Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog

Willow Creek Has Made a Huge Mistake

That great sucking sound you hear is the sound of  church planting task forces and mission executives gasping in horror  at this Halloween  "trick or treat" revelation.

Here is a quote from the story.

Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.

The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.

Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.

Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:

Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.

Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.

Drive Through Church

Ridiculing Christianity is Acceptable in the USA

Imagine the outcry if a blatantly racist photo of whites with blacks was used as cover art on a pop star's new CD. Or, consider if the photos would show the pop star in various stages of undress with a person portraying the Prophet Muhammad. Or, what if the pop star was featured in jack books and a swastika on the arm herding Jews toward a a death camp train? The howls of protest would deafen us. But, when Briney Spears, the drug/booze addicted tramp poses semi-nude on the lap of a man dressed as a Roman Catholic priest, in a confessional, and sprawls suggestively against a confessional, this is considered appropriate and acceptable in American culture today. What this person lacks in talent, morals, virtue or character, she must now make up for by choosing the most sensational sort of cover album art. And even more pathetic is that the American media gives this attention. Dumb and dumber. Sick and sicker. And the thing most sad of all is that there are some Christians out there who actually believe it is "ok" for them to "enjoy" this kind of visual and auditory raunch and filth. Blind leading the blind. Advice to Christian parents: be sure to monitor what is on your children's iPods. Check the titles, then look up the lyrics. Better safe than sorry.

The Blessing of Holy Baptism

One of our readers sent in this moving account of a recent experience he had. I post it with his permission, but at his request, without his name.

You may already be aware that I am a physician in family practice with obstetrics.  Yesterday morning at 4:30, I got a frantic call from the labor room telling me that a patient of mine was there.  She was only 22 weeks (about 4 1/2 months) along, but she was having hard contractions and was completely dilated.  I rushed to the hospital and, to my dismay, confirmed that the nurse's assessment had been correct.
    I explained to the mother that delivery was imminent and, at this early stage, the chance of survival for the baby was zero.  I offered a brief, silent prayer, and then asked the only question that really mattered: did she want the baby baptized?  She said yes, because she thought the baby's father (who had not yet arrived from work at the moment) would want that.  When he arrived, I asked him the same question and he confirmed that yes, they did want the baby baptized.
    At about 6:30, the mother delivered a little boy.  Shortly thereafter, the chaplain arrived and baptized the baby.  The baby's mother held him, wrapped in blankets, in her arms as the chaplain poured water out of a Styrofoam cup and he received “the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  About two hours later, he died.
    It was, to say the least, profoundly moving.  Interestingly, my understanding is that the parents do not even have a church home (although I would guess that at least the father must have some kind of church background if he wanted the baby baptized).  Even those who do not spend a great deal of time contemplating the blessings of the sacrament will cling to the comfort it gives when no other comfort is available.  And it is, indeed, extremely comforting to know that this very little lamb rests in the arms of the Good Shepherd.  With All Saints' Day just around the corner, it is a great joy to know that this little saint (oh, how I wish I could share his name!) also rejoices "with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven."

Lutheran Reformation Day Apology

Once a year I find myself feeling the need to apologize for Reformation Day messages that are not much more than apologetic hand-wringing wimpering, "Oh, we should all be so, so sad on this day that the Reformation happened. Isn't it so sad? The church was divided." Huh? What kind of drivel is this? If you are one who is afflicted with this kind of message on Reformation Day, I apologize for such apologies.

Let's review:

(1) The Gospel had been obscured to the point of  being lost in many ways.
(2) The Reformation had to take place.
(3) Rome could have prevented it by repenting of its damning error.
(4) Yes, it is sad that it had to happen, but not sad that it did happen.

I'm not advocating some sort of "all praise be to Luther" fest either. Hermann Sasse wisely noted once that when the Luther statues started going up, that was about the same time that Luther's theology began to recede into the background in favor of rationalism, while Luther the hero was preserved.

But, don't let me hear any of this sniveling, "Oh, boo-hoo, the Reformation happened" bunk on this day. Let me hear a glorious celebration of the great blessing and gift of the Reformation of the Church, a glorious celebration of the Gospel of Christ!

Repentance? Of course. Repent for our sin. Repent for our weak resignation. Repent of the sinful pride and arrogance that is always a present danger to a focus on Christ. But repent for the Reformation? Never. Of course not. How silly.

Happy Reformation Day!!!

Next Door to St. Mary's

Thought you might like to see how close the SELK/LCMS Ministry Center in Wittenberg actually is to St. Mary's Church, the "mother church" of the Lutheran Reformation.

See the people walking out the door of the church? That building in the background, the grey one to the left of the fron of the church, that's it.

