting is to use themes for our plays. Three years ago all our plays were named after famous cyclists: Merckx, Indurain, Roll. Craving a more local flavor, the following year I named our plays after famous American cyclists: Hincapie, Hamilton, Armstrong, Finkel. Never heard of that last one? Look for the name atop the 2011 IceMan Singlespeed 39 & Under column. Exactly. He bested all competitors in one hour and forty-six minutes. Most people take more time than that just cleaning out their gutters.
Last year I followed the political frenzy and named our plays after conservative Republicans: Boehner, Palin, Rubio, Ryan. During a scrimmage one opposing coach asked me about the names. He responded with a play called Obama. It failed. #obvious

This year I'm still using the same plays but the theme is confessional Lutherans: Luther, Walther, Melancthon, Wilken, Schwarz, Borghardt, Harrison and Bakker. The Fillies like to run, defend, run, press and run some more. Taking a suggestion from my colleague, Mark Felten, I named our press Gutenberg. Ahhhh, the Gutenberg press. Classic. I don't have all the plays in so if you have a suggestion, send it my way. Serious suggestions only please. I have no time for Bell, Warren, Moore or Osteen. The theme is confessional Lutherans, not false prophets.

Feeding on the "full force of Evangelical Lutheran preaching"

2011-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Today is CFW Walther's 200th birthday. He was the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's first president and many are referencing Walther's seminal text, The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel. I recently tweeted that all Lutheran educators and administrators need to read William Fischer's book, Teaching Law and Gospel. Well, all Lutheran educators and administrators also need to read or reread Walther's book. Walther clearly and powerfully articulates the importance of discerning Law and Gospel in preaching and teaching. CFW Walther writes:

There is a general tendency among young people to value the beautiful language and style of an author more than the contents of his writings. That is a dangerous tendency. you must always have a greater regard for the matter than the manner of a treatise. —

The Law must be preached in all its severity, but the hearers must get this impression: This sermon will help those still secure in their sins towards salvation. Whenever the Gospel is preached, this is the impression that the hearers are to receive: This sermon applies only to those who have been smitten by the Law and are in need of comfort.

On the words of Christ, John 7, 37: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink,” Luther offers this comment: “These are the two subjects on which we preach. The Law produces thirst; it leads the hearer to hell and slays him. The Gospel, however, refreshes him and leads him to heaven.”...

Now, when Christ invites those who thirst, He means such as have been crushed under the hammer-blows of the Law. Directly Christ invites only these to come to Him; indirectly, indeed, He invites all men. A person thus thirsting is not to do anything but drink, that is, receive the consolations of the Gospel. When a person is really thirsty and is handed but a small glass of water, how greatly refreshed he feels. But when a person is not thirsty, you may fill one glass of water after the other for him, and it will do him no good; it will not refresh him.

I love that last paragraph. Walther's metaphor clearly explains why Law and Gospel need to be clearly preached and taught. That's what we need to hear from our pastors in every sermon. That's what teachers, administrators and even youth ministers, given the responsibility to preach God's Word in all its truth and purity, need to clarify in every chapel message they give to the young flock placed before them.

And that's exactly what I heard as I listened to Rev. Anthony R. Voltattorni's sermon based on I Corinthians 5. Rev. Voltattorni is the pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Standish, Michigan.

Click here and listen to Rev. Voltattorni's sermon as he carefully and powerfully discerns, preaches and teaches God's Word.

Shakespeare was a Detroit Tigers Fan

2011-10-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Bard was a a playwright, actor, director and....Detroit Tigers fan. In act III of Henry V, King Henry reveals his allegaince to the Tigers:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

Then imitate the action of the tiger;

Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;

Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;

Let pry through the portage of the head

Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it

As fearfully as doth a galled rock

O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,

Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.

Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,

Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit

To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.

Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!

Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,

Have in these parts from morn till even fought

And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:

Dishonour not your mothers; now attest

That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.

Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,

Whose limbs were made in England, show us here

The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;

For there is none of you so mean and base,

That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge

Cry 'God for Harry, Detroit and the Tigers!'

Teacher as scavenger

2011-08-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

All good teachers are excellent scavengers. They are always on the lookout for ideas, articles, activities and challenging/rigorous/engaging approaches to education they can use in class. Recently, I came across an excellent blog post on Reverend. Anthony R. Voltattorni's blog, We Are All Beggars. Rev. Voltattorni's compare/contrast discussion of the Divine Service with the new Mac Operating System Lion will be a part of my expository writing class this year for two reasons:

Reason One: The compare/contrast technique is the go-to tool in the writer's toolbox.
Reason Two: My high school students need to hear the truth about what the Divine Service offers all sinners. Here are couple of snippets from the blog post.

"In the Divine Service God serves us. He delivers to us salvation, life everlasting, the forgiveness of sins through the Word, spoken by the Pastor, combined with water, bread, and wine… and it cannot be improved upon."
In the Divine Service "Christ gives to you forgiveness and life and salvation that is perfectly delivered to our imperfection."
"It means that in an ever changing world of the latest and greatest, you have the comfort of knowing that the forgiveness delivered in Word and Sacrament requires no innovation, no advancement, no improvement. It's perfect worship every time because it's God's service to you."

Read the entire post when you get a chance or enroll in my expository writing class at Lutheran North. It will be a part of my first unit.

Our World His View

2011-08-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

On August 6th I had the opportunity to host the Lutheran radio show, Our World His View. The topic was Higher Things, a Lutheran organization for high school and college age young men and women. I interviewed the president of Higher Things, Rev. William Cwirla and the Christ on Campus pastor at Central Michigan University, Rev. Jonathon Bakker.

If you slept in you can hear the show here.

The Summer Trifecta

2011-06-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

My summer plans: ride, read, sip good java.

RIP: Voice Enhancer

2011-06-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

After seven years of bellowing encouragement to my children while they participated in various sports at Lutheran North, my Go Mustangs megaphone now falls silent. It was there during rainy cross country meets, volleyball tournaments and softball games helping me reveal the pride I had in our children. Not only was it a great voice enhancer but it also helped me get through crowds quickly.

A couple of good, "Musssstaaaaaaaaannnnnggggs!" and those crowding in front of me, concerned about sudden hearing loss, moved to the side.

Several years ago my daughter painted the megaphone and glued GO Mustangs! on the side and re-gifted this treasure to me for Christmas. Ironically, this picture that I took at the end of Alayna's last softball game appears to read GO Must. In Yoda-esque fashion there is some truth to that. Go, she must...from high school and on to college to become a Lutheran grade school teacher.

I certainly don't need any voice enhancer to project the pride and love I have in the daughter the Lord has blessed us with.

"For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth." - Psalm 71:5

15 Shots: 8 Ounces: Tragedy

2011-05-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Good Housekeeping doesn't usually make it to my Must Read list. However, I recently read a tragic story about Shelby Allen, a 17-year-old girl who died after drinking 15 shots of vodka.

There is so much tragedy involved in this story. Parents and students need to read Shelby Allen's story so they understand what happened and understand how to avoid this from ever happening again. Unfortunately, too many students and parents choose not to listen and think a tragedy like this will never touch them. That is, until it does.

Read the article and let me know what you think. I promise you it's worth your time.

Here are a few quotes from the article:

"We second-guessed everything we did that day. If only we had said she couldn't spend the night at Alyssa's house... If only Debbie had taken her shopping in Sacramento that day, as originally planned. ...if only we had known more about alcohol poisoning and binge drinking so we could have educated her...all these things go through our minds, to this day."

"I almost wish this had happened out on the street, because at least there, I think Shelby would have gotten help. A stranger would have at least called 911 for Shelby. A stranger would have tried to contact her parents. My daughter made poor choices that night, but teenagers make poor choices. It's our responsibility as adults to help them survive those poor choices

"The kids at our high school, right after Shelby died, were all shocked and kind of scared straight. But that didn't even last very long. Now most of them are drinking just like they did before. One of our friends was talking to me the other day about how wasted she got, how she was throwing up, and I just looked at her like, Didn't you learn anything from Shelby's death? Kids just don't get it. They need more information, and they need to hear it more often."

Rob Bell makes me laugh...so does this comic

2011-05-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

Book Recommendation

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

I recently heard about Andrew Ferguson's book, Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course at Getting His Kids into College. While I'm waiting for it to arrive, I listened to Andrew Ferguson talk about his book during an interview with Peter Robinson on Hoover Institute's Uncommon Knowledge.

Is college in the near future for your young ones? Check out each of the video interviews and then read the book.

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

More Job Security

2011-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Beowulf: selfish or selfless? The Annual Debate

2011-03-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

Several years ago it was the Wulf-a-thon. No, we did not make Mr. Wolf, chemistry teacher extraordinaire, walk around the track a bazillion times and pledge money per lap so we could buy textbooks, heat the school or send the Freshmen Fillies to an all-expenses-paid tournament in Maui.

My AP Lit classes dramatically read Beowulf from beginning to end in one day and invited all students to stop in the media center to experience the classic epic poem.

Every year, however, AP Lit students experience the selfless/selfish debate with this epic poem. Take a stand, defend it with the text and bask in the power of being right. Change your mind? No problem, move your name to the other side of the board and defend your decision with text and bask in the power of being right. Vociferous discussions occur because high school students believe they are right, always....and forever.

If you've read Beowulf jump into this online discussion and give us your opinion.. We'd love to hear your comments and your explanation.

As always, when offering insightful opinion, use APDoP.

I'm Empty of Care

2011-03-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone agrees with me concerning the problem with the often-maligned and often-used phrase, "I couldn't care less." I have tried to explain this linguistic error and it often takes the form of the following dialogue:

Mr. Brandt: If you use the word things in your paper, I'll make you rewrite that sentence. That word is too general, too nebulous.

Snarky, foolish sophomore (forgive the redundancy): I could care less.

Mr. Brandt: So you do care?

SFS: No. I just said I could care less.

Mr. Brandt: That means you care, because you could care less than you currently care.

SFS: No, it means I don't care about your things rule.

Mr. Brandt: Then you need to say, I couldn't care less. That indicates all remnants of care have vanished.

SFS: Indicates? What does that mean.

Mr. Brandt: It means my work here is not yet done and that I have great job security.

Decision Theology Dangers

2011-03-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Who does the work of salvation, man or God?

The answer makes a significant difference.

I recently perused the end of Lee Strobel's A Case for Christ and read these statements:

“Yes, I had to take a step of faith, as we do in every decision we make in life. But here’s the crucial distinction: I was no longer trying to swim upstream against the strong current of evidence; instead I was choosing to go in the same direction that the torrent of the facts was flowing” (363)
“Looking back nearly two decades, I can see with clarity that the day I personally made a decision in the case for Christ was nothing less than the pivotal event of my entire life” (365).
“In other words, if my conclusion in the case for Christ is correct, your future and eternity hinge on how you respond to Christ” (366).

God's Word clearly reveals the error of decision theology: Romans 9:16 “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

Maybe decision theology doesn't matter. Maybe it's good that we make decisions about our faith. Maybe it's good that when my daughter tells me the '98 Civic's brakes aren't working correctly, that I have a look under the hood...or wherever those brake thingys are...and give 'em a fixin' up. Maybe it really doesn't matter who does the work...of brake fixing or of salvation. Maybe it's good to let man, in all his sinful failings, be given the responsibility of saving himself, while a passive Christ hangs on the cross waiting for man to decide.

Maybe not.
Listen to Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller discuss the dangers of decision theology on an Issues Etc. broadcast.

Not in a listening mood? Read an article Rev. Wolfmueller crafted.

Oh, boy an Obabble Head

2011-03-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

I am not a protectionist. I currently own three Hondas, use a phone made in China and wear a pair of Cole Haan shoes stitched together in Mexico. However, I chuckled at a gift given to me from some of my students, who recently attended the high school program, Close-Up in Washington D.C.

So the young ones left my class for a week. I must admit that I was hesitant about their absence. We were just beginning our journey with Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov just committed the crime and the punishment started setting in. Actually, the punishment started before he committed the crime but that's an essay opportunity for another day. However, I understand a week in our nation's capital is certainly more valuable than listening to me stumble through Russian surnames. Upon their return, three students presented me with a President Obama bobble head.

An Obama bobble head? Maybe all those allusions to articles in National Review and The Weekly Standard prompted the purchase. Oh, young ones these days. I was surprised and pleased they thought of me during their trip. A cynic might think they were buttering the educational bread hoping they would not have to make up any missed quizzes. The optimist would see the gift as a kind offering. The puzzled would wonder why they spent money on an Obama anything.

Being grateful for the gift, I placed the ObaBobble head on my book shelf. Several days later I needed a quote from Walther's seminal text Law and Gospel. Upon moving Obabble, I noticed this sticker on the bottom of the souvenir.

Some bloggers would take this experience and allow it to fuel a vitriolic rant about how our country can't even produce Presidential baubles and/or bobble heads. This blogger simply looked at the sticker, ObaBobble's snarky grin and realized he had the perfect object lesson on irony for years to come.

Thank you Maddy, Becca and Chris. This truly is the gift that will keep giving.

Pastor Fisk's Sermon at the recent BJS conference

2011-02-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

Listen to Pastor Fisk's excellent sermon that he gave at the recent Brothers of John the Steadfast conference.

Aaron makes a clean break...and another video

2011-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Aaron entered a video contest with Metro PCS. Check it out.

Rorschach Would Be Proud

2011-01-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

If you have a smart phone, you know what to do.

Huck Finn, Literary Revisionists & Weak Teachers

2011-01-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

NewSouth Books will soon publish a version of Twain's literary masterpiece, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, without the N word. The publishing company replaced this word with slave and also changed Injun to Indian. Read the article here.

