after a week, thoughts on the ELCA’s decision

Since the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) voted to accept its social statment on homosexuality and to ordain practicing homosexuals, I have not had the concise words to express my disappointment, my lack of surprise, and my sadness. It sorrows any of us when someone willfully and boldly departs from a pure, Confessional teaching of the Word of God in favor of error.

Yet, here in a post from the blog, “Four and Twenty Blackbirds,” I have found the words I have been trying to say. They are spoken on an Utube video by Concordia Seminary President, Dr. Dean Wenthe. Let’s let them stand for themselves as they are draw from a clear understanding of Law and Gospel rightly divided.
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Walton Marsh’s Boast

Check out one man’s claim to reinvigorate pastors’ preaching like no seminary ever could! Yes, you guessed it! Pastor Walton Marsh says he can go where no seminary or Bible College can take their students! “After 32 years preaching at least 3 times per week I know how to preach a sermon
and hold the attention of a congregation and how to allow God to use me to communicate
his message.”

www.calledtopreach.com

Lofty goals! But…
Would we trust a doctor who encourages us to visit an associate who has taken only a blitzkrieg course in anatomy? Would we trust a history teacher who has only taken a brief course in classroom methods but knows nothing about World War II? Of course not!

Most pastors would never claim preaching is something they just “know how” to do. We just can’t revv up the rev. and put him in the pulpit for fifteen minutes without his having years of training in Greek and Hebrew and cross-focused theology combined with His God-given care for people’s salvation.
Look at Pastor Walton Marsh’s claims stacked up against some very key questions!
1. He says that after 32 years in the pulpit, he knows how to preach a good sermon. What does he consider a “good sermon”?
2. He says seminaries and Bible colleges teach the academics but he’ll teach a course on preaching good sermons. Since when have we needed to separate good preaching from a solid, Biblical background? They go together, as Sinatra says, like “love and marriage”. You can’t have one without the other!
3. Pastor Marsh compares the reactions to “bad preaching” with the results of “good”. What, might I ask, is he preaching–Christ or the Christian?

Folks, we need only to turn in our Bibles to 1 Cor. 2:5 to see the Christ-centered, cross-focused bench mark of good preaching. The apostle Paul declares: “I desired to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified.” The message of the cross makes a sermon “good,” not just the flare and eloquence.

Yes, Christ is risen. Even so, because He is risen, we glory in His cross because there He paid for our sins. (Rom. 5:8)

Preach the cross! There, Jesus bore the brunt of God the Father’s wrath against our sin. (1 Cor. 1:18, 23, 30, Rom. 8:32)

Preach the cross! For, there is the fleshy chalice from which our Lord distributes to us even now His body and blood each Lord’s Day. (1 Cor. 11:23-26)

Preach the cross. Yes, Jesus did shed real blood there. He gave His own very body there. Now, He, through the hands of His called and ordained servants, distributes those gifts to us poor, miserable sinners!

As Eric and Polly Rapp sing: “Hey, preacher man, give me the Gospel, Not with human wisdom, just tell it to me straight.”

There’s a great school training men to be Confessional pastors, Concordia Theological Seminary-Fort Wayne, Indiana! www.ctsfw.edu

A SURTHRIVAL GUIDE FOR SMALL CHURCHES

Perhaps, this little guide has been out for some time. But, I just discovered it, along with its producer, REFORMATION TODAY. Check out THE SURTHRIVAL GUIDE FOR SMALL CHURCHES AT reformationtoday.tripod.com/chemnitz/id40.html

No, it’s not a how-to book. It’s a booklet steeped in the theology of the cross, great for pastors and great for layity in churches of all sizes.

faith and renewal

As more and more “evangelical” sermons attempt to discuss both faith and what they purport really pleases God, we do well to remember how our heavenly Father creates our faith because He is pleased with His own, Sole-Begotten Son. He daily drowns us to our sin to restore us to life. (Titus 3:5, Ps. 51:10-12) This Christ-given repentance and forgiveness springs from our Christ-bestowed Baptism.

Dr. C. F. Walther preached on the distinction between saving faith and daily renewal in his sermon from The Daily Renewing of the Christian in the Image of God
Ephesians 4:22-28
19th Sunday after Trinity, 1841
C. F. W. Walther
(Translated by E. Myers)

True, in justification and regeneration we are born as God’s children, and thus the
beginning according to God’s image is brought about in us. But at first we are still
weak infants, who must receive their daily nourishment and strengthening in renewal
if they are not to die and perish again.
In justification we are like the one who fell among murderers. Christ indeed took
pity on us and bound up our deep wounds of sin with the balm of His gracious gospel.
But now, in daily renewal, we must remain under the treatment of His Holy Spirit
until we are fully healed when He returns and calls us to Himself by a blessed death
out of the hospital of this world. Justification and the new birth are the spiritual
creation. The daily renewal of the Christian is the work of spiritual preservation.
…
Not only do true Christians
have daily new experiences of their sinfulness, but also daily ever new experiences
of the kindness of God, and the power of His grace. Daily they repent anew, believe
anew, love anew, and fight and overcome anew.”

