Gottesblog

This coming Sunday is Judica, the beginning of Passiontide. All instances of the Gloria Patri are omitted and the images and crosses are veiled after the Gospel lesson. In a sanctuary with many images and crosses and few or no Servers, it may be more practical to veil all but the central two or three images before the service. Directly after the Gospel lesson the veils are placed, lowered, or raised (depending on what is being veiled) in silence.

I recently received the following correspondence from a conscientious lover of the historic Lutheran liturgy (i.e., a member of the Gottesdienst Crowd):

The historic Christian calendar is an adiaphoron. One man considers one day holier than another and one man considers all days equal. Let them both do it to the Lord's favor. Celebrate Christmas on Dec 25 or April 17 - or not at all. You are neither more nor less likely to end up in hell whatever you choose.

Obviously, the Gottesdienst Online editors have been as busy as the rest of you during this run up to the Yule. But here's a couple of quick items:

You can't fake a great voice - you can, I suppose, try to find an old fashioned elocution teacher and work on the one you've got. But in general, you've got it or you don't.

It was bound to happen - online churches. If your church devalues the sacrament (either in theology or frequency), eliminates liturgical response, and imitates pop culture music forms designed to entertain: why go to a "brick and mortar" church at all?