Random on Eyes and Hands…

It seems there is a debate going on within the LCMS between eyes and hands. There are people who are really excited about new and different ways of hopefully sharing the gospel with a lot of new people, and there are people who are really excited about theology and history and liturgy. I would happen to be one of those who is excited about theology. But I see the need for people who are Ablaze or whatever they like to call themselves.

People like me, though, are often hard to understand. We’re the people who like patterns. We go to Lutheran Church for the sacraments, to confess our sins and receive absolution, to recite the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, and to listen to a sermon that reminds us of our sinful nature and gives us hope and comfort in the death and resurrection of Christ. And we’re also the people who point it out when something is missing. It isn’t that we’re mean spirited… we’re just bean sorters. Let me explain…

Ever make something with dried beans instead of beans from a can? People who are Ablaze sometimes forget that beans have to go through a process before they get put into soup… even if you open a can and dump it in. If you look at a bag of beans at the grocery store, you will see “sort and rinse” as the first two directions. What are you sorting? Well, sometimes you get shriveled nasty beans that aren’t good for cooking, and sometimes you get rocks or stuff in your bag. Can you imagine if you made bean soup and your guest accidentally bit a rock and cracked a tooth?

You see, someone needs to ensure that you’re not putting a rock in the bean soup, even accidentally. Even if you just open up a can of beans for your soup, someone went to the trouble of sorting the beans. And you can’t make bean soup without a sort.