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Sacraments Are Hope, Comfort, and Truth

Jan 22nd, 2012
by Dan.
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Recently I witnessed a online discussion where someone argued quite heatedly for a purely symbolic view of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — on a Lutheran pastor’s Facebook page, of all places. For this person, “IN REMEMBRANCE. TAKE THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME” was the source and norm for all his reasoning. Unfortunately for his argument but fortunately for the rest of us, there are another 31,000 verses in the Bible, give or take.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper aren’t mere ordinances, and this is a good thing. When we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that there is nothing inside us that assures us we are headed for any salvation. We can have faith, but even that is given to us.

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Time Out Hymn Video: What Child is This

Dec 24th, 2011
by Dan.
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Merry Christmas!

I humbly submit to you Time Out’s second hymn video, “What Child is This.” Available in HD.

http://lutherantimeout.org/370video

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A Video About the Hymn Video

Dec 2nd, 2011
by Dan.
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I think it took me about 30 takes to get the words right.  Next time, I’ll use a script. :)

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The Preview: What Child is This

Nov 28th, 2011
by Dan.
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This week we will begin to shoot clips for the Time Out Christmas Hymn Video, “What Child is This.” I am praying for a successful crowd-sourcing of video footage, letting you guys bring to the table your video interpretations of the hymn lyrics. To whet your appetite for what is to come, we have some sample audio of Nathan’s prelude and our performance of the first verse.  Let us know what you think!

 
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Call for Footage: Time Out Christmas Video

Nov 11th, 2011
by Dan.
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Christmas? Before Thanksgiving? You sell-out! Bear with me, here. :)

The last two years Time Out has had an extra Advent Bonus Edition and a Christmas Bonus Edition.  We’re not going to do those this year in lieu of a new project.

We’re making another hymn video, to be released Christmas Day, featuring my favorite Christmas hymn, LSB 370, “What Child Is This.” Rather than focus the video on the performers this time, we need footage from you.

We are looking for stills and video (that you have permission to submit :) ) that match well with the lyrics of the hymn.  The literal sense is good, but there is plenty of opportunity to be creative. Think of what you can do for, “Joy, joy, for Christ is born,” for example.

This is a great opportunity to show off your church, your community, and your own creativity. We will give you full credit in the credits and in the YouTube notes for what you send us. Free advertising is good, right?

We would like your submissions by December 18, but we would greatly appreciate it if you could send it in earlier. If you want to submit stills of your sanctuary decorated for Christmas, we can be a little more flexible with that. If you have Christmas footage from last year’s services, that would be good, too.

Let us know if you are interested and if you have any questions: talkback@lutherantimeout.org.

 

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The Reformation: All or Nothing

Oct 30th, 2011
by Dan.
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Psalm 90:7-9 :

7For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to and end like a sigh.

Psalm 19:12 :

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Secret sins. Hidden faults, hidden even from ourselves.

If we are responsible for saving ourselves from eternal damnation, or even partially responsible, be it through a decision, an indulgence, a commitment, an act of penance, or reaching a certain age of accountability, we are done for. We can confess all our sins, and still there is even more.

As angry as someone can get at me if and when I mess up, that’s just a breeze compared to the deserved wrath from the eternal God who is just and holy. Whether you’ve angered your friends, your parents, your employer, your children, or your spouse — righteous anger that may be when you’ve harmed them — it is infinitely worse from the Creator.  Your and my heavenly Father, who created us for good works, and we have let Him down aplenty.

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