I think there’s a very fine line between pandering to parents and the real essence of the Gospel when toddlers are on display at Christmas. Woe unto the pastor who cannot draw that line.
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When you see an “Out of Order” sign posted, you know that something doesn’t work. It’s broken. It could be that it simply needs a new part or component, and supplying it puts things back into working order. It could be that it needs to be filled with something—fuel or lubricant for an engine or product for a vending machine—and supplying that which is lacking puts it back into working order. In this way, out of order indicates a static and inactive thing. It’s broken, so it just sits there, until someone does something to fix it.
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A Lutheran sermon about Mary’s response to the Annunciation and the centrality of Joseph in the life of Christ with applications for the importance of fathers in the home and the Church as family.
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Because it’s busy in its own way for everyone, you might have been asked the question I remember being asked by another pastor last year. He called on the third or fourth day of Christmas and asked, “Did you make it through the holidays?”
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This is a common game for rock aficionados. Who would you put in your own fantasy supergroup? We aren’t playing that game and it isn’t a fantasy. Even better!
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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.
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In today’s New Testament reading from the Treasury of Daily Prayer, St. Peter warns us about “false prophets” and “false teachers” who confess particular kinds of “destructive heresies” that are sensual and sexually deviant in nature (2 Pet 2:1, 6-10).
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Here’s a concern that has been rattling around in the recesses of my brain for some time; it comes to mind this time of year when familiar Christmas stories are read and portrayed, though it’s something of a wider concern.
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Jonathan Busarow gave an outstanding tutorial on singing that is of immense benefit to both clergy leading the service and laity who sing along.
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The clergy need to lead the way to confessional renewal and spiritual health by practicing confession and absolution.
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Your Christmas issue of Gottesdienst has bolted, and is on its way, over the meadow and through the woods, to a mailbox near you!
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If the leaders will not lead with the truth, why should the people take a stand on the truth?
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“Cancel Culture” operates based on the logical fallacy of “Guilt By Association.”
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Texas District President Michael Newman sent out a Thanksgiving Eve missive regarding the ongoing attempt by Concordia University Texas to declare independence (well, kind of) from the Missouri Synod.
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The Gottesdienst liturgical calendar for 2023 will be featured in our Christmas issue of Gottesdienst (which, incidentally, is already at the printer, so if you need to renew or subscribe, do so right now), and, as our courtesy to all of you, The Gottesdienst Crowd, is also available for free at this website.
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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.
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