My Computer Odyssey Continues

I finally....after too many years...sat down over the weekend and figured out how to use iPhoto and iDVD on my Macintosh. Two word reaction: "wow" and "amazing." My journey into computers began way back in a time before time (in computer time that is): back in 1984 when I was one of the fortunate few who were allowed to use an amazing new technology on the big huge mainframe system at Concordia College, River Forest (now known as Concordia University Chicago). It was called "Gramcord" and it was the mother of all of today's Bible research software. I had little use for computers. I even made the amazingly stupid declaration to my brother (a compute science major, of course), "I'll never use a computer!" But then I started to. And I was hooked. Our first personal computer was an Apple IIC, which was a cool little machine. I actually taught myself how to program in Basic. But then I saw Macintosh. And I was smitten. Head over heels in love. And by 1987 I had one. A Macintosh SE. With a stunning new feature: a hard disk drive! Yes, twenty whole megabytes of hard disk space. What to do with all that room? I got into heated arguments at the seminary with friends who told me that the Macintosh's silly "graphical user interface" with "icons" and "windows" was ridiculous, a crutch for the feeble-minded, not any sort of computer for the real computer lover, who wants to spend time typing in command lines. But I had one advantage on them back in those days. I actually used both platforms, extensively. I sweated over the command lines too. And I did not enjoy it. But I produced several books using a PC. But all the while, the Macintosh was there. I upgraded it myself. I installed a new motherboard in it. I obtained a "high resolution" dot matrix printer that offered 300 d.p.i. (that's "dots per inch"). Then I upgraded again to a full page monitor on which I would layout newsletters and books. And on we went. Well, over the weekend I finally sat down to figure out how to use the Macintosh's latest productivity software: the whole iLife family of tools. Two word reaction: "wow" and "amazing." I'm such a Macintosh fanatic and addict. I use a PC still. We have a Dell here at home that continues to work just fine. It's going on seven years old. For work though I use two Macs: an iMac at the desktop in the office at my job and a PowerBook when I'm away. I do so enjoy the Apple Macintosh line of products. October 26 will see a new operating upgrade, a major upgrade and it is only going to get better. And then, of course, there are the iPods. That too is a whole other story which has revolutionized my music listening habits and abilities. Macintosh. Love it.

What if we don't have the luxury of having a "one issue" election next time?

I was listening to my favorite confessional Lutheran talk-radio show, Issues, etc. driving home and Todd Wilken was talking about the Republican candidates for US President. Rudy Guiliani is out in front of the pack. The thought struck me, "What if I don't have the luxury of being a "one issue" voter next time?" Guiliani is no more a pro-life candidate than Hilary Clinton would be, or Obama. So, what do pro-life voters do if they have to face the choice of two candidates that have little interest in promoting a pro-life agenda? What would we do if we pro-life voters no longer had a "one issue" ticket facing us?

What then? Your thoughts?

Boring Blogging

I monitor a lot of blog sites. Thanks to "Google Reader" you can scan new topics and see what's buzzing about the Blogophere. On the Lutheran blogosphere I will, routinely, bump into a blog post about blogging. Actually, it's usually a kind of self-indulgent sort of twaddle that truly strikes me as the most boring of all blog posts: the blogging about blogging post. I just read another one recently.

Advice to Lutheran bloggers: blog about what you know best. Don't bore us with blog posts about why you blog, or how you blog, or when you blog, or how you don't really care about what others say about your blog but then proceed to explain in several paragraphs of passive-aggression how you are, boo-hoo, misunderstood and under appreciated, or try to convince us of how "you are controversial" and "oh, this is going to make somebody upset."

A friend recently said it best. People are not reading our Lutheran pastors' blogs to get our opinions about much other than Lutheranism. So...let's keep that in mind fellow Lutheran bloggers.

Now, tell me, is there anything as boring as reading a post about posting? I think not. Case in point? Read this post again. See what I mean? Yawn!

Holy Communion or Unholy Chaos?

How is it possible that the most holy night of our Lord's life has
given rise to dissension and disunity in Christendom? How can it be that our Lord's sacred meal has become the cause of turmoil, confusion and a splintering of fellowship among Christians who trace their theological ancestry to Rome, Wittenberg, Geneva or Zurich?

What should the church's response to this disunity be? There are two
options. The first option is the response of historic Christianity: To
lament the disunity, to pray and to work for agreement, but until genuine
agreement is reached, to avoid communing together in order to avoid giving expression to a unity that does not yet exist. The second option is the response of the Ecumenical Movement: To assert that in spite of a lack of unity in the confession of the truth faith, Christian churches commune
together. The Ecumenical Movement's use of the Lord's Supper as a tool toward union has turned Holy Communion into an unholy chaos.

The New Testament and Early Church Understanding of Fellowship
Historically, the Christian church did not recognize the
distinctions we know of today. The individual Christian was not considered a
"free agent" when it came to where he communed. The early church clearly
understood that church fellowship was a matter of a church's corporate
confession, not merely an expression of an individuals personal opinions.
Thus, Arians did not receive the Sacrament at a congregation that stood for
Nicene orthodoxy and Athanasian Christians would not commune at Arian
altars. The early church recognized that church fellowship and the
expression of that fellowship was always a matter of fellowship in the means
by which Christ creates and sustains His church-the preaching of the Gospel
and the administration of the Holy Sacraments. Unlike our present age, any
question about what an individual Christian believed, or stood for, was
decided based on where that person regularly received the Sacrament of Holy
Communion.i

Twelve Critical Problems Facing Modern Evangelicalism

Internet pundit Michael Spencer put this up for conversation. I thought it might be interesting here too. Swap the word "Lutheranism" for "Evangelicalism" to make it a much more interesting conversation.

THE TWELVE CRITICAL PROBLEMS FACING CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICALISM

1. Vast evidence of a growing doctrinal deterioration on the essentials and implications of the Gospel.

2. The expansion and influence of the “Prosperity Gospel” throughout evangelicalism.

3. The loss of the concept of meaningful church membership and the rise of the “audience-only” model of church participation.

4. The loss of the theological “center” in mainline churches at the precise time many evangelicals are open to reconsidering the mainline vision of worship, especially in Anglicanism.

5. The triumph and glorification of unchecked pragmatic entrepreneurialism, especially in worship, but in all areas of evangelical life.

6. The corrosive and compromised influence of Christian publishing in shaping evangelicalism, as exemplified in the rise of Joel Osteen, The Prayer of Jabez and the Prosperity Gospel.

6. Growing chaos in the theological and practical preparation of pastors, especially in the “emerging” church.

7. The failure of the “Seeker” model to use its vast resources and influence to produce a Christian counter-culture or challenge the “program centered/facilities centered” model of evangelicalism.

8. The lack of rising “Billy Graham” quality new leaders for the larger evangelical movement.

9. The failure of most evangelical denominations to broadly embrace and effectively mentor the current church planting movement.

10. The demise of quality Biblical preaching at the hands of technology and entertainment.

11. The apparently fatal infection of much of the emerging church movement with the failed theology of 20th century liberalism.

12. The cannibalism of evangelicalism on issues related to theological, cultural, social and political diversity.

St. Ignatius Day

Nice post on St. Ignatius by Pastor Asburry.

Wittenberg Here We Come! SELK and LCMS Establish Presence in the Birthplace of the Reformation

I'm very excited to report that things are progressing marvelously on the development of a new Luther center in Wittenberg, Germany, as a result of a partnership amongst The LCMS Board for World Missions, LCMS Board for Human Care and Concordia Publishing House, with funding provided by the Lutheran Church Extension Fund and grants and gifts coming in from individuals, congregations and Synodical districts and other agencies.

The photo you see is the sign for the center at its temporary office location on the site of what once was the Wittenberg University. It states simply:

 

Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
Wittenberg Office

The SELK pastor stationed now in Wittenberg, has his office here until the renovations are complete on the building that has been purchased and which stands prominently, very appropriately so, next to St. Mary Church, the birthplace of the Lutheran Reformation. Within these walls, Luther's sermons on the Gospel rang out and spread throughout Europe. All visitors to Wittenberg, and it is estimated there are nearly 600,000 English speaking tourists a year making their way to Wittenberg, will see the Luther Center as they enter the St. Mary Church, for it is to the immediate left of the main door into the church. And in that center will be a CPH bookstore!

Here is the building. It was constructed by Elector August I in the early 1560s as a gymnasium (boy's high school). You might remember that August I was the sponsor of the Book of Concord and virtually saved Lutheranism when finally he realized that Melanchthonian Lutherans whom he had trusted were actually just trying to sneak Calvinism in. Once they were exposed and removed from Wittenberg, things took a definite turn for the better and as a result we have our Book of Concord today! So, a very appropriate building, in a great location, in a very important city indeed.

Go to the Lutheran Witness for the full story and more details.

Luther and the 95 Theses, Preaching and at the Diet of Worms

I found this on YouTube, an extended clip from the Luther movie. Some people questioned if the movie had taken liberties with how John Tetzel peddled indulgences. In fact, all the records from the time indicate that this is actually quite accurate, even down to the claims Tetzel makes about the power of the indulgence. It is hard for us today to imagine the dramatic impact such a spectacle would have had on people who were mostly illiterate and had only the most rare opportunities for any such "multimedia" presentation like this. We know banners were carried, drums were used, a performance of a depiction of hell was put on in the town squares wherever Tetzel went. Quite historically accurate, even the line about defiling the Mother of God. And as for whether or not Luther actually posted the theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Dr. Kurt Aland prepared a well researched book on this and demonstrates that it is highly probably that in fact Luther did post his theses. Whether posted on the door or only by mail, Luther did post the theses, that's to be sure. You may purchase the Luther movie here. The clip showing Luther preaching was inaccurate in that it is highly unlikely Luther left the pulpit to stroll among the people. However to show the close interaction between Luther and people the producers took this liberty. The words he speaks are direct quotes from his sermons. The last clip here from the movie is of Luther at the Diet of Worms. Again, the dialogue is virtually verbatim from the transcripts kept of the events, though whether Luther actually said, "Here I stand. God help me. Amen" is, again, subject to debate. On a period woodcut created some years later Luther wrote the words, "Here I stand. God help me. Amen."

What to Do When You Doubt: Receive the Lord's Supper!

That our faith might always have a new pledge of the forgiveness of sins, Christ also instituted His Holy Supper. This Sacrament provides new support for our faith so it can remain firm against every wavering and weakening. Whoever has gone to Holy Communion can say, “How can I doubt, asking if I have a share in Christ’s atonement for the world and if my sins are forgiven me? Christ has given me a share in His body, which He presented to God on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and He has given me to drink of the blood that flowed on Golgotha for the universal forgiveness! What more could Christ do to convince me that I belong to those who have been pardoned by Him? Here all doubt must vanish.

