KoD Counters Terrorist Tactics

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

KoD Counters Terrorist Tactics

by Matt Hughes 
Dateline: Capernaum, July 30, 13:31:33:44:52

At a press conference today, Dir. T. Farmer of Kingdom of Dodd (KoD) NU-Food Paradise Farms responded to agri-terrorist activities by the now self-acknowledged work of Earth Vandals & Looters, known as EVaL 1. Farmer announced counter-terrorist plans saying, “We have decided that the practices of EVaL 1 need to be met with positive resistance. We will turn their practices back upon them and let their own practices destroy them. Therefore, we have introduced a weed of our own into their field of CHAoS (Chronically Hostile Agri-organism System). This weed will spread throughout their network like mustard on the roadside.

“We will also be infiltrating their network of dissidents with our own undercover agents until they are no longer able to trust themselves. We will claim our good seed treasure in their fields and find ways to take those fields back. This great pearl of wisdom, reflecting best practice strategies for defeating EVaL 1, comes from our own Mia Rohr Farmer, my daughter-in-law.”

Mia Rohr Farmer, a development team leader, reflects, “These latest efforts from Paradise Farms covert ops have the potential benefit of totally neutralizing the works of EVaL 1. Yet, unlike their toxic invasives, our product will provide healthy ground cover and a needed habitat for ground fowl and other birds as well as shelter for the local Leporids. Instead of introducing sickness and death, this counter-terrorist action will help to establish a balanced eco-friendly bio-diverse environment.

“At some later date, a team will need to come in and sort out the totally beneficial from the undesirable invasives, but that job is best left to those who will come after us. For now, it is enough to know that EVaL 1 can be contained.”

Dir. T. Farmer closed the press conference with a positive thought, “In years to come, people will think that the KoD Paradise Farms were always like this.”

Simul Justus et Peccator Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Every once in a while, it would be nice if Jesus would show up to clarify a few things. I have a number of questions that would be greatly simplified if he would just come back for an hour or so, maybe a day, possibly a month, okay a year would be nice.


One of the first places I would have Jesus start would be with this particular parable and its explanation. This parable is recorded only in the Gospel of Matthew, and, as such, it has some particular importance for us. After all, if it is only recorded in Matthew, then it must really be important for understanding Jesus’ ministry as it is recorded for us in Matthew’s Gospel, right?


This parable has some good things for us to think about, but the explanation of it is particularly troublesome. Yet as a commentator I listen to points out, “This is the first of many judgment parables in the Gospel of Matthew, so if you think that you can duck it now, you will have to deal with Matthew’s reporting of Jesus’ judgmental side eventually.”


So, today I want to talk to you about what it is that makes us Lutheran in the midst of this judgmental stuff. The term in Lutheran speech is simul justus et peccator which means simultaneously saint and sinner. Luther used this phrase to describe our relationship with Christ. We are always in the state of grace, that is, made right with God, already forgiven of our sins through the ministry—life, death, and resurrection—of Christ, and sinner, that is, always in a state of needing to be forgiven. It is not a 50%-50% proposition. It means that we are 100% saint and 100% sinner. We are both the good wheat and the weeds.


A few years ago, I called a master gardener at the UW—Extension because the word for weed in the Greek translates as darnel. Wanting to know more about this plant, I thought to challenge the specialists. The master gardener I spoke to had actually written a paper on the darnel plant and was more than happy to talk to me about it. I can’t thank him by name because I have lost my notes, but what he told me that day has stuck with me. This is what I learned.


The darnel plant is particularly troublesome because it looks just like the wheat plant. It is virtually indistinguishable from the wheat. The problem is that the darnel plant is toxic. It will at least make you sick and in high enough concentrations it can kill you. This is why it might be important to get rid of it. This is the bad news.


The good news is that darnel matures shortly before the wheat plant does. When it matures, the head of the plant turns black or dark brown and the head droops. It is at this point in the life of the plant that workers need to go into the field and cut the darnel out. Then, when the workers are done cutting the darnel out, the wheat which is golden in color can be brought in.


The master gardener said that he was not aware of any good use for the darnel plant, but there are several varieties of it that are still around today. However, the work of the people in Bible times was so successful that the darnel plant of Scripture has been eradicated.


A few years ago, the Left Behind series of books was popular. It talked about the rapture and what was going to happen. First of all, let us remember that this series was fiction. As it turns out, the story line was sort of fun, but the entire series is predicated on a false assumption. The series opener begins with the premise that the saved people are whisked away to heaven while those who need to work on their relationship with God are left behind.


Matthew is much clearer about what is likely to happen. The ones who are left behind are the good seeds, the wheat. The ones who are taken away are those who are toxic to the world. So, the writers of the Left Behind books present a judgment time that is opposite of what Matthew proposes.


In the context of this parable, the Son of Man sows good seed in his field. The field is the world. An enemy, the devil, sows weeds, children of the evil one who are eventually destroyed. The ones who are left behind are the righteous children of the kingdom. The children of the evil one have been gathered up. The source of their evil doing, the causes of sin, have been taken away, not by the righteous people, but by the divine agents of the Son of Man, angels. The weeds, children of the evil one, are cast into the furnace of fire where there is great weeping and gnashing of teeth. All of this will take place at the time of the harvest, at the end of the age. Note: It is important to recognize that Matthew does not record Jesus as saying that this will happen at the end of time. It happens at the end of the age.


