Sermon on Psalm 141

Preaching, Sermon, SynodDavid PetersenOctober 27, 2023Psalm 141 Comment

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.”

Synod, Church FellowshipBurnell EckardtSeptember 19, 2023 Comments

Convention Concerns, Part 1: On Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications

SynodBurnell EckardtJuly 5, 2023LCMS Convention Comments

Dr. Ferry Knows What’s to Blame for Everyone Else’s Membership Loss

By nearly every measure, Christianity is in decline in America.

Synod, PolityJason BraatenJanuary 13, 20232023, LCMS Convention, LCMS Presidential Election Comments

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.

Polity, SynodJason BraatenJanuary 11, 20232023, LCMS Presidential Election, LCMS Convention Comments

Whether the Unvaccinated, Too, Can Be Saved

Your conscience must be ruled by God’s Word regardless of how many vaccines you’ve received or masks you wear.

Adiaphora, Culture, Death & Dying, Doctrine & Practice, Pastoral care, SynodAdam KoontzDecember 23, 2021 Comments

What's sacred about sacred theology

The dethronement of theology in the church is the attempted dethronement of God in the church. The church speaks definitely because it understands God’s revelation in Holy Scripture to be definitive in its source and in its relevance.

Doctrine & Practice, Ministry, Synod, TheologyAdam KoontzOctober 23, 2021 Comments

Lutheranism is the Truth (Part II)

Doctrine & Practice, Theology, SynodSean DaenzerNovember 25, 2019Confessional Lutheranism, Doctrine, Church Comments

Lutheranism is the Truth (Part I)

Synod, TheologySean DaenzerNovember 18, 2019Confessional LutheranismComment

Insistence on Independence Ceases to be a Virtue

SynodBen BallJune 18, 2019 Comments

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.

Culture, Adiaphora, Music, Rites/Ceremonies, SynodLarry BeaneMay 25, 2019 Comments

Synod President Campaign Update: LCMS Numbers and Leadership

Polity, SynodJason BraatenMay 18, 2019LCMS Presidential Election Comments

Praedicatio Actus Liturgicus Est!

One of the candidates for synod president released his four-point campaign platform. One of his planks is that we need to “Improve Law Gospel Preaching.”

Liturgy, Preaching, SynodLarry BeaneMay 17, 2019 Comments

LCMS Polity and the Lobbyist

I have never been a synod delegate before. I should have known that I would be targeted by mail and email by ecclesiastical lobbying.

Adiaphora, Polity, SynodLarry BeaneMay 7, 2019 Comments

Yeah, that's the ticket!

Sobering news out of the Great White North.

Being a little more European than we are, and lacking a Bible Belt, the National Trust for Canada is reporting that a third of the churches in Canada will likely close within a decade.

SynodLarry BeaneApril 1, 2019 Comments

Imagine Immeasurably More . . . Decline (67% more!)

Polity, SynodJason BraatenFebruary 6, 2019Missouri Synod Comments

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.

Culture, Synod, AdiaphoraLarry BeaneNovember 3, 2018 Comments

District Presidents and Church Growth

I'm not a fan of our polity. I agree with the fathers of the Lutheran confessions that the church would be best served by sticking to the traditional polity of the church.

Synod, Liturgy, PolityLarry BeaneSeptember 17, 2018 Comment

Gottesblog