Vermicular Hymns

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Paul Harris

It started as an ordinary Midweek Lenten Service. Befitting such a somber season the opening hymn was Alas! and did My Savior Bleed. Then we sang “for sinners such as I”. What? Did my ears deceive me? Where did the worm go? We we’re singing from a CPH’s Lutheran Service Builder Program, but good ole TLH was still in the pew. I found the worm still in the first verse. “Alas, and did my Savior bleed/ And did my Sovereign die?/ Would He devote that sacred head/ For such a worm as I?” Continue reading →

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All Truth is God’s

Posted on November 17, 2025 by Paul Harris

This is a Reformed position, but I have heard putative Confessional Lutherans use it to defend their support of everything from psychological therapy that is now a sine qua non of a “normal” life, to Freudian “Truths”, to the daily dosing of soul sick individuals with pills that Alice would be afraid to use. Continue reading →

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Is EI for Real?

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Paul Harris

This picture says it all. Continue reading →

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Working Against The Gospels

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Paul Harris

The Rev. Dr. David P. Scaer is a mentor of mine. I have always looked up to him and continue to do so, but what he titles Excursus III in his memoirs Surviving the Storms does not describe “Working with the Gospels” but in my mind is working against them. He admits the he “shared a similar approach to the Gospels” (85) as Dean Wenthe, William Weinrich, and Arthur Just. The seeds I saw, but could not have identified in my seminary days (’79-83’), but which I saw take root and fruit in later years were there in Dr. Scaer. The fruit actually rotted in the case of James Volez.[1] Continue reading →

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What the Devil?

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Paul Harris

From the above expression of surprise or annoyance, to ‘speak of the devil’, to ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’, to ‘the devil made me do it’, and more, the devil gets a lot of airtime. Below was published in the November 2024 Harper’s. Are they aghast at this? I think not. I think this is in-your-face Christians, see what your religion-mongering has gotten you! Continue reading →

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State of the Arts

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Paul Harris

I don’t know whether or not to recommend State of the Arts, a 1991 book by Gene Veith. I’m not an artist. I appreciate art, but his book exposes the limited validity of thinking “I know what I like” is a critique of art. This being said, I did learn two important points from it. One how to read the Song of Songs and definitively why rap, doctrinally accurate or not, has no place in the Divine Service, liturgy, and worship. And no, that is not just my subjective opinion that is an objective fact as Veith shows. Continue reading →

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From Luxury to Necessity and Then What?

Posted on October 13, 2025 by Paul Harris

Getting rid of our landline was one of the most liberating, yet disorienting things, and then it became a necessity. No more was there a limited location for connecting to the umbilical cord of modern society. With a cell phone, you’re always attached. But it’s not my fault… Continue reading →

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Is Lust Sin or Not?

Posted on October 6, 2025 by Paul Harris

Rome would say it’s the tinder for sin, but not sin in and of itself, so go ahead and book a cruise on the Lust Boat. No harm; no foul, right? Wrong. It is sin, but then we have the curious case of Luther’s Explanation to the 6th Commandment: “We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.”

Why aren’t we told to lead a sexually pure and decent life ins what we say, do, and think? I think it’s because of the nature of sin and is informed by what sins Luther would leave out of the confessional. Curious? Read on. Continue reading →

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Fire and Rain

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Paul Harris

Nope. This isn’t about James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”. That song maps the ups and downs of his life over about two years. A girl he knew who committed suicide, his career spiraled by drug addiction, and his recovery from that in a mental hospital (songfacts.com). This isn’t about that song but about my raining on The Fire and the Staff by Klemet Preus. Continue reading →

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Bonus Blog – Sermon for St. Michael And All Angels, September 29

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Paul Harris

This was originally written and preached by me 29 years ago. I left it unchanged except for 2021 Word finding misspellings that apparently 1996 Word Perfect could not. Continue reading →

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