A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy
Today is not only New Year’s Eve, it is also the seventh day of Christmas. And as we continue to ponder the miracle of Christmas, that is, the incarnation of God into flesh, we should remember that our Lord’s coming is not just a matter of “where” (that God came to us in our material, fleshly world), but also of “when” – in time.
Read MoreThe worship at these congregations is as fake as a Zimbabwe banknote. It really is analogous to paper money, backed by nothing, and easily inflated to worthlessness. And no matter how many zeroes one adds to the piece of paper, it never becomes the equivalent of the gold that it replaced. It is rather a kind of officially-sanctioned counterfeiting.
Read MoreOld and busted: Canceling church on Christmas Day. New hotness: Holding church ‘online’ on the Sunday after Christmas.
Read MoreThe time of Our Lord’s nativity, the fifth day of which we mark today, draws us to not only reflect on His incarnation, but, by extension, also to the one by whom He took on flesh: the Virgin Mary, most blessed among women (Lk. 1:42) and Mother of God. Along with that discussion come various frequent topics of discussion, perhaps regarding the clauso utero birth (cf. FC SD VII), the assumption, or, perhaps, the perennial favorite: the perpetual virginity [semper virgo] of the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. every Christian writer under the sun until about five minutes ago).
Read MoreThe good and gracious will of God will be accomplished. And he, to demonstrate this great thing, has deigned to bring it to pass under the appearance of abject weakness and poverty.
Read MoreThis is a tale of two hymns. One, a traditional text written in Latin, popularly sung in many languages at Christmas around the world, including in our own churches: O Come, All Ye Faithful (LSB 379). The other, a modern-day adaptation called O Come All You Unfaithful.
Read MoreMaybe I owe everyone an apology.
Read MorePerhaps the emotion driven praise music has a way of convincing people that they really have changed, but when the music stops and it’s time to go home, the sense of transformation dies just as quickly as the music did.
Read MoreInterview with the Rev. Dr. John Bombaro on On the Line
Read MoreEd: The below account of the Regensburg Dispute made my blood run cold, and the attentive reader will have no great difficulty in seeing the same patterns at work in ecclesial controversies to this day. - SG
In the middle of the sixteenth century, two opposing views were held among Lutherans with respect to interest-taking. Martin Chemnitz adhered to the traditional view, shared by Luther, that all lending at interest for profit is contrary to Holy Scripture. Others, such as Johannes Aepinus, contended that the biblical prohibition against interest applies only to lending to the poor; therefore, they argued, a distinction must be drawn in lending practices, and interest may rightly be charged to the well-to-do, at least in Zinskauf contracts. For Chemnitz, this distinction was without biblical warrant, and those who introduced it had clearly fallen into error (Loci theologici II (1653), 162). Aepinus, conversely, held that those, including Luther, who failed to make this distinction in lending had themselves committed “a pernicious error” (In psalmum XV commentarius (1543), 29).
Read MoreThe Christian faith is a both/and matter. It is neither spiritual to the detriment of the physical (as Gnostics, and as, to a lesser extent, sacramentarian Evangelicals confess), nor is it material to the detriment of the spiritual (as atheists and rationalists confess).
Read MoreHere is the official position of the LCMS on Worship and the use of the ordo (the order and constituent parts of the Divine Service), from a resolution from the 2016 LCMS national Convention. Don't ditch the confession and absolution. Don't ditch the creeds. There is no right to rob the people of the ancient creeds which we wholeheartedly confess. Don't rob the people of the three readings of the lectionary. The Augsburg Confession says specifically we retain vestments and the lectionary. Don't mess with the LORD's Supper. There is great freedom to use various settings. Keep the ORDO. We are not evangelicals. We are Lutherans. — Matt Harrison
Read MoreWhy do some entrepreneurs and businessmen debase themselves? Why would a grown man put on a chicken suit, or go on late night TV waving his arms about ranting (yet again) that “everything must go”? Why do lawyers put up sleazy and lurid billboards?
Because it works!
Read MoreSuper Winkel in Ft. Wayne Monday Jan 19th! You never know who might show up but you know it will be edifying and fun.
Read MoreI often hear the argument that musical style is neutral when it comes to appropriateness for worship, and that the reason we in the Gottesdienst Crowd reject “contemporary worship” is simply because we just happen to like the organ and classical music. In other words, if the words pass theological muster, any musical style may be used for the Divine Service, as Scripture doesn’t specify such things, thus making it a matter of adiaphora.
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