Source:
Walther
God Grant It
Page. 790.

An Open Letter and Call to Christians from Muslims

This is an extremely important letter and it is well worth our attention. Here is the text of the open letter sent to Christian leaders by a large group of Muslim clerics, scholars and religious leaders.

Download MuslimLetter.pdf

How should Christian leaders respond faithfully to this letter?
How can Lutherans offer a unique response based on our doctrine of the two kingdoms and our understanding of Christian vocation?
What are the fundementally flawed premises reflected in the Muslim letter?
What are the fundmentally correct premises reflected in the Muslim letter?

English Translation of the Septuagint Online

For several hundred years, the vast majority of Christians used the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. This translation, known as the Septuagint, was prepared by Jews, not Christians, during what we call the "Intertestamental Period." It is quoted often in the New Testament. A review copy of the translation is available on the web in PDF format. The value of the Septuagint is that it offers the contemporary reader the most ancient translation of the Old Testament available, thus providing a perspective on how the OT was understood by Jews before the time of Christ. Thus, it is particularly fascinating, and led to no little debate between Jews and Christians in the first centuries of the church, when we read in Isaiah 7:14 an absolutely unambiguous assertion of a birth of a child from a virgin, not young woman, a virgin. The Greek uses the word "parthenos" to translate the Hebrew "almah" which may be translated simply as "young woman" but the Jewish translators of the Septuagint used the word "Virgin." Many other examples of this kind of thing abound in the Septuagint. The Septuagint was "the Bible" for many of the greatest church fathers, for example, St. Augustine who vigorously debated the authority of the Septuagint with St. Jerome, who of course, translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Latin.

Get a Copy of This Hymnal

There is a relatively unknown Lutheran hymnal that is available and I highly recommend you pick up a copy. It is Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary. No, I'm not recommending it for use by congregations of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. There is a better hymnal for that purpose. But, I do recommend you purchase a copy of it for at least two reasons:

1) It contains the historic collects prepared by Martin Luther's right-hand man Veit Dietrich. They are real treasures and you have them all here in a more readable contemporary English form.

2) You have a lot of hymns by Paul Gerhard, in many cases with all the verse, or most of them, a feature not true in other Lutheran hymnals.

Here is a web site that provides notes and explanations about the hymnal about which I'm writing: Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary. Kudos to Pastor Mark DeGarmeaux and his colleagues for the site.

Why would I not want to use this hymnal for congregational worship? With respect to my friends in the ELS, I would not want to have to use it in congregation worship because it suffers from the dreadful, and dreaded, isometric form of hymns, that form of singing hymns that became quite popular under Pietism which believed that if hymns would be sung s-l-o-w-l-y and with a s-t-e-a-d-y c-o-n-s-t-a-n-t beat on e-a-c-h syllable. Apparently this is popular in old Norwegian hymn singing tradition. And it is used in this hymnal on quite a few of the classic Lutheran chorales. But...yuck. It is horrible. It really ruins the vigor and vitality of the classic Lutheran chorales when they are sung and makes them sound like funeral dirges.

Here is a review of the hymnal, printed some years ago in the Lutheran Church-Canada's theological journal.

Fighters Over Us

I'm trying to decide if it makes me feel safe more than it frightens me when the local Air National Guard fighter wing buzzes our subdivisions from time to time, like just now. There is nothing quite like a flight of F-15 Eagles blasting over your house at low altitude to cause the adrenalin to start pumping. They are out on training maneuvers and it is heavily overcast today. It always reminds me of 9/11 when all day long flights of fighter planes were zipping over the city.. God bless all those in uniform who are putting their lives at risk to keep us safe from the Islmafascist terrorists who want to destroy us. Many Americans wish we could just somehow close our door, go jump in our cozy beds, pull the sheets over our head and play make-believe and pretend there really are not nations and groups out there plotting to kill us. I'm very glad that our armed forces are out there and doing whatever it takes to kill them before they kill us. It is the reality of life in a sin-filled world that it is necessary to kill and destroy when there is no other alternative.

Greek New Testament Study Site

And another site I've come across before, but was recently reminded of when browsing a blog site. A web site where you can study the Greek New Testament. Tremendous resources, for free.

HT: Pastor Jonathan Watt

Web Gallery of Art

I stumbled across a site I had not been to before the other day. And, it really amazed me. It is the "Web Gallery of Art" and has a huge collection. The feature I enjoy the most is the fact that they allow you to expand the image to fill your computer screen and so, you can really study the paintings they have on display. I highly recommend it!

A Tale of Two Congregations

Is it fair to come to any conclusions, at all, about the following two congregational statistical charts, as available from The LCMS web site. I intentionally am not mentioning the congregations' names or locations. I'm just wondering what, if anything, it would be fair to conclude by looking at these two graphs. Top number is communicant membership, bottom number is average Sunday worship attendance.

