Northwoods Seelsorger

If you are interested in the historic confessions of the Lutheran Church, there is a new site you need to check: The Book of Concord . It contains the complete next of the Book of Concord (including the German 1580 version), introductions to the book, and a wealth of other information. There is even a link to a blog where you can interact with others on questions or concerns regarding the theology of the Book of Concord. So, bookmark this now. I am also going to provide a link to the left on this blog if you forget ;)

"Authorities Want to Arrest Pregnant Woman to Protect Unborn Child." So the headline read this past Wednesday over at MSNBC . The woman in question is an habitual drug user who has repeatedly refused treatment. The district attorney wants to arrest the woman to protect the unborn child from her uncontrolled drug abuse. The author of the article called the action "controversial," yet only a couple of sentences later reported that "Parents can't understand why a woman would use drugs with a baby due in just a few months. 'I’ ve been a dad and a grandfather for over a year, and it's hard for me to imagine why someone would ever do that to a child. Why they wouldn't take care of them?' Frank Schinko said." Interesting how common sense can understand the need to protect life even when it is pre -born, yet the so-called right to terminate a pregnancy is considered one of the most sacred of choices. It is also interesting how many sta...

Recently I received a forwarded piece from George Carlin on the subject of "How to Stay Young." Much of his advice was common sense and reasonable. One point, however, caught my attention. He wrote: "9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is." Now I understand that there is an excessive and unhealthy side to guilt. I've been there. Too often we can beat ourselves up over false guilt, taking on responsibility that is not ours. In that sense, I agree. Don't take such a 'trip.' It only leads to misery. On the other hand, our society regularly tells us that any guilt is unhealthy, and that we should do whatever makes us happy and content. Our mores are self-serving credos that elevate freedom as the highest aspiration. And this lack of restraint has brought untold damage to marriages and families, cheapened sex, increased violence and substance abuse, and so...

According to an article in my Sunday paper labyrinths are finding "new converts in the modern world." In "A Spiritual Path," Post-Crescent author Cheryl Anderson begins by recounting how a certain Anglican priest began creating these things by mowing intricate paths in her backyard, and then later at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Menasha, WI. This is just the latest version of what has descended from one of the most famous 'Christian' labyrinths located at the Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame, France. "A labyrinth is a form of a maze," Anderson writes, "but unlike a maze there's only one path leading to the center with no dead ends or false turns. It is a meditative tool used to quiet the mind. Labyrinths serve as a metaphor for the person's inward spiritual journey." Labyrinths fell out of exsistence over time, and were only 'rediscovered' in the '80's and '90's. I have never 'walked" a l...

The title to this article presents an odd question. However, it was raised by one of the writers to Dear Abby and reflects a deep seated concern in our times regarding women, children, traditional families, and the role of women in society. This mother from Texas claims that she loves being with her children and taking care of them. Yet, she wonders: "Am I doing long term damage to them by being so dependent on their father for everything? To her credit, Abby affirms the value of a loving mother. "How can having a mother in the house whose focus is on their welfare and development be damaging?" she asks. "Most children should be so fortunate." Indeed. Nevertheless, I suspect that there are those out there who would answer differently, advising this women to get out there an find a career so that her children had the proper role model of an independent and thoroughly self-sufficient woman. The irony of this woman's question is that the problem of o...

Currently the LCMS has a blue ribbon task force studying possible changes in the structure of the governance of Synod. The September Reporter revealed several proposals currently on the table for discussion, summarizing a recently released "white paper" called Walking Together - The LCMS Future . The suggestions, at present, seem to be fairly extensive, and in some cases reflecting conflicting directions. Districts should either be increased in number or decreased or remain the same, but cooperate more with other districts. Change the circuits so that they are purely "visitational," and not "electoral." Involve the district presidents in choosing the circuit counselors. Change the voting representation so that larger congregations will have more delegates to correspond to their greater membership numbers. Discontinue advisory delegates. Continue the policy for submission of overtures, but include district or synodical officers as well. Enco...

Church-going people sometimes have stereotypes of those who do not go to church. They may think such people are thoroughly turned off of the established church, antagonistic to anything Christian or religious, resistive to invitations to Sunday worship, and put off by old, traditional church buildings. How wrong we are. While searching Google for information on the unchurched, I ran across the following: Ten Surprises About the Unchurched by Dr. Thomas Rainer Unchurched Prefer Cathedrals to Contemporary Church Designs by Tobin Perry The message on current outreach and evangelism often suggests significant changes from traditional practices. Old buildings are not attractive as theater-style structures, so the old cathedrals are torn down for state-of-the-art edifices with drop down screens and cutting edge sound systems. Hymnals and traditional music is tossed in favor of contemporary bands. All this is supposed to be so much more effective in reaching the unchurched. But what...

On Thursday, August 28, the Rev. Joel Hunter of the Northland Church in Floria, gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention. As a well-known, albeit unconventional Evangelical, Hunter's prayer certainly raised more than a few eyebrows in the Christian community. The buzz concerned the all-inclusive nature of the prayer (especially the ending), something unheard of in conservative Christian circles. As one who has been called upon to pray in public for a wide variety of civic groups over the years, it has always been my conviction that I would pray specificially in Jesus' name, or I would not pray at all. In the explanation to Luther's Small Catechism we read that "Only those who believe in Jesus Christ may pray to God and expect to be heard." Aparently Evangelical theology is changing. The definition of God is now broad enough to encompass all faiths. Here is a transcript of the prayer as taken from the DNC itself . What do you t...