While I think that reworking/republishing/recreating Huck Finn with these changes is worse than Victor Frankenstein's idea to create life from death, there was also something else just as disturbing in Julie Bosman's story:

"Some English teachers were less than thrilled about the idea of cleaning up a classic.

"I’m not offended by anything in ‘Huck Finn,’ ” said Elizabeth Absher, an English teacher at South Mountain High School in Arizona. “I am a big fan of Mark Twain, and I hear a lot worse in the hallway in front of my class.”

Ms. Absher teaches Twain short stories and makes “Huck Finn” available but does not teach it because it is too long — not because of the language.

“I think authors’ language should be left alone,” she said. “If it’s too offensive, it doesn’t belong in school, but if it expresses the way people felt about race or slavery in the context of their time, that’s something I’d talk about in teaching it.”

Absher doesn't teach Huck Finn because it's too short? Really? Just a minute, I'm going to walk to my bookshelf and find my cherished, tattered copy to see how many pages prevents Absher's students from reading this novel. I'll be right back.

Sorry about the delay. I could have Googled the question but I thought I'd find out the old fashion way. Using my 1997 McDougal Littell, Literature Connections text, I counted 338 pages. It's too bad Absher's students won't discover Huck's internal battle between his deformed conscience and sound heart. It's too bad Absher's students won't discover Twain's attitude toward the foolish and racist Duke and the King. It's too bad Absher's students won't see how Twain uses words to create an intelligent, sensitive and compassionate character in Jim.

I wonder if Absher understands the AP Language and the AP Literature tests take three hours to complete. What if that's too long to expect students to sit?

And what about Absher's closing quote: “I think authors’ language should be left alone,” she said. “If it’s too offensive, it doesn’t belong in school, but if it expresses the way people felt about race or slavery in the context of their time, that’s something I’d talk about in teaching it.”

Ms. Absher, what if the book does express the way people felt about race or slavery during that time and it's offensive? Using that logic Huck Finn would never be read. No Huck Finn, no Othello. No 1984. No Brave New World. No Their Eyes Were Watching God. No....too many other literary classics that reveal and criticize man's flawed understanding of humanity.

I digress. If NewSouth Books publishes this Franken-book it better not use Twain as the author. That's not the book he wrote.

Oh, and another hypocritical point about this version...

We Knew Him When...

2011-01-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

What has Mr. Schlump been up to since leaving the halls of Lutheran North? Find out here.

Lutheran Theology and Youth Ministry?

2010-12-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

I've listened to all three segments of Ministry to Youth, Observing the Youth in the Church by Dr. John Oberdeck of Concordia University-Wisconsin on Issues Etc. All three segments are great but the third segment is my favorite.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Still interested? Check out his book. Eutychus Youth: Applied Theology for Youth Ministry in the 21st Century

College, Vocation, Christ

2010-12-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

"The Christian fact is very straightforward: To be a student is a calling. Your parents are setting up accounts to pay the bills, or you are scraping together your own resources and taking out loans, or a scholarship is making college possible. Whatever the practical source, the end result is the same. You are privileged to enter a time – four years! – during which your main job is to listen to lectures, attend seminars, go to labs, and read books.
"…It is an extraordinary gift. We need you to take seriously the calling that is yours by virtue of going to college. You may well be thinking, 'What is he thinking? I’m just beginning my freshmen year. I’m not being called to be a student. None of my peers thinks he or she is called to be a student. They’re going to college because it prepares you for life. I’m going to college because it prepares you for life. I’m going to college so I can get a better job and have a better life than I’d have if I didn’t go to college. It’s not a calling.'

"But you are a Christian. This means you cannot go to college just to get a better job. These days, people talk about college as an investment because they think of education as a bank account: You deposit the knowledge and expertise you’ve earned, and when it comes time to get a job, you make a withdrawal, putting all that stuff on a resume and making money off the investment of your four years. Christians need jobs just like anybody else, but the years you spend as an undergraduate are like everything else in your life. They’re not yours to do with as you please. They’re Christ’s.

- From the essay “Go With God” by Stanley Hauerwas, professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School, as printed in the November 2010 issue of First Things.

Job Security

2010-12-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

A former student sent this comic my way.

Some may read this and grumble while immediately launching into the classic, "When I was a kid..." rant. I just look it as more job security. Go ahead, young ones, keep mindlessly texting. As long as you would rather look than think, glance than peruse, stumble and stutter with "Uhs and Uhms" than powerfully articulate your intellect, I'll have great job security as a high school English teacher.

Thank You.

There's No Corralling These Fillies

2010-11-29T06:07:00.000-08:00

The Fillies open up the freshmen hoops season on the road tomorrow at Almont High School. Let the games begin. Last year’s Fillies were successful at converting the tip-off play into a three point lead in less than three seconds. We could be proud of what we accomplished last year and use that to achieve the same goal. That, however, would be similar to President Obama thinking that because he won the Presidential election in 2008, he will win it again in 2012.

No, the 2010 Fillies will not be satisfied with achieving goals that have already been met. This year our goal is 5 in 7. We will score 5 points in 7 seconds. Like last year’s team we will win the tip and hit the triple in three seconds. We will immediately break into a full court denial defense, steal the ball and then score the layup. 5 in 7.

Oh, I can hear the doubters grumbling bravely under their breath for nobody to hear,

“They’ll never pull it off.”
“It can’t be done.”

“Bring back the minute bell!”

I’ll ignore this delusional skepticism because, with the exception of that minute bell lament, I heard the same ignorance last year. Last year, as in the year we hit a triple in less than two seconds in three games. Doubt not the 2010 Fillies.

Another reason to place trust in the Fillies is in our plays. No, not the actual X’s and O’s. Anyone can Google, Out-of-Bounds-Plays that Work, and as long as they don’t get caught watchin’ the paint dry, they will score. No, I’m talking about the names of our plays. In years past we have dedicated our out-of-bounds plays to inspirational cyclists: Merkcz, Hincappie, Lemond and the fan favorite, Finkel. This year we have the same plays but different names: Boehner, Rubio, Regan, Palin, Jindal. That’s right, this year our plays are named after conservative Republicans. Fret not, the season is early and we haven’t put all our plays in yet. Waiting to be introduced are Bush41 and Bush43.

Check out the Fillies’ hoops schedule and get to a game when you can. Get there early, however, because before you know it the score will be Fillies 7 – Opponents 0.

These Fillies won’t be corralled.

Distinguishing Law & Gospel and Why Any of That Matters

2010-11-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Reverend Fisk is a pastor at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Enjoy his clear, insightful distinctions about the difference between Law and Gospel and why that difference matters.

Reformation Reading Recommendation

2010-10-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

Remembering and celebrating the Reformation is two days away. Here is a seasonal reading recommendation.

Listen to LCMS President Rev. Matthew Harrison discuss the book.

LSB:656

2010-10-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation...

2010-09-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the real reason we won the St. Peter Iron Chef competition. Sure, the chicken fajitas we served up tasted as good as this side dish looks, but once I stylistically plated Alayna's secret guacamole dip, we were headed for the winner's podium.

Trapped between two slices of kookbread

2010-09-10T04:30:00.001-07:00

The best part of being an English teacher is seeing the crafty way writers pen their thoughts. Doug Powers crafted a great paragraph discussing the Koran-burning pastor and the AP's directive not to publish any photos of the event. You can read more of the article and Powers' deft writing on Michelle Malkin's blog.

"Throughout this whole flap, did you feel like the lunch meat of sanity unwillingly trapped between two slices of kookbread in a wacko sandwich? “An exercise in over-reaction” doesn’t begin to sum it up."

Writing as punishment?

2010-09-07T07:57:00.001-07:00

So a twenty-year-old juror crafted this post on her Facebook account before the trial she was sitting on was over: "actually excited for jury duty tomorrow. It's gonna be fun to tell the defendant they're guilty."

I opted not to include the cutesy semi-colon smile she used to end her post because I'm already disgusted by the entire event, her inability to correctly use pronouns and antecedents and the judge's punishment.

I love the detective work that led to exposing her Facebook comment. This smug youngster must have thought nobody would find out about it. She must have thought this Internet thing was a private forum. She must have thought "innocent until proven guilty" is just a senseless idiomatic expression.

For her punishment the judge fined her $250 and made her write an essay about the 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The English teacher crafting this blog post says throw her in jail for 48 hours and don't use writing as a punishment. Why must writing be the punishment? Why not geometry? I hated those proofs. Make her explain those.

Make her figure out math word problems. "If the blue canoe traveled down the river at 2 m.p.h. and the yellow canoe was manufactured in Guam, what gives you the right to trample the judge's orders for this court case?"

Make her dissect a fetal pig. Make her reenact every scene from Stephen Crane's short story, "The Open Boat". Make her memorize The Declaration of Independence. Make her watch student videos on books they never read. Please, however, don't use writing as punishment.

Oh, I get the idea. Perhaps she will better understand and appreciate the 6th Amendment and respect the privileges and responsibilities of our judicial system. I also understand that writing as punishment is never good.

Toss her in jail for a couple days and let her mull over the idea that actions have consequences but do not use writing as punishment. It's hard enough for me to convince the teenage faces in my room that writing is something more valuable than punishment.

This doesn't help.

Entertainment-Driven Youth Ministry

2010-08-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to Dr. Gene Veith's discussion on Issues Etc. about youth ministry. Dr. Veith's insights are excellent.

Give it a listen, especially if you are involved in youth ministry. Be brave enough to listen to this Issues, Etc. broadcast especially if it criticizes some approaches you may be using.

Updated classroom policies

2010-08-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

Due to recent additions to the Lutheran North Student Handbook, I had to update my classroom policies. In John Knowles' classic book, A Separate Peace, Gene states, "...this was my sarcastic summer. It was only long after that I recognized sarcasm as the protest of people who are weak." Perhaps Gene has a point but I think the sarcasm I infused into my classroom policies for the 2010 - 2011 school year implicitly and explicitly reveals my point.

...as found in this year’s student handbook:

MLDs: Mobile Learning Devices include but are not limited to cell phones, laptops, and notebook computers. Each teacher will determine the acceptable status and usage of MLDs in his/her classroom. MLDs will be kept in silent mode at all times during the day. MLDs should not be used during chapel.

...as explained in the classroom policies of my syllabus

What this means for you in my classroom. Do not enter the classroom talking or texting on your MLD. It’s the same as the food and drink policy in #3. Apparently, there is some vital, urgent, imperative and critical crisis that you must immediately solve. Walking into English class and preparing to learn would only impede this life-saving task. Solve your corner of the world’s problems, put your MLD away and then enter my classroom. If this causes you to be tardy then talk faster, text quicker….or keep your MLD in your purse or pocket and talk to the person walking next to you, look up so you can avoid Joe Freshman scurrying to class, introduce yourself to Suzy Sophomore and ask how her day is going, acknowledge humanity with a nod or wink. Do not, however, bury your self-absorbed attention span into your MLD and stroll into my classroom.

It also means that, if for some odd reason, there are moments to spare at the end of class, you may not whip out the MLD and check for vital status updates, who’s liking what and how many people have tagged that ugly photo of you. Try talking to that human form sitting six inches in front or behind your or the ones located within a four foot radius. If we are not using MLDs as a classroom learning experience, there is no reason for them to be seen or used.

WDTHT?

2010-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

For this segment of WDTHT I'm going to cheat a bit and and profile the hymn "God's own child, I gladly say it." However, I'm not going to discuss it. Last week, Issues Etc., ran a series of broadcasts on listeners' favorite hymns.

This was one of the hymns.

Persue the words and then listen to host Rev. Todd Wilken and guest Rev. Wil Weedon of St. Paul Lutheran Church-Hamel, Illinois discuss this hymn on a recent broadcast.

Verse 1

God's own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth's treasure many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity!

Verse 2:

Sin, disturb my soul no longer:
I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger:
Jesus' cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my Baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus' blood?

Verse 3:

Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I've traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!

Verse 4:

Death, you cannot end my gladness:
I am baptized into Christ!
When I die, I leave all sadness
To inherit paradise!
Though I lie in dust and ashes
Faith's assurance brightly flashes:
Baptism has the strength divine
To make life immortal mine.

Verse 5:

There is nothing worth comparing
To this lifelong comfort sure!
Open-eyed my grave is staring:
Even there I'll sleep secure.
Though my flesh awaits its raising,
Still my soul continues praising:
I am baptized into Christ;
I'm a child of paradise!

Consequences...

2010-08-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are are entering a period of consequences."

- Winston Churchill, 1936

WARNING: A high school stem-cell curriculum created

2010-08-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has created the country's first high school, stem-cell curriculum and is proffering it to science teachers in California's Bay Area. Read the article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Here are some excerpts from the article that concern me.

California is home to some of the world's most promising stem cell research, but to sustain the industry, the state will need an ever-increasing army of trained workers - from lab technicians to top-level researchers - and a healthy backbone of non scientists who understand the issues at stake, say stem cell research advocates.
With that in mind, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has developed the country's first high-school stem cell curriculum, which will be pitched to science teachers this fall. It is already being taught at a handful of Bay Area high schools.Read more:

The stem cell researchers aren't stupid. They will build up their own army of workers to carry out their wishes. I like how they recognize the need for such vital research but the obvious concern is how will these trained workers/soldiers be indoctrinated? Will adult stem cell research be an option? Will embryonic stem cell research require even more harvesting of human life? Will there even be a debate about this issue?

And even if students aren't compelled to follow a career in science, what they learn from the classroom will, it is hoped, follow them home, where they can teach their families and friends about stem cells, said Laurel Barchas, a doctoral student in integrative biology at UC Berkeley, who led the institute's effort to create the high school curriculum.
"We hope it will have a trickle up effect," Barchas said. "It's a good way to educate the public at large about stem cell research."

