A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy
This is one of the inherent problems with the Church Growth mindset. It’s all about number-lust, and it is never enough. The Church Growther is never satisfied. It’s built-in to the fabric of the universe. For numbers are infinite. There is always a higher number. In the world of mathematics, there is always a “next level,” even as the flesh is never satisfied.
Read MoreBorn less than a decade after Ambrose, the next father in our series, John Chrysostom (347-407), renowned preacher and—like Gregory Nazianzen before him—Patriarch of Constantinople, addressed the issue of usury on numerous occasions, particularly in his homilies.
Read MoreThe Enneagram (The Nine Paths) is an esoteric, mystic, occultish new age fad that has made its way into edgy megachurches - including the LCMS. Issues, Etc. has done two programs on the Enneagram.
Read MoreWhat a treasure we have in our Lutheran tradition of hymnody!
Read MoreThis misguided trust - especially in matters of sex and reason - is based on our progressive culture. A lot of people are confused when I use the word “progressive,” thinking that this means politically left-wing, that is, what often (and often erroneously) is described as “liberal.” Progressivism is a deviation from conservatism, but there are both left- and right-wing progressives.
Read MoreLast year’s Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music in Seward, NE featured a wide array of presentations on many matters pertaining to the worship of the Church, and KFUO Radio has been releasing recordings of some of these presentations on its various media platforms in the last few weeks. I had the opportunity to do a brief historical overview of the Latin Mass (and, to a lesser extent, the Office) in the history of the Lutheran Church, and you can hear that presentation here. I was, perhaps, slightly overambitious in my preparations, and so the presentation moves along at a rather speedy clip, but you can find the slides being referenced during the presentation here.
Read MoreWe cited a nineteenth century Lutheran thought to be Walther. It turns out that the author of the remarks was not Walther but, in all probability, Martin Guenther.
Read MoreThe primary purpose of our acolyte corps is to enhance the worship service with order and dignity. Acolytes are servants who provide a real service to the congregation. They do benefit from being acolytes but those benefits are secondary. It is not what drives them. Their guiding principle is to be reverent and to serve as examples to the congregation. The secondary purposes of our acolyte corps are to train men for the Ministry, to encourage and catechize the boys of the congregation in the faith, and to provide comradery among them.
Read MoreAs I mentioned in the Introduction to this series, the seventeen-hundredth anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea served, in part, as the impetus for initiating this conversation about usury. Nicaea holds particular significance as the first ecumenical council to issue an explicit condemnation of the practice. Yet this prohibition against lending at interest was not confined to Nicaea alone; it appears in at least seven other councils and synods spanning the fourth to the seventh centuries. Before continuing with our exploration of the church fathers, it is worth pausing here to list these councils and synods, in chronological order, along with the specific canons in which usury was formally condemned.
Read MoreHis July article mentions Pope Leo XIV, Leo’s ecumenical discussions with the Eastern Orthodox concerning the papacy, and a citation from Philip Melanchthon from the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope - as well as a response from one of the newly-ordained Lutheran pastors in Rome.
Read MorePastoral care is an art, not a science. Thus there is seldom a one-size-fits-all solution to dealing with every parish and every parishioner.
Read MoreIn spite of the ongoing chaos (liturgical and otherwise) in our culture, church, and church body, there are a lot of positives - especially on the horizon. A lot of the monkeyshines of the past are diminishing among younger generations of Christians - including among us confessional Lutherans - who are once again taking the faith seriously.
Read MoreWhat is a Protestant? Well, it's any Christian who is not a Roman Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox. It is impossible to define "Protestant" in any positive way, we can only say what one is by saying what one isn't. As a theological term, it is useless. For what is Protestant Theology?
Read MoreThe “technically, it’s not wrong” problem is why we are so far away from truly walking together in Synod.
Read MoreThe cultural differences between men and women covering their heads is stubborn and persistent, even in our current feminist, egalitarian age. For men still remove their hats at certain times, even though women do not. Such times include prayer, and showing civil respect to the flag
Read MoreWhen the gathered mourners are engaged in an altered reenactment of the Emperor’s New Clothes, the pastor must be the little boy who cries out the truth that everyone, by unspoken agreement, is pretending not to see, “The emperor is dead!”
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