Date: 2004-10-26 08:27 Subject: This post brought to you by Vicodin Security: Public Mood: sore

The Oral Surgeon done went and took out all my smarts yesterday. So far, so good. Hopefully not a repeat performance of mid-July, when I was in pain for a month following an infected wisdom tooth removal.

Thanks be to God for the First Article gift of Nitrous Oxide. Within a minute I was flying higher than a kite (with apologies to Elton John) and exceedingly relaxed. The numbing shots weren't as painful as last time. Some 30 minutes later the wisdom teeth were outta there. The uppers were removed with lots and lots of pressure. I'm told this is part of the deal. The lower right one was the longest to remove as I have, according to the O.S. "man-sized roots". The tip of a root remained stuck in my upper right tooth but the O.S. assures me this will not be a problem. So I go back next Wednesday for a follow up. Pray that I do not get "dry socket"!

So now I'm on milkshakes and soft food for a couple of days. Not to mention Vicodin, which isn't hitting me as hard as it did three months ago. The pain is gone but the buzz is not as severe. I guess I'm building up tolerance to it, I don't know. Swelling went down overnight and the pain isn't that crazy. Did I mention no stitches for the upper right wisdom tooth? It was pretty much in all the way. The bottom right was impacted and had a decent cavity in it. The upper left broke skin in early April and would've given me problems in a few years.

So I watched "The Last Waltz" on DVD yesterday. One must watch this concert after reading Levon Helm's autobiography "This Wheel's On Fire". Helm rips it to shreds as a Robbie Robertson/Martin Scorcese "love fest". I agree. Sure, the music is great in most cases but if one didn't know better, one might wonder if there were other guys in The Band besides Robbie.

"Music from Big Pink" is one album that nears perfection. And I don't own it! Christmas is coming, anybody wanna buy it for a poor pastor? Same can be said for their "self-titled" second album.

Catherine (our daughter) is very cranky this morning. Don't know what's up. My folks are coming up for the day later this morning and my in-laws will be here Thursday for a couple days. Mrs. FatherDMJ will have plenty of help while I'm trying to recuperate. It's not like I'm flat on my back or anything...yet. I need to take it easy till later this week, though.

I'm such a sloth. When I should be busy studying God's Word and writing a sermon I want to goof off and do nothing. Now that I am supposed to goof off and do nothing for a few days, all I want to do is get back to work and "do something". I have a sermon to write, a bulletin to prepare, papers and books to read, ARGH! I wish sometimes there were a few more hours in the day to read, study, and pray with no distractions. Maybe I need to get back in the habit of rising at 5 AM to pray Matins and Lauds, read through my devotional reading, and hit the books early. The phone rarely rings between 5 and 8 AM so I should be redeeming the time rather than snoozing and cruising the internet.

It's raining again in Iuka. We've had lots of rain the last week and a half. Slowed down what's left of harvest and knocked off most of the leaves from the trees here. It's been "indian summer" the last week or so around here. I love "indian summer". It's our last kiss of warm weather before colder temps start working their way south. My wife and I hate winter. We don't mind a touch of snow and some colder days and nights, but not for 3 months! Plus, we get ice storms here from time to time and they suck mightily because both of us tend to slip and fall all the time on ice. Our sexton mowed the grass Friday and pushed all the ladybugs in the rectory. Now we are invaded by ladybugs until the crops are planted next spring. However, we've found that the remains of some spider spray my father-in-law used in mid-September are killing off a lot of the ladybugs so perhaps we will give the spider spray another chance and see how it takes care of ladybugs. Normally one must grin and bear it when these stupid things attack.

This Sunday I covered a dual parish for the guy who was our Fall Mission Sunday preacher and liturgist. I am itching to get back into my pulpit this week. It's Reformation Sunday this coming Sunday. My attitude toward this day has turned considerably over the last 8 years. I now view it as a day of humiliation, supplication, and prayer. Almost a fasting day, actually. We should be in great contrition for the mockery the Western Church has made of Blessed Martin Luther's attempt to reeducate the Western Church in Holy Scripture. Now, we turn him into a schismatic who told Rome to "go bugger off" so we can do our own thing. It's as if we must sing "A Mighty Fortress" with our middle finger extended in the general direction of Rome. The Reformation was about reforming the Church catholic to bring Her back to God's Word, not to start a new church that must look completely different than Rome. We pastors have failed to bring this attitude to our people in a way that is consistent. If anything, we should use Reformation Sunday to take stock of our sin of pride and greed with the opportunity to receive Holy Absolution and a vow to preach and teach the Word with great boldness and to catechize our flock on what it truly means to be Lutheran. It means not to be schismatic. It means to reclaim our catholic heritage as a Church that treats Holy Scripture as Holy Scripture, the Gospel as the Gospel, the Sacraments as Sacraments, the liturgy as liturgy, and piety as true piety and not "me and Jesus" drivel.

That's all I want to say about the Reformation.

I'm done. Your turn.

Father DMJ