Miss Z came again for a visit, this time bringing her little sister so that, in her words, that I could take a nap since she would have someone to play with.  Once we arrived home, she took M all about the house, pointing out everything to her, and admonished her not to pet Kashi when he has he ears back.  She finished her tour by showing M how to lay back in the green chair.  What a caring, brilliant young thing she is!

Many people comment how my house is not kid-friendly, even though I have removed my demi-tasse cup collection and greatly reduced the chotzkies.   True, each time Bettina and her cherubs arrive, something else is broken.  But Z and M are used to making do, to playing, not merely passing time with toys.  Z oriented M to the basket of beanie babies, the third-world musical instruments, all my canes, and the all important secret stash of chocolate in the silver teapot.  They also played with my back-scratcher, my mini-step, my bosu half-ball, and my guitar.  It is getting harder to hold the latter even when I am sitting, so last week I dug out the strap for it.  Z announced that I had made a good decision in adding the strap because it was easier for her to play now!  Of course, what makes my heart sing is that Z treats my books as if they are treasures, carefully holding them and gently turning the pages.  Just as Kashi likes to distribute his babies about the house, Z likes to distribute book so that she "can have one handy."

All three of us snuggled on the couch, watching movies.  Being squished was so wonderful!  We also took Kashi for a walk--Z insisted on holding the leash for me--and hung out at the park for an hour.  I was so very exhausted when we got back, but cracked up when Z insisted on teaching M how to ride the stone lions on my porch before we went back inside.

What cracks me up about her as a reader is that she does not wish for me to read to her in the "chapter" book this six-year-old is reading:  The Frog and Toad treasury, all four books together.  In the car, she asked me how far I had gotten in it.  I told her I had read it many times and started reciting one of my favorite stories.  She held up her hand and asked me to stop.  "I'm not there yet!" she admonished me rather severely.

M, at three, narrates her every activity.  Unless she is sleeping, she simply does not shut up.  I, too, find that humorous, but I can imagine it could be wearying with her mother.  Her speech is excellent, with a wide, wide vocabulary, so all that practice is clearly beneficial.

Once again, Z asked me if it was bedtime, her way of announcing she should probably go to sleep.  Her sister was excited about sleeping in the "hotel room," Z's name for the bedroom suite I created in the basement when I bought the house.  I followed them downstairs, tucked them beneath the covers, and kissed both their foreheads.  M then told me to turn out the light and Z told me she would see me in the morning.  I imagine many parents are jealous of me just now, so easy it is to put D's children to bed.


~~~~
I would like to say that after giving up several times on the preface, I finally plowed through it and started reading Krauth's The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology.  Pastor W said it was "just soooooooooo good."  I think that was an understatement.

He opens with painting a portrait of that obscure, normal, unremarkable day when Luther pinned his 95 thesis to the door.  I was there, following his every word.  Such passion.

He then emphasized the importance of remembering, teaching, and understanding the magnitude of that day.

Our Church, as clearly, in one sense, the mother of the Reformation, as, in another, she is its offspring, the first and for a time, the exclusive possessor of the name Protestantism, it source and its mightiest bulwark, our Church has wisely set apart a day in each year to commemorate this great deliverance, and wisely kept her great Jubilees.  There are other ways of noting time, besides by its loss.  The Church Festivals note it by it gains, the Church Year marks the time which has been redeemed forever.  An old writer describer the Church of All-Saints at Wittenberg, as a manager, where in his lowly glory the Son of God was born again.  Blessed forever be the day!  On it, through all time, men shall gather, bringing their offerings of praise; remembering, treasuring, and keeping untarnished, the holy faith whose restoration was thus begun.  (3)

Yes, I noted the use of "restoration."  See, I am not the only one  who looks at Luther's work as a restoring work.

There are other ways of noting time, besides by its loss.  The Church Festivals note it by it gains, the Church Year marks the time which has been redeemed forever.   Noting time by gains.  Redeemed forever.  While I still am very unlearned regarding the Church Year, I am thankful we have this calendar to teach, to remind us of all that we have been given.

Let her [the Church] [Festival of the Reformation].  In the pulpit, and the school, and the circle of the home, let these great memories of men of God, of their self-sacrifice, of their overcoming faith, and of their glorious work, but the theme of thought, and of word, and of thanksgiving.  The Festival of the Reformaspeak to her children then, and tell them the meaning of the day tion is at once a day of Christmas and of Easter and of Pentecost, in our Church year; a day of birth, a day of resurrection, a day of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.  Let its return renew that life, and make our Church press on with fresh vigor in the steps of her risen Lord, as one begotten again, and born from the dead, but the quickening power of the Spirit of her God.  Let every day be a festival of the Reformation, and every year a Jubilee. (4)

At once Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost!  Every day a Festival of the Reformation, every year a Jubilee!  Good advice, don't you think?

I like his words speak to her children then, and tell them the meaning of the day.  Something that I have encountered amongst my new Lutheran brothers and sisters is that much of their heritage has not been taught to them.  They have been raised in Word and Sacrament, but not in the Symbols of their faith (no systematic study of the Book of Concord).  Too, I have found many who have never been taught about private confession/absolution.  They know not what it is; they do not understand the riches of the freedom, the mercy, the love of having the Word of forgiveness spoken over them, to lay their sins before an undershepherd, have them wiped clean, and given words of comfort in their struggle.

The meaning of that day is nothing less than Jesus Christ.  His work.  His glory.  His holiness.  But it is also the whole of what we believe, understanding the lynchpins of original sin and objective grace. Knowing the articles of the Augsburg confession and why they were spoken.  Why we are, in a sense, still making that confession to those standing around listening, why we are still drawing that line in the sand today, resolutely because there can be no compromise with the Gospel.


Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief!