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I recently received an email from a pastor questioning the paradigm in the LCMS that places a high value on “preaching the Gospel” and wondering if that “were enough’ - especially in light of racism, “LGBTQ issues” and “global warming.”
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In several places in his epistles (including a self-application in Romans 1:1), St. Paul uses the term “δοῦλος Χριστοῦ,” usually translated into English as “servant of Christ,” reflecting the Latin translation “servus.”
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“Just as the Word must always be taught and emphasized in the church, so prayer must always be practiced, in order that grace may abound, that the incipient gifts may grow in us, and that the glory of God may be increased everywhere” (Luther).
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Although this could have been written yesterday by the Roman Catholic watchdog organization, Church Militant, it was actually penned in 1531 by Philipp Melanchthon in response to the Roman Catholic critique of our married priests. Melanchthon takes the gloves off in defense of the restoration of the older catholic practice sacerdotal matrimony:
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With the adoption of the Common Service (originally put into English in 1888 and later adopted by the English Synod), the people in our congregations got used to making a confession of their sins and hearing either a declaration of grace or absolution right after the opening invocation. However, in the Agenda published by Walther and company and put into English in 1881 as Church Liturgy for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, a different order obtained. It was the custom in Saxony from the time of the Reformation onward to have the confession and absolution after the sermon. This option was still in place right up to the publication of The Lutheran Hymnal in 1941 (as Divine Service, Second Form). Here, immediately following the sermon, we find this:
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