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…and more good things to come in the new year.

A number of you commented on the painting I put up on my web site yesterday, so…thought I’d share a lot more where that one came from. Here they are, be sure to click on the painting to see the largest possible version of them. Source. There are a series of photos of the Kasendorf painting in a Picasso album.

The Kasendorf Confessional Painting, 1602, by Andreas Herrneisen.

Detail from the Kasendorf Painting above, showing Elector John the Steadfast, and the other Lutheran princes and electors and free cities, presenting the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V. You'll notice each entity has its own heraldic shield.

Another detailed image from the painting above. On the right side of the altar are listed Martin Luther's major writings on the Sacrament of the Altar, on the left are listed the names of false teachers, including Beza and Calvin, and in large print the phrase, "And their father, the Devil." Note that each of the Evangelists and Paul are standing with Christ helping to institute the Supper, etc.

The Confessional Painting from Bad Windsheim. This is actually a detail from the larger painting, showing, int he foreground, the presentation of the Augsburg Confession, in the center a Baptism, on the right, distribution of the Sacrament, and on the right, behind the Sacrament, Absolution, then a wedding in the far right back of the painting. Note on the left, Zwinglian being kept out of the church by armed men and dogs.

Confessional painting that was originally on display at the Nicholai Church in Leipzig, but now hangs in State History Museum. Be sure to click on the painting for a huge version you can study in detail. Similar themes as in other paintings, but this one is one of the finest examples of this kind of painting I've ever seen.

Detail from the Leipzig painting, showing the devil vomiting out heretics, and if I make out the inscription, Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.

First impressions? Wow, this is what the Kindle should always have been. No more stupid toggle bars and irksome little keyboard buttons! Complete control via touchscreen, and it is fantastic. I think that had I not been using Apple’s touchscreen technology for several years now on my various iPhones and iPads, I might have found this somewhat less easy to use, but within seconds, I was up and running with the Kindle Touch model I just received, and delighted at how well the touchscreen works. It is pretty responsive. It makes using The Lutheran Study Bible, as shown in the photo, a real breeze. Frankly, I hated trying to navigate heavily annotated documents before on the Kindle, the little joystick thing followed by the little trackpad thing, was a real pain. The screen looks a bit brighter than the previous model, and it is more compact, sleek and easy to hold.

I opted for the Touch model without advertising and with 3G. I found that I really missed the convenience of having a connection wherever there is/was cell phone service on my previous Kindle. And since there are no service charges or ongoing fees when you get 3G, you effectively are buying unlimited wireless internet. Of course it also comes with WiFi, which makes downloading a lot faster.

So, the Touch was everything I was hopeful it was going to be when I first read about it.

I highly recommend it!

The other day I was driving into work and caught a fascinating segment on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. It was an interview with Eric Weiner, author of the book Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine. In the interview Weiner describes a scary experience he had in the hospital which led him to want to try to develop more of a spiritual life. I think this interview is a “must read” for Christians, for it perfectly illustrates what is becoming, more and more, the most common view of “organized religion” or “spirituality” or whatever you want to call it. In the interview he used a phrase that struck me as particularly poignant: “the Ikea God, some assembly required.” You can listen to the interview here, or read it here. What intrigued me the most about the interview, in addition to the clever “Ikea God” quip, was that religion made him very aware of the “terrible wound” that he has, as a human being, that needs healing.

Here’s a snippet from the interview:

What Weiner discovered on his spiritual journey is that things often get worse before they get better. He says diving in to all of the spiritual teachings was like ripping the bandage off of a gaping wound. “You’re like, ‘Oh my God. I’ve got a terrible wound there.’ And then ideally, as you go about a spiritual practice, you start to do something about it,” he says. In the end, Weiner didn’t come away with something entirely new to believe in. Instead, what he found is what he calls an “IKEA God.” “Some assembly required,” he says. “[The] idea is that you can cobble together your sort of own personal religion, a sort of mixed tape of God.” What he concluded is that you need a foundation. In his case, that foundation was Judaism and Kabbalah. “But on top of that foundation, you can add all kinds of things,” he says. “So I’m sort of in perpetual seeker mode, but I think that’s OK.”

Here’s an excerpt from his book.

Cities are like people. We think we know them, but we never do, not fully. There is always another side, a shadow city, lurking in the background like the eccentric cousin you studiously avoid at family gatherings. And so it is with me and New York. I thought I knew the city, but it turns out I only knew part of it. I knew the New York of bagels and thrift stores and yoga studios. The New York I am now speeding toward on the Number Two train is a very different New York. Different in precisely what way I can’t say, for I have never visited this New York. Why would I? Reputation, reflected in, and to some extent forged by, movies like Fort Apache, the Bronx, formed a barrier between me and this NewYork, a barrier as impenetrable as any wall ever built.

A great video to watch and contemplate on this day when we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is simply brilliant. And, consider this speech in light of the doctrine of vocation.

In the past two weeks I’ve had hundreds of user registrations to this blog site. What in the world is going on? Has something changed? If you happen to be a spammer you are going to be very disappointed. Your spam will simply never get through. Ever. I’ve got comment moderation on and great plugins installed that prevent you from spamming this site.

But if you are not a spammer, why have you registered? It’s just plainly weird.

We are offering a truly spectacular discount on a complete Bible commentary series, called The People’s Bible Commentary. Consisting of 41 volumes, you can now get them all for only $150, a savings of $460. Here is where you can place your order, and learn more about this series.

