Fear and Blessing
1/ the Promise of Blessedness (Psalm 128:1)
Blessed
is every one
who fears the LORD,
who walks in His ways.
2/ Daily Book of Concord Reading
with Pastor Gudim, here on Substack:
3/ The Metaverse a Hell-on-Earth
I’m nervous that the church is not prepared to mount a helpful argument against the metaverse. Here’s a place for use to start:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/how-the-metaverse-will-create-a-virtual-hell-on-earth/
4/ St Augustine on the Word Made Flesh
The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born in time for us. He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day for His human birth. In the bosom of His Father He existed before all the cycles of ages; born of an earthly mother, He entered upon the course of the years on this day.
The Maker of man became man
that He, Ruler of the stars, might be nourished at the breast;
that He, the Bread, might be hungry;
that He, the Fountain, might thirst;
that He, the Light, might sleep;
that He, the Way, might be wearied by the journey;
that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses;
that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge;
that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust;
that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips;
that He, the Foundation, might be suspended upon a cross;
that Courage might be weakened;
that Security might be wounded;
that Life might die.To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man in these recent years. He did this although He who submitted to such great evils for our sake had done no evil and although we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to merit these benefits.
St. Augustine, Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons, Trans. Sister Mary Sarah Muldowney, R.S.M., Vol. 38 in The Fathers of the Church, ed. Roy Joseph Deferrari (New York: Fathers of the Church, Inc.), p. 28.
5/ The Christmas Truce
There are incredible stories from WWI about the soldiers celebrating Christmas together. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the church is where all people find a family.
Here’s a great commercial, but you can dig into the history here.
6/ Bible Reading Plan
Posting this against as a reminder: here’s the Rightly Divided Bible Reading Plan: https://rightlydividedbible.wordpress.com/about/
Remember to go to your pastor's Bible Class this week and, read old theology books. (If you don't have a pastor or congregation, click here. If you don't have old theology books, click here.)
If you find this helpful, forward it to a friend. If this was forwarded to you, click here to sign-up for yourself.
Thank you, again, for your time and attention, and for your prayers. Please keep in touch.
Lord's Blessings, Pastor Wolfmueller
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Click here to support the cause. Thanks!
From the website:
Books | Everbook | YouTube | website | certificates
Commenting on 5/ The Christmas Truce, to me it shows that the Christian soldiers fighting in the world wars were sinning, because they chose to obey Caesar rather than Jesus, who commanded us to love our Christian brothers and sisters. Personally I believe that the only wars Christians can fight are those against countries with minimum Christian populations, like Japan, Korea, China, Israel, Muslim countries, etc. Or against those who calling themselves Christian chose to attack first, like in the 30 years war, they can be considered apostates and be fought back.
St Augustine was very thorough and comprehensive. Here’s looking forward to another year of What Not’s. Thank you for all your hard work.