" Savior of the Nations Come"

     During the course of a Sunday service, you might find yourself flipping through the Lutheran Hymnal and fall upon hymn #95.  Hymn 95 or titled as "Savior of the Nations"is  written by Martin Luther.  Luther's message is that God sent His only Son into the world to be crucified so that we sinners may live in His eternal kingdom. Jesus is the Savior of World yet He arrived by a humble birth.  Christ, unlike us,was born holy and pure, by means of a virgin. Since we are born into sin, we are slaves to it. To free us from our bondage, Jesus conquered sin, death, and the devil. So by His blood all people can be in His holy kingdom.
     In the hymn Luther celebrates God's gift to mankind: Jesus. To engage the reader he uses the tool of description. In which the he describes the manger as brightly shining because Christ is the light of world who takes aways the sin of the world.  Christ's light is so bright that no power of hell or schemes of men could ever snuff it out.  Since having the joy of Jesus in our hearts we should allow our daily life to reflect that light. When the final days of our lives come we have the comfort to know Christ conquered all so that we may join Him in everlasting happiness.

Sermon Diagnostic

      Rev. Borghardt and Jonanthan Edwards are both influential men of God's church. But their central message's are vastly different.  Edwards lived in the time of the Great Awakening and desired to return to orthodoxy and the ardent faith of the Puritans. His approach was the "fire and brimstone" technique , in which he would focus on the horrors of hell for sinners in is sermon. His way to increase and maintain piety was to subject fear into his congregation. His sermon conveyed God's vengeance toward sinners and the fierceness of His wrath. Edward preaches of the horrendous consequences of hell and Christans to be in constant fear of punishment.
     Whereas Rev. Borghardt preached a message of  hope and the great love of our God. His sermon was given on All Saints Day assuming the sermon would honor the saints. But Rev. Broghardt gave all honor and glory to the creator of the saints, God. In order for us to be seen as saints in God eyes, the Lamb was slain. Through Christ's death and resurrection we are set apart as God's holy ones. Jesus died so that we may live and reign forever with Him. Rev. Borghardt stresses that God wanted us and got us through baptism. We belong to Him.  Also he explains we should not fear the troubles of this earth. Because Christ came therefore there are blessings and we are going to a better place.  As Rev. Borghart says so beautifully " when we are told we don't have time left, it's God's way of saying He can't bare to live without you anymore."

Law Banning items from rearview mirrors is being rethought

     In the article, the largely ignored ban of dangling mirror items is discussed. Lawmakers in Michigan are considering loosening up on the ban. Among the drivers the common rule of thumb is: if it can not obstruct your view its legal. Detroit's John Ortiz gives his perspective "some things are gaudy, and I could understand banning that, but this air freshener doesn't distract my view." Many share similar a view, such as Sen. Ron Jelinek who is behind the bill to allow small items and prohibit large ones. So far the bill has been passed in the Senate, and awaits debate in the state House. But so far Gov. Jennifer Granholm is in favor of it as well. One of the main reasons this ban is ignored, is because how little enforced  it is. Lt. Matt Bolger responds that stopping every car for a violation is impossible. Police force is in support to do away with the ban, but compromised that large items should be a violation. Steve Purd, spokesman of the National  Motorist Association sums up the idea "Unless it's large and an obvious obstruction, its just silly for police to pull somebody over for that. People aren't hurting anybody and they're not causing any danger."

     The important thing is that this law has been unfairly enforced," Jelinek said. "You see people driving with things hanging. They don't get stopped, so it's kind of an excuse for being stopped" I liked this quote because it is so true. How many times on the road do you see drivers with items hanging. I have yet to hear of someone getting pulled over for a pair of fuzzy dice or a rosary. Police have bigger problems, stopping drunk drivers and speeders who truly put our safety into jeopardy.

     After reading this article, I disagree with the ban. " Michigan State Police intially fought an effort to ditch the ban outright...." Even our enforcers of safety, the police are in favor of removal of the ban. The ban seems unnessary due to low threat mirror decor  has on a driver. Knowing that other drivers views are not obstructed by fresh pine scents, gives me no concerns.

It's not race, Lebron James, but it might be you

     In this article, Albom discussed how the race card is manipulated. In this case it was Lebron James, who was largely criticized for his free agency jump to Miami.  Additional heat was brought upon James for broadcasting his decision nationally in the humble words, " I'm gonna take my talents to South Beach." James reacted to the criticism with "Its always you know, a race factor." Thus reveals Albom point when faced with controversy, its easy to make the race the offender.

     I agree with Albom article. Consider our former mayor Kwame when he was investigated he as well used race as the reason. Also O.J Simpson pulled the race card when in trouble too. There is an obvious recurrence within our society today. These athletes struggled to come to grips with the reality, they had done wrong. In desperate effort to slide the blame off they turn to race.

     Albom made in strong argument in this point "By the way, there was a similar vitriol toward Brett Farve after he left Green Bay. Ego. Money. Why didn't CNN ask Farve if it was about race." Perfect example. Lebron left Clevland  for a better contract just as Farve had. But unlike Lebron, Farve was not able to fend off controversy by using race.