What will the public learn about stem cell research? I see what the public learns about evolution in public schools. It certainly is not taught as a theory, but fact. Doubt this? Ask your local public school science teacher when the world was created? Will the response be, "Well, Mrs. Smith, some scientists believe it was created millions of years ago after developing from primordial ooze. Other scientists believe it was created from intelligent design creationism. So there are several theories. We teach both equally." If that's the response, my concerns with this stem cell curriculum are all for naught. Common sense and twenty-five years in education seem to indicate I have justifiable concerns.

UC Berkely "led the institute's effort to create the high school curriculum"? Sorry, but the halls of academia at UC Berkely don't exactly scream or whisper a conservative philosophy on social issues.

The curriculum doesn't shy away from touchy ethical discussions. Each unit contains some political or ethical topic such as addressing whether it is appropriate to screen for certain genetic traits when doing in vitro fertilization or discussing ethical standards in clinical trials. "We are not there to force an idea or a belief on anybody. We're allowing students to have a discourse," Barchas said. "It's really good that teachers are not afraid to start talking about this stuff."

Liberal ideas in stem cell research will not be forced on any student, no matter what the age, the same way evolution is not forced upon any student in public grade schools, high schools and higher education. If you believe this then you would believe the mayor of New York City supports the idea of building a Mosque at Ground Zero....My point, exactly.

Yes, we all need to be educated about stem cell research but there is no way I trust that the sanctity of human life will be revered by the UC Berkeley in the construction of this curriculum or in the way that it's implemented in school systems. Unfortunately, too many parents won't know or care about the curriculum and lives will be lost after being harvested for "scientific research".

My concern with this stem cell curriculum is that God's Word will be sacrificed, along with human lives. Listen to Scott Klusendorf's recent broadcast on Issues Etc. where he discusses the difference between embryonic stem cell research vs. adult stem cell research to hear why this is an important issue.

A Must-Hear Broadcast on Law and Gospel

2010-08-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to the four part series on Law and Gospel by Dr. Carl Fickenscher of Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana on the Issues Etc. website.

This is a broadcast every teacher, youth ministry and pastor should hear and apply to their vocation. Unfortunately, some believe Law and Gospel are techniques or tactics and don't understand the need to clearly distinguish and teach both Law and Gospel. Confusing Law and Gospel can lead to works righteousness, antinomianism, and using guilt to motivate sinners to repent and live sanctified lives.

Listen to the first broadcast and go from there.

Law and Gospel Part One

Law and Gospel Part Two

Law and Gospel Part Three

Law and Gospel Part Four

Proud of LHN students

2010-08-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

Several Lutheran North students helped me host the Lutheran radio show, Our World - His View on Saturday, July 31. Listen to the broadcast and you will understand why it's so easy to be involved with Example, Lutheran North's anti-drug and alcohol group.

Coleson, Alayna and Kyle clearly and powerfully articulated their reasons for not drinking and how that strength is found in the forgiveness and mercy we have in God's grace and love in the sacrifice of His son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here are a couple of pictures of the broadcast and I'll post some video snippets of the radio show soon.

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young,

but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

-I Timothy 4:12

Example on the radio

2010-07-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

TO DO LIST
for Saturday, July 31

1. Set alarm for 8:45 a.m.
2. Hit SNOOZE button one time for a 7 minute delay to the day's events.
3. Stumble out of bed at 8:52 a.m. and make some coffee.
4. While waiting for some hot java goodness to begin your day, turn on the radio.
5. Tune it to 1500 AM.
5.a Yes, there is something called AM.
5.b Yes, there are people up at this time of day.

7. Stay by the radio until 9:00 a.m.
8. Now listen to Example, Lutheran North's anti-drug group, host the Lutheran radio show, Our World His View and discuss the challenges and benefits of avoiding alcohol.
9. Call the show and share your thoughts: 866-423-9578

WDTHT?

2010-07-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

WDTHT is an ongoing series that exams hymns and songs and discusses how clearly they preach the vital message of Christ crucified.

For this WDTHT post I've selected Christian Scheidt's hymn By Grace I'm Saved. It's number 566 in the Lutheran Service Book.

Verse 1:
By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No; then this word must true remain;
By grace you too will life obtain.

WDTHT? The soul has absolutely no reason to doubt the saving grace of God. There is no need to stagger, to doubt, to question God’s boundless power. That’s not the truth the devil wants you to hear but it is the truth found in Scripture. I like how Scheidt immediately contrasts the power and benefit of God’s grace to the doubting, sinful mind of mankind. The answer to our doubt is found in the truth of God’s Word: we are saved by grace, free and boundless.

Verse 2:
By grace! None dare lay claim to merit;
Our works and conduct have no worth,
God in His love sent our Redeemer,
Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth;
His death did for our sins atone,
And we are saved by grace alone.

WDTHT? Scheidt knows man’s feeble mind and the devil’s treachery. Verse one speaks to our doubt and verse two speaks to our ego. By grace I’m saved doesn’t mean we have anything to do with our salvation. As clearly stated, “God in His love sent our Redeemer, Christ Jesus , to this sinful earth; His death did for our sins atone.,” The devil’s plan A is doubt; plan B is self-righteousness. Both false claims to salvation are put to rest with the clear message of Christ crucified for our sins.

Verse 3:
By grace God’s Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of your own merit
That Jesus died your soul to win?
No, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought him from his heavenly throne.

WDTHT? Verse three is why this hymn trumps praise songs. It’s why those young or old in their faith need to sing this hymn, hear these truths. Who is this Christ that atoned our sins in verse two? “By grace God’s Son, our only Savior.” Scheidt's diction is perfect. Christ is our only Savior. There is no room for pluralism here. There is no room for vague allusions to a deity. There is only Christ, God’s Son, our only Savior. “This is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:8
The teaching continues as the verse closes by emphasizing it was by God’s choosing, God’s love, God’s grace that brought Christ to us. Christ comes to us by God’s grace not by our efforts, our praise, our works, our prayers. We are Lazarus dead in our sins and, as spiritual corpses, are unholy in His sight. That’s the glory and power of God’s gracious gift of Christ to His people. He sent Christ to us to redeem us from sins. Today God’s grace continues to come to us through Christ in the Word, Christ in baptism and Christ in the Lord’s Supper.

Verse 4:
By grace! This ground of faith is certain;
As long as God is true, it stands.
What saints have penned by inspiration,
What in his word our God commands,
Our faith in what our God has done
Depends on grace - grace through his Son.

WDTHT? This verse continues teaching us that God’s Word remains true and clarifies that our faith is a gift from God and it does not depend on us but on God’s grace through His Son.

Verse 5
By grace to timid hearts that tremble,
In tribulation’s furnace tried,
By grace, in spite of fear and trouble,
The Father’s heart is open wide.
Where could I help and strength secure
If grace were not my anchor sure?

WDTHT? This may be my favorite verse of this hymn because it contains my favorite line. “By grace, in spite of fear and trouble.” I love the truth packed into those eight words. God’s grace does not mean we won’t have fear or trouble. We are sinful people, living in a sinful world. However, even in the face of fear and trouble we have God’s grace and our eternal Father’s heart is open wide for His children. Our source and strength is secure in God’s grace, not our feeble, failed attempts at redemption. God’s grace in Christ is our anchor.

Verse 6
By grace! On this I’ll rest when dying;
In Jesus’ promise I rejoice;
For though I know my heart’s condition,
I also know my Savior’s voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown
Since I am saved by grace alone.

WDTHT? Sin will always be present in our earthly lives. However, as redeemed children of God it matters not. The promise of Christ is real: salvation is ours and all because we are saved by grace alone. This gives us reason to rejoice. We are so focused on cholesterol levels, mono and saturated fats and the factors that lead to heart disease that leads to temporal death. This focus is good but our primary concentration and understanding must be on the antidote for eternal death: Christ. Our Savior cleansed eternal heart disease, “all grief has flown.” We are saved by Grace alone.
Amen!

To saints and sinners, to young and old, to seasoned Christians and those walking with wobbly first steps, the message in this hymn is clear: we are saved by God’s grace in His Son’s, our only Savior’s death on the cross. This concrete truth revealed in the concrete message is one that delivers comfort and strength. The same truth is echoed in The Lutheran Confessions:
The service and worship of the Gospel is to receive good things from God….The highest worship in the Gospel is the desire to receive the forgiveness of sins, grace, and righteousness.
In this hymn we have received good things in the clear and focused message of the Gospel of Christ. Issues, Etc. is sponsoring a What-is-your-favorite-hymn poll. By Grace I’m Saved got my vote.

I recently discovered a praise song by Chris Tomlin entitled, “Your Grace is Enough.” Although both titles allude to God’s grace, only LSB # 566 clearly proclaims Christ crucified.

Racism or Criticism?

2010-07-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

The NAACP believes the Tea Party is racist. Perhaps the Tea Party simply doesn't agree with the President. Why is Presidential criticism deemed as racism. Why can't it simply be criticism, discontent?

Michelle Malkin's recent column is an excellent read on the NAACP's latest buffoonery.

643

2010-07-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

643.
That sounds like a good number to me. It was also the number of votes Rev. Matthew Harrison received to become president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. To God be the glory.

WDTHT?

2010-06-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

Listen to this recent broadcast on Issues Etc. concerning pop culture and church music. It relates to the consistent feature on my blog: WDTHT?

WDTHT?

2010-06-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

"With Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you." Colossians 3:16

I like Paul’s emphasis on the Word of Christ richly dwelling in us.
As an English teacher I see the adverse results technology is having on reading skills. People skim over e-mails searching for important words. They glance at web pages looking for a key idea or, better yet, a great visual. They don’t, at least not yet, struggle with the limits of 140 characters dictated by Twitter. However, ask them to read, comprehend and think about a passage that will take longer than ten minutes and trouble sets in. As much as I like technology, if it’s such a valuable tool, why are reading scores not improving for today's youth? Ahhh, a topic for another post.
Technology is not being used to develop rich reading experiences where people can dwell on ideas and implications. What’s lost? Thought, insight, analysis, understanding. As an educator I want my students to be at the end of Bloom’s taxonomy not stuck on factually recalling the name of Alfred’s pet pig. How does this relate to Colossians 3:16? The hymns we sing should help us richly dwell within Christ’s Word. If they don’t then what’s the point?

Dwell: verb (used without object) to linger over, emphasize, or ponder in thought, speech, or writing

By examining what the hymn teaches we also benefit from richly dwelling in what God’s Word teaches.

“Songs conveyed some of the Bibles’ greatest teachings. Great expressions of joy
and thankfulness naturally flow from the rich doctrine of Christ. “Certainly you
will not release a stronger incense or other repellant against the devil than to
be engaged by God’s commandments and words, and speak, sing or think them.”
(Large Catechism. Martin Luther. Preface 10)

So with those preliminary thoughts let’s look at -Lincoln Brewster’s, "Let the Praises Ring" to see what the song teaches.

Verse 1:
Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust

Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope

Oh Lord my God in You I put my trust

Oh Lord my God in You I put my hope

WDTHT? It’s clear the focus of this song begins with what we do. We put our trust and hope in God. While certainly not an evil idea, I’d like to know why we are putting our trust and hope, our trust and hope in God. This is crucial. If the reasons for our actions are not clarified, they are not taught and they are not properly understood. We must always clearly teach who Christ is and what He has done for us because we are motivated by the Gospel. Our lives are a joyful response to what God, through Christ, has accomplished for us. Verse one doesn’t reveal who Christ is or what he has done. Perhaps this comes later in the song *

CHORUS:

In You In You I find my peace

In You In You I find my strength

In You I live and move and breathe

Let everything I say and do

Be founded by my faith in You

I lift up holy hands and sing

Let the praises ring!

WDTHT? Why do we find peace and strength in “You”. I’m assuming this is Christ. I can only assume because it’s not clarified. Perhaps people think I am too picky with this criticism? Relax, Brandt. Of course, it’s Christ. That much is obvious. Well, it’s not obvious. The mantra I hear about the power of praise music is that it’s more relevant and engaging for those young in their faith or new to the church. The young in their faith and/or new to the church need to hear the clear message of who our Savior is, what he’s done for us and why that matters today and for our eternity. If that message is not taught in the song, what’s the point?

I also don’t understand the meaning of “In You I live and move and breathe”. Is this just poetic diction conveying an emotional idea? What’s the emotional idea and why should everything we “say and do be founded by my faith in You”? What does the hymn teach? Our actions should be grounded in God’s saving grace in Christ but this song doesn’t teach that lesson. We wouldn’t accept these vagaries when asking for directions or when filling out our tax forms or when applying to a college? Why accept them with our Lord and Savior?

Verse 2:
Oh Lord my God to You I give my hands

Oh Lord my God to You I give my feet

Oh Lord my God to You I give my everything

Oh Lord my God to You I give my life

WDTHT? Verse two continues the anthropocentric focus. We are giving our hands, feet, everything and life to God. If we are giving our hands and our feet, then why not give our tongues and our eyes and our toes and our ears and our clavicles? Oh, wait. That’s covered in the next two lines when we give our “everything” and our “life.” What exactly is the difference between those last two items?

Why are we doing all this giving? What is our motivation? Why is the focus on what we are doing? Because the song doesn’t answer this question, those singing this song must only guess because they are not being taught that Christ’s death and resurrection have redeemed us and we live sanctified lives in response to the forgiveness in Christ, the mercy in Christ, the hope in Christ.
Now some may think I’m hypercritical just because I’m old and/or I don’t like praise music. I’m critical because the song doesn’t teach what we all need to hear. The song doesn’t teach who Christ is and what He accomplished on the cross. The song doesn’t provide the explanations as to why we should live a sanctified, God-pleasing life. The song simply doesn’t teach. It may be harmoniously euphoric, effusively emotional and soul-stirring (whatever that may mean), but it simply doesn’t teach the message we all need to hear.

