A blog of the Evangelical Lutheran Liturgy
Those at the shallow end of the pool sometimes accuse the editors of Gottesdienst - and you, dear readers, members of The Gottesdienst Crowd - of being “Romanizers.” This is based on the misunderstanding that Lutherans are basically Baptists who use real wine in communion, and anything ceremonially beyond that is “Romanizing.” And one can find such nonsense even among the “doctors” (cough) and Supreme Suits of the Synod.
Read MoreFor eighteen years I have been standing on the walls of Jerusalem watching the city burn and its children carried away captive into paganism or heterodox churches. During that time most of the watchmen, seeing the ruin, have desperately tried to do everything in their power to take away the offense of the cross. They have tried to make Christianity easier, so that no one would be repelled, no one would fall away, everyone would be attracted.
Read MoreNote: This was a Gottesdienst Editorial from 2016 in response to a district president’s public critique of genuflecting during the consecration. ~ Ed.
Read MoreNote: Ms. Linda Boomerton is upset at the direction synod is going, and has asked to submit a guest editorial at Gottesblog. ~ Ed.
Read MoreThe 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).
Read MoreNote: This is one of the very first blogposts for Gottesdienst, from 2006 - and this one is a bit of an archaeological find. For it was posted at the first Gottesblog site, and was itself a repost of one of Fr. Eckardt’s essays from eleven years prior (which means this was written in 1995. That’s twenty-nine years ago. ~ Ed.
Read MoreJesus has just traveled from the region of Tyre and Sidon, a place where He cast out a demon that held a young girl in its grip. Now, our Lord is by the Sea of Galilee, and again He comes face to face with a person in the bondage of Satan. The people bring to Jesus a man whose ears are imprisoned with deafness and whose tongue is bound by an impediment of speech. For when a person cannot hear, neither can he speak clearly or rightly. Such is the goal of the devil: to disrupt and tear down the lives and the capacities of those created in the image of God, to cause people trouble in both soul and body. He does this in an attempt to turn our hearts away from the Lord.
Read MoreThe Great Passion by James Runcie is a page-turner that is an especially fun read for Lutherans. This is not so much a review as it is a recommendation. You can read reviews here (averaging 4.3 on Amazon).
Read MoreAnd now, with the Democratic nominee for Vice President being a “Lutheran” of the ELCA variety, we Lutherans are once again in the spotlight, and not in a good way. We have to explain that that is “not our kind of Lutheran,” that we are LCMS. We’re not the drag queen, alphabet-people, DEI, put-gay-porn-in-kindergarten, pronoun-wielding abortion “Lutherans.”
Read MoreIn the name of Jesus Christ, who by His glorious ascension into heaven obtained not for Mary only, but for us all who with Mary take comfort in His bloody death, a joyous ascension of the heart whenever we pray, of the soul whenever we die, of the body and soul on the Last Day; forever most blessed and beloved with God His heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Read MoreNote: This is a reflection that I wrote and was published in the Trinity 2014 issue of Gottesdienst, and was shared at Gottesblog in 2017. ~ Ed.
Read MoreMy own practice is to preach one sermon for all. It unifies our church, and it includes the children, even if the preaching is over their heads. It won’t be for long. They learn the English language the same way: by immersion.
Read MoreThe arrogance of the late 20th century church which calls itself Christian has added another claim to its list - that it is the first to really reach children (also known as “doing children’s sermons”). Like the charismatic movement, which claims that the Holy Spirit is now working through them for the first time since the apostles, and the higher critics who claim that they have discovered for the first time in history the true nature of the Bible as an error-filled yet useful book, the proponents of children’s sermons are claiming that they are reaching the children for the first time and in a much better and more improved way than ever before.
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