Gottesblog

This comes from a newly ordained pastor somewhere in the Midwest. Many times before I've passed on the advice I got from the inestimable Fr. Ralph Tausz when it comes to introducing Lutheran ceremonies and liturgy to congregations with less than ideal histories in that regard. As with anything in the pastoral ministry: your mileage may vary. But here is one more man's experience.

An Alert Reader has sent us a clipping from Concordia-Seward's student newspaper. This is my alma mater and my own dear wife used to edit this paper, The Sower. Alas, how things have changed. I will reproduce the entire article and comment on just the bit I will put in bold, which is the key to understanding more than just the "disco ball" (as our Alert Reader put it).

When I put together Daily Divine Service Book my goal was to include a full, and truly Lutheran sanctoral calendar. The basis for this was Loehe's Martyrologium, but I also wanted to include the days and commemorations from LSB. An Alert Reader pointed out that I had yet to explain the exception to this rule: DDSB has no feast of "St. James, Brother of the Lord" on October 23rd where LSB does. So here's why not.

It has become a sort of cliché to say that the question that Luther asked, "How can I, a sinner, be saved in the face of an angry, righteous God?" is not the question of today - that the Reformation is hopelessly time bound. Luther's question, folks say, is a question for a Christian culture, not a reverted pagan culture.

I moved Dr. Stuckwisch's post back up above all the SCOTUS hullabaloo because I didn't want it to get knocked around by, well, by a lot of SCOTUS hullabaloo. So read it, right underneath this post.

If you are just joining our coverage start here and read up. Here is my summary, analysis, and prediction.

Oh, one final quotation first:

Breyer for President! Of anything!

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: On the other hand, the -- the belief of the Catholic Church that priest should be male only, you do defer to that, even if the Lutherans say, look, our dispute resolution belief is just as important to a Lutheran as the all-male clergy is to a Catholic.