For my conclusion, I return to the beginning:
"With Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you." Colossians 3:16

How can the Word of Christ richly dwell within us through this song? It can’t. This song is an emotional appeal to our actions without proclaiming Christ crucified. It may leave you feeling good about all that you are doing for God, but it certainly doesn’t teach what Christ has done for us. It certainly doesn’t offer an explanation of Christ the Redeemer. It certainly doesn’t “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you.”

What kind of song does all that? This one: “By Grace I’m Saved”: Words. or Listen to the recording from last year’s Higher Things conference.

WDTHT?

2010-06-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

My first selection for WDTHT is hymn 606 in the Lutheran Service Book, I Lay My Sins on Jesus.

Verse 1

I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God;

He bears them all, and frees us from the accursèd load;

I bring my guilt to Jesus, to wash my crimson stains

White in His blood most precious, till not a stain remains.

WDTHT? What I like about this hymn is that it teaches us what God, through Christ does with our sins, our wants, our guilt, our grief. The focus is not on what we do, how we respond, what we are doing for God. No, the focus is on what "Jesus, the spotless lamb of God" does with our broken, human existence. Christ takes our sins upon himself and frees us from the eternally accursed load. The death we deserve Christ took upon himself and washes clean our crimson sins so that we are "clean in His blood most precious, till not a spot remains." Christ is clearly identified as the Lamb of God, our Savior. That matters because the hymn writer created no uncertainty about who Christ is and what his death accomplished.

Verse 2
I lay my wants on Jesus; all fullness dwells in Him;

He heals all my diseases, He doth my soul redeem:
I lay my griefs on Jesus, my burdens and my cares;

He from them all releases, He all my sorrows shares.

WDTHT? As earthly people we have earthly wants and desires. However, our fullness, our completeness dwells in Christ because it is only there where the disease of death can be healed and our souls redeemed. Jesus can share in all our sorrows because He was true man and because he was true God he also releases us from this earth's sinful burdens that the devil uses to wear us down.

Verse 3
I rest my soul on Jesus, this weary soul of mine;

His right hand me embraces, I on His breast recline.

I love the Name of Jesus, Immanuel, Christ, the Lord;

Like fragrance on the breezes His Name abroad is poured.

WDTHT? Our earthly lives are comforted because our eternal souls rest in Christ. Christ is not described as our buddy, chum, pal, crony or chingu. The hymn clearly teaches for all who read and sing this song, that Christ is Immanuel, the Lord.

The author leaves no doubt about our grief-filled, anxiety-driven, weary human existence. He also leaves no doubt about Jesus Christ's cleansing, healing, soul restoring work. Christ's blood that was sacrificed on the cross washes us clean before God and gives us great reason to proclaim, "I love the name of Jesus, Immanuel, Christ, the Lord!"

WDTHT?

2010-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

“I have a friend in California who started a Saturday evening praise service. I asked him why.
His reply: ‘To attract the unchurched. They can relate more to the simple praise songs. Hymns from the hymnals are too difficult to sing, and these are simpler.’
I have heard this reasoning a dozen times from a dozen pastors or church leaders who prefer praise songs to the church’s historic hymns. Ironically, in the vast majority of songs that are sung and the praise services, the ‘unchurched’ are hearing nothing of value about Jesus. We think we are making it easier for them to become Christians when, in fact, we are making it almost impossible. To know Christ one must learn what he has done. This doesn’t happen in most praise songs.”
- Pastor Klemet Preus in his book The Fire and the Staff: Lutheran Theology in Practice. 150.

I've read this book several times and am always intrigued with Pastor Preus' insight. Common sense would seem to dictate that if Christ, Christ's work and the result of Christ's work is not clearly taught in the hymns/songs we sing, then what is being taught and why are people singing?

I teach high school English. Every year young, inquisitive minds ask, "Why do we have to read A) Shakespeare
B)Poetry
C) Beowulf
D) "The Open Boat"
E) ________________ (fill in the blank)

Every year they are correct. There must be a point to the reading. There must be some purpose to studying the universal conflicts of envy, jealous, greed, enjambment, asyndeton, selflessness, selfishness, Naturalism, et al.

The same needs to occur with our hymns and songs. Do we sing hymns to experience temporal, emotional contentment? Do we sing hymns to hear the eternal truth of Christ's atoning sacrifice? That will be the focus for this summer's recurring theme: What Does the Hymn Teach? (WDTHT)
I'll examine hymns and praise songs for the message of Christ crucified. I Corinthians 1:23
Let me know what you think or proffer a suggestion.

School: Day Last!

2010-06-10T07:19:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh, the last day of school is today. Simply put this means I can begin looking forward to the first read of the summer.

Several weeks ago I was ambling through the dollar store and discovered Michael Weinreb's book, The Kings of New York: A year among the geeks, oddballs, and geniuses who make up America's top high school chess team.

I don't know how to play chess and don't have the desire to learn. So why did this book entice me? The cost, the title, the cover picture.

Another book on the list is Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road. This book recommendation surfaced from several students and then surfaced on the open-ended question for the AP Lit exam this year. Hmmmm, students recommending reads that posses literary merit? I've got to check it out.

The Painful Truth of Satire

2010-05-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain would love this satire. Unfortunately, it's spot on. Click for a painfully humorous point. Contemporvant

Example Kickball

2010-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was one of the most rewarding day's I've had in some time.

It began early Saturday with a drive to Ferndale to be on the Our World His View radio show. I was asked to speak about Example, the anti alcohol/drug student group I founded and advised. I brought three of the Example students along for the ride and we talked about the challenges and benefits of such an important group. Listen to the podcast.

Later that day we had our last Example activity of the year: The Example Kickball Tournament. Instantly, I was taken back to the Bethlehem Lutheran Grade School recess days where we ruled the kickball kingdom. Well, at least that's how I remembered it. The weather was perfect, the hot dogs were grilled to perfection and everyone had a great time. The kids played some fiercely competitive kickball. I saw it as a celebration of what we accomplished this year with Example.

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an Example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." - I Timothy 4:12

Check out the video to see the fiercely competitive nature of this kickball tournament

A late Tour of California Entry

2010-05-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

It may not wick moisture like other high-end jerseys that will be ripping the California roads beginning Sunday, May 16, but do not mistake low-tech

for low effort, low passion or low results.

After stage one on Sunday Team Velo'Stangs will be a force

that will quiver even the strongest European, cleanly shorn legs.

Back to the Past

2010-05-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Thirty years ago I used the acronym BRANDT...

Be
Represented

And

Not

Denied

Today

as my campaign platform to become the student council president at Valley Lutheran High School in Saginaw, Michigan. At the time I thought it was a brilliant slogan because I felt the needs of the students were ignored by the current president. I later realized how wrong I was. I also realized thinking about standing in front of a lot students and speaking to them is much easier than actually speaking to them.

Thirty years later, I'm still standing in front of students speaking to them.

So when my daughter asked for poster ideas to help her run for Social Chair of student council, I knew that if a slogan worked thirty years it would also work today.

Sincerely,

One Proud Father

Ample Examples

2010-04-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

This has been one of the most draining weeks I've experienced in teaching. It's also been one of the best. This week Example, Lutheran North's student led anti-drug/alcohol group, has had a flurry of activities.

Check out the Example blog to see what we've been doing to help young men and women make God-pleasing decisions this week at Prom and every day of their lives.

Defining False Doctrine: Part One

2010-04-22T03:43:00.001-07:00

What is false doctrine? The typical cliched, high school speech would begin something like this...

"False doctrine. What is it? Well, Webster and his dictionary cronies define it as..."

Ahhhhh, bad high school speeches and essays. One reason I like them is the job security they give this English teacher.

However, let's not use Webster or any of his verbose companions. Instead let's go straight to God's infallible Word for a proper definition.

Galatians 2:4-5
This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

Galatians 5:7-9
You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. For context of this passage check out Kretzman's commentary on this verse.

2 Thessalonians 2:15
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

2 Timothy 1:13-14
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

2 Peter 2:1-3

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

1 Timothy 4:6-7
If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

This last is my favorite because God reveals our duty. Could verse 7 be any clearer? "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wive's tales; rather train yourself to be godly." Nothing means nothing. It doesn't mean seek them out. It doesn't mean subject people to their ideas. It means, at the risk of sounding like a simpleton, nothing.

So while God's Word tells us to "have nothing to do" with false doctrine, many embrace it, act as if they can use it for good, act as if they don't need to heed God's warning.

Why should we all heed God's warning? That's part two.

A Great Event

2010-04-22T03:24:00.000-07:00

Prom is next week and Example is hosting a town hall meeting on how to battle underage drinking. The meeting is for both parents and students so don't miss it. There are other activities planned during the week so students hear the message that students can enjoy prom without drinking.

What does the hymn teach?

2010-03-29T08:07:00.001-07:00

I just finished a Bible study using the Good News issue on Worship. For the past four weeks we have been discussing how worship is not about us, it's not about what we give to God, it's not about pleasing God with what we do during worship, despite the false doctrine Rick Warren proffers.

God-pleasing worship is found in what we receive through Christ Jesus: peace, forgiveness and salvation. Worship is not founded on what we do but what God does for us through Jesus Christ. For more resources and discussion get a copy of this issue or check out some of the information on this blog for the Bible study.

This morning Mollie Hemingway posted this quote on the Brothers of John the Steadfast blog and it fits perfectly into God-pleasing worship and the need to receive Christ and be taught doctrine during worship:

“I came across this fantastic quote:

We must take note also of a most deplorable tendency of our times, namely, that of preferring the shallow modern “Gospel anthem” to the classical hymns of our Church. The reference is both to the text and to the tunes in use in many churches. On all sides the criticism is heard that the old Lutheran hymns are “too heavy, too doctrinal; that our age does not understand them.” Strange that the Lutherans of four centuries and of countless languages could understand and appreciate them, even as late as a generation ago! Is the present generation less intelligent or merely more frivolous?
When was this written? Back in June 1929. (Source: Paul E. Kretzmann, Magazin für evang.-luth. Homiletik und Pastoraltheologie [June 1929], pp. 216-217)

Perhaps it should make me sad that confessional Lutherans have been fighting these battles for so long but, for some reason, it makes me hopeful. I think sometimes we think things used to be great and now they’re awful. In fact, I think that we’ve always had people in our midst who didn’t appreciate our Lutheran identity. And sometimes I think things are actually better now than they have been in recent memory. In any case, a blessed Holy Week to everyone.”

Thanks for the quote Mollie.

Easter vacation reading list

2010-03-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, it's getting closer.

Summer vacation? Certainly.

Chocolate rabbit gluttony? Yes.

Easter vacation? Precisely.

Along with Easter vacation and the celebration of Christ's death, resurrection and triumph over the devil, thus ensuring our salvation with his atoning sacrifice, there are also 8 days away from school. One of the activities I have slated, in addition to grading tests and Expos papers, is reading.

Here is my compiled reading list for Easter vacation:

America Alone: The End of the World as we Know It. by Mark Steyn. As a primer to Steyn I'm going to first read two articles of his that were published in Hillsdale College's Imprimus: the August 2008 article, "Lights Out on Liberty" and the April 2009 article, "Live Free or Die".

Steyn often writes for National Review. I'll follow that read with William F. Buckley Jr's. The Reagan I Knew. Buckley was the founder of National Review, a periodical where Steyn's writings can be found. "Zamboni Baloney" was my favorite Steyn column.

I'll follow this read with a recommendation from Mr. Wolf. I was walking through the faculty lounge and Mr. Wolf was explaining how he just finished an interesting read: Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years. This New York Times bestseller sounded like an interesting read. After Mr. Wolf's assurance that even an English teacher like me could understand it, I added it to my list.

The coup de gra will be Reverend Matthew Harrison's most recent book, Christ Have Mercy. Reverend Harrison is the Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care. He is also the man I nominated at the last St. Peter, Macomb voters meeting, for president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

I know I won't finish all these books but the anticipation of such great reads is exciting.

Veith, AP Language & Spirituality

2010-03-18T13:43:00.003-07:00

In my AP Language class we just finished reading Dr. Gene Veith's The Spirituality of the Cross. It's a great read and one that perfectly fits my AP English curriculum. We analyzed Veith's use of language devices to establish and develop the true definition of spirituality. We had some great discussions on the theology of the cross vs. the theology of glory, decision theology and other vital doctrinal matters.

Yes, juniors in high school could handle this book and need to read this book.
This book is Issues, Etc. book of the month club and recently they aired two segments with Dr. Veith. Given them a listen and then read his book.

http://issuesetc.org/2010/03/16/3914/

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Strengthen me according to Thy Word.

2010-03-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

"Strengthen me according to Thy Word." - Psalm 119: 28

"Post guards with machine-gun vigilance at the door of your heart, because "out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23) the most important things in life take place in the heart, such as believing unto salvation, such as loving God or our wife. The most desperately wicked things come out of the heart: '...Murderers, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.' (Matthew 15:19)

Luther: 'When your heart is full of something it will run over at your mouth.'

We dare not load the naturally evil heart with more evil. Jam your heart with absolutely the best. David's determination: 'Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.' (Psalm 119:11)

Keep cramming it in, morning, noon, and night; memorize it, meditate on it, love it, and cherish it! You will be amazed how powerfully, repeatedly, appropriately, delightfully, the Spirit will bring to mind at exactly the right time in exactly the right place the very words you need and the people around you need."

