The Joshua Victor Theory

  Life Sunday Sermon 2021 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 “From Invisible to Indispensable” Rev. Michael W. Salemink, Lutherans For Life   (lightly revised by Pastor Joshua Schneider for use on 1/17/21)   So, you have these two tiny organs in your ears. Sort of a sixth sense. The utricle senses your head’s horizontal motion, and the saccule detects its vertical movement. They live inside the mystical semicircular canals of the vestibular labyrinth. The magic happens using otoliths—literally ear stones—microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, the stuff that makes up chalk, stalagmites, seashells, and Tums. Curious, because when the otoliths act up, you can get quite queasy. When your cranium moves, the otoliths lag a little behind for a minute and tickle miniature hairs. Your brain interprets these signals as a shift in position and compares the input from both ears with the data from your eyes to define direction and orientation. Experts call it proprioception or kines...

In the Name of the Father—Life Creator, the Son—Life Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit—Life Sanctifier, Amen. Psalm 10, which we just recited, is a passionate outcry of the righteous against the wicked. The Psalmist asks God, where are you to help? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? He sees the wicked pursuing the poor and the helpless, being greedy for gain, cursing and renouncing the Lord. He hears them denying God’s existence and believing that for generation after generation, they will be able to get away with this oppression. Murdering the innocent in secret places, preying on the poor, the helpless, and the afflicted. The Psalmist cries out to God—how can this be? He cries for God to remember the afflicted, hold the wicked accountable, and to take this violence and injustice into His hands, and break the power of evildoing. The Psalm ends on the confident note that God will hear the cry of the afflicted, will encourage and strengthen them, will do justice for the fath...