Gottesblog

Among the ancient Sunday School materials at one of the parishes I serve, my wife found Northwestern Publishing House's Christmas: A Christmas Eve Service for Children and Congregation (Copyright 1985). The schtick of this particular Christmas program is that the kids are going to spell Christmas letter by letter - C is for "Come to Me," etc. The program has a bit of a surprise ending:

History: In 2001 District President Benke was part of a big interfaith service on TV. A bunch of conservative/confessional fellow members of Synod got angry about it and filed charges. When the dust settled, President Benke retained his post, the Lutheran Hour put up a Now Hiring sign, and President Kieschnick was reelected twice, the first time largely on a platform of having been President Benke's defender. 

I am honestly surprised at how often Gottesdienst is called upon to defend our editorial practice of referring to clergyman as Father. I'm also not a little surprised at the direction from which the questions come. But one thing almost all of the questions have in common is a quoting of Matthew 23:9-10   "And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.  Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ."

Let me make a few things clear before going on. I think it is good to support and encourage other Christians around the world. I also think that it is helpful and wise to speak with respect when dealing with those with whom you disagree. It is indeed unwise to act like a bull in a china shop…but it is no better to put lipstick on a pig.

...just not in the very act of conversion. But after your conversion and rebirth in Holy Baptism you do cooperate with God. Here is another great quotation from Gerhard's Theological Commonplaces, On Free Choice. This volume will be ready sometime in 2013, I think.

Over the course of Christian history the Church's calendar has evolved in many and various ways. This fact of history is the preferred excuse for the liturgical antinomians among us to do their own thing in all matters of worship. But this is disingenuous: the change in the Church's calendar, worship, and liturgy have never been a matter of one parish or one pastor doing what it or he favors. Rather, it has been a matter of the people of God acting in concert, together with clergy bound to follow a superior's orders.