Left Field Returns

2010-03-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

It's spring and that means baseball. If we're talking baseball, we're also talking Left Field. After a harsh winter and some time away from the game, Left Field has returned to Blogger Boulevard.

Our first guest this spring is Ron Baller. Ron was an integral member of Lutheran North's boys basketball district championship team, played in the strangest state championship soccer game and continued his soccer career at two colleges. Welcome Ron Baller to Left Field.

As a senior at North you played in the soccer state championship with at least six inches of snow on the field? Yeah we played that game in Grand Rapids in mid November. I still think they should have canceled that game. We were actually winning 1 - 0 and ended up losing 3-1. I blame it on the snow.

Do you really think Mr. Rochlitz looks like Jim Morrison? Oh yeah, as you know my senior year the soccer team made t-shirt out of an old college picture of Mr. Rochlitz. He had long hair and he kind of looked like Jim Morrison on steroids.

You transferred from Roseville High School at the start of your sophomore year. Why North? Good question! I am really not sure, but I know it was one of the best decisions of my life.

What’s your secret to those biceps that made the front sports page of The Macomb Daily? Lots of greens: mean and lean.

Not only did you play in the soccer state championship your senior year, you also played in the national finals game while playing for Macomb College. What was that collegiate experience like? Playing at Macomb was a great experience. We had a very talented team that year but we lost in the national finals. Can’t blame the snow on that one.

You also played soccer and met your wife at Concordia University in Ann Arbor. Word on Blogger Boulevard is that Concordia Ann Arbor is starting a football team next year. Think you might suit up and play football for the Cardinals? I don’t think so! I enjoy watching football not playing it.

You coach the girls’ and boys’ soccer teams at Roseville High School. What differences do you see in coaching girls and boys? I enjoy coaching both of them but it is definitely different. You deal with different struggles with both.

Your high school basketball team recently had a fifteen-year reunion recognizing its district championship. What was it like to walk back on that court after fifteen years? It was really great to be back at the school and to see the guys. I can’t believe it has been fifteen years, I can remember those days like it was yesterday. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who gained weight since high school!

Pop-Flies
Soccer or football? Soccer of course
Matt Stafford or David Beckham? Stafford, I ate sushi right next to him in Royal Oak this year!
GM or Honda? GM
Five Guys or McDonalds? Red Coat Tavern
The Clem or Roseville? The Ville
Kwami Killpatrick or Kyle Karsten? Karsten for sure, he was smooth.
Pele or Freddy Adu? Pele, I like old school.
Twitter or Facebook? Neither

Lutheran Quote of the Day.

2010-02-25T17:28:00.001-08:00

"Though Lutheranism is often accused of antinomianism, a too-permissive dismissal of the moral law in light of the radical free gift of the Gospel, this is a gross misunderstanding. Our relationship to God is not determined by our good works (since those with a sinful nature can never have enough of them to earn anything before God) - what we need rather is forgiveness for our sins and the perfect good works of Jesus Christ."
-Gene Veith's The Spirituality of the Cross.
My AP Language class is reading this book. Why read this book in an Advanced Placement English class? Because I teach at a Lutheran high school and the insights this book provides are amazing. Last week we had a great discussion of the theology of glory and the theology of the cross. That's why we are reading this book.
Read it and let me know what you think.

Fifteen-Year Reunion

2010-02-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

"Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade proof lake, the woods unshatterable..." - E.B. White

Had I not known any better I would have thought it was 1995 and we were sitting in the Fire House restaurant enjoying our post championship dinner. The conversations, laughs, smiles and sarcasm were all the same.
However, this time I wasn’t the one chasing my young children around the gym. I wasn’t the one losing the glove battle because my daughter didn’t want to be bundled up. No, on this night some of my former players were tending to their families. Others were tending to memories and catching up on the years passed.
February 12 was a great night as seven players from the district championship team made it to the game and were recognized for an accomplishment that happened fifteen years ago. I loved the night not because, like all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s characters, I’m stuck in the past. No, unlike Jay Gatsby, I don’t believe you “can repeat the past.” We did relive old stories and I heard some new, old stories as well. I loved the night because it took me to the present. I got to see how these eighteen year-olds have grown up. I met their wives and children and talked with many of their parents as well. That was the best part of the evening. These young men have grown up and it was great to see where they are today.
Reliving the moments from fifteen years ago was fun. There were plenty of snickers from the crowd as they saw the game highlights at halftime. Shorts were shorter then and I guess that’s funny. The genuine applause this team received was nice also.
Fifteen years ago I was 31. Today my former players are nearly the same age I was when we won the district title. Now that’s an odd feeling.
Several times during the night I looked at the table and saw my former players talking, laughing and listening. What a blessing these young men have been to each other, to me and to my family. On this night we reveled in stories from the past and were thankful for friendships alive in the present.

Here are some video highlights from the Mt. Clemens' game and the final game against Clintondale.

The End

2010-02-18T06:42:00.001-08:00

The Freshmen Fillies closed out the season with a dramatic win over Imlay City. The Fillies have been corralled since their last game against Lutheran Northwest which was two weeks ago. Since then we were on winter break, had a snow day and got booted out of the gym because of wrestling. Without consistent practices, I was concerned we would not play our best for the season finale.
The first half proved I was right. We couldn’t shoot, wouldn’t defend and couldn’t rebound. Down six I told the youngster to not panic because the first two minutes of the second half always sets the tone for the rest of the game. Well, it didn’t take two minutes to set the tone. A mere sixty seconds after the third quarter started we were down by 10. Ugh.
The Fillies battled back, figured out how to rebound, how to dive for basketballs, how to out-hustle our opponents and collect steals off our press. With one minute remaining in the game, we took a one-point lead only to lose it on the next possession. We scored again and held the lead for a one-point victory. It was a fitting end because we did the same during our first game of the season against Bishop Foley.
The Fillies closed the year 13-2 with our only loss to Regina….twice. Ugh.
At the year’s start our goal was to shoot three to four triples a game. Well, we didn’t quite make that goal but we did score 1.4 triples per game. Some coaches use the shooters he has. This year I wanted to prove we could develop the shooters we need. We were able to consistently get a three-point attempt to start nearly every game. We practiced shooting triples in every practice. We practiced how to rebound long misses every practice. The girls figured out the key was not shooting the triple or even making it. We simply had to out rebound our opponents. That helped us develop shooters for next year’s junior varsity team and for the varsity’s future.
To God be the glory.

Boys' Basketball Reunion Game

2010-02-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh, the days of caramel and yellow....I mean brown and gold. It's been fifteen years since the '95 boys' basketball team won the school's first district championship. Yes, the colors were black and gold that year, but polyester is such a good look, I thought I would include it in this post. This Friday, February 12 that team will be recognized at half time.

After the game we'll head to Shield's Pizza.

If you played on that team let me know if you plan on attending. I'd like to play some clips at half time, introduce the team and provide some information in the program.

Whether you can or can't make it, please answer these questions and e-mail them to me at JBrandt@lhsa.com by Wednesday, February 10.

1. What is you best memory from that season?

2. Where are you now?

3. Family? Please include the names of your spouse and children.

4. Occupation?

Regina Recap

2010-02-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Ugh.
February 26 did not go as planned. The Freshmen Fillies were looking to avenge an earlier season loss to Regina but it was not meant to be. We played hard but not smart. We must have been over 20 turnovers for the game and at least five in the last minute. We lost by two points and had plenty of opportunities to tie or win. However, Regina outscored the Fillies to remain 2-0 against us this season. We did, however, bounce back with a fifteen-point win over Chippewa Valley High School on Thursday and then defeated Lutheran South's junior varsity team on Saturday. On this first day of February we look to finish our season with a game against Lutheran Northwest on Wednesday, Port Huron Landmark Academy next week, followed by our season finale against Imlay City.

Regina Revisited

2010-01-25T16:30:00.000-08:00

So our last game with Regina didn't go all that well. After they drained a half-court heave at the end of the 2nd quarter we were down by 8. However, the Fillies charged back and outscored Regina 8-0 in the third quarter. We even had a three point lead but it was for naught. I've had January 26 circled on my calendar for some time.
Regina will be coming to the corral Tuesday and the Fillies are ready. Not only will Regina have to deal with the revenge factor but it's also Throwback Night. The varsity team will be wearing old brown and yellow uniforms. Ahhhh, brown and gold. It was more like caramel and yellow. With all the complaining I heard about those colors it's ironic that the girls are using them as a way to boost fan energy and team support. I'll be sporting the old brown and gold polyester warmups my jv boys' team wore...years ago. Now that's a good look.

Life at the Corral

2010-01-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

I know this video dulls in comparison to a Swimmer's Itch production, but if you want to know what it's like to walk the halls of Lutheran North High School. Have a look.

Fifteen-Year Reunion

2010-01-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, it was fifteen years ago that the basketball team I was coaching won the district championship in an unforgettable manner. If I do the math that would make those youngsters about 33 years old. If I continue to do the math that would make me 46. Yipes, that is old.

As an excuse to see these young faces that are now a bit older, we are planning a fifteen-year reunion on Friday, February 12. They boys' team plays Harper Woods and we will recognize the team at halftime. Information on the players and where they are today will be in the game's program.

If you played on that team contact me and let me know if you can make it. It will be great to see those once high school athletes, now young men.

Tragically Funny

2009-12-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

I chuckled at the sad reality of a recent Mallard Fillmore comic because it was so true and it brought back memories of our childhood dog, Mick. Yes, for a brief time our dog wore "antlers" during Christmas vacation.

However, there was no chuckle when I learned of the iPhone app. that allows you to text and walk at the same time. The camera provides a view of what's in front of you so you text vital messages like,

"Just walked by Sally."

"This street looks busy."

"An out of control bulldozer is headed right for me."

'Twas the week before Christmas...vacation

2009-12-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

After next week, I have fourteen glorious days away from school. I'm in need of a couple good reads during vacation. Any suggestions? I perused Laura Ingraham's suggestions and looked at what Larry Elder has recently read. Nothing is grabbing my attention. Classics? Non-fiction? Political? Autobiography?

Freshmen Fillies Set Record

2009-12-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

In game two against Almont my freshmen girls' basketball team attempted to set a record by scoring a triple in three seconds. We've talked about the secret play before and we got the shot off but did not finish. This crew of Fillies is determined. In Tuesday's home game against Capac, North was able to control the tip, connect the first pass and drain the triple...all in three seconds.
So far this has been a year of firsts. We actually scored out of our special out of bounds play: Finkel. Now we've set a record that will take perfection to best.
Some may scoff and remind the readers of this blog that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile. However, if the naysayers are right in the saying of nay, then why did the girls' varsity basketball team steal our tip off play? Hmmmmm... A great game, great teamwork, great victory. Now it's time to leave it behind and look to the most important game on our schedule: the next one at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.

Freshmen Fillies Stomp Foley

2009-12-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

As discussed in previous posts, this year's Freshmen Fillies will be different than years past and the same. Yes, we are shooting the triple. Different. Yes, we are rotating groups of players mimicking the Grinnell College system.

Tuesday night was our first test. We didn't break the scoring record. No, the scoring record is not how many points we score but how fast we score the first two points. For the record, the record is three seconds. How do we score so quickly? The secret play. What's the secret play? Be in North's gym at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday, December 3 and find out. You only need to be there for two seconds.

The Fillies opened the season at Bishop Foley. We'll be seeing a lot of Foley in the future since North is moving into the Catholic School League, not my idea. I don't like it, so it was important to set an intimidating tone for our soon to be conference opponents. At the end of the first quarter we were losing 13-2. Yes, we set the tone, but I don't remember "doormat" being a tone word dangling from the ceiling in my classroom.

We battled back and took our first lead with twenty seconds left in the game: 34-33. After that we showed no mercy, didn't look back, took no prisoners, put the pedal to the metal and won 34-33.

We figured out how to rebound, how to press and how to aggressively attack the basket. Can we do it again? Again, get to North's gym for home opener and witness our NEW secret play. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Shakespeare?

2009-11-24T07:04:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare was meant to be seen not read. My AP Lit. class proved acting is more powerful than reading by performing the dumb show in Hamlet....at least I think that's what they did. You know, now that I look at this video I'm not sure what they accomplished. At least, it's interesting viewing.

Simple as A, B, C...

2009-11-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Could you?

Recently I asked my expository writing students to write a twenty-six word passage that made sense. It’s not so hard; my students are smart. The challenge, however, was that each word had to follow the alphabet in alphabetical order. The passage could be more than one sentence but only twenty-six words and must follow the alphabet perfectly.

Here are some student examples:

A bee cuddles dandelions extravagantly, fighting gnats; hellishly injecting juice killing lots. Multitudes near old pines quietly reconstruct sad teachings, undividedly veering with x-gaming yellow zebras.

A bloody communist decides exploiting fascism gets him into juvenile klans learning most notably of people quitting stereotyping then using violence with Xanax yearning zombies.

Could you best these entries? I’ll give you five days to submit your entry. The winner will receive blog kudos and will be asked to share the strategies with readers of The Clem, The Blog, The Truth.

My next read:

2009-10-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

Quarter one is nearing its end and the mounting pile of essays, papers and tests needs my immediate attention. However, before I scale that mountain I need to get a copy of my next read. While attending a conference on Thursday I heard Anthony Muhammad speak about transforming school culture. Dr. Muhammad presented some interesting material that needs more absorption time.

I'm not sure I'll be able to read it during Thanksgiving vacation, perhaps Christmas vacation will give me more time. However, at some point I'd like to take a closer look at what Dr. Muhammad presented. He doesn't simply point out the challenges in education, he also presents solutions. That's what we need: solutions. It will be an interesting read...when I actually get a chance to read it. How many days until summer vacation?

