Gottesblog

An interesting article referenced by Fr. Alms over at incarnatus est.

The American Evangelical church growth movement seeks to turn the church into a marketing firm for Jesus and the pastor into a visionary CEO who is held accountable for how much revenue, er, conversions he gets for Jesus. Many Lutherans have bought into this vision hook, line, and sinker - and many, many Lutherans are smaller scale stock holders.

One Day Gottesdienst Conference

Liturgy as the Beacon for God's Elect

The Pastor's Information Form (PIF) and the Self-Evaluation Tool (SET - a bit of an Orwellian title for the form others will use to evaluate me, no?) together form the instrumental cause of the widening gap between LCMS parishes and districts when it comes to worship (and overall pastoral) practice. I don't know the exact year they came into existence - mid-1980's I think, someone commenting will know.

The large number of 2010 graduates without calls is getting discussed all over the place. Today I was pointed to a very lengthy, and for the most part very worthwhile, discussion of the topic over at the ALBP forums.

Here are the official numbers of vacancies from the Synod. You'll note that the most recent numbers are pre-Call Day. The raw vacancy number: 934. But we've got to subtract those from that number that are non-calling (342), "temporarily" non-calling (219), and those placed at Call Day (about 130). So there are about 243 actually calling vacancies right now. Or fewer than 7 per district.

Here is a great resource for students of the historic Western lectionary - it includes some great 16th century woodcuts geared to the Gospel lessons.

Just in time for the ordination season, Autom has a great deal on a travel Mass kit for shut-in calls. Chalice, paten, cruets, host box, crucifix, carrying case: $150. I have one similar to this - in fact, it appears the chalice was made by the same Polish outfit - and it ran me $270 six years ago. This is a great deal.

Three men from St. Louis and 21 from Fort Wayne are without calls. Ever since 2004 there have been "left-over" seminarians each year (with the possible exception of last year - but then look at the shortage this year: seems they beat the bushes extra hard last time). And these numbers do not count the number of calls that were finagled and are doomed from the start because the placement director is trying to put a square peg in a round hole. "You practice open communion, have women distribute the Supper, and make up your own liturgy each week? Would you like an assistant pastor?"

You are just not smart enough to do it. You'll only embarrass yourself. Your own personal wisdom and experience are no substitute for the wisdom and experience of the whole Church.

All things being done today in the Lutheran congregations of North America are not being done in order. Things are in a state of confusion.