O, glorious office! [the office of the ministry] No matter how sick a person may be in his soul, the Gospel can heal him. No matter how deeply a person has fallen into the corruption of sin, the Gospel can pull him out. No matter how troubled, frightened, and afflicted a person may be, the [...]
My heart its incense burning, I’ll offer thanks and praise,Now, with return of morning,And through all future days;I’ll praise thee on Thy throne,Great source of every blessing,My song to Thee addressingThrough Christ, Thy only Son. Thy mercy claims my praises!This kept me through the night;And now from sleep it raises,To greet the dawning light.This, too, [...]
The following handout is produced each week by Bob and Cathy Mattson, of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Tacoma, WA. It is created for a prayer breakfast, and designed for personal devotion and reflection on the gospel text for the week. Each installment includes a prayer from Martin Luther, a selection from the Small Catechism, the [...]
by Ty Andor We are driven at times to ask, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17) There seems to be no earthly reward for those who deserve it, and even worse, those who deserve the opposite of an earthly reward flourish. “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before [...]
by Donavon Riley By the seventeenth century Luther’s formulation of justification had been contradicted in part if not in total by the Protestant doctrine of applied grace. This marked a curious commonality between Lutherans and their presumed Roman Catholic opponents. In Roman Catholic teaching applied grace is at the heart of grace in general. In [...]
Well known are Luther’s theses (propositiones) on the authority of the Church in matters of doctrine and in adiophorous matters. He says: “The Christian Church has no authority to ordain any article of faith, never has ordained and never will ordain one. The Church of God has no power to enact any precept as to [...]
The following list of resources on Augustine was compiled by Donavon Riley, and includes both primary and secondary material. William M. Alexander, Sex and Philosophy in Augustine, August Studies 5 (1974). Augustine, Against Julian, translated by Matthew M Schumacher (New York: Fathers of the Church Inc. 1957). Augustine, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, translated [...]
Beginning April 22nd, the Luther Academy and the Association of Confessional Lutherans will be hosting a three day “Congress on the Lutheran Confessions” at the Ramada Mall of America, Bloomington, MN. The schedule of events and speakers are as follows. Wednesday, April 22, 2009 11:00 a.m. Congress Registration Begins 1:00 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks [...]
(a sermon preached by John Donne on Easter Day, March 28th 1619, at the Cathedral Church of Saint Pauls, London download as .pdf) “What man is he that shall live and not see death, That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” Psalm 89:48 At first, God gave the judgement of death upon [...]
Are there any who are devout lovers of God? Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival! Are there any who are grateful servants? Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord! Are there any weary with fasting? Let them now receive their wages! If any have toiled from the first hour, let [...]
(via lcms.org) Among the many hymns for Lent and Holy Week, there are several significant ones that were written by Lutheran authors. Paul Gerhardt (1607–76), for example, wrote several very familiar hymns: * O Sacred Head, Now Wounded * A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth * Upon the Cross Extended Another author, Johann Rist (1607–67) wrote [...]
(the following is a manuscript accompanied by student notes on the theme: “The Death of God” from Christology (1953/54) by Hans Joachim Iwand, translated by Marney Fritts and Donavon Riley) [1] The Death of Jesus as Necessity The necessity of Jesus’ death – if we begin with the first assumption that this is the death [...]
(via William Weedon’s blog Sola Christus) Many times, Lutherans are challenged with: “Well, where was Lutheranism before Luther?” The implication is that Rome or the Eastern Orthodox have some sort of “corner” on the great church Fathers. But Lutherans have never believed this to be true. The Fathers repeatedly present the same or quite similar [...]
by Jaynan Clarck Egland (Note to the Reader: The following is something I felt inspired to write down while meeting with the ACR—Association for Church Renewal—in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. ACR is a gathering of leaders from reform movements across the mainline denominations. The traditions represented at the meeting included Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed (U.S. [...]
The following is a report form Mark Chavez, Vice President of the WordAlone Network, on current events in the ELCA. In spite of requests from 15 ELCA synods and a significant majority of ELCA bishops asking for a two-thirds majority vote, the ELCA Church Council voted to stick with its November decision to propose rules [...]
Is there anything more than justice and equality for unrepentant sinners behind the drive for change in ELCA ordination policies? The following is a report from yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune on the latest meeting of the ELCA’s church council, the majority of which is content to change its “visions and expectations” for clergy on the [...]
“To ordain does not mean to consecrate. Accordingly, if we know of a godly man, we choose him and, on the strength of the Word which is ours, we give him authority to preach the Word and administer the sacraments. This is what it means to ordain.” “The ministry is not to be unduly exalted [...]
