Northwoods Seelsorger

Does membership in a local congregation really matter? And if it does, what implications exist in issues such as participation in Holy Communion? In my ongoing discussions of Close(d) Communion in my parish, church membership is one area I have emphasized. It seems odd that we would make so many demands on prospective members - demands of fidelity to their confession and a commitment to support the church - only to wave all of them at the altar where unity and spiritual intimacy are so great. Yet, many LCMS parishes practice a minimalistic approach to communion fellowship requiring only a basic assent to faith in Jesus and the real presence, standards far below what they expect of their members in general. Why place so much stress on communicant membership when in practice our only interest is their future involvement in congregational meetings? Is voting on the annual budget and next year's council officers of greater importance than what occurs in this blessed Sacrament a...

Recently results for presidential and vice presidential nominations were announced for the upcoming synodical convention. In a surprise turn Rev. Matthew Harrison, executive director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care surpassed the incumbent president, Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, by 577 nominations (See all nomination results here ). Since his election almost a decade ago, President Kieschnick has always received a majority of nominations from congregations. According to one site the number of nominations this time around represents the lowest ever for an incumbent, while Harrison's represents the highest ever for a non-incumbent. To many observers this nomination turn around appeared to show a certain level of dissatisfaction with the current administration and a desire for change. When the numbers were released I was most curious to know how Jesus First would interpret the results. This group more than any other has been a true political reelection organization for Kieschnick. I di...

As with years in the past, reports surfaced that some of our graduates neglected to receive calls at the recent placement service. Remembering the excitement of that day now nearly 23 years ago, my heart goes out to any who must now wait. Reports of how many graduates did not receive calls from each seminary seem a bit sketchy at present, but the initial report indicated the possibility of a disproportion of delayed calls from Concordia - Ft. Wayne. Naturally attempted explanations fly freely at this point, with all of it being laced with a certain amount of conjecture. The dilemma in many minds is the seeming disparity between the ongoing claim of a pastor shortage in Synod versus the seeming unwillingness of some congregations to utilize a seminary graduate. So what explanations might I be willing to volunteer? First of all it seems overly simplistic to offer a single answer to cover what certainly amounts to a multifaceted situation. Being a Ft. Wayne grad I am naturally t...

According to Todd Richmond of the Associated Press, "A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstituti9onal Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious rights. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or practice magic. 'In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to pray,' Crabb wrote. Congress established the National Day of Prayer back in 1952 and in 1988 set the first Thursday in May as the day for presidents to issue proclamations calling on Americans to pray. According to Richmond, The Freedom from Religion Foundation , a Madison-based group of atheists and agnostics, filed a lawsuit against the federal governm...

When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper he invited only the Twelve. He had expressed a desire to eat the Passover with His closest followers one last time before His death, and Passover was essentially a family meal. So it makes sense that He included this small, intimate group. In our own time it is not uncommon for some to theorize about who Jesus would invite to the Supper in our current celebrations, the intended result being to show that common restrictions to the meal stemming from fellowship are inappropriate. After all, Jesus was all-inclusive, right? How could He willingly exclude any who professed a belief in Him? Answering the question of "Who would Jesus invite?" thankfully is taken care of in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. We can trust, I believe, that Paul knew the mind of Christ on this matter, so we need not conjecture on this issue in a vacuum. Using 1 Corinthians as a template for our inquiry, we can deduce the following: 1.) Paul w...

In the Spring issue of the Day Star Journal , Pastor Gene Brueggemann contributes his article "The Experiment That Failed," as an examination of how the LCMS missed a golden opportunity to celebrate the liberty of the church through its own constitutional structure. He writes at the end of the article: Rather than trusting the Holy Spirit to work within the congregations, the conferences and the theological faculties of the Synod to create a consensus on doctrinal issues in an evangelical spirit, the new preeminent authority in Synod, President J.A.O. Preus who was more in the Stephan than the Walther/Pieper mold, skillfully and powerfully led the Synod along a new path, the path of power politics, control of the synodical conventions, and resolving doctrinal controversies by convention resolutions, that is, by tools of the law. It has been downhill ever since for those who work and pray for the primacy of the gospel in the teaching, mission and ministry of the Synod, wh...

The recent April Lutheran Witness features a couple of articles on youth work in the church that bear careful attention. It is the second one, however, entitled "Thoughts on Youth Ministry in a Postmodern Culture," that causes me concern, especially when read by laypeople already convinced that catering to youth will turn around shrinking congregations. Now in all fairness one can find some helpful information. The implication that too much of youth ministry is about "entertaining" the youth certainly offers a pause for thought. The National Youth Gathering held every three years should be examined under this suggestion. The article is written in the style of a generic youth member offering a series of six suggestions to the church for change in the way youth ministry is conducted. I would like to highlight two that cause me the most concern: 1 - "Please ask the pastor to 'get real.'" -The anonymous youth then indicts the pastor for saying t...