It's All About The Three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Waldemar R. Semrau's point of the article is revealed in 

"Reuse provides maximum function for given material and energy input."

 In this article Semrau compares the saying "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" with his career choices during his lifetime.  Semrau's technique for writing leaves out the facts about himself that would turn this into more a biography than that of an article.  The facts about his life are necessary to get his point across but great details about them are not.  He illustrates himself as a young child aspiring to be a surgeon. This strategy of using childhood dreams allows many readers to relate to him and the article.  It grasps the reader’s attention into the article. But like many, he abandons that dream and does what he needs to survive in the real world. He becomes an engineer; after many years and close to retirement he decides to make some changes in his life.  He knows that his death is approaching so he decides to reuse his talents in another way. Just like recycling can turn a pop-can into something else. He knows that by doing so he can also give back to the earth and those living here. He may be able to help someone in his life. So he decides to try and fulfill his childhood fantasies to be a surgeon.

"Savior of the nations, come"

In "Savior of the Nations, Come," Luther illustrates the birth of the Lord our Savior.  And how he was born of the virgin Mary.  He was not only just Mary's son, he was also they Lord's.  Luther also tells us that when returning to his Heavenly home, Jesus overcomes death and hell.  At the end of the hymn, Luther glorifies God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  This hymn is so strong because of the diction Luther chooses.  By using "Though by all the world disowned, Still to be in heaven enthroned." Luther strengthens the hymn.  It makes us think about how everyone disowned Christ, even the closest of his friends.  Using other words such as left, ignored would not have portrayed the same feeling of being abandoned.  Yet God the Father was always with him and waited for him to return to heaven.  Another strong point in the hymn is verse five. "Thou, the Father's only Son, Hast o'er sin the victory won. Boundless shall Thy kingdom be; When shall we its glories see?" It is important because it informs us on the relationship between God and Jesus and about Jesus' victory over our sin.  This gives us the joy that we will not suffer eternal death because of our sin. 

Sermon Diagnostic

1) 23 mentions of Christ.

2) Some of the verbs: slain, died, rose, makes holy, took sin, is lamb, makes pure, slows, makes blessings, rose.

3) In Edward's sermon, the main topic is about eternal judgment and the wraths of hell.  He describes hell as a burning furnace to scare many of the believers to stay in the faith.  His sermon barely mentions Christ.  Yet Borghardt's sermon is the total opposite from Edward’s.  Borghardt uses Christ very much and when he uses Christ, he uses him as the subject of all the verbs.  His sermon tells us about God’s grace and how great he truly is.  This allows people to see God’s mercy and choose to come to the faith, instead of scaring them into it.