You may remember that a couple of weeks ago we talked about cycles of time. Each of these cycles can be thought of as a generation, a time of recognizing new social needs, or even an age. This is not the end of the world, but only a chapter of the world’s history. So, it is, that the righteous will shine like the sun in the Father’s kingdom.


In the language of the cycles of time, a movement in history was started with good intentions, but, through the shenanigans of some who want to hold privilege for themselves and a few others, the welfare of the whole culture is subverted and perverted. A struggle takes place between the wheat and the weeds for dominance, and then the larger culture makes a decision about the value of the work of the founders of the movement. The people seeking personal power are set aside, possibly sent to prison where they repent of their selfish behavior. In the meantime, time moves on and new leaders are needed. Those with wisdom enough to be able to recognize the needs of the people rise up out of the older power struggle and show the way into the future. They are the righteous ones who shine.


Once again, this is not a scenario of the end of time, but the beginnings of a new way of living in the world, in the Father’s kingdom, in the world that God created and creates. It is a story of reconciliation and redemption. It is the story of living in God’s presence as both saint and sinner simultaneously.


It would be wonderful to be a pastor who was able to say, “Don’t worry. Be happy. God is going to save everybody.” But the harsh reality is that we know that not everybody is going to be saved. Still the wheat and the weeds helps us understand how it is that we are to live with one another.


Notice the slaves, the servants of the master’s house, are not the ones who are the reapers of the harvest. That job is reserved for the divine agents of the Son of Man. In our Lutheran way of looking at the world, we say that the judgment of who is able to be saved is not our job. We can point the direction we need to go. We can be leaders of the way we need to go. We even have the authority to decry the evil acts of the world, but we do not have the authority to say that someone is or is not worthy of salvation. Only God and God’s divine agents have that authority. Our job is to live with the people alongside and among us, respecting and honoring each other as if they are already saved.


As Lutherans, we say, “Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God determines that all should be saved, but by actively turning away from God’s grace and mercy, there will be some who lose the gift that God has given.” Who is not something that we can know. It is God’s divine wisdom that determines this. Far too often we find that we want to go out into the field and rip up the weeds only to discover that we are destroying perfectly good wheat. It is best to wait for the harvest and have the fullness of the harvest be revealed to us in God’s own time.


In Lutheran language, we are fully both weed and wheat, redeemed and needing to be redeemed. We are saint and sinner. Yet in God’s great mercy, God, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, intends that all should be saved, for God only plants good seed, but, in our own human self-interest (those weed seeds) some will choose personal gratification over our relationship with God and one another.


Those who are gathered out early will be thrown into the furnace of fire and burned up, but, before we leave this gruesome judgment scene, let us hear the cries of repentance, the weeping and gnashing of teeth and recall the two ways of purification—washing and drowning, as in baptism, and burning as in the refiner’s fire. We remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: how they were thrown into the fire, but, because of their purity of faith, an angel came and stood with them until they were able to walk out into the presence of the king. We also recall the fire of Pentecost itself and the purity of word for God’s people that was translated into the many languages of the people.


So it is that we hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth as they realize their sinful behavior. Are they saved after that? We are not told. What we are told is that the righteous will come forth after the time of judgment and show themselves as the leaders for the new way of living.


Let us go out into the mission field, the world, in the confidence of the Son of Man’s good seed, as the children of God, proclaiming God’s goodness to all that we meet, shining like the sun in the kingdom of our creator and savior. Let us be the beacons of light showing the way of God’s new way of living, not trying to determine who the weeds are, but celebrating our life together; maybe even recognizing our own weediness, celebrating life as saint and sinner, giving thanks to the one who gathers us into his barn.

Bill of Fare

Bill of Fare

by Peter Heide

Sunshine through newly squeegeed windows,
Clean, with one viscous trailing line
Refracting beams of rainbow hue,
A Pollyanna prism,
Over tabletops with crystal glass and china cups
Waiting service for those who would be served,
Those patrons of good and plenty.



With gracious smiles and deferential patience,
Orders are taken and commuted to
The working kitchen staff
Who translate palatal whims
Into cuisine art
And mass consumption.



In this ordered and orderly world
Of fulfilled demands and imaginings,
There is no room or tolerance for those who
Impede the efficiency of command
And service at the table.



With visceral non-compliance,
Those who cannot partake or witness
The service and fine linen
Hide under damask cloth.



There resides the chipped,
The cracked, the unmatched pattern,
The three-tined fork of otherness.



In the underbelly is the distasteful gorge of foreign fare,
Eschewed, chewed gum of disability under the table.



“Did you save room for dessert?”

Trouble in Paradise

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

Trouble in Paradise

Collusion with EVaL 1 Suspected

by Matt Hughes
Dateline: Capernaum, July 23, 13:24:30

With the new growing season just underway, suspected agri-sabotage took place at the Kingdom of Dodd (KoD) NU-Food Paradise Farms. Someone, apparently, found a way to introduce toxic invasive weed seeds into the Paradise Farms test plots. It is not known at this time what damage has been done. No group has come forward yet to claim responsibility for this atrocious behavior although the organization known as Earth Vandals & Looters is strongly suspected.

