Carl Setzer

Recently, one of my friends was given the following request: stay away from our church until he could be/act "more Christian". Gads, such statements frustrate me. Really, what is that supposed to mean? I expect this is about being more cheerful, dopey happy, carefree nonsense. Bleh! People of faith wrestle with pain, sadness, depression, anger and anguish. God meets us where we are, not in this fantasy la-la land. Yeah, we're supposed to be battering the world with our hammers of righteousness, rubbing those wretched sinners noses in how revolting we sanctimonious babblers find them. Bah, I say; refusing that path as empty and vacuous, ultimately destructive. I stand with the broken, the sinner, the struggling, as best as I'm able, for that's me, too. 

Listen for music's zeitgeist. Harmonics: voices intersecting, creating sounds not uttered, rather vibrations overlapping, the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Music offers us so very much, should we choose to listen. We may learn the value of each voice, whether frantically busy or quietly adding structure, all critical to the audio portrait of a piece. Each pitch and tone crucial to the landscape. Silencing one changes the whole. We must learn to value voices equally. This summarizes the commandment to love. Namaste!

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind. We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Perhaps somewhat sacrilegious (ok, ok...nuke the "somewhat"), but I found this hysterical. I wonder, though, if they've made any money.

I received a lovely email from the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) news service, which just got me in a tizzy: LCMS President Responds to ELCA Task Force Recommendation, Statement 09-053-MRC (full text here) . I'm just amazed at this fellow's arrogance. "Kieschnick also reminded LCMS members of a resolution passed by the church's 2001 convention that the LCMS "cannot consider (the ELCA) to be an orthodox church body," but "we of the LCMS recognize that many of our brothers and sisters of the ELCA remain faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we resolve to reach out to them in love and support." I know it will shock Mssr. Kieschnick that there are people of thoughtful, prayer-filled, and committed Christians that are in support of the ELCA's decision and direction (I am one of them). I, for one, am surprised that anyone can study the path of Jesus and subscribe to this anti-gay mindset. Just because there is a 2,000+ y...

One of my blogging colleagues wrote recently about issues she's having with her (Episcopal) parish priest. Now, I spent many years working for a church and have a somewhat unique, perhaps skewed, perspective. Anyway, issues within a congregation are always particularly painful. Consider one key point, if you will. People feel an intense attachment to their congregations, to the buildings. This is, at its core, not only good but essential. However, at times it can cause anguish. Messing with components of worship really becomes messing with the core of people's identity, with their relationship with the divine. If not dealt with well, you are telling those you disagree with that their relationship with God is somehow wrong. Not very priestly, or pastoral in any sense. It's quite critical for clergy (in particular, but not excluded to them) to keep this in mind lest they harm their flock. The "my way or the highway" mentality may work for leading a Republican congr...