Most of the Gottesdienst editors will be heading to Fort Wayne in a few days for the Symposia series. If you are getting there for the first half of the week, don't forget Fr. Petersen's one day free conference at Redeemer on Monday. If you are going to be there for the second half, don't miss the Sabre of Boldness Ceremony at the La Quinta after the banquet on Thursday. Right in the middle of the week, on Wednesday morning, you can catch my paper and Dr. Eckardt's paper in the same room (Loehe-4, see below).

And all week long you can pick up copies of Daily Divine Service Book and The New Testament in His Blood at the Gottesdienst booth. Or order online with the coupon code TREASURE for 20% through Monday.

+HRC

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Sectional Abracts

Sectional E: Loehe 4, Wednesday, Jan 19

7:45 AM “Right Hand or Left: In What Kingdom Does Matrimony Properly Reside?”

Rev. H. R. Curtis, Trinity and Zion Lutheran Churches, Worden and Carpenter, IL

Recent debates in Western society over the definition of marriage and the ensuing political battles should cause Lutheranism to reexamine their classical understanding of marriage as being under the State's purview (Melanchthon, Luther's Marriage Booklet, and American dogmaticians). This paper argues that the Biblical texts (Gen. 1-2, I Cor. 7, Eph. 5) call for a change in our understanding. Marriage is a matter of natural law and thus has a special relationship to both Church and State. The paper culminates with specific suggestions for the contemporary American Church in dealing with matrimony vis a vis the State.

8:15 AM “The Our Father and the Friend at Midnight: An Argument from the Third

Gospel for a Nuclear Canon”

Rev. Dr. Burnell F. Eckardt, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Kewanee, IL, Gottesdienst Editor-

in-Chief

Immediately following the words of the Our Father in St. Luke 11 is the parable of the friend at midnight, which contains a curious reference to three loaves and another reference to the element of the friend’s friend for whom the loaves are required. The story concludes with Jesus’ familiar promise, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Taken together, these ingredients and context provide justification for understanding the Our Father as a prayer of consecration.