Due to the overall crop saturation, authorities suspect that one or more KoD workers were involved. Those Paradise Farms workers who first reported the situation and volunteered to go into the fields to uproot the weeds, which also would damage the test crop, are now being questioned. If involved, these workers may have colluded, wittingly or unwittingly, with a third party to ensure the success of the agri-terrorist actions.

According to Paradise Farms Director T. Farmer, “This is not the first act of agri-terrorism that has taken place. There is a long history of cheap tricks and deceptive practices through the years. Some have truly resulted in catastrophic outcomes. You’ll remember that Eden Gardens was a real going-concern until an unscrupulous land speculator tricked the owners into rash actions resulting in foreclosure and eviction. This is just another agri-terrorist action that only slows Kingdom of Dodd efforts for a better world.”

Earth Vandals & Looters has been aggressive in agri-terrorist sabotage in the past. It even boasts of its destructive work, claiming that they are the best at what they do. As such they claim the title of being number one and are known in the anti-establishment fringe as EVaL 1.

Dir. T. Farmer says that until they have a better way to deal with this latest act of agri-terrorism, wisdom dictates that Paradise Farms will accept a potentially lower yield due to the weed infestation rather than damage the NU-Food plants through soil disruption and root entanglements. Farmer said, “In an odd way, EVaL 1 has done us a favor. We now get to see how this new strain of wheat will do under adverse conditions. We look forward to the harvest results of what I think is good seed.”

The Farms laboratories are developing NU-Seed strains to address food shortages and nutrition insufficiencies around the world. They hope they can soon guarantee greater yields with higher nutrition values.

Hear then the Parable Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Hear then the parable of the sower.


The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is nothing but parables, so, before we enter into the rest of the chapter, I think that it is important to understand, “What is a parable?”. There are some who will say that a parable is a story with a moral, or a parable is a story that Jesus tells, but he tells in such a way that uses everyday events or experiences as a way to relate to the people who are listening. The dictionary says it is a straight forward teaching tool story that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.


In the Bible, Jesus tells parables, but there are also other people telling parables then and now. Because of our familiarity with the Bible story, we do know Jesus’ parables better than others.
After Jesus told the parable of the sower, Matthew reports Jesus explains it to the disciples. A parable isn’t a joke, nor is it a riddle with a single answer, but a parable shares something with a joke. If you have to explain it, it loses some of its power. Have you ever told a joke and then had to explain it to somebody? If you have, you know what I mean.


On the plane coming home from my convention, a little boy was sitting in the row ahead of us, and he was just beginning to learn how to tell jokes. He and his mother were reading a book on sharks. Suddenly he asked his father, “Dad, do you know what the hammerhead shark did when he took his math test? He nailed it. Get it Dad? He’s a hammerhead shark. A hammer, Dad, you use a hammer to pound nails.”


His father was tolerant and laughed; I chuckled too. A half hour later the young man said, “Dad, you know what the hammerhead shark did on his math test? He nailed it. Get it?” And, about a half hour later, with more confidence, the young man said, “You know how the hammerhead shark did on his math test? Yeah, he nailed it.” Now his parents started to shush him, but a while after that he asked the question again, and before we got off the plane, he asked the question again.


Now, the first time he told, the joke I laughed. When he felt he had to explain it, I thought it was humorous. The second time he told the joke and explained it, it was amusing. By the third time he told the joke, I was starting to try out different answers, like, “He didn’t like math so he decided to write the Great American novel?” (No, I didn’t say that.) The problem is that if you have to explain the joke, it loses its punch. It is sometimes better to not have the joke understood than to explain it. This is also true of parables. It is sometimes more helpful to let the parable continue to challenge us in our lives as we reach for meaning than to explain it and take the mystery out of it.


In Greek, the word parable means “Cast alongside, or put alongside.” That is, these stories are told, understanding that there is some life event or understanding that lies alongside the telling of the story. Often, we put a spiritual meaning alongside the telling of a parable. The important thing to remember, however, is unlike jokes, parables can have more than one solution, parables are open-ended, that is, there is more than one way to understand the parable. That open-endedness allows Jesus’ parables to speak to the people of his time and to continue to speak to us today.


The people of Jesus’ time would have attributed a certain wisdom that involved multiple levels of understanding from the one who told the parables just as we do today. Sometimes there is a moral that can be drawn from the parable, but a particular moral may not be the only understanding of the story. What keeps them alive for us today is to remember that there may be no one right way to interpret these parables, but there may be some ways of interpreting them that speak more clearly to our time and place. Where you put yourself in the story may change the way you hear it and determine how you interpret it. Every time we come to these parable stories we can think of them another way.


So why, in the Gospels, does Jesus interpret this parable, the Parable of the Sower, for us? Is Jesus saying that this is the only way to interpret this parable? Today I come to you saying that Jesus takes the time to explain the parable, not as a way to say that this is the only way to understand it, but as a method of showing how you might explore the parable. The understanding of each piece needs to be consistent throughout.


