Yesterday morning was the funeral of the mother of our close friend at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The funeral “service” was actually a mass almost exactly the same as a Catholic mass. The Lutheran and Anglican (Episcopalian in America) churches were the first ones to break from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation, so while I am certainly not an expert in religious doctrine, as far as I can tell their services and doctrine are very similar to that of the Catholic Church. They split primarily for political reasons when the Roman Catholic papacy was more concerned with material power than with religious doctrine. Martin Luther was so appalled when he went to Rome that he wanted to heal the church from the abuses of the current pope, which is what led to his famous posting of grievances. I have always believed that religion in its “pure” state is better than under a central authority which invariably corrupts the doctrine for the sake of political power, and the history of the Catholic Church is evidence of that. Interestingly, there is no central authority in the Lutheran church, but elections of bishops by the regional synods, which avoids the concentration and abuse of power.

After being out late four nights this past week, and most of yesterday, I have sooooo much work to do today that I do not know if it is possible for me to complete everything. And finding time to exercise has become nearly impossible as well. *sigh* Hurry up, Thanksgiving vacation!