Dear esteemed and humble editors:
A burning question: To whom should the pastor's wife and children make private confession and receive absolution, from the husband/father or another pastor?
Your fellow confessor,
Rev. Michael Brockman

Dear Rev. Brockman,
If you would permit a slight alteration in the question, viz., a replacement of "should" with "may"—thus making of the inquiry an exploration of what is permitted—one humble editor would be pleased to offer a humble answer: Yes.  -BFE

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Dear Editors,
Your title ‘Gottesdienst' is written in German ‘Fraktur-Schrift'.  German Fraktur differentiates two kinds of ‘s': The ‘Rund-s', that ends syllables (and words), and the ‘Lang-s' for all the others.
So the first ‘s' of ‘Gottesdienst', the end of the syllable ‘Gottes' is right, but the other ‘s' before ‘t' has to be written with ‘Lang-s'. I think all the PC-fonts of Fraktur include that ‘Lang-s'.
So far my little hint. Dear greetings from Germany
Wolfgang Fenske, Jena

Herr Fenske,
Thank you for your informative note.  Unfortunately the "Lang-s" script is not available to my American computer, which calls this font "Diploma."  But if it was, and we used it, I daresay we'd have even more people complaining about how difficult a title this is for our readers.  Alas, we shabby Americans cannot even pronounce "Gottesdienst," much less spell it. -BFE

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"I so enjoyed the first issue I received that I have enclosed a cheque for a two year subscription, thank you very much." -Joshua McGuffie, Los Angeles, California

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"It's so nice to read something with substance instead of all the 'fluff' we are subjected to in The Lutheran Witness. Thanks for your straightforward stance on the confessions."
-Russell and Beverly Stevens, Overbrook, Oklahoma

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"I was reading your 'observer' regarding 'current events' in our Synod -the demon in 'Evangelism'. Excellent! Absolutely on target! Great. -Rev.Edward Wolfe, Glen Carbon, Illinois ------------------------------------------- "We're looking forward to receiving Gottesdienst, after hearing glowing recommendations from the family of our pastor. Thank you! -Jane Casey, Spring Grove, Illinois -------------------------------------------- "I thoroughly enjoy every issue of Gottesdienst. Thank you for this wonderful publication." -D. Frost, Eureka, Missouri -------------------------------------------- "Keep up the fine work!" -G. Parker, Montreal, Canada -------------------------------------------   I have really enjoyed reading Gottesdienst and always look forward to the next issue, which never comes soon enough.  The many articles have deepened my understanding of and appreciation for the liturgy.  God bless the future of this journal. Justin Kane Geneseo, Ill.   -------------------------------------------- I truly enjoy the journal and pray it will continue to be published. Drucilla Huddleston Lincoln Park, Mich.   --------------------------------------------

Reverend and dear Sirs:
 Thank you very much for your little journal, Gottesdienst.  The day it arrives in the mail, I devour the articles and sermons.  I thank God for the opportunity to learn things liturgical from such learned men as you and your other contributors.
 I have been taught to believe that the Christian corpus doctrinae is just that, a body and not the sum of its parts.  This must be true since all theology is Christology.  I also believe that the commonly held four divisions of theological study are pretty artificial. Therefore I hope you will forgive me for asking you an exegetical question.  Your Trinity 1997 issue features for its cover art an icon of the visit of the three men to Abraham in Genesis 18.  It teaches symbolically that the three men are the three persons of the Holy Trinity.  Does not Genesis 19.1 teach that two of the three are mere angels?

Your inquisitive student,
Latif H. Gaba.

Dear Mr. Gaba,
 How commendably you draw us into exegetical things, to which we are gladly drawn.  In finding the two angels of Genesis 19 to be two of the three men of Genesis 18, you demonstrate an acumen which leads us to believe that you probably already know the answer to the question you pose, but that you wish to give wider circulation to that answer from us, whom you also expect will know the answer.  Surely, if it is seen that the two angels in 19 are two of the three in 18, then it cannot be missed that these two are no mere angels, but are uncreated Angels (Messengers), namely One who is an eternally-begotten Messenger and Another an eternally-proceeding Messenger.  For the three Men in Genesis 18 speak to Abraham in one place as "they" (9) and in another as "the LORD" (13), that we may see their unity in Trinity.  So again, in Genesis 19, as soon as the two Angels say to Lot, "the LORD hath sent us to destroy the city" (13), Lot goes out and tells his sons in law that "the LORD will destroy this city" (14), and indeed is proved right, as it says, "Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brinstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven," etc.  More importantly, in this sequence of events, we therefore see what has been fulfilled among us, namely, the feasting of the Triune God with Abraham's children (in the Holy Supper), which is surely to be followed by a great Judgment upon Abraham's enemies, a Judgment specifically carried out by the Son (who shall come again in glory to judge) and the Spirit (who shall finally baptize the world in the fire of Judgment). BFE
 
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