So, who are we in this story? Jesus gives us the option of being the soil. The problem is that we rarely want to put ourselves in the place of all of the soil. If we are the soil, then are we going to want to be the path? No. Are we likely to want to be the rocky soil? No. Do we relish being the thorns choking out God’s word? No. Of course, we want to think of ourselves as the good soil producing a hundredfold, or sixty, or even thirty.


The reality of Jesus’ parable is that we are probably all of these soils at various times of our lives. If we are the good soil, then these questions arise, “Why is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ not making a bigger difference in our lives? Why is it that people are not flocking to us as they did around Jesus?” I mean, as I read this text this week and witnessed the crowds pushing in on Jesus so that he was forced to get into a boat or get wet, I thought, “These aren’t Lutherans who claim the holy ground in the back.”


Since there are other ways to think about this parable, let us think about what it might mean if, instead of being the soil, we are the sower. What might that mean? If we are the sower, we are spreading seeds but not very efficiently. As a matter of fact, it is probably a prime example of how not to do it. Pioneer and Monsanto would definitely disapprove. If we were taking a course at the university, we would probably fail the test in Ag Science.


If we think of ourselves as the seed, then there are other options with other pitfalls. We have the potential of producing a hundredfold, but we need a place to land and be nurtured. This understanding of the parable might be best used for our children or those who are new in the faith.


What I want you to understand is: how you think about the story and where you put yourself in it determines what you put alongside it. And, what you put alongside the story helps us think about the story and its meaning for us today.


Today, I want you to think about this parable and concentrate on the seed. Further, I want you to think about that seed as being our ministry. Christ has commissioned us to go out into the world to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and cast out demons. As we are going out, cast there by the sower who is broadcasting the word of Jesus Christ, it is important for us to know that some of our seeds of ministry are going to fall on the path, some on rocky ground, and some among thorns. So, understand this, some of our efforts are going to fail. The birds will eat up some of our ministry seeds before they ever get a chance to germinate. On the rocky ground, it may look good for a while, but that ministry will ultimately fail too. Some of our ministry seeds will be choked out by the demands of our culture.


BUT, there will be those seeds that land on fertile soil, and those efforts will ultimately shape us in the ministry we are called to. In the meantime, we are called to continue broadcasting the seeds of ministry everywhere, because we don’t always know where the best soil is. We depend on the work of the Holy Spirit to complete the work we have begun and we know that with God, all things are possible.


In the previous chapter of Matthew, chapter 12, which the lectionary skips this year, Jesus says, “A house divided will not stand” because he is being charged with using the power of Beelzubul in his healing. He is healing on the Sabbath, and the priest and the Pharisees are upset. Jesus concludes his defense with these words, “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.”


In this same chapter, it is this kingdom of God, with its radical sowing, that Jesus alludes to when he says, “If you are not with me, you are against me. If you do not gather with me, you scatter.” So, this whole image of the sower going out to scatter seed is our ministry going out into the world. We are not in the time of gathering yet; now we are being scattered. Our scattering is in anticipation of a harvest and those who will bring it in. We scatter that all may know the kingdom of God,not to know the here-after kingdom of God, but to know the work of Christ in the spirit of God that reveals the kingdom of God to us today. We scatter that all may know the that kingdom we proclaim when we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”


We come together this day, casting out our seeds of ministry, understanding that some will fail, but some will flourish, and we will find our place in ministry through the bounty of God’s yield in the holy ground outside our doors. Let us recklessly broadcast our ministry seeds, being profligate with God’s abundance accompanied with the Holy Spirit, knowing that where we think the path may be there might be fertile ground, and where we think there is fertile ground may actually be the path. Let us learn that where we think fertile ground is, weeds may be lurking to choke out our work, and that rocky ground is everywhere. Yet, without the Holy Spirit and these seeds, our ministry cannot grow.


Hear then the parable of the sower.

Who is Old McDonald?

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET
The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts   

Who is Old McDonald?

Dateline: Capernaum, July 16, 13:01:18

by Matt Hughes 11:16:19:25:30

Tensions are rising in Kingdom of Dodd enterprises as the whereabouts of Jean Baptiste continue to elude investigators. After his arrest, authorities took Jean Baptiste to an unknown location to await trial. Rumors suggest that he is being held incognito in Herod’s underground prison known only as the Pit or that he has been banished and is in confinement somewhere in the Decapolis. In the meantime, the search continues, and Kingdom of Dodd’s Josh Kristy continues to raise awareness of humanitarian issues surrounding Baptiste’s incarceration.

We caught up with Kristy yesterday on the beach. A large crowd had gathered to hear him speak. We thought that we might be able to get an interview with him, but he eluded the crowds and us by getting into a boat and pulling away from the shore.

When he stood up in the boat he introduced a new song which the people immediately picked up,

Old McDonald had a farm, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh,
And on that farm, he planted seed, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.
With a few seeds here, and a few seeds there,
Here some seeds, there some seeds,
Everywhere we’re throwing seeds.
Old McDonald had a farm, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.

He threw some seeds upon the path, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh,
And on the rocks, where they would not last,
ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.
In the thistles here, and the hedgerow there,
In the brush, in the weeds,
Everywhere we’re throwing seeds.