What's in the blog hopper?

The MANS conference is a gathering of non-public schools. This year it's held in Detroit at Cobo Hall. I was hoping I would bump into Kwame on Thursday during his return to Detroit where he stated he did not know if his wife had a job in the past year. Really? I didn't bump into Kwami, his wife's employer or any of his Texas security thugs. However, I did stroll around the hallways of Cobo. There has been much hubub about this place. The North American International Auto Show threatened to accelerate past Detroit for another venue. Is Cobo in such paltry condition that The NAIA would really go somewhere else?

With camera in hand, I'm about to find out.

Hopefully, I can get this story together quickly so A-Flu doesn't scoop me on this post.

A-Flu Called Out!

2009-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

So someone else is calling out A-Flu. Perhaps he's writing under another blogger alias. Perhaps he can't show his face after a miserable loss to MSU and a worse showing against Penn State. Perhaps he really has forgotten his password. Perhaps he's intimidated by the journalistic excellence of The North Star blog.

Perhaps he'll respond...

The Island is Getting Crowded

2009-10-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one that believes The Shack is dangerous tripe. Below is a letter to the editor from Rev. Terry Forke as published in the August 2009 issue of The Lutheran Witness. I'd enjoy hearing a rebuttal that doesn't sacrifice the inerrancy of Scripture or disregard The Great Commission.

"I am very thankful that Rev. Borst spent hours discussing The Shack with his members and did not leave them without guidance (May Lutheran Witness). This is a healthy pastoral response to such a popular book.

However, I am very concerned that he has underestimated the negative impact this book will have on believers and unbelievers alike. In that regard I have four, admittedly lengthy, questions.

What percentage of the readers of The Shack will allow themselves to be guided in their understanding of it by faithful pastors who are trained to discern the heresies that are contained in the book and acknowledged by Rev. Borst?

What percentage of its reader swill put down the book believing the following heresies? God goes by different names in different religions but is the same god (pp. 31and 181). The Bible is a means for the “intelligentsia” of the church to maintain control of people’s access to God (p. 65). That God does not punish sin (p. 119), nor does He want us to be sorry for it, nor does He want to forgive us for it (pp. 184and 206). God did not create the authority of parents, government,and the Church for the sake of order in the world; they are only means for people to maintain control of others (p. 179). The Scriptures are not necessary because the Holy Spirit prefers to speak directly to us (pp. 195 and 198). The primary function of Jesus is to demonstrate God’s willingness to interact with humans. His death and resurrection for our justification is not what is most important (entire book).

What would be the spiritual state of those who believe these heresies?

What percentage of its readers who end up in that state is acceptable in order for us to back this as a modern novel worthy of consideration?

Call me a hack if you will, but I would prefer to attack a book that, in my estimation, will lead the majority of its readers away from Jesus as the only means of salvation.

Rev. Terry Forke
Billings, Mont.

The Truth Project

2009-10-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent Issues Etc. broadcast discussing the strengths and weakness of The Truth Project. The Gospel must always dominate.

Share your toys...and your teachers?

2009-10-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Part Two
It seems this teacher sharing concept is a win/win for both schools. Public schools get to increase enrollment numbers, thus increasing per-pupil funding. The parochial school fills a non-core position without paying one dime. In this economy saving money matters.

One concern I have with the program has nothing to do with its immediate impact. Let's look past the curb, around the bend, down the road. Will parochial schools that use shared-teachers ever give them up voluntarily? Will parochial schools that haven't paid salary and benefits, suddenly start paying? Hmmm, I may not be a finance major but I have been to enough voters meetings to know the answer to that question.

Here's where my concern surfaces. What happens to the Concordia University Ann Arbor graduate who is majoring in physical education or art or computers? Those jobs are slowly diminishing because of this shared-teacher conundrum. So after four, but most likely five, years of attending a Concordia, graduates discover their jobs have been parcelled out to public school teachers?

The effects continue. How long will it be before Concordia computer teachers, art teachers and physical education teachers look to the future and find their future fuzzy? If Lutheran grade schools and high school, that support the Concordia University System, don't support its graduates with jobs, why would those students continue attending the Concordias?

Yes, that's a rhetorical question.

More concerns surface in the next chapter...edition...post.

Chapel Two

2009-10-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

I’m not a big fan of the real world concept. No, I’m not talking about that lame MTV reality show. I’m talking about the concept that the real world is out there and while you are here you are sheltered from it, protected from it, being prepared to enter it…As if there is this heavy black curtain and when you are leaving the confines of this school, we pull it back and kick you out into it. Have fun!

That’s the real world concept I’m talking about and I’m not a fan because it assumes this isn’t the real world. It assumes the real world’s problems don’t exist here. It assumes that because we all believe, and I’m not sure that all of us sitting in her believe this, but it assumes that because we all believe that Christ is the one, true Savior and the only way to heaven, that our eternity - our salvation is assured. This assumption, some believe, means this can’t be the real world.

So the real world’s problems don’t exist here? That’s funny because I know I heard students cursing today in the hallway. That’s funny because I know we treat each other like crud and worse. That’s funny because I know parties this year included North students drinking and using drugs. That’s funny because I know guys who have attended this school have gotten girls pregnant. That’s funny because I know girls who have attended this school have gotten pregnant. That’s funny because I know guys and girls who have attended this school believe pre-marital sex is a rite of passage or at least just something to do on the weekends and not something forbidden by our God and Creator who created sex as a gift of marriage.

So the real world’s problems don’t exist here? That’s funny because I know that despite our best intentions, our original sin, the sin that is genetically stamped on us at the moment of conception also severs us from the God who created us. In reality it’s not funny at all. It’s sin and as we all know the consequences of sin, the wages of sin is death eternal.

That’s why I’ve never bought into the idea that the real world is out there just... waiting…for…you.

No, the real world is right here, right now.

But maybe the idea is that out there, we are chastised and mocked and persecuted for our beliefs and in here…were not?

Really? Hmmm, the next time your friend says something like, “Hey, Beatrice come on over tonight, the premiere of Gossip Girls is on!” How about you respond with something like, “Hmmmm, Gossip Girls... Isn’t that the show about those rich teenage socialites living in New York, who are having sex with one another, while they drink, lie, use, cheat and steal their way through adolescence? You know, I’m not sure the God who created me, the God who sacrificed His Son for me would find that kind of entertainment pleasing. Thanks anyway.”

Or try running this one. This weekend as you attend various homecoming parties tell your friends you aren’t going to Franklin Magillicutty’s party because you know people will be drinking and using drugs and you might be tempted to drink and use or you just don’t think it’s God-pleasing or smart to attend any party where teenagers are drinking or using. Stuff happens and that stuff isn’t part of God’s plan for anyone’s life. Besides, tell them, part of the theme for this school year is to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and this is one sin that easily entangles so I’m throwing it off” So, thanks for the invitation but no thanks.

Yeah, run those. I’m sure people won’t call you a prude. In fact, I’m positive they won’t call you a prude, because those are words old “prudey” people like myself use. No, you won’t be called prude. It’ll be worse.

No, the real world is right here, right now.
The real world, with all its shame, sin, guilt, sorrow and eternal consequences is in here and there’s nothing we can do about it. Now I don’t mean there’s nothing we can do about it so jump into the sin hopper and hedonistically enjoy the worldly pleasures of life. No, there is nothing we can do to avoid God’s wrath because Christ has already done everything and the only thing that could be done about it. He took it upon Himself. He sacrificed his life so our lives could be filled with hope not hate, forgiveness not shame, righteous freedom not enslaved to sin.

Paul Kretzmann, a gifted writer and Lutheran theologian, commented on this life Christ has given us through His death on the cross: “Christ’s salvation is our salvation, because we were baptized into His death. By taking our sins upon Him and paying the full price for them by His suffering and death, Christ has delivered us not only from the guilt and punishment, but also from the power of sin. And since we have become Christ's own by Baptism and have been baptized into His death, we are delivered from the power of death; its authority and sovereignty over us is at an end."

I love that last line, “it’s authority and sovereignty over us is at an end.” Christ made sure our sins were absolved with His death. Christ made sure He became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so God, would see us as redeemed children of God, perfect in His sight. And because of Christ, that is exactly who we are. We are forgiven. We are cleansed. We are made whole again. We are transformed. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in Christ and it is Christ alone that saves us, Christ alone that redeems us, Christ alone that forgives us and Christ alone that grants us eternal life.

Yes, this is the real world with real sin and thankfully a real Savior that really saved us from all our sins so we can live in this real world with hope, forgiveness and the promise of eternal salvation all because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Yes, our sins are forgiven. Yes, we are saved. Yes, we rest in the assurance that salvation is ours. Yes we live or lives in response to the gift of eternal life found in the Gospel of Christ Jesus our Lord and No that doesn’t give us the freedom to sin because we are redeemed in Christ. In fact, that’s where Paul begins in chapter 6 of Romans. The glory of these verses is that God, through Paul, reveals the magnificence of Christ’s work and the righteous freedom we have because of it.

Romans 6
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace…17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for sending Christ into this real world of sin and redeeming us with His real body and blood which grants us real forgiveness and real salvation.
Amen

Share your toys...and your teachers?

2009-09-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

I’ll craft this in serial format as time allows.

Part One:
Theoretically, the teacher sharing is a good concept. Public school teachers who need a job can get one in a parochial and/or private school. The public school district uses its pay scale to pay the teacher’s salary and benefits. In return, the public school adds the parochial and/or private school’s enrollment to its total enrollment. Public school funding, based on a larger enrollment, allows public schools access to more money for its students. Shared teachers can be used in non-core classes like art, music, physical education, consumer science, honors and AP courses. The parochial and/or private school doesn’t pay one cent of the public school teacher’s salary.

Hmmmm, so far so good?

The Week Ahead

2009-09-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Life's been busy but two posts are in the hopper:

Now I know I'm old.

The not so silver lining of using shared time teachers from public schools in parochial schools.

Out of the hopper next week.

Micro Blogging at its Finest: North Star Tweets!

2009-09-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

Lutheran North's newspaper is branching out by jumping into the Twitter hype. Beginning tomorrow, you can get your NStar tweets for free. Sterling journalism by sterling high school journalists.

September 1st: My first chapel

2009-08-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

Lutheran North's theme for this year is from Hebrews 12:1-3:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

My first chapel is the second day of school. Any suggestions?

I'm leaning toward using some great insights by C.F.W. Walther, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s first president who wrote Law and Gospel a book that every LHN chapel speaker should read. I referenced Walther's passage in a previous post and it makes for good discussion and reveals the impotance of both Law and Gospel in our chapels, sermons and lives.

In his “Third Evening Lecture: on September 26, 1884” Walther quotes Luther,“These two points must be made: The Law creates a thirst and leads us to hell; the Gospel, however, satisfies the thirst and leads to heaven. The Law states what we must do, but that we have fallen short of doing it, no matter how holy we may be. Thus it produces uncertainty in me and arouses this thirst.”

Walther follows this Luther quote with, “Such a thirsty person must do only one thing: Drink, receive the comfort of the Gospel. How a truly thirsty person is refreshed by even one small glass of water! But if he is not thirsty, you may pour glass after glass down his throat, and it won’t do him any good, it won’t refresh him."

The quenching drink of the Gospel truly restores our souls. There is nothing more healing than the suave of Christ. Through His sacrifice our sins are forgiven, righteousness, salvation and mercy are ours.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. - John 1:29

Cash for Clunkers for Foreign Vehicles?

2009-08-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

I guess when I was shopping for a car nearly ten years ago; I should have had more insight to buy an American chunk of auto crud. Had I done this, I could have been fortunate enough to experience escalating maintenance bills, diminishing resale value and the loss of time I would have spent trekking back and forth to Bob’s American Auto Repair, whose motto is “You bought it so we’ll have to fix it. You call it a rolling money pit. We call it job security.” Yeah, that motto might not fit on a business card or in the cramped confines of a classified, but it’s accurate nonetheless.

Had I purchased an American chunk of auto crud I could also be turning my clunker in for a potential $4,500 payout that I could plop down for another American chunk of auto crud. You see, neither my 2000 Honda Accord nor my 1998 Honda Civic qualifies for the Cash for Clunkers program. Stupid me. What was I thinking?

No, ten years ago, I simply did my homework, read Consumer Reports, evaluated resale values and maintenance costs, played two dealers against each other and drove off the lot in a 2000 Honda Accord. Nearly 160,000 miles later, I’m still driving the stylish vehicle that was made in Marysville, Ohio. A geographical location, by the way, that is not Canada or Mexico.
The money I’ve saved in repair costs brings a smile to my financial face. However, I still feel I’m missing something with this Cash for Clunkers deal. If Obama is going to use my federal taxes to fund another stimulus program, I’d like a li’l somethin’/somethin’ out of it.

Years ago when I rolled off the lot driving a car that had the highest resale value, was voted the best sedan purchase, bested all competition in buyer satisfaction and safety, I should have known it was too good to be true. I should have know that if I’d purchased an American chunk of auto crud, I could have poured money into that purchase during the ensuing ten years and then qualified for a $4,500 rebate that I’m paying for anyway.
Stupid me. What was I thinking?

Side note: It’s interesting to see that four of the five cars being purchased with this CforC program are foreign cars. What are they thinking?

LEFT FIELD

2009-08-06T07:25:00.001-07:00

So far summer has been a bit cool in Michigan. Fear not, however, because the The Left Field staff is doing what it can to warm this place up. We may not be able to do anything about the actual weather but we can interview people who live in warmer climates and that's why our guest for this installment of Left Field is Assistant Pastor and youth director at St. Mark Lutheran Church in heat blistering Conroe, Texas.

