Gottesblog

The public space has never been a theologically or morally neutral one; therefore, the Church has and will continue to heed the divine obligation to speak into it the holy Word of God. Only a godless culture would dare to claim that the public sphere is somehow neutral. The New Testament clearly announces the darkness of this present age (Eph 6:12).

One of the many advantages to serving in Fort Wayne is proximity to Concordia Theological Seminary. I particularly relish the opportunities to develop friendships and fraternal relationships with the professors and seminarians that I regularly come into contact with as well as with the many pastors who stop by during Symposia week.

Now that I have reached the seventieth year of my life, I have with it the joyous hope that my devout and loving God will shortly release me from this world and lead me in a better life than I have had thus far on earth. I thank Him firstly for all His goodness and faithfulness…

In this text, I see an essential point. God wants us to know Him in order to worship Him. God desires both, that we know Him and that we worship Him. This two cannot be separated. Theological knowledge and liturgical worship go hand in hand in Christ’s Church.

During Communion we will sing one of my favorite hymns: “I Walk in Danger All the Way.” An unfortunate title, but since we name our hymns after their first line, there you have it.

Our Lord called twelve apostles, and when they followed, they left behind fishing nets and tax collector booths. He continued to call some 70 disciples who left behind not only jobs, but families in order to pursue the Holy Ministry. The Twelve spent a full three years with the greatest teacher, setting a pattern for vigorous education.

My Dear Wormwood,

I just ran across this post of a meme (above) by a Missouri Synod pastor - and our Father Below is most pleased!

Many families were separated back then, for example, a father could be sent into a concentration camp, and a mother and children could simply be brought to some remote village and thrown out of the truck, and then their lives would depend on the hospitality of the locals. But Adalina was lucky: in the late 1940s, her parents were able to find each other.

In our age, when someone is said to be “going through the motions” it is not meant as a compliment. For people like to think that they are being genuine and truthful and spiritual only when they rise above the merely physical. And so it is especially fortunate that one of the most basic and common examples in all of the rich storehouse of the tradition of Christian prayer is a prayer which requires the Christian to go through the motions.

I know that I struggled with this for years, bopping from one thing to the next. How on earth to find the time? The best resource to use? Something that wasn’t too simplistic (sorry, Portals, but you just weren’t what I was looking for at all);

To prohibit marriage, and to burden the divine order of priests with perpetual celibacy, they have had neither authority nor right [they have done out of malice, without any honest reason], but have acted like antichristian, tyrannical, desperate scoundrels…

“There is really only one basic rule of altar decorum: ‘Be reverent!’ Every other rule is simply a practical amplification of this basic charge.” I am inclined to say that the “Notes on Reverence” at the beginning of The Conduct of the Service are probably more important than all that follows, because the reverence and spiritual preparation that Dr. Piepkorn insists on are the indispensable foundation of truly recollected worship. All of the ceremonial directions are intended to help make possible that recollected worship.