Old McDonald had a farm, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.
He broadcast seeds upon the field, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh,
On fertile ground and got the yield, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.
With a bushel here, and a bushel there,
Here is wheat, there is wheat,
Everywhere we gather wheat.
Old McDonald had a farm, ee-igh-ee-igh-oh.

Following this rousing sing-a-long, Kristy spoke to the crowd saying, “Our attempts to find and release Jean Baptiste have been unsuccessful thus far, but we continue to hope that our investigations will bear good fruit. We need your help in locating Jean in order for justice to prevail. To aid you in your search, the Kingdom of Dodd will provide all of you here today with NU-Tone hearing aids and NU-Vision glasses so that you might better hear the news of Baptiste’s whereabouts and see signs of Baptiste’s imprisonment.” 

In a final comment, Kristy said, “No matter the outcome, the Kingdom of Dodd is here to stay. KoD is committed to a better life for all of us. Now go, see what is happening in the world, and hear the news in the Kingdom of Dodd.”

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

I invite you to join me as we consider Christ’s words for Christ’s followers today.


It is hard for me to believe, but it is more than sixty years ago that Pete Seeger wrote the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”. It was originally a protest song during the Korean War. Later the song was resurrected for the Vietnam War. For those of you who don’t remember this song or are too young to know it, the verses go something like this.

Where have all the flowers gone? Young girls picked them every one.

When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?


Where have all the young girls gone? Gone for husbands, every one.


Where have all the husbands gone? Gone to soldiers every one.


Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to graveyards every one.


Where have all the graveyards gone? Gone to flowers every one.


Where have all the flowers gone? Young girls picked them every one.


When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?


This song speaks of a world that goes through cycles: from peaceful gardens and growing families to soldiers and war and the consequent casualties of armed conflict. When the conflict is over, the cycle begins again.


Why am I talking about an old song that spoke to generations in the past? Well, in part, it is because I am reading The Fourth Turning by William Straus and Neil Howe about cycles of history. In this book, the authors contend that within a century, roughly speaking, society experiences four social trends: Crisis, Nomadic Wandering, Hero, and Artist. Straus and Howe demonstrate that this pattern never changes although crisis alternates between armed conflict and social awakening.


For each the types of crisis, a different leadership style is needed. During an armed conflict, old men lead the people through the time of crisis while young men fight. During an awakening, young people direct the nation into new ways of living, and the old men protest because they feel devalued.


Now hold this information about the cycles for a moment while I tell you about movements. A few years ago, I went to a conference that talked about the life of a movement. The model that they used could be for any movement, but they were talking about the development of Christianity as a religion. This model was set forth as a bell curve. So, imagine, if you will, a bell that has just been dropped over my head. You will notice that there is a little flared lip at the bottom and then sides that angle up and then curve over my head (with hand gestures). Got it?


Well, this model shows that a movement starts at some point over here on your left side. At about my shoulder height the organization of the movement has gotten good enough to really speak about it. The people who extol or proclaim the advantages of the movement are sort of like those infomercial people who sell all kinds of stuff on late night TV telling you that if you get to be part of this movement, then your life is going to be infinitely better than before. Those who proclaim this new message are called roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo from those on my right).


On my other side at about shoulder height is another part of the movement. These people have been to the mountain and are now sliding down the side of the bell. These people talk about how great it was to be on top of the mountain and talk about their part in it. They may also talk about other mountaintop experiences that their ancestors were part of. They are sort of like the History Channel. These people are called owls (hoo-hoo from those on my left).


Now in between the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) on this side, and the owls (hoo-hoo) on this side, is the active time when the movement is making a difference. In the church, we call that time, the time of ministry. This active time of ministry is when everything is working for the benefit of the people and the communities that surround them. It is that time of perfect balance when the rooster people (cock-a-doodle-doo) are crowing about the benefits of belonging, people are listening and joining, and the wisdom of those who have been part of the movement, the owls (hoo-hoo), are reflecting on how wonderful life is, “Remember those days when we were part of the beginnings of our time working together?”


The problem is that eventually the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) begin to lose their energy. So many people have become part of the movement that there aren’t many people who haven’t heard the news. Fewer people are joining because the movement seems to be self-sustaining. Many people are part of the active movement or ministry and things seem to be sailing along. They have been talking up the program for a long time, and, because they are very effective, many people have been joining. Now there are fewer people that they can recruit. Since there are fewer people to recruit, the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) have to work harder to get more people. Still the number of people joining the ministry are fewer. Now the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) begin to get tired and lose interest.


At this time in the life of the ministry there are a large number of people involved in the ministry but no one joining them. The ministry continues with the efforts of those who are doing the ministry, but the number of owls (hoo-hoo) is getting larger. Now the model begins to tip toward the end time.


If we don’t get more roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo), the conversation within the organization begins to be more about what we have done, thus more owl-like (hoo-hoo). “Where are the people to join us?”, and “If those other people would do it the way we used to do it, we wouldn’t be having these problems.” “Remember all of the good things we used to do? Why aren’t these new people doing it the right way?”