(Note: I got these quotations from a sermon on a website holding a collection of his work, whose name, woefully cannot remember.)

Nevertheless, as we pray God to grow us in His grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), we ask Him to direct our days, our actions, and lives in His peace.

God The Subject And Object of Worship

We often think of God in Christ as the object of our worship on Sunday morning or any other times we come to church. After all, our trust rests in God who has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:9-10)

That God is the subject, the actor in worship sounds odd to our culture today. However, take a look at this quotation from Dr. Marva Dawn’s REACHING OUT WITHOUT DUMBING DOWN, p76. “True worship arises because God calls us. As an echo, our worship directed to God is a gift in response to his1 gifts.”

Here we find the basis, put in today’s language for beginning the divine service “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ” (Lutheran Service Book, DS III, page 184) The Lord draws us the He may serve us His Word and Sacraments publicly for our forgiveness. Then, having been drawn by Him, we call on Him, our Triune God, do what He has already promised to do–grant us His favorr.

His service to us and for us sustains our trust in Him. Therein, “Peace with God once more is made.” (LSB 617 “O Lord, We Praise Thee” stanza 2)

from Greg Koukl’s THE PAGE

Here’s a bit of practical advice we can use when countering street level skeptics and academics alike. It comes from Stand To Reason’s email newsletter called The Page. Check it out here.
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Welcome David,
Do you know what the survival rate for airplane accidents is? You won’t believe
it. Take a guess right now. I bet you won’t be anywhere close.
On average, ninety-six out of every 100 people involved in airplane mishaps survive
the ordeal. Amazing, isn’t it? Even with serious accidents, as long as there was
some chance of surviving, three-quarters of the passengers get out alive. *
And here’s another shocker. Many of the people who do perish could have survived,
but didn’t. So what makes the difference? If you guessed panic, you’d be wrong.
Yes, panic kills, but it almost never happens in desperate situations like airplane
disasters, earthquakes, or terrorist attacks like 9/11.
Most people don’t panic. They freeze. They do nothing, because they don’t know
what to do. And that’s what kills them. Usually, two things make the difference
between life and death: planning and action.
Since I learned those statistics, my preparation at the beginning of flights has
completely changed. Before, I never paid attention to things like exits, flight
attendant emergency instructions, or reviewing the safety card. What was the point?
If something went wrong, I figured, I was a goner anyway.
Now I know differently. I note my exits and try to get a seat close to one (seats
two to five rows away are the safest). I review the safety card so I know how each
emergency exit door on the plane works. I am fully alert with my seatbelt tight
and my shoes on during the most vulnerable times—the first three and the last eight
minutes of any flight.
And I have a plan in case something goes wrong, a plan I review every flight at take-off
and just before landing.
Here’s the point: Our preparation is different when we have an expectation that
preparation will make a difference. And when we have a plan, we are more likely
to act.
That’s why having the first two Columbo questions handy—“What do you mean by that?”
and “How did you come to that conclusion?”—makes being Christ’s ambassador so much
easier. Whatever situation you face, you have a basic game-plan at the ready.
The easiest time to develop good responses to troublesome queries is when the pressure
is off. Trying to shoot from the hip hoping you’ll be magically quick on your feet
usually results in ruin.
So, I want you to think for a moment about the most vexing challenge you face from
a skeptic as an ambassador for Christ, that issue you dread being mentioned, the
question you hope never comes up. Next, do some research and develop a plan of response
that is tactically sound.
In the last chapter in my Tactics book, I mentioned a Marine Corps training slogan:
The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle. This is the same lesson
we have been talking about.
In His Care,
Greg Signature

alternate arrangements to older hymns

Check out the following link to Pastor Weedon’s blog. You’ll find an alternate tune to “Amazing Grace.” I think you’ll enjoy it.
http//www.weedon.blogspot.com

an advertisement for wordless wandering

One of the beauties of liturgical worship is in the words given us to speak and words which God speaks to us through His called and ordained s servants, our pastors. When you depart from distinct, definitive, and concerete language present in the divine service and the daily offices, you are in danger of making worship in your own image.

Here’s an example of that. www.origenmusic.com/mp3.html

The music in that link promotes meditative contemplation. It sells our attempts at achieving some form of inner peace or connectednesss to God. What a concept! It’s popular today to keep searching for that one type of something or other to give us a link to the divine presence.

Well, thanks be to God, His Word invites us to stop searching. God in Christ created and recreated us in His image. He redeemed us apart from silver, gold, our efforts or merit, but with His own precious blood. (1 Peter 1:18-19) When He invites us to call upon Him in every time of need and promises us His deliverance (Ps. 50:15), He gives us the Name in which to call upon Him, the words to speak, and the needs He knows even before our askingg.

What then do we make of wordless encantations that sound more introspective than extra nos? We can appreciate their chordal progression. Some good progressive music is soothing to hear. Yet, when the disclaimer and sellling point is meditation on our inner peace or “higher self,” or emphasizing an ability to pray a guru,” we’d best leave it alone.