Christ-centered Bible truths unfold as you read this complete series of commentaries designed for spiritual growth and reading enjoyment. These trustworthy commentaries help you comprehend what you’ve read in Scripture as well as apply it to your life.

These commentaries offer:

• Easy-to-read commentary that follows the text (in New International Version (NIV)) so you learn as you read
• Scripture and commentary on the same page
• Bible text highlighted in bold
• Explanation of complicated passages
• Important facts are identified to expand understanding of Bible times and help apply passages to life today
• Maps and charts

This series is an excellent companion text for Bible study leaders and for individual use.

The largest structure at Chichen Itza, central "pyramid." Taken with the improved camera on the iPhone 4S, for you photo buffs, by the way.

My family and I just returned from a wonderful seven night vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Thanks to the generosity of my father and mother-in-law, we were given a week of a timeshare unit they bought many years ago,  and we trade it all over the place. It has allowed us to take some really great vacations and enjoy family time. This time we thought we’d give Cancun, Mexico a try.

I must confess I was none too pleased, frankly. After having returned from a ten day or so sojourn to India I was pretty much not looking forward to being  in a place where the water can not be trusted and the language and culture was not my own. I’m sorry, that’s just how I felt. But, with my two years of High School Spanish, I managed to do very well and everyone we met in Mexico was extraordinarily friendly, caring and happy to go out of their way to be of service, totally above-and-beyond stuff.

I’ve learned in my somewhat limited world travels that learning how to give a proper greeting, a warm “Hello” and “How are you?” and  “Please” and “Thank You” and “Good Morning” and “Good Evening” in anyone’s native tongue goes over very, very well.

The place we stayed at was north of the heavily congested “hotel zone” in Cancun proper, an older place, but meticulously well cared for, in a very family friendly atmosphere. I’ve grown to love Latino culture and their emphasis on family and friends and just giving people the gift of time.

Casa Maya, Cancun, Mexico

We simply chilled and relaxed. The other members of my family went in for the “high adventure” Scuba diving stuff a couple days. Me? Not so much. My experience was Scuba was nearly drowning and that pretty much cooked it for me. My son, Paul, joined me on a day trip out to see Chichen Itza, truly one of the wonders of the world. I’m still processing what I saw there. Simply breathtakingly beautiful and magnificent, all constructed without any iron tools and without any wheeled vehicles. Trust me on this, if you ever get a chance to go there, do it. It’s worth putting up with the people trying to sell you everything for “one dollar” as you stroll around the ruins. It is a 17 square mile complex which developed around and above seven very large fresh water sinkholes/cisterns, whatever you want to call then, fed by underground rivers, pouring in huge amounts of fresh potable water.

Let me say that again: a seventeen square mile complex, at the heart of which is the main complex featuring a stunning beautiful “pyramid” and other facilities. The Mayans were an amazing culture, and the cool thing is that they are still there today. You are startled by the fact that so many of the people look just like the carvings of the Mayan people, a culture that flourished in Guatemala and Southern Mexico nearly 1500 years ago. The Mayan calendar was, and is, far more accurate than the calendar we use today. It is almost amusing how relatively little is still known about the purpose of the buildings. The Mayans were a blood-thirsty lot, to be sure, indulging in human sacrifice. The played a game involving a hard rubber ball on a court nearly the size of two football fields and apparently losing was a very, very unpleasant experience: your team was killed, or at the least, your team captain was killed by being stabbed then, for good measure, his head was chopped off. Those fun loving Mayans! Talk about a full contact sport.

Well, the week or so there, on the Caribbean Sea was simply delightful. We stayed at the Casa Maya resort and the food was simply delicious. I highly recommend it. We payed nearly half of what we would have payed had we stayed at a US resort. Going during Thanksgiving week was simply spectacular. The weather was warm, but not hot, and the crowds were very low. Perfect time of the year. We were with mostly Latinos visiting from all over the world and various places in the USA. Everyone who needed to speak English, did, so we got along just fine.

A blessed Adventide to you and yours!

From Rev. Engelbrecht’s blog site: We are currently finalizing a new translation and edition of Luther’s most famous and controversial treatise: On Christian Freedom. The new book will simply be titled, “Christian Freedom” and include the following features:

• Historical introduction and timeline
• 16th century illustrations
• A forty-day reading guide with prayers from Luther and Melanchthon
• New translations of Luther’s “Letter to Leo” (which introduces the treatise) and the treatise “On Christian Freedom,” based on the official Latin edition with explanation of how the Luther’s German edition differs
• Selections from Luther’s writings on Scripture, which illustrate just what he was teaching and arguing in the treatise, including brief historical notes for understanding the context
• A selection from Melanchthon on the topic of Christian Freedom, which summarizes this biblical doctrine and demonstrates the unity of the two reformers in teaching it
• Glossary of key terms
• Notes about persons and groups mentioned in the documents
• Indexing

We thought this publication would be helpful in view of the increasing worldliness in Christian churches and the appeal of both theologians and laity to the doctrine of Christian freedom as a basis for new standards of morality. Luther’s treatise, understood in context, presents a marvelous perspective on our salvation and life together in the Gospel, which emphasizes our freedom to serve one another in love but not a self-serving freedom or a despising of God’s commandments. Congregations will find this book especially helpful for developing attitudes of mutual love and service that are clearly based on God’s Word and the biblical doctrine of justification by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. CPH will have a bulk purchase offer for congregations that should make the book widely available early in 2012.