Northwoods Seelsorger

On Gene Veith's blog an interesting topic was posted. It concerned the idea of online confession and absolution. The topic was launched by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway's reference to numerous online sites that encourage confession and the unloading of one's troubled conscience anonymously to some website. Numerous opinions have been given, and I would tend to side with those who are uncomfortable with this practice. As Veith's pastor reminded us from St. Paul, "all things may be lawful," but not all things "are helpful." That is, not all things "build up" (1 Cor. 10:23). This discussion is a helpful reminder of the limitations of technology and matters of faith. There is no denying that email and the Internet have offered an invaluable colloquium and a helpful forum for discussion and debate. For some people isolated by distance and circumstance this has been the only way to engage in meaningful dialogue with those who share thei...

Since my childhood I have noticed a gradual trend away from formal dress. Less and less people dress up for anything, even weddings or funerals. Blue jeans and a bar jacket are as acceptable attire as a suit and tie. When the banks when to "casual Fridays" I knew that a cultural trend had turned the corner. Banks, it seemed, were the last bastion of crisp formality - that is, after the military - or the church. In an editorial entitled "What We Wear Says A lot About Our Churches, " Douglas Mendenhall leans toward the opinion that a mixture of casual and formal in the worship place shows more openness to others different than ourselves. We need both the formal and the casual to show that the church is a welcoming place. That's not a bad thought, I suppose. We certainly don't want to turn any away simply because they own less or earn less. Yet I suspect that most people dress the way they do not because of a need to be "welcoming," ...

As a Baby Boomer I was part of that grand surge of births following WWII, which crested in '63 and redefined its time. With these numbers no longer in play at the elementary or secondary school levels, school systems designed to serve this age surge are now rapidly downsizing and cutting programs. Well, the Baby Boomers are not finished causing change. Like a slow moving glacier this generation is cutting through the soil of society and cutting a new path now that they are entering their "golden" retirement years. Health care, retirement funds, the employment sector, nursing care, and even the church are all beginning a new period of change and adaptation. Dr. Cliff Pederson calls this demographic "age wave" an "age tsunami." In the Spring issue of Issues in Christian Education he writes that the "challenge of the 21st century is not mere-aging - it is mass-aging . Never before in human history have we experienced so many older adults...

Normally I use this blog to report and analyze events impacting the church-at-large. However, today is a special day for me and I wanted to pause for a moment to give a word of thanks to God and reflect on the past. Twenty years ago I was ordained to the Office of the Holy Ministry. The picture at the right is a young 26 year old pastor, fresh out of seminary, pleasantly oblivious to the pressures and struggles he has yet to experience. He is standing just outside the sanctuary at his home church, Trinity Lutheran Church of Wausau , Wisconsin. Over the next two decades he will find his abilities and competence stretched to their limit, and more than once will wonder if he should leave this vocation and find another. Doubt will stalk him again and again. On the other hand he will also be touched deeply by the bonds of Christian friendship and the trust people will place in him as he is welcomed into the inner sanctum of their private lives. He will marry young couples ...

As many may be aware, increasing numbers of Catholic parishes have been returning to the Tridintine Latin Mass. Although certainly not a ground swell that will completely overtake the current practice of the church (proponents of the old Latin mass, it is reported, number no more than 2% of Catholics), there is a growing push for change in some places back to older customs and practices. According to a recent article in US News & World Report , there is a rising interest in the customs and practices of pre -Vatican II Catholicism among younger Catholics , and "a movement is building at seminaries nationwide to do just that: In addition to restoring the Latin mass, young priests are calling for greater devotion to the Virgin Mary, more frequent praying of the rosary, and priests turning away from the congregation as they once did." In addition to this, the author adds, there is a controversial call for "a diminished role for women, who since Vatican II have been ...

The numbers are out: the Presbyterian Church (USA) dropped by more than 46,000 members in '06. But that is similar news to many mainline denominations in the past few decades, especially the older liberal ones, such as this Presbyterian denomination and the Episcopalians , or the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America ( ELCA ), which was the 1988 merger of older Lutheran bodies. One can put forth any number of theories to explain such downturns. In our post-modern society we are well aware that denominational loyalty is at a very low ebb. People simply don't commit to denominational identity any more, or so we are told. They look for what best serves their personal needs and tastes. However, there are other issues that drive these declines, and the Episcopalians share in this with their Presbyterian cousins. The AP article that reported the decline notes that "The latest drop comes as fighting intensifies within the church over how Presbyterians should interpret Sc...

The psalm that introduces and anchors the setting of Matins/ Morning Prayer is the 95 th , also known as the " venite " from the opening word of the psalm in Latin ("come".) In my church it is sung monthly in the service of Matins, and is also part of my devotional life. As I read it again this morning, I couldn't help but notice the tone it sets for reverent worship in the presence of God. Although some English translations use the word "worship" in this psalm, a detailed look at the psalm in its original Hebrew will show that this English concept is not present (worth-ship). Rather, the words translated as "worship" have the characteristic Hebrew emphasis on direct action. Worship is bowing down, kneeling, prostrating oneself before the "great King above all gods." There is the sense here of being in the direct presence of the creator of the universe, and the sense is not at all 'chatty' as one finds too often in th...