Now the remaining roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) and the ministry workers are just getting annoyed. Their part of the conversation is, “We know that is the way you used to do it, but it doesn’t work anymore. We aren’t getting any more people no matter how hard we work!”. The people working in ministry begin to drop out because the work itself becomes a drudge and there is no longer any fulfillment or joy in it. In the meantime, the owls (hoo-hoo) continue to talk about the good old days, and there are getting to be more and more owls (hoo-hoo).


At this point, it is the responsibility of the owls (hoo-hoo) to either become roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) again or to find people outside the organization with a new vision to become the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) because, if it is all about the owls (hoo-hoo), they will continue to slide down the side of the bell curve until they shoot out over the flare at the bottom and completely disappear.


Now the conversation is about disillusion, desolation, despair, and dissolution. It is not inevitable that the organization is going to die at this point, but the odds are good. The primary activity of the organization is to collect memorabilia and build shrines to remind those that will come of the work that was done here. If roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) show up at this time of the model, they are just annoying. It is more likely for the owls (hoo-hoo) to prey on the roosters rather than pray for them.


So, armed with the information from the Fourth Turning and of this bell curve model, let us listen to the words of our Gospel today. (Read Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30.)


Now, let us consider Jesus’ words for Jesus’ followers today. In the midst of a world that is experiencing great change, Jesus comes proclaiming a new way of living. It is the time of a Great Awakening. The old people are pushing back. They feel entitled—they control 98% of the wealth of the empire; they own 98% of the land; they are the 2% of the population of the empire who are literate; they have the power, and they do not want to give it up.


John the Baptist, a rooster (cock-a-doodle-doo), has come, and they have put him in prison. Jesus has begun a new movement in ministry that is raising up the dead, that is claiming the people who are not recognized by the rest of the world. These people are part of a long catalog. Jesus is now recognizing the blind, the lame, the maimed, the deaf, the widows, the orphans, the diseased, and the poor—claiming them as being important for the society while the rest of the world is saying that they just want them to go away and leave them alone. Jesus is saying we need to have a health care program that includes everyone. Jesus is saying those we think of as dead need to be part of the living world. They need to be raised up and claimed as valuable. There is cleansing that needs to go on in the world. There are demons of greed and hate and sexualism that have to go. No wonder they wanted to get rid of him.


As I read this text this week, I thought, “My gosh, this could have come right out of the newspaper.” Then, just this morning, I read in The Fourth Turning that we are living in a time that parallels second century Christianity. The second century begins in the year 100. The book of Matthew is written between 80 and 120 ce. So, it seems that Matthew really is writing about our time.


Here is a crisis for us in the Christian world. When we read from this book we call the Bible, we tend to think that this is an historic book that bears testimony to what was. In doing that we kill it and take the authority of it away. But, we are the people of the resurrection. We believe that God’s word for us is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, not dead but alive, and that God’s Word continues to speak to us just as it spoke to God’s people when Jesus first spoke. This is a living word, a resurrection word, a word of commission and calling, that continues to raise us up. So, these words of commissioning that Jesus gave us these many years ago are not isolated in history but claim us in the very work that we do today.


So, hear these words, these word of challenge, “The roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) raised up the movement and they advertised it. They played the flute for us, but we would not join in the dance of ministry. They wailed and lamented the injustices of the world and the loss of dignity of so many, and we would not mourn.


So, it was, in the wisdom of God, that the words of new life were not given to the elders, to the older people who wanted their entitlements, but to the young people, to the children of God, to the infants, that they might be the roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) of the new world and the new movement. For indeed, if the owls (hoo-hoo) have their way, we would only be able to talk about what has been.


Thanks be to God, even in the midst of the death of a movement, Christ continues to speak and resurrect it, so the movement, Christ’s ministry can start again. And that we might rise, hearing those words of commission and be involved in the process and duty of ministry.


In the context of Matthew, John is the rooster (cock-a-doodle-doo), the temple priests were the owls (hoo-hoo), and Jesus’ ministry was the new way they could not embrace. The culture rejected the ministry and condemned Jesus and his movement to death, but, thanks be to God, the empty tomb of Easter opens new ways to be roosters (cock-a-doodle-doo) and ministers together again. “What you have heard in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear whispered, proclaim from the roof tops.” For we have been called to be God’s roosters (ALL cock-a-doodle-doo) for all of God’s kingdom.

Rave Reviews?

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET            ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT 

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

Rave Reviews?

by Matt Hughes 11:16:19:25:30

Party plans in The Ole Land? fell through for Kingdom of Dodd yesterday, July 9. Co-ordinator Candy Trey reported, “I just don’t know what might have gone wrong. I have planned major events of Kingdom of Dodd for quite a while. Nothing like this has ever happened before. When we planned Jean Baptiste’s Rave in the Wilderness, we had more people than we knew what to do with, but this latest party was a bust. We had the Days of Noah fronting for righteous bands, but, when we got everything set up, no one danced. When The Children in the Marketplace started playing no one even acknowledged their talent. I mean, they were really wailing, and they got nothing. When Wisdom sang “Deeds”, the title track from her classic, internationally known, soul anthem, party participants started leaving.”

