Northwoods Seelsorger

This evening one of my confirmation students gave me a bulletin from another LCMS church.  In today's parlance it would probably be called a "blended" service.  However, as I reviewed the order of the service I strained to find the actual order of the historic Mass, not to mention the content of that ancient service.  True, one could find 'hints' of it in designated readings, in a confession (without a real absolution), and in other sections.  Yet, in the end it was not the order handed down to us.  It was created for one particular church in one particular place, as far as I could tell. In the Missouri Synod today this is not uncommon at all and it is tearing at our unity.  I fear that what binds us now is simply a corporate identity and some doctrinal statements.  The words of our worship, the expression of our living faith, are so different from one church to the next one would be hard pressed at times to know we are from an identical church body....

Reading RNS this morning I noticed an article talking about how the Catholic church is trying to 'soften' its approach to gays and the gay marriage issue.  The author also talked about something we all know is here as well: a growing shift in public opinion.  Often it is the pressure from the general population that forces change more than anything else, at least in the political realm.  The president understands this well and has used the 'court of public opinion' to his advantage many times in battles with congress. Yet the question on my mind is not whether gay marriage will be legal one day in all the states of the union.  Like many I see this as inevitable.  My question is also not how the church should respond.  Those denominations that have capitulated on this issue did so long ago.  Many conservative churches will remain opposed, although how they express that opposition may be a debated issue for the future.  An article on Richochet n...

A review of my latest thesis proposal has been made by my two advisers and with a few corrections and adjustments it is ready for submission to the committee.  I am confident that after so much review and critiquing it will pass and be approved to write.  I had no idea that there was so much involved in this.  When I finally finish it will feel as great an accomplishment as my M.Div was over 25 years ago.  Except this time the research and writing is much more demanding.  I probably included it on an early post, but the proposed title of the thesis is: "A Study of the Influence of the Church's Liturgical Forms on the Literary Structure of the Apocalypse of St. John." By the way, for those interested in Nashotah House , there was an interesting article online from the Journal Sentinel back in 2011.   It was written around the time when they were getting ready to install a new dean.  I have only one correction to the article, though.  The author ...

On another site it was recently suggested that no one appears to really be interested in Christian unity.  Obviously a bit of a hyperbole as there exist both national and international organizations for that very purpose.  However, it caused me to think about the issue.  What would constitute true Christian unity, and is it even a realistic goal? It appears to me that when such unity is attempted it brings about a semblance of that unity by using either a lowest common denominator approach, or by simply avoiding traditionally divisive issues, such as the sacraments.  Or, unity is just declared with the understanding that those so united can 'agree to disagree' on various items while retaining the right to claim unity.  So, not only is Christian unity a difficult reality to achieve, defining what that unity is presents an equally large challenge. Personally I don't see outward visible unity as a realistic possibility this side of heaven, at least not legitimate...