One must, I believe, ask some serious question, such as, why does the district continue to keep these congregations on the roster and why the Synod continues to permit young men fresh out out of the seminary to be sent into what are truly miserable situations with highly dysfunctional congregations that are just sputtering along and that have become not much more than family cliques.

I can think of nothing that will sap the joy out of an eager, committed young pastor than being tossed into these situations where the historic trend is downward. I feel very sorry for the pastor who is presently assigned to be pastor of these two congregations, at the same time! He has been in both parishes for around four years, as his first assignment out of seminary, after studying not only for the basic seminary degree, but an advanced degree as well. I see this taking a toll on him personally and spiritually. This is just not right.

And another one:

Too Much of a Good Thing? Thoughts on Rubrics

Rubrics: the instructions provided to those leading the church's worship on the proper forms, gestures, postures and actions appropriate for the conduct of the Divine Service. These are usually provided in red ink in the books used by pastors to lead worship. The following are some thoughts on what I regard to be a case of too much of a good thing becoming a not so good thing.

I am concerned that rubrics to the extent described below may encourage a kind of elitist "we know best" and "we know better than the rest of the Synod" kind of attitude, which in turn, in my experience, leads, particularly younger pastors, to blur the line between ritualism and confessional Lutheranism. Further, it may very well mislead people into thinking that genuine Lutheranism is characterized by these kinds of ultra-ritualization of the Divine Service, which in fact is not found in historic Lutheranism, but rather in Romanism, where the precise conduct of the Mass is very much tied into regarding the Mass as a meritorious work by which we propitiate God. Is there a risk in emphasizing rubrics to this extent that we will, no doubt unintentionally, create false impressions?

I've noticed that pastors who are this much "into" rubrics tend to look down their noses at any pastor who does not conduct the Divine Service with this level of ritualism, regarding him as somebody who is "not really in the know" and "not as Lutheran" as "we" are. They have a tendency to fancy themselves the ones who "really" know what's what and consider themselves to be "leaders" pulling the Synod along after their example, considering the approved hymnals and agenda of the Synod to be insufficient, lacking, deficient, etc. I've known any number of pastors who are so deeply immersed in rubrics that it finally ends up pulling them away from the faith of the Lutheran Church, either into Romanism or Eastern Orthodoxy.

I asked the person who posted the rubrics copied below what his source was and was informed they come from a mixture of Roman and Anglican sources, and from Lutherans fascinated by such sources in the 1950s and 1960s. I suspect that the source for such rubric details derives in fact not from Lutheranism at all, but in high-church Romanism and/or Anglicanism. See for instance this Anglican manual of rubrics which appears quite similar. I've had a hard time locating rubrics like this in the actual practice of historic Lutheranism from the age of orthodoxy. A good bit of this also comes from a LCMS seminary professor who died several decades ago. It was in response to this professor that Hermann Sasse wrote his essays, "A Warning Against the High-Church Danger" and nobody, that I know of, would ever have accused Dr. Sasse of being low church. In fact he was one of the most knowledgeable historians of the Western liturgy we've ever had.

I love the liturgy, but this degree of rubricification of the Divine Service may not be helpful ultimately in accomplishing the goal of maintaining and strengthening a love for the traditional liturgical worship of Lutheranism.  And, lest anyone glow a gasket, let me say this. I would, anyday and twice on Sunday, much more prefer all of this to the alternative! So, remain calm. Don't panic. I don't intend to start putting on tent revivals.

Your thoughts? Am I simply seeing red, or is this something to be concerned about?

The subdeacon distributes the offering plates to the ushers and receives them back. The celebrant does not concern himself at all with the collection of the offerings unless there are no attendants. Meanwhile the server takes the items from the credence to the celebrant. First he takes the veiled chalice to the celebrant. The celebrant, upon receiving the chalice, places it just to the left of center. He carefully uncovers the chalice, folds the veil (ninefold), and places it on the altar to the right of the corporal. He removes the pall and places it on the folded veil.

Warning: Clericals Might be Hazardous to Your Health in England

Priests warned that clerical collars increase risk of attack
ENI-07-0778

By Trevor Grundy
Canterbury, England, 9 October (ENI)--Priests and pastors in Britain have been warned not to wear clerical collars when they are not working because of the danger of being attacked.

"We're not alarmists but we're telling the clergy not to risk attack by motivated offenders by wearing their [clerical] collars when they're off duty, visiting friends, shopping at the local supermarket, unless they have someone who would help them in an emergency," said Nick Tolson, director of National Churchwatch, an independent group advising clergy about security.

A recent report by National Churchwatch said the fact that priests are clearly identifiable away from their home or place of work increases the risk of them being attacked. Five clerics have been murdered in England and Wales since 1996, the report noted.


A 2001 academic study estimated that clergy are more at risk from violence than members of other professional groups. It found that 12 percent of clergy had suffered from physical violence, and that 70 percent had experienced some other form of violence such as swearing, spitting, shouting and name calling.

Tolson said that in a study of 90 clergy in 2006, he found that almost half had encountered at least one violent incident in the preceding twelve months.

However, the Rev. David Houlding of St Paul's Cathedral in London said he felt safer wearing his clerical collar.