Josh Kristy took some time to thank the few people who showed for their support, but the Kingdom of Dodd benefit that was to raise money for Baptiste’s defense fund barely covered costs. With Jean Baptiste’s trial coming soon, the outlook is bleak.

A GoFundMe account has been started to help with the effort, but when asked about further strategies for Baptiste’s future defense, Kristy said, “Our plans will be revealed, but, right now, they are still in their infancy. We are just trying to get the ingredients ready for the omelet. And you know if you are going to make an omelet, you’ve got to start by breaking some eggs.”

“At the NU-food kitchen, we are trying to get away from those heavy burdensome meals. So, we’re going to flip our eggs with the yolks over easy. We’ve still got time before we need to give up on our efforts. I will say when it is time to give it a rest.”

It is uncertain as to what this all means, but it appears that the Kingdom of Dodd’s commitment to their first face in the media, Jean Baptiste, will continue.

Oh, wait, before you go, …. Matthew 10:40-42

I have a friend who used to call me on the phone when he wanted to borrow a tool or use my workshop for a project. When he called, we would talk about life and the world situation and catch up on the news from each other’s family. As the conversation started to wind down, he would say, “Before I hang up, could I borrow …?” or “Do you have time to help me with a project?”

Similarly, when we had been down to visit my mom in Kenosha, after the car was packed, and we were saying good bye, Mom would say, “Hey, before you go, could you change a lightbulb? Could you hook up the hose? Could you take off or put up a storm window? Or could you carry something
up into the attic or down to the basement?”

Today’s text is the last words of instruction from Jesus to his disciples. It is like Jesus knows that they are ready to go, but he wants to keep them with him for just a few moments more. I can almost hear him say it this way, “I think I have told you everything you need to know, but, before you go, remember this. I am sending you out to be guests of the world so let the people welcome you. Be gracious when receiving their gift of welcome. Don’t think that you are the householder offering hospitality. Bring the good news as a gift, like a good bottle of wine or a hearty loaf of bread.

“If you get all John the Baptist on these people, you will be received like John the Baptist. If you get all righteous about who you are, you will be welcomed like the righteous. The reward of the prophet and the righteous person (beyond knowing that you are right) is death, so, don’t get ahead of yourselves.

“Look for the little signs of hospitality—a cup of cold water, a place to wash your feet, a place to relax.

“Before you go, remember: the message you bring is not about you but about you and me and the one who sent me. Life is short enough as it is. Make friends not enemies.

“That’s enough now. I know that you are ready to go. Get out of here. I’ve got to get back to work.

“Bye, I love you.”

These last three verses of Matthew, although formal, even conflicted or mysterious, demonstrate the depth of caring Jesus has for his disciples. On the one hand, he has taught them everything they need, but, on the other, he wants to protect them or, at the very least, warn them about the reception they might receive. They are words of caring and love, words belying a longing to linger, to prolong their leave taking.

Today, we too are preparing to go out, hearing God’s words of appreciation and hope for the world, being taught how to be guests, receiving with joy and thanksgiving the bread of life and the cup of salvation. God knows and we know that our work is out there in our daily lives, among the people of the world that God sends us. But before we go, let us tarry for a moment, to share the good news with one another.

Let us go out to the world as guests with good news, guests ready to receive the welcome we are given and extending an invitation to be the hosts at another time. Remember, “None will lose their reward.” Our relationships with Christ and those we meet sustain us.

Know that you are loved, Matthew 10:24-39

For a period of time, my mom did a lot of traveling. She was the director of a group she called the Friendly Center at my home congregation. Between taking groups from the Friendly Center on trips in the US or around the world and traveling on her own to find out whether a place would be good for her older adults to go, she was on the road a lot.


Before Mom would leave on one of her trips, she would call and say, “Now if anything happens while I’m gone, my important papers are in the desk in the little room.” This little room, which had been my sister’s bedroom for a while, was her office space, but really it was a converted closet. I would assure her that nothing was going to happen but, just in case, I knew where to look.

Almost twenty years later after she had died, we were going through Mom’s papers when we came across a file titled Trips. Opening the file, we found a letter from mom. It read, “Dear Jamie and Peter, if you are reading this letter, then something has happened, and I have died. Know that you are loved and that you always have been loved.” The letter went on to say where her important papers were and some other stuff I won’t bore you with, but she had left that letter there for us to find for a long, long time. Even with the humps and bumps of living together, with the little spats that arise, and the momentary angry words spoken, she didn’t want us to ever think that we weren’t loved.

Well, today’s text is sort of like that love note my mom left for my sister and me. Jesus assures us we are loved and valued just because God has created us. In this highly competitive world we live in, there is a need to break records, to have a better life than the previous generation. We try so hard to run faster, jump higher, be smarter than those around us. Today Jesus tells us to relax; take some of the competition out of our lives. Life is hard enough without trying to be more than the one who loves us. It is enough to be like that person.

Jesus tells us to not be afraid even if people demean the head of the household and it spills out over us. We are to hang on to the essential gift of life, that is, the spirit of life that has come into us from God’s holy breath, and not question whether we have value. Love does not necessarily mean peace, but it means that we can be confident of that love even when we argue the problems of the world and the issues of faith.

