A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy
A soft confessional Lutheran is a contradiction in terms. We are people who have already died. Confessional Lutheran preachers are men who crucify people with Jesus. Men who wear soft clothes are in kings’ palaces. Men who make harmless tweets and go to harmless conferences and say, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace are not confessional Lutherans. If they are, they are men who are selling their birthright. We are called to much more.
Read MoreThe hymns of the Lutheran Church teach us how to be martyrs for Christ. Martyrs are witnesses. The most extreme form of witness is shedding our blood to seal our testimony to Christ, but before a Christian can do that, he must (usually) learn to be a faithful witness in smaller things.
Read MoreThis is the list of hymns Fr. Karl Hess compiled for the podcast episode on hymns for training martyrs for the prize TGC 352…
Read MoreDuring the decades when we heard little of this from Lutheran pulpits, there were still voices crying in the wilderness. Gottesdienst’s “Sabre of Boldness” award brought to the memory of at least some of the LCMS clergy roster that Scripture bids us to “quit us like men” and “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” But the call to war issued by Scripture was rare indeed in our churches, except in our hymns, where departed saints from the Church triumphant bore witness to us.
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