"There is still an air of respect to it," Houlding was quoted by the Daily Telegraph newspaper in London as saying. "Most of the time I wear it every day. It's my uniform. [Without it] we'd lose our presence in the community and our witness." [282 words]

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How good to kneel again

Something deeply moving happened in our church last Sunday. We have been "camping out" in our parish gymnasium while some major renovations have been underway to our church, one of which is extending the size of our balcony and making it much more acoustically friendly. Wow, is it ever. Our string ensemble was fantastic last Sunday, even more so now that we can actually hear them well!

Well, part of the move to the gym meant that we could no longer kneel to receive the Sacrament, and receive it by table, but instead had to use a sort of standing/shuffling movement to receive it. Now, before anyone says, "It doesn't matter what posture is used to receive the Sacrament." Yes, I know. It "doesn't matter" in the sense that no particular posture makes the Sacrament "work better for you."

But I do feel sorry for people who don't kneel as they receive their Lord's body and blood. What a wonderful way to receive Him. On your knees, in the position of penitence and humility and need. Kneeling to receive the gifts we need the most, to receive the Priceless Treasure beyond all measure.

Last Sunday was the first time in a long number of months that we have been back in our church building and able to kneel to receive the Sacrament. But, alas, amidst all the things necessary for worshiping in the sanctuary again somebody forgot to put the kneeling cushions back down. So, Pastor announced that if anyone didn't feel like kneeling without cushions, that was fine.

We like to sit in the front row in church so I was interested to see what would happen. The chancel of our church is made with stone slabs. These stone slabs are not smooth, but textured. So, I kind of thought most people would choose not to kneel on: a) a hard surface; b) cold stone; c) rough stone. But something marvelous happened. Time and time again, the very aged, gingerly knelt down, putting old arthritic knee to cold, hard rough stone. The very young did to0. I did not see anyone not kneel, except for maybe a handful who have severe knee problems, and they can never kneel anyway.

I found it deeply touching that so many chose to kneel to receive their Lord's body and blood rather than stand. They, like me, were looking forward once more to kneeling before the Lord's altar, kneeling before the Presence of their Lord and God and taking Him into their mouths, where under the bread and wine they received the true body and blood of their Lord Jesus Christ, for forgiveness, life and salvation. And they did so as we sang, "Lord, may Thy Body and Thy Blood before my soul, the highest good!" Good indeed!

An Aversion to Private Confession and Absolution and the Forgiveness Spoken to Us by Every Christian

To ponder...from a book that if you don't have, you simply must have.

"Many upright Lutherans have an aversion to private confession and absolution. This is because, first of all, they regard its institution partly as something new and partly as a return to papal institutions. But this is not true. Private confession was in use long before the rise of the papacy, and until the 18th century, it existed in all Lutheran congregations in all countries. Only a few enthusiasts openly rejected it, and only after the Rationalists (that is, the preachers of reason of the new age) had increased in the Lutheran churches was private confession abolished and the general confession introduced in its place.

"A second reason why so many inveigh against private confession derives from their belief that the Christian Church does not have the power to forgive sins on earth. These individuals have become just like the Pharisees, who, after hearing of One who forgives sin, thought, “This Man is blaspheming!” (Matthew 9:3), for “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7). Either such people do not believe in God’s Word or they do not consider that forgiving sins in their own name and in the name of God are two different things. In His own name, of course, only Christ could speak the absolution, for only to Him did God say, “Sit at My right hand” (Psalm 110:1), but in God’s and Christ’s name, the servants of the Church also loose and bind, for Christ Himself has commanded them to do so. Therefore, Saint Paul offers the words of today’s text. What further proof does one need?

"A third reason why so many fail to recognize the special comfort that lies in private absolution is that they do not vividly recognize their sins. They may say: “I have no need of this. I can sufficiently comfort myself with the general absolution.” However, is it not possible that a true Christian would not at times be so weighed down by his sins that from his heart he would gladly hear the voice, “your sins are forgiven you”? Or are there today Christians with the kind of strong faith that people sought in vain at the time of the Reformation? Indeed, is there anything more lacking today than strong faith? Everyone who wants to be sufficiently comforted should examine himself closely to see if this contentment has arisen from the strength of his faith or if it has resulted from his own disregard for his sins. It is no wonder that thoughtless Christians do not desire private absolution. The wounds of their sins do not burn them, and thus they do not desire the soothing balm.

"A fourth reason why so many do not want to use private confession is because it was not generally introduced into the contemporary Church. Instead, private absolution was granted mostly to gross sinners who returned penitent. “Therefore,” one may say, “is not every Christian free to use or not to use the human institution of seeking private absolution before every use of the Holy Supper?” This is truly a part of Christian freedom. Therefore, no Christian should and can be compelled. But we might well ask ourselves if that which a person can do is also godly.

"A fifth and final reason why so many oppose the use of private absolution is because they suppose that it must be preceded by a detailed confession of their sins. “How,” they say, “should I uncover to a man the secrets of my heart, in whose experience or honesty I perhaps have no confidence at all? Must I not fear that a dishonest father confessor would misuse my confession?” There is no demand that the special absolution be preceded by a special confession of sin. Does not Christ absolve the paralytic without such a confession? Was it not enough for Him that the paralytic came to Him as a poor sinner with a believing heart? In the same way, an enumeration of sins is never demanded by a right-believing servant of Christ. Indeed, it is forbidden, as the words of the 25th article of the Augsburg Confession make clear: “And it is taught about confession, that one should not compel anyone to specify the sins.”