The next part of this text goes beyond love and value to worthiness. If we have to argue whether or not we are worthy, we aren’t worthy. Instead Jesus assures us that God’s love is enough to fully enter into the human condition and die for us so that we might be saved. Our worth and worthiness does not come from what we do, or who we are, or whether we are successful. Our worthiness and beloved state comes from God who created us, and God loves us because we are God’s own creation. This relationship is more important than our relationships with our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and the families we might marry into.

So, finding value in ourselves through our own works is nice, but it does not save us. Worthiness is not what we can gain on our own, but something that is given, bequeathed, to us through the divine relationship we have with God revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

This whole passage is part of the commissioning instruction from Jesus to his disciples covered last week where Jesus sends us to do his mission: cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. We are able to do these things because we are God’s creation, loved and valued. Beyond that, God gives us worthiness.

Now the language changes from assurances to bearing the cross. When we are able to act in the world like our teacher, when we can give our lives over to our master in a way that reflects our master to the world, when we can know that our worthiness comes from Christ’s work for us, we are ready to bear the cross.

To bear the cross is to claim our identity, an identity that sends us out into the world and sustains us throughout life’s way in Christ to a death that leads to resurrection living. Our cross-bearing identity leads us into new ways of knowing the kingdom of heaven. It is not only something we enter into after death, but something we proclaim in our daily living. The cross we bear is the empty cross, the symbol of the resurrection, so the cross-bearing that we are called to do is about life and living not about burdens and death. As long as we are bearing the cross, life in the kingdom of heaven is proclaimed. It is when the cross bears us that life gets problematic.

When we give up our lives to live in Christ’s body, that is in Baptism, then, in that relationship with Christ, we are assured of salvation. In that cross-bearing identity with Christ, we are freed to live into new relationships with all of God’s people. Indeed, we are always loved. Let us go live and love in Christ’s name. “Speak it in the light, …proclaim it from the housetops” that we are loved and commissioned to love others.

INTO THE MIDST OF WOLVES

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

INTO THE MIDST OF WOLVES

Dateline: Ole Land? July 2, 10:40:42
by Matt Hughes

Kristy concluded instructing his followers today. Before sending them out into the newest sales field for Kingdom of Dodd NU-Food lifestyle products, he prepared them for the kind of reception they are likely to encounter. Kristy reminded them, in very descriptive words, that he was sending them out as Simple, Honest, Enterprising, Evangelical Privateers (S.H.E.E.P.) into a society of Wily Old Lovers of Vices and Existential Sufferings (W.O.L.V.E.S.).

Kristy charged S.H.E.E.P. to always be polite, “Remember, you represent a product that is much bigger than yourselves. You are the Kingdom of Dodd for the people you meet.” If they do the job well, Kristy promised they would be rewarded with a better commission when the people thanked them for making their lives easier and mentioned their name while ordering new products.

Kristy also assured his followers that if they are in it for the profits, they would get profit rewards and their earnings would be hugely righteous. In the meantime, they should abstain from alcohol, drinking only water.

Some speculate that Kristy’s S.H.E.E.P. will soon be fleeced in this latest pyramid scheme. Others claim that the Kingdom of Dodd lifestyle is crucial if we want to live in a self-sustaining, eco-friendly world.

HOW HIGH CAN YOU FLY?

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

HOW HIGH CAN YOU FLY?

Dateline: Ole Land? June 25, 10:24:39
by Matt Hughes

Kristy followers are claiming credit for solving the labor crisis last week. Today, crop yields are coming in on time and the harvest looks good. Yet, Josh Kristy was heard to admonished his followers to remember that they didn’t do it on their own. The Kingdom of Dodd [KoD] and the power of the KoD “anything is possible spirit” had something to do with it, not to mention Kristy’s directive and confidence in their work.

While Kristy warned his supporters that they were starting to get “too big for their britches”, he also assured them of their importance and value to the NU-Food movement, saying they were “more valuable than many sparrows.” There is an apparent hierarchical structure within KoD enterprises—from low to high: sparrow, dove, lamb, goat, sheep, heifer, and bullock.

Kristy also told his followers they are “worthy of the work ahead of them” because the KoD vision for new ways of living was worthy in itself. If they kept with the program, they could advance through the ranks. He said, “If you endure to the end, the sky is the limit.” Kristy continues to prepare his followers for more challenges as the vision of Kristy’s KoD and its place in the world expands.

Kristy said, “The greatness of the Kingdom of Dodd vision is that we can provide the basic materials and goods people will need. Then each community of adherents is able to utilize these basic goods and materials in a way that best serves the people themselves. In finding the best way to use what we can provide, the world community and the environment are made better.”

Police Chief Niels Forkross is concerned that recent reports of increased domestic disputes and violence are somehow related to KoD. He described the current climate, “We have always had some minor household disputes, but this Kingdom of Dodd movement seems to bring out a level of violence that is unanticipated. The whole mother-in-law/daughter-in-law thing is pretty understandable. It’s been around since Seth first got married, but fathers claiming that their children should be put to death went out with Abraham and Isaac. Kids used to think that they needed to find themselves, but this seems different.”

It is hard to project the outcome of this movement. As the work of Kristy and his followers continues, so will the coverage of The AngelUS Trumpet.