Gottesblog

No, not that Good Book, but the excellent Lutheran Service Book could have been even better. The Reverend Dr. Paul Grime, who served as the project director for LSB, has quipped that work on the next new hymnal has already begun; not formally or officially, of course, but in the ongoing use and evaluation of the Lutheran Service Book. In that spirit, I offer a few basic ways in which it could have been a better good book, and maybe someone will take notes for posterity.

Note: This post was originally published on November 9, 2018. ~ Ed.

Note: In this 2011 offering, Fr. Stuckwisch provides his usual excellence in reflecting upon the topic of adiaphora, and in so doing, refutes a common false accusation against Gottesdienst and those in the Gottesdienst Crowd (that’s all of you) who read our journal, read our blog, listen to our podcast, or watch our videos - not to mention those who are sympathetic with our desire for reverence in the Divine Service. ~ Ed.

The story goes that Anna Marie came to her husband, the Reverend Paul Gerhardt, with a plea that he give her a small coin to buy the necessary food for their home. There was not a particle of flour nor a crust of bread to be found anywhere in the house, and she had nothing to set before him on the table. The dear pastor had no coin to give his wife, but promised that he would provide her with food that would not disappear but last forever. After a few hours in his study, he returned with the now familiar verse (Befiehl du deine Wege).

Your heavenly Father has ordered His creation in love for the preservation of His creatures in both body and soul. In the diversity of calls and the particularities of one’s station in life God is at work for the good of the world, even when you do not see it, even when we may see quite the opposite. No matter the seeming insignificance that one may feel in their place in life, no matter the short-comings and weaknesses that beset us, we are His creatures and it is our duty to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him.

How do we find the way back to the thing that so many people long for, which is the vision of beauty? What I mean is not some saccharine, Christmas-card image of human life, but rather the elementary ways in which ideals and decencies enter our ordinary world and make themselves known, as love and charity make themselves known in Mozart’s music.

This Communion of Saints is no mere thought but an unshakable certainty. I know from the mouth of God that I am not alone. I rejoice over this from the bottom of my heart, [for the] brethren of whom I speak are just hidden from my sight and have been placed in higher positions in the Kingdom of God.

The important social traditions are not just arbitrary customs, which might or might not have survived into the modern world. They are forms of knowledge. They contain the residues of many trials and errors, as people attempt to adjust their conduct to the conduct of others. They exist because they provide necessary information, without which a society may not be able to reproduce itself. Destroy them heedlessly and you remove the guarantee offered by one generation to the next.