Author Archives: Paul Harris

About Paul Harris

Pastor Harris retired from congregational ministry after 40 years in office on 31 December 2023. He is now devoting himself to being a husband, father, and grandfather. He still thinks cenobitic monasticism is overrated and cave dwelling under.

Useful Suffering

When suffering one either migrates to the poll of despair or resignation; at least I do. We know that despair is not of God but of the Evil One. We know that resignation is the refuge of the fatalists, Stoics, … Continue reading

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To be Hoisted Yet Again

Having recently published a blog about the ‘necessity’ (This word seems ill-advised in this context, but nevertheless.) of properly discerning what is truly adiaphora I find myself flummoxed, adrift, even asea.

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Apparatchiks Я Us

I’ve been banging on Concordia Health Plan’s publication Better Health for years. To sum up my take from 2013 (“Better Health Poorer Christianity” 7-29-2013) and from 2009 (“Food for Thought” 11-09-2009), I would subtitle Better Health with :Poorer Theology.

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Fruit Dragging the Ground

If you don’t know what to say about this 2002 Editorial Cartoon, you don’t understand the bizarre nature of the Pro-Death movement. If you aren’t moved to write a Letter to the Editor in response, you might not be as … Continue reading

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Excuse My French

An “Irish goodbye”, is an expression used today by Americans and Englanders. It comes from the English referring to a “French leave.” The French refer to it as “leave as the English.” Germany has “to make a Polish exit”.[i] This … Continue reading

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Devil’s Night

When I had a parish in in the City of Detroit in the late 80s, Devil’s Night was a feared Halloween Eve tradition. Pranks, vandalism, and crimes were up as youth ran wild. That’s how it was billed and the … Continue reading

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Just a Tool, Two

In my never ending quest, perhaps Quixotic, to expose the seedy underbelly of all things techie, I offer “Just a Tool, Two” or “2.0” for you Big Tech enthusiasts. The scene in the 1980’s movie is this: the hero has … Continue reading

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Give Me the spirit of heaviness rather than disease of depression

Every year at this season, the “news” goes between how more depressing this time of year is to how it’s really a myth that this time of year is more depressing than others. I think what is most certainly depressing … Continue reading

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Forensic Justification is Objective Justification

The single greatest threat to Confessional Lutheranism is the denial of Objective Justification (OJ). It is a denial of the Gospel. That’s what Dean Saleska said in a 1981 meeting of the faculty of Concordia Theological Seminary at Fort Wayne. … Continue reading

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Sanctity of Life Sunday

Before I retired, I moved the celebration of The Holy Innocents to Sanctity of Life Sunday. If you look at the history of the celebration on December 28, it was originally celebrated after St. Stephen and St. John, to tamp … Continue reading

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