“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I
do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in
the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives
to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
"How can y'all believe who receive glory from one another, and seek not
the glory which comes from the only God?" (St. John 5:44)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. Don't think that Bloghardt's recent posts mean
that he has lost his joy. Oh no! He's been having tons of fun.
Especially, when things around him are so funny.
What a great title for a post! The article is even more comical. OA gives the funniest reason to participate in the carnival: "sanctified pride."
Yes, that's "pride made holy." Do you find that "contradictory?" Sure, it is.
But, it doesn't really matter since the writer of the article wants his name
spelled right in the
Lutheran Carnival. (wink)
"Sanctified pride?" Is that related to "sanctified adultery?" I know! I know! It is it similar to
"sanctified idolatry?" It's related to "sanctified-despising-of-preaching-and-His-Word"
or "sanctified coveting-the-approval-and-attention-of-others." Right?
Imagine the judge in court! "You son, stole that purse. But, I
believe your defense. It's not stealing, it's 'sanctified stealing.'" And today, submit your own post on the Carnival for the sake of
"sanctified pride."
(Bloghardt hits Cwirla's sarcasm light with a smile)
He did not die for us to take pride before Him in anything.
Jesus does not sanctify our sins so that we might continue in them boldly
before Him. No, Jesus washes our sins away in our Baptism. I have no doubt that OA knows this and realizes that I'm just picking on a bad word choice.
He just didn't read
Pastor Peperkorn's Sermon. (smile)
The sin is not posting on some blog, but seeking glory from one another.
How can you believe if you seek glory from men? Sometimes it seems that we
gather together solely for the purpose of seeing whose church is biggest, who is
most important, who can do what for me, did you see what I did, what I'm doing,
and what I plan to do.
Lost in all of it is the Gospel, which the Carnival isn't about. It is about providing an "equal opportunity for confessional Lutheran bloggers to get read." That's called "promotion." When it requires people to submit their own articles, isn't that the very defintion of "self-promotion?" (smile)
Now, I'm not saying that everyone who submits articles to this is
self-promoting. There are some godly men - like
Seminarian Fouts and
Pastor Petersen whose pens are always filled with Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.
(Giant Smile) Then, there are guys like me. So, I offer the following suggestion:
Bloghardt's Suggestion:Have actual readers submit
another blogger's articles. This OA bloke seems like a good choice since he seems to have links to tons of blogs on the side of his blog
(grin). There is also the rather novel idea of looking at other blogs yourself and
finding good articles. Too hard? Well, it's hard work having a good blog.
Now, it is given for us to return to the Gospel.
Today, Bloghardt plays Carnival and submits the following sermon from our own
Pastor Cwirla entitled "The Confession of Rocky Johnson."
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Edited on: September 06th, 2005 11:26 pm
I am listening to The Long Road Release Date: 23 September, 2003
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 7:33am by revcwirla
Blogging is a form of self-publishing, and I guess any form of publishing might be considered ego-tripping. The blog Carnival would be self-promoting what you've self-published, which would be ego-tripping squared.
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 9:15am by Bloghardt
Eggggg-xactly!
It takes Cwirla in a sentence to put together my feelings. In the midst of all my self-promoting, I get this carnival thing. As I'm about to send my own stuff in, I think, "hey, wait, this is much for even me!"
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 9:17am by Bloghardt
No No No, Todd.
Stan nominates Madre, Madre nominates me, I nominate you, You nominate Stan, Stan nominates Cwirla, Cwirla nominates Zill.. Good thing for Zill, because no matter what we do, we need to leave Cwirla last. He's not "of" this world. Whoever is after him isn't gonna get submitted. (smile)
OR
I nominate two friends, and they nominate two friends, and they nominate two friends, and they nominate two friends, and so forth, and so on...
Posted On: August 23rd, 2005 at 12:38pm by john pawlitz
Just put up a big sign at church that says, "All confessing Lutherans stand here!--thank you."
An editor has to use his own discretion and someone has to be responsible for the quality of the blog. Otherwise, rather than achieving perfect unanimity...it has no quality. (Not that it is necessary to state this, but in case it helps, cf. closed communion.)
Posted On: August 24th, 2005 at 12:22am by Part-TimeReed
Bro!!! 9:17 A.M I am becoming more impressed every Time I find you up before noon! Don't worry about BIGDOGGING it!! Bloghardt you Know we Have that agreement about the Boot and if I'm not available RAY is!
Posted On: August 24th, 2005 at 6:05pm by Elle[ + ]
"Bloghardt's Suggestion: Have actual readers submit another blogger's articles. This OA bloke seems like a good choice since he seems to have links to tons of blogs on the side of his blog (grin). There is also the rather novel idea of looking at other blogs yourself and finding good articles. Too hard? Well, it's hard work having a good blog."
Bloghardt, after further consideration, I have to say that I like your suggestion with the exception of one thing: you should be the first to host it using your own suggestion. It's not terribly fair to suggest a tremendous amount of work and then nominate someone else to do it. If you are willing to confirm the confession and willingness to be included in the carnival of each blogger submitted by someone else or sought out by yourself, you are more than welcome to host the carnival as often as you like in the manner you suggest here. As for me, I've hosted several canivals and am keenly aware of how much effort is required for just a bare bones presentation and cannot afford the time it takes to prepare one using the suggestion you offered up, however if you and any other hosts who wish to are willing to put in the time and effort, I see no reason to stand in the way.
For the weeks that you and any other like-minded blogger host the carnival, feel free to open up the submission guidelines to include second-party submissions. Please let us know if you are interested in hosting by emailing us at LutheranCarnival AT gmail DOT com.
It ought also to be reflected that, unlike "adultery" and "idolatry," the English word "pride" as two meanings, one sinful and one not. To forget that is to experience a profound distortion in one's theology on the subject.
And by the way... why the assumption that "self-promotion" is necessarily sinful? Paul and Jesus were both known to indulge in it. Paul could be rather shameless- or would have been, had shame been involved- about tooting his own horn at the expense of the Galatian "super-apostles," Peter, or anyone else who
denied his calling. And despite the fact that He occasionally told folks not to prematurely spread word about His actual identity around, Christ, even in His state of humiliation, didn't go around saying, "Aw, pshaw!" and blushing every time someone was impressed with one of His miracles
Can self-promotion *be* sinful? Of course. It can become "pride" in the sinful sense of the word- an attempt to take credit for one's own cleverness or way with words in a way which does not reflect that credit ultimately back to God, or which manifests a belief that one is better than others. That is nothing other than idolatry. But taking a proper and creaturely pride in one's work- including one's blogging- is hardly the same thing!
Posted On: August 26th, 2005 at 1:30pm by Bloghardt
Bob,
Thank you for your comment. Pride comments are very helpful.
I'm not sure I completely agree with your assessment of our Lord Jesus. While He never said "pshaw," (grin), He did clearly avoid any sort of worldly or glory of men. He was content in glorifying His Father in Heaven.
"Not My authority.. Not My Words... the Father is greater than I." He ran from those who would make him King of Blogs and commanded those whom He healed to not announce what He did.