Now, what makes the difference between this stuff and the quality of a Bach chorale or prelude? One need only listen to the context of Bacha’s music to see from whence He draws even his instrumental compositions. They are meant for the unique setting of Christian worship. Even listening to them on a CD while driving around town, we rejoice in their drawing our attention to Christ Jesus our Lord. Bach’s prelude in E-minor, for instance, has no words. Yet, set in the liturgical life of the congregation, it’s intent drives us to some Psalm, Gospel reading, or so forth proclaiming our Savior. Can you think of seasons of the church year where such a piece might enrich the Divine Service?

With that said, can a nonChristian appreciate the artistry and chordal prgression with which Bach and others composed uniquely Christian music? Yes. They can marvel at the artistry and musical genius. Yet, until the Holy Spirit, perhaps through the music’s proclamation of the Word converts them, they cannot appreciate the full depth Bach’s music has.

How, then, apart from our liturgical usage of music, do we judge that which is salutary for our lives, entertainment, and listening edification? Music, after all, is just that, music when it is wordless and abstracted from any given context. It’s context can be twisted or missuesed. However, for the sake of our neighbor , let alone our conscience,
– Be wary of the New Age, dreamy meditative settings.
– Research the background and authorship of music you might deem questionable.
– Rjoice in those settings which you know to be God-glorifying, good Christian productions.
– Buy up all the choral music you can, especially from our Concordia seminaries and many of our colleges. There, you’ll find music that draws you to the cross in its every stanza.
– Enjoy good progressive music that isn’t explicitly used for self-meditation or attaining some altered state consciousness.
Some of my personal favorite composers include John Tesh, Yanni, and Kitarro. Believe me, those guys helped me stay appropriately distracted when on study breaks in college.

blind outreach

Pardon my going off the liturgical train of thought for a moment. Besides my theological studies and leisure activities, my main work is being the director of Holy Cross Blind Outreach. Like any other outreach center, we are hosted by a local church. In our case, I belong to that congregation, Holy Cross Lutheran Church. www.holycrosskc.org

Our desire is to declare God’s Word to blind and visually impaire people through our genuine care for them. One way we do this is through a free monthly meal. Today, over twenty-seven blind and visually impaired folks and sixteen volunteers–not counting guide dogs–met in our church’s fellowship hall.

The Rev. Mark Stirdivant had a wonderful study on the forgiveness o sins. His text was Ephesians 2:1-10. Folks gathered today got to hear favor Dei in Christo proclaimed, no holds barred.

Pair that with bratts, burgers, and bingo!–And you’ve got the perfect Saturday afternoon. I always enjoy coming into the meal as folks get driven to the church. One of our organists is usually practicing for the next day’s service. So, hymnody combined with small talk, the Word, food, and so on makes for a great day.

I was pleasantly surprised afterward when one of our atttendees, Ruby, offered to be my assistant. I was going to ask her and Shirley to fill capacity in acouple weeks. but, since they asked, I was happy to offer the positions right there on the spot.

Well, tomorrow brings us another foretaste of the Lamb’s feast to come in heaven. You can’t get better on this side of heaven than Christ giving us His body and blood through the service of His called and ordained savants of the Word.
By the way, if you want to find out more about mission and human care to blind people or if you want to see where other outreach centers are, go to Lutheran Blind Mission’s website. www.blindmission.org

a clear explanation

Those who treasure the historic liturgy have taken a brow beating lately. Many people complain that the Divine Service with its rich hymnody, chant, responsories, invocation, sermon, and celebration of the Eucharist is simply not user friendly.

In a sense, we would agree. Someone coming to the Divine Service for the first time enters foreign territory. Such an assumption leads critics to wonder why proponents of the historic liturgy don’t just up and go with the culture.

Two things make our resolution simple and explainable. First, the liturgy does not belong to us alone. Taken in many parts from Scripture, its divine echo–if you will-is God-breathed. The heartbeat of the historic liturgy is the forgiveness of sins found in and revealed by Jesus Christ our Lord. The same is true with Holy Scripture. Jesus locates Himself on every page of the Bible. He is the center, sum, and substance of the liturgy as well.

Check out these verses and you’ll see it. John 5:39, 1 John 1:8-9, Luke 2:14, Rev. 5:1-12, Isaiah 6:3/Ps. 118:22, Matt. 28:19-20, 1 Cor. 11:23-25, and Num. 6:24-26. Which parts of Scripture do you match up with parts of the liturgy?

The other reason for maintaining our stalwart loyalty to the historic liturgy is that it aids us in telling the next generation the very same truth of the Gospel others have taught us. The common service, as many have called TLH page 15/LSB DS III, is rooted in thousands of years of history. It is a unit centered completely on the saving person and work of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Though the liturgy may seem, at first, difficult to understand or follow, pastors and teachers cand and do assist you in learning it. For this reason, explanations about the liturgy need to be clear, simple to understand, and easily accessible.

Check out this link to St. Paul Ev. Lutheran Church in Bethpage, NY. They reproduce on their website the late Dr. A.L. Barry’s writing on the Divine Service.www.stpaulbethpage.com/Devine