Note also:

"It is not appropriate for a person to fold his hands in his lap and say, “Now then, if the absolution was so richly poured out for us, if the whole world is full of it, we have nothing else to do but to enjoy this and to hope for heaven.” That is not so! What would it help a prisoner if he heard that he is pardoned but then refused to leave the prison and exercise his freedom? It would not help him at all. So it is with the forgiveness of sins, which can be spoken to us both by every preacher of the Gospel and by every Christian. If we want to use this forgiveness rightly, we must depart from the prison of our sins. We do this by heartily accepting our absolution, by comforting our self in it. In other words, it is by maintaining a firm and certain faith. If we hear the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, let us believe that this preaching is God’s forgiveness for us. If we hear a Christian comforting us with the forgiveness of sins, let us accept this as God’s comfort. If a servant of the Gospel speaks forgiveness to us, let us receive this as a word from God Himself."

Source:
CFW Walther
God Grant It
CPH: 2006, p. 787-789, 792-293

Weekly Readings from the Book of Concord: Sent Automatically To You

Funny how you find things out that have been going on for quite some time. I did not know until just now that you can subscribe to a service that will deliver to you, each week, an electronic copy of readings from the Book of Concord tailored edited to fit with the appointed readings in the lectionary for the Sunday coming up. No, sorry, they are not for the one year lectionary. Check out this link.

Check it out!

(Anyone who wants to see this also for the one year series, please....pitch in and give Pastor May a hand! He would love the help to get this also for this historic lectionary).

Claus Harms' 95 Theses

Kudos to Pastor Matthew Thompson for tracking these down. They were mentioned in a recent comment here. Fascinating stuff indeed. Read these and ask yourself what are the points of comparison between what Harms was protesting in the 19th century and what is of concern in Lutheranism in the 21st century. These were located on the "Lutheran Wiki" which I had not heard of before. Read the link for an article on Harms and what the context was for these theses.

A Call to Repentance from Man-Centered Religion and Ethics, A.D. 1817 (Theses 1-8)

1. When our Master and Lord Jesus Christ says: "Repent!", he wants that men conform to his doctrine; he, however, does not conform his doctrine to men, as is done now, according to the changed spirit of the times, 2 Tim. 4:3.

2. Doctrine in relation to faith and life is now construed in such a way so as to accommodate men. This is why now protest and reform have to be repeated.

3. With the idea of a progressive reformation -- as this idea is defined and how it is brought up -- one reforms Lutheranism into paganism and Christianity out of the world.

4. Since the doctrine of faith has been construed according to the doctrine of life which has been construed according to the life of men, one has to start again and again with this: Repent!

5. In a time of reformation, this sermon addresses all, without distinguishing between the good and the bad; for also those who have conformed to the wrong doctrine are considered bad.

6. The Christian doctrine as well as the Christian life is to be built according to one draft.

7. If men were on the right way as to their actions, one could say: In doctrine go backward and in life go forward, then you will arrive at true Christianity.

8. Repentance shows itself first of all in falling away from him who has placed himself, or has been placed, in God's place; at Luther's time this was, in a certain sense, the pope, for him the antichrist.

Christ Crucified: Our Only Hope and Life

A terrific sermon, anchoring our hope and life in the wounds of the One who loved us and gave Himself up for us. Preached on the occasion of the dedication of a new church called "Church of the Holy Cross."
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Prayer:

So, LORD, there it stands, our new sanctuary after our little flock only a few months ago closed down and began building it. It is fortunately and gloriously completed. And we have now been led in to celebrate. LORD, it is like coming out of a dream as we look around us and our hearts cry out in wonder: God, is it possible? For it is not we, not we, who have built you this house. You have done it through your blessing and your heart-moving power and grace. Yes, by you, by the LORD, it was done and it is a wonder in our eyes.

LORD, we are unworthy of all the mercy and truth which you have performed to us, your poor servants and maids. Your goodness reaches so far as the heavens and your truth ascends to the clouds. Heaven and earth, angels and men, yes, everything that has breath must join us in honoring and praising you.