There were over 800 young men and women who attended SOLA in Grand Rapids. Are you surprised by the turnout? We actually had 904 youth, pastors, and counsellors at SOLA Grand Rapids. We are always pleasantly surprised at what the Lord does. We had originally planned for the Grand Rapids conference to have over 1000 youth, but Calvin College had to take their main theater, which would’ve served as our chapel, offline for that week. This put us in the campus Chapel, which really was an unbelievable experience. While I'm sorry that we had to turn some groups away, I'm really really glad we were in the Chapel.

Does it seem a bit odd that this summer’s HT conference, SOLA was held on Calvin College’s campus? Nope. We've had conferences at Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and even non-denominational universities and chapels. When we arrive at a college, that campus becomes Lutheran for a week. And besides, at Calvin College, we were able to make all those predestination jokes!

The LCMS National Youth Gathering occurs once every three years. HT’s conferences occur every summer. Other than frequency, what differences exist between the two? I don't know about making comparisons with the NYG, I can only say that Higher Things serves a niche group of congregations that want to have the historic liturgy and substantial catechises for their youth. We challenge youth to “Dare to be Lutheran” and they never fail to amaze us!

My son came back from SOLA and has been telling stories about the conference since he returned. Why isn’t your HT fantasy baseball team dominating the league? First of all, I’d like to point out that I've won HT fantasy football two years in a row. Back to back! My fantasy baseball teams always fade during conferences when I seem to be a bit busy. There's still a bit of baseball left to play this season, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet on Pastor Zill to win this year.

Which disciple would have the most interesting tweets on Twitter? St. Matthias. I want to know what the Lord did through Him! Don't you?

You are the Assistant Pastor and youth director at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Conroe, Texas. For those interested in pursuing youth ministry as a vocation, what should they know? I didn't know a thing about youth ministry when I got here. Not a thing! The most important thing to do is to remember that it's the WORD that saves young people (James 1:21, 1 Tim. 4:16).

Next year’s HT’s conference, GIVEN will be in Logan, Utah and Memphis, Tennessee. How do you pick the locations for these conferences? We use a map, some darts, and a blindfold (grin). After we repair the holes in my wall, we try to spread the conferences throughout different regions of the United States to give more young people an opportunity to attend a Higher Things conference. I would expect that in a few years, we would start repeating sites again.

Excluding God’s Holy Word, what one book should be read by every student at some point during the high school years? Luther's Large Catechism.

What’s your favorite hymn? Why? I love teaching hymns to young people and to my congregation. After I became a Lutheran, my favorite hymn was “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” (LSB 442). Now, my favorite hymn changes based upon the season and the year! It would have to be between “Lo, He comes with Clouds Descending” (LSB 336) or “Of the Father's Love Begotten,” (LSB 384) or “Oh Love, How Deep,” (LSB 544) or “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” (LSB 458), and “Our Paschal Lamb” (LSB 473). Right now, I'm really jazzed about the Given conference hymn, “O God, O Lord of Heav'n and Earth” (LSB 834) by Martin Franzmann. I love any hymn that is supposedly too hard to sing!

As a high school English teacher, I want my students to treasure good literature: Hamlet, Huck Finn, Crime and Punishment, The Book Thief, “Once More to the Lake” et al. What literary treasure were you forced to read, in either high school, college or even the seminary, and just never enjoyed? Never enjoyed? I never enjoyed Count of Monte Cristo. I absolutely love Shakespeare.

Pop Flies:

LSU or UofM football? Geaux Tigers! I grew up five minutes from LSU. I used to do my older brother's chores to get his football tickets from him. I graduated from LSU in 1996.
LSU football or the CWS champions LSU baseball? I would trade six LSU baseball champions for another LSU football championship. Yet, I have all six of the LSU championship baseball and both football championship front pages from the Baton Rouge Newspaper framed in my study. There's hardly any room for Jesus pictures. Does that make me an idol worshiper? (grin)
The Spirituality of the Cross by Gene Veith or Why I am a Lutheran by Daniel Preus? The Spirituality of the Cross.
San Antonio or Grand Rapids? GRRRRRR! That's really not fair. I'm not Going to Reveal that to you! I'll Get in tRouble! I can only Give you a Really small hint.
Law or Gospel? The Gospel (after the Law has been properly preached)!
The Tour de France or the annual LSU/Florida grid-iron grudge match? LSU vs. anyone. A better question would be, “The Tour de France” or “LSU losing to Florida.” That would be a push.
Free-range chicken or the 6-piece McNugget meal? I've never had free-range chicken!
Star Wars or Star Trek? BOTH! That makes me a geek, right?
Windows or Linux? Linux so much that I finally bought a Mac. It was really sad when the most-read post on my blog was a how-to-guide on how to install Linux on my Dell!
Nolan Ryan or Stan Musial? “Stan the Man” was my father's favorite player.
Blogs or Twitter? Twitter! Micro-blogging is so much easier than actual blogging.

1984 Redux

2009-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

This summer I revisited Orwell's 1984 and decided to add it back into the AP Lit. curriculum. It's a good companion piece for Crime and Punishment, Hamlet, and Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. I chuckled at the recent censoring story that involved a pirated copy of 1984 and Kindle.

Ahhh, technology, censorship and Big Brother...just another reason I will never own a GPS contraption.

Kentucky Bluegrass is not Arsenic

2009-08-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Dead leaf bits. Arsenic. Grass clippings. Ebola virus.

What do all these have in common with each other? Your knee jerk reaction might be nothing. Arsenic and grass clippings couldn’t possibly be related. However, based on the motorized, gas combustion noise makers in my neighborhood, you would think leaf bits possess the same toxic properties. Why else do people spend hours blowing nature’s refuse, grass clippings and dirt off the road or sidewalk?
It’s dirt.
I like a well-manicured lawn. Dark rows of freshly-edged lawns lining the sidewalk show owners care. Mowed lawns are fragrant and visually pleasing.

"We both looked at the grass—there was a sharp line where my ragged lawn ended and the darker, well-kept expanse of his began." -from Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, arguably my favorite novel.

While the strident cacophony of motorized lawn implements proves the industrial revolution was effective, it does nothing for a peaceful summer night. People need to heed Mary Shelly’s advice. She vilified Victor Frankenstein for transcending the moral boundaries of nature. Victor’s life and family were decimated because of his hubris. An August 1, 2009, translation is that just because Wal*Mart is offering the technologically superior edger/mower/trimmer/nose-wiper at a 30% discount in aisle 3, doesn’t mean you should ruin the auditory euphoria in your neighborhood.

Late Start Mondays With The Cap'n

2009-07-28T06:16:00.001-07:00

Apparently, there is some hubbub about the lack of Late Start Mondays for the 2009 2010 school year. Boys must have their hair cut and not styled above the eyes. Girls have to wear a crew neck t-shirt under everything. Belts must be worn. Final exams are after Christmas vacation this year. Now, no Late Start Mondays? What’s next, no fries for lunch?

Actually, students and parents should thank LHN for expunging LSMs from the calendar. I’m not sure if you noticed but cereal boxes have decreased in size. Costs, however, have remained the same. It’s subtle, Orwellian marketing at its finest. No, the Cap’n has not lost weight on his corn syrup diet: the box is smaller. The price isn’t any higher but there are fewer berries to crunch in your Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries.

By abolishing LSMs, North is making cereal boxes bigger. Approximately, there are thirty-seven Mondays, multiply those by the additional forty minutes with NSMs and we just added twenty-four hours of instruction time this year. All of this comes at no increased cost to parents. Hello, 36 on the ACT! Hello, MIT. Goodbye, Fallback Plan-MSU.

Other than the decision to place final exams after Christmas vacation, I like all the changes. The economy is tough and we all have to live within our means. Increasing instruction time, while not increasing tuition is like buying one pair of shoes and getting the second free or seeing the Tigers win a game in 18 innings or witnessing the Lions’ first……

Sorry, I surrendered to my giddy emotions.

More is not always better; sometimes it’s just more. Supersizing the trans-fats and calories is not better because it’s more. It’s gluttony. However, in this case, more education is better for a lot of reasons and one just happens to be that you won’t be paying more for more.

Stay-Cation Day Three: Touring the D

2009-07-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Detroit: Monica Conyers. Kwami-Felon-Kilpatrick. Mary Waters. Martha Rose-Reeves. Synagro. Bernard Kilpatrick. Sam Riddle. 0-16.

Unfortunately, the list is long. However, we countered that list by visiting some bright spots in Detroit on Stay-Cation Day Three: Rocky Peanut Company. Eastern Market. John King Used and Rare Books. The Ellwood Bar and Grill.

Day Three found us in the D enjoying just a portion of this city’s bounty. For those who reside north of Hall Road, allay your fears. There are great places in Detroit. We journeyed over to Eastern Market on a weekday. Some of the shops were open but it wasn’t the open-air extravaganza I was anticipating. We’ll have to visit some Saturday morning to sample all the Eastern Market wares. We did, however, roll into Rocky Peanut Company. Chocolate covered cherries, malted milk balls, cashews, pure cherry pie filling from Traverse City, cinnamon-roasted walnuts and coffee so flavorful you’d swim in it if you could were just a few delights in this Eastern Market store.

If you are a bibliophile or just looking for an adventure visit King Books on Fifth and W. Lafayette in Detroit. This four-story used and rare book repository is incredible. Sure, I teach English so I would naturally enjoy King Books. It’s not just the books, however, that are intriguing. The helpful and friendly faces that greet you upon entering this word-palace will ensure a rewarding experience. The creaking of any one of the four wood floors soothes your mind as you browse row, after row, after row, after row of books. The hand-written aisle markers prove an actual person who lives, breathes and cares for books, has taken the time to guide your literary discoveries. The strings hanging from overhead lights are yours to turn on and off when needed. This doesn’t happen in those big box stores with their antiseptic white lights, processed foods and overpriced, over hyped and over consumed liquid clichés. The building, the sounds, the smells and the people are as rich as the books housed in this literary coffer. If I take my AP Lit class to a play at the Bonstelle this year, we will make a secondary stop at King Books. I picked up a copy of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. If you attended Wulf-a-Thon, it was this translation you heard. I also picked up Robert Fitzgerald’s translation of Virgil’s The Aeneid. Willa Cather quotes The Aeneid quite often in My Antonia, using it to reveal Jim Burden’s growing maturity. I’ve only read portions of this epic and in the waning days of summer, I’ll read the entire work. Besides, I need a replacement for Wulf-aThon and this might be it. If you like words on pages sandwiched between soft or hard covers, if you like history, if you like a literary treasure map, if you like the peppery smell of age-ripened books, if you like to visit with people who share similar interests or who just share smiles, if you like to control the amount of light in your book aisle, if you like the creaking of wide-plank, wood floors, if you like the various urban views from any of the four floors, you will love King Books.

We couldn’t hope to best our King Book experience, so we enjoyed a burger and fries at the Elwood Diner across from Ford Field. The only time I’ve seen this place in action is when it’s teeming with chain-smoking drunks hanging out before or after a game in Detroit. The throng of revelers always stirred anxiety. Would all of these people be driving home? Could Obama’s proposed health care plan cover all the ensuing emphysema and lung-related ailments likely to originate from this establishment? However, on a comfortable afternoon and no crowds, The Elwood Diner was the perfect place for an afternoon lunch on the streets of Detroit.

Good reading and good eating made for a good day.

800 Reasons Why SOLA Is Vital

2009-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

At first I thought the twinge was from the onion ring I was munching at The Elwood Bar and Grill during Stay-Cation Day Three (to be published Friday). I realized, however, the twinge was guilt. Aaron is a Christ on Campus Volunteer counselor at the Higher Things Conference in Grand Rapids this week and he hasn’t experienced any of the Stay-Cation excitement. That twinge immediately left when I saw the list of speakers and topics that he, and more than 800 high school students, would experience during the week. Check out this article published in the Grand Rapids Press.

Here are some of the in-depth sectionals the students and counselors will experience and here are some of some of the breakaway sessions they will hear throughout the week.

Follow the live Twitter feeds from the conference.

What a rich opportunity these young men and women have to increase their knowledge of God’s Word. Too often, unfortunately, people think young men and women can’t handle much beyond Veggie Tales or poorly crafted fiction loosely based on somebody's emotional reaction to life. Some believe students are not interested in a sound study of God’s Word. Fearing a dearth of excitement, application or relevancy we let false prophets like Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, William Young, Rob Bell and whatever or whoever the instructional fad of the month happens to be, teach our children. Funny, we don’t give students a steady diet of Dr. Seuss, and nursery rhymes in high school and call it an AP literature class. We don’t stop math instruction after they’ve mastered addition. We don't teach students 2+2=5. We don’t let an apple fall from a tree, tell students it’s gravity and walk away.

These young men and women take AP Physics, AP Calculus, AP/Honors/Advanced Thermonuclear Plasticity Conduction Analysis; they can handle a sound, challenging study of God’s Word. Higher Things proves that and these young men and women reap the benefits about understanding what Christ crucified means to them and the world they live in. If only more youth groups, chapels and Bible studies were as diligent and as theologically sound as the speakers and sectionals found at Higher Things.

Stay-Cation: Day Two:

2009-07-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Country shopping, Harrison and a dream deferred:

Like hordes of other Michiganders, the Brandt contingent headed north. First stop: Pride and Country. Just north of Frankenmuth on M-46 are a couple of barns filled to the rafters with country items. If your country-decorating mind can envision it, Pride and Country sells it in one of its three barns and converted house. A stop at P&C usually means I catch up on my reading. However, I didn’t want to be the Stay-Cation ogre so I strolled the grounds. Beyond the various wallpaper and border options, beyond the antique window lights, beyond the place settings that Ma Ingals probably used to set the homestead table, beyond the farm implements that Pa Ingals used to break the sod, was the most inviting, comfortable, overstuffed chair I have ever laid eyes on or buns in. Usually, I’m not that ecstatic about country tables, couches or plates but this chair was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. This overstuffed body glove, promised great naps, great reads, great comfort. Actually, I should be typing this blog post from this delicately woven haven from heaven but it wouldn’t fit in my car or in my wallet.

