This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "controversy"
“Ch-Ch-Changes”
Find it anywhere and everywhere, there is now officially, approved-by-voters, honest-to-goodness change in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. First, the Synod’s Constitution was fundamentally changed the past few days at the Convention. Why and how and what exactly I’ll have to report later; much of it involves elections, terms, boards and committees and so forth. There may be fundamental changes to districts in the near future as well. President Kieschnick fought long and hard for these changes to be implemented, and many of them make sense. Second, the nearly the entire Presidium was voted out of office. We now have President Matthew Harrison,1st VP Herb Mueller (former conservative District President of Southern Illinois); 2nd VP John Wohlrabe; 3rd VP Paul Maier; 4th VP Daniel Preus (former conservative 1st VP in the first Kieschnick … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
LCMS Convention
The LCMS Convention is well underway (I’m behind the game on this). Already our byzantine church polity has been replaced with a less byzantine church polity, and more is underway. After all these re-structuring changes are complete, the normal order of business will be followed, i.e., electing the President and other resolutions. I cannot get excited or bothered by much of this. Re-structuring is probably necessary; our constitution is an unwieldy amalgamation of rules and conflicts. But restructuring will not change the Synod that much. Likewise the question of who is president. A more liberal president will ignore the conservatives, and a conservative president will ignore the liberals. It’s all politics, after all, and no one wants to preside over the real change that must happen in our synod. What’s that, you … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Abortion on TV?
Creative Minority Report discussed “The Abortion Episode” of The Family Guy that was too controversial for FOX to air. At first I thought of one of the pro-life episodes of The Simpsons I saw the other night, when Springfield tried to ban children. A memorable line from that one, said to a mob of citizens, “Now let’s go kill all the kids….. ‘s stuff!!” But in his post, Matthew Archbold goes on to this more serious angle, and I think he’s right on the money: I think for too long we’ve been told that abortion is too incendiary to discuss. It’s too hot a topic. Can you think of any other issue where Hollywood says this is “too hot a topic” to exploit for profit? The reason for the silence is not … Read entire article »
Another Definition
This one I just made up, but I propose its adoption and do not want credit except for links . Of course, it could be a lousy definition that will cause me trouble. In that case, let’s blame Weedon or Hollywood. Blender: 1. Members of the LCMS or her congregations who seek to pace the Synod and her congregations in worship and practical emphasis; 2. Those who seek to blend in with the perceived majority of the LCMS in terms of offering varied “worship styles” on Sunday. They seek neither crass consumerist worship, nor faithful adherence to the liturgy and its rubrics, but walk a middle ground between using “Lutheran forms” and adding contemporary elements to a greater or lesser degree. I believe Blenders are temporary. It is a transitional category, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Some of My Definitions
Here are my definitions of some of the terms included in the post below. They are not always easy to define, so, as always, I invite comments! Bronze-Age: Refers to the worship, practice and theology of 1. LCMS circa 1950; characterized by emphasis on CFW Walther, Pieper, 1941 hymnal. Understands Lutheran worship and practice primarily as doctrinal; 2. Pastors today who continue the trend of 1. (above). Example: Herman Otten. These pastors tend to emphasize the old ways of “Missouri” and place great emphasis on the denomination qua denomination. Confessional: Refers to pastors who place great emphasis on knowing the doctrine of the Book of Concord, the collection of doctrinal statements written by the first Lutheran Reformers. They tend to be conservative in worship forms, though more open to the spirit of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Thoughts on the OK District, LCMS
Saturday I attended the Oklahoma District Board of Directors meeting at Holy Trinity Lutheran in Edmond. This is part of my duties as 3rd Vice President, and though I do not have a vote on the Board, I get to talk every once in a while. The meeting was long and a little depressing. District finances are in a serious deficit and actually had to borrow some money from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund in order to pay bills–and this is a district with all part-time staff! I had an embarrassing moment when the President asked me for my Outdoor Ministry report; I knew I oversaw this in some fashion but I didn’t know I was supposed to give actual reports. Thankfully, two of the board members are actively involved in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Friendships and Religion
I suppose there is a reason for the old saying that one shouldn’t talk politics or religion at the dinner table. It’s too easy for friends to begin to fight. Just plain avoiding it is one way of friendship. Sometimes that might be the only way to keep certain friendships. Certainly we do not keep them by baiting them, that is by saying things that are offensive or demeaning to them. Certainly we do not keep friendships when we expect our friends to just shut up and ignore it when we insist that we are right and they are wrong. Certainly it is hard to keep friendships when you offer them the door whenever they open their mouth to address such offensive things. And if you say, “This is my house and you can … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Waiting for “Coke Throwback”
I heard on NPR last night that Pepsi has introduced yet another product. Great. Just what the world needs. But we do. While it has a stupid name, Pepsi Throwback is pure sugary genius. Real sugar, that is. Instead of the ubiquitous corn syrup that sweetens everything–and tastes nasty–Pepsi has re-introduced its original forumla sweetened with sugar. Coca-Cola muckity-mucks, please follow suit and the world will truly be a better place! … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Must Read for LCMS Folks
If you are a member of an LCMS congregation, I urge you to go here and read what Scott Diekmann is writing about the Mission Revitalization program that is being developed our denomination.The link is to the first part of a series he is working on. Frankly, I find it chilling in its complete betrayal of what it means to be a Lutheran church. When our hope (and plans) for change are anything other than the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as given in the Sacraments, we are going the way of King Saul. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
The Elephant in the Lutheran Room
In one of the 138+ comments on this post at Weedon’s Blog, we see why Lutheranism is broken: “No. I think that your interpretation of what is confessional is wrong.” (comment here) I have to admit that I appreciate Pr. Louderback’s refreshingly frank and good-spirited comments. Were the other foxes in the hen house so open and honest… … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
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