But behold! LORD, this house should also be a house of prayer. Therefore we also come into your presence today with prayer and intercession and implore you: Also fulfill now your promise on this house: "In the place where I establish that my Name be remembered, there will I come to you and bless you." We are most surely unworthy that you, holy and almighty God, whom all the heavens cannot contain, should come under our roof; but we are, oh, so thirsty. What good would a house do us, even if the walls were made of gold and the doors of pearl, if you were not present with us in your grace? Oh, then come that way here, come here, heavenly Father, to your children, enter in, faithful Redeemer to your redeemed, enter, sweet Comforter to us, who so need your comfort, and stay with us! Remove not the light of your Word from this holy place, but let it always burn here brightly until the end of days. Let this sanctuary be your seat of learning for all who are here gathered. Let this baptismal font be for all who will be baptized here in your Name, the source of an ever-purifying birth. Make this altar an eternal table of grace for all who will draw near for the celebration of the banquet of reconciliation. Through the keys of the heavenly kingdom here release all who are weary and heavy laden who here will confess to you their sins. Pour out your temporal and eternal blessings upon all who will tie the knot of holy matrimony here in your presence. Give steadfastness unto death to all who pledge to you upon the stairs of this altar their eternal devotion to you. Heed the united prayers that will arise from here to your throne. Let all who are spiritually dead here awaken, all the erring be brought to the knowledge of the truth, all sinners here converted, all the fallen here arise again, all the burdened, troubled and afflicted hearts here be comforted and brought peace, all the weak here be strengthened, all the strong here be protected and defended until their last hour. Yes, LORD, make this house your temple where is heard the voice of thanksgiving and where all of your wonders are preached at the place that is your house and the place where your glory dwells. So may it be dedicated to you. Let it be yours. Let it remain yours, LORD God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, most highly praised eternally. Amen.

"Church of the Holy Cross" shall be the name of this our new house of God and "Congregation of the Cross" shall be henceforth also the name of this congregation. You dear guests might wonder about this and ask, what does that mean? What exactly is the reason that you have chosen this name? The reason this was done, my beloved, is that just with this name we want to show that in this church there will never be anything else proclaimed than the Word of the cross. As holy Paul once had written to the church at Corinth: "And I, dear brothers, when I came to you, I did not come with grand words or exalted wisdom in order to proclaim to you the divine preaching. For I resolved to know nothing among you except only Jesus Christ, the Crucified," which is also our intention. And this, our intention, has been given a public witness by the name which we have imposed upon our new church. That is also the reason why we have given the footprint of the building the shape of the cross and high upon the steeple a distant illuminating cross: the cross of the Savior shall thus be the foundation of this congregation as well as her crown.

Does Any of This Sound Familiar?

"Calls for liturgical reform written from a Rationalist perspective began to appear in the 1780s. They called for drastic modifications to the traditional liturgy or even wholesale abandonment of it. ... Johann Wilhelm Rau argued in 1786 that the old formulas were no longer usable because the expressions in them were in part no longer understandable and in part objectionable. Fixed forms in general were not good, and even the Lord's Prayer was meant only as an example to follow and not as a prayer to be repeated. Some said that liturgical formulas served to ease the task of the pastor and preserve order in the service.

But [according to Rau] the advantages were specious: very few pastors had so little time left over from other duties that they could not prepare a service... Each pastor used his own self-written order or spoke extemporaneously. According to Rau, the most important abuses to curb were the too-frequent use of the Lord's Prayer, the making of the sign of the cross, the Aaronic benediction, chanting by the pastor, the use of candles on the altar, private confession, the use of the appointed lectionary texts for sermons, and various superstitious practices surrounding communion, such as carrying the houseling cloth to catch
crumbs that might fall and referring to the "true" body and blood of Christ. ...

Peter Burdorf, writing in 1795, argued that repetition in the liturgy weakened the attention of the listener and the impact of the form. The current liturgy did not hold people's attention, nor did the sermon. ... Some liturgy was necessary for public services to be held, but it should be as simple as possible in order to meet the needs of contemporary Christians. Rationalist writers backed up their words with deeds and produced a number of new liturgies written with the above concerns in mind. Luther Reed...offered the opinion that these liturgies "ranged in character from empty sentimentality to moralizing soliloquy and verbosity." ...

Hymns were rewritten as well with a view to removing "superstition" and outdated theology. . . . This, then, was the situation around the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1817, the three hundredth anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation, Claus Harms published his anti-Rationalistic Ninety-Five Theses, which marked the beginning of a revival of Lutheran theology and liturgy that was to continue for more than a century.

(Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism [New York: Oxford University Press, 2004], pp. 127-29)

Does Being Lutheran Still Matter?

 

There seem to be three types of responses to the question, "Does being Lutheran matter?" One is, "Are you kidding me? You better believe that it matters! Let me tell you why!" Another response is a sort of "mental shrug" to the question, "Well, of course we want to be and remain Lutheran, that goes without saying, there's no real need to talk much about it though." And then, sadly, there is this response, "It doesn't matter. All that matters is being a Christian. We need to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us." As I watch and analyze events and trends in Christianity and Lutheranism, both in this country and around the world, I am more convinced than ever before of two things. First, being and remaining genuinely Lutheran matters more then ever, and second, the reasons why this is so are unclear at best to many people.

To be Lutheran is to be a person who says, "This is what God's Word, the Bible, teaches. This and nothing else is true and correct. This understanding and teaching and confession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most accurate and most faithful to God's Word. This and none other. Nothing more, and nothing less, will do, for this is the truth that we want to proclaim, that we must proclaim, far and wide!" In our day and age these sorts of bold assertions are often met with angry responses, such as, "How dare you insist that Lutheranism is actually the true teaching of God's Word. How can you think you have the truth? All that matters is if a person is sincere about their faith in God." We live in a time when truth is viewed as something relative, impossible to know for sure. The attitude common today is reflected when we hear thin