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Gottesblog

A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy

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Trust and Lug Nuts
Trust and Lug Nuts

A repeated lament in LCMS circles - usually coming from the non-liturgical contingent - is that “we don’t trust one another in the LCMS.” And it is lamentable. But it should be understandable.

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Larry BeaneComment
Liturgy as "Best Practice"
Liturgy as "Best Practice"

I shared this abomination on social media, and someone replied (as I expected), “Please tell me this isn’t an LCMS church.” And yes, let’s admit it: we’re all thinking the same thing. Every time we see a you-know-what show like this online, that is one of the first things (if not the first thing) that pops into our minds.

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Larry BeaneComment
Why the ESV Should Not Be Used At Christmas
Why the ESV Should Not Be Used At Christmas

The KJV is superior here, since it’s unambiguous, but the RSV can be used, if understood correctly.

But the ESV is unambiguously wrong. The angelic song is not meant to be taken as an opportunity to distinguish believers from nonbelievers—that distinction can be made some other time—but rather as an invitation to all the world to see the Gift for what it is: a Redeemer for all the world.

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Burnell Eckardt Comments
"Peaceful" Release
"Peaceful" Release

[F]inally a letter is received. The letter isn’t for a transfer to another Lutheran congregation but for a “peaceful release.” What you had known to be true was finally revealed. The individual or family left the church for another confession.

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John Bussman Comments
Saying the Hail Mary with Dr. Luther
Saying the Hail Mary with Dr. Luther

Here it is to be noted that no man is to place his trust and confidence in the Mother of God or her merit. For such confidence befits God alone as the only lofty divine service. Rather, that one is to glorify and thank God through her and through the grace that is given to her, and not otherwise to praise and love her than as she who obtained such goods from God out of utter grace, without merit, as she herself confesses in the Magnificat.

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Stefan Gramenz Comments
Fortification Mode
Fortification Mode

One of the blessings of daily Matins is the exposure we have to the Psalms. For in Matins, we not only read them and quote verses from them - we sing them in their entirely, causing us to meditate upon them, and even embed portions of them in memory. They consequently begin to shape our piety, and even our language.

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Larry Beane Comments