Stop two on this Sta-Cation tour was Harrison, Michigan to visit my mom. We always drive by Wilson State Park and I’m baffled about why people choose to camp there. I’m a camper and nothing beats living in the remote wilderness for a few days: no electricity, no television, no cable, no satellite dish, no droning machines blowing grass bits into the street. Wilson State Park is five feet from the road, with only a chain-link fence separating the campers from Harrison residents. How can you call it camping when out your tent window you can see a flea market, McDonald’s, a pet salon and Jack’s Tree Stump Removal/Manicure Shop? I might as well throw up the tent in the Hall Road midway and name it Brandt State Park.

I’ve been plagued for years by one dream: Stevenson Lake is now a shallow puddle and the cottages I visited as a youth no longer exist. I always wake depressed after this recurring dream. As a youngster I learned how to water-ski, fish and dodge barn swallows on this small inland lake. Kid Stupid can shriek all he wants about summertime in northern Michigan, but Stevenson Lake was my summer paradise. E.B. White crafted “Once More to the Lake”, an essay where he reflects on his boyhood summers spent on a lake and the bittersweet changes he sees now that he’s an adult. If you’ve ever spent any time in a summer cottage on a peaceful lake, immediately stop reading this blog post and read E.B. White’s essay. Charlotte may have magically webbed “some pig” but after reading this account you will know this was “some lake.” I digress.
While touring nearby Clare, I decided to find Stevenson Lake and rid my sub conscience of these haunting images. I found it magically preserved. Former seasonal cottages were now year-round houses, but the lake was the same, complete with meandering docks and makeshift diving boards perched atop rafts. The glint of the water was still mesmerizing and the green darkness across the lake still mysteriously intriguing.

"Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet fern and the juniper forever and ever, summer without end; this was the background, and the life along the shore was the design, the cottages with their innocent and tranquil design, their tiny docks with the flagpole and the American flag floating against the white clouds in the blue sky, the little paths over the roots of the trees leading from camp to camp and the paths leading back to the outhouses and the can of lime for sprinkling, and at the souvenir counters at the store the miniature birch-bark canoes and the post cards that showed things looking a little better than they looked. This was the American family at play..."

Needless to say, I slept well at the close of Stay-Cation Day Two.

Stay-Cation: Day One

2009-07-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

We winnowed The Brandt Family Vacation of ’09 from a posh retreat on the beaches of Guam to some local haunts closer to home. While Aaron is a counselor at the Higher Things Youth Conference, we are sampling some regional activities.
StayCation Day One: The Detroit Zoo.
It’s been some time since I’ve visited the zoo. To me animals are animals, fish are fish, penguins are smelly and paying $4.00 for a cup of Dip’n Dots are not really the components of a memorable vacation. However, recent events have renewed my interest. First, the zoo’s water tower is no longer desecrated with “Detroit Mayor, Kwami L. Kilpatrick.” His name was removed shortly after he was handed his prison garb.

Second, a fairly recent exhibit caught my attention: The Arctic Ring of Polar Bear Fire…or something like that. After meandering through a Habitrail-like maze that would be the envy of gerbils everywhere, visitors walk through a glass tunnel and see polar bears swim over top. As skeptical as I am, this was an inspiring sight. It was much better than the Chimpanzee fiasco - more on that later - and the visual spectacle of power, grace and beauty made my dollar-an-ounce Dip’n Dots purchase somewhat more palatable.
Strolling the grounds of the zoo with my daughter and wife, I realized it is so much easier to enjoy the zoo without battling young children. Back in the day the young Brandt brood was more interested in ants swarming over discarded gum-goo, than the rare three-striped, nocturnal, two-tailed, carnivores aardvark. I didn’t have to make the sound, or even make up the sound, of each beast. My endurance was in overdrive because I didn’t exhaust myself pushing a forty-pound stroller packed with enough goods to successfully cross the Mexican border. It was enjoyable to walk up to an exhibit, look for the animals, chumpanzees excluded, and simply watch.
Since this is the forty-year anniversary of the alleged moon landing, I find the zoo’s chimpanzees a fitting parallel. Never, in all my visits to this place, have I seen one living being in that forsaken field the Detroit Zoo calls its chimpanzee exhibit. Never. Once, after spending .25 cents on a viewfinder and meticulously scanning the dry brush for signs of primate life, I saw a figure dart out from under a log and into a bush clump. With heart racing and eyes widening, I focused on my target hoping to spot the ever-elusive chimpanzee. My hopes vanished when a brown squirrel scampered across the grass with what appeared to be a cotton candy cone in his mouth. Exotic? Yes. Chimpanzee? No. The exhibit is marketing hype. The only chimpanzee near that zoo is the artists’ illustration on a plaque outside the wooden fence. I bet there have never been any chimps and we are the chumps.

The exhibit opens up with great fanfare. People flock to see the primates in a fabricated natural environment. Nothing. No movement. No chimp sounds. No tree swinging. Nothing. A zoo expert claims they must be on the other side of the hill, or sleeping or privately eating. I don’t disagree. I believe they are doing all these things in a field in the middle of Chimpville, but not at the Detroit Zoo! To appease the tourists’ disappointment a gift shop, complete with chimps that coo, hop, wink and swing, is strategically placed across the walkway. Sanity is restored. Kids are happily playing with their cuddly chimp and parents enjoy a fleeting moment of peace.

Twenty-Five years later...

2009-07-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

In August I’ll begin my twenty-fifth year of teaching. Yipes! That was a quick quarter of a century. Sure, life is different today: less hair, more experience, a beautiful family and some great memories. Life is also similar: I still love teaching.

Twenty five reasons I still love teaching:

1. They may not tight-roll their pants any more. Thankfully they quit wearing neon colors and hairstyles that look like a frazzled fountain spilling out the side of their head, but students still want to learn, appreciate challenges and they still make me laugh.
2. Watching students use a notebook to cover their face when they are trying to talk to somebody. This is the most unnatural pose I’ve ever seen. Nothing says, “Hey, teacher, I’m not listening to you right now because I want to know if Johnny likes me or really, really likes me” like the old face-to-the-folder trick.
3. Hearing that former students are graduating from college, getting married and having children.
4. Buying school clothes at the end of each summer.
5. The prep/lunch hour combination. Enjoying nearly sixty-seven minutes of uninterrupted time.
6. Homecoming. I’ve amassed plenty of years and enjoy seeing student faces return with their families. Although the graduation years are a bit fuzzy, I still remember most of the names.
7. Great friendships I’ve developed with colleagues over the years.
8. Watching former students become colleagues. Who would have guessed that Pastor Ball, a hoopster on my first basketball team at Lutheran North, would become a colleague and trusted friend? Who would have thought that Ryan Wesley, another hoopster on one of my basketball teams, would be living on my block in The Clem and occasionally cart my carcass to school?
9. Watching former students become my boss. Who knew that Kevin Murawski, the lanky hoopster from Armada, would become the varsity girls’ basketball coach and I would be a freshman coach in his program?
10. Othello: It’s my favorite Shakespeare play of all time. Nothing beats when I dressed as Othello and was the class’ guest speaker for the day.
11. Vacations. Because of its frenetic pace, the time spent away from school is so enjoyable. I love what I do and what I do helps me love vacations even more.
12. Being blessed with the opportunity to teach my own children. They claim I’m not funny. I might even believe them if they didn’t work so hard at not smiling during class. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.” – Gertrude in Willy Shak’s, Hamlet.
13. Making high school students laugh while learning. Learning can be/must be challenging, applicable, arduous and enjoyable.
14. “Let’s play, let’s pretend you do know.”
15. Learning of a snow day the night before school. I sleep so much better.
16. My nervous anxiety on the first day of every year. I’m still nervous on day one. I’d have it no other way.
17. Watching students get out of the car on day one. They act like they’re too cool and don’t need to kiss mom goodbye, but inside they know caring parents provide stability and security. We know it too and that’s why we’re there to pick them up and drop them off the next day. Drop off. Pick up. Repeat.
18. A Separate Peace. It’s my favorite novel to teach. I love the adolescent fear of the future juxtaposed with the loss of the past. John Knowles’ use of description, foreshadowing and characterization are enjoyable to read each year and exciting to introduce to a fresh flock of faces.
19. Tim Hardy’s chapels. I don’t know how he does it but Tim finds the perfect blend of Law and Gospel while preaching Christ crucified in an engaging, powerful manner. Tim’s messages are relevant because the enduring forgiveness, hope and eternal life we have in Christ, is the foundation and forefront of every one of his chapels. I wish more speakers would use his template.
20. Getting students to analyze, think, deduce and synthesize on their own. Watching students learn they have the ability to think critically about literature and life. Too often, student thought has been silenced through drill and kill exercises in futility, factual recall, word searches and mindless assignments. Guiding students to think takes work but when students realize they possess critical thinking skills, confidence blooms.
21. Discovering a new book to teach: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Amusing Ourselves to Death, The Book Thief.
22. Fall. The air is crisp and my sweater vests are finally in season.
23. Friday night football and basketball. During North’s old Wrigley-field like era, I used to love watching football on Saturday afternoons. I was skeptical of the light poles and their electrically charged Illumination. Soon, however, the excitement of a chilly Friday night was more appealing than road kill on a Texas highway. Being in a gym watching hoops on a Friday night is relaxing and a cheap date.
24. Reading a new book that discusses new methods of teaching. I would never go to a doctor who quit learning. I don’t need Dr. Learn-no-More to throw leaches on my knee because it hurts. Teaching is no different. We never stop learning and as teachers we can’t afford to stop reading about different strategies.

25. The blessed responsibility and privilege of daily sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to young men and women. Students have so many questions about gerunds, gravitational forces, algebraic formulas, shading techniques, and debit columns. They have just as many questions about their faith and their Savior. The Lord has blessed me with a vocation that allows me to remind students that because of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice on the cross our sins are cleansed and salvation is ours.

Flu-like symptoms

2009-06-17T06:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. I think I've contracted some flu-like disorder. It's not the Crow Flu, Avian Flu or even H1N1. It's a writer's malady diagnosed as A-Flu. The deadly symptoms are an inability to craft blog posts. Hopefully, with enough chicken noodle soup, rest and a good quill my creative literary powers will be restored.

My Last Chapel: Wordled

2009-06-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a web site that takes text and artistically arranges it. The words most used are the largest. I wordled the chapel I gave on June 1. The results are interesting.
I used Matthew 28:17-19 as my text. Actually, I wanted to use this text for my penultimate chapel but I asked Pastor Bagnal from St. Luke Lutheran Church in Clinton Township to give chapel so I used the text this past Monday. I've Wordled other chapels and it's interesting to see what words are used the most. As chapel speakers our responsibility is to present God's Holy Word in all its truth and purity. We need to reveal the condemnation of the Law and the glorious, unconditional grace of the Gospel. That's it. Students and staff must leave rejoicing with the robes of righteousness given to them through Christ's atoning sacrifice. So when I look at the Wordle graphic it was comforting to see Christ was the word most often used. However, that doesn't mean it was a good chapel. Reverend Todd Wilken, of Issues Etc., has a great sermon diagnostic that I've discussed in previous blogs and use every time I give chapel or listen to a sermon:

1) Is Christ mentioned? 2) Is Christ the subject of the verbs? 3) If Christ is the subject of the verbs what is he doing?

That diagnostic helps me avoid presenting Law as Gospel, Gospel as Law. It also helps me avoid presenting Christ as a pal, chum, compadre, or chingu rather than as our sin-forgiving, eternal-life-granting Savior.

George will preach environmental truth

2009-06-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

George Will's latest column reveals the real truth behind the environmental push. Before you label me some gas-guzzling, non-earth caring, ruin-the-world-as-fast-as-we-can, madcap; please understand that we do need to be stewards of all that God, our Lord and Creator, the author and perfecter of our faith, has given us.

Read George Will's column. He exposes the undercurrent of hubris often found in environmentalism.

Baptists Speak Out: Lutherans Embrace

2009-06-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

I recently read David Cloud's review of The Shack. (Click the link. Cloud's review is interesting.) David Cloud writes articles for Fundamental Baptist Information Service located in Port Huron, Michigan. Christian News, an excellent source of insightful truth, recently published Cloud's review.

If find it interesting that Cloud, a Baptist, speaks out against The Shack but many LCMS churches embrace the book and favorably recommend it to their parishioners.

The other day in my English class we were viewing student PowerPoint presentations. The students e-mailed me their files so I was using my school computer to display the presentations. After closing one file the title page of this blog was on the screen. Several students quickly recognized The Shack illustration.

One commented, "The Shack. Can we read that for our AP summer read?"

Another said, "The Shack. Oh, I love that book."

Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

Young minds who lack discernment, because they lack instruction, because they have been fed heapings of false prophets like Rick Warren

and ___________________ (insert cool preacher du-jour here), who also believe that denominational differences involving baptism, the Lord's Supper and God's inerrant Word should be ignored, read this tripe without discernment. That's dangerous.

Hey, here's an idea. Instead of embracing all the false prophets and their false teachings, use the books to speak out against the dangers of these ideas and how they clash with God's Word. “Go and make disciples of all people: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have commanded you.” (emphasis mine).

Common sense would seem to dictate that all people should know about the dangers of these books instead of embracing and promotingusing them.