This Side of the Pulpit » Entries tagged with "LCMS"
“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
(The) Who will fix our Synod
Many of the LCMS blogs these days–at least the ones I read–are posting about the upcoming LCMS Convention this summer, and posting a lot about it. It is the topic du jour. It always is. But not here. At least, not so much. It is true the LCMS is in a world of hurt, at least when it comes to financial operations, unity in doctrine and practice and unity of purpose. It’s gotten so bad that I have to fight off an inward cringe when I have members who tell me, “I visited and LCMS when I was on vacation, and they…” Almost inevitably, they continue by saying something that sounds more Consumerist Mega-Church Metho-bapti-costal than anything Lutheran. Well now. So we should all be concerned with what is happening at the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Blue Ribbon Task Force and Analysis Part Three:The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good Again, I was impressed with the overall demeanor and forthrightness of the Task Force. They have been responsive to questions and criticism and changed much of their recommendations over time. They do appear to be genuine and actively listening to the concerns and needs of those who have responded. And many of their recommendations are good. I firmly support the change in length of terms, the four-year cycle and the reduction in delegates to Synodical Conventions. These will provide significant cost-savings to the Synod and to the congregations, which are assessed for conventions. In fact, I really find that few of the actual recommendations are bad or dangerous or misguided or anything else that critics have suggested. Since I am not a voting delegate to the Convention, I recommended those … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Blue Ribbon Task Force Report and Analysis Part Two
In this part I will address the content of the presentation and the recommendations of the Task Force in more detail, reporting on some of the major changes and providing information gleaned from the Q&A portions of the presentation. Part Three will offer my analysis and commentary on the good, bad and ugly of the Synod and this restructuring proposal. The final report is published here. If any of these posts are of interest to you, I recommend you read the whole thing, in all it’s mind-numbing detail. Recommendations #1-3 were essentially brushed over by the panel. They include #1 Affirm and Clarify Governing Documents #2 Clarify the Congregational Principle #3 Restore Circuits to their Primary Purpose Despite some significant changes to the wording of the Constitution, the panel emphasized #3 the most throughout the event. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Blue Ribbon Task Force Report and Analysis: Part One
Part One: A Summary of the Event My report and analysis will be divided into three parts. First, I will provide a general look at what happened at the conference. In part two I will offer and comment upon the content of the presentations and a portion of the questions raised and answers given, with emphasis on what I feel are the most critical and important recommendations. The final section will give my summary and general critique of this proposal and the future of the Synod. The Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance began their work four years ago. President Kieschnick suggested that they have spent thousands of hours on the recommendations, and it shows. Before you read all of this, please be aware that the entire presentation given … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Regional Gathering Update
I’m back from the BRTFSSG Regional Gathering. That’s “Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance.” As you no doubt figured out, live blogging wasn’t an option. They didn’t provide power in the Hall and I had trouble trying to connect to the ‘net. Sigh. So I took copious notes and asked a number of questions and am working on a thorough post now. Be looking for it tomorrow or Monday. My initial thoughts, though, are pretty positive. Many of the seriously bad ideas are no longer on the table and what is left is mostly pretty decent, as far as it goes. I was impressed with the presentation and the Task Force definitely did a great job in remaining positive, neither getting defensive nor growing impatient with any of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Off To Dallas Soon for the Regional Gathering
I’m heading to Dallas this weekend for the regional Pre-Convention gathering of delegates. The purpose of this is to be briefed on the restructuring proposals that the LCMS will be voting on this Summer. No, I’m not a delegate to the Convention, but as 3rd VP of the Oklahoma District, my District President asked me to attend so that I and the other VPs would be well-informed of what is happening. Some time ago I posted my thoughts on the initial proposal. The final proposal has changed somewhat and I haven’t offered comment on that yet. I plan to do so after this weekend. Restructuring our Synod probably needs to happen; it’s not a necessarily bad thing. But it’s not necessarily a good thing either. As it streamlines operating procedures it … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Must Read on Worship
My friend and colleague Mason Beecroft apparently gave the most controversial presentation at the recent LCMS Theological Convocation on Worship. Doesn’t surprise me. He’s a great guy (this is not a non-sequitur). So what did he say? What was the problem? His conclusion was nothing radical. Every congregation ought to use the LSB, i.e., the hymnal and liturgy from the most recent service book published. But the how and the why is what rubbed many the wrong way. He is sacramental. He is pre-modern. He believes what the Lord says in a way that frustrates the neo-literalist, historical-grammatical fundamentalists, evangelical practicalists in our midst. Ignore that last sentence if you don’t know what it means. But do read what Pr. Beecroft posted today. Here’s an excerpt: [So who decides?] This question was pervasive at the LCMS … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
The Lutheran Study Bible: Initial Thoughts
I received my copy of The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version a few days ago. It’s a huge book. I bought the hardback edition and the binding seems good. It stays open well and should hold up nicely. However, the pages are incredibly thin. Think onion-skin thin, and there is plenty of bleed-through. Not good for notes or quick page turning. Having said that, I am incredibly impressed with the book. It is simply packed with notes and helps. Everywhere. There are the usual verse-notes at the bottom of every page–generous verse-notes too, but there are also introductions to each book that address overall themes, Luther quotes, “Challenges for Readers” which introduce isogogical issues and some apologetical issues, vocabulary lists of important terms, outlines and more. Plus, each major category of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology, Writing&Books
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