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Gottesblog

A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy

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A Walk Down Seminex Lane

I received this link to a fine assessment of the Seminex history afforded by an interview on the online Eric Renn show, with astute layman Eric LeFevre. It’s definitely worth a listen. It comes at an appropriate time, just about 50 years after the St. Louis walkout (in January 1974). And as he wrote to me, "it is very important that we pass this history on so that we can learn from mistakes.”

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First Look at the LCMS Presidential Election 2023

So the 2023 election is shaping up a lot like the 2019 election in this regard: the Coalition of the Dissatisfied is once again afraid and/or unable to make the election about anything overtly theological. They will not campaign on reinstating Wichita 1989. They will not openly state a desire to overturn closed communion or a male-only clergy roster. They can’t: their coalition is too theologically diverse. Instead, they will stick to platitudes about being “evangelical” and “loving” and trust that each faction of their coalition will interpret those words according to their own lights.

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Gottesdienst or Geldings in the Real World?

One of the things that I like about the Gottesdienst Crowd is that we are not advocates for the liturgy because of personal taste or effete sensibilities, or an intellectual devotion to historical marginalia. Pastors and laypeople involved in the life of the church understand that as the blood of Christ is the lifeblood of the Church, Sunday morning Divine Services are the vessels that carry the blood of the Lamb to us. Hence our name Gottesdienst.

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What's in a Name?

A pastor of an LCMS congregation recently made a big production out of his congregation’s name change. They had previously excised the name “Lutheran”, but had retained the rest of the congregation’s original name after one of our Blessed Lord’s apostles. But now, in response to the disapproval of unbelievers, and based on focus groups and research, the pastor pushed for the congregation to adopt a completely non-traditional name that was actually the same as the brand name of an SUV. It has generated some humorous responses in the world of Lutheran social media and blogs.

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