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 [...]
