This Side of the Pulpit » Archive
Dare we Neglect the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity?
This article shows us why the worship of the Holy Trinity is at the heart of our Christian faith. Because we have failed to affirm the One in Three and Three in One at every time and place and place Him in the center of our worship and thought and sermons we have this false religion which denies the essence of God’s Being and Nature, denies the eternal Sonship of Jesus and yet thinks themselves as … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Unionism and Worship
Why is it that the LCMS seems more concerned with “joint worship” and “serial prayer” with other ministers than with the forms of worship? I mean, some congregations’ worship is identical to worship at any number of protestant churches down the street from them and there are no “rules” or CTCR statements regarding this. What sends a bigger message of false unity? My saying a prayer next to a Methodist at some community event or … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Admitting Inexperience and Leading Nonetheless
Some of the Lutheran pastors and I were supposed to study Greek this morning, but instead, we spoke about causistry and pastoral practice–wedding stuff, mostly. It is fun and thought-provoking, to consider what I usually do and how it differs with some of the other pastors’ practices. But one bit of discussion stood out for me: the importance of being earnest, of just speaking the truth. Admitting ignorance, admitting inexperience, admitting weakness. It’s actually quite powerful. It relaxes you, it relaxes those around you. It helps your hearers or co-workers or audience know what to expect. It’s even more authoritative, though it sounds like it would be the opposite. Leaders don’t want to admit they are wrong or uncertain or inexperienced. They want to be heard and followed. But when the leader … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Back with Both Feet In
Something about returning from vacation and being up to your neck in work and church and family schedules… it makes you want at least another week just for decompression. Ease back into it, you know? Maybe I should be preparing better. In happy news, Christmas Eve worship was beautiful, Christmas Day was wonderful, St. Nicholas was good to us, God was good in providing safe travel, the in-laws were doing well, all things considered and we … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
Merry Christmas and Auf Wiederlesen!
An early Merry Christmas to all of you. This will be my last post until after the new year. I’ll be spending time with the family until Monday, when we will all load in the car and drive, drive, drive to Tennessee to see my in-laws. I’m looking forward to being offline for the next ten days. I may go through Skyrim withdrawal, but that might not be a bad thing either. I have mixed feelings about being gone next week. We have a number of folks here having surgery and going through some heavy trials, and part of me wants to be around or available. But I want and need to see my in-laws who are having health issues, and Marjorie’s uncle who is ailing with MS. I commend them … Read entire article »
Filed under: Personal
National Lutheran Pastor’s Wives Day
Ok. Actually the commemoration of Katherina Von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther. Legend has it she was the author of the “What does this mean?” portions of the catechism, as Martin would ask himself that aloud, and Katie told him. Like a good pastor’s wife, full of wisdom. They would also write and direct children’s Christmas programs for their kids at home, since that sort of thing didn’t happen at church. Give thanks for Katherina today, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Christianity, Culture, and Cult
I wish we could get back to recognizing that a culture has a cult–a worship. Cultus is the worship of a people, and the cult produces a culture. We see this most clearly in the Muslim Countries and in the “Old Countries” of the Mediterranean and Russia. The religion of the people influences their dress, their diet, their music, their art and dancing, architecture and all those expressions which we in the West have isolated … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Practice Makes Better. All the Time.
We’ve heard the story before: the brain has two halves, and the right side is the “creative” side, the left the “analytic” side. And people are either right or left brain dominant. It’s a myth. There are some localized brain functions, but modern science is proving again and again that the entire brain is used; the brain is a system, a whole. This post explains it well. Reality is, you use what you need to, and practice makes better. Humans are good at two things: adapting and making routines. Yes, they are contradictory, but it’s true. We are wonderful at changing, but also very prone to habitual actions, thoughts and so forth. In other words, don’t make the excuse that you are right-brained and “cannot understand” math. Or that you are analytic and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fiction & Art, The World
Discussion Questions, a la Walker Percy, but not as Good as His
But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; and he did not go. And he came to the second and said the same thing. But he answered and said, ‘I will not’; yet he afterward regretted it and went. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The latter.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not … Read entire article »
Filed under: Theology
Death of Death
Christ has destroyed the power of death and opened the Kingdom of Heaven. Right? So what does this mean? Death is something that can be destroyed, and the Kingdom of Heaven was not open before. Where did people go when they died prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection? Was Moses in Heaven? What gives? Sometimes you hear the answer that they were in “heaven” already because they believed that the Messiah would come eventually. They had faith in … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
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